World Tree MUSH

    It's been really hard, but Raylene seems determined to try putting together some kind of investigation group. Being basically a thirteen year old girl though, it tends to come off like an afterschool club. Which is FINE with her but not really something most people respect. That's okay, because the young heiress is perfectly willing to advertise and PAY people to show up! Sure it isn't a huge amount, but for basically spending the night in a haunted house, it's Easy Money. Or maybe just curious or because Vines are weird.

    The only /established/ Vine that is nearby is still a bit of a trip, though. Fortunately, Raylene is willing to send out taxis to collect people. Uber doesn't exist here, yet, as they're still adjusting to the idea of commonplace cell phones in this early-nineties world being dragged into the 2000's a bit early. Not like cell service is that great out here in the New England boonies.

    The young heiress is waiting patiently by the gates, which are rusted open. The normal way of barring entry is a barricade, but that's been pushed aside for the night. Evening is still yet to come, but the fading daylight shows that Raylene is in a lightweight but more rugged dress than usual, and standing next to a pile of blankets, food, and other such niceties to handle a dirty old house. She is also talking to an older man in his thirties.

    "My sisters spoke highly of your skills as a medium, Mister Swayze, so I absolutely believe you when you say the house is not haunted," she is saying. "Though the lack of human traces nearby seems to rule out any sort of trickery, and no one stands to inherit, so it's likely to be either entirely uneventful, or perhaps an extradimensional portal that is causing trouble. I assure you I am every bit as competent a witch as my sisters were, I will be fine. And my offworld companions here as well."

    Vania can fly, which is absolutely cheating.

    After heckling Olivia to come meet Raylene, without explaining what they'd be doing, the vampire princess had immediatly made her way to the agreed upon location, and she touches down without fanfare, next to Raylene, landing from her flight first on her tiptoes and then lowering into an elegant curtsy.

    "Hiiiii mister, hii Raylene! I brought a friend! She has memory troubles and super awesome wings!" Also she's a fallen angel, but that's not important.

    "Hey, can we keep the house if we figure out what's wrong with it? I've always wanted my own mansion, I could fill it with bats and it'd be super spooky and we can sell tickets to OUR haunted house to fund our awesome super club!"

    There are probably worse ideas out there.

    Hello, it's Olivia!

    The friend with memory troubles and... no wings, right now, because as much as Vania heckles her about showing them off, it's generally a good idea to not come to a world you have no idea of with neon-bright wings the colour of dusk that's visible from miles away.

    "H-hello. I am an acquaintance of Vania's... my name is Olivia," speaks the blonde woman who would pass for human, save for the fact that she has filigreed dark horns protruding out from her head. "I cannot say I am experienced with such matters, but I will assist to the best of my ability."

    She glances towards the haunted house once.

    don't be scared don't be scared don't be scared

    Olivia, it's kinda lame for a fallen angel to be scared of ghosts...

    A sleepover. A SPOOKY sleepover. This night is going to be absolutely gr- no, no, Yumi, focus, this is a serious investigation.

    There's the taxi, there's the door opening; and there's Yumi, stepping out of the vehicle and shouldering a duffel full of supplies. And... oh hey, she brought a sleeping bag, too. She didn't know whether they'd be using the bedrooms, or how many beds and other pieces of furniture there'd be, so coming prepared is good! ...but hey, there's blankets, so it turns out she made a good call.

    The Perfectly Normal Girl ends up coming to a stop shortly behind Olivia and Vania, leaning around them to give Raylene a silent wave before looking the duo over curiously.

Miwa arrives by vine and is surprised to find vans from a taxi service waiting to shuttle people to this apparently haunted house. However the driver is a little surprised to see what appears to be a sea-lion mermaid. After a moment of uncomfortable staring, a driver helps her into the back seat of one of the vans and instructs her to buckle up. Miwa gets situated in the seat as comfortably as possible, taking up an entire row of the van. 

 After what seems like a short ride, the van arrives at the gates of the large house and though with some small degree of difficulty, Miwa manages to get out of the van. She makes her way toward the gates, noticing the young girl and middle aged man talking, but not really paying them terribly much attention just yet as she doesn't want to interrupt their conversation. For now she looks at the house. She'd never been to a haunted house before and had no idea what to expect, but it sounded like it could be an interesting thing to do on a night where she otherwise didn't have anything going on, so here she was. There were others showing up frequently, so it looked like they'd be staying here as a modest size group, which meant she'd likely get to meet some new people, which was always nice.

