neoneidolon

[neoneidolon]

multiversal-excursions​: 

“Hm.” Maria’s expression shifted to amusement briefly at Beta’s declaration. She blinked as the faint shadow vanished, raising an eyebrow at it before sousing back on the task at hand.

“Yeah, we didn’t really know anyone else who was there,” Maria remarked. She bounced her one fireball in her hand, then let it hover in the air and start to circle around them. She materialized a second one moments later, and that one started to circle as well. “I mean, getting to know those people could be interesting, but that’s gonna depend on whether or not we feel like approaching each other, you know? Maybe we’ll get to know each other in the future, but for now it looks like we won’t have crossing paths anytime soon.”

Her gaze shifted the undergrowth of bushes that sat under a few trees nearby, but no tell-tale rustling met her gaze, so she left it alone and kept moving. “Yeah, it was certainly something. I don’t think I can say that I’ve seen forms entirely like yours before. Although, Sixer might have a few weirder examples. The two of us have been occasionally almost caught off-guard when extra-dimensional beings peer in on us when we’re taking portals across dimensions, but he tends to pay more attention to that than I do.”

A smirk crossed her face. “When you gain a reputation for being strange or powerful, you tend to get a lot of attention. I’m lucky that I’ve got enough of one that most decide to leave me alone, or spy from afar instead of trying to get up close.”

Beta, who shared their twin’s affinity for pretty lights, was fascinated by Maria’s revolving fireballs. The firelight made their pink markings and single pink eye appear a rosy sort of orange, in the dark.

“Comes with the territory, huh? You jump between universes, the things that live between are gonna see you. And Morph knows because they are one of those things. Or, they used to be.”

Beta had fallen behind Maria a bit. They teleported a few feet forward, back to her side on the trail. “They worry about that, like, constantly, I think. All the time, wondering if me doing this or that is going to blow whatever cover we’ve got. They coach me on ways to lay low whenever I time travel, teleport, and especially come visit you here. I don’t know what they’d do if they thought I was exploring other worlds with my portal gun the same way I do outer space in our own base universe. And I’m not, yet, but I also can’t keep waiting for them to figure out how to handle preparing me for when... when they’re not around anymore. So, I’m going to have to take some risks soon, but not right now. They can sleep sort of easy for a bit longer.” The caterpillar laughed. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get into all that. I’m lucky to have the luxury of getting to prepare myself at all, aren’t I? Amos didn’t have that, and it sounds like you and Sixer didn’t really, either.”

“...How do you deal with that? A reputation? When I finally saw what I really look like tonight, it sort of hit me in full that I was going to have one whether I liked it or not, you know? It hit me how much I’m not of the planet Earth. I’m going to get sucked back in to the kind of ‘world’ Mo came from eventually no matter what I do. You’d think after tonight I’d feel, I dunno, more powerful, but honestly I feel the opposite.”

“Sorry, I don’t know if this is just going to sound like me trying to get you to make me feel better about not being as badass as you are, but-- are you really alright, Maria? With your situation? With your reputation?”

[neoneidolon]

“It’s the anniversary of me,” said Tidge, around the cooking fire one night.

“Eh?” said Amos, who was not really paying attention to her, but to the chicken they were trying to unstick from the bottom of the pot. (In some respects, they were getting better at cooking. In some.)

“It’s your birthday?” Beta guessed.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you great big worm, I’m a fairy!”

“Hey,” Amos warned sharply. Beta put up their hands, placating. “It’s fine--”

“It’s Friday the 13th,” said Tidge. “The same day I came here to stay with you.”

“....Yes, it looks that way,” said Amos, still scraping. “But I don’t think that qualifies as an anniversary--”

“Hey! Are you listening, Butterfly? We’re having a party today!” Tidge jumped up, all eight or so inches of her, to stand on the handle of the spoon in Morpho’s hand.

They resisted shaking her off. “Do you want to fall in and be cooked? Get off of that! And we just had a party, why didn’t you come to that?”

