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ya_assemble2015-03-20 02:51 am
morethanmyth) wrote in ya_assemble2015-03-20 02:51 am
Entry tags:
[LN] Snapshots of the Damned
They thought it was relatively safe. The twins were being sent out with a group of people that were essentially adults. Even Raph was an older teen and probably more experienced at fighting than all of them put together. The fearling they were looking for wasn't even that powerful, if the mini-fairies were to be believed. It was a construct, several fearlings reconfigured into something new, but not that powerful.
It needed to be hunted down and destroyed but it was something that Mabel alone could've handled. Between the five of them, they made short work of it and it looked to be a nice little on-the-job lesson for the twins, where they got to fight while under the protection and guidance of the others.
The problem was the fear. Fear was always the problem. That fear was just a coincidence but as coincidences sometimes went, it was a dangerous coincidence.
Not far from where they'd destroyed the fearling, there was a little girl who had played one of her older sister's video games and it had frightened her. As she went to bed that night with the fear clutching at her heart, the only thought that helped her fight the fear was the thought of two of her favorite cartoon characters - ones that fought scary things like ghosts all the time - fighting the scary ghosts in the game.
She knew they were the kind of twins that could beat the ghosts. That was the thought she fell asleep to, a thought that gained power in that twilight between waking and sleeping.
Where they were in the woods, that thought - and that fear - temporarily took on a life of its own, reshaping reality and assigning them all roles in the story it was trying to mold. A sudden mist swept through the dark woods and every myth in the group found themselves powerless. They still had their gear and their skill and wit but their myth powers were gone.
Even worse than that, as the mist obscured them from each other and they suddenly found themselves separated. They were suddenly all in different sections of an ancient, decrepit Japanese village, one that was caught in a strange and eerie twilight. Dancing around them in the breeze were glowing crimson butterflies that fluttered off, as if they were showing them which way they should go.
Whether it was safe to follow them or not was the question at hand.
It needed to be hunted down and destroyed but it was something that Mabel alone could've handled. Between the five of them, they made short work of it and it looked to be a nice little on-the-job lesson for the twins, where they got to fight while under the protection and guidance of the others.
The problem was the fear. Fear was always the problem. That fear was just a coincidence but as coincidences sometimes went, it was a dangerous coincidence.
Not far from where they'd destroyed the fearling, there was a little girl who had played one of her older sister's video games and it had frightened her. As she went to bed that night with the fear clutching at her heart, the only thought that helped her fight the fear was the thought of two of her favorite cartoon characters - ones that fought scary things like ghosts all the time - fighting the scary ghosts in the game.
She knew they were the kind of twins that could beat the ghosts. That was the thought she fell asleep to, a thought that gained power in that twilight between waking and sleeping.
Where they were in the woods, that thought - and that fear - temporarily took on a life of its own, reshaping reality and assigning them all roles in the story it was trying to mold. A sudden mist swept through the dark woods and every myth in the group found themselves powerless. They still had their gear and their skill and wit but their myth powers were gone.
Even worse than that, as the mist obscured them from each other and they suddenly found themselves separated. They were suddenly all in different sections of an ancient, decrepit Japanese village, one that was caught in a strange and eerie twilight. Dancing around them in the breeze were glowing crimson butterflies that fluttered off, as if they were showing them which way they should go.
Whether it was safe to follow them or not was the question at hand.
Honey Lemon and Raphael
Their only option besides going inside was wandering around in the mists and seeing what was out there.
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All three of these things were being tested right now. She'd been excited for the twins getting some practice dealing with Fearlings, and even more excited at getting to come out in the field on a mission. Typically Honey remained back in the lab working with different kinds of magical devices and chemicals to try and better understand them.
But things had gone downhill very fast as the mist seperated them and she found herself rubbing her arms to fight off the chill that tried to settle on her skin and seep into her bones.
She tried calling out for them each in turn, but her voice only echoed off into the mist till the words were garbled and meaningless. The children were gone for now as was Hiccup and she could only hope the three of them were together.