    The man pauses, then sighs, "Well, your sisters were quite skilled, so I suppose I will leave you to it. Please do call if you find something. I will check on you in the morning." He stops to stare at Vania's arrival, then stare MUCH MORE at Miwa with a strange frown. Then a sigh, "Offworlders..." He sounds less offended and more... well... not sure how to take what he's seeing. "Good luck and sleep well."

    Raylene turns about, and as always she seems way too serious for a barely-teen girl. "Greetings." She curtsies to everyone, and murmurs, "Hello again Vania, and Miss Tachibana. And greetings to those of you I have not met. I am afraid this is a new experience for me, but rest assured that I am an accomplished alchemist as well as a witch, and my cohort Miss Renfield has shown me a most effective set of ingredients to bolster bravery and morale in situations like this." She holds up a shopping bag that appears to have crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate bars within. Along with a roll of paper towels. "If some of you will gather our supplies, we can find a fireplace and make ourselves comfortable."

    While turning around to head toward the house, she answers Vania, "I do not believe the owners of this house intend to let it go, but I suppose if an offer were made and you were wealthy enough, they also have no reason to keep it. I have a mansion of my own the next town over, so it would be of little use to me." She glances back. "This should be... fun, as the children say. No unicorns this time, I promise."

    It certainly is a large house, though. At least it looks maintained, in the sense of not rotting, but it isn't particularly clean. While clear of rat droppings and the like, cobwebs are definitely present, and the place has no furniture, at least not in the foyer or large grand hall with the fireplace. A fireplace currently cold and dead, though it looks like Raylene had some logs and kindling dropped off ahead of time.

Iota Assistant just walked here, well more like skipped and ran a bit. A real haunted house! She walks up to the gates. "Wowwwww.. It even looks like a real haunted house! She examines the rusted gates, and starts to swing it back an forth slightly, it making creaking sounds. "The gates even creak!", she says with enthusiasm. Thought Iota with her pumpkin style hat and banages covering half of her face and body, looks more like the type that be in a haunted house! "Will there be slime? I hope there is slime.."

    Supplies!

    "Come on, bloodkin, let's go!"

    Bats appears. Adorable, fuzzy bats. They flock around the bag Raylene showed the group, and a few of them lift the bag by gnawing at it and frantically flapping their wings.

    Go, bats! You can do it! Even if it takes five of you!

    The princess pouts a bit at Raylene's response otherwise, but twirls elegantly to let it roll off. "That's too bad! I have a castle but it's full of stuffy vampires who don't wanna let me do what I want, so I don't like being there.

    Vania follows along, nonetheless, when Raylene takes them to the main hall. The bats drop the supplies at her feet and scurry off to the corners of the room to rest, while Vania very impolitely orbits around Miwa to ask a million questions.

    "Are you a mermaid? Can you breathe water? Is it true if you hear a mermaid singing you have to do anything she says? Oh, oh, how come your nose is all puffy like that? Are those pearls and stars part of you or just clothes?"

    What's a filter good for, really?

    E-eeh??!

    A sleepover... um, did Olivia misunderstand the nature of this investigation? Vania didn't really explain anything, so she thought it was just going to be a quick in-and-out... but then there's a sleeping bag, a duffel full of supplies, and Raylene is gesturing to a bag full of what appear to be mortal treats.

    ... ...

    Are they... going to stay here the night...?

    With... with the ghosts?

    Olivia's face can't possibly get paler as she keeps her charade up and keeps her smile trembling. "O-oh, yes, of course, Miss Raylene," as she takes some of the supplies with her. Cooked wheat layered in cocoa with sugar added to it...? Strange... what will mortals think of next?

    Iota gets her eye as well, and she wishes she could be as excited, but it's Miwa that draws her gaze. "Oh, Miwa, hello again..." she's trying to keep her attention off the scary house and more to the adorable Pokemon. Yaaay...

    That... is a mermaid... person... creature? Yumi is absolutely not sure what to think of it, but if she's supposed to be here, she's probably at least not a terrible person! So she'll probably get around to talking with the pokemon soon enough. For now- ooh, supplies. Yumi('s stomach) is quite glad to see those, and Raylene gets a cheerful grin. "I brought some too, but that blows my idea out of the water. I've just got boxes of Pocky." As they head in, she watches Vania curiously, staying silent and letting the princess barrage poor Miwa with questions.