“Oh, I came, you just didn’t see me.”

Morpho rolled their eyes. “Yes, of course. Silly me. Well, I don’t know if running and hiding every other lesson day really warrants a ‘party’, but I’ll see what I can do in the... three hours left before midnight, I guess.”

“No, I’m the one making the party happen, and we’re having it during the daytime!” Tidge’s smile, the only part of her face that was ever visible under her eggshell helmet, was wide and full of sharp little teeth. Her tail swished like a cat’s.

“Looks like it’s going to be a Saturday the 14th party, then,” Beta said. “I’d still love to go, though, am I invited?”

Tidge jumped onto the top of Beta’s head, bending to look them in the eye such that they went a bit cross-eyed looking at the fairy. “Of course you’re invited. You’re the most important guest of all!”

“R-Really?” Beta smiled, cheeks going a bit pink.

“Yeah, you can turn back time itself, can’t you? We can’t have the party without you.”

“Oh.” Beta’s face fell slightly. “Yeah, I guess I can do that. Cool.”

“Alright,” said Amos, plating up dinner. “If that’s so, then why didn’t we meet doubles of ourselves today? And why didn’t Beta tell me about this?”

“Well, I just heard about it,” Beta said. “I can’t tell when I’m going to time travel before I decide to, unless some really obvious sign comes along.”

“And, we’re not having it here,” said Tidge. She pointed into the woods. “We’re having it there. I’m taking you to my place.”

[neoneidolon]

multiversal-excursions​: 

“Yeah, we can expect any number of things, but unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. Maybe if you’d given us fewer, the woods would have adapted.” Maria shrugged. “What’s done is done. We’re going to have to clean up the mess left behind and force things back into balance ourselves if we have to.”

She tilted her head at Morpho’s remark and nodded to where she assumed his form was, but she wasn’t entirely certain – following that faint shadow didn’t exactly tell her how high off the ground he was.

A small smile appeared on her face at Beta’s offer. “I could use the company, sure. Having an extra pair of eyes is always helpful out here.”

“Okay! L-Let’s get searching!” Beta grinned, eager to change the topic. “Meaning, you get searching and we’ll tag along and maybe be helpful.” They winked.

You can tag along, Amos said. I think I have things to see about back home. Spells to check. Are you alright to return by yourself?

Beta gave an ‘I’m fine’ wave. “Yeah, thanks. See you later, Mo.”

The already faint shadow of the elder entity faded to nothing, and only Beta was left in the dark woods with Maria. “I was hoping for that,” Beta said. “I’d never tell them so, but world-jumping is easier without them attached to me. Things keep looking at us whenever they come with.”

They hung close to Maria’s light. It was getting tough to see out here. If any frogs were going to be found, by Beta at least, it was probably going to be by sound rather than sight. Fine by them.

“With you at the party, looks like maybe I wasn’t the only one who didn’t really know a lot of the other guests,” Beta said, after a moment. “And honestly, I’m kinda including you and Sixer in that. But hey! I’m sure we’ll have lots of chances to get to know each other better down the road!”

“M-Man, midnight was sure a surprise, though, right?”

[neoneidolon]

multiversal-excursions​: 

Maria’s expression shifted to something more mask-like when Beta let slip the word “released,” then to something that more resembled a tired mother who didn’t have the strength to be mad at her children because they had run her ragged.

She sighed heavily and ran a hand down her face, looking all the world like she was going to punch something later – not now, but later. “I get the thought of giving Sixer something new to study – really, I do. But you could’ve done far better by giving us far fewer than that swarm. At this point, it’s starting to sound more like a prank gone wrong than anything.”

She looked at Beta, knowing that Amos was around but not entirely where he was. While her senses were advanced in comparison to a humans, she was still limited to the physical plane.

