World Tree MUSH

Initiating dipolar connection on naval carrier.
Bow in standby for sync check and sync.
Motion compensation complete.
Selenic lensing locked.
Somatic control established.
Implantation intact.
EVM status nominal.
Enforced Self-Image Locked.
Initilizing synaptic overlay... 

Welcome to Pleasant Hill. A town in... well... Somewhere America. People end up migrating here for reasons that are their own. People Leave after 'processing.' Not everyone leaves though. Many folk stay to help people that come here get past what locals term 'Echoes.'

Today is an important day at Pleasant Hill. Everyone hthat has moved here in the past year. No matter Age or Background, is being asked to attend a fall harvest festivel.

'It's Tradition!' This or that local would protest if this or that person refuses. 'It's a way to help people still suffering Echoes to get used to living here.'

'C'mon," It'll be fun to get out of your rut!' Someone might insist. You... whoever you are, will be gently (or perhaps not so gently) drug to this harvest festivel.

The main-street area downtown has been changed. Cars are cleared, driving disallowed through the whole of down-town. Buildings are decorated with a mix of fall and halloween decorations. Along with black and orange streamers and other such decorations the event mascott, a vaguely female shaped ghost named Ellie, can be spotted at every booth and ride. The icon seeming to mark out 'events' from 'areas that just happen to have people congregated.'

Come one Come All the show is about to start!

Ash... was Lost. He'd only shown up in town a handful of months ago. So while he technically knew his way around, he just stared at one thing, then the next as he paced along the fairgrounds. The buzzing in his head and sense of dislocation at least had finally settled.

"Why have this in the middle of town?" He would ask to no-one in particular. "Why ot have it at some place that won't make traffic go bannnanas to have to deal with?" It made no sense to him, but a lot of things here didn't.

Then a sigh, "At least school's out for the week."

    Dr. Julian Robotnik makes his way up main street, cane in hand. He would have liked to take his car - nicknamed the 'Eggmobile' by his students behind his back - but as driving is banned in the area the festival will be taking place in, why waste the gasoline? Besides, he's gotten a little out of shape lately, working at the high school and being stuck behind a desk most of the time. Some exercise and fresh air will do him good!

    Why does it feel so weird to care about that...

    He's dressed in a white lab coat with a red vest underneath, and black slacks and matching black dress shoes. He spies Ash from a short distance away, and raises the cane - with its weird egg-shaped top - in a pleasant wave. "Ah, Mr. Tenno! So glad you could make it to the festival."

Raven hadn't wanted to go. As a completely normal goth girl, it was her SWORN DUTY to hate all things that involved 'people' and 'fun'. Of course, ehr mother had put her foot down. 

"Rachel Roth. You are going to go to this party and you are going to make friends or you are NOT getting that 'Nails under my nails' cd you want next week. Are we clear?"

And so, here she was. In a pair of gothy skinny jeans, and a ghost t-shirt that lazily hung off one shoulder, and finally a gothic black collar with spikes.... And black lipstick and... Well. You know.

Goth.

And she saw one of her classmates. The annoying kid. She snorted. "Because it's a festival. It wouldn't be 'fun'," she made air quotes. "If it didn't inconvenience everyone around to show how great a time they were having," she said in her plain, monotone voice. "Your parents make you come to this lame party, too?" she grumbled. Then glanced to the professor and... 

"Hello Doctor," she grumbled. Despite the fact she dressed like she belonged as an extra in a gothic music festival... She actually got decent grades and TENDED to keep out of trouble. Shame her dad was never around, though. Apparently she and her mother moved here for his job and yet he always seemed to be on some 'business' trip.

And then there is Temulin Dotharl, the weird asian kid who likes to play with knifes and has a pet owl. She's walking over casually, playing with her butterfly knife while she does. Like Raven, she didn't want to go, but on the other hand... there wasn't anything else to do in this town so she might as well check it out. "Hey nerds." She greets Raven and Ash, and glances towards the doctor. "Hey NorthernLion." She smirks.

Miwa had arrived in the strange little town just a few days ago and was still getting used to everything. She mostly goes with the flow though and does what the adults who claim to be her parents tell her to do, which means going to school and this festival. She is currently wandering toward the center of town, looking rather lost. Her incredibly fair and unblemished skin gives her the appearance of a life sized porcelain doll with sky blue hair, tied into a ponytail with a white ribbon made into a bow. She's wearing a dress with a white lace top and royal blue gown.

Olivia Montag was the daughter of a former NYC cop who had settled here with his wife whom he'd met in Greece on the island of Lesbos of all place. The family had turned to ranching and rearing various animals while Olivia was good at this? She'd taken to having an interest in Paleolony since she found a part of a Raptor Skeleton when she was younger, she was hoping to earn enough money so she could afford to get into the field, but that remained to be seen and for now the green haired lady was just bouncing along as she made for the festival and for once as in a sundress rather than ranching gear. Her neighbours might not even be able to ID her like this.

