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 Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 1:28 pm
Theo had seen a lot of animated movies in his time, and while this was nothing like them, it was just as fantastical. In fact, sentient robots and flying carpets were more believable than an alien deer and a footless, magic-wielding college student in their own way, especially since everything on the screen in front of them was meant to be true.
He scooted forward in his seat as the show came to an end, feet firm against the ground just in case he needed to break into a run. He hadn't realized that these new footsteps weren't coming from the speakers at first, not until the cop and the eyeless guy's friend went on high alert. Someone from the movie had just kind of... shown up, holding a garbage bag and looking like he'd been in the middle of something. Was this how this place operated? Just stealing people away while they were taking out the trash? If it ever tried to kidnap him while he was watching his girls, he would burn this world to the ground.
He wasn't quite sure whether he agreed with the theater's assurance that they were safe, but he did feel more secure now that there were fewer mannequins around.
"Yeah, more about the foot would be nice. And the deer."
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 1:51 pm
"The.. foot?" Chris questioned, eyebrows furrowing together in a confused frown. He had no idea what that meant and he was trying to figure out where a foot would come up, until he heard the radio. That was definitely his voice and it sounded familiar, the sentence toying at the edge of his mind (even if the way it was used was a little strange). It wasn't until the mention of the deer that everything clicked.
"Were you guys shown Helidora's foot and Pax? Big dark deer looking thing with mint green eyes?" He asked, able to take a better look at the crowd now that the theater lights were on. There was less of a crowd than he had thought and one of the vaguely faced people had their head at an angle that was frankly, incredibly unnerving and for a second Chris wondered if it hurt.
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 2:20 pm
"Oh," Acacia turned in her seat for a look at Theo as he spoke up behind her, glancing hesitantly in the direction of the others for good measure as the radio continued adding itself into the mystery. It was quickly coming to her attention that this was all entirely too strangely detailed to be just a nightmare, so she slid a hand along the inside of her elbow and pinched. And yeah, yeah that hurt more than a little, actually. She shifted the wince into a appreciative smile before turning back towards the screen. "Well, as long as I'm not the only one, I suppose. Thank you."
The images being shown only got more confusing before coming to a stop, leaving echoing footsteps and- Ah. One of the men from the movie had appeared. After her own sudden appearance in the theatre aisle, she supposed it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for whatever was going on here, but that fact certainly wasn't doing anything to counter the quickly growing feeling of dread. The theatre could tell them it was safe here all it wanted, but nothing good was going to come of all this and she knew it.
"Yes!" Sitting still suddenly didn't seem like as good an idea so she stood, smoothed out the skirt of her dress, and made her way towards the aisle again, glad there were no longer any mannequins beside her to slip past. She moved towards the stage a bit before coming to a hesitant stop again. At least she wouldn't potentially have to raise her voice as much? "At least, the name Heliodora did come up, so it might have been theirs? Unless you've seen a lot of severed ones, which brings up a lot more questions honestly."
And then, because manners, "Acacia Bryant, by the way. Hello."
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 2:27 pm
Shun remained tense until he saw Chris emerge. Even then, he didn't relax all that much. Letting out a breath, he looked around for a moment, then nodded to Chris.
"We were. It was the time you and the others had found her foot in the mud, then met both her and Pax."
Quite frankly, he was kind of glad that the teacher was here... rather than have another completely clueless person to keep an eye on.
When the lights came back on, he took note that a good portion of the mannequins were gone. He wasn't sure if that was good or bad.
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 2:54 pm
Chris smiled, although it was more of a grimace and wasn't entirely pleasant. He nodded towards Shun, the gesture mixing with something like approval. "Like he said, that was the time we found her foot in the mud and then met Pax, who is Heliodora's maiden. It was my introduction to Other Ashdown, which wasn't entirely pleasant, I'll admit."
