Subject: (( Not stalling that I can tell. ))
Author:
Posted on: 2013-11-02 02:00:00 UTC
It's a bit of a slow starter, and not meant to proceed in real time anyway what with people having jobs and school and such, but things are chugging along. Go ahead and jump in wherever you like.
~Neshomeh
First, OOC stuff:
Ground Rules
1) No controlling other people's characters. Actions, reactions, dialogue, whether a thrown object hits, etc., are up to the character's author.
2) Keep all posts in third person and past tense. It's just easier to read if we all stick to the same style.
3) Since this is meant to be a lighthearted RP involving kids, I want zero Serious Business and zero dickery. Holiday-appropriate mischief and shenanigans are okay; causing chaos, wanton destruction, and injuries is not. Scaring, yes; scarring, no.
4) Please be respectful of the fact that people live in different time zones and have Real World commitments. For instance, if players X, Y, and Z are playing a conversation together and Y stops posting, it's not cool for X and Z to exchange dozens of posts and leave Y in the dust. Taking turns is encouraged.
5) If you're going to say something OOC in an IC post, put it in brackets or something. I use (( double parentheses. ))
6) Anyone can join, no Permission required!
How This Works
The basic premise is that the Nursery and parents/guardians of kids are sponsoring trick-or-treating in HQ. Everyone will check in at the Nursery and then head off into the corridors. We're going to assume that everyone knows to avoid outright dangerous RCs, but yet beware: even technically friendly agents may not be thrilled about munchkins coming a-knocking, and others may not respond according to suburban World One tradition! The treats should be interesting, though...
The structure of this is modeled after the Agent Mailbox game further down the Board, with some modification.
- If you want your characters to get trick-or-treaters, please reply to this post with your RC number and the name(s) of who's at home in the subject line and a description of the RC door and/or interior in the message body.
- If you want your characters to be trick-or-treaters, please respond to each RC string one at a time, in any order you like. If you want to go around in a cluster, that's cool, too!
- I'm going to reply to this post with an OOC discussion string and a Nursery string containing the intro. The latter can be a sort of staging area for introducing your trick-or-treaters, teaming up with other RPers, whatever.
Basically, the thread will go like this:
> Original post (this one)
> > RC #222, Bob and Aerith - Poster 4
> > > "Anybody home?" - Poster 3
> > > > "Boo!" shouted Bob. - Poster 4
> > > "Trick or Treat!" - Poster 1
> > > > Aerith opened the door... - Poster 4
> > > > > "Thanks! Bye!" - Poster 1
> > RC #111, Agent X - Poster 1
> > > Y and Z knocked on the door. - Poster 2
> > > > A and B also approached the door. - Poster 3
> > > > > "Hi, A and B!" - Poster 2
> > The Nursery - Me (This'll have the IC introduction.)
> > > Q and V were getting ready to go. - Poster 1
> > > > "Hey, can we go with you?" - Poster 2
> > > > > "Sure!" said V. - Poster 1
> > (( OOC Discussion String )) - Me
> > > (( Hey, I have a question! )) - Poster 2
> > > > (( I have an answer! )) - Probably Me
That should just about cover it, I hope. There will be that OOC string I mentioned for any questions you might have.
~Neshomeh
Sebak emerged from the bathroom in his costume and Tish looked down at him from the ladder where she was putting up orange lights. She sniggered. "Oh, very creative."
Sebak raised an eyebrow. "Is that sarcastic?"
"No," Tish said.
"Why is my costume uncreative? As far as I'm aware this isn't a common costume."
"Yes, but a logical person dressing as Sherlock Holmes is stereotypical."
"Obviously, Sherlock Holmes appeals to those with logical minds. And if you ae comparing me to Data, I would like to point out that Data said he finds Vulcan philosophy limiting."
"You've got a point," she conceded, climbing down. "Will you help me with the pumpkins?"
Sebak picked up his pumpkin - which he had only carved at Tish's insistence, and was therefore a mathematically precise jack o'lantern - and followed her out the door. She set her pumpkin - which had googly eyes and a lopsided grin - on one side of the door and Sebak set his on the other.
Sebak watched as she darted back in, grabbed crepe streamers, and added them to the door. When she returned, he said, "I'm confused as to what you are supposed to be."
"I couldn't decide," she said. "So I'm going as my fandoms."
She wore a set of Gryffindor robes over a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and jeans. Her DS9 combadge was pinned to the robes.
He nodded. "Quite creative."
"Thank you!" she said, strolling over to the replicator and punching something in. A bowl of assorted full-sized candy bars materialized, and she carried it to a table next to the door.
"All right, we're ready!"
Sebak nodded solemnly.
M'sien glanced at the orange lights and growled. "Daedra magic!" he cried, and before Jumper could stop him, charged up to the lights and slashed them with his sword. "Back Daedra! You can not defeat Dragonborn!"
Jumper hurried up to the child and pulled him back. Luckily, the sword being plastic, the Khajiit did not damage the lights, though they were pulled down a little. "M'sien, no! This is Dwemer technology, not Daedric!" Jumper turned to the door, and called out, "Sorry guys! The little furball is the Dragonborn. He can't help himself. Anyway... M'sien, what do you say?"
M'sien called, as if it were a Shout, "Trick or Treat!"
"...Well done..."
Marco West was busy running about the RC hanging various decorations up. "Love this time of year" he said calling to Agent Jameson who sat back in his chair muttering. "Really? I hadn't noticed you even got Fat'gun into the spirt." The Nightguant mini flew quietly by carrying a CD which was placed in a boombox, Marco then pushed play as he checked to make sure the treats were set. "Everything is perfect!" Marco said clapping his hands together in joy "You think Sif might stop by?" The Marshal simply shrugged and gripped his Shockmaul as Fat'gun stared it's faceless stare at a black dragon D&D figure but recoiled when it heard the sound of the weapon powering up. "I don't know and frankly don't care." he said annoyed as he went back to his planning and Marco eagerly Awaited Trick or Treaters.
"'ello there!" came a half baked attempt at a British accent,if he was going to dress in his old Hogwarts robes he was going to at least try and use his friends' accent even if it was a shallow facade and even if they weren't really his friends. Marco smiled as Ghostbusters played over the radio and Fat'gun dropped the candy goodie bags into each of the kid's containers it's faceless head staring curiously at the costumes it wanted to tickle something so badly but Marco kept it at bay as Marco smiled and looked up "So is it chaos even more than normal out there?" he asked switching back to his american accent.
But then, almost before the boys were through saying "trick or treat," the door flew open (inward, thank the Powers That Be), a bizarrely-dressed guy was exclaiming, the radio was shouting "Ghostbusters!", and some thing swooped over the three kids. There were some alarmed squeaks and shrieks. With a sharp cracking sound, Henry was suddenly no longer at the door, but clinging to Jenni's legs with his face pressed into the back of her thigh, candy bag abandoned. As the Mpreg child of Harry Potter by Severus Snape, intense emotions could trigger the odd magical outburst like this.
She tottered with the new pressure, but Ilraen caught her by the arm and she quickly regained her balance. She put a comforting hand on the back of Henry's head and stared challengingly at the agent responsible.
She had so many questions. But first things first. "What. The heck. Was that?"
(( Falcon, please reply directly to the post you're responding to, okay? In this case, it should have been a reply to PoorCynic's "Aiden joined his comrades...", since that was the most recent in this scene. It helps to keep order of events straight if posts happen linearly. Thanks! ))
"That would be Fatu'Gun a Nightgaunt mini from Cthulhu Mythos canon orginally written by H.P Lovecraft. and having made their debut in a poem known as Night-Gaunt and the novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath." The Marshal said turning to face Jenni speaking through his red scarf. "I do apologize for my partner he..gets over excited sometimes you know how the flowers are..their idea of giving me an odd couple roommate is a reforming borderline stu who tends to also border on having spongebob level A.D.D and a lack of Emotional Control." Marco sighed and looked at Henry the agent had found his feet suddenly very intersting "I'm sorry I tend to get a bit too much into holiday spirt."
Xericka's could have arguably be considered worse. It was a look that had the promise of knives in it.
When the door had opened and Marco had sprung out, Aiden had demonstrated a rare turn of speed for a toddler and bolted backwards towards his mother. He was now clinging on to her legs and quietly whimpering, all thoughts of being a brave adventurer forgotten for the moment.
As the agents spoke, however, her angered expression became tempered with confusion. She could not put her finger on it, but something was... off about the situation.
Still. Regardless of that, there were more important things to attend to at the moment. "It would behoove you both to be more careful," Xericka said as she knelt down and picked up her sniffling son. He wrapped his arms around her neck and buried his face in her shoulder. "You will doubtless have many children visiting you before this night is over. Temper your behavior, unless you are willing to deal with the wrath of multiple sets of parents for the foreseeable future. Furthermore--"
Xericka was interrupted by another muffled sob from Aiden. She began gently patting his back and whispering that it was all right into his ear.
... to curling up on the spot in a ball of plush ivory spines. He now looked up, realized he was alone, and with a confused whimper scooted behind Ilraen's forehooves.
Ilraen wasn't quite sure what to make of this, but Jenni appeared speechless with disbelief at what she'd just heard, so he filled in, picking up where Xericka had left off. <Furthermore, a Lovecraftian horror would not seem to be an appropriate vehicle for the delivery of candy. You must control your pets as well as yourselves, Agents.> His irritated stare had twice the eyeballs behind it, not to mention the long, scythe-like blade at the end of his tail. Even though it was fitted with his AHAIRQ safety sheath at the moment, it was quite fortunate for Fatu-Gun that the Andalite was no longer as twitchy as he had been in his early years as a Protector.
"Yeah!" Ian contributed, feeling much bolder back with the group. "Too scary!"
"Too scary," Henry agreed with a sniffle, peeking out from behind his mom's legs.
Jenni shook her head as if to clear it. "All right. It's okay now, guys. They won't scare you again." She knelt down and gave the two little dragons each a hug. "All better?"
They seemed to accept this, so she stood again. "May I just say, lines of dialogue from different speakers in the same paragraph? Ouch. A lot of agents can hear that sort of thing, you know. You want to watch the run-ons, too."
before speaking. The agent then looked at the two adults "I'm...so sorry I." Marco stopped himself he really didn't want to say anything that would make him seem angsty or like he was using his past as a crutch. "If you don't want the candy that's fine" he said with remorse.
She was, however, a creature of logic. Continuing to berate these agents for both their actions and their grammar -- while perhaps cathartic -- was not an effective use of her time. Nor would doing so allow Aiden to experience his first Halloween properly.
Besides, she was a former Bit Character Sue herself. She knew what it was like to try and break those old habits. How hard it was to get out of that mold of thinking that the world centered on you and your actions. If not sympathy, she could at least recognize the difficulties faced by others.
"I suppose that no true harm was done," the Nobody said aloud. "And since you have demonstrated contrition, I am willing to let the matter rest." She turned to her companions. "Jennifer? Ilraen? What say you?"
"Though that might not hold true if we denied them their candy at this point," Jenni added with a wry half-smile. This was by way of agreement. The rush of adrenaline she'd received with the little ones' shrieks was wearing off, and a nice object lesson in overcoming fear and gaining confidence had presented itself. "What do you think, guys?" she asked the kids. "Should we go get your treats?"
To this, Ian nodded vigorously. "Me want—I want candy," he corrected himself with an ingratiating look at the grown-ups.
<Very good, Ian.> Ilraen beamed at him.
Henry was going to take a bit more convincing. He eyed the dropped candy bags, then Marco. Finally, he said, "Are you a wizard?"
"Yeah I'm a wizard all-right...from the Potterverse to be exact in fact in that bag is another bag of every flavor jellybeans and a chocolate frog. Just be careful with the beans. They really are every flavor"
"A most novel selection of items. Aiden is perhaps too young for jelly beans, but I'm sure he will enjoy the Chocolate Frogs."
She turned her attention to Aiden, who appeared to have calmed down enough to stop crying. "Did you hear that, Aiden? Chocolate Frogs. They are quite droll in their antics. I believe that you will enjoy them."
Aiden sniffled. "Fogs?"
"Indeed, frogs."
"...I like fogs."
Ian darted forward and scooped up his loot. "Choc'ate frog! Choc'ate frog!" he chanted, adding a few hops for illustration. All was definitely forgiven if there was chocolate in it for him.
"See, Henry?" Jenni said, giving him a little nudge with her knee. "It's okay. Want me to go with you?"
He nodded, so Jenni took his hand and escorted him back to the doorway. He continued to study Marco with skepticism, particularly the orange parts of his robes. "Nuh-uh," he said. "Hogwarts has four houses." He held up a hand. There was definitely some number of fingers on it, probably four. "Red an' yellow an' blue an' green," he warbled almost musically.
"Oh." Jenni grinned, half embarrassed at his forwardness, half proud of the critical thinking he was showing. "That's a little canon-teaching song we use," she told Marco. "It's got counting, it teaches color words, et cetera. So, uh. What house were you in? I'm a Ravenclaw alumna, actually. Marauder-era role-play 'verse, pre-Half-Blood Prince," she clarified.
then looked at Jenni. "I was a Gryffindor myself..badfic version of Goblet of Fire dated an angsty sue sister of Harry's played Qudditch for the house team as a chaser. Not to mention the writer had a "Damsel in Distress" fetish so I had to play hero a few times." "Around my version of OOP, That's when things went downhill and I ended up here"
"I think you'll find you're in good company around here," she said. "I volunteered, but plenty of folks are former Sues or bit characters who got dragged here so some agents could earn themselves a vacation." As a nurse in FicPsych, who had the heartbreaking and sometimes impossible task of coaxing functional people out of the empty shells of bad writing so often left at her doorstep, she had developed a somewhat jaded view of the practice. Some people just didn't care about whether the poor bits could really hack life in HQ, it seemed.
<I was one such,> said Ilraen, gently reproving her bitter tone. <Though I do not think Twiggy and Brittany had a vacation in mind when they saved me. Nor us when it came to Agent Derik.>
"Well, no," Jenni admitted. "But you both at least had something going for you when—anyway, that's not the point." She shook her head and smiled apologetically at Marco. "Sorry. Point is, plenty of us can relate, and you'll find there's not a few recruits from the Potterverse. You should consider dropping by one of the support groups in the Department of Fictional Psychology. There's one for former Sues and one for badfic recruits in general. Could help you meet people and find your feet here."
"Mommy." Henry tugged on her pants. He felt he'd been standing there quite long enough.
Jenni knelt down and picked up both him and his trick-or-treat tote. "Well, I guess we'd better move on..."
"I would not likely have acclimated as well to the PPC as I have without those meetings," Xericka said. "It is a most supportive community. You would not find yourself unwelcome."
She craned her neck to look at Aiden, who looked almost fully recovered (apart from his rather owlish stare at Marco). "What is the proper response in this situation?" she asked him.
"Thank you," he said. "Thank you muches."
"Very good. We shall work on improving your grammar at a later date." Xericka nodded to Marco before moving to follow Jenni. "Have a pleasant night."
It was important to keep from getting separated in the unpredictable halls of HQ, so at least one adult made sure to hold the kids' hands as they went along. Ilraen had one boy on each side as they approached a door with a flashing orange and black wreath on it.
