Event Log: Beetlejuice

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone participating in the event!
What: The event log for the Beetlejuice event!
Where: All around the city
When: August 13th-August 18th
Warnings: Scary stories to tell in the dark! Maybe a few goosebumps? Taking a walk or two down Fear Street.

When you wake up on the morning of August 13th - well, you'll notice that morning just doesn't really happen. The light that usually illuminates the cave doesn't start coming on, leaving things as dark as night. As if that's not enough, the light switches don't seem to work either. No matter how many times you flip them, the lights won't come on, although mysteriously the other appliances work as normal.

Afraid of the dark? Don't worry! You have oh-so-kindly been provided with lanterns, candles, and flashlights that sure do love to flicker just when you least want to be terrified. Hey, it's something, right?

Just as you begin to realize the artificial 'sun' isn't coming up, Fear appears to make an announcement to the network. What's not fun about scary stories when you're stuck in a dark cave surrounded by monsters? Nothing, that's what! So have fun, everyone - terrify your friends with that story about a cactus filled with spiders, try that classic scarecrow-falling-from-the-ceiling prank. It'll be a good time for everyone, especially Fear! We're sure no one will hold anything against you. On the morning of August 18th, the lights will finally come on as usual. Let's hope you don't have any nightmares!

► This log covers August 13th-August 18th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you scare yourself to death, please let us know here!

Comments

jack benjamin | ota

[benumbing]

[It's not the darkness or ghost stories that's driven him to the bar. Jack's pretty much been a regular ever since he found out the place existed. But when pressed for a story, he'll sigh and toss back another shot.]

We live in a cave filled with monsters, and ghost stories are supposed to scare us. [He clicks his tongue, turning the glass upside down on the counter.] You don't have to be afraid of ghosts anyway. If you don't believe me, try looking for one. Behind your doors, under your bed, in your closet. All the usual places that ghosts and monsters are supposed to hide. Look everywhere, you won't find a single pale girl with twitching movements and long dark hair.

[Jack hesitates as if he just thought of something, and a smile creeps across his lips.]

Just don't look up at your ceiling. She doesn't mind if you look for her, as long as you don't actually find her.

Re: jack benjamin | ota

[heartintheflames]

Rin wanders up to the barstool and takes a seat as he looks around. He's not really inclined to drink, but he's not concerned that he's underage either. He could be easily bribed to drink if someone offered. But nevermind that. He's listening to Jack's story and can't help but be drawn in, hook, line, and sinker. His jaw drops in awe.

"Really? What happens if you do find her?" He leans in closer, hanging on the man's every word.

[benumbing]

That's a very good question. No one ever thinks to ask that.

[Jack's eyebrows jump before he pours another drink - two, in fact. He slides one down the counter to Rin, taking his own small glass in hand before he leans in closer to him.]

What do you think would happen if you found a ghost? Would it be something terrible?

[heartintheflames]

Jack, you're such a bad influence. Rin takes the shot glass and sniffs at it curiously and crinkles his nose slightly at the strong scent. Oh, it's alcohol. He can hear Yukio nagging in the back of his mind a little. But then Jack leans in and he's asked a question in return.

The only ghost he's had the pleasure of meeting was just a lonely brat. Not that he remembers that as he listens closely to Jack.

"You think it could? What if it's like the movies, where lights keep breaking, and scary noises follow you?!"

Rin's totally buying this.

[benumbing]

[He's a terrible influence, but he's usually good for a good time - or he was, back where there was no waiting in lines or spending limits as long as you were with him. Now he just has the alcohol.]

I don't see why not. [They're talking about ghosts, so. Anything is possible.] I don't think being dead is a very happy existence.

[The glass pauses halfway to his lip. Jack shrugs and adds something before downing the drink.]

Not that being alive always is.

[unitas]

That's lame. [ She declares, swallowing back the rest of the liquor in her glass. ] If you didn't have a good one, you should have just said so.

