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Post by carnackiArdent on Jan 14, 2016 5:26:48 GMT
Malkin's Purrception: Pp08PevT4d6 4d6
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Post by Slytherclaw on Jan 15, 2016 1:03:27 GMT
Jack finds that the ground seems to rise to the north. He isn't heading directly in the way of the slight rise, but he's heading in that general direction at least. What's strange, though, is that as he walks, the forest around him grows oddly...quiet. It isn't like it's been a huge roaring blare the entire time he's been there or anything, but as he notices the absence of soft chitters and shuffling trees and such, he realizes how used to those noises he had become. And yet...the further he heads in this north-west direction, the quieter it seems to grow.
Malkin makes a soft noise, and Jack glances over to find the small feline sniffing at the base of a tree. Three small, dark spots dot the ground amidst its branches, staining the rotting leaves below a dark brown. As Malkin darts towards another tree, and finds something similar--a few more drops of what Jack would honestly say was blood (and really, with his career, Jack /knows/ blood when he sees it). The small spots seem to lead in a slow path north west as well--single occasional drops leading a path for someone who has noticed them. If Jack were anyone else, he'd feel a shiver crawl up his back.
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Post by carnackiArdent on Jan 15, 2016 3:50:24 GMT
Jack's brow furrows as he realizes how quiet things have gone, until there's almost nothing but the crunch of fallen leaves under his feet and the shuffling as Malkin's smaller steps and pounces take her through them. He's familiar with eerie silences - even if he isn't as fond of them as the laughter, cackling, and screams of Halloween haunting - but in an unfamiliar place like this it's probably a bad sign. Something unusual happens then - Jack lowers his own voice, as if he doesn't want whatever's causing the silence to hear him. "I think there must be something here besides us..."Malkin's little mew grabs his attention, sounding out in the near-silence as it does. And... yep, that's definitely blood. Jack can spot blood pretty well, fresh or dried, but with this trail of drops, he has to guess there's either a vampire who's a sloppy eater or somebody hurt wandering around. As Malkin darts ahead along the trail, he has an idea. "Can you follow the trail, girl?"As if she isn't already doing it. Malkin puts her nose to the ground, her tail waving above her as she tries to catch the scent just in case the droplets stop. Meanwhile, Jack starts moving more carefully, trying to make as little noise as he can. He knows very few people who would hurt someone out of malice - only one that he knows of, really - but he doesn't want to take chances. Zero, luckily, doesn't have footsteps or breathing noises to worry about. Still, someone might see him, so he does his best to stay out of sight. Malkin uses her Tracker capability to follow the trail! Perception: D5twb5fc4d6 Jack's Stealth: 3d6 Malkin's Stealth: 2d6 Zero has Dead Silent! But he'll still Stealth to try to avoid being seen: 4d6 4d6·3d6·2d6·4d6
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Post by Slytherclaw on Jan 16, 2016 18:01:05 GMT
Malkin sniffs at some of the spotted marks, and begins darting along the ground. As Jack follows on his long, gangling limbs, he'll find that the dots repeat in several places. Malkin is...well. Frankly, abysmal at this whole stealth thing, and the small pink animal isn't particularly difficult to see running in the green undergrowth. At one point, a brown owl-like bird soars over it, hooting and tracking it until the small cat dives between some branches and Jack catches him, his size scarring it off. The cat finally slows around twenty minutes of tracking later, coming to a sudden halt and wrinkling its nose. There's a vague smell of smoke as Jack stops himself, and as the cat presses against the earth and moves forward much slower, sniffing, Jack can start to make out the smell of roasting meat. He realizes, slowly, that the sounds of the forest had, at some point, also come back during their search. They approach a clearing with a roaring fire at its center. A female figure sits beside it, a thin girl of what Jack would estimate is around that age when he loses them from Trick or Treating, but gains their attention instead at Halloween parties and horror movie nights and the like. The humans call them, what, teenagers? She's tall, with a shockingly bright red sheet of hair that falls down her back from under a fuzzy brown flapped hat. An axe sits beside her leg as she fiddles with some sort of small device, eventually sighing and tucking it into the pocket of her blue jeans. A plaid green shirt and mud covered boots complete her outfit--though he can see spots of blood on the mud on her boots as well. A small brown bear sits not far from the log she's on, leaning against its bark and watching the fire. Above the flames, on wooden stakes, a hunks of meat roast. Not far from them, a pale pink looking deer lays on the ground--or it's body does anyway, as there are bloody holes in its fur where the skin seems to have been pulled back over. The meat on the stakes suddenly makes more sense. She looks up as Jack watches, narrowing her eyes. "I know you're there, you know!" She finally calls out. "You're kind of loud--and pink and white stand out pretty well against the forest." hoKHnzrS3d6 Perception 3d6