"Hey guys, look at that!" Jenni pointed. "That's a spooky-looking wreath, huh?"
Ian wrinkled up his face. "Wreaths are for Christmas."
"It's an orange one," Henry said. "That means Halloween. Trick or treat?" He looked up hopefully at his mother.
"Wait for Aiden," she answered. "You guys are a team now, okay?"
...Aiden was still getting used to the whole concept of 'using legs to move around for great distances.' As a result, the trip had alternated between Aiden walking and Aiden being carried by Xericka after tiring himself out. Right now, he was in the 'walking' stage.
Xericka nudged him towards the door. "Go on. I shall be right here if you require assistance. You take the bag--" She handed him a black canvas bag "--and I shall carry your sword."
"Okay!" Aiden toddled up next to Henry and Ian with an expectant look on his face.
"Hey Marco you got guests" said the Marshal as Marco rose to his feet and called to Fatu'gun who flew over on silent wings. Marco stood up and put on his gloves making sure that the Jack-O-Lantern covered his power limter tattoo, he could have used his magic but part of his anti-stu treatment was to learn to and do things for himself. Marco moved to the door and made a few adjustments to mural he had hung showcasing his and Agent Jameson's missions including one with Medli between them smiling on the beach of Outset Island wearing a pair of PPC standard issue Ray-Ban sunglasses after returning a nerurlized Link back to his grandma's house and just before returning her home to reset the canon. There was also his favrorite a picture of the two agents with the orginal Mighty Moprhin Power Rangers that had been signed by all five after the infamous Agony in Pink badfic. ((if that hasn't been claimed yet))He then smiled and waited for the doorbell or knocker to be used.
"Come on, Aiden!" Ian said, beckoning as he made for the door.
Unable to restrain himself quite so much, Henry dashed right up and pounded away. The backs of his hands were covered by clawed green paws, so the blows were softened somewhat, but he made up for it with shouting. "Trick or treat!"
Ian joined in as soon as he got there, jumping up and down for extra emphasis. "Trick or treat!"
Hanging back with the other adults, Jenni felt a faint crawling sensation up the back of her skull as she watched the door. She turned to address Xericka, head tilted slightly to one side. "Out of curiosity, how much meta are you comfortable with?"
...at the door, his grin practically glowing now. "Trick or treats! Trick or treats!"
Xericka gave Jenni an appraising look. "I am comfortable with a fair amount of meta," she replied, her voice going somewhat quiet. "Why do you ask?"
The door of RC #2771a was normally adorned with a cheeseburger wrapper, a used band-aid, or any other vaguely sticky detritus the inhabitants hand in hand when they reached the door. Today most of the junk had been cleared away and a plastic skull with gold paint liberally slopped on it had been hung from the lintel.
Inside, the RC consisted of just one large room lined with consoles, lockers, closets, and several mattresses in various states of disarray. An ornate four-poster bed and a carved wooden cabinet hiding the console gave the impression that someone civilized, or at least ridiculously good at whittling, was trying to impose order on the place; judging by the large number of discarded socks and used dishes, that person was having an uphill struggle of it. A mini-Balrog and a mini-Dragon were curled up together on a disused George Foreman grill, snoozing happily. In a hamster cage, a small fluffy black thing with malevolent red eyes was gnawing on a squeaky rubber Palantir.
Suicide and Diocletian had been dealing with a crushing schedule for several weeks, and Halloween was their first chance to relax and breathe--so of course, there was a trick-or-treat scheduled. Diocletian had been all for skipping out and putting a big "do not disturb" sign on the door but Suicide, to her surprise, was all for participating. (Dio found herself thinking she should've guessed that Su would be eager to share a holiday all about staring mortality and evil in the face.) After a rather juvenile argument and several bouts of name-calling, they'd finally reached an agreement: they would dress up and hand out candy for the trick-or-treaters, but Suicide was not permitted to buy or make any kind of weird, creepy costume. "No trauma allowed," as she'd put it.
So, with a knowing look that she wasn't sure she liked, he'd dug through his wardrobe and come up with loose leather trousers, chest armor, black hair dye, random streaky paint on his shoulders and kohl on his eyes. Dio figured it was some kind of Emo Mongol thing, but at least it didn't involve the skin of his enemies. Dio herself had borrowed some greasepaint and was now a zombie agent.
RC #13PKHC's door had a big X struck over it in caution tape- a decoration that had always been there, ever since before its current owners, a pair of DAVD agents, moved in. On the other side, stood a Pikachu wearing a blue cat costume, and beside him, sat a human male with a bushy brown handlebar moustache, wearing a pink bunny costume and holding a large bowl of candy in his lap.
"Shockah, remin' meh why we're dressed up as furry animals that're colored wrong?" asked the human, in a slow Southern drawl.
"Well, neither of us can think of anything scary without unintentionally reminiscing about one of our missions. Remember?"
"Yeah... that'd ment'ly scar th' kids fer sure..."
"So we came up with something both of us can guarantee could not scare- or mentally scar- anyone, just to play it safe."
"Yeah, now I r'member..."
And so, the blue cat and giant pink bunny, in an RC decorated in an Easter-esque style very much at odds with what most people would consider Halloweenish, awaited the first kids that would knock on their door and request candy.
"Well, I should think this is a very strange decoration," he said, rubbing his chin in thought. He looked at Eusabius. "Do you think it will be frightening inside?"
"I hope not," said Zerenze. He then knelt down, placing his hands on Clara's shoulders. "But don't worry there. If there is, I'll keep you safe!"
Clara smiled, and then looked over to the door. Zerenze stood up, and Eusabius gestured towards the door.
"Whenever you are ready, Clara."
The little girl nodded, and then she walked forward and knocked on the door.
Wave Crest looked over to Florestan. The pony shook his hoof, trying to get used to the shoe that Florestan insisted he wear. He looked right at the agent where he was sitting, tapping his fingers.
"So..." Wave Crest said. "Remind me why I'm currently dressed like I just walked off the set of Amadeus."
Florestan shook his head. "Not Amadeus!" he replied. "I was thinking more... Immortal Beloved, really." Florestan shrugged, standing up and gesturing to the waistcoat he was wearing. "Now I, on the other hand... Well, actually, that's not Amadeus either. Baroque period costume gets a little crazy like that."
Wave Crest snorted. "I can't believe you talked me into decorating this RC like some kind of ball in... um... Marie Antoinette or something."
"They call it the French court," said Florestan. "And despite the fact that it screwed the poor over, it actually was a pretty sweet-looking place. Seriously, the stuff in there was--"
Florestan was interrupted by a gurgling sound that came from close to the door. He then looked to see Shumann sitting there stuffing its face with...
"Oh, god damn it, Shumann!" Florestan shouted, stamping his way over to the mini. "What did I tell you about eating the candy!?"
"Okay, is the candy ready?"
"Yeah, just about. Are you sure we're good on Dextro candy?"
"To my knowledge, you and Saim are the only ones around the PPC that need that, so... we'll be fine."
"Whatever you say."
Cindy adjusted her Morrigan costume and patted the bun in her hair one more time. She then looked at the makeshift staff before looking to Xanthus. "Well, I guess we just wait for the kids then."
Xanthus nodded, sitting back in the couch. He adjusted his custom-made Dead Space style armor again, looking at the fake plasma cutter in his hand. "Well, it's that human holiday again, it feels like. I never did get why you run around in these things."
"Well, we just do it," Cindy replied. "And it's fun, so..."
"Yeah, I guess it is," Xanthus replied. "Well, here's to another fun Halloween!"
"Yeah," said Cindy as she leaned on the wall.
(( I was really counting on getting some interaction between Ilraen and Cindy, so since it seems most everyone else has lost interest, I'm just cutting to the chase. Hopefully you're still around, Herr. ^_^; PC, up to you if Xericka and Aiden are still with the group. ))
Several doors along, and everyone's bags of candy were heavier. Ian and Henry, being pretty little still, were starting to get tired, so Ilraen was giving them a ride. It was a great idea in principle, but made difficult in practice by two facts: one, his back was a bit more sloped than a horse's, so staying on required a firm grip on the kids' part and a steady gait on his; and two, tired kids meant kids being rowdier than ever in an effort not to get taken home.
<I promise you,> Ilraen was saying for the nth time, <if you do not stop bouncing you will fall, and we will go back to the Nursery. Do you both understand me?>
His only answer was another chorus of the "Trick or treat! No bed!" song that had been going like a broken record for the last five minutes.
"That's too bad," Jenni said, shaking her head sadly. "I guess we'll just have to skip this door."
"NOOO!"
"Oh, really? Because I don't see well-behaved dragons right now, and only good dragons get treats."
"We'll be good, Mommy!" Henry said. "Promise!"
"Double promise!" Ian added.
Jenni exchanged a dubious look with Ilraen. "All right," she said finally. "But this'll be the last one if you two can't keep it together, hear me?"
They nodded emphatically, making their dragon-scaled hoods bob.
"All right. Say trick or treat!" Jenni turned and knocked on the door.
"Trick or treat!"
(( Oh hey, I was wondering when you'd get around to this door, LOL! Okay, here goes...)
"Well, Cindy, I think our next gaggle of trick-or-treaters is here," he said.
"Yeah, looks like it," she replied, grabbing her staff. "Maybe this time I'll get to do my Morrigan impression."
"And watch the kids fall over laughing?" Xanthus asked. "Sure."
Cindy walked over to the RC's door. "We'll see," she said. "Anneli said it actually wasn't bad, but... You know."
With this, she opened the door with a flourish. "Wherefore are these children standing before--?"
And then her eyes fell on someone familiar.
"Ilraen?"
Ilraen's eyes went wide. The main ones stayed locked on her while one of the stalk eyes whipped around, searching for the door number as though it had deliberately hidden from him. <I did not see—I did not realize this was your response center! Uh, hello! Your costume is... is very... er...> He trailed off, at a loss for words. He didn't recognize Cindy's outfit and wasn't quite sure what the effect was supposed to be. He didn't want to give the wrong reaction.
A knowing look came across Jenni's face as she observed the two of them. So this was the Cindy whom Ilraen had written and spoken of with such ebullience!
Jenni didn't recognize the Morrigan outfit as such, either, but she knew a dark temptress when she saw one. "Flattering," she supplied with a grin. And people worried about her wiles! She chuckled to herself as she turned to lift the two boys off Ilraen's back.
<Yes! Flattering!> Ilraen seized hold with relief. <Um, everyone, this is Agent Cinderella. Cindy, these are my friends Jenni, Henry, Ian, Xericka, and Aiden. And this must be one of your partners.> He nodded toward Xanthus.
(( I hope I guessed the right Morrigan. Dragon Age, right? Rather low-cut, vest-like getup with a hood? ))
"Hey, it's the famous Ilraen Cindy keeps telling Anneli and I about!" he said, standing up and walking over. "And it turns out he's a blue... um... minotaur thing!"
Cindy shook her head. "Centaur, Xanthus," she said. "You're thinking of a centaur."
Xanthus shook his head. "Whatever, it's all Greek to me." He extended his hand to Ilraen. "Xanthus Garkaran. It's good to finally put a face to the name."
Cindy looked at the others. "Flattering, huh?" she asked. She looked down, a light blush travelling up her cheeks. "Um... thanks!" She then looked right down at the children, and then stared intently at Henry. "You look quite familiar there..." She then frowned, looking over at Ilraen. "Why does he look so much like The Boy Who Lived?"
(( Yep, that's the one. Vest-like get-up with a crow feather, though the hood isn't exactly in the game for some reason. Not that you couldn't make a custom hood, but it doesn't show for some reason. ))
<Ilraen-Aroline-Fothergill. An Andalite, by the way. It is good to meet you, as well. Cindy has nothing but positive things to say about both her partners. I understand there are three of you in this response center?> He looked around, but couldn't make out any sign of a third person. Or beds, for that matter. That was unusual in his experience.
Jenni, meanwhile, ushered Henry and Ian up to the door, and made sure there was space for Xericka and Aiden, too. At Cindy's question, she smiled and took the liberty of answering even though she wasn't the one addressed. "That would be genetics at work. Well, something like that. To use the technical terminology, Henry here is out of Harry Potter by Severus Snape. Personally, I think he takes more after Severus," she added with obvious affection. It might ring strangely in other people's ears, since Snape wasn't exactly winning prizes in the looks department, but it wasn't strictly about that.
"Hi!" Henry chirped, realizing he was currently the center of attention. "I'm a green dragon! Rar!" He bared his teeth and curled his fingers into claws.
"We gonna gobble up all the candy!" declared Ian.
"Anneli's not here right now, though. She's out knocking on doors with three kids she adopted from a Mass Effect Stufic."
"Yeah," said Cindy. She then chuckled. "And wouldn't you know it, she went out dressed as Katniss Everdeen. I wish you could've seen it, too, 'cause she somehow managed to get her braid to look exactly like Jennifer Lawrence's in the movie."
Xanthus nodded, and then looked down at Henry and Ian before kneeling in front of them. "Ooooh, a dragon!" said Xanthus dramatically. "Whatever shall I do about a dragon?"
Cindy looked down at Xanthus as he turned his attention to the kids. "You know, he does seem to take after Snape a little more," she said. She looked at Jenni. "That... It was an MPreg fic, wasn't it?"
It was fitting, he thought, that someone who had just become acquainted with the Hunger Games continuum would choose a costume from the series. <I wish I had seen her, too. We must have just missed each other in the Nursery. Ah well. I will have to meet her another time.>
The two boys giggled at Xanthus. The turian might have had some pretty sharp teeth in his weirdly leonine, skull-like face, but since he wasn't making any sudden movements or loud noises and nobody else was worried about him, they didn't have any reason to be, either.
"Two dragons," Henry corrected, holding up what probably amounted to two fingers. "Ian's the white one."
"Uh-huh!" Ian nodded. "Give us you candy, or we gobble you up!" He pointed for emphasis.
With Xanthus distracting the kids, the other grown-ups could talk more freely. Jenni gave a short, dry laugh at the question. "Yeah, that's pretty much the only way you get a baby out of two men in most universes. All I know about it is that Harry was written like a stereotypical pregnant woman and Severus was his doting husband. As if," she scoffed.
"But enough about that," she went on, her expression turning conspiratorial, though it would have to be a one-woman conspiracy. She put up an arm and leaned against the doorframe toward Cindy. There was a mischievous glint in her eyes, though somewhat dulled by the purple contacts she was wearing for her Daenerys costume. "What about you? I've heard a fair bit from Ilraen—only good things, of course—but I'm pretty much honor-bound to size you up, make sure your intentions are pure and all that."
Ilraen became quite alarmed at this speech. <Jenni, I really do not think that is necessary.> If she embarrassed him—or worse, Cindy!—he didn't know what he would do.
"Sure it is. It's in the Meddlesome Friend Credo, not to mention the Pseudo-Guardian Manifesto." She grinned. "So, Cindy, what are your intentions toward my boy here?"
Cindy's head snapped back slightly, and she looked at Jenny with a bright red flush on her face. "I... Uh... He helped me when I was in a tough spot and am his friend now?" she asked. She shook her head immediately. "Why would you even ask that? I... what?"
