monthly mingle: FEAST OF THE DYING

[riverviewmod]

who: everyone in Riverview!
what: monthly mingle: feast of the dying + agricultural emergency
when: the month of october
where: anywhere around the city
warnings: please put any necessary warnings in the subject lines

monthly mingle: october

During the month of October, a particular natural phenomenon on the moon weakens the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead, allowing for the crossover of those dead into the world of the living, with ghosts from the pasts of both the residents and the Quarantine itself to take corporeal form. This has given rise to an array of celebrations and traditions surrounding the transition from life to death, encouraging residents not to fear death, but to embrace it.

Things aren't all spooky celebrations this month, though. There's also a serious emergency happening in the agricultural district, where a herd of vengeful and intelligent hog-like creatures has decided to mount an attack on the city, with a large measure of success. Between September 20th and September 25th, they rammed the fences near the agriculture district where most of the farms providing livestock and produce for the city are located, succeeding in breaking through the fence on the 25th. Drastic action needs to be taken in order to protect the city's ability to feed itself throughout the upcoming months.

feast of the dying: a celebration of the transition between life and death

In the days leading up to October 1st, residents new and old will notice preparations beginning, a flurry of activity getting the city ready for the upcoming celebration: the Feast of the Dying. There is an old, widely-known, and widely-believed superstition or proverb in Riverview Quarantine: 'The greater your fear of death, the easier it is for death to find you.' This is a cornerstone belief of a lot of the residents of the Quarantine, most of whom have survived intensely difficult and violent pasts on their own worlds and who are still willing and eager to throw themselves into exploring and settling new worlds, starting their lives fresh. To honor this spirit, the Feast of the Dying is a celebration of the transition between life and death, an opportunity to face death both figuratively and literally, and come out on top.

The festivities during this time feature tests of courage in highly haunted places, escape rooms both virtual and physical with varying levels of danger, and the week-long Feast of the Dying itself, between October 1st and 8th this year.

i. feast of the dying traditions

Much like any culture, there are a few traditions and events that happen every year in the Quarantine, to celebrate the Feast of the Dying. In-depth information on these traditions and events can be found on last year's Feast of the Dying post, and include:

● Ghosts From the Past: Characters will see ghosts of the deceased in various places around the Quarantine, with some areas, where the boundaries between the living and dead are weakest, being heavily infested with these ghosts, while other areas are nearly ghost-free. These ghosts can be from characters' canons (with limitations - see last year's post for OOC guidelines) or from the Quarantine itself.
● Escape Rooms: Horror-themed escape rooms pop up all over the city, augmented with tech or magic to make them seem more menacing. The difficulty levels and scares range from easy to incredibly difficult, and they feature themes from Zombie Attack to Prison to Torture Traps to Mad Science Experiments, and just about anything else you can think of.
● Tests of Courage: In various places around the city, there are establishments where the boundaries between the living and dead are so fragile as to be barely there - hospitals that treated the ill during the Pandemic, insane asylums or prisons where inmates were mistreated, homes where terrible murders happened, places exposed to dark magic, and other similar places. During October, these places are shut down except to those who wish to stay the night as a test of courage. Characters who stay the night will encounter hordes of ghosts and experience extremely realistic hallucinations that may result in injury (which is up to player discretion) in the name of proving their courage.
● Doom Dates: This year, with the amusement park open for business, there is an event called Doom Date, a spooky themed night at the fair featuring haunted houses, costumed actors, and free rides with the price of admission. More information on this prompt can be found on the September Test Drive Meme.
● Feast of the Dying: A week-long masquerade-style party that is open from sundown October 1st until sunrise on October 9th. Sort of like a formal ball inside an incredibly realistic haunted house, the Feast of the Dying is the tradition that the holiday is named after, and features dancing, party events, plenty of food and drink for everyone, and private rooms for resting or engaging in...private activities with close friends.

ii. creepy chaos

This year, there's something a little different going around the Quarantine. The influx of refugees, the Frysh, that recently arrived, have brought a few new spooky traditions with them - while their celebration of horror usually happens in the dead of winter, they've shared the custom for the Feast of the Dying. And what is that custom? Dressing up as monsters, ghosts, demons, and other terrifying creatures! Considering how many other worlds and universes have similar traditions, it's caught on quickly, with costumes incredibly varied in subject matter and level of intricacy, from standard run-of-the-mill costumes pieces purchased from the local costume shop to intricately detailed costumes featuring holographic accents - and, of course, the 'sexy' version of everything. The culmination of the Frysh tradition is the tenth day of the month, where everyone dresses as something or someone scary, and brings treats (handmade or purchased) to give to family, lovers, friends, coworkers, classmates, or anyone else. It fits with the Feast of the Dying theme quite smoothly, reminding residents that joy and togetherness can come even from frightening situations.

All well and good, but someone has other ideas - enter Phineas, a rather notorious mage who's just recently gotten out of a year-long stint in prison. Elderly, a bit of a codger, more than a bit eccentric, and extremely powerful, Phineas has decided to put his own spin on this particular spooky tradition by casting a powerful citywide spell. On October 10, anyone who puts on a costume to participate in this particular celebration will find themselves turning into their costume for the evening. Dressed up as a werewolf? Prepare to howl at the moon! Dressed as a vampire? Be prepared to get a serious taste for blood. The possibilities are endless...

OOC Note: Please remember that Riverview does not allow non-consensual sex, and that game mechanics are not put in place to encourage sexual assault, or to 'trick' characters into having sex that they would not normally have. If your character's costume is the 'sexy' version of anything, feel free to play with aphrodisiac effects or lowered inhibitions, but keep this rule in mind.

emergency in the agricultural district!

iii. hog wild

Residents of the city may or may not remember a particular patch of fertile ground that was scouted over a year ago, and the highly-intelligent and territorial alien hogs that were protecting it because the soil's fertility stems from it being a alien hog graveyard. After that revelation, the city had abandoned the project for the foreseeable future, as digging up an intelligent species' graveyard is more than a little beyond the pale.

That would've been all well and good, had the alien hogs stayed in their territory. However, after being disrupted by two teams over the course of a few months, the hogs (who have an excellent memory for this kind of thing) have started to get a little restless. It's not enough to be left alone - they want revenge. And with the summer winding down into harvest season, they've figured out how to get that revenge. As September winds down and October starts to dawn, the powerful and intimidating hogs have started on stage one of enacting that revenge - they've been making concentrated runs at the fences closest to their territory, hitting it in the same spot over and over again, herd mentality at its strongest, trying to make a dent. And they're succeeding.

The big problem here is that, on the inside of that fence, is the bulk of the Quarantine's agriculture sector. Fields full of livestock and crops that are meant to make up the majority of the winter's food supply are in danger of being wiped out if that fence falls, and if that happens, it's going to be a cold, hungry winter, no matter how many supplies the Capital World manages to send up to the moon.

Since September 20th, residents have been being called into service whenever they were willing to, at first to try to repair the damage to the wall and keep the hogs from bursting through, and after September 25th, to help stem the damage being done by the rampaging hogs. As September ends and October begins, the fight is still underway, and residents haven't managed to do much to stop the creatures encroaching on the agricultural district, so more help is always welcome.

A full write-up of this situation can be found on September's Test Drive Meme.

iv. drift compatible

As October continues on, the situation with the invasion of hogs and all the other creatures that are coming through the massive breach in the outer wall of the Inhabited City is starting to get really dire. As a last-ditch effort, the government is pulling what remains of their fleet of three-story-tall mech suits out of storage. Longer-term residents may remember these mechs from last January, when a herd of behemoth monsters was attacking the city. Since then, the five remaining mechs were taken over by a private tech company, improved upon to some extent, and then sold back to the government, where they were reverse engineered into something new and a little different, and more were manufactured.

As of now, the government is holding on to a fleet of around 40 smaller, more maneuverable mechs that are still quite powerful, but most importantly which still need to be piloted by two people. Considering the emergency the city is facing, the government has released the fleet of mechs to the Perimeter Guard, and is calling for anyone with piloting experience, or even people willing to take a quick course in it, to help man the fleet and head out into the battle, backing up fighters on the ground to try to push back the tide of creatures flooding into the vulnerable and very important agricultural district.

Mechs are piloted by two people working together - while it's not exactly drift compatibility, the two characters need to act together, with one directing where the mech goes and keeping an eye on the terrain, and the other one manning the guns and keeping an eye on the mech's defenses and energy and ammunition levels. This takes a lot of concentration and cooperation, and this day is bound to forge a lot of new friendships....and probably a few mortal enemies. On top of the difficulty of working with someone who may be a total stranger, don't forget this new fleet of mechs are in beta-testing and are only being used as a last resort, which means they have a bad tendency to break down in unexpected ways.

Each mech is fitted with one large canon-style gun that can be semi-automatic or automatic with a limited amount of ammunition, one plasma sword, and a force shield that can take four serious hits before it is depleted. They have a finite amount of energy storage and are able to be in continuous use for 3 hours maximum before shutting down. Out of the fleet of 40 mechs, the mod expects only about 5 to still be functional at the end of the month, so feel free to destroy or seriously damage them in threads.

v. roommates or wildcard

Feel free to use this prompt to meet new roommates, for the purpose of getting to know each other, or hit up the mod-posted prompt to create a Communal Housing floor mingle. Or, if you have an idea for a prompt that isn't in this list, set during the Feast of the Dying, feel free to write it up!

visual inspiration

click on thumbnails for larger view; images may contain disturbing themes


Credit: image i: Logan Preshaw; image ii: Alejandro D'Marco; image iii: Jeff Jumper; image iv: Johannes Mücke; image v: Davey Baker; image vi: David Edwards

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COMMUNAL HOUSING APARTMENT MINGLES

[riverviewmod]

Feel free to post up a top-level for residents of any floor in the apartment building to mingle and meet each other.

Simon Reese | The Black Tapes Podcast

[interconnectedness]

( A. Ghosts from the Past )

Simon is really not very fond of the fact that this festival seems to be conjuring ghosts. He'd come across the ghosts of his parents on his way to work and it'd stopped him short. He crossed his arms and stood in place staring at them.

They didn't say anything and Simon didn't say anything but they didn't go away either and it had frozen Simon in place. There's something akin to a panicked feeling in his chest though outwardly his expression is still rather controlled.

( B. Wildcard )

[ I'll match tenses and styles! Feel free to hit me with your best shot or hit me up via PM or on plurk at poetanarchy if you want to plot something or want a specific starter. ]

[11calls]

Alex Reagan knew those ghosts when she saw them; there had been pictures that she'd seen when she'd gone over the file on Simon's trial. It was something that she'd done before she'd even gone to Three Rivers, and then something that she'd come back to again as Simon became more than just a black tape and to someone who had become a large part of her life, even if she'd not wanted him too.

So when she saw him staring and not saying anything, she moved to take his arm. "Come on, Simon." Her voice was gentle, the caring that was Alex written all the way through it, this wasn't something that she wanted him to need to deal with.

