Missing Misfits

Missing Misfits
Date of Scene:	31 October 2013
Location:	Inner Town
Synopsis:	What's This? What's This? The King of Halloween is missing!?
Thanks to:	Lionheart
Cast of Characters:	Tifa Lockhart, Avira, Deelel, Aerith, Emperor Kuzco

---

Lionheart has posed:
Mwaahahaha!

It's Halloween, so what better place to spend it than Halloween Town! Of course, the citizens have set out to make this a night to remember. Orange and white lights set the center of town into an eerie glow as green ooze runs through the fountains. Everything from Jack-o-Lanterns to full-on human skeletons peek out from windows as the ghoulish citizens have certainly out-done themselves, making sure the town is decked out for the festivities.

With the merging of worlds, this place certainly has more people than the usual sparce streets. Children from other worlds are taking advantage of the strange ability of this world to twist them into monsters, going from door to door to collect candy. Someone has probably had a word with the citizens about not including anything too dangerous, but that doesn't mean that there aren't some strange 'goodies' being handed out tonight. There's even a few adults getting into the act, and the ghouls here don't seem to care if you're 'too old for Trick or Treat'.

While there is laughter and screams and the general joy of Halloween, there are a few oddities. A couple of houses are dark, and there have been no signs of either Jack Skellington or the Mayjor. Never the less, people seem to be enjoying themselves.

A man dressed as some sort of circus-performer zombie is doing acrobatics, another seems to be swallowing swords, including a view of it inside his chest. The antics seem to amuse some of the children hanging about. A grizzled woman who looks like a witch from some children's nightmare is hanging out little cups of some steaming refreshment, along side an equally haggard man who seems to have a tray of odd colored candy apples.

There are a few people milling about who look worried though. Things don't seem to be going off quite as planned. An event at some sort of main stage has left people waiting, with no sign of when, or if it will actually go on.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
She came here before. She didn't like it. But sometimes you gotta curb that for the greater good. And this is one of those times. The barmaid sighs to herself as she crosses the portal, knowing before she's on the other side what's going to happen. It happens in every world, but this world is particular.

What appears on the other side looks like a sort of zombie, undead. Greenish skin, bloodshot eyes, scars and wounds here and there that looks like they've been there forever. But no, they aren't fresh or anything, so they don't actually hurt. But she can practically feel it either way, just by visuals alone.

"What's what I meant." She seems to finish a sentence that she started with Aerith on the other side. She shakes her head, crossing her arms as she takes a look at the state of the town "So there's something odd going here, or so they said... if you ask me, its always odd... but disapearances aren't always just to scare people it seems."

Aerith has posed:
The first thing one would notice about a certain woman with chestnut-brown hair and green eyes is that she's not wearing her usual pink and red, or the denim jeans and jacket one is used to.

She wears a dark red longcoat on her now and a pair of black leather gloves on her hands, with dark brown leather pants and cuff boots. The black silk shirt underneath only increases the majesty of the whole getup, and the tricorne atop her head finishes the puzzle. There's even a white feather in it!

The British cutlass on her right hip? Well that's for show. It's not real at all.

Aerith looked down at her gloves with a grin. "Well I don't care much about that right now. All I know is that I look amazing." She ran her hands over the coat. "And you look sufficiently freaky, perfect for here."

Avira has posed:
Avira HAS been here before! She knows of this world's unusual properties that give those that arrive a spooky sort of appearance. It's this effect in particular that seems to draw her to this town on this particular day. Nevermind that Halloween Town must have killer Halloween Parties.

Odds are high she didn't arrive alone since everyone and their mom insists that Avira never go anywhere alone anymore.

Once she crossed the threshold into this world, Avira got a pretty interesting surprise. Well over a year ago when she was here, she found herself in the form of a werewolf. Her appearance isn't too far off from that-she has, once again, become the black-furred mutate. In this body, she shows a mix of snake, raven, and wolf traits, the most striking of which being a huge pair of feathered wings. Unlike before, this change isn't met with dismay at all.

Happily, she mingles with people and samples the more unusual food fare the locals have wheeled out. If anything, later she could proudly say, 'Yeah, I definitely ate an eyeball on halloween.'

