Young Writers Society

Mischief is in the air tonight, and you're its unfortunate victim.

Some of you are lucky. You know it's Halloween. While you may not expect what is about to happen, you at least know that scary, strange things happen on a night like tonight. You expect goblins and ghouls and everything else that goes bump in the night - or to see cartoonish interpretations of them, at least.

But others of you aren't. Halloween isn't a thing where you're from, but you're wearing a costume - that's what's most important. You all were wearing some kind of costume before you found yourself in this spooky, creepy graveyard on All Hallow's Eve. And while it's one thing to be abducted and brought to a strange place, this situation is notably worse.

You've become your costume.

1. Please include a description of your character in your first post - you can throw it into a spoiler using the code down below and put it at the top of your post.

Code: Select all

[spoiler]Put your description here![/spoiler]

2. Feel free to pick characters from whatever you want. They can be from another roleplay, a storybook, a novel or even a fanfiction of yours. The world, time and plot they're from ultimately just impacts how they interact with this roleplay, so it's really up to you.

3. You can have as many characters as you want, but there'll come a point where you can no longer add new ones because it would alter the plot too much. I'll make sure to say something when that happens, so don't worry about it for now!

4. Please don't write for anyone else's characters. It's hard to predict what someone else might have their characters do, and it takes away some of the fun for the other writers.

5. You're free to have your character guess what the plot is, but don't make any plot-altering decisions with talking about with me first. You can PM me or chat in our OOC thread if you have an idea - I love scheming! I just want to make sure your schemes can be incorporated into what I'm already scheming.

(It would also be really helpful if you said you were joining over in that thread, rather than in a post here. )

6. Don't post multiple times in a row, and make sure everyone has a chance to get a response in. There's going to be times where it makes more sense to post back-and-forth between two people, but try avoiding it unless you absolutely have to - it prevents the other writers from getting too behind and feeling like they aren't involved with the story.

7. Have fun!

The last thing that Rew remembered doing was doing the final touches on his makeup. He still hadn't been entirely sure of where he was going to go once the costume was finished, but he liked the thought of slipping in, unnoticed, into some kind of party. If not that, he would love to roam the streets and interact with the kids in all of their cool costumes.

But he wasn't in the back room of Romi's shop anymore. He had somehow ended up in a graveyard, even though he was pretty sure that he hadn't accidentally transported himself again. He hadn't even been thinking about going anywhere; he had just been hoping Romi wouldn't be too mad when she noticed he took her favorite cloak.

(In his defense, where else was he supposed to get one on such short notice? His old one was still ripped.)

The graveyard was both creepy and empty. Rew frowned at that realization. What good was a graveyard that didn't have people? It had been awhile since he brought anyone over to Arium, too. This would have been the perfect time to! It would have been an amazing Halloween surprise.

There was a nice, solid looking tree nearby. Rew narrowed his eyes at it as he studied its supposed sturdiness. He wasn't entirely sure, but it looked like the kind of tree that wouldn't break easily if he tried to climb it. There were even some low hanging branches that were just a little higher up than the top of his head.

He marched over to the tree, ready for an impromptu climbing session.

But then a branch whacked him in the face.

"Ow," he whined, taking a step back. He covered his nose with his hand. "That hurt-"

He paused.

...Was it just him, or did his voice sound weird?

He sighed.

It definitely sounded weird. Kind of hollow, kind of ancient, and definitely not the kind of voice he liked to use. It had to be those cult guys again. He told them it was a terrible idea to keep messing around with spells relating to him, but they never listened to him. At least it was just a voice change this time.

He glanced down.

...Maybe not just a voice change, then.

Through the holes that had somehow appeared in Romi's once pristine cloak, Rew could see what looked suspiciously like bones. He could also see what looked suspiciously like an actual scythe in his hand, even though his had been made out of cardboard earlier.

"Oh no," Rew whispered. "Romi's going to kill me for ruining her cloak!"

Chrys sighed heavily as she trudged out the front door.

