+ I know she's never late - Still, anxiously I wait +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: EVERYONE and any skeletons they might dig up!
Where: Anywhere in Pottsfield!
When: 11/9/18 - 11/13/18 - the duration of the event
Rating: PG-13, warn if going higher
Summary: Catch all for the Pottsfield event! Everyone's been sentenced five days of manual labor by Enoch, the Great Pumpkin - who knows what they'll dig up out there?
The Story:

When you wake up, you will find yourself on the floor of a dark barn with only the clothes on your back, surrounded by pumpkin-faced on-lookers. They whisper amongst themselves, talking about the strange person who has woken up too early among them. Then one cries out "Enoch! What shall we do with them?"

And Enoch, an ominous fifteen-foot tall pumpkin creature, will lean in close to examine for himself. He will list off a number of crimes your character has supposedly committed – trespassing, destruction of property, disrupting the peace, murder, maybe some other things here and there – and by the order of the Pottsfield Chamber of Commerce, he will sentence you to what he has sentenced everyone to: five days of manual labor.

This is how you will wind up in a field in a colonial New England town with a ball and chain attached to their ankle, tending to fields, harvesting crops, and digging holes. You might have to contend with some absurdly large turkeys but...the town is strangely peaceful for a place where you just got arrested and charged with crimes you (probably) haven't committed. Sure, there are pumpkin people around who might look at you funny if you slack off, but there is food to eat and water to drink, and Enoch is graciously allowing everyone to sleep in some of the old homes in town. There even seems to be a festival going on for anyone who wants to take a break and dance and bob for apples. There is no way to leave Pottsfield, as trying to leave the town just loops you back around to the town again like it does in Wonderland. It's a little weird, but no one is actively trying to hurt anyone.

However, there's something alarming under the fields.

If you're digging holes in the fields as the great pumpkin has told you to, you will eventually start to find skeletons – but not just any skeletons. Skeletons belonging to people currently in Wonderland who have died there at some point. Death in Wonderland is terribly unnatural, you see, so Wonderland has taken the liberty of filling Pottsfield's fields with a skeleton for every “death” that has happened in Wonderland. These skeleton versions of characters will be fundamentally the same in personality, but they will talk about finally being able to join the harvest and will want to go and join the pumpkin people's festival. The pumpkin people – presumably also skeletons - will welcome them with open arms. They can be identified by their voice and by what they choose to wear for their vegetable clothing (maybe they will have a vegetable version of that hat they always wear, or maybe they've been given pumpkins that look like their usual armor) – or maybe they'll recognize you first and come say hi to their old friend!

And so the event goes, digging skeletons, harvesting crops, and celebrating the Harvest of skeleton versions of your friends. If you don't want to join the party now? Well, that's fine. You'll join them someday...

[OOC: Plot post is over here for anyone who needs it!]

Comments

[holyshihtzu]

[ Juliet was expecting someone to finally have enough, but she wasn't expecting Gren to lose it quite... this way. When he turns to look at her, she's gripping her shovel, her hands shaking uncontrollably. ]

Can you... be person-sized again? I'm not ready to deal with whatever is happening right now.

[ She's still wrapping her head around the creepy pumpkin people. ]

[oneagainstall]

[Gren can always be counted on to crank a situation up to eleven regardless of if he needs to or not. He growls at the comment, rolling his eyes.]

Yeah, well boo-fuckin'-hoo, we;re stuck in this bullshit if we like it or not, you just gotta-

[He pauses, squints down at her. Oh. Wait. This is the chick from Shawn's world. He lets out a soft 'ugh'. ]

I don't know. You gonna put down the fuckin' shovel?

[holyshihtzu]

[ Julia looks at the shovel like she wasn't aware she was still holding it and manages to drop it slowly to the ground, rising with both her hands up to show how unarmed she is.

She might be overreacting slightly, sure. But just because Gren is Shawn's friend doesn't mean he won't eat her or something. ]

There. We good?

[oneagainstall]

Fine, whatever.

[There's a bright green glow and suddenly where once there was a seven foot tall monster stands Human-Looking-Gren. He's not keen on it, but the pumpkin freaks don't seem to be that aggressive. He probably doesn't need the glamour off.]

I mean, it don't really make that much of a fuckin' difference. That's still me. This [he gestures at his human self] is just a fancy-ass magical disguise. But whatever makes you less shovel-happy. You want outta those chains?

[holyshihtzu]

[ It takes Juliet a second to catch up with this conversation. So, is this how it's going to be? She's going to keep finding out that people who look normal are actually vampires or immortals or seven-foot tall giants who can look shorter than they are.

At least she already knows that Shawn is a psychic so she won't have to deal with any surprises from him. ]

I just need to get used to it, I guess. I'm not exactly accustomed to people I know shape-shifting around me. [ She glances down at the cuff around her ankle. ] I'd appreciate it, this thing kind of itches.

[oneagainstall]

[Yup, that one one thing she can be sure of, no surprises from Shawn at all. N O P E.]

It's not really- [he stops, it's not important] I mean, it's just regular, I guess. Lotta non-humans here.

[It would be a lot easier to get rid of it in his true form, but as is, he'll just settle for good old-fashioned lockpicking. He pulls a sharp piece of metal (one he'd broken off his own shackles for just such a reason, and goes to work opening her shackles.]

You alright otherwise? Not hurt?

[holyshihtzu]

[ Nope not a single one surely there isn't anything important Shawn has been hiding from her for two years. ]

Besides being in need of a really hot shower and prescription strength deodorant, I think I'm okay.

[ She lets out a sigh when the shackle unlocks and reaches down to disengage it, rubbing her ankle tenderly. ]

I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude. You just look pretty human when you're not... not human.

[oneagainstall]

[Not a DAMN THING. He's an open book.]

