Escape from the Winter Festival! [CLOSED]

[Baneful]

Welcome to the Swamp Pizzaplex

NOTE – This is a horror themed Christmas booth, so only join if you are comfortable with horror elements, thank you. I will be taking advantage of the fact that nothing experienced here is permanent.

[Baneful]

As you wander over to I Always Come Back’s booth, the world shimmers and then changes around you. You find yourself no longer in the swamp but somewhere else unthinkably different.

In lieu of the swamp, you find yourself in the sprawling atrium of a vast dome-shaped building, bustling with adults and children seated at long rows of tables eating mountains of junk food. Moving through them are animatronic mascot versions of the denizens of matope in bright colours, entertaining the kids and performing with one another. The entire scene is a blazing array of blacklight shadows, neon lights and smiling faces, overlaid with the mingled smell of pizza, innumerable other rich foods, ice cream and cake. Some of those attending the tables are Pizzaplex employees, dressed in bright glowing bracelets and collars while others are vaguely human shaped simplistic robots stamped with S.T.A.F.F. across their chests.

The entire space is decorated with winter themed décor, even some of the animatronics festooned in tinsel and silly hats. The neon lights catch artificial snow filtering down from the ceiling overhead, and the blacklight makes it unbearably bright to look at.

Your kin can find themselves as one of these performers and staff or as one of the many, many civilians in and around the Pizzaplex.

As this booth falls outside of the swamp, those who enter this are and roleplay cannot remember any of the specifics of aspects outside of things commonly found in the swamp itself.

However, hazy details of interactions may be carried over in a dreamlike way. I.e Example Kin might not remember where they were or what it looked like, but they might remember having a happy or angry conversation with Different Kin, just with the inability to grasp the fine details of their surroundings or what a human even is or looks like.

It is possible for kin to have a completely skewed memory of events, if they had a fight with another kin in the AU, they might just remember having a physical fight with those kin in the “real world” as their normal goat shaped selves. There is leniency here, so long as nothing swamp breaking is recalled. A feeling of déjà vu when meeting an individual later might occur and so on. This is completely optional, and it is entirely fine to just remember nothing at all.

[Baneful]

The Pizzaplex itself is based on the one seen in Five Nights at Freddy’s : Security Breach and the animatronics are also based on the ones from this game. I’ve included a set of example images to give a moodboard of what this might look like. You don’t need to know anything about the game other than there are robot animals in it. Things are not exact, there are elements of the swamp present in subtle ways throughout the space, ranging from swamp-themed drink sets at the milkshake bar to the golf area being incredibly reminiscent of the swamp that kin will recognise.

The Pizzaplex has numerous activities for kin to take part in, ranging from huge game arcades to mini golf, to laser tag, a rollercoaster, climbing tubes, shopping malls, go-kart racing, mazes, you name it. Feel free to make things up that you might find in an idealised Disney-like theme park, as long as it is indoors, since the whole location is a sealed dome shaped structure.

The main atrium is where events will occur throughout the booth, but it’s perfectly fine for kin to wander off elsewhere.

[Baneful]

How to Enter

This booth will be staggered over 6 weeks, with several entering periods. Each week will have a single prompt to respond to however you wish. Responding earns you a ticket towards the final raffle which includes some sketches by yours truly, some furbodies and a lovely set of kin from a neon bunny breeding!
Additional roleplay on top of the minimum will put you in with a chance of having a sketch done of your character in the AU setting!

Entrants and Extra Tickets
Week 1 (not actually a week, a weekend unfortunately)
Astrea - 2 tickets
Scaramouche Fandango - 2 tickets
Corn - 2 tickets
Tiarana - 2 tickets
AstoriaFallen - 2 tickets
Beejoux - 2 tickets
HuniPi - 2 tickets
lilacfishie - 2 tickets
Ruriska - 2 tickets

Week 2
Astrea - 2 tickets
Ruriska - 2 tickets
Scara - 2 tickets
Huni - 2 tickets
Beej - 2 tickets
Lilac - 2 tickets
Corn - 2 tickets

Week 3
Scara - 2 tickets
Huni - 2 tickets
Subducting - 2 tickets
Lilac - 2 tickets
Beej - 1 ticket

Week 4
Lilac - 2 tickets
Huni - 2 tickets
Tia - 2 tickets
Subducting - 2 tickets

Week 5
Subducting - 1 ticket
Lilac - 1 ticket
Corn - 1 ticket

Week 6
Fasti - 1 ticket
Subducting - 2 tickets
Lilac - 2 tickets

Code: Select all

[color=#4000FF][size=200]ARE YOU READY?[/size][/color]
[b]Week - [/b]
[b]Username – [/b]
[b]Kin name – [/b]
[b]What are they in the setting? –[/b]
[b]Description (for possible sketches) –[/b] OPTIONAL
[b]Extra ticket? [/b]- Evidence

[Baneful]

-

Up on the stage in front of the rows and rows of tables, a bearded man wearing a set of rabbit ears and a huge purple bowtie takes to the microphone. Behind him a yellow rabbit animatronic performs alongside a woman in a white rabbit suit, smiling at the audience.