"Goodbye Pumpkin!" her mom called behind her, waving her arms with too much energy for an almost 50-year-old. Her mother had been all too delighted when Chrys had walked out of her room dressed like a cat that got barfed on by a unicorn stuck in a disco ball. She knew her mom hated that her wardrobe consisted mostly of grey T-shirts and black jeans, but she didn't have to act like this stupid costume meant anything. It wasn't even Chrys's idea, her friend Beatrice had suggested it as a joke, and Chrys really couldn't think of anything else to dress up as. It was supposed to be ironic. She sighed again, and slung her candy bag over her shoulder as she started off down the sidewalk.

After around fifteen minutes of trick-or-treating, the faux lace wrist cuffs she'd made were starting to get on her nerves, sliding around every time she tried to reach for a piece of candy. Finally, Chrys just ripped them off and threw them in the bag. Suddenly, she found herself standing in a dark graveyard, seemingly empty. A thick fog slithered just above the ground, encircling the tombstones. A few trees were scattered about, but there were dead as doornails. Their gnarled, thin branches twisted towards the dark abyss of the sky, and it was deafeningly silent.

"Yeesh." Chrys said. "Talk about abysmal. I must've taken a wrong turn somewhere." She turned around, and realized that there wasn't any sidewalk to be found, nor roads, or even houses. She blinked a couple of times, and squinted to ensure that her eyesight hadn't just completely given out on her. Feeling a rising panic, she began tugging on her earlobe, a nervous habit, when she felt a thin, almost scratchy fabric graze her cheek.

"Lace?" she said, examining her wrist. "I thought I took these stupid things off." She tried to rip it off with her teeth, but was met with a sharp tug on her wrist.

"OW! What the-" At her outburst, she heard a rustling behind her. "WHO'S THERE?" Chrys shouted, whipping around. She flung her arms out in a frantic attempt at a punch, and a bright light flashed, and launched out of her palm, slamming whoever had stood there square in the ribs and flinging them across the graveyard. She heard a very low, old sounding voice shriek, which aside from being a particularly odd sound, was also accompanied by what almost sounded like a wind chime getting hit by a baseball bat when they smacked into a tree and fell to the ground.

"Yikes." Chrys said. But 'yikes' didn't even cover the half of it.

What better time of year was there than Halloween?

Roxanne stuffed two peanut butter cups in her mouth, staring eagerly at her mother sewing her costume. Desiree looked up.

"Roxy, dear, you're going to choke," she said. She accidentally pricked herself and sucked her finger.

Roxanne swallowed, scrunching her face as the large chunks of candy pushed against her throat painfully. "Okay, you're right, I'm sorry," she said. "Is it ready?"

Desiree finally connected the red cape to the shoulder pads. "Now, it's ready." She handed the costume to her daughter. Roxanne put it on.

"My own little She-Ra," Desiree said, clasping her hands together. "You know, She-Ra was my favorite cartoon when I was a little girl."

"I know, Mom," Roxanne said, smiling. "But, you've got to admit, the reboot is much better."

Roxanne grabbed her silver sword, a gift from a Camp Half-Blood alumnus, and kissed her mother goodbye.

"Don't eat too much candy," Desiree said, "and please don't cause trouble."

"I'll try to suppress the urge," Roxanne said. She stepped out the door...and found herself in a graveyard.

The graveyard looked creepy. Roxanne whirled around, expecting a monster to pop out. She grabbed her sword, but it looked different. The hilt was golden, and the steel itself was blue. It looked like She-Ra's sword. But that was impossible.

Roxanne heard a commotion over the gravestones, and a bright light appeared. Roxanne ran over. Two other people, one silhouetted behind a tree were there.

What's going on?!

Kate adjusted her wig and looked at herself in the mirror. Perfect. She put on her contacts that made her eyes look milky white. She looked again. Perfect.

Kate smiled and grabbed her bag. “Mom! I’m going! See you later!” she yelled.

“Bye sweetie! Have fun!” her mom yelled back.

“I will!” Kate yelled over her shoulder as she walked out the door. She looked at the trick-or-treaters and smiled at the little kids’ costumes. Kate went to a few houses and got some candy. She stopped at a street corner to adjust her wig again- that darn thing kept slipping. She looked up and blinked.

