2nd Annual Halloween Block Party!

[gish]

The leaves have turned gold and orange, the air has grown crisp, pumpkins both carved and uncarved have begun to crop up. It's time to don your costumes, light your candles, pray you don't see any spectres (or do!), rev up your sweet tooth. Why?

Halloween is Here!

Inhabitants of the Nexus may recall the festivities from last year, but even if you're new or your memories are foggy, the fliers and invites have been floating around for the past two weeks or so. They urge anyone who wishes to celebrate the spookiest time of the year with friends, food and festivities over at The Crossroads Café. The entire block is sectioned off for the shindig, in fact! Black and orange streamers festoon the café and trees, along with hanging (plastic!) skeletons and bats, plenty of jack-o-lanterns and candles.

Welcome, one and all, to the Nexus 2nd Annual Halloween Block Party!

• Costume Loan: If you don't have a costume ready or are lacking access to one, the Café staff has you covered! Next to the coat closet is a rack of various options for dress-up with a sign simply stating: Feel Free to Borrow! Outfits, hats, accessories, masks; anything a person needs for a perfect last minute costume is there for the taking.
  
  
• Inside the Café: The doors to the Crossroads Café are propped open and awaiting your arrival! Seating inside the Crossroads Cafe comes at a bit of a premium, though for those who need the warmth and enclosure of inside there are certainly several tables inside, as well as couches and seating areas all around the bonfire outside the cafe.
  
  The lights have been dimmed for this special occasion and the display cases as well as the counters are laden with foods and treats from all over the Nexus. The far counter has been converted into a bar area for anyone in need of some liquid courage. On one table sits a large table set aside for people to share their own Halloween themed treats should they so choose. For now it's mostly empty, save for a large bowl in the center with a sign reading: Candy Exchange Program. There's sure to be something in there you've never seen before if you dig around long enough!
  
  
• The Bonfire: Out in front of the cafe in the middle of what is usually the street is a large bonfire in a rather large fire pit. Plenty of tables are set up near the fire, showing off pumpkins carved in all manner of spooks and designs. Seems like folks are welcome to bring their own jack o'lanterns and other festive creations if they so please.
  
  There's plenty of seating on one side of the large fire, though the other side gives way to a large, open area.
  
  
• The Dance Floor: On the far side of the bonfire where usually the outdoor seating goes is a marked off area for a dance floor. The large speakers ensure anyone walking by won't be able to miss the fact that there's a party going on. Several floating lights bathe the area in a golden light altogether separate form the light and heat the bonfire provides.
  
  Music from many different worlds plays continuously throughout the night. It beckons one and all to let loose and enjoy themselves on this night of celebration.

((Check out the OOC post here!))

EDIT 10/31/17: Something's gone wrong. [Phase 2: NIGHTMARE has begun!]
((Here's the OOC post regarding Phase 2!))
Here's where people go to wonder what the heck just happened. [Left Behind thread!]
EDIT 11/28/17: The Nightmare is over. [Finale thread!]
((Thanks for playing, everyone! And happy holidays!))

Comments

[rekindledtitan]

Relieved that she seems to be... not okay, obviously, but at least present and aware of their situation again, Ghost has settled into trying to crack the security on that panel. There's something about her tone that makes him hesitate to answer... oh, that's it. It sounds like a voice he's used, before.

He pulls away from the keys to look over at her, unwilling to come out and acknowledge the worst possibility. "Well... I only know of three organic life forms in this area."

He hesitates, then scans Adia again quickly. She seems fine - physically - which means...

"It's not the abyss monster, is it?" He doesn't know which option is worse, here.

[chiron_survivor]

She hesitates as well, not wanting to say it. Those hands nearly stole Ghost away, and she's confident that if she had held on for much longer, she'd either be dead or insane.

When Ghost finally speaks, she blinks in confusion. The abyss monster? But it --

Oh. Oh. It all makes sense now.