Xanthus looked down at the children squatting down to their level as he eyed them. "Oh my, you're going to eat me!" said Xanthus. He then chuckled, looking at the two children. "Hope neither of you are allergic to dextro food, though. I'm sure that two dragons as mighty as you two are would find it anticlimactic to be taken down by a food allergy, don't you think?" He nodded. "So to help you out, the candy's on the couch. But beware, 'cause there may be something in the candy..." He then left off a mischievous grin.
It was too adorable, her all bright red and him blushing teal with absolutely no idea why. Jenni couldn't even remember a time when she didn't recognize those feelings for what they were. "Well, if you don't know, I won't spoil the surprise," she said. "For now we can just say—"
Wait, what was that about the candy?
Parental spider-sense tingling, she pushed away from the door frame and pursued the little boys as they happily dashed into the response center toward the waiting bowl of goodies. "Hey, wait a sec! Don't scare those kids, there's been enough of that for one night! What's in there?"
Meanwhile, Ilraen turned his ears back and looked at the floor with his main eyes. <I—I'm sorry. I do not know what that was about. She likes to tease, but I'm sure she means well... whatever she means.> He glanced up with the unspoken rider of "please don't be upset?"
"Don't worry," Xanthus said. "It shouldn't be anything too scary. It'll startle 'em, but I think they'll find that it's some kind of mix of awesome and adorable." He then nodded to the bowl of goodies.
Cindy blushed just a little, glancing off to the side. "Yeah, I... I don't know..." She tapped her foot nervously, and then coughed. "Anyway, not important." She glanced at Jenni before nodding back to Ilraen. "I'll trust your judgment on what she means." She then chuckled nervously. "Anyway." She then shrugged. "So what are you supposed to be on this fine Halloween?"
His lack of forthrightness was cutting no ice with her at the moment. "I'm sure the newbie with the little Lovecraftian surprise thought the same thing. Please forgive me if I'm a little suspicious after that."
Ian and Henry watched this conversation impatiently, having been startled into a halt before they could actually reach into the bowl.
Henry decided it had gone on long enough. "Mommy, can we get the candy now?"
She smiled down at him apologetically. "I'm gonna handle this one, sweetie. You just hold your bags open, okay?" She reached for the very top of the pile. If someone had to be the victim of another supposedly harmless scare, it was going to be her, but no way was she actually sticking her hand in there.
Ilraen smiled sheepishly at the question. <Just myself. I could not think of a costume that would be better for the occasion than my own body. I thought about using my human morph, of course, but the two-hour time limit would be most inconvenient. However,> he perked up, <I could pretend to be a famous Andalite, like Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. We would have to overlook the sheath on my tail blade, but...> He stood up straighter and struck a heroic pose, chest puffed out, arms akimbo, and tail held high in a forward arch over his back.
Frankly, it felt a bit silly.
"Lovecraftian horror?" He then nodded. "Okay, then, I understand. Just look out for..."
Right as Jenni's hand hovered over the candy, the three mini-dragons in the RC popped their heads out and cooed cutely. Xanthus looked at the dragons as they opened their eyes, and then looked intently at Jenni and the two kids.
Cindy blinked at Ilraen's posture, finding something kind of... she didn't quite know how to describe it, but she quite liked that pose. She blushed rather lightly, but smiled nonetheless. "Elfangor-Sir... Sirnel..." She shook her head. "However you pronounce the rest of that. What did he do?"
When the tiny dragons popped out of the candy, Jenni snatched her hand back with a yelp. As soon as she got a good look at them, though, her alarm dissolved into laughter.
The kids laughed, too. Someone else being the butt of a joke is always funny, especially a grownup. Plus, now there was candy scattered all around, like prizes from a piñata, and they eagerly snatched it up.
"Okay," Jenni said to Xanthus after a minute, "I'm sorry I doubted you. Where did these little guys come from? I don't recognize the breed, and I know a thing or two about dragons!" This statement was given weight by her Mother of Dragons costume, complete with a little black plush Drogon pinned to her shoulder with his posable tail around her neck.
Ilraen glanced into the RC at Jenni's cry, but relaxed when he saw everything was all right. He reverted to a casual posture and beamed at Cindy's attempt to pronounce the long name. Andalites didn't name themselves with mouth-speakers in mind, that was for sure. At least she got the first part down, and that was doing pretty well for a start, he thought.
<Elfangor was single-handedly responsible for setting the events of the Animorphs series in motion,> he answered. <He was the one who gave the morphing ability to the five human children as he was dying, allowing them to resist the Yeerk invasion of Earth while the Andalite fleet was held up elsewhere.> That was an oversimplification, but he couldn't bring himself to admit that his people hadn't much cared about the fate of Earth for some time. <Before that, Elfangor discovered the Time Matrix and prevented it from falling into the hands of the Yeerks, which would have allowed them to rewrite history as they saw fit. He ended up exiled on Earth and voluntarily took human form. He married Loren, a girl he'd rescued from some other aliens, and their son, Tobias, became one of the Animorphs himself—as did Elfangor's little brother, Aximili, who crashed into the Pacific Ocean during the same space battle that fatally wounded Elfangor. So you see, he and his influence are directly responsible for saving Earth and ending the Andalite-Yeerk war,> he concluded with pride. The story was full of holes, thanks in part to how convoluted it actually was, but he thought he'd covered all the important points.
---
(( I went on an epic quest to track down information about those dragons, and I've come back very confused. First, it looks like you only adopted two from Astral Void, purple and red, and you originally named them Jasmine (spelled "Jazmine" the first time it came up; you might wanna fix that) and Tiana. Someone else got the third one from Astral, and there aren't any references to your agents getting another one from somewhere else that I could find in their missions or their pages, so no idea what I'm looking at there. Also, since these guys were apparently created in a mad science experiment and aren't actually from the Narnia-verse, aren't they just baby dragons rather than mini-dragons? Narnia dragons are notoriously unfriendly, anyway (except for Eustace), and I don't know that they come in such bright colors.
(( Also, I caught a reference to Cindy reading The Hunger Games (or at least, Xanthus thought so) back in their first interlude. You might wanna go back and change that to something else, since it's kind of a big deal that they're all reading it for the first time in "Relocation." ))
"But yeah, they are cute," Xanthus continued.
He then turned to Jenny. "Actually, I think they're just mini-dragons," he said. "Unfortunately, I don't really know what canon they're from. They were kind of dropped off at the RC by some other agents who couldn't take care of 'em." He then knelt in front of the bowl, lightly stroking Tiana under the chin with one of his talons. "They've been great, though. They don't really misbehave, you know?"
Jazmine mewled cutely, and then flew straight over to Henry, settling on top of his head.
Xanthus turned to Jenny, Tiana climbing onto his finger as he stood up. "You can touch her if you like. They're very affectionate dragons like that."
"Wow..." Cindy said, looking quite enthralled as Ilraen told his story. "That's cool!" She looked at him, crossing her arms immediately. "Yeah, I think I'll go with that then. You are now officially running around as Elfangor-S... Whatever it is." She smiled broadly. And then she looked down at herself, chuckling nervously. "I think we'd make quite a team. Elfangor, with Morrigan, Witch of the Wilds!"
----**----
(( In other news... Aw crap, continuity snarls galore! Dammit! I've fixed them by now.))
(( Sorry for disappearing from this. The plagiarism thing got me down, and then I buried myself in Mark Watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel. I am better now!
(( BTW, while I'm OOC, it's Jenni, not Jenny. Due to aforementioned BtVS binge, Jenny = Jenny Calendar in my head, and then I haz a sad. {= (
(( Anyway! ))
Henry squealed with delight and immediately reached up when Jasmine settled on his green hood. "Hey! Silly dragon!"
Ian tried to reach for the purple dragonet, too, but couldn't get close enough without bumping into Henry. "Can I hold her?"
"Be gentle, you two," Jenni admonished. "Here, let me help." Taking Xanthus at his word, though perhaps not quite as he intended, she carefully lifted Jasmine off Henry's head and sat down on the edge of the couch with the purple dragonet on her knee, where the kids could get a good look. They both got right up as close as they could and proceeded to take turns petting her.
"They certainly are sweet," Jenni said to Xanthus. "Nothing like my boyfriend's mini-dragon, Narnia No-Longerfled. He's affectionate, but in a way that leaves you with abrasions and chemical burns afterword," she explained wryly. "I don't think any continua besides Narnia have mini-dragons as such, though. Certainly none as little and cute as these two!"
Ilraen nodded once. <Very well, I shall be Elfangor for the night.> Even if it did feel like the most pretentious and absurd thing he'd ever said to anyone. Him, a great hero like Elfangor! It was laughable. Though, if he thought about it, his very first deed was to use the Escafil device to grant morphing powers to someone, even if she was a Sue, and they had both lived a life among humans. Maybe they had more in common than he'd first imagined.
The train of thought went by in nanoseconds, and he dismissed it. He had to engage with matters at hand. <But you must tell me about Morrigan now. I am not familiar with her character.>
(( And dammit... Sorry, I've had a lot going on these past few weeks. I might be a bit distracted... ))
Xanthus nodded, with Tiana settling over there as the kids petted Jasmine. "Yeah, I haven't seen any mini-dragons." He shook his head. "The closest we've ever gotten to mini-dragons were a couple of mini-Archdemons we bumped into in the middle of a trollfic. And considering that Archdemons are basically zombified dragon things... yeah. Not really cute."
He shrugged, and then looked over at Jenni. "So your boyfriend's mini-dragon is a fan of tough love, huh?" he asked. "At least it doesn't give you an allergic reaction, though. I hope."
"Morrigan... Oh boy." Cindy glanced to the side. Thinking of how silly it might look but deciding to go with it anyway, Cindy held out her arms and her staff.
"Morrigan is the adopted daughter of Flemeth, the famous witch of the Kokari Wilds of Dragon Age," she began. "Forsooth, she did meet the Grey Warden who would become the hero of Ferelden, and she did beseech of this Warden to join his quest. Her snark was bountiful, her English was quite archaic, and her magic..." She shrugged, deciding to break character. "Well, she had magic that allowed her to shapeshift into an animal for a short period of time." She looked at Ilraen. "Hence, why her and Elfangor would make a team." She then glanced to the side. "Though... I would beware, because, forsooth, Witches of the Wilds may be untrustworthy in some regards."
"Just what are you insinuating, sir?" she asked with raised eyebrows and a rakish half-smile. But, she quickly shook her head. "Actually, don't answer that. I'd love to get into an innuendo duel, but this isn't a good time." She nodded toward the kids.
"Speaking of which, we should probably get going." She looked over at Ilraen, who still seemed immersed in his conversation. "I'd hate to break that up, though," she said wistfully. As far as she was concerned, the only reasonable course of action was for Cindy, or Xanthus in a pinch, to invite Ilraen in for a while, but it wasn't her place to say so.
<Oh?> Ilraen asked hesitantly. He wasn't sure whether Cindy had gotten back into character or if she was being serious. Could she be talking about herself? He didn't see how, but it paid to be delicate, just in case. <How so?>
"Though if we're being honest, the allergy issue only really comes up if your boyfriend is a turian or a quarian, so it's probably not that accurate. You know." He then nodded at the kids. "And yeah, this isn't a good time."
Xanthus looked to the door to see that Cindy and Ilraen were still talking. "Yeah, it might be a bit tough to break that," he said. He then rubbed his chin. "Though something tells me Anneli's going to freak out when she gets back and I tell her about this..."
"Well..." Cindy glanced to the side, her face almost immediately going beet red. "Uh... Well... she kind of... How do I put this without it getting awkward...?" She then chuckled nervously. "Well, she has... ulterior motives, and... uh... well... It involves carrying the baby of either the good knight Alistair, or... um... the player character. If he's a man." She then coughed, looking to the side. "I mean, granted, Elfangor probably wasn't a Grey Warden trying to kill an Archdemon, so he's exempt from that, and... And by now I'm just digging myself deeper, aren't I?"
(( In before you ask: yes, Morrigan does ask the male player character and/or Alistair to conceive a child with her near the end of Origins. ))
"People can be allergic to just about anything. Including compounds in certain bodily fluids. But no, we're talking one hundred percent Old World stud," she boasted with a grin. But, thinking of Suicide's cybernetic hand and other implants, she had to revise the statement. "Well, maybe ninety percent.
"Anyway. Why freak out? Good freak out, or bad freak out?"
Ilraen was pretty sure Cindy was talking about the character now, not herself. That was good, though it left him confused as to why she was embarrassed. One canon character asking another to impregnate her wasn't anything that bothered him. <It's all right,> he assured her. <Elfangor has plenty of experience dealing with people who have their own agenda. In any case, that does not sound like such a bad ulterior motive. Nothing like, say, selling out your own species to the Yeerks to save your skin. That was Chapman,> he explained. <He was another human who was captured by Skrit Na and rescued by Elfangor, same as Loren.>
Xanthus smiled. "Sounds like an interesting story." He shrugged. "Eh, I guess that's what you get in an agency with people from all around the multiverse."
Xanthus then nodded. "Probably the good kind of freaking out. Well, as in the kind where she's happy, anyway."
Cinderella's blush immediately vanished. "Wait, seriously...?" She shook her head. "I dunno, it just gets a little awkward I guess. It's a long, complicated story, you know." She looked at Ilraen. "And Chapman, huh? What did he do to sell out humanity?"
...calling for either tricks or treats. He had long since given up on walking and was now being shuttled from door to door by Xericka's arms. The Nobody was looking a little worn energy-wise (her ankle-length wig was somewhat off-center), but she seemed willing to continue so long as her son was.
"It's so nice to see the children having some fun outside," remarked Cloudsweeper as she trotted down the hallway, watching several costumed children and their guardians trick-or-treating. "They all look so adorable, don't they, Taldy? I think my favourite one is the little boy over there dressed as a giraffe."
"Indeed. It is very interesting: I have observed this celebration for fifteen years as a PPC agent, but I never once understood why Terrans spontaneously give out treats on this day. Is it some sort of giving of alms?"
The disguised pegasus shrugged. "Iunno. Back in Equestria, we have Nightmare Night-- though I've only heard of it, never actually been there. We disguise ourselves to avoid drawing the attention of Nightmare Moon. Maybe the candy is supposed to be an offering or something?"
"Perhaps. I shall ask the next time we see someone. Shall we satisfy our curiosity and knock on a door?"
The little changeling nodded vigorously and knocked at the nearest RC's door-- number 2183.
"Trick or treat!" said Cloudsweeper once the door swung open and tugged her saddlebags off her back.
"And if you don't mind me asking, what is the meaning of Hallow-- oh." said Taldaris, hesitating when he caught sight of a fellow alien. "Never mind."
"Oh my..." he said. "Cindy, it looks like we've got an alien here!"
"And, forsooth, a talking pony," said Cindy, immediately adopting a bad English accent. She then waved her arms around. "Pray tell, little pony, from whence dost thou come that thou cometh to this hallowed place?"
Xanthus stood up, nodding at the protoss. "So... I don't think I've ever seen anything like you around here," he said. "What are you...?"
