Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Trick-or-Treat: The Manor of the Peculiar

Its existence is unknown-- unless one seeks it.

A strange castle-like manor towers above most average buildings. Perched atop a hill and surrounded with a tall-gated enclosure around the property. Its architecture resembles that of the Gothic era; flying buttresses and intricate styled stone and ironwork riddled throughout its intimidating structure. A presence of stained-glass windows that are only grey scale with occasional 'blips' of blood-red hue to demonstrate the macabre murals. A theme of roses and crosses integrated in design among haunted-looking faces in frozen agony.

No one knows how they end up here.

One moment, a troubled thought could come to mind while walking upon a familiar path that you've walked one hundred times previously. The next moment, you end-up at the very gate of this manor's boundary that seems to creak-open for you - everything surrounded in dense fog that impairs distant vision. The flora and fauna of the area seems to not exist except for a collection of screechy ravens. An almost empty canvas.

A sign is posted at eye-level, wrapped around an iron bar :
"Welcome to the Manor of the Peculiar,
a home and school for the 'gifted, troubled and
otherwise misfitted.'

A woman just as monochrome in appearance as the manor stands at the front door of the manor. As if you are somehow in an old black and white film at an earlier point in history. The woman's arms are crossed along her narrow waist. Painted lips pursed as if in displeasure. Not a single hue of pigment revealed. Skin as white as snow - hair as lustrous as silk but as black as ink. Dare you approach? If you do - can you go back home?

(OOC Note: Medieval time-period preferred, but your character could potentially arrive here from the time period of their existence.)

At first, it was a party. One would say a simple party, though in Tatsuo's experience 'simple' to the folks he hung around with meant supernatural, surrounded by spirits and beasts of myth and legend... and... well, magic. All of which happened to be somewhat troubling to someone who had essentially none of the traits other than the sight and duality of planes for those of different existences.

Well, a bathroom break turned into another adventure. An adventure that was unexpected, and definitely not really inspiring the best of confidence for the young man as he looked around. Wanting to return to the others that had been in the living room, Tatsuo now found himself in an area that was perhaps too atmospheric. The fog, the forest, the trail... it was like something out of one of the Hollywood films that usually had to be dubbed over or subtitled for him to enjoy.

Trying to go back through the door, Tatsuo was met with just a door and a frame that situated itself in the middle of the trail.

「くそ。。。」It was a simple utterance of shock and exasperation.

Furrowing his brow with a bit of a frown and defeated expression, Tatsuo walked along the trail. If there was anything he learned from being with Manaka and the others? It was that nothing was going to get done concerning the supernatural if he decided to sit and twiddle his thumbs about it.

Approaching what looked to have been a more western styled home, Tatsuo felt his throat tighten and his stomach drop. Was he even in a plane that existed in Japan?

Looking around, Tatsuo soon saw the woman that was there. She was a bit hard to see thanks to... the monochromatic themes she opted to don herself in...? Must have been a costume of some kind or another. It was that time of the year, after all.

"E-excuse me...?" Tatsuo started, struggling a bit with his words as he attempted to remember what English he did know. "Where am I?"

Shanantina's head turned sharply in the direction of the newest 'arrival' -- ominous, vacant stare of alabaster eyes crowned with a generous hood of thick 'lashes. Kohl make-up smudged around each with finger-like decorative markings that extended-out in sunburst. A twitch of her liquorice-hued lip snarled; exposing teeth.

"Welcome." Deadpan greeting left little consideration nor admiration of their entry. Impatient, perhaps, by the language barrier. Although harsh in her demeanour - she noticeably 'softened' after a moment in pause.

"You're at my home. Usually, people only arrive here should they be magically inclined and rejected by their societies." The zombie-looking woman's hand lifted, cupping her own cheek as her arm's elbow nestled against its still-crossed pair. Studying the lime-shocked hair and continued shamelessly downward in study until she reached his shoes.

"Unfortunately..." she mused aloud in sing-song voice, dipping at her slender waist to near his eye-level due to the height difference in staircase that lead-up to the castle's front door. "My dearest second-in-command made a significant error while attempting to be 'festive' for an up-and-coming Hallow's Eve party." Painted nails stroked at her own pale chin as she'd be mere inches from his face now. The woman would smell of roses and something metallic - like copper.

"I don't suppose you're magically inclined and 'rejected' by your society - are you?"

The long walk up to the overlook was usually more than enough to calm down and be ready to reintegrate with the family. It was his favorite spot to just sit, and be, and not have to worry about how ridiculous his cousins were being. Then he'd shift, stretch his wings, and ride the wind across the valley, delighting in the lamps being set out in the evening light. Especially on festive nights like this! The music, the dancing of lights below? Just the thing to soothe one's soul.

