They were in the bushes on the side of the yard, hunched down real low. Tall, Weeping Willow tree provided shade as they observed the house, a small yellow ranch. The grass was cut very low, and there were large sunflowers in the area near the stoop.

It was Old Man Kasich's house.

Everyone knew that Old Man Kasich hated kids, or at least he didn't like them on his lawn. He could be seen most days walking a small, white talk named Queeny, the kind that most adults found annoying and could be described as 'yippy.'

"He lives alone and he hates kids" Penelope whispered to the other girls as they stared at the front of the house, watching from the bushes.

Delilah crouched in the bushes with her cohorts. She peered at the house, but didn't see the old man. "Yeah, he's just some geezer. What about it?"

"There's another old lady down the block. I don't like old people. They smell funny and they're scary." Penelope said. Delilah knew who she was talking about. It must have been that sweet old lady Mrs. Peabody. The one who liked kids and often gave out good candy on Halloween. Of course, Delilah had never actually met Mrs. Peabody. Not really. But she remembered meeting her. Remembered getting Halloween candy from her. Even remembered one time when Susan was little and stopped on the old lady's flower bed. But none of it really happened.

"You know what would be fun? If we threw a rock at this old man's house and then ran away." Penelope suggested.  "I bet it would make a really loud noise."

"Throw it. You know, but put a little mustard on the throw. A little elbow grease. A little razzle-pazzzle. A little schnizzle-pizzle." Penelope suggested, hands busy in the dirt of the bush in front of her, already searching for a rock.

"They're not that scary. Don't be a baby." Compared to what she'd seen, old people were mildly creepy nowadays. And not even all of them. Old Mrs. Peabody was real nice. Or so she thought. She wouldn't want to throw rocks at the sweet, old granny's house, but Mr. Kasich was a nobody. He could take some rocks.

Delilah hunted for a rock with a smirk on her face. She knew what Penelope meant. Josh used to say some of these things. "Yeah. A little heat. A bit of stink on the ball." It meant getting in a good, hard pitch. It was a bittersweet memory. Throwing a rock like a baseball had to be the best way to cement those good feelings before they were gone.

Is Tiffany with us?

"What are you guys doing?" Tiffany whispered harshly, voice like a whip.

"We're putting a little schnizzle-pizzle on it, before we throw it. What?"

"Re-laaax, Tiffany. It's no big deal."

Delilah didn't look at Tiffany. She frowned as she weighed two rocks in her hands. One was heavier, but one had a knobby, irregular shape that was really cool. A rock like that hit the house, and Kasich would know she meant business.

"But if you throw that, we'll get in trouble." Tiffany objected. She looked towards Penelope, but there was no help there.

"But it's fun." Penelope retorted, getting her rock ready. It was large and jagged, about the size of a baseball.

OOC: If Delilah decides to throw the rock, Delilah Rolls Dexterity + Athletics

04:45, Today: Delilah Gray rolled 2 successes using 8d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((2,7,3,9,8,3,3,1)).

Delilah grit her teeth and tried to throw the way she'd been taught. Penelope said it was fun. She needed to have some fun. Get all the awful thoughts in her head out.

21:25, Today: Penelope rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((4,9,4,7,8)).


Penelope threw a rock. There were two loud cracks against the side of the house. One from Penelope, and one from Delilahs' rock.

"Ruuuuuuun!" Penelope yelled, turning and sprinting. Her long, permed hair was like a yellow streamer as she hunched over in a gangly, all-out run.

"Guys! Wait up!"

It was strange in way, to see Penelope run to what amounted to only two houses down to reach her own house before stopping. Maybe an adult would have asked why throwing a rock at your neighbor's house so close would be an obvious thing that might get you caught.

Delilah could hear Tiffany struggling in the bush behind her, and waiting at Penelope's house in front of her was somewhat else...

Shawn.

Shawn had been about to approach his new neighbours' front door when he saw two blonde girls running towards him. The strange girl was probably one of the neighbours, but he recognised Delilah right away and groaned inwardly. It'd be really hard to make friends with the new girl if Delilah was going to freak out again.

Still, he steeled himself; he had to help Griffix, and...maybe a new friend would be nice? He gave the two girls and awkward but cheerful wave. "Hiya."

Delilah skid to a stop. Her face registered shock, then anger. Her hands were empty of rocks. Why did she waste it on stupid, old Kasich's house?

"What do you want?" she asked warily.

"Shawn!" Tiffany yelled, coming up from behind Delilah and panting hard.

"I'm so glad you're here. They....they're throwing rocks!" She said to Shawn as if looking for some kind of life-saver, a tone of shock in her voice, like no one could ever throw rocks, or should be expected to.

