forum Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. // OxO // ClOSED

Started August 24, 2022 by @EtherealDreamer

tune

Aspen sighed and placed a large hand on River's shoulder.
"It's okay" she said quietly "I want a life like that too."

She then quickly withdrew her hand and smiled shyly at him, tucking a strand of long wavy hair behind her ear.

River smiled back at her, glad he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"I feel like the castle and the woman are connected, somehow," he said, kicking a pebble that was in his way. "Maybe the next village we go to then we can ask the locals there if they know anything about a place like that."

Aspen nodded "I think they are too." She agreed.

She kept walking.

~ time skip? ~

After a few hours of walking, River finally saw a sign for a village he'd never heard of that said it was only a few miles down the cobble-stone-clippity-clop.

"Should we stop there?" He asked Aspen, indicating to the sign.

Aspen nodded, her cheeks flushed lightly and took a breath through her nose.
"Yes." She agreed happily and looked down at her groundhands, the ankles were covered in dust and a deep scratch ran across her left cheek and above her left eyebrow.

"Ok," River said, continuing to walk down the cobble-stone-clippity-clop until he saw the village.
It was near the edge of a valley, the once green hills that lied beyond the small town now dead from lack of care. It didn't really make sense why the village was near the valley but not necessarily in it, but he was too on low battery to judge.
"Hopefully we can find a motel or something like that around here," he said to Aspen, his voice betraying how skeptical and doubtful he was of that.

Aspen nodded grimly, also showing how skeptical she was of this statement.

"Sure." She said, trying to reassure him, with a small smile.
"If not, we can just sleep somewhere semi-secluded if need be." She added quietly, continuing to walk. The street was eerily deserted and every person they did pass, gave them a look of surprise and distaste.

"Uhm, maybe we should just like lie low for today." She suggested timidly.

"Maybe," River agreed.
He walked a few more groundhands before he noticed that an elderly couple were watching both him and Aspen from the front porch of a small house that had a lawn that looked like it hadn't been taken care of in months. The elderly male had milky white peepers, which River thought was unusual until it hit him that the man was probably blind o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶w̶i̶g̶h̶t̶. River made peeper contact with the old woman next to the man and she smiled at him warmly with knowing light blue peepers, and beckoned to him and Aspen as an invitation to come over.
River glanced at Aspen, wondering what she thought.

(So I was just kinda brain brewing that maybe the npc couple could be like wights or something and they know that both River and Aspen are peculiar but before they can deathsnuggle them then Mrs. Finch and maybe two other peculiar characters like the one who can see the future (your character) and knew about this interaction and maybe the one who can create illusions (my character) can help them escape and take them to the loop. It was just an brain b^ubble, what do you think?)

(I think that's a great brain b^ubble!)
(where do these brain b^ubbles of yours come from, they're always so good—)

Aspen hesitated, her she seemed rooted to the spot. The elder couple looked noice enough, but there was something in the woman's peepers that she didn't like, the look made her shiver slightly.

Aspen grabbed River's upper forearm and stopped him from going any further.
"I don't like this." She said, her voice quivering lightly.

(The brain b^ubbles come from a mind that's great with roleplaying but gets imagination car mosh pit when it comes to academic essays. I have one due today and I haven't even written the first paragraph, which sucks-)

"I'm betting they'll give us an actual place to sleep instead of a leafy tower," River said, tempted by the brain b^ubble of being in an actual building again.
"Let's at least see what they want. Maybe they have some information about the castle," he continued, trying to convince Aspen. The old woman was still smiling pleasantly at them, giving off a vibe of endless patience.

(I do that too sometimes—)

Aspen gripped River's forearm harder.
"I don't like this." She whispered to him, her peepers darting around as if predators were to attack at any moment. "I really don't like this."

She looked at the old woman and squinted her peepers shut.
"Please don't make me go." She said worriedly.

"I-" River sighed, rubbing his peepers.

