2019-11-01 - An Unlikely Ally in These Dark Times
Alison and James depart the chaos that was the Masquerade's opening ceremony when they encounters obstructions in the road.
IC Date: 2019-11-01
OOC Date: 2019-07-26
Location: Bayside Road Dark
Related Scenes: 2019-10-30 - Masquerade: Opening Ceremony
Plot: None
Scene Number: 2425
It's crazy that with the idea that the Masquerade would have various staged events, the attendees of the kick off ceremony went from panicked to something more akin to being amused. Then again, many of them are visitors, who have no experience with what Gray Harbor has in store for the special ones. After the mock human sacrifice is over and the parade of the dead come marching through, it's these visitors who take delight in all of it while the townsfolk, or at least those who have been here long enough to recognize some of the faces of the deceased watch with frightened uneasiness.
A group of would-be rescuers hurry to their own cars just as Alison and James reach the parking lot. The group drive off through the thick fog in various vehicles, their tail lights fading away before disappearing into the dark mist.
Driving through the dense fog is a hazardous task. The headlights offer enough illumination to ward away some of that darkness, but the fog does not help at all. The pair may hear voices coming from somewhere close, but slightly off to the side. Even with the radio were on, they can still hear them-- conversational chatter, light laughing to go with the shadowy specters that appear before them. Some manifest as costumed revelers making their way to the Park, perhaps. Others, perhaps they were a just a trick of the mind due to having an over active imagination.
<FS3> Alison rolls Alertness (7 4 4 3 1 1) vs Foggy Road (a NPC)'s 5 (8 8 6 4 3 2 1)
<FS3> Victory for Foggy Road. (Rolled by: Byron)
<FS3> James rolls Alertness (8 7 5 5 4 3 3 2 2 2) vs Foggy Road (a NPC)'s 5 (8 7 7 5 5 3 1)
<FS3> Marginal Victory for Foggy Road. (Rolled by: Byron)
<FS3> Alison rolls Driving (5 3 3 3 1) vs It's Hard To See (a NPC)'s 5 (5 5 4 4 2 1 1)
<FS3> Everyone failed! (Rolled by: Byron)
James has enough presence of mind to at least put on his seatbelt, but is otherwise not in a very good mental place right at the moment. The vision of his dead parents and uncle marching along in the parade, along with all the earlier weirdness, and Byron going missing- along with all the other weird shit that's gone down in the past couple of weeks since he came back to town, well, it's all starting to wear on him. That's a lot of weirdness all at once, after all. "I swear, every damn time I leave the house...", he mutters as he rides along in the car, thousand yard stare out the window into the fog.
Alison drives slowly through the fog. "I'm not super sure where this place is, usually I just end up drinking back at the trailer.." She squints as she drives, peering and swivelling her head now and again to try and get her bearings in the murky soup.
She looks over at James as he mutters to himself, reaching over to grab at the paper bag on his head, pulling it off of him unless he pulls away, briefly distracted from the driving task at hand. "I think you can take this off now. Hey, I'm Alison."
Bayside Road is a long stretch of pavement leading out of the town. The various cottages and mansions that should be prevalent on both sides of this road are mostly hidden from view, though there's an occasional parting of the mist that helps to show Alison a few landmarks along the way. The silhouettes of the triple towers of the Bayside Apartments loom ominously further in the distance.
The occasional figures in the darkness are still seen, but grow fewer in number the further into the residential area that they get. Other vehicles drive by in the opposite direction, many of them with masked drivers or the person behind the wheel is obscured from view. In truth, however, that is a far more welcome sight than the sedan passing by with all three unmasked passengers within it turning in unison to stare with inky black eyes out at both Alison and James. They do not stop, however, and continue on their way.
James blinks owlishly as the paper bag gets pulled away, revealing him in his full red hair and bushy red beard on an otherwise young-ish face. "... oh no my secret identity. You musn't know that I'm really James or my enemies will use you to hurt me.", he deadpans, then gives a wan smile. "Nice to meet you, I guess, Alison.", he says, just as that sedan with the creepy inky-eyed folks do what creepy inky-eyed folks do: be fucking creepy. He pales, his own blue eyes widening. "... kinda wish it was under less fucked up circumstances. Did you... see that?"
