Like Thieves From The Night

Like Thieves From The Night
Date of Scene:	19 October 2012
Location:	Halloween Town
Synopsis:	Avira, Mercade, and Riku meet up in Halloween Town to investigate rumors of Heartless activity. Amidst the culture shock of the area, some thieves steal something important from Dr. Finklestein's lab! What could it be, and what does it mean?
Cast of Characters:	Riku, Mercade Alexander, Avira

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Mercade Alexander has posed:
THIS IS HALLOWEEN.

"It's a little early." Mercade breathes ominously. His leather overcoat's Detective Brown has been stiwtched to black, and he's been given a ghostly cowl that shrouds his features. His eyes glow with a terrible red light, and the parts of his body visible appear to be translucent. His clothing appears to be tattered and torn, only adding to the spectre-like look.

He looks down at himself. "... You know, I've seen worse, I guess." Mercade comments, as he hovers around the main gate to the town. "It was only a matter of time until we found someplace like this, really."

Avira has posed:
Avira looks distressingly at her hands-more like paws now really-as she flips them back and forth in front of her. Those claws move upward to touch her face, which she can easily feel muzzle her mouth and nose have warped into. And the hair.

So. Much. HAIR.

The hunter looks up at Mercade-seems that becoming a beastly werewolf hasn't really added that much height to her-and looks just as shocked at his appearance. Her own clothing still holds together...but barely, it seemingly ripped and stretched all over to accomodate for her greater muscle mass and bone structure. Her back is hunched and her feet now enormous. When she stands, her heels remain elevated off the ground, not unlike that of a Gargoyle from Mercade's world.

Anyone that looks closely enough at her weapon, additionally, will realize that the Spine no longer seems to be made of shiny mythril. It's real bone now.

"...I didn't know the portals could affect us THIS much." she admits with a bit of wonder, "I hope this wears off, else I'm going to have words with Skoll for secretly biting me when I wasn't looking."

Riku has posed:
"--This is still very weird." Squawk. "Don't give me that. Are we done now?" Squawk. "Right. What's even in there anyways?" Squawk. "Your a fount of information, Dee." Riku sighs, the expellation of breath coming out as a low growl as he makes his way down the hill populated by barren trees and gravestones.

When he first came here, those reaching limbs had looked threathening. But on closer examination, they were just waving. Many of the monsters and other strange and certainly creepy denizens of this place were cheerful and good natured, and it resembled Traverse Town in that way.

At least this was one place where his eyes didn't hurt. It seemed to be night all the time here. Riku looms around a small platform near the bottom of the hill, back hunched and slapping idly at a tendril of vine that had wandered away from making up part of his arm. It wormed back into place, Diablo sitting on one large armored pauldron as he made his way down to the main square. It's Avira he sees first. "Hey Avira. I wasn't expecting to see you here." he laughs faintly. "But then, I wasn't expecting to be here myself. Welcome to Halloween Town." he smiles, and the expression is very sinister as it stretches, jagged edged, past where his check should be.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"I was warned something like this could happen. It's probably not permanent."

He pauses. "Probably." He twitches as he looks over the denizens of the town and the surroundings, his 'skin' crawling a bit. He is not so secure in his soul that he does not feel a bit fearful, no matter how friendly the people here might actually be. "So yeaaaaaaaah, I guess we should- OH GOD IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!" Mercade yells, diving for cover behind a tombstone as Riku appears. He then pokes his head out. "Oh hell, its Riku. And Dee. Sup." He pauses again, then comments, "You look goddamn terrifying, Riku."

He slowly stands up, and shakes his head. "So uh, yeah. Halloween Town. Nice place. What's up with it? You seem like you know a lot more about it than I do."

Avira has posed:
Suddenly something odd happens. "Someone's nearby..." Avira sniffs at the air, "Someone...familiar?" She's not entirely sure about the scent but it feels like she should have smelled it before. Her reaction to Riku is a bit more restrained, though the fur on the back of her neck undeniably stands straight up. "Oh, hello Riku. What a surprise-did you come to investigate those rumors too?" Clearly that must be why she is here and with Mercade no less.

What a creepy smile, Riku. Avira 'smiles' back, though it mostly turns into her showing off how many big, sharp teeth she has right now.

"...Dee?" she asks Mercade, confused. The raven, maybe? Shaking her head, she starts to reach for Mercade's collar to drag him out from behind the tombstone only...one, her claws goes right through him and two, he gets up on his own anyway. "It's our first time as you can probably tell." Avira explains to Riku.