[nobasisinfact]

Richard hadn't been bothered by the ghosts of his past. He'd settled with them years ago, which was why it was simply frustrating to have the ghost of Bobby Mames following him around. Frustrating, but also simple to ignore. The boy didn't particularly say anything, just followed behind as if he were curious to see what Richard had done with his life.

Others, however, didn't seem to be having as easy a time. This was made abundantly clear when he saw Simon staring at a pair of ghosts standing in front of him. It wasn't hard to figure out who they were if you knew Simon's background. If you didn't count the cultists, there was, as far as Richard knew, a relatively small pool of people to pick from, and when you narrowed it further to those that may have caused guilt or grief (as Bobby might have once done for Richard), the list narrowed to only two people, maybe there. The other asylum patient looked nothing like either of these ghosts.

No one should have to look into the face of their dead parents, even if they were the ones who killed them, so Richard made swift strides toward the boy who had somehow become his unwilling charge. "Turn away from them, Simon." Richard knew how it would have felt to see Howard, or Coralee, or even his mother standing in front of him. For some there would be fear, frustration and anger, others saddness and heartache. He could only imagine that, for Simon, this was a mix of all those emotions.

Peter Parker | MCU | OTA

[madeupnames]

I. Ghosts from the Past. | SIDE A (Spider-Man)

[Peter is both terrified and eager at the thought of ghosts. On the upside, he wants to see certain people — on the downside, he doesn't want to see them like that, at all. On the upside, he wants to meet ghosts from the Quarantine. On the downside, he's pretty sure he's gonna cry if he hangs out with the dead and knows there's nothing he can do to help them.

Dressed as Spider-Man and coming back from another too-long day trying to keep crazy alien hogs at bay, he runs into some of those rampant ghost children Alex had told him about not too long ago (about the same thing, the same month, it's like clockwork). The squad of girls run amuck and scream and laugh, flickering in and out of existence, pale as paper. It sort of steals the breath out of him—

But hey, Spider-Man helps the dead, too. When he can. He buys a bunch of cheap but effective toys, so, um. If you run into balls that are magically floating or frisbees thrown or jumprope being used... That'd be the ghosts enjoying all the toys Pete left in their little haunting ground.

Also, don't mind that Spider-Manis currently playing jumprope with said ghost girls.]

I. Ghosts from the Past. | SIDE B (Peter Parker)

[Peter finally finds himself faced by a woman and man — in the middle of him going to school, of all times. Well dressed and homely, it's a woman with soft eyes and a man who Peter seems to take after quite a lot. Mary and Richard Parker. He stands there with his hands curled around his backpack straps, his chin stiffened and a sort of earnest relief in his eyes.]

... Hi, mom and dad.

[He could barely remember their faces, outside of photos. It's weird. They're not like Ben's ghost, from before. They're warm and seem — not in pain. As he walks to school, they trail after him, and he — doesn't even hesitate to start talking about talking.

Just in case it's really them. And just in case they wanna know how life's been.]

... And I've been doing pretty good in school. I'm in sophomore year right now, it's kind of — messy, since I turned sixteen here but I was just turning fifteen back home? Anyway, I've been working mainly with robotics and organic chemistry, since I think that's where my brain ends up most of the time anyway. I got to work with Tony Stark — you know, he's a superhero now, not a weapons dude? So don't think it's anything shady...

[Rambling Pete, that's his name today.]

III. Hog Wild. (Spider-Man)

[... In other news, Spider-Man is webbing up mean alien hogs.

He flies overhead and hollers:]

Five pigs in a blanket, ready for order 132!

[Oh my god that was lame. But he's here to make sure nobody gets murdered by giant boars, okay?]

IV. Drift Compatible. (Spider-Man)

Whoa, holy shit!

[Peter's here at the Perimeter Guard, actually running all around the mechas in question and rattling off a bunch of different things regarding the specs on this bad boy. He's into robotics, after all — so this is pretty much the coolest thing ever, even after all the shit he's seen. Iron Man suits are crazy awesome, this is crazy awesome, and he totally wants to try to pilot one of these things. Don't mind the arachnid kid crawling all over one of the mini-mechs.]

Can I try it? Oh boy, Jyushi's gonna get a kick out of Spider-Man in a cool mecha.

It'll be like I'm on Japanese television. What did they call them again? Power Ranglers? Heck yeah.

[Peter Parker you are as strong as those mech, you'd be no good inside one.]

I (side A)

[yakyuuman]

[ Jyushimatsu quickly got used to seeing ghosts blinkin and out of his sights, having noted that they're overall harmless if you're not absolutely terrified of them. He even spotted Akatsuka sensei and failed to communicate with him, but it was an experience that emotionally knocked him out for a while.

Now feeling better, he's wandering around and watching the spookyness affecting the whole city... until his eyes catch the sight of a familiar spandex guy jumping? Over a rope? Swung by something invisible?

... Alright, he must step in.

Hopefully the rope is long enough, because he will join the jumping out of nowhere and keep up with the pace without any issues. ]

Sup, Suppaidaman! Taking a break from justice?

Angel Evangelista | Pose

[redpumps]

( A. Doom Dates )

Angel has never had the opportunity to go to something quite like this. She was dressed casually in black shorts and longsleeved orange shirt and ridiculously bright orange boots as she wandered around after gaining entrance. She's not sure exactly what she wants to do, walking around and curiously looking at all the sights. She's still new and hasn't really made a lot of friends yet but at any opportunity, she'll wave and smile at people and try to start a conversation with a pleasant hello if anyone gives her the opportunity. She's not particularly shy or introverted.

At various activities, she'll catch someone who's also by themselves. "Would you like to try this with me?"

( B. Feast of the Dying )

[ The haunted house themed sort of ball is right up Angel's alley. Unfortunately, her clothing design is not nearly on par with Bianca's when she's on her own but she still made her own dress, a black number like this. The party isn't exactly what's she's used to but she's good enough at figuring out how to fit in places.

While you might find her nibbling at something or other or drinking heartily, she's much more likely to be found dancing.

If anyone looks too much like a stick in the mud or that they're shy or uncertain, they'll find themselves with a smiling Angel in their personal space. ]

Dance with me! [ It's not really said like a question, honestly. ]

( C. Wildcard )

[ I'll match tenses and styles! Feel free to hit me with your best shot or hit me up via PM or on plurk at poetanarchy if you want to plot something or want a specific starter. ]

b.

[tevinteraltus]

[Dorian would never miss a chance to attend a ball, and this time is no exception. Dorian is dressed in a rather striking suit, and seems no stranger to parties of any sort. This one seems almost novel, though, and he helps himself to a glass of wine from a nearby table which just so happens to be near Angel. Of course, and he takes a healthy pull from that glass when the demand is made.]

It would be my honor.

Stan Uris ( It 2017 )

[stantheman]

( A. Feast of the Dying )

Overall, Stan is not a fan of anything this month. He'd run into a few clowns and very nearly had considered not leaving his room for the foreseeable future but, of course, neither Richard or Alex would have heard of that and Beverly's here now so he should be a good friend and make sure to be around for everything. After all, this is all even newer for her.

But, he really is quite anxious with the spooky setting that reminds him a little too much off the Neibolt house but he knew it was definitely less dangerous but he's rather easily startled here. When he's not with Bev or someone else he knows, he's in one of the more secluded areas with a drink and actually reading a book until he's interrupted.

No one can say he hadn't come, though.

( B. Closed to Laura )

[Stan spends a lot of the time at the library. Maybe a little less with Beverly here now but still more than the average kid. He’s not forgotten his offer to help Laura catch up and learn more things. He’s found some of the Pegasus lore finally and he had read through it a few times before asking Laura if she wanted to come check them out with him.

He also had an intention to get to know more of what she would like learning about. She’d helped him find some birds he hadn’t seen before in the zoo a while ago and so he could try and return the favor as best he could.

So, Laura can find him in one of the quiet corners of the library, his nose stuck in a book as he waited for her to arrive. ]

( C. Wildcard )

[ I'll match tenses and styles! Feel free to hit me with your best shot or hit me up via PM or on plurk at poetanarchy if you want to plot something or want a specific starter. ]

[shoplifter]

[Laura's still skittish following what had happened, but she's slowly been returning to the city — and has accepted the traumatic event for what it was. It's still hard to talk to people, to pretend she feels as normal as she had began to feel... but people here have been kind. And patient. And forgiving. For that, she can't help but wander back from the cold and accept offers.

So she visits Stan, her green backpack on and horse keychain swaying back and forth as she comes to meet him. She keeps her voice low, because she's learned the affairs of libraries.]

Hola.

Harry Goodsir | The Terror

[bestsir]

i. feast of the dying
(Warnings for spoilers for The Terror, also gore and you know, everything about the show.)

Harry respects the festival tradition and is also deeply ambivalent about it. He avoids the celebrations, the escape rooms, the tests of courage, preferring instead to stay focused on his studies and his work. Of course, the hospital morgue is probably one of the worst places to be, and the first time he encounters a ghost there, he actually faints. Luckily none of the morgue ghosts are particularly malevolent—they are lonely, bored, lost, and the worst they seem inclined to do is try to talk to him, and some of them have a lot to say. Harry inadvertently ends up learning a fair amount about the city as a result.

His own ghosts, on the other hand, are another matter altogether. They ambush him on the walk up to his house, as he walks through the town, or when he makes the mistake of going out alone at night.

There's Morfin, his head half gone just as it was when he and Elizabeth encountered his shade in the abandoned compound. Irving in tatters. David, gaunt, bloody-mouthed, eyes still wide in terror at something only he can see. Silna's father, silent and reproachful. These are bad enough, and it gets worse as days pass. Fitzjames appears, blood seeping down his forehead from his hairline and soaking through his clothes. The burned and trampled figures of the men who died at the Carnivale. By the time the ghosts stop appearing, Harry is quietly, stoically, but unmistakably a frazzled mess.

At least he never encounters the shades of Silna or Crozier. Or, especially, Hickey.

ii. creepy chaos

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Harry is in no mood to dress up for the Frysh costume celebration. But if any of his friends do and find themselves afflicted, well ... he will do what he can to help them.

iii. hog wild

Harry started out trying to study the hogs once he heard about them, which means that he finds himself more than once on the front lines of their incursions. He may be found trying to fend them off and also lending a hand wherever he can to clean up after their depredations.

wildcard

Harry has a house now, and people are welcome to visit him. There they will also encounter his growing menagerie of critters—look out for the pair of fire-breathing foxes. He is not as social this month due to the unpleasantness with the ghosts, but he still may be found out and about in the city's shops, restaurants, and coffeeshops.

i

[citharede]

[ Athena is on her way to Harry's house, carrying a pail of fish heads and gore to feed to some of Harry's cuter menagerie members. She's okay with dead fish! Even if they smell. It's dead animals that she has trouble with.

She's also been largely unfazed by the presence of ghosts. These guys are nothing after the phantoms in the woods--they're lost, or lonely, or confused. She's talked to more than a few of them. Some of them have fascinating stories, and sometimes all they need is to tell them.

