Outside Needful Things, Friday

[needfully_yours]

Leland Gaunt's hold on Fandom might be weakening, as more and more people were delivered from his thrall, but you couldn't tell just by looking. The fog was more sinister. The boarded-up doors and windows of the storefront were more foreboding. And the sign out front remained, as creepy as ever:

YOU SAY HELLO
AND I SAY GOODBYE GOODBYE GOODBYE
I

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[iceolatedqueen]

Elsa was more than a little unsteady on her feet today as she sat outside Leland Gaunt's shop. She'd been made to eat food yesterday, though a hot chocolate and a pastry wasn't exactly enough to sustain anybody for any particular length of time, and she still hadn't slept in...

In...

She wasn't sure how long. It didn't matter. All that mattered was protecting Leland Gaunt, now. She was leaning hard against an icy gryphon today, her wolves off patrolling elsewhere, and looking at anybody who came close with a cold air of mistrust.

[notaweenie]

Speaking of mistrust, there was one look of mistrust on Barry's face at the moment as he approached the shop.

Hugs? Breaking items? This was something out of a fantasy or fairy tale. It wasn't science.

(Never mind the fact he was dating a princess who had ice problems. Shh.)

Still, Elsa was going batshit. And based on what he heard on the radio about yesterday, breaking these cursed items was supposed to fix everything. So Barry was going to take a leap of faith and do what he could to fix this situation.

He stopped across the street from the shop. There were ice creatures moving around the shop. He heard about it but didn't quite believe it until now.

"This is fucking weird."

[elated_or_gassy]

"They're beautiful," Anna breathed. "Is she doing that? That's amazing."

Sorry, Barry. Anna was never going to think Elsa's powers were scary. Not even if the ice-creatures were directed at her.

They didn't have a plan, but plans were for people who weren't going to just dive in and want it hard enough to make it happen. (Or for people who had more common sense than Anna, which was a fairly comprehensive list.)

"Elsa?" she called out, hoping to get her sister's attention.

[iceolatedqueen]

Oh... Anna. So many people had come and gone over the past few days, and so far Elsa had been lucky enough to not have to worry about you. You or Barry. But as her wolves paused in their patrol to look her way, Elsa could feel her heart dropping in her chest like a stone.

"Anna...? Barry?" This was bad. "You can't be here. You both shouldn't be here."

Please?

[hexentotchen]

Day... something, of Hanna's watch on the shop. Light-headed and tired now, she was sitting on the trunk that held her record-player and album, knife in hand. She was humming one of her mother's songs under her breath, eyes flicking around those gathered in front of Needful Things.

[doesnotkneel]

Edward'd been on the lookout for his assignment yesterday, but he hadn't found her before night fell and it got too dark for him to identify anyone. Now, though, he was here bright and early, studying the people out there.

Hoping quietly none of them had the capacity to set him on fire with their minds.

"Morning!" he called. That was Hanna, wasn't it?

[hexentotchen]

It was indeed. Hanna gave him a wary look, still clutching that knife. "Hello." She tilted her head, and asked hopefully, "Are you here to help Mr. Gaunt?"

[doesnotkneel]

"I'm here to get, ah, informed about Mr. Gaunt," Edward said, swaggering forward with as practiced a friendly expression as he had in his arsenal.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad? "You seem like a loyal sort. Thought I'd come ask."

[sarcastic_vamp]

Carmilla was starving. She hadn't made any trips off the island to get a few bites in (literally) because she had to stay here and defend. If anyone got too close, she might just have to drink her full of them.

[wrongkindofsith]

So Cara was willing to admit at her 'get a squirrel to point out which one's Carmilla' plan had a few flaws when the fog was too thick to find the furry little bastards, or at least one sober enough to do her any good.

Still, she had to be one of the ones guarding the store, so that narrowed it down some.

[justwantfriends]

Kira had been wandering past the storefront every day to see who was still out there, and frowned when she saw there were still so many familiar faces. When she saw Cara, she approached her slowly. "Hi. Are you, um, guarding this place? Or are you helping people?"

[wrongkindofsith]

"Kira." Cara remembered her from last summer. "I'm supposed to find Carmilla, but I need a description and the squirrels are unhelpful." Also drunk, but that went without saying.

[whateverknight]

Like the cursed people, Squall still hadn't slept, and all he'd eaten in the past few days was the sandwich Karla brought. He was worried. He was scared. This would be so much easier if there were a large, angry monster to attack.

[holyshitsnacks]

Pam was getting frustrated. The weird guy wasn't opening the door.

"Cocaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaine," she sighed, beating a tattoo against the nearest wall.

So, yeah. Still here.

[nookiepowered]

ahahaha of COURSE we simulpinged

Bo hadn't found anyone at Pam's address -- once she'd found Pam's address, since getting anywhere in this fog was a bit like wandering around with your eyes closed and hoping not to fall off a cliff. So after checking all her other best guesses (the stoners who hung out in front of the Kwik-Stop both hadn't seen Pam and were apparently insulted that Bo thought they might sell her anything harder than weed or knockoff Rolexes if they had) she'd finally ended up making her way back to the shop. If her target wasn't among the crazies trying to keep people out, Bo could at least spend another afternoon trying to make sure the ones that were here didn't manage to kill each other

[holyshitsnacks]

"There's magic cocaine?" Pam asked, brightening up. "Do you have any? The guy in this house was selling me coke but I'm out now."

She had somehow managed to eat her way through three kilos of cocaine, in under two weeks. It was almost impressive, in a "thankfully cartoon characters are hard to kill" sort of way.

"I dunno why everyone else is here."

It was amazing she'd noticed that anybody else was here.

(AHAHAHA NO WORRIES, I was about to drop down and ping you there!)

[nookiepowered]

Excuse Bo if she just stared for a moment. (She had the feeling that was something Pam was very used to anyway, even under normal circumstances. If such things existed.)

"No, I don't have any magic cocaine. I'm here to get you to stop using magic cocaine, and no, I can't believe those words just came out of my mouth either."