Once a grand cathedral dedicated to the Holy Triumvirate, all that remains now are ruins ever since the religion was rejected strongly in 1823. While the religion is back in favor, the cathedral was never restored. (+3 Defense, +2 Offense)

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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby crow » 11/05/2016 11:07 PM

Melody didn't have an answer for him. She was poring over the titles herself, trying to find one that looked interesting. She'd noticed the same thing Tanner had, though she had no more idea than he did; she had been around longer, but not actually long enough to know anything of, say, Shakespearean English, let alone anything older. And she didn't know any other languages, for that matter.

"Well, this one's Chinese," she said, but she only knew that much by the vastly different characters. The ones with roman letters were as inscrutable to her as they were to him.

"If you're thinking of making me read that one, you can forget it," Tanner said. It was a joke. Mostly.

Melody laughed. "It'd be funny to hear you try," she said.

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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby crow » 11/05/2016 11:11 PM

Tanner laughed too, but he said, "Listen, all we'd get is me making an idiot of myself and spouting fake wutai sounds that would get me punched by the Chinese posse at school. Those kids look like they do nothing but homework and violin, but I got into a fight with Horace once, and he doesn't play around." With a name like Horace, Tanner supposed the boy couldn't really afford to. A lot of them were nerds, but a lot of the white kids were nerds too, and just as many of the Chinese kids were not.

"Fair enough," Melody said. "Hmm... How about this one then?" She pointed out another book, which was all fairy tales. It looked old, but the language was recent enough, and when Tanner opened it, they found that it was richly illustrated. "Wow," Melody breathed. Was that gold leaf on the borders of the inside cover?

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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby crow » 11/05/2016 11:14 PM

"This looks like the real deal," Tanner said, confirming her suspicions. "I'm not an antique expert, but it looks pretty expensive." Privately he wondered if it was even okay that he was touching it like this, but he wasn't putting it down either. He'd just have to be careful with it. If someone saw him and chewed him out, that was that; it wouldn't be the first time it had happened, and it wouldn't be the last.

There was no table of contents, just a few pastoral illustrations, and then the first page of a generic princess story. It was hard to tell which this even was, just by the first page. They all started the same: Good royalty had a lovely daughter, and everyone celebrated, because she was so beautiful and good and pure and all that jazz. "Ugh," he said, but Melody merely hushed him.

"No commentary," she said.

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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby crow » 11/05/2016 11:18 PM

"What am I then, a word dispenser?" he grumbled. But still, he kept reading. As it turned out, this was Sleeping Beauty. The story went into details about the celebration thrown in the princess's honor, and how guests from the thirteen kingdoms all came to give their gifts and pay their obeisance to the new princess.

The illustration of the evil fairy caught his attention. There was a vividness to the scene, the dark colors seeming to seep out from her cloak, tainting everything in her vicinity. The baby, more laughably, radiated light. It was a beautiful picture, but the cliche of the bright half took away some of the wonder of it.

Still, it was an interesting depiction. He was used to seeing Maleficent style renditions of this particular figure, but this artist likely predated that. Here, the evil fairy was drawn as an old woman, though not a hag.

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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby ToxicShadow » 11/05/2016 11:22 PM

"You... think I'm a good person?"

Toxic's eyes narrowed when Cheshire asked his question. Just how dense was he? "Are you an idiot?" she asked, but shook her head. "Of course you're a good person. I didn't look at you, trapped in your Kuhna form, and think, 'Oh, he must be terrible.' After all this time that you've been around, you've never been terrible. So you like... being a troll. But you took Alice under your wing. She's a tiny child. You took up working with me, and all the others."


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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby crow » 11/05/2016 11:22 PM

She stood firm in the face of the gathered crowd, back straight and head held high, as if daring them to say anything about her presence. Her face was severe, well-lined; her wings sprouted like stained glass from her back, and her scepter was a simple cane with a glass globe at the end.

"This is some pretty impressive stuff," he said, tracing a finger along the picture. "I wonder where it came from."

"Keep reading!" said Melody, a note of impatience in her voice. He glanced at her. Her eyes were rapt upon the page, and there was a sense of child-like anticipation in the way she hovered over him now. He found himself smiling without realizing.

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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby crow » 11/05/2016 11:25 PM

"Is it really that much fun?" he said. That snapped her out of it, and she eased up a little.

"... No, not really. I mean, I know how it goes too. Everyone does." Even reapers, apparently. "It's just been a long time since I've heard it properly, that's all."

"Fair enough," he said. He continued on: the princess was cursed, and she grew up with an air of apprehension hanging over her. Despite the king's best efforts, the evil fairy tricked her into pricking herself on her sixteenth birthday, and she fell into a slumber. A prince came along---

"I always wondered where the prince came from," said Melody, looking at that particular picture. There was nothing interesting or subversive here, just a conventionally handsome young man in red and gold, sitting astride his tall white horse.