Riku has posed:
Riku startles, then laughs at Mercade's response, which isn't all that comforting because it showcases a /lot/ of very sharp teeth in the process. "Oh. It's you again Mercade. It's okay. I had-- a similar response. I've only been here once before, so I don't know much. This is--" he waves a claw to include the surroundings.

"This is normal, I guess.. for people here." he tries to straighten but the curvature of his back doesn't seem to want to allow that. "Oof. I hope I don't have a back ache after this.. that's going to suck." The raven peers at Avira, then at Mercade, and the raven hops over to sit on the gravestone near him. He seems to be cackling at the wraith detective.

"Yeah. I heard the heartless were getting more active around here. I haven't figured out why just yet, although this seems a busy part of the year."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Dee." Mercade gestures at the raven. "They're Riku's pet, I think?" He indicates, then looks to Riku for confirmation. He stands, brushing his ghostly self off, and he grunts. "It's getting near Halloween. There's always been legends about spirits getting active around this time, and not all spirits are friendly." He glances at a few ghosts playing in the square. "It'd be lazy to just blame it on that though. Maybe something is attracting them, but God knows what would stand out here of all places..." Mercade trails off, chintapping as he thinks.

Avira has posed:
"Oh." Avira looks over at the raven, her eyes narrowing. Something about that bird...well, she wasn't sure exactly what. Maybe it was the feeling of being watched by it so closely. Maybe it reminded her too much of the one that belonged to Magica DeSpell. "Well, it IS getting near Halloween. Maybe that really could be it? But anyway..."

Another toothy grin. "That's why Mercade and I are here! To investigate! If it's not the holiday, then there has to be something here really attracting them. Maybe one of the residents has a really pure heart?" She nudges Mercade, "Oh yeah, dunno if I told you about that incident in the arena."

Avira starts walking towards the square, her big bushy tail swinging behind her. "So this mysterious cloaked figure showed up in the arena after this new guy had fought very impressively. Then he summoned a HEARTLESS DRAGON and tried to take his heart...buuuuut kind of tossed him aside instead after saying it wasn't pure enough. Then they both ran away because this Lamia, Deidra and I were mopping the arena floor with that dragon."

Riku has posed:
"Maybe the other way around." Riku murmurs, smirking in a self-depreciating way as Diablo lets out another sinister cackle of mirth. "I haven't seen very much of this arena but it seems to attract that sort of type, yes. Was the floor shiny and spotless after you got finished with that dragon?" he pauses a moment, smirking and then answers Mercade.

"Actually, it will probably be easier to spot here than anywhere else. I've talked to a couple of people and asked around. It turns out the.. monsters and other people here are just as frightened and uneasy about the heartless as anyone else. They don't like the fact that the heartless actually hurt people."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Wow, that sounds amazing." Mercade walks along with the others, wincing at some of the sudden jumps and rudimentary scares of greeting from the locals. "I didn't think the Heartless were so picky." Mercade comments. "Or maybe he needed something like that for a particular reason?" He seems unsure. "I mean, most Heartless just take anything they can get. But you guys beating the ass of that dragon is good. You've always been one of the best cleaners I know." Mercade jokes, adding onto Riku's running gag.

Mercade nods to Riku. "Friendly ghosts and skeletons. Anything is possible in these worlds, I suppose." He scratches at his ghostly head. "Well, logically if they're Heartless, they'd be looking for a heart of some kind, either literal or metaphorical, right?"

Avira has posed:
"A very unpure heart attracting them, you mean?" Avira asks, beady eyes glancing over to the cackling Diablo for a second. Yeah...definitely did not like that bird. "Oh yeah, sparkly shiny clean. Not bad for my first fight with a dragon, if I say so myself." Avira boasts with a wolfish grin. It's not...entirely the truth, Avira finding her own performance in that fight extremely lacking. But Mercade and Riku don't need to know that. They weren't there to watch. Especially when Mercade is ready to hand out compliments about how awesome she is-she'll gladly take that.

Avira seems to be getting into the 'greetings', gleefully growling back and wiggling her claws at the ghosts and ghouls that say hello on the way. Seems she's catching on quick, especially when Riku mentions they don't hurt people here. Clearly they just scare them! "...say, have the people here said anything about a Pumpkin King?"

Pause, "Sounds like a sound theory to me, Mercade. Maybe some zombie around here is ready to pull out a literal heart or something? Hmmm." Avira sits herself down on the edge of the fountain in the center of the square. "Wait, no, zombies go for brains, that wouldn't work."