"Alright, fine. We'll find someplace else," he said, sending an apologetic glance to the old woman.

Aspen shook her head. "No you go." She insisted "see what this is all about."
She gave him a small shove, placing both hands on her shoulders and sent him slightly forward, after watching him walk toward the woman she bit her lip and walked quickly forward and walked beside him, she slipped her hand into his.

She was scared and she had no brain b^ubble why.
But she needed the calm weight of his hand in hers before she started to calm, even if it was only the slightest bit.

River was slightly bumfuzzled at the turn of events but he shrugged, giving Aspen's hand a gentle squeeze before giving the old woman a charming smile.

"howdy, partner there young ones!" The old lady said once they were both close enough. Despite her age, her voice was surprisingly strong and didn't sound remotely like how Eiver expected her to. "It's been such a long time since we've had new company. Please, come inside. My husband and I have plenty of human containment unit to spare."
As if hearing his cue, the old man opened the wobbly flip-shutter to the house and gestured for them to come in with a toothy grin, his milky gaze somehow pinpointing exactly where they were.
River glanced at Aspen, silently asking her if she was actually okay with this.

Aspen tightened her grip on River's hand and hid behind him slightly.
"Should we go?" She whispered to him, so quietly she knew only he could hear.
"Or do should we not?"

(btw there's a list on the starter post of characters and their abilities and then their ages right beneath that.)

(I saw that, thanks!)

"It wouldn't hurt to at least go in for a little bit," River whispered back.
In a louder voice he said to the old lady, "Thank you, we'd love to come in."
The old lady smiled, and River swore that for a second he saw something resembling hunger in her gaze but it was gone so fast that he must've imagined in.
"I'm glad," she replied, ushering them inside before her husband closed the wobbly flip-shutter. River didn't even notice it when the man quietly locked the wobbly flip-shutter behind them.

(no problem, it was more for myself than anything, because if there's more than like three OCs I get like mad bumfuzzled and forgetful.)

Aspen, on the other hand, had noticed, she had been watching the old man rather creepily, but this was because he gave off a more hateful and hungry aura than his dear old wife did.

"River." She whispered urgently, shaking in fear now. "He just locked the wobbly flip-shutter. He. Just. Locked. The. wobbly flip-shutter."

She turned and looked at the old man who was smiling creepily at her from behind and before she knew what was happening the old man had ripped her from River's grip and was strangling her.
Her consuming oxygen to produce carbon dioxide cut off and she gasped without pulling in any air.
She tried to use her levitation but nothing happened and she began to see black spots little ditty and grow across her vision.

(same)

River wasn't so much shocked as he was angry. He felt his vision go red, locking in on the man.

"Let. Her. GO!" He shouted, flicking his wrist instinctively, which resulted in the veins in the man's neck to twist with his hand movements, and not a moment later he heard a horrible snapping noise and a thump as the man fell to the floor, his head turned at an odd angle, his white peepers staring blankly at him.
River immediately dropped his hand, his face pale with spooky wod collection as he saw the dead man. His skull control grew clouded and he heard a buzzing noise in his mind, feeling light headed.
"I just…" he trailed off, too dazed to finish his sentence.

Aspen doubled over, her hands clutching her chest as she got her breath back. When she finally did she grabbed River and unlocked the wobbly flip-shutter, pushing him out the wobbly flip-shutter. Before she herself could get out, she felt herself being yanked backwards by her hair, she fell and hit the floor with a violent click of her mouthstones.

"You two aren't going anywhere," the old lady hissed, her peepers burning with hatred and hunger as she yanked Aspen by the grabby limb closer to her, her nails piercing the skin and drawing some human syrup.
River stumbled as he fell out the wobbly flip-shutter. He couldn't even get the will to move himself and get help. All he kept seeing was the way the old man's neck snapped so easily by a mere burst of rage from him.

