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lights out
Warnings: Potential violence and psychological fuckery.
Location: Glitter Carnival
Characters: The Nox and you.
When: June 23rd through June 30th
Summary: There's trouble stirring up in the Glitter Carnival.
Despite its usual state of near-emptiness, Glitter Carnival’s name has been apt long before even the first arrivals were dropped into Freesia; the lights on the rides and stalls twinkle and glitter day and night, a cheery beacon from afar.
Until now.
Unceremoniously and unanimously, every light flickers and dies. The cheery carnival music continues over the rides’ speakers, but the rides themselves are perfectly still. None of Freesia’s citizens stick around, and not solely because of the uncomfortable ambiance.
The Nox have made a move, figuratively and literally. Larger than the ones scuttling through the rest of the city, they’re walking between the games and rides without a care. Some of their murky silhouettes are roughly shaped like clowns, some like every animal on the carousel…and, rarely, an oversized and certainly grotesque mix of both. And they’re whispering.
Glitter Carnival is Nox territory.
Anyone nearby is likely to get into trouble--or maybe that’s what they want. Give those Nox the good old one-two. Or maybe try and realize they can’t and flee. They certainly have options:
1. The Hall of Mirrors always seemed a bit more uncomfortable and frustrating than fun, but it looks like a good bolthole for someone panicking. Alas, only two steps in is the maze...and in the maze, some of the shadows have eyes. Good luck choosing the right ones, or the glass will be nearly as much of a hazard as the creatures themselves.
2. The rides are nonfunctional--or so it seems. If you look close, the inner components of most have a sticky black coating of ooze. Thing is, if you’re close enough to see that, you’re close enough for the Nox to spring into action and try to take you out. Enjoy dodging bumper cars and the like going at near-fatal collision speeds.
3. There's nobody around, but there are still voices, tempting or terrifying or both. The Nox would like to have a word with you.
4. Surely there are other things to do. It's a carnival! Ignore the Nox or try something else, go wild.
4
...OK, maybe Casey's going to have to be a little more careful then he usually is, but he can't stay away. People could be in trouble, the shadow things (that has to be what these are) are his responsibility in a way, and...well...maybe some part of him wonders if him setting that fire somehow caused this. Well, whatever, he's going in, bat already in hand.
...Gosh, it's getting dark. Maybe a flashlight would have been a good idea, but when Casey turns around to look, it seems like he's nowhere near the entrance. Should've seen that coming.
Nowhere to go but forward.
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"Casey!"
Greg comes huffing up to the teen, flashlight in hand. He certainly hadn't been planning on entering the danger zone, but when you catch sight of a kid wandering in by himself, plans get thrown to the sidelines.
"Oh thank goodness. What the hey do you think you're doing in here, man?"
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No. No, no, no. What the heck was this guy doing here? Hadn't he been all no Casey you're way cooler than me I don't fight when they last talked?
"Me? Are you kidding?" he said, flipping up his mask, "What the heck are you doing here? This is super dangerous!"
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He tugged his jacket tighter around him, looking anxiously through the lengthening shadows. It was hard to tell if that was from the dying light, or the shadows doing it of their own accord.
"I'm getting you out of here, the last thing you want is to be here if it gets too dark."
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He sort of means it in a cocky way, but he mostly means it out of his sense of duty. It's often very hard to tell the difference with Casey. Often there is no difference with Casey. He is way less enthused about getting Greg in danger though, and he has to call back on everything anyone's ever said him about this exact topic.
Except all that stuff was about how Casey wasn't capable enough to handle himself and that just makes him feel lousy so he goes with: "You don't have to get involved with this."
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"No one's going to take down something this big alone. You've gotta have someone watch your back. Either we head out of here, or I go with you. I know which I'd prefer." He's wearing flip flops man he is not cut out for a fight.
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"Watch my back? You mean I'll be watching yours. Guessing you're not much of a fighter." Unless he's hiding some kind of ninja master talent in that doughy body, Casey is pretty sure he'll be doing most of the fighting in this team up. And actually it'd be a great time for Greg to surprise him with some, these things are mean.
"I can help you get back out of the carnival, but...I think we gotta go fast," and Casey will probably immediately run right back in once Greg is safe.
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"Right... the exit's back this way, come on!" Greg says it with certainty, but as soon as he turns, he's suddenly a lot less sure. Surely, everything's the same as it was a moment ago, but the moving shadows has made things look entirely different.
