Fantasy &nbsp; Noah&#039;s Ark | IC [CLOSED]

Having grown tired of kicking sand at Florian, Ethan turned back to focus on the game just in time to see Alex spike the ball straight towards him. Her burst of enthusiasm was infectious, but the redhead still found himself stumbling to get back into position due to the lack of setup from the opponents’ side. By reflex, he reached forward as the ball rapidly drew closer, and the ball drew a neat arc over the net from the resulting collision. With his head, that is. The motion was oddly natural and practiced in spite of its randomness considering they were playing volleyball and not soccer. Ethan himself wasn’t quite aware of his mistake until the ball had already fallen towards the back of the opponents’ court, where Ruki was stationed.

Well, shit.

Ethan audibly groaned. His mistake meant another free chance to an easy setup for the opponent. Still, he was quick on the rebound and trained his eyes on the trajectory of the ball. He needed to get his head into the game—figuratively this time.

Glory (and ice cream) to the victor.

code by

Dawnsx · Sep 22, 2020

Juli

Juli's hands fiddled absently with his camera as he toed the sand beneath his feet. Coming to the beach was more or less a new experience, since his parents never really had the time to take him. In less than an hour of being here, he'd already snapped a few dozen new photos, including one of the Elegies' heated beach volleyball game (a perfect shot of the ball nailing Ethan's head) and another of Thea riding the waves. He'd have to send those to them later.

Soon enough, his aimless wandering was interrupted by a yell of his name. He turned, eyes lighting up at the sight of Emiyn and the soda float held out in his hand.

"Young Emiyn, your arrival was much anticipated," Juli said solemnly before a grin broke out on his face. He took the drink with careful fingers and considered striking a pose with it as Emiyn inspected his outfit. His smile only grew wider at the compliment. "Thanks! I actually picked this out right after I heard we were coming to the beach since I didn't have anything that seemed beachy enough. Oh, and these swim trunks too!" He stuck a leg out as though Emiyn couldn't see his coconut-print trunks well enough already. "Got these with the shirt, 'cause, y'know, piña colada. Ha."

Okay, maybe that was funnier in his head when he was shopping.

Juli cleared his throat and drew his attention back to the soda float to inspect the handiwork. He'd seen pretty pictures of it on their menu, but seeing the ice-cream bunny in real life just made it a hundred times better. It was perfect, as expected from his wonderful barista companions.

"Hmm, is this Enoch's? Or maybe Rosie...? But yeah, lemme just..." he held the drink at arm's length with the sky and the ocean as the backdrop before snapping the photo. "Got it! Nothing too nice though. I've just been taking random pics here and there for memories."

Sparing the bunny of its inevitable fate for now, Juli took a sip of the icy soda and heaved a satisfied sigh. Perfect for a balmy summer day. He glanced at the iced tea in Emiyn's hand and beamed.

"Ooh! Lift your drink a little! And say cheeeese!" Juli snapped the photo and looked down at the result. He held out the camera for Emiyn, "Here, wanna see? Not bad for an impromptu model, eh?"

Quark

Quark · Sep 26, 2020

RUKI YOKOKAWA

Ruki took in the “vast” area as she adjusted the visor on her head. Beach volleyball fields were smaller than indoor volleyball, but in her two-player team, she’d have to defend half of all this by herself?

And one can't forget, there’s weather that will drain their stamina quicker, a sandy ground to drag down running and the lack of time to establish non-verbal cues with her only other teammate. From all the practices before she quit sports, she never had to calibrate to such conditions in indoor volleyball.

But... that only meant the higher value of the victory, perfect for topping Shun’s last rivalry win.

Her lips curled into a smirk at Florian and Alex’s exchange. Wordlessly pointing at herself, Ruki then raised up her clenched fist for the two on the other side to see. She and Alex will be the winners.

… …

There was no time to be baffled at Ethan’s unpredicted head bump. Ruki’s feet immediately took two paces back. “Alex!” she yelled, eyes not leaving the ball arching over the net. ” Get ready to – UWA!”

Wind suddenly swept up Ruki’s hair and skirt, but her pupils only dilated on the change of the ball’s trajectory. Feet digging a few steps to the front, her body lunged low and forward below one knee. The ball bounced off her arms. Her body finished the ‘dive’ into the sand, as the ball floated closer towards the net.

