melodiesofeternity | Creepy Kupos

Ena stands at the gate of the Mogtresor manor, gazing up at the house. It probably looks fine in the daytime, but the long, dark shadows cast over it as the sun sets behind it gives it an...eerie presence, to say the least. She totally understood now why they'd been called on to deal with suspicious activity.

She reaches out to put her hand on the gate, and the cold iron sends a shiver down her spine. Can't let that give her second thoughts, though. She turns to Finn. "Ready?"

Finn grimaces but nods anyway. "As ready as I'll ever be. The owners already left, right?"

Even as he asks, he pushes against the gate, letting it fall open with an eerie creak. He didn't make a move forward, though. This whole place was creeping him out. "Who even lives in a place like this? I mean, really?"

"It's their ancestral home, apparently." She nods slightly and wills herself to take one step beyond the threshold and onto the path leading to the grand front entrance. "But it sounds like even their familial pride couldn't win out over the things that go bump in the night."

The cobbled path leading up to the house is clean, and obviously very well taken care of. It ends when it reaches the wide wooden stairs that will bring them up to the porch. The porch wraps around either side of the wide manor, but wicker benches - the bright green pattern on the seats suggesting they were meant for summertime, but the family seems to have forgotten to take them in - sit on either side of them, blocking the way.

The grand door stands staunchly before them, the dark wood looking even darker in the shadows. There's a brass knocker with a moogle's face on it. Ena reaches up to knock when she remembers that there's no one inside to answer.

"Do you have the key?"

"Yeah," he answers, approaching the door as he looks around the place. He knows that people do live here, he does, but he can't help but get the sense of abandonment. It's like no one's been home in ages.

Finn unlocks the door with the wrought iron key, the bolts inside sliding open with a loud clunk before he pushes open the heavy door. The inside is dark and smells of dust. "Hello?" he calls inside, just in case.

He has several bad feelings about this. "I know what they think this is, but let's keep our weapons close, all right?"

The dusty, musky air rushes out from the dark inside and whirls around them before diffusing into the atmosphere. Even with her superior elven eyesight, it takes a moment for her eyes to adjust to - to accept the darkness inside the house. She shivers. She hates how Finn's voice echoes in the empty entrance hall.

"Y-yes, of course." and she hates how there's now a frightened stutter to her voice. She pats her short staff sitting square on her hip. She has to use every ounce of energy in her body to take the one step forward to stand in line with Finn. Why is she so scared all of a sudden?

The first thing she does is fling her arm out to the side, just inside the front door, and by some miracle her hand lands square onto the light switch. The electric chandelier on the high ceiling immediately lights up, illuminating the front hall, yet the dark red wallpaper seems to make the room darker than it should be. A grand, dark wood staircase sweeps up to the second floor before them, fancy rugs cushion their feet. Absurdly large portraits of noble-looking moogles hang on the wall opposite them. Two wood-paneled doors stand opposite each other - one to their left, one to their right. Both are closed.

Finn makes the executive decision to not close the door behind them. This place is just creepy, and he doesn't care too much about making it worse, so he leaves the door ajar.

This is usually the part where he announces a plan about splitting up but he's not going to be suggesting that one today. Besides, she doesn't look too comfortable either. "Let's check this floor first, yeah?" Every time he speaks, it's low and quiet, as if the house itself is muffling his voice. It certainly has that oppressive air about it.

How do people live here? Maybe it's nicer with some open windows or something.

Anyway, with one hand on the gun holstered his thigh, he starts inching towards and tries to open the left door, peeking inside to spy more darkness and dust. "Looks clear so far."

Ena nods in response to his proposal. Her eyes dart up the steps - she could only imagine how dreary the upstairs might be.

When Finn goes over to the left door to open it, Ena follows close behind, the sound of her footsteps disappearing into the carpet. It was unsettling how quiet it was despite how big the house was.

She peers across his shoulder and into the darkness. She squints. There's darkness, and then there's dark. Or maybe it was just her jitters getting to her. Wanting to get rid of it immediately, she reaches into the room and gingerly feels around for the light switch.

