hfm_logs | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A horse doesn't need to be a horrific shadow demon for stomping on your head to end badly. Casey's basically in the worst position possible, right now. Greg had hung back, trusting in Casey's experience, but at this point they were on equal footing for likelihood of death.

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.

Well, Greg's attack made it step off his hood, and that was good. Casey took advantage of the moment to get to his feet-

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.

Greg wheezed, trying to get some air back into his lungs, but it didn't come easy over the searing pain in his side. "Ooohh... ooooh man I hope... that's not broken..."

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.

It was just a matter of how long Casey could keep his grip, which wasn't much longer. He didn't really have time to think about how Greg wasn't running from the real serious danger, even if it was kind of cool that a guy like him had the guts to stick around and fight, nor about how bad an idea it had been to come in alone or how much worse an idea it had been to not make sure he hadn't been followed.

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.

Nausea and exhaustion swept over Greg as his vision blurred. With the Nox fallen, Greg's connection to the plantlife crumpled, and he just about did with it. The plants had been wound tight enough to keep the thing in place without him, at least, so at least it couldn't thrash on Casey as much as it might have liked.

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?"

The Nox went still a few moments after Casey did. The fire on his hands had extinguished just as it burned through whatever it was that kept it alive. It's heart or whatever, who cares? All Casey knows is that the adrenaline that was keeping him going is completely gone. In it's place is weakness, soreness, exhaustion, and a headache so bad he could barely see, like he's had two straight nights of sleepless hockey practice. Everything hurt, and he flopped backwards to take stock of exactly what "everything" included.

"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."

A broken leg... oh man. He'd have to get them out of there, then. Problem was, everything seemed to be made of lead.

"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."

Even through the haze of pain and exhaustion, Casey still managed a look that said yes, you can be too old for piggy back ride and whatever that age is, Casey's hit and passed it.

"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.

lights out

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