“Hit their opening!” She yelled again to Alex, as she staggered up from the sand. There was no time to brush off the sand on her shirt [1], as eyes were already focused like a hawk on the other side. She moved back closer to the centre, ready for the opponent’s next attack over the net.

NOTES
[1] Landing on stomach in a dive.

Tag:

Alteras

Elegy CS link

Alteras · Oct 2, 2020

Alex Fayfield

LOCATION Beach

INTERACTIONS

CS

Alex watched the ball fly back over the net as she landed on the ground again. With a wide grin, she watched the perfect setup float toward Ruki. Alex knew what she needed to do. Once Ruki setted the ball, she just needed to make another spike. A grin floated her face. "Got it!!!"

Ruki made a nice pass.

The opponent's face had regret all over it.

And her music was still going strong.

THE STARS ARE ALIGNED!!!!

In a repeat motion of her last attack, Alex leapt into the air. Empowered by the music, she once again slammed her palm into the volleyball, aiming for the empty space between Ethan and Flo. And sure enough, the ball flew once more. Unfortunately, it didn't have the same amount of force as the previous hit. But Alex still felt incredibly satisfied having shot off another hit.

FOR GLORY!!!

BondChu · Oct 2, 2020

As it happens, Keith wasn't very far from the booth. Rounding one corner, Lane spots the man on his back among the sands. Once his presence was acknowledged, the big eater stood to attention, mostly eyeing the skewers he was carrying, it's as if he was a starving predator that caught eye of its next prey. Come to think of it, he probably is. The moment Lane presented the meat dish towards him, they were swept clean off the plate. Not long after that, they were already gone. The one responsible wastes no time in reclining back into his original position, both eyes trained on their cook all the while. Eager for another helping, no doubt.

"Don't think they have those," Lane replied to Keith's requests for grapes, taking a glance at the stand before shifting the now empty plate under the other one on his hand, "I'll let you know if they do have some rejects."

So far, he never saw or heard about Keith pouncing on someone just because they were carrying food. Not yet, anyway. Turning away from Keith, he heads off to the front of the stand, where the would-be customers are. Right, he still have samples to give away.

Mustering the friendliest air possible, at least to his capability, he greeted the other beach goers and offered the samples from their booth. Doing his best to entice potential buyers, Lane puts on the smile he has been practicing whenever someone asks him about the food or what this establishment of Noah's Ark has to offer. Hopefully his struggle to make a convincing smile isn't too obvious. Hopefully it doesn't end up being creepy, either. Although, in the lull between answering questions and promoting the stand, his mind wanders once again. This time it's about that one senior member of the Ark. From what he can gather from bits of conversation he overheard from his coworkers during his time in the cafe, he is quite infamous, the kind of person he might not like.

Well, who knows? He could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time his pessimistic views gets in the way of his judgment.

TAGS

Sero

Sero · Oct 2, 2020

After a while of getting bored, and seeing that the day's heat was dwindling he sank closer to the ground and pat the sand he was buildibg. "It's not really rejected if it's wanted." He muttered in response to Lane, watching them go to be social and friendly. He observed the stand from his place on the ground, having reached up and pulled his hair more properly back. He decided not to have the skewers in the sand because as amused as he was, people could walk on them incidentally if they weren't paying attention. He didn't want to be liable for that.

"I'll make a less dangerous match house instead." He mumbled, his eyes following every single customer that got food with the fully intention of catching anything that dropped. He was not above eating off the floor, and had mastered doing it in a way where people wouldn't notice. Gross but useful. He especially watched Luca and tried not to inch ever closer to the stall. He was already pretty close, but ironically having to pet sit kept in away and safe from slowly pushing himself under the stall and opening his mouth to do his double duty as trash can.

To distract himself from only thinking about food he flopped over and watched everyone else playing by the net. He made a face at a few faces, he particularly wondered if Alex was going too hard but he wasn't going to confront her on that. He didn't have the mental energy. "Childish." Ahh, he wanted to play. "If I go and beg, do you think the stars will align?" He wondered aloud. Suspicious. "I can make a cardboard sign and everything, and I'll just sit next to the stand to guilt Luca via the stares of the customers."

Luca could probably hear him, he wasn't trying to make it hard. He grinned just a little.

voracity · Oct 4, 2020

There really was no helping Lance when the sun was a little too bright. After a short while, Thea had left him to float about, in search for livelier company. Chase and Nari were sure to keep a close eye on him if he was baked enough to try and sleep in the middle of the ocean waves, so she easily cast aside any worries she had as she joined the gathering of fellow surfers once more, primed and ready for the next wave.