She couldn’t see.

“Huh?” she said out loud. Her contacts must have gotten dislodged somehow. Kate reached up to poke her eyes- but she couldn’t get her contacts out.

“Um, could someone help me please?” she called. Silence responded. “Hello?” she called louder. Nothing. Kate stamped her foot, a habit of frustration she had.

She could see.

Not see, see, but the vibrations from her foot extended out and showed her a picture of her surroundings. Just like Toph did in Avatar.

Kate stumbled backwards and bumped into something. She turned.

She screamed.

James was feeling extremely stupid. The strings that he had attached to his duct taped wings were starting to grind on his hand and several cardboard spines had fallen off. Why did I not just go as Dracula or something? I already have a cape and everything.

He wandered down the street aimlessly grumbling and imagining the ribbing he would get once his colleagues got to know about how his costume. He kept his head down as he walked. It felt like an unnatural chill was seeping through the area but he barely noticed.

He kicked out at the road in anger and his foot connected with something hard. He looked up to see an ancient tree. What in the world? He looked around. Suddenly the chill dissipated and the darkness seemed to reduce. He felt something heavy on his back. What is going on?

He brought up his hand to his face and nearly screamed. Why do I have claws and why is my arm covered in fur?

Maybe, just maybe, sneaking up on someone while looking like the grim reaper hadn't been his best idea.

Romi probably wouldn't have included it in his top ten worst decisions, but Rew still had to admit that mistakes had been made. He had just wanted to ask the girl if she had seen any suspicious cult people nearby. He wasn't entirely sure if the cult had anything to do with this, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

Except it actually could - she had just sent him flying into a tree.

Which hurt.

"Ow," he whined, his voice low and still strangely echo-ey. He thought this interpretation of the grim reaper was a little bit offensive, but he didn't control strange cult magic. He unsteadily got to his feet and leaned up against the tree that had just assaulted him, hand resting on the part of his side that had slammed into it the most. Even though it felt like everything was in place, he was sure she must have broken something with that attack.

In the time that he had been nursing his injury, more people had shown up. He had thought things were weird enough just going off of him suddenly becoming his costume, but the other occupants of the graveyard made him even more confused. The girl that had sent him flying? She was a magical girl. The next girl he noticed was also a magical girl, but she had a very nice looking sword he needed to get his hands on at some point. There was a girl who admittedly didn't look too strange, but she had just screamed. That had to count for something.

Oh, and there was the chupacabra, which Rew had never been quite sure was real in the first place.

...Asking about the cult didn't seem all that important now, but Rew's priorities had shifted anyways. If he was going to be stuck like this for a bit, he was going to get his hands on that sword. Scythes were stupid as weapons. They were supposed to be farming tools, and the blades got caught on everything.

He glanced at the girl who had attacked him, checking to see if she was planning another attack. It didn't look like she was, so his new plan was a go. With a surprising amount of speed for someone who was suddenly much taller than before and supposedly injured, he darted over to the magical girl with the sword.

"Can I have that sword?" he asked. "I'll trade you this scythe for it."

Autumn zipped up her hood, completing her half-effort costume. Being the nerd she always was, it was none other than a Spider-man hoodie. It was one of those ones you could zip up all the way, which she had paired with some blue leggings, her red converse high-tops, and clumsily painted red gloves. She usually loved to dress up and take her cousins trick-or-treating, but this year she was just so busy juggling her part-time job and trying to be an independent artist and paying all her own expenses and trying to avoid becoming a hermit. Well, we all have to grow up sometime, right? She giggled at her reflection in the mirror and struck a heroic pose. Not this year, at least. She could shout her nerdiness and favorite superhero one more time. She was still a teenager anyways. Technically.

