((OOC: Continued from Terror-Fest: Zombie-Ville USA))


Cavern on the Spleen. That's where they'd headed. Kealey wanted food, and that is exactly what she was going to get.

The tavern was done up for Halloween, with spooky decorations. There were pumpkins galore, tombstones, and skeletons. Leaves littered the tiled stone area like fallen gold. Shin led them into the restaurant, and got the three of them a table. Everything was decidedly spooky for the night, but it wasn't too much. With all the business outside in the park, the restaurant wasn't too full. A few costumed superheroes sat at tables, but there was plenty of room. After a few minutes, they were seated.

Each person got a menu. Shin took a look at the festively-edited choices. Cow brains. Yuck.

"I wonder how the monkey brains are...?" He looked conversationally to Kealey. "Wonder if they're braised..."

Andrew didn’t seem to have any opinion on where they should go. Kealey felt bad for Shin having to make the decision, but her head was still kind of spinning. She was good at being in public these days, but she’d never been to a party of this magnitude. Why…it felt like some people were already drinking.

Kealey held on to Shin’s hand as he made a decision. They were going for food. Kealey peeked at some revelers as they moved by in Harry Potter costumes. Maybe this was going to be a “When in Rome” type of situation.

Into the little restaurant they went, and Kealey fidgeted just a little bit more. She was hungry, but she was also irritated, and frustrated, and excited, and giddy, and in love, and hateful. Another deep breath, more bubbles. The feelings receded.

They sat down, and Kealey smiled, finally releasing Shin’s hand so he could look over the menu.

Monkey…brains…? Where had he taken them? Kealey leaned forward slightly to tip down her rose-colored glasses, blue eyes peeking out of gray painted skin.

”It’s not really monkey brains, is it?” she paused for a moment and licked her lips, ”I think I need a drink.”

The decor here was just as good as elsewhere in the park. Andrew spent some time looking at it while they waited for their table. Even better however were the costumed people within. Superheroes; Hogwarts Students; and even a group consisting of a vampire, mummy, and a samurai all shared the same room. This was probably the only time you'd ever see such an eclectic mix of people.

Once they were seated and started looking over the menus Shinkat made a crack about monkey brains. Kealrezi seemed honestly worried about it before saying something about needing a drink. Andrew just sort of grinned. It was fun watching them interact. His own eyes scanned down the menu as he picked through the options. Kealrezi's mentioning of a drink, whether she'd meant alcoholic or not, had Andrew pondering his twenty first birthday next year. Sure it was still a ways a way but he could still think about it.

Moving on to topics closer at hand Andrew thought about the other attractions in the park. Next time they had to decide where to go he didn't want to be caught without a suggestion. Even if he didn't really care where they went.

Central Park – Angel at the Water Fountain

Christanna Addams, only twelve years old, with curly red hair and a pale face covered in freckles glowered as she slowly walked behind a slow moving older couple. One of them was dressed as the classic, Bela Lugosi Dracula while the other, a blonde woman was dressed as a Princess and seemed to have trouble keeping up with the man. Christianna was only too happy to be so far behind them. It was not as if they would notice anyway. After all, did they even care about the costume she chose for this evening? Did they even care that their twelve year old daughter was running around, dressed in a gauzy, midnight blue dress with a flowing train? Or that she wore her best gold jewelry and had a circlet of fake little blue jewels around her brow? No they paid no heed to the fact that she just spent weeks making her own costume based after Nyx, Goddess of the Night and Dreams! No, the only time they cared was when –

“Christianna!” the Dracula, also known as Gerald Addams shouted as he stood under the arch and glared at his daughter. “Pick up your feet! We’re already late!”

“Come on, don’t yell at her tonight,” the blonde pleaded as she stood under the arch and sighed with exasperation at her husband.

Gerald Addams only seemed to growl as he grabbed the woman by her arm and spun her hard. The man, the great contributor to the city, the whole corridinator for this event, in that moment, looked more demonic than the creature he attempted to portray. His teeth ground, fake fangs bared as he tightened his grip on the woman and then finally let her go.

“You don’t speak back to me,” he said and shot a dagger-like glare at the Christanna. “And you, keep up. We’re late enough as it is and I will not be embarrassed.”

Christanna sniffled a little as she wiped a tear from her cheek. There was nothing she could say so she merely followed them further into the park.