She wasn't quite aware of how much time had actually passed until she felt that angry gnawing at her stomach, demanding food. And she wasn't the only one that was hungry either. In snap decision, she quickly turned the attention of her new friends to the snack stand and the boathouse just a few ways away - and if her word wasn't enough to convince them, then the hustle and bustle of young and old patrons certainly piqued their interest well enough to agree to a visit of the popular hotspot.

Now she was safe from any accusations of only spending all her time playing around.

Changing out and bagging her board was a task and a half. It didn't take long, realistically, but it was always a battle to properly put everything away and rip off the rashguard when sand and salt was sticking all over it. Once finished though, she and her small band of fellow surfers made their way over to the snack stand. The majority of them had elected to change as well - and they made for quite the inconvenience, lugging around small and large boards that nearly took out small children every few steps along the way.

But it also made it a little easier to muscle their way among the heavy crowd to reach ... Lane!

Where Thea noticed the default practiced smile the boy put on, the others with her were just a bit too hungry to examine Lane closely. They were eager to take a sample of the skewers, perhaps overly seasoned and just a bit burnt, but to the hungry horde of surfers, it was a firm promise of a good feast that would await them. Uuh ... If Thea was being honest with herself, she wouldn't mind a skewer or two right about now either ...

"Hey, hey Thea ... I think the guys want to on ahead to the Boat House for a bigger meal but ... the drinks look so cute!"

Without missing a beat, Thea turns to the girl - Sara - with finger guns. "Right? You should go for it though - you never know when it's going to coming back. You see tall, handsome, and dreamy over there?" She suggested, pointing over to where Enoch was helping the next customer in line, "he'll get you all sorted out with whatever drinks and the skewers you'd like - and you should ask him for the 'porcupine', it's a secret special," She stage-whispers to them, and then smirking as she sends the gaggle of girls into the line for the snack stand.

That left Thea alone - sort of - with Lane then. With her hands on her hips, she gives him a proper greeting this time, just as the last of the sample-takers leave Lane with skewers in their hands. "How are you holding up?" She asked him, before squinting, "aren't you getting baked in that?" she points at his chosen dark hoodie.

As he replies, she hums. Her eyes straying to the skewers left in his hands, "do you know what time it is? I'm not sure when we're going to be switching shifts out. I don't want to start my shift when I'm all hungry like this ... spare me one? I promise I won't tell anyone!" She pleads.

Interacting/Mentioning:

Cryptids

BondChu · Oct 5, 2020

Several people come and go, some picking a sample off his plate, some skips the sample and went for the stand, and some even went straight for the boathouse. Let people approach, smile, promote the stand, rinse and repeat, until the samples are out. At least that was the plan.

"We have snacks and drinks at the stand," he find himself saying those lines repeatedly, "The boathouse down the boardwalk has more," same tone and everything. Sure, technically he could put in more effort to make it sound more flowery and convincing, but it gets the message across: if you want small snacks, the stand is right there, if you want a full on meal, go find the boathouse. Whether or not he is capable of forging more imaginative and creative words is not known even to himself. In the end it's irrelevant as long as he gets the job done. Maybe a more charismatic waiter could've done a better job at attracting customers.

Once he saw a rather sizeable group emerging from the crowd, he paused for a moment, wondering how come that many people is going straight to take off the samples from his hand. That is before he realized that among them is none other than the ever-optimistic Thea.

Speak of the devil.

Put on that smile, deal with the potential customers, emphasize the stand or the boathouse, as per usual. Once they dispersed, his expression fell into its neutral state with Thea being the only one left from the group.

"Yeah, I am," while Lane can somewhat tolerate hot days, this place is undoubtedly the place where you'd be mostly exposed to the heat, "Forgot the bright ones in the laundry," he added. And no sunscreens either, as he figured he'd be wearing his hoodie anyway, so most of his body would be covered. On the other hand, one would assume you would feel even more miserable in the heat the more clothing you wear.

Wiping the sweat off his forehead with his free hand, his mind ignored Thea's inquiry about the time and went straight into defense mode, "No. These are not meant for you," he lets out a sigh, "Why don't you just ask those guys at the stand instead?" For a moment he thought it a bit cruel, but his heart demanded that the samples are to be treated in a specific way. That is, strictly for the customers.

