[HH PRP] Not Buying Any Of This (Tess/Evan)

[Huni Pi]

In all honesty, Tess did not want to be here. If she had a heartbeat, she was certain it would be going a million miles a minute but as an undead, the closest approximation her body could make was the light trembling of her hands. Still, if she was going to prove her mom wrong and that she did have what it took to make it in show business, she was going to need a mentor who actually knew the ins and outs of theater. Unfortunately, Rengath did not accept just any wide-eyed diva-wannabee (and Tess was so very much still that wannabee). They needed to prove themselves and one such proof was to have an encounter with a Hunter.

She did not like Hunters, they were bad news in so very many ways. But as she was not quite as... violent in her dislike as some of her fellow Halloweeners and she didn't really have any other goals beyond said encounter, Tess hoped she could escape from the hunter and the haunted house with her hair and clothes intact. That should be enough for the professor, shouldn't it? Tess wasn't holding her breath (she couldn't, she didn't breathe but if she did she wouldn't be holding it all the same).

Legs, on the other hand (foot?), was here because she wanted to be a jacking TV celebrity and was willing to do anything to get it. If it meant coming across a jacking Hunter, so be it! Jack help the poor meatbag that stood in the lower appendage's way!

With an audible gulp, Tess and Legs merged to form the whole of Maritess. It was a calculated risk, while she wasn't very capable at defending herself in this manner, she hoped her human-like appearance would help her in her act some.

Inle-roo

Depending on how Tess and Evan interact, this may not necessarily devolve into a PVP but I'm open to the possibility biggrin

 

[Inle-roo]

Here, on the other hand, was the only place Evan wanted to be. It was all well and good to spend his days training, but it was all for nothing if he couldn't use it. He had volunteered for Haunted House duty, on the chance that he might be able to apply all that he had learned to the furry, feathered, or scaly hide of whatever poor creature was unfortunate enough to stumble across his path. That was why he had joined Deus, after all: to hunt, to kill.

And it shut his weapon up, mostly.

/We're gonna find a monster and and and I'm gonna eat it and it'll be fun and tasty and and where are the monsters I'm hungry and I'm getting bored oh my Jack why are you walking so slow./

Evan had learned that sometimes it was for the best to just let Gir ramble. His babbling didn't even require a response, which was good, because Evan mostly wasn't paying attention anyway. He was focused on his ever-changing surroundings, on any sound that wasn't the soft thump of his boots against the floor, and anything more mobile than a cobweb waving with some unseen air current.

Huni Pi

oh yes, there will be blood >D

 

[Huni Pi]

The ghoul almost forgot just how confusing the Haunted House was. It had been many Octobers since she last ended up here and it had not been a particularly good visit then either. She kept her fingers crossed, half wishing she wouldn't run into a Hunter and half wishing to get this over with. Dissipation hurt but thank Jack it wasn't permanent. That was the only reason she would dare venture here alone (ah the things she'd do to be a star).

Tess kept her gait light, not wanting to risk losing the element of surprise. Or at the very least the element of not being noticed, that worked too! But her luck was soon going to run out (or turn around depending on one's opinion) as she quietly and carefully rounded the corner. Or door way, the architecture liked to change at a whim.

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Unbeknownst to Evan, he was headed in the same direction. He hadn't been, initially, but he had been told that the Haunted House would do pretty much whatever the hell it wanted and that his best bet was just to go with it. That was the only reason why he hadn't so much as flinched when the scenery abruptly and drastically changed from room to room.

What Evan hadn't been expecting was to find anyone else wandering around the Haunted House. He paused as rounded a corner and caught sight of a girl trying to creep quietly along. He couldn't tell exactly, as he could only see her back, but her stature and...interesting clothing indicated that she might be young.

No sign of a scarf or telltale white coat, so it probably wasn't another hunter, but what would another person be doing here, of all places? No one had warned him that other people could just wander in here. Gir had gone suddenly quiet, too, which didn't help ease his suspicions any.