“I get not wanting to kill them because they’re the kids of your pets, but…” She shook her head slightly. “I’m not exactly going to call this one fun, kiddo. But it’ll definitely be a relief when their numbers have been cut down to something more manageable so that the hawktopi can finish them off when they’re hungry again. I think most of them have migrated out, and that’s why they haven’t done anything big against the population in the last couple weeks. You guys come by for any reason other than our current infestation?”

Beta looked pretty chastened now, having stopped on the edge of the trail, twiddling their claws apologetically. “Yeah, well... we figured these woods were pretty good about keeping themselves balanced, but hindsight’s 20/20, I guess. Sorry. Hope the hawktopi come back soon.”

After a long moment of silence, Morpho’s voice came, a bit reproachfully: At any rate, it was my idea.

Beta’s mouth quirked. “Heh.”

Their form wavered just a bit, temporarily going two-legged-- but no, Beta didn’t have the energy to assume human form just now. “Er, no, that’s about it. Just wanted to come over and, uh, come clean. About the frogs. ...If you want some company out here, though, I dunno-- if we see one we’ll point it out, yeah?”

[neoneidolon]

multiversal-excursions​: 

Maria recognized the presence of a portal more by the energy pulse than the sound of it, and she stiffened in response.

It didn’t bring along the pain of a rift, which she took to be a good sign, but she planned to withhold judgement until she had a better idea of who it was that had just arrived.

She relaxed in slight confused as a caterpillar crawled into view with portal gun in hand. Ah, now that made a little more sense.

“Oh, this?” Maria shook her hand and let the small flits of fire disperse into sparks that dissipated before they hit the ground. “We’ve had an infestation of…eldritch frogs, I guess. They came swarming in like a pack of locusts and tried to eat our kitchen. We drove them out, and the hawktopi started snacking on them…except they aren’t eating so many of them anymore, so I’m looking to do a little cleanup this afternoon. If those things keep eating the creatures of the forest like they are, they’re going to completely upend the ecosystem, which Sixer’s pretty alarmed about.”

She rested her hand against her hip and sighed. “As nice as it was to see you guys the other night, seeing that frog zip out of nowhere and snag some of Sixer’s rock candy made me remember we’ve got that as a problem.”

“Oh? Oh, okay!” Beta let out a long, loud sigh, but they were smiling-- at least it looked like they were. Difficult to tell on that bug face. “Weird, we haven’t had that issue-- but then again we haven’t really seen them much since we-- we released--!”

Beta stopped, chuckling, and when their composure was back: “They’re all Aggie’s children. ‘M sorry, we-- we were sure you’d figure it out, but yeah, Agatha had like a million babies out of the blue and we decided to... yeah. Whoops! Our bad!”

We thought Sixer would be glad to have a new species to study, came the elder twin’s voice in Maria’s head, although they themself remained invisible. Ah, well. I suppose you have the right to do as you like with them on your own home turf.

“We’re not helping you hunt the little monsters, but, free tip, they’ll walk into anything if there’s snacks in there.” Beta, when standing next to Maria, came up to her hip. “You have fun tonight?”

[neoneidolon]

Off the trail, there was the sound of a portal opening. Somebody stumbled through and into the bushes. The interloper wasn’t visible yet, but they were talking, seemingly to themself.

“I’m gonna-- No, I’m going to tell them, Mo, you can’t stop me.” They giggled a bit tipsily. “What? I-- Because they deserve to know! C’mon, you’ve had your fun...”

Beta, in caterpillar form, stepped into Maria’s path. They were idly jugging their pilfered prototype portal gun in their insect claws. When they noticed Maria, it took them a moment to negotiate themself into a position facing her. “H-Hey, Maria!” Beta greeted. “Real glad you ‘n Sixer could make it. Just thought I’d pop over, and--” They devolved into giggles again, at whatever the shadow floating around their head had said. “Mo, quit it-- So, what’s the lightshow for?” They indicated her flaming fingers.

“Frog” Hunting

After Amos’ Halloween bash, the haunted house that had been set up in the Mystery Shack almost seemed boring by comparison, despite all the electronics that Stanley and Soos had put into it in order to make it work extremely well.