Music started playing through speakers strung up around the downtown area. Soft music drifting through on this unusually warm autum day. Locals, at least those that had been here for severa l yearsor longer, seemed to hear something in the music the relative newcommers didn't. Crafts booth owners would start cycling out their display items, people would wander through handing the newcommers drinks of one flavor or another. there were smiles, laughter, music...

Yet the more observant might notice too much of a clockwork-pattern to it all. 

This person would wait for that person to do a thing. These two would wait for a certain beat in the background music and do something in unison. Little things most people wouldn't notice. Little things that happened with a degree of regularity amongst those that were 'lifers.'

"Welcome one and all!" A clear female voice would be heard throughout. the impromptu, yet highly ordered, town turned fareground. "Those of you that are new here may still be adjusting to life here." THe woman's voice had been heard often as PSA's were given. 'Friendly' reminders to the newcommers, and one of those things the regulars seemed to just accept as always being a thing."In twenty minutes contests will begin at the central fountain. Please be mindful of those running each event. Thank you."

"Doctor Robotnik." Ash was actually glad to see the 'Mad' Scientist had made it. Sure he wasn't the best student in the world, often drawing little things on the edges of his assingments involving some sort of 'ninja' doing backflips, rolls, or just hanging off the lines in the paper. He turned to face the 'good' doctor with a small grin, "Looks like I win. I'll give you half since fair's fair, and I'd... say you probably showed because of the bets." Perhaps the 'Eggman' would have heard whispers about the betting pool on if he'd actually show up or not. 

He was going to say more. Then Raven spoke up, which caused a soft laugh. "Oh my a twofer! Glad to see you're doing better." Ash was referring to a meltdown he happened to watch. Some family related thing he... well... Now wasn't the time to pry. He was just happy Raven was OK. "Please tell me you're still not on a Nails on Nails kick.... They've got good backbeat but..." He made a cringy face... before Temulin showed up.

He had no idea why, but he had this urgeto hit her. Nevermind she hadn't done anything, at least as far as he knew anyhow. "S'up short stack?" He knew Temulin hated being called short. He KNEW that was stupid.

He did it anyway. He didn't know why.

Then he saw Miwa and grinned. Then blushed. then tried to hide behind Raven. "I'm not here!" He'd hiss in her ear. Nevermind the fact he was taller than her. He just effectivly tried picking a fight right when Miwa came waltzing through. He did NOT want her to think he was living up to his reputation... AGAIN. He did not need her thinking he was trying to impress her.

And then the announcer lady which caused Ash to shudder involentarily.

    "Miss Roth! My. My apologies, I didn't expect you to come at all. Ah... this is what you wear on your own time, is it? Well..." There's a pause, then Robotnik coughs. But he's rescued from making a faux pas by Temulin! "Miss Dotharl! Must I remind you that while this 'balisong' of yours is legal in this state that is not an invitation to twirl it about in public? At least wear some gloves if you're going to do knife tricks," he admonishes. He can't help it, he's their teacher! And since no other chaperones seem to be present for them it falls on him to keep them safe, my default.

    Miwa is given a nod of greeting. "Miss Aria! Splendid. Four of my favourite students," he says in a jovial tone. Of course, he refers to most of his students as his 'favourite students'...

    Julian Robotnik doesn't know Olivia Montag very well. In fact, he doesn't even recognise her currently. He's also a little distracted by the music. "...This is my first time at one of these events. I moved in a week after the previous one. ... Is the music always like that?" He hasn't picked up on the clockwork nature of the 'lifers' movements yet.

Raven glanced to Ash and rolled her eyes. "You really entered the pool? You're such a dork." Not that she'd admit she had entered as well. and just lost. She then glared. "Hey. Nails under my nails is AWESOME! I know they're not like the main stream crap YOU probably listen to, but they're way better than any of that junk." She then glanced to Miwa. 

"Yo, princess Sparkle-butt!" she called out. "Your 'boy friend' here's trying to hide from you again!" Were they dating? Probably not. But Raven saw the looks and really, she didn't have time to deal with two kids making side-eye googly-eyes at each other.

Then her eyes fell on Temulin and she groaned. "Ugh. If I'd known you were going to be here I'd have put up a bigger fight about coming to this lame party." She... was actually friendly towards Temulin. Until recently. they had a fight or... something. It hadn't been pretty. And she still hadn't forgiven her over it. Probably about a boy. IT was ALWAYS about a boy.

 She then glanced to Eggman and sighed. "I'm here under protest. I mean, this entire thing is just another sign of the establishment absorbing the brains of the general populace like some kind of parasite resulting in mindless sheep who can't think for themselves. And yeah, it's always like this. Everything is ALWAYS like this. Gawd, I'd sacrifice a goat for something fun to happen." Would she ACTUALLY sacrifice a goat? No. She just had a weird fascination with the occult. And anatomy things. And bones and... well... Someone may have spread a rumor she kissed the anatomy model at the school.

It was a lie. A believable lie, sadly. She couldn't help but imagine these people were moving in unison, all their individuality gone. So lame. "Entire thing is just a waste of time..."

