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battleshell · 4 years ago

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THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm. tagged by: @dansiere whom im care tagging: extremely informative meme for ppl who have lots of cross-over interactions, i encourage u to steal it from me anyway BUT @sternenteile @twelvians @stellamris @grandtales

My muse is: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. [ he is a very, very minor NPC that i’ve essentially wrested from the game with my grubby hands; Gerson is a merchant NPC found in Waterfall, the third area of the game focused with water themes. he has less than 100 lines of dialogue (but jam-packed full of info) and doesn’t even have an overworld sprite. although noted to have a history with multiple major characters, it’s not often i’ve seen him be the main focus of any fanfics or art pieces. ]

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. [ put that faaaaaaaar away from me please tyty ]

Is your character considered strong in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK. [ i personally believe that Gerson is a strong and potentially powerful monster with fighting capability that could rival some of the stronger Monsters in the Underground due to his background as a fighter during the Human-Monster War, but since has waned in both reputation and fighting skill. we never fight him in game and as such, will never see how he compares numerically, but it’s clear from his dialogue that he knows how to fight professionally/cleverly and would have given a hard challenge. ]

Are they underrated? YES / NO / IDK. [ i mentioned before that Gerson has ties with lots of major characters - I hardly see it being put into action or talked about! i also have a soft spot for elder/older characters in general since they seem to be overlooked in favor for younger characters that carry the action of plots - which I understand and totally get, but I still like to put these characters out there for the sake of it ]

Were they relevant for the main story? YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. [ he was a funny merchant dude that said “wahaha” a whole bunch of times and carried a magnifying glass; sure he and Frisk would have been good friends after the golden ending but most people have forgotten about their interaction with Gerson once out of Waterfall ]

Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO. [ as one of the older if not oldest Monsters in the Underground, or from his reputation as the “Hammer of Justice” from wartime. he is also a historian and is noted to have written a few of the books in the Librarby. definitely known in the Underground, but probably only in that community ]

How’s their reputation? GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. [ as mentioned before, a benefactor to the community and maybe even a sagely figure. a source of wisdom (even if cheeky) and a person of stability ]

How strictly do you follow canon? — ehhhhhhhhhh both extremely canon compliant and then hands off the wheel, let jesus drive me away~ i only have so much canon material to work with so i have milked as much as offered to me, then went off to forge my own path in order to patch up the missing holes then add a few sprinkles. the base of the character is all there, but if you really want to get invested with him (or me) then we have a lot to walk through.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals. — old tortoise (NOT TURTLE) guy sells knick-knacks and cracks jokes, knows everyone’s dirty secrets but thinks they’re just funny to think about them than use them. an elder in the community who has stories to tell and lessons to teach, who has lived through half of recorded history and now spends his time just trying to make things around him interesting. a war veteran who protects his community and understands the horror of the world, but keeps eyes looking into the future even in the face of grimness itself. plays the accordion and harmonica, could probably square dance if he knew what that was. will call you kiddo.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?). — little to no motivation to find a passion for himself that would benefit or service just himself; his entire sense of worth comes from servicing others in some way (being a soldier and protecting people; recording history in order to teach future generations; maintaining a shop in order to literally service others) and lack of action due to decrepitude in old age. close-minded compared to other Monsters, as he doesn’t actually take to think of humans or outsiders kindly; judgmental to the point of being racist. proud and dislikes being one-upped that it could lead to pettiness, and despite his positive outlooks, very pessimistic worldview.

What inspired you to rp your muse? — funfact: Gerson is my first tumblr RP muse ever, and since i was worried about duplicate anxiety when i first started i specifically wrote him since he was a smaller character with less attention - i’ve since learned i have no anxiety about it so it’s no longer a problem, but what keeps me going today is the challenge of writing someone so different from me. the elder aesthetic along with homely, almost cottagecore kind of vibe is also appealing, and the humor that comes with gerson is a joy to write out.

