[!][ORP] The Open Den (Anyone Welcome!)

[NeoSeussi]

The Open Den

General Setting:
The open den is one of the larger enclaves underground, that houses the "dining" area for the clans. It is rather sloppy, messy almost, the tables are constructed in natural "mounds", possibly fragments of rocks and stalactites from the ground, which also make for strange pillars/ dividers in a "honeycomb"-like structure. Food is distributed in an equally sloppy fashion: basiclly from large open "troughs" where food is deposited, though you see more Clan members playing with their food than eating it. This area is also rather populated with other Clan members, some who give you curious looks, whispering words in a different language that you don't understand.

OOC: EVENT ROLLS AND PROMPT MECHANICS:

- When your student has arrived in this setting, you can CHOOSE to roll a 100-sided dice at any point in time. You can only do this twice per RP you make. Match your dice roll to the results below for a prompt/ small reaction that your student may discover. RP out results accordingly.

1-20: You look at the buckets of slop that is supposed to be food. Insects are literally wriggling amongst the food. You aren't too sure what to think, but before you can grab a bite, someone else does, grabbing generous portions of greens and.... protein.
21 - 40: Two clans members are seated close to you, and they look at you, clattering in an unrecognizable language. They seem to be playing an odd game involving bones, and have oddly, raised the stakes on their game upon your arrival.
41 - 60: You look at your surroundings, and notice that the pillars in the enclave are all engraved with strange, primitive drawings. Many of them feature blighted crops, and large, oversized insects, with a simple depiction of a sun overhead.
61 - 80: You hear gossiping next to you: "The Heirs are back!". The gossiping gets louder, noisier, though all you can recognize is "Will they be at the ceremony?"
81- 100: You notice that instead of water/ any liquid, all that they have provided are buckets and buckets of oil. (see below for horsemen point prompt)
- Horsemen point prompt! You also see something glint next to you, but is it just a trick of the light? Roll a 6-sided dice. If odd you obtain one horsemen point! You can only redeem a max of two from all prompt prps/orps your student is in per OOC 24 hours. You can redeem these here and here!

 

[NeoSeussi]

It was unclear how exactly Alex had found the one area meant for dining in the underground caves and caverns so quickly. Perhaps he just had some kind of sixth sense for finding food, or one of his basic zombie instincts was kicking in. Either way, he found himself in a curiously messy yet open space, which really did nothing to bother the zomboil who's bedroom was perhaps one of the filthiest places in all of Halloween.

He sniffed at the air, stomach suddenly grumbling to life, though nothing in the room smelt remotely appetizing. He moved forward, deciding to go ahead and at least have a look at what they were serving before making a decision on whether or not it was edible.

He moved towards the large troughs of food, taking a quick glance before thinking, Ughhhh, nah, that is not going in this stomach, before quickly turning away and shuffling over towards a table to sit down, idly twiddling his thumbs and listening to the odd murmurings of the horsemen of famine their strange dialect that he did not understand. Maybe he would stumble upon a conversation with some useful information....

Across from him, two clansmen continued to sneak glances at Alex before speaking to each other in that strange language. They had bones in front of them and appeared to be playing some sort of game, and making bets as well. After glancing towards Alex several times, which made the boil feel oddly uncomfortable, they started to raise the stakes, and he raised his eyebrows. What could they possibly be betting on??  

[Zyphiris]

It seemed inevitable that the ghoul would eventually stumble upon the larger underground enclave as she wandered about the tunnels of the horsemen's residence. The frost demon was slightly curious as to what was the function of this particular open area, a question soon answered by the sight of several clansmen enjoying their meals.

If there were any thoughts of grabbing herself a bite, those soon quickly vanished. There was a very unearthly slop that accompanied the mix that was being poured out, and the strange humming noises seemed to be coming from the bucket itself. That contains food, she had to remind herself, inching forward to inspect the likes of the meal. Edel quickly withdrew from the bucket, lest she get sick from the sight of it. Those were insects in there, swimming about happily in the food.

Edel shuddered as she watched one of the horsemen get his serving of goop and protein. Yes, Dharu had mentioned that they made of Fear need nothing else to sustain themselves, and that food was nothing more that comfort to some. The ghoul would probably agree at this point, she'd would much rather do without food here. Perhaps that was what coming to the isle Famine was all about.  

[NeoSeussi]

The game taking place across from Alex at the table continued on, and the zomboil began finding himself feelings increasingly uncomfortable as the two horsemen continued to look towards him, and then jabber away in a language that he didn't understand. He got the sinking feeling that they were betting on him, but as to what specifically he could only imagine.

After sitting that way for a time, drumming his fingers on the table top, frowning to himself, he began to let his thoughts wander. It was only his first day on the Isle of Famine, and while it as at least cool and comfortable in these areas below ground, he still felt an aching sense of loneliness in his chest. He had told himself repeatedly that he would not be completely miserable this week away from Yin, that he could survive just fine without his bonded and that this time apart would only make their inevitable reunion all the sweeter..

..So why did he have this strange sense that something horrible was going to happen before that time would actually arrive? Or worse, maybe the horrible things would happen afterwards, in the time when they should just be blissfully content in each others company once more.

This was all assuming, of course, that Yin missed him as well and was just as eager to be reunited once more. He didn't really have much of a doubt on that score, however. He belonged to Yin, would do anything for him, and after the trials of death and the troubles they had shortly afterwards, and after their brief time spent back at amityville in between Isles, their bond just seemed to grow ever stronger, overcoming the many dramatic obstacles they seemed to continuously face as they grew to know one another better.