Temulin, in flagrant disrespect for both the law and her teacher, pulls out a pack of cigarettes and lights one up. "Do you think I wanted to come? My aunt confiscated the power cord of my PC." She answers Raven, unlike Raven she doesn't seem to be upset with Raven. In fact, if asked she'd say she doesn't even know what this is all about.

As she's called a short stack, she gathers up a bunch of smoke in her mouth and turns towards Ash, trying to blow all of it in his face. "If you want, I could make you a foot shorter. Would you like that?" She keeps playing with that knife. She glances towards Miwa, "Hey Cheers. Your boyfriend's trying to get himself killed."

Olivia Montag is aware Julian, it's hard to not be given it's a small town. What she wasn't aware of was the betting pool. she's also just enjoying herself she did catch wind of Raven's speech. Yes she would be polite and note it would be a speech. 

 "So what you'd want to go back to the gilded age? Where working conditions were nightmarish the rich crushed out anything and controlled the government openly or worse back to an even more savage time?" 

 She's mostly joking but she is just kinda poking at the goth. 

 "Golly free food and music is so terrible. If I can get off my father's ranch for a bit and pull myself out of my overalls for a bit." 

 Her demeanour turns a bit and lightens up. 

 "Well if your unhappy though stay long enough to grab some food then blow this pop stand to somewhere you'd rather be."

The various other students gathered and the good doctor get a wave as Miwa makes her way over toward the gathering. She was about to say something to Robotnik when Raven calls her attention with that most unflattering nickname. "Oh, thank you for letting me know, Miss Emo-queen." She says with a grin and looks over at Ash. 

"Now, why would you be hiding from me? I can think of only two reasons. Either you suddenly are too shy to even say hi to me, or you're up to something." She poses before turning to Temulin and blinking a bit at this new bit of info. "Trying to get himself killed? Well I guess that settles it, you're up to something. Spill it Ash." She says as she turns her gaze back toward the boy, looking down from her greater height.

Various other new arrivals would sorta mill around, but many would go towards the announced games. There wee many on offer, all the traditional carnie staples in fact. Some rigged, others not. Hard to say what was what since a casual glance wouldn't make it obvious. Could even be the booth runners swapped out when they had honest odds or not. The rest of the faire would continue on. More vaguely clockwork-movement from the regulars. More drinks being handed out. Casual observation would put it at a happy time even as another announcement popped up. This one to try food from some random townie's food booth. Pies of all kinds, supposedly a reputation for good baking if anyone cared to either listen, or actually buy from the baker in question.

"You've been over to my place." Ash protested at Raven. OK fine it was one Go match, but it was actually a rather lengthy capture session. "You wound me on the idea I'd bother with the pop boy band manufacturing plant." He might disagree with Raven's causticness, but he knew deep down... way down... deep enough you need a jackhammer and specialized excivation equipment, she wasn't that bad of a person.

Then Eggman's question, which prompted Ash to pause for thought, "I dunno, first time i"ve been to this thing." He'd stayed out of the whole summer fireworks and explosions day meyhem. Mostly because he had been busy seeing if he could break into school over the summer because... Reasons. He'd even intentionally aited til after final grades were mailed out to avoid any possible accusations of tampering if he got caught.

Idly he wondered, not for the first time, if anyone found the palm sized platinum disk he'd hid. That got him considering he locals, and for a moment he could see pattenrs in their movement. Maybe it was because of his hobby of freerunning causing him to try finding holes in traffic pattenrs he could exploit, maybe not. Either way his mind skittered past the matter

Considering Ash was trying to stand behind Raven when Temulin bew smoke at him that might or might not have gone over well. He gave a good nature laugh anyway. "Oh c'mon now. You spend too much time on that thing anyway. Get out get some sun-" Awquard glance at Raven, then Miwa. Both pail skinned. "at the very least please try holding your knife like you know how to do more than tricks with it." His eyes rolledat the delinquent's antics.

Then... Announcement of contests....

Which had him grab Miwa's arm and practically try dragging her to these booths. "Anything take your fancy?" He was trying to avoid the bell ringer strength thing, he wasn't weak by any means, but he'd pegged that boot has unwinnable without literally herculean strength.

    Eggman gives Tamulin a warning look, and then interposes himself between her and Raven. Acting casually, almost fatherly, he pats both of them on the back and ushers them forward, toward the festival at large. "Come, come, Miss Dotharl! No use standing here awkwardly - you have to join in. Your neighbours put so much work into this, it would be a shame to simply stand at the outskirts, yes?"

    He glances at Raven. "And that goes for you, too, little miss anarchist." Again, it's a jovial tone. He himself has had to stop himself from making a few anti-establishment rants in class, after all...

    Even as he walks towards the booths - keeping an eye on Ash and Miwa as he goes - he can't help but feel bothered. These people are acting more like eusocial insects than people...

