Event Twelve

[awashmods]

I am a reaper whose muscles set at sundown. All my oats are cradled.  But I am too chilled, and too fatigued to bind them.  And I hunger.

ou know what's probably amazing? Waking up to your previously normal front door suddenly being covered by a huge, autumn-themed wreath. Or perhaps you're close enough to the center of the Town to look out your window and get an eyeful of that effigy, staring soullessly at you? The point is, there's a festival going on! The Town's been decorated accordingly (don't trip over sudden bales of hay), and towards the center of the Town, there are all sorts of fun games, tables of food, and other amazing things set up. Go prance onto the stage, sample some of the amazing food, convince one of your friends to play one of those bobbing for apples games... Enjoy it! There doesn't seem to be much of a catch this time. (At least, not until you eat the food, and then you'll figure out just what that "catch" is.) Welcome to Awash's twelfth event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. You are welcome to start your own posts or logs for this event as well. If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

Comments

[thinshadowed]

[ Ari nods. ]

> "Yeah. I never thought I'd be wearing, um, heels, so it's never been a problem before."

[ If they found Ari a really big pair of pants... would he look more or less ridiculous? ]

[windeity]

Yeah, I cannot imagine most people would ever expect to wake up in a costume without warning. I also didn't know ghosts wore heels, so this is new. [As far as John's concerned, Ari won't look any more ridiculous with big pants than he does now.] Are you good with walking? Or are the heels making that harder, too?

[thinshadowed]

> "In my experience, they usually don't."

[ Ari has seen and fought many a ghost, and not a single one wore heels. ]

> "Um, if we don't go too fast, I think I'll be okay?"

[ AKA yeah, they make things harder for him. ]

[windeity]

I am pretty sure we have time. I can help guide you and everything, it shouldn't be too bad. One of the supply depots should be close by, too. Maybe something will be there.

[Someone please save Ari, jeez.]

[thinshadowed]

[ Ari nods. He's doomed. ]

> "All right. Lead the way?"

[windeity]

You got it. [And they set off! He's even walking at a slower pace to make sure Ari's not about to bite it in the dirt.] Keep going straight. We won't have to turn for a while at least.

[thinshadowed]

[ Ari definitely appreciates it. ]

> "I can see, mostly, it's just the walking that's hard... I'm not used to heels."

[ It's not a skill he ever thought he'd have to learn. Thanks, Chroma. ]

[windeity]

It's just balance, right? Is it that hard?

[thinshadowed]

> "It kind of reminds me of when I went to Highland Village? The narrow wooden bridges, really high up..."

[ Over chasms so deep he couldn't possibly see the bottom. ]

> "I feel like I'm going to fall."

[windeity]

It is all mind over matter. If you don't think about falling, you won't! [Says he who has started to float again so he's hovering a few inches from the ground and leading Ari along.] What's Highland Village?

[thinshadowed]

[ Ari thinks it's pretty cool that John can float like that. It reminds him of someone he knows back home, since Epros always traveled exclusively via floating whenever they had to go anywhere faster than a walking pace. ]

> "It's a place that was ruled by the Vampire Evil King, until we beat him. Now he just lives there, I guess."

[ Ari concentrates on where he's placing his feet. ]

[windeity]

You beat a Vampire King but he's still alive? What did you have to beat him for then? [This is perhaps a foreign concept, yet here we are.]

[thinshadowed]

> "He was only the Vampire Evil King because he was Classified that way."

[ There's a weird undertone to the way he says the word, a subtle push of importance that nudges it into proper noun territory. How mysterious? Thanks Ari. ]

> "Once we beat him, he didn't want to hurt anyone anymore."

[windeity]

Huh. Is that...like a thing you guys do a lot where you're from? Finding evil and beating them into being not evil, I mean. That sounds like maybe there is more to this story.

[thinshadowed]

> "Oh, well..."

[ It's not... the norm, no. ]

> "He was a fake Evil King. There were a lot of fake Evil Kings, actually, and I had to beat them because my master said so. He's an Evil King too, the real one, but they stole all his power while he was sealed away, so he took over my shadow and made me go on a quest to get all his missing power back."

[ Ari? Please stop telling people this story? Just because it's true, doesn't mean everyone needs to know?! ]

[windeity]

[...wait what.]

Wait, what? [WHAT?] That sounds even more complicated than I thought. How can someone take over your shadow? And how could he do that if he was sealed away anyway? [This got weird on him but now he's determined to understand.]

[thinshadowed]

> "Oh, sorry."

[ Ari isn't very good at explaining things. He tends to ramble on, or leave out key details, or recount past events with the stilted awkwardness of a kid reciting a book report. He tries to elaborate. ]

> "My sister got cursed by a ghost, and she could only speak in pig latin. So my father made a big magic circle in the basement, and he unsealed Stan's bottle with a weird ritual dance. After that, my parents made a deal with him to break my sister's curse, and he got to pick one of us to become his slave. His butler, James, called in some shadow expert ghosts to see which of us would make the best servant, and I won the contest."

[ Y...ay? ]

> "So he took over my shadow. He couldn't exist outside of the bottle, so that's why he needed a human host."

[ Ari gestures to his own shadow, which is now perfectly normal. ]

> "My shadow didn't look like me anymore when he was in it. It stood up and looked more like a demon, sort of. Rosalyn said that Stan looked stupid, not scary, and I guess she was kind of right. It was weird. But yeah, after that he made me go look for the fake Evil Kings that stole his power, so he could get his real body back and take over the world."

[windeity]

[...that's still so much. It sounds like it'd make a great movie though, but he at least knows better than to say that. He nods along, still walking to make sure Ari doesn't trip and fall, but he's trying to wrap his head around the concept.]

Why couldn't they just find someone else to be a slave? That seems to be the dumbest part of that deal. Did your parents really know he was going to do that?

[thinshadowed]

[ Good thing too, or else Ari would have to ask him what movies are. ]

> "Well... yeah."

[ The boy shrugs, awkwardly, a gesture that doesn't communicate well through the costume. ]

> "He was pretty upfront about the terms. I guess they just got carried away? I mean, Annie is their favorite."

[ Ari himself, less so. ]

[windeity]

[...ouch. That's pretty awkward and he's almost sorry he mentioned it.] ...well. I guess the good thing is that you're not there and you don't have to worry about that any more. You get to be the favorite here.

[thinshadowed]

[ That catches him by surprise, and Ari laughs quietly. ]

> "That's a lot of responsibility. I don't think I've ever been the favorite before."

[ Even if he tends toward sounding mild-mannered or deadpan in his delivery, there's just enough humor here to communicate he's in a good mood and merely poking fun at himself. ]

[windeity]

Think you can handle that? [It's a similar tone because that's still a lot of horrible connotations there.] We're almost at the depot, too.