Fantasy PHANTASMA: SCHOOL OF THE STRANGE

[MechaGhoul]

Susie blinked as Lily thought she was excited to be at the seedy motel. Ah the French seedy motels, they were nice. Then she blushed profusely as Lily made the second statement, as she held her mouth agape. "D-did you not see the Arc? The bus flew by it, it was really close. I was erm, r-referring to that uuuh...M-moving on!" Of course now that thought weaseled into her mind.





She took her suitcase and followed Lily, as she had to explain the glorious opportunity that came to them. "Right, so Lily, we passed the Arc de triomphe. Where is the Arc located? Why would I be excited about being here?"

 

[CSA]

"Ooohhh," replied Lily, eyes widening as she began to understand, "Yeah, I was playing video games so I didn't see it. We're in Paris? That's totally awesome! Too bad I didn't bring more money for clothes."


Lily looked at the key, and began following the signs to room 142 where they would be staying.


"Do your parents live around here? If so, maybe we could give them a surprise visit. It would be kinda cool to meet them. And do some sightseeing. I want to get a good look at the Arc and the Eiffel Tower and the Catacombs- well, maybe not the Catacombs. Anya might get really scared, though I kinda want to see them."

 

[MechaGhoul]

"YES!" Susie declared beaming with excitement. "My parents don't live in, this district. Though I do have a few friends from this area though. I can easily show you to my parents. When I saw the Arc I was already contemplating using a Teleport so I can just be at the house. I'm sure they'd be interested in seeing the two of you. And there are a lot of fun places to go sight-seeing." She said with a nod as she pulled her luggage as she followed them to the room. Even if she did teleport back to the actual family house, it was at least a good idea to make sure her friends got to the room safely. Though of course, teachers would probably react in an interesting way, if she teleported away. Probably.


Ah the rituals of the Catacombs... Since I'm here! I need to perform some, see if I can contact any of the Coven without them noticing me. Susie thought to herself. She beamed a smile to Lily, "Oh the Catacombs are fuuun~! As is the Arc, don't care too much for the Tower. Still, uh, hm, lots of things to do."

 

[CSA]

Lily jumped a little when Susie shouted in excitement, and took a second to look back at the Elf as she spoke. She seemed really happy to be home, which was nice for her, but while she was going to sleep probably cuddled up with her extensive family, Lily had been kicked off of superbus and was going to have to spend the night in a sex room with Anya. Lily was not as excited as she should have been to be in France.


"Well," replied Lily, a small smile on her face, "I certainly can't wait to meet your family and see the sights. And shop for French clothing."


Soon, Lily reached their room, unlocked the door, and turned on the lights. She could only hope that the atmosphere wasn't too suggestive.

 

[DrBones]

Work B20, with a quietness hitherto unseen in all forms of ambulatory doll, scuttled along with all the other students who had received their keys. Of course, the fact that Work B20 looked exactly like a fairy-sized student who had lost her uniform due to an unspecified tragedy helped her stay incognito in the throng of shins and shoes.


When B20 leaped down from the bus' threshold, it found itself in a world completely unlike the one it left behind when it got on the bus. It was dark, moist, and much cloudier than what B20 had ever seen before. B20, experiencing a world as alien as William Dyer experienced in the long-abandoned homes of the Elder Things, was mystified.


Suddenly, a trio of figures caught its eye: the things from last night that were eating one another! Desperately clinging to the devil it knew, B20 followed them at a distance. Soon enough the trio stopped at a door, and opened it. The room beyond was, from a worm's-eye-view, like staring into the scape of the Third Circle itself. Had B20 anything close to a gag reflex, it would have everted itself out of sheer force of throat-muscle control.