Riku has posed:
"Well, almost anything anyways." Riku chuckles quietly. He still looks very awkward with the greetings, but seems more relaxed here than other places. Diablo looks at Avira, beady eyes giving her an amused look. He fluffs up his feathers, flapping once or twice before setting about to preening feathers.

" They do, but I haven't met him yet. I'm not sure about the heart thing but-- I wouldn't be surprised either way. It makes sense, considering who they are usually chasing after. The heartless don't seem too bright to me. Monsters sheparded by bigger monsters who are-- and so on." he smirks a toothy smile. "And I would have not known what you were talking about until I came here, Avira. Searching the worlds is-- somewhat of an education."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade appears to be ignorant of any particular malice from the bird, chalking it up to 'raven things'. "That /is/ true. The Heartless seem to go straight for random hearts on their own, but if someone is controlling them... Who knows what their objective could be. It's like we're facing some kind of horrible zombie horde."

Mercade pauses, looking over at a couple shuffling zombies passing by. "Sorry, no offense." They giggle. Apparently that was a compliment to them. He coughs nervously, and looks back to the pair. "I admit, it's the first time I've been someplace so... different. I've been able to generally relate to everything I had encountered so far, but this? This is new to me. I'm getting serious culture shock here."

Avira has posed:
It was just like that fancy-looking 'dog' that followed Gilgamesh around. Enkidu, he called it. This bird was a lot smarter than just some animal, Avira was sure of it! Avira narrows her eyes and snorts through her muzzle. "I've met him...briefly. He's been out of his world before."

"Most don't seem to bright. That dragon, though, it talked. And I've seen a few people that can...kind of control them, it seems." Surely this is all a HUGE surprise to Riku! "Oho, ain't it? That's why I do all this travelling! The more you know~" she waggles her claws.

Grinning, she stands. "Fun, isn't it? I wonder if there are more places that'll chance you so much like this! Ahem, anyway, so back to business. Riku, you've been chatting up the locals. Any idea what kind of celebrations usually go on for Halloween here?"

Riku has posed:
"That was Manhattan for me, actually. Or maybe that was just the concussion talking." Riku starts to say something else when Diablo gives him a beady eye. Squawk. The teenager raises an eyebrow at the bird. "What do you want now, Dee?" Diablo flaps onto his arm, pulling his way up to the armored shoulder by biting into the thornvines.

The raven starts chewing on the thorns that make up his hair, warbling low and pacing from side to side. Riku nods absently, looking towards the town. "Probably Avira-- I mean-- everybody has a different definition of 'normal' and--" he's startled back into focus by a titanic SPROING that apparently means something to the denizens as everybody takes cover. There is an explosion and a flash of light coming from a crooked building nearby, a smoke cloud forming a skull drifting out of the windows.

This also seems to be par for the course as everyone starts to brush themselves off, pick up any still twitching or flailing limbs that have come off. A zombie chases after his head, gets it mixed up with someone elses, and there is a few moments of awkward conversation as the two exchange heads.

Apparently this has happened before. Nobody seems to think very much of it, even of the small and shadowy shapes creeping out of the smoking building. Riku tries to take it in stride, looking at the building then turning away back to Avira.

"From what I've put together. Halloween is the time where everyone leaves town. It's a competition of sorts for some. They pick locations where they can scare people really good and then swap stories about it when they come back."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Yeah, I could see it. Concussions make everything look weird sometimes. Though if you ever need someone to show you around Manhattan and explain anything unfamiliar, I'd be glad to. We can take Avira long too." Mercade grins spookily.

The SPROINGsplosion frightens the hell out of Mercade again, causing him to lunge behind the fountain, an ornate pistol out and pointing at the offending house. His aim shakes. "Jesus Christ. What the hell was that?" He stands again, slipping the gun back into his coat as he rejoins the others. "Well, I guess that makes sense in an area where fright is considered a good thing."

Avira has posed:
Avira freezes for a moment and gives Mercade a long look about that Manhattan combat. Suspicion? She's quick to recover though, "Haha, as long as I get some pizza out of it." she teases, easily smoothing over the awkwardness.

Everyone around her starts to hit the deck, though Avira notably does not, watching with curiosity. Her furry little ears perk up and swivel towards the noise seconds before the explosion happens. Only then does she dive downward, covering her head. "Ugggh, it smells like burnt death." she groans, wrinkling her snout. Pulling herself up to a seated position, she looks over towards the building and frowns a mighty frown. "Soooo if the town is left empty...who'd protect it if it gets invaded by Heartless? Or...stop somebody from stealing something?"

