Player Plot - Haunted House 2 - The Moogle Test of Courage

[not_most_days]

Characters: Moogles and Heroes who signed up. Latecomers welcome for a brief time
Where: An old run down shrine north of Aqures Ixen
When: October 20th
Summary: Mysterious letters have gone out, inviting moogles to come take part in a test of courage, and inviting Heroes to come and be the monsters for it.
Warning: 2SPOOKY It’s too late a skeleton is inside you

Throughout the month letters were arriving in mailboxes, though it was never clear who actually did the deliveries. This was further complicated by the fact that the letters addressed to the Heroes who received them were all requesting a level of secrecy from them for the sake of making this event go off without a hitch. The letters that came to the moogles on the other hand only spoke of a challenge, and a promise of prizes and glory to the bravest of moogles, if they could prove themselves. The letters were simply signed Kutan. No letters sent back to them would be replied to.

The Heroes were encouraged to show up early on the 20th, while the moogles were told to come at sundown.

Comments

Hero Mingle

[not_most_days]

Kutan was nowhere in sight, but all supplies within reason that were requested could be found in the shrine, as well as a few seemingly picked out at Kutan’s own judgement. They were certainly prepared for a fun night of haunting. A note is left on a table, in the same hand paw as the letters they all received.

Thank you all for coming, kupo. I’m sure this will be a night you all remember, but if your fellow moogles are indeed brave they may find the courage to better support you in your coming battles. I wish them well and I look forward to seeing them later, kupo. Don’t worry, I will watch over them and I promise they won’t get hurt.

If any moogles decide that they wish to put their courage to a second and harsher test, please direct them to the cave behind the shrine, but first let’s have them brave their way here, kupo.

Kupo,
Kutan

Duster | OTA

[mindofathief]

Duster unwrapped the cloth protecting the paper-mâché zombie mask and set it on the break room table. He has spend the past week painting blood on his torn outfit, creating the mask, and finding the right markers to color his exposed skin. Tamekichi was no help. The Moogle decided that haunted houses weren't work the time of cool, suave postal workers like him and left his Hero to his own devices. Duster, who had no clue how to do arts and crafts. Duster, who had wanted to come as a bedsheet ghost before convinced otherwise.

But they were right. Ghosts weren't that scary. Some where nice and partied all night with wine and rotten food. This was supposed to be a test of courage, not a test of hospitality.

At the very least, his limp helped sell the image of a zombie. He tests it out, wearing the mask and exaggerating his hobbling as he wanders from one edge of the room to the other. All was good, things were going to be good.

...Until he pulled off the mask five minutes later breathing heavily, his face flushed.

[has_been_faking]

Ed decided to go with makeup over a mask, wearing a suit and hat he's properly worn down to look like he came fresh from the grave. Now that he sees Duster huffing and puffing, he'd glad he went this route, no matter how much of a pain it was to get the makeup looking right.

Making sure no moogles were coming, he walked up to Duster, grinning while trying to look sympathetic.

"You doing alright there?"

[mindofathief]

"Y-yeah..." He panted a few more times before he pushed himself off his knees. "I think I should've made bigger breathing holes."

He ran his thumb over the nose of the mask. Dried paper and glue stuck out everywhere on that part of the mask, and Duster let it me. Zombies were supposed to look ugly. Unfortunately, some of the material was blocking the small holes he pierced.

[has_been_faking]

"Ah, typical mistake. Or I'm assuming. I mean, I have no idea how to make a good mask, so I'd probably overlook something like that too."

Ed felt around his jacket until he found what pocket he had a pen hiding in, and hands it over to Duster.

"Here. It's not much, but you might be able to poke bigger holes in it with that. Not going to be able to scare any if you can't breath in there, right?"

[mindofathief]

A nod of thanks, and Duster spread his fingers on the inside of the mask to provide support as he shifted the tip of the pen around the nose. When he found the exact hole he made, he pushed the pen in slowly in the hopes that it didn't tear up the entire nose. A zombie with busted nostrils only looked scary if it didn't have old newspapers falling out of it.

The head of the pen slid through, breaking up the glued paper around the nostrils. This should be good, Duster thought.