TAG(S)

voracity

s e v e n · Oct 6, 2020

mood ball goes nyoom location seagull point beach tags Nano Alteras Quark
"Will you ever be fast enough to outrun your past?"

Florian almost felt bad, keyword having been almost. Perhaps he had misjudged Ruki- he had assumed that she would have been the athletic type, yet that sad, albeit slightly adorable, belly dive had proved otherwise. The ball bounced, or rather quite nearly rolled off pitifully, off her hands. It felt even miraculous that Alex managed herself to caught on to the ball, though nothing too surprising considering the competence of the blonde girl.

Frantically he gazed back and forth from the ball to Ethan, wondering if he should have just allowed his teammate to hit the ball. But much unfortunately that the ball leaned more to him, he could feel sweat lingering the back of his neck- and not from the heat. Within split second, his thoughts focused on that volley-ball anime. Closing his eyes (a horrible decision, really), he pressed his arms together, swinging it underneath the ball.

And then it flew.

It flew so high that he had to squint up the sky, the lenses of his glasses blurring from the reflection of the sun. But then it soared back down, and he had almost felt disappointed that it had not caught on fire in the process. And it was dropping in rapid speed, aiming right on-top of the shorter girl’s head.

Florian Hamilton

code:

Nano · Oct 9, 2020

Date: Saturday, August 15th
Location: Seagull Point Beach
Time: 8:00PM

“Alright, that should do it.”

After one last scan of the spacey communal area of the house, Glenn wiped the nonexistent sweat from his brow and graced the crowd of dark expressions around him with an unabashed smile, “Thanks for the help. It’s been a while since this place was last used, so it was a bit dusty.” Naturally, in standard Glenn fashion, their “help” meant that the others had been responsible for a majority of the cleanup work while “a bit” translated to the blond having been too lazy to clean the house for months. Before one of the senior members of Noah’s Ark could bark back with their sharp tongues, the man scooped up the cleaning materials and excused himself.

“Oh, right,” Glenn said, popping his head back in before the door had closed behind him, “Rumor says this place is haunted, but if you hear rattling in the attic, it’s probably just some raccoon. There’s a hole I never got around to fixing, so they keep nesting up there. Well, they can’t make it down to the main floors, and I’m sure you guys’ll handle it just fine if they do. Just don’t blow this place up, alright?”

With his final piece said, the blond ducked back out. This time, the door shut with a click, leaving the group to their own devices once again.

During the cleaning process, the Noah’s Ark members had already chosen which rooms they’d be bunking in for the night. In total, there were two bedrooms on the first floor and three on the second floor as well as the long couches in the communal area that were surprisingly comfortable to lie down on. In fact, despite the beach house’s poor management, the furnishings decorating both the tan wooden floors and the white walls appeared to have been chosen with great care. If they ignored the brief thud from above that interrupted the silence, it more or less seemed like the perfect place to rent for a vacation at the beach.

Dawnsx · Oct 9, 2020

Juli

Juli sagged into a chair when Glenn finally granted his seal of approval to the house's state. After a day of working at the beach, he'd expected to be able to sit back and relax, maybe bond with the crew a little with sleep-over-esque activities before tucking in for the night. Having to clean the mess left behind by Glenn's negligence was a surprise, and... Well, his reputation among the senior members of Noah's Ark certainly made a lot more sense now.

On the bright side, it was pretty fun (?) to clean with everyone, even if Juli's aching muscles screeched otherwise.

Despite his exhaustion, Juli managed to crack a smile and wave goodbye to Glenn as he ruminated on the warnings. Haunted house? Raccoons in the attic? Sounds interesting! He'd prefer if it was actually raccoons up in the attic instead of ghosts. At least then, he could at least snap a few photos of them before... Ah, running away from them? Glenn didn't say anything about having to drive them out, so probably best if they're left alone up there, huh? Fighting raccoons didn't sound like a good time. Anyway, it'd probably also put everyone's minds at ease if he confirmed that supernatural creepies weren't lurking in the house.

Raccoon hunting it is.

Juli bounced back to his feet, a spark of excitement lighting up in his eyes.

"I think I'm gonna go look for the raccoons Glenn mentioned! Anyone wanna come with? I need someone to be my shield in case they attack while I'm taking pics." He said, then tilted his head in consideration. "Or at least, I hope it's raccoons up there. I dunno if my camera can capture ghosts..."