The park around was oppressive with the darkness. Around every corner, under every rock and behind every tree, was a choking darkness that seemed like an entity enticing them to come closer. They beckoned, whispered through the wind that rustled the leaves, that tonight was a night where they could be anyone, do anything, and act in any way that they pleased. But even as the music and flashing lights of the far away festivities drew closer with each step, the joy and imagination was lost on one particular girl. Christianna only wanted to go home now, lock herself in her room and fall asleep to the music on her ipod. Being here only meant one thing, listening to her father’s inane acceptance speech for putting on this charity.

It’s all a lie, she mumbled as he absently rubbed her arm where it had once been fractured. The cool October air must be making it sore.

As they were closer to their destination, she spied a couple of more people in costume now scattered about. They were getting in the midst of the groups. She saw wolfmen, monsters, famous historical figures, fictional characters, even an appliance or food costume or two. Then she was nearly startled when a tall, thin man jumped out at her, grinning and laughing in a wheezing manner. The man was odd to say the least, dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans with thick, coke bottle glasses. The shirt had some writing on it that looked like the letters, M-R-O flared it white across it. But the oddest thing came when the man laughed and held out what looked like a ball of string.

“Wanna thread?!”

Christanna, too shocked for words suddenly began to laugh hysterically. The man was so ridiculous looking that she could not help herself! But that joy was short lived. Before long her father reappeared and snatched her away roughly. He growled even more inhumanly as he glared down at the young girl.

“What is wrong with you?! I told you we were in a hurry! Stop wasting my time!!” With each sentence his grip tightened considerably on her already sore arm.

Christianna, unable to take it anymore, simply screamed out, tears flooding her face as a massive migraine set in. She yelled out as she shoved her father backward with her tiny hands and took a couple of weak steps backward, unable to contain her sobs and tears anymore. She gasped heavily as she raised her hand and pointed accusingly at him, running the sore spot on her arm with her free hand.

“You’re a lie! You’re nothing but a lie!!!!”

As she screamed the last word, a sudden glow began to emit from her forehead. Another massive headache struck her and this was more painful than the last, something which she could not contain anymore. Her emotions bubbled up to a frenzy, Christanna ground her teeth to the point that she could swear she heard one or two breaking then…as the beautiful white light around her forehead reached it’s apex…she screamed.

Her voice was dry and hoarse as it echoed out through the trees and struck the ears of any and all within range. She could not stop yelling, especially as the light from her forehead grew in intensity before it exploded, a burst of magnificent, spider-webbing white light that erupted from this single person like an all encompassing blanket. It spread out, farther and farther, growing whiter and bright as it enveloped any in its path. There was no escape, no running, it rolled over the green grass like a swift moving fog with only one thought in mind…expand…

Expand…

EXPAND…

And in an instant, as this fog of fast moving white light reached the edges of Central Park, having covered all of the festivities, it suddenly WHOOOOOSHED!!! backward and condensed into the single body of Christianna. The girl was thrown off her feet and fell backward. She groaned painfully as she stared up at the sky in shock, wondering what that pain she felt was and why…why did her head buzz like a honeycomb now? She shook as she stood up, weakly and feebly, and glanced around her.

“H-Hello?” she asked nervously. “M-Mom? Dad?”

She crept forward, unable to believe her eyes. Everyone she could see, everyone inside the park, including her parents, simply stood there. Unmoving, unresponsively, the people she could see seem to be staring there in a daze, staring wide-eyed up at the sky with the only movement being their shallow in and out take of breath. It looked like something from a horror movie…and just like any horror movie, Christanna screamed…and ran somewhere…anywhere as people continued to stare up in the sky blankly.

>>”It’s not really monkey brains, is it?” Kealey asked him. ”I think I need a drink.”

Shin shrugged innocently. "I hope not. I'm trying to cut down." He flagged down a waiter dressed like Batman. "Hey, Bruce. Can we get two beers?" He smiled to Kealey. He had her back. Back, his eyes dropped to his menu. What else sounded good...? Well... "It is Halloween. We could skip the main course and go straight to dessert."

Pie sounded good to him. It sounded really good, with a red cherry on top.

"How do you feel about cherry pie, Keale--," The sounds of falling glass cut him off. He glanced towards the commotion. One of the waiters, a tall course man dressed like Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer, had spilled a tray of drinks. The other waiters were already moving to help him. They had the mop, the rags, the bucket.

A sudden white pulse ran through Shin's mind, through everyone's minds, across the entire restaurant. He sat there for a moment, mind a blank slate. His eyes eventually dropped to his hands, taking in the details of his costume, and the costumes of the others at his table. They drifted back to the bucket.

