The Spooky Night Scare Celebration

[de_lux]

Warnings: SPOOPY. Also potential violence and/or drinking.

Location: Various locations in Freesia, especially the Park and Cathedral.

Characters: Anyone and everyone and Lux.

When: Night of September 9

Summary: Most of Freesia is celebrating tonight. Ward off the darkness with lanterns and masks and maybe chat with the local light god.

In a change from their usual behavior, the citizens of Freesia are out and about during the night in order to celebrate another festival.

Called “Spooky Night,” the atmosphere of this holiday may seem familiar to some of Freesia's outsiders. Lanterns patterned after all manner of monsters and other creepy things are visible everywhere, resting on doorsteps, hung from trees, placed in windows, and there are smaller ones strung between buildings and across streets.

Equally creepy masks abound as well. They're mostly worn by the children, but some adults can be seen indulging as well, the eyes and mouths of their masks glowing like jack o' lanterns.

Most of the citizens seem to be enjoying themselves, chatting and laughing with one another, jumping around and trying to scare each other, drinking and buying snacks from opportunistic vendors. Many of the festive citizens have gathered at a bonfire in the park, but groups of people can be found just about anywhere tonight.

But despite the party atmosphere, you may want to pay close attention to the city tonight...

A: The masks and lanterns mentioned earlier aren't going to be hard to find. The lanterns are visible everywhere of course, and more can be found for sale in the shops and stalls, alongside a wide variety of masks. Most of the designs are generic monsters, such as ghost or skeletons or werewolves, but if you look around, well... Whatever you're afraid of, if it's something you can put a face or likeness to, you'll run into a mask or lantern of it eventually. Creepy as that might be though, anyone who dares carry or wear their fears will be rewarded with an extra bright glow emanating from it, something that may come in handy if they run into any of the Nox tonight.

B: If you head down to the park tonight, but stray away from the bonfire, you'll notice that the cathedral is active for once. A very small group of citizens has gathered there, primarily consisting of the elderly- and at least one person you may find familiar. There isn't any laughing or drinking going on in this part of town, and everyone in the cathedral is either silent or speaking to each other in hushed tones. As far as can be observed, they've gathered here to place candles and flowers everywhere.

C: Autumn isn't quite here yet, but the nights have been getting longer lately, the shadows deeper. Don't wander too far tonight and if you do, take care to bring some light with you. The Nox are especially active tonight and will happily attack anyone who wander into the shadows, local or not, not to mention breaking anything they can get their shadowy hands on. A few of the bolder groups will even stray to the edges of the festival in order to knock down the decorations. They're in a vicious mood tonight, but if you thought to pick up an especially spooky lantern or mask before confronting them, their viciousness will evaporate and you'll have them running scared instead.

Comments

[panspermia]

Her asking is a bit of a surprise, but she's probably bored enough to give anything a try by this point. Much as Greg would like to expect more of her, he's still wary.

"Well, food mostly. It's cheap, but it's tasty." He keeps hoping that he can convince her to give some food a try, but enough time around Pearl has kept him from expecting too much of it or pushing too hard.

"Some've got clothes, a few neat souvenirs and toys." Attempts to figure out her interests have largely revealed she likes weapons. There's not a lot of that around here, and even less that he wants her near. "You into puzzles at all?"

[diediediediediedie]

"A puzzle...?" Peridot clearly has no idea what that is supposed to be, but she's going to look excited about it anyway.

Is Rose watching? Can she see Peridot appreciating humans from wherever she is?

"Yes! I'll take a puzzle! That should be...diverting!" Or some word to that effect. As long as it means she doesn't need to eat anything. She can't find a way to think about THAT activity that isn't disgusting.

[panspermia]

Whether or not Greg falls for her show of enthusiasm, he grins and puts his stick of cotton candy into her hand. "All right. Hold this, I'll be back in a sec." Hey, he can trust her not to steal it. Though it might end up in the dirt.

He puffs off, and after what Peridot will surely feel is a very long stretch of minutes, returns with a handful of trinkets.

"All right. Umm, found one of those metal tangle-y things, and a cup and ball game. Prime diversions!"

