On the way over to Leonard's house on Rodeo Drive, Leonard told Shawn that the girl with the black hair who had been dancing in the street was named Emily. Leonard had one hand on Rex's collar and with the other one he opened the door, bracing it with his foot so it remained ajar so that Shawn could enter Leonard's house.

As soon as the door opened Shawn noticed three things. The first, was that there was a used cue tip on the ground right in front of the door in the hallway. One end of the cue tip was brown with ear wax indicating that it had been used. The second thing Shawn noticed was that there was a TV in the living room that was on, even though no one was watching it. Shawn could see that the TV screen was dark as if a movie had begun playing. A few seconds later Shawn saw the screen read "Friday the 13th" in red, bloody letters. However, Shawn could not hear any sound emanating from the TV because of the third thing that he noticed: Madonna's Like a Prayer was blaring out from a stereo system in the same living room "....just like a dream, you are not what you seem..." Madonna's voice sang, drowning out the TV and the movie.


OOC: Shawn decides if his character knows the movie 'Friday the 13th' or not.

Shawn did, in fact know about the movie "Friday the 13th" - you couldn't work on a horror movie set in the 1980s without someone mentioning it at least once. Of course, he'd never actually seen any of it, since it was an R rated movie and all. He just knew some very vague details, like the bad guy was named Jason and he wore a hockey mask.

"Ughh..." Leonard said. "Ok, grab the door and come in." He advised, letting his foot go from holding the door for Shawn because Rex had moved forward with impatience.

"OK. Rex is always impatient when we get home. He likes to eat, don't you boy? Good boy! Good boy!" Leonard said, patting the dog's head. Rex didn't seem to pay Leonard any attention and instead pushed his head forward, craning it and dragging Leonard along. Madonna's Like A Prayer continued to play, emanating from the stereo although by all accounts it didn't seem like anyone was home.

Shawn slipped inside the door, making sure to close it behind him so that Rex didn't immediately escape. "Wow, he really is hungry!" He's polite enough not to mention the q-tip or the blaring music.

"Leonard!! Did you let that fuckin' Dog out again? What did I say?" yelled a woman's voice from somewhere in the interior of the house.

"No Mom! The Dog is right here." Leonard said, letting Rex go and then sweeping his foot over a pile of dirty clothes that had been left on the floor in the hallway, clearing it out of the way so that Shawn and he could pass.

Shawn walked past the cleared clothes and continued to trail after Leonard. He wondered where they were going.

Leonard opened a door and Shawn could tell right away it was a boy's room. There was a big poster of an Army soldier with a caption that read 'Be All that You Can Be' hanging over a bed with the sheets tossed and pulled in every direction.

Large swathes of clothing was strewn across the floor. The shades were pulled down low and there was a must smell in the air, like the room hadn't been cleaned in a long while.

"This is my room!" Leonard announced with joy. "You can sit on the bed if you want."

Shawn was briefly reminded of his own room, at least in terms of smell. But this room wasn't nearly as bad, and unlike his room, it looked like Leonard had fun playing in here. He sat down on the bed and looked around at his surrounding. "You're got a really cool room!"

Leonard gave Shawn a brief smile. "Yeah, it's pretty fun. It's kind of a bummer though, you know? My Dad is really kind of....mean." The last word came out in a soft way, like he was afraid of being heard.

"Hey, do you like to draw?"

Shawn brightened up a bit. "I like drawing a lot! I just only get a chance to do it for school stuff." He did have a bit of talent for drawing, he'd discovered - he just didn't really get to practice it the same way he did his acting.

"What do you draw? Do you want to look through my drawing book? Whenever I get up from a dream, I draw it. Draw whatever I can remember."

Shawn nodded. "I'd love to see your drawings. I mostly just draw what the teacher tells me to...sometimes I draw people I know."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:07, Sat 04 Jan 2020.

"OK." Leonard said. "Let me go get them." Leonard got up and walked out of the room for a second.

Just then, Shawn saw, amid the mess, that there was something shiny in Leonard's closet. It wasn't glowing in the depths there, but rather reflecting the light.

Curious, Shawn stood up and walked over to the closet, leaning in for a closer look at whatever shiny thing might be in there.

Shawn made his way to the closet just as Leonard entered the room.