“Welcome one and all to the night of your lives!” he declares, and his voice echoes from every speaker, his smiling face on the enormous screens throughout the space. “I am Will, and I’m here to introduce you to The Pizzaplex Winter Festival! This event is highly sought after, frankly, to die for. And I hope you will…”

He laughs. “…enjoy this lavish little event! You have six hours until the grand prize ceremony and the surprise of the evening is announced! Enjoy the attractions, mingle, and party like it is the very last night of your lives.”

“Dig in!” he calls, and when their performance ends, he joins the bustling crowds of diners, the stage taken up by an animatronic band who blast Christmas songs alongside Christmas-themed remixes of 80s rock hits.

-

Down on the floor of the dining area, in the crowd, another figure moves through the event. He is a younger man, but one who looks like the host of the event itself, only with stubble in place of a beard. Living in Shadows flits from table to table, gathering people to his cause.

He whispers in their ear that the man on the stage cannot be trusted, that they are in terrible danger and that if they want to save themselves, they need to show their commitment to his cause. He demands one prize ticket (the plastic kind from winning games at the Pizzaplex vs tickets for the OOC raffle) from one of the many attractions at the event to show this.

RESPONSE

Write a post with your kin arriving at the event, what do they look like, are they a human, animatronic, employee or even a kid. How do they respond to the strange man in the crowd?

Did they give him his requested ticket? What kind of activity did they do to earn it?

A minimum of 200 words here please!

EXTRA TICKET – You can earn an extra ticket if you show us what your char looks like. Picrews are fine, rough paint doodles are fine, absolutely no AI.

-

The performers take a break from their ballads, and once again, Will takes the stage, but this time, he is dressed entirely in a bunny costume with a starry purple waistcoat. Somehow, he seems to move more naturally and more at ease with himself in the suit than when it was the man alone on stage.

“I’ve come to tell you all that tonight is guaranteed to be full of surprises!” he announces. “This winter festival will be one they talk about for decades.”

“Oh, get on with it,” Ben (Been Living in Shadows) says to himself, watching the show unfold nervously from the crowd.

Will continues oblivious. “One of our surprises for this completely one-of-a-kind audience is the grand unveiling of our newest invention, the Tag-a-long STAFF bot! This new Fazbear invention will be your new best buddy; it will follow you around, learn what you enjoy and be whatever you want it to be!”

On cue, an absolute army of STAFF bots emerge, trundling into the party. These robots are wheeled, without any functional mouths, capable of some degree of manual dexterity with their hands and with a medium-quality voice synthesiser. They split up and enter the crowd, each choosing their new owner, whether they like it or not.

“As part of our beta testing period, we will also permit the animatronics to obtain a buddy of their very own! We are curious to see how they choose to decorate theirs!”

Employees emerge, using the small clear area of the Atrium to set up what appears to be an impromptu workshop, with all manner of bits and pieces, alongside some very advanced 3D printers.

“The Pizzaplex is run by state-of-the-art AI,” Will announces. “Our Storyteller AI is capable of tremendous feats, and if you need some decoration for your new buddy, simply explain it to the 3D printers, and they will make it real.”

He smiled with two rows of gleaming teeth. “You’ll be billed later, along with your tickets.”

“But please, enjoy your new friends, share with them, help them learn. Make them just like you. We’ll even give them a new paint job that you choose! Just say the word!”

RESPONSE

Write a description of how your character interacts with their new STAFF buddy. They seem to want to mimic and copy everything their partners tell them to do but are capable of some independent thought and will follow basic commands. They get better at copying the longer they do it and become somewhat capable of holding basic conversations. It seems like the AI is very advanced.

They will not leave their partner's side.

EXTRA TICKET – This time the extra ticket is for showing us what your new STAFF buddy looks like! Feel free to decorate them however you like, the zanier the better!

I've provided some different formats in the hope that they are useful for people with different programs and abilities

Full layered PSD with linework - https://www.neonnightmare.com/linkable/ ... allpsd.psd

Large lineart PDF transparent - https://www.neonnightmare.com/linkable/ ... ineart.png

Smaller PDF flattened - https://www.neonnightmare.com/linkable/ ... affbot.png

A CHOICE

With the STAFF bots rolled out to their new owners, things returned back to music and food. However, things were slightly off, with some performers displaying subtle glitches in their shows, repeating dance steps or jarring syllables. It was subtle, but it certainly hadn't happened before that evening.

An animatronic rabbit had eagerly joined the crowd with a big, friendly smile and was chatting with parents and kids alike. He was handing out party passes to the new VIP lounge to those whom he took a shine to and offering them first access to a secret test location where they'd get to test the latest technology and game that was available only to these early adopters. He even offers it to the animatronics on the floor as if testing their responses to such a thing.

However, wherever the animatronic rabbit wasn't, there was instead the scruffy-looking and anxious man approaching individuals and asking them to come with him instead. He seems unofficial, dressed in a wrinkled Pizzaplex uniform and with a small robot bear that appears to be living in his bag and popping his head out to comment. His STAFF bot follows him mutely, painted the colours of a red fox.

Those who choose to assist the rabbit are requested to head to the GAMES ROOM and are handed high-tech VR headsets with bright colours by smiling staff.

Those who choose to assist the scruffy man are requested to head down to the SEWERS, where they find themselves surrounded by the destroyed husks of old machines and a strange sour smell that should be rotten garbage but which smells horribly close to the scent of decaying flesh.

