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

bill denbrough | IT (novel)

[hiyosilver]

[ arrival ]

[ Bill had left the basket in the room he'd woken up in. It seemed too heavy to lug around and once he'd finished exploring, he doubted that he would be able to find anywhere more suitable to come back to anyway. The information was still sinking in, the gears in his brain whirring as he tried to process it all, but... Okay, it wasn't actually the strangest thing he'd ever had to come to terms with, so it wasn't leaving him so puzzled that he was just going to sit around and wait to see if he'd wake up with enough slaps to his face or something.

The Fluid was too much for him to want to figure out how to operate at the moment, though, and instead, he'd focused on going to try and see if there was any familiar faces the old fashioned way; walking around town. He had hoped Silver would be magically chained up out front, but there was no such luck, and it felt... strange, for lack of a better word, to be exploring a small Maine town on foot. It hadn't taken long for him to find a calendar, to see that it was October, to feel a twist in his gut at the thought. Of course he'd wake up in a nightmare world in October.

He did his best to forget about it.

He peeked inside store windows, glanced in the grocery store, snatched up a free caramel apple (the thing had said to make sure to eat regularly, right?) and eventually found himself sitting down on the curb to eat it and take a rest from all the looking. It was a lot to take in and so far, he hadn't recognized a single soul in the place. It was easier to be brave when you had friends to hold you up, and he was starting to feel some anxiety seeping in around the edges the longer he went not finding any. ]

[ hocus pocus - book room ]

[ If you'd asked him why he'd gone into a haunted house of all things, he wouldn't have been able to tell you. What had looked dumb from the outside had become moderately creepy on the inside (glowing paint and self-opening doors were a little beyond him) had become stupidly creepy by the time he'd gotten to the closet, and for whatever reason against his own usually better judgement, he'd opened the damn thing and had a life of regrets since.

He'd ran from the girl who crawled out of the TV and the moment the dolls had started attacking, he'd been kicking as many of them into the walls and shelves as he tried to push his way for the exit there, too. He'd ended up with a rather nasty gash on his leg and a few decent cuts elsewhere as well, but nothing that stung quite as badly as that.

When the next room he enters is quiet, there's a sigh of relief, and he quickly went to limp over to a chair, setting himself down as he started to look at his cut. Gross. He was definitely going to need to figure out how to get out of here so he could get it wrapped.

Even if he wasn't alone through all of this, he doesn't try to ask for help or draw attention from his partner, because it would've meant speaking. He's sure that his stutter would make him completely incomprehensible at the moment, so he's not sure he wants to even try. ]

[ wild card ]

[ BRING YOUR OWN HORROR, MATES. ]

[clussy]

(The Losers never really seemed far from each other for very long. Maybe it was a little bit of their magic that kept them tethered through these weird loops in space and time. Eddie hadn't seen Bill in months, and while he missed the other Losers too, Bill and Richie had been the hardest to be without. Now that he had Richie, not having Bill hurt a little less, but it had still felt like he was missing the central part of his own personal universe. He could manage, sure. He's been managing through things for almost a year now.

Yet some part of him always seemed to look out for kids his own age just in the hope of it being one of the Losers.

Even tonight, he walked alone, a hot chocolate in one hand and a fresh cinnamon donut in the other. The donuts were out of this world. He had eaten about three so far, and he kept wanting to go back for more. The hot chocolate made his entire body feel great, and even though all he had on was the deer hoodie he'd won, he felt completely warm from head to toe.

That feeling doubled in size at the sight of a boy. He saw Bill mostly from behind, just a few steps away. He saw the slope of his shoulders, the cut of his auburn hair, and like how it had been with Richie, he didn't need to see Bill's face to know that it was his very best friend. Emotion popped wide open in his chest and before he could help it, he was giving an elated shriek of:)

Bill?!

(Oh, please God, please let it be Bill.

