KNIFE KNIFE KNIFE KNIFE > try and find a pocket knife we need to be armed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[quote="- Z -"] we need to be armed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [/quote] I like how you think.

[b]>Grab knife >Do not grab knife >Put knife back >Find a pocket knife[/b] Uh. You're going to. Not. You have no weapons training, no desire to hurt anyone, no desire to hurt yourself.... So, um. Let's be more investigator and less Rambo or something? Besides, you don't want to go back in there right now. You're getting 'Weird Vibes'. And you think you should trust your instincts. That's a house with no sound and black water and blue light. The rules of reality are not quite working there at the moment. And you promise you are not the kind of person who hallucinates at the drop of a dime. [b]>Light tea lights in Jack o'Lanterns[/b] You lock up the house (a useless gesture, since you left most of the windows open, plus the back door, plus a whole host of other nopes, but again, people just don't break in like this in such a small town) and then stoop to light the pumpkins. It's a bit silly and sentimental, but you feel like it's some part of them still there to welcome you and protect you. [b]>Head over to the TP'd house[/b] You step gingerly to the pavement walkway and move to cross the street. There's no crosswalks per se here, just street corners. The cobbles are uneven to sneaker-clad feet (did you forget to mention you put shoes on? yeah. sometime while deliberating the pros and cons of knife-wielding maniac you.), but you're awash in the plethora of noises. There's the low hoot of an owl. There's the sound of branches scratching against houses. You love it. This is right and good. >

ha ha ha ha, fine. I can't even say I'm anti-knife, I've got a folding knife in my pocket right now, and there's always a swiss army knife in my purse. But, um... let's spend as little time inside as possible, yeah? [b]> turn on electric tea-lights in carved pumpkins >try to remember where a folding knife, swiss army knife, or other pocket-knife might be[/b] edit: whoops, new story! Never mind that last post. I'm going to go find out what happened first.

(The nature of this kind of game means that I might step in when there's some established consensus or path that might direct the story forward. I could wait for it to get a bit dead before posting, but I think people are coming on board because of quick responses and the directions being able to count for something. I apologise if sometimes that means posting before other peoples' great posts come in, or starting in and posting while other great posts are being made. I try to edit and incorporate in, but again, goof-ups like that are on my part and part of the disadvantage... )

Right, okay, yeah, I like this better anyhow. Hm, close-ish to four in the morning was our guess, yeah? And Halloween was recently, and clearly Northern hemisphere because falling leaves and cool wind. Did the TP'd neighbor also have carved pumpkins? Or were they maybe TP'd because they didn't participate? (Which might mean they aren't even home. Especially as Halloween was two-three nights ago, and the TP is still there)

forgot the useful part in that. >check memory for neighbors' schedules/plans. Or any gossip about them being around or on a trip or whatever

[b]>Remember the neighbors[/b] The Carvers own the house across the street, currently TP'd. They've had that house for something like nine or ten generations of family, just like your family, just like most of the other families on the block. The present Carvers living in the house are the retired generation. Their kids are attending medical school or law school or building families of their own, all up and down New England. You think one of them even went to Oregon for a year or two, but couldn't hack it all the way out there. Amtrak keeps them all connected, but the elders don't really leave the house that much. They were there for Halloween, handing out candy to children dressed like vampires, princesses, and slutty police officers, but they have old-people bedtimes (like you), and probably slept right through stupid teenagers spooping up their house. Actually, you feel a little bad for them. You'd offer to help remove some of it in the daylight hours. You don't want either of them up on a ladder trying to pick it off their trees-- big beautiful walnut trees leaning over the sidewalk. In all likelihood, they won't answer knocks to the door at this hour, but at least you're walking around a bit. Small towns like this close up early in the evenings. The whole place descends into quiet slumber. There's a couple bars open at 8 or 9, and the hotels, but even night staff would be put to bed at this hour. >

Hmmm. >anyone in the neighborhood the protagonist is close friends with? (and how far is it to the local police precinct? If nothing else, they'll have someone there we can sit and chat about weird nightmares with and nice walks to clear your head, restore a little normalcy to the strangeness of the evening)

[b]>Check in with friends[/b] There's two kids in your cog psych class who you usually have late-night study sessions with, Debbie Spooner and Zach Prescott. Either of them would probably take in your late-night weirdness with an outsider's reason and temperament. Might even find them together. Everyone thinks they're dating. God, that'd be awkward. You really don't want to see that. Anyway, all distance is walkable here. You can cover the whole town from end to end in about 20 minutes or so. [b]>Check in with police?[/b] You're pretty sure they go to bed with the rest of the town too. That's how small this place is. You could try... >