2nd Event: Choices We Make

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Arrival


Not all characters (known as Wickie, singular or Wickies, plural) arrive at the same time, surprisingly enough! That’s life for you. Some Wickies find their way to the island at a pivotal (or very mundane) point in their life, or even after or during their death.

Wickies who were standing or walking often find themselves entering the town South Sister, located on Lighthouse Isle, through an open doorway. Those that were laying down, or sleeping, tend to be found lying prone in beds, bathtubs, showers, couches, and similar places within the cottages on Cottage Row. There’s no rhyme or reason to it all! To Wickies familiar with the era, they will realize that everything looks as if it’s come from the ‘90s.

The house which a Wickie finds themselves within could already be occupied. This includes walking into a fellow Wicke, waking up in the same location, or accidentally scaring a room full of people with their sudden appearance.

Oops.

C-C-Changes

Thankfully the fog has gone down to what it was before, a slow creeping crawl over the ground. And too, the monsters of before are gone, leaving the town much like it was before. Well...close to what it was before.

For now the season's have changed, from a lingering summer to a cooler fall.

There’s new foods to try, even if some things like lattes cause people to slip into warm boots and tie up their hair, and soups make people curl up under blankets on the couch. And it also means decorations of all sorts, made of the leaves from the forest, orange, yellow and red things and...we can not forget...

Pumpkin overflow

Pumpkins! They're everywhere. Wickies will find pumpkins infused into all sorts of things, like coffee, ice cream, even spaghetti options! It's wild.

There’s also many jack o'lanterns. They have been placed everywhere in town, outside homes, and even small ones have been made into table decorations. The Jack o lanterns have very cheerful faces, and seem to watch Wickies every single move.

That is, until a Wickie bashes or otherwise abuses a pumpkin. That's when it changes- there seem to be more of them. Their expressions change to that of anger, sadness and disgust. None of them attack- yet. But their faces become more and more horrifying, as they follow the Wickie more and more- outside of the bathroom perhaps, or found on top of them as the Wickie wakes up in the middle of the night.

It shouldn't matter right? They're only pumpkins.

What a ride

Funny enough, with the pumpkin invasion, there also comes a dull colored horse wandering about the island. Its head is drooped, and it looks depressed and lonely. The horse is tame on approach and will accept pats and treats, even from those who are obviously not human.

But it also wants something, for all that it seems to be begging for attention. It wants someone to ride them, seems to even be begging for it with its big eyes. The horse will help Wickies to figure out how to mount; it will even stand beside the Town Center benches, rocks, or even go down in order to make it possible for the Wickie to get onto the horse’s back.

That’s when it changes. The Wickie is immediately wrapped in chains from their barrel to the Wickie’s waist. The horse turns a coal black and the Wickie’s clothing changes into that of a soldier's uniform, with a hand either holding a whip modeled after a human spine, or a jack o'lantern.

The Wickie cannot get off the horse on their own, no matter how much they struggle. As the horse moves throughout the town, they will go anywhere from a walk to a full canter, seemingly impervious to any magic or physical attacks. The same cannot be said for their unfortunate rider.

If the rider is hit, or simply in pain, the Wickie will feel an impulse that grows and grows until they scream a name of someone in town, someone they know.

And the named will drop, paralyzed. Paralyzed wickie are likely to die within minutes, more so if they are too close to horse and rider. The horse will happily trample anyone on the ground to death.

Even without the impulse, should the Wickie rider use anyone’s name, that person will drop, paralyzed, and unable to breathe.

There is only one way to possibly save the rider: scatter golden objects in their path. The horse will shriek, and promptly buck the rider off, before running away. Just make sure to catch the rider, or at least cushion their fall: they have no way of saving themselves until they hit the ground.

Heart game: confession

Current residents of the island may remember this particular beeping alert, and how it doesn’t go away, no matter what they do! That is, unless they open up the Heart Game, and answer the question.

Welcome back everyone! It’s so good to see you again! Now let’s play that game, Confession! And the question isssssss…

How do you celebrate the changing seasons! Don't be shy!

Comments

kurogane | tsubasa reservoir chronicle

[truestrength]

arrival;

[ Kurogane is used to landing hard and often in the middle of a random street in a new world, so when he opens his eyes and finds himself on the floor of some cottage, he's not that surprised. What is surprising is that none of his companions are here and instead, there's someone else here that he doesn't recognize.