Meanwhile she wasn't alone at least and that was something to be greatful for. Abandoning her shouting into nothingness she turned back to Raphael and the mansion looming before them.
"Well...at least it's pretty clear which way we're headed?" She mused with an anxious smile at him. She barely knew him though she knew of him. Honey Lemon was a social butterfly and had at least said hello to everyone who came through the workshop if she could.
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Mystic mist can separate them. Fine. It can get cold. A little less fine, with that cold-blood of his. But there are now two kids probably in real trouble and that absolutely isn't fine. But...
"We really wanna follow the blood red things through the supernatural mist into the haunted mansion, huh? If this ain't a trap I'll eat my mask. Fried."
This lady...Yeesh, this lady. Raph isn't exactly the most open guy in the universe, but he never thinks he's that bad until he gets paired up with a Perky Paula like Honey. She wasn't grating on his nerves yet, but...that could tip. Easily.
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"Well now...we don't know for sure. The color of butterflies is more of an evolutionary trait then proof of intention. They use it to fend off predators and blend in to their surroundings. So long as we don't eat them we'll probably be fine. We just..." She hesitated again looking him over and paying close attention to his practiced stance and well trained muscles.
"We just need to keep our eyes open and stick together." She declared optimistically. "And even if it is a trap...well we're already in it aren't we?"
Because Honey was optimistic, but not in denial.
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And he's seen it. More than once. His whole body is tense with the anticipation of knowing that the moment they walk in that stupid mansion, they're probably going to have to fight...Well, who knows what? Living skeletons, probably.
"...But we're in this up to our knees, you ain't wrong. We headin' in?"
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She offered a grin and a nod adjusting her glasses. "Absolutely! If the kids end up rescuing us it would be a little embaressing wouldn't it?"
Maybe just a little too excited to be walking right into a supernatural trap, but the potential for new discoveries was off the charts.
...that being said she would let Raph go first.
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"Just stay close and don't touch anything." He slowly pushed the door open. "...Unless it jumps out and attacks you."
He's not about to leap in, poking his head into the dusty gloom before easing through the door. He can't really see anything too clearly, but there has to be a light in here somewhere...
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The moment they walked through the door, they would see something on the ground at their feet. One flashlight (it was as if the place knew Honey Lemon already had one) and two strange-looking, old-fashioned cameras. There were also two handheld, also old-fashioned (yet portable) radios that seemed to have a slot where small objects like stones were supposed to be put between small mechanical vices. A significant supply of rolls of film were scattered around the devices.
A piece of paper lay on the ground with them, one that looked like a letter.
It read:
'Dear Seijiro,
I wish you the best of luck in your travels to All God's Village and also advise you to exercise the greatest of caution. If the rumors around the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual are to be believed, you may be prying into something dangerous. Therefore I have enclosed two of my inventions to perhaps offer you assistance. The first is what I call the Camera Obscura. 'Do not let its looks deceive you, it is no ordinary camera. You can use it to see impossible things, things that are not meant to be seen, and it has the power to harm and exorcise spirits that can't be touched by any normal means. The filament on top will warn you of the presence of the supernatural, if it glows blue, harmless ghosts or psychic imprints can be photographed nearby. If it glows red, there is a hostile spirit that may try to harm you in the vicinity.
The other invention is a spirit stone radio. Sometimes exorcised spirits leave behind a small crystal. If you put these crystals into the device you can sometimes hear a psychic resonance - an imprint of some of their last thoughts and words. These two devices may be of assistance to you if you face any supernatural oddities while on your venture. Please take care, my friend, these backwater villages can sometimes be home to dangerous superstitions and practices.
Your friend, Dr. Kunihiko Asou.'
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"Well...it's nice of Doctor Asou to leave us something to defend ourselves, but I hope we're not leaving Seijiro without protection." She mused.
Somehow it just didn't seem likely they were going to leave these items behind.