It made Maria and Sixer relieved that they weren’t forced to be a part of the cleanup, because they hadn’t helped set it up in the first place.

(Or accidentally tear it down during a haunted tour, if the glares Mizar sent Alcor were to be believed.)

Which meant they could go out into the woods and enjoy the nice, crisp autumn air as fall and winter drifted even closer.

They went their separate ways not far into the forest – Sixer made his way up to the Multibear’s cave system to check in on him and see if he needed anything done before going into hibernation. Just another chance to see what it was this bear did on a day to day basis that affected the forest.

Maria, on the other hand, was intent on going invasive species hunting.

“For all the good you hawktopi do, you really can’t keep up with the sheer number of these little things.” Fireballs danced on her fingers as she stalked the woods, looking for a sign of the eldritch frogs that had been giving them trouble the last few months.

@neoneidolon

[neoneidolon]

Halloween 2020

@hostnamexception and @di-stri-ai

@sixfingersixtails and @multiversal-excursions

@sleightadvantage

@paytonooc 

It’s growing dark early in Washington this time of year. When the gathering begins, there’s already a full moon out, huge and gold and low over the hills, with a few distant pines silhouetted perfectly against its face. A witchy, werewolf sort of moon.

For those who needed to be picked up: Beta couldn’t resist appearing directly behind them. After some brief explanation (and encouragement, if needed), they offer their hand, and smile. Whoosh, spirited away to the remote woods of Washington State! 

(The trip was near instantaneous, and Beta was gentle, but if one kept their eyes open at just the right time, one might have caught a glimpse of something stretching across the field of vision, intertwined with barely visible gigantic prisms. Serpentine, with numerous legs, and a single smiling pink eye.)

The party is being held outside of Amos’s purple van, in a meadow tucked in the woods, far from any roads. The area is well cloaked in spells meant to turn away any uninvited eyes. A tall bonfire is roaring. Every so often, green and violet flames leap up among the orange. The smoke shifts hue every time another log is thrown on.

Keep reading

[neoneidolon]

Halloween 2020

@hostnamexception and @di-stri-ai

@sixfingersixtails and @multiversal-excursions

@sleightadvantage

@paytonooc 

It’s growing dark early in Washington this time of year. When the gathering begins, there’s already a full moon out, huge and gold and low over the hills, with a few distant pines silhouetted perfectly against its face. A witchy, werewolf sort of moon.

For those who needed to be picked up: Beta couldn’t resist appearing directly behind them. After some brief explanation (and encouragement, if needed), they offer their hand, and smile. Whoosh, spirited away to the remote woods of Washington State! 

(The trip was near instantaneous, and Beta was gentle, but if one kept their eyes open at just the right time, one might have caught a glimpse of something stretching across the field of vision, intertwined with barely visible gigantic prisms. Serpentine, with numerous legs, and a single smiling pink eye.)

The party is being held outside of Amos’s purple van, in a meadow tucked in the woods, far from any roads. The area is well cloaked in spells meant to turn away any uninvited eyes. A tall bonfire is roaring. Every so often, green and violet flames leap up among the orange. The smoke shifts hue every time another log is thrown on.

Keep reading

[neoneidolon]

[neoneidolon]

Halloween 2020

@hostnamexception and @di-stri-ai

@sixfingersixtails and @multiversal-excursions

@sleightadvantage

@paytonooc 

It’s growing dark early in Washington this time of year. When the gathering begins, there’s already a full moon out, huge and gold and low over the hills, with a few distant pines silhouetted perfectly against its face. A witchy, werewolf sort of moon.

For those who needed to be picked up: Beta couldn’t resist appearing directly behind them. After some brief explanation (and encouragement, if needed), they offer their hand, and smile. Whoosh, spirited away to the remote woods of Washington State! 

