Illuwenwalks quickly past the mirrors at the very start of the hall, averting his eyes. When his reflections reach the age where he first joined the carnival, he starts to linger a bit in front of each mirror, reminiscing about his life at those ages. One mirror shows him how he was for his first meal at the Feasting Orchard. Another his first time performing with the Flopping Fish. Still another reminds him of the time a Tressym had gotten loose in the Big Top, and he'd been enlisted in helping to shoo it out. He can't help but chuckle at this memory, how chaotic the whole scene was. He opens his mouth as if to say something about it to Chase, but thinks better of it, noticing she doesn't seem in the mood for levity. Shaking his head to clear the thought, he realizes he's walked quite a ways without really looking for Reuben.
Scratch is momentarily interested in the illusions surrounding him as they enter the tent, but he narrows his focus, fighting the urge to focus on the attraction. They have a task to perform, and time is of the essence. Having overheard Lex's conversation with the female halfling, he decides to call out. "Rubin?!" he says, lifting his chin. "Ween is sorry. It wasn't her fault. The statue outside put a spell on her to make her laugh! Rubin? Where are you?"
Lex is caught off guard by the image of his young self staring back at him as they enter. He flashes back to that day, the last time they were here, the fear he felt, the joy at stamping around as a centaur, the deliciousness of the charcuterie…
Hearing Scratch call out he joins in, “Rubin! Hey friend, come out!”
A whole minute goes by as you are all searching for Rubin, but none of you spot him. He must be here somewhere. There's only one way in or out, so you would have seen him if he left. For now, the search continues. (Everyone roll another Perception Check)
The mirrors seem to be distressing Chaseto the point that she isn’t comfortable looking in either direction, as it would mean seeing her smiling reflections. This only makes the search for the brokenhearted halfling more difficult. Frustrated by the unsuccessful search, the tabaxi stomps the ground with one foot and calls upon her innate magic, producing a floating neon-like text a few feet above her that reads: "RUBIN! COME TO US! WE WANT TO HELP!"
The maze of mirrors is quite disorienting to Scratch. He stops for a second and looks back, then moves forward again. "Augh!" he hollers as something flies into his eye. He bends his head forward and rubs at the orb. His uninjured eye waters in sympathy of its companion, and the tabaxi finds he can't see anything!
Illuwenmoves quickly up and down the aisles, his head darting back and forth as he searches. He pulls a deck of cards from his pocket and begins dropping them at intervals behind him, to track which sections of the maze he's already searched. As he rounds a corner, he comes upon Scratch rubbing his eyes. "Hey, are you alright? What happened?"
Chasepeeks behind Illuwenand smirks. "Come on, don't cry, brother! You don’t look that bad in the mirrors!"Even as she jokes, she steps closer, tilting her head as she checks Scratch's eyes, just to make sure he is actually okay.
Lexcontinues peering through the mirrors, distracted a little at each turn by the various illusions. “Rubin, friend, your lovely companion outside asked us to help find you!”
Lex continues peering through the dizzying hall of mirrors. He hears a noise and turns, but struggling to see he focuses his mind toward the sound and utters, “elarin faelya”
Chase seems too preoccupied checking that her brother's eye is fine. She also wonders if her sign wasn't clear enough? Or is perhaps Rubin still too upset to come talk to them? Poor thing!
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Scratch assures Illuwen and Chase. He blinks rapidly, making a funny face in the process. Finally, he wipes his eyes one final time. "Okay, let's keep looking. I feel like we're running out of time."
Illuwensplits what's left of his deck into quarters, handing one to each of the others. "Here, use these to mark the places we've already been. I just came from that aisle," he says, pointing at the trail of cards on the ground. "This place isn't that big, if we each take one section I'm sure we can find him."
Wandering through the maze of mirrors, eyes peeled for the young halfling, time does seem to feel like it's running out. The feeling begins to settle in as Scratch makes everyone aware of the sense of impending tragedy.
