ghostytrainer | prank #47 | action for nightmare castle CATCH-ALL FOR HALLOWEEN EVENT

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prank #47 | action for nightmare castle CATCH-ALL FOR HALLOWEEN EVENT

[Since it's kind of hard to sleep in a castle overrun with monsters that look ever so vaguely like demonic dogs and twisted jesters, John is actually conscious in the early hours of the morning when the loud creak signaled the opening of the second floor. And you better believe he went up there asap to check it out...]

A: Day 2: Sigilquest [CLOSED to Aradia, Dave, and Rose]
[So obviously the smart thing to do would be to split up and look around before coming up with a game plan. And since this is a fairly intelligent group of young teens here, that is of course what they did. An hour's worth of time is enough for them to spread and search and then meet back up in the Orchard, right? Of course it is, how big can this floor be?]

[Probably unsurprisingly, John is not the first one back, however. Actually...with this group, he's probably the last one back, let's be real. Casually fifteen minutes late to the re-group with no Staryubucks, that's our John. This is particularly sad when you consider the fact that he probably did the least amount of traveling too. He'd gone west and found a suspicious, glowing gold door which he could do nothing with (not that that had stopped him from TRYING to do something with it) and a bunch of locked doors and caved-in passageways that he'd also wasted inordinate amounts of time trying to get past, to no avail. A grandmaster lockpick, John is not, clearly.]

Ahaha, sorry about that! Lost track of time, my bad.

B: Evening/Night 2: Armory/Around the Castle
[So the pink door was kind of tricky to find and OF COURSE John's luck meant that even though he only had two Pokémon missing, he'd have to go through all three doors to get them all back. But whatever, he's not complaining too much. The fact that he got them back at all is what's important here. Though the two he has are fairly strong, he still can't help but feel a severe lack of firepower here. But again, not complaining: especially not when there's a well stocked armory up here.]

[Sure, the weapons are dull and kind of shitty, but John isn't the type of fighter who requires a sharp weapon. You can keep your swords, he's just going to go for the heaviest mace he's actually capable of wielding, regardless of how dull the points are. He may not have the godly levels of strength that he did back home, but thanks to regular sparring sessions with Dave, he's still a pretty formidable combatant.]

[Feel free to bother him in the armory as he's going through the weapons or later on that night anywhere in the caste while he's monster-bashing. In both instances, he'll be accompanied by an Umbreon at his heels and an undersized, shiny Whimsicott on his shoulder. You might also notice that the sigil on his left hand is blue, so maybe he'll give you a hand with that whole door thing if you're struggling there.]

C: Night 3: The Dungeon
[Okay so even with a weapon, both his Pokémon back, AND in the company of his friends, John managed to heck up and die. But hey, at least he didn't die the first night. That's a plus, right? Unfortunately, his Pokémon are still up with Dave and Rose which means it's kinda lonely down here in the dungeon.]

[Lonely and also boring. And ever since his three year stint on USS Prospitship with Jade and pals, John doesn't deal well with boredom. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of fun games you can play while shackled to a wall. He very quickly grew tired of "Count All the Bricks on the Ceiling" and "See If You Can Hit The Door With A Loogie" (charming, John. Charming). Similarly, "Futile Struggling Against Chains" lost its appeal in under a minute. So, at some point, if you happen to be in the general vicinity of the dungeon, you might hear somebody inside singing the Ghostbusters theme (complete with sound effects for the instrumental parts). Though the voice is uh...not exactly the best.]

[Dear god somebody save him before he actually starts singing "How Do I Live." Or...at least do in there and give him some company for distraction until the girlfriend and the best friend show up to kick his ass.]

((ooc: basically what it says on the tin: a generic post for anything you might want John for the event for days 2-5. I'm probably going to end up throwing up some more prompts as the week goes on and I have a better idea of what he's doing, so I'm a-okay with multiple threads with the same character. Just put the date and location in the subject line so I can sort of have an idea of general timeline, thanks! As far as sigils go, John is friendly enough that he'll help literally anybody who asks.))

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[ Aradia was either second or third back, in all liklihood. She went to visit as much as she could in the direction she'd split off to, but ultimately hadn't been able to make much more than a frustrated survey - this level seemed to be a bit harder to traverse, or at least had more locked places and strangeness. And at least one oddly colored door...

It hadn't been pink, though, so. She's sitting cross-legged on the ground by the time John wanders back to them, rubbing at the mark on her hand, frowning thoughtfully.

Though when the last member of the exploratory team comes back, Aradia perks up, smiling. ]

Did you find anything neat in your section?

