1877/Hazardous Hotel: The Waxen Wretches

Hazardous Hotel: The Waxen Wretches
Date of Scene:	20 August 2024
Location:	Plot Room 3
Synopsis:	A trio of visitors come to the Hazardous Hotel! Unfortunately things get too intense in the second room, and it ends up ending early!
Cast of Characters:	Aloisia Stauss, Amanda Faust, Yaling Yao, Taro Yamada

---

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
     Welcome to the hazardous hotel!

The entrance to this rather nondescript warehouse is mostly rather minimalistic, beyond having a somewhat gaudy sign on the outside stating it as the Hazardous Hotel, with one of those gas station-style changable signs stating the current attraction as 'The Waxen Wretches!'

Standing outside the entrance is a young woman wearing a suit and her face done up with skull makeup, a nametag pinned to her suit declaring her as 'Madame Misery'. She's greeting people as they arrive with a cheerfully spooky voice, "Welcome to the Hazardous Hotel! A place to be delighted and spooked, a place of intrigue and chaos! Step right up and get measured! You must be at least /this/ tall to enter!" She says, pointing to one of those carnival-style 'You must be this tall to ride' signs.

A further note on the sign discourages anyone under the age of 14 from entering, and outright bans anyone under 8 years old. "Once you're measured and payment is received, you will receive a wristband with a button on it! If you ever feel too scared, or start to feel faint, please press the button and a staff member will be in shortly to escort you to a rest zone for a snack and a few moments to recover before either continuing or escort to the exit." Several small contracts are also by the door. "And please read and sign the waiver before entering! It's pretty standard stuff that says you won't sue us if a freak accident happens and you get injured."

...It actually is a fairly standard waiver, too. If examined fairly deeply, there's nothing out of place beyond including 'fainting' or 'feeling light headed' in the possible side-effects and things that they won't be held accountable for.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Man." Amy remarks to Yaling when they're approaching the haunted house. "I kinda wish I'd thought to go to a haunted house when I was a doll. Can you imagine? People would think it was part of the show... and the employees would be so confused wondering how it's being done." she smiles.

    At the entrance if the whole looking young for her age thing gets her hassled by the staff, she insists, "I'm 16!" And shows her student ID if needed.

    As she walks in with Yaling, she ruminates on this, muttering to herself, "Sixteen... damn. I didn't get like, a sweet sixteen birthday party or anything. Do..." she looks to Yaling, "Do you think I could have one late?"

Yaling Yao has posed:
Yaling had seen on a brief notice the advertising of this haunted house, and that's when she decided she was going to go as soon as school was over for the day even if the heaviest rain known to mankind would come to pass. Luckily for her, that won't be the case, but that was how much the girl was raring to go.

Fast forward to the promised time, she is marching towards the school gate when she sees Amy on campus. "Hey, Amy-san, why don't you come with me? I am going to a haunted house!", she almost yells excitedly, grabbing the redhead's hand and bringing her along once she had said yes.

Once they has arrived at the haunted house, she speeds through the contract before signing it and giving it back to the employees of the hazardous hotel. "I am 14!", she informs, bringing out the ID if requested. She did take note of the fainting, but... "I wonder what scary things they have that they have to include warnings in the waiver!", Yaling wonders aloud with shiny eyes to her friend. It was after all her first ever seeing a haunted house. Should she prepare her best 'scared' impression?

"Hey, Baibai, will you take a photo for us if there is a good spot?", Yaling asks the snake coiled around the neck. For her part, she didn't have much of a good feeling about the mention of fainting, but Yaling is certainly not lacking in energy, and both of them know what to do in case it becomes necessary. "I will do my best", the fairy replies back to her protégée.

"I totally could have faked being your ventriloquist!", Yaling laughs once Amy brings that up. "I think I ought to bring that up to Cho-chan sometimes. Stage magic is her thing, and a ventriloquism trick would slay!"

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
     "One can always perform rituals on their own time." Madame Misery says towards Amy with a little wink as she affixes the wristband to Amy's wrist and motions her over to sign the waiver. She doesn't particularly harass Amy, just checks her ID, has her stand next to the measuring sign, and then continues on.

"The waiver is mostly just in case some sort of accident happens, really. We don't expect anyone to get injured, but sometimes when people get scared they can trip or run into something. We have a medical team on site just in case! But it's mostly just to cover for freak accidents." Madame Misery explains cheerfully towards Yaling. "It should be perfectly safe otherwise! As a note, before leaving, please make sure you stop by the rest station by the exit and get yourself a snack and drink!" The rest of the conversation the worker largely doesn't interact with directly; opting instead to let them have their privacy as they're ushered into the 'Hazardous Hotel'. ...Certainly doesn't SOUND safe!

...Probably why they have the waiver.

Entering into the haunted house itself is an immediate change, almost like stepping into another world as the door closes behind them. The sounds of churning machinery in the background, the occasional squeak and creak of older machines, the smell of hot wax hanging heavily in the air as they find themselves in a rusted-looking, metallic corridor. Occasional dots of wax are visible on the wall and dotting the ground, though not enough to make walking particularly slick or dangerous.