It makes her feel kind of good, helping them move on.

So there's a spring in her step as she comes up to Harry's door, one which vanishes as soon as she sees him. ]

Dude, who shit in your cornflakes? [ ER. ] I mean are you okay?

Relm Hawke; OTA (please read CWs at the bottom)

[indigobird]

1) Ghosts of the Past**

a. It started with Bethany's laughter. Relm heard it from behind her one day while at home. At first, when she saw nothing, she wrote it off as a trick from her mind. But then, as she would walk about the city doing whatever, she'd catch fleeting images from the corner of her eye: a flash of her red scarf, a toss of her hair...

Finally, after almost an entire day of slowly being convinced she was losing her mind, Relm comes face to face with her. Her sister, forever 18 and young, smiles as she walks up next to her. The ghost says nothing, just stands and watches Relm.

"Beth? Are you...? You came here, too?"

The ghost just smiles wider. Almost too wide. It's unsettling; Hawke frowns. "Why aren't you saying anything? Beth-"

There's a sigh, and the ghost disappears.

Hawke just stands there, eyes a little wide for a moment as what just happened sinks in.

b. But Bethany's not the only one who comes back to visit Relm this month. Really, in hindsight Relm should have expected this would happen.

As she passes by a park late one night, she hears someone wailing. The sound scrapes down her back like nails on a chalkboard. Despite her gut telling her to turn and run, whoever is crying sounds distressed. Relm ventures closer to the source of the sound until she comes upon someone bent over and crying. The park bench blocks a lot of her view, but Hawke still draws nearer. "Hello?"

By the time she realizes who it is, it's too late. Leandra turns around, eyes not her own staring at Hawke as she begins to get up. Relm gasps, stumbling back. "No-"

Leandra shambles forward. Her appearance flickers, and for a moment, she looks normal before flickering back. "My little girl..."

"Stop-"

And she's back to normal again, her brow furrowed and tone chiding, "Relm. Tone, please." Just as quickly as she changed, she's back to the shambling corpse, voice distant. "You've made me so proud..."

Relm screams before flinging streaks of lightning at the ghost. When the dust settles, Leandra is gone... for now. Hawke bends over, hands braced on her knees as her fingers dig in. "Fuck..."

c. Hawke's taken to sitting by the river and letting the sound of the running water drown out everything. The ghosts don't seem to come as often here, at least for her, and if nothing else, she can jump into the river and peace out pretty quickly. Okay, it's a little drastic, but she's getting rather tired of this...

Then someone sits next to her. And considering she heard no footsteps, she's fairly sure it's another ghost. Relm clenches her jaw, looking over to see who it is.

Her father smiles at her, sitting on the riverbank just like she is: knees up and elbows resting on them. His dark hair is lined with strands of gray. It's not all Relm inherited from him: her eyes, her smile, her magic... all from him.

A lump forms in her throat. While she loved Bethany and her mother, and mourns them, Malcolm is the one she misses the most. He'd been her rock, and the only person in her family who really understood her. Strange to remember, then, that it's been over thirteen years since she last saw him.

"...you're not going to do anything creepy like Mother and Bethany, are you?"

There's a hint of a laugh as Malcolm shakes his head, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks." Relm leans her head against his hand. It's cold; so different from the warmth she remembers always radiating off of him. But she doesn't care. It's better than nothing. And even though he'll disappear soon enough, she'll cling to this for as long as she can. "...I miss you."

2) Feast of the Dying

Luckily, Relm isn't being haunted 24/7. When her ghosts give her room to breathe, Hawke's finding herself getting caught up in all this masquerade business. She hated the parties in Kirkwall, and the masks remind her a lot of Orlais. But there's no one she has to schmooze with, and no fat, pompous nobles to drone on at her about the declining value of Antivan flour mills. Also, no poorly veiled hints at marriage arrangements. And the masks are just for the night. All these things are agreeable enough that she decides to give the masquerade a try.

Though her casual wear hardly screams fashionable, Relm does, surprisingly, have some taste in formalwear. Her dress and her mask match, at the very least. She's even wearing jewelry! Shock and awe! Granted, just a simple bracelet and necklace, but still.

Wine in hand, Hawke looks around, taking in the scenery and the people. Despite what should be a plain room, it looks so much like a creepy castle somewhere. Lightning flashes from the windows occasionally, even though the weather is calm outside. She grins a little. "This is some impressive enchanting."

3) Wildcard

Feel free to start your own prompt! Hawke'll be down to do just about anything, except probably the tests of courage. She ain't fucking with the ghosts.

**warning for rather disturbing, graphic imagery here in regards to Leandra and possibly Bethany. For those not familiar with Hawke's canon, Leandra died after getting kidnapped and being subjected to a Frankenstein-ian project. Bethany died by being crushed by an ogre, so body horror and blood warnings apply

B!

[11calls]

Alex hates October. She's definitely really starting to hate it even more the longer she's outside and she's seeing what people are needing to go through when it comes to the ghosts that hover around them. And to think, there'd been a time when Alex definitely had called herself a fan of ghost stories! She wanted nothing more than to shake herself for that now.

Coming forward to see the woman turn into a zombie-like thing, there's no way that Alex can describe it as anything other than that. It looked like a zombie to her, and that was something that was new in Riverview, even in the month of October. But the zombie seemed to know Hawke, and that made her worry for her friend.

Arriving at the woman's side just following the spell, Alex moved onto her knees next to her, and spoke softly, while extending her hand towards the other woman's back. "Hawke..."

Dorian Pavus | Dragon Age

[tevinteraltus]

i. feast of the dead

a. tests of courage
When one is haunted by the spirit of one's dead father, who has been insisting every time he decides to manifest himself that Dorian has been doing nothing but biding his time, wasting away in this place instead of enacting any real change, that he was doing nothing but squandering the position he'd left to his son, that he hadn't lost his tendencies towards decadence and excess, and that it would spell the end of anything he'd hoped to accomplish. That he was a disappointment as he had always been...and so on, one such as Dorian decides he needs to prove himself.

A necromancer by warrant of it being the most difficult specialization, what better place to prove his worth than one of the most haunted locations in the Quarantine? If no one approaches this particular insane asylum, rumored to drive all who attempt to spend the night within mad, he's just going to do this alone. After the few months Dorian's had, caution seems to be the least of his worries. He does have a notebook with him that he seems to be reading, a confident smile on his face.

"Spirits reputed to drive any trespassers mad, you say? I don't fear these spirits."

b. the feast
After a fruitful shopping excursion, Dorian will be attending this year's Feast of the Dying dressed to the nines, with a splendid mask to compliment the ensemble. Does he lament not having someone to attend the ball with? Perhaps, but that's all the more reason to shine so brightly. Give them the old razzle dazzle, as the saying goes, and Dorian is old hat at precisely that thing. He can be found on the dance floor, always open for a partner, at one of the many refreshments tables helping himself to yet another glass of wine, or anywhere in between, should someone wish to take his arm, or simply catch him as he makes his way around. He seems to be in high spirits, of course, laughing or joking, smiling his charming smile. Whatever could be the matter, really?

v. wildcard
(If there's something in particular you'd like to thread, or something unrelated to the above, hmu here! Or you can shoot me a like at vikael or on discord at prettyvikael#0221)

b

[indigobird]

Look who else is helping themselves to more wine. Why, it's Hawke, surprise surprise. And oh, Dorian, while you're pouring yourself a glass, Hawke will hold out hers to be poured next. Fair's fair, right? Since he didn't bring her a glass the other night and she had to drink out of the bottle like some Fereldan heathen. She smiles blithely as she waits.

"You know," she remarks, "I wasn't sold on that mask of yours. But I find it's growing on me. It certainly suits you, at any rate."

Jyushimatsu Matsuno | Osomatsu-san | OTA

[yakyuuman]

i; ghosts from the past

[ Come the sunset, when he's about to finish his swings and head back home for dinner, Jyushimatsu suddenly notices the air changing around him. He stops, baseball bat hung in the air while he looks around. He somehow feels off, like the world changed its axis under his feet and yet no tremor goccurs underneath, and all he hears is the sound of rustling leaves as the breeze of autumn chills his sweaty face. The park is empty of people now, a fact he didn't pay attention to until this stronger sensation struck him out of nowhere.

He's alone, and yet he can distinctly feel a pair of eyes on him. Whoever is spying on him must be a ninja, because everything stays still even as he opens his ears to listen in, hoping the alleged stalker makes a false move. Few minutes pass, and... nothing. Jyushimatsu stiffens, tension pulling at his muscles. He still smiles, but it's formed from habit and no trace of glee.

Then he hears it - the sound of hands clapping, over and over. Someone is applauding him? An old man's laughter resounds in his ears and it's immediately familiar, low, deep, warm, like a father, a certain creator...

He finally catches the source in the corner of his eyes, and he turns with a mix of shock and sadness. The man is smiling in his usual attire and knowing verve, applauding and laughing nonstop. ]

Akatsuka sensei...?

[ Breath caught in his throat, Jyushimatsu steps closer to his creator, tries to reach out, but the man disappears as his hand seems to pass through for a second, and shivers run down his spine. That's a ghost... a ghost?! Really now?! Gasping, he drops the bat and starts flailing around with both hands, desperately clinging onto the hope that the spirit of his creator reappears and talks to him. ]

Akatsuka sensei! Wait! Come back, Akatsuka sensei!!!

[ Anyone passing by the park can witness the sight of a super agitated Jyushimatsu thrashing around and screaming AKATSUKA SENSEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIII to the wind. Feel free to try calming him down or make fun of him. ]

ii; escape room

[ He likes horror theme parks, the ones he went to when he was a kid were a blast. Nowadays it hardly scares him anymore, but for the sake of killing boredom he's going to drag someone into the escape room and see what they can do with their combined smarts. Fun times are ahead of him!

As he drags the unfortunate sap by the arm, he cheerfully regards them with a big, way too big smile. ]

Hey hey, don't be shy, I'm sure we'll survive this and then brag about it later!

iii; tests of courage

[ For this one, Jyushimatsu didn't find a ready volunteer that'd keep him company, so he eventually walked into the abandoned building alone.

Well, that wasn't the best idea ever, and he realizes it as soon as he hears intelligible whispering, cold breathing over his neck, and the distinct feeling that ghosts are trying to touch him. It's uncomfortable, and for every ghastly touch he's going to swat his arm towards where he thinks the ghost is fluttering from, yelling at them to CUT IT OUT or else. Not that he can do a lot, unless there are objects laying around that could chase the fuckers away.

He'll choose to sit in the middle of the dark room, flashlight in hand, illuminating his own face and twisting it in a most ridiculous expression, hoping it'll scare the ghosts off. Any brave soul also wandering the place may look at that and think they're seeing an ugly ghost grinning wide and scary at them, showing all his vaguely sharp teeth? Please don't kill him. ]

iv; feast of the dying

[ Party! Despite the gloomy theme and place, he'll appear dressing nicely although his mask leaves a lot to be desired in terms of detail. He doesn't think he needs to be particularly elegant when his main purpose is to hoard the food area. He thinks he deserves to stuff himself after all the scare and emotional rollercoaster of the past spooky days!

