[IC] Momento Mori

[Imperfectionist]

It figured. Miriam had wanted something interesting to happen, after all, and here they were... Wherever they were. Sucked under a bed and dropped straight into fucking Wonderland. But, like, the dark part of Wonderland, where the Jabberwock and the frumious Bandersnatch lived. Something about being newly reborn in the form of painted wood allowed her to remain conscious after she hit the ground, but a fat load of good that did her. Missing leg, her brother and his friends still knocked out (or dead!) on the ground, there was nothing she could do except drag herself to a tree and rest against it. Luckily, both of her arms were still connected. "What a weird thing to be thankful for," she thought. "Why am I not more scared? I mean, the whole falling under the bed thing was scary, but I seem to be fine now... Missing a leg, but whatever. Not dead. Hmm... Maybe it's the vodka." She ruled out hallucination pretty quick. Mimi had been on several different sorts of hallucinogens before, and this felt very different. Everything had a very dreamlike quality, the fog, the weird trees, the impossible hourglass in the sky... But it was SO real. Her fingers were segmented and wooden, for Christ's sake! It was just when she decided to start crawling across the ground to check on the others that she heard Savrina crying out. She was close, just beyond the fog. "Savrina? -cough- (her throat was weirdly dry) Over here, Savrina! I need your help, dear! -cough cough- Thank God someone else is awake... Don't freak out, but my leg broke off when I landed, and I don't think I'll be going very far with just the one. "Could you, um... Poke around a little? I'm sure it hasn't gotten far. Is anyone else awake?"

[Obscene Symphony]

Mitch's first sensation upon waking was a surreal feeling of floating. It brought with it a considerable wave of nausea, forcing a moan from him and making him curl into a ball. He cupped his hands over his face, holding his breath through the nausea and taking stock of his body. It didn't feel like anything was broken, but each breath made him wince, and his entire body was very sore. He could wiggle his toes, nothing broken... But he didn't expect to be any colour but black and blue after the impact. He didn't even have the heart to consider why he wasn't dead. Eerie singing made him open his eyes, squinting around painfully as even the ambient light in the fog felt too bright for him to handle. He brought a hand up to absently touch his old bruise- And froze. His hand was all wrong. The colour was way off - his skin was a dark grey, like a picture in negative colour, and then converted to lack and white. Upon further inspection, his entire body looked like this, even down to the locks of hair in his eyes, nearly glowing white where black hair should have been. The most disturbing aspect, however, was that no matter what part he looked at, he could see right through to the ground around him. Like looking through swirling smoke. Mitch stumbled to his feet, patting himself up and down and pacing. He felt like he was totally solid to his own hands, but he somehow lacked the weight he was used to. There was almost no pressure beneath his feet, and he felt nearly weightless. The memory of his costume at Savarina's party came to mind; he'd half-assedly thrown together a bedsheet with 'Boo' written on the front as a ghost costume. He'd also taken it off about half an hour into the party. But that couldn't possibly affect him now, could it? And where the hell was he anyway? His thoughts were interrupted by some desperate calls. It was Sav's voice, somewhere in the mist. Thank God, he'd thought he was alone here. "Sav!" He called, running toward her voice, "Is anyone else awake?" Another voice sounded, this one unmistakeable. "Miriam?!" He called, changing course to find her. He lost his balance and fell, catching himself on his hands and knees. The weightless feeling was messing with him. He felt like he'd just gotten off a trampoline, but somehow in reverse.

[Decker126]

“… unshine, my only…” "… the other ni…” “… died,” What was that Homer wondered? Was someone singing? He kept drifting in and out so he couldn’t understand what he was hearing. Everything hurt, but considering how far they fell it was lucky he was still alive. How far had they fallen exactly? Just what had happened? Nothing made sense, and the pounding in his head didn’t help. “…omer- wake up.” Wait, was that Sav? What had happened to her, to the others? Homer slowly pulled himself up. He heard another voice nearby. It sounded raspy and dry, but he thought it might’ve been Miriam. Then another, definitely Mitch’s this time. Well, everyone’s alive at least. Homer thought, but the he looked around again. He couldn’t see much, but they were definitely short one. He pulled himself up and limped over to where he heard Sav calling. “Hey,” he asked as he leaned against a tree. “Where’s Myles?