Trauma clouding its judgement, B20 stepped forward as if in a dream, accidentally placing itself behind Lily Darlingtonia. B20's "eyes" were so fixated at the yards of shag carpeting and dried bodily fluids ahead of itself that it didn't even notice it had placed itself right between the members of the group.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

A rat skittered under the bed as Lily clicked on the dim, flickering lightbulb overhead, revealing a small single room. Over the crusty carpet, a singular, twin-sized bed with various stains on the comforter, some red color that had dulled over years of misuse. A small TV stood at attention on the opposite wall, covered in dust and a collection of unmarked VHS tapes, one of which still rested in the VCR. The room itself connected to a small bathroom with a sink, mirror, and toilet; all three had their insides stained with yellow.


Throughout the entire room was an unidentifiable musk, evidence of numerous acts unknown.


"No, don't..... don't steal my recipes." Anya mumbled in her sleep, turning over on the plant. As she finished saying this, the sound of springs rocking over and over echoed from the other side of a paper thin wall.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie glanced at the room. "Right well, you two should get settled, I'm probably going to just teleport back to the house, all things considered. I mean I could stay here, buuut the bed would lead to cramped conditions for sleeping. Yeah, may just head back home with a quick incantation." She glanced around at the scenery of the room. Poorer district, fancy enough to maintain a VHS set, and TV which could use it. Over-all it wasn't that bad of a place, give or take a few details. The paper-thin walls, which allowed for the sounds of springs rocking was annoying. The crusty carpet was, not too inviting. She rolled her suitcase in as she entered the room. "Well, this is an interesting place hm? Think you'll be okay here?"

 

[CSA]

The room appeared to be just as bad, or maybe even a little worse, than Lily had imagined it would be. She stared for a few seconds at the interior before turning back to Susie.


"I... am honestly not sure if I'll be OK here," replied Lily, "I'm actually a little scared. It might help a little if you would slee-"


Just then, Lily noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A tiny person was just standing there right in front of her. Not, like, normal tiny either. This thing was tiny tiny. Lily slowly crouched down and looked at the thing.


"Uh... hello? Are you a student too? Do you want to room with us?"


Lily couldn't quite see B20 well in this lighting, so she assumed it was a faerie of some sort. Faeries were cute, so Lily wouldn't mind sharing a room with it. If it was a girl.

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Well, hm. I suppose I could, just let me get my things." Susie unzipped her bag, as Ferdie began speaking. "Screeeeew them! We're back babe! ...You didn't zip the bag fully, heard stuff." Susie just glared at Ferdie. "Still! Screw them, they'll be fine, just, I found a Scroll of Messages, or whatever you wanna call it in the suitcase." Ferdie pulled out a worn scroll bounded by some white string, as he chucked it as far as he could with his wooden puppet hands.


It promptly landed on the floor below. "They'll be fine. Besides we have things to discuss, things to do. Can't stay here!" Susie glanced at Lily, "Well, there's no problem now. You can contact me if you need me kay? If you're scared just activate the scroll by writing a message, and I'll get it. And I'll promptly be back." Susie paused for a moment as she began preparing the spell. With a quick flash of light, she was gone.


All the while Ferdie gave one message, "WOOO-HOOOOOOOO! I'M BACK! YOU CA-" And so Susie, and her luggage left the room in a quick display of magic. In the process there was a slight smell of sulfur which stuck into the carpet.

 

[DrBones]

B20 rocketed back to the real world when Lily spoke to it. Suddenly realizing the dire situation it was trapped in as a thing made an intimidatingly guttural series of sounds, B20 weighed its options.


Either it could...

1. Push its luck with the things. They weren't immediately hostile, and thus could be dealt with for the time being.
   
2. Attempt to traverse the shag carpet hellscape.
   

B20 looked to Lily. Large, intimidating, and possessing a mouth twice the size of any thing. B20 looked into the room. Almost immediately, it made its decision known by frantically attempting to claw its way up Lily's mighty stem. Even being in the clutches of a thing would be better than dealing with this room's floor.

 

[CSA]

"Wait, bu-"


But Lily didn't get to finish as Susie disappeared, leaving behind only the smell of sulfur and a scroll. Well, at least the sulfur improved the smell of the room, and by the time Lily left it would probably smell better than any other room in Paris even if it was still kinda crusty.


