realmofstories | Chapter 07: Act I

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Chapter 07: Act I

SUGAR PLUM BEAST: ACT I—

§ instructions.

The Sugar Plum Beast Act I is underway! This is the designated log for all Main Scenes. Others are free to create their own toplevels for the Sub Quests, which are detailed below. Each Main Scene has their own unique toplevel and those cast into the roles are to thread their scene under each. All scene instructions are provided in the toplevels.

Quick reminder that everyone is dressed to fit the rustic village style! Costumes for each role is linked in the scene they first appear but carry over into other scenes. And for those who are cast as Beast roles, will undergo full transformation, though the degree of transformation is up to the players. They can go into full hulking beast or be something more benign and cute with just ears and a tail or something. The Beast form also can be whatever you want, there is no set "design." In terms of affected personality, in general those in the role will be a little angrier and grumpy than usual, but it's not a complete personality switch. So it's possible to have the character mostly unaffected but snap or get annoyed more easily than usual or over the most random things they normally wouldn't. However there are cases when they may fly off the handle and while we leave it up to the players on if and when that can happen during a scene, anything more extreme that is specifically required will be noted for that scene.

Finally, just to be clear, characters who are in Main Scenes are not immediately dropped into their location and will have to go through designated flowered arches and then return. Threading all of that isn't necessary, but it's to help give a better idea that characters can take a break between scenes or wait a bit to help with other things like the Sub Quests.

Feel free to refer to the Game Notes for more detailed info as well as ask questions or clarifications.

§ sub quests.

Everyone is free to participate in the Sub Quests. There are no specific top levels, so you're free to incorporate them however you wish in your own top level.

¶ I. Toy Repair. Scattered around the roads and around the boundaries of the town are damaged sometimes broken toys. They vary in size and shape, but for some reason their expressions are one of fear and pain. Take the toys back to Drosselmeyer's workshop and try to repair them. Even a fresh coat of paint will make the toys seem happier and relieved. Who knows maybe this good act will be returned later…

¶ II. Toysitters. Some of the toys brought into the workshop are on the young, baby side, and boy are they needy. Constantly crying "Mama! Papa! Poopy!" one would easily think they're just malfunctioning. Though that's strange, does this kind of setting have the technology for these toys to have voice recordings...? Regardless, better pair up with someone and try to soothe these baby dolls before the locals come in wondering what kind of witchcraft is going on in there.

¶ III. Garden Birthday Party. There is a birthday party being thrown and everyone is invited to either help decorate or just chill and enjoy the food. However, the garden it's held in needs some pruning. You know those plastic joke flowers that squirt water at people? They're blooming all over the place and are dousing anyone who gets near them. Either weed them out or figure out a way to lessen their water output! And of course there are Eraser and hostile toy blot problems that need to be taken care of. The further out towards the boundaries of the town, the more dangerous it is.

¶ IV. Easter Egg Hunt. Similar to a scavenger hunt, toy eggs have been scattered all over town and all the children are having fun trying to find as many eggs as they can. Perhaps the Aspects want to join in either hiding or finding eggs. However, some of these eggs are actually not toys but rotten, or if they are toys, terrible pranks like a pie to the face or a small firecracker exploding happen once opened. Some of the children are upset, even hurt, so it's imperative to find the culprit! Witnesses say they saw a strange, yellow polka dotted Velveteen rabbit hopping around the areas where the prank eggs are found.

¶ V. Wildcard. Make up your own prompt!

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"Spookier the better," he agreed, despite not enjoying do so. He had learned that there were certain fights to pick and this wasn't going to be one of them. He wasn't looking to cause the kind of conflict that would risk them forming another bond beyond just tolerating each other.

His hands spread wider, letting the lightning arch in a controlled fashion between his fingers, and the air around him seemed to feel heightened with energy as he mentally allowed his power to swell and also use how well 76's Essence thrived in sync with his own.

