[ORP] Catching Fire's Haunted House: Entrance

[phoenix kiss]

The entrance of the cave sits just beside the last mangrove tree before the swamp gives way to a small marsh plain, filled with grasses that bow and sway in the wind, as tall as a kimeti. It is almost pitch-dark inside, and the last dying light of evening is just dark enough to light up the vestibule.

Four dark holes in the cave loom all around the kimeti: different rooms, branching off of a main hallway. It's certainly big enough to hold quite a few kimeti.

So far, nothing is scary; there's nothing creepy about this place, but who dares peek inside each of the rooms to find out what's inside?

[You're free to roleplay here in the entrance, but look in the main Games forum for the other rooms!]  

[phoenix kiss]

Inside the entrance of the cave is Catching Fire -- or an acha -- or perhaps, something that had once been an acha. Having rolled in dirt and mud until his coat was a uniform brownish-green, he'd ducked his head in a stream a few times, until his horns trailed strands of water-weeds and thick ropes of muck. He looked like a swamp monster, or a river-beast ...

He looked ridiculous.

The acha crouched behind a rock, casting covert glances just beyond it, to see who would come calling. Beside him, Sandflea fastidiously groomed her paws, looking at her owner and unable to keep from sniffing him. To say he smelled about as nasty as he looked was an understatement.  

[Flayre The Pyro Girl]

River's End thought himself a brave buck, suave and unafraid in every circumstance, though it was pure delusion. The purple and green buck was scared hoofless of entering the dark cave, but there were lovely does about, and he refused on principle to be the first to freak out and not enter the cave. And so it was with a deep, steadying breath and (hopefully unnoticeable) shaking knees, that he entered the main room of the cave.  

[Lexenos the Gypsy Bard]

Clem loved scary things. His "aunt" Doom had so many scary stories to tell, and he ate up every one of them. He'd never gotten a chance to actually experience something heart-poundingly scary, so as soon as he heard a hint of this "haunted house," he was there.

Other kin had already showed up, and he wasn't the first to go in, either. His heart fell a little, but whatever, he would still get to enjoy this haunted house, and it would be awesome.

He looked around, and noticed one of the new cousins in "costume" at the entrance of the cave. He approached and asked,

"Are you the one running this?"  

[Kalahari-Summers]

Ever the wanderer, Trees had slowly made his way through the marsh grass. By slowly, that meant that every minute or so he'd paused to stick his head down among the grasses to search for pebbles. The best he had found was a cute little blue pebble, surprisingly bright for being covered in dirt. After a few swishes in a stream it was even brighter, and he'd happily tucked it away in the corner of his mouth before continuing on.

Though, thanks to all his head ducking, the buck carried ribbons of grass all over his horns. Frankly, he looked pretty silly.

Soon the buck wandered across the cave entrance, spotting several other kimeti already there and going in. Was there something going on? He tilted his head curiously, strands of grass falling across his face before he started forward, giving his fellow kin a nod of greeting.  

[Anhelisk]

This was it. The cave. A place perfectly-suited to bedeck and trap, to prank as many unsuspecting Kin as would be possible. Mischief had made a bet with his brother, about which of them could prank more kimeti, and who could pull off the best prank. And this... this cavern, with it's sandy floors and it's damp, but not flooded, interiors, was perfectly-suited to his tasks. His tail flicked happily as he walked up to the cave, but stopped dead when he heard, and then saw, others at the entrance.

"Oi. What's going on here?" he asked, thrown completely aback, and desperately hoping this wasn't Solemn's doing.  

[phoenix kiss]

The acha, all covered in muck and weeds and mud, blinks up at the purple kimeti and scowls -- and all of a sudden bounds into the center of the cave, whirling around on his hind hooves. His plume of a tail sends mud striping and spattering behind him, splattering kimeti and the cave walls alike. "BOO!"

It's not very frightening, but that wasn't Catching Fire's aim. Being scared isn't fun, not very; he much prefers to laugh and have a good time then live shaking so hard his horns rattle. "I am the ghost of this cave! It's hauuuuuuuuuunted! Do you daaaaare explore the rest of the haunted cave?!"  