What keeps your inspiration going? — reading literature, music, artwork, pinterest, replaying the game, and doing little hobbies that would embody the character (collecting or sewing, for example) are things i can do by myself, but with other people i have the most drive when i can have friendly and nonpersonal arguments/debates about character motives or about source material like what made a character act like this or that, or about really anything as long as it makes me seriously think about characters critically and force me to recognize flaws.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice? YES / NO / I SINCERELY HOPE I DO? [ unfortunately i’m not a tortoise monster who lived for probably centuries if not decades older than myself, but i enjoy writing older characters and hope that other ppl see the potential gerson has like i do ]

Do you frequently write headcanons? YES / NO / SORT OF? [ you know when you have a concept and in your own mind you can see it clearly, without fuzziness or confusion, but you can’t seem to put it clearly into words without it turning into an essay because you need to connect all the other points that’s in the single concept you envisioned? yea. ]

Do you sometimes write drabbles? YES / NO [ bro i should.. ]

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO [ hmu if you got pinterest and i’ll give u tons and tons of boards ]

Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO / SORT OF? [ this is unfair to answer as (AFAIK) i am the only person writing Gerson in... any capacity. despite that i like to think i bring out the humorous side of him, and show ppl that he and other NPCs are tons of potentials and shouldn’t be overlooked because they aren’t popular ]

Are you confident in your writing? YES / NO. [ i always believed my style and my skill in not only PSDs or aesthetics, but analysis or understanding was always a bit plain, without much flourish or complexity. while that is appealing on its own and has its own merits, i can’t help but feel i can always push myself to do a little more, add a little flavor, or paint an image that could only be done in writing. although i am doing enough to get the job done, i’m searching for a certain voice of writing that i like and want to integrate into creative writing in order to make it more personalized and more engaging. ]

Are you a sensitive person? YES / NO. / SORTA. [ i despise pussyfooting and will often tell ppl straight up if i have a problem with them or something about them; straightforwardness, honesty, and integrity are some of my core values and that includes being harsh if it comes to it in order to keep order ]

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal? — assuming it’s rooted in goodwill or from a point of analysis, absolutely! it’s one of the direct sources for growth and getting better at any craft, but as Tumblr loves to be.... jumpy, i’m always cautious when its not from someone i know.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character? — YEA BUDDYYYYY

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why? — absolutely, i thrive off friendly discourse as i mentioned.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it? — if we don’t discuss it as above, in lit any other case i’d say “well there are other blogs to follow” but since i’m like 99% sure i’m the only gerson blog that isn’t applicable lmao; the point still stands that everyone has the freedom to write a character as they wish. there are valid reasons to dislike a portayal but not a lot of valid reasons to attack someone for it - with the exception of ppl being gross. stop that, nasty.

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it? — strangely. it’s not my job to make people like a character, you either like them or not. if you dislike them for unreasonable points then, to leave in the previous response, “clowns will be clowns, no matter what you do. I just don’t get why you would follow someone if you hate their character to begin with.”

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors? — of course, as long as it’s polite and all that jazz!

Do you think you are easy going as a mun? — depends on the meaning - i like making new friends and i find it easy to talk to new people, be it about roleplay or other things like organizing video game play sessions. however, i also have on multiple occasions have approached ppl privately saying “this is annoying/this is problematic/this is inappropriate, stop” and been met with general disdain for voicing such so Who Knows..... (tm). at least on a private level. here, publicly, i’m pretty relaxed! memes and jokes are abound. as long as a person can be mature and responsible for their actions we can vibe, yo.

#definitely plan to link this in rules or something #as a guide for newcomers #what a nice meme!#* verbatim ⟐ meme.

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river-phillips · 7 years ago

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This Is The House That Doubt Built | River, Maya & Iann

Accompanied by Iann and Maya, River checks out the home of the late witch Leeman Calloway, her only lead on finding her parents. A man obviously linked to her parents in some way, he must have left answers behind. But will the house have what she needs, or simply leave her with more questions?

@ianncardero @mayaparker

River had been sitting outside of the house for about fifteen minutes, intentionally here earlier than she’d told Iann and Maya to meet her. She’d checked the house number and the street sign against the slip of paper Ephram had given her more times than she could count, just to be sure. It wasn’t the mansion she’d been expecting from a witch with old money, but it was still one of the biggest houses in the area. The architecture definitely had european influences, looking like the oldest place on the block. She sat on the stair of her RV, facing the house. The windows seemed like mirrors in the setting sunlight, reflecting the blinding light into her eyes. When she heard a car pull up, she gave Jackson a little pat on the head and then closed him inside the RV.