(The trip was near instantaneous, and Beta was gentle, but if one kept their eyes open at just the right time, one might have caught a glimpse of something stretching across the field of vision, intertwined with barely visible gigantic prisms. Serpentine, with numerous legs, and a single smiling pink eye.)

The party is being held outside of Amos’s purple van, in a meadow tucked in the woods, far from any roads. The area is well cloaked in spells meant to turn away any uninvited eyes. A tall bonfire is roaring. Every so often, green and violet flames leap up among the orange. The smoke shifts hue every time another log is thrown on.

Keep reading

[neoneidolon]

Halloween 2020

@hostnamexception and @di-stri-ai

@sixfingersixtails and @multiversal-excursions

@sleightadvantage

@paytonooc 

It’s growing dark early in Washington this time of year. When the gathering begins, there’s already a full moon out, huge and gold and low over the hills, with a few distant pines silhouetted perfectly against its face. A witchy, werewolf sort of moon.

For those who needed to be picked up: Beta couldn’t resist appearing directly behind them. After some brief explanation (and encouragement, if needed), they offer their hand, and smile. Whoosh, spirited away to the remote woods of Washington State! 

(The trip was near instantaneous, and Beta was gentle, but if one kept their eyes open at just the right time, one might have caught a glimpse of something stretching across the field of vision, intertwined with barely visible gigantic prisms. Serpentine, with numerous legs, and a single smiling pink eye.)

The party is being held outside of Amos’s purple van, in a meadow tucked in the woods, far from any roads. The area is well cloaked in spells meant to turn away any uninvited eyes. A tall bonfire is roaring. Every so often, green and violet flames leap up among the orange. The smoke shifts hue every time another log is thrown on.

Amos, Z and Beta initially present in their human(oid) guises, and they’ve decided to do a themed triple costume: Amos is painted silver, wearing pressed tin foil armor, and they’ve tied their hair up out of sight. They carry an axe (where did they get that?) Straw pokes out from Beta’s clothes. They’ve drawn stitches on their face and hands, and they grin out from under a floppy scarecrow’s hat. And lastly, Z’s tied a very fluffy yarn lion’s mane around his neck, and pinned a tufted tail to his back. For a moment when the guests arrive, he makes the nanobots in his hands form claws, but quickly changes them back.

There are blankets and cushions on the grass. Now to sit and wait for the main event. Not much in the way of real food, but Morpho’s made rock crystal sugar in every color of the rainbow, and strange looking but very pretty little chocolates that cut one’s work out trying to guess what’s in them. (If Agatha doesn’t steal them first: she’s taken a whole pillow under the van to curl up on and munch whatever loot she can get.) There’s something uncomfortably lively and extremely blue brewing in the iron cauldron Amos usually cooks in--whatever it is, they claim to have invented it, and it throws eerie light on their face when they give it stir, but it’s supposedly drinkable. (Side effects may include a temporary ability to see in ultraviolet, and unusually vivid, long lasting dreams.)

When the time goes midnight, it begins. Amos grins and takes Z’s hand, pulling him out into the grass beyond the bonfire. They beckon to Beta--who looks confused at first, but joins their twin. Two corporeal forms collapse into the brown October grass. The horizon wobbles and grows faint, disappearing for a second into a glittering, hot line that hurts to look at. Three very different things come through the gap.

Z is so much more than just an ectoplasmic purple blob. He’s enormous, practically his own sea of eldritch... well, it sometimes moves like water, and sometimes like lava, but would a liquid be so... soft and fuzzy? Dozens of huge hands reach out to touch the ground, and anything else that’s close by. His pale little eyes repeatedly sink and resurface. (And for once, when he speaks Amos is no longer the only one to get the direct meaning.)

Beta cries out in shock when they catch sight of themself, and then tries to play it off as something they expected. They are long. Coils upon coils. The far end of them can’t be seen, and the head end doesn’t completely seem like the only other ‘end’ there is. The pink markings on their back squirm into glyph-like shapes. (For a brief second, Morpho has no words.)