He doesn't say anything immediately, instead taking stock of his surroundings and making sure there are no threats first. When he finally gets up, he starts dusting off his shirt (that looks like it's been burned by acid in some spots) before finally looking at the other person in the room. ]

What is this place?

[ Finding that out is the most important thing for him right now. Apologizing for ending up in someone else's home is last on his list of priorities. ]

pumpkins;

[ He doesn't like the feeling the jack o'lanterns around town give him. Anytime he comes across one, he feels like he's being watched, and it's not something he appreciates coming from a pumpkin, of all things.

So he picks up one of the jack o'lanterns to get a better look at it as he frowns. Kurogane turns it around in his hands, trying to see if there's more to it. ]

What the hell?

heart game;

[ While he hasn't used smartphones much himself, he's been around them enough times to understand how they generally work. It does take a while for him to figure it out, but he eventually manages to get the beeping to stop. ]

I don't. What kind of game is this anyway?

wildcard;

[ Choose your own adventure! Feel free to PM me to discuss other prompts! ]

pumpkins;

[cicadashell]

[Kurogane won't have much time to examine the pumpkin because Jiro runs into him, knocking it out of his hands on his way past.]

Run!

[There's a horde of pumpkins with angry expressions somehow sort of levitating a little off the ground and floating around with the sole intention of devouring their tormentor, or at least that's how Jiro imagines their motivation goes. Maybe they'll go for Kurogane instead.]

[truestrength]

[ The pumpkin falls onto the ground with an audible splat, and a small group of pumpkins seem to appear from nowhere, their expressions reflecting sadness and disgust. Kurogane glances at the pumpkins that were following Jiro as they seem to turn their attention to him as well. ]

Hey, kid! [ He starts running after Jiro as the pumpkins come together to form a bigger group. ] What the hell did you do to them?

[cicadashell]

[Jiro looks back only to see instead of ditching the pumpkin army, they've now increased ranks. Fuck.]

Nothing!

[That's a total lie, and it's another a few seconds before he details what happened.]

Okay, maybe I smashed a couple- more than a couple... and lit some on fire!

[Also poured hot soup and a few lattes into their heads, but that is, in hindsight, so stupid and he's not going to admit to doing it.]

[truestrength]

[ Kurogane lets out a huff of annoyance. Good thing he's used to running long distances, because it doesn't look like the pumpkins are going to let up anytime soon. ]

Why would you light them on fire?

[ Smashing them he gets so he's not even going to say anything about that. But he does wonder if Jiro had a reason for it. ]

Is it because they're watching us?

[cicadashell]

[Running is no problem for him either, but possibly finding a place to hide is better idea. They're very pissed.]

Yeah! They're fucking demons or some shit!

[It's important to know the best way to get rid of them.]

[truestrength]

[ He huffs in annoyance. Makes sense they'd be some kind of demon or whatever.

But they really can't just keep running like this, so Kurogane starts to look around for somewhere, anywhere they can go. ]

There's a building over there. [ Looks like some sort of grocery store... there should be plenty of aisles they can try to lose the pumpkins in. Maybe a closed space can deter them some.

Regardless, that's the only warning Kurogane gives before he starts running that way. ]

[cicadashell]

[Grocery store it is. Jiro changes direction to follow; the pumpkins in pursuit. They've picked up more along the way and seem to be separating into three groups, perhaps for a coordinated attack.]

They're communicating somehow!

[Or it's paranoia, but he's willing to bet on telepathy.]

[truestrength]

You really think so?

[ Maybe they are, honestly Kurogane wouldn't rule it out. He doesn't sound very concerned at least and when they finally get to the store, he swings open the door so Jiro can slide through after him before it shuts.

He heads into one of the nearby aisles. Maybe the doors can momentarily cut them off. ]

[cicadashell]

[Moments after the door closes, several pumpkins splatter themselves against it. The second brigade slows down to bang against the door.]

Looks like that might hold them off for a while.

[Jiro heads into a different aisle, picking things up and idly reading packaging, opening a box of dried cereal and munching on it while he continues his wandering. He shoves a handful of cigarette lighters into one of his many pouches. Gonna light some more pumpkins on fire later.]