"You," Evan called out to the stranger, his tone not unfriendly, but definitely authoritative, "stop. Turn around, slowly."

Huni Pi

 

[Huni Pi]

The instant Tess heard a voice order her to stop, instinct took over. And by that it meant letting out a frightened squeak and throwing her arms up into the air in surrender. Oh Jack, just her luck, she didn't even get the chance to have the first glance. Was it even a Hunter or was it a Boogeyman (or Trick or Treater) doing rounds? Tess couldn't risk revealing who and what she was so soon. Thank Jack she had the foresight to stash her skull pin on her pocket.

Slowly, she turned around, "O-ok... u-um," she stammered, tilting her head down in what she hoped was a sign of humility rather than a convenient gesture that had her bangs hiding the hue of her eyes. ''A-are you the security guard o-or something? I-I-I'm not thief, I promise!" just a little more and she'd see who she was dealing with...

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

The girl didn't have wings so far as he could see, or a tail or horns or extra appendages or anything else to mark her as anything other than a scared teenager. Great, now we have a civilian to worry about. "Or something," Evan agreed, approaching her carefully.

Gir whined and growled in his head, high-pitched and anxious and more frantic with every step that brought them closer to the girl.

Enough of that, she's just a kid. You can't eat her. "What are you doing in here? How did you even get in?"

Huni Pi

 

[Huni Pi]

When the ghoul was completely facing the other person, the coat was pretty much a dead giveaway that she was talking to a Hunter. Her heart would have skipped a beat at this discovery but alas, no heartbeat meant no skipping. Instead she pretended to hitch a breath as she lowered her arms, her hands nervously fidgeting at the hem of her blouse. "There was a broken window," she mumbled, face downcast in shame, drawing her lie from one of many, many, many skelenovellas involving hijinx and getting-caught-in-the-acts episodes. Who says watching skelevision was bad for you?

She was careful in picking her words, recalling how some of the previous Hunters she met used really weird slang. "A-and a stupid bet. I w-was going to walk away b-but they started calling me names a-a-and next thing I knew I was in here b-but this place is weird and I got lost!" she wailed. Okay that last part actually was true to some extent, with the ever shifting and ever changing structure of the building, Tess wouldn't know how to get out without resorting to dissipation at this point."D-do you know how to get out? Please don't call my mom or daddy!!" the fear in her voice was also genuine. Jack knows what her parents would do if they found out she had gone in the Haunted House willingly.

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

"Okay, okay, enough," Evan replied, holding up a hand to forestall any further excuses. He sighed as he looked down contemplatively at the girl. He had no idea what to do with her; they hadn't exactly gone over the possibility of encountering a civilian during Haunted House 101. He couldn't just leave her here with the chance that she might run into monsters, that much was obvious. He couldn't even lead her back to her point of entry because the House changed from room to room--chances were good that that specific room wasn't where it had been when she'd started.

There was only really one option left. It was probably the worst option for him--Evan could only imagine the kind of chewing-out he would get from the techs--but it was undoubtedly the best option for her. "Guess I'm gonna have to take you back to the island with me," he told her, rooting around in his jacket pocket for the pendant he'd been given. "There's people there that'll get you back to wherever you came from." Probably. Hopefully. He reached out to her with the hand not holding the pendant. "Take my hand. This might feel a little weird, but it won't hurt you."

Huni Pi

 

[Huni Pi]

At the command-sounding offer, Tess' head snapped up, the bangs to her hair falling out of her eyes as she stared up at the Hunter. Oh. Oh Jack no. As much as she would have wanted to maintain the charade, there was no way she would actually getting captured! That wasn't part of the requirement and most certainly not part of the plan.

She didn't quite know what to say or do at this point. Improv wasn't really something she excelled at, Jack damn it, this is why she wanted to be an actor, not a writer!