Lily watched as B20 scrambled up her tendril, and smiled slightly.


"Excited, huh? Well, I guess France is nice, even if we have to sleep in a room like this one," said Lily, walking into the room and taking a seat on the bed. Anya was already asleep, but Lily wasn't certain she wanted the girl to be sleeping on a sex bed. Anya could occupy her flower just for tonight, and Lily would take the stained mattress. One of her tendrils reached out to lock the door, and the one B20 occupied stretched up to the bed.


"Well, here we are, uh, whatever your name is. You want to sleep on the bed? Or should I, like, put a pillow on the VCR? I don't know what you want, you're going to have to tell me."

 

[DrBones]

The thing holding Work B20 motioned to two locations in the room.


One place was a massive cloth mesa. Staying on that would be an invitation to be lost among an ocean of foul-smelling cloth and pubic lice.


The other was... a block of black plastic. The only perilous thing about it was several dark-colored crusty spots scattered across its top.


Work B20 did its best to reach the VCR by lunging in its general direction, but was held tight by Lily's fibrous appendage. Still, this brief glimmer of freedom from excruciating death was a godsend to B20, and it fought with all its might to make it so.

 

[CSA]

"Whoa, hey, the VCR, I gotcha," said Lily, giggling a little, "Excitable little one, aren't you?"


With that, she extended her tendril towards the VCR and let B20 down gently. Lily grabbed a pillow from the bed and placed it next to the VCR as well.


"You don't talk too much, do you? Well, anyways, good night. If the pillow isn't comfortable enough, feel free to move to the bed," stated Lily, turning the lights off and laying down on the bed.


"I've slept in worse conditions," Lily thought, frowning as she closed her eyes and rested.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

And so, Lily's and B20's night in the hotel began. There would be little sleep, however, as the springs grew ever louder, then grew into angry French yelling. This shouting continued for about forty-five minutes before continuing into crashing, glass breaking, and a terrible, loud screaming that stopped abruptly. A softer commotion was heard, followed by the door slamming and a car speeding away into the distance.


Thirty minutes later, a set of flashing red and blue lights pulled up outside. Footsteps moved in and out of the room for a short while, then left.


The hotel was eerily silent for the rest of the night, broken only by Anya's soft breathing from inside the flower. At a little after 5am, shafts of sunlight broke through the window, illuminating the carpet. A cockroach scampered across Lily's face, disappearing under the other side of the bed.

 

[CSA]

Lily awoke to the feeling of something scuttling across her face. It was a little gross, of course, but Lily wasn't particularly frightened of vermin. She only hoped that Anya and the small creature got through the night OK. It was only a little after 5:00, but Lily doubted she would be resting any more this day, so she sat up.


"Can't the mammals behave for one damn night?" she muttered, rubbing her eyes and looking at the wall between her and the adjacent room. She was fairly certain that there was some murder in there earlier, but the cops seemed to have taken care of it so whatever. Lily got up, and opened the bathroom door, hoping that they at least kept their shame showers somewhat clean.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"Lily..." a voice squeaked. Anya rose from the flower, giving a wide stretch as she yawned.


"...Where are we? What smells so bad?" she asked, looking around the dilapidated room. Curiously, she sniffed under her arm, and her ears flicked.


"It's not me. I probably don't even need a bath." she declared with a proud smile.

 

[DrBones]

B20 had not slept at all through the night. The unceasing cacophany of the sounds of Paris met B20 like the infernal howls of the denizens of Inferno performing their dark works. Still, B20 was glad that it was at least secure in a more familiar place, one filled with the devils it knew.


At last, as the horrid sounds appeared to dull and light began gently filling the room, B20 noticed the things stirring. Experience had twisted B20 far worse than anything it had ever seen, and now it saw the world through dulled eyes. It began to see the things as not so threatening, if only because things preferred to be in sight. Compared to whatever made those horrid noises last night, things were as threatening as cockroaches.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie, slept like a babe. This was due to the fact that she did not sleep in the hotel, and instead used a simple teleportation spell to return to her family's estate. She was planning on sleep past 5 A.M. but found her plans disturbed by her loyal unholy puppet companion. Ferdie stood on the purple bed-sheets as he began frantically poking Susie with his wooden puppet hands.