Continuing through the corridor leads to a larger room, with those churning vats now visible, various dressed up mannequins around, posed as if doing various different 'jobs'. One of the mannequin hands attached to a switch that was flipping up and down, filling candle holders with wax that move along a conveyer belt.

SPLASH.

Suddenly one of the mannequins that had been filling one of the giant wax mixers falls in when one of the two walks just slightly too close.

Yaling Yao has posed:
"Don't worry, I have things to treat people too. My mentor is a renowned herbalist. She is actually the stuff of legends!" Yaling grins to the employee. If she could wink towards Baibai, she would. "Thank you for the warning, Madame Misery, I will heed them!", she bows her head respectfully after checking their interlocutor.

She hurries along to the interiors of the Hazardous Hotel once they have been given clearance, taking in the gloomy atmosphere amazed. "We are trapped", the green-haired smiles cheerfully once the door closes behind them. "I wonder what we will have to fend off... Do you think there will be ghosts? Or wax traps?" Yaling prepares herself, taking note of the dots of wax on walls and ground, which she actually proceeds to touch at least once each, just to learn the feeling.

When the mannequin falls into the vat, Yaling looks at it frowning. "Poor thing", she sighs. She stares up at the "Employees only" sign that would allow them to rescue the mannequin. "Should we step through real quick? I don't really want to abandon it there."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Huh?" Amy gives Madame Misery a confused look. Perform rituals for what? Eventually her train of thought has to make a few leaps to reach the conclusion that Mme. Misery believes in magic(fake) and is referring to a ritual to make her look more mature, and she glances down at herself, "Oh."

    A snack and a drink? "It almost sounds like we're giving a blood donation..."

    What kinds of frights need such a warning? Amy shrugs, quietly observing, "I'm sure we've seen worse. I wonder if there's really something to people saying they slept better after coming here... wouldn't a haunted house give nightmares, if anything?"

    A moment after she asks Baibai to take a picture, Amy has to wonder aloud: "How?"

    Work with someone pretending to be a ventriloquist... "...I'll remember that if it ever happens again." Amy says, unsure about the idea. "I still think I'd rather pretend to be a robotics project than a dummy..."

    Once they're inside, she looks around, crouching to prod the dots on the floor. "...Wax? Why is there wax everywhere? Were they running around with candles?" Or perhaps this space used to host other activities... "This isn't magical girl business -- I hope -- so we should be running away from employees pretending to be monsters, not fighting them. What would a wax trap even be?

    Then they get in further and "Ohhhhhhh." It's a haunted candle factory.

    And then one of the mannequins falls in. "Oh, shit!" Amy doesn't want to get blamed, and rushes up the stairs to see if the mannequin is sticking out enough that she can fish it out -- or just grab it, if the vats don't actually contain liquid wax. On the way up, she scoffs at Yaling's concern for it. "Pff. It's not like these are people turned into mannequins. ...At least, they better not be!"

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Madame Misery gives one of those smiles where she's clearly an adult playing along with a kid, "Ah! Well in that case, that's absolutely wonderful and reassuring to have such an expert in the building!" She says, waving to them as they enter.

The dots of wax are, well. Actual wax! Because, really, there's not much danger in having little dots of wax here and there and it's pretty cheap decoration. Just like the vaguely rust-like paint on the walls rather than ACTUAL rust since giving people tetanus would be a terrible idea.

As Amy rushes up the stairs, bypassing the employees only sign, she gets to the top, just in time to see the 'mannequin' crawl out of the vat, splatting onto the ground out of it in a pile of waxy mess. ...Of course, she can PRETTY easily tell from this area where she's not supposed to be that the original mannequin is kind of bobbing in what looks like water with maybe some cornstarch added to it, a previously-difficult-to-see rope wrapped around its waist.

Look actually having molten wax would be an absolutely massive safety hazard.

Over an intercom, a voice rings out.

"Please do not enter the employees only areas."

The lights cut out suddenly, and Amy would feel a firm, but gentle hand attempting to guide her back down the stairs, the rattling of chains briefly audible as that employees only sign is pulled back, put back into place, and the lights cut back on.

...The mannequin that had fallen out of the vat now standing, completely still and covered in wax. The other sounds in the room cut off, leaving the room deadly silent as the other mannequins are now standing, facing towards the two and similarly covered in hardened wax in various different poses. Some reaching out, mouths open as if calling for help.

Others in poses of surprise.

Others staring in what looks like resentment towards the two.

Whatever staff they have on site is /fast/ apparently!

Taro Yamada has posed:
It's a well made place. Safe, as far as Taro can tell. He's not sure why they're in a wax factory if this is a hotel, but the factory itself seems pretty thematically sound. Fear of mannequins, fear of falling into the wax, fear of being watched. There's some classic American horror movies about wax - maybe further in, there will be a wax museum with implicitly bewaxified victims?

He's consumed with examining one of the mannequins when the lights go out; he's been trying to work out how exactly they're moved and what period all the clothing they're dressed in is from -

He jumps a little when the lights go back on and the mannequin is posed to stare back at him. How'd that move so fast?