"Tattle-tail!" Penelope yelled back, pointing her index finger at Tiffany as if condemning her to a life of being known by that moniker.

"Am not!" Tiffany shouted back.

"I'm Penelope." Penelope said to Shawn, ignoring Tiffany's retort. "Who are you?"

Shawn saw the angry look on Delilah's face, and just ignored it for now, hoping that decision wouldn't get him punched in the face. "I'm Shawn. I live across the street, so I came over to say hi! Oh, and hi Tiffany!" He gave the two one of his winningest smiles.

"Heeeeeee.....hawwww!" Penelope let out a horses laugh. "We just threw some rocks." Penelope admitted, wanting to get Shawn's impression or perhaps just to brag.

Delilah crossed her arms.

"Don't bother with him, Penny. He's a wimp."

It felt good to say that out loud, but she hadn't moved an inch closer, herself.

“That’s so cool!” Shawn seemed to think that the idea of throwing rocks in general was just the greatest thing in the whole world, almost as cool as the person throwing them! He looked directly at Delilah, meeting her gaze dead on. And then he suddenly laughed out loud, like she’d said a hilariously absurd thing. “You’re funny, Delilah!”

"Shawn!" Tiffany said in harsh shock. "They were throwing rocks." She reminded him, as if disbelieving that
Shawn could actually approve of such an act. As if Shawn must have misheard.

Just then, another boy came trotting up to the group with a bright, naive smile on his face. "Oh brother! You must be the new neighbors. I'm ....um.....um....my name is...uhhhh...Bobby."


At this point, there was an element of false charade that seemed to descend upon the environment. On one hand, both Shawn and Delilah could remember distinctly the horror of the cold, frozen night as the Clown chased down kids on Bald Hill, chopping them down in the icy snow.

On the other hand, there were memories of birthday parties and summer time picnics that they had both attended in summer California sun. Field trips to the Santa Monica area and fun ice cream stands. Kickball in the field behind the school where Delilahhadkicked a particularly far home run. All of these things were memories that ran through Shawn and Delilha's mind.

Delilah's eyes squeezed shut. She grimaced and ground the heel of her hand against her head. These clashing memories were weird and wrong. She just wanted them to go away.

Shawn let himself look a little guilty at Tiffany's comment, just to keep his hand in, but fortunately Bobby's arrival let him change the subject. Once Bobby'd introduced himself, he continued to ignore the now very stressed-looking Delilah. "Where are you from, Penelope? Oh, can I call you Penny? That's a really cool name!"

"I'm from Flint, Michigan. My Dad used to work at a place that built cars but then that place closed down. So we moved out here. But just because you move doesn't mean that you can give up on your favorite teams. Unless you're some kind of winner-picker. I'm a Detroit Red Wings fan and I'll always be one."

"I also like to break things and yeah, you can call me Penny. When we used to break things and cause mischief in Flint, me and my friends used to call it 'Causin'---A---Ruckuss'. That meant that you did fun stuff just as long as no one really got hurt." She said, giving Tiffany an evil eye.

Shawn grinned even wider when Penny mentioned the Red Wings. “Oh! My Dad roots for the Red Wings! We’re from Milwaukee, so they’re basically our home team. Only place closer is Chicago, and, well...” He made a face, like he was wondering who would even like the Blackhawks? Dad had taken him to a few hockey games before they moved, said it would help him man up. Shawn hadn’t been that interested, but he’d faked his enthusiasm anyway.

He nodded agreeably at the next thing Penny said. “I guess as long as no one gets hurt, and you’re careful about the Monster, it’s all good.” Shawn mentioned the monster like it was the most ordinary thing in the world.

Delilah narrowed her eyes at Shawn, sizing him up. She remembered him from the snow fort. She didn't believe for a second that a boy who threw like a three year-old girl liked sports.

"Don't listen to him. He's a liar."

Wasn't he? Bradford said so. And there were monsters.

Shawn immediately turned to Delilah, putting the pressure on her to respond. "Oh yeah? Are you really gonna tell Penny there's no such thing as monsters? Do you think they're fake or something?"

"I think you're the fake!" she spat back. "You're a fake friend. And, if any monsters do show up, I'll know who brought 'em."

“I know you are, but what am I?” Shawn stuck out his tongue. “Maybe you’re the one who likes monsters, ‘cause you’re the one who doesn’t want me warning people. You want Penny to get chewed up by the Gristler, so you can be the most popular girl!”

"Nuh-uh! You know the monsters! And you let everyone from before get chopped up! You're a traitor!"

Delilah was worked up into a lather now. She stalked toward Shawn, shouting and red-faced.

