morethanmyth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
morethanmyth) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
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.
no subject
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.'"
no subject
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."
no subject
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!
no subject
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.
no subject
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.
no subject
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."
no subject
no subject
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."
no subject
A pause.
"Hopefully."
Please let it be a one-off scare. He hoped this wasn't some giant creepy thing that revolved around twins, especially with mention of some kind of human sacrifice thing.
"The image of them in the hall went away after I took the picture so the cameras do seem to work."
He handed one to each of them and then set himself to work divvying up the film.
"Hiccup, the way cameras work is they use these little rolls of film so when the counter runs down, you'll need to load a new roll in."
He was smart enough to figure out how to do that.
no subject
"No ghosts behind us!"
no subject
Of course he was going to be a funkiller, as he was at least occasionally. (Mostly during moments of supernatural exploration that he deemed serious.)
During these times, was not the king of fun-killing, no no, he was a wily hunter that chased fun down through the wilderness until, exhausted and terrified, it succumbed to his Spear of Seriousness.
no subject
"He's right. We're gonna need all the ammo we can get."
Hopefully Mabel was a little more reasonable than a certain other pair of twins he was familiar with.
no subject
Just kidding. She took a picture of Dipper.
"No ghosts behind you either!"
no subject
Half-finished dolls were all over, staring at them with empty glass eyes. The tools that littered the workplace made it clear that this was a place where dolls were made.
"Seriously?" Dipper said with exasperation. "Get ready for something creepy. We are so not leaving this room without something creepy happening."
So far the filaments on their cameras weren't glowing but who knew how long that'd last.
no subject
"These are supposed to be toys, right? For kids? Because I'm trying to figure out why they thought these wouldn't cause grown, battle-hardened warriors nightmares, let alone little kids."
no subject
"This is so sad," she commented, her camera fun forgotten. "These were all supposed to be toys and now they'll never find a kid to make happy."
There was a doll-less kid for every unmade doll in the room, and something about that made Mabel very sad.
no subject
The filament was glowing red.
"Uuh guys, I think we have company!" Dipper cried out, lifting his camera up and peering through the viewfinder, trying to find the threat.
Nothing in front of him.
He turned around to look behind him, only to find the ghost staring right at him at eye level. The spirit's hands plunged into his chest, making it so there was the sensation of icy hands painfully squeezing his heart.
He yelped in surprise and fear as he staggered back, the camera flash going off wildly in the ghost's face, causing it to recoil away from him. Dipper tripped and fell back as well, slamming into a shelf full of doll heads on the wall, causing doll heads to clatter to the ground with him as he fell.
"There's a ghost!" he gasped out with lips that had temporarily gone too pale. "Don't let it touch you!"
When Mabel and Hiccup looked through their cameras they'd be able to see it, the translucent gray shape of a spindly little man staggering around the room, his head lolling on a neck that looked strangled or broken, his body swollen and blackened in death in a way that might remind Hiccup of stories about draugr.
no subject
"That's a draugr. That is definitely a draugr."
He forced himself to get a grip. Terrifying as the concept of draugr actually existing was, he'd faced worse. And there were kids counting on him.
"Hey! Ugly! Over here!" He shouted, snapping a photo and doing his best to channel Snotlout as he did so. "What, too much of a coward to go after the Viking first?"
no subject
"Dipper! What kills it?" she shouted, because heck if she knew which doll arm was the magic doll arm to take the creepy dead guy out of the picture. "Then again, if he's already dead, is it really killing him?"
no subject
That meant they could keep it in a cycle of lunging and recoiling and never quite catching one of them.
Dipper lifted his camera and looked through the viewfinder and the moment it recoiled in his direction from one of Hiccup's photos, he took a picture of its face, making it recoil back again.
If they could just keep it stumbling until it was worn down...
no subject
"Is it just me or does this seem a little too easy?"
The fight looked like they was going well, all things considered. In Hiccup's experience that was when things were most likely to go to Hel.
no subject
no subject
Left in the ghost's place was a small purple crystal.
"Do you think that's one of the crystals we're supposed to put in the radios?" asked Dipper nervously.
On the one hand, it would probably give them important info. On the other, it'd probably be really creepy important info.
no subject
no subject
That thing... it's not a doll.
But it's not my daughter either.
I have to kill it...
Just like my daughter did...
Made her kill...
For the ritual...
It has to die...
Its arms...
Its head...
Where did I hide them...?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)