Maya showed up pretty much as soon as she could given travel time. Honestly she jumped at the opportunity to think of something other than Shaw. The house was Tudor in style or some sort of English anyway. Instead of approaching the house though she went over to River where the selkie sat on the stair of her RV. "What's up dude?" she asked.

The chugging old Westfalia showed up, and Iann parked it across the street, jogging over to where the two women were. "This place?" Iann asked, squinting up at the rather well-maintained house. Iann was surprised; he'd been expecting something a bit more...shack-like. He paced in front of it, trying to look around the sides. "Either someone's been doing the up-keep on the outside, or this place has a spell on it. Externally, anyway." He looked at River. "We should make sure there aren't any, ah, booby traps."

River greeted Maya when she showed up with a small wave, and soon Iann was upon them as well, already jumping into it and scoping out the house. "Probably the neighbors," River said, gesturing to the other houses on the block. "People probably trim the hedges and cut the grass so their property values don't go down." At the mention of traps, River looked to Maya. "I think that's your cue." The sun was setting quickly, and the street lights had kicked on. River reached into the small backpack she had sitting at her feet and handed each of them flashlights.

Maya glanced up when the Westfalia rolled up. Iann didn't both with pleasantries instead immediately speculating on the presence of booby traps in the house. When River mentioned that was her area of expertise she shrugged, "I mean I thought I was just hear for my Young Frankenstein references, but yeah I can see what i can do." She approached the front of the house. Closing her eyes she felt some sort of barricade in front of her. "Yeah, there's something here. Like a..." she searched her mind and her magic for the word. "An illusion." Stepping past the edge of the yard she opened her eyes. The yard had transformed into an overgrown mess. "Oh yeah, this is a hot mess," she said and glanced back at Iann and River, "But no booby traps as of yet."

Iann barked a laugh at River's speculation about the neighbours keeping the place maintained for the sake of curb appeal, and when Maya used her magic to confirm it, Iann nodded and snorted. "The things we do for appearances..." Iann clicked his tongue, then looked down at River, motioning her to follow Maya. "After you," he said, as if it was an incredibly generous offer. "I have my lockpicks if it's needed." If Maya had her own ways, Iann didn't mind that either. "Or maybe we'll get lucky and the front door will be ominously unlocked, ooooooh." He squiggled his fingers lightly along River's small shoulderblades.

River raised her eyebrows as Maya confirmed an illusion on the property and Iann had a laugh about it. "I guess that's the muggle in me," she chuckled. It was times like this when she was acutely aware of just how out of touch with the supernatural she still was, even if she felt she was getting a hold on it all. She stepped up to the front of their little group and sure enough, the yard was overgrown and the exterior of the house was in complete disarray. A pit formed in her stomach as she approached the porch, and when Iann tickled her back, she jumped, letting a hand fly back to slap his arm. "Not cool!" she hissed with an involuntary smile. Turning back to the door, she grabbed the knob and pushed. To her surprise, it swung open. The house had that cliche haunted house feel. The creepy crawlies. The heebie jeebies. Whatever you wanted to call them. As the door creaked open and the moaning of the hinges echoed through the house, the River stepped inside. Even though there had been an estate sale after Calloway’s death, there was still quite a bit of stuff there. It seemed the place had been ransacked before, but many drabber items had simply been left alone. Cobwebs hung across furniture covered in sheets. Floorboards were missing and the white wallpaper was dirty and peeling. Teens had definitely gotten in here at least once before, sprawling graffiti across the walls in blood red spray paint that bled into eerie patterns. It was easy to see how this house was once a rather stately place to live, however. Gold and silver fixtures were stuck on many iron accents (with some of them recognizably snapped or cut off, undoubtably for the cash). The hardwood floor was a magnificent oak, and the staircase leading up from the foyer was equally as beautiful, even under the heavy coat of dust. To each side of the foyer was a dining and living room, left and right respectively, and leading back past the staircase was the kitchen it looked like, and undoubtedly a few rooms back there she couldn’t see the entrance to. “Where should we start?” she asked the others.

