[EVENT] 'Tis the Spooky Season...

[vrdr_mods]

Autumn is drawing on in the Velvet Room and its environs. The days are colder, the nights are crisper, leaves are a riot of colour ready to fall from the trees. And (besides all the pumpkin spice popping up for some reason) that means only one thing: Hallowe'en!

As the season approaches, you may undergo a mysterious transformation. Perhaps you wake up with wings, or hooves, or gills! Or perhaps your transformation will change more, go deeper... perhaps to your very soul. Who can tell? You might wake up as an animal, or a mythological creature. Or as anything at all.

Transformations will reverse on the morning of November 1st. Probably.

In the meantime, Destinyland is celebrating the holiday. Cheerful Jack-o'-Lantern Shadows have set up on street corners, handing out flyers advertising the park's seasonal festivities. In the days leading up to the 31st, Destinyland will host all the usual fun: Hallowe'en games, Trick or Treat for the babies (and the not-so-babey), the Gorb fortune teller, Shadow-run food stalls serving spooky meals and treats, and, of course, the haunted house with its array of friendly, candy-giving Shadows. Or maybe they're not so friendly.

On the night of Hallowe'en itself, there will be a parade at the park and a grand party out in the main square with food, music, and plenty of space, though characters are not obliged to attend. However, if you wish to show off your new form, see what transformations have been wrought on your fellow guests, or simply take the chance to celebrate, it may be a good opportunity...

Who knows? Perhaps you'll even see some special guests.

[ooc: Welcome to our second Halloween event! This post will serve as a mingle for the duration of the event. Feel free to invite friends to play as guest characters, too! There will be a toplevel, and guest characters are simply whisked into the setting to engage in festivities, with a slight ghostly aura. For an example, see the thread here from last year!]

Comments

Post-Royal Akechi | OPEN

[undyingcrow]

A. Ow the Edge

A very curious sight can be found storming through the streets of Tokyo. A strange cartoon animal, clad in the Black Mask uniform, to be precise.

You can feel the fury radiating off of his spiky, furry body. His fingers twitch, ready to wring someone's neck.

Eventually he reaches the Velvet Room, slamming his hands down on Igor's desk. "Do you think this is funny?" His voice still sounds notably like a normal Akechi, if nothing else.

B. Testing the Limits

Irritated beyond belief, this unfortunate Akechi decides to blow off steam while testing the limits.

How? By trying to jump. Those hedgehogs curl into balls, don't they? So he tries that, and then he tries to do that... homing attack, striking and popping a balloon with Jack Frost's face, which causes an irritated Jack Frost to come up to him and start squabbling.

"Heeeey-ho! Not cool, ho!"

"No one asked to be transformed, least of all like this. Am I not allowed to blow off some steam?"

Care to intervene?

C. Gotta go... fast?

At some point, during the night, when he's sure no one is looking, he does something. Purely for science, of course.

He steps back, takes a deep breath, and zooms through the park. It seems that while the exterior of his shoes have the Black Mask spikes, Igor was 'generous' enough to give him rockets on the underside all the same.

So he's skating at ridiculous speeds.

What? He has to kill time somehow.

[lilcomputer]

She sniffed, wondering just who he was. Not that it really mattered, he was friend. "Wandering! It's fun! New smells!"

[linkclickakira]

"Uh huh," Akira says- not convinced at all as he narrows his eyes at her. "That doesn't really answer my question, does it?" His voice pulses- as if someone else was talking along with him. There's a sardonic curve in his smile because as things are- her appearance is already making him wary.

Nonetheless, he likes where this is going. This was just supposed to be another interaction added to his otherwise dry social life here but these two have vital information about this place. About damn time. He doesn't let his hostility stay for long however- pursing his lips into a hesitant smile which greatly betrays his look as he nods and pretends like he doesn't want to jump Phoenix and ask him- "So you did put some input. Interesting" he starts then chuckles as he offers his hand out again.

"You can call me Kira," he begins. "More human and boring unlike you... you were taller?" Guess that explains the tripping and the statement that IGOR ASSISTANT just said. "You can fly too?"

[vampirethief]

Okay Ren was not expecting that, but of course he steps in and tries to grab Akira's wrist.

"Hey, stop. This shadow did nothing to you."

He may not have access to his persona(s) at the moment, but that wasn't gonna stop him from trying.

[cybermask]

Futaba saw a lot of flames, She was still a bit wobbly in the sky, but she'd recognize her Ren anywhere. Her decent to the ground was anything but pretty. Her wings were twice her body size and she hit too hard buckling her knees. She closed her eyes and sighed.

She tried to push her hair back, but her hand hit her horns, and she bit her lip in a bit of embarrassment. The fire was much cooler. She shook her head as she looked over the mess he made, at least it wasn't something they'd have to clean up. "You got a cool upgrade," she commented finally.

[willowandoak]

?????
how did u lose ur home bro
did u grow to giant size and explode it

[unfoggedlotus]

Yes...he is puppy!! He rubs himself on the ground. Good scritches...

