The Longest Night of the Year

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May 16, 2025 2:34 pm
Gert
"I knew I could count on you, Mr. Wakeman!" She strides on towards the kitchen. Now that she's not alone anymore, things don't seem as scary. Though there are A LOT of shadows about. Must be light reflecting off of the windows or something.

For a split second she stiffens, thinking that red eyes are watching her. But when she takes another look, she notices it's just a blinking red light in the upper corner of the hallway. Probably one of Amelie's contraptions. She shrugs and carries on.

When she gets to the stairs leading down, she looks around. No Yazeba in sight. Great! She's always wanted to do this! "Hey Mr. Wakeman. Have you ever done this before?" She asks and hops her bum up onto the stair's railing to slide down it. She had seen Hey Kid do it plenty of times and get yelled at plenty of times because of it too. Now it was her time. With way more confidence that she should have right now, she glides her way down.
OOC:
Bingo: Show off a cool skill nobody knew you had
OOC:
Dmbrainiac says:
The Omen indicates I should ask another player what in their character's life is going to come to a conclusion soon.
I think Gertrude realizes that she won't be a teenager anymore soon. Surrounded by so many grown-ups she is aware of the fact that she too will have to take on responsibilities and do grown-up things.

In her deepest self it scares her to death! She hasn't even really figured out how to be a teenager yet. No way she's ready to be an adult.
May 17, 2025 5:37 am
Edmund smiles wanly at Gertrude as he recalls the tragic consequences meted out to some of those who have come to rely on him.

He is unaware of the carmine eye of Amelie's camera watching and probing him, instead lost in his own memories.

The next thing he realizes, Gertrude is calling his name and then sliding daringly down the bannister to the first floor. His mouth opens to call out "Be careful!" but no words escape.

Instead, he sees that a spirit of woe has rushed ahead of Gertrude on the stairs and has maliciously weakened the bannister supports. Its gnarled talons have scored and scratched the wood, causing it to buckle and break as Gertrude slides to the end, ready to dismount onto the first floor landing.

He rushes to the top of the stairs just in time to see Gertrude crash to the ground amidst the broken shards of the bannister.
OOC:
Edmund's secret is that his evil spirits manifested before Elaine died. And he worries that he caused her death.

Also, Bingo: Watch in horror as the spectres that haunt me cause needless destruction.
May 19, 2025 6:41 am
OOC:
Black Omen: 4 of Diamonds, 9 of Diamonds, [b]Ace of Spades[/B]
As the banister breaks and Gertrude tumbles, the dark shadows lengthen and begin to dance and cavort about. A horde of bizarre phantoms emerge. The Night Danse has come!
OOC:
There are only 4 cards in the Night Danse pile right now, so let's keep this to just Edmund and Gertrude. Both of them must either do a Bingo or Whoopsie to no avail, then the Night Danse moves on.
May 19, 2025 6:41 pm
Edmund bounds down the stairs after Gertrude, hoping to find her safe. But his poor coordination causes him to stumble over his own feet near the bottom of the stairs as the bizarre phantoms spring to unlife in the Night Danse. He ends up sprawled on the floor close to Gertrude instead of helping her up. "I'm so sorry! Please forgive me, Elaine! I mean Gertrude..."
OOC:
Whoopsie: Fail a physical task with my soft scholarly hands.
May 19, 2025 9:50 pm
Gertrude is crying while she lays on the ground clutching her leg. "It hurts." She tells Edmund, and keeps crying.

The night danse spirits move in to surround her, making her world dark and lonely.
Gert

"This is the worst night ever!" She says between teardrops. "I just wanted to sleep, but this house doesn't want to let me. And then I just wanted some cookies but I can't even get to the kitchen." She sounds as if she's lost all hope. "Why do I even stay here? Nobody wants me here. There's no room for me. Everyone hates meeeeeee!" Her words turn to sobs.
OOC:
Whoopsie: Assume the worst of what's going on.
No effect, this is for the night danse.
May 20, 2025 7:02 am
Edmund and Gertrude cower before the spirits on parade, but before they know it, the creatures have gone. The B&B is quiet again. A little too quiet...
Hey Kid frowns as the realization hits them. Gertrude just had a birthday recently. That means she's getting older. And getting older means growing up. One day, Hey Kid will have to grow up, too. What will that be like? They've been a kid for as long as they can remember. That's all they know how to be.