After about 3 full minutes of searching, you all finally spot Rubin! When you lay your eyes upon him, you see that he is gazing very worriedly into a mirror. As you approach closer to him you notice a little girl in a pig mask in the pane, whispering to the halfling's youthful reflection.
The figure in the mirror looks up at you as you approach, then turns away and dissapears.
Chasefreezes for a split second when she recognizes the girl who stole her smile all those years ago. A sharp gasp escapes her, quickly swallowed by a sudden rush of anger. Fire flares to life in her palm, ready to be hurled—even if, this time, the girl is only a reflection in the mirror. But before she can act, the girl simply vanishes, leaving the orange-furred tabaxi alone with her fury and the fire crackling in her hand.
Chase's tail is puffed and her ears flattened against her head, and if anyone were watching closely, they might swear the same flames burning in her palm flicker within her eyes. It takes a long while for the fire to subside, shrinking to a single smoldering ember before finally winking out. "I swear I'm going to make her pay one day," Chase hisses.
She walks toward Rubin and gently places her paws on his shoulders, worry evident in her voice as she asks, "Are you okay? Did she touch you? Did you see any kind of mist leaving your body toward her?"
Illuwenstares in disbelief at the mirror where the pig mask girl was. "No, that's not right, he has the wings, he has a ticket..." Suddenly a realization hits him. "He didn't punch it though, he ran right in without getting his ticket punched."
He walks up next to Chase, listening for the halfling's response to her questions.
"No, she didn't touch me and there was no mist." Rubin responds, still not completely out of his haze. "She just asked me if I had any regrets and said that if I did then she knew someone who could help me. All I had to do was just follow her."
Illuwen walks quickly past the mirrors at the very start of the hall, averting his eyes. When his reflections reach the age where he first joined the carnival, he starts to linger a bit in front of each mirror, reminiscing about his life at those ages. One mirror shows him how he was for his first meal at the Feasting Orchard. Another his first time performing with the Flopping Fish. Still another reminds him of the time a Tressym had gotten loose in the Big Top, and he'd been enlisted in helping to shoo it out. He can't help but chuckle at this memory, how chaotic the whole scene was. He opens his mouth as if to say something about it to Chase, but thinks better of it, noticing she doesn't seem in the mood for levity. Shaking his head to clear the thought, he realizes he's walked quite a ways without really looking for Reuben.
Perception: 6
Perception: 19
Scratch is momentarily interested in the illusions surrounding him as they enter the tent, but he narrows his focus, fighting the urge to focus on the attraction. They have a task to perform, and time is of the essence. Having overheard Lex's conversation with the female halfling, he decides to call out. "Rubin?!" he says, lifting his chin. "Ween is sorry. It wasn't her fault. The statue outside put a spell on her to make her laugh! Rubin? Where are you?"
Perception: 9
Lex is caught off guard by the image of his young self staring back at him as they enter. He flashes back to that day, the last time they were here, the fear he felt, the joy at stamping around as a centaur, the deliciousness of the charcuterie…
Hearing Scratch call out he joins in, “Rubin! Hey friend, come out!”
A whole minute goes by as you are all searching for Rubin, but none of you spot him. He must be here somewhere. There's only one way in or out, so you would have seen him if he left. For now, the search continues. (Everyone roll another Perception Check)
(ooc: Perception 8)
The mirrors seem to be distressing Chase to the point that she isn’t comfortable looking in either direction, as it would mean seeing her smiling reflections. This only makes the search for the brokenhearted halfling more difficult. Frustrated by the unsuccessful search, the tabaxi stomps the ground with one foot and calls upon her innate magic, producing a floating neon-like text a few feet above her that reads: "RUBIN! COME TO US! WE WANT TO HELP!"
Diving deep to the surface ♫ Nessa | Saxa | Auriel | Chase | Shenua | Arren
Perception: Nat 1
The maze of mirrors is quite disorienting to Scratch. He stops for a second and looks back, then moves forward again. "Augh!" he hollers as something flies into his eye. He bends his head forward and rubs at the orb. His uninjured eye waters in sympathy of its companion, and the tabaxi finds he can't see anything!