And then Amy brushes against him as she goes to rejoin Yaling and he squeaks and jumps; his body twisting around like a ferret's as he backs away -

"Oh sh - oh, shoot, it's just you two," he says, instinctively patting his hoodie's pockets; Jack and Dory have hidden away in them now that they're not alone. "I didn't realize I was lingering that much, haha..."

Yaling Yao has posed:
Yaling pouts when she receives Madame Misery's reply. Why is that so hard to believe? Does Madame Misery thinks herbalists don't have children or students? Her dad is one too! She is pretty rude, another reason to have gotten away from there and have started to make their way through the haunted house. "If only you could explain things personally", she sighs to Baibai.

"The idea is I coil around it and tap the camera button with the tip of my tail", Baibai tells Amy. "I do have a rather solid grip that way. I am really amazed she is asking me instead of taking a selfie. You young people have introduced that, no? It actually seems better than having to ask someone else", Baibai muses. "And I haven't felt anything that would indicate the workings of magic", the snake replies for Amy's benefit. "So, either they are really good at hiding themselves, or we rule it out."

"A selfie doesn't allow me to pose for the photo", Yaling counters, watching Amy examine the dots of wax before replying to her question. "Like quicksand, of course!", she declares, tapping the floor with a foot. "Part of the floor could be a retractable or frail panel, and then... Wham! Down we go!", Yaling mimics the gesture of falling. "But then, if magic does turn out to be involved, there would be many more ways to make it work.

Following the redhead when Amy rushes up the stairs, Yaling warns "Be careful! You could trip. And I hope they aren't either. I don't know if my purification would be enough to help all of them."

When the darkness falls, a scream from Yaling follows soon after, though anyone spending more than a second to listen would say it's more out of delight than fear. "Is it starting?", she asks Amy while she waits for the light to turn back on. Which it does, and brings with itself the awareness that the mannequins are in different positions. "Hey, look, look, they actually moved!" Yaling points smiling. "They are angry with us? Are we getting cursed?" She does sound happy at the prospect.

She doesn't really expect a squeak to come next. That doesn't sound very scary. Turning around at the sound, she notices Taro standing there. "Hello, Taro-san! Here to get scared too?" she smiles at him.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Moments ago:
    Amy's cheeks flush shamefully as she trudges into the building. First the comment about a ritual to look less childish and then patronizingly calling her an expert when the comment about having seen worse is overheard. I'm not a little kid! My body is just fine! she thinks, but isn't up to making a scene.

    Now:
    The mannequin is moving. "Oh come on!" She just hoped this wasn't magic stuff!

    And then she sees in the vat behind it the actual mannequin. "Oh. Oh. Sorry, sorry!" She turns to go back down the stairs, now even more red-faced than earlier as she's made a complete fool of herself. "I... I thought you were gonna blame me for the mannequin falling over..." she lamely tries to justify herself, before shouting "HEY!" as the lights go out, making her way the rest of the way back to Yaling carefully, only to bump into someone. "Oh, sor--" wait, that was a guy's voice. Who--

    And then the lights come on and she sees it's-- "Taro!" The red-haired girl runs up to embrace him. Glancing back, she sees the mannequins have changed position and realizes that, too, was another part of the show that made her think there was an equipment malfunction. She clings tightly and mutters, sadly, "...thinking I was in trouble was scarier than the mannequins..."

    The past several seconds have been an emotional rollercoaster that took all her spoons. She could almost cry from fear and shame. "I guess the haunted house is doing it's job." she jokes, lamely. "Sorry," she apologizes to the employees she assumes are here, costumed as mannequins or hidden nearby. "I don't have it in me to react properly to the scenario. G-give me a moment."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
For the most part, their movements seemed to be ... not animatronically, but through simple mechanics for the basic movements. The rest of the movements being seemingly made when lights flicker or low, to give the employees a chance to move the mannequins... that's the logical explanation at least, probably! And whenever the lights /do/ flicker or go out there tended to be shuffling sounds, from what Taro could tell.

The mannequins were generally dressed in what seemed to be 50s american factory worker garb, mostly relatively light clothing to match the expected heat of the area they were working in, and many of them wearing hats of various styles. Because accessorizing and it makes things a little more interesting here and there.

That moment of sudden jumping and squeaking, there was a subtle, extremely low-power energy drain. Barely enough to notice for the magically attuned, and frankly probably immediately canceled out by the energy created by adrenaline.

Something possibly more noticable if jumps or other signs of fear/surprise are faked.

Look it wasn't that Madame Misery didn't really believe Yaling or anything, just, well, she probably couldn't even legally rely on them even if she wanted to in the situation and also she probably hears /all sorts of things/ throughout the day from people. ... ...

Of course, right after BaiBai mentions not sensing the workings of magic is when Yaling gives out that delighted scream, and while not fear, is enough to trigger that same extremely-mild energy drain. Just enough for the magically inclined to notice in a moment like that.

The more surprised/HEY! call out from Amy triggered it as well, it was just for a moment though, not a sustained drain. In fact, none of it was... though now that the wax mannequins were here, there was a very faint sense for Baibai. Previously, each mannequin had been just that, but when the lights flickered out, they'd all been replaced by youma.

