{ haunted carnival | test drive #08 - october 2022 }

[dreamposts]

HAUNTED CARNIVAL

Full details on everything can be found here, but an important reminder that this event log doubles as our Test Drive Meme and information can be found in this section.

This means any outside characters participating in the log are canonly logged as appearing in Songerein in October and will remain in Songerein from the IC date of October 25 through 31 (this log is forward dated to the 25th). However, outside characters can only thread within this log, so for those seriously considering the game, you are welcome to use non-festival prompts for your toplevels. Anyone who apps in and is accepted will have their character count October as their first time in the game without any disruption, so all content will carry over. Those who do not apply will disappear which should not seem too unusual as people randomly disappear already, however players in game can choose to retcon and pretend a character was never there to begin with if it would be easier; or even think their presence was just a dream.

IMPORTANT! All outside characters MUST have "TDM" in their subject line, even if you might not app. This will help people differentiate those who are already in the game and those who are not.

TDM threads are required for samples. Refer to the Game Info for general information and feel free to toss any questions here. Reserves will open Tuesday, October 25th and Applications will open on November 1st. Our application cycles are bi-monthly so the next cycle after won't be until January.

TDM Toplevel Link Directory (click to view; updated 10/28)

American McGee's Alice - Alice Liddell
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Azula
BlazBlue - Noel Vermillion
Case Study of Vanitas - Vanitas
Dangan Ronpa - Chiaki Nanami
Devil May Cry - Lady
Final Fantasy VII - Cloud Strife
Genshin Impact - Albedo
Genshin Impact - Eula Lawrence
Genshin Impact - Kaeya
Genshin Impact - Razor
Great Ace Attorney - Ryunosuke Naruhodo
Helluva Boss - Blitzø
Helluva Boss - Octavia
Jujutsu Kaisen - Fushiguro Megumi
Kaze Hikaru - Okita Souji
Library of Ruina - Angela
Mikagura School Suite - Yuto Akama
My Hero Academia - Bakugo Katsuki
Octopath Traveler - Ophilia
Original Character - Kate Galloway (Jigoku CRAU)
Original Character - Marie Daenthelm
Original Character - Pauline Bonheur
Persona 3 - Ken Amada
Promare - Lio Fotia
Shadow Hearts: Covenant - Yuri Hyuga
Tales of Berseria - Magilou
Tales of Berseria - Rokurou Rangetsu
Tales of Berseria - Velvet Crowe
Tales of Hearts - Chalcedony Akerman
Tales of Hearts - Hisui Hearts (Aefenglom CRAU)
Tales of the Rays - Baldr
Touken Ranbu - Hizen Tadahiro
Touken Ranbu - Ichimonji Norimune
Transformers IDW - Soundwave
Your Wings and Mine - Shealtiel

I. CARNIVAL FUN

The moment a guest enters the carnival grounds, there is a high chance (read: optional) they will find themselves changed in some way to fit the spooky, haunted atmosphere. Instead of just wearing a vampire costume, the character will actually turn into one. Of course, how much of a transformation varies between complete to partial changes. It should be noted that this is only a cosmetic and ability change—no matter what someone changes into, they won't have any personality changes…unless one of the carnival attendants cast a small enchantment to make it so. Of course this is by chance as well (read: optional).

A. Haunted Food. While there is some standard fare carnival food around, the Haunted Carnival has some unique items with even more interesting effects:

Caramel Apples: Tart green apples dipped in caramel and decorated with chocolate to look like they’re covered in spiders and spider webs. Eating one of these will have the dreamer feeling crafty and industrious, just like spiders themselves often are. Also, the idea of eating bugs (or even other spiders?!) suddenly seems strangely appealing…
Cherry Blood Popcorn: Popcorn drenched in cherry syrup and decorated with candy bones. The combination of sugar and dreamotion energy leaves the eater feeling giddy and cheerful, somewhat in contrast to the gruesome appearance of the treat itself.
Funnel "Brain" Cakes: Funnel cakes colored to look like brains when served. Comes in regular or zombie brain varieties. Eating one makes you feel lethargic and hungry, like the only thing that matters is your next snack fix, but you’re not willing to do much more than shamble toward it.
Mummies in a Blanket: Small hot dogs wrapped in biscuit dough and decorated to look like mummies. After eating this, you may or may not want to wrap yourself into a blanket and take a nap—ideally somewhere dark and spooky.