Maya found the fact the front door was unlocked almost unbearably suspicious. She held her flashlight in a way that meant it could be used to hit someone. Upon entering the house she first looked for movement. Hearing and seeing none did nothing to relax her. Although to be fair she was on edge a lot these days. "Well when I was a delinquent teen we didn't bother looking for basements, so I'd start there. Maybe a dumbwaiter?" She paused, considering a moment her own motives. "Honestly I might just want there to be a dumbwaiter."

Iann was surprised that the door was open, and although he was playing off as light-hearted, his eyes were sharp and keen as he looked around. Fortunately he was taller than the other two and could look beyond them. The house was lavish - or at least it was, once. 13 years ago, even. Iann whistled lowly. "What were your folks doing getting bailed out by a guy as well-to-do as this?" Iann murmured. "Whatever relationship they had, they were clearly on the receiving end." Iann honestly didn't know too many selkies who were, well, wealthy. Not in a landfolk definition anyway. No selkie corporate fatcats or selkie families in Jamara, unless they won the lottery or something (and then their estates were generally eccentric and oceanic). "Do you think...do you think your folks...lived here? Watch the floor, don't fall through." He headed to the staircase, testing a couple of the stairs, and they seemed sturdy enough for his weight. "Whatever we do, let's not split up, hm? Maya, see if you can find a concentration of magical residue in the house? And River..." Iann motioned to some old knick knacks in the old living room. "Maybe there's photos in there, something that you might, ahhh recognize. Do you know what, ah. What your bio-parents looked like?"

At Iann's first question, River's stomach balled up all over again. It's almost as if she'd been so focused on finding Calloway that she'd forgotten about her parents. Focused on the next step and not the end goal. "The basement sounds like a good idea," She headed down the hallway back to the kitchen, and about halfway there, almost directly under the stairs, was a large oak door that probably weighed more than she did. She reached for the knob and pulled, but it wouldn't budge. A latch with padlock held the door in place, but grabbing the lock to examine it, she realized it had no keyhole and no combination dial. "Uh, maybe we'll come back to this." She walked back out into the foyer. "Yeah, I've seen a couple pictures." Each of her siblings had been sent away with one. All except her. "Let's check out the living room," she suggested, walking into a space that felt more like the size of a mini ballroom. She started shining her light on the knick knacks on the mantle, most of them tiger themed.

Maya listened to Iann speculate as she looked around. It did seem the house had been abandoned for awhile. Dust had settled on nearly every available surface. She followed River as the selkie went through the kitchen. There River found a door without an obvious way in, no keyhole or combination dial. Maya ignored River's suggestion that they check the living room. A lock like this meant something was behind it. Closing her eyes Maya thought of what Faye had said. She had something like the power of suggestion and maybe she could suggest to the lock that it opened. To that end she also gave it a sharp thwack with the butt of her pocketknife. It bust open. "I don't about y'all, but I'm going to check behind door number two."

Iann lingered between the two women, as River headed into the living room and Maya remained near the mysterious door. He shifted back and forth on his feet, looking between the selkie and the witch as they did their thing. "Don't go alone!" Iann hissed at Maya. "What'd I just say about not splitting up?" He shined his flashlight towards River, raising an eyebrow at the rather garish tiger-based knick-knacks. "What the hell's up with those tigers? River? Both of you better keep talking at me or else I swear to fucking god."

River heard the padlock clatter to the floor in the hallway and abandoned the gaudy tigers to rush back to Maya. The padlock was laying on the hardwood and the large door to the basement had swung open. "You broke the lock? Sweet!" But as she approached, she and Maya were kicked back by a force punch to the gut, knocking both of them on their asses as the door swung shut violently.

Maya felt something, magical, knock her and River back on their asses. She stood, eyeing the door suspiciously. "Rude," she said, "But there's definitely something down there." For at least the moment it didn't seem to want to let them in though. She glared at it for another moment as if that would scare it into opening for them. Turning back to the other two she asked, "Someone said something about tigers?"