[nonsequitur]

The first thing Abigail noticed was that she'd landed on her front. She could taste blood in her mouth and her tongue hurt, though it seemed to be in one piece as far as she could tell. She could feel all her limbs, though she almost wished she didn't; there was a dull throbbing pain throughout her arms and legs and *something* in her back felt broken, though she could move her legs fine. Although they screamed in protest, she managed to sit up and look around. Everyone else was there, but what about Myles and Mimi? Savrina called her name in front of her- did her ears just *move?*. "I'm here Sav," she called as she moved her hands to her head. "What's going on?" Her ears had moved, all right. They had moved to the top of her head. And they felt different too, cone-shaped... *Sav had thrown a Halloween party. They'd shown up in costume.* She looked down at herself. Her hands had been replaced with paws covered in black fur. Claws extended almost as soon as she wondered if she could, and retracted when she willed them to. If she was right about what had happened, she probably had a tail now, likely broken from the fall, but that would be it. The rest of her looked human as far as she could tell, so she wasn't ruling that theory out. "Savrina?" Miriam called. Abigail concentrated and her ears rotated towards the sound. She was somewhere beyond the fog, to Abigail's left. She was coughing a lot, and Abigail frowned. An injury from the fall? She really hoped not. "Over here, Savrina! I need your help, dear! Thank God someone else is awake... Don't freak out, but my leg broke off when I landed, and I don't think I'll be going very far with just the one. Could you, um... Poke around a little? I'm sure it hasn't gotten far. Is anyone else awake?" Abigail stiffened. Miriam had come as a doll, and not one of those soft ones either. "I'm awake!" She yelled in her direction. She almost asked if Miriam was alright but stopped herself. "I'll help look for your leg." She set off in the direction Miriam's voice had come from, hoping to find her leg somewhere nearby.

[Kiri]

The others were coming to now and she placed a hand over her mouth to stop from crying. They were alive but they were different. Miriam had called out to her but before she could reply Abie had offered to help find her leg... Find her leg. This was insanity- and were those cat ears that she saw on Abie's head? No, no- she was wearing cat ears at the party- christ they just moved. What was going on... "Hey- where's Myles?" Sav turned her teary eyes to look at Homer, "I have no i-" she stepped back and stared at him. More specifically she stared at his head and the lack of a neck under it. She babbled at first, forgetting her knee as she stepped away from the tree. Shakily she raised a hand and pointed at his neck, "Homer..." She breathed, finally. His head was... Detached from his body. But how was that possible- how was he not dead. How were any of them not dead?! Or... Or perhaps they all were. Or at least high. But that couldn't be possible. Then again she didn't exactly like the alternative, either. The restless bird of panic began to stir in her chest. _____ The boy with the blanket about his shoulders watched them from the safety of the brambles for a moment, undetected and unsure. He noted that their group was, at the moment, disoriented- which he understood and sympathized with. They looked pretty beaten up, too. "But of all the places to land.." He mumbled to himself as he looked about wearily. If his memory served him right the hemlock grove was home to- Just then on the opposite side of the clearing a warning howling pierced through the fog. The boy stood from his hiding place and screamed, "RUN- RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" He hadn't even finished his warning when the brambles on the opposite side of the clearing exploded. A pack of hounds bounded into the clearing- seemingly stitched and patched in different tones of color. They were massive dogs- sized more like wolves. They paused and snarled at the group, exposing literal needle teeth, jammed crudely through their muzzles and trailing thread, giving the appearance of whiskers. With a quick motion he produced from his belt a slingshot and began to shoot at the hounds. One was shot straight through the skull- strings of red fabric shooting out of the back of its head. It screeched in pain before falling dead. Enraged the others bounded over their fallen brother and ran at the rest of the group, blinded with bloodlust.

[Spades]

