[Night]

Gyro hesitated there, halfway between rooms as she took in the area that loomed before her. The bookshelves and sitting area hardly seemed fit for a supposedly haunted establishment. What was so scary about knowledge? Though she supposed that the humans were woefully ignorant - the vast majority of the time, it was through choice, even! She could see how enlightenment would perhaps seem a foreign and potentially fearsome concept to them. That thought, at least, brought a bit of a smile to her features; though it was much closer to a smirk than it was to true mirth.

She hovered there, just on the edge of the foyer as though held by some invisible force. Why was she even bothering at all with this nonsense? Surely she could find something much more entertaining to do with her evening than this. That faint sparkle of curiosity still tugged somewhere beneath her navel, driving her forward, and with a drawn out breath she was pushing forward and into the library.

The reading room was underwhelming at its best. The tali tilted her head this way and that in some vague notion of wonderment as she took it in, trying to decide what exactly was supposed to happen. Surely just the thought of higher learning alone wouldn't be enough to cause that fear scent, would it?

Orange Zone (B) - 7
Moving to Grey Zone
Grey Zone (A) - 1
Total Posts: 7

[Night]

A soft rustling could be heard from somewhere behind her as she shuffled forward. Gyrotae turned her head over her shoulder, trying to pinpoint the source and finding that a strange looking object had taken up residence at her flank. Her shackles rose as she reacted in the only manor of which she were capable - with anger. What was this thing, and how long had it been there? Surely she wouldn't have missed it during her initial observation of the room. She moved to inspect it, blinking each of her three eyes slightly off from one another as she kept it in her sights. Anything that the humans made was immediately of suspect.

She opened her maw, scenting the air around her and trying to place precisely what the thing even was. It didn't smell like a threat, and that alone almost called for immediate dismissal. Not that there were many things that she might consider a threat regardless. She was already here, though, trying to figure this madhouse out. She pressed her face against the middle of the object, inhaling sharply as though it would aid her in identifying the thing. It appeared to be a small depiction of a human girl, with its hair somewhat bedraggled and dress holding a dark, dusty scent that suggested long disuse.

What, was it some sort of idol or something?

Orange Zone - 7
Grey Zone (A) - 2
Total Posts - 8

[Night]

It didn't look much like the depiction of how the humans normally considered a God. She was more than familiar with idol worship and the general process, and she had never seen one made of something quite so... plebian. A second glance told her it was primarily made up of hard plastic and fabric, not of the expensive metals and stones that normally were used in idol worship. So no, that couldn't be it. She eyed the object over once again, trying to figure out precisely what she was missing.

It almost looked like a childrens play thing. But that, of course, couldn't be right either. What was scary about a child's toy? Absolutely nothing. Although, there was very little to be feared of the entire place overall, so the fact that they were trying to use this as a scare shouldn't have come as a surprise. She finally dismissed it, deciding to move on with her exploration of the area. It was seeming less and less like a place that could capture her interests for very long. She stretched, bones creaking and cracking as she did.

The next thing that caught her attention was one of the strange things that the humans used to produce light. It had been so very long since she had been allowed to stretch her legs, it only made sense that things had changed greatly from her time.

Orange Zone - 7
Grey Zone (A) - 3
Total Posts - 9

[Night]

The object smelled sharp and metallic, and she was forcibly reminded of the acrid scent of blood. Copper of some kind, perhaps, or maybe she was simply trying to come up with something to which she could equate the tang of metal to that would actually seem interesting. Her nose brushed against a switch of some sort, and suddenly the thing lit up, illuminating the area around her with a dull glow. It was obviously some sort of light source to be used in their studies. She was intrigued, albeit grudgingly. What other advancements had the humans made since her time of walking the mortal plane?

Gyro stood completely still, observing the lamp as though it were going to tell her its secrets. Nothing came of it, and after several long minutes of simply staring at the metal object she seemed to relent and move on. Nothing else was of particular interest in the reading room. She nudged the chairs until they were skewed in all sorts of random directions, tipped upside down or on their sides.

Hey, she had to have a bit of fun with this, right? She was a creature of chaos by birth and divine right, so it only made sense that she wreck up the place at least a little.

