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 Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2025 8:28 pm
The fog hanging over for the last several days only made the leaves seem even brighter. Absent of the wind that had plagued Destiny city the last several days, nature had exploded in a rainbow of fiery confetti, the vivid shades making her hands itch to paint to paper. Dani loved this time of year; the fresh scent in the air, the ever-changing leaves and the piles and piles of them that had formed throughout the park she was planning to paint in. Glancing around, she didn’t immediately spot anyone else in the vicinity, and was struck with the sudden impulse brought up by the scent memory of fall around her, crashing into piles of leaves and laughing heartily as they rained down in shades of crimson and gold.
Screw it.
Giving in to the urge, she clutched her bag tightly to keep from losing purchase on it before taking a running start, a grin making her cheeks ache. “Whoo—ooh, s**t—“ Dani yelped as the soft bed of leaves gave way under her weight. She felt her stomach drop as her body tried to reason with gravity, a dizzying swirl of red-orange assaulting her eyes, the last curl of pink hair vanishing into the pile with a rustling sound before settling, as if it hadn’t been disturbed at all.
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Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2025 11:17 pm
Addy took a deep breath, eyes closed as she let the chill, autumnal air fill her lungs. It had been a blessed ten days without Weird Bullshit. Ten whole days since she had talked to an alien, or accidentally Jumanji kidnapped a bartender or ran from a monster or anything. Just hair and home and drinks and dancing and spooky movies. Eyes open again, she took the last sip of her pumpkin spice latte before tossing it in a trash can as she walked by and let her eyes drift down the street at all the piles of leaves. They all looked so similar. Almost manicured. Very inviting. It looked like someone else had the same though. Addy watched as a girl with potentially the most hair she had ever seen approached a pile leaves. She idly found herself wondering if the curls were natural or if they were the result of some obscenely long hair routine. A smile formed on her face as the girl made a run for it and she braced to hear the satisfying, crisp snap as the leaves crushed underfoot but instead there was a scream and then silence. ...Had that girl just...vanished into the leaves? Soft pink eyes frantically scanned up and down the street, looking for a wisp of pink curls as they rounded a corner but she was met with a soft breeze ambling by, carrying the smell of foliage along with it. "Okay. Zero days without Weird Bullshit." Thick, black platform boots stomped up the sidewalk to where the girl had disappeared and she dipped a toe into the leaves. It felt normal. It didn't FEEL like she was going to fall through. Slowly, she touched a toe to the ground, only to feel it give way to nothingness as she tripped forward, tumbling down in circles with a scream. A blur of color and the whirr of air whistling past her ear was dizzying and suddenly, she slammed into could ground, tumbling and rolling as she came to a stop up against a nearby tree. "Hoooly ********, what was that?" She sputtered and she looked around, trying to find the pink haired girl.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2025 5:41 pm
When the world finally stopped moving after a dizzying few seconds, Dani groaned as she pushed herself up and off of her hands where she’d caught herself. Dusting herself off, she almost shrieked in shock when she heard the voice behind her, spinning around to look. “Oh! Hi, I uh. That wasn’t me,” she pointed out, jabbing an accusing finger at the bush they had both exited from. Adjusting her bag on her hip, she looked around, unfamiliar with the streets and sights around her.
“Are you okay? I swear that thing practically pulled me in. I’m Dani.” Dani held out a hand to help steady Addy on her feet, before turning her attention from the leaves, to their surroundings again. It wasn’t the park she’d been dreaming of spending the afternoon in, that was for sure. “Quick question, do you have any idea where we are?”
As if to laugh in the face of their predicament, the piles of leaves seemed to rustle, inviting her to tempt fate a second time. She wasn’t proud to admit she kind of wanted to do it again.