Since it was his magic at work, he lead with it, arching out the lightning as the periphery wolves made their move. It slammed into the first and arched to the next and a circle of electrical energy moved with that developed off of Raw Head as well, as he pushed his power through the familiar Essence, making his own stronger.

The wolves didn't stand a chance when they worked together. A few managed to retreat before they were completely electrocuted but a few were not fortunate and died with a howl of agony.

Went deeper than that, he knew but would never admit to it anymore, let alone the fact he had a soft spot for things like that himself. Leaned more towards history and old war plans, strategy. So much went deeper on both sides, but it was easier to go shallow and use it as a barb than anything friendly it had once been; that was gone.

Magic clung to him, eyes in those skull sockets glowing brightly from the energy swell as those old bones soaked it in. Allowed it to become a part off him, even with how temporary it was going to be, wear off in a few hours. Could use Reaper's skill with it as his own, and he did, almost like some old and natural dance as he moved to extend the reach of the lightning.

It was only once 76 couldn't see or hear anymore of the wolves -let alone anything else- that arms lowered. The crackle of electricity still clinging as his head lifted, long arms hanging by his sides with a huff, a bit of static crackling with the air.

Teeth clattered as jaws snapped, "That little show should give us a clear path." Get to the castle without any further trouble, and finally get on with what they were supposed to act out.

A long time ago, he would have no issue leaning into the fact that he and 76 worked well together, that they seemed to find a level unto themselves. They styles had never been the same, but they worked in tandem and both of them covered their weaknesses and promoting their strengths.

He used them both as conduits to the magic, but he let 76 use his own skill to direct things. Once the smell of burnt fur and flesh reached a sickening pitch, he turned off the tap of his power and let it drain away. Despite the darkness descending again, his eyes had already adjusted back to allowing him to survey their handiwork.

The air was still electrified, but that was dissipating. "Let's go before what's left of the pack thinks about making a return attempt," he growled and immediately turned to march down the path. He stepped over at least one burnt corpse on his way to close the distance between them and the castle.

Bones creaked and cracked as 76 gradually shrunk a little in stature, even as electricity still clung to those bones, wrapped back up in shadow as he stretched. As if getting used to being covered n muscle and flesh again, the pain of it ignored as he tugged at the collar of the costume straight again. Clawed fingers scruffing through his beard, scowling a little.

"Mhm," a grunt as he followed after, nearly beside, just wanting to get all of this over with. Had already been too long, the creatures of the forest getting in the way. At least this would hopefully help the way be clear. Most animals knew better than to stick around with something like this.

Still a bit of an electrical glow to those blue eyes of his, hair and fur on end from the static built up. 76 would still have the control of lightning, but like hell he wanted to bother with it. Just another thing to add energy to those magical stores in his very bones at the moment.

"You have to grab the music box to start it all off," just a growled reminder, "Then we can get out of here."

The scene, at least. Be in the story still.

He was fine with them walking together, even if he itched to take to the sky again. It was safer at a distance, but the dense overgrown forest would keep him grounded for the time being. At least they could make progress to the castle now that they had exerted their will over the creatures of this forest on multiple occasions.

And hey, they had even worked together without bickering. That had to be a new record for them both.

"I'm well aware of the stipulations of this sequence," he growled back, shaking his head a bit. "Remember you have to get all up in my business and try not to be too much of your usual asshole."

Up ahead the lights of the castle could be seen. They were nearly at their destination.

"Says the thief," dryly stated, still shaking a bit of static out of his fur. That was going to be interesting to deal with, the borrowed magic hanging in his system for a while; just a few hours at most. "Can't think of a bigger asshole move than touching shit that isn't yours," just giving Reaper shit without anything behind the words.

All seemed quiet enough, dark and imposing as the path was getting the closer the got. Made it easier to see the lights at least. Soon enough.