Suddenly, Shin was repulsed.

Oh good. They weren’t real monkey brains. Sure it was Halloween, but that would have been just a little bit disturbing. She looked back to the menu and frowned. The glasses might have to go, she decided, at least while they were eating. Batman came to take their drink orders, and Shin got beers. Kealey smiled gratefully at him, she’d almost forgotten. She’d almost forgotten a lot of things. After all, she was sitting there and feeling all the emotions. All of them.

She almost laughed at her overactive brain and all the almost-references it was trying to make. Shin made a good point, and Kealey laughed, grinning in his direction some more. ”There you go again with all the great ideas.” she said, reaching up a hand to pat her wig.

Shin started to ask about pie, and Kealey’s stomach grumbled a little bit, only to be cut off when a hapless waiter dropped tray of drinks. She could tell how embarrassed he was, but couldn’t muster enough sympathy over the amusement of the others in the bar to feel anything but hopeful that their drinks weren’t among the ones spilled. A glance at the stove-pipe-hat wearing waiter alleviated those fears and Kealey watched as his comrades rushed to help with various cleaning implements.

Then it happened.

A jolt went through her, and her mind went more curiously blank than it had been for ages. Completely empty except for a swirl of emotion. Slowly, she looked from her hands to the menu, across the table, and finally back to where the clean-up was happening. She took a deep breath through her nose, then gasped.

"K4RK4T PL34S3 T3LL M3 TH4T 1S NOT 4 BUCK3T 1 4M SM3LL1NG…OUT WH3R3 3V3RYON3 C4N S33.”

Suddenly, the strangely dressed alien next to the table dropped everything he had and struck a pose. Terezi could smell the colors of his ugly gray and black costume with its yellow symbol. She was not impressed.

“Fear not good citizens!” he exclaimed, “I must find Robin. You? Have you seen the boy wonder?”

Terezi was nonplussed, ”H4H4H4H4H4 OH SO YOU TH1NK 1T 1S FUNNY? L4UGH1NG 4T 4 BL1ND G1RL.” she said.

One minute Kealrezi and Shinkat were discussing the menu. Shinkat flagged down a waiter and ordered a couple of beers for him and Kealrezi. The next things were getting a little crazy. One of the waiters dropped a tray. Not a problem usually. Others moved to assist with a mop and bucket. Then Andrew's mind went blank. Not just blank where you have an occasional thought or two but totally devoid of thought.

When he could finally think again had absolutely no idea who he was or where he was. Fortunately his clothes provided enough clues. John really had no clue how he'd ended up here. Where was his stuff? The only thing he had was his hammer. John looked around until his eyes landed on the people at his table. Who were they? One of them spoke however and after a minute. Strange way of speaking. One named Karkat (car cat meow meow vrooom). Trolls! And there was a bucket!

John jolted out of his seat, missing the Adam West Batman lookalike's line to GC and dashed over to the bucket to get rid of it. Costumed people stood around left and right. After a brief strife with a kid in wizard's robes John finally got to the bucket. Only for some reason he couldn't captchalogue it. Oh well, he'd just have to carry it then. Where could he stash this thing? More of the people were coming now. John finally spotted a door. That would do. Wishing he still had his jetpack, John dodged more people until he got to the door. A closet! Perfect. John chucked the bucket into the closet and closed the door. Being culturally sensitive was hard.

That... was a bucket... and he... he was Karkat. Ah yes, everything was falling into place. That's who he was. "HAHAHA." Not a single syllable of his laughter didn't contain loathing. He looked away from the bucket in annoyance. "..............." And yet the bucket, it just drew him back in with its round annoyingness. With the way it made him want to punch something, with the way... that one kid kicked it out of the way.

Recognition dawned. A familiar outfit, familiar face. A hatred. Karkat's eyes narrowed. "THAT'S RIGHT, DISPOSE OF THAT FILTH HUMAN EGBERT. I AM YOUR GOD!" Stupid idiot human. He was so beneath him, with his pale flesh and his love of terrible movies.

But still...

He glanced Human Egbert's way.

He hated him so much~

“STOP B31NG SUCH 4 W1GGL3R K4RK4T. YOU KNOW H3 W1LL B3L13V3 4NYTH1NG YOU S4Y.” Terezi said, as her “leader” bossed around one of the human-kids, she took a deep breath and scanned the eating establishment. Where was his pupa pal? She checked her pockets, she knew she’d found a picture and drawn a coolkid for him recently.