    Olivia looks a little shaky, though. Without really thinking about it, she hoists her bags a little more comfortably and strides up beside the fallen angel. "Hello~!" It's as much a bid to distract her from her obvious discomfort as it is an introduction.

When the man is done talking with Raylene, and turns to stare at her for a moment, looking and sounding like he's not terribly thrilled to have people from other worlds here, she blinks a bit, not sure how to respond to the comment. But her attention is quickly drawn to Raylene herself as she greets everyone and gives a brief speech about who she was and what was happening tonight. It would apparently be fun, and that was good enough for her. When Iota came up after the others, seeming beyond excited to be at a real haunted house, she turned to look and smiled as some of the girl's excitement rubbed off on her. "It's quite excited isn't it? I've never been to one of these before. Should really make for an interesting night!" She comments to Iota before moving to follow the others inside, walking with a shuffling gait on her flippers. 

 The house was indeed spookily empty, and she found herself wondering how long it had been since anyone lived here. At least it seemed to be holding up well enough for being pretty much abandoned. Vania soon greets her with a barrage of questions, which she takes with a smile. "No, not a mermaid, I'm a Primarina, I breath air, my nose is like that... because it is? the stars are my ears, and... the pearls are just for decoration and to hold my hair together, not really part of me I guess, though they did kinda appear when I evolved, so I guess in a way they came from me? It's hard to explain. My name is Miwa by the way." She offers kindly. She then offers Olivia a wave of her flipper and a smile. "Hello, I guess not everyone here is someone I haven't met before. Nice to see you again."

Iota follows the group looking around the house as they enter the main room. She ohs suddenly remembering why she is doing this! She getting paid! She needs the money for food, lodging, bats. Bats? "Bats!", she shouts seeing the bats flying around. "Sooo many!", she runs around trying to catch one. She looks a Vania. "Hey hey! Did you summon these? Are you a bat whisper?", she looks at Miwa. "She not a mermaid! They have fishtails things." She ohs and everyone is doing introductions! She better introduce herself. "Hello! I'm Iota! Iota Assitant!"

    "Miss Dunwich, if you really must, but just Raylene is fine," The young girl says quickly. Those who have met Raylene before might find her rather pleasant mood a little odd, but it seems like she's really just wanting a good night out. "I-" Oh, someone else. Raylene peers at Iota, the latecomer, but then shrugs and lets her join in without problem. Probably likes her hat. "Thank you, Vania, for carrying those."

    Introductions are made, and Raylene lets everyone do that while she gently nudges a log into the fireplace, and then lights it with magic! Or... a little firestarter lighter, actually. Firemaking is not her talent. "Make yourselves comfortable. I will teach you the formula for these bravery biscuits," she offers. "They require precise roasting of the ingredients and a careful application of heated ingredients to non." Yes. She's going to treat s'mores quite seriously. It does look like it's going to be dark very soon. "Restroom is out back, but we don't have running water. A well out back does provide fresh water if you need it. Useful for washing hands... or I suppose for Miwa, here." She gestures to the pokemon.

    One small pause. "Whatever you do, if you go anywhere alone, do not tell anyone you will be right back."

    "Ooooh," answers Vania to Miwa, following the answers to all her questions. Well, that worked out! Although it raises even more questions. Evolved? Appeared? What's a Primarina?

    She doesn't get to ask them because now she's being questioned! She turns to look at Iota, smiling. "Yep! I'm Vania, vampire princess! You can tell because I'm dressed all nice and I have vampire wings!"

    She indicates the little wings sticking out of her hair, which are probably more commonly a trait of succubi than vampires, as Raylene first thought.

    "My bloodkin are the best, they'll do anything I say!"

    Case in point, the bats fly in a heart formation behind Vania as she says that.

    Upon hearing Raylene's warning, though... "It's okay! I've got my bloodkin with me! I'm gonna go find us some pillows, I'll be right back!!"

    Vania wanders off into one of the hallways! There must be a bedroom or five in a mansion this big, and that means a whole bunch of pillows!

    The bats follow, enthusiastic.