Eddie was darting off of the sidewalk and into the street just in front of Bill. And it was Bill. Oh. It was! Relief, joy, excitement- it all seemed to radiate from Eddie as he came crashing down. There's a sort of puppy clumsiness to his joy, toppling into Bill, arms thrown around his neck and God knows if either of them will hold up from the weight of Eddie Kaspbrak's excitement.)

[hiyosilver]

[ Bill had almost felt Eddie not too long before he heard him shout his name from behind, but it had been enough to make his head turn in the direction of his voice, following him as he moved in front of him, giving a grin as it really started to register it really was him and it wasn't just some trick of the imagination. A grin had spread over his face, and he had opened his mouth to say something

-- but it was all cut off by a quick Oof! as the smaller boy crashed into him, his arms lifting so that Eddie's could more easily wrap around him, and letting them land so that they gripped him in a tight hug. It didn't stop him from rocking back, teetering for a second before they both ended up with him flat against the sidewalk, thankfully not hitting his head against the cement as he managed to somewhat brace his fall. ]

E-E-Eh-heh-E--- [ HE'S TRYING SO HARD and there's a frustrated huff when he finally accepts it's not coming out. ]

[clussy]

(At some point during all of this, Eddie had frantically thrown what was left of his hot chocolate away from him. Thankfully it was only a sip or two, and the cup went rolling harmlessly away from them. The donut gets dropped too, but that's okay, because hello, Bill was here! One of Eddie's hands had instinctively gone to the back of Bill's head, just in case, and now that they were horizontal, Eddie just let himself hug Bill with all of his being.

He had months to make up for, after all, and that aching void in him suddenly quieted and warmed over.)

Oh my God, shut up. I know you know my name, Bill. (Eddie's smile is evident in his voice. God, he had never thought he would miss Bill butchering his name before now. Eddie would have greeted Bill with the same amount of affection even if it weren't for the donuts he had eaten, but the donuts make him cling for far longer than he might have normally. He forgets to be worried about what people might think.)

Jesus Christ, Bill. I missed you. Oh fuck, I missed you a lot. (Finally, Eddie forces himself to let go of Bill, and reluctantly moves to kneel just in front of him. The donuts make his hands itch for contact though, and this feeling is only fueled by how much he's missed Bill. He physically has to restrain from throwing himself back onto Bill.) Did you just show up?

[hiyosilver]

[ At least Bill didn't seem to be complaining, making sure to hold the candy apple away from Eddie's head so his hair didn't get stuck in the caramel, and even though it's only been maybe a few hours since he last saw him personally, he's read the letter. He gets there's something wonky about how time works here and he's guessing by the longer than average cling that it's probably been a while.

The words only confirm it once Eddie's pulled away, and he slowly pushes himself back up from the ground so he can go back to sitting instead of laying by the side of the road. He uses his free hand to brush some of the dirt off his back, elbow bending out at an odd-ish angle to get to it. ]

Yeah. A few ah-ow-hours ago, maybe. You seem luh-like you've been here longer, if the new scruh-huh-hapes on my arms are a-anything to go by.

[clussy]

(Eddie scoots around Bill a little and pushes his hand away so that he could clean his back off for him. It was his fault, after all. That and he was feeling a little desperate for contact that he wasn't entirely sure how to ask for. At least not right now.)

Sorry about that. (A bit of heat was burning in his cheeks, but he didn't regret the hug.) If it makes you feel better, I had basically body-slammed onto Richie when I found him in my room.

(There's a lilt of humor in his voice as he recalls that specific memory. Eddie moves out from behind Bill and sits next to him. Close enough that their sides squish together. He rolls up the sleeves on both arms and stretches them out for Bill to see.)

Plus. No cast. (See, Bill? That and there was now a tattoo on the arm that he had broken.)

It's been a few months since I saw you. It's kinda...weird to explain.

