October 2018 Test Drive Meme

[sodder]

OCTOBER 2018 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to October’s Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: HALLOWEEN HORROR.

All Test Drive Memes contain at least one clue to the Deerington's upcoming in-game events for the month! Keep your eyes peeled! But...not literally.

Characters may die during TDMs, but you do not need to count it towards a game-canonical death unless you want to. Consider it a freebie. All TDMs can be considered game canon as TDMs introduce minor aspects about the world of Deerington that can be revisited by characters later on in the game. You may also use TDMs for your application writing sample as well as AC.

CW: Wet and rotting corpses/zombies, ghosts, violence, blood, knives, possessed dolls, options for underage drinking

Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

IT’S JUST A BUNCH OF HOCUS POCUS

It’s not Halloween if you don’t make a trip to a cheesy haunted house. At least, that’s what everyone in Deerington likes to say. The old Victorian stands at the top of a hill, rickety and in desperate need of a new paint job. The yard and porch have been decorated with what you’d expect for your typical haunted house; fake spider webs spread across the overhang, painted foam grave markers with cheesy names like “Here lies Richard Cranium” and “BEWARE!!” in creepy letter etchings. You can see the blinking of variously timed strobe lights in some windows and the shadow of what you’re pretty sure is a full-sized doll standing in the window, meant to look like someone staring out at you. The rocking chair on the porch near the door has a skeleton with a bowl of candy in his lap, and a sign is propped up against the wall next to him.

“ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. TOUCH NOTHING AND NOTHING WILL TOUCH YOU!”

Well that sounds promising.

The first few rooms you enter are appropriately cheesy. There’s the silly burst of air that you hear just before a plastic figuring pops out of a poorly constructed coffin, the clicking sound of the machinery inside echoing in the room when it starts to pull back and the lid closes once again. There’s fog machines trying to give the appropriately spooky air, stuffed sheets shaped to look like dead bodies wrapped up laying in piles on the floor with fake blood staining the white fabric, black lighting to show off words scribbled on doors like “TURN BACK NOW” and “SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.” Nothing you haven’t seen before. It might be even worse than things you’ve seen before, over the top cheesy, boring enough to give a yawn. Each door seems to open on its own so you don’t even have to touch the handles.

As you make your way through the next automatic door, the room you walk into is different than those before it. It’s a regular children’s room. A bed against the wall near the window, a dresser in the corner, a small desk with a chair. Nothing out of the ordinary, save for the lights not being on, and the strange flickering light in the closet. You step towards it, figuring you’re in for another jump scare, but the door doesn’t open. Whether you’re naturally the curious sort or not, something in the back of your mind makes you want to open the door and see what’s on the inside.

If you fight it and walk towards the next automatic door, you’ll find you’ve walked out to the backyard of the house, those same foam decorations and a dozen or more jack o’ lanterns lighting your way on a path back to the town.

If you choose to pull the door open, however, it’ll take you into yet another room, with a flickering television playing nothing but static. Once you step past the doors of the closet, they slam shut behind you and whoever else dared to enter. The doors won’t lock no matter what you do, no matter how strong the person shaking the handles or pushing against the wood may be. You realize you broke the one rule; you’ve touched something. But can things now really touch you?

The only light source in the whole room is that television and it’s not lighting up much inside the room around it. If you squint when the TV is at its brightest setting, you can just make out another door. Your exit, you hope. But as you make your way towards the door, the flickering suddenly stops, the TV steadily bright, a low humming noise coming from the screen, and suddenly the door seems several more feet away from you than it was a second ago. Before you can reach the door, there’s the sound of trickling water from behind you. If you choose to look back, you’ll see something coming out from the screen - a girl with soaked clothing and pale, rotted skin. She emerges fully from the glass and starts to move towards you. You know it’s best to start running for that door. If you stay and try to fight, you’ll find that no regular weapons work on her, though special weapons and powers that are effective against spirits will definitely do the trick. For those who don’t have any of these at their disposal, however, there is one more hope besides just trying to run; two old school VHS tape sit on the table near by, a fancy machine between them that is meant to copy one to the other. Work as a team and have one distract her while the other records, and you’ll find that she disappears as quickly as she flickered on the screen and the TV will return to static.