He managed to spot something that looked like stairs and with some care, got his way down off the stage, giving one last glance towards it before facing Acacia. "I'm glad to say I have not seen any other severed feet since seeing Heliodora's though, which is a plus. Hello," He smiled at her, this time a little softer than before.
"As it is, why are all of you here?" He didn't have a clue and bet they didn't either, but it wouldn't hurt to ask in case someone did know.
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 3:33 pm
The mural on the ceiling was showing a now clear sky, the stars back out. It was only at the furthest edges of it that it looked as if there was something like fire in the distance. There it lingered unmoving unlike the unfamiliar stars that twinkled. It was a much smaller crowd of mannequins, most of the ones there looking like civilians. The two that had been on stage, the ones that had been tall and wearing business suits, had also disappeared. From where, possibly the upper section of seats, there was the sound of something falling. It echoed and then fell silent. Quote: next post will be around 1100 EST
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:56 pm
"Good question. We all appeared outside of the theater and were practically herded in by hundreds of tiny jellyfish. My guess is something or wanted to show us something."
Which didn't say anything as for why. He didn't know. Shun figured that the little movie they had been shown didn't mean a whole lot to most of the others here. He knew the context and it still didn't mean that much to him.
"Did you just arrive?"
The detective paused again when he heard something from above. His eyes narrowed.
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Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2016 8:25 pm
"Is that what this place is called? Other Ashdown?" Theo declined to answer the part about why he was here, mostly because he didn't know. He did finally stand once something fell from the vicinity of the balcony, however, and he found himself frowning in the mystery item's direction, as if that would get rid of it. If it turned out to be a foot, he wasn't playing this game anymore.
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 10:45 am
To say Temperance didn't get it would be an understatement. Temperance was best with terms, book knowledge, things to memorize and categorize and pull out later. She found being in other Ashdown easy only because she didn't think too hard about all of it until later - later, when she pulled out each piece and examined it, turning over the things said, things met in her hands until she understood a little better. "I think you can call it anything you want, but it's kinda like an alternate Ashdown," she said distractedly to Theo, the cogs in her brain turning. The mannequins had left, some of them, vanished because they certainly hadn't stood and walked out. Heliodora, her maiden, the foot (what was the point of locating the foot - after a certain point, extremities were no longer viable for reattachment). "I'll take a guess that why we're here has something to do with you.We saw this movie and you were in it and suddenly you are here. I guess you're the main feature, Chris." She jerked when she heard the falling sound and stood. Connor had remained relatively silent - shock, maybe, even though it didn't appear to be painful. Temperance brushed past one of the few remaining mannequins, patting his cheek as she went. "Excuse me. Where'd the rest of you go, Charlies?" she whispered, but continued moving. She made her way towards the falling thing - maybe a foot, she thought morbidly. Temperance couldn't think of anything else helpful to do, but she felt restless, needed to keep moving. Squiting, she tried to see what could have fallen.
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 11:31 am
Unfortunately for Temperance, she was not improving her situation with the faceless denizens of the theater. She would find, with her repeated touching of them and already established lack of trust, that her fingertips had gone stiff and her tap to it's cheek made the audible sound of plastic on plastic. One of the mannequin's hands had raised as if to stop her, but in it's slow manner hadn't been quick enough. Her fingertips on that hand were now the same smooth immovable material that covered Connor's eyes. The sound of falling had taken place on the second floor balcony above them and thus was currently inaccessible for investigation. The stairways up are still blocked by rubble.
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 12:08 pm
"I did," Chris answered Shun, "I was just trying to take the trash out and ended up walking into the backstage." The bag of trash was lifted for a second, but otherwise he was content with just that explanation. They all probably knew Other Ashdown could just show up whenever - it was likely how they had gotten here.
"Hm? Oh, well that's the general term for it by most of us who end up here," He said somewhat offhandedly to Theo, distracted for a moment by the sound of something falling. "It's the best name for it, anyways, since it is just literally the Other Ashdown." He turned towards Temperance, blinking in surprise.