[truestrength]

[ A moment of peace is nice, and Kurogane ends up in the same aisle as Jiro by the time he's picked up a box of cereal. He should probably tell Jiro to pay for it first and not pocket those lighters but... not his problem. ]

Seemed to slow them down at least.

[ Not for long, it seems, because now there's a pumpkin on the top shelf of this aisle, watching them menacingly. Kurogane stares at it for a second. ]

...You're kidding me.

Arrival

[faimommy]

[Fai had personally little problem waking up in a strange little home; though he does note the absence of the kids and Mokona, as well. But, hey, at least there's a Kurogane! That's one member of five. ...Well, two. But that means counting himself.]

No idea. But it sounds like Mokona isn't too far.

[They can still understand each other, after all.

But it takes a second for Fai to realise there's acid burns in Kurogane's clothing. A cheeky grin crosses Fai's features.]

Kuro-puu, were you playing with the Kiishim again?

[truestrength]

[ Kurogane relaxes just a little when he realizes they can understand each other. At least they don't have to deal with that hurdle here.

But... there's other things that do catch him off guard for a moment. First, Fai looks fine, like he didn't just go through everything that happened in the world they were just in. Second, he's not angry. Kurogane narrows his eyes. ]

No.

[ He doesn't elaborate. ]

There's something off here.

[faimommy]

Hmm?

[Something off? Well, if he thinks about it for more than a few seconds, he can put some of what Kurogane is concerned about together - he certainly wasn't there when Kurogane got more acid on his clothes. Which, he might have been able to chalk up to that Kurogane arrived, somehow, before the others. But given that Kurogane is just as surprised at the location, that doesn't seem likely.

Even still, Fai just smiles and teases. Or, rather, diverts.]

I'm not sure what you mean.

[truestrength]

[ There's no way Fai wouldn't have picked up on something weird going on here, and Kurogane frowns. ]

I think you do know what I mean.

[ There's an air of "we will be talking about this later" behind his words. ]

Let's just find the kids and the pork bun and figure it out from there.

[faimommy]

[And there it is - the tone of a scolding-to-come. And he'll just have to try to dodge that conversation later, even knowing that Kurogane sees through his ruse so much more easily than the others do. And the conversation from Outo is still fresh in his mind.

Nope, he does not look forward to that conversation later.

He gets himself up properly, still smiling.]

We should find them rather quickly. Let's go, then, Kuro-chi~

[He motions after you and then is happy to follow suit out the door.]

[truestrength]

[ Kurogane doesn't say anything, only walks past Fai to leave the cottage. When they walk outside, there first thing Kurogane notices is the fog that seems to rise up to his calves. It's quiet too, with no one around. ]

Huh. [ He looks at the cottages around them. ] Looks old.

[ But it's not the first place they've been to like that. ]

Should we look in other houses or find somewhere with more people?

[faimommy]

Hm. Well, we could look for more people. But maybe there aren't that many around. Maybe we should check nearby first.

[Especially with how old these buildings look. He's not sure if there's anyone around other than them. Or at least not yet. And if Mokona isn't far, they should definitely look closer.

Either way, Fai starts heading to another little cottage.]

[truestrength]

[ Kurogane follows him, looking around for any signs of movement. Unfortunately, there's nothing. Just these old cottages. ]

You'd think there would be people moving around out here.

[ He pauses in his steps for just a moment, spotting a nature trail leading away from this area. ]

Looks like there's a trail out here. Wonder where it goes.

pumpkins

[incinerators]

[ Pyrrha hears someone who seems kind of disgruntled in her immediate vicinity, trying to shake off the fact that she, too, feels like she's being watched. Followed, perhaps.

Maybe this man feels the same way. She approaches from behind. ]

Is something wrong?

[truestrength]

[ Kurogane senses someone walking towards him and turns around as she approaches. He holds the pumpkin up to her, gripping onto the stem. ]

There's something wrong with these pumpkins. Do you feel it too?

[incinerators]

I do.

[ She narrows her eyes slightly at the pumpkin. It sure has a threatening aura to it... ]

Maybe it's best to just... leave it alone?

[truestrength]

Maybe.

[ He brings it back in front of his face, turning it around. ]

What do you think will happen if I destroy it?

[incinerators]

Nothing good.

[ Knowing this place? She thinks she's right about that. ]

I wouldn't do that if I were you.

[truestrength]

Why not?

[ He looks over at her now, genuinely curious. ]