...Wait. He looks at Small Friend. He is still up. Too...early? Late? Too Time for Small Friends to be up. He looks at Small Friend, accusing.

The tummy scritches are good, though...he rolls over and sighs. Hard decisions...

[willowandoak]

Ren is by her side almost at once, steadying her, the fire behind him completely forgotten. "Whoa, hey. You good?" With one hand, he tries to tuck her hair behind her horn, out of the way. "Yeah, breathing fire is fun," he adds as an afterthought.

[fogboundcrow]

"Oh, you like that, do you?" Scritch, scritch, scritch... He'll even use both hands, for maximum scratchin'.

[cybermask]

"Yeah, I'm good, put more focus on the not falling then the landing part of things," she sighed. She tucks her wings in close the folding of her feathers were not very comfortable yet, she'd figure them out.

[fogboundcrow]

"This is the first Halloween with transformations of this caliber, though there have been parties and festivities in the past."

But this clearly sets a new precedent.

His tail thumps about.

[unfoggedlotus]

His tail keeps wagging, but he huffs out another sigh and stretches, trying to wind his legs around the Small Scritcher.

C

[fogbornphantom]

"Damn it—"

THUD. That sure is an Akechi bumping into a building. Thankfully, it's not one of the burning buildings, but he's moving about on wobbly, striped legs. He has huge, curved horns poking out of that mop of brown hair, with yellow eyes, striped hands with clawed fingertips, and is wearing a familiar Shujin uniform and ring.

It's not hard to guess which Ren this is. Drake. Dragon. Rather ironic, if anything.

"...Having fun?"

Don't mind him. He's just trying to balance himself.

[fogboundcrow]

"I wonder how Crow and Hiro are going to feel about this..." Oh well. Since it's clear that Ren doesn't want him to stop, he will keep with the scritching.

[willowandoak]

Okay, so Ren has met him before. Which means this Akechi is transformed somehow? Igor didn't dye someone's hair and put him in old Western clothes and call that a transformation, did he? It's probably something more in-depth. And there was the stumble, and there are the eyes...

"Phoenix," he says with more certainty than he feels, just as Renée steps through the door.

"Hi," he says to her. "Happy Halloween, I guess. Nice dress." To both of them, he adds, "I'm not gonna complain. Dragons are sick. What are you two? Have you hideously transformed into humans? Welcome back, by the way."

[willowandoak]

Ren is distracted from the fire by the Akechi—Crow, he realizes, spotting the clothes and the ring at a glance—stumbling into a building. That's... hm. "Dude, you shouldn't be here if you're falling over, you're gonna catch fire. Come here." He crosses the street and holds out a hand in offer, ready to hold Crow by the arm and steady him as he moves away from the damn fires.

[fogbornphantom]

"In my defense, I won't adjust to this form if I don't attempt to walk." Still, he accepts the hand all the same. "Hiro's been coddling me all day. The walking stick helped for a time, but I really ought to acclimate to these godforsaken hooves."

[willowandoak]

"Sure. But there's a difference between falling on your ass and falling into a burning storefront." He makes sure Crow makes it away from the fires in safety, and then, obligingly, lets go of him. If Crow wants to fall over, he should, as far as Ren is concerned. It'll be funny, even.

[fogbornphantom]

Okay, arms out. He just has to... balance? legs are still wobbling, and he stumbles forward. "It's annoying. Joker hasn't changed, Hiro simply sprouted wings and horns, and Raven's posture isn't notably different despite him turning into a humanoid cat."

[unfoggedlotus]

...Crow? Hiro? He knows those names...he perks up.

[willowandoak]

"Probably smart," he says, imagining what could've happened if she hadn't focused on not literally falling from the sky. "Wings are pretty cool, though. Are they hard to use?"

As he speaks, he's looking her over, trying to gauge her general emotional state.

[fogboundcrow]

"Your boyfriends?" ...Come to think of it, this may make the romantic aspects of their relationship odd.

[herewardbound]

"The answer is no, then, I don't work for the Igor who runs this place, who is as different from this one as you are from anyone else here with your name and face. I have, in the past, worked for an Igor, but for personal reasons don't do so any longer." In spite of the wariness, Renee didn't seem to take offense.

Phoenix shrugged, and took the offered hand, shaking it. "If you're new, the short version is, died one or more times, went to Hell, most of the time I'm a two-meter-plus bird demon for complicated reasons, thought it'd be fun to dress up as a character from a famous film to go to a Halloween party, wound up back here, apparently Igor thought it would be funny to make the costume a little more complete. But I guess I'm not the only one being subjected to that. Can't fly, though. Might be a possibility with maigc but we're not there yet."

[cybermask]

"A bit, it's not as straight forward as birds make it look." She closed her eyes and rocked back on her heels, "They don't fold nice, the feathers get in the way." She straightened one wing and then refolded it.

[unfoggedlotus]

The special friends!! His special friends!! Ren's tail goes thunkthunkthunk against the ground. It needs to know his Special Friends are his! And special! And friends!