...Really weak youma.

That are only moving when they are completely out of sight by all three of them, moving slightly closer, changing poses. The only one that moved while visible being that one that crawled out of the vat in front of them, but even it was unmoving when being looked at right now.

The way back was slowly but steadily being blocked, but the way forward, less so... and in spite of everything.

...It didn't FEEL or SEEM dangerous? Sure they were moving when they weren't looking, but they seemed to be relying mostly on trying to spook rather than harm.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"Here to get scared too! I love haunted houses," Taro tells Yaling enthusiastically. "It's a perfect way to cool down in the summer! And I love seeing how everything is designed - oof!"

And then Amy embraces him, and Taro - isn't against it, he's just surprised at how sudden it is. He hadn't expected to run into friends while wandering about and around! "Being in trouble is definitely worse than mannequins. You can punch a mannequin much easier than you can punch an authority figure," he agrees. "Not that you should punch people in haunted houses. It's more common than you'd think? Being socked is a haunting employment risk." He's been an urban legend AND a part time haunted house worker enough times to know the risks!!

And then he blinks, and checks his pockets. No holes, and Jack and Dory were still hidden in his oversized jacket, their tiny knives sheathed... but he was sure he'd felt a minor drain.

"...Did you feel anything?" he asks Amy, giving her a significant look - he's still hiding his powers from Yaling at the moment but if there is something weird afoot, he should let both of them know!

Yaling Yao has posed:
"Don't they look like they are cursing us?" Yaling nods excitedly, pointing at the mannequins that have all changed positions. "These weren't like that while the lights were turned off. I think they got angry because of the trespassing.

Baibai hisses when she feels the two instances energy drain, her earlier reservations about the fainting coming back full force. "Maybe this is like blood donations", she mutters recalling Amy's previous comment. "This may be a work of the enemy", she tells to everyone while staring at the mannequins, picking up on the weak magic signals they give.

"It's hardly concerning and they seem much weaker than your average youma, but these mannequins aren't normal", she warns the group, tapping Yaling's shoulder. She doesn't really like this one bit.

Amy's shocked reactions is enough to take Yaling out of her excitement. The redhead looks like she isn't enjoying this one bit, and that run culminating into a hug only deepens the warning feelings, leaving the green-haired girl to approach the redhead worried. Delicately touching her shoulder, Yaling asks "Do you want to head to one of those rest zones? Baibai doesn't think there is to worry from these."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The comment about it being easier to punch a mannequin than an authority figure, leading to the bit about it being a risk of working in the haunting field, makes Amy... laugh? Light and short, almost a giggle.

    Did she feel anything? Amy looks up at him in innocent confusion. "...Besides fear and shame for being awkward and different?" She's not sure what he means, and finally unwraps her arms from him and steps aside. Although she keeps one hand clutching his jacket. The lights keep going out!

    "Geeze." She mutters, softly. "A moment ago I was almost crying and now I'm making jokes again. These teenage emotions are a trip..."

    She's not quite back into things yet, but occasionally a mannequin appearing near her when the lights come back on makes her jump a little -- "Gh!" -- and pull closer to Taro.

    Red eyes blink at Baibai when the snake raises concern that this may be their enemies at work. "Are you sure?" she asks, not wanting to make a fool of herself again.

    Yaling asks if she wants to stop and go to a rest zone. Amy shakes her head, "I don't wanna slow you down." More quietly, she adds, "Or be left alone." She continues, "We can go on, but um... shouldn't we stop it? Or... I guess it's... like we want to encourage them to try stuff like this rather than monster attacks, huh."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
     Yes, yes it is a pretty common risk when being a staff member of a haunted house. Especially when you're good at your job! Blink.

The closest wax statue -- the one that had climbed out of the vat -- was now looking straight at Taro.

...On the upside he hasn't been otherwise accosted though! Nothing stolen from him or anything. Yep. ...Except for the little bit of energy during that moment of presumed adrenaline by the drainer.

Even though one of the youma is close enough that it could ~maybe~ hear the comments by BaiBai and Yaling, they don't seem particularly keen on acting. In fact, they're following their orders closely. Not moving to attack. Not doing anything beyond vaguely attempting to usher them forward to the next room by slowly encroaching on them whenever they're not looking towards the way back.

Another jump from Amy... but there isn't a follow-up drain on the second shout of surprise from the appearance from the flickering lights.

There must be strict rules in place.

Taro Yamada has posed:
The mannequins are following them. Not quickly, not threateningly, but enough. His nerves twinge a little in anticipation of combat, in the presense of just enough dark energy to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, but he's done this sort of thing enough times to put on a poker face. Easier to hunt a predator if it doesn't know it's on to him...

"If this is some magic nonsense, it's a lot more beneign than the usual schtick from the usual crew," he murmurs to the two of them. "I'm feeling it too, Yaling. I think they took a nibble from me when the lights were off. I can have my grandpa drop in the next time the lights go out, if need be, but I agree that an enemy who provides snacks after is one we shouldn't scare off that badly." Not. Not that he knows that feeling or anything!!!

