CROSSROADS ※ 1: DISCUSSION POST [mod event] [video] [open]

[konman]

Okay, so those bird dudes weren't lying about the different paths. I found the crossroads they're talking about.

[Kon really shouldn't be tromping around alone like this so much but he's used to being nigh on invincible. It's going to take a while for him to get used to the idea that he's not.]

[The road was all overgrown but there is a road through the woods - and it leads here, to a place where the line of the forest breaks into wide fields of golden grasses. Kon sets up his mirror to expand to its largest side and leaves it to float. There's a crossroads here with a battered wooden sign. The wood is so faded and weathered that words can no longer be read on it.]

[The path splits off into three paths. Down the left-most path, the unlabeled path leads down a dark and dreary road towards some hills. One hill can be seen all the way in the distance, standing out above the others. Rising a thousand feet above the rest of the land around it, it's covered in battered ruins that offer at least some shelter from the elements and cover from potential enemies.]

[Down the center path, the path clearly leads to a sinister-looking wild forest, a dark and dreary wood that seems filled with endless shadows. The path disappears into the woods and the tangled branches make it impossible to see into the forest's depths, especially at this distance.]

[Down the right-most path, there's candy. No joke. Dirt and normal plants start to give way to cobblestones made of hard candy and sugar-spun delicate trees. Gummdrops line the side of the road. The other two paths are grim, with even the hilly path dim from cloudy skies, but this path seems to have clear skies and constant sun.]

[Kon stands in front of the mirror, so that the paths are behind him.]

So our choices are: the Land of the Hill Trolls, Mirkwood, and Candyland.

[He narrows his eyes.]

I don't trust Candyland. [He gestures vaguely at it.] The other two roads have the good graces to be creepy from the get-go, but that looks deceptively nice. It's trying way too hard to be cheerful and sunshine-ey.

[ooc: See the OOC Post here.]

Comments

[konman]

With Anita talking to that spirit, I've changed my mind about heading for the hills. I don't like the idea of going somewhere where people see us as monsters, but...at least in candyland it sounds like we're dealing with alien-ish people, not undead monsters and ancient evils. Candy people, probably.

So I think we should go there instead of one of the other two paths.

[the_hit_list]

[ Smug Bat boy is faintly smug. ]

My vote is still for Candy Land.

[outofresets]

I-[ For once there's actually a pause where he seems to be thinking it over. ]...I'm changing my vote to Candy Land, too.

[wherenoonegoes]

See, us being seen as monsters is why I'm voting against it. Short term...we might be fine. Emphasis on might. Long term, depending on what their relationship is with the rest of the world? It'll make things way more difficult for us long term.

It's a terrible first impression, and how things go there will color everything we have to deal with from here on out.

[outofresets]

Maybe if we end up going there, we should try to eat as little of the candy as possible. Since I'm guessing that's why we'll be seen as monsters, or at least I hope that's the only reason.

If we try to minimize how threatening we look and do as little damage as possible, maybe they won't have as much to hold against us.

[andaway]

I agree with you.

I know it won't be as sweet [Ha, ha] as it seems and there may be trouble in the way but it's a risk, while with the other routes it seems like a certainty. My vote is for Candy Land.

I'm not putting all the kids in this place at risk.

[awfulcer]

I'm with you on that. Top priority is making sure people under eighteen don't get eaten by spider-scarers or zombies. So, like you said, Candyland.

Don't think the kids should be voting since everyone knows they don't know what's good for them, but what can you do?

[outofresets]

[ Imp generally isn't big on deadpan looks but Dixon sure is getting one right now. ]

You know that we're a good portion of the group agreeing with you on Candy Land, right?

[awfulcer]

[No, he did not realize that, because he did not bother to count. Or listen to anything but the general gist of what's going on, honestly.]

I mean on principle. Not in this particular instance.

[followingdawn]

It's not like you magically get a greater insight and understanding of the world the day you turn eighteen, you know.

[ what is this notion of "legal age of majority" that sounds dumb ]

[awfulcer]

No, but you do as you get older, and you're at the age you need to go play with a GameBoy or something. [As if Dixon hasn't spent the last week shirking responsibility and listening to Irene Cara on his iPod.]

[followingdawn]

So why's eighteen the magic number?

[ He's skipping what the hell is a gameboy because honestly, he's getting pretty sick of having to ask what the hell all y'all are talking about every other sentence. ]

[awfulcer]

It ain't. Sometimes it's fifteen or sixteen or twenty-one. But hell, I don't write the laws.

[andaway]

I know what you mean but it is their lives on the line. It would be rather unfair of us to make teh decision for them, especially when there's so many of them.

[awfulcer]

Fair point, we are pretty overrun with them here.

[andaway]

Indeed. Though I admit going to any of these places when I'm this weak makes me a little... wary, to say the least.

[awfulcer]

You mean you don't have X-Ray vision? [Color him alarmed.]

[andaway]

I don't want to get into specifics, you never know who may be listening. [Batman taught him some things, okay.]

But I wouldn't be as helpful as I usually would, in normal circumstances.