HH: Rexanna & Adam
Shark the whale
nurse shark

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#1
Here we go, the world is spinning
When it stops, it's just beginning

The Domiciles

Don't remove the cloth
they told you, but it's just a mirror. As you pull it off, you see...well, yourself. Looking closer you see that there's a fly on the mirror. With a frown you go to wipe it off, only..it isn't on the mirror...it's...in the corner of your eye. Wiping it away you cover the mirror again with the cloth and turn to leave the room. Stupid mirror. You'll get rid of it tomorrow.

A hand, pale white with long fingers, moves the cloth from the inside. Followed by a wrist that appears to be broken it's so double-jointed. Crawling out is a malnourished child-like creature, clothed in a white dressing gown with long tangled black hair.

Do you know how long the human body can go without water? You're about to find out.


This Halloween Hijinks thread is for Rexanna and Adam. Occasionally I may pop in to mix things up, but you are welcome to PP the situation as you see fit. Please remember to use the NPC account when you reply, and try to post your replies within 72 hours of each other.
Sun comes up, we all laugh.
Sun goes down, we all die...
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#2
ADAM
Adam had really thought this would be an easy gig. Spooky old abandoned houses generally equaled valuables of some kind. Even if it had been picked over already he was confident he would find something of value that had been overlooked. It was kinda his specialty, after all.

Now, staring at the mirror, he wasn't so sure. They had found a surprising amount of loot just lying around in the open. Really, the people here were terrible at ransacking abandoned property. But there was something about the mirror that made it feel as though they hadn't succeeded at all, and in fact made a horrible mistake in coming here. The thing looked old and appropriately ornate, like it might have had value, but he couldn't shake the weird feeling that there was something off about it. Like maybe it was wet, somehow, despite there being no water in here. The more he looked at it, in fact, the less he liked what he saw - which in itself was deeply unsettling, as usually he had no qualms about admiring his own reflection.

It gave him the creeps, something he would never admit out loud. He'd enlisted Rexanna to help, figuring she was generally up for a little excitement and that her night vision would be useful for keeping a low profile, and now he was glad to have someone watching his back with, y'know, fangs. Glancing back uneasily at his companion, one hand resting nervously on his gun, Adam cleared his throat. "I think we got enough, yeah? Maybe we ought to- oh what the actual fuck."

Taking an unready step back, Adam stared wide-eyed at the mirror. Instead of his reflection a... girl? Thing? Was staring? back, except not really because its eyes were covered in gross black hair and its back was bent almost sideways and yeah, fuck that noise. "Uhh let's get the fuck outta here," he snapped to Rexanna, backing further toward the door as the wet girl thing lurched through the glass.
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#3
REXANNA
It sounded like a little adventure, and Rexanna was happy to help a friend. She is grateful for those that have taken her Ascension in stride, and Adam has taken it better than most. Plus there was a chance she might find something useful in their treasure hunt and she is always on the lookout for new elements to incorporate into her wardrobe designs.

There is a desk, nearly intact, and she pulls open a drawer to rifle through the contents of someone long-since dead or fled. Ribbons and marbles, fragments of eggshells and brass buttons that have lost their shine move beneath her fingers, relics of a child’s treasures that bring a pang to her heart. The items might have belonged to a little girl like she had once been. A little girl that she might have once had, but she has a new family now, and a loving husband, and there is no sorrow at the thought as she gently closes the drawer again.

The place gives her a strange feeling of nostalgia, as though there’s something unfinished here, but Adam has been tense ever since they found the mirror. She’s a little surprised by it, but she’s been happy to leave it to him to decide whether or not they’ll be taking it back, at least until he speaks up. She doesn’t need to breathe, but she still draws in a gasp on habit as she turns to see what’s scared him and sees the pale creature crawling out of the mirror.

The Penumbra is not easily frightened but this is no ordinary nightmare. A firework tingles at the edges of her fingers, not quite called forth but ready to use at a moment’s notice. Still, she isn’t going to judge someone based on appearances. She walks slowly towards Adam and the door, never taking her eyes from the creature. Or is it a girl? “Hello.” If they’ve intruded in her house, a polite greeting is the least she can do. “Don’t mind us, we’re just leaving.

But maybe the girl does mind, because she hasn’t stopped walking towards them, her bare feet making wet slapping sounds against the floor. That’s the only sound in the room, other than Adam’s breathing, and the Penumbra gives her friend a sharp nod to get out of there while she brings up the rear, magic at the ready.
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#4
ADAM
Rexanna's response was to attempt to reason with the mirror monster girl thing, and yeah, no thanks. Maybe he wasn't super well versed in monsters, but he was pretty sure that chatting them up didn't usually help matters. "Don't fuckin' talk to it!" he hissed urgently, grabbing her sleeve to try to drag her toward the door. The door that he definitely left open. The door that was definitely now shut.

