[Nicholas Acker Villin]

The woods were eerie like a good Halloween night should be. There was a cold breeze rustling through the leaves, but Acker was listening to another sound. He had taken off his mask and was wearing his normal black clothes with gloves included. There was a bag strapped on his back with who knew what inside.

Acker kept walking towards the sound which turned out to be a bunch of people humming. They were in a circle, wearing white robes which completely hid their features. They were praying to something, but nothing connected to established religions. They were praying to magic. They were saying something about finding a god and his powers. Ackerr wondered what that meant. Perhaps these men were unaware of Gifted, but found someone with powers, so they had mistaken a Gifted for a god.

One of the men chanting walked inside the circle and Acker caught the opportunity to get a glimpse of what was inside the circle: a man. There was a man lying on a stone altar, it was unclear if he was unconscious or he just had his eyes closed.

Acker had been using a small round device, that looked like an egg or a small pokeball, to record what was going on. And that was when he noticed someone else hiding in the woods or maybe just being around. Carefully, Acker reached the position and moved his index finger over his mouth in a gesture that told the stranger to not make any noise. Was this stranger aware of what was going on or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Meanwhile, the cultists started humming again. Acker told the ball to record what was happening from above, camouflaging to keep hidden "Still praying...the man still on the altar..." Acker whispered to himself but the stranger was close enough to hear the mad scientist if the stranger wished so.

Cass Harlow

ps. I don't have anything planned, you can say what you want about the cultists and the man on the altar etc we both go with the flow XD

[Cass Harlow]

Being out in the middle of the woods on Halloween had most definitely not been part of Cass’ plans for the night. Not that he was freaked out, not at all. He was totally okay. He wasn’t thinking at all about how a friend had told him Halloween night was when “the veil between the worlds is thinnest” and that was why it was the best time to try and contact spirits on “the other side”.

Not creeped out! Perfectly fine!

He’d started the night off trying to crash the masquerade ball, but hadn’t been “dressed appropriately”, apparently, and so he’d been kicked out. He’d made an appearance at a keg party that some college kids were throwing, but once he’d drunk his fill he’d noped out of there pretty quick; he was a little too old for that scene. He was no stranger to being around drunk idiots, considering how many festivals he’d been to, but college frat bros were a whole different monster.

He'd ended up at the boardwalk, hoping to find better company there, but it was mostly just families and kids. Nothing going on tonight seemed to be his kind of scene. It was either hoighty toights, frat boys, or family fun night. And he didn’t know anyone well enough to have been invited to any other parties.

After wandering the boardwalk for a bit, beer in hand, he’d decided to go on the ghost tour, and maybe afterward he’d wander downtown and hit up a few bars. Maybe there was something more interesting going on over there.

That was when he’d gotten lost in the woods. He’d wandered off the trail to take a piss, after all the beer, and when he’d turned around, he had no idea how to get back where he’d started. Maybe he’d had a little too much to drink in the pursuit of trying to make his own fun.

He heard some noise in the distance and started toward it without hesitation, hoping it would lead him out of the trees, and he pushed down his sense of unease, sure it was just paranoia and misplaced fear; nothing that deserved any kind of attention.

When he stumbled upon the edge of a clearing, filled with people in white robes surrounding an altar with a man on it, he realized how wrong he’d been. He stared for a moment, mostly hidden behind a tree, and wondered if this was part of the ghost tour, somehow. But it couldn’t be; he saw no path winding nearby.

He kept out of sight; his own half-assed costume of a horned headband and feathery black wings over his regular clothes (he was a fallen angel, not a devil, as he told anyone who asked) would not allow him to blend in with the group in front of him.

He startled slightly when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, but it was just some guy, dressed in a suit, who was apparently recording the events in the clearing. The guy noticed him, and indicated he keep quiet, and Cass only nodded, watching in curious bemusement as the guy whispered to himself, like he was making some sort of twisted documentary. Cass took another swig of the beer in his hand.

What the fuck had he stumbled into?
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TAG: Nicholas Acker Villin