Cheeks filled up to the brim with food, he'll regard any person he sees with a muffled HELLO and a nod, spitting bits of food as he does so. Always so gross, dude. ]

v; creepy chaos

[ Normally he could have gone with the werewolf option, or zombie. Heck, even vampire sounds really neat if he used keptchup to make people assume he's drinking real blood.

But here's the twist: he's a witch. Even he is not sure the mental gymnastics he went through to convince himself that being a witch was the best decision to take for this year's Halloween... or similar festivity in Riverview. But here he is, dressing as a cute (?) witch and carrying an old broom... which for some reason can legit fly and carry him around?

Honestly... he's not bothered at all. In fact, he's going to enjoy flying around as the whole rest of the city goes crazy.

Next moment you'll see him fly up to you, looking pretty excited and sparkly all over. ]

Need a ride? There's a bit of space for two here! No worries, Jyushirin promises everything's safe!

[ No, it's not. ]

vi; wildcard

[ Hit me up on gaiamemories if you wanna plot things! ]

ii

[otherflash]

[ The unfortunate sap in this equation happens to be Wally West. Really, all he wanted to do was say hi to Jyushimatsu after running into him while he was aimlessly wandering around the area, maybe even engage in a few minutes of small talk since they haven't seen one another in a while. But it seems the other man apparently has something different in mind.

Not that Wally looks too bothered about being dragged in the direction of one of the escape rooms that are currently set up. Doing one with Dick last year had been pretty fun, after all. He will, however, playfully roll his eyes at his friend's words that accompany the dragging. ]

Uh-huh. [ He'll be sure to tell all his friends about their victory. ] And I suppose you're going to make me do this the honest way, too.

[ Dick had made it very clear that using his speedster magic was against the spirit of the experience. He disagreed but whatever. ]

Teddy Altman | Marvel 616 | open & closed prompts

[analienprince]

i. ghosts from the past

[If he's honest, the prospect of ghosts after the last time he went out exploring isn't really all that inviting, but-- then he saw his mom. Not a twisted, wrong version of her. Not one that was burnt or decaying. It was just his mom, smiling at him in that warm way that she always did... and he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel his eyes sting just a little bit at the site.]

Mom... I've missed you so much. I have so much I'd like to tell you about.

[But part of him knows he won't be able to, no matter how much. He can't stop himself from reaching out though, trying to touch her... and it looks almost like she's going to reach back, but she fades away before he can really get there.

He stares for a moment, wide-eyed and maybe a little teary, but-- he cracks a smile despite himself.]

ii. escape room ; tommy shepherd

Okay, so-- we're in agreement on the no speeding too far ahead thing, right?

[Because it's an escape room -- and isn't one of the fun things supposed to be looking for clues and stuff together?]

Because it's not going to be all that exciting if you're solving everything by yourself, Tommy.

iii. test of courage ; billy kaplan

With everything we've seen, I'm pretty sure this hotel is gonna be a piece of cake, right?

[It is a really creepy hotel, but... ah, well. What' a few ghosts? He's dealt with those too. He shifts the backpack on his shoulder and gives a thoughtful hum as they enter through the lobby. It's old and it's dusty... huge and eerily empty. It's like the start of a creepy horror movie.

And Teddy wants to hope that's really all there's going to be for the most part -- an unsettling atmosphere. But he's not naive enough to really believe it.]

... Although I'm not going to make any promises if we see the creepy Shining twins. Or an old lady in a bathtub. I do have some very firm lines, Kaplan.

iv. doom dates
[Okay, so he's not exactly interested in date dates with anyone besides two very special people, but-- the idea of haunted houses, free rides, and just generally goofing off at the amusement park? That's right up his alley and he'll be checking out as much of it as he can, with whoever he can drag with him or meet up with. Haunted houses, rides, games, and absolutely anything else that seems to catch his attention.]

v. feast of the dying

[Formal balls aren't usually his thing... or ever really his thing? But Teddy gets dressed up in a very smart tux and a cool mask and heads inside. He can be seen at the tables for food and drink, asking people to dance, or just generally mingling. To his surprise, he's enjoying himself quite a bit, even if everything's a little more formal than he's used to.]

iii.

[wiccant]

I don't know, T.

( there's no pack on his back, but he does have a messenger bag slung over a shoulder. it's a lot lighter, but look: teddy's got super strength, he could carry a car if he wanted. it's not bad to take advantage of his boyfriend's super strength. )

We've seen some stuff, but generally not in abandoned hotels. ( no, billy isn't prepared to deal with ghosties. yes, he will do it anyway. ) It's a good thing we're both powerhouses, isn't it?

Lola Pacini (Degrassi) | OTA

[threatenwithcuteness]

Feast of the Dying

Lola loves parties, with food, and dancing. She loves to dance, she loves to eat, she loves to try new things. She also loves, since being in the quarantine, masqurades. The advantage she has is her hair, her hair that changes color to her whims and desires. Which means that each day of the Feast she shows up in a different dress, with a different color scheme, and a different mask. The only running theme is that all of her outfits are, of course, cute.

And with the Frysh tech, she can do even more. Not really enough to prevent anyone that knows her from seeing who she is, but enough to make it a really impressive trick. She rented a hologlove to hide her left arm, so both her zombie dress (skeleton arm) and steampunk dress (robot arm) make use of. Her other dresses aren't as themed but are cute and fun and let her dance.

Which is what matters, oh, and she's probably asking you to dance.

Right now.

Creepy Chaos - October Tenth

Lola's very annoyed she can't change her hair color right now. Not that she hates the snow white hair with little pink highlights, but it wasn't her hair. She'd put on a wig to go with her costume for the evening. The hair was longer and braided and looked super elegant. But it was a wig.

Was a wig. It was her hair now. And the wings from her costume were bigger and felt really sensitive. She hated magic and it was stupid, and she hated how it could just change everything about her.

And she really missed being taller. You would think not even five feet isn't very tall, but as she would be envious of a Barbie doll's height right now. That was her day.

Still, she could fly. That bit she was enjoying. It was almost like her faerie body knew how to fly and she just had to want to. It wasn't any real work. But it still meant she needed to find spots to land that were, more or less, at eye level with people.

...and not fly over people's heads. That'd be awkward. Her panties didn't really match the dress and nobody needed to see them.

Wildcard

Alex Reagan | The Black Tapes Podcast | OTA

[11calls]

Feast of the Dying Ball: OTA

Despite Alex Reagan's penchant for wearing normally sensible and comfortable clothing, she dearly loves to dress up. Dressing up is one of the reasons that she loves the Balls in Riverview so much honestly. And of course, that's the reason that Alex has dressed herself to the nines for this one, possibly even over doing it. The Backless black gown is almost absurdly over the top, and required a pair of heels that were a bit more than Alex felt comfortable in, but when there's that much tulle around your feet, you really didn't have a choice. Her mask is a bit of a private joke, after Richard and Simon both compared her to a cat, but it seemed too perfect to pass up in all honesty.

Of course a ball in a well designed and elaborate haunted house is somewhat less than ideal, just given her life, but Alex is bound and determined to have fun at this party. So, she's entirely all smiles, even in the face of things that normally wouldn't be so fun for her, and a flute of champagne is clasped loosely in her hand unless she's eating something or dancing. Alex is definitely up for dancing, if she's asked.

Ghosts: OTA, TW: Gore.

Alex was aware that it was October. She was more than a little bit aware of what that meant when being in the Quarantine, as much as she hated it. But despite hating it, staying locked in her house wasn't practical or feasible, especially when she was quite fond of the life that she had. Besides, if she even made the attempt Alex knew herself: she'd go completely stir-crazy and insane. If she ever doubted it, the only thing that she needed to do was to look back at the week that she'd spent on bedrest for her damned ribs. And there was the worrisome thought that who even knew if the houses themselves were safe from the city's 'visitors.'

So, she was out walking her large gray pitbull when it happened. There was a soft sound behind her, and Alex tried very hard to ignore it. But it was impossible to ignore when something called out her name. More than something, someone and a someone whose voice was very familiar at that. It was a voice that she'd heard in her nightmares, though not with the same regularity as she heard the woman's voice who she'd thought that she'd see.

Keith Dabic, the former guitarist for Hastur Rising, Seattle's famous metal band was speaking to her softly, in his melodic voice. "Alex," he drew her name out, and she just turned around blinking at the former member of the band who was currently wearing the black monk's robes of The Order of the Cenophus. Color washed out of her skin, when he spoke again, "you told people that the unsound wasn't real, Alex. That the Mysterium wasn't real..." The man's pale skin on his face just disappeared for a moment, leaving the visra below it exposed, reminding Alex of the way that someone had sewn the skin to their own face before throwing Keith Dabic out of a window or something. "How could you do that, Alex? How?"

[I'll match style and tense! Other ideas? I'm all open for them. Drop one here or hit me up at aproclivity]

Ghosts

[nobasisinfact]

Richard had heard about the ghosts showing up here in Riverview. He knew about Maddie Franks having arrived last year, and he remembered too well in the forest when Thomas Warren, the Helvation, and the demons that had once been called 'Tall Paul' had manifested. There was no way that he could let Alex, a woman with so much guilt over the deaths of those that she'd crossed paths with, be entirely alone.

Keith Dabic's appearance only solidified his thoughts.

When Keith began blaming her for exactly what Richard knew she would blame herself for, his belief that these were more hallucinations solidified. The truth was that Riverview was doing this to themselves (which, didn't actually explain his own teenage ghost that was following him).

"It's hardly your fault that Keith chose to let fear over a sound overtake his logic and reasoning, nor is it your fault that he chose to turn to an insane demonic cult for answers." As Richard walked, the teenager walked with him, as if he were observing him. It was a strange feeling, being followed by the 'ghost' of a boy he really had no major attachment to, but it was there, and he wasn't about to let it keep him from making sure Alex knew damn well that the ghosts of her past's choices were their own.

Elizabeth Bennet: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: OTA

[wit_and_sword]

A: Doom dates
Having grown up with the constant threat of zombies, Elizabeth was torn at the thought of a festival dedicated to monsters and the undead. She could see the humor in it of course, and it was clear to anyone with eyes that no one was in any real danger and it was all 'smoke, mirrors and make-up', but even so, part of her felt there was also something distasteful. Not everyone came from a world where such creatures were only imaginary, and she herself had to keep the constant reminder that these were only people in costume and she shouldn't attack them.

She avoided most of the haunted attractions, just to be on the safe side. Instead, Elizabeth took to admiring the costumes and decorations from a distance. Such effort had to be given credit after all, and it was easier to see the street performers for what they were and not attack them either.