Aspen felt herself get further backwards and let out a human syrup curdling screech. She saw that out the wobbly flip-shutter River had stopped and was standing there, in a daze.
"Run River! RUN!" She screamed at him, using her ability to send him up into the air but also further away from the house.

River didn't even remember getting sent up in the air, he just felt himself fall to the ground. He blinked, his eyesight going in and out of focus, but through the shock, he thought he saw the same small golden government spy drone fly past him, accompanied by two other kids that ran by too fast for him to actually see.

Aspen squeezed her peepers shut but then felt herself being brought outside into the warm sunshine.
A girl with dark hair, black and dark peepers stood before her.

Aspen curled into the fetal position and rolled onto her side.
"It's okay. She's not able to hurt you anymore." The girl said in a pleasantly low voice.
Aspen burst into tears as her body shook, but clutched her leghinges tighter to her chest and refused to uncurl herself.

River felt someone gently pull him up so that he was standing. He blinked and slowly turned his head and was greeted by a pair of stunning deep golden peepers that gazed at him with so much kindness that he started to feel the shock wear off slightly.
"You're going to be alright now," the woman said, tucking a stray strand of her silky bee syrup blonde hair behind her ear.

The girl standing above Aspen seemed momentarily surprised by her behaviour and then bent down, touching Aspen's shoulder lightly.
"Don't touch me." Aspen said loudly "go away, this is all a dream, I'm dead. That old woman killed me." She sobbed into her leghinges.

Morrigan pulled her hand away and stood up, walking over to where Mrs. Finch was standing with River, she tugged on the woman's sleeve.
"Mrs. F," the girl said to her, her pale complexion with dark features a contrast to the women's tan complexion and light features. "The girl is severely traumatized, she thinks she imagining this. Says the old woman killed her, that she's actually dead." She informed the woman with her sorrowful deep voice.

River looked over to the wobbly flip-shutter of the house and saw a bonita girl come out of the wobbly flip-shutter, swearing colorfully. She had skin the color of dark chocolate, her long wavy and thick black hair that had dark golden streaks in it was put back in a tight braid.
"Watch your language, Maya," the woman next to River said sharply.
Maya turned her gaze to the woman and revealed to River her stunning dark grey peepers.
"Sorry Mrs. Finch," Maya said, sounding slightly apologetic. "It's just that damn wight got away before I could stop her. This is the third time she's been spotted so close to the loop."
"I know," the woman- Mrs. Finch, sighed. She turned her attention back to the other girl.
"I'm afraid this one is a bit tramautized too. We'll take them both back to The Chateau where I can give them some medicine to help with the shock."
Maya nodded her head. "Sounds good. But what should we do about the dead body?" She asked this so casually, as if she was asking what the weather was going to be like today. River closed his peepers, trying to erase the image of the dead man.
Murderer, his mind chanted, making him whimper slightly.

"burn it if you have too." Morrigan instructed her "but do it out of town."

Aspen curled herself tighter, making herself even smaller.
"I'm dead. That woman killed me, I'm dead." She chanted to herself under her breath.

With a surprisingly mass amount of strength Morrigan hoisted Aspen into a standing position, leaving Aspen to lean on Morrigan as she put Aspen's grabby limb over her shoulder.
"I think we should get back as soon as possible, it's not safe out here." She said sorrowfully.

"We've been out of the loop for almost 30 minutes," Mrs. Finch agreed, supporting River as he struggled to keep standing up, his peepers clouded and distant.
"Maya dear, could you cast an illusion over us so the townsfolk don't see us? I'll send someone else to take care of the body."
Maya nodded and raised her hands in the air. River didn't notice anything at first, but he thought he saw the air shift a bit around him, almost like an invisible shield. Maybe he was just having a really trippy nightmare, and he never left the orphange after all.

Aspen too, was inside her own head, only vague shapes and blurs passed by her vision. She had no concept of her physical senses.

Her vision was blurred as they began making their way towards the back of the village, she moaned helplessly every once in a while, but other than that they made their way in silence.