The Witching Hour

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Amanda turned just in time to see a silhouette of a boy clutching his head in pain and stumbling. What was wrong with him? With everything going on she wouldn't be surprised if he was turning into a werewolf or something. She turned to the people she was currently conversing with. "Excuse me." She walked over to the boy in obvious pain. "Hello. I noticed you were in pain."
 
Gerald got out his phone when the other girl he hadn't met before, named Viorica (which he couldn't help but think of as an odd name), mentioned it. "Hm..nope. And the time doesn't..?" He trailed off at an unfamiliar little sound, a kind of tearing, ripping sound, coming from nearby, and his eyes were immediately drawn to the source. It wouldn't be so noticeable if the environment hadn't been so quiet before.

It didn't look like much at first, just a thin line of color seemingly superimposed on a single spot of the world. But the noise got louder, and the line grew thicker, especially at the middle. It looked jagged and rough, like some kind of tear in a fabric, but what was behind the hole was not the other side of the street. It was some incomprehensible bright, colorful light. He could swear it was making his headache worse looking at it, and he sincerely hoped nobody watching it was predisposed to seizures. A stream of the stuff seemed to get pulled through the tear, like so much dust, and pulled together in front of him to the shape of a wolf.

"Whoa s---..." Gerald backed away from the creature as it growled. It didn't look right. He'd seen wolves on TV before, they didn't have glowing red eyes and they weren't this big or this..mangy looking. It was like some kind of horrifying super-wolf, and unlike the normal variety, which would probably stay away from this many humans while alone, it clearly wanted to eat him. More of the multicolored dust was coming out of the rip, and making other animals, all of them just as terrifying-looking as this one. They weren't moving forward just yet, glaring at the bunch of humans instead.

He looked back down at his phone for a second. "Well."

"...Can't call animal control." He closed the little flip-phone and stuck it in his pocket.

"I think we should run," he whispered, still looking at the wolf. After a couple of seconds, Gerald turned around as fast as he could and started running, screaming the whole time.


((As Wheatley might say, "Surprise! We're doing it now." I get the impression (though it might have just been me) that things were stagnating a bit as we all waited for the action to begin.

A similar tear-like event should be happening near the other group; I leave it to the controllers of those characters to describe it. As for the animals, imagine any mammal or reptile you consider unpleasant or scary, and think of a slightly more terrifying version. They can not be calmed, even by someone who's dealt with animals before, but they can be fought and if you hit one enough that it should die, it will crumble into dust and disappear forever. That doesn't mean it's easy to get rid of them, so play any fighting your character chooses to do realistically. You have control of any of these creatures your character is currently interacting with, by the way, as long as it doesn't contradict someone else's use of the same one, so feel free to take advantage of that.

Also, I should probably note that Gerald's headache has to do with what magic he will have eventually, and is therefore unique to him, rather than something that happens to people in general while in the WH. At the moment the plan is that everyone else will get magic slightly after he does so that I can explain how it works here. If you're super eager to have your character do it first, please PM me so I can explain it for you, and you can be the one to do it first, after which I'll explain it to everyone else.))
 
Luke felt slightly bothered that the hooded person didn't bother to reply or anything, but he shrugged it off. He looked at the little girl with a very small frown. She was spouting things about some Witching Hour and that sounded like a load of hooey to him.

"Alright, well, I think it's about time you ran along home, little girl," he said awkwardly. He glanced at the hooded person carefully, then started walking. "It's terribly late anyway, I'm sure we all just need to to home and sleep! That would certainly make this strange feeling go away."

As he was about to start walking down the sidewalk again, determined to just put this whole evening behind him, a noise caused him to pause. Luke looked over his shoulder to find a strange distortion hovering in the air, as though the very fabric of reality were being pinched. His eyes widened when he realised the noise he heard was like someone tearing a shirt in half, ripping it down the middle. The pinch began stretching and tearing a thin line through the air.