B: Feast of the Dying
When Elizabeth heard of the ball, she was genuinely looking forward to it. Now that there was no pressure for her to marry, she felt surely she could enjoy such an event without any pressure.

The gown she'd selected was not a color she'd usually gravitate towards. Back home, nearly all balls and dances ran the risk of being crashed with zombies, and dark colored gowns were easier to have cleaned of blood than lose with lighter fabrics. Yet, she was told this would be more appropriate for the holiday, besides, with any luck the only 'undead' that would attend would be the false, decorative kind-or at the very least those in costume.

Of course, this did not stop her from attending the ball with several daggers strapped under her boots. Better to be safe than sorry as the saying went.

Wearing the mask she'd selected for the ball, Elizabeth strolled along the rooms in the house. There was something rather cheeky about throwing a Ball in such a home, with the decorations contrasting greatly with festive revelers, it was rather like throwing a gauntlet in the face of death, a way of saying 'we will make merry inspite of you'.

Seemed rather like home in a sense, only without the morbidity.

C:Hogs

Of course, Elizabeth would be one set up to stop the hogs from breaking into the gates. She had a sharp eye and even sharper aim, and while the buggers were difficult to kill, she was well versed in atleast crippling them to make them easier to kill.

For the most part, her position was up on a platform, keeping watch over those making repairs and trying to block the hogs from making an entry. Every so often though, she was down there with them, assisting and even devising ways of trying to discourage the beasts from entering. The hogs might be more intelligent than those she had grown up with, but she had not grown up in a culture of tracking and hunting zombies for nothing.

ooc: Have a different prompt you'd prefer, PM this account or send a PP at rschwartz501; will match format for tags.

Feast of the dying

[nobasisinfact]

For Richard's part, he was not wearing his mask, but it was in his hand. He'd really only worn it for Alex.

Seeing Elizabeth making her way in and around the ball as if she'd been there all her life was interesting to watch. Especially in contrast to the last time they'd spoken. Then, she had been training and rather fierce, impressive actually. Now she was more delicate looking, and that seemed to suit her as well. There was no doubt that Elizabeth was an interesting woman, which made it all the more expected that Alex would have chosen her for a best friend.

As he made his way over to her he grabbed a drink, offering it to her as his other hand help a glass of scotch. Alex was, somewhere around. She often got lost in things like this. Or, as often as she'd been able to drag him to things like this. "I wouldn't have expected to see you here."

gyda: vikings: OTA

[like_quicksilver]

A: Escape room
Gyda's curiosity had gotten the better of her. The test of courage seemed almost wrong and asking for trouble; disturbing someone's resting place seemed less of courage and more of foolishness.

The escape rooms, the places that required skill and a goal at the end-that she could get behind. Puzzles were always something that interested her, and to go in a building where you had to use your brain to escape, that's what fascinated her.

She entered the building with a group of people, the theme, being a sort of lab, and set about trying to find how to escape.

b: doom dates
Growing up where death was common and people used all sorts of bones as charms and other ways to divine the fates of men, Gyda was rather shocked to find that the decorations and fake blood didn't scare her as she thought they might. She knew the difference between what was real and what was fake after all, and she found the actors who jumped and scared people to be more funny then anything else.

Some of the shocks and jumps got a genuine scare from her, but otherwise, she found herself laughing more than screaming.

In truth, she'd been looking forward to this for weeks now. The chance to dress up and be scared at no real threat all sounded like a lot of fun. Perhaps it wasn'g going door to door for sweets, but there were prizes and some shop owners were giving out candy. She could certainly see why people enjoyed it.

While most bought their costume from the shops, some of the girls at school took pride in making their own, and she joined right in. With some (a lot of) help from the tailor who made hers and Ivar's clothes, her own elf costume wasn't one that was a direct copy, but based on her time with Galadriel and the stories from home. Those she had seen in the shop seemed, well, she couldn't say how anyone would think it wasn't just a nice gown, and she knew well enough that Elves had a certain dignity that wouldn't allow her to dress in something silly.

She walked down the street with some of the attractions, wondering if she should test her nerve by going inside. After what she'd experienced, something with fake scares actually sounded like fun.

c: Creepy Chaos

Gyda knew something happened soon as she stepped out of the door. Nothing hurt, but something felt different. For one, she was aware that even in the low light of dusk, she could see as clearly as day, and sounds were so much more clearer. The weather wasn't cold, but suddenly the short mantel she had on seemed more for decoration then for warmth. She felt stronger too, like she could run for miles and not get tired.

She went shop to shop, those giving out candy or baked goods. If she ran into anyone she knew, she'd surely walk over and ask if they received anything interesting or were looking to trade.

Of course, if she saw anyone about to play a trick on someone..she might be tempted to help them out as well

ooc: Have a different prompt in mind or a starter, PM this account or send a PP at Rschwartz501. Will match format to tag

C

[mutant_messiah]

[For Cable's experience, he wore no costume--unless being Cable counted as a sort of costume in its' own weird way. In that case he was only going to get that much more Cable-y as time went on.

So just the usual day for him, then.]

Gyda. What kind of haul do you have so far?

finn | ota

[bythehand]

i. ghosts from the past.

[ Finn is, sadly, not immune to the ghost effect. But after dealing with the whole "especially angry and murderous apparitions in the spooky forest" thing last month... maybe more prepared to deal with it than he'd normally be? Because the strange thing is the real ghosts are. Less terrible.

Just in general.

They come and go, as event tradition dictates. Not very many, just the same sort of handful.

There are a couple of days where Finn boldly falls off the face of the moon, for all intents and purposes. Sometimes your old dead superior officer starts tooling around in your vicinity and you do the cool thing like that. Try to sneak off somewhere unconnected to all the things you like and people you know and keep her from interacting with anything good in your life At All. Sit in a dark room for a few hours, I guess.

If anyone is in the market for sad angsty child soldier content, the makings of that recipe are all available. From dead old teammates to Phasma, etc. Stealth and secrecy are not Finn's strongest suits, so it's possible to make this happen.

One of the main and more easily-spotted ghost flavors of the month is Finn's old, crotchety companion, Han Solo. The gifset is pretty much their peak dynamic in a nutshell. So it might be that they're more easily-spotted just because (after the initial adjustment period where the Emotions probably happened for Finn) there's a lot of petty bickering ground to cover. Finn is nearly always prepared to be fed up with Han Solo. He doesn't care who sees him yelling at a grumpy dead old man 2k18.

It's kind of like having a weird space uncle unexpectedly show up to stay in your apartment for a while. Not... bad? Sounds fake, but Finn's not looking any of this bullshit in the mouth. ]


ii. amusement park.

[ Finn definitely finds time to scope out the festivities at the amusement park! Man cannot live by ghost problems and Perimeter Guard hog-wrangling duties alone.

He goes for exactly one night. That's all. Just one. Maybe he's invited and wants to hang with whoever invited him. Maybe he was just curious and thought it was worth seeing what all the festivities were gonna be. He might get wrangled into one or two of the mid-range haunted house attractions.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for Finn Lastname, career high-strung mess, he hates this. Boy! He hates most of it. Realistically-rendered monstrosities and injuries. Spooky music. Still not a fan of the sound of people screaming at something in the distance.

Jumpscares? NO!!!

Finn is a restrained enough young man to not punch harmless employees or volunteers in the face. He is not quite free enough of his own impulsive nature to avoid, you know. Getting spooked when a zombie pops out of a bush and screams in his face, and jumping backwards. Shoutout to whoever he just knocked himself right into. That's his bad. He is also prone to, in the event of a successful jumpscare, maybe catching the nearest person by the sleeve or shirt or hand and trying to pull them behind him, like he's about to square off with discount store Dracula??? He doesn't square off with them, but for a second he's definitely like "yep time to defend home base here."

Could this be the night he learns he does like a modicum of personal space from time to time?

Anyway, he's not in the park terribly long, obviously. A few hours at most. Catch him if you dare. ]


iii. feast of the dying.

[ That's right, folks. It's been almost a year and the galaxy print suit is back out for use. In theory, Finn could have shopped around for a new one to wear. Something a little more "holiday about dying"-themed. But consider: he already owns this one. Plus it's the one Taako helped him pick out back in January, and he's still pretty fresh in his missing-Taako juice supply.

Actually it kind of reminds him of a lot of nice conversations he had with people he misses, so a lot of birds with one stone there.

It's a real toss-up on whether or not he's bothering with the mask part of the masquerade at any point where he runs into someone doing the standard fancy-party mingling? Sometimes he is, sometimes he's taking a break. Finn doesn't have anything against respecting tradition, but he also got enough of being faceless and anonymous before he ever got to the Quarantine. He's not the biggest fan. And in the spirit of having fun, he's not going to be too strict about it.

Finn's doing pretty much all your standard party mingling things. Eating food, trying to make smalltalk, avoiding any of the decorations that verge on too creepy. People-watching for sure. He's not necessarily against making out in a private room if the wind blows in that direction. Just kind of chilling. As much as he does. ]


iv. hog wild.

[ HELL IS REAL AND IT'S GIANT HOGS. For a guy who was joking around with his roommate about wrangling big animals a couple of months ago, this is patently unfair. Maybe he brought it on himself.

Finn's no engineer or repair worker, so his involvement with this unfortunate turn in wild hog events is all primarily fighting-based. Whether it's ground tactics, helping set up traps, protecting people who are trying to repair something that's been damaged by encroaching hogs, or yes, the giant mechs, he's generally a pretty active and watchful participant whenever he's called in for a shift.

Come fight hogs with him. Come complain with him about fighting hogs when there's a lull in hogs to fight. Come. I don't know exactly, but I feel like if there's not a point where one or more people wind up on the backs of hogs in an extremely ill-advised attempt to control where they're headed, then something's been done wrong.

He's committed and he takes this duty very seriously, and anything he can do to look out for his assigned teammates is his top priority.

But he probably also winds up straight-up yelling at a wild hog for something at some point.

It's all about balance. ]


v. drift compatible.

[ And what would any self-respsecting prompts list be without giant mecha fights? A shabby one, that's what. Finn is here! He's getting it in gear! He's once again on-board for the big robots to defend the city from big angry wildlife.

Kind of nice to have a better idea what he's doing this time around, too.

Finn defaults to manning the weapons station. That's where his real strength lies and he's not afraid to admit it. He'll make it a point to introduce himself to any operating partners that he hasn't met yet, and to maybe talk about a game plan regardless. He's a big team player, and he aims to act like it.

Now come be a pilot, he basically collects them and he does that best during big chaotic fights and/or crashes. ]


wildcard.

[ If anything above doesn't strike your interest but you want that CR, feel free to contact me here or at comatoseroses to hash something different out! I don't bite and I don't mind writing closed starters. ]

iii.

[shootsoff]

[Even if Roy weren't one of those people who could spot his friends in a crowd of thousands in about 2 seconds, owing to both his excellent eye for aim and his status as a stage three clinger, Finn would've stuck out a bit in his galaxy print suit. For once, Roy doesn't even hesitate before heading straight over to Finn and grinning at him, tilting his head.]

