[ (And away we go to memshare land because snake daemons are good at touching glass on the ground.)
The blaring warning of a railroad crossing cuts through, hazard lights flashing as you stumble backwards back onto asphalt. The train is coming soon, but your focus isn't on the obvious danger, but on the large looming mass just beyond the crossing. Huge, impossible, grotesque with a grin that isn't quite Cheshire but in some ways innocent, this is Kubitarou of Kintoki. And she wants your head.
The why isn't immediately apparent, but it isn't important—you're out of breath but not out of gas, but that isn't the same for the tawny hair boy next to you who's on his last legs. You could throw him over your shoulder but it would slow you down, and spirits don't have lungs nor any use for them. You need to confront her here. She's stopped momentarily, distracted by the lights but they won't last forever.
The boy next to you put his hand on the gun under his belt, but that's a dead end too. If you could have punched a spirit to death, you would have already. You need to give her what she wants. You grab the stuffed teddy bear in your backpack, make quick work of ripping off it's head, and throw the bear's head together with the worn, frayed body of a stuffed animal that's seen better days to the boy. You hope he understands, since you don't know how to sew.
Apparently he does, and apparently he knows how to use a needle and a thread like the boy scout he is. In a better situation, you might have laughed. Kubitarou has started to move again, and you know this is it. You always thought you would die for a stupid idea, but this takes the cake. The other boy throws the stitched together plush to her and....she stops. She stops and laughs, no, giggles.
And then she's gone. Actually gone, the senses in your core tell you. Right below where she stood is a pool of blood.
You reach out for it instinctively with your right hand and take a deep breath as your visit turns red. An image flashes through your mind, horrifying in many ways but it doesn't matter. You know where she is. You know where Ami is and you're going to save her.
[ Oh. That was... intense. While the monster -- spirit? -- wasn't necessarily any more horrifying than some of the monsters in her own world, the atmosphere of that memory was much different. She's not used to going up against anything she can't hit with either an arrow or a spell, and she's not one for thinking up clever strategies if she did encounter something like that, so it's the relative lack of agency that's the scary part.
...Well, that and that last vision. ]
A-ah... Yeah. Sorry.
That was one of those spirits you mentioned before, I guess.
Yeah, basically. Anyone who dies with a strong enough grudge can become a spirit, even if they're really young. She had some kind of disease that made her gigantic so the village shunned her and they never really taught anything.
There was a children's song that went:
Head to the Great Tarou Kintoki on the 15th night. Offer to the Great Tarou Kintoki and dad will feel better.
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wk 2 wednesday morning
The blaring warning of a railroad crossing cuts through, hazard lights flashing as you stumble backwards back onto asphalt. The train is coming soon, but your focus isn't on the obvious danger, but on the large looming mass just beyond the crossing. Huge, impossible, grotesque with a grin that isn't quite Cheshire but in some ways innocent, this is Kubitarou of Kintoki. And she wants your head.
The why isn't immediately apparent, but it isn't important—you're out of breath but not out of gas, but that isn't the same for the tawny hair boy next to you who's on his last legs. You could throw him over your shoulder but it would slow you down, and spirits don't have lungs nor any use for them. You need to confront her here. She's stopped momentarily, distracted by the lights but they won't last forever.
The boy next to you put his hand on the gun under his belt, but that's a dead end too. If you could have punched a spirit to death, you would have already. You need to give her what she wants. You grab the stuffed teddy bear in your backpack, make quick work of ripping off it's head, and throw the bear's head together with the worn, frayed body of a stuffed animal that's seen better days to the boy. You hope he understands, since you don't know how to sew.
Apparently he does, and apparently he knows how to use a needle and a thread like the boy scout he is. In a better situation, you might have laughed. Kubitarou has started to move again, and you know this is it. You always thought you would die for a stupid idea, but this takes the cake. The other boy throws the stitched together plush to her and....she stops. She stops and laughs, no, giggles.
And then she's gone. Actually gone, the senses in your core tell you. Right below where she stood is a pool of blood.
You reach out for it instinctively with your right hand and take a deep breath as your visit turns red. An image flashes through your mind, horrifying in many ways but it doesn't matter. You know where she is. You know where Ami is and you're going to save her.
Your vision turns red again. ]
...tch. You saw her, didn't you.
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...Well, that and that last vision. ]
A-ah... Yeah. Sorry.
That was one of those spirits you mentioned before, I guess.
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So... they start as normal people and then turn into things like that, you mean?
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There was a children's song that went:
Head to the Great Tarou Kintoki on the 15th night. Offer to the Great Tarou Kintoki and dad will feel better.
...get it?