Regardless of what you choose before carrying on, the next room you come to as the door slams and locks behind you is entirely different. Brightly lit and filled with what seems like hundreds of porcelain dolls, it’s almost hard to tell where there could possibly be another exit hidden among the massive shelves. You can start to wind your way through them, but before long, you start to hear the sound of running feet, the jingling of bells, the swish of satin, and most eerily the sounds of children giggling - but there’s nothing that sounds save about them. Some of the dolls you saw on the last shelf seem like they’ve moved and are sitting in the corner or laying in a new position on a new shelf. Sometimes you swear you can see their heads turn to watch you pass, but it has to be a trick of the light, doesn’t it?

That is until one of those dolls runs by you, brandishing something shiny in their hands - something sharp. A knife, you realize too late, as it tries to slice at your legs and knock you down. You can kick them away and they’ll go flying, and when the porcelain smashes, the doll will scream in agony. You notice there’s blood pouring from the hole that formed, spreading quickly across the ground. The dolls are easy to kill, but are they really just dolls? You can take your time to contemplate that later, as now you have to fight your way through the violent and armed toys to reach the door at the end of the maze of shelves. Hopefully you can get out without too many severe injuries.

When (or if) you do manage to get to the next room, you seem to have a chance to take a breath and tend to any wounds. It’s decorated like the room of a small cottage, a large pot over the fireplace that isn’t lit, and several jars full of (possibly rotting) food and herbs on the shelves. You see a book on the stand in the center, latched shut and covered in dust. You can open it, if you want, but remember the warning you ignored that got you in trouble in the first place. It’s probably better to carry on to the next room.

If you do choose to open the book, though, there will be eerily glowing text lining the pages, the light will seem to poor out and fill the room, and you’ll be transported back out in front of the house.

Those who continued through the door will find themselves out in the backyard. Just like for those who got out sooner, there are dozens of jack o lanterns, but the graves don’t look like they’re made of foam this time. They’re real stone, engraved with real names and real dates this time. And the ground underneath them seems to be moving, like someone’s trying to crawl out of there. Better not to wait around. Soon as you start to move down the path, you’ll start to hear the sounds of groans as the undead start to crawl from their own graves, pulling themselves up through the dirt, and determined to get to the only food source they see - you. The zombies seem like they’re never ending, coming from every inch of the yard, but at least they’re just like normal zombies - completely incapable of being killed unless you cut off the head. There are shovels lying next to a few graves if you need a quick weapon, but there’s also still always the option to run as fast as you can up the stone path to the front of the house and back towards the street.

When you do finally manage to get back to the front, there’s a momentary blinding flash of light, disorienting anyone near it for a few seconds. When it finally fades, any leftover zombies chasing you have disappeared and the house looks like the same, cheesy haunted house you walked up to in the first place. If for some reason you decide to go and explore the backyard again, the grass will be back to normal, and the graves will all be replaced by cheaply painted foam once more.

Was that all in your head? Who knows. But maybe it’s best to just get out of here.

WE DID THE MASH

Somehow the street lamps have all been converted to oil based flames, the Authority are in witch hats, and every where you go there is music that seems to be playing from faintly glowing bats hanging upside down from telephone wires. The bats will open their mouths in succession, seeming somehow capable of producing the sounds of instruments and singers alike of popular Halloween songs.

Yards are decorated as thoroughly as the front of stores. Maybe you haven't bothered to decorate, but your neighbor sure has! Fake gravestones are propped up in yards, giant fake spiders in trees, and no matter where you walk, the ground seems covered in thick, rolling fog from machines. Or at least you hope it's coming from machines. Hell, you can't even find it in yourself to be too worried! Everyone around you is having way too good of a time! And God, there is food everywhere! Might as well grab a bite while you're out, huh?