"Unbelievable," Iann muttered, once his shock and alarm receded. It seemed that despite the violent rebuke from the basement's door, the two young women were alright. Still, Iann bent forward to not really help River up but just sort of brush the dust off her jacket like he was a fussy Auntie. "If it shut itself then it can be opened. Just has to be opened the right way....and I'm beginning to think this house is just one big puzzle." And it was waiting for you, Iann wanted to say to River, but he didn't. Maybe not River specifically, but someone. Someone who knew there was a mystery in this house that needed to be solved. Iann was just glad that it seemed to be River. That so far, he hadn't noticed any evidence of other people breaking into the house to do some snooping, other than the bored teenagers looking to vandalize, of course. "What'd you find in the living room, Kansas?"

River took a moment to get to her feet after being knocked back, coughing a little bit at the dust kicked up in the flurry. Getting to her feet, she brushed past Iann and pushed on the basement door. It wouldn't budge. "Fuck," she hissed, giving the door a curt kick with her boot. She turned around, running frustrated fingers through her hair, and sighed. "Uh, yeah, tigers. Living room." She marched out of the hallway and toward the gaudy tigers again. They were carved out of marble. The more she looked around, the more she noticed the motif all around the place. "What's with this guy and tigers?" she asked aloud while searching around some more, finally finding an end table and opening the drawer. Inside was a bit of junk. Notepads, pens, nail clippers. But there was also a tattered envelope, filled to bursting with what looked like pictures. She picked it up and pulled the first one out. When she laid eyes on the faces, her chest tightened. “This is…” It was all of them. Leeman Calloway. Her parents. Her adoptive mother. Pictured with a bunch of other people, all smiles and laughter as they posed for the camera. Next picture. Her dad kissing her mom on the cheek. Next picture. Calloway with his arm around her adoptive mom. It was really them. It seemed all the pictures were of the same night. A tear dropped from her eye and landed on her mother’s face, distorting the ink as the old photo paper wrinkled a little with the moisture. She hadn’t even realized she’d started to cry.

Maya followed Iann and River. After all this wasn't her show. She kept looking over her shoulder for danger, for someone or something to stop them from investigating. Evidently the house had a plan for them. Glancing over at River Maya noticed her crying. "You okay dude?" she asked, hesitantly stepping forward. She didn't want to give a hug that River didn't want, but did seem like the selkie needed a hug.

"Maybe he's some sort of shape-shifter...like selkies only. Uh." Well honestly Iann had never actually found any proof about shapeshifters who weren't either werewolves or selkies, but. Anything was possible, right? He poked around as well, only looking behind him at the other two when he heard Maya ask if River was okay. "Wha..." Iann came over, looking over River's shoulder at the photos. He reached down and plucked the ones River had already looked at from her hands, squinting at them. "You recognize them? Who are they? These ones..." Iann touched his fingers along the faces that looked familiar, if only in the way they held a resemblance to River herself.

River nodded quickly, sniffling and wiping away some tears when Maya approached her. “Yeah, I’m okay…” Then Iann came over and took some of the photos. “That’s my parents,” she said, pointing them out in the photo. “And that’s Calloway right there. I recognize him from the sheriff’s computer.” She took a deep breath before pointing at a fourth face. “And that’s my adoptive mom.” She handed over some of the photos to Maya too, so she could see, and quickly flicked through the rest of the ones in her own hand. “But I don’t see anything that’s gonna help us in these,” she said quickly with another sniffle. Her tone was curt. Dismissive. Somewhat defeated. “We should try another room. Maybe upstairs?"

Maya took the photos when they were offered to her. It didn't escape her notice that River had avoided her question. She let it happen though, not wanting to prod an already open wound. "Yeah upstairs," she agreed and headed for the stairs. She climbed them carefully, waiting for the stairs to turn into a slide or some other ridiculous booby trap. Instead she was delivered safely to the second floor. Trying the first door on the left Maya found it locked. "Hey, Iann you got a lockpick?" she asked. She could probably suggest to the lock that it open with her magic, but she'd rather keep something in reserve in case they met something more menacing than a locked door.