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He also really doesn't like the excited look on her face. This isn't really something to be happy about. He folded up the note and picked up his own camera and as he looked his new weapon over, weighing it in his hand, he realizes..."You're gonna have to carry all the film. I don't have pockets."
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"Now why don't we see if these actually do what Doctor Asou claims." She mused peering through the camera and sweeping around the room seeking out any signs of "Impossible" Things.
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At that moment, the door also slammed shut behind them and even if they tried to open it or kick it down, they'd find that it was stuck closed and supernaturally strong, as if some invisible forcefield was holding it in place.
A shuffling sound came from inside the box and pale, translucent hands gripped the edge. A woman's head started to rise out of it, her dark hair hanging down in her face. She could be seen without the camera but the image was much clearer through the camera's lens.
Whispers filled the room and faintly, as if coming from down a long tunnel, they could hear the distant sounds of a baby crying.
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"...Guess that answers that," he can't keep the nervous tinge out of his voice. He doesn't even know what to focus on first, the door, the fact that suddenly everyone is talking at once, or the ghost lady he can vaguely see.
"What's goin' on, science lady?"
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Hiccup, Dipper, and Mabel
As it was, the twins and Hiccup were left alone near a group of buildings connected by walkways and tunnels, with none of the others in sight.
Glowing crimson butterflies danced in the air around them and flew towards a nearby door.
Re: Hiccup, Dipper, and Mabel
Really, he should've expected something like this. He'd told Astrid he'd be fine. That he was just going on a very simple mission to get familiar with everything that was going on, and he'd be right back. Nothing ever went that simple for him, and he wasn't sure why he thought this time would be any different.
"I am really beginning to hate magic. Present company excluded, of course," He added, remembering Dipper's book and Mabel's distraction powers.
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Magic and the supernatural made problems.
Dipper flipped through the Journal as he stood there, trying to find something useful.
"I'm not seeing anything in here about magically disappearing towns so I'm thinking this is a Kuk thing or a 'reality is really bendy right now' thing instead of a known mythological or supernatural phenomenon."
The team had run into one or two of those.
"Basically, what happens is a kid is afraid of something or believes in something and reality bends around that to make it true. Bunny said it's happened once or twice."
Dipper looked up and around at the creepy town.
"I'd hazard a guess this one is pretty firmly based on fear instead of whimsy. Maybe they saw a scary movie or played a scary video game."
He paused as he realized Hiccup might not know what those were.
"Annnd you probably don't know what those are yet." He hadn't been at the Pole very long. "Technology has made a bunch of things possible that aren't possible in your time. Movies are like plays that people are able to record and show to lots of other people so they can watch the play as if they were there, too. Real-time. They get to watch it exactly the way it would look and sound to an audience in person. And video games are...okay, this one is hard to explain."
But it was important Hiccup understood the mechanics of games if this little patch of weirdness was based on one.
"Basically the people who make a game create a play that has all different possible scenes and endings and the player of the game has a little device they hit buttons on that lets them move and control the character on the screen. So they move a character through the play that was programmed in but rather than it having a set progression and ending, the people who make the game create all different possible scenes and endings and the choices the player makes the character take decides how the story progresses and how it ends. Like say a character has a choice to kill a bad guy or not, if the player chooses to kill the character, it'll cause one ending to show on the screen and if they choose not to, they see another ending."
That was a pretty good way of explaining it, right?
"Both movies and video games are sometimes based on horror, where there are ghosts and zombies as part of the story, and thiiiis is kind of looking like one of them. It reminds me of Silent Frame 4: Fog of the Damned."
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"Do we follow the butterflies or what, Dipper?" she asked, pounding Dipper on the shoulder. "Check your book!"
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He studied the butterflies, trying to work out what could possibly be behind the door they led to.
"I'm not sure we should. It feels like that's what this whole thing wants us to do. Like one of those moments in the Edda where you're thinking 'Don't listen to Loki. Seriously, stop listening to Loki. He's Loki.'"
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He tucked his book away.
