ORIGIN - [FF] Tunnel of Frightmares

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The shrieking and cackling tunnel had appeared suddenly. One day, there'd been space for a booth. The next? A pitch-black cavern opening—were those eyes running around in there? Pointed, violet Polaris-rocks jutted out from the opening, looking suspiciously like teeth. Putrid lime-green fog billowed out along the floor.

Oh, yes... nobody could resist their own curiosity. When the time seemed just right, and there were enough people here inspecting the tunnel...

"COME ONE, COME ALL! To the Tunnel of FRIGHTMARES!!! Courtesy of your very ooown..." Drumroll, please! "NEMEAN, THE TERROR-WITCH!"

The sprite of the hour burst from the toxic smoke of her own horror attraction—and with no small amount of fanfare. Trumpets blared with the snap of her little wings. Hyperrealistic bats swarmed out of her pointy black hat when she lifted it. Confetti was falling everywhere. It was the whole nine yards.

Nemean buzzed to stand atop a rock in front of her creation. Spotlights spun around to illuminate only her best angles as she tossed her arms into the air, "here's the sitch—there's this TERRIFYING cave right here..." Here, she took back to the air and hovered , "and there's nobody in it trying to see what's there! Can you believe that?"

Surely not! This was absolutely ridiculous.

"WELL!" She clapped her little gremlin hands together after adjusting her hat. "Single file through the front. Don't touch the walls! Make it to the end and—" One paw smushed into a cheek, as if she were leaning on some invisible table and gesturing vaguely at the air, "... and I'll give you a prize or something. Just go in—IF YOU DARE... !" The sound of thunder peeled through the air with a flash of light.

This GM-run "booth" will be open for new participants until November 1st @ 11:59 PM EST. Interaction with it may come with rewards!

Polaris was magnificent. There were all kinds of things to look at: the glowing growths of mushroom, the shining crystals laid throughout the cave, the far-off but impressive Spire. The booths were new, but Jampa did not know that. There were a few ramshackle set-ups and some with passable decorations, each drawing her eye and an accompaniment of gasps.

The first thing to really garner her attention was the shrill voice of someone shouting, "COME ONE, COME ALL!"

A creature she could not describe, who was somehow small but very enigmatic, was calling for the attention of passerby's; Jampa was more than thrilled to oblige Nemean and sauntered over.

The girl listened attentively to Nemean. When she lifted her hat, bats flew out and Jampa drew back with a small shriek, as if someone had placed reins upon her face and pulled; her eyes going wide when spotlights shone upon her and she raised her arms, talking about this cave as if it were quite the trial.

"WELL!" The creature clapped their hands together and Jampa felt a tendril of fear prickling her nape. "Make it to the end and.. I'll give you a prize or something!"

It sounded like a dangerous and frightening experience, both of which @Pride would surely not be happy about. That made it the perfect reason for her to try anyway.

Jampa felt her withers shaking but she tried to remain composed (or as composed as a child could be, considering she'd never experienced something like this before) and cast a brief look over her shoulder to try and find her caretaker. Her father was somewhere, probably. Maybe he'd been distracted by another booth or spotted @James somewhere nearby - but Jampa was left to figure this out on her own.

So, sucking back a breath of cool Polarian air, Jampa approached the charismatic creature where she stood upon a large rock and said, "I -- I'd like to try. Please...?" This was probably a very very very bad idea.

Arwen wiggled towards the haunted tunnel excitedly, moving a bit more sluggishly now that her skin was slowly starting to harden. It seemed a shed was growing near, and she honestly couldn't wait to see how she'd look when she came out.

She stopped near Nemean and looked up, clasping her small little hands together as she waited for her escort to arrive, sitting politely as she turned to watch the crowd, waiting.

"Bluuue~!", she trilled, her voice overlapping with a second undertone, as if two people were speaking.

There they were! Blue and pink feathers in the crowd- wait, pink? What were they holding?

@Redwood

James came prancing up with some of his treats in a pouch, having left the rest with Peggy and Comet to watch while he made his way to Jampa to visit.

"Jampa!", he cooed, fluttering his wings in a birdy greeting, "What are you-"

He slowly turned to look at Nemean. He remembered that voice. The shrill shriek that cursed him out for not dying when he fell to the bottom of the cliff.

"You," he said, feathers poofing up, ears pinning flat, "You tricked me! You were the one who made me fall of that cliff!! You tried to kill me!!!"

He stamped a foot and threw a wing in front of Jampa, eyes narrowed in anger, "Why? Why would you do that? What kind of horrible person would just make a Gembound with a broken leg jump to help someone, only for it to be a trick! Do you know how much it hurt? How agonizing it was to feel my body break? DO YOU?!"

Oh he was mad. Pissed. Raging.

@Jampa

Mingling with other Gembounds had never been a common thing for Fahl. He'd been driven to isolation by birthplace, and the hammering urge to strengthen his flickering inner flame had made him keen to separate himself from the excitement of crowds. Now though, life seemingly had given him a break in the form of a sore throat and a world full of potential he could achieve. He could relax in a way more his speed than the dull dwelling upon the heat of ocean waves—jumping headlong into the bustling festivities that filled Polaris.