"It's been trying to reach us with those hands," she says in a hushed voice, as if afraid that it will overhear. "When I touched it... it's in such pain. It's suffering." She gestures to the panel. "These are painkillers. I can't tell which one is the right one, yet, but that must be what it needs."

She bites her lower lip. She doesn't want to have to ask him to do this, but she can't think of any other way around it.

"Once I have the syringe, you'll need to re-open the door."

[rekindledtitan]

"Open it? But if I do that..." They'll find him. They'll come in and they will hunt him out wherever he hides. They'll drag him back into the darkness forever, and then they'll get Adia. Maybe they'll take her first. They'll certainly touch her. She only grabbed at them for a few moments before and he can still see the blood on her face.

But they'll come for him first. He feels that instinctively. Can recall with terrifying clarity the determination in those claws clamping around him, blocking his sight...

There's another kind of clarity too, though. Someone has to distract them. Someone has to keep them busy so Adia can use the syringe. He certainly can't do that part. And Blaze or no Blaze... it has to be done. He's quiet for a moment or two, working on the security. It's a little better than that on the door, but it's a similar system and now it's familiar to him.

"I'll have the panel here open in a minute. When you're ready... when I open the door... be fast. Please."

[chiron_survivor]

He doesn't have to finish that thought out loud. The hands are obsessed with him for whatever reason. It's what makes him the perfect distraction while she gets a clear shot with the syringe. And she hates that. Hates putting him in danger when he has already been terrorized enough.

When he agrees to her plan anyway, she feels a burst of pride for her small, brave friend. It fills her with a renewed determination to find the proper cure and see this thing through.

To get them out of here alive.

"I'll be fast," she promises. "Fly back to me as soon as it's open, then get behind me." Part of her dreads the idea of those hands touching her again, but she needs to get close enough to administer the medicine, and what better way than to have Ghost lead them right to her.

She turns back to the syringes resting in front of her. Three drugs. Three painkillers. What makes one of them a better choice than the others? Her pen marks turn to chicken scratch while she puzzles over the specifics and comes up blank. All of them have the same efficacy. All of them have the same side effects. All of them have the same dosage! Where is the difference?!

Only one of them can cross the blood-brain barrier.

"I know which one," she whispers. She almost laughs. She found the cure. They're halfway there!

...how long has it been since either of them have heard the sound of claws scraping on the door?

[rekindledtitan]

It has been a while, hasn't it? Everything in the room is very still, from the hundreds of empty eyes to the air around them. There's only the scratch of Adia's pen and Ghost's fluttering as he trains all his attention on the circuits he's fooling.

"I nearly have it," he says, trying not to think about predatory claws creeping up on him. Knotted fingers closing over his shell, clenching over him like a cage.

And then something cold and rubbery presses against the points of his shell and

he's
not
imagining
that

"Adia!" He clenches his shell tight about him and launches forward, twisting and folding himself until he squeezes free of the closing fingers. There's a thunk as he bounces off the panel glass and throws himself upward, darting away as fast as he can propel himself. Unfortunately that gives him a shockingly good view of the ribbon-like arms stretching down from a ceiling vent. They're coiling and contracting now, flesh bunching as they rise back and angle up for him.

He knows what he has to do. He flies for the far end of the room and waits, high up by the ceiling. Letting them come for him, staring right at them. Holding the solution to the security locks in his mind.

When they're almost close enough to grab again he dives. Drops down and shoots back toward the security panel, skimming over floor and glassy eyes alike. He pops up at the keypad and snatches at the interface.

I know this, I know the way through, I know this... Layer after layer opens up, peels away before him. But behind him, they are coming. Just let me get this. Let me finish this...

The last code falls into place. The last countermeasure falls for it. The pad lighting turns green, the panel clicking open. Ghost throws himself aside as fingers reach for him. "Get it now!"