"I found the..." Leonard said. Then he rushed over towards the closet, nearly tripping over his clothing that was on the floor. He shut the closet door before Shawn could get there.

"Ummm....I have the drawings!" He said, holding up a the papers, back against the closet door's opening and pushing it shut with his butt. He gave Shawn a look like he didn't want him to see what was in there.

Shawn was a little embarrassed at being caught snooping, so he just acted like it hadn't happened. Instead, he went over to Leonard to take a look at the papers in his arms. "Oh, can I see the drawings?"

"Like I said. I draw what's in my dreams. Here. Here's what I dremt of last night. Huh-huh." Leonard said, handing Shawn a drawing that was a faded piece of paper with light, faded scratch marks that made out the drawing.

Shawn felt his heart skip a beat, but tried to calm himself by remembering that not everyone had the same history of clowns as he did. Instead, he grinned at Leonard to hide his worry. "That's a cool clown drawing. What'd he do in your dream?"

"I dunno." Leonard shrugged. "I don't really remember. I mean, I think if you told me...errr...asked me, yeah. Like right when I woke up. But its just that sometimes I forget about the dreams I have. That's why I draw them. My friend Ned told me to draw them. He said I was good at drawing. So that's why I draw my dreams as soon as I wake up."

Leonard frowned. "But now I don't have any paper left. And Mom won't buy me any."

Then Leonard smiled. "Do you want to see more?"

Shawn thought back to the last person he knew who had dreams connected to the Circus - it had been Ralph, and it made him wonder if they had the same causes. "I sometimes dream about clowns - you ever have a dream where you put on face paint and you are the clown?" He remembered that jar of face paint he'd stolen from the Circus, the one the clowns had used on Ralph to make him a little weird; and how Shawn had sold it to Crowley. Maybe that had happened to Leonard? It felt like it was years ago, but he couldn't look away from the opportunity to learn more about what sort of horrors might be coming from the Circus in the future.

He matched Leonard's smile. "I'd love to see more!"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:40, Sat 11 Jan 2020.

“Alright, I think I’ve thought about that but I don’t remember if I specifically dreamed about the face paint or if it’s just that clowns, you know, they wear most face paint. I don’t know.”

He shuffled through the papers looking to show Shawn another of his drawings. “Maybe if you tell me some other detail, I’ll remember.”

Shawn shrugged noncommittally, though inwardly he was trying to remember details from Ralph's experiences that weren't suspiciously specific but also memorable enough to help Leonard remember. "I dunno, I just kinda remember someone putting the face paint on me, and then I felt bad for some reason. It was a weird dream that stuck in my head for some reason." He stepped closer to Leonard to take a look at his other drawings.

"I don't remember what I really wrote there. I guess I was tired. Kind of a story I think." Leonard flipped to the next page

"Once upon a time there was a si-a circus that had a lot of clowns. One day a clown was given three balls. It was fun for the clown, but was not fun for the big clown. 'I have a wig,' said the big clown. 'I have a wig too'." Shawn read the story out loud, wanting to see if it would jog Leonard's memory. It was innocent so far, but Shawn still didn't trust in the idea of a 'normal' dream about a circus. Not in this neighborhood.

"Oh yeah!" Leonard said. "I think it's coming back to me. I remember that!" He sat straight on the bed. "a clown with a wig..." Leonard mumbled under his breath as if thinking about it and trying to grasp at the faint memories, bring them back to the forefront of his mind.

"Read the next page!" Leonard said, all excited. Then his face frowned. "I mean, if you can. I scribbled it down. I'm sorry, my pencil was all faded. I'm so stupid! Stupid!!!" he said in what sounded like genuine self-disgust, hitting his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"You're not stupid, Leonard. It's amazing you're remembering this much." Shawn squinted at the page for a moment, and his lips moved silently as he unpacked what Leonard's writing said. "Two clowns went to see what was happening. 'What are you two doing?' said the two clowns at the same time. 'He is juggling,' said the big...I bet you meant the big clown, there. But you did a really good job writing this down."

"Thanks." Leonard said. "I think that's what happened in the dream. But that wasn't what the dream was about, you know?" He noted, putting emphasis on the words 'was about.'

"It's like, when you have a dream and there's all of these pictures and you want to write them down, but even if you write them down its not really about the whole dream. There's, I dunno, something in the dream you can't write or maybe you can draw it but it doesn't mean that all of the dream is in what you drew or what you wrote down. It's like part of the dream is missing. Not because its hiding, but because you can't draw or write down that part because it only makes sense in the dream."