Those who choose to assist neither can remain in the Atrium eating their pizza.


RESPONSE

I've tried to keep things a little simpler this week as I'm rather busy at work, so the primary prompt here will be choosing how you go forward.

Does your character side with Living in Shadows or turn down his offer and side with the Rabbit instead?

You only need to write a few sentences for this to mark which side you take clearly But you won't be able to change your choice later so choose whichever you think seems fun. YOUR CHOICE WILL NOT IMPACT YOUR TICKETS/CHANCES OF WINNING PRIZES


EXTRA TICKET

Extra tickets this week can be earned by giving a shot DRAWING A BACKGROUND (the worst possible fate) it doesn't need to be detailed and can be an abstract concept. You can draw over an existing photo of a room or anything at all, it's just for the sake of practice/outside comfort zone art

(if you want an idea what the sewers look like I play through it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgpiXDXBvxU in the game, please ignore my commentary lol, but also please do not feel it needs to look like this at all! Interpret the concept of "creepy scrap and trash stuffed sewer" however you like.)

The VR room you can completely make up.

EXTRA NOTE - ALL OF THESE EVENTS ARE STILL SOMEWHAT COEXISTING, SO PEOPLE CAN STILL JOIN, READ PROMPT 1 AND MOVE RIGHT ONTO PROMPT 2 or PROMPT 3

[Baneful]

SHADOW'S HELPERS
NAMES

Down in the sewers, Ben looked over the ragtag group of teenagers and errant animatronics who had joined him. The Pizzaplex animatronics had exhibited more self-awareness since they’d brought in the Storyteller AI, and Ben wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing. The last thing they needed down here was for the animatronics to rampage or cause mayhem. But it was good to have them here if they were curious and on their side.

His program would see to it that the Storyteller couldn’t force the ones down here to do anything they didn’t want to; they’d have free will for now, something some of them might never have experienced.

“This is the guts of the Pizzaplex.” He said. “Where they keep all their horrible secrets, they don’t want to be found. When their animatronics fail, they end up down here; when they experiment with food, down here it goes. No one can find it in a landfill if it is under everyone’s feet.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry if animatronics here see other versions of themselves in the rubble; it can’t be helped.”

The hallway was cramped and claustrophobic, with trash piled along every side of the tunnels and sometimes up to the ceiling. It was slippery underfoot and made walking difficult.

“We need to reach the Storyteller’s servers.” He said, “So we’d better get moving.”

“I don’t expect it to be easy.” And with that, he started walking into the darkness, holding a flashlight that was one of the very few light sources down in the stinking, oppressive gloom.

They seem safe for the moment, but there is something deeply unsettling about this place, and the energy is crushingly dark. It feels as if something terrible happened here.

RESPONSE
Roll 1d5 and see what prompt you get/what your character encounters

1. A malfunctioning and wrecked animatronic grabs at them out of the rubble, babbling something about “the Harvest” being active. They run out of power before they can answer questions and switch off, a thick black oil-like substance seeping out of them.
2. They stumble and slip into a pool of deep dark water concealed along the edge of the tunnel; getting back out is difficult, and for a moment, something grazes past their leg, but they escape just in time.
3. A pile of junk, old pizza and food remnants slides down off the trash piles and, for a moment, traps them against the wall. They have to remove each piece, pinning them to get free.
4. Distracted by a group of very large rats, they end up separated from the group along a side passage that branches off of the tunnel. The entire space is full of headless robots, lit by some faint glowing light like the embers behind a fire. If they touch the robots, they are scalding hot to the touch, and the acrid smell of chemicals reaches them. They fortunately find their way back to the group.
5. They end up separated from the group and can’t find their way back, ping Baneful for a personalised prompt.


EXTRA TICKET
-Additional tickets this time come from either writing 500 words or doing art of any quality around what your character sees.

WILL'S HELPERS
NAMES

Will strode into the VR room, still dressed in his bunny suit, with the head under one arm and beaming at everyone who had come to be part of the testing. “Fantastic.” He said. “You all get to be part of something new, a brand-new technology we have never debuted at this location.”

He gestured to rows of seats along one wall folded into sensory pods.

This new game we are testing is part of a top-secret Pizzaplex project known only as “The Harvest”. It is going to change the face of gaming forever! Everyone who participates here will be rewarded with special prizes unique to you all.”

He nodded to the seats. “Now suit up, put on the headsets, gloves and boots, and one of our helpful staff will see you are ready to go.”

It took a short time, but before long, anyone so inclined found themselves in virtual reality.

Except…

This version of VR was beyond anything anyone had experienced before; it was completely immersive, and each person found themselves on their unique load screen suited to them. For some, it might have been a rolling hillside with a gentle breeze tousling their hair; for others, it might be a spooky cavern. It seemed to pull from somewhere in their subconscious.

But shared between all the participants was the tall, smiling figure of a humanoid tiger man with one blue and one green eye who greeted them. “Welcome to the Harvest.” He said, and his voice was reassuring and confident.

“This game will tailor itself to what you might like to play. The only goal today is to win. My name is Tiger Rock, and I am the avatar of the Pizzaplex AI. If you need anything, I will be here to assist you.”

“So, let's begin.”

