TheAmishPirate

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

To make things absolutely clear, Timmy is agreeing to go with Annie, where she will definitely deal with this whole mystery hex problem, and not throw him at a vampire. :P

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

JEALOUS
DEFINITELY HEXED

SECOND PLACE
WEREWOLF MAGNET
DARKEST SELF

“I didn’t want to meet them until we were going steady, silly!!” He’s only saying this because he’s cursed. You can’t give a hex like that an inch! “But I guess... once we get you uncursed, we can go have dinner together!”

She leans in, gives him an air kiss next to his cheek— mwah!— and then drags him over to the door before his brain starts working again.

Knock! Knock! And then, once opened, gosh, wouldn’t you know, we’re in... the Sphinx’s lair??

“Drop that oversized kitten and break your curse on poor, innocent Timothy right now, Annalee, or else! He’s nobody’s house husband, you hussy!”

You’d better do it. There is mad power dancing in Elly-belly’s eyes, Annalee. She is at her most unpredictable and impulsive right now, and standing in front of her might as well be standing in front of a train.

This is complicated by the fact that you have not, in fact, hexed Timmy.

@Tatterdemalion

This is okay. This is fine. She didn’t really kiss him. He didn’t actually reciprocate. It wasn’t a real kiss. It wasn’t a real kiss. It wasn’t real at all. It was a Continental sort of gesture that was performed millions of times a day between people who didn’t have to like each other in the first place. He was safe, he wasn’t in any trouble, and so his knees had no good reason to tremble like structurally deficient gelatin. No good reason! Not a one!

wait this wasn’t where he was standing a moment ago

CREEP
WHIPPED
TRUANT

Annalee is in the middle of trying to open her backpack and inch out one of her spellbooks without being crushed by the sphinx, toppling over, or properly being able to move her arms and legs. It sort of looks like she's being slowly buried in a hot topic store that's oddly sphinx shaped. You might expect her to be awkward in this situation, but in some ways, your arrival is a blessed jolt of normalcy. And she looks positively, perhaps even unnaturally delighted to see that you brought Timothy Crompton with you. Well done, Elly-belly, we knew you were useful for something after all.

"What, the mouth hex? That was at Samael's request, but he didn't ask me to keep it." She waves a hand (as much as it can wave) and Timothy, any lingering oddity with your mouth is completely and utterly gone. "There, it was nothing, I'm glad that you enjoy my work. But now, now it's is excellent that you're here!" Her eyes light up. "I was just working on passing through the entrance, which I've never done before. And while I'm magically fused to this sphinx, I'm sure you can both assist. You see, Timmy, we really must go to the library at once. It's very urgent and I'm confident that whatever you both need, we can take care of it there!" Annalee looks at Timothy knowingly, and he might remember the last time she got him "whatever he needed."

[Spending a string on Timothy to tempt him to go with her (and Elodie if he wants) to Samael's library room. He gets an experience if he does it.]

@Anarion

Timothy felt his natural jawline, totally free of lumps and asymmetry. He whipped off the face mask, and - yes, yes, everything was in order. For the first time in what felt like ages, the world finally saw the face of Timothy Oglevee Crompton.

“You cursed me.”

And he was scowling furiously.

“You. You cursed me. At Samael’s request.” He broke off from Elodie and stormed up to the Witch/Sphinx mash. “Why? Why would you even do such a thing?! What could have Samael possibly said to you to make that seem like a good idea? I’ve been walking around with my face wrapped up like a ninny for days. I haven’t been able to eat. I’ve barely managed to drink. And you just let me suffer?! I was your friend, Annie! Your friend!”

He grabbed her by the shoulders. Looked her square in the eyes. And for a moment, the fire flickered, and his voice cracked.

“I thought that meant something to you. I was relieved to find another human in this nightmare prison. I thought...” He took a stiff breath, his face hardening. “It doesn’t matter. You’re no different from the rest of them.”

Delinquents. Hooligans. Cruel, horrible monsters, all.