It's tempting to break loose and dance. Jack-O-Lanterns absolutely crowd the streets. There's more than you can even begin to count, and all of them are lit all throughout the night. Even if you accidentally trip over some, they don't seem to catch fire to anything or go out! Some neighbors have camp fires set up with marshmallows to roast, while others have...are those broomsticks? Well that's kinda cool, you guess. Correction: it's really cool since you can actually pick one up and take it for a fly! Make sure to attach a little lamp to the front though because God knows it's dangerous flying at night. The brooms only work if you wear the appropriately provided hats, of course, but you can keep both the broom and hat indefinitely and have a readily available means of flight in Deerington after! Be forewarned though: the brooms are as easily broken as regular brooms and the hats easily blown away in the wind.

TRICK OR TREATS

At any of the events, especially the nighttime partying, you can find any number of the following treats (and their potential side effects):

Donuts (Will make you deliriously happy. Everything is amazing to you. May cause a lot of affection. A lot of affection.)
Candy Apples (You will eagerly tell someone everything you like about them. Talk about a sweet tooth.)
Candy Corn (Will make you extremely sad. Like god, you'll be wondering why you hate yourself so much.)
Pumpkin Spice Lattes (Causes suspicious amounts of obedience and a desire to do what you're told.)
Hot Chocolate (Can provide some minor healing. Best stuff to drink with a common cold!)
Hot or Cold Apple Cider (Nothing will happen. It's just really good.)
Alcoholic Cider (This isn't your grandma's apple cider. This stuff will knock you on your ass. Anyone who drinks this will get wasted regardless of whether or not they are immune to alcohol or even ingest regular food. It only takes one or two before you start to get tipsy, but any more than that and you'll be well on your way to drunk. Please drink responsibly. We don't need any FUIs.)

Character Arrival

You can read how all characters arrive in Deerington here.

There is not a collective "all these characters showed up at the exact same moment" occurrence in Deerington. Since characters fall asleep, die, or pass out at various times throughout all their worlds, it wouldn't make too much sense if they arrived in game all at the exact same time. There should be some discrepancy between character arrival, whether by a couple minutes, hours, or even days up to a week.

The players are entirely in control of how/when they want to play their characters arriving in Deerington. For TDMs, you can play it like your character has just arrived and that can be maintained as your game canon, or you can wait until game events for that moment. Or you don't need to acknowledge it at all. The flexibility for character allows a bit more of an organic feel to the character arrival situation, so please play it to whatever feels right for you.

If you are interested in having an "arrival" introduction for one of your TDM prompts, you are more than welcome to explore that option.

Comments

[danzan]

[ River might not be concerned, but the hairs on Logan's arms are starting to stand, as any animal's fur might start rising when it starts to feel threatened. Not for the first time, he hates the part of him hardwired to do the right thing-- hates that he'd tried to pull the damn woman back when he saw her open the door and touch it. He could've made his way through the rest of the house safely. He could've been okay.

He's not going to pull on the door, but he looks around at the dimly lit room with his upper lip curling in distaste. If the door won't open, then surely there's another way-- ]

What the hell is that? [ It's the first thing he asks when the woman points the screwdriver out into the room. He knows it's a screwdriver, of course, but. That doesn't help him understand why it's out. ]

Lady, if you couldn't pry the door open with that thing, I don't think it's gonna do us much good 'less you know how to stab with it.

[retrorsum]

I probably could.

( though, as lethal as she can be with less, she wouldn't want to damage her screwdriver. she's built her own sonic device in the past, and her trowel would be far better for stabbing someone with, but screwdrivers are harder to come by )

Though I think that would be a wasted effort.

( especially when she had a gun stashed somewhere that he probably didn't want to think about. okay, this time it was properly attached but she's done worse.

she spares a glance over to him before turning her attention back to her screwdriver, bringing it to her ear to listen to it )

[danzan]

[ She's... trying to listen to it...