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Post by carnackiArdent on Jan 16, 2016 21:27:50 GMT
When the owl - or something like an owl - wings over Malkin, Jack starts toward it, trying to scare it away. A full performance would probably ruin any chance of remaining unseen, but if it's a choice between that and letting her get attacked, it's not really a choice at all. Luckily, the first sudden movement seems to spook it. One of these days he's going to get a chance to really scare somebody, but today isn't looking like a good day for it. Especially not when he finds the girl in the clearing and she makes it clear she's caught him. Well, probably Malkin gave him away, but the result is about the same. At least the dead animal explains the blood without the girl being hurt, which is what Jack was worried about to start with. He steps out of the trees and drops into an elegant bow, as if he hasn't just been searching through the disturbingly-quiet woods for twenty minutes, and doesn't have an arm full of cat. "Hello, there! My name is Jack Skellington!" He's smiling broadly; after all, he's finally found someone else here who isn't a Pokémon! Probably. Sure, she's a human, but he's not judgmental - besides, he's human too at the moment. "We didn't mean to startle you; we can save that for another time. Malkin found the blood in the woods, and I was worried that someone might be hurt!" He holds up the little Skitty, who mewls and does her best to look cute. He hopes his stomach rumbling doesn't ruin his first impression. Maybe he should've eaten before he set out on his grand exploratory journey, but that roasting meat smells good. Good enough that when he sets Malkin down she starts edging toward it. Meanwhile, Zero's still floating back in the trees quietly, hoping he hasn't been spotted (or maybe pretending he doesn't know he has been). Jack might be wanting to make a good first impression, but Zero's bored and wants to scare somebody. First impressions are important! Jack's Charm: wO5Hg4kl3d6+1 Malkin's Charm: 2d6 Zero is hiding still. She beat his Stealth roll flat, but he can hope. 3d6+1·2d6
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Post by Slytherclaw on Jan 18, 2016 0:58:54 GMT
The girl snorts, reaching out to turn one of the meat hunks. "I didn't say you startled me, dude." She says as she pulls back. She makes an aborted motion as if to reach for something in her pocket before frowning and instead settling back on the log. "Nope, nobody hurt here. Just a weird deer I found in the forest."
She raises an eyebrow and gives him a lazy smile when she hears the audible shriek of his stomach. "Grab a seat, dude. You can join us, if you want. Meat tastes a bit weird, but we didn't get sick from it yet. Grab a few green branches from the trees, would you?" She says, standing up. She pulls a small knife from her pocket and walks over to the carcass. There are few gorey moments as she saws away at it, the small bear waddling over to watch. She'll accept whatever branches were given and spear the strips of meat over the fire. "Just put these near the fire. Shouldn't take too long."
She takes her seat again by the axe. "Names Wendy, by the way. What brings you to Gravity Falls?"
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Post by carnackiArdent on Jan 18, 2016 2:04:46 GMT
"Yes, these Pokémon creatures are very unusual, aren't they?" Jack replies brightly. Malkin swats at his leg lightly for that before wandering boldly up to the fire - to immediately curl up and pretend to sleep. No, she's not interested in the meat at all, whatever gave you that idea? Jack's not entirely sure what qualifies as a green branch, so he finds a few that pull off easily and are about the same size as the ones already by the fire. They pretty much all still have their leaves attached when he hands them to Wendy. "Will these do?"He sits down near the fire, folding up his long legs in front of him and laying the crooked branch he'd occasionally waved Pokémon away with in the past couple days of agony next to him. He doesn't often get a chance to have a normal conversation with humans, and he has to admit he's excited by the opportunity. "Well, thank you for your hospitality, Wendy! Is Gravity Falls what this place is called? I'm afraid I only just arrived a few days ago."Any answer might be delayed slightly - Zero, who's still been hiding in the trees, chooses this moment to make his entrance. He darts across the clearing and swoops through the veil of smoke from the campfire, right toward Wendy, emitting an unearthly wail. Screw polite first impressions, he wants to scare someone! Zero's Intimidate: Zl15_kMk3d6 3d6
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Post by Slytherclaw on Jan 19, 2016 1:52:23 GMT
"W-Woah!" The girl shrieks out, throwing out her arms to protect her face. She tips backwards, hitting the ground behind the log with an "Ooph!" She remains there for a few moments, laying in the dirt with her feet over the log. She starts trembling--and her trembling quickly leads to loud laughter when Zero doesn't do anything harmful. "Good one! And...still not the weirdest thing I've seen around here..."