Hey man. Nice suit.

[It's kind of light-hearted, casual, almost teasing, but there's also genuine appreciation there. After all, those suit pants hug Finn's legs really nice, and the fit across the shoulders is nice and tight too. Roy can't quite help but admire him in it. His own suit is a pretty snug fit too, with the sleeves tight around his biceps, and he's been wearing it long enough that he's loosened the tie a bit, unbuttoned the top button of the shirt, undone the front of the jacket, so he's not quite as put together as he used to be.]

Having a good night?

Simon Templar || The Saint (2017) || OTA

[pacifisticuffs]

i. ghosts from the past

[ Simon looks for them. He looks for them everywhere, every place he can think they might haunt, every high-rise, every fancy restaurant, every expensive gallery.

After that first, brief time with Cameron Waltz, Simon hasn't seen his parents again.

There's a point in his search where he has to stop, step back, find a bar with a dark corner he can hide in to nurse a drink until he gets a hold on himself. He's too far away from communal housing to make it all the way there without crying first. Elbow braced on the table, hand pressed to his forehead, with a drink sitting in front of him—well, he looks a lot less suave than he would if he was feeling remotely himself.

Things only get better when someone jostles his unstable table and dumps his drink onto his turtleneck and slacks. ]

i. the feast of the dying

[ Never let it be said that Simon Templar misses a good party. He goes the well-dressed and well-masked route, rather than full on costume, choosing a white and gold tuxedo jacket and an elaborate white and gold dragon mask.

Whether he's sweeping a lonely-looking someone onto the dance floor, holding doors (or beaded curtains, or whatever spoopy version of a doorway exists) back for fellow partygoers, or flirting shamelessly over the punch bowl, he can be found pretty much anywhere. ]

ii. creepy chaos

[ Simon kinda sorta found a partner to have some fun with on the last night of the Feast. Which is why he's walking home with his costume from said Feast still on, humming cheerfully to himself. Nothing quite like a lazy day after a well-spent night--

He has to stop at a corner as a pang of something strange hits him. It's impossible not to notice the others who stop too. The others in costume. He's reaching for the mask when his balance shifts abruptly, knocking him onto all fours. He feels like he's on a carnival ride that's moving too fast. He can't focus, can't think—

Simon hears cloth ripping close at hand, has the odd sensation like someone is pulling on his nose, pulling and pulling on his nose, jaw, face—

The street around him is shrinking, quickly. His vision is suddenly clear, like his mask has fallen off. Someone, someone small, points at him, screams, and starts running the other direction. They're not the only one running—it's chaos, everywhere. Absolute chaos.

Why can't he get back on his feet?

ooc: Simon is a dragon. HUZZAH. He looks a bit like this, complete with pretty blue eyes. ]

v. wildcard - making friends and influencing people

[ It's quiet, it's dark, it's the part of town where people hear a scream and look the other way. Simon is in work clothes, which is to say, he's dressed down in jeans and a blazer over a turtleneck. Not dressed down enough to go unnoticed in an area like this, but that's part of the point. He's starting from scratch, here. He has no contacts, no wealth to draw on, no friends to speak of. Nothing. He's a stranger in another world, and it's going to take time to make himself comfortable.

Making himself comfortable starts with getting the lie of the land. Getting the lie of the land sometimes starts with finding the lowest form of criminal life and wringing the details they know out of them, so one can move on to the next lowest form of criminal life. And so on and so forth, onward and upward until a body reaches someone of substance.

The air has the tang of a thunderstorm to it, which suits his mood well enough. At least he doesn't have to worry about ruining his one good pair of shoes--those are neatly tucked away in his closet back in communal housing.

Muttered to himself and the world at large: ]

I haven't been in a dormitory for a decade, and I don't intend to go back now.

[ The world at large is a vexing place at the moment.

He feels the presence of someone in an alley as he walks past more than he sees them. He feels them move, and moves with them, sliding away from their attempt to grab his arm. He seizes their opposite wrist instead. Twists it around and up behind their back before he kicks the back of the person's knees, driving them to the ground.

The work of a breath, a few brutal seconds. He pushes the person's hand a little farther up their back, leveraging the pain for a moment before he eases his grip enough to keep his captive from either screaming or escaping. ]

Now then. Let's talk, you and I.

[ It's more of a growl than he means it to be.

It feels better to have control of someone else than he would cheerfully admit.

It's probably a bad thing that pinning a person this way feels more like home than anything else he's done here.

Oh well. ]

v. wildcard! hmu

feast

[indigobird]

Now that is a mask.

[Hawke's always been a sucker for dragons, and it's hard to miss that mask. She's... mostly sure she recognizes that jawline. Hell, even if it is stranger, there's no way she's not approaching him to start chit-chatting.

Her dress and mask aren't quite as elaborate as his. Honestly, she's kinda bummed she didn't find such a mask earlier. She absolutely would have rocked a dragon theme.]

Have you ever seen one in person?

Bodhi Rook | Star Wars | OTA

[onlyeverdoubted]

i: Wildcard--Newcomer (CW: injury, allusion to violence, alcohol)

Bodhi gets out of the hospital pretty quickly. They must have got him right before the grenade went off, given that if they'd done it right after, there wouldn't have been enough to scrape off the walls, let alone heal. That doesn't do anything for the memory of the clink and roll and certainty of death, but he has plenty of memories to force into the vault. What's one more? Most of what he's actually treated for is exposure and exhaustion, the actual injuries more bothersome than threatening compared to dehydration, frostbite and chilblains, and not having slept for days.

Actually, that last one is a habit of his, but he doesn't feel the need to share.

He's in a bit of a daze when he enters the city proper. First comes checking out his place in communal housing, which far from seeming insulting is the first bed that's been his since he was in the academy dorms. Not that he intends to use it much, but it's nice to think of it being there. He goes exploring after that, splurging on clothes that have never been bled in or on fire and, more importantly, don't bear any Imperial insignia. After that it's definitely a drink he's after. And a card game if he can find one and learn the rules fast.

But as soon as reporting to the Aerial Unit of the Perimeter guard is an option he practically trips over himself to get there. He's not an amazing pilot or an intrepid explorer, but he loves flying. And maybe misses the simplicity of that routine and having people just tell him what to do.

ii: Ghosts from the Past

NiJedha was once the center of dozens if not hundreds of faiths, big and small, strange and simple, united only in being centered on The Force and the kyber crystals that made the little moon what it was. Then it was a smoldering ruin, the surviving monks and pilgrims reduced to indigence and guerrilla warfare, the ones who did not survive often declining to go gentle. In other words, Bodhi grew up in a very haunted city. The glimpses out of the corner of his eye are a bit unnerving, but the dead really don't frighten him in general. There are so, so many, and it's only unusual that they're visible to the eye instead of weighing on him quietly from within. A city wiped off the map toward the end of its slow death, and Bodhi one of the few to make it out alive...

He doesn't look long at any of them, though. Because leaving aside the ghosts of Jedha, there are plenty of dead people in particular who frighten him very much, and others he would hardly feel worthy to see.

It's not one of the threats he finally has to acknowledge. That would have been easier. Bodhi spends most of his time in a state of slow-burning abject terror. But seeing Corporal Tonc--just for a second, a flickering but unmistakable figure a few feet ahead of him--that he can't handle nearly so easily. Of everyone he met in the horrible few days after his defection, the only one who showed him unmotivated, simple kindness--and one he knows for certain died as a result of his stupid plan. Well, who didn't, that day on Scarif, but the master switch was Bodhi's idea.

It's the man he knew for a matter of hours who finally leaves him looking like he's seen a ghost.

[realists]

Jyn is technically part of Jim's Aerial Unit but they all know she is mostly their on the ground girl -- she can fly on her own now but what is the point? She still makes use of their little office space to correct maps or begrudgingly write reports or, more commonly, take naps.

She had seen him when he came in, a glimpse of a familiar ponytail, messy and slightly askew, and an accent that sounded more like hers than her own parents had. She sees him and she ignores him because she doesn't need to be haunted by the ghost of good, brave Bodhi Rook, who survived Saw -- a feat Jyn knows more than anyone was hard to do -- and fucked off from the Empire even when it would have been easier to stay. She's had enough of ghosts and she doesn't want the ghost of a man who could have been her friend to look at her the way she imagines he will; ghostly mouth drawn down in a frown, dark eyes solemn and hurt. They'd followed her to Scarif and they'd died.

(They'd followed their hearts, they knew the risks, they did it for themselves but guilt is a tricky thing.)

It's not until Jyn sees one of the perimeter guards clap Bodhi on the shoulder -- his real, solid shoulder -- that Jyn literally climbs over the desk to stumble out of the office, jumping slightly when the door slams heavily against the wall. Subtlety has never been her strong suit.

"Bodhi."

Chyler Silva | Halo: Forward Unto Dawn

[childofaxios]

i. ghosts from the past (warning for violence/depictions of violence)

[ Surprise! Chyler hates this. She's been bracing herself for this month ever since she found out about its existence. In all the research she's done, she's never found any evidence of people seeing themselves, so at least she won't accidentally announce to the world that she herself should be dead.

That doesn't change the fact that there are ghosts wherever she goes. Ranks of students, dressed in the Corbulo Academy uniform, teachers in their own naval dress uniforms, ODSTs in full op gear. Some of them look almost normal, like if they weren't transparent, if they didn't wink in and out of existence, they could just be people on the street.

Some of them have clearly been massacred. Stabbed through the chest, stomach. Some with legs blown off, others with intestines trailing down to their knees. Chyler's favorite teacher, Colonel Mehaffey, with her ribcage opened up and her insides turned to soup by the explosion that killed her. General Black, shot in the chest by one of the enemy's energy weapons.

Some of the ghosts talk to her. Some of them are resentful, angry, or in tears. Chyler has to find quiet corners to break down herself, crying into Dom's fur periodically in alleyways, in back rooms at the PG, in her quarters.

She looks for her squadmates among the dead, and eventually, she finds them. Dima, Shere, and Kaye don't want much. Forgiveness, understanding. She can give them that without question and they fade. Junjie and Vickers she finds together, and all they want to know is who lived. She can give them that. Or lie to them about it. She's not sure which it is.

But there's no Orensky. No Sully. No Tom. No matter how much she looks, how many ghosts she talks to. No Orensky, Sully, or Tom.

She prays that means they're still alive. Actually prays, sometimes, at random moments, when she sees a ghost in the crowd who could be one of them and then a moment later clearly isn't. She doesn't know who she's praying to, but maybe somewhere out there a power is listening.]

iii. hogwild

a. guarding the techs

[ Chyler might not be the shortest Perimeter Guardsman on duty, but she's definitely the youngest. It gets her more than a few looks from the techs who don't know her, nervous looks, incredulous looks. She's gotten used to ignoring them.

