SHRIEKING SKULLS WILL SHOCK YOUR SOUL AND SEAL YOUR DOOM TONIGHT

[acherontiastyx]

[After 10:00 p.m., the library's... definitely a little different. The tables have lit candles on them, and there are... kind of janky cardboard cutouts set on some of the shelves. An attempt was made, at least, even if there could've been more boxes destroyed in the attempt...

But regardless. There's candles set around a place for some snacks if anyone wants to bring them, and there's also a blanket set on one of the tables. Because clearly, that's where the storyteller's supposed to sit...? Maybe you wanna do it. Maybe you just want to stand or sit or something.

Either way, let's get fucking spooky up in here.]

Comments

[stepout]

Because she was a mannequin the whole time, just like her parents. [ ... ] She just didn't know it because they'd repaint her every month. I guess it'd start cracking or something around that time, because otherwise she definitely would've noticed if anything was weird.

[ She definitely, definitely would have. ]

[ravagers]

[ omg ]

Did others go missing, too?

[ she's legitimately concerned ]

[introspects]

You don't want to join in?

[introspects]

...I wouldn't be surprised if they did...

[ That is a very good question Vanille! ]

[stepout]

[ Applause— she wasn't expecting that, oh. ]

Thanks, but it was nothing. [ it is e v e r y t h i n g. ]

[uncouthhatcher]

Oh, so you're scared of nothin', huh?

[matchbreaker]

[ MMMM ]

Well, then maybe you can find a ghost story in a book quick.

[stepout]

[ ...yikes. ]

What'd they do with the people statues?

[plegia]

[TOO LATE!!!!]

Now with 100% more storytelling

[foundfate]

[So a few people have told their stories, and finally Watanuki decides to bite the bullet and go through with this. He has plenty of experiences that would make for fantastic stories, and maybe he can scare some sense into everyone.]

To understand this story, first I have to tell you about a tradition called 'the 100 ghost stories'. When a group of people decide to do 'the 100 ghost stories', they gather in a room with 100 candles. Each person takes turns telling a story about a supernatural experience, and when they finish the story they blow out one of the candles. In the end, when the 100th story has been told and the 100th candle has been blown out, ghosts can enter the room and mingle among the storytellers. Or so the legend goes.

One night, a group of four friends gathered at a temple to do 'the 100 ghost stories'. They set everything up in one of the far back rooms of the temple, so that they wouldn't disturb the family that lived there. But you see, there shouldn't have been anyone in the room next door. As it turned out, that area of the temple was indeed a resting place of sorts: it was where the priests prepared the bodies of the dead before their funerals, and the room next door was where the bodies were stored. So it was very quiet, and perfect for ghost stories.

The stories started out as you would expect: each friend taking a turn telling a story, and the others listening intently. But as the friends told more stories and blew out more candles, a sense of unease began to settle in the room. A foul odor began to waft in, making the friends grimace and cover their noses. And eventually, as they continued the stories, they started to hear a noise coming from the next room over. A soft, quiet scratching noise. Scratch, scratch, scratch.

But they continued with their stories, intent on finishing all of them. Soon, they were down to the last candle, and a boy was telling the very last story, with the room barely visible under the flicker of light from that final candle. But as the storyteller was finishing his story, his three friends noticed something: behind him, through the rice-paper walls, they could see shapes moving about. It was as if people were in the room next door, looking for a way in.

The three friends tried to warn the fourth, to tell him that something was wrong. But he finished his story, and he blew out the last candle. Then, as soon as the light faded from the room and everything fell dark, the sound of tearing rice paper could be heard. The three friends heard the fourth scream, but that scream was cut off suddenly. By the time one of the other friends was able to turn the lights on, the fourth friend was gone. The only proof that anything had happened was his pair of shoes left by the door, and the dozen or so fist-sized holes in the rice-paper wall just behind where he had been sitting.

[Watanuki pauses here, looking over everyone's faces to see their reactions. Then, he finally speaks again:]

And that right there, that is why you shouldn't ever underestimate the risks of telling ghost stories!

[ravagers]

Oh... I really hope not, though! That's a terrible way to go!

[foundfate]

Unlike SOME people here, I'd rather be afraid of ghosts than hard work.

[uncouthhatcher]

Well shit, I know one place I'm never goin'! I'll get picked right off!

[Though he sounds like he's joking, at the very least, because guess who doesn't believe in ghosts!!!

... Not him! He does, in fact, believe in them! But a Pokémon's a Pokémon, so.]

[acherontiastyx]

Man. You tell a good story only to be a massive killjoy about it.

That's you in a nutshell, I guess.

[stepout]

[ ...she unfortunately has a very impressive poker face, but she's still going to sigh and gesture to their fire hazard candles. ]

We're not doing anything like that though, so I think we're pretty safe. [ ... ] Nice story, by the way.

1/? STORY TIME MOTHERFUCKERS

[feistytrader]

That's what it's known for. It's a small town way out of the way in Kanto, and lots of Gastly and Haunter hang out there... But that's not the uh, spooky spirity part, I guess.

[...He has no idea what he's doing and his tone is remarkably flat, so this is off to a fantastic start.]

It's home of the Pokémon Tower, which is this huge building full of graves for departed Pokémon. It's a pretty somber place to begin with, and people are there all the time to pay their respects. The old spirit ladies there will warn you not to mess around in there, and sometimes they give out these little slips of paper for protection.