"Adoptive mom?" Iann said in surprise, lingering in specific at the photo of Calloway with her adopt-o-mom. Everyone in the photos definitely seemed happy. If not good buddies and pals, then maybe good co-workers. But co-workers in what? Here Iann had been assuming that Calloway was the 'big bad' behind River's parents deaths, but now he was reluctantly wondering otherwise. It'd be much simpler if he was bad and they were good, but. Simple wasn't life, was it? If River didn't keep a hold of the photos, Iann pocketed them himself and followed the pair up the stairs carefully. Each stair groaned under his weight, but he tread lightly. One hallway, which allowed Iann to glance into a couple of the other rooms, but he didn't see anything at a glance. He returned to where Maya was with the locked door, his eyebrow raised. "No busting it open?" he asked, pulling out the kit from his other pocket and unrolling it. Crouching down, Iann stuck the tools between his lips, using them when needed to try and pick the lock. He heard a click and Iann turned and looked up at River as he carefully twisted the knob open.

As the newly unlocked door swung open, River’s heart started to pound. All these locked doors meant something had to be hidden here, and she was starting to dread what that might be. She stepped forward and through the doorway into a medium sided bedroom, completely devoid of any furniture. Just moonbeams streaming through the window to hit the hardwood. But when she swung her flashlight up to get a better look, she spotted a small table in the corner littered with tiny objects. She approached it carefully, finding sigils she didn’t recognized, shaped onto the table with sea salt. Scattered around it were pearls, shells, and rocks. “Do you guys know what this is? Some sort of…ritual or something?” she asked, turning back toward Iann and Maya.

Maya shrugged, "Figured I should save the magic in case we like run into a ghost or Frankenstein or something." She stepped out of the way allowing Iann to pick the lock. To her mind the fact that the house was leading them to locked rooms seemed odd. Wouldn't it be better to slowly swing open a door? After all they might not have a lock picking kit. Or maybe the house figured a locked door would pique their interest. Following River into the room she looked around at the various ocean-adjacent objects and the sigils. Mostly she was familiar with her own magic, but this felt vaguely magical. It wasn't as strong as the illusion making the house appear well kempt. "Whatever it is it seems amateur as fuck," she said with a shrug.

Iann looked around first, before coming over to the strange little ritual altar on the table. No bed, no living went on here. Just this ritual table. "Calloway was a witch?" Iann couldn't remember if River mentioned that or not. He wanted to pick up the little tidbits to get a better look and feel, but resisted the urge. "The sigils aren't familiar to me but...I don't know much about, ah, magic related to seafolk," Iann said regretfully. "And whatever this is, it was either meant to impress someone who didn't know any better, or an attempt at a very specific sort of spell. I can't believe the salt stayed...like this. Lovely..." Iann murmured, dying to touch it.

River nodded. "Yeah, I told you he was a witch," she said. She took note of Maya's observation. That the set up looked amateur. She didn't know what that meant in the grand scheme of things. Or what this whole spell set up was even for. Did it have some deeper meaning, or was he charming his laundry done? There was no way of knowing and River hated this. They were only finding more questions, no answers, and she was getting impatient. Her annoyance was obvious on her face, she was sure. She always had a hard time hiding her emotions. "There has to be something else in here," she said, tearing across the room to a closet. She pulled it open. Empty. She darted out of the room, leaving Iann and Maya behind, and started to search the others on the floor frantically, all almost equally as barren. When she returned to the hallway empty handed, she let out a frustrated, ragged breath.

Maya continued to look around. Her eyes looked for something out of the ordinary. Perhaps a clean spot where there ought to be dust. She didn't know much about magic related to sea creatures either and had to rely on her more human senses. Iann's words that the salt had stayed put caught her attention. "Here," she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture, "We can look these up later, see if we can't figure out what they mean." As she said it River, for lack of a better term, freaked out. River scampered around, opening and slamming doors. Maya moved to the doorway to watch her. "I still bet there's something in the basement, although how we're going to get in I'm not sure," she said keeping her voice and demeanor calm

Iann had the luxury of not being particularly affected by any of this; after all it wasn't his family, his danger. He made a grunt of appreciation when Maya thought to take photos of those strange salt sigils with her phone, then followed River back out into the hallway. "River..." he started to say, but his next words were swallowed up by a sharp intake of breath. "Did - did you hear -" Iann fell silent again, when the creaky hinge noise was even louder this time. And it was coming from downstairs. Leaning over the banister, Iann craned his head as he looked down and then he looked back at River. "That basement door's open again. Maybe this time?" Maybe it was time. He headed down, reaching the open door and touching it gingerly. It didn't slam shut, and just opened even more, but not exactly inviting. Iann shone his flashlight down, but he couldn't see the end of the stairs. "Those stairs don't look particularly sturdy."