But it always started with being upset and this night something changed. The trail jogged sideways and when it should have meandered back to the cliffs, it only opened up into mist and an unfamiliar clearing and an estate therein. Looking back showed dense fog instead of familiar trees and a sense of dread gripped him.

He'd barely sensed the magic that brought him here, and mentally kicked himself for not resisting. He'd only been exasperated, momentarily frustrated! That didn't mean he truly wanted to leave and... never return.

Pale with fear but determined, he made his way to the gate. He'd just have to speak with the keeper of these lands and find a way home. Surely it had been a mix-up and he could barter safe passage?

'Welcome' -- okay, that was a word that Tatsuo understood. His brow furrowed with deep concentration as he attempted to puzzle the words together and make it coherent in his mind. For once, he was a little jealous of Manaka and her ability to exchange knowledge with spirits she allowed to integrate with her body, which has in turn allowed her to speak the languages she needed when in new areas.

'You'. 'Home'. 'Magic'. 'Rejected'. 'Unfortunate'.

More words that Tatsuo at least understood.

'Rejected'.

"I..." Tatsuo started, his mind racing as he attempted to play 'word association' in his head and remember what grammar that Kazu and Manaka attempted to teach him. The train of thought left the vicinity momentarily as someone new approached. Looking back to the new person, Tatsuo shook his head to refocus his attention.

"I have no magic..." Tatsuo continued slowly. "Friends. Magic. Friends can use magic."

Placing a hand on his chest, Tatsuo then said: "I can see magic. Ghosts. Yokai."

Shanantina's attention was 'caught' much like an insect in a spider's web upon the arrival of another figure, Kekoa. "Come, come," she beckoned aloud, extending-out a pale arm before motioning with fingers in come-hither motion. The iron gate would open for them; without anyone apparently there. "I suppose you have found yourself stumbling here at random too?" She crooned in sultry notes of her sinfully succulent voice. It was like silk - comforting, yet also cool in delivery.

Tatsuo would be regarded carefully; observation of his body-language had the hourglass-shaped woman staring at him. Although she would be far more patient than she'd appeared to be on initial meeting. "I see," she cooed, "then I would suggest that you are quite gifted. No?" She mused, eyelashes fluttered in indication where her sight exchanged to, observing the mansion towering above them as if half-expecting to see the very ghosts he spoke of peering-through the windows.

None the less, the woman boldly inserted her arm into the crook of his elbow and held onto it as if she expected him to escort her -- but she did the guiding. Persuasively, adding pressure against it to encourage him further up to the top-step where the patio of the manor of sorts began. "Well you are welcome here, darling." Apparently, not opting-in for simplifying her language, and merely expecting him to somehow keep-up and understand. Unfamiliar with personal space, she'd lift a hand to 'pet' his head. "There, there - no need to be uncomfortable. Look!" She exclaimed, like attempting to draw the attention of a puppy to a new toy or biscuit. "Treats, see?" She explained, reaching-forth to a bowl filled with odd-looking sweets that were doubtful to be seen in a moral world.

Spiders that twitched. Ghost marshmallows that looked a little too eerie. Candy eye-balls that looked a little too realistic - in fact, one of them blinked. "Do you like sweets? Sugar?" She crooned, reaching into the bowl to grab a fistful and would attempt to push it into the palm of his hand. Using a variety of words in hopes there was one she landed-on that would strike a recollection in his language-barrier vocabulary.

At her beckoning and the gate's opening, Kekoa's frown deepended but he continued forward. "Excuse me, madame I-- oh. Yes, actually. And I'd like to remedy this. Are you the--"

And then she was off, trying to sweep the other person (human, perhaps? He was having some trouble getting a read on him, here.) away, into the manor. "Madame? Madame, please," his hair fluffed and he warbled a few notes of displeasure, following after them. "This is all a bit overwhelming."

Sight of the 'treats' gave him pause and he found himself staring at the eyeball candies in particular. He tilted his head when one blinked, then muttered a string of exasperated questions in another language. It might sound occasionally similar to Japanese, however it was a Ryukyu dialect, and one of the southern ones at that.

After a whistling sigh, Kekoa would ask, "If I may be so bold, Madame, how does one leave your estate? I have to be home tonight, for our festival. I have a role to play in some rituals that we observe."

Once he was taken by the arm and whisked away further into the manor, Tatsuo looked to Kekoa with a hint of pleading in his expression. Sure, there were still some words that Tatsuo was picking up on, but again, comprehension and knowing how they went together coherently in his head was still difficult. He kind of shied away as much as he could when Shanantina started patting at his head without trying to appear too disrespectful. Of course, when shown the... treats, was it? Tatsuo recoiled somewhat as a response.