    Olivia just about nearly jumps out of her skin when Yumi accidentally exclaims hello right behind her!! She turns around, maybe a little blue in the face as she waves to express, "H-hello! I'm Olivia," as if she's using that as a mantra on rote to distract herself from the terror of the ghooooosts.

    Miwa explains herself, and she nods gently as she expresses, "Miwa is a... Pokemon, I believe. A kind of primal existence that harnesses the elements that govern the world." One day, Olivia is going to mistake Ifrit for a Pokemon and get smacked upside the head.

    She looks to Raylene as she explains bravery biscuits, and has that absolutely gullible look of someone who doesn't understand any better. "Bravery Biscuits... I see... is there a hidden power within them?"

    But then Vania wanders off on her own. "A-ah! Vania-- wait--" she looks well out of her depth already.

Takes a seat near the fireplace. It getting a bit cold and the heat is nice, so is the light, she can't see in the dark. She looking forward to Raylene bravery biscuts. She looks back at Vania. "Wow! I never met a Princess before? Is your castle big? Do you have maids? Guards? A fancy tea set?" She claps at the bat display. "Is it all right for a Princess to be here by herself?", and off she goes. She manges to keep quiet for bit while everyone else talks.

    Oh dear, poor Olivia has it bad. Yumi's expression grows sympathetic, and she resolves to keep the poor girl as distracted as she can. "Ah, sorry for startling you like that. My name's Yumi." There's a short, polite bow, and then she adds, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

    The girl has to stifle a giggle at the seriousness of 'bravery biscuits'; but seeing how intrigued Olivia looks, decides not to say anything, letting the... 'myth', stand as-is. Maybe it's what she needs. Instead, she opts to ask questions. "Tell me a little about yourself? How do you know Raylene?"

Well, if Vania wasn't going to ask her what a Primarina was just yet, Miwa would beat her to the punch and ask, once she's done talking with Iota. "What's a vampire?" Before then watching the bats fly around in formation with a grin. "That's cute!" She comments before moving to take a spot near enough to the fireplace that she can feel it's warmth, but not so much that it's going to dry her out too much. She nods as Olivia explains what a Pokemon is to Vania. "Yeah, more or less what she said." 

 Turning toward Raylene, she listens as the girl spouts off the directions for making the 'bravery biscuits' and it sounds complicated, so she hopes the others might help her figure it out, as she isn't too experienced with cooking. The fact that Vania walks off to find pillows and says she'll be right back right after Raylene said not to do that, gets a blink, but she wonders what harm could really come of it. At the mention about possibly needing water, she shakes her head. "Oh don't worry about me, I don't need to lay in a tub of water or anything like that. If I get dirty from all the dust in here I can always rinse myself off later."

Iota Assistant turns to looks at Miwa. Defintly not a mermaid. She still not sure what a Pokemon is, but Miwa question get her attention. "A vampire is a creature of the night that sucks human blood!", she says that with way to much exciment. She rocks back and forth while she talks. "That the commonaitily of most vampire stories. There powers vary from story to story. Some can command animals like The Princess does other can turn into mist hypnoise persons. They are hard to kill and don't like sunlight. Usally."

    "You didn't say to do that," Raylene points out placidly, fully aware that it was a mental command forming the heart. And then Vania does just what she said not to do, though this early in the night it should be fine anyway. "Ah well..."

    Raylene takes a seat and rummages in the packs, producing several sharpened sticks that she begins handing out. "Place these white objects on the tip, and hold near the fire. Do not let them catch fire. You want each side evenly turned into a deep orange or light brown."

    Yes, she's preparing everyone.

    "Vampires in this world are much more... unpleasant," she notes. "Though I have heard not all are evil. Certainly, I know a nice enough werewolf. Creatures such as Vania, or even most of you, are not... common here."

    It's not that all these answers don't interest Vania! It's that she found something much more interesting to pursue right this moment, in the form of finding pillows. And ah. Other things. Typically found near pillows.

    Don't worry, she'll address Miwa and Iota again when she's back. But when will she be back? Maybe NEVER!

    Because it's not Vania that shows back up, after a little bit has passed, but floating blankets and pillows coming in from several hallways and even the windows! And they chitter and make creepy noises!

    And there's a bigger ghost, right behind Olivia, floating ominously there and going 'wooooooooo'. ~Creepy ghosts~.

    And not at all blankets and pillows with bats in them, and also Vania under a blanket going wooooo and oooooh.