Well, looks like you're gonna have to wait for those until the mansion starts being the mansion again. Doubt these pumpkin jackasses have anything like that. They got a real fuckin' Amish vibe going on.

[He huffs out a laugh.]

That's kinda the point. I gotta blend in with you guys, back home. Them's the rules. Been that way since we had to come to the mundy...uh. Regular normal Earth, I mean.

[holyshihtzu]

Regular normal Earth.

[ What she would give for regular normal Earth, especially after all this. ]

Well, you don't need to blend in here. So why do you still do it?

[oneagainstall]

[He shrugs, making an 'I dunno' sound.]

Got used to it. Been doing this for centuries now- if we didn't it was at best a prison sentence and at worse a fuckin' capital offence. You got into a habit of not turning your glamour off if you didn't want to be fucked over by the Sheriff.

[He considers.]

Also it's a lot fuckin' easier to move around the mansion.

[holyshihtzu]

[ Second point is fair, first point is terrifying. ]

So it's a lot like where Misty is from, a place where you have to hide who you are all of the time. [ She can't fathom it. Juliet has always been just... herself. Having to pretend to be something else, to lie to people just to stay alive, it sounds horrible. ]

I'm sorry I acted so scared at first. [ After all he has clearly been through, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt his feelings. ]

[oneagainstall]

A little, I mean, there's witches where I come from, but they ain't like Misty's coven. Misty was born in her world- Fables? We had to move to the one we live in. We hide so the mundies don't know we're there- so we don't draw attention to the fact we fuckin' exist.

[Because if the mundies were aware all their beloved fairytales were real and living among them...well, it probably wouldn't go down so well. At her apology, he gives a shrug.]

S'alright. I've dealt with worse. You didn't try to fuckin' kill me so you're already miles ahead of some people.

[holyshihtzu]

Just because I usually have a gun doesn't mean I want to kill anyone. Well, not everyone.

[ Lassiter? Sometimes. Shawn? Usually. ]

Why did you have to move from the place you originally lived?

[oneagainstall]

'Course not, but that shit can come in handy here. Keep a hold of it.

[You never know when you HAVE to shoot someone.]

I lived in a place called the Homelands. It was lots of little worlds, all attached to each other. Then, one day, this dickhead called the Adversary starts taking over the Homelands, one by one. Basically, we either had to run or get caught up in the fuckin' slaughter. So we went to the mundy, where there ain't no magic- nothing for the Adversary to want to conquer. If you didn't get it by the accent already, most of us pitched camp in New York City.

[holyshihtzu]

[ She wrinkles her nose. ]

Why New York City?

[ Because that is the salient point here. ]

[oneagainstall]

Because at the time, there was a lotta immigrants going there. I mean, this was when it was still called New Amsterdam. We just...blended in with the rest of them. Nobody batted an eyelid at a buncha folks showing up with weird accents.

[holyshihtzu]

Wow. Yeah, I guess that makes a lot of sense.

[ Juliet is perfectly happy to have no been in that situation. She would never survive in New York. At least Maimi had been warm. ]

Do you think you'll ever be able to go back home?

[oneagainstall]

[He shakes his head- he's not especially sad about it. There's a quiet, heavy acceptance about it all. It is what it is.]

Nah. Every year we have this Remembrance Day thing, and every year they hope to go back, but I don't think it's ever gonna happen. Everything is under the Adversary's fuckin' thumb now. We got what we got, and best we can do is be glad we're still alive.

Ironically, Wonderland's about as close to home as I can get. I ain't from Wonderland- the real one, but it is part of the Homelands. So I guess that makes it something, even if it ain't right.

[holyshihtzu]

I talked to a woman when I got here - Snow White. I guess I'm still getting used to fairy tales being real in Wonderland, muchless real wherever people come from.

[ It's a lot to take on. Juliet's life has been mostly normal, working with a psychic aside. And even that took some getting used to. ]

You shouldn't give up hope. You might be able to go back one day, and it sounds like you have plenty of time. [ If he's been around for centuries, she imagines he probably has at least a few more in him. ]

[oneagainstall]

Yeah, I know Snow, we got similar situations, that whole "fairy tale" shit and whatever. I'm from the same kinda deal- but different to her. The Snow White I know ain't as personable as she is.

[But hey, at least Juliet has dipped her toe in the fun waters of "surprise, your fairy tales are real" - it makes it easier for him, thanks Snow.]

Hope ain't something I dabble in a lot. I'm just glad I'm still alive, and I got the people I got. Homelands were kinda shitty for me anyway.

[holyshihtzu]

[ It certainly gave her a little bit of perspective. It was a surprise to meet the actual Snow White, and honestly, Juliet really enjoyed it. ]

Well, those a good basics. Having people that you care about is probably the most important thing.

[oneagainstall]

It sure is. Without that, we got fuckin' nothing.

[That much, he totally and utterly believes. ]

[holyshihtzu]

If I didn't already know that at home, I would have learned it here by now.

[ If anything, Juliet wishes she'd been a little more independent. She was incredibly close to her whole family and relied on Lassiter a lot to guide her detective work, so being largely on her own--even with Shawn--was still a daunting prospect. ]

There is something to be said about being flexible, though. Not that anyone could prepare themselves for ending up in Wonderland, or what happened to you in the Homelands.

[oneagainstall]

Pretty much. You can't prepare for everything, and you sure as shit can't prepare yourself for all the weird fuckery this place tosses at you. Best you can do is roll with it and try and survive to the next round.

[He's always the most cheery conversationalist. ]

[holyshihtzu]

I guess the trick of this place it to take it day by day. Or event by event.

[ She pushes forward a smile, even though it's not particularly convincing. ]

I'm just going to concentrate on making it out of... [ She gestures around them. ] Whatever this is.