"So I didn't write down or draw that part. Because that part of the dream is what the dream is really about, not just what happened." Leonard explained.

"I think I get it. It's like if I had a dream about catching a dog and going over to someone's house, it'd actually be about meeting you, right?" Shawn looked at the pictures Leonard drew again. "So do you remember what the dream was really about?"

"Yeah, I do." Leonard said, as if he was waiting for quite some time for someone to ask him that. "But if I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"Pinky swear." And he held out his left hand and extended the pinky finger, waiting to see if Shawn would link his own pinky finger with Leonard's to seal the pact.

"I pinky swear I won't tell another person." Shawn held up his own left hand and curled his pinky around Leonard's.

Leonard had given all appearances of being smaller, younger and by all intents and purposes, weaker than Shawn from an age and status perspective. Any casual observer who was a kid would have known that.

So it was was with unusual formality that Leonard emphasized the next words that he spoke "No penny tax. And no backs-eees" He said, wanting to make sure that Shawn wouldn't somehow find a way to get out of the deal and waiting for Shawn to confirm once again, his solemn agreement that this would remain secret forever.

"No penny tax, and no backsies." Shawn kept his pinkie linked until Leonard was satisfied.

"Well, the dream I think means that someone in the neighborhood is secretly an evil Clown." Leonard explained. "It's one of the adults. They aren't really an adult. There an evil monster-clown. I was scared when I woke up from that dream, you know? And in the dream, no one told me that or showed anything like that to me. I just knew in the way that you know during a dream, you know? What things are and stuff. And that was a bad thing to know. And I tried to tell Mommy but then she said I couldn't write down any of my dreams anymore because they were bad dreams. And that my dreams were wrong and 'innap..proprietary.' That's a big word that means it hurts people's feelings."

"But I still think it's true that someone in the neighborhood is an evil clown. And its an adult. Not just any evil clown...The Evil Clown. The one from my dreams. And he's hiding and waiting in someone's body. Like War of the Worlds the TV show."

OOC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GX50Aslyh0

Shawn nodded, seriously. He believed Leonard, that a clown was hiding in a human body...that it was probably Cherrywinks. "Did your dreams give you any hints for who it might be? An adult with a clown in his body would probably be acting weird, right?" He wondered if Mr. Clayton might know anything about this, either what Cherrywinks might be doing, or why Leonard was dreaming about him.

"Well, in my dream it was on Main Street or on Rodeo Drive, so...." Leonard replied, scanning the pages of his drawings.

"Want to see more of my drawings? I mean, not the ones from my dreams. Just really cool ones that I like to draw. I'm going to be a robot for Halloween!" he announced, switching the topic.

"So it's an adult on Main Street or on Rodeo Drive..." Shawn knew he had to keep his eyes open from now on...and maybe see what else he could find out from Leonard. "I'd love to see your other drawings! You should come over to my house sometime, I'll show you what I've been doing." Maybe Mr. Clayton would know how to make Leonard's dreams more accurate.

“Oh right yeah. Do it again! That was fun! Your house next time!” Leonard seemed really happy, “I feel like I can trust you”

Shawn smiled cheerfully. "Of course you can trust me! But I still wanna see more of your drawings first." He wondered how long Mr. Clayton would take to recover.

"Alright!" Leonard said. "I'll be right back. I've hid them around the house." He informed Shawn, then he got up off the bed and left the room. Shawn found himself along for a quite a bit, hearing a ruffling sound int he adjacent room as if Leonard was sifting through papers or desk drawers.

Shawn kinda wanted to see what the weird thing in Leonard's closet was, but he didn't want to get caught snooping so soon after he'd promised he was trustworthy. Instead, he decided to try an experiment, something he thought might work but had never tried.

He closed his eyes and opened his imagination. He imagined himself in the room he was already in, sitting in the position he already sat, hearing the sounds he was already hearing. The only difference, in this imagination, was that Shawn had Mr. Clayton on his arm. He put as much detail into it as he could - how the dummy looked, how it felt on his hand. He looked at the imagined Mr. Clayton and imagined speaking. Mr. Clayton, he imagined, Are you there? He relaxed and let his mind imagine what the dummy might reply with without any conscious input. If, after all, the dummy was a trifle, surely that would include its physical presence. And if it didn't, that was good to know as well.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:57, Tue 21 Jan 2020.