    It's for your memory's sake, Olivia!!!

    Olivia looks towards Iota and expresses, "I think she did say she has a castle, and with it I believe she has an entourage that..." She often leaves behind and causes headaches for... the question of whether it's okay or not is... well. She can't answer that.

    Olivia nods at Yumi as she expresses, "I-- er, I come from a realm of floating islands... I actually do not know Miss Raylene, but Vania introduced me to her." Miwa asks what a vampire is, but... well, Iota has it well on hand. Apparently the vampires of this world are nowhere near as present...

    She takes the stick and expresses, "Is this a Bravery Stick...?" And sticks the marshmallow and holds it near the fire. "I--I see... so this is the Bravery Biscuit--"

    The following things happen in succession next:

    1) Olivia holds the marshmallow-on-a-stick to the fire.

    2) Vania comes up as a bedsheet-draped ghost going 'wooooo' behind Olivia, accompanied by floating blankets and pillows.

    3) Olivia goes "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH--"

    4) The marshmallow-on-a-stick catches fire.

    5) Olivia hucks it at the bedsheet ghost in panic.

    uh oh.

Takes a bravery stick, putting the marshmallow on the stick and putting it near the fire. She also just tires a marshmallow. "Oh! so sweet!", then some 'ghosts' appear! She giggles and eeeks, it pretty obvious at it Vania and her bats. Then the flaming marshmallow goes flying. uh-oh.

    Mistakes were made!
    And the ghost is upgraded to a flaming ghost.

    "Wah! Fire, bad! Bloodkin help!"

    The main ghost flails while the blanket slowly burns. Pillows hurl themselves at it with very little effect. Go bats, surely if you keep ramming it it'll put the fire out!

    There's a bat with a fire extinguisher but it can't lift it off the ground. It's trying very hard though!

Miwa takes one of the sticks offered by Raylene and carefully holds it between her flippers, using the small digits at the end to grip it as best she could as she roasts a marshmallow near the fire. Vania's explanation of what a vampire is gets a wide-eyed look from her, and she wonders if Vania might try to suck the blood from anyone here. Suddenly she's glad she isn't human. 

 Speak of the devil, Vania is back, not that Miwa can tell as the princess and her bats are under sheets, blankets and other such things pretending to be ghosts. Miwa had seen things move with telekinetic power before, but had doubts that was what was happening here. "Umm... are any of you moving those?" She says waveringly as she nervously looks toward the floating linens. She blinks as she watches the flaming marshmallow go flying at the bedsheets and acting quickly, she attempts to extinguish the fire with a gentle water gun attack.

    Yumi is about to say something, when the 'ghosts' start floating in. And one floats up behind Olivia. She turns to look at whatever's making SPOOKY GHOST noises, and-

    That sure is a burning marshmallow.

    Yumi's eyes go wide. Well, that went absolutely terrible very quickly. Yumi casts about the room for a second or two, eyes sweeping this way and that- fire extinguisher! That'll work! She lunges right over to it, with a soft, "Pardon me," to the bats, and then hefts the extinguisher and puts it to use. On Vania. PSHOOOOOO.

    The ghost has been downgraded to a very wet ghost covered in extinguisher foam to boot. Vania pulls the blanket off the head, looking quite annoyed.

    "You were supposed to get scared and remember things!" she huffs at Olivia, before crossing her arms and puffing her cheeks. She might look half-intimidating if she wasn't dripping wet. She just looks like a girl throwing a tantrum.

    The fire extinguisher bat flips a towel to its princess, at least! It just kind of drops onto her head unhelpfully, but it's a start!

    Go bat!

    "Don't-" Raylene starts to say... but then everything goes crazy. Flaming marshmallows, water spraying all over, and fire extinguishers spouting off. This was NOT what she had planned for her relaxing evening. Sigh. The young girl is not really 'kind-hearted' in a normal way, but she walks forward with a s'more and holds it out. "I warned you not to do that."

    This sadly keeps her Sight from catching something it should. That is, Yumi's pack is rustling, and falls over with a thud. Anyone quick enough can see a tendril of darkness swiftly retreating, with a bulge on the end, vanishing into the darkness growing at the edges of the large room.