Illuwen moves quickly up and down the aisles, his head darting back and forth as he searches. He pulls a deck of cards from his pocket and begins dropping them at intervals behind him, to track which sections of the maze he's already searched. As he rounds a corner, he comes upon Scratch rubbing his eyes. "Hey, are you alright? What happened?"
Perception: 21
Chase peeks behind Illuwen and smirks. "Come on, don't cry, brother! You don’t look that bad in the mirrors!" Even as she jokes, she steps closer, tilting her head as she checks Scratch's eyes, just to make sure he is actually okay.
Diving deep to the surface ♫ Nessa | Saxa | Auriel | Chase | Shenua | Arren
Perception: 9
Lex continues peering through the mirrors, distracted a little at each turn by the various illusions. “Rubin, friend, your lovely companion outside asked us to help find you!”
Another minute of searching goes by, but still no Rubin. Where on earth could he be? (Roll Perception one more time.)
Perception: 24 (ooc: Nat 20! )
Lex continues peering through the dizzying hall of mirrors. He hears a noise and turns, but struggling to see he focuses his mind toward the sound and utters, “elarin faelya”
Perception: 9
Chase seems too preoccupied checking that her brother's eye is fine. She also wonders if her sign wasn't clear enough? Or is perhaps Rubin still too upset to come talk to them? Poor thing!
Diving deep to the surface ♫ Nessa | Saxa | Auriel | Chase | Shenua | Arren
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Scratch assures Illuwen and Chase. He blinks rapidly, making a funny face in the process. Finally, he wipes his eyes one final time. "Okay, let's keep looking. I feel like we're running out of time."
Perception: 18
Illuwen splits what's left of his deck into quarters, handing one to each of the others. "Here, use these to mark the places we've already been. I just came from that aisle," he says, pointing at the trail of cards on the ground. "This place isn't that big, if we each take one section I'm sure we can find him."
Perception: 21
Wandering through the maze of mirrors, eyes peeled for the young halfling, time does seem to feel like it's running out. The feeling begins to settle in as Scratch makes everyone aware of the sense of impending tragedy.
After about 3 full minutes of searching, you all finally spot Rubin! When you lay your eyes upon him, you see that he is gazing very worriedly into a mirror. As you approach closer to him you notice a little girl in a pig mask in the pane, whispering to the halfling's youthful reflection.
The figure in the mirror looks up at you as you approach, then turns away and dissapears.
Chase freezes for a split second when she recognizes the girl who stole her smile all those years ago. A sharp gasp escapes her, quickly swallowed by a sudden rush of anger. Fire flares to life in her palm, ready to be hurled—even if, this time, the girl is only a reflection in the mirror. But before she can act, the girl simply vanishes, leaving the orange-furred tabaxi alone with her fury and the fire crackling in her hand.
Chase's tail is puffed and her ears flattened against her head, and if anyone were watching closely, they might swear the same flames burning in her palm flicker within her eyes. It takes a long while for the fire to subside, shrinking to a single smoldering ember before finally winking out. "I swear I'm going to make her pay one day," Chase hisses.
She walks toward Rubin and gently places her paws on his shoulders, worry evident in her voice as she asks, "Are you okay? Did she touch you? Did you see any kind of mist leaving your body toward her?"
Diving deep to the surface ♫ Nessa | Saxa | Auriel | Chase | Shenua | Arren
Illuwen stares in disbelief at the mirror where the pig mask girl was. "No, that's not right, he has the wings, he has a ticket..." Suddenly a realization hits him. "He didn't punch it though, he ran right in without getting his ticket punched."
He walks up next to Chase, listening for the halfling's response to her questions.
"No, she didn't touch me and there was no mist." Rubin responds, still not completely out of his haze. "She just asked me if I had any regrets and said that if I did then she knew someone who could help me. All I had to do was just follow her."
"It's best to stay away from creatures such as her," Scratch says. "Now, Rubin, Ween is waiting just outside for you."
"It was all a misunderstanding! She wasn't laughing at you, there's a spell on the mannequin. It got Lex too, he can explain."