post-trial garbage feelings

[ballisdeath]

[ The campfire is still roaring. S'mores supplies are hanging around the area. There's still a faint scent of copper on the air, for those who can really recognize it.

Leon is leaning against Mami on one of the logs around the fire. He's been acting like he's uncaring-- and a lot of it stems from bitterness that this happened to him and he had to watch it AGAIN. But he's calmed down now. He actually looks rather peaceful, if a bit weathered.

There's also now a pizza sitting on another nearby seat. It's cheese and a little cold. ]

Spell didn't work. Delivery man practically blinked out of existence. I thought I'd try since... look at all of us now.

[ That's all he murmurs. Join the campfire? ]

Comments

[le_mat]

[That was... that was a nightmare. And Ren is trembling with adrenaline once it's done. Eventually, he makes his way to the lodge and the kitchen. He didn't eat. Probably no one has. And that puts an idea in his head.

No one wants to eat in here, even after all the scrubbing Shirou did. So instead Ren gets into the fridge, digging out some meat, and the rest of the area for paper plates and bread and such. It takes him a few trips but eventually he hauls everything up to the Pavilion. He can be found there... grilling, of all things.

Eventually, he brings the food down to the campfire on plates, so folks can have food other than just cold pizza]

Story time!

[itsagazebo]

[Eddie was leaning against one of the logs, holding his legs to his chest. He stares into the fire for a very long time, his mind running over the events of the past week. The lies, the manipulation, the sickness, the mistrust... the death.

The fact that none of the adults seemed to give a fuck that something was going on, if they noticed it at all.

It was so familiar that it gave him an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach. He can't keep quiet about it anymore... not when lives are at stake.

He clears his throat, speaking to whoever's willing to listen]

We've seen something like this before... kind of. It... it wasn't exactly like this, but it was close. Adults who didn't see what was happening. Shit meant to make kids afraid... kids going missing or ending up dead. There wasn't a trial or any of that, but... but what if...

[He looks over at Richie, eyes wide with fright.]

What if IT's here? What if we didn't kill It. Or what if there's another thing just like It?

[soulcandy]

[Kon is listening carefully, but by the end of it, he has just one question:]

You guys named the horrible thing killing kids in your area 'it'?

[killtheanimals]

[Mitsuru will be around, reaching for a slice, staff... on the ground behind his seat, actually. His expression is neutral, but that's not exactly different when it comes to him.

He takes a bite. Hm.]

...Not really what I wanted to eat right now, but...

[The spell wouldn't have worked otherwise, now would it.]

[finalguard]

.... you killed it?

[ Or like.. thought you did. This seems like relevant information and Boa hadn't yet known that Eddie remembers whatever he tried to kill. ]

[yunolikebugs]

Sorry for interrupting.

[He politely waited for Eddie to finish.]

How did It Monster kill kids? Like hunter?

[velocirainbow]

[ Cielo is quiet for a moment. ]

Dat thing ain't normal. Dis whole situation ain't normal. An' I fight demons for a livin'. It reeks of demons, practically. I dunno... what dat means, though. It ain't de usual stuff. Normally dere ain't no problem I can't solve by punching or eatin' it, but it looks like dat ain't de case here.

So, what is dis thing you guys dealt wid?

[lovecolored]

It? Like, the thing's name is just...It?

[ that's. creative. ]

[ballisdeath]

You and me both. I still can't muster the energy to eat anything...

[ Trauma makes it hard, as do recurring memories. ]

Re: Story time!

[gunforgivable]

[Mami listens to every word Eddie has to offer, attempting to piece together what the creature he is talking about could be.]

What exactly...did It look like?

[soulcandy]

You grill?

[Clearly the most important question here.]

[itsagazebo]

It called itself Pennywise... Pennywise the Dancing Clown. But before we knew that we didn't have a name for It. [He smirks a little] Bill was the one who came up with that. It fed on fear. If we didn't give it a real name it made it harder to be afraid of.

[soulcandy]

Okay yeah that logic is sound.

[What the fuck, 'Pennywise'????]

[itsagazebo]

[He shuddered]

Like a clown... but It could turn itself into anything. Make itself look like whatever we were the most afraid of.

[killtheanimals]

[Chews defiantly. Swallows.]

I've spent long enough unable to eat.

[It's given him a bit more appreciation for food, to say the least.]

[trashmouthtozier]

I've been thinking about that, too. We should probably tell everyone, while they're all here.

[he digs his toe into the dirt a little, making a nervous, tiny trench]

Back home, in the town we're from. In Maine. Like Eddie said. A bunch of kids, they went missing, and some of them started showing up dead. And our friends, we all realized that we'd all seen scary stuff. Stuff we were afraid of: monsters, or blood, or like ... hearing things. It was because of this monster we just ended up calling It, because we didn't know what It was. We managed to track it down and beat the crap out of It because there were seven of us, and together we were able to remind each other what was real... what the actual truth was. It couldn't fuck with all of us at once, It wasn't strong enough.

But since Leon and Gonta are both afraid of the trials ...

I think maybe Eds is right. It might not be our It, but ... ours might not have been the only one.

Lilith - [he chokes on her name a little, but keeps going] - said we needed to find out the truth of what's going on here. She's right. We do. Not just for her, because of what happened, but ... I think that's our only ticket out of here.

[warmyyarny]

It's not like we have any other option. I'm not touching anythin' this camp has.

[He's not trusting the counselors at all, what after Red lied to them in such a blatant manner. That extends to the food he's sure they're in charge of.

He'll get over it when he gets hungry tomorrow]

[trashmouthtozier]

We ... well, we hurt It pretty bad. It fell down a tunnel. We weren't a hundred percent sure It was dead, so ... we promised each other that if It came back, we'd finish It off.

[le_mat]

I'm no expert, but I can manage a few burgers.

[trashmouthtozier]

... I think It ate them. It tried to get our friend Stan and bit his face. [he shudders]

[killtheanimals]

Do you think your "it" would come up with something as convoluted as this?

[itsagazebo]

[Eddie just nods in agreement.]

We found out that we could only hurt It when we were all together. Alone, we couldn't really do shit.

[He shudders, taking a puff from his inhaler as he gets a flashback of his near untimely demise]

[soulcandy]

What about like, squash or corn or something?

[trashmouthtozier]

Better than calling It the name It used for Itself. [Richie rolls his eyes]

[itsagazebo]

[He shrugs]

It looked like a clown, when it wasn't turning itself into whatever we were afraid of. It called itself Pennywise the Dancing Clown... it fed off of fear before [ulp] killing and eating kids.