Myles shifted in his cot, weary from the work he had done the day before. Piper, the girl, had allowed him to stay at her farm in return for caring for the Sheep, the weird faced sheep, and helping with her vegetable garden, among another household chores. Eventually he would try to find a way back home. Now, his muscles ached from digging some weird thing Lil Bo Piper requested. "Wakey wakey, or your legs will break-ey!" Myles was slowly growing used to the twisted versions of expressions that were apparently common in the "Maire". He rolled out of the cot, swinging his legs over and placing his feet on the floor... Or, well, trying to. What he also had to get used to was that his feet never seemed to touch the ground. Like he was forever floating. What really made it amusing was how it perfectly went with his halloween getup: a genie costume. "Okay Piper, one se--" "MYLES COME QUICK!" She suddenly screeched from the next room, and Myles heard the rickety front door slam. He completely flew out of the bed then, tripping on his bedsheets (thankfully he could only "faceplant" inches from the ground) before he got up and darted out to meet Piper. "What? What?!?" Piper outstretched he staff towards the woods, not far from where he had fallen days ago. "Do you hear that? Woolves!" "Wolves?" "No, nooooo. Wool-ves!" Piper said, emphasizing the "ul" sound as she waved her staff dramatically. "Okay, okay, what's the problem?" Myles rubbed the back of his head, somewhat uninterested. Piper clutched her staff. "What if they eat my bebbes! Myles, please go drive them away... Take this!" Piper shoved her staff at him. "A few knocks to the head should do it.. It's probably just two.. Well i hope it's two." Myles put on an exasperated face. "Aaaand what if it's not?" She put a hand on his shoulder. "It was really nice knowing you buddy." "But I don't wannaaaa!" Myles whined, but Piper shoved him. "GET T' STEPPIN' BOY." With a small huff, Myles strode over then hopped the mangled wooden fence. It was slightly unnerving when he couldn't hear twigs and grass crunching underfoot. Myles tried to look cool and twirl the staff, but it really just ended up hitting him in the face. He was rubbing his chin when he finally heard the snarls and growls in the clearing in front of him. Myles twirled the staff another time before stabbing it into the ground and mumbling "you shall not pass". He really didn't want to do this. Like, really didn't. Reluctantly, he parted some morbid looking fauna with the staff, and peered into the clearing. He saw a group of people around his age surrounded by malicious, drooling 'woolves'. One was already dispatched, surrounded by a swatch of scarlet. Myles grimaced. He wasn't the best guy, but that didn't mean he would let these people die... Or maybe... He could..? No, no, he shouldn't. So, with a strangled battle cry, he waved the staff above his head, his genie hat bouncing as he bobbled along, running on air. The woolves looked at him, bemused expressions seeming to cross their ugly faces, before returning to frothing, sneering looks. They crept forward, ready to avenge their fallen comrade. "A little help here people.." He called to the group, but then trailed off. "Wait, Homer? Sav? Guys? Is that you?" He threw his staff on the ground, incredulous. "Where the fuck have you been? It's been three fucking days." He held up a shaky three fingers. His hands raised in alarm as one of the woolves snapped its jaws in his direction. Myles winced. "How about we just talk later."

[Obscene Symphony]

Mitch collected himself for a moment as the nausea caused by the uprooting of his balance system passed. He noticed that he couldn't really feel the ground. Upon closer inspection, it was because he wasn't touching it; he was hovering a few centimetres off the ground. No wonder walking felt odd. He tried to push the oddities from his mind for the time being, deciding to freak out about it later. Right now, he had higher priorities, like finding his sister and friends. "Mimi!" he called again, watching as the fog slowly cleared. He could see the silhouettes of gnarled and twisted trees, and beneath one of them, a female shape. "Mimi?" he called, picking himself up and starting toward her. "RUN- RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!" Mitch heard the voice half a second before a small projectile whizzed past his head, straight through that of a formidable wolf-thing, looking like it was a crude doll made by a blind and slightly psychotic person. It went down in a flurry of red thread, and almost immediately, more came over its body, snarling with mouthfuls of needles. Mitch didn't need to wait around to get going. He took off with unsteady legs in his sister's direction. The wolf things seemed to be coming from the forest, but he at least had to get her out of there, especially since she was complaining about a missing fucking leg which seemed to be priority one. Thankfully, he came across what looked like an oversized wooden doll leg, laying slightly hidden in some moss. He slowed to stoop and pick it up, expecting to grab it and continue. What happened, though, was that his hand just dissipated into smoke, rearranging itself into a hand shape once it had passed around the leg. "The fuck?!" he exclaimed, falling to his knees to try again. But try as he might, he couldn't get the damn thing off the ground, or even close his hands around it. Hell, he didn't even feel it there. It was like waving his hand through air. Panic welling, he desperately looked around for someone else as the hounds closed in further. Nearby was Myles, looking distraught and talking to someone who's head didn't come all the way to his shoulders. "Guys, help me!" he called, looking around and fruitlessly struggling with the leg.

[Decker126]

Homer looked at Sav, hoping she had an answer, but just as she started to say something she stopped and stared at him. She pointed at him and quietly said his name, confusing him even more. “What is it? Are you alright?” Homer was about to ask again when he heard a howl and a voice yelled for them to run. Before Homer could even blink a pack of wolves burst through the trees and growled at them. Homer turned his head to look at them and noticed it seemed to turn easier, like there was a lack of resistance in his neck. He probably would have found it strange, if he wasn’t distracted by the wolves coming towards them. When one of them was struck by something and fell and dead, and just as they started to move someone else came running into the clearing waving a staff around and yelling. It did stop the wolves, but only for a second. The stranger called for help, then stopped and called them by their names. “Wait a second, is that…Myles!?” Homer asked. “What’s he talking about? Three days, how long were we unconscious…and why did he throw away his weapon!?” Before Homer could get any answers the wolves began to move towards him and the others. “L-let’s move!” He began to run, hoping Sav and Myles were behind him. He turned his head when he heard Mitch yell for help, again it seemed to move too easily, but before he could turn his foot got caught on an exposed root and he tripped. For some reason he bounced and tumbled more than he should have, and when he stopped he couldn’t stand up. That’s when he saw a body, his body moving. Without a head. What the hell is happening!?