The tear was soon a gash, and beyond the gash was insanely bright, multicolored light. Not something the brown-haired boy was expecting. He had to shield his eyes with his hand to keep himself from damaging his eyesight. He squinted as something began changing. The light was pouring from the tear, gathering in a heap on the blacktop of the road. Slowly it meshes up, forming an inexplicably large, reptilian form. It resembled a crocodile, but with too many sharp spines on its back, and it was huge!

"Eh, please tell me I'm not the only one seeing this..." His eyes widened even more, if it were possible, as more tears began opening nearby.

"Serpentine!" he shouted as he grabbed the little girl's hand and the sleeve of the hooded person. He didn't want to be responsible for anyone being eaten by a giant, mutated crocodile. That would have weighed on his consciousness forever.

(( Sorry! I'm here! Posting's a bit hard-- I'm in the process of moving right now. Eh heh. ))
 
((I was waiting for Ashalia to respond. Guess that's not gonna happen, so, here we go.))

Rrrrrrrip!!! Amanda looked up and saw a patch of multi-colored light pouring from a hole in the air. It began to take shape, and as she watched, blinded, she could see the form of what appeared to be a tiger. As it moved further toward her, it began to get properly colorized, white fur with long, black, tear-like stripes. The beast opened it's maw roared revealing terrifyingly large fangs. The creature was tall enough that it's shoulder reached the top of her head. It's eyes were still a shifting, sparkling, myriad of various colors, staring right at her, into her, and through her. Amanda was frozen in fear. How the hell was she supposed to fight this demon-cat from a rainbow colored hell? she turned and ran, the beast chased her, and more dust snaked from the tear.
 
((Everyone, please ignore the above post for now. It's not the time for magic yet; I am addressing this issue with the writer. IC below.))

Running headlong for what felt like an hour but must not have been a minute, it took Gerald a bit to realize he had someone running next to him--Amanda, who he'd just met. But they were just running away from the animals, not intentionally next to each other.

He didn't know this town--he should let her take the lead to keep them out of a dead end. But his legs wouldn't stop running, and it was getting harder to act rationally. His headache was getting worse, and he felt disoriented, like the world was bending around him.

He stopped at a sharp pain, like a spike being driven through his skull, holding his head, trying to scream but too out of breath. He didn't even know if they were still chasing him, trying to fight the urge to just collapse, he needed to move!
 
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Amanda looked next to her and saw Gerald running as well. She skidded to a halt as he stopped, clutching his head. "Hey, C'mon! We have to keep moving!" she yelled as she clasped his wrist in her hand, and began to drag him with her. She knew the tow's alley system like the back of her hand, and darted through the narrow passageways, dragging the boy along with her. She was running out of breaths, what she could gather was quick and shallow. The combination of morbid terror and rigorous exercise was causing her to hyperventilate. But she couldn't stop. Not here. Not now.
 
When the tears gashed open, Viorica snapped around to see them. Her eyes widened. A bear sable in even the technicolor dust gave Viorica chase. In the panic she fled with Gerald and Amanda. An eternity of running would have been less torturous. Her flip-flops lost in the chase long ago, she was on her bare feet. Hurried motion soon gave way to panicked stillness. Pain struck Gerald. Amanda dragged him along, darting through alleyways. In panic, Viorica attempted pursuit. It was unsuccessful. Stuck in the dim, narrow passageways, she kept running, unable to discern where the other two had gone.
 
C.J. was just a random boy, walking down the street.

He noticed that barely no one was around. All though, it was normal. It was midnight. However, it did seem a little . . . weird, tonight. His dad was already asleep, so he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He slumped his hands in his blue hoodie and kept walking down, suddenly noticing the moon. It wasn't supposed to be a full moon that night. He shrugged it off, thinking that it was just his imagination, and kept strolling down, somewhat smiling.

Smiling until a sudden light came.

It was almost a line of light, suddenly increasing in the middle. C.J. was shocked and scared, as he backed away and screamed. He looked right into the line and saw a huge leg step out of the light. It seemed like an animal leg. A bug leg.

A spider leg.