[hiyosilver]

[ He waves off the apology, because like hell he actually cares, and it's followed quickly by a short laugh at the idea of him smashing into Richie. If he hadn't seen either of them in months, he can only imagine how ferocious a hug the other boy would've received. ]

Is he still in wuh-one piece? [ The joke gets out just before he notes his arms, eyes widening for a second when he shows him. He'd missed that detail somehow during the hug, and having it presented in front of him makes the reality of how much time must have gone by that much more solidified in his mind.

He reaches out to poke his arm. Just to be sure, you know. ]

Well shit. [ Weird seemed like it was putting it lightly. ]

hocus pocus

[tibet]

[If there's an ongoing theme to any of these rooms, Cooper's drawing blanks on what it might be. Maybe something to do with children since everything he's seen so far would indicate it, from the ghostly girl to the killer dolls. Naturally, he assumes the next room is going to be a continuation of that, maybe with an actual monster under a bed or an evil clown or something else you'd think of when you're ten years old.

Instead, what he and the boy he's found himself partnering up with find is something a little more conventional to the holiday season but no less ominous. The boy, clearly winded, is quick to collapse into a chair, but Cooper's not so convinced that the coast is clear just yet. After he makes sure the door is firmly bolted behind them, he sweeps his gaze around the room to check for anything outstanding, a word which here means "anything likely to come alive and attack them".]

We'll be okay for now. [I think.] They're stubborn little monsters — and fast — but they don't seem very bright.

[Not that intelligence has anything to do with raw homicidal desire. But that's not the best thing to say after scoring what some might call a victory.

Before he can get too relaxed when he aims his attention back to Bill, a flash of red draws it downwards. There's a ragged slice in the leg of his jeans, close to his ankle, blood soaking through denim.]

You're hurt. [Matter-of-fact as that should sound, Cooper is anything but nonchalant when he all but teleports to the boy's side, trying to get a better look at the damage.]

[hiyosilver]

[ He'd just been wondering what Eddie would have to say about the gash, half-way through an imagined ramble about staff infections and tetanus even (it's strangely calming, somehow), when Cooper spoke up. He wasn't used to adults talking to him so readily, so straight forward, always trying to sugar coat or downplay things or just ignoring him all together. So all he can do is stare for a moment, before it registers that he was probably supposed to respond.

His eyes avert to the torn denim again, shrugging his shoulders, like it's supposed to mean it's not a big deal. Injuries happened. They were part of all horror experiences. Why would Deerington be different about it than Derry? ]

I'm - I'm ff-fffuh-fuh-fuh-ffuh-ffff-huh-hine. [ The frustration in how long it took to get that word out was more than evident by the end of it. ] Just n-nuh-heeds a buh-buh-buh-band-aid or suh-homething. It can wuh-wait. [ At least that's what he wants to tell himself. ]

[tibet]

[It's the first time he's heard this much out of the boy since meeting him, save for a half-mumbled answer when it came time to exchange names. Of course it has to be under objectively crummy circumstances, as is usually the case when knives are involved. Cooper lets Bill speak uninterrupted, delicately pinching cloth to lift it up from the wound as he inspects it. It doesn't look deep; he can't see bone, which is always a good sign. For not the first time in his life, he wishes he had Albert's seemingly infinite knowledge of all things medical.]

Maybe. But just because you can put something off doesn't mean you should. [It's an easy reply, almost casual, meant to calm Bill's undoubtedly frayed nerves, and not just from the porcelain hell they just skipped out of. Now the silence is starting to make sense.] Besides, it looks like it hurts.

[He doesn't have much on him, certainly not a band-aid, but that just means he has to get creative. Cooper pauses, thinking for a few moments, before pulling back to snap his fingers smartly.]

Got it. [He starts to undo his tie.]