Raven glared at Olivia. "The rich already crush out everything, gawd. Just look around. People are sheep regardless of the time. It's the people, not the timeline I have a issue against. Or what, you eat too much candy and can't focus, kiddo?" she asked. "And as if anyone should call THIS music," she said flatly. "And I'm only here under protest. If I could go home, I would. Ugh. Wish dad was home, he'd at least be able to get mom to stop carrying about this dumb, useless crap."

She glared at Miwa. But didn't comment. Queen trumped Princess, so nyehhhh.

She then glanced to Ash and flushed. "I told you not to tell anyone about that, dweeb. Ugh. If my mother hadn't made me, I wouldn't have gone near there. And 'ey. What's wrong with being pale? Some of us don't tan like some kind of silicone filled bimbo," he snapped. An dthen rolled her eyes as he dragged her off. "Ugh. They're so disgusting." NOT AT ALL JEALOUS! NOPE! Not like she wants romance or anything. Definitely no boys or girls she finds cute.

And the smoke, she sighed. "Ugh, if I gotta be out here anyway... Temulin, mind lending me a cig?" Gotten one or not, she'd start walking through the stands and...

"Do I LOOK like I want to flow darts?" she asked flatly.

"... I weigh eighty-seven pounds. What makes you think I can 'display my strength'. Whats wrong with you?" 

"Oh my gosh, fine. I'll buy one of your pies. I don't care. Apple," she said... Before...

"Here, doctor, a 'gift'," she said flatly, more or less forcing the pie on him before she walked towards the haunted house. "Hopefully this is at least a tiny bit scary..."

 She definitely dudn't shriek and jump when she passed the giant spider in the stands that jumoped at her. Noooope.

"Regular one fine? I didn't bring any special." Temulin asks Raven, holding out her pack in the likely mutual understanding that special means it's got pot in it. She eyes the teacher and sighs, "But fine. I'll go attempt to find fun." She pauses to look at Ash and his attempt at a date, and the tree past them. Then she flings another knife, letting it fly past Ash to get it stuck in the tree. "You know they're not just for show, Ashhole."

She is even less interested in the various activities than Raven, but she joins in on the haunted house because why not. She doesn't jump at anything, but does a passable job of playing along being scared. Until Raven shrieks and she just collapses into giggles.

Olivia Montag says "I see, well just if you're stuck here might as well make the best of it. I haven't eaten a thing I'm afraid yet and it's not quite to my liking myself." She shrugs "I won't be trying to coddle you or nothing just some advice and tell them then what do you find not to be lame then? What do you like." 

 She pauses at the goat bit and recall didn't' she sees some movie where the main char family did an offering to the gods with a goat. Why does that strike a chord with her? She shrugs it off though looking at Raven with interest.

Miwa wonders what Ash is talking about when he mentions that Raven has been to her place, with Raven's protest to even bringing it up making her both confused and curious. "What did you two do together at your place anyway?" She asks as Ash drags her off toward the booths of carnival games, she looks around as he asks her what she fancies. "I don't know, never done any games like this before. Most of them look kinda fun." She states before her gaze drifts up to a huge pink dolphin hanging at a booth with water guns that you shoot at targets to blow up balloons. "That looks pretty cute. Wonder how you win that game?"

Then the music scipped about five seconds. Normally this wouldn't be noteworthy, since even the best sound systems had little hitches and skips now and again. The problem is seemingly random people, the more observant would note all of these were 'lifers', all seemed to also skip about five seconds. Mid sentance, eating? Didn't matter. Even the big court house clock tower clock skipped the same five seconds.

Then the music flowed as if nothing happened. In those mising five seconds, something happened.

For a moment the spider Raven was scared by had four glowing red eyes.

Eggman might see some familiar mechanism in the shape of a given game, or prize on offer.

temulin would see a large birdof prey hangingfrom the top of oneof the booths. Something that would strike her as somehowfamiliar.

Ash would feel the heft of the gun he shouldered for the targeting game shift, and for a moment his mind had processed exactly how this booth's timing worked, the gun's rate of fire, and every quirk about the weapon in his hand.

Miwa would hear a familiar melody being hummed, something tropical and not at all fitting with anything here.

Olivia might catch a glimps of some leathery reptillian beast in the crowd.

Then the moment would pass and everything resumed clockwork normality.

As Ash marveled at hte pellet gun in his hand he vaguely registered the knife then dismissed it as a non-threat. Instead his attention went from the gun, then to Miwa. "Hey...?" He looked his date over, for a moment his eyes had unfocusedas if his mind was trying to process something and failed. Then his head would shake before taking the pink dolphin Miwa had been eyeing and handing it to her before walking to the tree Temulin's knife embedded itself in.

He would inspect the blade before flipping it in his hand then lobbing it at Temulin so the handle was aimed at her. "Appreciate the offer, but keep it."

His head shook again ashe tried clearing the sudden bout of cobwebs out. "She was helping me with homework, ended up playing a game of Go." Ash sounded distracted by something as he explained to Miwa. "Meditated a bit, was kinda nice." A shrug before he looked at Miwa more directly, "Not as nice as when we hang out, but hey... friends." He instinctivly huddled a little closer to Miwa. He wasn't sure why either. Something felt off.