"Hee! You sound just like Princess Luna! Anyways, I'm from Equestria, and I've come all the way from the Everfree Forest to take your candy!"
The pegasus-disguised-as-a-changeling struck a pose and tried to produce a menacing hissing sound, but it ended up sounding like blowing a raspberry with a "ohshootinearlybitmytougneoff" at the end.
Taldaris addressed the turian: "I am a protoss. Starcraft-verse, planet Aiur. We're only ten in the PPC, thirteen if you count... them. I believe you are a native of the Mass Effect continuum, yes?"
"Be my guest," she said, gesturing to the candy in the center of the table. "Just be careful, though. There may be something lurking under the candy!"
Xanthus nodded. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I am. Funny how many aliens are around this place, you know?" He shrugged. "Especially with seeing all the other continua around here. Man, that gets crazy pretty quickly, trying to keep track of how many aliens." Xanthus then raised his plasma cutter. "Which makes it more hilarious when you realize I'm dressed as a guy trying to kill space zombies."
Cloudsweeper approached the candy bowl, reaching for the sweets with her teeth. It then occurred to her how badly things could go if this turned out to be a prank: her face would be on the receiving end of it.
The disguised pegasus stood there, frozen over the candy bowl for a few seconds, and muttered: "People with arms don't need to put up with these shenanigans."
She then gently tapped the side of the bowl with a holed leg to see if it would elicit a reaction. When nothing happened, she cautiously leaned forward to grab a chocolate bar...
If Taldaris had a mouth, he would have smiled. Instead, he radiated something akin to mirth over his telepathic link with Xanthus. "Space zombies? By the gods, that takes me back to my days in the Executor's fleet... Two words: infested marines. But I digress; this is neither the time or place for such matters. Hm. I say, that weapon looks quite impressive, if primitive. What is its continuum of origin?"
...a small blue-colored dragon popped its head out, letting out a loud coo. Right on cue, two other dragons also did exactly the same thing. Their coo was more cute than threatening, but the sudden appearance was bound to be startling for the little pony...
"Well, it's only a replica, but... you know." Xanthus nodded. "It's from the Dead Space canon. It was designed from a mining weapon, actually." He shrugged. "Jury rigged weapons are always the most fun, you know?
"AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiknewit! I knew this was gonna happen!"
After the teenaged pony took a deep breath to steady her nerfes, she looked at the candy bowl again. "...heh. By Celestia, you three gave me quite a shock! But d'awwww, lookit yoo! Such cyoot wittle dragonsies! C'mere, goochie-goochie goo! Goochie-goochie..." Cloudsweeper reached out to pet the little dragons, candy momentarily forgotten in the face of the adorable little fire-breathing reptiles.
Taldaris' eyes briefly flicked upwards in time to catch Cloudsweeper's jumpscare. The protoss turned his attention back to the turian once the moment had passed. "Even though I personally find improvised weapons to be nefariously unreliable-- my species fights with precision tools carefully calibrated to our psionic talents, so 'jury rigged' could have some dire consequences for us-- resourcefulness on the field of battle is a laudable quality. I presume your armoursuit belongs to a space miner or something of the sort? It would make sense for one who fights with a mining-based weapon."
...where they then proceeded to latch onto her face. Of course, they did so rather lightly, and the cooing sounds they made as a result were adorable as they snuggled in.
Cindy simply chuckled. "Don't mind the dragons," she said. "They're some of the friendliest things I know."
"Well, actually, it belongs to an engineer rather than a miner," Xanthus replied. "But... you know." He then looked at the Protoss while rubbing his chin. "And what are you supposed to be?"
Cloudsweeper shook her head slightly to dislodge a little dragon tail from her eye and glanced at Cindy. "Er... I don't mind this at all, and this is really cute and everything, but... um... would you mind giving me a hand with this? Those talons look rather sharp and they're awfully close to my eyes..."
"I am a god tier Heir of Mind, from the Homestuck multiverse," said the High Templar, straightening the outfit's green T-shirt. "A participant in a session of Sburb is assigned a class and an aspect. The aspect determines what they have control over and the class determines how they can use their abilities.
The aspect of Mind is fairly straightforward: it deals with decisions and thoughts. As a Heir, I would 'inherit' or 'become' my aspect."
"Jasmine, Aurora, Belle, that's enough. You can get off now."
The dragons mewled in disappointment, but they did as they were told and flew off Cloudsweeper. They took a place on the couch, though, and then they looked over at the pony.
With this, Cindy gestured back to the bowl. "You can take the candy now," she said. "There shouldn't be any more surprises in there."
"Huh," Xanthus said, tilting his head. "Well, I didn't think you could get any more overly logical than the geth, but apparently I was wrong." He shrugged. "Okay. I just wanted to ask first. I figured I was going to catch a lot of flak for thinking you were wearing a windsock."
The pegasus patted her head where the tiny dragons had stepped. "Thanks!" Cloudsweeper approached the candy bowl. After she had forked a couple of chocolate bars into her bag, she asked: "Just a question, Miss Witch: why did you name the dragons after some Disney princesses?"
Taldaris rolled his eyes. " Oh, the windsock again. I cannot seem to avoid the comparison tonight. Yes, the rather large hood is one of the more frivolous aspects of the Heir's garb. At least I an not a Page or a Bard: the former wears something akin to what the Terrans call a 'speedo' and the latter sports a ridiculous codpiece."
"I was actually rescued from a Harry Potter Suefic. My friends were all named after the Disney princesses, and hell, I'm named after a Disney princess myself. So... I dunno, I guess it just felt right."
She shrugged, looking at the dragons as they mewled cutely. "But yeah, they're sweet dragons," she said. "Also really easy to tame, too."
"Oh wow, you and the rest of the world, huh?" Xanthus asked. "Yeah... Well, the next time someone says that it's a windsock, you can tell them about the time I got warped to the God of War continuum mid-mission by the Stu we were trying to kill. Try imagining a turian wearing a toga." He shook his head. "I looked ridiculous, trust me."
"...kinda makes me want to raise some, y'know?" said Cloudsweeper. "Though I'd never have the time to actually raise them properly. I help out as an Intern at the Nursery, so I'm really busy all day long..."
The disguised pony was quiet for a few seconds. "Right then. I have a feeling that we should be moving on. There are still loads of Response Centres I haven't visited yet! Have a good evening, Miss Witch! Happy Halloween!"
"Nonsense! Togas are the pinacle of civilized dress," replied Taldaris. "I have found many examples of Terran media that depict citizens of advanced civilizations wearing togas. It must amount to something, no?"
The High Templar looked at the turian's armour, sizing it up. "Though I am intrigued by the design of the suit your costume is based on. It appears fairly light, yet it provides some decent coverage of vital areas. Who is the in-universe manufacturer? My partner insists on wearing a rather dated set of plate armour and I am currently searching for alternatives.
Cindy shrugged. "Be sure to leave lots of bacon."
Upon Cloudsweeper's suggestion that they would be moving on, she immediately indicated Taldaris. "Shouldn't you leave with him?" she asked. "I don't think he'd be happy if you just left him behind."
"I guess, but you haven't put them on a turian," he said. "Trust me, we don't look good in them." He shrugged. "As for the armor... Sorry, man, I'm afraid this one is custom-made by one Isaac Clarke, and unfortunately he normally never has time to share. So... Good luck with that." He then looked over to the pony. "Hm... Looks like your kid's ready to move on..."
Cloudsweeper smiled. "No, I don't think he'd be too pleased with that either. Anyways, thanks for having us over! Bye!"
Taldaris, noticing that his young charge was approaching him, wrapped up his conversation with Xanthus. "Ah, yes. I guess we shall be going now. Thank you very much for your hospitality. I shall continue to look into this Dead Space-type armour you are wearing; perhaps I can secure a contract with a DoSAT technician for a custom-made suit. Ah, Cloudsweeper. Are you ready to go? Excellent. Let us move."
The Templar bowed to his hosts, his neural cords falling on either side of his face as he did so. "En Taro Adun, friends. May you be shielded from the Ironic Overpower as well."
The interior of RC #1110 was fairly terrifying without any extra effort on anyone's part, home as it was to a giant spider, a demon of fire and shadow, and a wicked-looking blue dragon with slit-eyes and lots of yellow fangs. There were always cobwebs, and it always smelled of brimstone. Today, the interior was lit only by the glow of Arasgorn the mini-Balrog and a dozen tall black candles on the console, from which came a steady stream of pipe organ music (always unnervingly not-quite-in-tune). Severe the mini-Aragog skulked in a corner of his web. Snerri the Monstrous Nightmare lay just inside the door, keeping watch. On either side of the door were two large Jack O'lanterns carved with leering faces.
Gall Bonecrusher, flatly forbidden from egging other RCs or jumping people for their loot, contented herself with decking out in full Viking battle gear and painting her face like a skull. She had wanted to get her hands on some synthetic flames from the Hunger Games 'verse, but those were sadly hard to come by. She lurked in the dark space between the console and the wall next to the door, waiting for the first chance to jump out.
Derik posted himself in a chair just outside the door to prevent this from happening. He was actually somewhat less hard on the eyes than usual by dint of a black mask a la the Dread Pirate Roberts, which covered up some of the scars and obscured the blind eye on the right side of his face. He refused to be the Phantom, ever, ever, but he acceded to being the Pirate to his partner's Viking. Rather than candy, he'd brewed up a sweetened and milky batch of Pernese klah to ladle into paper Dixie cups for thirsty trick-or-treaters.
And when it was over, they were both bound for Rudi's for some real fun.
The door to RC 845 was left open and was covered in fake spiderwebs made of white yarn and plastic spiders. In the middle of the doorway sat a brass cauldron on a magical fire. It was tended by Yakov, who was dressed in a pointed black hat and his usual battered travelling cloak. The wizard occasionally added ingredients to the cauldron, causing the contents to glow different colours and bubble ominously.
A perch stood next to the doorway, supporting a sinister-looking yet sleepy Murkrow. A large bowl of candy was placed on a stool next to the perch, with a simple "Help yourself... if you dare!" sign propped against the container. The Darkness Pokémon occasionally woke up to squawk at passersby or to cast Mean Look on someone who tried to take more than their fair share of sugar.
The door to RC #999 was a sliding Star Trek model with controls mounted to the wall beside it. It was closed and unadorned except for a piece of printer paper reading "KNOCK AT YOUR OWN RISK" in large, bold text, with "AT YOUR OWN RISK" scribbled out and "PLEASE!" written underneath in neat blue pencil. Perhaps the occupant was going for a hair-raising Jekyll & Hyde effect, but then again, perhaps he'd been coerced into participating in something he really didn't want to by dint of a long, heated conversation with his partner, who had unaccountably developed a fondness for small children. It was hard to say.
As she did this, Zerenze cast a nervous glance at Eusabius. "Should we maybe...?" he began.
Eusabius shook his head. "Perhaps this man will come around eventually," he said. He then gestured to Clara. "You may knock on the door when you wish, Clara."
The girl beamed, walking right up to the door and knocking on it in total disregard for the sign.
The interior was, in a word, dull, though the bunk bed with a spread of blue-green turf on the floor instead of a lower bunk might come as a bit of a surprise to those who hadn't seen it before. There was also a solid gold skull sitting on a worktop to the right, but it was being used as a paperweight and wasn't even particularly visible from outside.
Standing in the doorway was Mr. Spock. At least, it would be easy to mistake him for Spock at first glance. He had the classic blue Starfleet science uniform, the long face, and the eyebrows. Spock had never worn green glasses, though, and the ears were rounded human ears.
He gave a brief sigh as he regarded the girl in the witch costume. He had hoped to be avoided by people who didn't actually know him. "Well? Whaddaya say, kid?" he said resignedly. Best to just get it over with.
(( The usual apologies and disclaimers for anything that comes out of Nume's mouth go here. The opinions herein are not necessarily endorsed by the Management, etc. ^_^; ))
Her expression was curious, as if wondering why the man she was looking at looked so cross. Upon looking at the man long enough, she shrugged, merrily hopping along for the candy.
At this, Eusabius entered the RC, Zerenze just behind him. "You will have to pardon Clara," Eusabius replied. "Unfortunately, she is mute."
"She definitely heard you there, though," Zerenze replied. The Elite shrugged. "Eh, I'll say it for her. 'Trick or treat'?"
Nume had the good grace to look embarrassed upon learning that he'd asked a mute girl to speak. He reached over to a bowl on Ilraen's work table and snatched up a shiny red apple and a small packet of floss—because Halloween just wasn't Halloween without that guy, and this was his revenge against the world for making him do this in the first place.
He dropped the Worst Loot Ever x2 Combo into Clara's tote bag. "There you go. You'll thank me when your teeth don't fall out."
He straightened up and turned toward Eusabius, about to say something sharp about barging in without an invitation, but changed tack after getting a good look at him. "Say, I know you. You joined the DIC a couple years back." This was stated with as much certainty as one could have about timeframes in HQ. Nume may only have encountered Eusabius and Florestan in passing, but it was always prudent to know who was who in a department as small as Implausible Crossovers. "Didn't know you had a kid."
Eusabius nodded. "I do think she still appreciates the gesture." He then bowed to Nume.
"And yes... I am part of the Implausible Crossovers," Eusabius replied. "I believe I have heard of your response center in passing." He paused, looking at Nume. "Supernumary, if I am correct, no?"
At the mention of Eusabius' kid, Zerenze chuckled. "He's not technically the father," Zerenze replied. "She's actually adopted, but... Nevertheless, she's great." The Elite then knelt down and patted the back of Clara's head. "Aren't you, Clara?"
Clara beamed at this, leaning in a little closer to the Elite's hand as he smiled broadly.
"Certain people I know would take your head off for implying it could be otherwise just 'cause a kid's adopted." He shrugged, though; it was none of his business, really.
Looking down at Clara again, he appeared to have a thought. "You know sign language?" he asked, accompanied by a halting series of gestures that translated to the same in American Sign Language. He'd seen demonstrations in school and church in his youth, plus a few TV programs with an ASL translator—enough to scrounge up a basic vocabulary if he put his mind to it. He was by no means fluent, though, nor a paragon of fine motor control, and his signs came off somewhat robotic.
(( Not intending to ignore Eusabius, but it occurred to me that Nume's timeline is a little wonky right now. He technically celebrated his tenth anniversary as an agent this February with a surprise (read: ambush) party in the Cafeteria, but you didn't know that because I haven't written about it yet. ^_^; So, theoretically, your agents could have been there and therefore might know perfectly well who Nume is, even if they aren't really acquainted. I thought I should give you a chance to retcon that line if you want to. ))
"Yeah, point taken," he said as he stood up. "You'd be surprised, though..."
Upon being asked if she knew sign language, Clara nodded. "I can hear you," she signed. "Thanks for the apple!"
Eusabius smiled. "It is indeed good to see there's someone who knows ASL," he replies. "I am slowly learning ASL, but I admit it does not come easy." He looked over at Nume. "I have heard you to know plenty of things, but I would not have imagined sign language to be one of them. Perhaps Clara finally has a friend she can hold a conversation with."
Clara beamed at the prospect, smiling right up at Nume.
