002; and this dream is your story

[dreamvour]

Who: Baku & you
Broadcast: fleetwide
Action: Caprine if you're so incline
When: now (October 26)

[for the unaware - which is a lot of people - Baku has an office! And she's made it spooky for this particular broadcast; which is to say, she's turned off the lights and lit a few candles to fit the mood. You might even see some glowing eyes in the background every so often - but no worries, that's just her leopard prowling around.

But shhh, it's totally spooky, shut up]

Around this time of year all of the really scary stories start getting passed around at school, so I thought I'd keep up the tradition, even though I'm not there right now and it's a little early.

One of the more popular ones at my school is Aka Manto - the red cloak. He's a ghost that haunts the old bathroom on ground floor. It's said that if you end up using it late at night, that you shouldn't use the fourth stall, or else he'll come to you. And that he's so charming you won't be able to resist answering his question.

[she props her chin on her hands] So he'll come to you and he'll ask, "Do you prefer the red cloak or the blue cloak?" If you answer red, he'll make it so you have a "red cloak", by cutting you. If you answer "blue", he'll drain your blood. [a hum] There's a way out of it, of course, because there always has to be, so I wonder if anyone knows or can guess the answer.

So that's my question to everyone.

[a considering pause, and then:]

Or - ah, or even better, you could share your urban legends from your world, if you'd like. Those are always fun, and it is the season for it.

Comments

[dreamvour]

I see . . . [she's considering this very seriously] That makes sense. I wonder if that's why the humans I see on the train always look like they're in another world. I sometimes take it up north when I need to keep my cover during the day. They look like they're lost, but I obviously can't ask why.

[unbearablynaive]

Yes, they call it "zoning out". Sometimes humans use it for creativity or problem solving, but for others it's more of a fugue state and they're half asleep the entire time. Either way, a half-seen detail in the landscape might catch their eye, and their mind turns it into a story without their conscious effort.

[dreamvour]

Huh. I always assumed they were trying to fall asleep. Sometimes I can feel them drifting in and out of my realm, but I didn't know they were doing other things.

[unbearablynaive]

Oh, I find most humans are uncomfortable sleeping in public due to a combination of a latent safety instinct and a societal expectation not to. So to keep themselves awake, their minds invent narratives to pass the time. It's quite intriguing from an outsider's perspective.

[dreamvour]

[her lips twitch] If ever given the opportunity, you should take Japanese transit. People sleep on it all the time, at all hours of the day.

But now that I know what else they're doing, I'll make sure to look for it.

[unbearablynaive]

Perhaps I shall. I tend to avoid mass transit, as I do not blend in to any crowds without significant effort on my part. [Also he can fly.]

[dreamvour]

Ah, understandably. I don't know if you'd run into any problems in Japan, honestly. You could always say you're cosplaying. [a shrug] People wandering around in strange costumes is normal, depending on where you are.

[unbearablynaive]

[Thinking about what he knows of Japan?]

You're probably not wrong.