Orange Zone - 7
Grey Zone (A) - 4
Total Posts - 10

[Night]

Perhaps simply overturning a few chairs wasn't what some might consider 'chaotic.' She was ready and willing to admit to such. But she was still restraining herself from causing too much mayhem, if only because she had very little else to do other than try and figure this place out. She had already committed, signed the petty little waiver. She moved sluggishly from the reading room and into the library, casting her three eyes around in an effort to figure the place out. It seemed to primarily consist of large bookshelves. Again, she couldn't really say why this was supposed to be offputting or scary. Whatever. Mortals were strange.

There was another shuffle behind her, and she turned in time to see that the child's toy had followed her into the next room. That was somewhat disconcerting, if only because she had not caught sight of anyone moving it. It wasn't what she would call fearsome, of course. Simply annoying. Gyro found almost everything annoying, really. She approached the toy once more, glaring it down. Surely one of the mortals was moving it about, expecting to get a scream or a shout out of her. The tali glanced beneath a table, and behind one of the chairs, as though she were going to find a human just lurking around back there and hoping that they wouldn't be seen. No such luck. There was no one in the room save for herself, and there was absolutely no way that they would have been able to escape the vicinity before capturing her notice.

Orange Zone - 7
Grey Zone (B) - 5
Total Posts - 11

[Night]

The edges of her mouth pulled down, a deep trough furrowing between her furry eyebrows. Then she snorted. So the humans had figured out some sort of magic, had they? It was a surprise, of course, as it was any time that they managed to figure something out for themselves. She held such a deep seated resentment for mankind and all those associated - any sentient life, really. She was always shocked whenever they weren't quite as stupid as they all appeared. She inspected the doll a few moments longer before shrugging it off. So they had some kind of petty magics. Big deal. It was hardly a threat in and of itself - especially given that she doubted if they held the ability to use it for anything more than an awful attempt at a haunted mansion.

She had to crane her head back to look at the tall stacks of books. The shelves seemed to extend endlessly upwards, looming gracefully above her head and disappearing towards the ceiling of the room. She squinted, trying to read a few of the titles. Nothing looked particularly familiar, though she supposed it was hardly a shock. She didn't exactly make it a point to keep up with the latest story telling trends of the humans. They were normally sluggish and boring, contrived at best.

Gyrotae was admittedly rather difficult to impress.

Orange Zone - 7
Grey Zone (B) - 6
Total Posts - 12

[Night]

The rustling noise that signified movement was heard from behind her once more, and she narrowed her eyes. Seriously? They were trying to continue this little charade even after she had already figured out the nature of the ruse? The toy had shifted once again, taking up residence now a few feet behind her in an empty space on the bookshelf. She grunted at it, flicking her tail in a manor that ruffled the feathers at its base. It really didn't deserve her attention, she reasoned. It wasn't as though it were doing anything save for following her around. A strange sensation was lurking somewhere in her gut, however, that told her that there was something more to this that she should be paying attention to. What if this whole 'haunted house' ordeal was simply a trap to get her in here? It wouldn't be the first time that she had been tricked into falling into one of these petty mortal traps. They would catch her interest, playing into her natural curiosity to entice her into one of their establishments. Then they would lock her in, try and hold her. While it was an inconvenience at best, she hated the concept of being stuck in one place.

The mortals had yet to figure a proper way to keep her contained, but then... well. It was always an affront to her pride to fall into a trap. She received no end of taunting from her fellow hellspawn when she was so easily tricked. She growled, a low rumble in her chest, and stood perfectly still, pinning the doll with a suspicious glare.

Orange Zone - 7
Grey Zone (B) - 7
Total Posts - 13

[Night]

She was at a bit of an impasse here. While she was driven forward by her wretched need to figure out how the mortals worked, observe their past times and pinpoint what scared them, she was also immensely annoyed by the prospect of entrapment. She remained in her place, glaring into the soulless eyes of the doll as it rested against the books. What to do, what to do? Her weight shifted back and forth in indecision, teeth bared in something akin to a snarl.

If she were trapped, she tried to reason with herself, then she would still be able to escape. Regardless of what the humans tried, she had yet to be properly ensnared. But if she continued on with her exploration, then they would only have time to fortify their restraints, which would make it all the more annoying to work through. She drew a long breath, holding it for several moments before letting it escape back into the air around her.

No, she would do best to just turn around now. Gyrotae moved once more through the short expanse of the library that she had already traversed, unable to help herself as she shoved some of the books off the shelf and onto the floor.