Alison turns her head just in time to see the car in question. "Uh, yep. That's weird." She blinks, and then realizes something. "Oh, duh." The redhead pulls her own mask off of her face, tossing it with the paper bag in the back seat. Yes, because her amazing mask was drawing attention from people driving past like their heads were on one collective swivel. "So, uh, you said you saw your dead family in the parade, you said?" She brushes her hair back into place over her shoulders, revealing more of her pale freckled skin.
<FS3> Alison rolls Driving (8 8 6 4 4) vs Stop Before Driving Over It (a NPC)'s 3 (8 8 3 3 2)
<FS3> Marginal Victory for Alison. (Rolled by: Byron)
James looks mildly surprised when Alison takes off her mask, as if, given the way the night's been going, the expected course of events would have been for her to be an actual demon driving him not to safety and booze, but to his doom. "... y-yeah, I guess that's what I said, didn't I?", he mutters, looking out onto the foggy road and hunching into himself a little as if to make himself smaller. "I swear... I saw them. Not someone who looked like them, but... them. It might have been fifteen years ago but I had a picture of them I kept after the fire and I looked at that goddamn thing every day and it was them, out there, in that parade. I don't know how. But it was." And then his eyes fall on someone- some... thing? Whatever it is, it causes him to yelp and jump up in his seat. "Brakes!!"
As the pair chat in the safety and comfort of Alison's vehicle immediately after the sedan with the family of three drives on by, James catches a glimpse of something immediately in front of the car. It's almost as if the fog had pulled away for that moment, to show him the contorted features of a person looking to be screaming, their face so twisted. Maybe it was a mask, because otherwise-- It's best not to finish that thought.
He's not able to warn Alison about it in time, but with her cautious driving, all they feel is a light bump against the front of the car. If there was a figure there, it's vanished from view and Alison stops her car before she runs whatever it might be over.
Alison shakes her head. "Unless this town's got zombies, I have no idea how that's possible, unless someone's trying to play a real fucked up prank on you. I think the girls would have warned me if there were zombies around here." she says to James, referring to Cameron and Madison, the wiccan duo in a band that James probably hasn't heard of. Because nobody's heard of them.
The redhead blinks at the bump into something, her eyes opening wide, but then there's nothing there? She slams on the brakes and yells, "Fuck!", throwing the car into park, throwing on the hazard light flashers and going to get out of the car to have a look at what's probably underneath her bumper. "I just finished paying this off, god damn it."
<FS3> Alison rolls Alertness (8 7 7 6 2 1) vs Did You Hear Anything? (a NPC)'s 4 (5 3 3 3 2 1)
<FS3> Crushing Victory for Alison. (Rolled by: Byron)
<FS3> James rolls Alertness (8 8 7 5 5 5 4 2 2 1) vs Did You Hear Anything? (a NPC)'s 4 (7 7 6 5 3 1)
<FS3> DRAW! (Rolled by: Byron)
<FS3> James rolls Alertness (8 8 7 5 5 5 5 2 2 1) vs Did You Hear Anything? (a NPC)'s 4 (6 5 5 5 5 1)
<FS3> Victory for James. (Rolled by: Byron)
It's pretty brave of Alison to immediately hop out of her car when so much weirdness is going on around them, especially with the fog making it difficult to see. While the fog and the darkness have been known to consume some light, the thing which Alison hit lays just beneath the headlights that it's body can be clearly seen.
It's vaguely human in shape, though it's missing limbs. In fact, it's completely naked, genderless. Instead of arms, there's merely stumps. One of its legs is bent crookedly as if broken. The screaming face stares up at Alison, stuck in that twisted scream, those eyes seemingly noticing her.
In the distance, the sounds of shuffling can be heard. Footsteps dragging their forward.
"... what the- Alison! Don't go out there! That wasn't a pers-", James starts to call out, but he stops himself. "No, no, probably just someone in a costume.", he tries to lie, mostly to himself. And yet his gut is telling him not to get out of that car and check. Yeah, just let Alison go out into that hellfog on her own, real goddamn chivalrous of you, James. No wonder you're still #ForeverAlone. He instead rolls down the window and leans his head out, about to call out to ask if she sees anything... and just as he does, those shuffling footsteps reach him, and he turns his attention to that not-ominous-at-all sound. "... ah shit you have to bring up zombies.", he mutters, cursing under his breath several times. "Alison? Hey? Do you hear that? I think maybe you should get inside here."
