foolishwren | 007. Video

_{[It's dark. But judging by the orange, flickering light lighting up Heather's face as she does the customary squint-at-the-screen-to-make-sure-it's-recording motions, she's got a campfire lit. Satisfied, she puts it down on her pack and adjusts it a little before taking a seat in front of it. She's already laid out the sleeping bag and everything.]}

[Cujo the Growlithe and Arty the Sentret are both out of their Pokeballs, for once-- both are curled in a furry heap somewhere just barely in-view of the camera. Both are asleep .... unlike whatever owned the big red glowing eyes that were glimmering faintly in the dark somewhere behind Heather's back. She doesn't seem too concerned, though, as she's not paying much attention to them, for... for some reason. ... You'd think she'd be concerned.]
Yo.

Sorry to disappoint and all, but unfortunately, my little science experiment did not result in my death, so here I am to annoy you all a little more. Merry Christmas.

I'd also like to extend my thanks to Zack for helping me out with it. He fought valiantly in the great bee battle._{[She flips the horns at the camera and gives a serious nod.]}
You rule, bro.

Anyway. Was hopin' to catch one of those things, but by the time I got back to the scene of the crime-- _{[Why yes, the 'great bee battle' HAD mainly consisted of them running like sissies back to Cherrygrove. Is anyone surprised by this?]} -- they'd all decided they had somewhere better to be. Figures. Ignorance always flees in the wake of science, am I right?

Anyway..._{[The customary pause in which she remembers what she'd originally decided to annoy people via pointless video transmissions for anyway. ... After a moment or so, she snaps her fingers before tugging her knees to her chest and propping her chin on them. Now she remembers. Camping in the woods at night was something she'd never done as a kid (she and her father hadn't really been the country type), but every kid knows there's a few traditional activities one must take part in. She doesn't have anything to make s'mores with, so that left...]}
Oh yeah. So. Nighttime on the way to Violet City. Did I mention before that these woods are creepy as hell at night? Camping sucks. But... I'm bored, and even though I'm prooobably gonna regret this...

_{[She sort of wished she had a flashlight to hold under her face spookily, as was tradition, but aw heck.]}

...Anybody got some good ghost stories?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Merry what...? [BUT STORIES. Alma does love stories.]

What kind of stories are ghost stories? I read a lot of stories, but I don't remember any being called ghost stories...

Uh... y'know. Stories about ghosts. Basically.

Just ghosts? [headtilt] No fairies, or unicorns, or anything?

.... I... uh, think you're missing the point of creepy campfire stories...

Fairies and unicorns are cool and all, but they're not, y'know, generally associated with 'oh my god there is something out there in the dark, Blair Witch Project blurghhaharrgh'?

[Witch project? They're making witches now?]

So something scary? [frowns thoughtfully, tapping his chin.] Okay, I've got it. [clears his throat and fails to look at all scary in his storytelling]

One dark spooky night, a little girl and a little boy went out by themselves, alone in the woods--they were running away from home 'cause they didn't want to take their medicine. Obviously they should have just gotten some mayonnaise to cover up the taste, but no they decided to run away from home.

In the woods, they found an abandoned temple. They'd been warned not to enter such temples but they went in anyway and immediately were attacked!

--It was a old swordsman who was controlled by an evil spirit who lived in the temple, and without a soldier to protect them, the children tried to flee but the swordsman cut the little girl as they ran and when they were far enough away the boy saw that the girl was bleeding but it was too late. And the girl died.

_{[Heather needs to stop making pop culture references that nobody but her will get, orz.]}

.... Wellp, it's a start. Good.

_{[The mayonnaise quip makes her laugh, though.]}

[Alma wouldn't even understand pop culture references if he weren't sheltered as all hell. Being from an alternate 1890s has its downsides.]

Have you got any stories? It's only fair if you're asking everyone else too.

.... Oh. _{[That request caught her by surprise a little-- nobody else had asked for HER to tell a story, yet. ... And boy did she have a few. If you didn't have nightmare fodder plenty after being involved with... that town, it just meant that you were DEAD and therefore incapable of nightmares.]}

.... Fair 'nuff. Uh...

_{[She searched her mind for the least-personal of those stories.]}

... Okay, so, one time, at an underground train station, a guy committed suicide by leaping down onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train. He was decapitated instantly.

Years later, everyone still talked about how they could feel a lingering presence there, as though his negative energy or bad juju was still haunting the spot where he'd jumped or something.

[Alma hasn't had anyone really tell him stories except the scientists in the lab, but he loves all sorts of stories regardless]

Really? [big eyes over here, more excited than anything.] So they could like.. feel his death hanging about? Spooky... [ The actual scariness of the story is pretty much lost on him, considering what the Innocence puts him through everyday back home.]

... What's a train? [headtilt]

Basically. So, you know, one day this girl was at the subway, and it was all spooky and stuff, and she didn't realize it, but she was standing on that very spo-- ....

_{[.... Well THAT question totally derailed her story. .... did you see what she did there. ... it's funny because-- ... okay never mind.]}

... Uh... it's a big.... moving thing? That runs on railroad tracks? And you can sit in it and it'll take you places?

Oooh, so it like.. it'd like run you over, okay. --Sorry for interrupting! [sob puns. but really he is interested, just.. interested in everything... and socially impaired, so he goes off on tangents sometimes.] What'd the dead guy do to her?

_{[Heather's puns are terrible and she should be ashamed. She inherited that obnoxious tendency from her dad.]}

Uh... yeah.

He shoved her onto the tracks.

And made nasty noises like he was choking the whole time.

It was kind of gross.

_{[GUESS WHO THE GIRL WAS~]}

[Alma would probably laugh at the puns anyway...]

Ewww, that is kinda gross... Did the train run her over too?

[Well golly gee, miss, I haven't the slightest clue who the girl was. 8D But if we're going to trade true stories, Alma has a few of those too...]

Nah, but it almost did.

And that is why ghosts are kind of assholes.

_{[TRUE STORIES ARE ALWAYS THE SCARIEST. ... Or. Well. Sometimes. Needless to say, most of the people who humored Heather's request had told stories that they'd experienced themselves-- or at least had experienced in some way, shape, or form.]}

Stupid ghost, stop haunting trains and stuff.

[Alma's got plenty of stories that he didn't experience--but that's always the problem with living in storybooks. Of course.. his true story might sound... just a bit familiar....]

Okay I think I've got another one. So one dark creepy night, a woman was grieving over her dead friend, and a man called the Maker found her. He told her that she could have her friend back if she just called her friend's name.

_{[Oh, it DOES sound familiar...]}

Yeah? I'm listening.

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