((Ah, I see. I guess. Right. Yeah... I'm not sure how to retcon that line now. Um... Uh... Blah!))
Nume turned back to Eusabius with a look of mild alarm at the word friend. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I remember things, that's all. I never learned the grammar, and memory's useless without understanding. Half of what's in here"—he pointed at his noggin—"is complete nonsense to me.
"However," here he faced Clara again, "I would be disgracing the uniform if I didn't pass on one very important sign before you go." He held up his right hand, fingers grouped two and two, making a V-shape in between. Solemnly, he said, "Live long, and prosper."
(( Guess we'll just let it go, then. ^_^; ))
Zerenze nodded, looking at Nume. "I haven't gotten into that yet, but it sounds like an awesome canon to be an alien in."
"So I have heard," said Eusabius. He glanced down at Clara before nodding. "Well, I suppose we must be off then. Take good care of yourself, Supernumary, and may the Force be with you." He then looked at Clara. "Come, Clara. There are many doors we must knock on."
And with this, Eusabius, Zerenze, and Clara exited RC 999.
"And who says 'may the Force be with you' to a guy in a Starfleet uniform?" He shook his head and watched with satisfaction as the door slid shut behind them. He sat down in his chair and went back to reading. He didn't quite dare hope he'd be left alone the rest of the night, but it was nice to think about for the moment.
RC 9.81 had been transformed from its normal self into something much more in fitting with the holiday celebration that had gripped parts of the HQ. A sign above the door on the outside read "Happy All Hallows Eve" whilst hastily scrawled underneath in brackets was "Halloween". The door itself was black with an orange face painted two thirds of the way down the door at what both Apollo and Kelly had deemed 'kids height'.
Inside the RC James 'Apollo' Peirson and Kelly Jones, daughter of Apollo (thankfully not James) were all prepared, even if the former was rolling on the floor laughing as Kelly tried to talk to him.
"Seriously Apollo, she had her own shop and everything.'Auntie Em's Gnome Emporium'." Kelly dressed as Circe stomped her foot in frustration as Apollo managed to get out an answer before he started laughing again.
"Yeah, sure. I know you're rehearsing what you're going to say to the kids, but seriously? A gnome emporium? is that the best you can do?" Dressed as Sportsmaster, a relatively unscary looking villain from the DC universe Apollo lifted up the hockey mask covering his face for a breath and saw the look on Kelly's face. "You're serious aren't you?" Kelly nodded. Apollo continued "Well, it looks like we swapped personalities for a bit. Want yours back?"
Kelly smiled, "Why? so I can see you make a prat of yourself again?"
Apollo shook his head. "I think I've done that enough for today. Anyway, aren't the kids meant to be around soon? Shouldn't we do an inventory check and make sure this place does look like a super-villians lair?"
Kelly shrugged. "With you being serious now we might as well."
"Hm... this one is closed," Anneli observed.
"That's no problem!" said Malran. "I'll just beat it open!" With this, the salarian rushed forward, banging his fists on the door. "Trick or treat, Halloween, give us something good to eat!"
Sorsha and Saim looked at each other, the young quarian glancing nervously to the side as Sorsha simply shrugged.
"Yeah," said Sorsha, joining in on the action. "Give us something good to eat!"
Although it was quickly shut up as Apollo coughed and hit his partner on her arm before pointing to the door.
"Oh right" she said before getting into her role. "Hmm I wonder who that could be knocking on the door to our lair?"
Apollo moved over to the door, opening it and making a very obvious look out of the door in both directions before looking at the trio of kids outside the door and their lone handler. "Just who are you, trying to enter the lair of Sportsmaster and Circe?"
...she pointed right at the two agents. "Link, it is a witch and her... um... spandexed companion!" she said. "Vanquish them from my sight!"
Saim, not really one to fall in line immediately, looked up at Apollo and Kelly, and tilted his head to the side. "Um... why are you wearing that football armor?"
Sorsha replied by facepalming, but by then Malran was already leaping into action. "You don't scare me, Mr. Sports Man!" he said. "I'll eat you up too! Aaarrrrrr!"
And Malran proceeded to run up to Apollo and pretended to eat his leg.
Anneli simply chuckled, placing her hands on her hips as she looked at Circe. "I hope you're not scheming to do evil," she said. "Like, I led a rebellion once, don't you know?"
"Oh no a..." He wasn't exactly sure what the Salarian was meant to be and so changed track halfway through his sentence. "...I fear you have beaten me in this round of combat, here have a sweet brave warrior to commemorate your victory." He stepped back into the room to get the bowl of sweets that had seemed to have ended up as far away from the door as the RC would allow.
Kelly looked at Anneli, smiling innocently. "Nope, no evil plans of evilness going on here."
"Yeah!" he said. "I've just passed my Rite! I get all the sweets!"
"Why's he wearing football armor?" Saim then turned to Anneli, tugging on her jumpsuit. "Mommy, why's that man wearing football armor?"
Anneli looked over to Apollo, frowning and crossing her arms. "Wait..." She then looked at Circe, smirking quite happily. "Aha! You were going to confuse these kids and then take over their worlds! Of course! I've totally figured out your evil plan now! Run, evil people! I will shoot you with my arrow!"
"I still think my hero should save the day," said Sorsha.
"Not all of them are for you mind." he said crouching down to Malran's height, not even bothering to stay in character any more. "It wouldn't be fair to not share your winnings with your friends would it. Besides we need to keep some for any more brave warriors that pass us by." Looking over at Saim Apollo sighed and answered. "Well young hero, like you have your gear and clothes to wear I have mine. A sports master like me wouldn't look very good without some sporting equipment right?"
Kelly sighed dramatically. "Why do people always think we'll use the kids? Klarion and Mordred tried and failed with that idea. Besides kids are hardly our targets." Kelly paused, remembering the tales of Circe that had flickered through camp after the Golden Fleece had been returned. "Or at least female ones aren't."
Saim looked up at Apollo. "So did you play the sports at one time?"
Malran pretended to pout at Apollo's declaration of sharing the candy, but by then Sorsha was already making her way towards Apollo. She then looked at Saim before looking back at Apollo. "Oh, before you do that... Do you have any dextro candy?"
"Yeah!" said Malran. "Saim needs dextro candy!"
Anneli looked over at Kelly. "Well, I guess you haven't read The Hunger Games yet," she said. "Like, the main bad guy of that one used kids all the time!"
Apollo put the original bowl on the floor before moving back further into the RC, whilst the bowl he'd got out for the kids contained normal candy Kelly had made up another bowl of 'special' candy as well. Picking it up he sifted through it as he walked back towards the trio of kids. "Yep, there's a couple of bits of dextro candy in here." he said, moving towards Saim, "It's right at the top for you. And to answer your question yes, I've played sports before."
Kelly shook her head. "Haven't heard of it before, haven't exactly been here that long either, and I'm not sure if it was available in my Home Continuum." She chuckled to herself. "I've gone all out of character now haven't I?"
Saim dove right in, grabbing the dextro candy at the top of the pile. Malran then nodded, looking up at the sports guy.
"I guess you're not such a bad guy at all," said Malran.
"Thank you!" said Sorsha as she grabbed some candy from the container.
Anneli shrugged. "Well, I totally have too," she said. "Katniss would never say stuff like "totally" and "like, oh my god" and all that." She shrugged. "It was totally fun, though."
"Well, what can I say. I always try and look out for kids." He wasn't in character any more but then seeing as he noticed Kelly slipping out of it as well he assumed it was alright.
Kelly nodded in understanding. "Well, seeing as we're both out of character, and my partner seems to be handling the kids." She stopped trying to work out exactly what to say. "Like I said, we're both new here and kinda hoped that participating in the Halloween celebrations would allow us to meet a few people. I'm Kelly DMS, Freelance Division." she extended a hand in a late but formal greeting.
"You know, for a bad guy, you're not all that bad," said Sorsha.
Saim nodded. "Uh... yeah!" he said. "You're not bad at all!"
Anneli shrugged. "And I'm Anneli Rodriguez. DMS, Hunger Games Division." She smiled. "Just got transferred there, too. I'm totally looking to the influx of Sues." The obvious sarcasm in her voice was palpable. She shrugged. "Eh, you know how it is."
"Yeah well after raising a couple of kids you get a sweet spot for them. Still, I think I can trust you guys to not let this get well known, right?"
"Well, I think I can assume." Kelly replied, "Knowing my luck we'll be bombarded with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter Sues first and then called in to deal with any other surplus the department has." She sighed "but that's the way it is right?"
"You got it, mister sports guy!" Saim said immediately.
Anneli rolled her eyes. "Oh, I totally know that," she said. "Even when my RC was in Floaters we kept getting missions that fell under the DMS' workload. It was totally the dumbest thing ever!"
"Good to know." Smiling he nodded in the direction of Anneli and Kelly, "want to see if your carer has finished interrogating my partner?"
Kelly backtracked. "yeah, I guess you have a lot more experience here than me."
As ever, RC log e's white wooden door was slightly ajar, illuminating a small patch of corridor as well as letting the scent of freshly-baked cookies and the sound of a whistling kettle out.
The RC (certainly its door) was conspicuous in its lack of decorations, though a small, Titanic-like ship was swimming back and forth through the air near its lintel like a bizarre guard.
On the corridor wall beneath the trapdoor that was the entrance to RC #−273.15, a large and obvious arrow had been painted in glow-in-the-dark green paint. Next to it ws a pull-chain connected to a bell. The arrow pointed upwards to where two pumpkins hung from the ceiling, suspended on ropes made to look like spider silk.
One pumpkin depicted a vague likeness of a goblin's face - whoever had carved this pumpkin had probably done it with a sword, or at least a dagger, so it was only a very rough semblence.
The other pumpkin could not have been more different. All the cuts were clean and straight - if slightly singed - and it seemed to bear the likeness of a gargoyle.
Set in the ceiling between the pumpkins was a trapdoor, around the edges of which came an eerie green glow (reflected from Cyba's alcove via a series of mirrors). Beyond, Eagrus had rigged up a pulley with more of the 'spider silk' rope, on the end of which was a plastic cauldron draped with cobwebs and filled with the good old failsafe that was chocolate.
"Well, I think we know what we must do here," he said to Clara. He knelt by the little girl, smiling and gesturing to the chain. "Come on. I do think you want some candy this time..."
Clara walked right up to the pull-chain, Eusabius standing up as Zerenze crossed his arms in front of him. The little girl then pulled the chain, and the bell rang with a loud ding.
Zerenze looked up. "Okay, who was the guy that thought installing a trapdoor in that place was a good idea?"
"I do not know, nor do I think it matters," Eusabius replied.
Several more chimes sounded in response to the bell, growing steadily more sinister until they ended in an ominous 'dong'!
The trapdoor creaked open slowly (despite usually having well-oiled hinges), spilling eerie green light into the corridor. There was a brief pause, then two heads were stuck over the edge. One of them was wearing a helmet draped with fake cobwebs, with eight googly eyes stuck on the forehead. The other one had her usual laser-eye and cable-hair, but her head appeared to be floating above her shoulders because her neck was invisible (thanks to the 'neckless' she had acquired during a mission).
"Muahahaha! Who comes a-ringing on our doorbell?" asked the guy in the helmet, in a rather fake-sounding deep and scary voice.
The woman had been about to add something spooky to her partner's greeting (in her Borg-voice for extra effectiveness), but what came out was: "Oh, I LIKE your armour!" It was directed at both Eusabius and Zerenze.
Her partner, Eagrus, facepalmed.
"Ooooh... red... pretty..." murmured Cyba, going slightly cross-eyed.
"Oh, no..." muttered Eagrus. His head withdrew for a minute, and shortly after he yanked Cyba by the shoulders and she diappeared too. There came few sounds of scuffling and muffled protests before Eagrus came back with Cyba now blindfolded.
"Sorry," Eagrus apologised. "Red sends my partner into a trance, for some reason."
As it was, she simply smiled up at the two seemingly disembodied heads, her eyes twinkling brightly. She then turned her gaze to Eusabius and his red armor.
Zerenze did this as well, but this time he was quick to chuckle. "Well, Eusabius, I knew that armor looked good on you, but it's getting the ladies interested now!" He placed his hand on Eusabius' shoulder, and then looked up at Eagrus and Cyba. "Am I going to have to start swatting them away from you?"
"That shall not be necessary, Z," Eusabius said. He then looked up at the two heads. "It is rather fine, good sir. Is there any candy within the premises of your response center? Clara here could always call it over, but she does not have the capacity to speak in chant..."
"Actually, I think it's something similar to the Redshirt Effect," hypothesised Eagrus. "It doesn't help that Cyba loves armour anyway." He turned his attention to Clara. "And yes, we do have candy. One moment."
There was a slight scraping sound of armour on floor and presently the plastic cauldron of goodies was wound down to Clara's height.
"Take your pick," offered Cyba. "I like your costume, by the way," she added to Clara, peeking out from under her blindfold while taking care not to look in the direction of Eusabius' red armour.
Eusabius glanced at Zerenze. "You work in DoSAT, yet do not know the Redshirt Effect?" he asked.
"Well, no..." Zerenze replied. "I just got so used to examining other technology that I just... You know..."
Eusabius shook his head. "I see. It seems that we will require some time together later to discus this," he said off-handedly.
Zerenze blinked. "Um... Okay!" he said nervously.
Clara simply beamed as the cauldron lowered, smiling and giving a thumbs up to Cyba before she rushed over to the cauldron and picked out some goodies. As she did, Eusabius and Florestan nodded up at Cyba and Eagrus.
"Thank you," said Eusabius. "I would let her speak for herself, but alas she is incapable of speech."
"The Redshirt Effect is a known hazard of the Trekverse," explained Eagrus. "Wearing red there attracts all manner of bad luck, especially if that red happens to be part of a Starfleet uniform. It turns you into a magnet for trouble. Wear red and you'll be the first one to get sucked into space..."
"... eaten by monsters..."
"... captured by Klingons..."
"... caught in an explosion..."
"...assimilated by the Borg..."
"Cyba!" exclaimed Eagrus, elbowing her pointedly.
"What? It's true!" protested Cyba, earning a Look. "That's what sometimes happens in the Trekverse. Luckily I only find the colour all-consuming-pretty. Remember you once used it to counter a certain influence problem?"
Meanwhile, Zerenze listened as well, but he edged closer to Eusabius. After a bit, the Elite then held his arm up.
"Don't worry, Eusabius!" he said. He then beat his chest with his hand, his mandibles splaying as wide as they could. "I'll keep you safe! There's a reason I'm wearing green armor, you know!"
Clara looked up at Zerenze and Eusabius, blinking in surprise at Zerenze. Eusabius, of course, simply stood there, his lips curving up in a clearly amused expression.
"It gladdens me to know you will," he said. He then looked up at Eagrus and Cyba. He then looked at little Clara. "Do you have all the candy you want?"
The little girl nodded, still looking at Zerenze.
"It's OK; we're not in the Trekverse," said Cyba. "I also happen to know that the DTE resides in the Knightmare continuum, anyway. Besides, I'm not looking - I don't want to end up in a trance again."
Eagrus winched the candy cauldron up again, chuckling quietly under his helmet.