[hiyosilver]

[ There's a surprised and silent appreciation over the fact that he had not only not interrupted him as he'd stuttered out his words, but hadn't shown frustration or rolled his eyes at it either. While his friends would get affectionately impatient with his stutter, adults had a way of making him feel stupid, like a bother, or pitied in a way he desperately hated. He stared at Cooper with a creased forehead, like he was confused by him in some way.

Decent adults weren't exactly a dime a dozen at home.

He's pulled back to the moment when he snaps his fingers though, jolting just slightly from surprise, but settling quickly. Bill watches as he starts to pull off his tie, the crease in his forehead deepening slightly because of it. ]

You d-duh-doh -- You d-don't have t-tuh-tuh-t-tuh-to-- [ Do that. He didn't have to do that. The sentence dies off in his throat, though, because between the fear he still felt from the last two rooms, the confusion, and the surprise, he knows it's useless to try. ]

[tibet]

I have ten completely identical spares of these back home. Don't worry. [The tie comes off, a long rope of black fabric. He pulls on both ends, watching the middle go taut like a miniature jump rope.] Nine is still a good odd number, more than most people have a claim to.

[And besides, it's not like he can't just get another one here. Maybe he'll buy another ten, see if he can get a better collection going.

With his makeshift dressing secured, Cooper's attention goes back to Bill's leg. There's no sense in splitting the tear in his jeans open further to accommodate for the wrapping, so he'll just go over it.]

I'm going to touch it now. If it hurts too much, tell me.

[Though he doesn't intend to linger too long.]

arrival.

[oddbod]

[A teacher knows when a kid's out of place; it only takes Clara a moment to spot the unhappy child on the curb when she steps out of the supermarket, and another to understand what he's most likely unhappy about. The thought sends a pang through her chest.

She hadn't realized until now that this place pulled in kids, too.]

Hey.

[Gentle, casual. She wants to reassure him, not freak him out further by fussing.]

... How's the apple?

[hiyosilver]

[ Bill startles a little when she comes over, looking up at her from his seat, trying to hide the wariness from his face as he acknowledges her. Grown ups aren't the most reliable of things to go around trusting, in his experience, but he's also known enough to be polite as he can. Just in case.

Plus she's pretty so that, y'know, helps a little.

Talking, though, isn't his strongest suit most of the time, and so he offers a small smile and a thumbs up, as though to say it's good. Better than trying to stutter out the same sentence when you can get it across with a gesture, right? ]

[oddbod]

[Not a talker, then. That’s fine. Quiet and cautious, Clara sits down a few feet away from him, knees pulled to her chest and eyes turned across the street. She may be a grown up, but on even ground it’s clear that she’s actually even smaller than him.]

It’s alright, you know. To be scared. All of us are, here

[She says it quiet, like a secret.]

Best not to sit and do it alone, yeah?

[hiyosilver]

[ Bill shrugs his shoulders as he takes a bite of the candy apple, wiping some of the caramel from his lip after. He hadn't exactly been unused to sitting alone, though it had been a while since he hadn't had one of the Losers at his side. She wasn't Bev, though - even if she wasn't too far off from being the same size as her. ]

... I'm n-n-not scuh-ared. [ At least not enough to admit to it and he feels strong enough about that to stutter it out in spite of the embarrassment of his stutter. He was a little worried about not having his friends more than anything else, but he feels like he'll find them. Something inside of him is just sure at least some them are there. ]

[oddbod]

[She raises her brow just a bit, and tilts her chin.]

Well then, you're braver than me.

[It's not that she doesn't believe him. Kids are plenty brave, plenty clever, always surprising the grown-ups. But that aside, he's still a kid, alone in a new and horrifying place.]

arrival

[sanar]

[Laura's new here too, but she hasn't gone so far as to actually read anything or make herself familiar with the way things are done here. She's just happy to get out and explore a new place, and is generally enjoying herself in what seems like a relatively safe place. The scent of the city overall has an edge to it that might be dangerous, but for the time being she's cautiously exploring her new surroundings.