Orange Zone - 7
Grey Zone (B) - 8
Total Posts - 14

[Night]

The place wasn't even really worth destroying, in her opinion. It was nothing if not a useless waste of a signature for those that were coaxed inside. She shoved her way through the doorway and into the sitting room, unsurprised when a shuffle from her flank signified that the doll had followed her in once more. She was ever suspicious of everything that the place entailed by now. What if they were simply using the doll to keep tabs on her? To track her movement through the house so that they may have some forewarning of when she decided to leave?

She prepared herself to face whatever they may have set up to keep her held within the mansions depths. What were they going to do? Use some of their petty magics to summon a force field of some sort? Or, even more likely, just lock the front door behind her, as though she weren't able to force her way through it?

Gyro contemplated what traps may lay before her with a bored sort of detachment. The reading room was unchanged, having been passed through only moments before. The chairs were still strewn about in various states of uprightness, and the single light that she had nosed at was still flickering its dull glow against the carpet. It hardly seemed as though they were putting up a great effort in making her afraid.

Orange Zone - 7
Grey Zone (A and B) - 9
Total Posts - 15

[Night]

She kicked about in the reading room for a few minutes longer, knocking books from the tables and flicking each of the lights on in turn. There wasn't much to really leave in disarray. The chairs were all balanced upside down against the table, as though they had been placed there with the intention of making them look more obtrusive or strange to any passer through. It wasn't something that five minutes worth of clean up couldn't fix, but it made her feel a tad bit better about having wasted her evening with the ordeal. Again, it was well within her power to just destroy the place entirely. She was almost being nice by leaving it primarily intact. Not that she would ever admit to such a thing. She more than likely didn't even know what that word even meant.

The doll shifted once more, lurking its way through the door and into the reading room once more. Gyrotae didn't even turn to spare it a glance this time. Why should she, when it was obviously just something that was being used to keep up with her movements? That, or yet another simple scare tactic. She had already dismissed it in her mind as something that was below her notice. She considered her work in the room with a bored expression, trying to decide if there were anything more that she could do that wouldn't be considered too extreme to those that were waiting for her outside. She hardly needed another reason for them to try and lock her up. Finding that she was oddly satisfied with her work, she turned tail and wandered once more through the door and into the foyer.

Nothing had changed in here, either. It was still absolutely covered in tacky decorations, and the cut out still lay against the floor, pressed entirely flat by her loss of temper.

Grey Zone (A) - 10
Moving to Orange Zone
Orange Zone (B) - 8
Total Posts - 16

[Night]

Gyrotae was half tempted to do the same to the foyer as she had to the reading room. The tacky decorations stared down at her from all sides, making her hackles rise. They were almost taunting her, practically begging to be ripped down and done away with. The only proper place for such things was obviously the incinerator. She held herself tightly in check. It was going to be of little help to trash the place. It wasn't as though it would further her in her quest to destroy a children's attraction.

The little voice in the back of her mind whispered that not everything had to be about her singular goal. She could always let loose, have a bit of fun. But the night was growing ever closer to the daytime around her, and there was no telling how long it was going to take her to get out of whatever little trap that the humans had set up around her. It had taken her quite some time to catch on to the possible ruse, after all. She meandered out the door, closing all three of her eyes in tandem to brace herself against whatever force field there may be.

She was surprised when she met no resistance, moving out onto the porch easily. The yard was free of any sort of angry mobs or people waiting to douse her in holy water. It was... almost a disappointment, really. She was simply waiting for an excuse to call down her fury. She half wanted to go back inside and continue her exploration, but the thought was shoved out of her mind before it could take root. Just because they hadn't realized what she was before didn't meant that they wouldn't the longer she lurked around. She disappeared into the night, contenting herself to find something else to do with her time.

Orange Zone - 9 (A and B)
Grey Zone - 10
Total Posts - 17
*Self Note: Gyro leaving here

[Night]

Jett waited impatiently at the edge of the property, looking back over her shoulder every few seconds. Her leather jacket was pulled tight around her small, furry frame, but it hardly did anything against the chill of the autumn breeze. "Come on, Nyx! We're going to be laaaaate!" She whined, shifting back and forth just in front of the gate. There was no answer for at least a minute, before a far away and very breathless voice replied.