No such luck. They’d have to work with the Egbert human until they could find Dave. That was fine Terezi could deal with this one, he was so gullible and trusting. An idea started to form. “JOHN STOP B31NG 4DOR4BLE 4ND COM3 H3R3. W3 4R3 ON 4 STR1CT T1M3T4BL3.”

In the meantime she studied her menu and took a big whiff. Hrm. Not good enough. There was only one thing to do to make it more visible…

…a few moments and a thorough tongue bathing later, the menu shone bright to Terezi’s nose. Mmm. What a shame the others couldn’t experience the sensory bouquet she experienced every day. It was like a bathrobe made of flavor and melody. She said silent thanks to her lusus…

Terezi frowned.

"K4RK4T WH3R3 4R3 OUR SPR1T3S?”

Karkat spoke up after John managed to get the bucket put away.

"yeah yeah, i know."

Seriously, that was like a complex or something with Karkat. Trolls we kinda weird anyway. Just trying to think about their whole love thing made John confused. Anyway John made his way back to the table at GC's request. He strifed a couple more times with other wizards and accidentally stepped on the glasses of the first wizard kid he'd beaten up. Oh well, they looked like they were already broken before he stepped on them. John left the red head and the girl with their glasses wearing friend after defeating them and continued his epic quest to return to the table.

John got back to the table with the trolls just in time to hear GC ask Karkat where their sprites were. John hadn't seen his in a while anyway so he wasn't all that concerned. Nanasprite just showed up whenever she felt like it.

"so what are we doing?"

If this was another part of the game the trolls had probably been through it before. They were pretty helpful about telling him and the others what they needed to do. No reason they wouldn't be able to do so now.

>> “STOP B31NG SUCH 4 W1GGL3R K4RK4T. YOU KNOW H3 W1LL B3L13V3 4NYTH1NG YOU S4Y.”

"DUH! THAT'S THE IDEA, TEREZI. YOU CAN'T BE NICE TO THEM. YOU'RE MISSING THE SNIFFING POINT. GOD. STOP CODDLING HIM AND START TROLLING HIM. WHAT ARE YOU, A CUTTLEFISH CULLER."

Stinking Terezi, always disagreeing with him, couldn't even go through with one simple plan, one easy goal. The trolling of four idiot meatbag humans from a universe THEY created. HE was the leader, WASN'T HE? Why didn't anyone ever listen to him, God!? It was almost enough to make him angry ( a true feat, seeing as he was permanently grumpy, and not just terminally capricious like those other bucketheads.

Karkat table-faced as Terezi licked the menu. Every single time. And why had it taken human Egbert SO LONG to get back to the table!? Where were their sprites?

"DOESN'T MATTER," Karkat replied, eyes narrowed. "WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE. WE DON'T NEED THOSE THINGS ANYWAYS. WE JUST NEED TO FOLLOW MY PLAN. MY PLAN," He paused, and eyed the two of them suspiciously like they might stab him in the back (or other places) like SOME PEOPLE, "IS TO GET US THE HECK OUT OF HERE. HUMAN EGBERT, COME HERE. STRIFE US AN EXIT PATH. WE'RE GOING TO GO SEE IF WE CAN'T CONQUER WHATEVER ANCIENT AND PRIMEVAL GODS BROUGHT US TO THIS FESTERING WASTELAND OF CONFUSION AND DISORDER. WE NEED TO FIND THEM. WE NEED TO FIND THEM AND THE OTHERS. AND THEN...... I DON'T KNOW. SOMETHING. GOD. DO I HAVE TO COME UP WITH EVERYTHING AROUND HERE."

Okay, forget this plan. He didn't even care anymore. He hated these people... so much.

”J3GUS K4RK4T. 1M JUST H4V1NG FUN.” Terezi said, still perusing the menu as they waited for human John to get back to the table. ”DO NOT M4K3 YOUR BLOOD BO1L. 1T SM3LLS L1K3 BURN1NG C4NDY.”

Terezi would have rolled her eyes if that would have made any sense whatsoever. They all knew who was really running the show, but Karkat was being so darn arrogant. ”YOU M4D3 M3 S3COND 1N COMM4ND. W3 BOTH KNOW TH3 S3R1OUS R3SPONS1B1LIT13S AR3 TOO MUCH FOR SUCH 4 MO4N1NG W1GGL3R.”

Human John returned and asked what this miraculous plan of Karkat’s was. Terezi listened. It was a decent plan. They were missing their sprites. She looked at the menu again. It was starting to dry and getting hard to see. The bland colors hadn’t tasted very good with the exception of the black which had been like licorice. She supposed food could wait until later.