Amos is an empty floating four-cornered hole. Light doesn’t penetrate them. The colorful neon edges fizz on contact with Earth air. Their eyes have a habit of leaving their face and following the tips of the thin blue tentacles they keep producing and retracting. (Shake ‘hands’ if you dare-- those are nerves, not just fingers.)

They’ve brought visions and illusions. Amos is ecstatic to be able to show off dream power in such a face-to-face way. Pretty soon it’s getting easy to forget that they’re sitting in the middle of the woods at night. What do their friends want to see? Shall there be reminiscing? What kind of journey to go on, in the thin few hours before the Earth will reject theirs and the rest of their family’s real selves again?

[neoneidolon]

((Halloween party post coming tonight))

[neoneidolon]

sleightadvantage​: 

txt: Manifestation you say? Sounds intriguing. Count me in. txt: Is it a costumed event? txt:  Actually, no need to answer– I ~always~ come dressed to impress and I’ve never met a soul who doesn’t spend most of their life wearing a costume.

txt: yessssss I wanted you to say that! :D

txt: and sure, if you want. We’re going to be in costume for part of the night, until the

txt: ~unmasking~

txt: I think Mo would agree with you about that. The thing you said about costumes. I mean I sure feel that.

txt: see you soon Zakk!

[neoneidolon]

paytonooc​: 

neoneidolon​: 

[They’re going to take “I’ll need proof” as good enough metaphysical permission to do this next: something flashes into Payton’s mind’s eye. Sandy earthworks walls, tiled in terracotta glazed in vivid blues and pinks. Crustacean folk talking excitedly over scattered maps and diagrams. The sound of water nearby.]

You want collateral? I value that memory. Hang onto it for me until the end of the night. Smart kid.

[There’s a slight purse to his lips as the images pass wordlessly through his head. He’ll never get used the psychogenic transfer of information, though there’s something almost comforting about the warm hues ingrained in the memory.]

[He’s quiet for a moment, processing, and then speaks.]

8 PM. I’ll be ready at eight.

[The thing visiting his head grins triumphantly.]

You got it. I’ll let my sibling know. Come costumed, or don’t. There will be a fire.

[neoneidolon]

paytonooc​: 

Wow. That’s apt, isn’t it? Imagine if Halloween was a month earlier, you’d have to manifest without all the festivities. 

I said I was interested, not that I was going. I’ll need proof you aren’t going to eat my soul or exchange it for a few diabolical brownie points or something, first.

[They have to laugh at Payton’s wry remark.] Yes, humans are funny that way.

...I’m not a demon. Can’t you take a leap of faith?

No, I’m joking. This is why I like you. If you were the kind of person who leapt on this sort of thing no questions asked, I don’t know if I could bring myself to bother. Heh, listen: if I tried to steal your soul, my “boyfriend” would probably make me sleep on the couch. But if you insist--

[They’re going to take “I’ll need proof” as good enough metaphysical permission to do this next: something flashes into Payton’s mind’s eye. Sandy earthworks walls, tiled in terracotta glazed in vivid blues and pinks. Crustacean folk talking excitedly over scattered maps and diagrams. The sound of water nearby.]

You want collateral? I value that memory. Hang onto it for me until the end of the night. Smart kid.

[neoneidolon]

Send Me Your Assumptions About Me And I’ll Respond With “Correct,” “Nope” or “Kinda”

[neoneidolon]

txt to @sleightadvantage : hey Zakk my sib’s doing a Halloween thing

txt: they’re inviting some of their friends over for drinks and a bonfire and the earthly manifestation at midnight they and their boyfriend(?) do once a year

txt: anyway I wanted my friend to be there too :3 I could come pick you up if you’re up for it? It’s in WA but I can get there and back in literally no time

txt: And if you’ve got a Halloween show or something you wouldn’t even miss it, bc I can bring you back before I take you :P [clock emoji, lightning emoji]