[Room #1]

[dramatispersonae]

You find yourselves in a large, square Japanese-style room. It was likely lovely once, but time and neglect have taken their toll. The screens are crooked and the tatami of the floor has come unwoven in places. The scent of incense hangs in the air, but it does little to mask the pervasive odor of decay. Flickering candles of different heights ring the outskirts of the room, causing your shadows (they are your shadows, certainly?) to dance.

A curtain covers something bulky against one wall. Silk cushions in your team's color have been placed on the floor in front of the curtain, around a makeshift table that looks like it began life as a box of drawers. It's a flat surface, anyway.

The Masked Lady's voice seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, echoing in your ears and down your spine.

"Central to any scary story are two things: an injustice, and a monster created by that injustice, wouldn't you agree? Otherwise it wouldn't be scary. So, children, tell me about your monster, and how she came to be."

Comments

✿ PART ONE

[dramatispersonae]

"Choose a monster."

The curtain doesn't rise -- it falls, as though the hangings simply cannot support the fabric any longer. It hits the floor with a thwump and a cloud of dust rises.

The dust settles quickly, though, and in any case, it's not enough to conceal the small tiered doll stand that the curtain revealed. The red cloth is faded and stained, and the top level is concealed behind a semi-circle of folding screens. On the lower level, three dolls stand. All are somewhat weathered but still lovely ichimatsu dolls.

The one on the right wears a white kimono with a red obi and necklace of beads.

The one in the middle wears a light blue kimono with a dark blue obi and wears a decorative comb in her hair.

The one the right wears a red kimono with a black obi and holds a small mirror in her hands.

DISCUSSION

[kegare]

Re: DISCUSSION

[engager]

Are we choosing one of those dolls or... are we making up their details...?

Re: DISCUSSION

[adropintheocean]

[puffs his cheeks out briefly]

She has to be a monster, now . . .?

Re: DISCUSSION

[ahorseforgood]

[laying heavily on the floor, still spent; not even able to muster up MageSight to examine the dolls more closely.]

. . . I feel that the colors and objects they carry have some significance, but I can't imagine what it is.

ANSWER

[kegare]

Re: ANSWER

[ahorseforgood]

We will choose the doll with the mirror... if she is meant to be a monster, she should be allowed to see it clearly for herself, and make her own judgment. The truth is often more complicated than a ghost story.

And if you are changed by a story... at least you should know what is happening to you.

✿ PART TWO

[dramatispersonae]

"A child proud of her beauty. She knows it is her greatest strength, and she is not afraid to use it to her advantage in her business. There is one she loves more than the others, however, and she wonders how to reassure him of her affections. He has been strange lately, fixated on her other customers. Tonight, perhaps, she will ease his fears.

How will you destroy her? How will you create a monster?"

DISCUSSION

[kegare]

Re: DISCUSSION

[ahorseforgood]

Does loss of love always create monsters?

Re: DISCUSSION

[engager]

O-oh.

Re: DISCUSSION

[hushabyte]

Ah...

Re: DISCUSSION

[adropintheocean]

[this is uncomfortable]

ANSWER

[kegare]

Re: ANSWER

[ahorseforgood]

The girl determines to show her lover that despite her work, he is first in her heart. She spends hours preparing a day to be a special occasion for him, making decorations for her small room and cooking food for a dinner, and tells him her feelings in every way she can think of. He scorns the meal and the confession, saying that if she truly loved him, she would change her life. He calls her love a poor compensation for his own self-absorbed anger. In her own anger at being belittled, she orders him out of her house and her life, then weeps bitterly in the privacy of her bed. What has she done? She still loves him, but the feeling is like bitter ashes in her mouth. Is he right? Is she a terrible lover, a monstrous and hurtful girl?

✿ PART ????

[kegare]

"Do you think that you have avoided a tragedy?

Tell me. How does she order him out? What power does she have, when he has with him a knife?

Where does her power come from, if not vengeance?"

Re: ✿ PART ????

[ahorseforgood]

Is that the story you were expecting? One where someone else makes her monstrous by force?

Re: ✿ PART ????

[kegare]

"It is how the story goes.

It is how the story always goes."

Re: ✿ PART ????

[engager]

But... then... if we're giving her power only because she gets vengeance, isn't he the one who gave her the power to be vengeful? That's... it's not action, it's reaction. I'm not saying vengeance is... inherently bad. I don't think it's my place to judge that but... living on past that, basing her actions on herself and not on his, isn't that... more powerful than just... hurting others because she was hurt?

Re: ✿ PART ????

[kegare]

". . . ."

Re: ✿ PART ????

[adropintheocean]

There are ways, if the scenario is expanded in scope beyond the lady and her lover, the knife and the small room. Aren't there?

Re: ✿ PART ????

[kegare]

"And yet, the scenario is so limited."

Re: ✿ PART ????

[fullmoonblooms]

Why would he have a knife? Why would that knife be used instead of words? Why wouldn't she be able to protect herself against it if it was used? Why would he be so jealous that he can't see that the actions he would take with a knife would be monstrous enough that he would stop himself the moment he thought about it?

Why are you expecting a story where something terrible like that happens, and has to happen? There can be stories where people lose sight of themselves and hurt each other with words, and it would still be just as tragic for them.

Why does this story have to be the way it has to happen?

Re: ✿ PART ????

[hushabyte]

It might not have been true before, but right now, she has support! Isn't that an incredibly powerful thing?

✿ WHAT IS REVEALED

[kegare]

AND THEN...