What's harder to ignore is the steady ramming of the pigs against the wall, sometimes very close at hand, and the way the wall has started flickering every time they hit. ]


b. moving the livestock

[ Even when she's off-duty, Chyler can't stand to be idle in the presence of a threat. It helps in keeping her ghosts at bay, too--apparently almost none of them want to get close to the chaos in the agricultural district.

Here, though, without a gun in her hands and with no one to fight, she's almost completely out of her league. She's never had to guide goats, wrestle chicken-like animals into crates, or drive herds of meat animals down narrow fenced paths into the city, toward safer holding pens if not greener pastures.

By the time she's been on the job a few hours, she'll be covered in muck and have lost all sympathy for her dinner. ]

iii. drift compatible

[ I'm running out of steam here, folks. SUFFICED TO SAY, Chyler is happy to blow the hell out of some pigs with the help of anyone who comes her way, whether she's in the pilot seat or manning the gun. ]

i.

[shootsoff]

[This so-called holiday really is the pits. Even though Roy doesn't really have a lot of ghosts to run into, he can tell it's taking its toll on a lot of the people around him, and after a while the tense atmosphere in the city really does get, well, heavy. Some people seem to be handling it okay, but not everyone is, and the people who aren't...well, it's tough to watch. Tough to be around when there's not really much he can do and it's super awkward approaching total strangers who are having a rough time with ghosts - sure he manages some casual interference by making outwardly oblivious conversation with someone who looks like they're getting creeped on by the dead, but that's not much of a contribution.

Not that he's really after a contribution. It's complicated. Roy Harper just enjoys alleviating pain whenever he can get away with it. There's not enough comfort in the world, and he knows it better than most people.

That's why, when he hears the soft, muffled sounds of someone crying halfway down an alley when he's on his way to work out, gym bag over his shoulder, he only hesitates for a moment before peering down to make sure things are okay. It's not the type of crying that suggests someone needs Arsenal's help, but considering what month it is, maybe someone just needs to know there's another person around who gives a crap about how they're doing. The deal is totally sealed when he recognizes the dog, having seen him around the PG, and connects it with the girl on Finn's team at the Guard.

Was it Kyla? Kayla? No. Okay. No names necessary, he's got this without names.

Turning into the opening of the alley, he leans against a wall a few feet away from her and clears his throat carefully, head tilted to the side.]

Hey...you okay?

juniper ● original ● ota

[falselife]

1. ghosts of the past
a: cleansing for hire
[ The line between the Material and Ethereal Planes in this place is blurry and strained. It is alarming at first, to be thrust into a world where, for all she knows, this is the norm - but from what she overhears and sees from those living here already, no, this is not normal. Usually, people here don't see spirits the way that she does, freely and constantly, but she has arrived at a very special, bizarre time of year in which the living and the dead coexist.

Some spirits need guidance, and, as she's quickly discovered, not always from her. Many spirits seem to be haunting specific people, and for those cases, Juniper helps the living understand what the dead need to move on. But still there are others that linger from beyond the grave without attachment to someone, and for those she deals with on her own. One thing led to another, and now Juniper is being paid by various different people to cleanse their businesses, homes, and other places. She can be found in many places, burning incense or sage or sweet grass and murmuring things softly, including: Various businesses (which is why your shopping experience is smelling like burning herbs and there's a strange looking woman circling you), community housing regardless of whether or not this is her floor, Gramarye Magic Research (which apparently has recently hired her on), among others.

For those who don't first approach her as she works, smudging quietly and seeming largely unfocused on the living people she weaves around, she may also end up stopping in front of you anyway. She stares, holding the burning sage in front of her. ]

And what are you searching for?

[ Only, she's not talking to the person in front of her - she's addressing a spirit that this person may or may not have noticed is hovering over them like a cloud. ]

b: helping the dead
[ This particular day ends with the passing of a small spirit.

Juniper isn't sure if young spirits are drawn to her, or if she is drawn to them. All she knows is that when she finds them, she feels a certain level of responsibility that carries her through to the end of their time together.

It is the same here. Passing silently through the people on the street, Juniper holds the hand of a young child. Someone, she thinks, who died here a very, very long time ago - this humanoid girl, lost and upset and reaching out to someone who will just listen. And Juniper listens. Following directions from locals, Juniper escorts the girl to a small, long forgotten graveyard. There, the young girl lets go of her hand. Runs to a tombstone, crumbling and overgrown with vines, where she sits and rubs tears from her eyes. "No one will remember me," She says, sadly, "No one can find me."

Quiet, Juniper follows. She kneels in front of the tombstone, raises her hand, and pulls the vines from the face of the memorial. Presses her hand to the cold stone, rubs the dirt from the lettering. ] Lyra, I will remember you. [ Smiling, the little girl gives Juniper a hug. She says thank you, and she fades from this world one last time, leaving the tiefling embracing only cold evening air until she rests her hands down in her lap.

It's sweet and sad, for Juniper and anyone who may have observed the interaction. Otherwise, Juniper appears as an unusual, pink haired, horned woman in a black cloak sitting all alone by a tomb in a dilapidated old graveyard as the sun sets on the horizon. Context matters! ]

2. feast of the dying
[ Not realizing what this festival was (namely, that costumes were expected), Juniper had, at first, arrived dressed as normal. But apparently, the people of this world, varied as they are, aren't very familiar with tieflings. The ram horns that curl out from her head, her unusual tail that pokes out from her cloak, her dark skin and all white eyes - they're a natural part of her, characteristics all members of her race have. Yet she receives more than one comments to the tune of "nice costume".

Tucking herself away from the crowd for a moment, Juniper quietly casts a spell on herself that outfits her in something a little more appropriate for the occasion. Her face becomes masked in the fashion of a raven, she becomes dressed in black and lace, and wears a shawl of black feathers. It's- well, it's definitely an aesthetic.

Maybe you saw her little transformation, maybe you didn't - either way, she's doing her best to mingle. Or, more accurately, gather information.

Or also steal the last of those little puff pastries you could have sworn were there a second ago, but are now gone when you looked over your shoulder at the sound of what you think was the cry of a raven. Which is weird, considering there doesn't appear to be a raven here... ]

3. wildcard
( Start your own thing or get me to start a different thing, plurk or discord (bumbles#7533) for plotting! Also feel free to use 1a as a wildcard type prompt involving Juniper getting up in your business with her witchy bullshit and/or contacting her about helping with your problem, etc! Will also match format, so do whichever your heart desires. )

1b.

[bamboozlement]

[Jason doesn’t really remember how he ended up in the graveyard - sloppy, for someone who lives and (ha) dies in the details, but he’s been a bit distracted by his own ghosts. Maybe he subconsciously thought that spirits whose bodies couldn’t possibly be buried here wouldn’t follow to hallowed ground.

Then again, maybe he just got lost. Riverview is a big place, and he’s new here. Whatever the reason, he ends up watching Juniper and the little girl, and he can’t help thinking about his own death, how if he hadn’t returned, he would have likely been just as forgotten as Lyra.]

D’you suppose that’s what they all want? To be remembered.

[Hands shoved into jacket pockets, he’s quiet on his approach, the product of years of training and practice in stealth - tall and broad-shouldered, maybe seems a little older than he is because of it. A wicked dark bruise rings one eye and fading remnants of others dapple the rest of his face, clear evidence of a recent fight.]

Beverly Marsh | IT (2017) | OTA

[gristle]

Creepy Chaos.

[Beverly Marsh used to like Halloween. It was one of the few times that Derry didn’t feel like a shit hole. If you wore a mask, most people tended to ignore you when you went around trick-or-treating, and it meant that you had candy for a week if you were good about it. Bev was normally good about it.

And then IT came and everything changed and now she’d never celebrate it at home again.

It’s because of that that she avoided the hell out of the haunted houses and feats of courage and whatever else. Seeing other people's ghosts was bad enough, and she didn't want to end up being in some creepy place and having IT show up. They'd barely gotten out of it last time and that had been with all of the Loser's club together. With just her and Stan it was asking for trouble.

But dressing up? That is something that Beverly can do. And she’s here for that so to speak. So, dressing in the Spidergirl costume that she'd found at one of the stalls in the market (Bev was pretty bad about money still) including her mask Bev is out for some good old fashioned mischief.

Of course she doesn’t know that she’s going to be turning into her costume at some point.]

[ooc: open for both Bev in costume and Bev as Spidergirl. Please specify which!]

In costume

[like_quicksilver]

ooc: linking Gyda's post because it's easier than several image links

Gyda work a jacket under the short cloak of her costume against the chill, but the color was enough that it might've well been part of it. The chill was still mild, but soon as the sun started to set, the wind picked up along with the cold. Besides, the sleeves and her cloak hid the deep scars along her arms. To see them just reminded her of what happened to Laura, and she wasn't sure she could face that just yet.

She was walking around the shops, collecting the various treats vendors were handing out, when she spotted a familiar face from the network and called out to her. "Beverly, good evening."

She'd only met the girl on the network, but with so many girls her age being 'native' to this place, she was eager to meet another visitor who wasn't a boy or a young woman older than herself.

jason todd | ota | see cws below

[bamboozlement]

1a. sure as shootin' the undertaker knows; he lays the headstones in endless rows. (cw: remembered death, parental death, drug use)

Jason doesn't find anything about death worth celebrating. Death is ugly and sharp and comes all too quickly for everyone, and no one knows that better than him. "The greater your fear of death, the easier it is for death to find you" - yeah, right. He wouldn't say he had any particular fear of death - you don't dress up in bold primary colors and soar across city skylines at Batman's side if that's true - but it still found him as a teenager, at the end of a crowbar and a locked warehouse filled with explosives.

But he was already well acquainted with death by then. He'd found his mother when she overdosed, cold and lifeless, and until the day he dies (again), he'll never forget that moment of knowing that she was gone and there was nothing he could do about it. In the end, death comes for everyone.

It's just that in Jason's experience, death doesn't always keep everyone. Maybe that's why he's less shocked than he perhaps should be to see his mother appear to him here, when the demarcations between the living and the dead are less than stable.

It doesn't hurt any less to see her again, even if he tells himself she's not real. That ache he carries in a particular piece of his heart for her never goes away entirely; it was there when she was alive, and it remained after she was dead. But the pain of seeing Catherine again isn't enough to counter Jason's fundamental desire to stay close to her; he always wanted that, and he always will.

Still, this isn't a happy reunion. Anyone who passes by the pair of them seated on a park bench is likely to see Jason's pained expression as plain as day, because he takes no care to conceal it. She's older, on the younger side of middle aged, long red hair and unfocused green eyes; the resemblance in her facial structure to his is slight - Jason took after his father more in the looks department. Her head rests in his lap while she stretches out lazily on the rest of the bench, occasionally drawling something like Jay, be a doll and hand me another cigarette, will ya? He complies every time, a dutiful son even now, absently carding ungloved fingers through her hair until she fades out entirely.

