Catching Fire's Haunted House: Room 2

[phoenix kiss]

The second room of the cave got a little darker, a little creepier; there was some sort of damp moss growing all over the floor of this one, slick and somewhat oozy under his hooves. Fire's sanddog refused to go in this room, which was justification enough for him to make it truly creepy. Maybe even a little scary.

For this room Fire arranged bones -- the first thing kimeti saw, as their eyes adjusted to the light, was a lynx skull, which grinned at them with eerily glowing-green eyes (made possible by the judicious addition of a glowing mushroom). All around the chamber were bones, bones everywhere -- some of them fresher than others. Most were bleached white, but there was a songbird carcass with some feathers still attached, and a foxbun foot, and what appeared to be most of the skeleton of an owlcat. An empty turtle shell glowed from within, lit by fungi: he'd pulled that out of a river.

Some berry juice smeared on the walls and floor, and it was perfect. A room full of bloody bones!  

[Lexenos the Gypsy Bard]

Clem's random choice had led him into this room first. His eyes adjusted, and a delightful shiver went down his spine all the way to the tip of his tail as he saw that it was filled with bones. The room was gloriously empty as well, despite all the other kimeti that had shown up.

He went around and nosed at all the bones, starting with the lynx skull right in front of him. At first glance, it seemed to have glowing eyes, staring blankly, eerily into one's soul. As he looked closer (without disturbing, of course), he saw that there was just a glowing mushroom. The effect was still amazing, of course. He continued, nosing at the almost complete carcass of an owlcat, which was fascinating being able to see its bone structure. He didn't get too close to the songbird, he'd heard you could get sick from being close to still decaying carcasses. It looked mostly done, but he wanted to be safe still.

He almost squealed with glee when he saw the bits of fake blood painted on the walls and around the floor. He thought about licking it, to see what the cousin had used, but immediately pushed the thought out of mind, in case it was something that tasted nasty or something that shouldn't be eaten at all.

He continued to nose around the cave, trying to identify some of the random bones. He easily named the lovely example of a turtle shell that the cousin had found. He couldn't name a lot of the miscellaneous bones, but he was proud that he could name some of the fuller skeletons.

He wanted to stay in this room for a while, both because it was just fascinating and because no one was in there yet.  

[Vesperiie]

So many of her kin had gathered here now, too many for Mint's taste as a matter of fact, all lured by the idea of fun and a haunted cave. The green doe shook her head slightly at the thought, her face remaining expressionless, but her thoughts unable to hide her disdain. The acha cousin who had started this whole thing, and the kin who were wandering leisurely through here, all seemed as if they had nothing better to do in preparation for the cold season. Not that any of of them, especially not the acha, had suffered through particular hardship, she had to remind herself. Her disdain was unwarranted, she knew it was, and to prove how unwarranted it was she'd decided to come to the so called haunted cave and waste away some of her own time here. It would be good for her, socializing and what not... right?

Well, it should have been, but the sight of so many kin gathered in the main chamber, hushed voices all talking over each other, hadn't at all appealed to her. Instead, she'd made her way unnoticed through to one of the rooms branching off the cave, picking one at random. It brought her to a dim room lit by glowing mushrooms, glowing in a shade not too far off from her own green eyes, and filled with bones and... berry juice? She scented the air delicately, and though the juice was dry, she most certainly recognized the scent of berries. A moment later she supposed it was meant to look like blood, and she took a moment to appreciate the effort the acha cousin had put into arranging the room, nevermind that he certainly had better things to do with his time.

She wasn't the only one being appreciative though, because a quick glance around the room revealed a pink-hued buck and doe also picking through the bones. The doe had just asked about the "bloodstains" on the wall, and Mint answered before even thinking twice.

"Its berry juice," she said simply, lightly making her way over to the two, her hooves silent despite the tendency of the moss beneath them to squelch.  

[SilverShieldwolf]

Shade stepped into the darker room. Unsure of what to expect, his steps started getting hesitant. A crack under his hoof had him looking down in the glow. BONES! His eyes grew larger and his heart rate went up in excitement. This was more than he was expecting. Apparently the one who set it up had more time than Shade thought at first. It was more than he could take. The young buck moved further into the room, staring at the glowing eyes, trying to see which mushrooms or whatever was making them that glowing color.

He spotted the other three in the room, but paid no heed to them at this point. The bones and how they were arranged fascinated Shadows Rock more than anything, including what was used for the blood look. He stuck his nose against the back of the lynx skull and started making noises with it. "Rwar" It wasn't loud or anything, but he wanted to see what others might do.  

[Akkhima]

Lil followed the swish of a buck's tail into the room, which pulled her into the room faster than her eyes could adjust. She could hear footsteps still, but couldn't see where he went. She took a few steps towards what she thought was the sound of his hooves. But as she squinted at the shapes in front of her, she realized they weren't the face of a Kimeti at all, and instead was the skull of a lynx.

She smiled at the effort, agreeing that the sight was a bit spooky, but she didn't really feel scared. She was proud of herself, not feeling abject fear in this situation when so many things startled her in day-to day life. As her vision adjusted, she almost came to appreciate the lynx's smile... until it made a noise!