And a little louder: "Haunted houses are perfect for helping you squeeze your feelings out, from fear to affection. I'll walk with the two of you until we get to the end, how's that? I'm enjoying taking my time walking, so I don't mind going slow."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    On their way here, Amy did imagine that it would be nice to go to the haunted house with Taro. He'd appreciate it more than she would, and... while she's never liked haunted houses or scary movies or the like, isn't the point to be comforted by someone? That would be nice...

    Now that he's here, Amy still wants that. She's a little surprised he didn't even hug her back. But as the very experience of being afraid she'd be blamed just reminded her, she doesn't deserve it. Not after what happened at the meteor shower viewing.

    Just bear the jumpscares until we're through. You've endured worse.

    Still holding onto his jacket (so they don't get separated or bump into eachother in the dark!), she nods at his assessment that this time the energy-gathering scheme seems relatively benign. She's so lost in her head she can't really get into pretending-that-she's-pretending-that-she's-getting-into-a-normal-haunted-house, though, and she doesn't even process the ridiculousness of 'I can have my grandpa drop in the next time the lights go out' as an excuse.

    "'Squeeze your feelings out?' What does that even mean?"

Yaling Yao has posed:
"I don't think anybody else would setup a draining scheme in a normal attraction", the fairy replies to Amy, looking back to the mannequins with a suspicious eye. "On that type of things, these likely are really weak. I am almost sure you could topple them all by tapping them", she snorts, deriding how weak they are.

"I don't mind giving you a break if you need it", Yaling insists. "We can wait with you while we all eat and drink together. It will be like a party! You said you wanted to get the party you couldn't have for your 16th birthday, right? Well, consider this a taste of what is to come", Yaling winks at Amy when she says the pun.

Baibai nods towards Taro when he mentions squeezing feelings out. "That fits with what I felt. The two energy drains I had felt occured when Yaling cried out in delight" - here she reserves a side eye to her protégée - "and one when Amy-san had that startled scream. We may want to keep screams laced with emotions to a minimum", Baibai stares at Amy.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
An anticipation that... doesn't seem to be coming to fruition, whenever one of the youma seemed like it was getting TOO close, the next flicker would have it further back again. Even occasionally the poses are rather aggressive, like they were reaching out towards Taro to try to grab him, or to strike out at Amy...but it never happens. And instead, they are just slowly, steadily ushered forward until they are ushered through a doorway to the next room.

You have endured worse, you're right, Amy! It's just some slightly creepy wax statues that are doing the whole 'weeping angel' thing where they only move when you aren't able t o see them, that's all! Nevermind that they're statues made of wax instead, so considerably more brittle looking.

Once the party is slowly ushered into that next room, the moment they're looking away, one of the wax youma unceremoniously slams the door shut behind them with a creeeaaaaaaak-SLAM.

And then it's dark. The lights cut out completely, leaving them in the dark for a good give or ten seconds, shuffling audible in the room around them, until the buzzing crackle of an old light bulb can be heard... one of the wax youma standing below the light switch and holding onto the chain as a dim light reveals...

Well, what they'd basically guessed earlier, what looks like an old, dilapidated wax museum, with various different wax sculptures in different shapes, sizes, and appearances from children to older adults.

Crackle-bzz-bzzt-bzz.

The light flickers out, then back on, several of the statues gone. The one that had turned the light on turned towards the party. And then the light flickers. Just enough. That over a quick series of seconds.

That wax monster is moving towards them incredibly quickly, seen in flickers of movement, running on all fours, until the light turns on fully again, the wax youma caught mid-leap, mere inches away from Amy's face, face contorted into a predatory screech, sharp fangs and claws reaching out towards her.

...And then the light flickers again, and it's gone.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Taro tenses but doesn't make a sound as the door slams, as the lights go out. He's been on the other side of this enough times as the Slasher to know how it worked: isolate the victims, scare them, then go for it. He stole blood rather than energy, which required touch rather than just being nearby, but it's the principle of the thing. His powers grow stronger when the people around him are afraid, and so he's had to think a lot about fear.

Which is why, as the lights go dark, Taro shoves his hands into his pockets and grasps his dolls, murmuring under his breath even as the lights flicker again - the youma on all fours - running -

"I ate it all. Catch me if you can."

Amy will feel the fabric of Taro's jacket warp, stretch, thin out as it goes from a light hoodie to a long and ragged cloak, as the lights flicker - and Taro's thin frame stretches like taffy being pulled, arms and legs and spine lengthening, until all seven feet of the Back Street Slasher/Kuiper Belt Cape are standing between Amy and the youma, with the youma's horrible hand reaching under his arm at Amy's face.

It's a good thing that the youma is gone when the lights flicker again, because one enormous red-clawed hand swipes down where the youma's head was a second before.

It's not nice to punch haunted house actors. But he has no pity for anything trying to eat his friends.

"Miss Snake. Do you know if it'll wreck the actual haunted house mannequins if I take out the youma?" he asks. His cover's blown to Yaling, but - eh, he trusts her not to snitch.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
     The moment that Kuiper's claw swiped towards the wax youma, the air seemed to ...

Change.

The lights flicker.