Still scruffed claws through his beard, trying to get rid of some of the static there. All out of sorts and he half wondered if it was because of the transformation. Deal with it once all of this was done and just keep an eye on things of the town.

"It's a role in a story," he remarked with a displeased sigh. Of course, he was notoriously nosy and he wasn't above taking things that were definitely not his. So was 76 from all the tech the old goat had been outfitted with on that one-man army nonsense. "That's rich coming from you. You're a power thief in this mode."

As they approached, he kept his guard up in case they were ambushed by anything but in particular erasers. He glanced back when 76 kept touching his damn beard. At least it was trimmed and neat.

"Do you need to rub on some metal before we go further? You look more like a wild bush man than usual," he remarked dryly.

A low noise, as if 76 didn't believe him a bit, "Not stealing since I have to ask. Key difference." They both knew he raided old Overwatch bases, took tech that was once their own, and Reaper basically stole whatever it was he ended up taking a job for as well. Knew the other knew it, but 76 wasn't going to not rib the asshole over this little role of a situation they were in.

Had to give him some trouble.

His ears flicked back, looking up at the castle with a huff, "No, it's going to stick around until the ability's borrowed time is up, or until I drain off some of the magic stored up." Probably.

"Do you? I don't recall you needing to ask to turn into an owl that first time," he remarked cheekily. Of course, that had been so early in their time here and they hadn't had a lot of experience with their Essences, but he could still make the point. They could tit for tat all of this and knew that it would be so easy to fall into it, but that's how they ended up with that ridiculous bond before.

He snorted as they came out of the overhang of the trees to finally have a view of the castle. Finally, so close to their objective. "Well I imagine you turning into a pissy little bitch and throwing me through some walls should do it," he said with a huff of amusement and took the lead to take them onto the castle grounds. "Come on, let's get this over with."

"I did," because he wouldn't be able to use the ability if he hadn't, "Vaguely." It was pure luck that he'd gotten the one meant when he'd asked it as something around 'mind if I borrow that?' and landed the owl shifting. "Your memory going with your age, old man?" That was usually Reaper's line, but all was fair considering the other was older by a handful of years.

Eyes rolled as he followed after, glancing around as his nose wrinkled a bit at the vines and thorns picking up along some of the castle walls. Roses bloomed here and there, giving some bit of color to the place. Guess it had to match the town despite the distance the forest put between them somehow. "You just keeping whining."

"Vaguely is right," he replied back as he passed under stonework to take them onto the grounds proper. From there, it was easy to follow the partially overgrown paths to the castle itself, though it was ominous. They were at least that much closer to their goal as he nudged open the front door so he could peer inside and then listen.

"Says the one who spent how long at Overwatch whining behind a desk?" He stepped back to allow 76 to head inside first now that he had given it a cursory listen. "Shit before shovel, bonehead."

Still worked, didn't it- "Vague or not, still asked and you gave it."

76 pushed through, sniffing a little as eye eyed the interior as he had an idea of where they needed to go, "Says the pile of shit I had to keep shoveling. You never cared for the desk work after all," and honestly? Reyes didn't know the half of what he did, had other things to worry about. Whatever he had to say, and whatever he had to tell himself to justify what he did? 76 didn't care, he knew his part well and where he failed, and where he hadn't.

"This way. You'll see it."

"Still vague enough repercussions weren't well known." And that had been the first and only time they had roosted together as owls. It was not something that request a repeat performance.

If the beast knew where they had to go, this would be much faster than them splitting off and exploring the place as quickly as possible. This was just a role, but there were still stakes that had to be considered as he followed 76 into the house and shut the door behind them. All the better to listen, smell and see what might be lurking in the corridors. "I fed you good intel, shitbag." It was the same old cycle, same old bitterness.

"Lead on, oh Prince." Sarcasm dripped from his tone as he followed 76.

"What, you keeping your abilities without issue, and me able to copy one for an hour or two?" Longer now after another few stories, but he wasn't mentioning that one.