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Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2025 10:04 pm
Addy reached up and accepted the help, pulling herself to her feet. She brushed some stray leaves off of her skirt and looked around in confusion. Seconds before, she had been on a street lined with trees and neat piles of leaves in a picturesque arrangement. Now they were on a busy city street. A bus rumbled by, leaving them standing in a cloud of exhaust. Waving the smog away with her hand, she turned her gaze to the girl and studied her a moment. She didn't look like a monster. She seemed equally confused. If she she was one of those senshi, surely she would look different or maybe even attacked her by now. After some deliberation, Addy decided she had simply found another innocent bystander caught up in the weirdness of October in Destiny City. At least this time there weren't any dice. "Addy, thanks for the help up," she offered the girl a brief, tense smile before looking up and down the street again as she contemplated the question. Somewhere down the block, a car alarm blared. They definitely were not in the same part of town. Pulling out her phone, she opened Google Maps and looked at their surroundings. A confused expression took over her features as she held her screen out for the other girl to look at, dragging her fingers along the screen as she spoke. "We're uh...Well, we were at this park way over here. We've moved about 10 blocks...Somehow." Her eyes trailed over to the leaves as they rustled in the the breeze. "That...We walked through those leaves...right? That's what just happened, right? We both experienced that? And are you okay?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2025 7:59 pm
Dani surveyed their surroundings with a frown, coughing at the fumes and waving it away from her face as she turned in a slow circle, recognizing very little. She didn’t realize how often she stayed close to home, no more than a few minutes from her neighborhood or downtown. She really needed to work on that. Giving one of the leaves by their feet a nudge, she narrowed her eyes, as if suspicious the pile might leap up at her. It did little more than rustle, tickled by the wind. Well. At least there wasn’t a weird animal hiding in there.
“I’m okay, just confused. Maybe a little dizzy from the jump but—-“ her eyes flicked to what she spotted on Addy’s phone, her eyes bugging out slightly before she let out a frustrated groan. “It’s gonna take forever to get back there— how did this even happen? First weird fire lizards, now portals across the city?” She let out a giggle that was slightly high pitched, anxiety edging into her voice, though it was overcome by the excitement making her feel as though she might vibrate out of her skin. Adrenaline was a hell of a thing.
How was she going to get home? She certainly wasn’t about to spend an arm and a leg for a taxi at this hour, and she had no idea which bus route to take even if she wanted to. Her eyes settled back to the pile of leaves, and there was a moment where that impish, childish voice in the back of her head from before she’d gone leaf jumping in the first place brought something to her attention an idea that was worming its way up from inside her.
“You don’t suppose that it goes the other way, huh? I mean, it worked the first time….” She trailed off, taking a step back. The war inside her was whether or not to jump, but Addy at her side gave her pause. She’d feel bad leaving her alone.
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Posted: Sat Oct 25, 2025 9:12 pm
"Fire lizards?" Addy asked, her attention momentarily split from their predicament before the girl spoke again. Soft pink eyes drifted from the girl to the leaves again and she stood in quiet contemplation. Sure, she had encountered some more...malicious things this month. The endless hall. The boardgame...twice...But this seemed like...cheeky fun? Like a friendly trickster spirit instead of whatever had created the pocket dimensions she had found herself trapped in. "I mean...It's...worth a shot," Addy replied slowly, taking a few steps toward the pile of leaves they'd been thrown from. "It didn't hurt us...It was actually kinda fun, if I'm being honest. I kinda want to do it again." A mischievous smile slowly spread across her face and she held out her hand for Dani's, nodding her head toward the leaves. "Let's jump together."
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2025 7:27 pm
Dani felt a grin spread across her face and she nodded, glancing down at the pile as an excited flutter in her stomach made her pulse quicken. “Hell yeah, lets do this. I am not walking all that way home.” She reached out and grasped Addy’s hand firmly, making sure she had a comfortable grip before she took a deep breath, as if ready to dive into a pool and jumping in, hooting at the top of her voice and closing her eyes against the leaves brushing her face before opening the again, the feeling of weightlessness hitting her.
This time she was ready for the sensory overload and the crinkle of dry leaves as they popped out of another pile of leaves. She had three stuck in her hair, and there were two shoved into the front of Addy’s shirt. She didn’t see any familiar surroundings, huffing faintly before she pulled her new companion to her feet. “Well, that one was a bust. Next!” Without waiting for permission, she pulled Addy into another pile, grinning, her fingers gripping on tight as she let herself fall backwards into the pile this time, dragging Addy down with her.
The whisper of leaves around them felt like nature was laughing with them, a spot of light in the dark after so many strange experiences this season. She landed flat on her back when they popped out of the second leaf pile, a fit of giggles escaping as she stared at Addy beside her. Bits of leaf had jammed themselves into the buckles and straps of her jacket, and there were a handful sticking up out of her knee high boots.
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