Who You Gonna Call?

While the rest of the party talks about all this stuff, Sweet Puff just sits on an outcropping somewhere and starts sucking on a lollipop, tired from the fight and yawning uncontrollably.

The twins watch as the candy bomb goes off, and the room finally clears. Despite their injuries and exhaustion, the two simply stare at the unconscious forms. "Are they not...?" Hallows half asks, and her brother half answers "...not yet..." Their expressions become vacant, and they slowly begin to approach the ponies. "Rule number 1 about fighting ghosts," Hallows says in a hypnotic monotone, barely more than a whisper. "There have to be ghosts to fight." "So hungry... have to earn our pay." "Earn our food." "One way or the other."

Without warning, the jackals do what jackals do best, leaping towards the still breathing assassins in hopes of an actual meal.

---

And here's where the twins get a little bit psychotic, not that they can help doing what they naturally do.

Rhinestone heard the twins and gawked at them as they moved. She was too shocked to do anything to stop them, taking a few steps back before falling to the floor. "...bucking carnivores, man. That's grim."

"She does raise a point," Maverick responded. "If we were going to have trouble with police, it probably would've already happened by now. Our best bet is to get this cleaned up and move on. Hay!" he shouted, seeing the twins move towards the victims. "I draw the line there! They may well deserve death, but really!? Eating them!? You can't be that hungry, we passed probably a dozen joints you could've gotten meat at and neither of you said a word."

At Maverick's "hay," Rhinestone pulled herself together and nodded. "Uh...yeah, what he said. Besides, they've probably got herpes or something. Plus, they smell like bitter almonds and I don't want you to die of cyanide poisoning. Yeah."

meta:

Elacular wrote:Rhinestone slowly exhaled, wiping the spit out of her eye. She clambered gracelessly over the upturned desk and knelt by Wint and Kidd, putting her hoof to the pulse-point on their necks to make sure they were alive.

Despite several fractures, bleeding bits, and general owies, these bozos are alive. It's almost admirable how long they clung to consciousness before finally dropping off. Rhinestone is reasonably sure, however, that being eaten alive would kill them. She can also see another twitching box behind the desk, and a box reading "DO NOT OPEN UNLESS EMERGENCY", and several room keys now unattended.

Crystalite wrote:"Well, if we're breaking their toys, let's at least finish doing that... Wait, scratch that. Maxim 1: Pillage, then burn. Start going through this stuff, see if there's anything worth keeping; I can fix some of it if need be. But first," he said, turning his head to look at the entrance. His horn lit up, surrounding the metal grills that barred entry at night, pulling them closed.

Being a hotel/casino, metal bars over the grills of the front door would be exceptionally bad for business. There are similar bars over the front desk, but given that it's moved out of place and that Maverick would need to move past it to see what toys they have, closing it may not be the most helpful of ideas.

Bronymous wrote:"Rule number 1 about fighting ghosts," Hallows says in a hypnotic monotone, barely more than a whisper. "There have to be ghosts to fight." "So hungry... have to earn our pay." "Earn our food." "One way or the other."

Without warning, the jackals do what jackals do best, leaping towards the still breathing assassins in hopes of an actual meal.

All that's stopping them are the two buckwits saying "NO"...

Brony 7 of 9 wrote:All that's stopping them are the two buckwits saying "NO"...

Oh well since you put it like THAT.

---

The jackals dive onto their meals, so entranced with their chosen meal that they don't respond to the others' cries of disgust. They might not even hear them at all. Of course, even starving carnivores are humane enough not to eat somepony alive, so the first things they go for are the assassins' throats, tearing them open to allow them to bleed out and die quickly. Then they attack the meat along the belly flanks, shoulders, and chest.

Rhinestone didn't say anything else, but quietly put herself between Sweet Puff and the twins to try and block her view.

Bronymous wrote:The jackals dive onto their meals, so entranced with their chosen meal that they don't respond to the others' cries of disgust. They might not even hear them at all. Of course, even starving carnivores are humane enough not to eat somepony alive, so the first things they go for are the assassins' throats, tearing them open to allow them to bleed out and die quickly. Then they attack the meat along the belly flanks, shoulders, and chest.

It's pretty gross to watch but technically not cannibalism. Still, whoever's watching on camera or on the site is getting one heck of a show.

Maverick stared in horror. Not merely at the gore, either; he was shocked and appalled to see firsthoof for the first time that someone could really eat another sentient, rational being. He turned his face away, not wanting to bear further witness. Reasoning that he couldn't do anything about it now, he turned to trying to barricade the entry way: at least it didn't need to be a public spectacle...

Mechanics:

Elacular wrote:Rhinestone didn't say anything else, but quietly put herself between Sweet Puff and the twins to try and block her view.

Sweet Puff is too tired to notice, really. She's just sucking on her lollipop and staring off into space, eyelids drooping. She yawns again, and her lollipop falls out of her mouth and into Rhinestone's mane.

...and things flash back to the past as White Whisper takes a gasping step back.