Nano · Oct 18, 2020

» Ethan Lefebvre

『 TAGGED 』

After a few dints and bumps throughout the first few rallies, the four of them miraculously managed to integrate themselves more comfortably within the flow of the match. That is, their game was executed as skillfully as a handful of motivated (minus Flo) novices (sans Ruki) could manage anyway. It certainly wasn’t their most memorable bout of the year, but it was fun enough to pass the time until it was their turn to man the stand. Then, everything changed when the seagulls attacked.

Who knew what in whatever higher entity’s name caused the damn birds to go after the volleyball as if it were slathered in shrimp paste. Whatever the case, the flock decided that it had gotten bored of bothering the random passersby and switched their target to the ball which had just begun to sail smoothly over the net. By the end of the scuffle with the birds, their promised volleyball match ended with a mess of feathers scattered on the sandy court with no ball in sight. Granted the situation made it impossible to continue, no one argued over calling it quits. However, a rather strange collective decision led to the win going to Ethan and Flo’s team. Ruki, in spite of her sulky expression, had stated that a single point higher was still a point higher, resulting in Ethan and Flo winning the bet. As for the match itself, he couldn’t really call this kind of “win” a victory... In the end, he walked away with both a free soda float and a confirmation that he and Ruki would have a rematch one day.

The rest of the day continued on without a hitch. Ethan wasn’t sure why a bunch of seagulls would choose to launch a joint assault on a volleyball rather than a food stand, but it was a blessing in disguise, he supposed. As such, his mood remained stable for the few hours following the disrupted beach volleyball match, until a certain blond greeted the very much tired Noah’s Ark employees with a pile of cleaning supplies.

Having only joined the organization a year ago, Ethan wasn’t all too familiar with the man known as Glenn Launay. The Manager claimed he was a reliable person, but his current evaluation Glenn caused him to be more inclined to believe in the words of Rosie who seemed to only ever describe him negatively. It was fairly difficult to place his trust in someone who couldn’t even keep a house tidy, after all.

Ethan shook his head at the mention of ghosts and raccoons and turned towards Juli. “I wanna check up on those raccoons, too. If they’re behind the rumors of this house being haunted, it’s best we figure out the situation, seeing that Glenn isn’t going to do anything himself.” After pausing briefly to think about what to expect, he continued with a shrug, “Doubt it’s actually a ghost, and if it were a Regret, Glenn would have taken care of it.”

code by

Nano · Oct 18, 2020

» Luciano Bianchi

『 TAGGED 』

A Murder Of Corviknight

Quark

In strict contrast to the disgruntled or amused moods of his coworkers, Luca’s reaction to the less-than-shipshape state of the beach house was oddly unruffled.

“It’s pretty hard to be mindful of keeping rooms clean when you don’t use them,” he said, though he never continued on to his next sentence. The sharp look of death that Rosie sent his way was enough to cause any extra words in defense of Glenn to promptly wither away. Regardless of whether or not he could relate to Glenn for once, he still valued his life.

“Sorry mom…” Luca murmured in response to Rosie’s glare. In the end, he gradually inched away from her and continued cleaning out the paper cups, candy wrappers, and dust from under the furniture in silence until the group had managed to restore the house back into proper living standards.

While the others began toss around ideas of what to do to spend the last few hours before it was time to get some shuteye, Luca fiddled with Chase and Nari’s harnesses. Upon snapping their leashes into place, the brunette turned back into the living room and gave it a quick scan for anyone who had yet to decide what they wanted to do.

“I’m going to be taking the dogs out on a walk. Does anyone want to come?” he asked. Both of his hands were slightly raised out in front of him, presumably to offer one of the dogs’ leashes to whoever decided to tag along. He didn’t have any issues with going out alone, but it was definitely a lot easier to stick to one person per dog. Chase had a habit of not minding Nari’s location, tangling their leashes horribly if they were walked too close together.

code by

BondChu · Oct 25, 2020

Lane was expecting this job to take an unusual turn, considering the nature of the group he now belongs in, but he definitely never expected cleaning service to be one such turn of events. No matter what, he can't help but think that somehow the man had abused his position and imposed this upon the others while it had nothing to do with the whole Elegy-Regret business. Even the seniors looks as if they were about to snap. If only he had known more about Glenn, he may actually have a few words of his own to deliver. For now, though, it's best to shut it and get to work. It's not that he doesn't like cleaning, it's the fact that he's cleaning a house that's probably going to be neglected after they're done with it anyway.