    Ash and Temulin are are lucky their teacher is distracted with... well, with a lot of things, to take notice of their dangerous knife-throwing antics!

    He also knows those two teenagers have reflexes that verge on the superhuman.

    Robotnik is given a pie! He's about to just automatically take a bite of it when that SKIP happens. He tenses up, staring at the workings of a mechanical game he just happens to be standing next to for a few moments...

    The pie is dropped into a trash can. He looks up at the speakers, frowning, and then he talks to the person running the game. "Ah, good afternoon! Doctor Julian Robotnik, I'm sure we've met but you know how it is. I was wondering, would you happen to know where the control center for this PA system is located? I've always had a certain fascination for these types of ad-hoc systems." He's going to get to the bottom of this.

Raven had taken the normal cigarette and... But now... it lay half empty on the ground, as she'd actually grabbed Temulin, pointing at the spider. "but... It had... It's eyes were, there were ofr of them. And and they were glowing and--" For just a moment, she was frightened. Completely terrified. Like she was a child who had seen the demon under her bed... Actually being there... And then... She shook her head. "Ugh, just like... forget it. It's lame. This whole thing is lame."

And yet... She kept jerking when things jumped at them... And all the sounds and... Oh my gosh how was the GOTH so easily scared of silly haunted houses? And she actually shrieked and grabbed Onto Temulin when the demon near the end. Then flushed and looked down at her and then stormed out, face burning.

Ugh, what had... What in the world had her so JUMPY? A couple of fake glowing eyes? That's so stupid. She loves this stuff!

It was all fake nonsense... Why... had she been so terrified though. As if... as if it was real?

Before going in, Temulin catches her knife and hides it again. When it happens, she notices the skip. It's not actually what causes her concern, though. She doesn't know why, she knows she should be alarmed, but for some reason she isn't. What gets her alarmed is Raven's response, that kills her giggling straight off, and she just says softly. "It's fine. I'm here. I won't let anything hurt you." She promises.

And then when they get out, Raven runs off, and Temulin follows, intent to follow up on her promise. She stumbles and pauses when she sees that giant bird, and rather than fear it... she feels a distinct sense of loss when it is gone again. She picks up the pace to follow Raven.

Miwa takes the plush pink dolphin and smiles happily, giving Ash a hug and a kiss as thanks. "You're the best Ash!" She says in a bright tone as she now hugs the plushie to her chest, then freezes a moment. "Ash, do you hear that? It's like someone just around the corner is humming a song, and one I feel like I've heard before but can't put my finger on it.." She asks as Ash huddles closer to her and she puts an arm around him, holding him close.

Olivia Montag looks to the shooting game for a moment and that southern bell look fades for the briefest of moments. There's a predatory look on her face as she walks up will buy her chance to win and goes to work. She takes the weapon, she knows she has only so many shots and stars to shoot, trying to get a feel for this crazy little pellet gun. Nothing special with the first few shots, but then she just starts hitting the target over and over again until DING!. 

 "Well there we go." 

 Missy in the dress seems to know how to handle a gun then again her family lives on a ranch and Coyotes are a thing. 

 She'll just grin at the operator and go to claim her prize. A Stuffed Dinosaur is what she ends up picking out.

"Certanly Doctor." The local was wide smiles and if anything completely oblivious to anything having happened. He would take the good doctor and explain how the system was wired together rather than using bluetooth 'we were going to, but could never figure out how to keep it from interfering with itself so," The man would gesture to the neatly bundled and tied cables that could be spotted here and there disguised as best as the locals could. "It isn't pretty but it works well enough." THis man would then show the 'Good' DOctor to where everything was wired to in a small decorative shack nested in the ally between two brick buildings. Everything looked normal; clean wiringjob, carefully taped over splices. Nothingthat would scream 'the thing just randomly skips.'

Some random would pass by Raven and Temulin and frown at hte cigerette on the ground before walking off. Interestingly the moment both Temulin and Raven both aren't looking at the dropped cigerette, it's gone. The man that walked by didn't pick it up. Neither of them did. Just one moment there. Next moment not.

People would try clustering where Raven was running, not even botheringto drop pretext or subtlty and instead activly acting as a human wall to try blocking the Goth Girl's terrified flight.

The reason for this would be made clear as a man in his forties in a severe black business suit wearing sunglasses seemed to just appear in the crowd. Loook one moment nothing, the next he's standing asif he had always been there. "Miss Roth I presume?" The man just plain felt WRONG. "Are you well?" There was no trace of concern or any sense of actual emotion from the man as he strode towards Raven.

On seeing Raven practically panick-running from the haunted house with Temulin not far behind Ash would look from the pair to the haunted house itself. He'd then look at the crowd seemingly coordinating to wall Raven's flight off. Then the spooky suit just.... Existing.