“Now. Elodie believes there’s some manner of dark hex that’s been placed on me. If you have any intention of making up for this, you can start by looking into that. I believe you mentioned the Library as a good place to start?”

[Timothy is rolling to Shut Annie Down: 5 + 1 + 1 = 7 Annie gets to put a Condition on Timmy, and loses a String on him.]

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

Hey Amish, this delay's getting pretty dramatic. What's up?

@Thanqol

Apologies, there must've been a communications mixup. >_> I'd been out of town for a convention from last Wednesday evening to late Sunday night, and only just now got out of work.

I'll have a post up in the next hour.

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

SECOND PLACE
WEREWOLF MAGNET

“I mean, if you think about it, we kiiiiiind of are?” Elodie is amazing under pressure. “You did ask me out on a tea date, after all.” Ignore the fact it was school mandated! “And there was the promise of K-I-S-S later, and besides, what else was I going to say? Oh, gosh, Dad, you’re right, I am dating this stinky, sweaty werewolf I’m currently pinned under, we absolutely were doing the badonkadonk, you can expect a fresh litter of puppies in June? You know how Dads are.”

She mimes shooting herself in the head. Don’t think about how often she’s seen the aftermath. Don’t think about that at all.

“I had to get him off the scent, and fast, and besides, we were on such a nice date already, and once we get that spell off you, we can keep going, maybe even make it official?”

She bats her eyes, trying very hard not to think about sweaty werewolves pinning her to a wall and making her sing like a dove.

“Because I’d be lots better for you than Annalee. She’s probably interested in having a hypnotized house husband to do her evil bidding, and that would be such a waste!”

Then she hops up and grabs his hands, pressing them up against her collarbone. “Come on, Timmy! Let’s stop wasting time!” It’s unclear whether she’s talking about wedding bells or having kids, with the manic gleam in her eye, and the thought of Lord Sleepshy or the Angel busting in on Unallowed Activities probably looms large in one’s imagination.

[That’s a 6 on Turning Timmy On.]

@Tatterdemalion

“No. No!” Timothy recoiled, hands and cheeks burning. “We can’t! I mean - absolutely not! Have you gone mad? Have you completely forgotten the position I’m in?!”

How. How did this go so wrong? How did she get so wrong? Why couldn’t she have told him she was so wrong sooner?!

“I don’t want to be anybody’s house husband!” He cried, backing away before those big, shining eyes could swallow him up. And she moved closer. “I don’t want to be anybody’s official, I don’t want anybody being good for me, and I certainly don’t want to spend one second more in this awful place than I have to. I’m not even supposed to be here!”

“I’m only here because of a huge, a terrible misunderstanding. And if I don’t keep out of trouble, they’re going to keep me here. If your Dad tattles on me to the administration, if anybody suspects that we’re, that we’re going steady, it’ll be...oh beans, oh biscuits, it’ll be a disaster! He can’t! I can’t! We can’t!” His poor, poor head swam terribly. His wobbly legs stumbled back. And still, she advanced. “I want out of this dreadful school, Elly! I want to go back home. I want to go back to my books and my tea and my stories. I want-”

His back met the wall.

And she closed in.

“I-I want to see my mother and father again…”

He swallowed hard.

“Don’t you care that I miss them...?”

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

Holding off on Timmy's reaction until we see how this expert act of charm shakes out. :P

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

I think I'd like this conversation to keep going a little bit longer, so the status quo between these two can get properly wrecked. Could I ask that their talk doesn't get exploded just yet?

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

SECOND PLACE
WEREWOLF MAGNET

There is sitting. Dria has a really comfy web-shaped chair, and that’s where Elodie has sat her hiney. She is sulking a little bit, mostly because every moment she isn’t dragging Timmy along to solve this problem is a moment where she has to sit and wait to fix things. Jeez!

Take DEFINITELY HEXED, Timmy, because everybody’s gonna hear about this.

She sits. But it is not a patient sits. It is a criss-cross finger-tapping foot-waggling can-we-go-now sits.