[benumbing]

It's a ghost story. [Jack says the words flatly, as if that explains it all.] There aren't any good ones. They're always ridiculous.

[He reaches for the bottle to refill his glass, offering to do the same for her.]

But if you know a better one, by all means.

[unitas]

[ She allows him to fill her glass with a dip of her head, and mumble of gratitude. ]

They're not always ridiculous. Sure, you've got the Japanese toilet ghost that offers you red and blue toilet paper, and then kills you based on your choice, but then you've got stories about loved ones calling home one last time after death. [ She shrugs, and takes a lazy sip of her drink. ] It's not scary, but it's not ridiculous, either.

[benumbing]

Maybe it's the terminology.

[He sighs, picking up his glass again.]

I always thought that "ghost stories" and scary stories were interchangeable. Now most ghost stories just seem sad to me. It must be the whole 'death' thing.

[Jack smirks to himself before taking a drink. He suddenly feels like he needs it.]

Which toilet paper would you choose?

[casperdisaster]

[Noah draws a breath and makes a face at the end of that, mouth an almost perfect O before he exhales heavily.]

That's creepy, dude.

[Says the dead kid.]

I knew a guy once, saw things no one else could see. People he tried to save and failed. He was really wary of sayin' it because people said he was crazy for seeing things no one else saw. I told him, man, just because no one else can see your ghosts, just because they're in your head, it doesn't make you less haunted, you know?

[benumbing]

Try not to think about it when you crawl into bed tonight.

[Which seems like a pretty good way of making sure that Noah does. The irony isn't lost on Jack here, but it's easy to forget the younger boy's special...circumstances when he could reach out and touch him.

Jack listens to his story, blinking once at the nerve that it strikes.]

That's very generous of you. [Quietly. Jack's not so sure that he wouldn't call that guy crazy, but sometimes he thinks about Joseph and how he failed him, and maybe he's not so far from being haunted himself.] Do you know what happened to him?

[casperdisaster]

[Noah has used that trick before, he knows exactly how ‘don’t think of pink elephants’ works. Ass.]

No.

[Noah’s answer is soft, but definite.]

He was at the place we were before we came here. He was nice to us. Troubled, haunted, but kind in his own way. I hope he learned how to live with his ghosts, wherever he is. Because sometimes it’s not about getting rid of them, it’s just about learning to live with them being there. Ghosts can get lonely too. I guess I’m biased though.

[benumbing]

Ghosts are just people who've lost their bodies, aren't they?

[Jack's genuinely asking. Before he came here, before he met Noah, he never gave a second thought about ghosts. He looks down at his glass, watching the liquid inside spin as he shakes it a little.]

If all ghosts were like you, it would be easy.

[quaerit]

[ Gansey lifts his eyebrows. He'd thought that wasn't going anywhere, but the end was decent, in fairness. ]

That's not bad. Although, the ceiling is a terrible place to hide. No doors to rattle, and you see it as soon as you lie in bed.

[ A little pause, thoughtful. Like he's thinking of a better solution, and then he folds his arms. ]

I have one for you.

There once was a boy, a lonely boy. He was quiet, and cold, and sometimes the people around would ignore him entirely, as though they didn't see him at all. But he was there. He dressed for school, and he told jokes sometimes. But he seemed sad, and lonely. His room always looked so neat, and he rarely ever ate. He used to say that he'd been dead for seven years, and no one would listen, or no one could listen.

Until the day they went into a forest, and came across a set of bones. And they realised that they knew the one whose bones they were, and they came home to challenge him, and he was gone. A ghost had been living in their house, and he told them all along, and they didn't hear it said. He was hiding in plain sight, all along.

That one is a true story. It was creepier at the time.

[benumbing]

I think that's when it's supposed to really crawl under your skin.

[When you go to bed, when the lights are out, and you slowly open your eyes to look up at a dark ceiling...

Jack listens to Gansey's story, one with a twist of its own - possibly better, though the dead boy's confession kind of gave it away too early. But if it was a true story, and they really couldn't hear him telling them that, what a surprise that would've been.