    "I /got/ scared, don't worry about /that/ part!" Olivia protests tearfully, still with wide, white blobby eyes. "I--I'm sorry, though..." she apologises profusely to Raylene, sagging her shoulders as she sits down and--

    Well, fortunately, for the mistakes she was making, she can sense darkness. I mean, that's her entire profile.

    'But Olivia, why would an angel of darkness be scared of the dark--' you might ask. The answer is huffy flailing. And pouting.

    "... is-- did someone see..." Olivia glances around, biting her lip as she concentrates on her powers to sense it out.

    Anyone else might think she's trying to save face.

    A s'more! Everything is better now.
    Vania noms on the treat and forgets that she's even mad. And wet. And covered in foam. With a towel on her head. Because chocolate and molten marshmallow! Omnomnomnom.

    If it answers Miwa's questions, she does have pointy vampire teeth! But they're clearly not being used to suck blood right now.

    Nope, she doesn't see the darkness. Or the movements. There's an incredible food in her grasp and it has her whole attention and then some.

Oh dear. That could have been much worse.. "A-are you okay Vania?", she looks at Olivia. "Are you okay?",the angel been really on edge.. She jumps hearing the thud sound. "Ah! What was that?", she turns as well. "I didn't see anything. Maybe it just fell on it's own..", she really hope that's what happened.. Anyway back to the bravery sticks! and these smore things. nomnom

    Yumi blinks. Blink blink. "You scared her to /jog her mem-/" She halts herself, then turns to look at Olivia for a moment, with an odd sort of look on her face. Then she turns back to Vania, takes a long breath to calm herself a little. And then speaks. "I can tell you from personal experience, just scaring someone won't help with amnesia prob-"

    Yumi's bag falls over. "What-?!" She immediately turns, and then half a heartbeat later she lunges over to her bag. "I don't know what I saw, but I think something was fiddling with my bag." She didn't catch the retreating tendril entirely, but she did see some kind of movement, and that's enough for her to start investigating her stuff for anything missing or messed with.

Miwa was about to say she had it handled, but it was too late. Poor Vania is doused with water from her and then shot by the fire extinguisher to boot. But it seems once Vania has gotten a towel from one of her bats and dried herself off a bit, all is well as Vania begins eating a s'more. Miwa moves to 'sit' on her tail next to her and looks at the 'biscuit' a bit before taking her roasted marshmallow and similarly finishing making it into a s'more from how Vania's looked. 

 "Sorry your attempt to scare us backfired. If it makes you feel better, I was a little scared before the flaming flying marshmallow happened." She offers before taking a bite. "Mmm, this is delicious." She comments before deciding to make some small talk with Vania. "So, I used to sing and dance in a traveling musical theater troupe, but I've never met a princess before despite having traveled all over my world, much less a vampire princess. Is there a vampire king and queen?" She asks curiously.

    Well... all seems to be well enough, here. Raylene sighs, and steps back to get another marshmallow. Her eyes scan the area and... well she CAN see the supernatural, but her head tilts oddly. "Hm..."

    As Yumi searches the bag, she reassures, "I think I saw something, but this definitely is not a ghostly presence. Besides, I could not find any traumatic events in the history here. Oh, plenty of stories, but nothing with any truth behind it. There's nothing to worry about here, and the worst injury was someone banging their knee running away."

    That's reassuring... right?

    Perhaps unbeknownst to Vania and Olivia, a memory /did/ get jogged loose:

    Tiny, pre-fallen Olivia bobbles down the celestial halls. Billowing sacred light streams in columns from the skylights above, laden with the filigreed gold of archangel worksmanship that binds the masonry of Celestia. Then...

    'woooooooo~!!'

    A magical bedsheet-wearing boy chases Olivia, as a long-suffering white-haired Creator remarks in a patient voice, "Sandalphooooon..."

    Good job, Vania!!

    But this is about the now. She looks towards Raylene as she reassures that there are no traumatic events in the history of the home, and that the worst injury was someone banging their knee running away.

    She looks down at her leggings, and the knee-guards they come with.

    OK she's good!

    She does take a towel and helps dry Vania off, however, patting the nearest bat as if to go 'good job with the fire extinguisher' and a smile to Miwa as well. "A vampire king... I think such a being did exist?"

    Rustlerustle, check check, okay, that's still there, good, that's still there, thank goodness /that's/ still there, that's still-

    "..."

    Oh no.

    "Oh no."