Part of that exploring means to eat whatever she comes across that she can grab. She reaches out to grab one of the caramel apples at exactly the same time as a boy not much older than she is. Her eyes go wide, since she's not used to dealing with kids that weren't raised with her in the lab. Her shock ends up with her letting the apple go, and running off so she can try and figure out what to do.

When she comes back to find the boy sitting on the curb eating the apple, she edges in close to sit next to him. It's awkward sitting down this low, and she has to adjust her legs a few times to find a position that works. Once she does, she looks over at him. That apple he's eating looks pretty tasty right about now.]

Good?

[hiyosilver]

[ Bill might have questioned why the girl had run off so quickly, but honestly, he was fairly used to people doing odd things like that for all sorts of reasons. Maybe he'd looked like someone she knew or she was just plain scared of people. He'd still watch her run off, shrugged his shoulders, and gone for the apple once he was sure she wasn't coming back for it.

He can't say he's not surprised when she's there again, not running this time, but actually sitting next to him, but he doesn't make to move or try and shoo her away any. It's nice to see someone who isn't an adult here, honestly, and he's bound to be a lot more relaxed around someone his age anyway.

He nods at her question, going to offer the apple out to her if she wants a bite. He's pretty sure he can't eat the whole thing anyway. ]

[sanar]

[Her hand slowly reaches out, cautiously taking the apple from him. It's sniffed at first, and when she's sure it's safe she takes a small bite. It takes her a total of three seconds to decide that sugar + fruit = delicious. He's right, it's good. So she takes another bigger bite before handing it back.]

My name is Laura.

[It's what she's supposed to do when she meets new people, right? Introduce herself and try to make friends. She's desperate to find friends here, since she left all of her friends from the lab back in Eden.]

[hiyosilver]

[ He grins when she goes from a small bite to a big bite, taking it back and following up with another bite of his own. He had been chewing happily when she finally introduced herself, the chomping slowing for a moment, before he finally realized it must look weird to chew forever and he swallowed the bite he'd taken.

Right. Talking was things people expected to do. He guessed he couldn't stay silent forever. ]

I'm B-B-B-Bill. [ Laura. Laaaaura. If he thought it in his head enough, maybe he'd be able to get it out later with more ease. ]

[sanar]

Bill.

[She smiles, waiting for him to finish his bite so she can take another. Now that she's seen how he slowly chews, she mimics him to try and eat a little cleaner. She still manages to get caramel all around her mouth and winds up wiping at it with the back of her hand.]

Do you live here?

[purplewedding]

(Margaery was not always an honest women. She knew that in her world, honesty would lead to your head on a spike stuck up on some ugly wall. That was not how she planned to go out. But so many people were convinced that liars made evil souls, but she didn't think that was exactly so. Lying could get you from point A to point B and help all of the people in between. When Margaery was queen, she had dreams of ruling with a rose in one hand, and thorns in the other. She wanted to be loved by the Seven Kingdoms.

Even now, separated from Westeros by leagues of space and time she couldn't even begin to comprehend, she walked with the intention of ruling the ground beneath her feet. Some people are just bred for that. But her rule wasn't selfish. She had genuine, honest feelings tucked under all that skill in manipulation. One of those honest feelings had to do directly with children.

They were robbed the most often in life, and despite her status, she knew that very well. She could care less about getting covered in shit and piss, fleas and maggots, so long as it meant being able to reach out to even one child to help them. Her charity work looked good, certainly, but it wasn't a front. So when Queen Margaery saw little Bill Denbrough sitting by himself in this loud, confusing place, it was a simple choice for her.

She suddenly wished she was in a less elaborate gown, without her crown maybe, and with a more modest hairstyle. But no matter. It is what it is. There were ways to approach a commoner without making them feel like a commoner. She came strolling out of the crowds, by passing drunken men ambling past, one tripping over her skirt, but she paid no mind even as there was a mild tear she could hear. Things could be fixed. Little boys could not. Finally, she came upon him, and she didn't make eye-contact, but instead gingerly seated herself on the sidewalk just a few feet from him, bending her knees politely to one side and angling her feet out so that she could take off her shoes with a sigh.)