Alison gives the.. whatever it is, an experimental poke with her foot. "What the hell is this thing?" She looks back at James as if expecting a response, but he stayed in the car. And whatever it is, it doesn't look like a person or any kind of animal she's seen before.
The sound gives her some pause, and then she looks down towards the ground. It's.. shaking? Doesn't quite feel like an earthquake, but what else could it be? "Y'know what, fuck this, and fuck this stupid town." The redhead abandons the.. thing under the bumper, and goes to get back into her car, seatbelt, then turning on the engine, shifting it into gear to just gun it right over the figure.
The thing that she hit has no arms, so there's no way that it can reach for her when she doubles back and hurriedly gets into the driver's seat once more. It's at this moment that a blinding light flashes from behind them lighting the way forward. Whatever that thing is that Alison had struck, there's more of them. The ones in the back, they can make out their lumbering silhouettes, while the ones closer, just a few steps away, their faces resemble that god awful look of a frozen scream that she'd just seen.
It's almost as if the large black truck had snuck up behind them, they can hear its engine revving. It's not a very friendly sound.
James grits his teeth as Alison guns it over the fallen thing. And then that light, and that growling engine, it's almost enough to make him forget the screaming faces on the things around them revealed by that light. Almost. "Fuck. FUCK. fuck. fucK." James is just saying 'fuck' over and over to himself with different inflections each time. "As your copilot, I suggest we activate maneuver NOPE!"
Alison peers in the rear view mirror, squinting at the bright light. "Yeah, I, uh.." she kinds trails off, but her foot goes to the floor, pushing her little V4 crossover SUV thingum as hard as it'll manage. Which isn't a muscle car by any stretch of the imagination, but it's no jalopy either. She looks in the mirror again. "What the hell are those things?" She tries to keep her eyes on the road. The thick fog combined with the bright lights behind her do not exactly make for ideal driving conditions. Alison's more focused with getting away from here, the truck behind them, and those creepy lookin' things more so than getting to the bar at this point.
<FS3> Alison rolls Driving (7 7 6 4 4) vs Truck Straight Out Of Hell (a NPC)'s 6 (8 7 6 4 3 2 1 1)
<FS3> DRAW! (Rolled by: Byron)
<FS3> Alison rolls Driving (8 6 4 4 3) vs Truck Straight Out Of Hell (a NPC)'s 6 (7 5 5 4 3 2 2 1)
<FS3> Marginal Victory for Alison. (Rolled by: Byron)
<FS3> Alison rolls Driving (7 7 6 3 3) vs Eerie Figures In The Road (a NPC)'s 6 (8 8 8 6 6 4 4 1)
<FS3> Victory for Eerie Figures In The Road. (Rolled by: Byron)
<FS3> James rolls Driving (7 5 3 1 1 1) vs Eerie Figures In The Road (a NPC)'s 6 (6 6 5 5 4 3 1 1)
<FS3> Marginal Victory for Eerie Figures In The Road. (Rolled by: Byron)
When Alison floors it, the black truck behind her does the same. The pair within the fleeing car bounce as the vehicle drives over the prone figure on the road, something with the truck outright demolishes, crushing it beneath it's large, heavy wheels. Now it's a race down the roadway, weaving through lumbering figures with twisted faces as they make their slow approach. The ones which she passes by are similarly crushed beneath the Truck straight out of Hell.
When the car looks to be going head on into a couple of those grotesque things, James is able to grab onto the steering wheel and divert it off to the side of the road. A move that gets their own car out of the way of the ominous black truck. They can see it speeding past them, keeping onto the road. But for how long?
That doesn't mean that they are in the clear, however, as Alison's car runs into a large, unkempt bush. In fact, all of Bayside looks like a nightmare version of what the posh street usually looks like. She can try to back out, but she'll find that they are stuck there for the time being.
"What are they? Well, this is just a guess here, but I'm thinking that when Fucked Up and Oh HELL No love each other very much, they get together and 9 months later you get a litter of those motherfuckers. That's my guess.", James says, one hand on the dashboard in front of him, the other holding tight to the oh-shit bar above the window, and his feet planted and tense. And then those... things are looming in front of them and he panics, reaching over to yank the steering wheel off to the side. "Sorry!!!", he yells, maybe at them, maybe at Alison, but either way they manage to keep from hitting the screamfaces, and ditching the helltruck... only to fall prey to that most wily of this town's supernatural threats: the common shrub. "Oof!"