After the cleanup is finished, he took to a quiet corner of the room just to distance himself from the group. Though from here he can still overhear a few of his fellow Elegies talking about what to occupy themselves for the night. One particular bit caught his attention, however.

Taking a few steps closer to his point of interest, "Mind if I come with?" he inquired to Juli, shifting his gaze briefly over to Ethan after recognizing his presence. "Something tells me the raccoons are going to be less noisy in a minute," he added.

Aside from having nothing else better to do, maybe he just wanted to hang out with the few employees of Noah's Ark that he actually feels comfortable with. The thought of potentially having wild animals disturb them while they rest also crossed his mind, but it was fleeting.

TAG(S)

Dawnsx · Nov 2, 2020

Juli

Juli's face lit up when two brave volunteers decided to join his racoon-hunting party. He wouldn't have minded going alone too much since the idea of spookies never really bothered him, but it was still nice to get a chance to hang out with Ethan and Lane.

"Alrighty, let's embark on our adventure then!" he exclaimed with an excited fist pump.

While not awfully familiar with the layout of the beach house, Juli headed towards where he thought the attic was and trusted his companions to correct him if he was going the wrong direction. He walked at a leisurely pace, giving himself a chance to pull up the photos he took of the day. It was a good thing that he bought a new memory card, considering how many pics he managed to snap in just a few hours.

"I took some pics of your volleyball match! Got one of your terrific receive too," Juli angled his camera over to Ethan with a toothy grin, the one of the ball colliding with his head on full display. He browsed a little more until he found one of the crew working at the stand and showed it to Lane. "Got one of you too! I'll send these to you guys. Oh, and to Ms. Stella too! Anyway, how'd you like working at the beach?"

For the rest of their short trek, Juli filled the space with mindless chatter, pausing here and there for his friends to respond before arriving at their destination. Juli looked up curiously at the hatch and steel ladder built into the floor and ceiling. The ladder looked to be in relatively good shape, but after seeing the state of disarray that Glenn left the house in, he couldn't help but feel a tad apprehensive. Still, this was his idea, so...

"Welp, up I go! Catch me if I fall!" Juli chirped. He stepped on the first rung, and after making sure that it won't collapse on him, he climbed up and pushed on the hatch. "Jammed." He grumbled. When a harder push didn't work, he banged his fist on the hatch a few times. He flinched when door came unstuck, followed by a loud thud from above. "Uh, maybe that was the raccoon? Either that or I just unleashed an evil spirit, haha."

He pushed the hatch door fully open and climbed into the attic, making some space for the others to join him too. It was dark up here, and he could make out only the vague outlines of some old furniture. The air was stagnant and dusty, so no one has been here in a while probably. He tried the pull chain for the light, but wasn't surprised when it didn't turn on. Another thud sounded from further in, but he couldn't see for the life of him what was making the noise.

"Attics are creepy," Juli mumbled, opting to turn on the flashlight on his phone. He walked further in, shining the light this way and there... Until something fuzzy scurried right by his feet.

"What the h-" Juli stumbled backwards with a yelp. He crashed into something behind him that was a little chilly and decidedly not a wall. Whirling around, he jumped out of his skin again when he came face-to-face with... Himself? "Oh sheesh, a mirror. Sorry 'bout that." He clutched his heart and gave the mirror a friendly pat, silently hoping that he wasn't the one that made the crack on it. He turned back to the others and shone the light towards the direction where the furry thingy ran. "Okay, either a raccoon or a really big rat."

Quark · Nov 13, 2020

RUKI YOKOKAWA

By the time she had come back from washing her hands, Glenn had already left. Back at the living room, she saw Emi hunched over his phone near the wall. He was probably messaging Killian, or sending photos promised to their friends.

“Ah, want me to take your bag to your room?” she noticed it next to him as she squatted in front of him.

Fingers still tapping on his phone, he shook his head, “No, no need. I was thinking of sleeping on the couch tonight.”

“Uh?…Ah, ah-ha! Since we’d never get the chance to do a sleepover like this at home!”

Hearing the mischievous snickering tone, Emi gave her a usual look whenever Ruki had come to some strange conclusion. He explained that it was easier without the risk of disturbing others when he was waking up at the time of sunrise.