"Well, happy Halloween!" the two agents bade the trio at their door.
Clara waved goodbye happily, and then the three of them were off, walking down the corridors again.
As they walked off, Zerenze looked at Eusabius. "I never thought I'd meet someone obsessed with red."
Eusabius looked at Zerenze with a smile. "I suppose it was bound to occur eventually," he said. "This place is plenty full of strange characters."
"Yeah, that it is," Zerenze agreed as they walked on.
Sara and Zach had made quite an effort for this Hallowe'en. The RC door had been covered with black paper, on which orange cut-outs - several of them rather wonky - of pumpkins, bats, witches on brooms, and other such spooky images had been stuck. Fake cobwebs trailed down the hinges.
Inside, the room was similarly festooned wiith a kind of carnival spookiness. Black and orange streamers were everywhere, several walls were draped in black, and cobwebs were tucked anywhere a cobweb could possibly go and several places they couldn't. Recordings of dramatic organ music and deep laughter were playing, although at a suitably quiet "atmospheric" level so as not to deafen or upset anyone.
And, of course, an extremely large bowl of assorted sweets was on the table.
The RC's door was wide open, with Vania standing expectantly just inside and dressed in Spartan armor (sans helmet). By virtue of an extension cord, the RC's mini-fridge had been scooted next to the door. Little plush Behemoths, spiders and Zubats were pinned into the generic surface around the door frame. The doorway was lit by a green glow (not as a decoration, but simply due to the mini-Hound of the Baskervilles who was resident there).
In the background, Doc was pacing a random path around the RC. He wasn't in uniform, but was still celebrating Halloween by binging on Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft short stories. Occasionally, he would start reading aloud, but Vania was making sure to stop him from scaring any children with liberal application of thrown object.
In the hallway, directly outside of RC #901/1Y was a small sign. It read,
Happy Nightmare Night!
(or Halloween!)
The door itself was painted with a large Nightmare Night symbol:
Inside, Marvin and Printworthy waited for children to visit, so to give the finest Equestrian Nightmare Night treats they could get their hands/hooves on. Candy Apples from Sweet Apple Acres, Bon-Bons, Rainbow Taffy, Zap Apple treats, and other Equestrian confectionaries awaited. Along with the treats, a full Nightmare Night celebration was in hand. Music from Equestria and the brony fandom played over soe 'borrowed' speakers fro a particular DJ. Classic games such as spider toss, apple bobbing, and pumpkin catapulting (directed through portals) were set and waited to be played. Of corse, no Nightmare Night celebration was complete without a statue of Nightmare Moon to offer candy to.
Marvin was dressed as a humanized Shining Armor, as he paced across the RC floor, practicing his telling of the Tale of Nightmare Moon as he waited for people to arrive. "Every year, we put on a disguise, to save ourselves from her scanning eyes. No, wait...searching. To save ourselves from her searching eyes..."
Printworthy shook his head, himself waiting patently for children to stop by so he could bring them some cheer that Nightmare Night. He chose to wear Daring Do's outfit, having decided that he should acknowledge his former position as the author of the popular book seres. He smiled slightly, as he fully anticipated to have several little ones attempt to hug him. Several big ones, too. He held no intention of stopping them.
Somehow the entrance to this particular response center has been redone in a colonial air, with dramatic columns and swathes of luxurious red velvet. The door is wide open, revealing Rachel Calendar dressed as an unconvincing George Washington (his teeth were never that shiny, and his grin likely never that wide due to the aforementioned teeth) and a holographic projection of Cornelius's avatar decked out like Benjamin Franklin, complete with receding stringy hairline and overstuffed waistline. They appear to be engrossed in a debate over the framing of the Constitution. A large bowl of assorted sweets is perched on the edge of Cornelius's projector.
Of course, he peeked through his krogan costume, looking at the "oddly" dressed Rachel Calendar. However, his eyes immediately bugged out, rushing straight for Cornelius' projection.
"Sorsha! Saimy! Look!" The little salarian excitedly rushed over, hopping up and down. "It's an AI!"
Saim, who before then had been nervous about really entering the RC, perked up at the mention of AI's, and then looked right at Cornelius' projection. "An AI?" Saim asked with an enthusiasm that Anneli was very unused to seeing. "Cool!"
The quarian ran over immediately, leaving Sorsha to stand and sigh quietly as Anneli came in behind them.
"Sorry about them," she said. She rubbed the back of her head. "I totally didn't think two of 'em would run straight for the AI..." She chuckled nervously, closing her eyes and giving her a sheepish smile.
"I totally would've run for Cornelius if I was their age. AIs are pretty cool. Right Corny?"
"I suppose so," Cornelius replied with a smile. "I don't see the novelty myself."
That comment got an eye-roll from Rachel. "Whatevs. Let's a take a look at who we've got here." She paused to take a breath. Her next words were dramatically bombastic, even for her. Think amateur stage performance, emphasis on the 'amateur.' "Mister Franklin! Who are all these strange children interrupting our Constitutional Convention? The three of you, speak up! Why are you here, hmm?"
"And I'm going to eat this computer! Aaaar!" And with this, the salarian pretended to eat into Cornelius' projection.
Sorsha shook her head, her gaze averting to the floor. "Well, I, Princess Zelda, am here for candy." She then walked forward, bumping Saim with her elbow. "And my hero here came for that as well."
Saim looked up at Cornelius in wonder. "Can I be your friend?"
Sorsha pouted instantly, even as Anneli chuckled. "Like, kids say the darndest things," she said as she approached Rachel. "But yeah, we're here to take all the candy!" Anneli then stood strong. "And if you don't let us take our candy, the odds will certainly not be in your favor!" She then looked down at the mock copy of the Constitution that sat on the table. "Oh, and, like, nice Constitution there. Can we get that as well?"
... at the salarian-krogan noshing (or at least, pretending to do so) on his leg. "What an eccentric performance," he said bemusedly. He then turned towards the young quarian and smiled. "What's your name, young man?"
"Well then!" Rachel paused, trying very hard not to bust out laughing at the sight of a tiny krogan trying to eat a holographic Benjamin Franklin-lookalike. After a few barely suppressed snorts, she pulled herself back together. "Ahem. Well then! Since our nation has no royalty, you must be a visiting diplomat! Welcome to you all! Candy you may have, but not our Constitution! That belongs to the people of this fine nation!"
"And I don't know if Malran is going to stop. I guess we'll see..."
Sorsha looked up at Rachel as she said this. "I am not a... a... Um..." She then looked up to Anneli nervously. "Mommy, what's a diplomat?"
Anneli shrugged. "Oh, it's, like, a person the country sends to talk to the other country's ruler."
Sorsha shook her head. "But I am the princess!" she said. "Why would I need to send someone here when I'm already here?"
"Maybe you're just a very proactive, hands-on kind of ruler. A real go-getter, you know?" She picked up the bowl of candy, which appeared for the most part to be various different kinds of miniature candy bars. "Anyway, candy! Grab a handful and enjoy!"
"Well Saim," Cornelius said. "I would be quite pleased to be your friend. I take it you have an interest in artificial intelligence?"
As she dipped her hand into the bag of candy, she smiled. "And with this, the Kingdom of Hyrule wishes to talk to... um..." She then frowned. "What place am I trying to talk to? 'Cause I really talk to your leader!"
Saim looked up at Cornelius. "Um..." He glanced to the side nervously. "Well... I guess so." He glanced to the side. "I mean, I've never met an AI, and I've always heard stuff about AIs, so..." Saim smiled, looking up at the AI. "B-but yeah, I wanna be friends with an AI!"
Malran finished "snacking" on Cornelius' leg at this point, looking over at the bowl of candy. "Candy!" he shouted, right before running over to where Sorsha was.
"And while we do not have a proper government as of yet, I, George Washington, am the president of the Constitutional Congress dedicated to creating a new and proper government."
She caught Anneli's eye as Malran joined the crowd around the candy bowl and grinned. "There've been a surprising number of AUs focused around early American history lately. It sorta sticks in your head."
"Then we shall be friends, Saim," Cornelius said. "I am always happy to expand my circle of associates." He looked up at Rachel. "Agent Calendar, there will be a delivery of dextro-candies arriving in two point eight seconds."
SHOOP
"That will be them. Please give them to young Saim, please."
"You got it!" Rachel pulled aside some red-white-and-blue bunting to reveal a pneumatic tube delivery system. She removed the cylindrical capsule from inside one of the tubes and opened it, revealing a series of blocks wrapped in silver foil.
"For me?" he asked. "Oh... Oh thank you!" He rushed over and got over to the dextro candies. He then smiled at his new friend.
"Oh, totally," Anneli replied as Malran started taking some of the candy. "But it's totally a cool subject for that stuff, you know? There we are fighting the redcoats, and it's all totally insane and rebellious! Who wouldn't want to see what happened if it all turned out differently?"
Sorsha nodded. "Well, Mrs. George Washington, I shall send one of those diplomats to you shortly. I imagine Hyrule can be of great help to a..." She then looked over at Malran, who was snickering uncontrollably. "Malran, what is it now?"
"Mrs. George Washington?" he asked.
"Yes, Mrs. Washington!" Sorsha replied.
"Until you start running into American Revolution Sues and Stus." Rachel grimaced. "That pretty much takes a lot of the fun out of it."
She paused before shifting back into her overblown 'historical figure' voice. "I hope you enjoyed this shared bounty, fine visitors! I shall keep an eye out for those diplomats you promised. Keep well, and have a Happy Halloween!"
Anneli sighed. "Ah, well. We can totally do stuff with other things."
Sorsha smiled. "I hope you keep well as well, Mrs. Washington!" Sorsha said. "I shall write to you soon!"
"Bye, new friend!" Saim said to the AI as Malran gathered at Anneli's legs.
Anneli nodded. "Thank you for letting us in," she said. "You two have an awesome Halloween!"
And with this, Anneli and the three kids left the RC.
The entrance to this particular response center has been made up in a color fashion, with black-and-orange streamers above the door and pumpkins flanking on either side. The pumpkins are... a little odd, let's say. One bears the image of of Claptrap (from Borderlands) while the other has a hooded assassin (from Assassin's Creed). Instead of candles, they are lit up with what appear to be emergency flares.
The door is currently closed, but a fake gothic knocker has been crudely glued to it.
The protoss-and-changeling duo stood in front of RC number 64.
"D'you recognize any of the characters on the pumpkins?" asked Cloudsweeper. "I mean, one's a man, I know that, but the other one is... a trashcan?"
"Upon further inspection, it appears to be a trashcan with arms," added Taldaris, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps it would be best to ask this Response Centre's occupants?"
Cloudsweeper grinned. "Hee hee! And if these agents are human, maybe you'll be able to ask them the true meaning of Halloween while we're at it..."
"An excellent suggestion. I had almost forgotten about that."
The disguised pegasus knocked on the door. "Trick or treat!"
...there came a yelp, followed by a series of thumps and the sound of laughter. While odd sounds are not unheard of on Halloween night, these lacked the polish one would expect from a playlist of spooky noises.
The door swung open. From out of the darkness of the RC stepped the figures of Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega -- or for those looking for the agent beneath the disguise, James Pittman and Laura Dukes. While James looked fairly close to the part (film purists would have pointed out his inaccurate facial hair), Laura seemed to have a bit of trouble channelling her inner John Travolta. Her hair was the right color and her expression was pretty spot-on, but her suit didn't seem to fit her frame all that well. Of course, Travolta didn't have to deal with things like a metal arm, an electronic eye, and an impressive set of bosoms.
Judging by the glares Laura was shooting her grinning partner, it'd been she who yelped and he who laughed. Those with very acute senses (and a knowledge of video games) might surmise that their behavior might have something to do with the laptop sitting on a table behind them with the item screen from Amnesia: The Dark Descent on it.
James nodded to the two new arrivals. "Evening y'all," he said. "Having a good Halloween, I hope?"
"We got loads of candy, everyone is so nice, and their costumes are so great! And yours are..." the youngster's voice trailed off as she tried to figure out what each agent was supposed to be. "...um... er... quite business-pony like?" She gave the Assassins a wide smile, hoping that her lack of pop culture knowledge would be forgiven.
Taldaris, who had been badgered into watching Pulp Fiction by his partner a few months ago, simply nodded at the agents. "An excellent portrayal, sir, ma'am. Oh, and if you do not mind me asking..."
He had meant to ask about the true meaning of Halloween, but was distracted by Laura's robotic arm and eye. A stray thought flitted through the High Templar's mind and so he said instead: "Is she a Borg?"
Telepathy could sometimes be a very treacherous thing.
"You'll get it when you're older. Just think of us as a couple of ol' professionals. Or one professional and one semi-professional, anyway." That last comment was punctuated with a elbow nudge to his partner.
Laura let out some mock laughter. "You're a real riot, you know that? The next fu-- flipping Richard Pryor."
James ignored his partner's retort. "Ain't seen any sort of critter like you before," he told Cloudsweeper. "What kinda getup you call that, anyway?"
Laura, meanwhile, turned her attention to Taldaris. "She is standing right here. But yeah, not a Borg. Just an agent who got very unlucky on a mission. All this--" she gestured with her fake arm, "--is mostly non-Borg Star Trek and Mass Effect tech, all wrapped up in a Fullmetal Alchemist covering."
"They're a bunch of shape-shifters that live deep down in the Everfree Forest. Aren't they so cool? They got these awesome sharp fangs, insect wings, and-- look! Hole-things in their legs! Oh yeah, and they can transform into anypony they want! They're, like, the best and coolest villains ever. How could I not be one for Halloween?"
Cloudsweeper's eyes then drifted over to Taldaris. "Though he had the scare of his life when he first saw my disguise. Apparently he thought a 'zergling' had gotten into our RC."
"You have no idea how much havoc even one could wreak," added Taldaris before turning to Laura. "My apologies for not addressing myself to you directly, madam. So you say that you arm is an amalgamation of various technologies, yes? Fascinating. Did you request that the DoSAT construct your mechanical limb for you or is it Medical’s standard procedure to augment to all injured agents? You see, I am currently looking for craftsmen willing to produce a custom set of armour for my partner. Oh, and another thing… What is the true meaning of Halloween?”
In the pause that followed, the Templar added: “A foolish question, I know, but one that has been on my mind for the past fifteen years. I‘ve never fully understood Terran festivals and celebrations.”
...before a look of realization dawned on his face. "Oh, from that new My Little Pony! Right. We've had a couple of crossover missions there, but I can't recall running into any changlings. They definitely look like the kind of critters I'd remember."
He reached out behind the doorframe, just out of the field of vision of anyone outseide, and pulled out a bowl heaped over with various sugary treats. "Help yourself to a ha-- err, a hooffull. The less left over my partner and I have to make ourselves sick with, the better."
Laura gave her mechanical hand a slight twist. "Medical typically refers agents that lose limbs in the line of duty to Igor for reattachment. Cybernetic limbs smack a bit of Sueness, you see. But the, uh... damage... was severe enough that I had to be referred to the Medical Research Division. They created the tech meld, but I was the one who requested the overall look. Nice intimidation factor. I don't know who made the shell itself, but I've got the contact info for the med geeks who worked on me. They might know."