I was beginning to think that everyone was dressed up some strange creature or another. (She smiles his way, though she only does so casually, not honing in on him. Some children did not like that.)

I hope you don't mind me sitting here. My feet are awfully sore. (Not even remotely true, but she rubs her thumb into the arch of her foot all the same.) I've always been deeply envious of you boys and your flat shoes.

[hiyosilver]

[ There was nothing in Bill's mind that would have doubted this lady was a queen. From the moment he saw her walk close, the way she carried herself even when sitting down on a sidewalk of all places, and how elegantly she had removed her shoes and spoken so clearly, it was pretty apparent that she was the Real Deal. He had seen a lot of strangely dressed people, though, considering it was a Halloween party, doing things that were easily associated with those costumes when he was pretty sure they should be impossible, so while there was a logical part somewhere in his brain that said the crown and the dress could just be making her act royal, he's still got enough of that childish wonder in his eyes for a moment as he stares at her.

Right up until he realizes he is and that that's rude and he snaps his attention back to the apple in his hands, twirling it on its stick and trying not to look too embarrassed. Why a lady like her was sitting close to him wasn't exactly something he could pin point good reasoning behind, but here she was, and here he was, and... That was all there was to it.

Oh boy. Don't fuck this up, Bill some inner voice is saying in his head, like it's somehow really important to make a good impression on a royal who has no power in a place like this. He might've been one of the more Adult kids in the Losers, but his logic was still very much that of a regular twelve year old boys.

He shakes his head when she asks if he minds, eyes glancing towards her shoes, then to her crown again, and finally back to his apple. ]

C-C-C-C-C-C-- [ Shit. Nerves would always be his downfall. ] Can't you j-j-j-just wuh-wear wuh-hutever y-y-you w-want? [ She's a Queen. Queens don't have to follow rules, right? ]

[purplewedding]

(Bless his soul by the old gods and the new, he was adorable. It isn't Margaery's first time experiencing someone with a stutter. Spending time with the poor often lead to all kinds of meetings with all kinds of people, and a stutter is far less distracting than some other things. There isn't a single bit of her posture or expression that insinuates she even notices the stutter. No pause, no furrow of her brows. She just keeps on digging her thumb into her foot until she felt a knot go loose.

Only then did she bring her hand into her lap, leaning onto the other so that she could properly look at this young boy. She wasn't at all stupid. It was clear the boy was nervous, but she just calmly smiled at him, trying to rely on one of her less intense smiles. Though she couldn't help herself when he finally gets the sentence out. Oh, she likes this one all right. Her nose crinkles up and her mouth goes crooked in a real smile.)

You're absolutely right. I should be able to wear what I want. (Or else what was the point of being a Queen? Bill's logic is a logic that Margaery firmly believed in herself. She shifts a little closer to him, leaning forward and lowering her voice, as though confiding in a very great secret with him. He may notice the smell of flowers. And no, not perfume. Real, honest to god flowers. Like she had them stashed somewhere on her person.)

Sometimes I do exactly that. (Whatever she wants, she means, and she kicks her foot up and wiggles her toes to indicate see? But the foot is lowered and she sits back.)

Sometimes, though, I wear such things for the sake of maintaining an appearance that would make the people I love most proud. I do it for them far more than I do it for myself. (It's the truth, really. Margaery did so love pretty garments and jewelry, but she didn't need them.)

But I do not believe those people are here right now, so off with the shoes. Thank you, by the way. For allowing me to sit here. That's very kind of you. (That was one thing she had learned a very long time ago. Even commoners appreciated having a say in something. Sure, most of them had to let a royal do this or that, but letting them know that it was appreciated? It went far.)