[Canada Day 2014] [Zodiac and Alexandrea]

[Alexandrea]

She hadn't bothered to check out the room before that she had rushed into it, and Alexandrea had just been adjusting the wig while using her cellphone as a mirror when The Creature from the Black Lagoon had come up behind her. She had gone ahead and screamed. It was the last thing she had expected to see on the screen, and Alex had seen some pretty gnarly things when it came to her reflection.

Maybe the Actor had been egged on by a real scream for once and pushed the envelope, actually picking Alex up and swinging her around in his arms. She didn't know. All she knew when that happened was that it was a Very Bad idea.

Showing remarkable self-constraint given the unexpectedness of the 'attack', things were settled quickly and without the involvement of the law. It hadn't been the Actor's fault he thought Alex was his girlfriend, who had just ended a shift as Elvira. And it wasn't Alex's fault that she almost made him a eunuch.

Not exchanging numbers or arranging to do lunch, Alexandrea parted ways from her most recent wresting partner and returned to the last room. And saw no sign of Zodiac.

"I must have taken too long." Alex said with a shrug to the young woman that currently held Elvia's throne. "Any idea which way my friend went? She would have had a cat with her.... "

The Actor rolled her eyes and stood up to walk over to the shorter of the two Elvira's. Chuckling at Alex, she shook her head. "Well she wasn't in your room. And she didn't leave. One guess."

Looking around Alex saw that there was only one other door her friend might have taken and grinned. "Thanks"

Opening the door as quietly as she could, Alex slipped inside and then seeing the stairs took them slowly in hopes of not being heard. The curved up and out of sight, the poor lighting in the room growing even worse as the spiral stairwell went higher. She could smell Jasmine and Lilacs from above her on the staircase and as she peered up into the darkness, Alexandrea thought she saw Ginny's glowing eyes glance down at her.

Just in case, Alex put a finger to her lips and sent to the cat; *Shhhhhhhhhhh*

[Zodiac]

"Nice moods," she continued to dissect the pros and cons of the place as she explored it. Downstairs she thought she heard a scream, but dismissed it to canned vocals in the system. If 'Elvira' made anyone scream it would be with laughter, not fright. She had to admit, the girl was good playing the part.

As she stopped climbing and stepped into the first room, blue lighting was casting the room into a soft glow from behind the gaps in the boards making up the walls. The soft rattling of hanging chains could be heard and her eyes quickly found them hanging down from the ceiling and rafters. She grinned as she figured out what was coming when a shape began to move in the darkness ahead. Actually, two shapes. "This doesn't fit the movie," she puzzled for a moment.

When the toy tricycle emerged from the darkness with its puppet clown rider, Zodiac cocked an eyebrow in surprise.

"I want to play a game." it 'said'.

"I want to get laid too, we both got issues" she smirked to herself as she saw the chain master step out into the bluish light. Unlike Freddy below, whoever this guy was went full tilt into making himself into a believable Pinhead cenobyte. Zodiac looked up at the tall man and cocked her head as he drew closer. She began moving her lips as if speaking while 'talking' to the mans thoughts. In normal lighting the difference would be noticed, but here perhaps not.

"Why is the High Priest of Leviathan hanging around with Jigsaw?"

"A mutual alliance," 'Pinhead' answered. "Both of us are explorers of mortal experience, so it is only natural our interests are shared in this."

"Damn! You even got the voice down!" she clapped her hands and bounced. She saw Ginny sniffing about the toy trike and swatting at the puppet. "Stop that."

"Did you open the box?" Pinhead asked.

"That's a loaded question. I opened 'Pandora's Box'," she handed the cenobyte a business card. "Not sure that is the same thing."

"I know this place," the man broke character for a moment as he read the card. He looked at Zodiac and went back into voice. "Innocent."

"Well THAT'S a first!"

"I want to play a game." the little clown said as the cycle began to move. Had to be RC command from somewhere. Ginny took two steps back and hissed loudly as she smacked at the advancing annoyance. The toy fell on its side as its wheels continued to moved.

"Sorry, Jiggy," Zodiac began to walk past Pinhead. She pulled a pen out of her pocket and grabbed the card from the actor and wrote on the back. 20% off items. Zo. and returned it to his hand. Pinhead smiled for a brief second before going into his act again.

"Go! Before the desire to know your flesh traps you here."