"Miwa...?" Tere was something in Ash's voice as he turned Miwa's head to look at the Suit. "Please tell me I'm not alone in finding that excessivly terrifying? There was no joke in his voice. There was no fear either. Just a sense that what he was seeing was somehow Wrong.

    Julian Robotnik makes a show of looking over the wiring and networking setup, nodding approvingly and making various idle comments about how he'd have done it, how the way it was done impress or surprise him, and so on.

    Really, he doesn't care. He just wanted to know how it was all put together. After thanking his neighbour, the good Doctor makes a good show of wandering off to the food stalls - but then seems to decide against it as he starts to follow thw wires back to their source.

    A computer. He needs to find the computer that's controlling all of this.

    He hasn't noticed the Man In Black.

Raven backed up into Temulin. Not even noticing the girl was there until she hit her. Luckily, Raven was small(not as short as Temulin) and light(Likely lighter than her. Warriors tended to have more muscle than mages.)

She looked at the man in black. Stared at him. "I-I'm fine. I'm fine!" She tried to back away, but Temulin. She ended up moving around her finally ,kind of behind her.

"I-I'm fine. I'm well. I'm fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine." But Temulin could feel her hands on the other girl's, shaking... "Stay away from me!" she practically screamed.

Why was she so freaked out? Nothing she saw was this bad! Why was something telling her to get away, to run, to hide? She looked around and for, the first time, she saw the way evveryone moved in an unnatural unison... To the beat...

What was going on? What was... she wanted her parents. She didn't want to be here any more... "I-I'm going home. I'm going home!" she said weakly, trying to move around the crowd... And likely failing.

Miwa had managed to miss the time skip as she was focused on trying to figure out what that humming was, and she could still hear it now, along with the fact that she was distracted by Ash. But Raven and Temulin running from the haunted house does also catch her gaze right along with Ash's, and she nods while staring at the man in the suit, feeling a chill go down her spine. "Ash, please tell me this is just a bad dream, cause I want to wake up now..."

Temulin is scared. Like, the haunted house was a joke to her, but this fellow? He's scary. Nonetheless, she made a promise and keeps standing in front of Raven. The knife she was playing with before is now held firmly and properly, she knows how to fight with one of those. "Look mister. Leave my friend alone." She warns, trying to keep the trembling out of her voice, and mostly succeeding.

Olivia Montag pauses for a moment clutching her raptor plushie as she watches what's going? Something wasn't right here, there's not right there with Raven and the Agent for lack of a better term. She iwll move to slowly follow from a distance...

Maybe Eggman's inspections of how the town's speakeswere wired together went ignored because the Powers that Be didn't care. Maybe they were simply more focused on Raven's outburst. He would have found a buried eathernet cable of unusual thicness and rigidity leading away from the festivities. It woudl go through conduit bolted to differing buildings hither and yon leading him on, should he choose to follow, to a locked office building just outside of where the fare area was.

THe Suit lookedto Raven, neither pleased nor distressed by her fear. "Rest would be good for you right now miss Roth. I am... certain one of your... Neighbors would be willing to drive you home." There was an odd cadence to his intonation, drawing some words out unnessicarily long while truncating others.

He wouldn't bother acknowledging Temulin before reiterting his advice to Raven. "Go sleep." And then he would walk away before vanishing the instant nobodoy was looking at him.

"Mind texting your folks, tell them you're coming home with me?" Ash stared in horror at what he was seeing. He wanted to do something, but what? The Suit stank of Big Government. His phone was out and he started texting Temulin a simple message. 'Stay with Raven. I'm taking Miwa to my place. Talk later. Sorry about calling you short.'

He'd shiver, internally babbling in incoherent terro , asif seeing something large and terrifying that could squash him if it wanted. "Miwa? Could you please text Doc so he doesn't freak out? trying to get Temulin, raven, and Olivia to my place. Don't careif Raven's emo and Temulin's a jerk half the time. I don't want any of us to be alone tonight." There was a sense of controlled terrorin his voice ash e held onto Miwa tightly as he tried making a way through the crowd.

Something was going on.

Then a second text. 'Second thought. You and raven come to my place. We've got space, Mom's.... Out. Dad's probably asleep. They won't care. Get Ollie if you can' True enough after a fashion. Well no it wasn't. They'd care once they foundo ut. Ash was simply prioritizing getting his friends away from where thigns felt terrifying.

    Eggman does indeed follow the wire as far as he is able - which seems to bring him up against a building with a locked door.

    Well. Like that would keep him out. He was on a mission - a mission to find out just What The Heck Was Going On(TM). His students were in trouble!

    Probably.

    Also for some reason, somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt oddly insulted...

    But now. The locked door. Well, most of these things are fitted rather badly... a bent piece of wire through the latch mechanism will pop 90% of doors open easily. And so, the good doctor does just that.

    Of course he carries wire on him. He teaches shop class as well as science.