Oh, Ruki thought, she had almost forgot! Now was the perfect time to search!

About to go and invite others, her head snapped up when Luca had spoke to everyone about pet-walking.

“Me, me! I wanna come!” she jumped up with hand raised like an eager student. Giving a wave to Emi, she went over to Luca and the dogs with a grin.

“Item get~” she half sang to the tune of an old RPG game, while taking the Nari’s leash from Luca’s hand. “Player Luca and Player Ruki are now ready for dog-walking adventure~.”

Closing the front house door in the next minute, Ruki zipped up her thin sports jacket as a small breeze started picking up. “Wao,” she exhaled, eyeing at the sand and reflective sea water in the distance. “There's barely anyone here now!” She had never stayed this late at a beach before.

Eyesight snapping back to Nari’s figure, she moved over to Luca’s left, before she asked if he had any dog-walking destinations in mind.

“Aside from the boardwalk, are there any good places for watching the sunrise?” she excited fired the next question immediately. [1] “I wanna get a picture for my blog! You should come too, Luca! When we get back, I’m going to ask others as well.”

NOTES
[1] Luca is dealing with a pretty curious Ruki currently. In the last few weeks, she would have heard about Luca from Emiyn.

Tag:

Nano

Elegy CS link

voracity · Nov 28, 2020

When Glenn had taken his leave, Thea let out a loud audible huff of air, and threw herself onto the long couches, stretching along its entire length. She learned long ago that it was easier on her mental health to cast the blond man from her thought processes as quickly as she could, before her temper got the best of her. Luckily, she was all too tired to even have to actively make the conscious effort to do so. After all, out of sight, and out of mind, as the saying went. As soon as it was evident that he wasn't going to be returning or keeping an eye on their activities for the night, Thea was quick to wonder how to fill the hours of the young night. It would be a shame to just go to sleep on a rare summer vacation night without actually doing anything.

Rolling herself off the couch - it looked as if the blonde woman spilled onto the floor - Thea pulled one of the duffle bags they'd piled up in the middle of the room prior to their cleaning to herself. "Raccoons?" Thea turned her head to Juli, a little awed that he somehow still had the energy to galavant around so cheerfully. It must be the power of youth, she deduced, as she unzipped the bag. "Good thing we have our resident Raccoon-Slayer," she snickered, sweeping an arm dramatically over to ... "Rosie!"

Fearing some physical retaliation for the god awful reminder of the surprise raccoon encounter, Thea hopped back up onto an empty spot on the long couches with the duffle bag, some healthy distance from Rosie. Sticking her hand inside the bag and rummaging around, there was the tell-tale crinkle of some chip bags, and boxes of snacks. Unable to find what she was looking for though, she began to pull some of it out - a box of strawberry pocky, a bag of BBQ chips - and deposited it onto the laps of Alex and Florian who sat beside her. There were also some choice drinks, but Thea was smart enough to keep those well hidden inside the bag. Out of the reaches of the children. A crinkle between her eyebrows formed as she continued digging, but still she called out to the others, "sorry, the couch is a little too comfortable for me to leave it, I'm staying right here ... Aha!" She crowed triumphantly as she pulled a box of Bicycle standard cards out. She gave the box a little shake, and made sure everyone got a good look at it before opening it up and shuffling it. Messily.

"Who's in? No. Better question, what CAN we play?" Thea mused, looking upwards as she thought through the card games that she did know off the top of her head. "President? Slapjack? Bullsh-"

“President sounds nice,” Alex interrupted as she opened the bag of chips and dipped her hand in. She was somewhat tired from going overdrive on the volleyball, and needed something more chill. Her own experience of card games is limited to whatever the locals played. It wasn’t like the arcade was gonna install a poker machine anytime soon, so she only knew of the more “fun” games. “I think we have a good number of players for that. We can also do stuff like Speed, Spoons, or Spades.” She said before stuffing a fistful of chips into her face, and handing the bag into the void known as the communal space.

“President is alright with me,” Enoch said, stretching to alleviate some of the weariness settling over his shoulders. Even the unexpected cleaning session had failed to dampen his mood, though, especially considering the sea star he’d spotted in a tide pool earlier in the day. With a contented sigh, he settled onto the adjacent couch, leaning back into the cushions. “I played Spoons in middle school, once, but it was the extreme version.” His eyebrows knitted together at the memory. “I don’t believe card games are worth tackling other people over, honestly.”