Yeah, Logan's just going to chalk that up to another one of those weird Deerington things. ]

Okay. [ And he starts to walk around the room, but still with his philosophy of refusing not to touch anything. Just because she did doesn't mean he's going to be an idiot about it.

There aren't any windows. There doesn't seem to anything on the ceiling.

Logan squints and he can't pick out a door.

The TV is glowing, but he doubts that's going to be any help unless they could walk through the screen like in the movies. ]

You gonna try finding a way out, or is that screwdriver telling you shit I can't hear?

[ The best thing is he isn't even being sarcastic about it. ]

[retrorsum]

( she manages a chuckle at his grumble, understanding now why everyone looked at the doctor so strange when he did what he did. not that she'd gotten off in all of her years without strange looks either but she usually didn't listen to her devices. her scanner, though a shorter range of function, gave her everything on a visual readout. this didn't have a screen )

I am finding us a way out.

( she steps now around the room, away from the door and the television, almost as if river is following something from the screwdriver.

but then her steps stop with the sound of water hitting her ears. she hadn't seen any in the room, screwdriver now quiet as she looks with her eyes. she'd been about to make a comment about him doing little to get them out but the retort had died on her tongue, unimportant now.

she sees it just as she turns, a less than corporeal figure emerging from the television. and... that's different )

Are you seeing this?

[danzan]

[ Logan'd already turned his head when she spoke of finding a way, watching her go about with her tool in the slightest curiosity, but it's just as he looks away, hears the water, and starts to sniff at the room that she calls his attention again.

So he turns once more. ]

What're you talkiJESUS CHRIST.

[ He's not very elegant. Also, fuck, she smells just as bad as the wendigos do, only worse because she's soaked to the bone. ]

What the hell is that-- [ It gives him an unnatural, eerie feeling, like something's wrong with the world. The hairs on his skin are definitely raising now, and strong enough that he has to consciously tamp down his flight or fight response. Whatever this girl is, she doesn't belong here, and the animal in him wants to hiss at her at the same time he tears her to pieces. ]

She's definitely-- she doesn't smell human, doesn't even smell animal.

[ Already Logan's started to snarl without his meaning to. ]

[retrorsum]

( river keeps still as it moves, getting a good look at it. he's right about the smell, though she can't tell what it does smell of -- maybe not even alive? river starts the scan again, taking a few steps closer to logan as she does )

She's not human. I can't get a read on what she is.

( the sonic was having trouble getting much of a read on anything, almost as if she didn't really exist. was it just an image or something else? )

Whatever she is we shouldn't stay here.

[danzan]

You think? [ The mix of growling and an honest, slightly higher-pitched tone of surprise makes for an embarrassing voice that Logan doesn't want to talk about.

The girl's body is more than halfway through the screen, and though she doesn't rise, her fingernails scratch into the hardwood floor and make a horrid noise as she drags herself forward. Logan is pacing around the room now, a combination of panicked and angry at this god damn stupid situation, and finally considers just clawing the wall open.

So of course, the claws shoot out with a snkt. ]

Lady, if you see a door that I'm not seeing, you better tell me now!

[retrorsum]

I'm working on it.

( it's slightly more snappy than her previous responses, eyebrow raising at his claws. she is working on it, turning to look around the room again, the sonic working away. it feels like she's doing a lot more than he is, though he probably doesn't think that she's doing anything either.

she turns back to him, sonic silent again. it's an idea, an almost impossible one, but she did always like the almost )

She came from the television.

( wasn't that a door? )

[danzan]

You mean she's coming. [ Because oh, Christ, there she goes, creeping out, and as much as Logan's heart is starting to thud in his ears (he wants to kill her he wants to run away he wants to KILL HER he wants to RUN AWAY), he wills himself to walk forward with flaring nostrils, his claws brandished and ready to stab if she's aggressive. ]

Are you telling me we gotta go in the TV?