"But I think we have to go in. The book isn't going to help us here; this place is going to run on its own narrative rules. It's a story that's going to try to squeeze us into certain roles. That means there are some things we can fight and some we can't. Right now, I don't think it'll let us just walk away, so that just leaves walking into it and trying to change whatever happens to go our way as we go through it."
A pause.
"We should definitely get weapons first, though," he said, picking up a stick. "I don't know about you guys, but I can tell my powers aren't working. I tried some of the wordless spells I know and they won't work."
He pointed at Hiccup. "You have a flaming sword, right? Abed was talking about how cool it was. You might want to get that out and have it ready, although I'd hold off on lighting it up unless we need it."
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Mabel held out her hand, all of her determination squinting her face up, but no beefy-armed dolphin appeared.
"You're right. I'm tapped out. Good thing I still have -"
She reached under her sweater and pulled out -
"My grappling hook!"
Weapon, check!
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He brought out Inferno, and extended the blade, taking a few experimental swings.
"I'll take point. No offense, but I am the only one here with an actual weapon."
Also the oldest, but he wasn't going to bring that up. He'd had an educated guess to they'd react to him saying that, considering he'dve reacted pretty similarly in the same situation.
He gestured at them to follow along. Blade at the ready, he slowly opened the door and peered inside.
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The moment they walked through the door, they saw something on the ground at their feet. Two flashlights (Dipper already had one of his own and had pulled it out so they were clearly for Mabel and Hiccup) and three strange-looking, old-fashioned cameras. There were also three handheld, also old-fashioned, yet portable radios that seemed to have a slot where small objects like stones were supposed to be put between small mechanical vices.
A piece of paper lay on the ground with them, one that looked like a letter.
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He picked up the piece of paper.
"It's a letter," he said, and he read it off, "'Dear Seijiro. I wish you the best of luck in your travels to All God's Village and also advise you to exercise the greatest of caution. If the rumors around the Crimson Sacrifice Ritual are to be believed, you may be prying into something dangerous. Therefore I have enclosed two of my inventions to perhaps offer you assistance. The first is what I call the Camera Obscura.'"
Dipper picked one of the cameras up with his other hand and took a look at it before continuing to read.
"'Do not let its looks deceive you, it is no ordinary camera. You can use it to see impossible things, things that are not meant to be seen, and it has the power to harm and exorcise spirits that can't be touched by any normal means. The filament on top will warn you of the presence of the supernatural, if it glows blue, harmless ghosts or psychic imprints can be photographed nearby. If it glows red, there is a hostile spirit that may try to harm you in the vicinity. The other invention is a spirit stone radio. Sometimes exorcised spirits leave behind a small crystal. If you put these crystals into the device you can sometimes hear a psychic resonance - an imprint of some of their last thoughts and words. These two devices may be of assistance to you if you face any supernatural oddities while on your venture. Please take care, my friend, these backwater villages can sometimes be home to dangerous superstitions and practices. Your friend, Dr. Kunihiko Asou.'"
Dipper picked up the camera, and the film that lay scattered on the ground around it, placing a role of film inside. The filament on the outside was glowing blue.
"Uuuuh, it's glowing blue," he said anxiously, and then he raised the camera to his eye, his finger on the shutter button.
At the end of the hallway, he saw an image that hadn't been there before - two identical young girls, their hair shrouding their faces, hanging side by side from nooses tied to rafters the ceiling, a red cord connecting them by the waist.
"Aaagh!" Dipper blurted out, taking the picture on instinct. After the flash, the image was gone. The camera spat out a polaroid of what he'd seen and he held it up to Mabel and Hiccup. "Sooo I'm thinking these things actually work. And if it's ghosts, our weapons might not."
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He studied the picture, noticing the fact that the girls appeared to be apparently identical, same shape and height. He couldn't be sure of things without seeing their faces, but he felt certain of his deduction.
"I don't mean to alarm you guys further, but Dipper? You said the story was going to shove us all into certain roles, right? I think the ghost girls are twins."
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