B. FUN AND GAMES. Mixed in with the food vendors are several booths advertising a variety of carnival games, including but not limited to the ones below.. The prizes you win may or may not be cursed. Best of luck!

NERF Gun Shooting Gallery: Use dreamotion to shoot foam darts from a gun at various ghostly and ghouly targets lined up on a platform. Advanced players may want to try their hand at making the guns shoot other objects. Water? Fire? Glitter bombs? The only limit is one’s imagination.
Ring Toss: A series of witch hats are lined up, and the objective is to toss rings on the hats for points. Did something just peek up from under one of the hats? It’s probably nothing to worry about.
Potion Bottles: A variation of the milk bottles game wherein you throw balls to knock over flasks and beakers filled with strangely-colored liquid. In most cases, the spilled potion is totally harmless. Once in a while, however, it may have some interesting effects on the player and/or the booth itself.
Slime Pit: There’s a giant pit of slime with a sign next to it: prizes within for those willing to get a bit messy! Said prizes range from giant candy bars to random silly toys to skeletal limbs…? Oh that belongs to the skeleton having fun in the pit, they might want it back.

II. ATTRACTIONS

A. Hall of Mirrors. A classic maze of mirrors that are usually filled with special effects to make one's reflection look distorted. In the beginning the distortions are more humorous, making one look super skinny or extremely curvy. However, the deeper one goes, the reflections begin to look a bit…strange. The mirrors begin to reflect the "worst" side of an individual, but in a more embarrassing manner. When they first wake up in the morning, having a bad hair day, dressed poorly, being lazy on the couch—mostly benign things that would be embarrassing to show others. But there are some that may reveal one's darker self they wish to hide from others and are forced to face—especially when the reflections will step out and follow the original until the end of the maze. They won't do anything, just follow silently like a shadow, but even that may be taxing for anyone, especially if others see. The reflection must either be pushed back into an empty mirror, or it will disappear on its own when exiting the building.

B. Wild Carousel. The creatures on this carousel are not just colorful painted steeds but are more frightening in nature and looking more undead than living. Skeletal horses, direwolves, fanged deer with bloody horns. What makes this ride truly terrifying, however, is that the creatures are alive, restrained only by the pole stuck through them. But there are times when they manage to break free, causing havoc as they run through the park. The only good news is they don't attack, instead aiming for the carnival food as if hungry. Either hang on or help capture them back!

C. Cirque du Souleil. Near the center of the carnival is a large circus tent, and it boasts a variety of shows that are death defying, terrorific, and guaranteed to make everyone scream in fright and awe. The usual acts are available to see: acrobatics, musical performances, theatrical skits, and using ghostly steeds to ride through the large arena. But what makes this circus unique is that all the performers are capable of separating their soul from their physical body, similar to astral projecting or dreamwalking outside of dreams and being visible to all. And now they're asking for volunteer pairs to either participate in a more simple act such as an acrobatic stunt on the swings or tight rope…or eat a special candy that will allow them to have an out of body experience via dreamwalking outside. The only "flaw" is their dreamwalking form will tend to float up to the top of the tent, so their partner who hasn't eaten the candy has to tether them via dreamotion to get through some simple obstacles. No worries, the professionals will help return the soul if they get lost.

D. Spinning Bumper Cups. A combination of the classic bumper cars and spinning cups rides, this attraction has its riders in skull shaped bumper cars that will randomly spin. Riders have the ability to fire off "pumpkin bombs" at the others, which will splatter pumpkin goop to slow down their car. It will also make the car spin for a few rotations. Dreamotion will also help boost the speed, stabilize a spinning car faster, and make the pumpkin bombs more explosive. Just be careful—the barrier around the arena is made of bones and therefore quite brittle. It's not unusual to see a car spin out and lose control driving through the carnival grounds. Stop the runaway car and bring it back! Or shoot people with pumpkin bombs.