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Rarity had been decidedly uninterested in visiting a haunted cave. Rarity did. not. like. caves. Not one little bit- they were slimy and dank and dark and essentially the antithesis of the beauty she loved so much. But she was no coward and so had convinced herself to go. As she entered the cavern, she was rather pleased that she'd done so. Other kin had showed up... but no does. And some of those males looked rather interesting. Tossing her head ever-so-slightly and subtly batting her eyelashes particularly at the two purpley males, before catching sight of the mud-drenched acha who'd just jumped from behind a stone. It took every ounce of restraint for her to not make a face and flee- he looked wretched! She turned her grimace into a strained smile, addressing no kin in particular. "So this is the cave of terrors? If you'll excuse me for saying so, nothing here looks... too dreadful." Though if that muddy monster got anywhere near her coat, something in the room would be pretty terrifying. Few creatures had gotten Rarity muddy and lived to tell the tale. Swampmother help him if he sprayed her with mud.  

[Anhelisk]

Being jumped at, and then having mud sprayed at him, shouldn't have improved his mood. But then again, he'd never seen an Acha this close-up, even though he was so difficult to see through the muck and the weeds. A fellow prankster? he mused privately, rubbing his face against his shoulder as best he could to remove a slippery glob of the richly-scented bogmud that had hit his face. He succeeded only in smearing the stuff around a bit.

"Ghost, was it?" he asked the fearsomely-bedecked Acha, his expression deadpan, stepping closer while maintaining enough distance to hopefully keep from getting splattered with even more sludge. While he didn't disdain getting a little dirty, asking to be splattered was a bit outside of his usual demeanor.  

[Kalahari-Summers]

For the time being Trees kept his mouth shut, his tongue idly toying with the pebble he'd picked up as he listened to the other bucks. A muffled chuckle escaped him at the acha's antics; ghosts and hauntings? Trees himself had no particular affinity for the occult or spooky things, so what really caught his attention was the doe that arrived...

Wow.

When her eyes glanced over to him he couldn't help it--his tongue jerked, sending the pebble flying to the back of his throat and making him choke quite loudly. And then no no no--!

The pebble went down, and his eyes widened; oops.  

[Lexenos the Gypsy Bard]

Clem grinned. It seemed he startled his cousin into starting his (her? he really wasn't sure) performance. That was alright, it was fun! It was very theatrical, and only improved his impression of the place. He listened as an orange kimeti addressed the cousin, wondering if there would be more ghostly stories.

And then a white, purple and blue doe spoke, seemingly the only doe there. He added his opinion to hers, speaking in a low voice as to not talk over anything the cousin might have to say.

"I think this is just the beginning, I think there's supposed to be more. I mean, there's the other caverns, there's probably something there. I mean, I hope there's more, this... cousin in mud."  

[Scaramouche Fandango]

"If he's a ghost, he's certainly a messy ghost," Rarity said, cocking an eyebrow at the acha and mentally bathing the freckled orange buck that had stepped forward. She was going to end up fantasizing about making over every kin in the room, she just knew it.

A noise behind her drew her attention, and she snapped her head around. One of the bucks seemed to be hurt! Rarity's eyes narrowed- pranks and fake haunting were all in good fun, but if there were actually things in here that could harm somebody... Thinking nothing of the mud on the ground, she galloped towards him. "Are you alright? Can you talk? Oh goodness, I don't want to have to butt you in the side, but if that's what it takes, I will! Nod if you think you'll be ok!" The last thing a haunted cave needed was an actual dead body... especially not one with such an interesting pelt! She didn't mean to ignore the buck speaking to her- the one with the fascinating horns- but she didn't want a crisis on her hooves.  

[Akkhima]

Lil stepped gingerly into the cave. She wasn't sure about this whole haunted thing. In fact, she was fairly certain it wouldn't be pleasant at all, but she also thought that maybe if nothing jumped out at her too suddenly, it could be quite fun. Maybe.

The entryway seemed a little crowded at the moment, so she decided to hang back, behind the others, waiting for a cue as to how to proceed. She certainly didn't want to make a mistake and have to go through this twice. Walking all the way out here had already proven a bit of an ordeal.  

[Lexenos the Gypsy Bard]

Clem hadn't noticed that the other purple kimeti had been choking. The white kimeti he had been talking to had it under control, but he still stepped over to watch over the situation just in case.  

[Kalahari-Summers]

Still recovering from his choking and tragic pebble swallowing, things seemed to get even more pressured as the same doe from before came rushing over to help! Trees coughed and spluttered a little, but managed to nod his head a little, still cringing a little at the feeling of the pebble traveling down his throat. Oh, he did not look forward to trying to find the pebble once it finished its journey through his insides.

"Uh... hi. I'm Trees That Sing." Lame follow-up to choking on a pebble, much?