Everyone was watching Shawn and Delilah go at it. Bobby had a sad frown on his face. Penelope was looking back and forth between Shawn and Delilah, not really knowing what to say or make of the situation, the look of a newby not aware of the social dynamics she had walked into. She didnt' answer Shawn's question.

Tiffany was watching, dumb-founded.  Her hand reached into her front pocket, pulling out a Heath bar which she took a bite of, all the while staring to see what would come of the fight.

Ralph wandered up to the crowd huffing and puffing. He was a fat, small kid and he bent over to rest on his knees, too tired from his march in the hot sun to fully notice what was happening between Delilah and Shawn.

Shawn saw that Delilah was looking really angry and shouting, and adjusted accordingly. He was acting a little silly, quietly lighthearted, while Delilah shouted and raged. "From before what? You can't just make stuff up, Delilah, this is serious!"

"From before! From Minnesota! I know you know! And I know you're going to lie about it."

Shawn just looks at her confusedly. "I've never been to Minnesota. You're just making stuff up!"

Roll to shove Shawn?

Nothing personal, dude. ^_^

OOC: Delilah Rolls Strength + Brawl minus 5 with the following results:

0 Successes: Shawn artfully moves out of the way, dodging Delilah completely

1 Success: Delilah shoves Shawn and he takes a step backwards (no damage)

2+ Successes: Delilah shoves Shawn and he falls on his butt (no damage)

Is that minus 6 for being unskilled in Brawl?

Yes. It should be. Let's do it like that for this roll. However, I have to 're-look' the Innocents rules for defense after this roll. Expect a future ruling in the OOC. Proceed as outlined for the remainder of the current thread, that would be -6
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:04, Fri 23 Mar 2018.

19:33, Today: Delilah Gray rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD, Clan Weakness system with a target of 8 ((9)).

That's a Fail. I meant to click Chance Die.

Delilah snorted and shoved her arms out and met with empty air.

Shawn managed to step to the side out of the way of Delilah; his evasion was more of a surprise to him than it was to her! "You just don't want me to warn Penny about the real monsters!"

"You're the real monster!"

"I'm not the one who pushes people!"

"You're the one who lies! You're the one who's a phony! And you'll sell everybody out and leave 'em flat when the monsters come!"

Delilah was red-faced. Her fists were balled up, tight and quaking. She wiped her nose with the back of one hand, but she didn't take her eyes off her target.

"I'm trying to warn you about the monsters, Delilah." Shawn also seemed upset - though not nearly as much as Delilah was. And when he met her gaze, there was a moment of sincerity in his eyes, like he really was trying to warn her.

"Oh yeah? Try harder. Maybe it will make up for all the times you never tried."

Delilah's words were venom.

Shawn rolled his eyes at the comment, dismissing Delilah's venom. Instead, he turned toward Penny and the others. "He's called the Gristler. He used to be a vice principal at our school a long time ago. He was cruel - he punished kids for every bad thing they did, even the stuff that was an accident, or didn't really hurt anybody." It had been a while since Shawn had done a monologue, but he was finding it was a lot like riding a bike.

"One day, he hit a kid with his belt so hard that the buckle broke, and the pieces of it messed up his eyes! The children thought they were safe, because now the Gristler couldn't see them do bad stuff, so he couldn't punish them. But they were wrong..." He lowered his voice a little here, so the other kids would have to come closer to listen. "He hated kids so much that he sold his soul to the Devil. He asked for the power to sniff out the bad deeds a kid does, and big grindy teeth so he can chew them up into paste! And his wish was granted."

"The Gristler ate up a dozen kids before he realised how the Devil tricked him! He could only sniff out the bad things that kids do! If a kid wrote down the bad things he did on a piece of paper, the Gristler couldn't tell the difference between the paper and the kid. And from then on, kids in this neighbourhood knew that if the Gristler was in town, you have to write down a bad thing you did and leave it on your windowsill. And if you wake up in the morning and it's gone, you know that's why you didn't get eaten."

"And how do you know all this? How do I know you're not working for it again? Or maybe The Gristler is really just you."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:23, Sat 24 Mar 2018.

"The Gristler...." Bobby repeated, mouth wide open, eyes wide with fascination and horror at the same time.

Shawn knew that Ralph had been through 'the works' as Dad might have said. But the fat chubby kid was still just that: a kid. And although Ralph had more experience in the kinds of things that kept Shawn and other kids up at night, he still was quite young.

"Does....does that...mm..mmm..mmmm..mean we have to write down......bbbb.....bbbb...bad things that we do?" Ralph asked, with the voice of someone who was willing to do something hard and difficult, even though it might scare him.