"I'm the main feature? That's.. disconcerting." He couldn't think of anything in Other Ashdown he had pissed off lately, in fact he had spent most of his time firmly in Ashdown. "I can't imagine what they want, I haven't even been to this theater."
He watched Temperance move, wondering where to go next, and in surprise noticed her fingertips change, the vaguely faced person move slowly. Whatever the other occupants were here, they were made of plastic, and didn't take to being touched. His eyes slid over to Connor and the broken headed mannequin, and they widened in shock. That was most definitely some sort of magic going on.
"Oh," He repeated, now moving closer to Temperance and Connor. "Well, at least I know you can do magic now," He said mildly to the crowd, pausing at Connor and the person with the awkwardly twisted head. He could probably help, at the very least, and his hands hovered for a second in front of the person. From what he could guess, it was probably best to ask permission. "May I?" He asked quietly, unwilling to move until he got the affirmative.
To the rest of the group, he said a little louder, "Does anyone know a way to get out of here? The door backstage locked behind me."
Seussi connor mentioned and can probably hear chris being. chris.
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 3:50 pm
Well, at least someone had a grasp on what had happened. It didn't help her much in sorting it out, though, did it? Acacia glanced between Shun and Chris with a thoughtful little 'hm'. There wasn't much she could say about what she was doing here in...Other Ashdown, really? She hadn't appeared outside and had apparently missed out on the jellyfish, after all. Although she couldn't help wondering, if it was just another Ashdown, one full of strange things, then maybe her bakery- No, that was ridiculous. Who would she even serve, the mannequins?
The sound of something falling startled a gasp out of her and she immediately lifted her eyes towards the balcony. Up there? Well, the last time an unexplained sound had happened, someone new had appeared, right? She glanced back down to Chris, then to Temperance and Connor and- Oh dear, that didn't look good at all, did it?
"I didn't even come in through a door," she pointed out a little distractedly, edging in closer because there'd been mentions of magic and she didn't want to miss another strange occurrence if it was oncoming. But back on that note, she glanced back up towards the balcony and raised her voice to hopefully carry.
"Hello? Is someone up there?"
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 4:00 pm
Juniper sat back and listened to the conversation going on. This new guy, Chris, certainly seemed knowledgable and not at all perturbed at the fact that he had magically appeared here. Ok. Well. It must happen frequently enough for him then. Which was a scary thought. If it happened often enough to him that he wasn't bothered about it, how many more times would it happen to her? Eventually she pulled herself out of her seat to join the group as they talked to this Chris fellow. "I am Juniper." She introduced herself to the man as she walked up. "But yea, I'd like to hear more about this foot and deer. As well as about Other Ashdown. This place is....bizarre. I don't, necessarily dislike it, mind, but the idea of just magically appearing here is a bit disconcerting." The sound from up above had Juniper turning to try and get a glimpse at the mezzanine. "Anybody else here that?" She questioned.
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 6:08 pm
Juniper would not see anything but darkness, no lights. The fire that had been at the edge of the starlight mural seemed to be spreading bit by bit, the starry sky stained a ruddy orange. Acacia received no response either. The only noises were that of those with her in the theatre. There was a mannequin sitting next to the one with the broken head and it turned as Chris spoke. For a moment he was watched carefully, something obvious only to him, and there was a short, albeit too smooth, nod. The moment that Chris laid hands upon the mannequin he would find it easily malleable under his hands and he could move to right it, to fix it. There was a rush of feeling, of worry, of concern, and a near overbearing sense of keepsafekeepsafekeepsafe as well when he touched it. Quote: next post will be around 2300 EST
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Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2016 6:24 pm
"Scoped it out earlier. Only exit seems to be back there," Shun stated, motioning towards the entrance into the theater. While he was at that, he checked to see if that usher was still blocking the way. When he looked back towards Chris, he saw that the guy was about to try and fix the one broken mannequin there. "Careful," he warned.
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