For the lizard, this meant gravitating toward the loudest and most intimidating location in the vicinity. The tunnel had qualified for both in terms of darkness and the little creature's immense display of showmanship. As a place to pit his newfound zeal against, the opportunity was perfect. With this, he'd show he was truly back on track, a disorganized student returned to the path of mastery.

Something tugged at his mind though, a sense of familiarity at this unusual host's name. And what's more, a hint of revulsion. Regardless, he approached, too concerned with demonstrating his worth to stop and think these entirely through.

The commotion that a winged horse was causing as he neared did not distract this faint stirring of memory. In fact, Fahl could almost swear that his recollection was becoming clearer just from listening to their outrage. A tale of awful tricks... Nemean... Fish eyes.

An incomplete story of his own rested upon a heavy tongue but did not leave it. Instead he waited to see if actions would justify the growing unease that rubbed over scales.

He followed along at an amiable distance, letting Jampa and the excitable James roam ahead, while he and Thalia moved along some twenty paces behind. When Jampa approached the tunnel, he watched with indulgent amusement--she looked afraid, but brave, and this was obviously some sort of safe attraction, some game with only the appearance of danger.

...Right?

James' call, however--James' accusation--set the fur along Pride's neck prickling. This was the one who'd harmed him-?

Pride swiftly began to shoulder his way forward, brow knitting down. Ahhh, Nemean! he realized, his stomach dropping. She was the one who'd made murderous demands of the Seven; she was the one who'd filled the cave full of Wallcrawlers!

...That little shit!

"Stay back," he warned Thalia, softly, striding forward to come up alongside James. "Is that true?" he demanded of the fairy-cat Master, his pale eyes sparking.

She was as taken by the atmosphere as Pride was. Her young adult's form twisted this way and that, hooves clicking on the stone as wide silvery eyes took everything in.

Thalia wanted nothing more than to tell stories of it, later, to those who had missed it-! Tales of the loud and happy voices, of the calls of the booth-runners, of the laughter and the mock-screams filled with joy beneath. But now a somber note had struck, and she fell still as first James and then Pride confronted Nemean.

Her father told her to stay back, but she did not: hand closed around her spear a little more tightly, her body stalking along behind him warily, slowly, as if she were trying to avoid being seen.

She wanted to be close, in case she was needed, but-... suddenly she felt very, very useless here, and very, very worried.

Bug gave absolutely zero glance to the others milling at the entrance, or to the tension swelling there. Instead she shot up--black dragon wings beating hard--to Nemean with wide ember cat's eyes. "YOU LOOK AWESOME," she declared, and then looked into the green fog spilling from the strangely tooth-like cave. "Oooh! Scary!" she squealed, and with another two beats of her wings, the border collie-sized cat-dragon swept directly into the Tunnel of Frightmares to see what lay inside!

SPOOOOKY, came whispering behind her, a mysterious echo that reverberated outside the cave mouth even as Bug disappeared gleefully, carelessly, into the dark ahead.

Blue had been looking for that tunnel of frightmares thing, it had taken them a while, but the commotion from everyone else seemed to be enough to find it now.

they heard Arwen's voice call out to them and they couldn't help but smile, running over.

"Arwen...!" they called, practically skidding to a halt, holding out the treat and trinket they had brought her. "gifts.. from one of the gembound booths... one is a "fruit roll", as the horse called it, and.. a token, i think. made of feathers. i thought you'd like them.." they chirped shyly, puffing out their wings.

they looked to james as he shouted at nemean, pointing to him. "got them from that one."

TEMA, the Voidkin
There can be love in Chaos; just follow the Void
[Image: l87nhNk.gif]

Tema had learned of the festival from Kitty, having caught her in tunnel H a few days ago. She had been heading to Polaris to set up a booth, eager to share her talents in exchange for pretty things. Since then Tema had been double and triple checking the borders of their little territory in Cetus, making certain that no one had shown interest in stepping past the boundary. The Voidcrawlers were more than welcoming to visitors, yes, but the bear wanted to be there incase there was trouble like before. She had grown wary of leaving the Voidmother without a protector, so she planned too keep her visit short... no matter how fun the festival looked.

A loud voice commanded Tema's attention, calling her forth towards a cave. Having never been in Polaris before today, the bear truly had no way of telling it was unordinary. Scary, yes (the eyes she saw inside reminded her of deer spiders), but not unordinary. After all, there were many caves and tunnels within Origin. One day she would explore them all, so why not start today?

Gembounds that had arrived before her seemed quite worked up, fluffing their feathered wings and shouting at one another. Some of them appeared to be blocking others from their adversaries and.. oh! She recognized that faun! Had said gembound not been clutching her weapon so tight with her face drawn taught, Tema might have said hello. But for now? She was just going to enjoy herself.

"I'll see you on the other side!" She called out with a chuckle to the host, stepping past the distracted collection of gembounds to make her way into the dark cave. Careful not to touch the walls as she was instructed, Tema stepped forward.

OOC Notes:

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