Raven let out a sigh of relief once the guy was gone and... "I-I'll walk. I can walk home..." she said. She didn't want to go alone, though. She just... She stared at Temulin. "Could.... you come with me?" she asked. There was something odd in her voice. A quiver. a shake. Emo or not, she seemed freaked. And she didn't want to walk home alone. "I'll get you a pack of cigs for it?" she offered. "The good ones?"

 Of course, if the offer for ash's house was given. "Y-yeah. That sounds fine. I... I know the way. Yes. And ummm... Yeah," she mumbled. "Probably better. If I go home, mom and dad might be mad. I just... Wanna go and... And get some sleep or something...." Something was off. something was wrong...

"Sure, I'll drive you home." Temulin lies to Raven, sending a text to Ash 'I'll be bringing Raven, she wants to go home so I'm telling her that's what I'm doing.' She proceeds to begin leading Raven to her car. It's a white muscle car, old model but it still runs fine, "Feel free to rest up while we're heading off. I'll wake you up when we're there."

Miwa nods and quickly pulls out her phone, swiftly sending a group text to both her parents that she was going to be spending the night with Ash. Surprisingly, they were totally fine with that. She didn't know what the hell was happening, but she agreed with Ash, that getting away from this place as soon as possible was a priority. "Ash I'm scared. What's going on?" She asked in a fearful tone as she huddled close to him.

DOctor Robotnick. Genius level Intellect, now also apparently builty of breaking and entering. IT relly wans't a challenge to enter the building, nor would it be particularly noteworthy once inside. The network cable would lead to a computer near the front building running a simple program with a long list of tracks to play sequentially. Whoever did the filing and metadata for all of the music was quite thorough; noting name, artist, original source, genres, year produced, rights holder. He would also find the computer had no security locks on the USB ports or input devices.

 Drones could be spotted flying over the festivities. This was nothing new. Drones who's cameras noticed people's coming and going and where exactly they were headed.

Ash's home was actually in a pretty well to do section of this sleepy town. Given how many people seemd to cycle in and out of Pleasant Hill the housing market was always doing something, and he kenw exactly how lucky his family was to snag something even remotely close to town itself much less one with a spare bedroom and a home office.

Temulin would find the key to the front door where Ash's text said it would be and the house itslef quiet as the master bedroom door was shut with its lone occupant softly snoring.

After looking at his phone Ash nodded to himself before dashing off a response text to Temulin, 'If she gets angry. Throw me under the bus. Please don't smoke inside, out back is fine though. Key's under the big rock in the flower bed to the left of the door.'

He would walk Miwa away from thefestivities to where his bike was parked. Sure him working odd hours as a courier was an effective social kryptonite, but it had given him enough spendable money over the summer to bu a motorcycle. It wasn't top of the line anything or super flashy, butit wass reliable and with the panniers he'd lashed to the back it had storage space enough for what he wanted on mostrides. He would strap on a navy blue helmet decorated with a white styalized lotus pattern before handing Miwa her helmet. Sure he was recklessly stupid most times, but he insisted on proper riding gear, and made sure miwa had a jacket of her own and helmet both colored to taist.

    Eggman has access to a computer!

    He expects this won't be the end of his searching, but... there's something going on here. Something suspicious, something... nefarious, even.

    Someone - something? - was trying to control him and his students, and the illustrious Doctor Robotnik couldn't have that!

    Why was he calling himself illustrious...?

    Julian is hard at work on the computer. USB 2.1? Child's play. There's enough hardware in this computer room to do what he needs it to do - and everyone seems to be at the festival, so the security is a breeze to bypass when he needs to find actual tools.

    It takes some work, but finally, he has it set up to do what he wants it to do. He wants to make a statement to whoever's controlling this. Whatever 'this' is.

    The fair ground's PA system suddenly switches from its previous musical selection to something... different.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1JAFHTTqXk

>> SUMMARY[Eggman] >> Come at me, RoBro.

Raven would relax in the car. Unlike the other girl, she didn't have one. She pretty much just... Walked everywhere. So she sat in the passenger seat and... while she didn't say it. It could be felt. Rav-- Rachel was thankful for all the help she was being given. And even more thankful that Temulin wasn't mentioning her freak out. "Hey. Can i have another cig?" she asked. The girl was shaking. And.... "Thanks. For... Just thanks."

When they arrived... She didn't even object. She just nodded. "Yeah. I just... Man. I don't know why I'm so freaked out. Gawd. I need a drink or something. Stupid haunted house..." But no. It wasn't the haunted house that scared him.

... Oh how she wished it was the haunted how that scared her. She would have given so much for that to be what scared her...

But no. It was that man. That horrible man. The feeling that something awful was happening to her....

And the feeling that... she deserved it....

Temulin just tosses the pack towards Raven upon request. "Open up the window and lean out some if you're gonna smoke, I don't want too much of the smell to get stuck in here." She requests, and then just focuses back on driving, "Don't worry about it. That's what friends are for, right?" When they arrive, she parks the car, locks it and looks for the key. "The others will be here soon. Don't worry, I'll protect you." She repeats her promise.