And all of the wax figures are gone from the room. Every. Last. One.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    When Baibai says to avoid screaming and gives her that look, Amy reddens in shame and looks away. Until a year ago, he'd always felt kind of ashamed whenever a movie or something manipulated his emotions. Clearly he... she was too lax in thinking it's okay now that she's a girl.

    Even though the shout of 'hey!' was more an objection to turning out the lights in the middle of her going down stairs, and her verbalizations for the jump scares so far have been pretty restrained! 'Gh!' is a far cry from 'kyaa!' But, she's not thinking of that right now, righteous anger and indignation and the like as restrained as everything else -- except shame, apparently -- as she tries to just get through the ordeal of an activity she does not have the mindset to enjoy right now.

    She has the clever idea of just closing her eyes. As long as she's clutching Taro's jacket with one hand, she can follow blindly.

    The SLAM makes her open here eyews and look around, only there's nothing to see. She grips the jacket tighter and moves a tenth of a step closer to Taro.

        And then

            the light

        flickers and

    the monster

moves and

    she braces herself

        but doesn't

            expect it to

claw SUDDENLY IN HER FACE

    "KYAAAAA!"

    There is a scream, and Amy jumps, and when Amy realizes it was her she lets go of the Slasher to clap both hands over her mouth and curls up in shame and ends up sitting on the floor, knowing she failed even the simple directive given to her. She had one job.

    "I'm sorry."

    It is some small comfort that Taro leapt to her defense, but it also makes her feel bad for being helped when she couldn't do one simple thing.

    "I'm sorry."

    Amy looks away from Baibai, sullenly.

    Mission failed. Ancient reflexes steel her for the inevitable beration, or worse, patronization.

Yaling Yao has posed:
Yaling was doubly irritated towards the moving statues. A part of her was actually happy and marveling at the scenes, a greater part of her was annoyed that she was being ignored in favour of Taro and Amy, while an even greater part of her wasn't liking at all that they were targeting Amy who was already feeling uncomfortable. She was this close to transforming, and punch the youmas through the walls. Especially if they were that weak.

Baibai turns again to Taro when she is questioned. "Likely. I don't feel a barrier around here so if you destroy them with an attack that doesn't purify, that will impact the base mannequin too. Assuming that actually exists." She twists her body around. "Unless this one a rare specimen, youma that are possessing objects are stronger than this, so my thoughts suggest it's not created through an actual youma.

The moment Yaling sees the fanged statue that close to Amy is the moment she was going to transform and retaliate, but Taro is faster than her, and swipes at it, even if the youma disappear. "At least it can tell when it's time to go", she tells the other two, then adding "Taro-san, Baibai has already made it obvious, but I ask that you keep a secret. I want to be ready if these youmas try anything again."

An ethereal jade pipa appears in her hands, and Yaling starts playing the celestial instrument, each note resonating with her. "Wellness, warmth and wisdom from White Snake's gaze! Historic Legacy! Cure Suzhen!"

"Hey, Amy-san, breathe", Baibai orders when she notices her looking away. "You need something to recover. Yaling, if you would?" The Precure nods, the sound of music spreading once more, a plant of blackberries growing right there. "Eat as much as you want, Amy-san. They help with stress", she tells her friend worried that she may be too tense to do that.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
Between the youma and Amy, there had suddenly been a Taro in place, defending her gallantly even as she screamed, that small energy drain happening again at that scare. Though it had chosen randomly, it had apparently chosen the wrong target though, as it had found itself being swiped at by the now-monstrous form of Kuiper.

Flickering away just before being attacked as part of its 'script', thankfully, but in the operations room, a button had been hit by the one watching to ensure relative safety of everyone involved.

And any and all sounds stopped again.

All of the youma left the room.

And behind them they heard the heavy CLACK of a door being locked.

In front of them, there is an opening, where the light flickers on. But if they wanted to rest, calm down, and recover, well... it seems the room is going to stay empty.

For now. Once again, that intercom crackles to life, though.

"The current room has been temporarily designated as a rest zone. Do you need an escort out?"

Taro Yamada has posed:
Kuiper Belt Cape shrugs off his eponymous cape and puts it on Amy's shoulders. That's how it works, right? He's seen enough movies to know that when a girl is scared, you give her your coat. It's it works!

(Which leaves him in a kimono embroidered with red oleander flowers and stiff boots, that Jack the little Victorian lad doll is climbing the sleeve of.

"It's all good. Besides, isn't it like, gender, for a girl to scream and hold onto a guy in a haunted house?" he says, attempting to comfort her. "Besides, some freak clawing at your face is a great reason to freak out. Fear is a tool the body uses to protect you, but sometimes it shows up too much. A haunted house helps you get excess fear out so it doesn't build up in real life, like milking a cow. It's healthy to let it out." So it's fine!!

And eh is just. Going to take a handfull of those blackberries, because they look delicious!! "Don't worry, I'm not a snitch," he tells Yaling as he pops one into his mouth. "Besides, your cool snake stuff has proven itself three times over! It's good working with you again." Both as a human and as a monster!