"Uhh..." He hesitates, before flinching at shuffling and whispering from the darkness. Ah, right. Wherever they're headed, it shouldn't be here. "C-come on, let's go!"
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He starts to follow Greg, but he's almost sure they're going the wrong way. Wasn't it to the right...or behind them? He honestly can't remember now.
"...You sure we're going the right way?" He squints at the Ferris wheel a bit. Was that there before? It must have been, it...hold on.
"Is it just me...or is that thing leaking?"
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"Euugh. Is that... oil?"
Sure, it's important to keep your machines lubricated, but somehow that seems excessiVETHERE'S AN EYE IN THERE
White, blank eyes pop out of the leaking darkness, and a moment later shapes have lunged out at them. "NOT OIL," Greg squawks, stumbling back.
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"Get outta here! I got this!" Greg has to get out of here, because Casey's about to try the fire thing again and who knows what he'll catch this time. The bat, hopefully. He's going to try for the bat.
How is he gonna do it without catching everything on fire...Rub it between his hands like a campfire stick?
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The dark silhouette of a horse, impaled on a pole, rears up before them. Its blank eyes bulge, and it lunges--only to stagger. Weeds underfoot have lunged up, straining to wrap around the Nox's hooves. It's not much, but it's enough to buy them a few extra seconds. When did that happen, he didn't mean to do that, how did that happen.
"Oh man, oh man oh man. Let's get out of here, hurry!"
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"Did you do that?!" he says, glancing behind him at Greg, "that's wicked!" Greg could tie the creature up! Or make some kind of killer Nox-eating plant! He's so jazzed he completely loses his focus on the fire, and doesn't notice the sparks starting to snap around the thing's feet and on the plants, igniting them.
"What're we gonna do about the horse?" shouts Casey as he backs up from the thing. "We can't outrun that thing!" Well, Casey might be able to skate away from it but Greg doesn't really seem like much of a runner.
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"Let's just get out of here, we'll figure it--oorgh-"
A few small, sharp pains throbbed through his brain for a moment, out of nowhere. It was a dull, but constant throb, and for a moment Greg thought he was finally having some sort of attack, before his eye was caught.
The Nox began to thrash harder as the plants caught fire and began to scald its ethereal form. "I think we're just making it madder!"
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Whatever was wrong, it clearly meant it was up to Casey to save the day.
"Good! That means we're a threat-" It was at that point the Nox broke free of the burning weeds and reared, preparing to charge at Greg.
"Run, dude!" Casey made a snap decision and skated forward to meet the thing head on. If he jumped right, he could nail the thing right between the eyes. Too bad the bat still wasn't on fire. Whatever, he can do this.
"GOONGALA!"
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Greg himself was stumbling out of the way, the throb of headache persisting as the plants burned away, everything moving a bit faster than he was properly registering.
"Casey!" The horse-shaped shadow reared at the teen with a screeching imitation of a horse's whinny, and all Greg could do was watch with wide eyes, backing away slowly. There was no way he could fight that thing himself, and if Casey was telling the truth, he knew more about fighting things like this anyway.
Still, there was no chance Greg could turn tail and run while a kid fought for him. His face screwed up as he tried to figure out what he'd done before with the plants, how to manage anything at all. "Come on, come on..." Whether due to his lack of experience or the plants themselves becoming reluctant to risk being set aflame, nothing seemed to happen. Not fast enough to stop the Nox from lashing out, anyway.
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So now he was more or less under it when it reared, and Casey may not know anything about horses, but he knew when something was trying to violently kill him. The thing was going to break his head if he stayed there, but he just didn't have time to move. He balled up, turning on his side and clinching his eyes closed with a cry as the thing slammed it's hooves.
...Well, OK, he was still breathing, that was something, but the breath he took was hot and his vision was white. When he opened his eyes, there was a plume of flame in front of them just for a moment. It seemed to be enough to catch the thing off balance, as it's hoof swung over his head, just inches away from breaking his nose.
He tried to get up, only to feel choked. The thing was pinning his hood to the ground and seemed to be doing it on purpose as it found it's footing. They had maybe 30 seconds to play with before it attacked again.
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Gulping in a breath, Greg dashed in, kicking at the Nox's leg. Hitting from the side was supposed to be more effective, right? Amethyst probably told him that at some point.
Well, as far as "effective," it again drew the attention to the newest attacker. The Nox swung its head, aggravated, and with Casey's bat stuck out of it like a demented unicorn, it caught Greg hard in the side, knocking his breath out and sending him reeling to the dirt.