Place was rather quiet other than their foot steps, but he could sense something and he was going to follow that trail. Could smell it- "I'm not talking about that and you know it," they both knew it, and he already wasn't in any mood to replay those old roles of dead men. They both knew, and yet they argued semantics all the same because there was nothing more either of them could do. Other than blame each other, and perhaps more quietly themselves.

His tail smacked against Reaper's legs before he was heading deeper in to the castle, stopping just outside of a door after what felt like too long and too short of a walk. Head tilting a bit as ears pricked forwards.

"Go."

"It's fine you being an ability thief," he replied dismissively. It worked out well in given situations, and he wasn't afraid to use it to their advantage in dangerous odds. That didn't mean he had to skip about and shout praises of happiness. That had never been his role and never would be.

His eyes moved to follow shadows, but it was a quiet place. That made sense given the story that they were in, and the forest had always seemed to be the most daunting of tasks of overcome compared to the castle. As long as the cutlery didn't break into song and dance, he expected that they would survive this with only the usual ruffled feathers.

He turned his head when the air around them changed, and he too sensed that the scene was coming to a peek. This was what they had been warned about. He pushed passed 76 to enter the relatively empty room and the music box in question lay in a sliver over moonlight, able to draw the eye immediately. He walked over to it, his hands lifting before he glanced towards the door.

"Ready?"

"You just like calling me a thief," snorted, "Better reasons to." Was not above stealing and never said he was a good man, but this was just- well, Reaper trying to get under his skin as much as he attempted to do the same.

He waited there by the door frame, hand rested against part of it as 76 watched him move more in to the room, letting the door swing itself open and stick that way. Hanging a bit off its bolts, but that was fine. Place was supposed to be a mix of run down and eerie on top of whatever else was held within the castle. That wasn't for them to find out, however; this was their only part to be in the place at all.

Shoulders rolled, "Ready." As ready as he could be for the transformation and what would be a surge of anger. Both of them had to be prepared for that.

Reaper let their usual bickering go as he focused on the music box. They had been informed of what would happen, but they hadn't done much prep work to mitigate the transformation. It might seem like an oversight, but honestly, that was how they rolled these days as well. The least amount of conversation, the less aggressing they would do on each other.

He nodded and then reached out fully to take the music box in hand, lifting it up to trigger the transformation. It was a lovely little music box, and he felt his own character pleased with the momentary acquisition. It stopped him from reacting right away as he was examining the craftsmanship.

76 had tensed, waiting and watching to that very moment that Reaper took the music box in hand.

It was funny, in a terrible way, for an almost familiar burning pain to rip its way through his entire being; enough so that he couldn't have screamed if he had wanted to. Claws sunk through that doorframe as hands grew larger, claws sharper, that princely outfit ripping as his body grew larger. More muscle mass and fur as hooves even turned to large paws with just as sharp claws.

The biggest change was the way hair billowed out in to a mane and his head and face were left as more of a bare-boned skull, horns curving it as empty sockets were filled with a slit and almost electric light rather than any sort of 'normal' eyes.

The moment 76 could make a sound? It was a thunderous roar that shook the very walls of the castle, and not just the room they were standing in; a blind rage as that was the only warning before not only was Reaper snatched up by his collar, but was slammed backwards in to brick hard. Enough to kill normal men, but even like this Reaper was no normal man.

Jaws snapped in front of his face, large sharp teeth clacking together as there was nothing to soften the sound.

Edited (shhh html) 2021-04-29 03:59 (UTC)

Engrossed in the craftmanship, he didn't initially react as he had prepared himself to before touching the music box. It was only in being startled by the inhuman roar that he snapped his head around to view the Beast that stormed into the room. He set the music box back down, hesitant to risk it potentially being broken.

He hissed and tried to back away, to give ground, but he was caught up before he could make a move to do so. Instead, he felt a shudder down his spine as he was slammed into the brick wall, and the material cracked and dust came from it. He would definitely bruise, but it took a lot more than that to kill someone like him.