1b. one and all we croak like a raven; it's the dead and the dyin' we're cravin'. (cw: death, blood, hallucinations)

Jason's next visitor is a familiar one, and one that no one will see except him, because the boy in the tattered, bloody costume and cape isn't a ghost in the same way as his mother and the other spectral visitors to the quarantine - he's a ghost of Jason's mind only, a hallucination that haunts him with some regularity. It's been a while since Jason's seen the ex-Boy Wonder - how long ago was Qurac and the Bow of Ra? It feels like a lifetime, even though Jason knows, logically, that it wasn't.

Logic has very little to do with his reaction, though. "Beat it," Jason will say to a patch of empty air nearby, as he wanders through the streets. "You're not real," he'll say, over his shoulder, jaw tense. "Go away."

3. hey boy, look straight at the sun; to the center you make a dead run.

When the call goes out for help with repairs, Jason gladly volunteers. He hasn't done enough work with his hands lately, and too much free time leads to too much brooding. He can't get into too much trouble (yet) with still-injured ribs to manage, but as long as he doesn't have to lift anything heavy and he's shown what to do, he manages to make himself useful and stay busy. Anyone close enough might even get roped into assisting: "Hey, would you hand me those pliers?"

For once, Jason doesn't complain at all.

5. one and all, follow the man tall; hear his voice and drop to a dead crawl.

[It's the ever-popular wildcard option, Charlie Brown! If you want something else/more specific/customized, just hit me up! c:]

1a.

[ikols]

[ Things are going less than brilliantly for Loki who woke up to find his bed surrounded by a plethora of Lokis who all wanted something different, from breakfast to manflesh. After hastily managing to corral the unseemly horned group with a promise of burgers and all the varied condiments they could want, he had made his way into town trying to ignore the fact he had himself a very green, very gold and spiky entourage, and that was how they descended upon a quaint (and unprepared) diner across the road from Jason, the fuss and babble of orders in thick haughty accents proving a distraction in the present moment as the ghosts find menus.

Loki only notices Jason on the bench while rubbing his temples and forcibly gazing at nothing out the window, his mood buoying. Sneaking out, he jogs over and stuff his hands in the pockets of his jeans upon approach. ]

Morning! Is this Quiet Time or can anyone join?

[ Please let him join. Please. Doesn't even care about the weird woman languishing on Jason's lap; Loki can greatly appreciate everyone has their own weird shit to deal with today. ]

Jintetsu | Kurogane | OTA

[jintetsu]

1. fuck, it's you i hate the most (ghosts)

Festivals for the dead are one thing. A celebration of death itself is kind of weird, but not particularly scary. Death loses a lot of the grim mystique once you've actually experienced it.

No. What's worth fearing is what comes after.

The ghosts are everywhere, despite Jintetsu's best attempts at avoiding them. Most don't seem too interested in him, either, or give up when he pretends not to see them. But some are more persistent. Angrier. For some reason, these nastier spirits seem to gravitate toward him, fading in and out of sight, never quite where he saw them last. Sometimes they only manifest as furious, unintelligible whispers, sometimes as wisps of black smoke trailing around the edges of unseen figures, themselves only almost human-shaped. And sometimes, especially after dark, they become more substantial, empty-eyed or half-skeletal phantoms stalking him from the shadows.

He pretends not to see them, either. But they find him just about anywhere he goes, and everyone else can see them, too. It's not a problem, in theory, as long as Haganemaru's at his side. Even empowered by the night, most of the specters tend to keep a few feet away from him. (The living give him a wider berth.) Every so often, one or a few will give it a try, lunging toward him with a bone-chilling shriek. But they're always stopped a couple inches away, as if repelled by a magnet, and can't get any closer than that; after a few seconds they'll break off and disappear, rejoining the others.

When that happens, there's nothing he can do but wait it out. It beats the alternative, at least.

But just because he's relatively safe from them doesn't mean they're harmless. They can be pretty disruptive, especially after dark. Mostly they're just creepy and occasionally noisy, but then you get the ones who can manifest enough to, say, make the lights flicker, or knock a tray of food out of a server's hands. Basically, it's a lot easier on everyone if he just gets his meals to go and eats them somewhere else. Like a park bench, or under one of the city's many trees.

(In short, this prompt can happen pretty much anywhere, and/or in conjunction with other prompts.)

2. just here for the food (masquerade)

"What? No, you've got the wrong guy. I don't know anything about a party."

Just because he's wearing a mask, that doesn't mean he's looking for a masquerade! But he's found one, quite by accident, and someone hanging out by the entrance just had to turn on the peer pressure. He soon relents, because 1) it's open to all, 2) it doesn't cost anything, and 3) there's free food. (Mostly 3, honestly. Not being able to work for the better part of a month will do that.)

So here he is, for one night only, lurking in the general vicinity of the refreshments like the wallflower he was born to be. He's got a pretty nice, uh, Japanese steampunk costume going on, though? The robot arm in particular looks super realistic.

3. waiter this bacon tastes like war crimes (hogs)

It took a while, but Jintetsu's finally back in fighting shape enough that he can start putting out feelers for work. And he's found some, out in the city's breadbasket. The monstrous hogs have been menacing the area for weeks, and everyone's desperate to get rid of them - enough so that there's at least one property owner willing to shell out for a more permanent solution.

Even so, Jintetsu's pretty sure he was picked as the lowball option. But what can you do? He could command some pretty obscene rates back in Japan, but only because of his reputation as a scary bastard who does big murder real good, and that didn't follow him through the portal, for better or worse. A clean slate is an amazing opportunity, and he wants to at least try to make something of it, but this is one of the inevitable drawbacks.

It's a simple enough job on paper. Kill as many hogs as you can find, bring back an ear each as proof, receive X amount per kill. He doesn't expect it to be easy, of course, and what info he's been able to gather confirms it won't. They're huge even for wild hogs, and thick-skinned, and if they go into a charge nothing short of divine intervention's gonna stop them. But supposedly, they're also just as smart as humans, hence why his employer wants to keep this on the down low. It's not a good look, you know? Justifiable or not, it could kind of be considered homicide.

Jintetsu's fine with that. But what he says is Your name won't come up.

---

Simple enough on paper. They're big, they're strong, they're tough, they're fast, and they're smart. Half a ton apiece of concentrated malice. But they're not agile, and he can use that.

His strategy is simple: climb a tree or building, drop onto them from above, and go for the eyes. And then, whatever you do, don't fall off.

And it's worked, at least well enough that he's already managed to turn in a small handful of ears. But his success is starting to taper off. The hogs are, after all, smart, and apparently word's been getting out among them about the human in a metal mask. It's getting harder to draw them out. They've learned not to pursue him, no matter how bad he pisses them off. Now, if any of them spots him, they immediately head for the nearest flat, open space - such as the fields, which coincides neatly with their goal of wrecking said fields.

So that's where we find Jintetsu - sitting up in a tree, watching a pair of hogs as they dig up and trample a nearby pumpkin patch, and apparently talking it over with... nobody.

"Yeah, they're definitely onto us. Damn." Haganemaru sighs. "What are we up to now, four?" (Jintetsu holds up five fingers.) "Five, whatever. It's still not enough to cover it. I hate to say it, but... we might need to bring in some outside help."

4. fast and furious: edo drift (mechs)

Of course, all plans are off the table as soon as the city sets loose its war machines.

For the most part, Jintetsu just wants to stay as far out of their path as possible, even once he realizes they're on the same side. But if someone were to use one to rescue him from a charging hog (which he managed to wound, but not kill, so it's pissed), you might be able to recruit him as a gunner (if only because it's that or getting trampled to death).

*Disclaimer: Jintetsu has never fired a gun in his life, so don't get too attached to your mech. Trust me, it'd be worse if he was driving.

5. wildcard

[Prose or brackets is fine!]

[Want a more different prompt? Go for it! Or hit me up at caturday to plot stuff out \o/]

2.

[apt666]

Ryo, despite his dislike of Halloween, feels he can have a sense of humor about himself. So today, he's wearing a very traditional looking devil costume. What can he say? He knows that he looks nothing like this, but the times with the ghosts has been stressful, so he's found that this is the best way to deal with it.

So he wears a pair of red pants, a red blouse, horns on his head, and a tail attached to his belt loop in the back. It had a wire neatly put into it to cause the tail to curl.

It was the devil, sure, but a devil with fashion Ryo could get behind.

He had a glass of wine, some food, and was there - quietly eyeballing the costumes. "That's not very traditional." He says, there was a hint of joke to his tone. He has to admit, even though he's not a huge fan of Halloween - or holidays like this, he is a fan of the costumes. It's interesting to see how people depict other creatures.

Poe Dameron || Closed/OTA

[volitaunt]

i. Ghosts from the Past - closed to closer CR

[ Poe doesn't participate in the festival, really. He's distracted, flying his A-wing in defense of the city, keeping it up between flights, working on it even when it doesn't particularly need the attention. The shuttle still needs some love after what he and John put it through, so he spends time on that when he can't be fighting either on the ground or in the air.

What he's avoiding, or trying to avoid, are the ghosts. He can't decide how he feels about them, about their existence here, about what they mean. It's a small mercy that after the woods he hasn't seen the faces of anyone familiar, but every time he steps out his door he's searching. Searching the transparent faces for any bit or recognition. Looking for someone to help or apologize to.

Looking for one ghost in particular.

Two weeks into the month and he's pretty much given up on seeing that one, particular ghost. It's been a couple of bad nights with long days in between, and he's keeping himself awake with too much coffee and a constant stream of conversation with BB-8 as he makes his way into the ship hangar for his shift. He's hoping to get back in the air today, blow the hell out of some more pig things, and he's heading for the roster to check what his duties are for the day when he sees someone standing next to the A-wing. His A-wing.

His mother's A-wing.

There she is, wildly curly hair drawn back into a tail over her shoulders, beautiful face, that eyebrow scar that served as a reminder to anyone who looked at her that pretty didn't make her soft. She's dressed in the kind of hardy work clothes she always wore on the ranch or in her workshop. Poe watches as she runs her fingertips over every scarred inch of the A-wing, though there aren't that many scars left. Poe's restored the ship back to its condition in his childhood, leaving only the most familiar scratches alone.

She turns to look at him and smiles, and the world goes blurry. Poe blinks, blinks again, blinks faster to get the tears out of his eyes so he can see her clearly. Shara Bey. In a rough whisper: ] Hi mom.

[ If your character is anywhere in the vicinity of the Perimeter Guard or close to it and they know Poe, he gonna find you and drag you back. Unless you just walk into the hangar. ]


iv. Drift Compatible

[ Look I spent myself on that one, THIS IS WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN. Have you been assigned an insane pilot as your co-fighter? CONGRATULATIONS. LET'S CLIMB IN. He can fly anything after all--this sort of counts, right? ]

[realists]

Poe, I can walk, [ jyn complains, trying to wriggle out of poe's grasp but his panic?? excitement?? both?? makes his grip on her hand almost impossible to break.

it doesn't help that he's not explaining anything. "jyn!" followed by the inability to produce words is not very illuminating but jyn goes with it. ]

Can you at least tell me what's happening?