"No! No, no, no! I'm not ready to grow up! I'm not READY!" they wail. "Dog, Dog, n'Dog! Where are YOU?!? Where is ANYBODY?!?" they cry. They begin to bang on the walls, suddenly overcome with grief and loneliness!
OOC:
Whoopsie: Have an enormous meltdown. Red Omen: Three of Hearts, Three of Spades, Ace of Clubs, Ten of Clubs, Jack of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, Two of Spades, Three of Diamonds, Ten of Diamonds, Seven of Clubs, Two of Hearts. The other cards are not added to the Night Danse pile!
May 20, 2025 7:30 am
OOC:
@Dmbrainiac, didn't we reveal 2 aces in a row? Because in that case the second is ignored. The non-omen cards don't count, right?
May 20, 2025 7:43 am
OOC:
You're correct. I edited my previous post and changed Hey Kid's Bingo to a Whoopsie. And now:
The warm glow of a comforting flame illuminates the foyer as Amelie arrives on the scene! They see Edmund and Gertrude cowering on the floor.
May 20, 2025 10:10 am
Amelie sees Edmund is not the cause of the strangeness… and Gertrude melting down like this breaks her…
OOC:
BINGO ⭐️ Process a feeling not in your index: having a…
Well…

Amelie knows they do not have a heart, but humans do, and they think they should set a good example.

"Gertrude. No one hates you. You are my dear friend, and it pains me to see you like this."

They are afraid to give Gertrude a comforting hug. She may not want that. That, and a robo-maid’s arms are designed to wrap around a boulder and crush it into gravel. (How else would one get a boulder out of a driveway?)

Instead, she offers her hand.

GRIP OPTIONS:
BOULDER-CRUSH (OFF)
NANNY-MODE (ON)


Should Gert take Amelie’s hand, she will find it gentle and warm.
Last edited May 20, 2025 10:10 am
May 20, 2025 11:16 am
Gerttrude is already in a bad state at this point. She can hear Amelie's words, but they don't hit home. In fact they cause the opposite effect. That's teenagers for you... She gets up, still crying from the painful leg, lack of sleep and horrible ghosts. "You don't understand!" She shouts at Amelie and Edmund. "Just leave me alone! I don't need your help."
Gert

With a bit of a limp she runs off down the hallway and disappears in the darkness.
OOC:
Whoopsie: Take on more than I can carry.
May 21, 2025 5:21 am
Edmund rises, clutching his elbow in pain. Upon hearing Gertrude's words and seeing her go off alone into the B&B, he says "And now the young lady shall journey forth in contemplation of the isolation of existence. All of us are islands and by realizing this, we can see reality for what it is. Like the unshaped clay not yet a pot.... Wait I'm mixing my metaphors. Regardless, she was headed to the kitchen, so we should continue there. And when we find her, we can all be alone together, united in suffering."
OOC:
Whoopsie: Romanticize someone's suffering.
May 21, 2025 6:37 am
OOC:
Red Omen for Gertrude: Five of Clubs, Two of Diamonds, Eight of Hearts, Ten of Hearts, Nine of Diamonds, Five of Spades, Seven of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds. 7 cards in the Night Danse pile.
As Gertrude runs down the hallway by herself, a window creaks, startling her!
OOC:
@TheGenerator how do you react?
May 21, 2025 6:59 am
Gertrude gasps as the window near her creaks. But she's still filled with anger and isn't going to take any sass from anybody. Not even a window! "Shut it!" She simply shouts at the window and the night danse. Right now she is the scary thing roaming the halls. Without a second thought, she continues along and finally reaches the kitchen.
Gert

To escape everything and everyone, she opens up a cupboard, throws out all the pots and pans that were stored inside and gets in it herself. She quickly grabs the cookie jar before sitting down and closing the door. Right now she want's nothing to do with the B&B. She just wants cookies!
OOC:
Whoopsie: Put your Greatest Desire above all else.
May 22, 2025 7:20 am
Hey Kid sniffles and wipes at their eyes. A tantrum isn't going to solve things right now. They're going to have to be brave, like Parish. Parish! Maybe he can help Hey Kid find their wayward pet! He's probably in the kitchen.