It took Shawn a while To get settled. But once he did he felt a strange wave of calmness part over him. This was not a physical sensation, nor was it mental. It was an experience. And in that experience, Shawn felt a presence. The same way that someone knows something without even knowing why or how they know it. And in this case, Shawn felt the presence of Mr. Clayton‘s mind in his own mind. It was as if the puppet had a presence and in that way, it’s body was not necessary. This feeling was not the voice of Feddler, Nor was it the physical presence of some evil clown. Rather it wasn’t knowing presence. A presence that Shawn knew Was now part of him. And because of that, Shawn did not need to hear Mr. Clayton’s voice. The puppet was there ready and willing to listen.

Shawn felt both relieved his trick had worked, but also a little concerned at how close Mr. Clayton felt. But he maintained his imagining of the dummy, if only to keep the illusion of separation. After all, that’s what ventriloquism shows were about, right? You pretended there were two different people. Well, Leonard’s dreaming that there’s a clown hiding in the body of a grownup. How’s he having those dreams? Ralph had them cause of that face paint, but Leonard seems normal. And if it’s true, can we help him remember the dream better to figure out who the clown is?

A few seconds past. There wasn't an answer in the strict sense. No inner voice in Shawn's head like that of Feddler, who used to rustle around in Shawn mind before....

Instead, Shawn felt an involuntary sense of longing. As if the answers that he was seeking could be found with certainty. But that that certainty could only be obtained by going home. Going home and returning to the place that was familiar. The place with Mr. Clayton on his lap, in front of the chair.

It was hard to separate these thoughts from Shawn's own thoughts and feelings. Was Shawn thinking these ideas? Were they being placed by Mr. Clayton?

Shawn felt reassured that at least there was a certain answer, that there was something he could. And it was also nice to discover that Mr. Clayton couldn't just speak to him like Feddler did. So, he opened his eyes and tried to relax until Leonard returned.

Leonard came back into the room. He dropped a pile of papers by accident. Then he scrambled to pick them back up.

"Here." he said, and he tried to push them forward, grabbing one and thrusting it into Shawn's hand.



Then he kept picking the papers up. "Uh-Oh." He said. "Did I hand you a drawing or.....?"

Shawn looked the note over, but it was very quickly clear that this wasn't what Leonard had meant to show him. He quickly flipped it over so the blank side was facing up, and then handed it back to Leonard. "Oh, it looked like a note. But it didn't look like it was for me I didn't really read it."

As Shawn was handing it back, Leonard reached out and snatched it with a quick hand. He hid the note behind his back and said “My drawings are stupid. Stupid drawings. My Mom is probably right, I should stop drawing. God!” Shawn heard the crumpling of the paper behind Leonard’s back. “I’m so stupid!”

Shawn tried to smile and seem reassuring once again. "You're not stupid, and your drawings are good! C'mon, can you show me one of them?"

"OK!" Leonard said, excitedly. "This one isn't my dream, but it's, it's what I thought about doing about it. After I woke up, I drew this! It's all the kids in the neighborhood fighting the Clown. And then I thought it would be cool if the Clown became a giant robot and then if the Clown tried to capture the kids and then the kids were all like 'Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!' and then they tried to like, stun the Clown-Robot!"

"Wow, this is really cool! I like the digger machines and the ray guns." Shawn's eyes wandered over the drawing - there was a lot to take in! While Leonard said it wasn't part of his dream, he couldn't help but wonder if maybe there were subconscious hints about what the clown could do in this drawing. "So the Clown-Robot captures the kids? Where do you think he puts them? I see there's a jail in the picture. And are those spirals in the corner, like, on a TV screen? Or maybe they're portals to another dimension?"

“Yeah, yeah!” Leonard said all excited. “He tries to suck them into other worlds! His world! And if he can’t, then he puts them in jail. That’s why the kids build super-dooper diggers! He can’t suck them out of the ground. So he doesn’t see them coming to attack him and once they get to the surface, they can free the kids!”

"Awesome!" Shawn was mirroring Leonard's excitement. "Aw man, I bet his world is super dangerous. When the kids beat the robot, they'll have to go rescue the other kids in robot clown world!"