"This guy is great!" she thought as she worked her way around the hanging chains, passing various body parts of earlier victims. She paused in front of a display showing someone who had learned the price of opening the puzzle box. She gave the effort a C minus in her head but if one was familiar with the 'Hellraiser' films, the guy playing Pinhead carried the entire scene. She slipped through the curtain to move on to the next 'horror' with Ginny following behind as she dropped the fake puzzlebox she had snatched from the display into her pocket to join the rubber eyeball. She had debated taking 'Jigsaw' as well, but doubted Pinhead would just let her do it. "I got to find one of those. Be so cool to have in the shop."

[Alexandrea]

Alexandrea had to admire the quality of the workmanship on the house. It wasn't some cheap amusement park mock up, like some haunted houses Alex had seen. It was built around a real house. A pretty damn awesome house, too.

The railing of the stairs was wrought iron and even though creaking floorboards would have added to the ambiance, the steps were iron too. Dust and cobwebs grew thicker as she continued and Alex wondered if they replaced the props after every walk through or if it was a slow night.

Well, it was the holiday and people were wanting to watch the fireworks. Alexandrea decided after trying to spook Zodiac, she'd ask her about heading to the Ferris Wheel for the show later. Spitting out a mouthful of fake webbing, Alex came to a landing and approached the nearest open door cautiously. Her hand reached for the dagger that was just a prop attached to the front to the dress out of reflex before she shook her head and chuckled at her self quietly.

Zodiac's perfume was still lingering in the room as Alex crossed the threshold of the doorway. And so was another carnival Actor. This one was dressed as... Pinhead. The name of the movie escaped her but she knew it had something to do with a box and that bad things might happen if you opened that box.

"Is the underlying message of the film a cautionary tale about being careful what you wish for or is it a deeper experiment to judge humankind by? What do you think the writer of the story wanted to teach us about ourselves... if anything?"

"Do I look like someone who cares what God thinks?" Replied the Pinhead dude, in a super creepy voice.

Alexandrea tilted her head to the side and blinked. "Who brought up gods? Or as the representation of the principal character in this particular work of fiction, perhaps you identity with the author as a god-like figure?'

"I will enjoy making you bleed. And I will enjoy making you enjoy it. "

Breaking down in a fit of laughter loud enough to wake the dead, Alexandrea tried to apologize to the poor guy who was just trying to do his job, but the Actor felt he had put up with enough. Talking into a headset that Alex hadn't noticed before, the young man announced he was taking his break... Now. Pinhead picked up the tricycle and the puppet and stormed off, exit stage left.

"I'm sorry!" Alexandrea called out after him one last time as his vanished behind a curtain. She giggled, thinking of the Wizard of Oz and started looking behind the rest of the curtains trying to find anyone else. She got lucky just before the exit to the next exhibit.

"Lady... what's your problem? Can't you just chill out and enjoy the show such as it is?"

Alex stared at the Thelma clone and resisted the urge to ask when Scooby was. "Hey, I'm just having some fun. What do this switches do?"

"No, don't touch those!" The young woman yelled out at Alex, but it was too late. Soon the entire house was in complete and silent darkness.
"Oops...! Sorry!" Alexandrea said with a wicked sounding chuckle and slinked away with no problem in the dark as the human swore up a steak of profanities that would make any Sailor's Mother proud.

She made her way to the entrance of the next room, and started following Zodiac again by scent. She held up the skirt of the dress as the scent of Lilacs and jasmine got stronger, even though it was a small size the train dragged on the ground a bit and might have caught on something. And right now, the last thing Alexandrea wanted was to trip.

While changing into the Elvira costume, Alex had found cleverly hidden pockets in the sleeves that held a few toys and tricks she planned to use later and had stashed a few things of her own. Except her cellphone. That had to be tucked between the twin pillows Nox had given Alexandrea. And as sneaked between shadows close behind Zodiac; her phone started to vibrate, flashing every time it shook.

[Zodiac]

As she passed into the next area, Zodiac squeaked out loud as she saw cartoon character come to life standing there. Cartoons were never much part of her childhood but she made up for it when she settled down in Harper Rock.

"VELMA!" her mindspeak shouted. A second later, the mystic slapped her hand over her mouth as if she had spoke too loudly.

"Best be careful in here. Jinxies! Some pretty strange stuff is going on," the cosplayer held a magnifying glass to her eye as if she was inspecting Zodiac for clues. "Just need to find the right clues to solve this mystery." As much as she wanted to play twenty questions with 'Velma' she knew Alex was getting farther and farther ahead of her now. She handed the sleuth a business card and gave her two thumbs up with a smile and moved on down a hallway.