“Okay, so, the fact is that Annalee likes you, right? I mean, you already know that, duh, but I know, too. Which is why she put a spell on you. I can feel it! It’s so big and dark and spooky and you are very obviously under her spell, and when you say no, that’s also because of the spell. Think about it! What kind of evil spell would let you think you’re under an evil spell? You have to think about these things logically.”

Problem solved! Okay, now let’s goooooooooo

@Tatterdemalion

JEALOUS
DEFINITELY HEXED

“How did you even know about the closet?!” Timothy ran his hand through his increasingly-messy hair. Timothy did not sit. Timothy could not sit. Timothy was pacing back and forth like a sort of frazzled, bed-headed leopard. He needed to think. Thinking and looking at Elodie were entirely incompatible options. Out of the question. Timothy could not sit.

A curse, though? A spell on him? Something making him act not himself? That’s, yes, that did make a bit of sense when you thought about it, right? Except, wait, when would he have - focus, Crompton! Focus! Not the point!

“Okay, just-forget about Annie. We’re not talking about Annie. Annie will get her own talking-to, later. A different talk. Different from this one.” He clenched and unclenched his fists, sucking down deep, deep breaths. Calming breaths! Focusing breaths! Sort! This! Out! “What we are talking about, right now, is why, why did you tell your dad that we’re dating?”

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

SECOND PLACE
WEREWOLF MAGNET
INSENSITIVE

“You’re cursed! Bewitched, bespelled, enchanted, hexed, ensorcelled, beguiled, whatever you want to call it, it’s you! You’ve been put under a spell! So we are going to fix that.” She nods, primly, trying not to panic. “And then everything will go back to normal and we can give going out for tea a second try.”

She doesn’t know you’re possessed by a ghost, silly! That’s why she thinks it’s a spell. A spell that Annalee cooked up!

But she’s insistent. Either you can resign yourself to being dragged out the door to go find Annalee, or you can make her stop. It’s one or the other, Timmy.

And with that ghost inside you... I don’t think it’ll be content with just smacking her wrist, right? Elodie really should be punished for being so pushy and two-faced and overbearing, right?

She grabs your wrist again and starts dragging you off. What’s it going to be, young Master Crompton?

@Tatterdemalion

“We most certainly will not!” Timothy Oglevee Crompton dug in his heels, and refused to be budged. “I don’t want things to go back to ‘normal’, and you don’t want to go out for a ‘silly’ teatime!” How do your own words taste, Elodie? As bad as the Earl Grey you would’ve had to choke down? “Oh, it’s no use denying it, I heard the whole thing. You never even liked teatimes, did you? And somehow, that’s only the bottom of a long list of terrible truths I’ve learned today!”

He wriggled his arm and latched onto her wrist in turn, striving to pull her back into the Spider Princess’ chambers.

“I don’t care if I’m cursed, hexed, or coming down with appendicitis. I am not taking a single step out of this room until we straighten this all out, because this. Will. Not. Do. Understand?!”

[Timothy is spending a String on Elodie. Stay here and have A Talk with Timothy, and you get a sweet sweet XP]

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

For the record, I actually would really like to get ahold of Timmy and Elodie and bring the whole crew barging in on Samael as the last part of today's story. I think it would be hilarious when they bring Elodie as a BOGO and then there could be a confrontation between her and Samael.

@Anarion

I second the emotion. If Timmy's going to be shouting at PCs, he might as well go for the trifecta. :P

Monster Hearts: Sleepshy Rise

<Snipped quote by TheAmishPirate>

Based on our conversation just now, I’m going to hang my next action and let you tweak what you will here first, and (with your permission) I’ll wait a post or two to inflict that Condition properly?

@Tatterdemalion

That's fine by me. I've made a few edits to make the action a bit clearer, and I've also changed my mind on the Shut Someone Down roll; Elodie is no longer Insensitive, but she's bungled her entrance so badly that she's lost a String on Timmy.