If You Don't

[animusmods]

Characters: All who are signed up for the If You Don't event!
Setting: Everywhere
Format: Anything
Summary: The shadow children come out to play, hungry for their candy...
Warnings: Psychological horror, possible character death.

As those who are participating in the event wake up on the morning of the 26th, they'll see clawing hands at the edges of their vision that dart away as soon as they're fully awake. Maybe it was just a lingering dream? But there's another note left for them to find:

trick or treat
smell my feet
give me something good to eat

i f y o u d o n ' t

There is a drawing of a heart at the bottom of the paper, as usual for notes received during Ruana's games, though it's wet and red and appears to be fresh blood.

Still nothing, will happen until the sun begins to set. Once it does, skittering, shifting shadow children will come out to play, tracking down one of the characters participating in the game. They will request a specific kind of candy--not with a normal voice, but with a penetrating, tearing sort of mental intrusion.

You will have until 11:59 PM to figure out what they want, and woe betide you if you get it wrong and give them something they don't like...

Reply to the subthread for each night to receive your character's riddle for that night. Note: While you can request riddles in advance, you will not receive the riddles for nights 2 and on until your character has solved or failed to solve the riddle preceding it and received their consequences, if applicable.

Riddle Subthreads:
October 26th
October 27th
October 28th
October 29th
October 30th
October 31st

Feel free to create your own top-levels for IC mingling during these days - to have your character trying to puzzle out their riddles, search for/negotiate with people who have the candies they need, make attempts to steal candies, and deal with any consequences they get later on for not giving their shadow children the correct candies - but be sure you indicate which night it is in the subject header.

Some other things to note:
- Now that all the remaining candy in the Tower has been put into bowls, it can be perceived and interacted with by everyone, even those who are not signed up for the event.
- Candy that is removed from a bowl will remain in existence so long as it is in a character's hand, but will vanish if set down, put into a bag, etc. If it is transferred from one bowl to another, that is okay. If it is taken from a bowl and handed to a shadow child, that is okay.
- Only the character being asked for candy will be able to hear the shadow child that is doing the asking, though others will be able to see it.
- The shadow child will follow your character until they fetch the candy from their room and will repeat the riddle at any time, when asked; this can be handwaved without a mod response.
- The shadow children will not take any notice of characters that are not the ones they are asking for candy from.

Mod replies will only occur in the riddle subthreads, to 1. give out the riddle and 2. respond with any consequences once a character has given (or not given) a shadow child their candy.

Comments

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick's room is probably one of the first ones Amelia comes across, seeing as he lives just down the hall. Not that she'll need to go that far--the blood-curdling scream that comes from behind his door should be easy enough to hear from wherever she is at the moment.]

[ladyliberty]

Oh my god! [Amelia jogged down the hall to the door the scream had come from. Testing the handle and finding it locked, she starts banging on it with her fists.]

Rick, is that you?

[bashfulshifter]

[There's no answer at first, and if Amelia stops banging on the door long enough to listen, she might notice that things have gone eerily quiet on the other end. This remains as such for an uncomfortable amount of time.]

[Eventually, there comes a hoarse whisper from just behind the door: ]

...A-A-A-Amelia?

[ladyliberty]

[She almost doesn't hear him, but she just manages to catch her name.]

It's me! Open the door!

[bashfulshifter]

[Another pause. There's an odd scraping noise as Rick drags his back against the door, using it to support himself while he stands. His legs don't seem to be doing their job--they spasm and tremble like someone's attached an alternating current to his nerves, as does most of his body. The initial fear had been that the writhing sensations running through his limbs had been actual waves of bugs consuming him, and Rick would like to say that knowing this isn't the case is somehow comforting, but...]

[His shaking hands swat at the door's lock for some time before it finally clicks open.]

[ladyliberty]

What happened to you? [Amelia reaches out to steady him before he falls again-- she seems to have an easier time holding him up than he did her.] You got one of those creepy things too? [She casts her eye warily back at the shadow child still following her.]

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick is steadied, though he shivers constantly, convulsing in waves. He gets the distinct feeling that he's going to be sick. Not right now, that would be terribly rude.]

[He follows Amelia's gaze and locks eyes with her trailing shadow child.]

...Y-Yeah. [He either nods or his neck has a spasm, it's difficult to tell. Context would suggest that he intended the former.] I-I-I th--think...I g-g-gave it...s-s-s-something it d-d-didn't like.

[ladyliberty]

[Shit. Amelia felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. If she got the candy wrong, then--]

It wants something from under the sea. Swedish fish? Gummy sharks? Do you have anything like that?

[bashfulshifter]

[Rick's face drains of color. The candy! He pulls himself violently from Amelia and staggers partway into his room--]

[--and breathes a sigh of relief. Good, good...the bowl was still on the bed where he left it. Didn't drop it when he flipped out. Everything still seems to be in order, nothing missing...]

[His shoulders slump as he combs a quivering hand through his hair.] ...Yes. F-Fish. G-G-Gummy fish. I...I-I h-h-have some. H-How many?

[ladyliberty]

Two, it said two. Please, I'll give you anything of mine.

[bashfulshifter]

[The blonde man cradles his candy bowl in his shivering arms, carefully sifting through the meticulously-sorted treats within. The fifteen gummy fish he gathered on the beach floor dominate their little layer next to their brother worms of a similar constitution.]

Y-You d-d-don't h-have to...I h-have p-p-plenty. R-Really.

[He palms two of the fish, hesitantly holds them out...but closes his trembling fist at the last moment, shooting a stern look over his glasses.]

--A-A-As l-long as you p-promise not to e-eat them.

[ladyliberty]

I promise! [she yelps] Cross my heart and hope to die!

[Which, it occurs to her after the words are out, is probably not the best thing to say in this place.]

[bashfulshifter]

[Oh, so now she promises not to eat the candy? After he scolded her and everyone else he searched with last week that not eating it was important, that they would need it later, only now does it sink in properly? Rick would've been amused by this if he weren't in such a bad mood for obvious reasons. As it stands, he just feels terribly depressed.]

[Without another word, eyes stuck to the floor, Rick opens the palm of his hand for Amelia to accept the two gummy fish.]

[ladyliberty]

[Sometimes things just don't sink in until you have a creepy shadow screeching in your head, okay.]

Oh, you're a lifesaver-- I hope this is the right thing.

[bashfulshifter]

[Fair point.]

...M-Me too. [Rick's stern expression softens as much as it can with how sick he's feeling.] ...Be c-c-careful, a-alright? If you n-need a-a-anything e-else...

[ladyliberty]

Thanks so much. [She gives him a quick hug.] I hope you... feel better soon.

[bashfulshifter]

[Still shivering violently, Rick returns the hug.]

...I-I'll be f-fine. E-E-Everything's...f-fine.

[HE'S NOT DEAD RIGHT]

[ladyliberty]

If you say so. [Hope he doesn't mind if she cuts out now-- she doesn't want this thing following her any longer than she has to.]