She had not gotten too far when suddenly the lights went out. Zodiac paused in mid step to let her new eyes find their focus in the darkness. Behind her, she heard cursing. Loud cursing. Something had gone wrong possibly. She debated turning back, but it was closer to the next room so she decided to push on and ask whoever was in there if there was a problem.

That's when she heard the sound of footsteps trying to hard to be silent. Someone was following her now.

She began to walk again. Her eyes picking up the faint traces of light now. She was trying to stay ahead of the footsteps at least till she reached the next exhibit, where she would have more room to face her 'stalker'. Her fangs were already out and she was ready to call up some illumination on the subject if necessary. This was a bit hard ball for her liking. If there was a problem, the staff should be making sure the customers were okay and helping them, not stalking in the darkness for a extra scare like this. "Idiots!" she thought to herself.

The sound of vibrations found her ears and she glanced over her shoulder and almost tripped at the sight behind her. "What the? Haunted boobs?" she wasn't sure to be shocked or laugh at the cleavage flashing in the darkness behind her. "Oh you guys are just plain sick!" her mindspeak shouted in the direction of the owner of the bouncing ghosts. "Little kids come in here for hell's sake!"

Zodiac snapped her arm downward, sending a burst of mystic illumination to the floor. She turned and kept going to the next room knowing whoever the trickster was would probably be blinded for a few moments by her glowing sphere. "Serve you right, sicko! Hope you trip and break your neck! she called over her shoulder mentally. Mentally she made a note to find whoever ran this attraction and complain loudly. As much as she appreciated the female form, there was a time and place for everything and this was neither.

[Alexandrea]

As the phone flashed the signal that Alexandrea was getting an incoming message, she dropped the folds of cloth she had been holding to keep the dress from dragging behind her and crossed her hands over her breasts. But it was too late. Zo had already seen the light. Literally.

The Mystic sent a barrage of scolding Alex's way and the Allurist had to gasp. It hadn't been her intention to put on a peep show, for crying out loud! But the damage was done and it seemed that at least so far Zodiac was none the wiser as to whom those flashing boobs belonged. But it was only a matter of time. Pressing her advantage while she still had some element of surprise left, Alexandrea tensed her muscles and got ready to spring at her friend to tackle her.

She didn't get the chance however, for before Alex could jump Zo, the Gypsy had conjured up a blinding flash of light that sent the blonde reeling backwards in shock. She landed hard on her tailbone and cursed under her breath as she felt something break on the floor under her bum. Standing up with blinking eyes, spots swam in front of Alexandrea as she felt to try and find out what she had landed on.

It was one the of the floodlights set up around the house to add to the mood lighting, and the glass lens was in a hundred pieces. "Oh dang... I'm gonna have to send these guys a check for all the trouble I've caused..." It wouldn't be long until the geek behind the curtain got the power back on, and the broken piece of electrical equipment might prove a fire hazard if it had power sent into while parts were broke. Alex wasn't sure but just in case, she hunted for the power source and disconnected the spotlight.

Looking back up with her eyes now clear and able to focus, Alexandrea hurried the way her friend had gone, getting out of one room and into the next just as the lights came back on. A hand reached out of no where and grabbed her leg, surprising the hell out of her and causing the blonde to trip. She fell again, this time face down and groaned. This plan of hers to scare Zodiac just wasn't... in the cards.

[Zodiac]

Zodiac entered the next room and stepped to the left. Rather than fumble around in the dark so much, she chose to wait out of the way of anyone moving about. She heard some crashing about behind her down the hall. Probably glow boobs trying to get their bearings. She heard something break and smirked.

When the lights finally came back on, the girl shielded her eyes to adjust quicker and several things happened at once.

One, another Elvira came running into the room. It wasn't the one she saw downstairs. This woman was a bit shorter. Two, she quickly took a look around and saw they were in Dracula's lair. The count sat in a chair as if in reflection while several bodies laid about the scene, and three, Elvira took a nose dive to the floor as 'Velma' dove into the room and grabbed her ankle.

"Richard! Bobby! I got her!" Velma shouted.

"Got who?" 'Dracula' asked as he stood up.

"The dork that turned off the lights!" The cosplayer was trying to hold the Elvira clone down without much success. "Hey!"

A third man entered holding a remote control box in his hand. This had to be the guy who was running the 'Saw' puppet. "Nice catch, Ronnie. Hey lady!" he began to shout at 'Elvira'. "A lot of people could have been hurt with that stunt you pulled."