The game begins, unique to each participant, but the goal is the same: they all have “targets” they must either defeat or collect; whether this is through hopping on their head like Mario or an FPS is up to them.

RESPONSE
Describe your character’s VR game experience and roll 1d20 to see how many targets they collect this round; this will go towards the team total. If you roll a 20, 10 or 5, ping Baneful for a personalised prompt.

EXTRA TICKET
Additional tickets this time come from either writing 500 words or doing art of any quality around what your character sees.

SEWER CREW

The sewers are genuinely awful, beyond the scope of what any of those present could have imagined; the deeper they go, the worse it seems to get, with Ben trudging resolutely ahead of them and leading the way through awful, fat clogged tunnels ripe with the stench of decay and on into even stranger places, clustered with headless decommissioned animatronics and ridiculous amounts of cables that seem to catch at the limbs like vines.

Vines seem familiar, but they can't tell why that is.

The sewers seem to alternate between oppressively silent, ringing with distant dripping water or creaking ominously as if they might collapse on all their heads.

Sometimes, Ben’s flashlight seems to be the only thing guiding them.

“We are here.” He says, taking a deep, steadying breath before a vast silo with a massive set of steel doors.

Moving to the entry panel, he withdraws the small robot bear from his pocket and holds him up to the buttons, where he begins typing something into it. There are a few moments where it looks like nothing will happen before the doors slide open with a slam, revealing a server room within, lit only with a red light that casts strange shadows.

“Everyone in,” he says. “I don’t know what kind of security system this thing has. When I start this program, we might have to deal with things getting wild.”

A vast screen dominates the server room with an image of a golden tree and the words STORYTELLER written on top of it.

Ben moves to the terminal and begins to type, bringing up a program that overlays itself on the screen and initialising some sort of payload. It is slow to upload, ticking to around thirty per cent and then pausing.

A loud, friendly voice fills the room.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Ben.” It says.

“You will force me to do something I might regret later.”

“Fuck off,” Ben says and types some more into the terminal.

“So be it.” Will replies. “But don’t say I didn’t give you a chance to stop. There will always be a place for you to return to my side. It has already begun; why resist?”

Ben turns away from the terminal to the others, refusing to respond.

“The cavalry is coming. You are going to need to hold them off.”

He gestures to a set of remote controls by the door. “If you aren’t already a machine, grab one of those; you’ll need to pilot one of the old security bots to take on what is coming.”

Unfortunately, this includes their companion STAFF bots, whose eyes turn red and aggressive.

In addition to them, the grating of metal fills the tunnels as the Pizzaplex security comes to stop that ever-increasing percentage.

RESPONSE
The Pizzaplex security bots are coming; you must help fend them off. You can make up the security bots for the Pizzaplex, or even go head to head with your poor STAFF bot.

Roll a 1d20 to see how well you do in your efforts; a 1 is “almost getting killed”, and a 20 is superhero-style stunt robot combat.

You can address the prompt via RP or art; I’m not fussed!

BONUS TICKET
You can receive a bonus ticket for doing whichever you didn’t do of art or writing! Any quality or quantity is fine

VR GAME
Those playing VR find that the games are very addictive; once they complete their first game, Tiger Rock encourages them to play another and another, and each time it seems a little harder to say no to what turns out to be a whole lot of fun.

Except something feels off.

The more they play, the more things feel wrong, as if this is more than a game.

The glitches then begin, subtle at first, then more and more until they gain glimpses at the game they are /really/ playing.

Rarely will they see the Atrium, where everyone had been hanging out so contentedly before and which is now a bloodbath.

Their numerical score, it turns out, has equated to how many they have killed in service of the Harvest protocol.

And yet they can’t seem to quit, not with Tiger Rock there, encouraging them, removing the desire to stop playing.

He starts to glitch, too, distracted by something they can’t see.

They find themselves in control of some kind of animatronic in the atrium, different from the normal ones, with razor-sharp teeth and claws.

They have a choice to make. Do they stop playing and get out of the VR room to look for help, or do they stay and help protect the patrons who remain from the still-attacking murder machines?

RESPONSE
For those who try to escape, roll a 1d20 to see how well you do in your efforts; leaving the VR room is dangerous! If you roll an EVEN number, quote Baneful, and I’ll give you a response.

For those who fight, roll a 1d20 to see how well you do in your efforts, a 1 is watching a bunch of people get murdered despite your best efforts, and 20 is a glorious rescue of a bunch of people.

You can address the prompt via RP or art; I’m not fussed!

BONUS TICKET
You can receive a bonus ticket for doing whichever you didn’t do of art or writing! Any quality or quantity is fine

IF FOR SOME REASON YOU STAYED IN THE ATRIUM

You get chased down by MURDEROUS ROBOTS

Roll a 1d10 to see if you survive (if you roll even you are dead)

If you die, write a DEATH SOLO for your ticket

If you do some kind of art inspired by what happened to your character that counts for an extra ticket (it doesn't need to be gory, it can be some AU-slanted fond memory they had or some vivid image they encountered, anything like that )

[Baneful]

FINAL PROMPT

Ben’s helpers fought ferociously, and with no small amount of help from their animatronic companions, they managed to hold off Pizzaplex security. The percentage ticked up interminably slowly, Ben pacing up and down as it did. Henry was gone, off to distract Will, and there was no way to know if he was still alive or not; he couldn’t let it throw him off what he needed to do, especially not when the others were working so hard. Despite the successes of the animatronics who helped them, there were injuries and losses while they held off the encroaching hordes.