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Greg was down. Even Casey had to admit that this wasn't going well. That thing was going to kill him if Casey didn't do something. Something crazy.
He jumped on the thing's back and grabbed the bat. The Nox started to buck, Casey holding on as tightly as he possibly could. If he could use the bat as a rudder, he might be able to steer it into something, but it thrashed around so violently he couldn't get the control he needed.
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Gritting his teeth, he managed to push himself upright again, to see the unfolding chaos: the Nox had gone completely berserk, thrashing around, and Greg had to scramble back to get out of the way of its stomping. Atop it all, one scrawny teenager, hanging on for dear life.
This was a disaster. He'd followed Casey in here, trying to protect him, but now he'd caused even more trouble with Casey looking after him. He had to do something, anything, otherwise why was he even here. Greg dug his fingers into the dirt. Come on, magic, help me out! Sweat ran down his bald scalp as he reached out, finally grabbing a hold of something. What good are you... if I can't protect someone?!
The creepers finally wormed their way out of the dirt, grasping at hooves. A few were stomped down, but some started grabbing on, and without the Nox's full attention, it failed to see what was happening until its balance was shot, and it tripped over its ensnarement into the ground.
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Not that those things aren't poking at the back of his mind, slipping in-between thoughts about how he's totally losing his grip. The only thing he can do right now is squinch his eyes closed and hang on as tight as he absolutely possibly can. Even as the thing bucked and cried and...
Tipped over?
If Casey had been expecting it, he might have been more ready to move. As it was, he slammed to the ground with the bulk of the horse on top of his leg. He felt the twinge of something snapping and then the pain a microsecond later, causing him to make an involuntary whimper of pain. That had definitely broken something.
His nerves lit up with frustration as well as pain. This was so stupid. Why did he need to master a totally new skill on the fly to kill a stupid shadow beast? He let out a shout and pounded on the stupid horse with his fists as it tried to get up. Smoke wafted up from where his fists hit the thing's flank, which seemed to be hurting it. He could just about wriggle out from under it's bulk, but there was no way he could stand up, and the thought made his hands actually light on fire.
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The shadow's shrieks managed to bring Greg back to reality, though it was a little hard for him to tell with all that was going on. The smoke billowing from the Nox seemed to be dissolving from its own shadowy body, eating away as it writhed, unable to escape. It was, at least, a small favor that this time the fire hadn't started with the bindings.
"Ca... Casey, oh my gosh, what--ohhhh boy." That was fire. That was a lot more fire than a person should ever want on their body. He was ready to panic, before remembering Casey's new fire affinity. At least, if the kid was in pain, it wasn't from that. Still... still not a relaxing sight, though. Greg tried to push himself to his feet, and found his limbs akin to noodles. "Are you--h-hey, can you get up?"
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"I think..." he tried to move his leg and grimaced, "...think my leg's busted."
He tried to sit up, but didn't feel quite up to it his second, so he raised himself up on his elbows and tilted his head back to look at Greg upside down. His heart was pounding heavy in his ears. "Might be able to stand if I had a crutch." Of all the times to be without his hockey sticks...but a broken bone isn't anything he hasn't done to himself before. Greg took a pretty bad hit back there.
"Yo, you OK? That thing really walloped you."
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"I've had worse." He gave a pained grunt as he tried again to figure out how to get his feet under him. "I'll have one heck of a bruise, though." And almost definitely no other internal trauma of any sort. Yep. "Just need a second to... catch my breath..."
Honestly, Greg would have been happy to pass out right there, as drained as he was. However, they were still under the wheel that had leaked dark death all over them, at the heart of a shadowy hell. With monumental effort, Greg managed to squirm onto his knees.
The Nox had dissolved with its evident death, leaving Casey's bat in the dirt. Not as good as a hockey stick, but better than nothing. "All right... grab on, Casey, never too old for a piggy back ride."
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"Dude. Hockey player, remember? Not my first broken bone. I can just lean on you." He's pretty sure he's not sure that Greg is telling the truth. That Nox caught him pretty hard as far as Casey could tell and Greg doesn't seem like he knows how to fall.
Not like Casey who toppled like a tree and had a horse fall on him. But if he had been in a position to fall right, he totally would have.
He held up his hand for Greg to help him up. He might have said something about Greg grabbing his bat, but whatever. It wasn't like a bat was a tough weapon to use. You just whacked things with it.