When Kekoa spoke, Tatsuo looked to him again and just listened. The way he spoke reminded him somewhat of Manaka and Kazu's dialect, which caused him some form of comfort and relief. Though... unfortunately, the words felt perhaps a little too nonsensical to poor Tatsuo until he started speaking an identifiable language once more.

"Y-yes. I must go home. My friends are most likely worried," Tatsuo said once he concluded that 'leave' and 'home' meant that Kekoa was also not here of their own free will.

Shan's head turned briefly to acknowledge Kekoa as he started hurrying after her and attempting to get her attention. The monochrome woman smiled glamorously, revealing her pearly-white teeth beneath. Yet, did not stop until she'd arrived at her originally intended destination.

"Leave?" She parroted in crooning tone, a higher octave in note as if she was both surprised and confused.

None the less, the monochrome woman bent-down at her small waist and offered a grin. Extending a hand out to Kekoa, half-expecting him to take it as she intended to shake his hand in a more formal greeting. Thick eyelashes surrounding each startled-looking eye fluttered as she spoke,

"How do you do? I am Shanantina DeVont."

The woman would stand tall once more, crossing her arms along her waist while she 'hmmed' and hesitated on explaining to them on how to leave. "Well, I suppose I can not keep you if you do not want to remain. Although it would be good fun to keep you here," she mused. "I mean, you could wander the manor if you like, there's all sorts of fun creatures and personalities in there. Have you ever seen a man with a metal head who uses his arms to walk as much as he does his legs? He loves to show off. His name is Steve."

Another grin formed upon those painted lips, fingertips of both of her hands touching together in a meet nearest her body's center. Tatsuo's concerned mention of wanting to go home seemed to resonate with her. That smile remained, although it was far more gentler - not wanting to frighten them too much. Even if her amusements sparked upon whimsical chaos. Igniting, like a candle's flame that drew-in the moths that exposed their curiosity.

"Ah-- very well, very well. It is more simple than you think." She mused, extending her hand to motion towards the gate they'd come through, "you simply have to leave back through the way you had come from. Just like that, you'll end-up right where you started before you came here. I warn you though! Once you leave, it is doubtful you can return. This place only pops-up to those who need it." A pause given, "I say again-- need it. There's probably a reason you're here." The woman's attractive face turned into a moment of neutrality, "...unless my second-in-command wrecked that algorithm too. - Oh, do take some candy if you do plan on leaving. There's a mortal option that might be more to your tastes. Perfectly harmless."

Thus, Shan motioned to a second bowl of candy that-- most certainly had not been there before. Yet, the sweets would be more recognisable in a Western society. Such as, candy corn, lollies and foil-wrapped toffees.

There was a long moment as Tatsuo did what he could to simply process all the information that he was being given at this time. There were glances in Kekoa's direction, and then he would turn his attention back to Shanantina. Then, Tatsuo looked to the candies that had appeared that looked a little more familiar. It was... a little more comforting than the rest of the items that he was shown previously... but there was no time to think about that.

Shanantina's introduction made Tatsuo respond in kind. That was the easiest thing to understand. Most English-speaking societies had it so that they said their name with their given name then family name. Nodding to himself as he pieced that together, Tatsuo briefly introduced himself: "I am... Tatsuo Mizushima."

Knitting his brow with renewed concentration, Tatsuo pieced more words together in order to understand the situation. He felt his heart drop a little bit once he realised that he was being told that he should go back the way he came. Gritting his teeth and frowning, Tatsuo contemplated more of the situation at hand.

"I... tried..." Tatsuo started in response to Shanantina. "The doorway. Going back is empty. Same area."

Shanantina's kind smile returned once more when he seemed to protest this reality. "Really, darling - it is the sample. 'Less the system is broken," she sighed-out, everything had been going particularly odd as of the last few days. Including, these random arrivals. "Come come," she beckoned once more, seeking to escort him back the way he came, down the winding path that lead to the front iron gate.

The woman's long, thin arm motioned to the gate just then as they stood before it, "knock three times. It will open, and you will be sent back home." She cooed, pressing her fingertips together to hold her hands in a 'pyramid' formation. "Promise," she grinned wider - almost eerily. It was something about her mouth... it was just slightly too wide.

"Regardless, it was a pleasure to meet you Tatsuo Mizushima, even if your circumstances of arrival were less-than-ideal." The thin monochrome woman would motion to the gate again, "off you go!"