E. Ferris Wheel. Ah, the ferris wheel, a gentle ride that elevates one high in the air to allow them to see the sights below, in this case the entire carnival grounds and the surrounding areas like the bordering forests, the Observatory, and the edge of Reverein. However, as with everything in this carnival, the ride is not always so gentle. There are times when the entire ride accelerates to a faster pace, causing the (fortunately) enclosed cabins to rock dangerously as it rotates around. There are times when it keeps going, not letting anyone off until three rotations. And then there are times when the top half of the cabin disappears, exposing the riders to the cooler winds. Fortunately handle bars will appear they can hold onto, but no seat belts. Enjoy the view?

F. Other Rides. There are plenty of rides and attractions at the carnival, too many to list all of them here. A roller coaster, tower drop, gravitron, bungee jumps, pendulum ship—whatever one might think exists, it's there in all its twisted nightmare glory. One thing they all have in common is the more fear and thrill and screams generated, the faster they go. Just hope the ride doesn't stall and get stuck…

III. HAUNTING CLUES

Although the main purpose for these prompts is to find the clues, anyone is free to use them for general use and not focus on getting the clue. For those who do participate, we'll be asking for thread during our Activity Check! Those who are TDMing regardless of application can also have their threads counted by commenting to this thread and following the directions.

#1. Haunted Dollhouse. There is a special building called the Haunted Dollhouse. It's similar to a haunted house, however this attraction is filled with moving porcelain dolls that will try to scare and chase those who enter (it's quite likely some members of the newly added Porcelain Town have volunteered to help). Sometimes, those who enter are cursed into a doll and are now vulnerable. They are also not always able to move on their own will. This is not great as sometimes the dolls kind of…malfunction and will actually become aggressive. The weapons they wield are also not props, so that's a problem. However, they are small and can only inflict minor wounds and can be easily taken out.

The main clue here is "Villains!' I shrieked. 'Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! Tear up the planks! Here, here! It is the beating of his hideous heart!" To help both those who have turned into dolls as well as get the clue, everyone has to find the right place where some candied hearts are hidden. Fortunately the "blood trail" (it's raspberry syrup) will help lead them to the right place.

#2. Abandoned House. A little away from the main attractions there is a run down house surrounded by trees…and a lot of ravens. A raven with red eyes will guide those who dare or wish to face a lost loved one to the house. Inside it's just filled with faceless busts and empty paintings, but soon they are filled with the images of those lost ones. It could be a person, pet, thing, but they are there, just staring. Only the eyes and mouths move, and what the person hears are their insecurities and fears related to how they lost whatever they see. Anyone else will either see the original blanks or their own personalized images.

The main clue is "And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting // On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door // Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning // Shall be lifted – nevermore". To get out of this house, they have to first look for the bust that has the red eyed raven on it. This will be tricky as there will be many ravens with different colored eyes. Once they do, there will be a small picture frame. They must manifest one or more of the images they are seeing and capture it into the frame. This is simply done by waving it like a net, but the manifestation can move around. This can be as easy or difficult as a player wants, and how affected the character is from what they see and hear can also be a factor. The more affected they are, the easier it is to manifest but difficult to capture. The less affected, it will be more difficult to manifest as they have to tap into that raw fear, but will be easier to capture.

#3. Hay Bale Maze. Just outside of the circus tent is a large hay bale maze with the hay…looking as if it's seen much better days. It's filled with spooks that like to jump scare maze goers or bodiless limbs that reach out to grab, but aside from that it's harmless. Except for one particular figure.

The main clue is "Who dares?" he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him --"who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him and unmask him --that we may know whom we have to hang at sunrise, from the battlements!" There is a red clad figure wearing a skull mask. He will randomly bust through the hay walls and engage maze goers into a fight. Those who are incapable will flee in terror while the figure will chase, which will be a pretty good clue as to where he is. Once engaged, any weapon and dreamotion can be used at their disposal and the challenge is to just simply best him in a fight (not to the death). Striking the figure even once will earn a victory and the skull mask will be granted.

