Third Specter; Grim, Grinning Ghost

[grislytragedian]

Characters: John Lalonde and YOU
Setting: Anywhere and everywhere, 10/23 through the end of the event
Format: Starting with action but I'll match if you have the burning need for prose.
Summary: After his Saw-style execution and subsequent loss of his candy, John Lalonde has come back as a ghost with a need to scare people to death. But not until after he goes on a quest for vengeance.
Warnings: People will die.

[Since Rose Egbert was kind enough to broadcast the location of his candy bucket as well as his execution, when John Lalonde revives the next morning he's...not quite right. But look around the tower, what else is new? Save for a number of thick iron chains bound around him, he is no longer corporeal and his eyes are completely blank. The aftermath of his execution has left him with two things: a multitude of tiny shrapnel cuts on his face and torso, and a burning desire for vengeance on a certain puppet-girl.]

[Throughout the week, he can be found floating around the tower, though his mood will vary greatly depending upon when one runs into him...]

((ooc: John is now a real life(?) ghost! This post will act as a catch-all for any interactions with him through the end of the event. Since the first thing he's going to do is hunt down Rose and kill her, he won't kill anybody else who approaches him on the 23rd or 24th. From the 25th onward, however, he'll start giving into his ghostly urges and attempt to kill people by either a) scaring them or b) luring them into one of the deathtraps Rose has set for him because the revenge circle does not stop from spinning. While he is easy to outrun in this state, bear in mind that you run the risk of having your character die by commenting to the last sub thread.))

((Hopefully this makes sense, if you have any questions or want to plot out something specific, feel free to shoot me a PM/IM/plurk.))

Comments

Tuesday 10/23

[grislytragedian]

[John is clearly on a mission, roaming the tower at a fairly quick pace for a transparent guy inexplicably weighted down by chains. Today, his thoughts are focused solely on finding one person...and killing her.]

[Because she rigged that fucking trap. He beat her puzzle and yet he still died. And that shit just won't stand.]

[You might be able to get a pretty decent conversation out of him today. Especially if you happen to have seen Rose Egbert recently because he just can't find her anywhere! He'd be willing to bet it's because she's out setting up more Amanda-style traps to spring on people. The nerve. If you're going to be a Saw rip off, do it right!!! Go Kramer-style or go home.]

[mostremaining]

[Gilbert will probably bump into John while wandering around the tower. His jaw just about drops when he sees the kid.]

You! You're one of the kids that that girl killed, aren't you? [He's not going to mention that John seems to have "come back wrong" yet.]

[grislytragedian]

[John turns slowly to face the voice, blank eyes locked on Gilbert's. When he speaks, his voice sound oddly far-off and kind of warbly. He seems slightly confused, after all, he was so out of it after the shrapnel bomb went off in his face that he had no idea about Jade Strider accidentally broadcasting their deaths.]

"That girl?" You mean Rose? How do you know about that? Did she tell you? [His expression turns slightly maniacal at that and he draws closer to Gilbert. Obviously if this guy knows about Rose, he must have seen her and therefore know exactly where she is at this very moment. Yes, obviously.] Have you seen her?! Where is she? Where!?

[mostremaining]

Wh-whoa! Calm down! I don't know where she is. I kind of lost track of her after yesterday. As for how I know about what happened... I think that other girl who was with you- the one with the short black hair- activated a terminal just before the blonde girl killed both of you. [Beat.] Looks like you got taken in by your costume, too...

[grislytragedian]

[He curses under his breath, clearly disappointed. And here he thought he had a lead...oh well. He regains his composure rather quickly and moves back to a more reasonable distance.]

I see. She was probably trying to get help...undoubtedly Rose wouldn't allow that. but yes, I guess someone must have looted my candy. Either that or dying before midnight nulls your collection.

[mostremaining]

She did look like she was trying to get help... She was in really bad shape before this Rose did what she did. I'm guessing you got looted, given the talk of having to take candy from people who are dying. [He sighs.] This situation is nuts... I don't think I've ever seen kids killing each other like that. And I'm not going to ask if you're alright, because, well, you're obviously not.

[grislytragedian]

Figures. Oh well, not much I can do about it now. May as well get used to it though, supposedly it is pretty on par for this place. I have only been here a few months myself, but that's basically all anyone ever says.

[He pauses and looks down at himself, fiddling with the tatters on his sleeves a little.]

It's actually not so bad. This isn't the first time I have died but if I stay like this, it will be the last. Who ever heard of killing a ghost, after all?

[mostremaining]

Only here a few months, huh? And everyone says that? They must have gotten a whole bunch of new "refugees" here.

Wait, this isn't the first time you've died?! ...Sorry. I know that people come back from the dead here, but it's still kind of weird to hear. How old are you, anyway? I can't believe they're killing kids here...

[grislytragedian]

Ah, no, you misunderstand. Though this isn't the first time I've died, this is the first time I have died here. But instead of the afterlife, I found myself here when I next opened my eyes. I am thirteen. But I will be fourteen at the start of December.

Wednesday, 10/24

[grislytragedian]

[Chances are, you won't catch sight of John until later in the evening. In contrast to yesterday, he looks positively gleeful, grinning widely and occasionally laughing as he floats down the hallways. Revenge tends to have this effect on people who are slowly losing their minds. Fortunately, he is in far too good a mood to think about trying to go for another kill today.]

[Closed to Rose Egbert, Afternoon]

[grislytragedian]

[This was bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit. Over a day's searching and he still hadn't managed to catch up to his killer. Why chains? Why did it always have to be chains?!]

[With a frustrated sigh, he decides to check the workshop for what has to be at least the 15th time since he came back. It was the most logical place for her to be, after all. Those traps had to come from somewhere. Yet every time he'd been in there, the puppet-girl was nowhere to be found.]