When her fingers make contact with it, the two electric chandeliers on the ceiling light up, revealing the long room to be something like a living room, or a parlor. The walls are a sickly pale green, and the ceiling-to-floor windows on the opposite wall of them are covered by heavy drapes of the same color. There's a fireplace on the wall to their left, and another large portrait of a lady moogle sits proudly above it. A fancy rug covers the already-carpeted floor, parlor benches placed in clusters at this end as well as the far end of the long room. On the far wall - opposite the fireplace - is another door, closed, that sits next to a display case. There's also another door at that end of the room on the same side as the door they came through, large wooden bookshelves sitting between them. A grand piano sits in the middle, closed. The only sound in this room is the loud ticking of a clock.

Finn squeezes himself against the door when Ena reaches for the light switch. He should probably be uncomfortable with the invasion space but he is very much not right now. Though, his attention is quickly taken away by the room. Especially the portrait. How many of these family members had these ornate portraits? How wealthy were these people? Why didn't they have a nicer house?

He eyed the other two doors, instinct saying they should do the quickest sweep of the house that he's ever done in his life, but stops himself just enough to do this a little right. They need to look around, after all.

But instead of striding forward with some sort of purpose, Finn lingers in the doorway and shifts from foot to foot before shuffling across the room to the curtains. "Let's get some sunlight. It'll be less weird." Hopefully. Anyway, he yanks open one of the heavy curtains, hoping to spread a little happiness in this house if at all possible.

The faint light of the sunset fills the room - well, half of the room at least - with a warm orange glow, giving an inviting golden sheen to the wooden bookcases on the far wall and clashing eerily with the green motif of the room. Ena visibly relaxes when she sees the outside.

"We haven't been in here for very long," she comments quietly. "But it feels like I haven't seen the sky in such a long time." It was an odd feeling.

She walks along the near side of the room by the bookshelves. Most of the shelves were filled with knick-knacks instead of books, like that loud and annoying clock.

"Do you think the owners like this house?" She reaches the end of the row of shelves and looks between the two doors. Hopefully they could find the wine cellar and get out of here ASAP. "I wonder if they regret moving here."

"I know. It's oppressive. Weighs you down." The air in here, he means. The atmosphere. No wonder these people thought a ghost was in this house. It felt haunted.

Finn takes one look at the barren fireplace and starts heading to the opposite end of the room, away from the light. It sucks, but he'd rather finish this and leave, too. "I can't imagine anyone liking this place. I get it if it's a sentimental thing, but- Maybe if they just opened the windows or something. Got some new lights." Maybe it was the people themselves that were creepy.

Finn shivered and moved to the far door. "I've never been in a house like this before. If you were a wine cellar, where would the entrance be? Kitchen?" That made the most sense to him.

Oh no, what if the entrance is back outside and they did this for nothing? Ugh.

If Finn decides to open the far door, he'll find inside a small bathroom, its walls painted a dark blue with a flower trim near the ceiling in a pitiful attempt to brighten up the small room. There's a fancy, yet somewhat outdated-looking toilet in there, along with a porcelain sink with a gaudy clamshell-shaped edge.

"Mm," Ena responds vaguely in thought as she moves along the bookshelves to the door on that side. "A wine cellar would be found below the kitchen, yes. Our problem currently seems to be," she pauses as she swings open the door, revealing a study, similarly stuffy with too many carpets and too many curtains and dark wooded furniture that doesn't help lighten the atmosphere in the house, with a door at the opposite side. She sighs. "Locating this elusive kitchen."

Edited 2018-10-30 19:54 (UTC)

"Maybe it's on the other side of the house or in the back," he suggests, rubbing the back of his neck. It's a terrible suggestion, honestly. He doesn't want to go back over there now that he finally gets to see the sun again. "Who needs this much space, anyway? Their family must be huge."

He's not really complaining about the size of the house or the family, honestly. He also has to make himself not suggest they leave and get a map of the house or go outside and peek in each window until they find their goal. They can do this. They've both faced worse, right? Finn's definitely almost certain that this house is better than Starkiller.

"Well, it certainly won't be upstairs, that's for sure," she remarks, taking a tentative step into the study. "Which luckily means we don't have to double our time in this awful place."

She puts her hand on one of the curtains in the room and pulls it back slightly, letting some more light into the room. Nope, not this way. "I don't know if their family is huge. Their decorations tell me it's a display of wealth." She spots a marble moogle bust sitting in the corner of the room and hops out of its line of sight as she passes by it. There was no real reason to do that, but the thought of a statue looking at her unnerved her, for some reason.