”DO NOT WORRY 4BOUT K4RK4T JOHN. H1S COMPL41N1NG COMMONPL4C3. W3 3R4 GO1NG TO F1ND TH3 OTH3RS. 1 W1LL DR4W YOU 4 M4P 4S SOON 4S 1 F1ND MY CH4LK.”

She stood, and fumbled a bit with her cane, stumbling as she missed the leg of the chair.

”L3TS GO B3FOR3 H3 ST4RTS TO CRY L1K3 4 GRUB. H3’S MUCH MOR3 4DOR4BL3 WH3N H3S K1LL1NG TH1NGS.” she started walking towards the door and stumbled again on something she hadn’t smelled or tasted.

”TH3R3 4R3 OBV1OUSLY NOT N34RLY 3NOUGH COLORS 1N TH1S WORLD.”

Karkat and Terezi argued. Or more precisely insulted each other. Must be a troll thing. In either case they meant to leave this place and find out who had brought them there in the first place. John was about to say something when Adam West style Batman shouted at them.

"Halt evildoers!" he stared at John, "You have injured innocent citizens. Prepare to be brought to justice!"

And with that the Batman costumed person initiated a strife. John dodged his first attempt at aggression but a second one, in the form of a punch, landed with a pow!. John struck out with his hammer and landed a solid thwack!. Batman blocked a second strike from the hammer and counter aggressed with kick that sounded like boff! when it landed. With two more hammer strikes, whack! and biff! respectively, the lookalike was brought down.

"You'll never get away with this vile villians!"

With him out of the way the route to the door was clear for now. The other costumed people were busy talking or fighting amongst themselves for now.

>>”J3GUS K4RK4T. 1M JUST H4V1NG FUN. DO NOT M4K3 YOUR BLOOD BO1L. 1T SM3LLS L1K3 BURN1NG C4NDY.”

"......................................................"

Karkat's blood boiled. It just did. His candy-red freak-blood. He eyed her. Second-in-command, his bucket. They ALL knew that was just a puppet position. More for show than for any real leadership opportunities. And insulting the leader's leadership skills?

"THERE IS A WORD FOR THAT, IT IS CALLED GROSS INSUBORDINATION." He sighed.

There it was again, that insubordination the entire team had grown so fond of. He shook it off and explained the plan. They would follow his plan. It was his, not hers. And... there she went, calling the shots again, emasculating him and tripping over what she couldn't see.......

Karkat growled. "TEREZI..." He rose from his chair and bridged the gap between them, stopping in front of her. He loomed. He glared. He... offered her his hand. His teeth ground together as he stood there impatiently. "WE CAN'T HAVE YOU TRIPPING AROUND LIKE AN IDIOT. LET ME HELP."

He glanced over his shoulder as the human did their bidding. He'd done OK, he guessed... with a sigh, Karkat led Terezi towards the door.

John was doing a good job of making sure they didn’t have to strife too much. It was strange being in the same space with him, since Sollux had said they couldn’t get into the Universe they’d created. Obviously something had happened though, somehow they were all here in this strange place. They needed to find a gate.

Except apparently she couldn’t walk.

It had to be the bland colors, it simply had to be. As soon as they got somewhere brighter, she’d be able to smell the myriad bouquet of sensory delight she usually ensconced herself in.

Karkat approached, sounding every bit as angry as usual, and Terezi readied a scathing tirade.

Then he offered his hand.

That made her even more angry for a moment.

”K4RK4T. TH1S 1S HOW 4 L34D3R 4CTS. TH3R3 M1GHT B3 HOP3 FOR YOU Y3T. 1F YOU 4R3N‘T TOO 4DOR4BLE. ”

She moved closer so it was easier to walk and took a deep breath. There it was. The candy red sweet smell, under the gray of his skin. It smelled so good. She wondered….for some reason…she had to stand on her toes to do it, but Terezi took a lick. Just one, right up the side of Karkat’s face.

”K4RK4T. I TH1NK YOU T4ST3 4S GOOD 4S YOU SM3LL.”

She looked at the John human as he led the way out the door, ”JOHN. W41T JOHN. 1 H4V3 4N 1D34 FOR YOU!”

Terezi was a trickster. Always had been, there was no reason for that to change just because they were in a strange world. John was going to have lots of fun!

What none of them saw, were the zombies outside, starting to prey on party goers.

Or the other group of trolls.