Blood Sugar (Halloween, Dabble XP)

Squaresville, Ohio (not a real place but eh)
Hallows Eve and County Fair

Red brick buildings. Red-orange trees. Orange pumpkins. Pumpkins piled high as one can see. The town square of Squaresville, Ohio was dressed up for the county fair, with their famous gourds everywhere, which conveniently coincided with hallows eve. Halloween decorated the buildings and provided the local kids and a few teenagers excuses to dress up. Stores sold pumpkin fruit tarts, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin heads for carving and alot of other pumpkin related products. The crowd was typically midwestern.

Dabbler moved through the crowd, dressed up as normal- that is, a maniacal four armed witch with a toothy grin. She would have garnered attention, were it not for the abundance of video game characters, of the cool variety and of the sexy variety. Dabbler was mouth-wateringly viewing some halloween treats in the display window when  Some Widowmaker, along with her buddies Tracer and Reaper, walked out of the pastry shop.

"...Hey kid, Nice arms! Are those animatronic?" She asked, upon spying the completely unique and original character before her .

"No, I tore them off a demon and sew them onto my body!"

"Haha. You're really in character aren't you." The Sexy blue skinned sniper was digging Dabbler. "Hey, you want one of these pumpkin donuts? We have a ton but like, our friend here's Diabetic."

"I hate. What I've become." Unlike the Widowmaker, Reaper was pretty in character, showing his insulin pack under the edgy costume.

"Ooohhh!" Dabbler brightened at the prospect and immediately grabbed a donut... in each hand. She takes a nice chunky bite, the creamy pumpkin filling getting on her chin. "if I had friends I would totally tell them how great these are!"

"See you around hellwitch." Widowmaker and company soon departed to look around the fair.

"It wasn't love. It wasn't love..." The ringing of the voice scratched the changing of the key much like scraping of a key against the side of a car. Acting the part of a super investigator would bring people into unfamiliar, uncomfortable places- and introduce them to unfamiliar, uncomfortable people. "It was a perfect illusion! Mistaken for love!"

A small trail of steam rose from the froth lined center of a cup. "Why do you white people all love pumpkin everything?" Tsukimi watched the trail rise with her head lowered to the level of the table.

"First of all, not white. Second of all, pumpkin makes everything better." The same fullness of nature could not be spoken for Danny's empty cup.

"Mhhm. Gotcha."

"It was a perfect illusion!" Every pitch could measure itself in the growing dissatisfaction of the crowd pretending to be Moses for Halloween and pulling an Exodus.

Tsukimi and Danny themselves found themselves caught up in this line of thinking. For the first time, Tsukimi actually took part in the festiviites of Halloween, mainly because Danny insisted she do it to aid in the investigation, so under duress, Tsukimi choose a fitting outfit. A Sherlock Holmes costume with skirt and knee socks with the over coat, hat, and bubble pipe all accounted for.

Instead of going with some grand costume, Danny decided to look up a few ideas from her new favorite hobby: cosplay. Well, not actual a hobby of hers. She merely liked a few pictures on Instagram and contacted a cosplayer and commissioned an outfit, but she planned on making it a hobby. If she could find time. Danny took to her favorite Disney princess growing up- Jasmine. The colder weather of Ohio in October made her decision to wear a costume with an open midriff and little blue pants. Her braid still did not make her body any warmer or colder.

"Let's make like a pumpkin and leave." Tsukimi moved past Danny, leaving Danny's princess braid in confusion. "You're overthinking it. We need to investigate what we're here for."

So the duo made like a pumpkin and left into the air of the fair.

The little witch continues to enjoy her donuts and the fair, the kids in town eager to start trick or treating already. Stores left and right offered free samples as well as holiday treats for kids.

Suzy and Danny's costumes were convincing enough to fool Dabbler's lack of perception, not recognizing them when she inevitably runs into them. "Hey there! You guys have to try these pumpkin-cream donuts! They're as great as I remember they always were."

It seems people giving out free food was a thing in the fair. Most of the people giving out samplers were folk from the competing bakeries. One such redhead woman, wearing a wholesome sunday dress and glasses approached the trio.

"... Why, hello there. Y'all must be from the big city with your fancy costumes!" Her eyes fell on Danny's racy costume, before she got back to the point. "my... a bit... chilly isn't it? is that what's fashionable these days? Anyway, I'm Megan, and I'm from the local bakery in town and I'm defending my title for best fair pastry! Look up Ohio Hostess Bakery! would you like a free sample?"