Out came seven more, followed by the head, staring it's eyes directly at C.J. He stared in fright as it came closer and closer to him, ready to grasp him. He was frozen in fear. When it was just about to grab him, he noticed he'd better run, and did so. He ran, the spider swiftly following him, almost catching up to him. While he was running, he wondered how all things happened all of a sudden. He wished it was all a nightmare. He wished he would wake up, in his bed, and realize it was just a dream. Not a dream, a nightmare. He saw a random car parked on the street, and he immediately knew who's car it was. A girl named Amanda's car. He secretly had a crush on her since the day he saw her, but that wasn't important. He stepped on the base of the car, hopped over the top, and landed on the pavement, hidden behind the car. The spider wondered around, trying to spot C.J. He sighed in a sense of fright, proud of himself, and just downright dumbness of what was happening right now. He congratulated himself at him being stealthy as the spider rolled all of it's eyes as it walked down the street, soon disappearing.
 
Perri's internal ticking has stopped quite awhile ago. Ever since he was a child, Perri had a perfect clock in his head. He could tell you the exact time to the second. This however could not pay debts nor feed little children, so he mostly kept it to himself.

However on his way home from work, his clock suddenly stopped at 11:59. This distressed him immensely. For the first time in his life he felt frozen. He felt as if the world had stopped rotating. Perri immediately pulled out his pocket watch to confirm this. It was a small silver thing, easily opened with a push of a small button, but but Perri could not hear the familiar ticking. Fear crept into Perri's body, and sweat slowly slid down his face. His pocket watch had never stopped running except for when he maintained it. Something was terribly wrong.

My father's watch... What is happening? No. It must just be broken. I must just be imagining things. I know! I am overworked. I really need to get home and make sure my brother is safe and get to sleep. I have to make sure to finish my homework for Monday as well.

His pace quickened until he was sprinting. He feels something is lurking behind him. When he stops, sweat covers his body and he breathes heavily. Perri hears movement behind him. He turns and sees it. It was the monster from his nightmares, his childhood, and his subconscious. The squirrel leaps out and bites his outstretched left arm. He reacts quickly and forces his right hand down the squirrels body, pushing it away from him. In great fear he kicks the squirrel with all his strength. It drops a few feet ahead of him. The squirrel's eyes begins to dim. Its furry figure slowly crumbles away. Perri backs into the wall and falls down. He looks at his left arm and begins to laugh.

Tears fills his eyes and after a few choking breaths, he calms and stops laughing. He removes his glasses and wipes away his tears. His left arm suddenly burns with pain. Blood drips casually from the squirrel's mark. He swears and tears his over shirt and messily bandages the wound.

Worn out and tired, he chuckles, "83 seconds since my time stopped and I have no idea whats happening. " Perri passes out. His clock continues to tick but it was not to the tune of time but something else.
 
When the pain started to fall off again, Gerald's ears were ringing. He felt badly disoriented, but it wasn't like his mind was moving too slowly--just the opposite. The whole world was slowed down and his thoughts were running at a thousand miles a second.

What am I doing still standing here I have to move I need to move why is my head hurting now of all times I've never even been in any real danger before how did I get here HEY I wouldn't be here if we didn't have to move would I be any safer back home I don't know but at least if I died everyone would recognize me nobody knows me here C'MON nobody cares why the h--- did we have to move I just wanted to stay everything to stay how it was everything just needs to stay WE I want to go back what was that I want to go back home this isn't home what am I doing here why can't I just go HAVE we have we have what what are you talking about who's talking where am I TO Amanda right we just met I was just complaining about this why can't I think straight KEEP okay stop stop it's not hurting anymore I can go we can go and get away from those things MOVE yes move let's go come on why am I moving so slow ING oh great I think my headache's coming back no go away I don't have time for you if I was going to develop migraines why couldn't I do that some time I wasn't already going to get killed by something?!

The moment of strange, rapid clarity faded off as he started moving again, half-guided by Amanda's help. His headache came back, but it was duller than before; as if what had just happened was the injury and this was the ache of it slowly healing. He could move again; that was the important part. And he wasn't trying to lead anymore, either, which was good because he was pretty thoroughly lost at this point.