She giggles a growly giggle at Mercade and stands, strolling to the building that seems to be the source of the explosions, "Maybe these Heartless here were sent to scout this place out."

Riku has posed:
"Sure. I've got a few places I'd like to see in Northern Manhattan. You know what we were talking about earlier with keys? I think I've gotten something on that--" Riku jerks a thumb at the building, idly slapping his hand back into alignment as it had started to unravel again. "Anyways. That's happened twice already since I've been here. That's Dr. Finklestein's place, from what I've--"

"THIEVES!" A scratchy, crotchety voice bellows from the smoking window causing Riku to turn towards the harsh screech. "That's new though." "Come back here, you umbral goons!" a fist shakes from the window, several fists in fact, some of them mechanical. "You masses of non-standard tenebrous material! I'll rend your quasi-material renditions back into energy packets!"

"I think nothing is stopping them even when everybody is here. Let's go." Diablo flies off his shoulder, following as Riku lopes after the disappearing shadows heading towards a giant graveyard.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"There's always time for some New York Pizza." Mercade replies easily.

But there are thieves! "What ho, the game is afoot!" Mercade says. He pauses, and looks at the pair. "I've always wanted to say that." He then looks back at the thieves and begins bolting after them, ghosting along. "Let's go after them!" Adrenalin rises, the excitement of the chase turning Mercade from a jumpy son of a gun into a criminal-tracking machine.

Avira has posed:
Avira seems to perk at the name 'Dr. Finklestein'. Could it be? Suddenly the crotchety tones of the good doctor grace her ears and Avira suddenly giggles with glee. "A mad scientist!" she says a little too excitedly. The disappointment of her conclusions on the Heartless presence here basically being wrong doesn't last for long in the face of this.

She takes off after Riku and Mercade, not really noticing that after a few sets she winds up dropping to all fours and chasing after them as so. "Wonder what they stole~" she says as she bypasses Mercade, all too quickly overtaking the fleeing Heartless.

She is definitely having far too much fun like this, she realizes. Perhaps at heart, she really was a hunter!

Riku has posed:
A gaggle of shadows are collescing in the graveyard, one of them holding a ring of keys almost bigger than it is. Some of the keys are massive, almost a foot long. As it drags the keys Avira is swiftly gaining ground. The ground rumbles underfoot as the shadows converge on one particular spot, trying to make it to some mausoleum towards the outer left edge.

Riku tries to keep up with Avira but finds movement difficult because he's thinking about it too much and thus, is the last one to follow as something erupts from the ground in their path, metal teeth chomping and arms flailing. (http://www.khwiki.net/Prison_Keeper) A skeletal gravekeeper frowns, saying mournfully. "And I just put those new graves in."

The shadow with the keys climbs up into the prison keeper, closing the cage behind it while others continue to stream towards the mausoleum.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade charges forward for great justice!

And then skids to a halt as the massive Heartless appears. "Oh god. Why is it always the big ones!?" He yells in frustration, then ducks a flying tombstone. "All right." He flicks his hands, and the two black, twisted guns appear in his hands, the ghostly detective leaps to the attack! "Let's do this!" He flips, using his legs to clamp onto the bottom of the cage and using his momentum to swing upwards, firing a barrage of bullets up under the creature! The graveyard rings with the wash of gunfire-laden thunder!

Avira has posed:
And here Avira thought these things stole hearts-apparently not even keys are safe! Or maybe they're just attracted to shiny, jangly objects as well but this seemed far too deliberate.

She falters a little as that ground begins to shake, allowing the key-carring Heartless to gain distance on her that puts it out of immediate lunging range. Growling, she presses on and makes that leap, aiming to tackle the thief...

...only for the much bigger Heartless to burst out of the ground and intercept her. Awkwardly, she collides with the Prison Keeper and is subsequentially smacked down to the ground. Rattling her head, Avira picks herself up onto her feet with one arm for support against the ground. The free hand reaches behind her to procure her weapon, which truly has become all bone in this world. "Hey, I've heard of this kind before!" It was in Traverse Maniacs! That Heartless with the cage! "Riku, I'll flank him on that side. Mercade, don't shoot me please!" Not that he has when they've fought together before. Avira's a bit bigger now than before though but it hardly seems that way as she circles around the Heartless with ease before making that leap up to attack it in midair.