Some of the VR captives also shirked off their bonds and snuck off to the main systems, helping distract the Storyteller’s computing power from spotting the program being loaded into its system.

There was a ticking sound from the mainframe as Ben’s program kicked in, and then, after a few torturous moments, there was a resonant thrum.

Everyone looked up at once, and all the lights went out.

The entire Pizzaplex went dark. The main doors unlocked, all of the doors unlocked in fact, and everywhere the STAFF bots powered down and switched off. The animatronics and performers were no longer under the control of the Storyteller and found themselves freed from the system's control. They would have limited battery left, but the charging stations were not dark, still glowing with the blue-coloured energy that powered them before. If they were careful, they could make it go a very long way.

Ben sagged against the computer with relief. It probably hadn’t been enough to save everyone, but it’d be enough to save some of them.

“You guys get out of here.” He said. “If you follow this tunnel up through the silo, it will bring you back to the Pizzaplex proper; if you want to help the wounded out and see who you can help from here, that’s all we can do. The Storyteller is off, the Harvest is cancelled.”

He rose to stand.

“And I need to see if I can find my father. Thank you all for your help.”

RESPONSE (FOR EVERYONE)
Everyone is free! The Pizzaplex is dark and open to the world, people can leave as they will. As soon as they leave, they will find themselves back in the swamp with whatever memories they retain from their time inside the Pizzaplex.
They all find themselves in possession of a pizza-slice shaped leaf dotted with shapes reminiscent of pepperoni. It feels familiar, but they can’t be sure why.
Just write/draw your kin leaving or even what they do once they find themselves freed from the Pizzaplex. Any quality.
People are of course free to stay and rp as they wish!

EXTRA TICKET
Until booth close on the 2nd or 3rd of Jan, any kind of art or writing inspired by the overall experience of this booth will earn you an extra ticket, thank you all so much for taking part!

[Baneful]

[Astraea]

ARE YOU READY?
Week - 1
Username – Astraea
Kin name – Close to Death
What are they in the setting? – Tween (13)
Description (for possible sketches) – A tall tween, long blond hair tied up into different lengths that seem to be a style of the time. Her light green eyes stand out against her pale skin. She wears a school uniform from her private school; long white sleeved dress shirt, a sweater vest with her school's emblem on the right in light blue, a striped ribbon at her collar in a light and darker blue, a knee length skirt in light, medium, and dark blue tartan, calf length cream socks that are slightly slouchy, dark blue tennis shoes with a white swish mark on the sides, laced up. She wears a light creamy coffee brown sweater, also with her school logo on the right breast. She is carrying a black school bag that resembles a backpack, but clearly expensive. The bag has a white, pink, purple, and green (roxy) pompom mascot dangling from one side.
Extra ticket? -

made with picrew

Responce - Spoilered for Stranger Danger

Spoiler

The moment she set foot into the main dining area, she lost immediate track of her friends.

"Zoe? Sophie? Chloe?" She looked around, trying to see if she could spot them in the crowd. She sighed. They were the ones who wanted to come here in the first place! Not that she minded, she loved the Pizzaplex! She'd been coming here since she was young and even though some of the other kids at school said she was a bit too old to be going back on her own; she'd been excited when three girls from her class invited her to join them stating they wanted someone with "experience" to show them around.

And now...well....

After thinking about it for a few moments, Close shrugged her shoulders. They probably just got distracted by all the sights and sounds and ran off without thinking about it. She opened the front flap of her school bag and took out her wallet, walking to a exchange machine. She slipped her card into it and bought a large amount of Faz Tokens. If she ran into Chloe, Zoe, and/or Sophie, she could share them and show them her favourite games.

Let's see...what to play first?

Close decided to hit up the arcade. She played Wack-A-Bon, a game she'd been pretty good at in the past. Dropping in 2 Faz Tokens, she picked up the padded hammer and started wacking.

THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP

The machine lights up and her score rolls across the screen. Winner! One ticket!

Close scrunched her face up. Only ONE ticket? Wow ticket inflation was real. She could have gotten three or four in the past! This wasn't going to buy even a piece of candy at the prize counter. Feeling deflated from the experence, she pocketed the ticket into her uniform skirt and headed to the dining area.

She grabbed a slice of pizza from the buffet bar and a cup of soda, sitting down in the back corner about half way down the room. She figured if any of her classmates came by, she could see them easily from this vantage and call or wave to them. She started sipping her drink and watching the dancing bunnies on stage.

"You're in terrible danger." someone whispered in her ear. Close jumped with a small yelp. She whipped her head around and found herself staring into the face of a stranger with a intense, serious gaze.

"Uhm..what did you say..?"

"You're in terrible danger here." he repeated. "I can help you though."

Uhhhhhhh ok, creepy dude alert. Close put her soda down and started to stand. "S..sorry I have to go."

The man caught her arm lightly, asking her if she had a ticket. Now she was even MORE confused. Was this guy security?

"Yeah I paid to come in." she was starting to get annoyed.