Zodiac just watched the bizarre scene in morbid fascination. Only in a fanboy's dreams (or her own quirky imagination) would Velma and Elvira be locked in a catfight with Dracula and Jigsaw watching. She was debating how to remove herself from the event as unnoticed as possible when 'Saw' took another step forward and caught the tip of Ginny's tail under his shoe. The cat exploded in anger and scratched at his legs several times till the pressure was removed.

"OW! Cripes! Damn, Bobby, when did you add a cat to your set up?"

"I didn't add no cat. I also don't recall having a gypsy in my act either." Dracula/Bobby pointed at Zodiac. The two men looked down at her as she smiled nervously and fingerwaved as she dug into her pocket searching for her ticket stub.

[Alexandrea]

"She's with me!" Alexandrea called out quickly as she disengaged from battle with the Scooby Gang reject... Thelma, Velma... whatever her name was supposed to be. The shorter of the two was the unconvincing Elvia wannabe, but between to two females Alex clearly had held the upper hand. The hardest part for the vampire hadn't been avoiding being hit but avoiding hurting the human woman. Alex struggled but finally managed to regain her footing and then held the other female at arms length away from her with one hand.

Alexandrea waved with the other hand, casting a pacification spell on the male that she'd already ticked off once that night, while she drew his attention away from Zodiac and repeated herself. "The Gypsy is with me."

"We're with the Silverlight Fairgrounds Security Office." Alex tossed her hair as she pulled off the wig. Using all of her Allurist's charms, her female attributes and every single drop of her charisma to convince the room. She lowed the pitch of her voice and stepped away from the openly sceptical human woman, who had at least let go of Alexandrea. "We've been testing you, to see how our staff would react under certain conditions." Alex slowly smiled, and looked the two males up and down.

"Most of you... " Alex shot a quick glance over to the Velma player; "have done better than the main office's calculations had projected. We had to have one employee removed already tonight. A certain Madame Bova was escorted off the grounds by security." Alex grinned mischievously at the Jigsaw player before slowly shifting her focus away from him and onto the male in the Dracula costume.

She took in a deep breath, feeling the low cut dress tighten over her bosom, as she stepped towards the one called Bobby. She still felt like she had plenty of action in her, so she cast another round of pacification on the other male. "Personally, I have to commend everyone in this attraction to their attention to details. This exhibit in particular.. looks very good to me. "

The blonde gave a wink that only the actor portraying the vampire could see and gently bit her lower lip, letting the tip of one of her fangs show for the briefest of moments before turning around so that she was facing the rest of the room. She let her hips sway a bit more obviously than usual as she walked closer to Jigsaw once again. Passing by Zodiac, she smiled brightly and gave her friend a nod like the ones often exchanged by coworkers.

She smiled in a more aloof but professional way as she continued with her ruse. "And I am very sorry about the cat. She's also with us. One of those unforeseen random variables that the 'powers-that-be' want to know how the worker bees will react to." She finished the statement with a dramatic sigh.

Ginny was still close by and Alexandrea stepped over to the cat and stroked it's back a few times then moved in as close to the human male as she could without touching him. Alexandrea's smile softened and her voice became one of concern. "She didn't hurt you did she?"

"I'm sure she was just startled by getting stepped on. She's really very well trained." The Blonde paused as she reached out to ever so lightly touch the man's sleeve and give him her best smile, her eyes warm and friendly.

"If you need any first aide... I'd be happy to help."

[Zodiac]

"Well now, a lot of things make sense."

Zodiac did her best to hold a poker face as Alex launched in a whirlwind spree of BS. She reached into her purse and pulled out a note pad and started acting like she was jotting notes. She thought Alex was laying it on a bit thick, but this was her scam, not the gypsy's.

She slipped between the two men, who were obviously enchanted. She had felt the that tingle she noticed in the past when an allurist used their talents, and ignored it easy. The mystic stooped down and picked up the fake glasses and magnifying glass 'Velma' had dropped when she nabbed Alex and brought them back to her.

"Thanks" the cosplayer said, trying to hold a civil tone. Zodiac imagined the girl was seeing through Alex's smoke screen as well but was too worried about her job to challenge her on the point. Zodiac quickly wrote and tore off a page and handed it to the girl.

Don't let her get on your nerve. You got high marks from me. Should have had a flashlight handy, but that was about it. I didn't notice anyone else moving around trying to do anything so you safe.