At first, he held his hands up in a sign of surrender before he took partial control of the character he was forced to play here and simply grabbed his power to transform into a tiny hummingbird in an attempt to zip away from the violence about to be inflicted.

"You're going nowhere, witch!" Roared, filled with glass shaking rage.

Even as hands slammed in to the wall, despite the far greater size than 76 was used to working with his was still fast. Those glowing lights in sockets following the hummingbird's movement easily in the darkness of the moon lit room. Those clawed hands reaching out to snatch Reaper from mid-air.

Not to crush, but rather cage him in those hands, fingers and claws working as bars that didn't allow even for the tiny bird of a man to escape.

Lifting his hands, there was a static-laced snort of hot air blown over, ruffling up those tiny feathers. Settling there in the middle of that room for a moment as his tail lashed behind him, ears pinned back and both of those glowing pupils focused on what he'd just caught.

It was the smallest bird he knew to attempt and also the fastest, making it the most likely he could slip the scene for some part. Like this, he was also painfully vulnerable if he happened to be caught, and he flitted about in search of the door to slip off further into the castle.

It wasn't the be as large hands snatched him from the air, and he issued a protesting cheep cheep sound until electrified air was blown into the cage of those fingers. The ruby feathers at his throat blew up and he flitted about in that cage of hands before the inevitability of his capture made it so he wasn't going to bother to waste more energy.

"Let me go. I won't touch the music box again," he chirped out in a surprisingly deep voice. "It was for my child, you see. I will leave this place and never return."

He walked then, once he was sure that the man turned little hummingbird wouldn't be squirming his way loose until he deemed it so. Slowly out of the room that the music box had been held in, as if to keep from some quick attempt to steal it again. Even as 76 was finding his senses despite the rage, it was expected, they hadn't planned other than to know it was coming.

This wasn't his first part.

"Do you really think that's good enough?" The jaws of the skull weren't moving, but those pupil-like lights did brighten, showing whatever expression couldn't be made through that alone. "An excuse like that?"

They had parts to play, characters in this scene and they had to fall into it for the success of the story. He flitted about in those caged fingers once he had been taken from the room with the music box, where they light of the moon lit up the room. The part of him that was Drosselmeyer thought he could be crushed and killed at any moment.

His heart was beating so fast, and his ruby throat feathers caught every hint of light as he settled then flitted around his cage then settled again. All puffed up and chittering softly. "What more could I give? I'm nothing more than a lowly toy maker."

"Are you, little bird?" He did shrink the cage of his hands, pressing palms closer together as if in threat, but relaxed them in to the position he'd had them in before. No room enough for even a little hummingbird to slip through his fingers, "Just a lowly toy maker, who has made his way here of all places."

Retracing their steps, even if slowly, bits of moonlight making his path clear enough to him. Paw steps falling silently enough as he made his way at such a casual path, a snarl still in his voice even if that sudden rage was being pulled back in to his own control bit by bit.

76 wasn't the one for dramatics between the two of them, but he was at least playing the part.

"You look like a little thief to me. An attempted one at least. What do you think that owes?"

"It was a mistake," he replied quickly, wings tucking in close and tiny body getting a touch smaller with the shrinking of his cage. It was a relief when it returned to previous size and he flitted to the edge of fingers to peer through at the Beast that made his feathers stand all on end.

He issued little cheeps of all hummingbird glory, wings brushing against flesh before folding against them and tiny claws grasped flesh to hold on. He wasn't certain if there would be an escape or they were moving to an area where his doom might come.

"No, it was a mistake. I was attracted to the craftmanship that music box." He flittered a bit. "I could... make you a toy, but it would pale in comparison to that item which has gotten us in such a situation."

Chapter 07: Act I

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Big Beast in Castle

Cheep, cheep leaving the house

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