[retrorsum]

Do you have a better option?

( though river's own hearts are beating a little faster they're nothing as wild as his. she grew up knowing fear and terror. this sort of thing now makes her breathe a little deeper, focus -- plan and run )

If we can get a signal of how she's getting through we can use it.

[danzan]

Fuckin'-- [ Logan takes in a breath, then nods. ] Fine.

[ The girl crawls out all the way, and he's tempted to stab his claws into her head. But all she does is crawl, her too-long nails in the floor, her knees bent so her toes are touching the floor as she skitters.

Her hair parts slowly as she moves, revealing sunken in, reddened eyes. Looking into them will instil heart-stopping, pure fear-- and after that, an incredible ache in the stomach.

And she moves towards River and her screwdriver.

Logan's going to jump then, his claws extended to dig into her and a 'shit' on his tongue, though it's highly plausible River's could get her anyway if she wanted to. ]

[retrorsum]

( the sonic points now at the girl, trying to get more information, to find that signal. as much as the doctor always points it at a threat river knows that she can't actually do anything to her with it.

you've got a screwdriver, go build a cabinet. they were the words that she'd yelled at him once. words that are still true.

her scanning stops, screwdriver transferring to her left hand as she reaches behind her, pulling out her blaster. river fires it immediately at her -- one, two pulses. though the burst hits her it does nothing to stop her moving closer, having river take a step back as she levels the gun at her still )

What the hell--

( that's never happened before, though they'd known that she wasn't human. what was she to just resist the two blasts? )

[danzan]

[ Logan's claws connect, stabbing through the woman's chest, and her jaw drops-- broken, disjointed-- as she lets out a low, vibrating moan. Logan's ears hurt after, sensitive as they are, but he pushes harder until he cuts through the floor. The woman's arms and legs flail, her neck cracking as her head twists back to look at him, and as she stares right into his eyes he feels his heart stop and his mouth open in a choking sound.

His blood doesn't move inside him, a clock on the wall freezes, and Logan only has enough sense of mind to drag his claws up all the way until he's cut her chest-up into four separate pieces.

He falls over after this effort, and though the girl screeches and cries, her shoulders jerking up and down in dissonance as she shakes and the flaps of separated skin and muscle smack together, she drags her bleeding, dripping body past River and moves into the shadows of the room to knit herself back together.

The smell of water in the room turns coppery. The room itself starts to smell like rot. But the television and its door glows ever brighter.

Logan goes into cardiac arrest. ]

[retrorsum]

( he's both brave and the biggest idiot that she's seem, getting that close to whatever the hell this was (something that had still moved after both of their attacks) and now--

once it retreats to the shadows, river doesn't even think of it as a girl anymore (girls didn't behave like that) she moves over to him, blster resting on the ground next to him, checking his pulse as the screwdriver scans him. cardiac arrest, they really didn't have time for this.

she tucks her blaster away, making sure the window of the television is big enough for them to get through before river also tucks the screwdriver away. she gets a grip on him, aiming to pull him through and then restart his heart, hoping that whatever was on the other side was better than this.

but god, was he heavy. river was stronger than she looked, stronger than a human considering she wasn't entirely one, but she didn't knowif she could pull him along )

[danzan]

[ Logan has the mild recognition that he's being dragged across the floor, but nothing is quite as poignant as the feeling of his chest going tight and his neck straining. River tugs him through the screen (a feeling like full body goosebumps inexplicably filling them both) and they enter a dark, one-person apartment, and though a man and his corpse lies to the side, nothing else will attack them on their way to the door.

Once River gets through there, they enter a room that looks more like the other rooms in the house they'd been in previously with its shelf of dolls. Logan chokes, his eyes slipping shut, and then his heart stops entirely, still in his chest and his weight going dead.

One doll's head turns to face them now that they've entered, a noise like porcelain rubbing against porcelain sounding as it does. ]

[retrorsum]

( she could hear it and god, whatever it was river really hoped that they didn't have to find out. but it was close and whilst they were free from one danger this one would probably soon be upon them, she just hoped that she could restart his heart before then.