It was hard to say how long Alex sat there, thinking about all of these things, before he finally snapped out of the strange reverie and pushed himself away from the table. The horsemen who had been playing their game stopped their strange talk long enough to glance at the zomboil curiously. He gave them a brief, tight lipped smile, and a nod, before he turned and made his way out of the room.

He'd pretty much completely lost his appetite.  

[Zyphiris]

Now that she was a safe distance away from the food dispensing area, the ghoul took some time to take in her surroundings. It was apparent that the clan of Famine's idea of art was slightly different from that of war's, if not mostly adhering to the same theme of wanton death and destruction. The primitive drawings on the walls were not as artfully drawn as the paintings she had seen in the open canopy, but they were still pretty neat. The horsemen around her must have noticed her interest in the murals for a gathering of hushed whispers had broke out behind her, though they were immediately quelled the moment she turned to look around. Edel accorded them with an awkward smile and a bow before moving along, feeling rather uncomfortable and self conscious around them. She wished there was someone she knew from Amityville she could talk to ... especially since most of her friends were running a different schedule from hers in week two.

((feel free to poke Edel for some interaction ;D ))  

[alliisara]

Mitzi wandered in, sort of half following the zomboil, although more because she didn't really feel like exploring on her own right now. As she came into the open cavern, she heard several horsemen near her gossiping about the Heirs. It took her a moment to remember she had seen the War heir on the previous island, but she hadn't really thought about the fact the others had come too. It sort of made sense, after just one week she had been looking forward to returning to Amityville, they probably were all more than ready to visit their homes.

There was some mention of a ceremony, but the ghoul had no clue what they were talking about, so she stopped paying attention and kept moving into the room to see what else was around.  

[alliisara]

She went over to where food was being served, just to see what was available. If she'd been hungry before doing so, though, she certainly wasn't anymore. There were bugs in the food, which just... ugh. She wasn't interested in eating, and hoped there would be other, more palatable things available. If this was all that they had to eat for a week, she was going to spend a lot of time hungry.

She turned back around, ready to head out, only to find the zomboil had wandered off. Well, he'd mentioned something about the training fields, and she probably should check those out anyway. Maybe she'd get lucky and find him there.  

[Zyphiris]

Eventually, the ghoul's attention drifted back to the murals on the walls, noticing this time a more clan specific scene with blighted crops, oversized insects and a solitary ... sun hanging overhead. Ah the sun, Edel remembered it quite clearly how terrible that thing was during the Trial of Famine held at the beach in the human world. She'd better leave the terrorizing of that part of the world to others then.  

[Zyphiris]

A sickening slop was heard behind her and the ghoul wished she hadn't turned around just in time to watch the old horseman shovel the gruel into his mouth and chew (a bit too crunchily) on the mix.

Was that a leg of a locust sticking out of the corner of his mouth?

The ghoul quickly averted her gaze and decided that it might be ... best if she leave the area for now.

((exit))  

[alliisara]

((Rolling))  

[Zyphiris]

((enter))

It appeared that she had arrived just in time for lunchtime .... again. The ghoul grimaced as the Horsemen chowed down happily on their live meals and headed aside to take a seat in the corner of the open den. Edel paused to think about the swarm of locusts she had seen earlier in the day by the oasis ... could it just be that those insects were just a part of the Horsemen's meals? There was nothing to worry about then.  

[Zyphiris]

Edel couldn't bring herself to continue watching the horsemen eat, taking a seat in the far corner of the open den once more. She wondered for a moment if the food the horsemen were eating was actually a local delicacy, something more like... an acquired taste. The cooking lessons thus far with Dharu were a little better - at least the ingredients they were using seemed a little bit more edible.

Just a little.

The ghoul was slowly coming to terms with the fact that she wasn't going to be eating that entire week.  

[alliisara]

When her stomach finally started protesting too much at the lack of food, Mitzi decided to make another attempt to find something actually edible at the Famine dining hall. She paused as she came in, but finally her growling stomach won out, and she made her way down into the cavern.

She stood near the food troughs, trying to get up the courage to pick through for something she would actually find palatable. At least, after visiting the crop room, she knew that not everything moving was necessarily an insect. So maybe there would be something she'd be willing to eat after all. As she scanned the food from a slight distance, trying to decide which looked like it might not put her off entirely if she got close enough to see exactly what was in it, she overheard two horsemen talking. She couldn't understand a word of it, the language entirely foreign, so she wasn't paying all that much attention, either to that or to the game they seemed to be playing.  

[alliisara]

Finally she got up the courage to approach the available food, grab a bowl, and scoop some out. The fact that it was clearly moving left her distinctly worried, but at least nothing was recognizably an animal instead of a plant. She sat down at one of the tables, and started to pick at her food.

Which turned out to be surprisingly tasty, even if the texture left something to be desired. She made sure to cut up anything moving until it stopped (or wasn't big enough for her to recognize it as moving anymore), and then it was almost fine. As she ate, since there was no one to talk to, she examined her surroundings. Several of the pillars near her seemed to have similar designs, and really, given that she was on the island of Famine, those designs seemed fairly reasonable.

Finally she finished, and headed back out. Eating something had definitely helped give her more energy.  

[Zyphiris]

Chin resting in hands, the ghoul sat in the corner of the room and watched the horsemen eat, slowly coming to terms with the fact that they had a rather different diet from them in Halloween. She had been overhearing the conversation over at the next table, where the two horsemen had been whispering things of little concern to the ghoul over the crunching noises of chitin being munched upon. The ghoul was tuning out most of the conversation when suddenly, things took a rather interesting turn. Edel's eyebrows were raised at the mention of the heirs, but more importantly, the mention of a certain ceremony that they would be attending. What sort of ceremony was that, she wondered. The closing ceremony of the exchange programme maybe...?