"I dunno." Penny replied, sounding first as if she was responding to Ralph. And then, it became clear that she wasn't entirely convinced of Shawn's story, perhaps taking Delilah's side, or perhaps not.

"That's a pretty crazy story.  Hee--hawwww!" She snorted with laughter. But it was a nervous laughter. The kind of laughter someone makes when they don't know how else to respond.

"Well...how do we know what bad things count? I mean, I'm not gonna do something bad and risk getting in trouble if it doesn't count. Before we moved, my parents got so mad at me one night, that I got in trouble twenty-one times in a row. During the same night." Penelope explained, not explaining what it 'meant' to get in trouble, or what she did to warrant her parents' displeasure.

"Just stop fighting, OK?" Tiffany pleaded with Delilah and Shawn. "We're not breaking or doing anything bad. It's just a story." Tiffany said, voice filled with confidence like she had taken control. But the impact was spoiled by the fact that she was younger than Shawn and Delilah.

Plus, Delilah had already seen Tiffany cry in front of her.

"I don't know what stuff really counts as bad. I guessed it was anything that my parents might yell at me for." Shawn looked at Penny, seeing that she seemed to be wavering. He tried to convey sincerity and certainty, leaving no room for Penny to think Shawn might be joking. "What I do, is I write it down, fold it up, open the window, and then close it on the paper so there's just a little bit sticking out outside. I did that once, when I broke a glass and cleaned it up before my Mom noticed, and it was gone the next morning."

Penelope moved her head from one side to the other, fluffy blonde hair thrashing this way and that as she tried to decide if Delilah's point of view was valid or if it was Shawn that was telling the truth.

"He's telling the truth." She said finally.

"WHAT!!??" Tiffany said, outraged. "I thought we were just talking about a story. Nothing about leaving a note in a window, or having a monster eat the bad things that you do makes any sense at all. The whole thing seems like some kind of bad fairy tale. It isn't scary at all, it's just dumb."

"What makes you think that he's warning us about monsters? How do you know he just isn't scared because he watched a story on TV or read a bad comic book." Tiffany was indirectly making accusations at Shawn now, though she was addressing everything at Penelope.

"What possible reason is logical for any of that?"

Penelope shrugged. "He's good looking."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Tiffany yelled at Penelope.

"Hee-hawwww!!" Penelope laughed. "Look at you, you're all mad!" She slapped her thighs with both hands doubling over with laughter before she regained her composure

Shawn nodded earnestly at Penny, not openly questioning her reasons even if he did find them really silly. He'd been told that he was good looking before - by casting agents and other actors and the people who did his makeup. But they weren't usually this...open about it. "I mean, maybe it's just a story, but my note didn't disappear on its own, did it?"

"Tiffany's right. It is stupid. Just as retarded as Shawn's face."

She turned back to Shawn. "It didn't disappear because it never happened. It's all garbage. Just like you. Go away! And take your monster with you!"

Chubby Ralph was just coming to his senses, sweat dripping down his face from the long run over to join the group. But when he heard Delilah say that to Shawn, the young kid straightened up his posture.

"Y...y.....you're garbage!" He yelled at Delilah, jabbing the air with one thick finger, spit flecking from his mouth. "It's true. A...a...a..a..all of it." He stammered.

He glanced over at Shawn with a look that suggested that Ralph was about to go much further than Shawn had in his explanation of the supernatural.

"You...y...y..y...y...ou...you know that...there's evil Clowns and..and..and..and a Circus! And the..the..the..the Master Maker! And..and..and..and Hogwash Carnie! And..And..and..Malinda! The m...m...m..m..monster just works or the Order and the Circus" He stammered, stuttering the whole time during his explanation and his defense of Shawn.

"Shawn's telling the..the..the...tr..tr..truth!" He proclaimed.

Bobby's hands came up to the sides of his head as if suddenly struck by a headache. He dropped to one knee and shook his head from side to side. "Uggghhh." He groaned.  And then, in a sudden voice. "Where are we again?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Penelope asked Ralph, throwing the "H", "E",  'double hockey sticks' word out with reckless abandon. But then just as quickly she looked side to side to make sure no adults were around.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:52, Mon 26 Mar 2018.

Shawn feigned a look of confusion. "I didn't tell him any of that!" It was tricky - he had to balance making Penny believe him but not Ralph, and without confusing Bobby too much either. It was enough to give him a headache.

"Beat it, shrimp." Delilah aimed a kick at Ralph. Little snot nosed brat was butting into Big Kid talk.