"Thanks," he said as he held out the pen with one hand and put the mask to his face with the other.

[has_been_faking]

He nodded as he put the pen back in his jacket. He looked around at the currently empty woods.

"Not a problem. Though I realize, maybe we're not in so much of a rush after all. Do you think the moogles were too scared to try, or just can't take this seriously? My guess is the latter. Er, except in Mogrissa's case. She'd be the former."

Ed's own moogle helper was more than a little on the shy side. He wasn't sure she even got up the courage to show up to the event at all.

[mindofathief]

He shrugged, fingers on both hands spread out along the sides of the mask to hold it up without touching the paint job. "Tamekichi said he had better things to do. Maybe he was scared, but he's the kind of Moogle who cares about his image. He probably thought no one would take him seriously if he came."

[has_been_faking]

"Too hip for this sort of thing, huh. I guess it's obvious I'm not too proud for this sort of thing, but I'm sure I was when I was younger, too. Now, I'm just some old weirdo running around in the woods covered in makeup."

Ed grinned and shrugged. No one should be above Halloween hijinks!

[rialynn]

"Whoa, you okay there?" Rialynn's costume still made her easily recognizable to those who knew her. White ragged clothes dappled with gray paint in the creases adorned her, like a tattered ballroom gown. Her hair and face were both powdered white, so that the ivory color even clung to her lashes.

It wouldn't be obvious until she started singing eerily at the Moogles, but she'd opted to go for banshee. Jumping out and scaring the Moogles up close just seemed way too mean, and she'd already advised Kunia not to participate in this. She was such a kind and sweet little thing, it would have broken Rialynn's heart to frighten her even for the sake of a holiday.

But for Duster to get winded that quickly didn't seem to bode well. She put a hand on his shoulder to steady him, her pale brow wrinkled with concern. "Is it the mask? I can do your makeup for you if you'd prefer that."

[mindofathief]

"Y..." Duster wheezed before opting to nod. He held his mask up, laying it horizontally so better take a look at the nose holes.

Just as he thought, they were too small. He was essentially covering his mouth and nose.

"No, you don't have to do that. I spent a week on this mask, but..." He held it out for Rialynn to check. "It looks like the breathing holes got covered up."

[rialynn]

"You made this yourself?" Rialynn's pale eyebrows shot up. She looked at the mask again, really studying it this time. "Duster, this is really good. I would have thought it was something a craftsman would sell in his shop!"

She dropped to one knee, rolling up the tattered hem of her costume to draw a small throwing knife from the inside cuff of her boot, and passed it to Duster. "Here, will this help? Maybe you can widen the holes a little with the tip."

Hopefully he didn't plan on using this mask to scare her to death after the trial of courage for the Moogles, because she was pretty sure she would have fallen for it in a frantic heartbeat.

[mindofathief]

"What?" Duster leaned back, a crooked smile forming on his face. "I just followed the instructions the craftsman gave me, that's all." It was a mess, though mostly unintentional. If this were meant to be anything other than a decaying zombie, Rialynn would not have complimented it so.

Masterwork or not, he accepted the knife. Stabbing a hole was easy with something so sharp. He held the mask horizontally, closing one eye to better aim the knife.

"Hidden weapons are pretty good in a fight. You know how to throw knives?"

[rialynn]

"Yeah. Don't tell, there's no point if the villains know I've got them," she winked, grinning, then looked at the mask as she watched him work. "I haven't really had to use them much since coming here. Most of the time if I get into a fight, the rapier does just fine. There aren't many places here that refuse you entry if they see you've got a weapon on you."

The libraries in her world wouldn't let any sword-bearing people inside, and also required a signed pass from a nobleman to gain entry. It was probably a good thing that Duster and the Gang never had to deal with any of those libraries, for they were hiding a great evil within their walls.

"Still," she shrugged. "It's good to have them if I need to keep a distance. Why, do you keep some too?"

[mindofathief]

"No, not daggers," he answered. "No one in Tazmily would let you in if you carried something like that. I had my Thief Tools, but they don't really hurt anyone. Just make it easier to me to fight."

He could ask Cid to bring them to this world, but that would involved talking to Cid. Or Biggs. Neither of which was a person Duster enjoyed talking to.