She spun and looked at the clock. Groaning, she swiped her car keys off the table, knocking a few clean paint brushes off onto the grimy floor in her haste. She unzipped her hood on the way down the apartment complex's stairs and sent up praises for the hundredth time that she had gotten only a second floor studio... until she remembered that she hadn't locked the door. Or double-checked that all the lights were off. Or triple-checked that she had turned the stove off after dinner. Autumn panted her way back up and down the stairs, fighting the asthma trying to squeeze the oxygen out of her lungs.

"Come on baby, just turn over now," she coaxed her poor old hand-me-down car. It finally coughed to life, and she breathed a sigh of relief, blowing a stray hair out of her face. She punched in the gps coordinates(for backup, of course, in case she forgot how to get there), and off she went, two little pumpkin pails rolling around in her backseat.

She finally turned the corner onto her cousins' long dirt driveway, the gps pleasantly reporting that she had reached her destination. Parking a little ways off, she turned off the ignition and got out, hoping to surprise the kids. She zipped up her hoodie again and sauntered up to the door, knocking evenly four times.

No answer.

Huh, I would've thought they would be champing at the bit to go already. She started to knock again, but something whizzed behind her, crunching in the thick layer of leaves. She spun around, expecting one of the kiddos to be trying to scare her.

There was something... a shadow behind one of the trees. A shiver raced down her spine.

"Oh, you got me Jamie! You-- you can come out now! I'm spooked!" Autumn forced a cheery pep into her tone as she moved towards the tree. The shadow remained elusive as she crept around the tree.

A scream sent Autumn reeling. She whacked her head on a low tree branch. Hard.

"Ow." She rubbed her head and froze. Her voice didn't sound right. It was slightly... off pitch? And her hoodie. It didn't feel right either. It was too tight to her head, and was textured, unlike the printing on her hoodie. Then she spotted her arm and jerked it in front of her. Sleek muscles rippled underneath the now thin material, very different from her own noodle arms. She gasped and skittered back from the tree, like it had done this too her. Whatever this was. Her brain was still struggling to grasp the situation.

First things first: who had screamed, and where. And why. She spun around toward the origin of the scream... and wacked her head again. Yeesh. She was not that tall. What in the world was going on here?

She finally spotted the strange group. She didn't understand what was going on here. What was that weird furry spined winged creature over there? And who was that holding-- was that a scythe? She could barely take everything in.

"I must have hit my head really hard," she mumbled, rubbing her throbbing head again. Terrified, she started to circle the tree, trying to get out of this hallucination-- until she whacked her head again and fell flat on her back in the leaves.

Sensing movement out of the corner of his eye, Rew turned to see...

Spider-Man!?

The sword could definitely wait. He spun back around to look at its magical owner, giving both her and the weapon a reluctant look again when he realized just how badly he wanted to get his hands on it. He had to rank his priorities here.

"My deal still stands," he said.

Then he turned around again, this time making a beeline for Spider-Man. He got to the spider-themed hero just in time to see him go slamming into the tree. If he had been any closer, Rew would have caught him before he could fall into the leaves.

"Are you okay?" he asked, peering down at Spider-Man. He held out a skeletal hand to help the hero up. There was nothing to say that he was actually Spider-Man, but the outfit looked so real and the proportions looked right. If he suddenly shot his webs, Rew would be convinced that he was the real deal.

Roxanne stared in shock as the freaking Grim Repear approached her. She was even more shocked when his deep voice asked her for the sword in such a child-like way. If he wasn't the embodiment of death, Roxanne would've been endeared.

Was he still waiting for an answer? Roxanne looked at her (She-Ra's?) sword more closely. That scythe did look pretty cool, but she felt this connection with the sword...like it was meant to be with her.

She was about to decline the offer when more screams erupted. Something red and blue crashed into the trees, and the Grim Reaper caught him. Roxanne turned quickly and caught sight of blonde hair.

Her hair?!

Roxanne found a puddle and bent over it. The sword wasn't just She-Ra's. Roxanne was She-Ra.

Spiderman, Toph, the Grim Reaper, a magical cat girl, and a chupacabra. Roxanne raised her arms.

"Okay, everyone calm down," she said gently. "We're all confused and scared. But I'm going to go ahead and guess that everyone dressed up for Halloween... and we turned into our characters. Um, my name is Roxanne."