#4. Musical Catacombs. For a bit more lighthearted fun, there is an underground catacombs that is filled with tombs. Some of them have actual skeletons and ghosts sleeping in them, but they won't harm anyone if bothered. Just be a bit cranky, maybe throw a bone. At someone's head. Down here it's quite lively, filled with music, dancing, and a lot of alcohol. Minors will only get sparkling juice.

The main clue is "'Ha! ha! ha! — he! he! he! — a very good joke, indeed — an excellent jest. We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo — he! he! he! — over our wine — he! he! he!' // 'The Amontillado!' I said." One of the games is a dancing game where the tombs will light up a certain color and participants have to properly hit the correct corresponding floor panel (basically a music rhythm/DDR themed game). Should they make a perfect score, one of the tombs will open and have a crusty wine bottle in it. It has competitor and co-op mode.

Comments

haunted dollhouse!

[monoceroscaeli]

[This place is creepy for sure, but it's definitely far from the scariest place he's ever been. Which is why Childe seems to be able to keep his cool easily as they enter, his finger tapping his chin as he thinks.]

It's a good question, isn't it? There's only one way to find out. Why don't we choose one and see where it leads us? It wouldn't be much of an adventure if we stand around wondering all day.

[The Harbinger laughs- it's really not a big deal to him, even if he finds the whole carnival a little suspicious. But it's nothing he can't handle if things turn sideways.]

[whatsamada]

That sounds like a plan, I'm sure we'll find out where it goes eventually.

[Even if he really doesn't like the idea of wandering around until they find something. But then again, it wasn't all that different from what he dealt with back at home. Still, he gave a sigh before taking a step forward in said house.]

I'm ready whenever you are! Although, you don't seem all that scared to go in.

[monoceroscaeli]

Of course not.

[The carnival, though sus af, doesn't seem like it's trying to hurt guests that come in. If anything, it seems like nothing more than a horror-themed park that has some real elements of the undead to it. But he hasn't forgotten that this is a dream world, and that things like this are probably...normal-ish.]

Don't worry. Stick with me, and everything will be just fine.

[Famous last words.

Childe will gladly take the lead, moving through a hallway that has twists and turns, sharp angles, mirrors, the whole nine yards. But he does notice a doll skittering across the floor in one of the mirrors, stopping in his tracks.]

I'm Childe, by the way. Not to scare you, but we're being followed.

[whatsamada]

[He wasn't going to question that. Not when Childe seemed rather confident in what he was doing and especially with how much taller he was compared to him. Although, that didn't stop Ken from keeping his guard up.]

If you say so but just be careful.

[That said, it didn't take long before he noticed that something seemed a little off. Looking around, it seemed like a typical doll house but he couldn't help but feel rather uneasy...]

Then Childe-san, shall we run and see where this path leads? [Because no doll was going to scare him!!]

[monoceroscaeli]

Well, I don't see why not.

[Though he's not fond of the fact that there's something creeping around here. He won't let anything bad happen to Ken, and there's little creatures...dolls? Something that's stalking them. But he's going to keep bright appearances up, regardless of the danger, if any at all.

He can see something in the shadows eyeing Ken. Is that a doll? That's what he thought he saw a moment ago too.]

I'm not sure exactly what it is that's in here with us, so I'd prefer it if you stayed close to me. Um...

[What's your name, kid?]

[whatsamada]

Oh right, sorry. My name is Ken, it's really nice to meet you.

[After all, even in the midst of a dangerous doll house, he still had to make sure he was polite. Especially when there was somebody that was protecting him.]

But don't worry, I have faced worse things before! I doubt a dollhouse would scare me.

[And yet, he couldn't deny the look of uneasiness on his face. It was one thing to fight shadows but it was another to face various eyes staring down at you wherever you went.]

lol but when ken turns around, childe will be gone nps

[monoceroscaeli]

So you're no stranger to attractions like this, are you?

[He'd peg Ken around...ten, eleven? Much older than Teucer, that's for sure. Probably somewhere around Tonia and Anthon's age. That's good, he doesn't need to be quite as protective as he would be with a kid Teucer's age. Makes things easier for him.