The meat over the fire sizzles as she slowly gets up, squinting at Zero. "So, uh...hi?" She glances at Jack. "And yeah, this is Gravity Falls. Or somewhere nearby, anyway. My family should be somewhere around here--We left to go camping a few days ago. Lost track of them, but when you've got my brothers, that's not all the uncommon. I was planning on heading back to town tonight, if you want to join me--My dad'll want to freeze the rest of the meat."
She throws herself back onto the log, grabbing one of the stakes closest to her, and passes it to the small bear. "Also met this little guy around the time I lost track of my brothers. My dad is going to /love/ him." She says, grabbing her own stick and biting into the meat with gusto.
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Post by carnackiArdent on Jan 19, 2016 3:29:03 GMT
Even Jack jerks back just slightly when Zero swoops in, but he retains his composure quite well - of course, he's the Pumpkin King, he's a bit harder to frighten than a girl on her own, however competent she may be. He grins broadly, and it doesn't take a deep insight into people to see that he's all but applauding the well-executed scare. He also clearly doesn't have the faintest thought that it might have been rude or unwise to be scaring the first person he's met in this place. "It was very good! Of course, he had a good teacher, if I do say so myself. I'm sorry I didn't introduce him earlier; this is Zero. Here, boy!"
He holds out a hand and Zero swoops over and nuzzles up to it. Meanwhile, Malkin peeks out from behind a tree a couple of yards away. She can certainly move when she wants to.
"That would be wonderful! It's always nice to meet new people!" Maybe he can find a way back to Halloween Town from there, too; perhaps Doctor Finklestein can find a way to make him back into a proper skeleton. He's not in much of a hurry to leave, though. There's still so much to see! A human town, even - he's never had a chance to just walk around one and interact with them like he could with his friends back in Halloween Town.
He follows her lead and plucks one of the stakes away from the fire. He gets a little too close and winces back from the heat. Fire bad, very important note. His chunk of meat turns out to be on the rare side, but that doesn't bother him any; it's delicious, and before he knows it he's halfway through already. And Malkin's sitting right at his feet again, having just looked away from staring up at the meat. No, she's not interested in it at all.
"These are very good! I'm sorry, I'm still not quite used to needing to eat." Jack doesn't actually see much point in pretending he's always been human, even if he wants a chance to interact with them on their level. He sets the half-eaten chunk down where Malkin can get to it; she turns up her nose disdainfully... at least until Jack gets up to retrieve another stake and she sets about gnawing on it before he can do something silly like take it back.
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Post by Slytherclaw on Jan 21, 2016 0:54:52 GMT
Wendy laughs. "You say that /now/. Wait until you meet them!" She says, and works on her own meat stick. "They'd be better with some spices. Salt and such. Dad had all the supplies, though. When we get back, maybe I'll show you what delicious actually is." She doesn't seem to notice Jack's remark about eating, too interested in staring at Zero. She mutters something under her breath about how much 'dipper' would love this. "Where are you from, anyway?" Cooked food, get! Jack has consumed 500 food points.
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Post by carnackiArdent on Jan 21, 2016 3:19:34 GMT
Jack cocks his head curiously. "Your brothers would be better with spices?" It's... not easy to tell whether he's joking. He only seems confused for a moment, though... it would probably be easiest to let her think it was a joke rather than make things awkward. Jack hasn't exactly got brothers, or family in general, but he's fairly certain people don't usually eat them.
"Oh, I'm from Halloween Town!" He smiles proudly. "I hope they're getting on alright without me. It's only January, so the Mayor should be able to keep things under control." Jack hasn't seen enough of the real world in January to consider that the forest still being green might be remotely surprising.
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Post by Slytherclaw on Jan 22, 2016 0:58:21 GMT
Wendy laughs at the joke. "They probably would be," She says, brushing her hair out of her face.
"Halloween town, huh? That sounds interesting. Where is that?" She tilts her head. "But I think your timeline might be a bit off, man. It's like July!" She finishes up and tosses the leftover stick into the fire. "But we should head out soon. It's getting late, and I don't recognize these trees... We're probably quite a walk out from town."
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Post by carnackiArdent on Jan 22, 2016 3:15:26 GMT
"July already? Oh, dear!" Jack raises a hand to his mouth, looking worried. He skips over the question of where Halloween Town is for the moment, mostly because he isn't sure how to put the concepts involved in a holiday world's relation to the mortal world in terms Wendy would understand, and there are still things about it he doesn't know himself
"I hope they can get things started without me, then. The Mayor isn't always very good under pressure. They must be in a panic without me. But the Doctor should be able to help, and the witches. I suppose I really will have to get back soon, if it's that late." He whistles for Zero to follow him, and after a little consideration of Malkin's tiny Skitty feet, he presses a finger to the black cat tattoo on his right hand, recalling her back to... wherever it is the Pokémon he's captured go when they're not out and about. "There we go, now we don't have to worry about her keeping up. Lead the way, Wendy!"