Crimson eyes darted from the tall human to his outstretched hand and back, suspicion plain as day on her pale face. The color of her eyes may be... irregular for humans, but even Halloweeners had the notion of colored-lenses, surely there was a human analog for it. As it hardly ever came up in her day-to-day unlife, Tess may have forgotten the tiny trait of her kind, in that whenever they were whole, the only indication of their non-Reaper status was the upside down reflection of their eyes.

Inle-roo

Feel free to do the 1d6 roll to determine what the House's "mechanics" will be

 

[Inle-roo]

The strange color of the girl's eyes was something that Evan would have been all too happy to write off as the latest fashion trend that he neither knew nor cared about. It almost made sense; the girl was dressed oddly, too. Even the reflection in her eyes, while suspicious, could be attributed to the strange and uneven lighting in the haunted house.

No, her hesitance to take the first chance to get the hell out of there after being so afraid only a moment ago was what tipped him off to the fact that something may be a little wrong here. Granted, he might be a little wary of a stranger coming in from seemingly nowhere and offering him a free ride home, too, but he would definitely take it if it meant escaping unharmed. Why wouldn't she want to go home?

"You got some reason for wanting to stay, kid?" Evan asked.

Huni Pi

ALL DAMAGE IS MULTIPLIED BY 2, but you CANNOT USE FEAR/ CHARGED ATTACKS. You feel slightly dizzy, everything around you flickers to greys.

 

[Huni Pi]

"But I don't want to stay. It's just... I-I mean..." Oh Jack she had to think fast. Quick! What lie can she use to cover her undead a**? "You're not.... y'know part of this freaky place are you? Like, y-you're not just faking being a guard until I do take your hand and then y-you'll wear my skin or something????!" Far-fetched? Maybe. Tess doesn't do well with being pressured.

The sudden shift in the house's interior didn't make things any better. She seemed to lose her balance, wobbling as the House turned to gray. Tess shot the Hunter an accusing stare, as if he had something to do with the turn of events in the House.

Inle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

"Oh, for--I'm not a guard, kid, I'm...more of an exterminator. There's things in here that need killing, and if you're really unfortunate, you might run into one of them." The color suddenly faded from the room, seeming to take the floor with it as Evan staggered to keep his feet under him. He summoned Gir on instinct, the blade's runes glowing a violent red in the otherwise colorless room.

"Stay back," Evan said, putting the pendant in his pocket so he could hold himself upright against the wall. "I think they just found us."

Huni Pi

 

[Huni Pi]

Tess squeaked again, mostly when the weapon appeared (it was very big, possibly one of the biggest she's seen). She presses herself against the wall to steady herself, frustration mounting over the House seemingly wanting her dissipated. "What the Jack do you want from me?!" she yelled out, shaking a fist at the ceiling. Or she thought it was the ceiling but the wall curved suddenly and she was practically flung forward.

xInle-roo

 

[Inle-roo]

Evan caught the girl as she pitched forward, trying hard to keep her from coming into contact with any of the sharp edges of his sword and almost succeeding. Gir made an unholy racket in his head as the girl brushed against the flat of the blade, growling and snarling threateningly enough to raise the hair on the back of Evan's neck.

/Monster,/ Gir ground out, the runes on his blade flaring brightly. /Prey. Eat./

No. We've talked about this--

/You said I could eat the monsters and this is a monster I know it I know it I can taste it I want it I want it let me eat it!/ There was a degree of seriousness in Gir's tone that Evan had never heard before. This wasn't some idle babbling or pointless yapping; Gir knew what playtime was, and this wasn't it.

Huni Pi

 

[Inle-roo]

Evan couldn't remember a time since he had been bonded with Gir that he'd had to believe him on word alone. It was hard to remember, sometimes, that they were supposed to be actual partners and not just parasite and host. He did know, though, that just because it looked like a duck and quacked like a duck didn't mean it wasn't a ******** monster or something.

Evan hoped really hard that this girl wasn't just a duck as he used Gir to shove her away.

HP: 40/40
Damage: 10

Huni Pi