Emperor Kuzco has posed:
It's halloween, which means that all the scary monsters come out to play! And running away from just such a scary monster is a particular /donkey/. With a crab having snapped a claw shut on his tail, the beast of burden runs through the crossroads straight towards a portal, hoping that he can shake the crab. And after enough jumps and dashes, just before he makes it to the portal, the crab comes off! POP!

And so, he arrives into Halloween town. Bravely, he's jumped through the shadowy barrier between worlds. Bravely, the llama known only as Kuzco stands at the edge of town. Quickly, the beast looks at his feet, at his back.

"Yeaaa-aaah! I'm a llama again!"

"... wait..."

It would appear that Yzma had temporarily turned him into a donkey while attempting to 'cut his life short' - but the power of the portals had overriden this tiny little temporary spell. He appears to be wearing two big mean horns on his head, and a 'nail' goes trough his skull. His fur is all patched up from different animal skins, and even his legs don't match.

With a most amused look, he stares at the camera. "Halloween town..." He mutters - just before glancing back at the people that are gathering. Man, are they gathering for him!? The Llama approaches slowly. In fact, he /tip-toes/.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel is totally here she's not got Halloween last year she was still very much in the, why is there a burning ball of fire in the sky phase. She's since got over there and now here she is in Halloween town, she's looking quite different really, the lower half of her body has fused into a serpent tail that has brightly glowing scales on the back in a circuit line pattern. She's been a bit on the surprised side but she's rolling with it. Deelel has got used to the various worlds changing her were she goes but this form isn't too bad knowing Naggetta for so long she doesn't think too badly of such a form. She following after Avira hissing a bit surprised at her now forked tongue and she notes at Avira.

"It's quite sss the experience here."

Lionheart has posed:
For the most part, things don't seem that unusual for this unusual place. Either that, or the unusual is so usual that it's hard to figure out what stands out as different. With so many visitors, this could have easily been dubbed the 'Best Halloween Ever!' (tm), but alas, the King of Halloween is still missing. Here and there, a few people murmur about the loss of their skull-faced leader of festivities.

A pair of children seem to spot the tip-toeing Llama, "I wonder if it pops out candy!" One says, and the other seems to try to pull on one of Kuzco's ears, "It's just a dumb costume. I mean, they wouldn't have a /real/ llama here."

Eyeballs might just be the start of the strange things. The ones that Avira are offered, at least, seem to be of the gummi variety ... so far, anyways. One of the smoking potions being passed around seems to make people talk as if they were burping words, while another seems to make people breathe blue fire. The children seem to love that one. Aerith and Tifa get offered some of that. It's... spicy.

The acrobats finish up their performance to a bit of aplause, only to have the sword swollower take his own head off to bow. There are a trio of ghosts hanging out next to a darkened building, making commentary as if they were the experts on Halloween. "There needs to be more /scares/." One comments in a mock-British accent. "No, more ghouls!" The other chimes in, "More food!" And pats his oversized ghostly belly, tossing a bit of chocolate which passes right through him into a pile beneath him.

Avira isn't the only wolf-ish looking one, and a man who looks like a movie-version of a werewolf gives her a wink, and a boa constrictor hanging from one of the strings of lights tries to strike up a conversation with Deelel, head bobbing back and forth with the movement of her 'tail lights'.

Emperor Kuzco has posed:
"Hey! I am /NOT/, a Pinata!" Kuzco points out when he hears one of the kids wonder if he pops out candy. But then one decides to reach for his ear.

"Hey-Hey-hey-hey-hey! No touchy! Nnnnnoooooo touchy!" The Kuzco suddenly backs away from the kids and starts making mock karate-motions at them. "No no. Noooo touchy." Hoof-chop. "No touch. Got it?"

Pause.

"No touch."

Followed by a few more karate chops. "Now what is going on here? Is this a party for /moi/?! And I will have you know, I /am/ a real llama. I am after all..."

"THE GREAT..."

...

"I said... I am THE GREAT..."

He looks around, clearly looking for someone. Or multiple some-ones. Instead, there's just the sound of crickets as people look towards the loudmouth. "One moment."

The llama grabs a cellphone out of his fur (where does he keep it!?) and dials a number with his hoof, and then continues on; "Emmanuel? Where are the theme-song guy?" ... "What do you _mean_ this is a bank holiday!?"