Instantly her whole body snapped into awareness and she jumped back, her hooves skittering on the hard stone floor. She even let out a small shriek as she inhaled sharply. Her hasty retreat tumbled her hind legs into a carefully piled stack of lizard bones, causing them to clatter to the floor. The second set of noises did nothing to calm her fears, of course, and she let out a much louder shriek as she skittered to one side, hoping to find a safe place where nothing more would be knocked over. Her heart was racing as she stood, knees shaking from adrenaline, praying nothing else made a sound.  

[Flayre The Pyro Girl]

River leaped to the side as he entered the second room, a doe's shriek echoing in his ears. "What?" He yelped. "What is it this time?" His tail quivered, smacking into a bone sent rolling in his direction. "Aaagh!" He charged forward--not the brightest idea, to go deeper into creepy territory--and slipped on another pile he hadn't seen in the dark, crashing into the wall.

He looked up at a pale doe, moaning, "Why?" before he slumped down, shoulders defeated. He was eye-to-glowing-eye-socket with a lynx skull, and he would have yelped if he hadn't seen the bright mushroom hidden beneath the dome of bone.  

[SilverShieldwolf]

The shriek caused Shade to shake off the lynx skull. He really hadn't meant to scare anyone with his antics. The skull wouldn't come off his nose and he had no better way to say he was sorry, without causing more problems it seemed with the newest kimeti to enter the room. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to." In all honesty the words didn't sound like that, not with the lynx on his nose still.

He turned to look at the buck and two does. He was hoping one of them would maybe help get the skull off. It only goes to figure that Shadows Rock would get stuck with a bone on his nose. He still wanted to look at the other bones and see how they connected to each other.  

[Ruriska]

Bang arrived in the second cavern and she stood there, staring at the mess of berry juice and artfully placed animal parts with no emotion at all. The doe chose to ignore the others in the room for the moment, though her gaze had raked over the males present much like a bird of prey as soon as she had arrived. No, she had to focus now. Focus on… this foolery. She moved slowly forward and prodded the bird carcass with her hoof. No fear yet. A quick flick of her hoof sent the dead bird flying towards the shadows. It never hit the ground, Awful snatching it out of the air and ducking out of view again with a hiss. How boring.  

[Akkhima]

Lilting Birdsong was all of a sudden feeling very embarrassed at her outburst. She could see now that the skull had only made a noise because of the buck behind it. She couldn't help her reaction, she always startled so easily. "I-it's ok..." she stammered quietly to the grey buck, keeping her head low. She sat down on the stone floor, trying to calm her nerves. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overreact," she continued apologetically.  

[SilverShieldwolf]

Shade was thankful for the black and pink doe who helped him with his little predicament. He was scared her hoof was going to scar his face, but anything would be better than a skull on his nose. "You are very kind. Thank you."

Shadows Rock moved towards the pale doe, "No need to be sorry. It is natural for some."  

[shortcutt]

Having been lead by Bird to another part of the large cavern, Blinding Light came to a complete halt when he could smell not only other Kimeti in the room, but the light stench of a rotting songbird. It was the smell that the buck was most afraid of, and yet, it brought him back to his own birth, and the dream that had presented him with his name. It was obvious to state that the teal and gold male was uncomfortable to say the least, but he continued onward, his right flank pressed to Bird's side to make sure he didn't lose himself in the cave. He was beginning to calm down-- The doe didn't really have to guide him that much any more, but he stuck to her side when he knew that something could go wrong any second... Especially with all the scent of marrow in the room.

"I... Quite dislike this place..." He sighed, his tail flicking quietly behind him as his hooves crushed the wet moss beneath them, sending shivers up his spine. Thankfully enough for the buck, he had been lucky enough to come into the room after the squeals of terror, so he wouldn't have a heart attack and collapse from panic. He had been just about at that point, but Luck seemed to be kind to him today. Well. That was quite unlike the Lady. Usually she was just outwardly cruel to him, but he welcomed his slightly changed fortune with an open heart.  

[Anhelisk]

She knew that she was closer than him than she strictly needed to be. But once she smelled the acrid scent of rot hanging in the air, she pressed her flank even more firmly against him. It was everywhere, the scent. Rot. Bones. Dead corpses. And at the center of it all, a lynx skull with a ghastly, ghostly glow in it's eyes. Her breathing quickened in fear as she blinked, wide-eyed, almost wishing that she were the blind one.

But she would never wish her inability on any other, not even for a trade. She regretted the thought almost before she had formed it. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the ragged, short pants slow to something more regular before she re-opened them, to assess the bones in the room. As soon as she did, the gore and the bones seemed much less frightening than they had before. The bones were piled up, pell-mell, laying on top of each other haphazardly. The light in the skull's eyes was steady and even; likely from some sort of mushroom or mold. It was obvious that none of the animals whose bones lied had died here, nor been here for very long. Too many of the bones were clean for the blood to be this fresh.

Which meant one thing. The blood was staged, too.

She maneuvered them near the wall and placed her nose near the wall, ignoring the wet squelch her hooves made against the dank moss, and sniffed gently. She paused. Sniffed again. It was sweet. Berry-blood? she thought, almost amused. If she wasn't so certain the stone would have tainted the flavor, she would have licked some of the crimson liquid up.