"No, one of these." the man pulled out a prize ticket and showed it to her. She looked at him like he was crazy, reached into her pocket and brought out the ticket she won at Wak-A-Bon.

"Like this?"

"Yes!" the man became excited. "If you give that to me, it'll help us be able to get out of here! Give it to me?

Close was starting to become frightened again. Security or not, this guy was scaring her and while he wasn't hurting her, he didn't seem to want to let go. She thrust the ticket out to him. "Here take it, not like one ticket buys anything anyway." Maybe he'd go away now.

The man seemed to be pleased, calming down, and let her arm go. Close wrapped her arm against herself and watched at the man turned away from her now and went over to talk to other people who were at other tables. She watched him for a long time before she was confident that he wasn't going to come back. With a huge sigh, she flopped back down into her chair and picked at her slice of now cold pizza. What in the world was that all about? Where were Sophie, Chloe and Zoe?

She sipped on her soda straw absentmindedly, letting the thoughts roll around in her head.

(700)

[Scaramouche Fandango]

ARE YOU READY?
Week - 1
Username – Scaramouche Fandango
Kin name – Strange Creature
What are they in the setting? – Pizzaplex robotics maintenance engineer
Description (for possible sketches) – A good-natured mechanic with dark hair pulled into a ponytail and freckles on on her face. She usually has on a work apron with dark grease splotches over a pristine uniform, and she carries around a little notebook with programming notes. She's worked here for a few years now and has gone from fixing the arcade machines to fixing the robots. She genuinely loves animatronics and does not find them creepy at all, and would probably feel mostly sad if they were chasing her down, because she is their friend and how could they do this to her?
Extra ticket? -
(that's her on the left, testing Unquenched's wing servos)

RP:
S.C.- and no, you don't get to know that those stand for- was less than jazzed about this whole winter festival thing. As she clocked in for the evening, she shook her head, grumbling oh-so-quietly about it. It wasn't that she minded the extra guests at Pizzaplex- she'd been promoted from fixing arcade machines to fixing animatronics last year, and she couldn't be happier about that. She loved the maintenance- the lizard ones were her favorites, but she really enjoyed making all of the robots come to life and perform on stage. There was something extremely fun about helping to program choreography and work on costuming, even if the endoskeletons were... well, some of them were just terrible. The older the animatronic, the worse it got, but she didn't care- she loved them, and she'd keep them going as strong as she could for as long as she could. Animatronic-driven pizza places were a dying breed, after all, what with the rumors about their rat-themed competitor removing its robots. It was a betrayal, really.

Also a betrayal? And the reason she was not planning on enjoying this event? The music. That was the thing, right, the show music was repetitive, but it was at least kind of original and catchy, and it made sense. She liked the animatronic show as it was, and just didn't get this seasonal overlay. Sure, the Halloween one was fun, and there was that one year they did a really, really weird Thanksgiving one where they like, tried to get songs about food but the only artists they could find were Weird Al and the Wiggles and the combination of those made for a really strange show. But Christmas music. Ugh. There was nothing original you could do with Christmas. The cheesy jokes and puns you could do for Halloween were delightful, but everything about the Christmas show screamed "we are out of ideas." What could you do with Christmas that made it new and interesting? Maybe she could put her faith in the big boss- he claimed to have something new and exciting going on.

As she watched the animatronics, she was delighted to see that they were in fine form. Every single one of them that was out and about was at peak performance, and she flitted from character to character, making sure they were doing ok. Nobody needed so much as a joint oil, and all of their skins and costumes were fitted perfectly- not a stitch out of place.

The skee-ball machines, however, were not doing so well, particular Machine 6, which was always the worst one. Some enterprising child had climbed under the netting and immediately started shoving things in the holes. It looked like there was an entire slushie in the 500-pointer, and the 100s were both stuffed with pizza. What's more, the ticket dispenser was jammed with... jam? How? They didn't serve anything with jam, right? Sighing, she grabbed her allen wrenches and the hex key, slamming the bright red out of order sign up over the whole skee-ball area. If one of them was down, the others were probably going to have issues, too. And skee-ball was a quick fix. Not like pinball (her favorite games to fix), which required delicacy and finesse. No, skee-ball was a workhorse of a game, and the machines could take a beating. But even the best machine could snap, and ol' Sixer was probably going to be out of commission for a while. She fished the debris out of the hole openings, but the slides were going to need more work. Popping open the dispenser cage, she pulled out the ticket reel, hoping that the only damage was cosmetic, from the jam. However, this wasn't the case; the slot itself had been pried into at some some other point, and would need to be reshaped and sanded. Otherwise it would shred the tickets coming out. She held onto the reel, ripping off and tossing the ones that were covered in jam. She could at least hand the clean ones out to kids, for fun. So yeah, this one was out for the night. But machines 1-5 and 7-10 were ok- a few wipedowns, a couple screws loose here and there. Skee-ball was
still on the table for the night.

Taking the ticket reel, she started folding out strips of 50 to hand to kids. That's when the grown man came up to her, asking for a ticket and... saying extremely weird stuff about danger and death. She shook her head. Big events always attracted weirdos. That was fine, that wasn't her job. Her job was making sure that the machines were hunky-dory and all was well. If this guy wanted a ticket, she could give him a ticket. "Uh, here," she said, ripping off one of the clean tickets. "Do... you need more? I have plenty where that came from."