Avira has posed:
Gummi eyeballs so far. Avira just knows in this place that the real deal won't be far behind and she is definitely going to score some bragging rights to that one tonight. Blue fire drink? She'll pick some of that up later.

Looking thoughtful, Avira steps around Deelel to observe her transformation, "Huh, I wouldn't have expected that. Then again I'm not sure what I would have expected for your kind in here." A virus maybe? Would Deelel's lines turn purple? That'd technically be scary though not necessarily to the natives here.

Feeling eyes upon her, she sees that other werewolf and winks back at him with a toothy grin. One of her ears flicks around to pick up on the ghostly conversation, which strikes her as a little weird. "Huh. But this party is pretty great. Lots of people this year." Still, she looks to the empty stage. "Feels like something's missing though."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith glanced around at the festivities, anxious to try one out first. But of course, she hears a familiar voice and turns toward its direction. Ah, there she is! A grin lighting up her features, Aerith headed toward the were-lady. "Avira~!"

Maybe this was a good time to at least hang out, try to get to know her.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart shakes her head at Aerith "Well I've had enough scares last time I came here, I prefer not to hang around this place when I can avoid it." She sighs "But we're here for a reason at least, so I'll be fine." She blinks at the offered potion. Well, people seem to be drinking it, so she takes a sip, making a face "ugh, spicy. I guess some people like this?" She shakes her head.

She's not really surprised at a talking llama in this place either "Great what? Spitter?" She tilts her head, not sure what that llama wants. And music? Hrm, okay.

She kidna wishes she had her own theme song.

Emperor Kuzco has posed:
"No no no! I am the GREAT _KUZCOOOOOOOOOO_!" Kuzco answers, trying to draw out his own name in song. But without a proper backup singer...

"Man, it just doesn't have the right 'feel' without him around. /That's/ it. Tomorrow, I'm abolishing bank holidays!"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel looks to Avira for a moment and says "I have no idea what to expect myself given how i'm prehaps more alien to most worlds. Also did you hear a Lama?"

She tilts her head looking about, naw it couldn't have been. Who knows a virus can be all sorts of things in the grid after all often bordering on abontation to program and man.

"Parties are good a bit of time to relax I'm thinking humm music is missing Avira, are you thinking what I am thinking?"

Aerith gets a tail wave from Deelel as she contiune to speak with Avira.

Lionheart has posed:
It's always hard to tell, with the strange magic of Halloween Town, which individuals are outsiders and which are not. Sure, you can guess, but sometimes it surprises you. The werewolf man grins back, and his muzzle extends wider than one might expect, like he might eat someone with it. Luckily, he gets distracted by a little girl who wants a picture taken. Apparently, horror has become amusing, at last for one night.

"That was terrible." A ghost mutters at Kuzco's attempt at singing. "Absolutely horrible." The other agrees. "He sounds like a strangled cat." The fat one mutters, rubbing his belly. The other two look at him, then back at the llama. "You're right, he was actually pretty good." "Like something dying. It reminds me of the old days." The other two sigh, as the middle one burps.

Only after they finish appraising Kuzko do they turn to Avira. "Oh, well, it is quite the event." The first nods, "But you see, it just isn't the same as last year." He rests his head on his hand, boredly. "I like candy." The third chimes. "It's just not Halloween without Jack." The first continues, "And where is the mayor? Shouldn't he be doing something about this? We should be /scaring/ children, not entertaining them!" The round ghost grins, "I like the kids. There's better food because they're here." ... "All you think about is your stomach." ... "I don't have a stomach."

The snake seems to continue to follow Deelel, as if it believed her tail was actually a snake and ignoring the human part. It's got an overly large belly, as if it had eaten something /big/ recently.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart tries to ignore the scarier parts, concentrating on what she knows about. She frowns at the llama's 'singing', because she agrees with the others, it sounded terrible. Pause. Wait, those were compliments? She'll never understand this world. She shakes her head again. "Where is Jack anyway?" She wonders as well "I haven't seen him in a long time. I heard that this is his hometown, he fits right in too. He tends to like spooking things up, as if that was the most fun thing ever." She shrugs a bit. "He's not bad though.

