idesof: still in the negatives but i'll take what i can get (score 1 me)
Jᴀᴍᴇs Pᴀᴛʀɪᴄᴋ Mᴀʀᴄʜ (Tʜᴇ Mᴀsᴛᴇʀ) ([personal profile] idesof) wrote in [community profile] maskormenacelogs2016-10-12 08:13 pm

we're so sorry skeletons you're so misunderstood

WHO: YOU.
WHERE: Just outside of Nonah
WHEN: Wednesday evening, the 12th
WHAT: Registration in motion at a very chilling and thrilling Swear-In ceremony! Masks and menaces meet tricks and treats.
WARNINGS: There will be murder in this log, ooc post here. Let me know if this portion needs an update!



The evening has delightful weather of clear skies and some chill. A thin, long sleeve should do the trick just fine. An old, large house on a grassy estate just outside Nonah is where the imPorts will find themselves this time around. The house features large cobwebs on parts of it, the lights gleaming from inside are an odd sort of yellow, sometimes ghouls peek out the top windows, and a skeleton sits on the porch.

The house contains a flurry of actors dressed in a wide array of characters. From the old-fashioned Victorian family and quickly obliging servants to hags, witches, mummies, ghosts, and everything in between. They sit in rooms and wait for their loved ones to return, or just for imPorts to stumble upon them. They run through the halls wailing and cackling, walk through the halls staring dead-eyed at the living. Their presence is all that's meant to scare; no one will be lunged at or nearly attacked or any such thing. Occasionally a room door might shut behind imPorts, "trapped" until they answer a riddle from a Jekyll who needs their help to keep Hyde at bay (or until fifteen minutes has passed, or until they've kicked up enough fuss to be let free) but that's as far as the ghouls go to keep anyone too close.

Two spots of this house have been turned into escape rooms, each accepting eight participants at a time for an hour maximum. No telepathy! No powers! Don't cheat and ruin the fun for everyone else! Some rooms contain games associated with outdoor festivals, tossing spooky-shaped bean bags into holes, or guessing how many jelly eye balls are in a jar. There is even a small petting zoo on the first floor, the hillbilly with an ax in his head seemingly unconcerned that anyone might try and steal one of the animals, which is mostly just small goats wearing spooky sweaters. They are small but frighteningly fluffy. Other rooms have guessing games that encourage imPorts to put their hands in dark boxes and guess what they're feeling. Don't worry! This is not a trick. Those brains are definitely just spaghetti, those bowls of eyes are just made of jelly, those bowls of fingers are just replicas, and the bones are plastic!

Vincent Willem van Ghoul has a quiet room all to himself, with an easel and plenty of colors. He also has a table. You're free to request either face painting (he's very good at drawing ghosts on cheeks, and almost perfect and making ears look sewn back on) or a quick caricature. It doesn't matter which you ask for, he'll be somewhat tight-lipped and grouchy as soon as you walk in the room. You can still engage him in conversation, and if you do, you're bound to walk away with a nice bit of custom art and a history lesson.

The centerpiece of is a ballroom with a stage, renovated so it includes curtain and lights and sounds above it like a real, albeit small, theater might. The stage has a changing set of performers covering frightful tunes in a variety of ways (Night on Bald Mountain played by a jug band; Danse Macabre played on banjos; Dance of the Knights played in a polka style; The Monster Mash gets a jazz rendition; songs associated with scary movies are crooned by local bands). The room itself has enough space to dance in and holds tables of treats. Finger foods shaped like fingers, scary cupcakes, the red punch fountain has a bunch of edible jelly eyes rolling on the bottom. More adult drinks can be requested and delivered on a silver platter by a butler or maid with a not at all convincing slit throat or gunshot wound somewhere visible. ImPorts are free to step outside for a breather (or a smoke!) and will find themselves engaged in conversation with a servant "playing hooky" or left alone, whichever they prefer.

Nearly midnight, things are beginning to wind down. A heavy booming comes from the ballroom as every imaginable horror movie and story trope takes the stage, the main light cuts off, and the sounds of the ever-recognizable Chiller fill the room. This dance troupe pulls it off well, some of them leaping off the stage to dance among those watching, interactive. Even some of the crew that's been there all night is getting into it! Maybe you were still doing an escape room, or were fighting the urge to kidnap a goat, or trying to help Jekyll escape his horrible fate...maybe you weren't there for it, and that's okay. Because it will be talked for a while after. The contrast of victorious wolfman and voodoo doctor to one side, confetti spewing, people clapping, and then the zombie standing out front, now without a head, the light that took it off hanging next to him, before he just collapsed and the screaming started...oh, the screaming, it could have been part of the show...