"Yeah but there's another thing." Leonard informed Shawn. "Do you see all of the swirly things? That means that he's hypnotizing them. He's trying to get them to see his way of doing things. He's trying to turn the kids he captures against the other kids."

Shawn frowned and leaned in closer to the drawing. "Is he making them into more clowns? Or just making them work for him?" That did sound concerning - he knew the clowns spread through the red noses, but this sounded like a completely different thing. He wouldn't be able to trust other kids if that were true.

"Hmmmm." Leornard said. "I don't know. I didn't get that far into it. I was focused more on the 'Pow!' - 'Pow!', laser beams and stuff." Leonard put a finger on one of the kids in the cage.

Shawn could see that the index finger was long, and there was a fair amount of brown dirt and crud under Leonard's finger nail.

"Like this guy got caught. And he's like a kid like all the others. But now that he's in the cage. But do you see that he's got a gun? So he's like still fighting. And in this case, its a laser gun! Pow! Pow!" Leonard explained.

"So, he wants to fight against it, but slowly its like he's changing to support it all. So that way, he slowly is like working with the Clown but he doesn't want to. But yes, he does slowly."

"Wow, that's really scary!" Shawn contemplated that as a weapon in the arsenal of Mr. Cherrywinks. And as he continued to look over the drawing, the paranoid, suspicious part of him pointed something out to him.

If the swirly things made kids think more like Mr. Cherrywinks, Mr. Cherrywinks hated kids, didn't he? And at least twice now Leonard had made a little mistake and called himself stupid and dumb and all sorts of names. What if that was why Leonard knew what was going on - he'd been captured and the swirly things made it seem like a dream? It wasn't a pleasant thought, and Shawn knew it was just an idea. But it was another thing he'd have to check with Mr. Clayton.

As Shawn began to ponder the hidden and profound meaning in the drawing, Leonard kept right on talking:
“That’s scary yeah! And then....wait? What’s scary? Did you mean the Clown, the cage or the gun? Or, or the swirly things?” Leonard asked, suddenly needing clarification.

"Well, the swirly things are really scary when you think about it. Even if you didn't want to, you'd end up as bad as the clown. And you'd like working for him, even if it was bad. You wouldn't even be you anymore, you know?" Shawn glanced at Leonard, trying to tell if he was making sense - he wasn't sure if he was.

Shawn watched Leonards face and Leonard, for his part began to nod with a slight grimace. “Yeah, that’s right. I just kind of wrote down the what I would, you know, do about it. So, the way I thought about it would be like if all the kids got together and then tried to go after the Clown. Umm, he might not be a robot though. Or maybe he is, I’m not sure. I’m more sure about the other drawing ‘cause it came from my dream. But I still think there’s cool stuff in this one. I mean, I still really think that the whole neighborhood needs to do it together! I know my Mom doesn’t like it, and she doesn’t believe in anything I write!”

Shawn tried to look reassuring. "Oh, it's really good that you wrote it all down like this! We won't be able to prepare for the clown if we don't think about what he might do, right? Even if you're not completely sure, it's good to give us ideas. Maybe your mom doesn't like it, but I think it's great." He looked down at the drawing again, trying to remember as much as he could for later. "Even if we can't get the whole neighborhood, I'm glad you trusted me, at least. I've got another friend I can ask about this - he knows more about clowns and stuff than I do, so maybe he'll have more ideas."

"As long as you don't tell my Mom anything, right?" Leonard said, trying to make sure that the promise would be kept.

Shawn put his hand over his heart. "I promise! Your secret's safe!"

"Alright!" Leonard said and then, switching the subject "I'm going to be a robot for Halloween. What are you going to be?"

Shawn hadn't thought about it before, but realized immediately that he only ever had one choice. "I'm going as a ventriloquist - I have most of the costume ready. We should go trick-or-treating together; a robot's kinda like a dummy, right?"

“Yeah! We should go together! But...what’s a ventricular-it’s?”

"It's, uh..." Shawn hesitated a moment as he tried to figure out a way to explain the concept of ventriloquism to someone who clearly hadn't encountered it before. "They're, like, people who've learned how to talk without moving their lips, so they can carry around a doll and pretend it's the one talking instead of them."

