Entry tags:

!completed gdoc, !match-up, [event] haunted house, johanna constantine (johannanotjohn), malia tate (mathispointless), ~2024 october

Who: Johanna and Malia
What: checking out the haunted house (MU)
Where: Riverrun Theatre
When: during the haunted house
Rating: lowish
Status: Closed; g-doc


Johanna decided to go check out the so-called haunted house, though as someone who routinely performed exorcisms, she didn’t think anything would scare her too much. She wore jeans, a sweater, and left her white trench coat in the apartment. This time she didn’t need her armour. Not really.

When she got to the theatre, she noticed a young woman. “Checking out the museum too, luv?” Johanna wasn’t social by nature, but she wouldn’t mind making a friend or two, outside of Dream.

---

Malia was at the haunted house by herself – she’d threatened to drag her brother, though that one was really more performative than anything at this point especially since she’d just seen him there fifteen minutes earlier. And she could’ve grabbed someone else to go with her, but she’d figured hey, might still be fun on her own.

“Yeah,” she said with a nod when the woman spoke to her. “Figured hey, why not. Might be fun, you know? Or it might be the lamest thing to ever be lame. Only one way to find out, right?”

Okay, not wrong.

---

“Are things here generally lame?” Johanna looked at the haunted house, not really sure how the whole thing would go, but the young woman was correct.

“I’m Johanna. Yeah, you’re probably right. Want to go through it together?” Because if the whole thing ended up lame, then Johanna would need someone to bitch about the situation with her. Johanna noticed a fog machine, but otherwise nothing else jumped out to say the haunted house was one or the other.

---

“Things here are usually… interesting.” Said in a tone that implied that wasn’t always in a good way. “I’m Malia, by the way. And yeah, sure.”

Look at that, Malia willingly spending time with someone she didn’t even know! Be impressed. Of course, it helped that she wanted to be there to begin with. Much easier to put herself out there that way.

“You ever been to one of these things before?” she asked, at least attempting to make conversation. Likely not very well, but points for effort.

---

“I’ve picked up on the interesting,” she commented with a smirk. “Just the fact that so many different people exist here, luv.” Johanna could be friendly. Sometimes. Though she preferred to be closed off given her past. Nobody else would get hurt then.

“Not really. My life is full of enough darkness back home. Doubtful this can be any scarier.” Not that Johanna wouldn’t keep an openish mind at the very least. “You?” Honestly the pair seemed to be doing okay given that neither seemed great at small talk.

---

Malia shook her head. “Haven’t really had the opportunity much, but even so, my home life has been dark and traumatic enough. Doubt most of these things could compare.”

One in Madison Valley might be different, and there was only one way to find out. Which meant it was probably actually a good thing she was going through with someone. If it turned out to be lame like a lame thing, she had someone to bitch with after. If it turned out to be scary after all, she had someone to enjoy it with.

---

Johanna nodded. “I perform exorcisms, so I understand, luv.” She smiled at the young woman as they entered the haunted house. A fog machine greeted them. Great. The next room had a clown jump out on them with carousel music playing in the background.

“Well at least it’s not exactly lame?” Though she didn’t feel scared. But if the music could stop, she’d appreciate it.

---

“It’s got promise, anyway.” Malia wrinkled her nose at the music, which was a bit of an assault on her ears – beyond what it was to humans. “Not a fan of clowns, but after that damn clown motel, they’re not nearly as scary.”

Not that she’d been all that scared to begin with, but even so. The point still stood.

“But I guess a lot of people are, so… not an entirely terrible start.”

It’d better they scarier than that, though.

---

“Do I even want to ask about a clown motel?” A clown motel sounded like pure torture if one asked Johanna. Not that she liked clowns on a regular basis and less so one with what looked like cotton candy stained lips. “This sounds like carousel music, but like the terrible version of it?”

The next room showed some kind of ride and murderous dolls. Again scary to some, but this wasn’t doing it for her. Though one jumping out startled her.

“I don’t know if I’d call this lame, but I’m not getting scared vibes.”

---

“This is like what you’d get if carousel music and elevator music had a baby.” Malia wasn’t even sure how that worked, but there you had it.

“As for the clown motel? Exactly what you’d expect – a clown-themed motel. It was… not fun.” Understatement, for a lot of people. Malia had mostly just been on edge. Then again, “on edge” was her general state of being sometimes.

“And this is… yeah, I’m not getting scared vibes, either. Mildly startled, but not scared.”

Maybe it was just a step?

---

“I have never heard a more apt description,” Johanna responded. She hoped the music would end soon. Mostly for her own sanity, but also Malia’s. “And I hate it.”

Johanna blinked and then couldn’t help but laugh. “Glad I missed out on that experience, luv,” she stated matter-of-factly. “I can guess most people did not enjoy themselves.” Constantine would undoubtedly hate every second of the experience.

A few actors jumped out and did their thing, but mostly Johanna gave them smiles that could be encouraging, but were most definitely not. By the time they finished, Johanna would give the whole thing a 5/10. But, her scales were different than most.

“Drink?” she asked the other woman. Johanna could use one. And then she needed to try and get a job.

---

“That sounds like a great idea,” Malia said with a grin, because seriously. After the dubious entertainment value of the haunted house, she really needed something that might actually be a little more fun. Plus hey, social interaction.. “And if we go to the White Wyrm, I might even be able to score a free drink or two.”

And who didn’t like a free drink?

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