Aerith has posed:
"Well isn't this about having fun? I mean, sometimes it's good to be afraid, if only for a laugh or two." She said this over her right shoulder as she approached Avira. "Nice getup! I figured this place would give you something like that, but I didn't think it'd go quite this far." She giggled. "So, what do you think of mine?"

Emperor Kuzco has posed:
"Wha- hey!" Kuzco mutters, shaking his hoof at the bunch of ghosts who start to say he was terrible... and then... compliment him. The Llama ends up sitting on his rear and tilts his head down, not really sure what to say in return.

They complimented him, but now he's not sure he really wants their compliments. He keeps his head down as he gets on all fours and starts to kind of 'waddle' towards Tifa and the rest, listening in on them. Also, he figures Tifa might save him if that snake decides to gobble up Deelel and then decides they are still hungry.

"A party without a host isn't a party at all. This is an outrage!" The Llama mutters.

Avira has posed:
"I think I did hear a talking llama. A very familiar talking llama." Avira says thoughtfully, peering over at the poor beseiged emperor. "Kuzco, ran for mayor of Traverse Town. Sadly didn't win." Though the MCP seems to have not completely ruined the place so maybe her fears over that move were unfounded.

"Music you say..." Avira looks thoughtful and /grins/, "Yeah, I think I am-"

But before a musical can spontaneously emerge, as was wont to do around princesses and the like in these lands, she finds a few things interrupting her. Like those ghosts. "...oh yeah! Jack! That's what's missing. Where is he? Shouldn't he be all over this?"

Then Aerith approaches her. "Give or simply reveal my /true/ form." Avira says in a wry voice. "Yours...uh...you don't actually look all that scary which is kind of surprising. People usually wind up scary here. I guess pirates are scary to some people..." she trails off, thinking of her last experience in Port Royale.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith shrugged. "Well I suppose that's one person's opinion of it." She shook her head. "So Jack's from here, huh? Funny, I'd have expected him to be around. But if he's the one thing missing from all this, we should go find him."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart hmms "I think it depends on the pirate. I heard stories in the bar, pirates with missing eyes, or a beard made of snakes, or one of them had horns like a devil." She hmms "But Aerith isn't really that imposing I suppose." She nods about Jack "Yeah, I saw him when I came here the first time, he was right at home."

She lifts an eye at the approaching llama "You're not from around here either, you don't seem very scary."

Emperor Kuzco has posed:
"Ah, you know of me!" Kuzco overheard Avira and suddenly changes his former lowered-head posture to one of royal upright-ness. Looking of so proud. "It is a shame. The only reason he won is because he /cheated/! I mean, how could they have doubted the effectiveness of the Hammah!?" Kuzco demands to know.

He then quiets down a /teensy/ bit. "Hey! I am plenty scary. I mean, looks at this." He taps his hoof against the nail driven through his head. "And look at all this fur." He points at the patches of mismatching fur.

"I mean, Orange and Gray!? That's just _murder on the eyes_. Nothing more horrifying than an Emperor who doesn't look his part."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart shakes her head "Not as scary as some of the others here." She points her thumb at the other 'monsters'. "But there's something about context too... what scared me the most was Reize as a ghost. He was digging out of a hole and grabbed my leg. I was not in a state of mind to play nice at the time. Probably one of the times I was the most scared ever."

Lionheart has posed:
The depressed llama doesn't seem entertaining to the children any longer, although one little girl does put a couple of pieces of candy down in front of his nose and reach to pat his head. Oh, and then there's that werewolf fellow from earlier, who seems to be looking in the direction of the Emperor, eyeing him up as if he looked... like dinner.

"Jack? Jack's mis--" The fat ghost starts, but one of the others shuts him up quickly with a hand over his mouth. "You know you're not supposed to tell anyone that we can't find Jack." The third ghost smacks his blabbering counterpart, but his hand passes right through. "You're both idiots."

"It seems there's been quite a few disapperances lately." Another voice joins in the mix. The young zombie performer from earlier, who leans against the building next to the ghosts. Was he there a moment before? It's hard to tell.

"Stay out of this, outsider!" One of the ghosts hisses, but the man with the sunken, washed out eyes smirks.