[diediediediediedie]

She doesn't steal the cotton candy, and she doesn't drop it either. It's human stuff...she thinks. When Greg comes back, he'll find her pinching a bit off and rolling it around in her fingers. It starts out fluffy and yet it hardens into a ball so easily!

"...Ugh, it's sticky! Some kind of...glue trap?"

Oh, wait he's back. With...objects. She picks up the cup and ball and lets it swing back and forth a bit. She gives him a look sort of...beseeching him for instructions.

[panspermia]

"You swing it, try and get the ball into the cup. It's, uh."

He searches for the sort of words that might engage her a little, since "fun" clearly wasn't going to cut it.

"It's a, uh, test of... coordination."

[diediediediediedie]

She keeps her gaze a moment more before grabbing the ball. Keeping the cup as still as she can, she pulls back and lets the ball go. It swings harmlessly back and forth before coming to a stop.

"...That...seemed incorrect?"

[panspermia]

"Hah. Could be one way to do it. Here, lemme give you a demonstration."

He plucked it back from her, cracked his knuckles, and set his feet. One might think he was putting on a bit of a show, and they wouldn't be wrong, but there was a science to this. Greg had enough spare time in his life to master it.

"Hup!" He swings the cup and the ball curves up into the air. Once, twice, three times, before the ball lands in the cup with a hollow plok. "Hah! Champion. You think you can manage it?"

[diediediediediedie]

She watches him intently, in that way Gems do because they don't age and don't die and have all the time in the world to learn something. She stares, in other words, until he gets the ball in the cup.

"...Manipulated easily enough." She holds her hand out for the toy, muttering to herself about angles and trajectories. Clearly, those are very necessary for successful engagement with the object.

[panspermia]

He hands it back over, grinning a bit, but he keeps his mouth shut for fear of saying something to put her off. Just the fact that it's kept her interest (or at least distracted her a bit) counts as a win in his book.

[diediediediediedie]

She holds it out at arm's length, swings and...completely misses.

She swings again, and misses.

Swing, miss. Swing, miss. Swing, miss.

"Do you have to move it under the ball-" Swing, doink. It bounces off her forehead and it makes her snarl at it, baring her teeth as a warning to the toy.

[panspermia]

His grin is wry. "Yeah, that's a hazard. Gotta be careful about getting too overzealous, there."

He raises an arm, to show her proper form. Bent slightly, relaxed but ready. This is perhaps the closest thing to a sport Greg's done in years, but heck if he won't coach it. "You can't be too stiff about it, and try and move the cup to where the ball's going."

[diediediediediedie]

Again, she watches him very closely, before giving the cup a few light swings. The ball is sent moving, back and forth and then up as Peridot follows the ball with her hand.

A miss. Another miss. And then...plunk.

She holds it up triumphantly - "Ha! Mastered!" - before tossing it to the side. "That was diverting. Did you bring anything else?"

[panspermia]

There had been some hope she'd go at it a little longer, but it's not like he came unprepared. Short attention spans are to be expected, with someone that age. Or... uh. Someone who... acts the age... that Peridot does. Sometimes. Greg shakes the thought off.

"All right. See if you can handle... this!"

He brandishes a tangle of metal wire.

[diediediediediedie]

Peridot's head immediately tilts to an acute angle, darting from Greg to the toy in his hand. "That might provide some support to a small machine if it were straightened...What is the point of it in that state?"

[panspermia]

"It's a puzzle!" He tugs at it, the parts jiggling. "You have to figure out how to get the pieces apart!" After a moment's consideration, he thinks to add, "Without unbending the wires."

[diediediediediedie]

It was a good thing he said that, because she was about to pull it open. Well, attempt it. Without her arms...

Right, we're not thinking about that. She shakes it a bit, letting it jingle. She looks it all over from every side, and then throws it on the ground, plants her foot on it, grabs a side and YANKS.

[panspermia]

If he hadn't said anything, he'd've thought she was still trying to unbend them. She might be anyway, actually, he's never sure how much attention she's paying to him.

After a second or two of bemused staring, he leans on his knees. "That working at all?" Hey, he's never solved it, he won't shoot down any options.

[diediediediediedie]

"It doesn't seem to be."

It won't pull apart that way, so there must be another trick. She sits and stares to analyze it, looking at all the loops and twists. This is going to take a minute or two of muttering and darting eyes and no other movement at all.