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( Hallway )

Thanatos, huddled beside the chimera, arms slowly unlatching from their death-grip in his own flesh, went to clutch at the ghoul beside him, shuddering as he tried to will away the phantasms that had been pulled from his own mind. "Papa not coming for Than...no no no no..." He whispered, face buried in Merry's arm as he shut his eye tight, dark lashes fanning out against alabaster skin. "M-Merry-bird...the mirrors are liars...bad bad naughty horrible false liars..." He whispered, still teary and shaken from the vision of his foreboding sire in the reflection of the eerie glassworks.

As the images faded, he slowly began to be able to breathe once more, that constricting tightness in his chest releasing the iron bonds that had seized control within him. He had nearly panicked, nearly fled...but he'd stood his ground somehow, though mayhap it was simply from knowing....experience telling him that there would have been worse punishment to come had he turned tail and fled. Tail slowly sweeping around, it twined with Merry's, and the pup moved to stroke her crimson hair gingerly, trying to comfort her in her obvious distress. "S'gone, Merry-Merry..." He whispered, "All beautiful disappeared away..." Though there was that quaver in his voice that indicated he was trying to convince himself of this selfsame fact.

;____; Weren't haunted houses supposed to be a bit more fun than this? Than wasn't sure, but this was supposed to be a festival, not torture!

((Hallway))

Slitted eyes had slammed shut against the horrible images reflected in the mirror, and when Than uncurled himself from his frightened ball to cling to her arm she hid her face against the dark silk of his hair. Clinging to the smaller monster in a bid for comfort, his and her own.

It hadn't been real. Nothing more then a vivid illusion pulled from her own mind, but it had looked so horrifyingly real.. Her body wasn't tearing itself to pieces, she would feel it happening. Nothing shy of pure agony, she was certain of it. "All lies, just an illusion." One pale hand smoothed down the pup's hair and back, petting him gently in slow, endless strokes. Her composure returning in leaps and bounds until she was, if not calm, then no longer obviously freaked. Reclaiming the familiar role of protector and guard for the worried hound in her arms. She couldn't afford to fall apart, not when he needed her.

She peeked up from his hair as he assured her the mirror had vanished, then lifted her head completely to stare down the hall where it had been. Bright eyes narrowing in the darkness. What had that been about? She didn't know what the Jack a haunted house was, but she could only assume by Thanatos' reaction that things of that nature were not normal. "We should probably start moving." They'd spent enough time on the floor.

A voice in the dark distracted from the plan though, and the chimera whipped her head around towards the sound of someone running towards them down the hall. Stiffening as the dragon came into view and very nearly didn't stop in time to void running them over. "Mirrors," was her one word response to the other boil's question. a single pale finger raising from the pup's crown to point further down the hall.

((I’m to late to enter into the contest, but I’d still like to post this up so it doesn’t look like my character just walked through without seeing anything BD;

stairway))

What do you fear?

The question echoed throughout the stairway, and now poke had the distinct feeling she was being watched. She looked around to see who it was, but the only thing she could see was…a mirror?

The voice spoke again, telling them to look into the mirror to see their greatest fear. This...was an interesting command. What was her greatest fear? There weren't many things that she was afraid of. When it came to something scary, she would just focus on her strength and fight whatever it was. As long as she was strong, then what did she have to fear? That was her logic.

Slowly, she moved in front of the mirror and peered into it.

At first, poke couldn’t see a thing. What was this? She was pretty sure she wasn’t afraid of the dark. But as she continued to watch, the mirror’s reflection began to take on shape and form. She leaned in closer so she could get a better look…

A severed head stared right back at her, its face a mask of pure terror.

She jumped, obviously startled by the sudden image, but still slightly confused. It was only when she stood back that she realized that there was something holding the severed head. Not for long, as the head was suddenly hoisted up and then disappeared down the mouth of a haunting familiar blue dragon…

All of a sudden, it turned around, revealing in the background a group of...humans? Reapers? She couldn’t be sure, but what she could see that some of them were children, and they where terrified of the beast.

Baring it’s teeth, it then launched at the group, and the mirror quickly became stained with blood before disappearing completely

“….”

So much for not being scared of anything.

Poke wasn’t sure how long she stood there, but by the time she remember where she was, the others had already passed through the mirror.

[ The Staircase ]
Having passed the mirror, Van didn't hesitate. He had been one of the last ones to go through it. Was that the zombie he had seen, up ahead? Jack's sake, if he was there and Van was still all the way back here, maybe he truly was slow. Cervantes bounded ahead, skidding to a halt right in front of the zombie. He grinned at him, tail whipping back and forth.

It was true, Van was a little uncomfortable around the rotting thing, but at the same time... he felt like he would see worse. Like his own fears, for example. Cervantes had been forced to face the inevitable knowledge that for one reason or another, his father and his pack had left him behind, with no real way to find them. But he also knew he wouldn't give up. Why would he?

Then it hit him: his new rotting acquaintance didn't smell very good at all. The flowery smell of the haunted house was masking it a little, but Van's nose was so sensitive that it picked up any trace. He would try his best to be normal, despite the nausea that had set over him since entering the haunted house.

( Hallway )

Dark-furred ears flicked subtly as her stroking of his hair resumed...if Merry was petting him, then all was returned to right in the world. Shuddering once more, as though to shake the fearsome illusions from settling about him, the Fae-hound leaned up to bump the underside of the chimera ghoul's chin with his head affectionately, just a light tap, a wee, dependent nuzzle. His friend's doting demeanor was quite unlike anything that Than received at home, and he was currently basking in it, leeching it in a rather sponge-like fashion.

"Mebbe..." He paused, shifting so that she could get up, "Iffen we keep movinglike then the bad-glass won't chase us, Merry-Merry..." It had vanished from sight now, but Thanatos didn't trust anything that bore that level of malevolence. It could come back to er...haunt them, for lack of a better term to describe current circumstance. 8[ They really should have put a better warning on the front door. "Terribles, terribles things within..." He muttered, fingers once more taking a moment to tangle themselves in the boil's voluminous sleeves.

That was about the time that he heard a second voice, this one also familiar, and as his female companion answered his query, Than vaguely remembered that his ears had caught the hasty call of the pup's own name. Oh! Spinning around, still on the floor, in a whirlwind of dust and glitter, the tiny monster put both hands on the ground, hourglass eye lighting up with a rather excited, happy noise. He hadn't gotten to talk much with this boil before, but they'd since exchanged a serious of squee-mails! He seemed very nice, and Aksaja too, was someone that Thanatos had dubbed a friend! To have him here, perhaps the haunted house wasn't all bad if he'd found both the dragon AND Merry! *V* <3

"'Sajaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~!" He chirped, leaning forward from his position to wrap arms around the dragon's leg. "It was a terribles mean-mirror thing, a-and it was PICKING ON THAAAAAAAN!" For a moment, his lower lip quivered, but he regained himself, pads of his fingers still seeking purchase in the dark-haired male's pant leg. "Than has been good." He murmured, something almost sulky in the tone. He didn't deserve to be punished by a dumb house, not when he was trying so hard!

"Butbutbut!" There was a soft chortle of hardly contained glee, "ThanThan is VERY glad to have Aksaja herelike too! 'Saja and the Merry-bird, Merry-bird, does know Aksaja noyesmaybe?" His introductions were hardly skillful, but they would at the very least serve their purpose.