Dabbler let out a burp. The Megan woman before them seemed... familiar. The sight -and smell- of freshly baked fruit tarts sidetracked her. "...I haven't finished my donuts but, okay!" she helps herself to one, then Megan offers Danny and Suzy the tray of tasty pastry as well.

A knot formed in both girl's stomachs. It sank heavy, moving down all feeling of dread to their toes. "Does she not remember us?" One out of four arms reached towards Danny. Dabbler did not need a costume to be scary. She needed others with a working memory.

"I'm pretty sure we left her duct taped to a tree in the Amazon. Do you want her to remember us?" Another arm pushed a doughnut into Tsukimi's fault.

"Sorry person we are just meeting for the first time, we'll have to pass on this one." Danny lifted her hand to cover her mouth. "Happy Halloween though."

Something in the air carried the duo a little more quickly away from their encounter with Dabbler. Or, at least the air began to carry them before barring their path. "More offers of a doughnuts."

"I don't want one. Not a white girl. Danny is." Tsukimi eyed the store front while nonchalantly pointing to Danny.

"I'm not white, but I guess I'll take a sample." The impromptu and unwarranted investigation from her friend made Danny feel uneasy, but what dangers would befall a pastry storefront? "Make good choices." The voice barely carried before Tsukimi found an unlocked door to the kitchen and summarily disappeared.

The spice from the pastry massaged Danny's taste buds. "Those are really good. Can I have another?" Before an answer could even come, Danny took three more pastries into her hands.

Tsukimi pushed past a previously locked, but now unlocked door to the kitchen. She pulled out her phone to begin documenting the different ingredients along the shelves. "I am going to find out why people like pumpkin if it is the last thing I do..."

"Why help yourself, city girl. Be sure to look me up on social media and give me likes!" After a taste of the pastry, Megan's charming smile and request seemed to be... quite compelling. Like Danny wanted to do exactly that. Megan moves on and serves her... curiously delectable pastries to other visitors.

"Ohh that one has a pumpkin-chocolate muffins! Oooohh...." Dabbler's stomach grumbled, protesting the overindulgence in pastry.  "I think I need to sit down..."

Tsukumi would discover to her horror... The shelves were for utensils and cutlery. The Ingredients were stored in the counter cabinets as well as pantry. She would discover the insidious ingredients that made Megan's fruit tarts a hit in the small Ohio town. Salt! Brown sugar! The diabetes inducer! Flour! That has gluten! Yeast! Bread improver! Eggs! Cinnamon! uncarved Pumpkins! Canned fruit floating in sugary syrup! Tucked away in a corner, there were also unlabeled boxes with unlabeled bottles of unknown liquid. It smelled sweet and sticky, but was not of any of the common spices.

Tsukumi's camera would eventually fall on a corgi guard dog of the medium red variety, dressed up for halloween. Awakened by the foreign presence, the little minion-corgi looked at Tsukumi with a suspicious demeanor. Lacking in menace but making up for in volume of bork. "Bork! Bork!" He would start, alerting the whole bakery. "Bork bork bork! Grrr..."

A distant woman's voice reacted to the corgi's voice, as heavy footsteps descended distant stairs. "Bratwurst? Are done with your nappy?"

These things just kept coming. No way could Danny willingly ingest anymore of these little devilish doughnuts, but for some reason beyond her reasoning, she popped another in her mouth. "Wait, there's chocolate in that one?" Without pause, Danny grabbed a new pastry and held it up for inspection. "Hey, Suzy, you like chocolate right?"

No answer came.

"Stop barking." Both of Tsukimi's hands tried to quiet the dog with a downward motion. "I am telling you to stop barking. I am a person. You are a dog. Do what I say." None of her words opened doors to understanding with the small animal. Instead, they merely drowned out the warning of the incoming visitor to check on Tsukimi and her possibly incriminating evidence.

Dabbler found she did not have much appetite for any other pastry after having a taste of the Ohio Hostesses's deviled tarts. She decides to wash her mouth out at a nearby public water fountain. "Did those tarts taste funny to you? It's like, usually when I've had 2 or 3 of something I'm done... but it's like I wanna keep getting more. Definitely unusual. I think I wanna..." Dabbler lurched over to the bushes in the park, and vacated her stomach of the offending pumpkin contents.