River started to try to calm herself, taking deep breaths as she stood in the middle of the hallway. She could feel a panic attack threatening her, and she was doing her best to stave it off. Maya's calming tone was helping. But her heart got pounding again when she heard the creaking of hinges downstairs. She wordlessly followed Iann down the stairs to the basement door. He touched it and it didn't slam shut, but her approaching would be the ultimate test. And when she did...nothing. The door stayed open and the creepy basement invited them to come down. She desperately wanted to run down there, but stopped herself. "This feels like a trap, right?..."

Maya's head turned at Iann's question. She had dismissed the noise as the settling of the house. Following the other two downstairs she saw the basement door was open. Apperently the house had decided they were worthy of seeing what was down there. When Iann touched it the door didn't slam or throw him backwards "I mean I'm assuming all of this is a trap," she said, "But I can go down first." Shining her flashlight down the stairs she moved cautiously. The third to last step snapped underneath her. She barely managed to catch herself with the wall and managed to drop her flashlight into the hole in the process. "Aw fuck, can I get some light down here?" she shouted back up the stairs.

"Oh - oh! I gotcha, I got --" Iann slapped at his jacket for a moment, until he pulled out a little glob of what looked like blue plasticine. He pressed his thumbs into it and then lobbed it down the stairs where the bioluminescent thing glowed brighter and gave Maya and the stairs an eerie but visible illumination.

As River saw Maya almost fall into the snapped stair, she didn't wait for Iann to throw his glowing stone down to her. She took off down the stairs, hearing them groan under the quick movement. Once she reached Maya, she reached out to help her up. "Way to take one for the team," she teased, her tone forced. She was trying to stop herself from freaking out again. Stepping over the stair, she stepped onto the basement floor carefully, and when she did, the room lit up like a Christmas tree. Not from any sort of electricity. No, little orbs of light hung in the air near the ceiling. The basement was painted white concrete, pristine compared to the rest of the dilapidated house. Eerily so. And unlike the rest of the house, there was no clutter. No junk. Just a display case on a pedestal with a gold object inside that she couldn't quite make out from how far away she was. "Well that's not creepy at all..."

Once she was on solid stair again Maya rotated her ankle, making sure it wasn't sprained. It felt fine. Her attention was quickly grabbed by the small blob of light Iann tossed down the stairs at them. Shaking off River's worry she replied, "Don't worry about me. I'm fine. And Iann later you're going to have to tell me about that little blob thing." For now though there was a task at hand. Maya followed River into the basement proper. It was too clean, too white. The whole set up set off alarm bells in her head. "See I want to take it and get the fuck out of here, but I've also seen Raiders of the Lost Ark," she said, stepping forward to inspect the pedestal for any sort of booby traps.

"Well someone's going to have to take a closer look at it," Iann said approaching the pedestal. "It wanted to be found...but only after we saw that shrine thing first. And the photos, maybe." Iann looked at River. "This is the payload, and you came here for answers."

River approached the pedestal slowly. Inside was what looked like a pocket watch on a stand. It was delicate. Intricate in design. Looked extremely expensive. "Maya's right, I can't just...." she started, making an exaggerated grabbing gesture. But what if she could? He was right, the house had guided them down here. Gingerly, she pressed her fingertips to both sides of the glass case, tilting it back on a hinge so the pocket watch was exposed. She reached out to grab the watch slowly, but hesitated. “If something happens, y’all better run,” she said, before wrapping her fingers around the golden watch. When she did, her vision whited out. It felt like electricity was coursing up her arm and through her body. Her head flew back, sending her reeling to the ground, and she started to convulse. Her mind was ablaze, flashes of different colored lights, faces, objects. Everything passed too quickly for her to recognize, blurring together in a flurry of painful passes.