"Forget him, Penny. He's the biggest liar I ever met. And the worst person alive." She glared daggers at Shawn. The anger rose from her in waves. "But, in case you are telling the truth this time, then none of us have to worry about "The Gristler." It's too busy eating the fact that Shawn was born. None of us could do anything worse than that."

No one spoke for a moment. Ralph took a step back, clearly wounded by getting kicked out of the Big Kid talk. Ralph looked at Shawn, confused by Shawn's reply..

Bobby looked at the ground, eyes closed, rubbing his temples with his fingers.

Tiffany looked at Delilah, as if hopeful for some kind of assurance.

Penelope nodded at Delilah in agreement. But then equally she looked at Shawn, partly confused by his statement, partly enamored by his good looks.

Tiffany finally spoke after a long sigh. "OK. So, can we just called it even and say that we should be careful of Monsters?" She asked the group, eager to play broker. "I know that I know more about Monsters than anyone. But I mean, for those of us who don't know, we should be careful and do what we can to make sure Monsters don't eat the kids that don't know anything about Monsters."

"Stuff like that." She concluded, looking around to see if there was support for her position among the group.

Shawn tried to look relieved, as if Tiffany was being the voice of reason here. "As long as people are careful about monsters, I don't mind if they trust me or not." He gave his voice a catch, though, as if it did actually hurt his feelings to be distrusted, but that he was trying to hide that fact for no-doubt noble reasons.

Delilah crossed her arms and gauged the group.

"Yeah. I'll watch out for monsters. Because I hate them."

Her mouth closed, but her jaw was still working, grinding her teeth.

"Alright" Ralph said, looking up at Shawn, keen to follow his example.

^"Ughhhhh." Bobby groaned, getting up from the ground, still obviously in pain, rubbing his temples. It wasn't obvious if the fact that he was moving his head a sign of agreement, or just a consequence of the pain he was in.

Delilah left off grinding her molars and tilted her head towards Bobby.

"What's with him?"

"Ehhh, he'll be fine. I think we can put a little schnizzel-pizzle on this argument and call it a day!" Penelope confirmed brightly, a bit of pep and vigor in her voice.

She glanced over at Shawn and gave him and raised her eyebrows twice, though it was hard to see because of the giant glasses she wore.

"I'm alright Daphney." Bobby said, trying to reassure Delilah that he was, in fact, ok, not seeming to notice that he called her by the wrong name. Perhaps it was the pain he was in.

"Good." Tiffany said, chest puffed out, clearly basking in the glory of having resolved the issue and taken a leadership position among the group.

"Now who wants to come with me to Bradford's house? He said he might know something about Monsters. He was going to tell me something he found out." Tiffany said.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:14, Tue 27 Mar 2018.

Before answering, Shawn went to Bobby to try and help him up. "Hey Bobby, are you okay?" He saw Delilah looking at Bobby, and felt his hackles rise. She wasn't allowed to mess with Bobby!

Delilah's green eyes flashed angrily. "Innaminute," she said to Tiffany.

Daphne! She'd pulled that stunt on her sister a million times, calling her by the wrong name just to get he worked up. She turned slowly on Bobby.

"You know my name, retard."

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine Brad." Bobby answered Shawn. Then, turning to Delilah.

"I knew that! I was just testing you is all. Oh brother! It's hot outside. Is anyone else hot?"

"It's pretty hot, yeah. That's August for you." Shawn's tone was oddly cheery, but just a little bit artificial. Like what you'd use on a younger kid who you wanted to reassure. He turned towards Delilah, casually standing in between her and Bobby. "Bobby was just being silly. Leave him alone."

She stepped closer to Shawn.

"Like how you left Roger alone? You're gonna get a payback. For everything."

Shawn leaned in, speaking low but not showing anywhere near the kind of anger Delilah was. "How're you messing with everyone's head? Is that what it's for? Revenge?"

"Ummmm..guys?" TIffany interrupted, the look on her face like she didn't want to lose out on being the center of attention.  "We're supposed to be going to Bradford's house?" She reminded, the tone of an annoyed leader, trying to herd cats.

The mention of Roger, though a whisper seemed to linger in the air.

"I'm not doing anything. You did it. Everything is wrong and it's all your fault."

Her fist bunched and trembled. Flecks of saliva gathered in the corners of her mouth. When she heard Tiffany whining, Delilah backed off a pace. Bradford had so many questions to answer.

Shawn gave Tiffany a confused shrug, like he was unsure of what Delilah was doing either. "Sure, we should go see Bradford!" He sounded chipper and completely unbothered.

Delilah followed along. It was good that Shawn walked ahead of her. She didn't want to let him out of her sight.

OOC: Shawn and Delilah Join Thread

Shawn, Delilah: The Mindfulness of Horror Practice