Of course, they weren't lucky enough. just when Gerald thought they might be safe enough to rest, they nearly ran straight toward another giant animal, a spider that could probably take on a grizzly bear if it wanted. It was standing over another guy, who looked to be unconscious. It hadn't hurt him yet. "S---! F---!" Gerald stopped in his tracks at the sight, the pain in his head spiking slightly again. He had an incomprehensible, useless feeling that something was going to happen, but no idea what and little hope it would be soon enough.

((C.J.'s spider found Perri, in case it wasn't clear. Also, the Witching Hour started long enough ago that Perri might wake up soon if he fainted a bit less than a minute and a half into it.))
 
"Oh hey, eight legs! Short time, no see!" C.J. exclaimed, right behind the spider. It turned around as C.J. stared at it. He backed away almost immediately and tried to run. But the spider held him up, and slammed him into the wall. He was easily knocked out. Now the spider looked at the two staring at it.
 
Perri wakes up to the sound of skittering. "Wha..." His mind is still numb. He blinks several times to clear out the wetness from his eyes. His sight sharpens and he sees two guys. One of them was downed and near him was a large spider. Perri screamed. His left arm stung but he manages to stand up. What do I do? I can't just let the spider get him. Without hesitation he yells at the spider, trying to get it's attention.
 
The spider, still holding C.J, looks over to Perri. C.J., noticing his chance, slips away because he had an easier grip. He tackled one leg as it fell off. The spider then stumbled and hissed. C.J. quickly ran away to a hiding place.
 
Amanda ran a little easier as she noticed Gerald had sort of began to run with her instead of being dragged along. She fell over like she had been clotheslined as she saw the spider. She had stopped too rapidly. Her heart was racing, her breathing was shallow, every muscle from her waist to her feet ached and burned furiously. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion as almost pure adrenaline coursed through her veins. She couldn't think a strategy to get away, she didn't have the air to scream in terror, she didn't have the energy to keep running. She laid there on the ground, gasping for air, looking around frantically, and as her eyes glanced behind them, she happened to see the monstrous cat slink around the corner of the ally. She managed to get one controlled thought in amongst the chaos in her mind.

We're fucked.
 
(Ambience)

Gerald watched as another guy showed up, the unconscious one awoke, and they tried to fight the spider. It was all distracting and turning around, but surprisingly good at getting them not killed. But still, the spider would wise up before long and tear them to pieces. He was somehow certain of this. It was like an unchangeable truth, like gravity or how hard brick was. And he didn't have to turn around to know that the other animals had caught up with them. They were surrounded, and doomed.

NO

On top of everything else, his headache was back, and worse than ever. Bad enough to bring him to his knees.

NononoNOnoNOnOnNOnOnoNononoNOnoNONONONONONONONONONoNOnoNOnoNOnoNOnoNOnoNOnONonONnONonONonONonONoNononoNOnoNOnOnNOnOnoNononoNOnoNONONONONONONONONONoNOnoNOnoNOnoNOnoNOnoNOnONonONnONonONonONonONoNononoNOnoNOnOnNOnOnoNononoNOnoNONONONONONONONONONoNOnoNOnoNOnoNOnoNOnoNOnONonONnONonONonONonONoNONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO

Gerald wasn't quite aware that he was screaming. He wanted to push them back, tear them apart, do anything to keep everyone alive. His eyes were closed, but a light appeared in them bright enough to show through his eyelids. The pain left, and a great deal of clarity was left behind. Even the animals paused as if they felt something.

He stood up, carefully. He could feel the world around him, the brick and concrete and the people and the things that had been chasing them. He opened his eyes, still brilliantly glowing, and pushed it all away with a thought. Suddenly the road behind him tore out of the ground, rolling up like a scroll straight toward the animals that had been chasing them. Several bricks tore out of the nearest building and threw themselves at the spider; some missed, but many made their mark, and soon it was barely alive, half of its legs cracked in half and its body barely able to move.

The creatures behind had more luck, better reflexes. One of them was crushed outright, and disappeared back into dust without a trace; the others ran back, not spooked but wise enough to not get killed. They roared and growled in response.

