twenty four | Trick or treat all the neighbors gonna die of fright

[strike_you_out]

Action 1; various shops en route to 726 Anderson Lane
[Today, Slugger has decided to do some shopping in preparation for Halloween. His definition of shopping deviates from the norm in that he takes what he wants and leaves without paying, sometimes with an angry drone store-owner chasing after him and shaking a fist in the air. The irony of it is that he probably has accumulated enough money from his paper route to pay for everything he steals, but Slugger is embarrassingly confused by the currency system and can't tell a nickel from a quarter. His "shopping" expedition takes him from the grocery store to drug stores and any shops that might sell candy along the way.

Lemon heads, Mary Janes, bubble gum, red hots, lollipops, peanut-butter chocolates, candy bars of each type, jaw breakers, every tooth-decaying item the 1950's has to offer (sans candy corn)---all of this is piled into his stolen cart of Halloween goodies. He will return home to Anderson Lane pushing a dangerously overfilled shopping cart along the street or sidewalk. Occasionally, he hops onto the back of the cart for a ride AND to actually see over the mountain of sweets he's carting. Otherwise, when viewed from the front, it may look as if the cart is driving itself.

Action 2; 502 Ricardo Street
[Later in the day, progress continues at the haunted house where Slugger has managed to paint every wall in his section black. Even the floors and ceilings are black. On top of the black coat of paint, hundreds and hundreds of eyes have been painted in white, yellow, and red. Anyone who enters may get a sense of being watched because of all the staring eyes. Much of the painting had been done before the walls were even put up, and now that they are up, he can begin working on the fun part.

All over the floor are spools of black rope, some empty, some not. The room is gradually becoming a jungle of black rope pulled taut from floor to ceiling at different angles. The rope-ends simply disappear into the painted wood without glue or nails to hold them in place. Currently, it's easy to navigate between them, but when he's finished and all the lights are out, it will be a challenge to pass from one end of the room to the other.

In the center of the floor surrounded by many long pieces of rope, Slugger is sitting with his legs bent under him, quietly tying knots at the ends of each piece. He's learned a few things about knot-tying from the times spent helping his mother tie up his father.]

Comments

2

[miss-enma-ai.livejournal.com]

[Ai is looking at the eyes on the wall as he works. Her own section was also painted black, but so far that's all it has.]

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[There's a few red eyes in the mix, possibly inspired by her. As she looks around, Slugger continues tying knots. He's glanced into her room before but has little idea of what her plans are.]

What will yours be?

[miss-enma-ai.livejournal.com]

I think.....like my last one. You'll think you're locked in the room. And the only way out is to pull the thread on the straw dolls neck and enter Hell.

1

[hungry-monster.livejournal.com]

[Oh hello giant mound of candy.]

Getting ready for Halloween?

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[At the sound of Johan's voice, Slugger peers around the heap of sweets.]

Yes. I think I have enough...

[hungry-monster.livejournal.com]

You're passing it out to people?

2

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

[Pokey's just surveying the room, happily, at the moment.]

Nice.

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

Think so?

[He's proud of it himself for the most part.]

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

It's pretty good, I guess.

[Yeah, he really likes it.]

1

[likescats.livejournal.com]

[Outside the house]

I WASN'T AWARE CARTS COULD MOVE ON THEIR OWN HERE.

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[Death probably wasn't aware that carts could wave, either. Yet, there's a hand waving at him and eventually a face grinning at him when Slugger climbs onto the back of the cart to peek over. As the cart approaches the driveway, it begins to slow.]

[likescats.livejournal.com]

AH... HELLO SLUGGER.

1

[redirections.livejournal.com]

[Accelerator would normally ignore something like someone pushing along a cart full of candy, but today? He has a bone to pick with Slugger.]

You fucking bastard! What the hell was that for, a few days ago?!

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[And normally Slugger would hop onto the cart and roll on by or maybe even try to run Accelerator over. Instead, he'll step down and drag the heel of his skate on the ground, bringing the cart to a stop. He isn't going to climb off or answer the question just yet.]

How was it?

[redirections.livejournal.com]

[Not going to answer Slugger's question, either.]

Don't screw around with me, you bastard!

1

[encored]

[did someone say mountain of sweets...

he pauses in his walk to stare curiously at the cart, trying to lean back far enough to see what madman has such a horrific sweet tooth.]

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[It can be assumed that whomever it is doesn't see Charles either by the way the cart keeps rolling forward.]

[tapshoetomove.livejournal.com]

[It's Candy Mountain, Charlie!

Luke opens the door after spotting something odd out the window, only to be greeted with a giant pile of candy.

Is this for real?]

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[Candy Mountain rolls to a stop in the driveway and Slugger steps out from behind it, grinning proudly. Impressed yet, Luke? He doesn't see anyone else gathering this much candy!

Slugger comes up to the garage door to open it---because where the hell else is he going to store all this candy?---but in doing so, the shopping cart begins to roll backwards down the driveway.]

1

[roadroller]

[Rin can't help but to stop and stare at the approaching candy tower.]

What the... ♪

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[The cart appears to be having some difficulty getting over a bump in the sidewalk. Slugger peeks around from the side and tries again to roll it over, but it doesn't want to go. A few bags of candy come dislodged and fall to the ground. Caught up in his own strange business, he doesn't realize Rin is watching.]

1

[deaths-heritor.livejournal.com]

[...Where are the deluxe chocolate truffles for your mother? Susan will meet him a few houses down from their own.]

...You're giving all of that away on Halloween, I assume.

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

[Don't worry, they're in there somewhere. Standing on the back of his cart, Slugger will pause to answer in a way he hopes will horrify her.]

No. I'm putting it into storage.

1

[bread_goes_bip]

[i][Death spots him as he's riding the cart. Now that's quite the sight.]

Hi Slugger. That's an awful lot of candy there.

[strike-you-out.livejournal.com]

It's for Halloween.

[He seems mildly excited about it. Last Halloween he didn't get to do much of anything because of the mind-altering candy corn. But this time, if nothing too insane happened, he hoped to try and enjoy it.]