[Dave was the first back. He knows how to cover a lot of ground and do it fast. He'd hunting for something better for a weapon than a broken bottle or kitchen knife. He still has his kitchen knife actually. It's honed to as keen an edge as an old thing can be.

When the others wander back, Dave is leaning against one wall and watching everything around them with a flat disinterested look on his face. Beside him, the newly named Deranger the Lucario watches him.

Dave had found the gold door, and pressed his hand to it. When it gave way, he'd found a room inside. Wary as fuck, he'd poked around and used another broken bottle to nudge things. That's when he'd noticed the wall scone was missing.

He knew most of his pokemon by the sight of their ball but this one. As his hand closed over it, he couldn't tell. That didn't sit right for him.

He opened it. Jade's Lucario burst out of the ball and swept him up in a tight hug. No.

Lucario isn't Jade's and hasn't been since she left. His.]

Yeah, reclaimed Deranger from the bowels of the servant quarters. Looks like the glowing doors have our buddies behind them.

[[Rose had wandered back eventually. After Dave, before John, probably around the same time as Aradia, but she knew very little in the end. Locked doors that she couldn't get open, places she wanted to explore but couldn't for one reason or another. No glowing doors for her though, and a very frustrating lack of Pokemon.

When she saw Deranger, she wanted to ask. She wanted to know if hers were there. If he saw them. But she was sure if he had, he would have grabbed them too...or maybe he didn't notice them there.

She stayed quiet, either way, leaning against her own wall with her arms folded over her chest.]]

There wasn't anything amazingly useful where I went. Unless there's a lock pick amidst us.

Dude...how did you get the glowing door open? Because I wasted probably a good five minutes or so trying to get that stupid thing to open but it wouldn't budge!

[And more importantly, how the hell did they manage to miss each other when they both checked the same glowing door? That's a little unnerving. Did they just miss each other by coincidence or was there something more sinister at play here? Ah, mysteries.]

But yeah, echoing Rose on my end. Just lots of locked doors and caved in passageways.

[Dave holds up his hands to silence the questions coming his way, revealing the gold mark on his left hand. He waits until they've quieted a bit before he speaks.]

I pressed my hands to the door. [Bro taught him various ways to break into places and get out of them without a problem. All of it hadn't been intended for normal life. When was in the bowels of his world and slamming his weight against stone doors and fumbling for catches, he'd realized his brother had prepared him in more ways than one how to face the challenges of the session.]

I was going to try and pry it open but it just swung inward without giving a shit about my struggles.

I found Deringer here in his pokeball where a wall scone was supposed to be. I don't get why they call them scones. Isn't that some sort of english pastry you eat? were they hungry when they came up with that?

Uh.

Anyway, I can lead you back and let you in to look around.

I found a glowing door, too. [ Aradia pipes up after the others have their say, looking curious. ] But I couldn't get it to open. And I don't think I covered the same area you two did at all, so I guess maybe glowing doors is a thing?

[ She'd visited the blue one. ]

I found a room with a bunch of - glass, stones, that sort of thing. All on display. And one with star charts, I think. So, nothing immediately useful on my end, either.

[ And she's standing up regardless, bouncing on her heels. ]

Of course we want to look around! Also, isn't it sconce? [ The last is randomly directed at Dave. She's pretty sure it isn't scone, actually. ]

[Monster-bashing? Monster-bashing! You'd think Winry looks like an innocent young woman, but she does have that hot-temper and she can throw men out of her room with a wrench of all things. Good thing it's always with her, even when she mysteriously wakes up in a castle with most of her belongings still there.

So, waiting is not an option. Walking around alone shouldn't be an option either, but ...well, that's what she's doing tonight anyway. It's not like she's all alone in the castle! So if there will be too much trouble, hopefully someone will get to her in time to help. Though seeing those monsters is becoming pretty tiring, but only mentally-wise mostly at this point. It's kind of eye-opening if she thinks how much the boys keep her out of trouble back home, so she wouldn't have to see all the horrible things all the tim--.

Winry is about to wave in hello at him, but instead she stares at the two pokemon in his company. Wow.]

Hi. [...What are words here?] I - you... [uhm.] Where did you find your pokemon?

[Winry's sigil is pink. Somehow it seems to be the most difficult to find.]

[Sometimes you just gotta let loose and bash monsters. Especially in situations like these. There's just something therapeutic about it, especially doing it with your own two hands.]

[John jumps a bit at being addressed by something distinctly non-monster, but upon seeing who it is, brightens.]

Ah! Hey, Winry! Have you seen the glowing doors? They're behind those! [He raises his left hand, displaying the blue mark.] They're color-coded, blue opens blue, gold opens gold, pink opens pink, you get the idea.