Speaking of monsters - he will cup a hand around his mouth. "Hey, I want to speak to a manager, villaino a villaino! We probably want to leave early but we got stuff to clear up first!" About the house and wait wait wait hold on. "We don't want to fight, but I have some concerns about how you run this place!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy continues looking away at the order to breathe. When the cape is put on her shoulders and Yaling asks her to eat the berries, though, she looks up in confusion. "Huh? You're not mad I messed up?"

    And then the Slasher -- no, Kuiper Belt Cape? is reassuring as well.

    What, shouldn't you get gender euphoria from being the one screaming and clingy in a haunted house? Amy looks away again. "Well, yeah, but I wasn't s'posed to..."

    Although, she then quietly objects, "I don't think being startled by a claw in the face is too much..."

    A haunted house is where you squeeze out excess fear, like milking a cow! ...Comparing her to a cow being milked is a mental image she shakes out of her head and a bit of an emotional whiplash -- it's a mixed blessing, that Taro is so innocent -- but this whole ordeal has been such an emotional rollercoaster she's half-numb to it.

    She takes some blackberries, pops them in her mouth, chews, swallows, takes another handful, and stands up.

    They don't seem to be mad at her and now the focus is on other things. After Kuiper -- is it Kuiper, for short? Belt? Kui? -- calls out for a manager, Amy speaks up as well, "Yeah, I guess the jig is up that we're magical. But he's an expert on this kinda horror and I'm immersed in psychological high-concept stuff," yeah that's how I'm putting it, it sounds better that way "so maybe we can give you some feedback."

Yaling Yao has posed:
"That's just a stereotype", Yaling objects when Taro brings up the matter of girls clinging to boys. Even if it is a staple of romance, but this is neither the time nor the place to go into a discussion over stories and their tropes. "But it is true that it is completely normal to feel scared when something like that approaches you, Amy-san", the Precure encourages her friend.

"Wait, so all that thing about that grandson - that was a coverup", Yaling realises once Taro transforms in front of her, really surprised. Shaking herself out of that surprise, she addresses the far more important subject. "Thank you, your secret is safe with me too. Glad to be working with you!", she smiles to Kuiper, bowing to him as well now that they have done their introductions again.

It's at least important that Amy is actually well enough to eat, and that goes a long way in reassuring Yaling, and Baibai. "I... don't have any horror experience, I actually was excited about experiencing a real haunted house for the first time", she admits. "Baibai?", she asks for help to her Shifu. "I have terrorised a bunch of monks when they took my beloved Xu prisoner by sending the fury of the torrents at their stronghold. Does that help?", the snake looks around.

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
There is no real response to Ripper's request to talk 'villaino a villaino', however there is a crackle-pop and, "Understood. Sending escort."

The lights flicker and turn off again. And when they flicker back on again, there's a small group of people who have entered the room; nonmagical from the looks and feel of them, and they're giving Kuiper a wide berth as they, specifically, go towards Amy. One of them holding a medical kit as they approach the girl to begin doing a checkup. "We apologize, some of our actors get /very/ into the role. While they are supposed to pick targets completely at random, it sometimes happens that you get picked twice in a row." After ensuring that Amy has no serious injuries, she pulls out several mini-pies, which she hands to Amy. Hands to Suzhen, and kind of... sets down on a napkin and backs away from for Kuiper.

...Look, he /did/ try to swipe off the head of the mannequin.

"We also assure you that no harm will come of you in this place, in spite of the realism, that's a scripted event in this room where they approach like that, stop just moments before, and disappear." She steps away from the group a bit more, pulling out a button and pressing it. The lights flicker again, replaying the exact same scene... only this time the youma targeted an empty space before disappearing. "See? Regardless, we are here to escort you to the exit."

It seems that, maybe, that was the closest to a chat with the manager they were going to get.

...Kuiper /did/ try to swipe off the head of a youma, after all.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"I was barely part of the whole Beryl incident and I still almost got my head taken off in collateral damage," Taro says, which is a wild thing to finally admit to Amy almost two months after Thetis temporarily killed him. "You were in Paris. The head is one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. It's a natural reaction."

He can't complain that she screamed! Especially when he had, uh, attempted to decapicate a youma on pure instinct. Whoops?

"Yeah, it seemed like a good way to keep the whole civilian/professional thing going at the time, right?" ye tells Yaling. "I am old enough to be your grandpa. Perks of the job." He grins, all fangs. "We should try a horror movie sometime, it may be less stressful for everyone."

...he's not sure if he's flattered or insulted that the human haunted house people are avoiding him. Which, reasonable, he is a terrifying monster, but he's also worked the houses before! He knows the score! That was an actual monster!

"Sorry about the disturbance. I don't intend to cause any more trouble," he says to the one carefully sliding him a pie, and bows politely to her and the others.