Though how wrong Childe is about Ken's experiences.]

Do me a favor and take a quick count of how many are behind us.

[His battle instincts are telling him that there's a few.]

sorry for the late. teacher lyfe be fun

[whatsamada]

Nah, let's just say that I've dealt with some interesting things.

[After all, fighting shadows, summoning personas, and dealing with two Gods who want to end humanity? Seeing a haunted dollhouse was the least of his problems.

That said, he gave a quick nod before counting how many there are.]

But let's see, I don't think I really see much? Although, that means we should probably get ready for something to ambush us soon. [Because he wants to impress Childe with his oh so wonderful skills as a fighter.]

no worries!

[monoceroscaeli]

[Childe takes a step forward as Ken makes an assessment of how many potential enemies there are, though he's not sure if they'll attack or if they're just there to be creepy. He takes a look around, but he starts to feel strange, putting a hand to his head.

The world starts to blur, and he can't explain the dizziness he feels, until it finally stops and Childe finds that he can barely move his own arms and legs. And the scariest thing about it, is that he's looking up at the world now, and Ken is a giant in comparison to about three seconds ago.

What Ken will find when he turns back around is a little doll that's barely wiggling its arms and legs, and it looks exactly like Childe.

Inside, he's screaming for Ken. Please notice him and please don't step on his face!]

[whatsamada]

[As he looked around the area, nothing seems to be standing out so far. That said, he was a little worried at the silence. He didn't say anything at first but after a second or two, he was wondering what happened.]

Childe-san? Is everything okay...?

[That said, he turned around and found himself suddenly being alone]

Hey, you can't leave me alone! [Because that's just rude!! However, as he looked downward, that's when he saw something a little odd. Walking closer, that's when he saw a pretty familiar looking doll. Picking it up, he just stared at him.]

...Uh.... [What he was supposed to do here?]

[monoceroscaeli]

[Childe wiggles his little arms, worry enveloping him. He's a doll. He's a doll!!!! How did this happen???!!!

Ken!!!! He screams in his mind, panic being expressed with how he hopelessly flails about. His starts thrusting his arm downward towards the ground, wanting the boy to look.

There's a few dolls down there that seem to have taken an interest in the little Harbinger doll in Ken's hands; hey, that's another doll. One of us. One of us. Let's get him, and take him with us! They take out tiny little doll knives. Surrender him, human.

Run! I can't do anything like this! Oh, if only Ken could hear him.]

[whatsamada]

[Alas, if Ken could only read his mind. Instead, his attention was much more focused on why there was a doll of Childe before him. However, the moment that he saw said doll moving by itself, he had to take a step back.]

W-What the...? How did it...?

[He said to himself but there was the sinking realization that this doll couldn't be who he thought it was, could it?]

Childe-san, that can't be you right? How did you turn yourself into a doll?

[If he could only see the dolls slowly gathering around him now...]

[monoceroscaeli]

[Ken, I can't answer you! I need you to look down-!!!

Step one, get Ken to realize it's him, check. Step two, get him to run and figure out a way to return him to normal, in progress.

The little dolls advance on Ken, one of them getting a little happy with their doll knife as it waves it around. Childe's little doll head looks downwards, and he can see that they're about to attack Ken to get to him...so he makes the tiniest little hydro sword form in his hand. His vision works! Great!

Childe attempts to throw it downwards at the doll that looks like it's about to get violent, but with those stubby little arms, it doesn't really fly too far nor does it have the strength behind it like if he were still human. The hydro sword falls, bouncing on the ground without hitting anything until it dissipates. Ah.

Being a doll kind of sucks...]

[whatsamada]

[Whatever was going on, Ken hadn't got a clue. He wasn't even sure what Childe was attempting to do as he kept on raising an eyebrow. Tilting his head to the side, he wasn't even sure why he was attempting to make a water sword either.]

I don't really understand what you're trying to do...

[Although, he didn't have to wait for long. Glancing at where the sword landed, that's when he realized the horde of dolls coming after them. Taking a step back, he quickly took a look at Childe before immediately making a run toward an exit.]

Is this what you were trying to tell me? This really sucks! How are we supposed to find what we're looking for now?