[John got lucky. His group of friends is no stranger to puzzle solving thanks to SBURB, and the two girls in particular have a real knack for it. Hell, even John managed to accidentally stumble upon secret passageways back home, which may or may not have been what happened in this instance as well. We just don't know for sure. But even then, that pesky door had taken them hours to find.]

[He gets a smile. Yup, just this girl and not some monster, who could talk.]

Hello, John! [Let's remember to say that too, yup.] Well, I've seen the blue and gold doors, but I have no clue where the pink one is. [She points at her pink sigil.] So I'm kind of looking for it before I ask for help with the two others.

[It's like it's HIDDEN! No, but seriously, hidden doors and stuff is not stuff that she finds easily. It's more like something that certain brothers and well, any alchemists from her world, would consider a lot faster than she does.]

Ahaha! You have the same problem my friends and I did. It took us hours to find the pink one because I guess at least one of them had to be a little hard to find?

[Nothing can ever be simple and straightforward, ever.]

But I can show you where it is, if you'd like! And get you in the blue door too, since it's on the way.

Hours? [It's going to take her days probably!] There's always something that must be hard to find, I think. I guess we won't be the only ones having that problem with finding the door...

[It's clearly some law of the universe or something.

...But her face clearly brightens at that. Look, she's almost literally beaming at him.]

Really?! I'd love that! Just let me know if I can do anything for you later here or anywhere ever.

Somehow I doubt we'll be the only ones, yeah. [He starts walking down the hall, signaling for Winry to follow.] It's really well hidden... so if there was someone or something that was trying to make this a challenge for us, they definitely succeeded on that front.

But don't worry about it, it's no biggie! Happy to help.

[ Who has two thumbs and managed to run into a horde of vaguely bear-shaped monsters and white out from sustaining too many attacks? This guy. When he opens his eyes, it doesn't take long for him to realize that he's not in the armory where he was before. It also doesn't take long for him to realize he's in chains and that he's not alone. ]

...Um. Hey.

[John has lost count on the brick counting game twice already, but damn if he isn't still trying. Or at least he was until Naegi showed up.]

Auughh, dammit! [We'll just never know how many ceiling bricks there are. It will forever be the castle's greatest mystery. John can't really be mad though, once he pulls his gaze down and directs it to his new cellmate instead.]

Oh hey, dude, what's up? Welcome to the Dungeon of Wonders. And by Wonders, I mean Endless Boredom, may as well get comfortable. So what are you in for, my friend?

Um, I got attacked by bears. They chased me and I tripped and...then I ended up here.

[ He slowly pushes himself up into a sitting position and gives the chains a tug. When they refuse to budge, he frowns. ]

At least I have company.

Bears, huh? Well that is...certainly a way to go. I was stabbed, myself, but that's nothing new so it's kinda like "pfft, okay, whatever."

[John was not as lucky as Naegi with his chains. Though his feet are free, his hands are unfortunately shackled above his head, tethered to the ceiling and effectively keeping him stuck in a standing position.]

But yes, you do have company and that's good because let me tell you, it's boring as hell down here alone. [Gee, he probably couldn't guess that with as much as you're rambling here, John.] And on another bright side, at least the bears can't get you in here. [A beat.] Or at least, nothing has managed to get in here yet so I'm assuming they can't. Otherwise we might have a bit of a problem.

[Because if this is where you go when you die...what happens if you double die? Can you even double die?]

You're awfully calm for someone who just got stabbed, Egbert-kun. [ Then again, he's pretty calm himself after getting chased down by bears. All things considered, this isn't anywhere near as bad as murderschool and Detention. ]

I hope you're right. Who knows what would happen if you die in here...

Hehehe, well after about the second time it happens, you stop freaking about it and kind of start wishing people would find more creative ways to kill you. You know, if they absolutely have to kill you. Not dying is still much preferred.

[Very much so.]

But yeah, that was my thought too...and I'm really not keen to test it.

...You've been stabbed to death before?

Twice, actually. Well, twice fatally. All in all, this most recent one makes...fiiiive times total? No wait. Six, if we include the one I wind-Houdini'd my way out of at the last minute. [He pauses for a moment, thinking.]

Call it five and a half. Either way, enough times to make me start wondering if there's some kind of target painted on my chest that I can't see or something.

F-five times...and here I thought I had bad luck. [ Seriously John what is your life even. ]

How can something like that even happen to someone five times?

It's...a very long and complicated story so I'm just going to say 'shenanigans' and leave it at that. The world I come from is confusing and weird and when I try to explain things, people usually don't get it or tell me I'm nuts. [A beat.] Sometimes both.