(god, humans and their fragility, even for a man built like him)

there's one problem -- river has never actually given someone cpr before. she knows that she needs to get his heart beating again but doing so with a proper method...

she's at least seen what you should do, starting compressions on his chest, but whether she's doing it in the correct place... he might find his ribs healing by the time that she's done )

[danzan]

[ Logan's never needed CPR in his life, but it's the dim feeling of pressure on his chest and his healing factor finally kicking in in his near death state that has him coughing after good measure. His eyes are still shut, but now they're screwed tight-- the skin about them wrinkling-- and he shudders deeply as feeling returns to his body.

Panting for air, his eyelids part, and he stares unseeingly at the blurry shape of River's head above him. His face slowly starts to fill with colour again. ]

Oh, shit. [ When her hands are off him, he sits up with a groan. His heart feels like it's beating harder in his chest than it should, like someone taking a mallet to his rib cage.

It's not pleasant. ]

Did I die?

[ He cracks his neck to the right, a sickening noise crunching out; it's louder than human bone-- probably cringeworthy, too. But it's not quite as bad as the echoing scraping that starts to fill the room, porcelain against porcelain against porcelain as little doll heads turn around them.

And someone giggles.

Logan frowns deeply. ] ...please tell me that was you.

[retrorsum]

( though she breathes a sigh of relief when he comes back it doesn't last long, the movements in the room echoing, coming distinctly closer and river has her hands on his arm and shoulder to help him sit, and maybr a slight bit of comfort )

I'm afraid not.

( which could, in a strange way, answer both of his questions. he hadn't quite died, his heart stopping but everything else still trying, and the giggle was not her )

And I'd rather not find out what it was.

( as river stands she offers him a hand, not expecting him to be steady on his feet after what had just happened )

[danzan]

[ Given the woman had just dragged him through a fucking television, Logan presumes she's strong enough to pull him back up to his feet. So he takes her hand, winces as he's back on his feet (his muscles aren't cooperating, and that prickling sensation of blood pumping anew in his veins is annoying), and then growls lowly as he turns his head to take stock of the room. ]

Thanks. But I doubt it matters what either of us think. [ But they should probably start moving, so Logan makes his way forward, walking between two shelves towards the other side of the room.

Said room is too big to be part of the house, he thinks. Hell, its size might as well take up two of what he presumes is the house's area from how it looked on the outside. There's the sound of porcelain again, scraping and echoing, and then the sound of cotton sliding across the floor, and Logan snarls as he turns his head sharply.

There's that fucking giggle again. The sound of footsteps, except whoever's running is terribly, terribly light.

If River looks at any of the shelves, one of the dolls is going to wink at her.

And then its glass eye is going to fall out and shatter on the floor. ]

[retrorsum]

( she's been trying not to think of it but the more that river hears it, the scraping and the giggling, the more it shakes a memory in her.

angels. she hates that she hadn't thought of it before, though considering what her last encounter had cost her-- she freezes momentarily, daring to turn her head to look.

they're dolls. porcelain dolls but, god, if they didn't creep her out all the same. and they were moving )

Don't take your eyes off them.

( she reaches down for his hand, well aware that they weren't weeping angels but not prepared to take the risk. it likely wouldn't work, few things had quantum locking mechanisms, but it was better to be safe.

even if he pulls his hand away river will step to the side, trying to urge him with her, careful steps as she keeps her eyes on as many dolls as she can see )

How many do you think there are?

[danzan]

My best bet? [ Given how big the fucking place is, and how many dolls he's seeing per row on each shelf...

He doesn't have a very comforting answer. ] Over a thousand, at least.

[ Logan doesn't notice the dolls looking at him or anything, but he does start to peer up at them at River's behest. He doesn't try to break their connection, either, but only because he takes some form of comfort from it.