[chiron_survivor]

She’s double-checking the medication’s formula like a good little scientist when Ghost’s scream causes her to whirl around, her pen clattering to the floor, lost among the slime and vacant eyes. But he’s already free, flying up to the ceiling. Her eyes automatically follow and —

The hands, they’re here. But that wasn’t the plan! She isn’t ready!

“Ghost,” she whispers, too terrified to shout, frozen in place while he flies to the far side of the room. The hands predictably shoot towards him, desperate to wrap themselves around that tempting, floating eye, and all she can do is watch helplessly. Uselessly.

But then he flies back towards her, faster than the hands, and she knows what he’s about to do. It’s not the way that they had planned, but he’s going to open the panel.

And bring the hands right to her.

She hears the click as the panel opens, and turns long enough to grab the middle syringe. The hands scrabble at the space where Ghost once was, and for a moment they stop moving, simply hover in the air as if debating what to do next. Knowing that she won’t get a better opportunity than this, she grabs one thin, sinewy arm and brings the syringe down with the other, injecting it at the wrist.

She thought that maybe, because she had already been exposed, she’d be at least a little prepared for the pain.

No.

It overwhelms her, drowns her in a sea of agony. She is a speck, a tiny mote floating in a universe of suffering so vast that she can barely comprehend it. Blood pours out both her nostrils, streaks out the corner of her eyes. Her jaw is clenched so tight that she can’t make a sound, can’t breathe, overwhelmed by the other’s pain.

As the last bit of consciousness leaves her, she pushes down on the syringe’s plunger.

The hands disappear.

They vanish into a fine red mist that almost immediately dissipates into nothing. The sirens stop their wailing, the warning lights stop their flashing. There is only silence and the cool green light of the open panel.

Adia has collapsed to her knees. She’s breathing heavily, but slowly, her nosebleed slowing once again to a mere trickle. She looks up at Ghost, tears in her eyes — saline ones, this time, that mingle with the blood.

“We did it,” she tells him. “It isn’t in pain anymore. I felt it before it disappeared.” The imprint of its final thoughts still lingers in her mind, the blessed relief. “It’s cured.”

[rekindledtitan]

He's hovering over her, calling her name, the faint blue light of his scans flickering over her as he checks for real injury. When she speaks he shuts up and stares at her, startled and relieved.

"Do you think so?" He looks around, at the sudden stillness. A different kind of stillness to before, though. His instincts don't prickle with menace, the wreck around them no longer wails and shudders. "Everything does seem a lot more... peaceful. I wonder what it was, really."

He looks around again, then back at Adia. "Um, are you hurt? When you touched it I thought... it looked horrible. I don't know how you held on."

[chiron_survivor]

"I don't know," she murmurs. "It was in such pain..." Was that the whole point of being trapped in this other world? An elaborate cry for help?

Aside from some damaged capillaries, she doesn't seem injured. Her vitals have all gone back to normal. When he asks if she's hurt, she thinks it over. "No, I... I'm okay." After everything, she would have expected herself to be in shock, or traumatized over what happened. But she's not. "It hurt very much at the time, but... it's not suffering anymore."

And neither is she.

The pleasant silence is broken by the sound of glass shattering. A mirror in the back of the room, untouched by either slime or eyes, lies in pieces on the ground. Visible through the frame is the dim light of an alley way.

An exit.

Quickly, she gets to her feet, then pausing a moment as a dizzy spell hits her. But it passes quickly. "Let's get out of here and find Blaze." If Ghost had hands, she'd hold one; she settles for reaching out and gently touching one of his points. "I want to tell her how amazing you were. She's lucky to have you for a partner."

[rekindledtitan]

Ghost starts at the sudden noise, but he's not hiding this time. His gaze darts back and forth over the mirror while Adia gets to her feet... then up in surprise when she touches his shell.

"O-oh... I'm just glad you were here. I wouldn't have made it otherwise." Still, he's quick to fly over to the mirror and wait for her, peering carefully at the space beyond lest it house any fresh dangers.

Not that it would stop either of them stepping through. Adia's right. It's time to find his Guardian... and the way home.