"You're not supposed to call 'em 'med geeks,' Laura," James cut in. "You know they hate that."
The redhead gave her partner a sideways look. "Are they here to care?"
"Doesn't mean you shouldn't give 'em respect."
"I give 'em plenty of respect! Doesn't make them not geeks, though. As for the true meaning of Halloween... you got me there. I remember hearing things about pagan rituals, and... harvests, or something. James?"
James screwed up his face in thought. "...Doesn't it have something to do with All Saints Sunday?" he eventually replied. "I remember that being a thing in my church back when I was still a kid."
...as she scooped a hoof-full of candy into her saddlebags. The process has significantly hampered by the fact that changelings' legs were filled with holes, but the little pony eventually got her portion of treats. "Thank you very much, mister professional-guy!"
Taldaris nodded in understanding. "Ah, a harvest festival. How quaint," he said. "Fascinating... but I digress. If it is not too much trouble, I would like to obtain the contact information for the Medical Research personnel involved in the creation of your prosthetic limb."
The High Templar retrieved a tiny notebook and a pen from his trousers' pockets, then looked uncomfortable for a moment. "Unfortunately, I do not know how to properly repay you for this tip. Perhaps I can try to secure some high-tech equipment for you? I have a quarian friend who can acquire some military-grade Mass Effect-verse Omni-tools. I have noticed that more and more agents carry them nowadays, and I thought you might be interested."
Once it looked like the pony was done, James drew the bowl back. "And you have a Happy Halloween now, you hear?"
"Omni-tools?" Laura grinned as she raised her (flesh and blood) arm. A tell-tale orange hologram appeared, wrapping itself around her wrist. "We're pretty well covered on military-grade omni-tools. Comes with working in the Video Game Division. I'd be more than willing to accept an IOU, though." Her grin widened a bit. There was a Cheshire Cat-like quality to it. "You know, a 'you scratch my back, I scratch yours' king of situation."
"Naturally. I pride myself on being a man of honour; so long as your request does not threaten the integrity of the Organization or its personnel, I will uphold my end of the bargain."
The protoss transferred his pen and notebook to his left hand and stretched his right hand towards Laura. "I believe that such deals are sealed with a handshake, correct?"
Cloudsweeper performed a quick four-legged curtsey. "You too, mister! See you around!" Turning to Taldaris, the pegasus sighed as she watched her guardian make a deal with Laura.
"What's he up to now?"
...towards the deal in progress. "If'n I had to guess," he said with a faint sigh, "it looks like my partner is in the process of hornswagglin' your accompaniment."
Laura shot James a glare as she took Taldaris' hand. "Nobody's getting hornswaggled, Pittman," she said. "We're just settling on a bit of quid pro quo. Favors for favors."
"And those favors are?"
"To be determined at a later date. Now please keep our visitors entertained while I go get this fine Homestuck fan his information." With that, Laura bustled off into the darkness of the RC.
James stepped over towards Taldaris. "Mind if I ask what that was all about?"
((Sorry this took so long. I've been preoccupied.))
"...where I promised to repay her with a favour. I intend to discuss the nature of the repayment upon her return, since open-ended promises have a tendency to backfire on the one who owes the other a debt."
"Yes. Yes, they do," quipped Cloudsweeper. "Remember that time where Fire Flash had you clean the entire RC because you 'owed her one'? And then you spent the entire morning unclogging the shower drain 'cause of all of the hair in there..."
"I believed that Terrans used that as a figure of speech to acknowledge assistance."
Cloudsweeper shrugged. "Maybe, but at least we had a clean RC for a while."
The protoss produced some sort of telepathic sigh and turned back to James. "As I was saying, sir, I was looking for someone who would be willing to design and build a custom set of armour for my partner. Conventional plate armour simply does not provide enough protection for her; something along the lines of a light powered suit seems more appropriate."
((Nah, it's all good. Besides, I'm a pretty slow responder myself. *Shakes fist at University homework*))
"She won't have you clean our RC or anything like that. Knowin' Laura, she'll want something that goes boom that she can't get her hands on outside of our normal mission load. There's a slim chance she'd try to pawn off some really bad mission on you, but a mission that can make Laura Dukes say no way is a rare thing."
"Are you talking about me behind my back again, Pittman?" Laura called from inside the response center.
"Yep!"
"Well knock it off!" Laura emerged from the gloom with a slip of paper. "Now then," she said, "I think this is what you want."
...as he accepted the note. Using his pen, he scribbled a comment on the edge of the paper and tucked it into his notebook. "Your kindness is greatly appreciated. Now then, I would like to discuss the exact nature of the favour I owe you. That way, I can know exactly what to do to repay my debt.
"Your partner has mentioned that you are interested in some high-performance weapons and/or explosives. As an officer of the Department of Internal Affairs, I can use my discounts at the Armoury to purchase some rare or expensive hardware. Would that be acceptable as payment?"
Taldaris flipped through the pages of his notebook with the cap end of his pen. "If you are not interested in weaponry, perhaps I can tempt you with some fresh food? I am currently the steward of a Minecraft-verse world. I occasionally portal in it during my breaks to grow some food for my partner or to meditate in the woods. I can part with... say..." The protoss stared at his notes for a few seconds. "Ah. A stack of baked potatoes, two stacks of carrots, thirty loaves of bread, and two golden apples. Is this also acceptable?"
Cloudsweeper grinned at the DMS agents. "Heh. He's really going all-out with this offer, guys: those golden apples are really hard to make!"
"I don't recall giving you power of attorney for me, Pittman."
"Just calling 'em like I see 'em, darlin'."
"Whatever." Laura turned her attention back to Taldaris. "I'll pass on the Minecraft food. That stuff doesn't really agree with me. However, if you could get your hands on the M56 or M57 Smartgun from the Aliens series or anything out of the Men in Black continuum, I'd consider it a fair deal."
James let out a self-satisfied snort, to which Laura responded with a quick poke with her elbow.
"That is indeed a fair price. Under normal circumstances, I doubt that I would be purchasing information with weapons, but this is hardly a normal environment, yes?" Taldaris flipped to a new page in his notebook and wrote down a reminder. "...and it is done. Since I will be rather busy with patrol duty, I will not be able to make the delivery in person. Instead, the weapon will be delivered to your Response Centre by post."
Turning to his young charge, the protoss asked: "Well then, are you ready to leave?"
"Yep!" said Cloudsweeper, slowly walking to the door. After she had crossed the threshold, she turned around and waved at James and Laura. "All right then! Bye, mister and miss business-pony! Stay safe!"
Taldaris, who had followed the disguised pony on the way out, also turned to face the Assassins. "En taro Adun, friends. I wish you luck in your future missions."
The Official HQ Trick or Treat had been announced by console post for the last week. The whole thing was being coordinated through the Nursery: everyone taking kids out—their own or as a chaperone—was to meet up there first and check in.
The reception area of the Nursery was currently festooned with an explosion of arts and crafts, most of it with a motif of pumpkin-orange, cat-black, and bone-white, but there was the occasional spot of zombie-green and hellfire-red. It was generally agreed that none of the things depicted with the Crayolas, popsicle sticks, and paper plates were actually scary, of course, but Halloween wasn't about fear. It was about dressing up and panhandling for sugar.
There were already a wide array of costumes milling about, waiting for the okay to start. One knot of people was comprised of a silver-haired Mother of Dragons with a little green dragon holding one hand, a little white dragon holding the other, and a little black dragon pinned to one shoulder. There was also a blue Andalite with them, but he wasn't in costume. He just figured he'd fit in best as himself.
Four-year-old Henry Robinson had insisted on being the green one—it was one of his favorite colors, and furthermore, he was a Pern dragon. He even had a little cloth doll for his rider.
The white dragon was Ian Thomas Horowitz, a pale-haired, pale-eyed boy a little older than Henry whom Agent Ilraen had rescued during one of his missions. Ian hadn't been formally adopted by anyone yet, but Ilraen took it upon himself to check in on the boy whenever he came to visit Henry, so he became part of the group.
Jenni Robinson, of course, was Daenerys Targaryen. Her wig itched and she was pretty sure everyone was looking at the Sue-tracking anklet the DIA had slapped on her after her recent unauthorized trans-continuum jaunt had come to light, but she smiled anyway. The kids were just too cute, and heck, this was going to be fun. Almost time now.
(( Sorry I took so long to post this. I had a serious attack of writer's block. >.< ))
In the Nursery's reception area, several metres away from the door, a protoss and his Earth pony partner were having a heated argument as they waited for their adoptive sister to finish work.
"It is not a windsock. It is a hood," said Taldaris telepathically as he fixed his shining blue eyes on his partner. "This is the God Tier outfit of a Heir of Mind. It is my disguise for the night and I will not have you constantly make snide comments about my hood. It falls under the same rules as the cloak. You have agreed to not make fun of my cloak, yes? Then please refrain from mocking my hood."
"Hee hee! No, really, you should see yourself!" giggled Fire Flash, adjusting her viking helmet so that she could stare up at her partner. "Look, you've even stuffed your ponytails in it!"
"These 'ponytails' are my neural cords. Shall I explain--"
"Oh, spare me the biology lesson. Couldn't you have just used your DORKS to make yourself human to wear it? You would look less...DORK-y, maybe?" the pony disguised as a viking promptly dissolved into laughter at her own joke.
"Sometimes I wonder why I have not applied for a new partner," said Taldaris, rolling his eyes.
"Aw, you don't mean that," said Fire Flash, wiping a tear of mirth from her eye. "I know that you like my style. And speaking of style, make way for Cloudsweeper! So, did the supervisors give you the go-ahead?" she asked her adoptive sister.
Cloudsweeper-- who was disguised as a MLP-verse changeling-- nodded. "Yep! I'm all set to go. So, what's the plan? Do we just go out and start knocking on doors or...?"
"Well, I was thinking..." started Fire Flash before a [Bip.] interrupted her. She pulled a PDA from the utility pouch strapped to her foreleg and stared at the screen for a few seconds. "Aw, for the love of Celestia. Okay, change of plans. Taldy will bring you trick-or-treating. Sorry kiddo, but I can't come with you: they need me back at the office. All right then. Don't come back too late, eh? Cloudsweeper, brush your teeth after eating candy. Taldaris, don't go on a taste-testing spree again. Leave some candy for me."
"Of course!" said Cloudsweeper. "We'll see you later!"
As Fire Flash left the room, Cloudsweeper looked up at her guardian. "Um... Taldy? What's with the big ol' windsock on your costume?"
Eusabius looked at little Clara, adjusting the hat on her generic witch costume once again as he smiled reassuringly at her. "There you go," he said calmingly. "That seems to be a much better position for your hat, is it not?"
Clara beamed in response, striking a pose and looking at Eusabius happily.
The DIC agent laughed. "It gladdens me to see you agree," he said. He patted her shoulder, and then stood up himself, brushing a spot of dust off of his red-colored armor. He crossed his arms, and then glanced at Zerenze.
The Elite was of course still rubbing his fake green armor there. "I don't know if this was a good idea, Eusabius," Zerenze said. "I just... There are so many plates..."
Eusabius chuckled, walking up to the Elite and placing his hand on the chestplate. He glanced down at the leg armor, briefly noting how it seemed to be completely strange-looking, and then he looked up at Zerenze.
"Well, that is an unfortunate side effect of older armor," he said. "For what it is worth, I think you look quite dashing in it."
Zerenze blushed. "You sure?" he asked. "I just... I feel--"
And then Eusabius' hand dragged up the armor and cupped the the mandibles, the DIC agent's index finger rubbing that spot between the mandibles that always seemed to make Zerenze feel good no matter when he did it.
"You look quite excellent," said Eusabius. "I assure you of that." Eusabius dropped his hand. "Now come. We are already quite late to the proceedings. Let us move on now, shall we?"
"Sure," Zerenze replied, looking down at Clara. "Come on, Clara. Let's go get you some candy."
The little girl beamed with pride, and followed the two men out of the Nursery.
"And... um... what're you supposed to be?"
"I'm a big, scary krogan! Nobody's gonna get close to me with this on! Raaaar!"
Anneli chuckled nervously, looking at the lumps of papier-mâché that was apparently supposed to look like a krogan. It came off looking more like Big Thunder Mountain, but since she could still see eyes she figured it would be harmless.
"Right," she said. "Let's hope we don't bump into a krogan, okay?" She chuckled nervously, and then looked to Sorsha and Saim. She smiled, looking at the green tunic around Saim's costume. "And I guess you're totally the hero of Hyrule?"
"I... I guess..." Saim said as he looked over at Sorsha. "It was... It was Sorsha's idea, actually. We were playing the videa games and she saw these two people..."
"And I thought it would be really cool to be them!" said Sorsha. "If we were gonna get out of here, I'd give him the costume of a hero!" She then flourished dramatically, showing off her Zelda costume. "Besides, we can go in together and show those bad guys how we roll! With me by his side, he can't go wrong!"
"I'll bet!" Anneli tugged at her jumpsuit, glancing back at her bow and the braid in her hair as she stood up. "Well, I guess that's everyone. Let's get going, huh kids?"
"Yay!" Malran and Sorsha shouted. Saim chuckled nervously, glancing around while holding a sword made entirely out of cardboard.
"Okay then!" Anneli said, grabbing Malran's hand. "Come on, kids, let's go!"
And with this, they promptly walked out of the nursery.
Luke Celinus, looking slightly sheepish, edged into the Nursery and tried not to step on anyone. The big man had decided not to mess about too much in the way of costume, instead going for a vaguely pirate-y flavour of his usual uniform (helped immensely by the fact he always wore an eyepatch anyway, having only one eye). Spotting what looked like the official gathering point, he headed over with a nod to Jenni. "This's the Hallowe'en meetup, the- oof!"
He was cut off as a red and tan blur cannoned into him at about waist level with a squeal of "DAD!" and quickly resolved itself into a very excited seven-year-old boy dressed as a Jedi Padawan. "Dad guess what we're going trickatreating and we're gonna go round HQ and get scared by people and they're gonna give us sweets!"
Luke just chuckled and set about calming Owen down, wondering if Hallowe'en had ever been such a big deal when he was a kid.
Nearby, a little group - consisting of another Jedi Padawan, Rohirric-warrior-disguised Eowyn, and a mad scientist - were hovering. Cara Fielding had dispensed with the helmet for her costume, but the rest was accurate enough for her taste (except for the sword, which was tin-foil over wood). She was currently working on her daughter's hair; Stephanie had insisted on a tiny section being redone to mimic the traditional Padawan's braid. William Marshall occasionally fiddled with the collar of the bloodstained white labcoat he'd been talked into and looked around the room with interest at the other costumes on show.
Jumper smiled as he walked into the Nursery. He had received a message over his RC about a week ago about this HQ Trick-or-Treat, and had thought it was a brilliant idea. Give the kiddies a day for them to be kids and have candy, give the agents some time away from missions to help the children and have candy. How better to spend the near complete-multiversaly celebrated holiday? Sadly, his partner disagreed, calling the whole thing "silly sweet stupidity," meaning he was alone in the chaperoning of children. Fine by him. Less candy he had to split.