"Nice wheels Ash." Miwa comments with a smile before putting on the offered biker jacket and helmet, and gets on the bike, sitting behind Ash and gently wrapping her arms around his stomach. "Let's get out of here, pronto!"

Once friends have gathered Ash would escourt Miwa into his home. Nothing eventful that he knew of during the bike ride. Noonefollowing them. No car chases by moonlight. Just a quiet ride at reasonable speeds to his home. Said home wasn't anything extravigant, but it was nice enough all said and done. Except he wasn't feeling like showing off his thingsor his parent's things. Instead he would immediately walk into the home office, pull a pair of curved swords off a rack in the office. Supposedly it had been a decorative piece, but he nodded approvingly after drawing one far enough to expose the blade. On resheathng it he would then walk to where Temulin was and offer her oneof the curved japanese blades. "Frankly i'd feel better with a pistol, but..." Hishead shook. 

Ten he looked at himself in the mirror in the hallway before groaning, and looking up at the cieling. "Christ what kind of stupid edgelord crap am I even DOING?!" And yet as he attached the scabbard to his belt it felt... Right on his hip. Not a lot of good if government SWAT goons came in with tear gas and body armor, but he felt safer. SOme people need a security blanket. Ash apparently has a security sword.

He'd look to Miwa, then glance to his parents room. "I'll take the couch. Tonight's not a schoolnight.," He tried to sound reassuring, and likely failed. "We'll be fine. Least we're not alone."

Raven nodded and... Then... "Hey... Thanks... It really means a lot to me that... you'd do that for me... I feel so silly being... Mad at you. Gosh. I don't even remember what you did to make me so mad. But..." As they walked towards the house... and into the house.... She...

"Thanks for looking out for me today..." she whispered. And Ash. And oh my gosh. "Wait, are those swords? You're going to use SWORDS? What's going on? Is something coming after us?" And she was back to worrying. Wait, 'something'? Why did she say something... Not... someone... But she was scared and... "I'll stay where ever Temulin is... okay?" she mumbled. Of course... She'd... Once they started to spread out... She'd sit at the edge of the bed and... "Hey... Temulin ummmm.... Something's... Wrong... isn't it? You saw it.... Felt it... too, didn't you?" she whispered fearfully. "You mean what you said... right?"

"We'll take what we can get." Temulin agrees with Ash, smiling at him. "If something happens, scream, don't fight on your own." She insists, and then heads up with Raven, carrying the blade. She doesn't even know why she feels confident she can use a sword, but she doesn't care right now. The confidence is real, "It's fine. Raven, I'm sure I did something stupid. I have a habit of doing stupid things when I get angry. Sorry." She clearly can't remember either.

"Yes, something's wrong. And I'll protect you." She leaves unsaid, but it's there in her voice. 'If I can.' She's scared, too. She's just doing what she can to fight that fear. "I don't know what's wrong, but I'm here. So don't worry, I won't let anything hurt you."

Raven nodded, relaxing. Just a bit. It was okay... She was weak. But... Temulin was going to protect her... So... it was okay... She gave the other girl a hug, around the shoulders. "Thank you. I know... You'll keep me safe. You won't let anything happen to me..." she whipsered, closing her eyes and leaning against the girl.

"... Thank you..." ... And then she kissed her. Just for a second. It lasted only a moment, lips against lips before the goth pulled back(leaving some dark lipstick on Temulin's lips, her own cheeks burning. She didn't know WHY she did it. And a part of her said it was REALLY sstupid and dangerous but... She didn't know! She was a teenager! THESE THINGS HAPPENED! And maybe if she pretended to be getting ready for bed she could try not being embarrassed by it. "S-so I'll see you in the morning night!" she said quickly.

Oh gosh she was going to pretend to be asleep...

Raven is not the only one whose cheeks are burning. Temulin looks at the girl who just kissed her, blushing a lot, but also smiling a bit. "See you in the morning." With extra motivation to protect Raven, she keeps watching the door, and the girl. Sitting on the side of the bed until she becomes unable to keep awake and falls asleep next to Raven.

With Raven, fine that wasn't her legal name but that was the name she preferred so that is what Ash thought of her as, was escorted to his room he would pace the house again, making sure it wa locked. Everything had a dreamlike quality to it. Everything felt disjoined in his mind as he unclipped the sheath from his belt then sat in front of the livingroom couch facing the front door crosslegged and holding the sheathed weapon across his lap.

This was not something he normally did. He was there when theseswords were bought, and it was just happenstance the pawn shop that sold them hadn't sold decorative duds. THis was surreal, and yet he had every confidence in the world that if pressed he could use this blade. he could spend the night comforting Miwa, but the girl, in his estimation, didn't need his worry on top of her own.

So, as his friends piled into rooms and beds to sleep, he would meditate in the livingroom with a sword in his lap waiting on a danger that would decide it was taking the rest of the night off.

That or it was instead manifesting in the form of a pair of really annoyed people waiting to confront the 'Good' Doctor about his selection in music for the evening. They all knew it was him. There was no other 'eggman' in town.