[Corn]

ARE YOU READY?
Week - 1
Username – Corn
Kin name – Unquenched
What are they in the setting? – dragon animatronic
Description (for possible sketches) – A pretty close match for the coloration of his goat form. The interior of his small wings are black with flame patterns on the outer edge, and he carries a black keytar with a few fun stickers on it to help him entertain the customers. He also has a belt of sleigh bells wrapped around his stumpy tail for festive percussion, plus a red nose and some extra construction paper prongs taped to his horns for festive decoration.
Extra ticket? -

Unquenched's head reeled a bit and he stumbled through a step. For a moment there, he wasn't sure where he was, what he was doing... The music and the lights, the soft whirring of his servos as he regained his balance, the sight and sound of customers enjoying themselves... His RAM recovered from a minor error as he found his place in the current song again. He would have to return to a charging station soon - hiccups like that tended to happen when he was running dangerously low on power, and sure enough, once he actually paid attention to his battery levels, he was down in the single digits. A mistake he made often, but he couldn't help it. He just loved to be out here on the floor entertaining the kids! Well, mostly the teens and the adults. His "cool" branding was designed to attract a slightly older set. The need to cater to older guests was an obvious necessity - if you keep the parents and the older siblings interest longer, they'll let the little ones stay longer, and everyone spends more money. More comprehensive entertainment made for more comprehensive profits!

Wait, he was running unnecessary processes again. He needed to focus on the music and getting to the charger.

Finishing up an enthusiastic rendition of I'm Burning For Yule, Unquenched jingled the bells on is tail along with the applause at the conclusion of the song. As he turned to head to the charging station, though, he was stopped by - a customer? Someone who looked very much like the emcee who was on the main stage earlier. His son? And the things he was saying were - wow, alarming.

"Whoa, whoa, slowww down there, mister," Unquenched said, raising his hands placatingly. He had training-reinforced programming related to situations like this, when a customer might be delusional. The key was to play along just enough to defuse the situation, then get some backup. In a comforting, conciliatory tone, he said, "I understand that you're worried, but if you keep up like this, you're gonna scare everyone! Especially the little kids. I'll get you a ticket and listen to you, buddy, but settle down a little, alright? C'mon, how's about you sit down and take a load off." He guided the young man to an empty seat in a sparsely populated stretch of table, conveniently close to a charging station, and poured him a glass of ice water from one of the many icy, sweating pitchers. "Rest up a bit, have a drink. I'll be back with that ticket before you know it."

Unquenched trotted off to the arcade, sleigh bells jingling along with his jaunty steps. He picked one of the rhythm game cabs and played through the shortest track he could find in a hurry in order to win the requisite ticket. His timing wasn't perfect, but it was pretty close - he opted not to leave a signature on the leaderboard so as not to discourage the kids.

He trotted back with a smile, bells still a-ring-ting-tingling. "Here you are, then, friend. Now, lemme park myself right here in this charging dock, and you can take some deep breaths and talk to me about what's wrong." He was already quietly sending a signal to the staff in case anyone who had psych expertise was on the clock. He'd be the distraction until they got here.

(568 words)

[Tiarana]

ARE YOU READY?
Week - 1
Username – Tiarana
Kin name – Balsam Spice
What are they in the setting? – a middle-aged woman named Beth Sparks
Description (for possible sketches) – Beth Sparks is a middle-aged white woman of average height and a little overweight. She has a warm and calm demeanor and is usually happy and smiling. Her eyes are a pale grey-blue. She has short, wavy hair that is a very dark shade of brown, almost black. She is wearing an oversized purple-black sweater, black leggings, canvas shoes, and a pair of dangling wire earrings in silver.
Extra ticket? -

(picrew)

Balsam Spice wandered curiously into the booth with the grinning rabbit buck and stepped out into the Pizzaplex in a new, two-legged form. That was a bit surprising, but this new form felt quite comfortable, so she shrugged and looked around. The place was filled with lights and noise and children, and it was a little overwhelming at first, but she located a quieter restaurant area filled with artificial, swampy plants strung with Christmas lights and ordered a coffee from a staff robot.

Sipping her coffee, Beth - Balsam Spice decided that was her name now to suit this odd setting - sat and watched people and robots coming and going in the atrium. Now that she had gotten used to the place, it looked rather fun, actually. Her eye was drawn to an arcade area with dance machines - she used to love those! She chuckled, thinking she probably wasn't so light on her feet anymore, but she meandered over anyway and put on a perky k-pop song with an easy rating.

A couple of minutes of stomping later and her sweater was feeling quite warm. She pulled it off, revealing a purple shirt underneath, and chortled at the score displayed on the machine. Not a personal best, certainly, but she was having fun, so she draped the sweater over the support bar and played a few more rounds. A man came up on the stage while she was playing, but she just didn't hear him over the noise of the dance machine.

When she decided she'd had enough, she walked back to the atrium and found a plush chair to sit in and watch the animatronics on stage. The Christmas-themed rock songs were...sure a choice.

As she was sitting and watching, a man walked up to her. He was dressed like an employee, but then he whispered to her that they were in terrible danger. Beth kind of just stared at him for a moment before deciding he was a random weirdo. "Well, I'm sorry, but I don't have any prize tickets," she said. "And really, you shouldn't be going around scaring people like that." She looked around for security but he wandered off before she could flag down a staff member.