"Not that I'm having a hard time here. Back home, I didn't have any magic powers or a way to strike a bunch of monsters at the same time."

[rialynn]

"...Huh?" Rialynn blinked at him, confused. "How do Thief Tools make it easier to fight?" She thought that was just a set of picks meant for unfastening locks, Rialynn wouldn't have imagined that they would have any use in combat.

Unless you had to fight while manacled which, to be fair, one of her friends had done when locked in the bastille.

But at the latter, she could agree and she relaxed a little with a short laugh. "No, neither did I. No magic, no supernatural abilities. And hopefully no monsters, but you can never really be sure of that."

Lydia | OTA

[deadlyvu]

Lydia never had really decided on what costume she'd have or role she'd play in the moogle test of courage. She supposed, really, she could just 'float and be scary' so to speak. Certainly between her Vampire Job, and her own history of pranking, she could add to the excitement.

As it is, she's gone rather monochromatic and classic in her look. Ready, between her lack of shadow and her utter silence, to help playfully frighten their companions.

[mindofathief]

There was still time until the Moogles arrived, and Duster was thirsty. Fortunately, the owner of this haunted area provided snacks and drinks for the Heroes. Duster was pour blood-colored punch into his cup when he spotted Lydia floating near the table.

"Thirsty?" He held the filled container up.

[deadlyvu]

Lydia eyed the punch, then there was a spark of mischief in her eyes. "I know I'm a Vampire, but I hope we're not taking it too far, and that's just punch, right?" She was sure it was, and was trying to help ease nerves and break the ice for others. "Are you excited, Mr. Duster?"

[mindofathief]

Duster's eyes drifted to the cup. He was sure it was only punch. Blood was surely thicker than that.

"Yeah."

If he was wrong, Lydia would still be able to drink it. Maybe.

"It my first time doing something like this. I don't think we need to go overboard with scaring the Moogles, right?" He wouldn't dare terrify such adorable creatures.

[deadlyvu]

She was teasing, really. "It's my first time too, at least when it comes to dealing with the moogles." Lydia was a prank-veteran though, including a few Pranksgiving festivities in the Neitherworld. "We're supposed to just give them a nice thrill in the form of a fright, not truly scare them." Moving closer and accepting the cup, her grin was reassuring. "Y'know, like a surprise party, or when you're watching a scary movie. Something jumps out that you didn't expect, and for a moment your heart races and you're scared, but then you can laugh about it and recognize the fun."

[mindofathief]

"Yeah. Yeah, like that." He pulled a low stool closer and sat down, letting out a small huff. "I don't think I'm that scary, but Moogles seem to get scared easily, you know? The nice ones, I mean."

Tamekichi would punch Duster in the gut if he was surprised at a sudden zombie lunging at them.

[deadlyvu]

Lydia duly assessed Duster's looks and costume, before settling by him. "I don't know, I mean--you don't seem scary to me. Now if you removed your head, or your arm, you might be more realistic, but I don't think you wanna go that far." With the grin on her face, it wasn't entirely clear if she was joking or not.

"Moogles are just like any other people, from what I've seen." She continued after a moment. "There are some who are brave, some who are scared, some who are nice, some who aren't, and so on. They're people, even if they're not human." Just like the Tarutaru too, for that matter.

[mindofathief]

Duster gave it some thought. Though not "thought" rather than "indulgence in imagination he regrets."

"I think the mask will be enough." People or not, most Moogles Duster had met were sweet and had an air of innocence about like like the Mr. Saturns. They were cute, plain and simple, and they had to be protected from the harsh world of post delivery.

"What about you? You used to do something like this before?

Lita Kino - OTA

[got_talent]

Whew! It's getting hot in here.

[The big scary demon pops off its horned head, tucking it loosely under one padded muscular arm. The fluffy white mane hangs down to the ground as Lita brushes the sweat from her brow and punches a fist against her hip, smiling. She's in a pretty good mood so far. All she has to do is pop out and wave her hands in the air with some growling noises, and that should be enough.]

[Still...]

Hey, the Moogles do know what this is all about, don't they? If they think we're just trying to scare them because we think it's funny, this seems kinda mean.