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Post by Slytherclaw on Jan 22, 2016 4:30:30 GMT
"Are you so important to your town? A mayor or something?" She asks, tilting her head. She starts cleaning up the site, working on covering the fire with dirt and cleaning up her small camp site. As she finishes, she pauses a moment to rub the small bear's head, who waddles from the log rubbing its eyes. It gives Jack a sleepy blink while she picks up the deer, swinging it awkwardly over her shoulder in such a way that the bloody center at least doesn't brush against her shirt. "Shall we?" She grins. Make perception rolls! And any other relevant rolls as you'd like.
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Post by carnackiArdent on Jan 22, 2016 5:05:17 GMT
"Oh, no, I'm not the Mayor!" Jack chuckled quietly at the thought, trying to imagine himself in the Mayor's outfit, especially that hat. It was nearly as tall as the Mayor himself - Jack thought it would be scraping ceilings on him! "I'm the Pumpkin King! It's my job to organize Halloween every year and see that everything runs as it should. It's a big job, so we have to start early. There are more and more people to celebrate Halloween every year, after all!" What, you didn't think all those orange and black decorations showed up in stores so early just because of the retailers, did you? He watches with interest as Wendy cleans up the site; he does what he can to help, but Jack's not exactly much of a camper. When she's finished, he beams at her. "Lead on! Let's go, Zero!"Jack's Perception: JO89Dmtu3d6 Zero's Perception: 2d6 3d6·2d6
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Post by Slytherclaw on Jan 23, 2016 0:24:16 GMT
"Pumpkin king..." Wendy mutters, raising an eyebrow. She shakes her head. "Still...not the weirdest..." She laughs, seemingly to herself. The group walks for an hour, easy, as Wendy occasionally stops to put the carcass down and examine something. She'll check the moss growing on a rock, the leaves of a tree, etc. At one notable point, she climbs a tall tree to glance around--and frowns as she climbs down. At the end of the first hour, she stops and leans against a tree, dumping the deer.
"Hey....hey, you said you got here a few days ago, right?" She finally asks, looking up at the canopy. She turns her head to look at the man. "...how? And where?"
She's quiet for a few moments. "I thought I might just be in an area I don't recognize, but..." She shakes her head.
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Post by carnackiArdent on Jan 23, 2016 3:17:15 GMT
Jack spends basically the entire walk rubbernecking. With somebody to follow he's not wandering quite so much, but he's still easily distracted by new things. Wendy's occasional attempts at navigation do get some attention, too, though he doesn't question yet whether they might be lost. After all, for all he knows people wander off this far while camping all the time.
His face falls when she finally stops to question the situation. It doesn't take a genius to finish her sentence. "To be perfectly honest, I'm a little unclear on 'how' myself. I woke up in this body about three days ago, aching terribly, with Zero here over me. I found your trail about twenty minutes before I met you; I'd been walking quite a while before that, but I came from, hmm..." Jack turns in a circle, trying to get a fix on his position, before finally pointing southeast. "That direction."
He's quiet for a moment as he considers the situation. "Did you wake up aching one morning? Probably the same day you met your friend there."
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Post by Slytherclaw on Jan 23, 2016 19:59:07 GMT
Wendy licks her lips, listening intently. "Body..?" She questions, raising an eyebrow. But she shakes her head. "Three days...three days ago, I woke up on my own, away from my family, and...yes, he was here with me..."
She rubs her arm. "...I don't understand. I was /just/ in Gravity Falls...I've camped in these--/those/ woods every year since I was a kid. How did I--we--get here?"
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Post by carnackiArdent on Jan 23, 2016 20:22:09 GMT
"Oh, yes. Being alive is very strange, but going through all the trouble of dying seems rather unpleasant, so I suppose I'll have to, aha, live with it." Jack, that's probably not the sort of thing you should say to an increasingly-upset girl. "I really don't know how we got here. It's quite an adventure! I can't wait to tell everyone about it when I get back! All these "Pokémon" have given me some new ideas already. I wish whoever brought us here would have asked first, though."
His face brightens up as he realizes something. "Where did you wake up? I just found a box today with some very interesting things in it. Someone had buried it while I was sleeping, I think. Perhaps you have one, too!"
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Post by Slytherclaw on Jan 25, 2016 23:35:12 GMT
Wendy just stares at Jack for a few long moments at his...unusual comments. "...you talk weird, you know?" She says, shaking her head. "And I woke up..."
She pauses to think about it. "I suppose it was to the north? It's probably a bit of a walk from here."
Wendy tilts her head. "Huh. If we're not near Gravity Falls, I wonder who that girl was, if not a tourist?" She mutters to herself, tilting her head.
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