"Susie! Susie! Susie!" he eagerly cried out. Susie's eyes flickered opened as she stared at him in annoyance. She turned her head, rustling up some pillows as she glanced at him. "...What? It's not like we need to wake up this early." The puppet cackled as he sat down on the bed-sheet. Focusing his dummy eyes on Susie he spoke yet again. "Say! You know which district those twerps were in!?" Susie reached up with her right hand as she idly rubbed her eyes. "Huh? What that shadie-" The puppet interrupted as he twisted his head in a 360 fashion. "YEEEEESSSS.... It's that one shady district, you kno-" Susie flipped around on the bed, as she turned her head away.


"Okay, we know that shady district. You know, couple of engagements at that tavern with the crew. But thing is, that those lamewads, the students, they are sure as shit dead! Do you really wanna miss out on collecting free body parts!?" Susie glanced at Ferdie annoyed, "...Probably should head over there. But I'm sure they are alive."


The puppet grumbled at the thought, as he hopped off the bed. "Personally I'm betting they are dead. I'm sure some student or some poor schmuck is already a goner. At the least they got some parts taken. ...I'll bet on it." Susie got up and sat on the bed. "Bet taken. Probably should head back over there anyway."

 

[CSA]

"Oh, I'm very proud of you, Anya," stated Lily, smiling as she looked into the bathroom. At the very least it wasn't really as bad as the rest of the place, but it was still befilthed. She looked back at Anya, who was occupying her flower still.


"It's good to stay clean. We're currently in a very cheap and very dirty room in a motel in Paris, France. That's where Susie is from, so she's staying with her parents."


"She might just smell good because she slept in my flower. That's alright for today, though, because she might get a disease if she takes a shower in there."


With that, Lily looked to where B20 was sleeping to make sure she got through the night. Lily turned on the lights, and examined the thing for the first time.


"Wait, you're a... tiny mannequin? Huh?"


Lily tilted her head in confusion.


"Do you belong to Susie? If so, it was really nice of her to get you to watch over us."

 

[MechaGhoul]

"So whatcha think the crime scene gonna be like?" Ferdie eagerly inquired. Susie shrugged as she took a brush from on top of the dresser and brushed through her hair. "I'm hoping it's REALLY MESSY."


Susie giggled as she rolled her eyes at his outburst. "It's that district, every crime scene is messy there. No one ever cleans up. Whether it is sheets to blood-stains, it is always messy." To further illustrate this point she stuck her tongue out at the unholy aberration that was her puppet. The two of them began laughing together. "Point taken. Question is what are the stakes of our wager?"


Changing into her simple attire of a sweater and sweat pants she mused on the subject. "Hnn, something under, I dunno from our unofficial 'Betting and Results' Selection Eight?" She said with a shrug, as she took a sticky and pen. She quickly wrote a note to her parents.


- Gotta check up on them. If they are alive, I'll see if I can get them to come visit at some point while we're still here. Toodles.


Susie and Ferdie


Ferdie glanced at Susie as she was composing the manuscript and slapped it on the outside door. Well the mage hand slapped it on there. "Ya mentioned me right? Oh and more to the point, yeah Section Eight sounds good." Susie responded with a quick nod, as she picked up her puppet and placed him in her left hand. "Aaaand before we have to go back to that awful school, I noticed a few of my suits were still here. I'mma need those. And we're gonna be back here for breakfast yea? Despite the fact if they live or die?"


"Only unless something really important happens in between that time. Yes." Susie responded. And with that, Susie teleported with Ferdie and her luggage in tow, back to the hotel.