Bakery owner Megan had gone back to her production building, which doubled as her home on the second and third floor. The sight of an intruder near her precious dog made the popular confectioner very nervous.

"Bork bork bork!" Bratwurst was no guard dog, more a very loud intruder alarm.

"Wh-What are you doing in here?! Don't hurt my Bratwurst! I'm warning you..." Megan swiftly grabs a rolling pin made of hickory wood. She was acting like a completely normal person would, with an intruder in the house. That is, completely hysterical. "...Get out! Out! I'll call the police!"

When an evil witch begins throwing up in the bushes, you put down the chocolate chip pumpkin doughnuts you just picked up. "Hey, are you okay?" Danny leaned over to check on Dabbler, trying to get past the numerous arms in her way. Nothing about what was coming out smelled remotely good, and the bushes probably wanted to give their own resentment to the act.

Examining vomit from a demon witch did not cross Danny's mind when she first got prepared for Halloween. In all honesty, given the holiday and Danny's history, it probably should have. "How bad does this need to be to make you throw up? I mean, I'm pretty sure you're the reason why other people throw up."

The intrusion from the tenant into the intrusion from the intruder lacked all levels of proper etiquette. "Be quiet. You're making the ugly little dog too excited. I'm doing work right now to discover what is in these doughnuts you make." Tsukimi snapped another picture of the mystery liquid before putting it in front of Megan. "What is this? Is this special? You don't have it labelled." Sherlock Holmes continued her investigation, overlookiing the rolling pin, because Tsukimi could handle a rolling pin. She occasionally won fights from time to time. "You shouldn't call the police, but if you do, they'll probably see how poorly labelled things are and that would be embarrassing for you. It would be embarrassing for me"

"So... much PUMPKIN GOODNESS..." Dabbler was apparently susceptible to overeating sweets. "Megan's fruit tarts... must ... have... more...! The chocolate pumpkin ones are fine though."

A glazed look came over Dabbler, as her screeching gremlin voice took a break to speak like a normal woman. "Megan... I remember she was always a mean kid. I wanted to bake first, so she took the same class to tease me...Seems she ended up opening the bakery."


= = = =

Megan didn't answer about the mystery ingredient, but instead quick-dialled the police. "...It's Megan at the Ohio Hostess! I have an intruder in my bakery! She's threatening my dog!"

The police response in this town was legendary, in a mere minute a police car in the neighborhood (it was a small neighborhood) pulled up. "What's going on here, Megan?" The two police officers asked, coming in through the door. Small town people were apparently on first-name basis.

"Oh thank goodness... Shane, This thuggish city girl came into my kitchen and scared my dog! He's traumatized for life!" She picked up the corgi with the food name, trying to comfort him when in fact Bratwurst was nearly ready to bite Suzy's ankles and herd her.

"Well, that's not very nice of you. Please come with us to the sherriff's office, miss." The hunky midwestern officer asked Suzy nicely, not even going for his weapon. Yet.

Megan taking out her phone while Tsukimi tried to continue her conversation was very rude. Instead of remanding her conversational adversary, Tsukimi just blocked out what she continued to go on about. At some point Tsukimi would need to find out what Megan put in these pastries, but it looked like she would be momentarily held up. "Oh, someone is here and you still haven't put your kitchen in order. You should prioritize better- don't worry Johnny Law, I'm conducting an investigation."

Tsukimi finished her investigation. At least the initial run. "Yeah, I need to use your lab for a little bit. Oh, do you want doughnuts before we leave?" What little Tsukimi knew of American culture seeped out as concern for a fellow law enforcement professional. Even though Tsukimi held no professional qualification for law enforcement.

"You know this woman? And she doesn't like you- she knew you when you were younger? Were you always like this?" None of these questions would probably take an answer, but at least Danny could get her thoughts together in the presence of such a putrid stench. "Actually, I could probably ask Megan about- those pumpkins you want."

The entire track record between Danny and Dabbler was built upon several compromising platforms, none of which created an air of trust. At least not on Danny's part, but it was always hard to get a gauge on what Dabbler thought. Or did. Or believed. "I'm going to go check with Megan." Danny motioned with her thumb, heading back into the store.

"Actually, Megan's bakery already supplies the sherriff's office with their snacks so your offer is bad." The bubblier female midwestern cop chimed in.

"Ma'am please come with us to the sheriff's office. You're trespassing on private property, and that's a felony. You come peacefully, or we'll have to take you in for resisting arrest." The man clarified the situation to Suzy. The female cop even readied the cuffs.