Maya wouldn't be surprised if the house allowed River to take whatever this gold pocket watch like artifact and only River. The question was quickly answered as a hard no though. "Holy fuck," she said, but refrained from grabbing River. Contact with her might just injure Maya was well. When it was over she stepped forward carefully, "River, can you hear me?" Her focus narrowed first to making sure River was okay. They could worry about how to better investigate the object after that was settled

In truth, Iann wanted to see what would happen. The convulsions were disturbing definitely - but Iann felt confident that any physical ramifications didn't compare to whatever River might be experiencing...emotionally? Mentally? Psychologically? It took precedent, and he was glad that Maya didn't try to touch the selkie but tried getting a response from River nevertheless. "We'll - if she doesn't change, then we'll take her out of here," Iann said to Maya.

The flashes…they finally faded, and the bright white ceiling of the basement came back into view. River’s eyes were dry, the back of her head hurt, and her body ached all over. She heard Maya’s voice and her eyes flicked over to the witch’s concerned face. “Yeah,” She sat up slowly, looking down at her hands to see the pocket watch gripped in her fist. She opened her hand to find it undamaged. Reaching up to touch the back of her head, she came back with red fingertips, twisting around to see a little red stain of her blood on the white floor. “Shit, what happened?”

Maya sighed in relief when River spoke. She was a little worse for wear it seemed, but not dead or unconscious which was a plus. "Not entirely sure, but I would put that in like a handkerchief or a sock or something before it tries to electrocute you again," she replied. This was probably their cue to get out of here. Any further investigation could be done near a first aid kit. "And we should probably head out too since this house seems to have showed us whatever it wants to show us."

"What happened? What the hell happened to you??" Iann replied to River's question. When he saw the blood on her fingers, Iann came around to eye the blood on the floor. They should leave, but...it wasn't a good idea to leave one's blood on a witch's floor, even if buddy was long dead. "Ah - you two go on? I'm - I'm gonna just clean this up first." Iann was sure Maya would be able to get River out fine, make sure she didn't have a concussion or anything.

"I don't really remember." Taking Maya's advice, River slipped her boot off and took off her sock, dropping the pocket watch into it and shoving it into her jacket pocket. Then she slipped her boot back on and carefully got to her feet. “I didn’t really black out. I sort of….whited out? But it didn’t really show me anything.” What the fuck did this house want from her? Ugh. Every movement hurt as she leaned on Maya for support.

Maya accepted River's weight easily. She glanced down at Iann was cleaning River's blood off the floor. "Okay," she said, "We'll meet you outside." She trusted Iann to clean up. Careful to be gentle Maya helped River up the stairs. Once they were outside she sat River down on the steps of her RV. "Okay, can you tell me your name and the date?" she asked, inspecting River's pupils for dilation. "And if I can have your wrist I want to check your pulse, just in case."

It seemed like whatever happened, the strange timepiece that River took out of the house was like removing the heart of the house. It wasn't like Iann could sense magic himself, but there was a thrum that just seemed to fade. The house became a house, nothing more. Iann felt it was safe then, to dart out of the house to his van, grabbing some enzyme cleaner and other supplies to rid River's blood from the site. Even if the house wasn't imbued any longer, others could still come in here and make use of it with the right skills. And considering River was being hunted down, better safe than sorry. He went up the to ritual alter then as well, nabbing a shell. Just one. No harm in that.

River took a deep breath. “River Iris Philips. It’s January 17th.” She offered her arm to Maya. “I swear I’m fine,” she insisted. She watched as Iann came out of the house after cleaning up the blood. “Thank you guys for coming with me. Seriously.”

No sign of a concussion. River's pulse seemed fine as well. Maya wasn't entirely satisfied, but there didn't seem to be any immediate physical danger. Of course that left plenty of room for potential mental or emotional danger. "Totally dude. And call me if you need anything else yeah?" Maya replied.

River stared at the house again, back to its illusionary self now that they were outside of the barrier. Reaching her hand into her jacket pocket, she gripped the socked watch to make sure what had just happened was real. In her other pocket were the pictures. They hadn’t gotten any clear clues. No smoking guns. No obvious answers. But she was used to this. She often had little to work with when she was trying to find her siblings in the past and had managed. They hadn’t found any sort of map pointing to her parents like she’d hoped, but they’d found a thread to follow, and that was good enough for now.

#chatzy #para #w:iann #w:maya #seizure tw #arc:calloway

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