[And sometimes there are things that even he doesn't understand about his own world.]

But under normal circumstances I'm sort of immortal? So that kind of helps with the whole stabbing thing. Or at least the not perma-dying thing.

[ Does Naegi want to ask about homestuck...? ...Nah. Not now. ]

So you're immortal... that's really cool. I don't have anything like that. No special abilities or immortality or mind reading powers.

[Never ask.]

Only sort of, there are rules to it. The death has to be heroic or just, otherwise I just come back. But here I'm normal again but uh...since supposedly nobody can die here anyway I sort of got an upgrade in that regard I guess? No more restrictions.

[He laughs a little.]

But hey, being normal isn't so bad! I was a normal, fully mortal, no magic powers kid for most of my life too.

Those are some weird conditions. What counts as a heroic or just death?

[ Naegi shifts, leaning his back against the brick wall behind him and glances in the direction of the door. It's right there and he can't do anything because of the chains. ]

It'd be cool to have a superpower, though... especially in situations like this one.

I know, aren't they? There's so much grey area in there...but generally speaking, a heroic death happens when you do something for the greater good or the benefit of others and die in the process. Like if you push someone out of the way and take a death hit for them or if you ran a live bomb out of a city so it could explode out in the middle of nowhere. Stuff like that would be heroic and you wouldn't come back for it.

[Which...when you think about it, is really kind of shitty. Thanks for being a nice person and all, now you get to die!]

And a just death would be the exact opposite. Say you're a suitably villainous douchewaffle who like...you know, burns down towns and murders entire families and shit. If a hero takes you down, you stay down. so basically being the ultimate paragon of either end of the good-evil spectrum can get you killed.

But I won't argue with you there. Powers would certainly make it easier to get out of this dungeon. Or at least Pokémon...mine are both still up with Dave and Rose.

[Though...to be honest, he's not sure how an Umbreon and a Whimsicott could really help with chains.]

Getting killed for doing something good doesn't really sound fair, though... [ Congratulations, death is your reward for being a hero. ]

I don't have my Pokémon with me either. So I guess all we can do is wait until someone gets us out of here.

Yeah tell me about it. [He gives the best shrug he can with his arms suspended above his head.] I didn't make the rules though, I'm just bound by them.

But yeah. Hopefully somebody comes by soon...

So, um, what should we do until then? Talk about our lives?

Sure, why not? This sort of situation isn't really that great for much of anything else. You go first though, I feel like I already kind of babbled about myself a lot.

All right...Um, I grew up in Tokyo with my family. My life's not really that interesting, though. [ Quick, think of something to tell John that isn't murderschool. ]

I was held hostage on a bus once.

...you were held hostage on a bus and yet somehow your life "isn't really that interesting?" [I MEAN REALLY NOW.] What happened? Like...how did you get out of that one? Was everybody okay?

M-most of my life has been pretty average and normal. This is one of the few things that aren't. [ Except for murderschool, that is. ]

I ended up in that situation because I wanted to return a cell phone someone left on a bench but then I tripped and as I did so, I grabbed onto someone's bag and it was torn open. A bunch of stolen jewelry fell out on the floor and the guy decided to take me hostage. He forced the driver out of his seat by threatening to slit my throat if he didn't comply and made me sit down. Then he ordered the other passengers to gather the jewelry.

[John is silent, listening intently. Because damn, that escalated quickly.]

Then what?

An old man tackled the thief but then I, um, accidentally shifted the gears and pressed the gas pedal and I was yelled at to stop the bus. I stepped on the brakes but the sudden stop threw the old man off balance and made it possible for the thief to leave the bus 'cause I brushed against the button that opened the door.

Anyway, I was asked to go after him. Everyone in the bus seemed to agree with that for some reason so I had no choice but to go. But when I left the bus, I crashed into a mailman who was wondering what was happening on the bus.

[ He pauses briefly. Wow, what a day that was. ]

We both fell over and the thief managed to steal the mailman's motorcycle. But he didn't get far because it suddenly tipped over and threw him off. The motorcycle hit a streetlamp and basically exploded.

You know what caused the motorcycle to do that? It was a can of juice I bought earlier that day but ended up on the ground when the plastic bag it was in was torn open.

[What was that about being able to survive a number of things? Dave can't hear you over the - if there's a blade in a thousand miles John will get stabbed with it. The moment the battle was over and John had whited out, Dave clapped a hand to his face and sighed.

No one can die in pokeland right?

He kicked the part that went, "this might not BE' pokeland to silence and hunted for his best bro with his sister at his side.

He'd been about to kick open a door in the dungeon when he heard the singing.