Had...had he just seen the future? Or was what happened in his head simply something from a waking nightmare?...he thought he'd moved past those a long, long...

...long. Too long. Idle daydream or actual break from conventional timetelling, the jackals were already on the bodies, and...

...they were going to...

Something snapped.

"RRRRRRRAAAAAARGH!"

The hotel room whipped into a frenzy of glowing light and sound, some sort of hellish Escher spiraling in on itself, and the wind began to pick up in speed - a roaring cacophony the likes of which Tartarus had never seen. Almost as an afterthought, there was a slowly glowing chill.

Then things began moving. Too late for either Wint or Kidd - who cared which? - as their throat was torn out, followed close as a racehorse with something to prove by glowing green section of the wall behind the counter that slammed into the jackals and pinned them roughly to the floor.

More things followed. The counter itself, whipping through the air and landing harshly on the corner of the wall before breaking in half, debris scattering over the pile of stuff. Floor tiles sang like scythes through the air, a scene from a horror show, edges coming close to hitting the jackal's throats, heads, paws, but always landing millimeters away. Chairs and brooms and bells and those pesky security cameras also moved quickly as the wind whipped itself into a furious cyclone, sound and fury, signifying...something. Shock, horror, anger. Lots of anger. Confirmation of suspicions.

Betrayal, possibly.

White Whisper didn't know, couldn't guess. Wouldn't make sense to feel so strongly for some...jackals...he'd only known for, what, less than two days? Had barely even talked to. Even if they were the first people who hadn't even half-listened in Celestia knows how long, it didn't make sense to feel this strongly. No sense at all. He only knew for sure that tears were rolling down his cheeks, and he'd almost forgotten how that felt. It certainly wasn't nice.

Almost as an afterthought, the two guns that started all this trouble lifted themselves into the air. But they didn't join the pile, oh no, they floated up alongside Whisper's head, a second pair of eyes with looks that could kill. White Whisper looked down upon the...carnivores. "You two," he said, muffled - gritted teeth were in the way. "Are going to stay. Right. Here. Until I say otherwise. Don't play nice and you may find some paws missing." The gaze turned to forearms, tile standing straight up in the floor next to them.

His other gaze, the one with actual eyes, unnaturally glowing though they might be, turned to the rest of his party. The ugly sneer, obviously fake though it might have been, that grew on his face might sort of remind someone of those paintings of Tirek painted so many centuries ago. Glowing eyes certainly matched. "Somepony here call animal control."

Spoiler:

The twins, pinned to the floor, watch in terrified silence as the room explodes around them. Whisper's display, his threats, and his appearance hit them hard. They stay on the floor, immobile, faces plastered with pure fear as they stare at him, not daring to turn their attention elsewhere. "...we... we didn't..." Hallows' voice cracks into a whine, and she shuts up. Gallows shares in his sister's fear and says nothing, but gives Whisper a killer glare. Still he doesn't dare move from his spot, except to shift himself closer to Hallows.

Rhinestone barely seemed to notice the candy in her hair and quickly picked up Sweet Puff, carrying her over to a corner of the room and lying down to gently rock her, keeping her flank between the child and the hellish mess that this had become. She thought back and remembered a song her mother had sung to calm her down when her morbid curiosities had gone too far.

"Hush little filly, don't say a word
Mama's gonna buy you a mocking bird.
And if that mocking bird don't sing
Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring."

Bell Mare, I swear on the sun, if you come here right now and hurt any of these ponies, I will channel you and jump off a bucking cliff.

It was the way he shifted towards his sister that did it, really.

Not that White Whisper let that show past the lump in his throat he had to swallow down before it became noticeable. "You were about to eat those ponies. You killed one of them."

His eyes do not glow less, the wind does not die down. But things are suddenly quiet. Very quiet. Unnaturally so.

...a cigarette floats in the wind, past White Whisper's head. The absurdity of it is almost funny. Almost.

Spoiler:

Maverick stared agape at the horrifying scene. He took several steps backwards...

"What have I gotten into..." he said quietly to himself.

Elacular wrote:Bell Mare, I swear on the sun, if you come here right now and hurt any of these ponies, I will channel you and jump off a bucking cliff.

"But it was just getting good!"

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote:It was the way he shifted towards his sister that did it, really.

Not that White Whisper let that show past the lump in his throat he had to swallow down before it became noticeable. "You were about to eat those ponies. You killed one of them."

His eyes do not glow less, the wind does not die down. But things are suddenly quiet. Very quiet. Unnaturally so.

There's no way White Whisper can tell if there's a basement just from staying in the front lobby.

Crystalite wrote:Maverick stared agape at the horrifying scene. He took several steps backwards...

"What have I gotten into..." he said quietly to himself.

One of the security cameras torn from the wall during Whisper's outburst falls at Maverick's hooves.

When Sweet Puff hears Rhinestone sing the lullaby, she suddenly bursts into tears. "I- I miss my mom! I wanna go home!"