...when she does, she only seems to get in one, maybe two hits in at a time. Avira is not exactly well-practiced in the realm of air combos.

Riku has posed:
The creature spasms and jerks, swatting large claws at Mercade one after another. Avira gets her hits in, knocking the Heartless back and forth with a couple of solid clangs. It then starts to go into a spin, arms extended and jaws chomping wildly as the Prison Keeper spins more and more out of control.

Riku nods, calling out. "Got it!" as he takes cover from the wild spinning behind a larger tomb. Several more gravestones get knocked over, prompting some of the residents to moan and grumble at the 'kids' in creaky voices not to make so much noise and get off the well manicured yellowed lawn of the graveyard grounds. The prison keeper ricochets off several of the larger tombs before starting to slow down again, Riku lunges forwards, a crack of thunder reverberating through the space as it strikes the Prison Keeper, sword slicing at the connection between cage and keeper.

The connection parts, cage tumbling to the ground. A disoriented shadow who was holding the keys tumbles out, yellow eyes swirling. It collapses on top of the keys, still clutching at them tenaciously.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Don't worry! I won't!" Mercade weaves and dodges through the claws, looking totally awesome as he flips and narrowly avoids the claws.

But then he spins. Mercade can't dodge that, he's on the cage! "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOA!" Mercade yells, his guns going flying from his grip. "I'M GONNAAAAAAAAAA..." What he's going to do is unknown, because that's when Riku cuts the cage. Mercade promptly falls to the ground, crashing in a heap. The tangle of metal parts, Mercade groaning. "Ugggggh." He says eloquently, staggering out of the pile. Looks like ghosts aren't immune to getting piled. He stands, shaking his ghostly visage, and he glares at the creature, then up to the remains of the Keeper. "Avira! I'm going to force it down! Riku, don't let this thing get away!"

Mercade lunges, leaping up into the air and rebounding off of a ceepty leafless tree, launching over the Prison Keeper... And out comes a pump-action shotgun. Mercade levels it, unleashing a series of deafening blasts from it into the top of the beast, using the bullet impact to try to knock it down into Avira's specialty range!

Avira has posed:
The spinning forces Avira to flatten herself down against the ground to avoid being slapped around or, worse, bitten. (A werewolf getting bitten? How improper!) Suddenly she rolls to the side, narrowly avoiding a gravestone as it falls over. Whew.

Riku expertly severs the cage from the keeper and Avira leaps up to finally act, scrambling after the newly released 'top' part. "You got it, Mercade!" she calls out, now leaping from gravestone to gravestone as Mercade does the dirty work to get it to where she can really tear into it. If he succeeds...

...well, the difference is very striking. Her blows flow freely after one another and she seems to smoothly transition the grip on her 'blade' with each swing. Even with these large paws and claws, she's pretty nimble at manipulating that handle.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade finds out that physics are weird. He didn't think his shotgun would keep /him/ launched too. He'll have to experiment with this too.

After he pulls himself out of the grave he fell into after his shotgun salvo with a loud "WAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" and a thud. He pops his head out, and reaches a hand out, yelling to Avira, "LOOK OUT, AVIRA!"

Hopefully, she'll be all right, Mercade is too busy climbing out!

Avira has posed:
Avira seems so intent on beating down the remains of the top half of the prison keeper that she doesn't seem to notice the two big claws descending upon her. For what Mercade see, both strike her fully and drive her down into the ground. Dirt, dust, and rocks are kicked up in their wake, obscuring the remains of the impact. But when they fade, only piles of rubble are seen. Seconds pass.

Suddenly a claw erupts from the ground, grasping at the air. Horrible moaning is heard afterwards as Avira claws her way out of what was a freshly dug, then freshly filled, grave.

"Did we get it?" she coughs.

Riku has posed:
Riku holds up the keyring. "Let's get this back to the doctor. You alright, Avira? Mercade?" Diablo flutters onto his shoulder as he helps pull Avira to her feet.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade nods, and rushes to the others. "All right. Looks like we're all in one piece. Let's go get this to the, uh... doctor... And take it from there."

Avira has posed:
Avira stands and shakes herself off exactly like a wet dog would. Only she sends dirt and dust flying everywhere. "To the doctor!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Some time later, the group meets up with Doctor Finkelstein, who, while appreciative of the returning of the keys, reveals that one of them is missing.

What could it mean? The group will have to find out later...