Now that they're actively staring at the dolls, however, the ones behind them start to stare back. Their little heads turn, and some of them slip off from their rows, joining in the giggling as they start running to corners of the room. If either Logan or River turn their heads, however, the dolls will be limp on the floor.

Logan is, naturally, too dense to notice that there aren't as many dolls on the shelves as there were before. But he'll be surprised to see some on the floor where he was sure there was none.

The sound of footsteps continues, and there's another little giggle.

Something breaks, crashing to the floor. The smell of blood wafts around them, and Logan growls lowly under his breath. ]

...wanna start running?

[retrorsum]

( she's about to comment on the dolls missing from the shelves behind them when logan asks his question. her face almost lights up, the idea of running is perfect (and familiar) but it's also a mask, trying to cover the fact that this situation is starting to frighten her. the weeping angels are one of the few things that do frighten her, not just because of how they kill but because of her history with them. to run from this... perfect )

Absolutely.

( she grips his hand a little tighter, only taking her eyes from them to start running. and she's quick, well practised in this sort of thing. running from danger is something that river has done frequently and it's probably a good thing that she's leading the way, darting through the shelves, trying to dodge the dolls.

but they're still moving. she can hear the scraping along the floor, the giggling as the dolls continue moving. and then she stops, almost colliding into him with how abrupt it all is. the dolls are in their path and river bets that there's some coming quick up behind them too )

Now what?

[danzan]

[ River stops and Logan nearly bumps into her, but takes a moment to look at the dolls standing motionless before them. It's not so bad, he thinks-- the dolls are moving, sure, but they're dolls, so what's the big fucking deal?

He releases River's hand, but only because both his claws push from his fists. ]

Now we fi--... [ Logan trails off as the dolls all start to move in unison, reaching beneath their little dresses. Most of them wear the tiny cotton bloomers expected of period dolls, but all of them pull out knives that fit in their hands. ] ...oh, you're fucking kidding me.

[ Their little mouths open in such a wide smile some jaws crack off and fall down.

And then they rush forward, shrieking and giggling in glee.

If it's any consolation to River, she was right to assume there were dolls on their way to get them from behind. Unfortunately, they have knives of their own, too.

Logan snarls, muscles tight with energy. ] You get the ones behind us! [ Because he's charging forward claws first, and he won't hesitate to slash and stomp and kick anything that gets in his way. ]

[retrorsum]

( river just looks at him as if to say what are you going to do but her eyes flash to the-- claws? knives? again and she has some idea. it didn't seem like the best plan against porcelain dolls but these weren't just dolls.

and no quantum lock either, not that it would help against so many.

she pulls her blaster out as he moves, wasting no time as she turns, a wild shot towards the ground that manages to hit one of them. but they're fast, little feet scuttering around and though river's shots are accurate, sending some of them screaming as they break, it isn't long before they're stabbing at her legs, managing to pierce through her boots )

There's too many of them.

( she can keep fighting, she's kicking that one away, shooting through the pain, but there were even more still coming )

[danzan]

Yeah, [ kicking a doll into the wall, Logan follows it until it crashes, noting the subsequent messy spatter of blood that stains it ] I noticed!

[ But he knows what she's getting at, and growls as he looks about wildly, relying on his ears and his nose to smack and swing into the dolls that come at him. His boots smash through porcelain, creating puddles of blood, and though it's slow going, he manages to move forward step by step, and hopefully River catches it and follows after him. ]

God damn it... [ Finally reaching the end of one aisle of shelves, Logan spots it just at the very corner of the gigantic room: a single door, wooden and brown and its knob shining in the dim, warehouse-esque light.

A doll stabs him in the calve, and he roars as he smashes it with his foot. Continuing this stomping, as if he's getting cockroaches and not dolls, Logan looks over his shoulder at River and points with his hand. ] Lady, over there!

You go ahead, I got this!

[ Another stab and Logan hisses, but kicks the doll (and two others) away in one quick swing of his leg. ]