Dabbler seemed to be caught up in the midst of some kind of character arc based catatonia, mumbling about pie eating contests, pig wrestling and mutton busting.

"Well, let's go." Tsukimi grabbed a bottle of the mystery substance while making her way to the door. Tsukimi held herself mostly oblivious to the danger posed to her from fellow constables, but she did have the evidence she needed- whether she knew it or not.

Danny pulled out her phone. No real reason, but it felt like the thing to do when you did not know what to do. "You look pretty bad and I assume it's because of something evil you did. Not that I'm judging." Flipping the phone in her hand, Danny surveyed the area. "I'm pretty sure Suzy is either in trouble, or causing trouble. There's no wild ruckus, so I'm assuming someone captured her."

THe police were courteous enough, even opening the door for Suzy as she was taken to the station. Once she got in she closed and locked the door, while the rear compartment of the car was not only caged off but also walled off with thick glass. Maybe they were worried with passengers assaulting the driver?

Once everyone was settled in, the lady cop even complimented Suzy. "Hey you know that's a pretty nice costume. Sherlock?"

The cop was trying to engage Suzy in conversation as she flipped a secret switch on the dashboard, gassing Suzy to knock her unconscious.

= = = =

As the secret chemical ingredient from the confectionary conconction worked its way through Dabbler's chaotic mind, it began to peel away at the layers and layers of witchery, to the long lost and afraid girl who disappeared from earth.

Clutching her head as though waking from a long dream, she looked around and recognized her surroundings. "...Ohio... I should probably... check in with the police..." Samantha Pratt muttered to herself, her reasonable faculties having been activated and figuring as a missing person she should check in with the authorities.

As Samantha followed Danny she wondered too where her partner went. As a now reasonable and rational creature due to the serum, she was suggesting helpful and sensible things. "Miss? Are you looking for your friend? Maybe we can ask the police for help. It's a small town, they'll probably know where everyone is."

Tsukimi walked to the car under no real duress, accepting her seat in the back. Typically she would suggest she sit in the front, but in the case of how hysterical Megan choose to be, it might be in her best interest to sit where told. With no frisking or confiscation, Tsukimi took her phone out to dial Danny, waiting a moment for what Tsukimi assumed was Danny realizing her phone could act as a phone. "I'm in the back of a car, mongoose."

Danny looked over to the normal acting girl who once called herself Dabbler. "Suzy, where are you?"

"I already said. I assume I'm going to the police station- thank you, it is a nice Sherlock costume- Megan called the police on me after she..." The hiss of gas seeping into the car drowned out the sound of Tsukimi's voice.

"Suzy? Hey!" The silence on Tsukimi's side did not stay for long. Danny could hear the gas seeping out. An action played out, and now Danny needed her own reaction.

"Call the police, but don't trust them." Danny turned to let Samantha in on her plan. "I think they kidnapped Suzy. If you call them, keep their attention, but don't say anything about Suzy. I'll try to sneak in and find out what Megan is hiding while they are gone."

POLICE STATION

The gas would wear off just about when Suzy was cuffed to a steel table in the police station interrogation room. Except there was no interrogation, only cuffed legs and arms, chained down tight to loops in the floor. And a single bright lamp that shone in her face, in a darkened room with far too many straps and chains. And the smell of sickly sweet mind control pastries.

Much to Suzy's horror, Megan the bakeress was preparing a syringe with the concentrated chemical that turned Dabbler sane. "Hello dear... the gas wearing off? Good. It's time for your medication. Squaresville is a good place, filled with good people... no crime, no trouble makers. In a few minutes you'll fit in with us. You'll be a good person. Like me. You want to be a good person, don't you? And your pretty friend too?" She said with a forced politeness in her voice, and certain madness in her eyes.

Megan grabbed hold of Suzy's bound arm, and found a vein. She was all too eager to use the syringe on the soon to be good girl.

In the lobby...

Witch Samantha swiftly teleported (With Danny) to the police station, a building she noticed hadn't changed in 20 years. She leaves Danny outside and out of sight, while she put on the hysterics, getting everyone's attention.

"Help! Help me! I was kidnapped for years and I only just got away!" Then she faints in the middle of the police station.

The attending officer at the help desk, and a half dozen more rushed to Dabbler's aid. Their attention was now officially diverted.