"No one's really sure where Jack is, and the Mayor is missing, too. If you're looking for information, the wolf over there might be able to tell you something. He was talking about seeing something strange." The zombie points towards the wolf, who still seems to be slathering drool over the prospect of llama.

"If you tell everyone, it'll get out and then Halloween will be ruined!" One of the ghosts wails. This alone, probably draws more attention than he had intended, and his friend quickly places a hand over his mouth. "Could you... you know, keep that on the down-low? We don't want to scare people... well.. I mean we /want/ to scare people, but we don't want to scare them /away/." The fat ghost chimes in, "Yeah, if they all leave, there will be less food." He sulks.

Deelel has posed:
Deelel sliterhs along with Avira at this point.

"I know I must be hearing ... or it could be Kuzco."

She tilts her head a little bit and she has to agree now as what she knows with MCP and well whatever he may be up to. She does grin a bit showing she has snake like fanks woops aldo she's hungry and humm A Lama would be...she shakes her head at that chain of thougths this town may be havihng a bit of an effect on her.

"They can be such."

then comes Jack she or mention of Jack and he's run off or something else has gone on. She looks to the ghsot and then nods.

"Jack running off at this time of year might be not a suprise but the mayor that does sound odd..."

She figured jack would be going elsewhere in the world after all.

Emperor Kuzco has posed:
When the little girl puts down the candy in front of Kuzco, the Llama's gaze softens up. But her reaching out to pat his head suddenly has him on the defensive. A quick movement, a little motion that tells 'do not touch'. But... then... it's just a little girl.

"Fine..." He mumbles. "But only as long as the candy lasts." He mumbles and sits down, toying with the candy... fumbling and failing to undo the wrappers. He's only got hooves after all. It would appear that he misses how the werewolf is drooling over the possibility of 'llama snacks'. He's listening to the ghosts in the meantime though, while the girl pets his head.

And then...

DRIP....


DRIP....


The Llama makes a sound like 'ewww' and brings his hand up, and touches the muzzle of the werewolf that is 'drooling over him'. Blink. Blink blink.

His hoof moves. Lips are drawn up by the hoof, and the Llama looks up as he himself foolishly reveals the beast's massive teeth. His eyes widen and his ears fold back.

"Mommy."

Avira has posed:
"Pirates can get really nasty." Avira comments and leaves it at that, unwilling to elaborate on that particular opinion here.

Narrowly, Avira avoids the urge to pet the llama. "I do know of you. I remember you running." Avira notes with a shrug, "Well, there will be a re-election eventually, right? And you're still an emperor which I think ranks higher than mayor."

Where Jack is seems to be on everyone's mind, including the non-natives. Avira gives the zombie performer a good look since that guy looks like the people that live here. Then again, it could just be a transformation at work, much like Avira is experiencing right now. "Missing persons? Funny, I think I was hearing reports of that happening in another world entirely not too long ago. So the wolf.." ...the wolf who is drooling over Kuzco! Oh no! Time to intervene clearly.

"Hey there~" Avira interjects as she approaches the pair. "Got a moment, buddy?" Her sharp, almost serpentine gaze, remains on the wolfman, "I think you can help me out."

Aerith has posed:
Aerith gave a sigh as she listened in on the conversation. Wasn't like there was anything to do but that, but as soon as the werewolf tried to eat mister llama there, she smiled. "This could be interesting," she muttered.

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Tifa Lockhart hears all of the talk about Jack around her. That's going with the rumors she's heard... Disapearing citizens, Jack would be part of them too? She hmms, taking Aerith apart a bit "It seems something is afoot, if people are going missing... Think we should look into that? They couldn't gone far, sometimes things are hiding in plain sight after all. Maybe we should look around the village."

Lionheart has posed:
The one who had interrupted the ghosts certainly does look like he fits in here, but from what the ghosts said, he was as much an outsider here as they were. Just who he is, however, remains a mystery. OoooOOOOO. Especially as... the minute the group's attention is turned to the werewolf, he vanishes.

There's nothing quite as embarassing as being caught drooling by a she-wolf. The werewolf's ears tuck back and he quickly wipes slobber off of his muzzle, straightening up from what was clearly a stalking posture. It seems Avira stepped in just in time to save Kuzco from becoming a midnight snack.

