animusmods: (Default)
Animus Moderators ([personal profile] animusmods) wrote in [community profile] towerofanimus2013-10-25 11:02 pm

If You Don't

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.
notsogrimreaper: (Ryoji Mochizuki: hide away)

[personal profile] notsogrimreaper 2013-10-26 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
[Ryoji had only searched for a little while that morning before quickly realizing all the candy was gone now. He was going to have to make do with the small amount he does have in his bowl. Hopefully he wasn't asked for a specific type of candy. He wasn't about to steal from someone else to try to 'win' this latest game.

He's up in his room at sundown, lost in thought as he stares up at the ceiling.]
animusnpcs: (♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜)

[personal profile] animusnpcs 2013-10-26 06:11 am (UTC)(link)
[The shadow child slides out of a shadow in the corner of the room and darts up along the wall to look at Ryoji. It speaks and claws its words into his mind:

I want something I can bite the head off of... something that will go, 'Squish, SQUISH'... Just one...]
heavenscorpse: (The Sky¸ It's Dark)

[personal profile] heavenscorpse 2013-10-26 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
[V/V is as nervous as you'd expect someone given a note like that to be. She thinks she got a good haul of candy - but what if she didn't? Maybe she searched the wrong floors?

Well, it's too late now. She spends most of the 26th near her room, making sure nothing happens to her candy bowl, and at sundown she's sitting on her bed with the bowl in her lap.]
notsogrimreaper: (Ryoji Mochizuki: my mother's a bitch)

[personal profile] notsogrimreaper 2013-10-26 06:21 am (UTC)(link)
[Ryoji grits his teeth at the pain the words seem to sear into his head, but tries to steady himself and look over at his bowl. Something with a head, and something squishy... the ants and crickets have heads, but they're chocolate. He moves candy aside until he notices the gummy worms. He's only got two, but that's still enough.

He takes one out of the bowl and cautiously holds it out to the shadow child.]


Is this what you're looking for?
animusnpcs: (♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜)

[personal profile] animusnpcs 2013-10-26 06:29 am (UTC)(link)
[The words scream through his mind now:

NO. NO, NO, NO! Trick or treat, trick or treat, trick, trick, t r i c k!

Ryoji will feel as if his mind has caught on fire for thirty seconds. When the pain subsides, the shadow child is gone. However, Ryoji will be left with a feeling of general anxiety that will slowly grow worse as the week wears on. Two things make him especially afraid: worms and bears.]
animusnpcs: (♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜)

[personal profile] animusnpcs 2013-10-26 06:32 am (UTC)(link)
[The shadow child looking for V/V crawls up her back and peers at her upside-down.

Today I'm dressed up... I'm a vampire...]
heavenscorpse: (Ultimate One)

[personal profile] heavenscorpse 2013-10-26 06:35 am (UTC)(link)
[V/V jolts in fright as the shadow child peers at her. Better not let it wait too long, but.

Vampires were associated with both crosses and blood, weren't they? V/V had both in her possession.]


Crosses or blood, crosses or blood... [She rummaged through the bowl, eventually coming up with her only two packets of candy blood.] Is this what you're looking for?
animusnpcs: (♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜)

[personal profile] animusnpcs 2013-10-26 06:37 am (UTC)(link)
[The shadow child snatches up one of her packets of candy blood, giggles, and leaves with it. V/V has chosen correctly.]
heavenscorpse: (Gin)

sorry for asking for all of these on the first night...

[personal profile] heavenscorpse 2013-10-26 06:40 am (UTC)(link)
[At sundown V/V is ready, though only slightly less nervous. That riddle hadn't been very clear, and only luck had gotten her to choose the right candy. She might not be so lucky this time.

Her bowl is on her bed as she paces the inside of her room.]
notsogrimreaper: (Ryoji Mochizuki: tomorrow's bleeding)

[personal profile] notsogrimreaper 2013-10-26 06:43 am (UTC)(link)
[Ryoji was more than a little shaken up after his mistake last time around, and has retreated to the media room in an attempt to watch something that relaxes him. He can't help but start to glance over his shoulder more often as it gets closer and closer to sundown. Maybe he should head back to his room. Will he have the right candy this time around? Will this feeling get worse if he doesn't have the candy again?]
animusnpcs: (♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜)

[personal profile] animusnpcs 2013-10-26 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
[This time the shadow child appears on her bed, staring down at her bowl of candy but not touching it.

Stick and stones... Five sticks and five stones...]
animusnpcs: (♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜)

[personal profile] animusnpcs 2013-10-26 06:52 am (UTC)(link)
[The television in the media room screeches, shifts to static, and a shadow child appears on the screen. It pushes its hand through as if reaching.

After dinner treats for me and my best friend... We each need three.]
heavenscorpse: (Black Barrel)

[personal profile] heavenscorpse 2013-10-26 06:55 am (UTC)(link)
[...She really doesn't know what the sticks are, but she can hazard a guess at the stones. Crosses are sticks, but she's been counting her candy carefully and she doesn't have five of those...

She counts out five pieces of rock candy (doesn't she also have candy gems? this might be painful) and holds them in her open palm.]
Are these the stones?

[Better to get things she's confident of out of the way.]
notsogrimreaper: (Ryoji Mochizuki: in plain sight)

[personal profile] notsogrimreaper 2013-10-26 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
[Ryoji jumps, crying out at the sudden static. Alright. He has to think this time. After dinner treats... is it talking about peppermints? He think he might have enough.]

I-I understand. I'll go get them.

[Sadly, when he checks his bowl, he only has five. He still offers them to the child, already wincing at the thought of what might be done to him.]

I'm sorry. This is all I can give you...
animusnpcs: (♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜)

[personal profile] animusnpcs 2013-10-26 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
[The shadow claws at her, leaving a small gash.

NO. Trick! ...Find the sticks and it won't be as bad...]
animusnpcs: (♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜)

[personal profile] animusnpcs 2013-10-26 06:59 am (UTC)(link)
[The shadow child snatches up three of the peppermints.

My best friend needs something else...

It seems the shadow child is looking for two different types of candy.]
heavenscorpse: (Ultimate One)

[personal profile] heavenscorpse 2013-10-26 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
[V/V winces in pain and drops the candy back into her bowl. This is going to really be awful.

Okay. Sticks. She can either go with crosses or with lollipops - either way she doesn't have enough. After a moment's decision, she searches for the lollipops, retrieving one butterscotch, one cherry, and one lemon.]


Are... are these the sticks? I only have three...
notsogrimreaper: (Ryoji Mochizuki: tomorrow's bleeding)

[personal profile] notsogrimreaper 2013-10-26 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
Something else? Is there any chance you can give me a hint of what your best friend wants?

[He doesn't really see anything else that would count as something you'd have after dinner... Maybe three pieces of the gum? He doesn't want to guess before finding out if he can get a clue.]
animusnpcs: (♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜♜)

[personal profile] animusnpcs 2013-10-26 07:08 am (UTC)(link)
[The shadow child bites her hand.

NO. Trick, trick, t r i c k.

V/V will be temporarily blinded by a flash of light. When she can see again, the shadow child is gone. She will feel sluggish, as if she were weighted down by rocks, and all her movements will reflect this, although there are no rocks to be found. This feeling will persist throughout the week.]

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