Hey Kid decides to practice their brave knight march. Back straight, shoulders back, chest out. Step, step, turn. Or is it step, turn, step? How does Parish march again? They scowl and try again. Step, step, step, turn. No, that's an extra step! "Come on, come on," they mutter.
OOC:
Whoopsie: Let perfectionism get in the way. Black Omen: Nine of Clubs, Six of Diamonds, Seven of Diamonds, Six of Clubs, Eight of Clubs, Four of Clubs, Eight of Spades, Four of Diamonds, Two of Clubs, Nine of Spades, Five of Hearts, Four of Hearts!
Eventually, Hey Kid manages to march into the kitchen. They look around. No Parish, but the cookie jar is missing, and... is that crunching coming from that cupboard? "Aha!" Hey Kid calls, yanking open the door and expecting to see their three-headed pup gobbling down some sugary sweets. But instead they see--

"Gertrude!" Hey Kid calls. They leap forward and throw their arms around her waist in relief. "I'm so glad to see you! And you're not a smelly grown-up yet!"
OOC:
All four travelers are reunited! The revealed cards are not placed in the Night Danse pile.
May 22, 2025 9:31 am
Amelie lets Hey Kid do the talking while they clean up the pots and pans. Of course, the pots and pans can’t go inside the cupboard with a teenager inside it.

The maid-bot seems to calmly make towers of pots and pans, with larger ones supporting smaller ones. It’s efficient and neat, but at the same time, it will just need to be taken down again as soon as some people are no longer curled up in the cupboard.

Amelie shines the cookware columns with their FeatherBuster.

OOC:
WHOOPSIE: ⚡️ Get passive-aggressive about it. (Where "it" is Gertrude running off last time Amelie spoke to her.)
May 22, 2025 1:11 pm
Gertrude is surprised and at first even more annoyed. "I told you I just..." Then she realizes who it is. ".. Oh Hey Kid." She said, wiping some tears from beneath her mask. "I.. Uh... Just wanted to eat cookies in a quiet place." The comment of not being a smelly grown-up kinda lifts her spirits again.

"I guess you can join me." She says, offering Hey Kid one of the cookies. "These aren't so great anyway." She shrugs.
OOC:
Bingo: show kindness .. of a kind.
"Why are you awake?" She asks them.
Gert

Meanwhile, Amelie is rummaging around with pots and pans. Gertrude decides to ignore it. She's still mad. Why was she mad again? Doesn't matter, she concludes. It's Amelie's fault for sure! Right?
May 22, 2025 3:16 pm
Amelie pretend to ignore Gertrude as well. But the robo-maid is listening…

They very casually take a baking sheet off of a pan-stack and slip out of Gertrude’s sight. If Gertrude were to poke her head out in the next minute, Amelie would be out of the room. But only for that minute.

In the minute after that, the room should have a soft glow. Warmth.

And in the third minute, there is an unmistakable aroma of cookies baking. Oddly, it’s not coming from the direction of an oven or stove!

Amelie is simply holding her hands over the baking sheet, using pyromancy to bake the dough, which has already been rolled and cut into heart-shapes!
OOC:
PYRO-BINGO: 🔥 Start a warm and comforting flame.
May 22, 2025 6:06 pm
Edmund straggles into the kitchen out of the shadowy hall. He sees Gertrude and Hey Kid eating cookies from the pantry while Amelie prepares hand baked cookies. The spirits whisper that this little room of light and warmth is a fleeting illusion on this the longest night.

But everyone deserved a respite, no matter how brief, he thinks to himself. So he says nothing and awaits the fresh cookies, forcing a thin smile on his face as the others talk.
OOC:
Bingo: Choose common sense over misery.

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