[Hopefully it won't be too difficult, right??]

[monoceroscaeli]

[Childe nods as best as he can, this is exactly what he was trying to tell him. But he still needs Ken to find his way through here to find a way to return him to normal...he can't live his life as a doll, how is he going to conquer the world this way????

The little dolls aren't going to let Ken just get away though, trailing after him with their knives raised high as if they were pitchforks. Give the Harbinger doll up, Ken, he belongs to them! They'll chase you both down until they get what they want!

He's not sure if Ken is going to have the bandwidth to look for anything other than an exit, so Childe tries to do it for him. His arms start flailing like crazy when he spots some kind of trail on the ground. It's red, he doesn't know what it is, and that generally doesn't lead to anything good...but he's got nothing else, as the dollhouse otherwise just comes off as another creepy haunted house. So he points to the trail on the floor, and if Ken doesn't pay attention, he'll...gently poke his hand with his own little hydro sword, if he has to.]

[whatsamada]

[Running as fast as he could, he had to find a place out of here and fast! The last thing he wanted was to die by the hands of little dolls!

Of course, despite his panic, he did notice how much Childe was flailing around. Glancing downward at the ground, he gave a quick nod.]

You really think this will lead us somewhere? I hope that it'll show us a way out...!

[He shouted hoping to find some kind of relief from the horde. Again, he looks at Childe before mumbling to himself.]

It seems kind of odd they would show us a path though.

[monoceroscaeli]

[He...can't disagree. It is weird that there's a path marked out, but don't attractions like this only have one path to follow? Now he's not so sure, and it's possible in his own panic to try to help Ken that he hadn't thought this one through. But it's a little too late though, as Ken follows the trail.

But as the dolls chase Ken, the seem to start to speed up, especially when they reach the room that has the candy hearts hidden inside. Though maybe the human doesn't know the secret. Maybe the human will be forced to give up their new doll friend before he figures it out. The room is a dead end, a bedroom that's been set up as if it belonged to a little girl centuries ago. The candied hearts sit in a bowl under a cloth on the dresser, and some dolls move to try to get there before Ken does.

Childe wriggles in Ken's hands; let him down, he'll fight them himself, somehow! Moving his limbs so much has helped him understand his new body a little better, and he might have a chance. Maybe.

The trail ends here...Ken, you have to find whatever it is we're supposed to be looking for!

His little hydro swords appear in his doll hands...let him fight!]

[whatsamada]

[With the dolls gaining speed, Ken had no choice but to run a little faster. As much as he didn't want to fight, it seems like he has no choice. Especially now with a dead end! Immediately, he looks around to see if there was another way to escape but in his panicked mind? There doesn't seem to be one.]

Are you kidding me? What do we do now?

[He turned around to see a horde of dolls before him. Mumbling to himself, he doesn't want to get his Evoker out and start hurting these dolls but at the same time? He was mumbling to himself as he debated on what to do.

That was, when he saw Childe moving around in his hand and with two little swords popping up? He just raised an eyebrow.]

Wait, you can still fight in that form? Are you sure? There is a lot of them!

[Please don't be an idiot, Childe.]

[monoceroscaeli]

[He doesn't care if there's a lot of them! Just make sure to find how to make him human again!

He wriggles more in Ken's hand, let him down, he's gunna fight them and no one's going to stop him. Besides, it's him they want, not Ken. So he'll give it to them. Maybe it's the way he confidently holds his swords in his little doll hands, or maybe there's some sort of glimmer of determination in the cloth that creates his eyes, but he looks like he's confident that he'll be fine and that he'd protect Ken from whatever other schemes the dolls might have for them both.

One of the little dolls gets brave, coming up to Ken's leg and poking him with the tiny knife right in his ankle. Give him up!

Childe fights harder to be put down on the ground- let him fight Ken he can't take not doing anything anymore!]

[whatsamada]

[It seems that Ken has no choice. If Childe wanted a fight, he can't stop him with how much he keeps moving around. As much as he has his doubts, he'll just have to believe in him for now.

At least, not a doll was poking him with said tiny knife. Wincing a little, he didn't have a choice.]