"Uh. What can I do for you?" The werewolf doesn't look quite like those that Avira is more familiar with, at least up close. He has human skin with wolfish brown features, with extra long sharp fangs that don't look like they should fit in his mouth.

Everyone else seems to be going about their business, except for those around the stage. The 'hour' that the show will start seems to have been crossed off, yet again, in bloody red paint.

Just as Tifa suggests investigating, though, there is a scream, and a clatter. Out from one of the alleyways rolls one of the trays that the old hunchback had been using to pass out goodies. He's nowhere to be seen.

Aerith has posed:
Aerith turns toward the location of the scream... and her eyes narrow as the tray rolls out, swiveling to a stop. "Okay... now it just got serious." She puts a hand on the saber, as if it would do anything to help, and headed toward the source of the disturbance. "Guess we'll have to party later."

Emperor Kuzco has posed:
"Of course! And when that re-election comes, I will beat him like a true Emperor!" Kuzco points out - after Avira rescues him. He's quick to scoot right behind Avira, touching her shoulders and keeping her between the big wolf and her.

He points his hoof at the big bad wolf, "Hah!" He declares, before noticing the sudden scream down the alleyway. "W... what was that!?" The scaredy-cat llama demands to know. He points in its general direction... and by the time people look back towards the Llama, he's gone!

A few kids point the way he ran however. Right back the the portal. It seems that he got the jitters. "He ran away."

Tifa Lockhart has posed:
Screaming usually isn't good. She nods to Aerith, and literally jumps over the nearby bench as she moves toward the scream. She doesn't know what's going on, but she's sure its trouble now "Maybe we'll find our culprit right now it seems."

Avira has posed:
Kuzco zips behind the tall form of Avira. The temporary set of wings upon the girl neatly blocks Kuzco from view, shielding the llama from further drooling by the wolfman.

Strange about that wolfman. Upon closer inspection up front, Avira would say that he was an outsider of some kind. "Just looking for a little info, is all." Avira says casually, meeting his eyes, "What can you tell me..."

She pauses for dramatic effect.

"...about Jack Skellington's location right now?"

Deelel has posed:
Deelel has picked up some information of woth here that something as Tifa put it is indeed a foot. Right now Deelel lacks feet however, which she finds funny for some reason. She however lets eveyrone else head on their way she does pause abotu the scream and then looks to Kuzco and tilts her head.

"We're lucky he didn't do what he did to the last town he controled before this."

She say sno more however as the Lama makes his exit.

"That would be a good idea we would like to know where Jack might be."

She flicks out her tongue a little bit.

Lionheart has posed:
The sudden scream seems to startle the wolf-man as much as it does anyone else. He growls a bit, fur standing on end. It seems to have brought an abrupt pause to the festivities. As much as everyone was trying to hide the fact that things were going wrong, it appears that no amount of hiding can save Halloween.

"Halloween is ruined!" Sobs the fat ghost, who sinks down onto his pile of candy. The other two ghosts try to console him.

Parents seem to call to their children, looking around as if they were uncertain about where to go or what to do. The door to a building opens, the light spilling out. "This way. It'll be safe in here for now." There is a group of people who are clearly off-worlders, likely volunteers helping with the event from Hearts Intertwined. Among them is the acrobat they had seen earlier, who gives them a parting glance.

The wolf-man fidgets, looking uncomfortable. "This is bad. Very bad." The questions snap his attention back. "Jack? Uh... I don't know." He shakes his head. The wolf's voice is gruff and deep, his clawed hands flexing. "No one's seen Jack in a while, but... I saw these weird creatures with yellow eyes up near the graveyard. I heard the Mayor talking with someone up there."

Just then, a little wolf-girl comes running up, tugging on his hand. "Daddy? Where are all the humans going?" He frowns, "They're scared sweetie." The girl pouts, "But we didn't scare them, did we?" He shakes his head, "No, we didn't." The girl clings to her dad's hand. "We should beat up the people that scared them before we got to!" The wolf-man ruffles his daughter's hair, then glances towards the others.

"If I were you, I'd check out the graveyard..."

(to be continued...)