Shawn hadn't tried to talk without moving his mouth, or throw his voice without Mr. Clayton being present before, but he decided to try anyway - he'd learned the skill, right? "Like this." He tried to say it without his lips moving, and tried to make it sound like it was coming from a little ways away from him.

The effect, while normally something Shawn would have to concentrate and practice with, was suddenly there. But as the words left Shawns lips, they weren’t his words, they were Mr. Clayton’s. In his mind Shawn heard the words “Like This.”

But out loud, the voice that left Shawns lips, was reedy and thin.

“Hi-ya Leonard!” The voice said from Shawns lips.

Leonard opened his eyes wide and stumbled backward, falling onto the rug in his room on his ass. He looked up to Shawn with a mixture of horror and awe.

Shawn tried to roll with it and not look as freaked out about it as he felt. “See, it’s a neat trick.” This time he spoke normally, so he didn’t sound like Mr. Clayton.

Leonard brushed his forehead with his forearm and shimmied backwards, butt dragging on the floor as he increased the distance between himself and Shawn. “It sounded.....scary.”

Shawn scootched back a little himself, immediately realizing he'd miscalculated and not wanting to further frighten Leonard. "Sorry! Sorry...it was a dumb trick, I won't do it again..." He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he was definitely playing up how sorry he looked in hopes that it would get Leonard to forgive him.

Shawn Rolls Manipulation + Empathy + Striking Looks with the following results:

0 Successes: Shawn fails to convince Leonard and ends up leaving Leonards house after several unsuccessful attempts

1-3 Successes: Shawn convinces Leonard it was just a joke but can tell Leonard’s approach to Shawn is more cautious than before

4+ Successes: Shawn convinces Leonard and everything goes back to how it was

OOC: 22:56, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 2 successes using 7d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 6,8,2,4,5,9,1.  Manipulation + Empathy + Striking Looks.

“I’m not so sure about it. I...I don’t like jokes like that. They’re scary and not fun and they make me feel like bad things could happen. I don’t like jokes that remind me of the bad parts of the dreams I’m having. Because the bad parts are the nightmare parts.” Leonard explained to Shawn, still looking at him from across the room where he sat in a pile of clothing.

"Gosh, I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to make you think about your nightmares." Shawn still hated it when people didn't like him, and it was even worse if it was his fault. He had to figure out how to get Leonard back on his side. "Instead, do you wanna draw? I'm pretty good at drawing race cars."

Without saying anything, Leonard got up from the floor and brushed his pants off. He nodded to Shawn but still looked him in the eyes, as if he didn't fully trust Shawn and wanted to keep his eye on him. Then he made his way over to the dresser next to  his bed.

The dresser was covered with a bowl which some time ago had been used to eat cereal. Now the cereal was stuck to the inside, stale and caked. A dirty sock lay next to it and next to that an old alarm clock.

Leonard opened the drawer and pulled out some crayons and some pieces of paper.

"Let's draw some race cars." he said.

Shawn noticed the way Leonard was looking at him, but didn't acknowledge it. Instead, he kept a friendly smile on his face as he took a crayon and a piece of paper. He concentrated on the page as he started to draw - he was going to draw the coolest looking race car he possibly could, that way Leonard wanted to be his friend again!

OOC: Shawn Rolls Intelligence + Crafts

OOC: Expression usually covers painting and art that doesn't require actual construction - can I use that instead?

OOC: Yes, Shawn Rolls Expression + Crafts

OOC: 11:08, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 1 success using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more with rolls of 4,5,8,3,6.  Expression + Crafts.

The drawing came out pretty good, a standard race car, the look of Michael's Knight Rider  from the popular show.

"Hey, that looks like Knight Rider." Leonard said. "Uh-oh. Did  you say race cars?" Leonard said, looking sheepish.

"I actually just was thinking about having a party. So I started invitations. Would come to a party that I had?" Leonard asked Shawn.

"Do you like Knight Rider? I like Knight Rider." Shawn hoped so, so they could bond a little over that. "I'd totally come to your party - we're friends, right?"

"Yeah, I like Knight Rider, because the car talks." Leonard said in a simpleton tone. And just then Shawn got the sense that Leonard was indeed about three years younger than him, maybe three and a half.

"Here" Leonard said. He held out his hand and showed Shawn what he had drawn. It looked like the beginning of a party invitation. "These are the games we can play!" He said with a little kids excitement.