Alison yells in annoyance, "Don't!" as James grabs the wheel. She was totally going to be able to dodge those things like the pro race driver that she definitely is. But it's too late to correct from there, and they come to a halt upon running into the shrubbery. Once they're stopped, she turns her head back to look at the truck as it drives past. "Fucking asshole!"
Alison leans back in the seat and covers her face with her hands for a moment. "I really need a drink now, ugh." She reaches towards the shifter, puts it in reverse, but between how they're wedged into the bush, and the wet fall ground, her car doesn't really make any progress. "Well that's just great."
<FS3> Alison rolls Alertness (8 6 5 4 2 1) vs I Told You He'd Be Here (a NPC)'s 4 (8 6 6 5 1 1)
<FS3> Marginal Victory for I Told You He'd Be Here. (Rolled by: Byron)
<FS3> James rolls Alertness (7 6 5 5 5 4 3 2 2 2) vs I Told You He'd Be Here (a NPC)'s 4 (8 7 4 2 1 1)
<FS3> DRAW! (Rolled by: Byron)
<FS3> James rolls Alertness (8 8 6 5 4 3 3 3 1 1) vs I Told You He'd Be Here (a NPC)'s 4 (8 7 5 4 2 2)
<FS3> Marginal Victory for James. (Rolled by: Byron)
As Alison and James worry about trying to get the car freed from the bush, if they look behind them, they can see 5 shadowy figures walking on unsteady legs, being drawn to their location. Slowly teetering back and forth, their forms becoming more prominent the closer they get. At least there's some silence. Perhaps the truck had continued on its merry way, once it finally got to get pass the slow driver in the middle of the road (Yeah, Alison!)
James slumps in his seat as the car appears stuck. He should get out and push, all 5'4" of his skinny ass. Instead, he reaches into his hoodie pocket, and pulls out a metal flask, offering it to Alison. "Here. Sorry about that.", he says, and lets out a breath. "Let me get out and see if I can figure out how to get us unstuck?" And then, whether Alison accepts the whiskey-filled flask or not, he opens his door, steps outside.. and freezes in place as he sees a shadowy, long-armed creature, apparently watching them through the trees nearby. "Oh fuckballs."]
Alison takes the flask and takes a big gulp from it without bothering to check to see what's actually in it first, then chokes on it a bit. "Th-thanks. Wasn't quite expecting whiskey." She hands it back, and then nods in response to trying to figure out how to get the car moving again. "Ugh, I probably should have changed back into sneakers before we took off." The redhead goes to get out of the car once again in her knee high leather boots, this time into the soft ground, but she pauses as well upon noticing the approaching figures. She's quiet for a moment, then she shouts towards them, "Hey, we don't want any of whatever it is you're selling."
<FS3> Alison rolls Alertness (7 7 7 4 3 1) vs Movement (a NPC)'s 5 (8 8 8 7 7 6 1)
<FS3> Crushing Victory for Movement. (Rolled by: Byron)
<FS3> James rolls Alertness (8 8 7 6 5 4 4 3 3 2) vs Movement (a NPC)'s 5 (5 4 3 3 3 3 1)
<FS3> Crushing Victory for James. (Rolled by: Byron)
Alison can see the figure now too standing amidst the trees. If the gangly man looks familiar, the pair may have seen him earlier at Addington Park during the festivities. Why he's here is anyone's guess. He's wearing a well tailored suit that perfectly fits his overly long arms and legs, making him look terribly formal.
When Alison next sees him, he's standing right next to the car on the driver's side. Though in truth, what she really sees is that elongated legs and torso. However, what James sees, almost as if he were in a daydream, is the figure approaching with its spindly legs and unnatural gait, taking long spidery steps towards the vehicle.
Spidery, perhaps, because of its long tentacle-like fingers that grab ahold of the vehicle, they can feel it lifting the SUV up from off the ground.
James's eyes are wide with terror as he sees the oddly-proportioned figure spidering its way towards them, and he shudders. "... m-marble... marble hornets.", he mumbles, and then seems to snap out of it for just a moment, deciding that it's probably safer in the car than outside with all the... things. "Marble hornets! Code marble hornets!", he's yelling, nonsensically, as he slams himself back inside and tries to reach over to Alison- just as the car shifts as its being lifted. "Wait. What?"