When he speaks again, he's projecting his voice a little, and he's looking up at the crackling speaker. "Look, a good chunk of the city's magic population spent most of July in the middle of some life or death fighting. I respect what you're doing with the haunted house, I really like how you've got food set up after the drain and have given people an option to opt out, so I'm just going to leave after this - but you're lucky I'm the first magic type to take a swipe at a monster rather than someone who can shoot lasers that bust through walls. Knowing a haunted house is fake won't do jack if it's barely been three weeks since someone tried to actually murder you in the face; it's really hard to turn that instinct off. This is a well done haunted house with some actual subtlety in the scheming and it deserves a proper heroic overthrow."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's not sure what to say about the stereotype. It's true she wanted to try being held close and feel protected, but... Whoo boy, gender, is a really complicated subject. As for being scared: "It's... I didn't even get the chance to be afraid, I was just startled! The only thing I've been afraid of this whole time was getting in trouble or disappointing you. That's scarier than the mannequins, I said!"

    She winces as Ripper mentions nearly losing his head, but isn't especially shocked or concerned; he said he's immortal, after all.

    It's natural to protect your vulnerable head! You'll be incapacitated until it regenerates! "The human body..." Amy mutters. "Though yeah, still, relatively. I suppose removing my emotional reactions would have been counterproductive."

    KPC is old enough to be Yaling's grandpa. Amy holds up a hand for a small fistbump. "Yep," she quietly adds. "Ojisans club." She smiles very slightly with her mouth but not with her eyes. The feelings about that status are complicated.

    On the subject of cover stories and secrets, she also quietly adds, "Later you gotta fill me in on just how much Sailor Moon knows. Also, 'Kuiper Belt Cape'? Was Sailor Charon involved in picking the name?"

    It was Yaling's first haunted house experience? "Me neither, actually. So, how did you like it?"

    Amy turns her head to look at the approaching group... and then they walk up to her with a medical kit. "Oh come on, I'm not injured! Geeze, just 'cuz I'm the small cute girl, you go overboard worrying? I said, I'm magic too! Geeze!"

    She does accept the free pies with a quiet "Thank you" though.

    "You didn't cause trouble." She reassures Kui.

    While he speaks on the subject of magicals, she glances at her ring. Is her soul gem more corrupted than it was? Hard to tell -- it's not enough that she can see a dramatic difference at a glance, at least. She raises a hand. "Draining some of us is a little rude. Ask Tomoe-san."

    She has no idea that there are two Tomoe-sans at Obsidian, of vastly differing organizational importance.

    She briefly imagines what a mess would be on people's hands if someone was drained far enough to Witch, but 1. someone that low is surely not going to be going into suspicious haunted houses, right? and 2. Obsidian has probably been told not to drain anyone so much as to risk that if they catch a puella magi in something like this... right?

    She gives Kuiper Belt Cape a curious look, with her knuckles against her hips. "And what, exactly, is a proper heroic overthrow? I mean it seems like we usually just blow stuff up and blast the monsters and whoever's running it 'till they stop. Oh man!" She points at him, "You know, one time they made a youma fountain of youth? But it was too dumb to understand its potential. I was trying to tell it it could use its power for good the whole time everyone else was fighting it, but it didn't work."

Yaling Yao has posed:
"I would say", Yaling scoffs when the staff comes in. "I was completely ignored every single time, while my friend who was already feeling umcomfortable was focused on. Why don't you have anything to stop these situations? What if you had involved like that someone with a preexisting condition?" Yaling furrows her brow. As far as she knows, Amy has nothing like that, but she has her own reasons to take health matters seriously. Still she takes her own slice of cake and breaks off a piece for Baibai.

Yaling smiles at the Ripper's invitation. "I think that sounds nice! Just don't ask me to call you grandpa." Baibai tilts her head when she sees those two fistbump each other. "That is not really much of an achievement", she says bluntly. "I could be your grandmother so many times over that we could lose count if we tried to calculate it."

"It was kind of nice", Yaling shrugs unsure. "You and Taro got all the monsters. I didn't really have any chance to take part in this." She would be lying if she said she wasn't miffed about that. Amy seems to be fine now.

A brief look is given to Amy when Taro brings up he is not here to cause harm. "I am though. Please tell whoever runs this place that a situation like today is one I don't like at all."

Aloisia Stauss has posed:
It seems whoever is running the operations room isn't responding anymore for one reason or another. "We ask that you write a detailed note of your experiences and comments, rather than speaking at the comms system. The operator's job isn't to manage the operation, she just keeps an eye out for potential issues and sends out the support teams."

So, what, is the manager not even there or something? Or is the woman lying through her teeth? It's hard to tell, really.

When Amy says she's not injured, the Medic just nods and accepts it. "Just checking, you /did/ fall after all, and sometimes even an empty room can hurt someone. I swear, gremlins from that one movie are actually real." Nevermind the medic was just basically letting all the magical stuff actively happening in front of her slide off of her. Not that she has a choice. After all, clearly they just got dressed up for the haunted house and are talking in characte, right?

"Anyway, it's all smoke and mirrors, most of the mannequins are just moved or played by our actors, they're not /real/ monsters."

Maybe that was the manager's ploy. Frustrate the magical folks with nonmagical folks until they leave.

There's a slight frown at Suzhen's comment. "They're supposed to relatively equally target people, though they can be a bit random at times in that first room with all of the chaos, so it's possible their attempts were missed. Next time we'll have to cut down the numbers I think, four or five instead of the ten in there right now, just too much chaos with that many actors."