He clears his throat at the end of it.]

Creepy or not, it was certainly sad. I wonder if they were afraid of him once they knew the truth.

[quaerit]

[ Jack's not wrong. It's a sad story, the more so because it's true. Gansey very clearly remembers that moment of horror when he had found Noah's body with Blue, and they'd realized he had been living with a ghost for the last two years. It had been horrifying, though actually what had happened next had been worse. ]

Not afraid. There was nothing to be afraid of in him, not really. But once you know that kind of truth about someone, you can't forget it again. They went from thinking he was as whole and alive as all of them, to being certain that he wasn't. And then when his spirit decayed, they could see it, and understood that they were losing him, and that nothing could stop it.

That's the most frightening thing about it.

[ And the saddest thing, too. ]

[benumbing]

It sounds like he died twice. And what a bitch that must be.

[Horribly unfair, and yes, sad and frightening too. This damn cave has given him a lot to think about when it comes to life after death - maybe that was the whole point of this. But it unsettles him in ways that he never expected. He used to think that his soul was already decaying inside his body, but maybe the worst is yet to come.

Jack huffs and takes another drink before looking directly at Gansey. He's squinting like he's trying to see something.]

Were you the boy?

[wipedclean]

[He's at the bar not because he wants to get drunk, but because the variety of drinks there is interesting, and he's been appreciating flavors he never got to have with Hydra. He's drinking something blue when Jack starts to tell his story, and rolls his eyes when it's over.]

Nice try.

[benumbing]

But on the inside, you're dying to hold me. I can tell.

[Jack smirks, taking a long drink from hid beer, a palate cleanser after all the hard liquor shots.]

Maybe I should've told you a story about my mother. She could make anyone's blood run cold.

[wipedclean]

[He snorts and drinks his strange blue drink that actually tastes quite nice even if it does nothing to his brain (and you know what he actually prefers it that way).]

Very little scares me.

[benumbing]

Maybe that's what should scare you.

[Fear has a purpose, if only to keep you alive. Jack can't honestly say that he's afraid of a lot of things himself, but the longer he's here, the less he wants for death.]

Are you alone?

[lineare]

[ Jean shouldn't be terrified of this, really -- she holds a power in her capable of obliterating anything she sets her mind to; but this place, this place is something else. This place holds supernatural horrors reminiscent of the few frightening movies she'd seen, and she blinks at that, unsettled and chilled.

It calls to an old, primitive part of someone, anyone -- the imagination conjuring up things that make her lean just a little closer to Jack. It's a story, just a story. She can handle what comes, right? She thinks of a single pale girl with twitching movements and long dark hair, and can't resist a glance up at the ceiling. ]

What happens if you do?

[benumbing]

If you do... [Jack trails off, watching her closely, leaning in and waiting for that exact moment when she glances at the ceiling. He thought she might, she seemed more susceptible to ghost stories than most. And when she does, he lunges and grabs her arms.] She gets you!

[It might not be wise to jumpscare a girl with her powers. Maybe she'll find a compliment in the fact that he's forgotten that she's not a normal girl.]

[lineare]

[ Jean jumps, startled, a few glasses shattering nearby as a result. It's a strange, new thing to have someone scare her this way, to look at her like she's just another girl, and Jean immediately flushes at his proximity and the embarrassment of startling a few of the other patrons.

He's very handsome, disarmingly so, but she quickly recovers and gives his shoulder a light punch, her cheeks pink as she huffs. ]

Oh! You scared me!

[benumbing]

[It's only when the glasses shatter that Jack remembers, and he slowly withdraws his hands from her arms. He's still smiling though, not regretting the risk that he took one bit no matter what he says next.]

I'm sorry. [His smile stretches when she punches his arm.] Don't be afraid. I'll have to be dead before I let anything hurt you. And look at me, still alive.

[And then his smile becomes downright devilish.]

Or am I?