Alison had not particularly noticed the suited figure beforehand, but she sure does see its monsterous form as it gets up close to the door of the car. "Oh for fuck's sake. I'm way too young to die. I really fucking hate this town." And then the car's moving, and she just screams in terror as she realizes that it's got them trapped with nowhere to go.
<FS3> Not-Slender Man's Composure (a NPC) rolls 5 (8 8 7 6 5 3 1) vs Alison Scream (a NPC)'s 5 (5 5 3 2 1 1 1)
<FS3> Crushing Victory for Not-Slender Man's Composure. (Rolled by: Byron)
The brush surrounding the SUV sways and rustles when the vehicle is lifted and eased back. The gangly figure doesn't look to be having any trouble relocating the car with it's slow spidery movements. Even with the shrieking screams coming from within, the man in the suit continues on with his work until the car is removed from the bush and set back down onto flat dirt.
From out of the thick fog, two of those screaming faced things lurch closer and closer to their car while the other three, while still on the move forward, remain at a close distance. Not all of the figures are the same, they will notice. Some of them have stumps for arms. Others look as if their arms are wrapped around them, as if they were in a straight jacket. One of the two is getting awfully close to the passenger side window that James can see that horrific expression.
James jumps at Alison's screaming. "W-wait! I think... holy fuckballs. I think that thing's on our side, somehow.", he tells at her, unable to believe the words that are coming out of his mouth. And then the car is set back down just in time for James to notice that screamer outside his window. "Shit! Shit shit SHIT!", he shouts. "Floor it!"
Alison stops screaming once they've been set back down, but then she's panting. She looks around in a panic, seeing the other terrifying beasts getting a little too close for comfort. Not that there was any semblance of comfort remaining by this point in the inadvertent adventure. "Have I mentioned that I hate this town yet?" She fumbles for the shifter once again, finding it and slamming it into drive, then pressing the gas pedal to the ground, aiming the steering wheel back towards the road. "Go go go go go go!" she says, maybe to the car? Maybe to herself.
<FS3> Alison rolls Driving (8 7 6 2 1) vs Home Stretch (a NPC)'s 4 (8 6 4 3 2 1)
<FS3> Marginal Victory for Alison. (Rolled by: Byron)
James can see that grotesque face staring right at him through the rolled up window. Then the creature slams that already horrifying visage against the glass, just as Alison puts the car in reverse and slams it HARD against the lurcher behind them. While the screamers have these traumatized terrifying faces, the tall, thin man in the suit has no face at all. But they can sense him watching them as the pull out of the yard.
From there she back up onto the road, sending the car screaming down through the dark and fog. In fact, the fog begins to fade, at least a little. It's still there, but it's no longer suffocating. Before they both know it, they've arrived at the Two If By Sea parking lot. There's other cars there, so it must be safe! They may be having some sort of Halloween event.
Off in the distance, near the back of the lot, can be found this large black truck. It looks to be empty. Perhaps the owner is inside having a drink.
James gives a manly scream of utter terror as the thing slams its twisted face into the glass just before Alison gets them both the fuck out of that nightmare. He's panting now as well as they pull into the parking lot. ".. it's ok. Who even needs sleep again anyway? He opens his mouth to say something, anything, but nothing comes out. Instead, he fishes his little weed vape pen again and takes a long deep drag of it, holding it before releasing a plume. "... fuuuuuck."
Alison parks the car in a spot, either not noticing or not minding the black truck also parked there. I mean, a lot scarier shit went down after that truck came barreling after them. She slumps into her seat and takes the keys out of the ignition. Looking over at James, she eyes the vape and really wishes that she hadn't left her joints at home. "This is a way better time for that than at the park. Can I bum a hit?"
"... puff puff pass. Law of the land. Even here in Madworld.", James mutters, leaning back in the seat and passing it over to her. "Though I disagree with your assessment that there's ever such a thing as a time when it's not ok to get high in this goddamn town, I think maybe I owe you my life or something now, so I won't argue the point."
Alison paws the vape and takes a hit, holding onto it for quite some time before exhaling it through her nose. "Fleeing for our lives is probably not the best time, I think." She hands it back to James. "I don't think I really did anything other than drive and scream." Then she reaches back into the back seat and grabs their masks, handing James's paper mask back to him. "C'mon, let's go in and grab a drink. The night's still young."
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