Finally at the other side of the study, she gingerly takes a hold of the doorknob, twists it, and pushes it open slowly. She's greeted with the flood of afternoon light and warm, comforting air. She opens it up a bit more to see what it is - and it's the kitchen, the light beechwood and white painted trim a welcome breath of fresh air from the rest of the dark, oppressive house. "Finn!" she calls over her shoulder. "It's here!"

Finn would like to think he wasn't also unnerved by the bust, but he makes sure to avert his eyes as he walks by. The wealth vibe is something he's definitely getting from this place, but it felt like the First Order's version a little bit. "It just looks so out of touch, though. What's the point in having all this money if it zaps all of the happiness out of a home?"

Maybe it was better with people talking and laughing. That said, gossiping about the unseen owners of the place was helping his nerves a little bit.

Finn pokes his head into the kitchen behind Ena and lets out a sigh of relief. "This is more like it. Hopefully, they kept the same theme for the wine cellar." He already doubts it.

"That's a good question," Ena murmurs. Her castle wasn't even as dreary as this. They had plenty of carpets and tapestries but...it was just happier. Maybe it was just her nostalgia and maybe Finn would find it just as oppressive if he ever visited, but there was certainly something different about this whole place.

"I agree, but if they cellar is really unnerving as they say it is..." She looks up nervously out the open kitchen window, the last of the sunset's rays vanishing behind the trees in the distance. It was going to get dark in here soon, so she quickly seeks out and hits that light switch. There's a shelf by the switch, and she's immediately distracted by the variety of wine bottles lined up on it - all mostly empty, clearly suggesting that the owners weren't going to get more - with some bundles of herbs lined up neatly by them. Distracted, she picks up a bottle and starts reading the label.

There's a square on the floor just behind her, which is most likely the cellar entrance. But she's temporarily forgotten their mission as she's opened the bottle and is daintily sniffing the inside...

Finn makes note of the setting sun with a grimace. Just when he didn't think this place could get creepier.

So he sighs and starts hunting around for another door, running on assumptions of things he's seen before, when the sound of his footstep suddenly comes back hollow. He freezes and looks down, stomping hard enough for the wood to shake. "Hey," he says with a tinge of excitement, bending down to the trapdoor. With a yank, he attempts to open the door and get this adventure over with. "Paydirt."

The sudden sound of his stomp and voice startles her and she almost drops the bottle. She whirls around to scold him, but she promptly forgets about it when she sees he's pulled the cellar door open. "Paydirt?" she murmurs to herself as she places the bottle back on the shelf.

When Finn pulls the door open, he's greeted by a spiral staircase leading down into the cellar, a blast of cold air, and a whiff of torch fire...even though it's pitch dark down there.

Ena looks to Finn, slightly nervous now that they've finally found their destination. She looks at the dark stair and then back to him, then back to the stairs, as if urging him to go down first.

Oh. Finn scowls. "The light switch must be down there," he says quietly, unholstering his gun. Probably a bit of an overreaction, at least he hopes so. "We'll move slow and stay close to each other, okay?"

The necks of the bottles that can be seen in the afternoon light are sticking out on some of the steps, gleaming out at them, daring him to step on one. Finn takes a deep breath and slowly starts to make his way, one hand on the center of the stairs, other gripping his gun in front of him.

The staircase feels like it goes on and on for miles, but Finn's feet eventually touch level ground. He can't see anything...

"I'm right behind you," Ena murmurs as she steps onto the first step after him. She sees him take out his gun, and is glad he's leading the way.

They leave the bright and airy kitchen behind them and descend into the dark, freezing cellar. It isn't that cold out yet, and the rest of the house is so covered in carpets and heavy curtains that it's a mystery why this cellar is as cold as it is. The poor wine, is Ena's first thought.

The smell of torchfire gets stronger when they reach the bottom, yet there's no torchlight to be seen anywhere. Ena's elf eyes are luckily unhindered by the darkness, and she finds a string dangling by Finn's head. She reaches out to pull it, and a bare bulb in the middle of the brick room dimly illuminates the wine cellar. Large barrels line the straight path to the bare wall at the end of the other side of the room. It's very simple but well-kept, yet it still makes her feel uneasy.

