Unfamiliar Faces

[keep_hallways]

Some pumpkins scream; some cry; some beg for mercy; some whisper cruel words. There are, however, two pumpkins that differ. One, a man, sits on a stake outside the library. The other, a woman, is set outside along a pathway leading to the Great Keep

Comments

[thii2ii22tupiid]

Just because the keep is slowly descending into some cheesy halloween mystery doesn't mean Sollux is going to cut out his normal activities. So he's headed to the library to go play the video games, but pauses on his way there. That male pumpkin's voice is different than the others...

[keep_hallways]

The pumpkin's eyes lock onto Sollux. For a few seconds, it stares, unblinking, and then it speaks.

"Get out while you can," it whispers.

[thii2ii22tupiid]

"You say that like I have somewhere to go."

[keep_hallways]

"You do. There's more. This is a prison."

...ignore fail. Woman please!

[spellsdeadwrong]

Asuka had been scouring the castle grounds, looking for any pumpkin that might have stood for someone of his own world, or anyone that might have been from Hito's as well. He couldn't stand to hear the people he'd once known, and he didn't want Hito stumbling across them unawares. So he hunted.

He found the woman pumpkin quite by accident, really--it had just been one he hadn't checked yet, and so he'd approached her without really realizing that something was... different.

But once he realized, he was intrigued.

sup

[keep_hallways]

For a pumpkin, she's a rather pretty face. Her expression is one of deep thought, gaze set staring at nothing in particular somewhere to Asuka's left.

"I've got to get out," she whispers. "It's not here, not anymore."

how YOU doin'

[spellsdeadwrong]

For a moment more, he peers at her face. He still hasn't gotten used to how realistic the pumpkin faces look. But what is she looking at? He glances over his shoulder, trying to figure it out, then looks back to her. "What's not here?" he asks. "What happened to it?"

:'D

[keep_hallways]

She shakes her head and looks right at him, pumpkin eyes locking onto his.

"I don't remember. He took it, I think. He took it away and he hid it from me."

Woman at the gate 83

[abstinentzombie]

Kloe is so close to just going berserk on some pumpkins. It's completely irrational, kind of, but her walking around in the open is even more insane.

Everything in this damn keep was insane.

And that's when Kloe discovers the woman pumpkin. She approaches, squats down, and stares at it.

What'cha gonna do, pumpkin?

83

[keep_hallways]

The pumpkin shifts her gaze and stares straight back. "You. I don't know you."

[abstinentzombie]

YEP, KLOE IS OFFICIALLY CRAZY. The pumpkin just spoke to her. She is about to engage in conversation with a pumpkin. The world no longer has any sense.

Kloe is going to roll with it.

"And you're a talking pumpkin. Congratulations."

[keep_hallways]

Welcome to Holloway's Keep, Kloe.

The pumpkin listens to her words, but doesn't acknowledge them. "I've lost something," she says.

library jawn

[unit_67]

Lily is so sick of this pumpkin shit. She can't seem to find hers, which is absolutely maddening, so instead she's been just kind of hiding in her room. Hiding in your room gets boring after a while, so Lily has summoned the courage to leave the safety of the barracks and run to the library to pick up some books.

Ugh, great, there are even pumpkins at the library. Lily glares at the male pumpkin as she passes by, but pauses and backs up to get a better look.

For some reason, this pumpkin seems different from the others...

[keep_hallways]

The pumpkin stares back into Lily's eyes.

Then, it says, "Don't believe him."

[unit_67]

Euuugh, how creepy. Lily's not about to get into a conversation with a pu -

"Who?"

- Of course she is.

[keep_hallways]

"Him," the pumpkin spits. "The big man. Daddy in the castle. You're in his Keep but you're not his to keep."

Woman

[likesfootnotes]

Bartimaeus has been to see the Nathaniel pumpkin twice today and the pleasure of it shows on his expression. In life, Ptolemy had never managed quite the hybrid of sadism and satisfaction that his likeness bears now. (It is best that way, if you asked him; the magician was a diamond in the rough and kinder than any master. Sadism would have been amiss - very, very amiss - in any look he bore.)

The general cacophony of the pumpkin chorus is music to his ears, relative to certain other screams elicited by a magician named Khaba once upon a time. Almost cute in comparison, they lack the essence shuddering keen of a djinni in torment.

(Though Bartimaeus is intending to see if there's a Faquarl pumpkin out there. Professionally, his stance is that any action against a spirit is terrible indeed. Personally, there's a bit of leeway for certain friends of his

[keep_hallways]

She looks right at him and, as requested, speaks a little louder. There's a certain defiance in her tone.

"He's keeping things from you. More secrets than you could imagine."

[likesfootnotes]

Give the pumpkin points for taking his advice to heart; he likes her already and that means he'll listen for now. What she has to say, however, has been said a thousand times over a thousand conspiracies - it's all a little vague.

Bartimaeus drops to a crouch near the pumpkin and eyes her. "Didn't your motherseed ever teach you to be specific?" he asks with the glint of mischief in his eyes.

[keep_hallways]

She rolls her eyes. "If I have to explain it, then maybe you don't deserve to know."