Roxanne turned to the Grim Reaper, who she was sure must have been a kid before. Maybe her age?

"The offer was kind, but I think I'll stick with my sword."

Hand still extended towards the fallen hero, Rew turned to look at Roxanne with what would have been an almost childish look of disappointment. Getting turned into his costume wasn't that bad, but it would be a shame if he wasn't really with Spider-Man right now. Add in Roxanne turning down his offer, and Rew was feeling pretty down on his luck.

If he had flesh-covered cheeks, he would have puffed them out and blown the air out as a sigh. All he could really do was the last part right now. Being a skeleton really was the worst; he wasn't going to get rid of his flesh anytime soon.

He sighed.

Loudly.

"I'm Rew," he said. The name wouldn't mean anything to anyone here; he was good about that. "I normally have skin, so I think I have to agree with your guess."

He glanced back at Spider-Man.

"Reluctantly," he quickly added.

He let out another sigh.

"The least the cult could have done was let me enjoy Halloween," he said, more to himself than to anyone else present.

Autumn opened her eyes to find the grim reaper standing over her, holding out a bony hand. Her eyes could not possibly be any wider. She caught him saying what sounded like "usually having skin" and something about a cult, but her muddled brain could barely understand why the freaking grim reaper was offering to help her up and asking if she was okay.

Thinking that this day could not get any weirder, she allowed him to help her off the ground, hoping he wouldn't harvest her soul or something like that.

She was brushing the leaves off when she finally processed what the blonde girl had said as she stared down at her clothes. No, the suit.

I'm guessing we turned into our characters.

Oh crap.

"Ohnononono," she muttered to herself.

Once he'd gotten over the fact that he was suddenly a big furry weird monster thing, James didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Somehow he'd gotten himself stuck in a real life Halloween horror thriller but the weirdest part was that it somehow seemed normal. He had only been in the agency for two years and getting turned into a giant furry monster was one of the more normal things he'd run into. Guess I did sign up for all of this. Now I need to figure out if I am...

He realized for the first time that he wasn't exactly alone. The one he recognized instantly was The Grim Reaper. That was a face that several people tended to mentione around him. And then there was Spiderman, which had to be wrong. Last he'd checked, Spiderman was not supposed to be hanging around random cemeteries. The others, however, he couldn't place. Some of them seemed somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place it. And then one of them had dropped a bombshell.

Of course. Of course. So that's what I must be. The Chupacabra. Yaa that sounds about right. And that's why they seem familiar. I bet those are from some tv show or film. Dang, I haven't watched something in two years. Ahh...I need a vacation eventually. But first things first. Let's find out where I am and how on Earth do I get out?

Two of them introduced themselves, Roxanne and Rew. Guess I should do the same. Probably not the real name. You never know.

"Well, um, heyy," he said, already cringing as his voice came out all weird. I hope they hear me through these ridiculous fangs. "So umm...I say I also agree...also I'm Agent Khaos...with a K."

Rew frowned - or would have, if his face wasn't a skull.

"You really aren't Spiderman," he guessed, sending a glance back in the supposed hero's direction. "If you were, you probably would be a little calmer right now."

After a moment passed, Rew gave not-Spiderman a comforting pat on the back. Then his attention shifted to the chupacabra, who was apparently named Agent Khaos. He hadn't ever heard the name before, but anything that had agents with cool names like that was bound to be interesting.

If he had been his regular self, he would have just popped over to the agent's side with a burst of magic. But it looked like he wasn't able to do that right now, so he settled for darting over to his side instead. Something was definitely lost there, but Rew wasn't too preoccupied.

"Who do you work for?" Rew asked, looking the agent over with his head tilted ever so slightly to the side. "Agents are always interesting. I haven't got-met a lot of them before, but you must have an interesting job no matter what group you're an agent for-"

There was a noise in the distance.

Several noises, in fact.

Rew turned and stared into the depths of the graveyard.

"...I was going to suggest that everyone else does introductions, too," he said, "but did anyone else hear something over there?"