"Well," she begins with a sigh, scanning the room and trying not to look too hard into the dark corners. "Let's find out what's going on he--"

The sound of coughing interrupts her.

Wide-eyed, she turns slowly to look at Finn.

He stares wide-eyed right back at her, having relaxed a little too soon. His gun rises a little as his eyes dart around, not seeing anything in the corners or behind them.

The barrels. He begins to slowly inch forward and calls out to the cellar. "Who's there?" It's not a ghost. Ghosts don't cough. They don't have lungs. They can't cough. Made no sense.

He gripped the gun a little harder to convince himself he totally wasn't trembling - oh, what a time to be holding a firearm - as he looked between each barrel as he passed. "We don't want to hurt anyone. Come on out."

But then he... gets to the last barrel...

...And he comes face-to-face with a cluster of bricks that stands out from the ones around it. They're of a brighter yellow, unlike the dull mustard-colored bricks around it. The edges are sharp, suggesting they'd been put there recently... Well, relatively recently. There doesn't seem to be anything obviously keeping the bricks together, and they'd probably easily slide out if he gave one a good tug.

Now judging that the passage to the end is safe, Ena slowly makes her way towards Finn. The way he just stopped there made her a little nervous. "...What is it?"

"I don't know," he answered, having no idea what he was looking at. But another glance around proved that the misplaced bricks were the only oddity there. "I think there's a passage here." Or... something?

Either way, Finn steps closer to the wall and tries calling out a little louder. "Anyone back there?" It's one last chance for everyone, really.

But in the event he doesn't get a reply or at least one that's satisfactory, Finn kicks a couple of the lower bricks out of the way to step back as they tumble down, gun at the ready.

There's silence when Finn calls out, which only solidifies Ena's fear. Even though she knows that ghosts are silly and not real, she's terrified to see what's waiting for them behind the wall.

Startled, she leaps back when the stack of bricks come tumbling down, the loud crashing accompanied by a strong whiff of torch fire, a loud jingling of bells, and an intense blast of cold. The yellow bricks fall to a heap on the floor, and the two are greeted by the empty stare of a moogle skeleton.

In the brief moment after the shock, the two get a full glimpse of the grotesque sight - a moogle skeleton wearing a jester's costume is shackled to the wall, which is of the same color of the dark yellow stones throughout the rest of the cellar. Scattered on the floor below the skeleton is a spent torch and wine bottles, both broken and whole, both old and new, all of the Mogtresor family label.

But old, rusted shackles soon give way upon being exposed to fresh air, and along with the skeleton, they detach from the wall and crumple onto the broken bottles on the floor below with an unceremonial whack. A pity.

Ena cautiously takes a step forward, and as she does, notes the air around them growing slightly warmer. She slowly kneels down and reaches out to take one of the bottles that the skeleton isn't lying on to get a better look at the label. Huh. This bottle wasn't from that long ago. "...Do you think this was causing it?"

Finn stood in shock before Ena's voice snapped him out of it. "What is that!?" He knows what it is and shivers, creeped out beyond belief.

But, no, okay, he can do this. "The bottles aren't old? But he looks he's been in here... a while... Oh no, did that family do this?" Oh, great, he's panicking a little. This is his first murder case as a cop. He doesn't like this!

Ena pales, if that's even possible, when Finn proposes the idea. No, the family can't be a murdering one, can they? Did they trap them down here? Was this all a setup?

Her mind is racing when she reaches for another shattered bottle with a more faded label. She audibly sighs and visibly relaxes when she sees that the year noted on it is much, much earlier than the other bottle. She stands, and her gaze scans the rusted and collapsed shackles as she does so. "No, I don't think they did." She holds out the older bottle for Finn to see and points out the crumbling spots on the wall where the shackles once sat. "I don't think the shackles would've crumbled as easily as they did if that were the case."

She begins loosening her coat, and realizes it's gotten much warmer down here. And the dreadful smell of smoke had some point been replaced by the warm, comforting scent of oak and wine. Huh. She glances back down to the skeleton. "You're the policeman. Should we leave it here, or take it with us?"

(no subject)

hatejakku - 2018-11-24 21:20 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

rivieran - 2018-11-24 23:23 (UTC) - Expand

Creepy Kupos

The Cask of Amontillapo [locked to Finn]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

i'm getting carried away

no such thing

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

SORRY FOR DELAY

no problem!

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)