"Slow your roll! It's not like it's going anywhere!" The carol kuhna was significantly less thrilled by their choice of entertainment for the evening. She appeared finally, wrapped up with several scarves around her neck and a heavy winters jacket adorning her shoulders. Despite her breed disposition, she evidentially had a strong distaste for the cold. Jett was bouncing on her toes by the time her friend joined her at the fence surrounding the property.

"You're so slow." She complained, nudging into Nyx's side with a well aimed elbow. "Come on! I don't know what time they close." The gate was thrown open with abandonment as Jett practically sprinted towards the porch. Nyx rolled her eyes and followed at a much more sedate pace.

Orange Zone (A) - 10
Grey Zone - 10
Total Posts - 18

[Night]

Jett signed the waiver with a flick of her paw, no doubt illegibly if Nyx was going to hazard any guess. She signed her own paper with a much more perfunctory hand, making sure each letter was clearly recognizable and only earning the ire of her friend for her sluggish movement. When all was squared away, Jett bound her way up the porch steps. She was practically vibrating for a second, so eager was she to be let into the haunted house. She deflated suddenly.

"Oh no!" She fretted, frowning. It was almost foreign on her normally rather happy face. "We should have worn costumes! I hope that they don't mind we just showed up in our street clothes." Nyx snorted, grinning despite herself. She honestly doubted that the staff minded their lack of festive attire, and she relayed as much to the common. Jett paid her little mind, continuing to worry before the excitement overwhelmed her once again. Nyx was more than used to the other kuhna's rapid mood changes.

Instead of dwelling on it, she brought up her own argument for what felt like the millionth time. "Are you sure that we have to go to the haunted house?" She asked, eying it over with ill contained reservations. The stone statues at the edges of the porch were already enough to scare her. She hardly wanted to go inside, where who knew what was waiting.

Orange Zone (A) - 11
Grey Zone - 10
Total Posts - 19

[Night]

Jett giggled. "Why, are you scared?" She taunted, the leather of her jacket squeaking in protest as she nudged her friend once more. She let up rather quickly, seeing the sideways glances that the other kuhna repeatedly shot at the open door of the mansion. "Come on, Nyx! It's all pretend. Besides, we're already here! There's no turning back now!" With that, she turned and practically ran inside, leaving Nyx to follow behind her. It was rather typical to their usual arrangement, it seemed.

Nyx shuffled awkwardly through the door, keeping her eyes closed in case anything was too gross or creepy inside the foyer. When Jett didn't immediately scream out, she relaxed minutely, cracking her eyelid open to take in the scene around them. There didn't seem to be anything too scary about the first room. Just a few dollar store decorations - spider webs, foam skulls, the works. Nyx breathed a sigh of relief, opening both eyes and glancing around.

"This doesn't seem so bad..." She admitted grudgingly, standing behind Jett as her friend wandered around and cooed at the various things in the room. If the entire place was like this, then maybe there really was nothing to fear.

Orange Zone (A and B) - 12
Grey Zone - 10
Total Posts - 20

[Night]

After they had been in the room for long enough for her to be comfortable with their surroundings, Nyx moved out from behind the other kuhna and started a bit of her own exploration. The foyer wasn't all that large, and there wasn't a whole lot to take in. Aside from the fact that it was packed full of the tacky little decorations, it almost wouldn't be that different from a normal house. She was distracted enough that when one of the cardboard cutouts leapt out from behind a nearby pillar, she was taken by surprise. Nyx let out a small scream, running and darting behind her slightly larger friend. She was shaking, hiding her face in the common's brightly colored tail. "What was that?!"

Jett was laughing at her, and it was enough to make her peak out from behind her to take a good look at what had startled her. She was still shaking when she took note of the cardboard decoration that had jumped at her. "It's just a stupid cardboard cutout!" Jett snorted, raising an eyebrow at her. Nyx felt her face flood with the heat of embarrassment, and she was glad for the several scarves that covered it to hid her blush. Not that it was all that visible through her heavy fur.

"Yeah, well... It just surprised me, is all." It wasn't all that convincing of a lie, given that she was still trembling in fear over the ordeal. She tucked her snout inside her many layers of scarves, partially hiding her face as Jett moved away to inspect the 'perpetrator.'

"You should have seen your face!" The common chortled, pantomiming the carol's fearful expression. "Oh my god, it was great." Nyx was never going to live this down.

Orange Zone (B) - 13
Grey Zone - 10
Total Posts - 21