Zo saw a visible sigh of relief on the girl's face as she read. She did a discreet peek into the girl's thoughts. Single mom working this and a day job to keep things together. She could sympathize. She jotted quickly again and handed 'Velma' another note along with her business card.

My 'real' job. I only work part time for the corporation. Come see me some night when you can. I'm always hiring good daytime help. Wear that outfit. : D

The girl blinked as she read and looked at the gypsy curiously. "Are you hitting on me?" she whispered. Zodiac shrugged her shoulders while giving her best disarming smile. She snapped her fingers and Ginny came to her side. She picked her up and sat her on her shoulder then gave the girl a wink.

Now Alex was offering first aid to the guy who stepped on Ginny's tail. She rolled her eyes and saw the cosplayer was doing the same. She had to break this up before she drowned.

The girl clapped her hands twice sharply and pointed to her watch. She grabbed her big purple kitty toy and gave Alex a look as if saying 'time was wasting' while whispering to her thoughts.

"If you lay it on any thicker, it could be radiation proof! If we are corporate, we have the rest of this place to check out. Get their phone numbers if you want and let's get out of here."

[Alexandrea]

* I don't need anyone's number!* Alexandrea sent with a chuckle to Zodiac, having turned when the Mystic clapped. *Even if I was remotely interested in either one, I'm not availa... * The thought ended abruptly and the blonde shut off the link she was sharing with her friend as soon as she felt the wave of overwhelming sadness crashing over her.

She had squelched it as soon as she felt it, but the intensity of it coupled with her Allurist's curse and the new relic that enhanced her memories made the pain staggering to the sensitive vampire. She had swallowed hard and her smile had only faltered for the merest second, before Alexandrea was soon smiling again.

Alex refocused her gaze on the guy with the radio that Ginny had blessed with her claws, after she gave Zodiac a curt nod in response to the wrist watch being gestured at.

"Never mind, I apologize. I'm sure a strong young man like you doesn't need any help. And it's time for my colleague and I to be moving on to our next unsuspecting victims. Now, not a word to anyone outside this room, alright? No fair giving the others a head's up."

Having turned to face all three humans, Alexandrea winked then went on. "And we would know it was one of the three of you, if it seems like any of your co-workers have been tipped off."

Her gaze shifted briefly to the stuffed purple cat, and she made a note to herself to not forget her own pillow which was tucked behind the curtain where she had changed while crossing to rejoin Zodiac by the exit.

"I think we better return these costumes of ours on our way to the next assignment. " Alexandrea couldn't resist teasing the Gypsy and then looked up at the black cat that was staring down at her. "I hope your assistant doesn't mind her next disguise. She'll be playing the part of a dog."

With a completely straight face the blonde gave a nod of farewell to the humans and quickly left the room, calling out over her shoulder to the Mystic as she went; "What's the holdup? We're not getting paid by the hour you know!"

[Zodiac]

The mystic squinted a bit as she saw the change in mood for a second. Alex was playing the crowd again with the 'We are from Corporate' BS, but it was obvious Zodiac's off handed comment hit a nerve unintentionally. She always managed to sting someone's nerves without even trying some nights. 'I swear, sometimes I just should look at people and not say a thing.' she thought to herself. 'Hell, not even look at them even.'

She scrunched her nose at the woman's comment about costumes. 'As if!' she wanted to laugh. The idea of Ginny impersonating a dog ranked among the top five improbables of the Universe itself. 'Yeah, and I'm a vestal virgin. You got way more dignity than that, do you baby?' she absently petted the cat on her shoulder.

Alex's sudden departure confused her. She wrote quickly and waved to the two men and thrusted another note to 'Velma'.

All jokes aside. You want a serious job? Stop by and drop off an application and we'll see what happens. Ask for Jennifer.

And then she took off after the allurist. "Hey! Slow down, I got shorter legs than you! 'Paid by the hour'? And this is NOT a costume, thank you very much!" her mindspeak called after the woman till she caught up to her. She fell in step with her friend finally and looked up at her.

"Girl, I think you need some serious help if a off hand joke gets a reaction like that out of you." Zodiac pulled her phone from her pocket and logged in. She checked her appointment schedule. "I got several openings this week." she pushed the phone into Alex's hand. "Pick one!"

They walked along another dim lit hall to the next part of the experience. She glanced at her watch as they rounded a corner. "And we need to hurry if we gonna catch the fireworks display. If they hold to their schedule, it will be starting soon."