Jumper stood in the doorway for a second or two, enjoying watching the children of assorted ages and species run around and play, all wearing the cutest little costumes. He sighed, then continued his way inside. "Hello there!" he called out to the first Nursery Worker he saw. "I'm here to get me and a little guy some candy!"
((Alright, dump a child onto Jumper for him to guide. I do not care who it is.))
The child was dressed in the iron armor of Skyrim (made of felt, so the child could actually walk), running around the room shouting, "Fus Ro Dah!" Despite the kitten's conviction, the shout seemed not to do anything. This dod not discourage the young one, as he tried the shout again.
"Hello there!" called out Jumper, gently placing his hand on the child's helmet.
The Khajiit stopped, and glared at Jumper. "Who dares to try to stop Dragonborn! M'sien will not take it! Fus Ro Dah!"
Jumper stumbled back, not because the shout worked, but to humor the child. "Whoah! That was pretty strong, for one so small. Where did you learn to Shout, little one?"
The child beamed, sheathing his plastic sword. "M'sien is Dragonborn! M'sien's voice is as the lion!"
Jumper nodded, smiling to himself. He's so cute, he thought, then said, "I can see that! You would make a mighty warrior! However, there is another task for us tonight."
M'sien beamed at Jumper. "A quest!"
Jumper nodded, doing down on one knee, and adopting a serious face. "Yes, Dragonborn. I have a quest for you. Through these halls, Agents horde candy within their rooms. We are to infiltrate their RC's, and acquire as much candy as possible!"
The child drew his sword, waving it in the air. "M'sien accepts the quest! This One will acq...aqu..get all of the candy!"
Jumper rose, taking M'sien by the hand. "Well then, little Dragonborn. Let us be off on our quest. We have far to go, and no Fast Travel to aid us."
Hand-in-paw, Jumper and M'sienlest the Nursery. Well, after M'sien gave one last, "FUS RO DAH!"
"I'ma ventrer!"
"Of course you are."
Not far away from the Mother of Dragons and her assorted brood was a rather somber-looking Marceline, the Vampire Queen. Toddling around her bright red boots was a two-year-old incarnation of Finn the Human, brandishing a cardboard sword in one hand and dragging around a drool-spotted Jake the Dog doll with the other.
"I'ma ventrer, Zuhkah!" Finn (better known as Aiden Nil) repeated before reaching up and pushing his hood out of his eyes. "Ventrer time!"
"I am well aware of that fact, Aiden," Marceline (also known as Xericka) said. She readjusted the strap on the replica axe bass hanging from her back. "Do you remember what I told you about tonight?"
"Trick or treat!" Aiden exclaimed. "Candies!"
"Indeed. And what do you say after getting candy?"
"Tank you!"
"Excellent. Then let us go mingle with the others."
Aiden was two steps ahead of Xericka, having already made a cheerful beeline for Daenerys and her dragons. The Nobody trailed along in his wake, wondering slightly to herself where Andalites fit into the storyline of the Song of Ice and Fire.
"Hi, Aiden!" he said, waving at him. Since he had his rider in his green-felted hand, it was sort of an awkward flailing affair. "Are you a bunny?"
"No, he Finn!" contributed Ian, who still struggled with grammar after a terribly backward start in his home fic.
"What's a Finn?" said Henry, wrinkling his nose.
Jenni looked to Xericka with a smile. "Hi there! Nice to see you again. You guys look great."
Ilraen waved hello in a more graceful manner than his toddler friend and waited to be introduced.
(( For clarity's sake, in my last post, I meant that Ilraen would fit in better with the general assortment of brightly colored non-humans as himself, not specifically with this group. Totally legit thought on Xericka's part, of course, but blargh for unclear writing on my end. >.< ))
"I'ma venturer! With Jake the Dog!" he announced to the group at large, as if that would explain everything. There was a pause as he took in the others' costumes. "You all dragons?"
Xericka nodded at Jenni. Although she had run into the nurse a few times around Headquarters in the past, they had not really started talking until Aiden had become old enough to start playing with the other kids. "It is likewise good to see you and Henry in fine health, Jennifer. Your costumes are most admirable in their construction and overall quality."
She turned towards Ilraen. "I seem to recall seeing you once or twice around the Nursery, but we have not been properly introduced. My name is Xericka. Department of Bad Slash."
((Ah, okay. Probably shouldn't have assumed on my part.))
<I am happy to meet you, Xericka,> he thought-spoke with what passed for a smile on a face with no mouth. <Please call me Ilraen. Department of Implausible Crossovers.>
"Ian's being Bih-seh-ree-un the white dragon," Henry explained, carefully sounding out the long name as best he could. "I'm Ray-gal, but I'm a Pern dragon. I'm green!" He stuck out his arms to demonstrate, grinning. "My mommy's my mommy," he went on, pointing at Jenni; then glanced up at the Andalite and made a perplexed face, as though he couldn't believe the silliness of what he was about to say. "'Raen doesn't have a costume."
Jenni grinned down at the kids. Henry had no idea who Daenerys and her dragons really were, of course, but he carried it off with admirable conviction.
(( No problem. {= ) ))
Xericka took the Andalite's hand and gave it a very short shake.
Aiden grinned at the other kids before reaching out and tapping his adopted mother on the knee. "Zuhkah! Zuhkah! Lookit the dragons!"
A ghost of a smile passed over Xericka's face as she looked down. "I see them, Aiden," she replied. "They appear to be most fearsome."
"I like dragons. They got fire."
"Mmm. I am well aware." She leaned over just enough to put one protective hand behind her head before turning her attention back to the other adults. "I am unfamiliar with the protocol regarding trick-or-treating. Are we leaving the Nursery as a group or splitting up to pursue our own paths?"
Ian nodded and, with a toothy grin, made the most ferocious growl he could muster. "Arrarargh! I gonna eat you!" He trotted a few playfully menacing steps toward Aiden.
"Rawr, fire!" Henry added, giggling.
<That is 'I'm gonna eat you', Ian,> Ilraen corrected, keeping both stalk-eyes on the boys. <And be nice! He is smaller than you!>
"Dragon tickles!" crowed Ian.
With Ilraen on big-brother duty, Jenni responded to Xericka with a shrug. "Either way is fine by me. Were there any particular stops you had in mind?"
...in the face of his inevitable tickling. "I'm notta fraid! I'ma ventrer! I eat dragons for breakfast 'n' lunch both!" He waggled both his cardboard sword and fuzzy companion as a sort of emphasis.
Xericka shook her head. "My experience with PPC Halloween festivities before tonight has primarily centered around the consumption of bleepcohol and sugary treats. I have no preferences in regards to where Aiden and I go."
He joined Ian in the tickle attack and flailed his "rider" at Jake the Dog while he was at it. "Nobody eats my dragon for brekkist-lunch-an'-dinner!" he voiced. "Bad dog!"
"Well," Jenni said, "I have to bother a certain friend of mine, and I think Ilraen has a stop he wants to make, too, but there's no rush. We can just see where the corridors take us, yeah?" She looked from one to the other.
<That is all right with me. I saw some very good decorations on my way here, and I would like to see more.>
(( In other words, I'm thinking just start at the bottom with RC 594 and work on up the thread? ))
That was the squealing sound of Finn the Human being tickled by Daenerys Targaryen's dragons, which was definitely not a sight seen before across the whole of the recorded multiverse. That being said, it would subsequently appear in a future badfic that would leave much of the Department of Intelligence scratching their heads.
"Very well," Xericka replied. "I shall follow your lead."
((Sounds good to me.))
She turned to the pile of giggling toddlers. "Okay, my dragons, I think you've thoroughly tickled Finn into submission now. Henry, Ian? Time to break it up, or I'll get there first and keep all the candy for myself! Mmm-mm!" She started taking exaggerated backward steps toward the door.
The response was immediate. "NOOO!" The four- and five-year-olds scrambled to follow her. Henry tripped over his costume's tail and fell backwards, but bounced back to his feet unperturbed and quickly caught up.
(( PS, for your viewing pleasure:
Courtesy of TekTek Dream Avatar with some manipulation in the Gimp. Can you believe they didn't have white or green dragon hoodies? ))
...and helped her now somewhat bedraggled son back to his feet. "You were quite brave, Aiden," she said. "A bit foolhardy, perhaps, but your courage was still worthy of the greatest heroes. Aunt Gremlin would be proud of your performance."
"I'ma ventrer, Zuhkah," Aiden said. His face had gone somewhat red and he sounded a bit winded, but he was still wearing a broad smile. "I fought the dragons!"
"Indeed you did. Now come. We have many response centers to visit before this night is done." She reached out and took his hand before following after Jenni and her brood.
The door is decorated with a magical orange and black wreath flashing lights and a small scorpion knocker. When the kids knock on the door Marco (Agent West) will open the door and Halloween music will be playing (Standard halloween fare "Ghostbusters" "Don't fear the Reaper" etc.) He is wearing black and orange hogwarts robes and gloves with the American flag on the right and jack-o-lantern on the left. A Night-Guant mini (fatu'gun) then flies up and deposits a bag of candy containing some Muggle candy and Chocolate Frogs and some every flavor jelly beans into each trick or treaters bag. Agent Jameson (The Marshal) gives a half hearted wave and goes back to working on a new D&D adventure and will state so if asked what he is doing.
At my new post...i kinda botched the opening post and figured I would make a new post since it looks like I wouldn't be getting any RP at the old one.
You did kinda jump the gun, posting before I could get the intro up, but yours isn't the only RC that hasn't been visited yet. People will get to it when they get to it. {= )
~Neshomeh
I do apologize for my agents BTW, The Marshal is true to canon for an Adeptus Arbite as I could research (trained to mask any emotion to keep from not being impartial and marco...well he's doing his best to not freak out in his first real test of social skills without his sueness outside of missions))
...but I'd like to add here that I don't want you to come away from this like either Nesh or I were picking on you. I had my characters react as I thought they would react given the situation. Xericka can relate to being a former Sue with emotional issues, but she's very attached to her adopted son. So she might hold a grudge for a while. I won't, though.
We good? I hope we good. : )
It's cool I just learned what a run-on sentance is. My formal training in writing is what I learned in high school so that would explain alot. I found a writer's help blog collection though thanks to my rl roommate.
I have been informed I was laying it on a bit thick with my last post, though, so I'm sorry if I made you feel bad about your role-playing. I don't personally have an issue with the characters' personalities. The characters are another story, and I was just trying to fit in a reaction and some dialogue for all of mine. Re. characters speaking in the same paragraph and such, I thought it would be more entertaining (or at least less serious-scolding-like) to have Jenni point it out in-character than for me to tell you OOC. IC, everyone's about ready to let their hackles down and make up now. Jenni can actually empathize with Marco, since her backstory is pretty similar. {= )
~Neshomeh
Heh, well I'm glad you don't have an issue with my agents. I figured alot of the comedy would be straight-man/buffoon between them. As for the crit I actually don't mind all that much like i told PC one of the reasons I joined the PPC was to learn the techincal side of writing. I have the story and character stuff down it's just the actual excution.
Please post any OOC questions, comments, or discussions about the RP as a reply to this post. Thanks!
~Neshomeh
I know PC, Herr, SeaTurtle and I have all posted recently, and I'm pretty sure Tungsten Monk is watching. Anyone else?
~Neshomeh
Same as doclit here; no-one seems to want to visit my RC.
If I'd known you guys were still in four days ago, I wouldn't have jumped straight to Herr's. Sorry about that. {= (
~Neshomeh
. . . but nobody wants to visit my RC. :(
Maybe I'll write an interlude where something creepy happens instead. Reading Lovecraft out loud in front of a portal generator can't be terribly smart, after all.
So, as I said in a post to Herr just now, there's a bit of timeline you guys might want to incorporate into dealings with my characters, particularly Nume. February 2013 was Nume's ten-year anniversary as an agent, and there was a surprise (read: ambush) party for him in the Cafeteria, courtesy of the combined force for Making Nume Do Stuff that is Jenni and Ilraen. I just haven't completely written it up yet. >.>
If your agents were around in February of this year and you want to say they were there and know who my guys are because of it, please do! You'll have a chance to make it official in a few months. {= )
~Neshomeh
I'm still waiting for trick or treaters...the Nightguant won't bite just tickle and The marshal isn't a sociopath...just aloof.
I was looking on the wiki and saw that most children on the list are either adopted by somebody else, or are already out trick-or-treating. As I don't know just about anyone on that list as characters, does somebody have any recommendations for who Jumper should lead around HQ, or should I make somebody up?
Would Jumper be open to chaperoning a disguised(as much as that word can be used when everyone is wearing costumes) Agent, possibly in exchange for a share of the candy? I was planning an RC scene with two of my agents-to-be when I realized that it would be far more in-character for one of the two to venture out on his own to do some trick-or-treating in person(He is short enough to wear the larger child-sized costumes, for the record, so it's not going to be horribly out-of-place on him. Just mildly out-of-place.), and I think it would be, among other things, amusing to see how the other Agents might react.
If you don't want to go along with his harebrained scheme, there's a pegasus pony named Aurora Dawn(formerly of Rainbow Factory) that no one's adopted yet. You could chaperone her, possibly along with the rescued-from-the-same-story Orion Solstice(though he's been adopted already by one of KittyNoodles's agents, so you might need her okay if you want to include him), and your knowledge of the MLP continuum can allow you to approximate their likely costume choices.
...And I am down with Jumper meeting them and joining in with some mischief to get EVEN MORE CANDY, I want to use an actual child. So, I will take Sea's advice, and make some child up.
Cloudsweeper-- formerly known as Aurora Dawn-- has been adopted by Patrol Officers Taldaris and Fire Flash, both of which are written by me. She's actually getting ready to go trick-or treating with Taldaris right now, so... yeah.
I suggest you create a random kiddo for Jumper to chaperone.
Sorry 'bout that...
Just thought I'd check since I was only just able to get on and things seem to've stalled out, was just trying to figure out who in my lot would be doing what so I can jump in.
It's a bit of a slow starter, and not meant to proceed in real time anyway what with people having jobs and school and such, but things are chugging along. Go ahead and jump in wherever you like.
~Neshomeh
On the other hand, I think what this game actually needs at the moment is more trick-or-treaters. Don't want to leave the people who've already posted RCs waiting forever, yeah? Especially if they don't have other players in the game.
In other words: do what makes you happy, but try to help other people have fun, too. {= )
~Neshomeh
the problem I was having, but can do. :P Sorry for the dumb questions.))
I kinda thought you and Cassie had a brood between you, since a bunch of your characters are involved with each other. Beg pardon if that's not the case, though.
~Neshomeh
What I'm trying to do is reorganise who I've got and puzzle out who'd be doing what.
For those of us participating without permission (but are planning on getting it) can we use the RC's that we'll be using when we get permission (because for some reason RC #42 is empty) or what?
thanks
Storme Hawk
42 is actually taken by Agents Talia and Halley. Make sure to check the List of RCs. Using Ctrl+F (or your OS's equivalent) will ensure that you don't miss it due to your eyes skipping a line or something. Using the wiki's search bar to check for anything that isn't on the list for some reason is a good idea, too—and if you find a claimed RC that isn't on the list, add it!
~Neshomeh