"Fuck. Fuck. Okay. Let's, uh, let's get out of here like yesterday." Reaching for the door handle, Adam gave a hard pull and... nothing. The old wood didn't budge at all, and the cold copper handle just spun in useless circles, mocking him with its uselessness. "Rex..not that I'm stressed or anything but the door's not fucking working." And the girl monster thing seemed to be getting closer, its bare feet slapping on the ground with a sickening series of sounds that made Adam want to vomit.

Doing his best to appear intimidating and brave, Adam turned back to face the horror that was the mirror. It looked wetter, if possible, and the thing that was definitely maybe a girl had managed to get its whole misshapen body out of the glass. Putting a hand on his pistol, Adam let out a truly impressive string of curses under his breath. He didn't want to have to fire it off indoors, but if that was what it took, he could think of worse excuses than saving them both from a creepy mirror beast.
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Shark the whale
nurse shark

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#5
Here we go, the world is spinning
When it stops, it's just beginning
From a throat that sounds remarkably dry given how wet the figure is, a slow, croaked song begins to fill the air, childish and eerie, punctuated by footsteps.

Here we go, the world is spinning
When it stops, it's just beginning
Sun comes up, we all laugh.
Sun goes down, we all die...


On the last note the girl lifts up her head to show a sallow, sunken face behind the mess of black hair. "I'm cold... why is it so cold?" she asks Rexanna, in a voice the Penumbra may recognize as once belonging to her fragile youngest child.
Sun comes up, we all laugh.
Sun goes down, we all die...
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#6
REXANNA
She is already moving towards the door, and gently disengages Adam’s hand from her sleeve so he doesn’t interfere if she needs to fight. Besides, she’d much rather let him get the door open for them both while she keeps an eye on the strange creature as it approaches. She didn’t come looking for a fight, but the Penumbra  won’t hesitate to defend herself or her friend if she needs to.

Except the door isn’t opening. She can hear him rattling the handle, but the door isn’t even wiggling in its frame. “Try harder.” She keeps her voice calm, but there is a note of command in it. Even if the watery child is friendly it won’t do them any good if the door stays locked. Locked doors never mean anything good in her experience, and she feels a little frisson of fear race up her spine, not at the maybe-monster but at being trapped, even with all her strength and abilities that make her so deadly.

The song is creepy enough to give even an Ascended chills, and she flexes her hand, wondering if it’s time for a warning firework. In another place, or in another life, she might have recognized the voice but here and now she only frowns uncertainly, caught by the hurt and confusion in the child’s sunken face. “It’s winter.” She keeps her voice calm and gentle through an act of will, disturbed by the girl’s soaking wet appearance. Someone needs to keep her busy while Adam works on the door, though. “Are you all alone here?
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#7
ADAM
Frowning at the insinuation that he was not trying hard already, Adam resisted the urge to say something snippy to Rexanna. Instead he focused on the door, kneeling down in front of it and taking in the lock. He'd been in worse situations than this and gotten out by virtue of wits and charm, certainly he could manage a simple old lock.

It had been a while since he'd used these particular skills, but as he unwrapped his lock picking kit he could feel it all coming back to him. He was Adam Fucking Pickley after all, leader of the Devil's Advocates (rest in peace or whatever Ascendeds do when they die, Lucas), bonded to a dragon (who he really should have brought), survivor of the fae pit, and thief extraordinaire. And yeah, maybe he was a little unnerved by the weird ghost child currently having a conversation with Rexanna, but who wouldn't be? Once he got the door open and could get the fuck out of here she was welcome to befriend all the monsters she wanted.

The door clicked open, and Adam let out an excited "Woot!" Rising quickly to his feet he turned back to Rexanna, his expression faltering a little as he noticed how close the monster kid now stood. "Well, hate to steal and run but I've got the door open so I think it's time for us to get out of your hair." Smiling weakly at his own joke, Adam quickly walked out the door and into the long, long corridor, not really waiting to see if Rexanna had followed.
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#8
REXANNA
She doesn’t take her eyes off the sickly child. The girl might look frail and forlorn, but she had just crawled out of a mirror and sung a creepy song about dying. She can hear Adam behind her, and the tiny clinks that she recognizes as lockpicks, and hopes that he’ll be able to use his skills to get them out. The girl continues to stare at her, blind gaze unblinking as her head slowly begins to tilt to the side, and Rexanna represses a shudder as the child looks at her as if she were a curious insect the girl has caught. When her question brings only silence Rexanna raises her hands slowly and keeps her voice quiet. “We’re sorry for disturbing you. We’ll leave now without touching anything else.” It’s an easy promise to keep for the Penumbra, but she doesn’t know what Adam might have in his pockets from earlier.

Adam times his success perfectly and Rexanna would breathe a sigh of relief if she still needed to breathe. Instead she begins to back up slowly as he jokes and makes his escape, reaching blindly for the doorknob to pull it shut behind her as she leaves the room.