Like he always has said, John is a Banshee in a windstorm when he tries to sing.] Oh my god, hurry up and help me bust this door down before the big boss ghost whatever comes down here personally to shut him up.

[[Rose was pretty exasperated with John's death as well. Just...really John? In magical fun time Pokemon Land you manage to get yourself killed? How? How?

She was quick to help Dave search, and when he wanted help with the door she didn't hesitate to assist there either.]]

I'm coming, I'm coming. Alright how do we want to take care of this?

[John's still singing as the two reach the door. In fact, he's right in the middle of a loud and (in his opinion) epic sound effect solo. Lestat the Umbreon, who's sticking close to Rose, flattens his ears and grimaces. Okay, master, he's pretty much gotten over his issues with you since you did go through all that trouble to save him from the pink door. But if you don't stop singing, he might take it all back.]

[Phoebe, on the other hand, is dancing happily at Dave's feet, spinning around and "singing" along. She loves this song. Though she loves pretty much all of John's songs so that isn't saying much.]

[Whenever the two manage to get through the door, they'll find John chained up on the opposite wall. His feet are unbound, but his hands are shackled above his head in the typical dungeon sort of fashion.]

[Dave raps on the door and eyes Deringer. The Lucario motions to both of them to stand back. He's got this. Gonna make this shit happen. As he nudges the humans out of the way he urges the pokes to move as well.

Come on. He can't be all fist of god if you're in the way.

Once everyone is clear, he cracks a smile and smashes the door in with one kick. As the old wooden thing crashes to the floor, he imitates Dave's thumbs up.

See?

He got this. Dave steps into the gap with a whistle.] You didn't even need boots to kick ass.

[The trainer and pokemon share a broship fistbunp.]

[[Rose absentmindedly stroked Lestat's head as he laid his ears back, trying to be reassuring. And when Deringer to step back, she did. Gladly, after she watched him take that door down. As the trainer and pokemon shared a broship fistbunp, Rose decided to step into the room and...

Oh.

Well then.

Don't mind her as she stands back and looks him over, all chained up like that.]]

[Well that cetainly gets John to stop singing. Mostly because the door suddenly being kicked in nearly scared the shit out of john, literally. But once he sees who it is, his face brightens immediately, especially as a certain fuzzball abandons Dave and just about flies across the room to latch onto John. She's just so glad he's safe because damn does she feel terrible that she couldn't stop this. Just going to nuzzle the shit out of John, aw yis.]

Jeez, some cavalry! First you're late, then you destroy a door on top of it. Gosh, I was beginning to think you two hadn't realized I was gone or someth...Rose are you okay?

[Earth to Rose.]

[Deringer and Dave exchange a silent look before the human boy turns his attention on his sister. She's staring at John like Terezi used to look at him when he took his shades off. That once nearly got him an eyeful of teal green tongue but that's a story for another day.

He takes a slow step away from his pokemon then enters the room, pushing his shades up so he can see in the dim room. Even with the light flooding in from outside he has to kick a few things aside as he makes his way to his best friend.

Deringer strides after him, making them look like mirror images, if Dave were to turn into a pokemon, it would probably be a Lucario.]

Let's focus on the important matters and actually get something done. Last thing I want to do is stand around all day talking about yarn balls and whatever else we will while everyone and their mother shows up to make it a bigger group of people not doing shit. Deringer, think you can bust those so he can get out?

[The Lucario snorts and motions Dave move as he steps forward and moves to grasp a manacle. He looks over his shoulder as if to say, check it. Dave notes that the pokemon acts too much like he does, including the smiles. Wow. How long had his pokemon been waiting to be acknowledged? No sense feeling guilty about it (he does), can't be changed now.

wax on

Snap. The manacle is ripped open with one motion of his hands and he moves to take off the other in one swift motion, taking care not to hurt John.

wax off]

Edited 2013-10-31 01:21 (UTC)

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prank #47 | action for nightmare castle CATCH-ALL FOR HALLOWEEN EVENT

sigilquest; WELL APPARENTLY I WILL BREAK THE ICE

sigilquest; slides in here

Sigilquest; late is better than never right?;;;

Sigilquest; shhh no such thing WE ALL LIVE OFF BACKTAGS HERE /paps

Sigilquest; backtags are best tags

Sigilquest; backtags are best tags

B / Around the castle

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C is for being chained in the dungeon like a loser

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C: Night 3: The Dungeon aka Best Friend and the Girl Friend to the rescue

Aka John is such a dumb.

rude as fuq, tbh

You used to be so stab free.

What happened, John? Does there need to be an intervention?

he doesn't ask for this. the stabs just happen.

right right sure they do