I really hope I know what you're doing! Just be careful...!

[With that, he placed Childe down before taking a few steps back. While he knew he had to find an exit, a part of him was worried. Could Childe really take on an army of dolls by himself....?]

[monoceroscaeli]

[Ah, freedom. Now he gets to see how he'll do in battle in this form.

Childe faces the dolls himself, leaving Ken to find the candies to turn him back to normal, the clue, and the exit. His movement is limited, and it's almost comical how he has to walk, bouncing back and forth between each of his stiff cloth legs. The dolls look ecstatic to capture him, and he just takes that as a sign of what might be a good battle- and charges in.

Does it look like he's having fun? Yes. Is he having fun? Absolutely. He is very much enjoying parrying and countering knives that come in to stab him, making full use of the range of his powers as he fights.]

[whatsamada]

[Ken really wasn't sure what he was seeing. While he should have half expected some strange things to happen in this new world, it was another to see a doll fighting an army of other dolls. For a second, he had to wonder if he was dreaming.

That and...?]

Childe-san, I wasn't aware that you enjoyed fighting this much...

[Regardless, he didn't have much time to think. Looking around, there had to be an exit somewhere. While he noticed there was a horde of dolls around a certain dresser, he had to push them aside. That said, he did pull his Evoker out before wondering if it was needed.]

Don't think of a second that I won't attack you! [And yet, he felt bad knowing how he kept pushing them to the side as the dolls started to gather up on him!]

[monoceroscaeli]

[If he had a mouth, he'd be laughing manically as he made his way through the dolls that threaten to capture him. That was their first mistake in his eyes- they should be trying to kill him, even that's even possible while he's made of just stuffing. It's too bad, he'd prefer that they give it their all, but it seems he's only going to get a half-hearted attempt out of these wicked dolls that are attacking him.

As he fights, he sees that Ken is getting ganged up on and there's an abundance of dolls on the dresser. Curious, that they're going after Ken when he's clearly the target...or rather, maybe they're trying to keep something from Ken.

There's a tiny flash of electro that whizzes past Ken's ear, as he unleashes his delusion to reach his partner in time to keep him from getting overwhelmed by dolls. The surge of power that radiates from him in a circle pushes them back, as he looks around to assess the situation. Something's up there that they don't want either of them to get at. He points his stubby cloth arm at the dresser- there.

Whatever is up there is what they don't want them to have.

So he continues to fight, taking advantage of his newfound speed to keep up with the dolls that try to push them back, and to try to give Ken the path he needs to reach whatever it is that lies on the dresser.]

[whatsamada]

[Yup, Ken was most definitely believing that this was a dream. He wasn’t sure when he would wake up soon but this was quite the nightmare he was having. The moment that he saw a flash of electricity by his side, he quickly turned around to see the small Childe doll before tilting his head to the side.

He wasn’t quite sure what he saw but he had to ask.]

Is that what you can do? I just hope you’re not pushing yourself too hard!

[Powerful or not, he was still a doll! With that, he started to look around in the dresser to see if there might be something there. As he pushed each drawer open, it didn’t stop the horde of dolls that kept going after him.]

There’s got to be that heart somewhere!

[And yet, his hand was hovering over his Evoker. If he could summon Kala-Nemi, maybe it would stop everything for just one moment…!]

[monoceroscaeli]

[He's fine!!! He appreciates Ken's concern but he's okay! He swears!

The downside to being a doll is that his powers seem to have scaled down a little bit to fit his little cloth body. Childe tries to clear dolls away from Ken, but it seems like there's even more in here than he originally thought. But the Harbinger said he'd make sure that Ken was okay as long as he was with him, and he fully intends to keep that promise, fighting off whoever was closest, until Childe himself has to make his way on top of the dresser to keep them from crawling up Ken right from the torso.

But there's so many, and he feels a knife go into his back, and another doll grabs him. This is starting to look bad, and Childe is getting desperate. He may have to transform here, and that's something he's wary of doing. Will his little cloth body be able to handle the Foul Legacy Transformation?

He shoots a look over to Ken. This isn't good...]