The knob is dripping wet and cold as ice, but she can only vaguely feel the chill as she gently pulls it closed and slips out and away from the advancing child’s inexorable steps. Her hand lingers on the lock long enough to use her transmutation magic on it to seal the metal shut before she hurries after Adam, catching up to him and tossing him a flash of a sharp-toothed grin. “Nice work on the lock.” She means it, too. Part of her feels a little bad about leaving the child behind, but that's no normal girl, and she hasn’t survived this long by being naïve or overly trusting.

Not in a long, long time at least.
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Shark the whale
nurse shark

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#9
Here we go, the world is spinning
When it stops, it's just beginning
Good job, team! You got the door open! And closed! And sealed with magic! You're walking (or running, whatever) down a hall! And there's a door at the end! And when you go through it you find yourself-

-back in the same room with the mirror and the girl.

What, did you think it would be that easy?

Except now the room is covered in a thin sheet of ice, with dripping water the only sound you can hear. And the girl is sitting in a chair, rocking back and forth as she holds a small and incredibly mildewy stuffed horse and hums the same song from before. If you look in the mirror, you won't see your reflection: instead you'll see an empty field, and in the field, a well.
Sun comes up, we all laugh.
Sun goes down, we all die...
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#10
REXANNA
Freedom is not so easily won. The Penumbra knows that better than anyone, but it still comes as a shock to open the door back into the same room she had just locked and left behind. She glances aside to Adam to make sure he’s seeing the same thing she is. Maybe it’s an illusion, but there’s that chill that she can barely feel and the dampness all around them. If they can’t just leave they’ll have to go through with whatever the girl wants from them. Or go through her.

Running isn’t her style, anyways.

She steps back into the room, looking swiftly around to see what else had changed. She sees the girl, the horse, and the mirror, but other than the ice it all looks the same. The mirror looks more like a window now, and she edges towards it without taking her eyes off the unnatural child and her song. “Adam, do you recognize that well?” She doubts he will, but she has to ask. It's unfamiliar to her, but maybe the mirror is a portal, and if they can get the girl to go back through it they’ll finally be able to leave this place.
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#11
ADAM
Whatever excitement Adam had been feeling immediately died as he opened the door to reveal the same bloody room. "Well fuck." At least the girl monster wasn't staring at them anymore- instead she seemed to be looking at a stuffed animal that looks and smells like it was left out in the rain for seven years. Gross, but whatever. At least she wasn't grabbing for them.

"No I don't fucking recognize it." Rexanna seemed all too interested in engaging with the thing on its level. Her intentions were good, Adam assumed, but her priorities were definitely way off. The mirror wasn't the problem here. The girl was, clearly, and it was time to do something about it.

Carefully Adam unsnapped the holster for one of his pistols, raising it up to point at the girl. "Now how 'bout you let us leave and I won't shoot you? Sounds like a good deal, huh?" He really didn't want to have to fire the gun inside, and he really didn't want to shoot a child, but desperate times and all that. "Rex, you might wanna cover your ears... this is gonna be fucking loud."
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Shark the whale
nurse shark

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#12
Here we go, the world is spinning
When it stops, it's just beginning
Oh Adam. Maybe you can shoot your way out of most situations, but ghosts? Ghosts don't particularly care about bullet wounds. The rocking of the chair abruptly stops, and for a moment all you can hear is a distant, whistling wind as the girl raises up her head to stare directly at Adam. As she does, her hair falls away from her face, just enough to reveal what's underneath: sunken black eyes, impossibly large, and the smile of a child. If Adam does decided to shoot her, the bullet will slow as though it has hit water and leave a bleeding wound, but the girl will not die.

Not again, anyway.

"If you want to leave, then we have to play a game. A game of hide and seek. I've hidden something - if you find it, you can go home. But if I find you, you have to stay and play with me forever." Her voice is still that gentle singsong, almost familiar tone.

And then the door clicks open again, and the girl starts to count. "One, two, three..." how high will she go? How long do you have? And what are you looking for?

In the long, long hallway you will find five doors, three on the left (1-3) and two on the right (5 & 6). You will also see an old staircase leading up at the end. What do you do? (please say the number of the door you choose, or if you go up the stairs.
Sun comes up, we all laugh.
Sun goes down, we all die...
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#13
REXANNA
"Adam, don't!" Whatever he is intending on doing could only make things go from bad to worse, and that is exactly what happens. She glares at him briefly before the girl brings her attention back to the chair and the child in it, and her game is one that the Penumbra has no interest in playing. It doesn't look like she'll have a choice, though, not with the doors under the girl's control. She gives the bullet wound a regretful look, but it only drives home how inhuman the child is. A ghost or a ghoul or something even worse, maybe. Her skin would crawl if it still could, but she doesn't waste any more time.

Confidently, shoulders straight, she walks further into the room and raises her hand to touch the mirror, trying to push through and into it.
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Shark the whale
nurse shark

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#14
Here we go, the world is spinning
When it stops, it's just beginning
The mirror is cold and strangely damp, but otherwise unremarkable. The girl has now counted to 8.
Sun comes up, we all laugh.
Sun goes down, we all die...
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