-------


As for Achim, sleeping in the gutters tended to lead to fun situations. If this was anything like home that is, he'd be somewhere else. Possibly in a bath-tub full of ice with his organs removed. Or in general he'd be robbed of all of his physical possessions. Or of course some dick ass wizard could've put a cursed item on him. All these things were possibilities and he very much hoped he would have some experience of the sort, instead of a 'mundane' night sleep.

 

[DrBones]

Work B20 watched as Lily once again made some incomprehensible noises at B20. Clearly, they were trying to... do something by making such howling, slurping, cooing, and mewling noises. B20, lacking lungs, vocal chords, an esophagus, lips, and a mouth, could not speak. Instead, it repeated a gesture it had seen several times before that always resulted in a positive result when a thing conversed with another. Nodding its head up and down, B20 did its best to soothe the savage thing that was now looking at B20 with incredulous, potentially hungry eyes.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie and Ferdie teleported back in front of the room where her friends/room-mates stayed for the night. "I don't see police tape. Hey Susie, uh quick question, if they for some reason were alive in that room, and somehow before opening the door let's say I was able to kill them. First, would killing them violate the spirit of the game? And would it count as them being dead for it?"


Rolling her eyes at her puppet she waggled her right finger, after removing her hand from her luggage. "Scarred you'll lose the bet? Heh. First, I know you can't, and more to the point you wouldn't. Well if you could, normally you would, but this 'game form', so I know you wouldn't. If only to keep the mystery of the game. Secondly yes total violation. And third, no. ...Probably not. Anyway, let's see."


And so Susie knocked on the door.

 

[CSA]

Lily smiled at B20, happy that Susie had been so thoughtful as to leave one of her toys behind on guard.


"Oh, how sweet of her," Lily cooed, "And what a brave, strong little sentinel you are."


Lily reached out, and was about to pat B20 when she heard a knock on the door. She withdrew her arm and looked over at the door.


"Oh, that must be her now. Thank you very much, little mannequin."


Lily walked over to the door, and opened it up to find Susie standing on the other side. The Alraune smiled.


"Hey, Susie! It was sweet of you to leave one of your magical constructs to guard us. You really didn't have to, but I guess it shows how much you care. Last night was kind of scary for me, so it makes me happy," said Lily, leaning in closer to whisper in the Elf's ear, "I think someone got murdered a room over. It sounded really violent and it was kind of frightening. I could use a hug and stuff."

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Awwww... DAMN IT! I lost the game." Ferdie grumbled out annoyed before glancing at Susie, who was smirking at him. Susie tilted her head as she glanced at Lily confused. "One of my magical constructs?" Shaking her head, Ferdie spoke up, "One of your 'toys', like me. I imagine." Ferdie focused his puppet eyes at Lily, "Why couldn't you just die? I had a bet riding on this!"


Blinking at Lily she gave a nod, "AH! Oh, ah of course. Couldn't just leave you with just the scroll." Susie said rolling with the situation. There was a chance she could've brought one of her other creatures alongside her and forget about it. Susie glanced at Lily solemnly as she spoke of murder happening in the next room. "T-the room ove-"


"I WAS ONE ROOM OFF!? ONE ROOM!? GAAAAAAAAAH... NO, NO, NO, NO! NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT FAIR!" Ferdie cried out in an unholy temper tantrum. During this he spun his head in a 360 degree rotation and flailed his limbs around. Her ears twitching from the loud ruckus of her creature, she acted quickly and gave Ferdie a consoling pat on the shoulder with her free hand.


"That is not nice behavior. If you behave, and the body is still there, we'll go check it out." Ferdie immediately stopped flailing his limbs. "Noted." Susie glanced at Lily, "So erm, I g-guess you didn't have that good of a night then?"

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"W-what? Who died? Lily, who died?!" Anya asked, very quickly growing distraught.


"No, people can't die? Who died, Susie? What are we talking about?" she pinched her arm, to make sure it was still real. Hopping out of the flower, she stumbled over, and placed her hands on Lily's face.


"Who died?!"