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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby ToxicShadow » 11/05/2016 11:25 PM

Toxic supposed that, no, Cheshire wasn't dense. That wasn't the case. He simply didn't have a strong sense of self esteem, perhaps. He just didn't believe in himself, after having once received so much rejection.

"You even did this for me!" Toxic held out her arm, showing off the ribbon he'd just tied around her wrist. "And offered to pay for it, if they wouldn't just give it to me." She paused, but only for a brief moment. "Besides, if you weren't a good person, I wouldn't keep you around me."


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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby crow » 11/05/2016 11:28 PM

It just goes to show that some cliches never died. Tanner peered at it, and shrugged.

"Maybe he was on a royal visit. It did say thirteen kingdoms. And didn't you say no commentary?"

"Oh, that was just you," she said, though she did look a little abashed. "But... okay, I'll stop talking. Keep reading." Tanner flipped the page, and read through the section where the prince found the sleeping princess. He made a face as he read the part about him kissing her awake. "No commentary," said Melody again, more forcefully this time.

"I didn't say anything!" Tanner protested. "What, did I say anything?"

"No, but you made a face like this." Melody screwed up her own face in an exaggerated mockery of what Tanner was doing before. If it weren't for the fact that she was mocking him, he would have laughed out loud.

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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby ToxicShadow » 11/05/2016 11:29 PM

How was he supposed to answer that? Cheshire honestly wasn't sure. She'd answered his question, but did more than just answer it. It was more like she swept away any of the unpleasant thoughts creeping around in his head. The man sighed, but then smiled.

Before he was able to even figure out what else to say, the woman moved forward again, hugging the man by wrapping her arms around him and giving him a good squeeze. It wasn't exactly a gentle gesture. But, after a moment of awkwardly standing there, Cheshire returned the hug.


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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby crow » 11/05/2016 11:31 PM

Melody was... objectively quite a pretty girl. If she'd been a real girl, and going to, say, his high school, she probably would have been popular with the boys. But sometimes she would do something like that, and it was really hard to take her seriously. It was like she really didn't care how she looked. And maybe she didn't; maybe reapers didn't worry about that kind of thing because the only people who ever saw them were the dead. Aside from her mentor, she didn't mention any other reapers, so Tanner had guessed they weren't much for social functions.

"Well, don't you think it's gross? He sees a pretty girl passed out on a bed and the first thing he thinks of is to stick his tongue down her throat. Is that supposed to be romantic?" He couldn't help grimacing at the thought of it. Melody heaved a sigh.

"Nevermind, just... put it away. I already know how it ends anyway."

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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby ToxicShadow » 11/05/2016 11:33 PM

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"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" A feminine voice, not belonging to the one woman in the room, suddenly spoke up. It didn't come from the man, either.

The two both dropped their arms, but not quickly. It wasn't as though they were doing something bad. Cheshire's expression looked a bit annoyed, while Toxic seemed somewhat amused. They both knew just whom it was that was speaking. There was no question about it.


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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby crow » 11/05/2016 11:35 PM

"Let's just move on," Tanner said, glad to leave the book behind. It wasn't that he had anything against fairy tales, but the older he got, it was like he'd gotten too cynical to enjoy them properly. But the fact that Melody liked them so much was a surprise to him. He wouldn't have expected an escort of the dead to be a fan of Sleeping Beauty.

"Speaking of sleep... Is that a bedroom?" He wandered down the length of the library until they came to another room, and sure enough, there was a bed. There was a door along another wall, which opened to what looked like another bedroom. "That's pretty weird. Why are they connected like that?"

"Eugh," said Melody. She was looking at the shelves full of dolls, and something about them just... didn't sit right with her. "I don't want to stay in this room. Let's just go to the next one."

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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby ToxicShadow » 11/05/2016 11:36 PM

The voice was there, but there were no other signs of their being another person. Both Toxic and Cheshire looked around, not seeing anything at first. Then, out of nowhere, a huge set of teeth appeared in a big cheshire grin.

Moments afterwards, a whole cat slowly solidified around it. Her bright pink fur and yellow eyes stood out in the moonlight washed room.

"You know," the cat spoke perfectly well, as if it was human rather than animal. "Doing something like that will make Z awfully jealous, I bet."


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Re: .: A Spooky, Scary House :.

Postby crow » 11/05/2016 11:38 PM

Tanner laughed out loud this time. "What, are you actually scared of them? They're just dolls, stupid." He reached for one just to prove a point, but it opened its mouth and its eyes lit up, and a horrible shrieking filled the air. He wasn't startled enough to jump, but the noise was unpleasant. He reached for another doll and it did the same thing. Were they all rigged like that? If that was the case, then Melody had a point. It wasn't worth it. "Alright, I'm coming," he said, when she began to look seriously impatient.

"Don't set them off! That sound was awful." She drifted into the next bedroom without even looking at its contents, phasing through the wall entirely. Tanner, being the mortal boy that he was, had to opt for taking the door.

"You know," he said, his eyes alighting on the contents of the bed, "somehow I don't think this room is any better.

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