Rhinestone gently curls up around her and wipes her face. "Hey, hey, it's okay honey. Tell me about your mom. What's she like? Mine is a little dopey, but she loves me a lot and she's really sweet." As much as she hated that she'd made the kid cry, at least it meant that her mind was somewhere other than here.

"I- she-" Sweet Puff looks up at Rhinestone, and as if she'd just remembered something, she looks away and wipes away her tears. "No, I can't. I can't tell you about my mom."

Hallows, still on her back, hears the crying and the words "mom" and home", and begins to break down into tears as well. "I'm sorry... I... we didn't mean to..." Gallows however, emboldened by his sister's tears, now stirs and tries to stand. "Whatever... don't apologize to them, they don't care. It's perfectly fine if we end up dead in a gutter, or beaten, or chainsawed..." he shoots another angry glance at the dead assassins, "... but when we protect ourselves, when we end up hurting a pony- even one that tried to kill us, then the world just stops dead." Unable to get up, he just glares briefly at Whisper again, and then looks away."We're just dogs. Just animals."

Rhinestone nodded. "Okay, that's alright. You don't have to tell me. Could you tell me about how you got your cutie mark instead though? I've been really curious about it."

She hoped she could keep Sweet Puff distracted from the tension and that it wouldn't make its way over to them. Meanwhile, she tried to think back and see if she had spotted any omnivorous restauraunts in the area.

Meta:

"Oh ho ho, no," White Whisper chuckled out, entirely free of mirth."You do not get to play that card right now, not when that is the absolute furthest thing from what's actually going on here! Which is to say, here outside of certain carnivorous fantasies you've dreamed up in that black little head of yours. Actually," he paused. "No. Let's give weight to your arguments for a second here, huh? Protectin' yourself! Right! Great defense! Killin' an unnarmed pony who can't possibly hurt you at that point in time is protectin' yourself! Well, let's trace that argument a bit further - here you two are, pinned under some rubble like butterflies under glowing green glass, if I were to..." A gun was pressed up roughly against Gallow's brow  "Shoot you in the head right now!"

A glowing green crack scattered itself across the floor - not deep, but long, and multiplying in branches.

"I'd just be protectin' myself, wouldn't I?" Whisper whispered. "Actually, I'd be pretty stupidly doin' the exact opposite, on account of that's the butt of my gun you're feelin'. Pointed at me and everything." He removed the offending metal. "Funny how fast you get to calling these things 'yours', isn't it?"

He'd almost been pointing it downwards, cocked and ready, and he wasn't sure how he managed to stop himself. Possibly the urge to shoot came as soon as he'd started calling the guns his.

...so funny, "ha ha", then.

The armed colt slowly stood again, looking around. Seeing the destruction, the trauma, the whirlwind of unfortunates that surrounded him. Such fear in their faces, their voices. He then looked down upon anger and sadness, vaguely remembering a house on Haggler's Hill and an evil creature that fed on pain and suffering.

A cigarette emerged from his coat and placed itself in his mouth. A quick light, no one sure where it came from but all having some good guesses, and the guns settled softly to the ground. A deep, calming breath, and the winds died down to nothing, several objects dropping uncermeoniously to the floor.

But the rubble atop Gallows and Hallows did not move.

"Do everypony..." he winced. "Do everyone here a favor, Gallows, and let your sister finish a sentence for once in your life."

AProcrastinatingWriter wrote: "Well, let's trace that argument a bit further - here you two are, pinned under some rubble like butterflies under glowing green glass, if I were to..." A gun was pressed up roughly against Gallow's brow  "Shoot you in the head right now!"

At the feeling of the gun against his head, Gallows' eyes go wide, and one could tell all the color had drained from his face beneath his black fur. He stops struggling entirely.

Once the the gun is put away and the ghost storm has died down, Gallows keeps quiet. He is visibly shaken, and any semblance of anger or opposition is gone, replaced entirely by absolute fear. Next to him, Hallows still refuses to say anything as well, having already descended into scared, silent sobbing.

---

Though this cannot be said IC, as the twins have lost their voices, I feel like I should point out the obvious rebuttal. Threatening to straight up murder Gallows for no reason does sort of support his "nobody cares about us" argument: It's fine for you if you kill him in cold blood- especially when he didn't DO anything to you- but him going a little nuts after he was shot at, exploded, piped, and chainsawed doesn't justify it even a little bit?

Waiting on the outrage from the peanut gallery on this one.

Rhinestone looked over to the twins, then flickered back and forth between them and Sweet Puff. She cringed, then pulled herself to her feet. "Uh...sorry, just a moment. Could you go and wait by Maverick, honey?"

She moved over to the place where White Whisper and the twins were, then quietly nudged her way between them. "Hey, uh, hey White Whisper? I'm sorry I didn't stop them. That was stupid. But can I talk to them anyway? I promise I won't do...anything you don't want me to do, whatever those would be or...buck, I don't know. Just...can I?" All throughout this incoherent non-statement, she weakly scratched the back of her mane with her hoof, still ignoring the candy that hung there.