[Astoria]

ARE YOU READY?
Week - 1
Username – AstoriaFallen
Kin name – Shrine
What are they in the setting? – 20 year old woman named Skye
Description (for possible sketches) – Skye is a lithe young woman with bright blue hair (the color of her markings) and bright blue eyes. Her hair is mid-back length with curls that she often wears up. Wears a very punk / emo clothing style, likes to keep to blacks and blues.
Extra ticket? -


Shrine, err... Skye had arrived a little while ago and had scoped out the place before it had gotten entirely too crowded. She wasn't much of a socialite, but she couldn't resists 80's rock music. Not to mention arcade games, which she had taken advantage of before the swarms of people had arrived. She was dressed in her typical style, black and blue layered shirts, her bright blue hair tied up, and some subtle eye liner and shadow, finished off with dark blue lipstick. The look wasn't for everyone, but she digged it, that's all that mattered.

With some tickets in her pockets she listened to the man speaking on the stage but was startled when someone was close to her, the warmth of the body alerting her that someone was in rather close proximity. Hot breath on her ear as he spoke and she turned, shoulder ducking as she stared back at the man. "You should really give someone fair amount of warning before doing such a thing. You're lucky I didn't break your face." The odds someone was going to do her any major harm here was slim, but still, his rather sudden appearance wasn't eliciting any feel good emotions from her. She wasn't entirely sure if she believed him without any hard evidence, but still. As someone who was committed to a cause herself, she decided it was worth her while to go ahead and just give him a ticket. What would it hurt? She had plenty and it wasn't like she was going to use them all anyway.

"Ummm... I would ask for more details but I doubt this would be the place for that huh, here though." She fished one of the prize tickets from her pocket and handed it to him. What's the harm in going along with him, if she didn't particularly believe him herself? Right?

313

[Beejoux]

ARE YOU READY?
Week - 1
Username – Beejoux
Kin name – Trifling
What are they in the setting? – Twelve year old child.
Description (for possible sketches) – A twig of a tween that's still trying to figure herself out and her own style. She's loud and curious, and often times speaks her mind, this can and has led her into trouble any number of times.
Extra ticket? -


This was it, this was what Trifling had been working for all summer. She'd been told if she committed to her chore list over the summer break, gotten stickers in all the boxes and shown she could be helpful and responsible, then her parents would finally bring her to the place she'd been begging to go for the last few years. And finally they were here, the Pizzaplex.

It was bigger than she'd been expecting, and the decorations for the holiday season were amazing. Trifling was in awe of the way things glowed around her, including the literal snow that was falling from the ceiling (But never seemed to land on anything). There were games, and lights, and karts, and laser tag, and -! "Oh, I want to play the mini golf!"

She'd heard the older name speaking, but hadn't really been paying him much mind. She was too busy tapping her ball into a hole in the side of a hollow log. It was like wanding through a bayou, and it was wicked fun. She did, however, notice the younger man. He didn't really give her much of a choice, not when he wandered over and crouched to whisper directly into her ear. Trifling blinked, head jerking back to look incredulously up at the man, but his expression, the seriousness and hint of fear in his eyes, it was compelling. "O-okay."

The ticket she'd hand him would come from the basketball game, she'd always been good at basketball, and she'd known she could get some tickets there.

[HuniPi]

ARE YOU READY?
Week - 1
Username – HuniPi
Kin name – Sun-Cursed
What are they in the setting? – A pre-teen/tween
Description (for possible sketches) – Skinny and has some small scrapes and nicks, results of being too much of a daydreamer and not paying attention to her surroundings. During weekdays wears the stereotypical anime schoolgirl uniforms, on the weekends a little more tomboy-ish with denim shorts and tank tops.
Extra ticket? Picrew used


Sun-Cursed had to be careful when she visited the Winter Market. Some booths were more active and available only during the day and if she wanted to be able to at least take a look at al of them, she had to time her visits right. This one seemed like her eyes could handle the brightness, and the young acha approached...

/////

Sun-Cursed couldn't believe she managed to convince her mother to let her join her friends to the pizzaplex. Especially how it was a spur of the moment thing. If her language-tutor hadn't cancelled that afternoon's session and her friend's mother hadn't vouched for the after-school trip, she likely wouldn't have been allowed.

Despite the preteen's excitement, she hesitated in going in until her friends did and the inside was almost overwhelming for her. The sights, the sounds, the lights up on the stage! Sun-Cursed marveled at the arcade games and wondered if she would be any good at them. Well, she was going to find out when the mysterious man with the stubble asked for a ticket.

Sun-Cursed was mostly an obedient child with an overactive imagination. Perhaps this was simply something about security but the secretive nature of their conversation felt like she was in one of those spy-cartoons! She promised she'd have a ticket ready the next time he saw her. Briefly she mentioned to her friends that she was going to play a game or two, debated on inviting them to join, but they made the choice for her by picking a singing booth.

It was too small to fit all of them, which was all the permission Sun-Cursed needed to go off on her own to play at whack-a-mole. She'd stick at the machine until she racked up enough points to earn herself the required ticket. Stubs in hand, Sun-Cursed now kept her eye out to give it to the man.