Gerald bent over again, panting heavily. The brilliant glow in his eyes faded somewhat. It was still there, and the clarity was there. He knew it would take a lot of effort to get that kind of attack out again. He pointed ahead, toward the crippled spider. We have to keep going, he tried to say. He was too out of breath to speak, but somehow he felt as if his thoughts had gone through anyway.


((Everyone in normal earshot hears Gerald's voice as if he were saying something, but anyone looking can clearly see he isn't talking.

Okay, so. Magic in this world is special, as mentioned before.

When a person goes from having no magic to having magic, it's what's known as an Awakening. It's usually a big, dramatic display of their powers, with larger effects than those they're normally able to use. When a person Awakens, they become a certain Class, essentially a general description of the person's powers. Gerald here is a Psychic, meaning he has mental powers, in particular Telekinesis and weak Telepathy. A Class could be just about any type of mythical creature or being, or any set of powers humans supposedly have, so for example a person's Class could be Fairy, Werewolf, Efreeti (which would have fire magic), etc.

But this is the important part. What Class a person Awakens to is a reflection of themselves. It is a symbol of who the person is, what they think they are, and what they want. Gerald here has Telekinesis because he wants more control over the world around him, and Telepathy comes from a desire to communicate. If a person became some kind of werecreature, it would indicate that they saw in themselves a dual nature of some kind, whether or not it was actually there; a predatory type such as a werewolf would indicate the person sees the "other" side of themselves as evil or at least some particular kind of terrible. If you want advice on what your character's Class should be, feel free to send a PM. But nobody knows your character like you do, so I may have to ask for more detail if not enough has been shown in-thread.

And again, remember that everyone isn't Awakening all at once. There is kind of a tendency for dramatics, so it would make the most sense for a person to Awaken as they come to be in mortal danger, as seen here.))
 
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The bear's roars grew near. No escape graced Viorica's sight. Trembling, she surveyed her corner. At last a narrow corner stuck out to her. As she darted into it, her eyes met the bear's. She broke into a dash, a cold sweat on her tempals. Alone in the night, she was the perfect chase for the beast.

She bounded over fences the creature rammed through, surpassed trashcans and other obstacles he slashed to scraps. She leaped onto the street, only to meet Gerald and company fending off the other monstrosities. She ducked as Gerald raised the earth before her eyes. The bear thrashed about as it received a blow.

The cacophony was deafening. In spite of this, Gerald's voice sounded clear. In the confusion, and in an attempt to lure her personal predator away from the others, she charged past the group. Though distracted by the other people, the bear returned to his original target, pursuing Viorica.
 
C.J. watched in amazement, as the boy raised the ground, trampling his enemies. However, the spider was still alive, and with it's eyes, saw C.J. defenseless. It swiped C.J.'s feet, causing his face to slam to the ground. The spider inched closer and closer, but not fast. But C.J. didn't have time to get up. He was in pain, caused by that spider. Once he heard the boy's voice, He was confused. But that was the least of his problems. He couldn't speak because of his mouth bleeding, so he pleaded in his mind.

Help!
 
Certainly he was dreaming. Yes... but... it clearly happened. The ground... the spiders. It was like magic. But how... Then suddenly within his mind he heard a voice. It told him to run. Perri looked around but could not comprehend where it came from. He then realized there was now a girl too, but there was also a bear tracking her. Dammit there is more! There were still spiders crawling around. The person who caused the destruction seemed dazed. The other one was still injured. He knew he had to run, but he couldn't leave them behind. The ticking noise grew louder in his head. It seem to calm his nerves. It's order and cadence slowly grew until it was the only thing in his mind. He had to help them. I know this is stupid but lets tackle the bear problem first. Those spiders seem to scared. He quickly ran towards the bear, clutched the pocket watch in his pocket, and foolishly kicked the bear.

It's red eyes focused on him. Their lifeless gaze made him shudder, but he had done what he needed to. He began to run away, screaming as loudly as he can. "Go help them deal with the spiders! I'll try to keep this bear away." The bear tried to sweep his claw across Perri's back. It barely grazed his jacket. He kept on running. It was certainly fortunate that the bear seemed to be injured from blast or it would have clearly ran him down. Perri had no idea if he can outrun him for long, but at least he could save one person.
 
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