    Yumi sits back, a deep frown etched onto her face.

    "One of my socks is gone."

    "I'm okay!" She is, because she has this delicious food. Don't worry! You guys should probably worry about that... dark thing? Vania's not paying attention.

    "I dunno what happened to dad, actually. Mom's uh..." Vania hesitates. "Asleep, I guess. Or she left? I didn't wanna take over our island though, so uncle Feldrac has been holding onto the throne until I feel like it." He's not really her uncle but he's a very nice if ominous looking vampire who's been acting like more of a father figure for Vania and her brother than her actual parents ever have.

    "Our people are usually ruled by the queens though!" She's being coddled and dried, so all is well.

    Then she looks at Yumi and blinks. "I didn't take it! ... do you think the haunted house did? That's a weird thing to steal! Maybe you just lost it?"

Iota oohs listening to Vania talk about her home. "I love to see you home sometime Vania!" ,she huhs turning to Yumi. "I didn't take your sock either! Why would a haunted house need a sock?",she gasps! "Maye it trying to build a sock puppet army!"

Miwa finishes eating her s'more and promptly begins roasting another marshmallow, wanting to make another. She happily listens to Vania talk about her family life, surprised the girl seemed so chipper about not having either of her parents around. This uncle figure must be doing a good stand in job. 

 "I've been living on my own for the first time recently. It's nice, if a bit lonely sometimes. At least there are other Pokemon in the ocean I can have fun with, or even some people on the beach sometimes. Being able to visit other worlds and meet lots of new people has been great though." She comments idly before being distracted by Yumi complaining that she's missing a sock. "You sure you didn't just mis-pack and leave one out?" She asks, oddly being the logical one since she's never packed a bag in her life.

    Headshake. "No, I definitely brought it with me," Yumi replies, to both Vania and Miwa. "I'm a pretty careful packer. I roll my socks up together, to make sure I have pairs and that they stay together. I only brought one extra pair, and now I have one unrolled sock." She frowns, crossing her legs and contemplating. "Raylene, do you know of any poltergeists or the like that would steal a single sock? Just one? Or maybe just mischievous ones in general?"

    Raylene sighs, stepping forward with hands on her hips. "Yes, it's more likely you left it out. After all, why do you wear socks? To keep your feet warm. Yet that obviously would not be why a house would take your socks." She pauses. "For one thing, they are way too small. Your socks would never fit. Try not to let the mood get you so jumpy."

    While she is talking, two more tendrils of darkness reach out, rummaging through her bags behind her and tugging out a single sock. Raylene muses, "Well... nothing that steals a single sock. There are some that WANT socks but cannot steal them. Ghosts of course might. Hmm. Mischievous ones like Gremlins are more interested in making your zippers foul up or your phone make funny noises..." The tendrils are starting to withdraw. "But nothing that would take a single sock for... hmm."

    "Oh you don't wanna, believe me," Vania answers Iota, still chipper. "Vampires are really awful folks obsessed with tradition! They're all big, BIG DUMMIES!" Oh is that a flare up of actual frustration there? "They think outsiders are awful and there's all these stupid old crusty laws about bringing outsiders and being friends with outsiders. I tried to convince everyone that was dumb once and it didn't work. I think uncle Feldrac feels the same way I do but he's worried if he pushes those kinds of views on our people it'll cause a civil war or something."

    Well, it basically already has.
    Reason enough not to visit.

    "So anyway! My home's awful. I'd rather see yours!" she says to Iota, but also Miwa. "I've never been to a beach, so I wanna fix that!" She can certainly agree the best part of life is going around and visiting places though.

    She's too busy musing these things to interact with the sock-stealing darkness again. Vania has a verry narrow attentionspan!

    "I can't... exactly say I'm familiar with Vania's own island," admits Olivia. Olivia you just kind of wandered the islands without calling any of them a home... you're kind of a loner in that regard...

    "But yes, I do agree," she nods to Iota. "It would be nice to see it sometime," as she frowns at Yumi to think of the ghost who would think to steal just one sock. How horrible... then you won't ever have matching socks! The order is ruined forever!

    "That is why you foil them by only having matching leggings," Olivia concludes. ... ... Olivia that's not much of a solution

    "But--ah--" She stares towards the tendrils, and suddenly zips out with her own power to try to snag at one as it's playing with the sock! "There!"