Any shut doors open immediately as imPorts are hurried outside. Sirens wail as police and ambulances speed closer. ("An ambulance?" van Ghoul can be heard remarking, "We need a hearse.") The house crew will insist that imPorts remain outside unless they can prove to be part of law enforcement in this world, and even then they demand imPorts stay at a safe distance to keep the area of the tragedy clean.

The police say "sorry folks" a lot. There isn't much to know or do until the morning, they say to anyone talking about helping. They have to get their crime scene folks down to gather evidence, and that takes time. They're glad people care, but there isn't anything to be done now. Go home.

The buses shuttling them back leave the radio running until Chiller pops on. Then the short ride back to Nonah becomes a quiet, grave one.
inmyothertights: (Billy - super alone)

[personal profile] inmyothertights 2016-10-18 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[He raises his eyebrow at Toby, but-]

Sure.

Do you want a spooky cupcake?
hisheartsdesire: (kings 52)

[personal profile] hisheartsdesire 2016-10-18 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Nice of you to offer, but I'll have to decline.

[Said with a polite gesture.]

Dietary restrictions and all. Pretty much limits my choices to fresh blood or alcohol, which is a damn shame.
inmyothertights: (Billy - cry me a river JT)

[personal profile] inmyothertights 2016-10-19 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
Spooky wine?

[It's here it's for you, Toby.]
hisheartsdesire: (kings 71)

[personal profile] hisheartsdesire 2016-10-19 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
Sure, if you don't mind.

[Indeed, how tempting.]

How are you, by the way? Enjoying the party?

[Because it's a little hard to tell... if Billy is.]
inmyothertights: (Billy - smokey the superhero)

[personal profile] inmyothertights 2016-10-20 11:34 am (UTC)(link)
Sure, I mean.

It's better than last year's.

[With the robots and the haunted house that took away powers.]
hisheartsdesire: (kings 51)

[personal profile] hisheartsdesire 2016-10-22 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[With an exasperated look,] Couldn't agree more! Though I'll say, it's a little hard to believe that indeed was a year ago. Time really flies...

[A pause as he considers talking about last year. But then he remembers being human again for the first time, Dorian getting stabbed, and the attack on the Helix...]

Have you seen the little petting zoo?
inmyothertights: (Billy - cry me a river JT)

[personal profile] inmyothertights 2016-10-23 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Me and goats don't always get along.

[He doesn't actually know if there are goats he is just guessing.]
hisheartsdesire: (kings 45)

[personal profile] hisheartsdesire 2016-10-26 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
No? Well, what about other animals?

[That are actually goats wearing costumes...]

Or do you just not get along with animals in general?
inmyothertights: (Billy - okay lets do this)

[personal profile] inmyothertights 2016-10-26 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
Animals are fine.

Goats are just. You know. Weird, that's all.
hisheartsdesire: (kings 39)

[personal profile] hisheartsdesire 2016-10-27 03:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Fair enough.

[Toby isn't entirely sure that he knows, but he'll go along with it.]

Been to any of the escape rooms yet?
hisheartsdesire: (kings 47)

[personal profile] hisheartsdesire 2016-11-02 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
[A scoff.] ...Then don't? Or is that something beyond your control?
inmyothertights: (Billy - super alone)

[personal profile] inmyothertights 2016-11-02 11:38 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I probably could control it.

[He shrugs a little.]

But you know, I was on the submarine? And so, um. Closed spaces.
hisheartsdesire: (kings 76)

[personal profile] hisheartsdesire 2016-11-03 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Ahh, I got you. [His lips press together, his expression now more serious and sympathetic.] Can't help simply reacting, can you?

No, but it makes sense now. That sure takes the fun out of it.

[Sorry to hear that, Billy.]

Which is why you're over here, sipping away at your drink and playing... magical balancing cupcakes?
inmyothertights: (Billy - cry me a river JT)

[personal profile] inmyothertights 2016-11-04 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
One of the reasons.