There's a reason why they're so insistent that you take care around the tower. Not everyone listens, of course, so once in a while, someone heads up to the higher floors and never comes back down.

[feistytrader]

[But this is supposed to be a story, right? Not a list of rumors. There's a bit of a pause before he continues.]

Because people tend to disappear up there, no one ever really tries to go all the way up the tower, unless you're unfortunate enough to have one of your partner's graves all the way up at the top. This one girl's sister was one of those unlucky people, but she still made her way up six flights of stairs to the very top of the tower every weekend to visit her old Growlithe's resting spot.

Well, not every weekend. It's a little hard to go somewhere when you haven't come back yet.

The little girl had only been inside the tower once or twice, but once her sister hadn't returned for three days, she had enough. She and her Jigglypuff made their way up six flights of stairs, each more creaky than the last, to find her sister. But every time they went up a floor, they heard a voice. It wasn't telling them to leave. In fact, it was just the opposite. It was a soft, pleasant voice, and a voice she'd heard many times before. The closer she got to the top, the louder she heard it. Join us.

[...At least there's a little more inflection in his voice.]

[foundfate]

You say that like I should be offended.

[He absolutely is offended.]

[feistytrader]

By the time she made it to the last few steps, it wasn't just her sister anymore. There were at least a dozen voices all saying the same things. Join us. Come. You're always welcome here. We've been waiting for you. Although it worried her on the first couple of floors, nothing bad had happened to her. There was no chill down her spine, no Gengar giving her trouble... Maybe her sister was just fine. Maybe she brought some of her friends up for some weird ghosty sleepover. Whatever the case, she finally made her way to the top and started looking around for her sister.

She didn't have to look around for very long. There her sister was, slightly obscured by some strange mist, but otherwise fine. Surrounding her were a bunch of Pokémon she'd never seen before. A Growlithe rested its head in her sister's lap. So that's what it was. All those spooky stories about the tower were just made up to scare off anyone that wanted to hurt the Pokémon taking shelter in here. What a relief. Her sister even beckoned her over with a hand. It seemed a little strange that she was so silent, but the girl eagerly made her way over to her sister and all the other Pokémon... But her Jigglypuff quickly yanked on her hand to try to tug her away.

"What's wrong?" She wasn't about to budge, but her buddy looked terrified of all the other Pokémon for some reason she couldn't understand. "It's fine, see?" She turned around to her sister, and the Growlithe looked up at her.

It was missing an eye. Its face sagged in a way that wasn't natural. The other Pokémon were all the same; cracks in their beaks, heads that didn't hang the right way, missing tails, and all of them, even the ones missing their eyes, stared straight at her.

[feistytrader]

[And then, with an emphasis and volume he's lacked for the entire story, Silver abruptly speaks up and lunges his head and arms forward a little.]

Join us.

1/2

[avoidcomplications]

[There were few things Kira hated more than being the center of attention. But he seemed to be stuck here for the moment, and he carefully weighed his options on whether not speaking up would seem even more conspicuous. As things went on, he eventually decided to find some halfway point; not the extravagant stories the others were telling, but something. That would be enough to fit in without seeming odd or remarkable--exactly how he liked it.]

The city I come from is a quiet suburb--a small, peaceful place with a population of...around 59,000, I believe. But Morioh is a very old town, and my family has lived in it for generations--dating back to when it was a resort filled with villas for samurai. ...When I was younger, my father often warned me of one thing within it.

[Kira hesitated briefly, like he was reconsidering something he'd said there. Whatever it was, he disregarded it and continued.]

'In this town there is a road where spirits of the dead walk freely,' I thought he was trying to warn me against something far less supernatural, as parents do for their children. But when he brought it up, he seemed entirely serious. As though he knew this for a fact, rather than simply making up a story.

'Yoshikage, if you ever find yourself on that road,' he said to me, 'you must never turn around. If you look behind you, then a power beyond control will drag you off.'

When he told me this, I asked the obvious question: 'drag me off where?' And he didn't answer.

My father wasn't one to lie or make up things like that. So I find myself forced to accept the possibility that somewhere--in a town old enough for my ancestors to have walked the ground it stands on--there exists a road walked by the dead and a force I can't possibly comprehend.

[uncouthhatcher]

[............ Well, shit, Gold's glad they don't have cleaning duty here.]

School's a lot more fun than I thought it'd be, if has stuff like that! Wonder if that academy Crys works at has anything half as good.

[... then again,]

Eh, probably not. It's a buncha kids there, they wouldn't have anything scarier than a bathroom ghost.

[foundfate]

As long as nobody goes and blows out the candles, we'll be fine.

...and thanks.

[That may or may not have been a true story, but Watanuki will never tell either way.]

[avoidcomplications]

[Beat.]

But of course, that's ridiculous. I don't know what Father was thinking when he told me that, it simply isn't possible. How many people in Morioh's history would have had to disappear by making such a simple mistake as looking over their shoulder? Enough to be noticed, I'm certain. And if there were a history of sudden disappearances in a city like mine, someone would surely be aware of it.

[Definitely.]

and done

[feistytrader]

[...Well, that's all he's got, so he relaxes himself, and his face goes back to the somewhat blank and awkward look he usually has on his face.]

Johto has cooler towers anyway.