    Stare. Staaaaaare. "Okay, Olivia, now I see it." Yumi looking straight at their host means that the sneaking tendrils are in her field of vision. So she gets to watch a tendril sneak out, dip into Raylene's bag, and snag a sock. One sock. "Raylene, you're about to be missing a sock too." She's keeping her eyes glued to the offending appendages, not wanting to miss a thing this time.

"Well okay..", she says to Vania. "See me home?? That not possible.. It.. it burnt down..", she lets out a sighs looking a bit down now. She eats another smore trying to get her mind. "..I've never really been to a beach either.."

Miwa almost forgets about her roasting marshmallow as she talks with Vania and it ends up a little burnt. She frowns at the blackened thing at the end of the stick, but decides to make the best of it, and when she finishes making it into a s'more and takes a bite, she is surpised by the difference in consistency from the last one. "Mmm, does still taste a little burnt, but so much more gooey, kinda nice in a way..." She comments to herself. 

 Vania gets a nod about visiting her world. "Sure, always happy to have company, and Alola is a popular tourist destination so people are pretty used to seeing different sorts of people. What's your world like Iota?" She asks as she turns to the girl, frowning at hearing it burned down. However before she can offer condolences, she starts to follow the gaze of the others toward the tendrils that were stealing the socks. She blinks, her eyes widening in fear. "What are those!?"

"My home?", Iota ponders this question. "Well hard to say I really didn't get the chance to go outside all that much... Where I lived was pretty isolated. It had tress and a blue sky... I can't say how it really differs too much from other worlds..",she looks over at the tendrils. "Are those the sock stealers??", she reaches from where she is sitting and tires to poke one with her bravery stick.

    "Some people do like their marshmallows crunchier, and-" Raylene is going to try to explain to Miwa, while Vania and Iota are munching. She doesn't have time to do more than look at Iota strangely... without pity though. Raylene doesn't understand the artificial girl's plight, really. She just marks it up as something to investigate later.

    Then she's spinning around to see what Yumi is talking about, and Olivia is grasping the extension of solid shadow. Olivia is very good for this purpose, but... "Oh. OH! You can let it go, I know where the socks are now."

    Sigh. "You were right, it is another being... but not mischief-ridden, exactly." Iota will find the stick poking SOMETHING solid until it flattens and turns to real shadow, withdrawing into the darkness. "It's probably under the floorboards... we'll search it out in the morning. It's just a growth in the house that gets larger by feeding on the distress missing items causes. My sisters called them worrywarts, but I never thought one could focus on socks alone."

    There's another few moments of flat staring from Yumi - this time, straight at Raylene. "...part of me wants to ask how that's even a thing. But then I remember some of the myths and urban legends from back home." She finally just gives up and flops back on the ground. "Well, at least they didn't steal the snacks I brought. They don't quite measure up to s- to bravery biscuits, but Pocky's not bad." The girl turns her head slightly, watching Miwa; it's kind of neat to see someone trying s'mores for the first time. Especially if they're enjoying it.

Iota Assistant oohs, watching the SOMETHING a shadow go back into the floorboard. "Wow. You find life everwhere.. All sorts.", she looks pretty amazed by it. "Ah! I still have to try the Pocky stuff!", next time she will bring snacks!

Miwa still finds the black tendril things pretty creepy, even if Raylene says they aren't dangerous. She wonders if they'll try anything with her, and decides she'll have to keep an eye on her pearls, as she didn't really bring anything but those could be taken out of her hair. At the mention of snacks, she adds her own. "I can bring some malasadas next time, they're delicious." After finishing her second s'more, she isn't hungry for more, at least not till later, so she curls up by the fire, resting her head against the end of her tail as she looks over the others, happily continuing to talk and exchange stories into the night.

    "T-the anxiety of missing things..." Olivia frowns quietly, wondering if she was the cause of these 'worrywarts' spawning. She's rather terrified about her missing memories, however... but-- she nods as she lets go per Raylene's request. 

    "I sympathise with that, Iota..." Olivia quietly says, and looks towards Yumi. "Hmm... perhaps it is because of the Bravery Biscuits that we were able to dispel the worry of a disordered inventory."

    Olivia would look more relaxed and be more amiable, at least, after this. At least, until Vania pops up again as a bedsheet.

    ganbare, dark angel who's afraid of ghosts...