Shawn had figured Leonard was a little younger than him, but he was realizing just how big the gap actually was. "Yeah, it's really cool when the car talks. And those game look fun!" He recognized most of the games - some of them he played in school when he was much younger.

"And this!" Leonard said. He held out his hand and showed Shawn another piece of paper. "It's what's for eating at the party!" he proclaimed with joy

Shawn read it over, taking a moment to mentally sound out some of the words when they were unclear. "Wow, that sounds really good. What kind of party is this, anyway? Is it a Halloween party? Or are you having a birthday soon?"

"No" Leonard advised. "It's a neighborhood party. And everyone is invited! Are you going to help me pass out the invitations. I mean, we're friends now, right?" Leonard asked hopefully.

Shawn gave the impression of thinking it over. "I totally could. When's the party?" With all the food and games listed, it sounded like it'd take a while to organize.

“Umm...ummmm....Halloween?” Leonard said. Shawn knew that Halloween was just a few days away.

Shawn felt a little skeptical, but he wasn't going to outright say it was a bad idea to Leonard. "Oh, you're not trick or treating? I was hoping we could trick or treat together."

“Oh no! That means we have to do it before Halloween! Otherwise no one will come because everyone knows that after Halloween, kids have so much candy. They won’t have any reason to come. Can you pass out the invitations before Halloween and I’ll get things ready?”

"Oh, that sounds like a great idea!" Shawn thought it was a terrible idea, but he couldn't just shoot down Leonard's dreams like that. Or at least not in a way that sounded like it was Shawn doing it. He let his face fall. "Oh, but wait. If everyone is coming, what if the clown comes after the party?"

"Great!" Leonard says. "This is the perfect way to plan for the evil clown! My Dad once said that their is a strength in a number. Like, if there's more than one kid you have to say "a strength in a number." He didn't say what number though."

Shawn could tell that particular angle wouldn't work, and he couldn't bring up too many objections, lest it look like he wasn't being supportive. "Oh! Should we get sticks and stuff together to use as weapons, just in case?"

Shawn spoke at length with Leonard, bandying back and forth regarding the party. Leonard, to be fair, was completely distracted. He moved form one drawing to another and really wasn't paying attention to Shawn. Not out of malice, but out of excitement. His eyes were wide and he kept saying things like 'I can't wait for the party!' and 'We should make sure that everyone gets the invitation.'

If Shawn was going to try to steer Leonard towards any direction, his time frame was quickly disappearing. Soon, Leonard would be completely swept up in the tide of this excitement, the way little kids often are.

OOC: Shawn decides whether or not to 'steer' Leonard towards a particular way of thinking with the following results

No decision: Leonard becomes swept up in his own ideas

Steering Leonard: Shawn rolls Manipulation + Socialize + Striking Looks (-2 Leonard is distracted)

Gently, without coming out directly against the party, Shawn tried to steer Leonard into delaying it until after Halloween (that way they've seen your cool costume, so they know who you are!). That way he might either get distracted by something else in the meantime, or at least Shawn could steer him further.

OOC: 07:48, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 1 success using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 2,3,1,4,8.  Manipulation + Socialize + Striking Looks (-2).

After hearing the argument, Leonard agreed. “Alright, we can wait until afterwards. But does that mean that you’ll stills help me hand out the invites? Also, do you have a tick-or-treat partner yet? Who are you going with? Should I get the invites ready now? So we can hand them out later?” Now that Shawn has convinced him, focus became more about the details for Leonard.

Shawn was relieved he hadn't alienated Leonard by changing his plans, so he was entirely game to play along. "I'll totally help you hand out the invites! Do you want to trick-or-treat with me? Is it okay if I bring a friend or two along? You should get the invites partly ready - that way we can change stuff later if we think of more ideas!"

"yeah!" Leonard said with genuine mirth. "You can invite your friend and then we can all go. And I'll make invitations and we can invite him. How's that sound?"

"That sounds great! I can't wait to see the invitations you make." Shawn gave Leonard his winning-est smile, hoping that this had been enough to make up whatever ground he'd lost with the dummy voice.

OOC: This thread closed. Please see proceed to the following thread in this game when it is posted:


Shawn: Practice, Practice, Practice

and the following thread in this game: link to another game

Shawn: Your #1 Fan!