[Perhaps this time he would be a little more lucky...]

[thornythaumaturge]

[[Indeed he is. She is busy tinkering away with something small and metal. Perhaps a lock? It looked like a lock. And not really paying attention to her surroundings. She is in the zone, knowing just what she needs to make and how to make it and oh this one would be perfect.]]

[grislytragedian]

[Finally.]

[A wide smirk crosses John's face as he follows the sound of the tinkering. And sure enough, at the end he finds Rose. Perfect. No wait, double perfect because she's very clearly not paying attention to anything around, or more importantly, behind her.]

[He glides up behind her, hands becoming corporeal enough for him to pick up the longest of his chains. Last thing he needs is this thing dragging on the floor when he's so close and alerting her to his presence. That and...well you know what they say.]

[An eye for an eye.]

[As much fun as scaring her to death would be, somehow strangling her with a chain seems much more apropos.]

[Wait for it...wait for it...]

[thornythaumaturge]

[[That would be a shame, wouldn't it? All of your skulking around would be completely wasted!

Luckily though, she's still not really paying attention. But she is finished with what she was working on, holding it up to admire it.]]

Perfect. This will do nicely.

[grislytragedian]

[And there it is, the moment he was waiting for. Quick as he can, he brings the chain down over her head and pulls it tight around her neck, drawing her back against her chair. He leans in close, putting his face close to her ear and whispering.]

Hello, Rose. How are the games going?

[thornythaumaturge]

[[That thing she was working on? It was dropped the minute she realized something was wrong. And she realized something was wrong when the chains touched her neck and jerked her back. As he greeted her, her fingers went up to try and grab those chains.]]

We're all having fun. That's how. What are you doing?

[grislytragedian]

I am just trying to have fun too, Rose. Is that such a crime? I thought you wanted to play games now. [He pulls the chains tighter around her neck.]

Thursday, 10/25 Through Event End

[grislytragedian]

[Vengeance achieved, John spends the rest of his ghostly days in search of more victims. As the days wear on, it becomes harder and harder to resist the urge to try and scare people into falling to a spiky death on floor 42 or squish their brains with his bare hand. Or, even better, trying to lure them into one of the many stupid traps that that puppet-girl left behind. Seriously, what was she thinking with some of these? You can't draw and quarter a ghost!]

This is totally going to be a great way for these two to meet. Oops.

[argoncharybdis]

[Having given out the last of her candy, Nepeta wandered the halls of the Tower in search for more. She was sure that by this time it was all gone, but it wasn't as though she needed it for herself.

While she walked around she kept thinking about all the strange things that had been happening to the people in costumes, how they had died, one way or another, and things had gotten worse for them. It at almost made her guilty to think that she was lucky to not have been stuck in one herself. Selfish, even.

Gah! Shaking her head, she attempted to take her mind of the thoughts by humming a little tune, swinging her bucket happily as she walked down a rather quiet staircase. It almost made her wonder where everyone had disappeared to today.]

[ooc: Hope this is ok? Lemme know if I should change anything. Poor thing needs the CR so, here you go.]

the start of an absolutely wonderful friendship, this is.

[grislytragedian]

[The thing about haunting when you can't move very fast is...sometimes you have to wait for your victims. And sometimes, the victims just don't show and that kind of sucks. And that was exactly the situation John had found himself in today. Apparently he picked the wrong staircase because it had been completely deserted for as long as he'd been there.]

[Until now.]

[Grinning, John floated down from his place near the ceiling as quietly as he could behind the troll girl. Now...how to do this. Ooo, now that's an idea.]

[He sticks his head through her stomach, face facing hers and blank eyes staring vacantly as always.]

Watch your step.

[Didn't anybody ever warn you about the stairs, Nepeta? No? Well then, consider this your first lesson in stairsmanship.]

((ooc: No, you're perfect. I got to make godawful stairs jokes. You're perf.))

I can feel the love already

[argoncharybdis]

[You know, it's not everyday you have a ghost's head jutting out from your stomach. This was honestly the only reason it took Nepeta as long as it did to realize that this was not at all ok.

Fear having set in almost instantly, she jumped and made to run down the stairs, but, no thanks to the obstruction in her view, she missed the step and quickly began tumbling down the stairs, tumbling, tumbling, tumbling, until she finally hit the ground at the bottom. Having her shoulder hit the ground first had a slight upside. She didn't bash her skull in, at least... not on the landing. There was actually a noticeable wound on her forehead from which tyrian-colored blood began to spill.]

Hng..

[Slowly, she forced herself to lay on her back, catching her breath. Everything hurt. Her shoulder, her head. That wasn't definitely not a pleasant trip.]

he really doesn't mean it, he swears.... sob

[grislytragedian]

[He floats down after her, hovering a few feet above her with a smile on his face.]

Did you have a nice trip? Ooo wait is that...

[He moves closer to peer wide-eyed at the open wound on her head.]

Is your blood...purple? Is it really purple? Wow!

[There are no trolls in his timeline, this is a completely new and fascinating discovery!!!]

This one doesn't believe you.. sad face

[argoncharybdis]

[So the jerk has her trip down the stairs only to ask about her blood--- oh. That's why. She'd only just now begun to feel the warm liquid trickling down the side of her face.

She didn't answer right away. Instead, still rather frightened, she tried to get up, propping herself on her now good arm.]

sobbing forever....

[grislytragedian]

[He can't help but be fascinated, okay? He's only ever seen red blood before...hence why he's still right up in her face.]

That's so cool, I didn't know you guys bled purple!

sobbing 5ever... Dx

[argoncharybdis]

[You know, normally she would have corrected him. But no. She was actually becoming rather aggravated at him.]

Go away.