In the middle of leafing through his sketches and the photos Juli had sent him, Emiyn’s head perked up at the mention of games and seeing cards being taken out on the other side of the room. Stowing his new sketchbook away in his bag, for consulting Lance or Enoch with at a later time, Emiyn spoke up. “Could I join?” he said, dragging a chair over. Sitting down again, Emiyn mentioned that he’s happy to play any of the games mentioned. Some were unfamiliar to him, but learning rules through a quick online search and through several rounds of casual play seemed enjoyable enough.

A frown flashed on his face for a quick second, wondering if the tackling portion (mentioned in Enoch’s version of Spoons) was a penalty.

"I'd like to play too," Aria said as she retrieved Jerod from her bag, having stowed him away to avoid any accidents during the clean-up. He got a little chip on his shoulder from their encounter with the Regret days prior, and she just got him back after sending him out for repairs. So sue her if she felt a little protective. She followed Enoch's lead and got settled in on the couch. A content sigh escaped her as her aching muscles finally received a reprieve after a grueling evening.

Jerod blinked as consciousness returned to him, and he looked up at Aria from her lap.

"You guys are gonna play something? Playing what?" Jerod asked curiously. His eyes caught sight of the box of cards in Thea's hand before Aria could offer an answer, and he perked up instantly. "Ooh, cards? Can I play?"

"Uhh, I don't think you know the rules, but you can help me?" Aria suggested.

While the discussion was ongoing, Emiyn’s attention was drawn to a snack package near Thea. Signally to her and pointing to the item, he leaned forward to take the packet of animal crackers to open. One hand reaching in, he pulled out a rabbit cracker. Not his favourite penguin cracker but it was better than the lion, he supposed.

While munching on the cracker, he held out the crackers towards the couch next to his chair, silently asking if Aria wanted some. “Ah, did you manage to collect a lot of seashells, Aria?” he murmured quietly, to not interrupt the main group discussion.

Aria brightened and nodded enthusiastically.

“I did! I’m planning to use some of them as accessories, and also some to make outfits for Jerod and the others,” she replied as she accepted a cracker. She popped it into her mouth and pulled up a photo on her phone, “Um, if you’d like to see… I got this shell that would be the perfect size. I think it’s called a coffee bean shell…? It’s not very colorful though, so I’d have to paint it myself…”

“That’s for me, right? My last outfit went up in flames,” Jerod pouted. Aria laughed softly and patted him on the head.

“I have enough for everyone,” she promised.

“Does that include us?” Thea chipped in with an enthusiastic smile. “I don’t know if I can speak for the rest of us, but having seashell necklaces to bring home would be such a nice souvenir for this trip … ah, no pressure or anything! I’ve just seen some - it’s very cute!” The blonde woman continued, flustered. Though, her expression fell suddenly as a stray thought came to mind, “have you had the chance to check them for crabs? Coffee bean shells have that kind of open window, don’t they?” As she pondered the possibility of such, she set aside the deck of cards - very awfully shuffled - and reached out for the defenseless opened bag of chips that Alex had last thrown into the center of the communal space.

Aria's face softened a little at Thea's concern. It was still a little awkward to talk to the woman, but she felt-- less tense. Better.

"I don't think I have enough for necklaces because the bucket was getting heavy... But maybe I can make bracelets? And I checked each one too, so no worries," she replied lightly.

Automatically, Enoch reached forward to continue shuffling the cards. “I saw a crab earlier today. It might have been a leopard crab, but it seemed rather small…” He trailed off, preoccupied with making sure no cards went flying while he shuffled the deck. Or, even worse, they all ended up scattered on the floor. When he felt that he’d done a satisfactory job, Enoch faced the rest of the group. “Shall I deal, or would anyone else like to?”

“Enoch’s LUC should be high enough…” Alex muttered as she licked the last bits of chip crumbs off her fingertips. The mouthful of chips finally went down into her stomach, letting her rejoin the conversation. Reaching out for a wipe for her hands, she continued in a low but audible tone, in a poor attempt to intimidate the dealer. “... But if it isn’t… perhaps a tackle is just what this game needs!” She shot a playful grin at Enoch, before readying herself for the night. “Gimme something good! Bonus points if you do it with a flourish!”

“Oh?” Enoch looked up at the challenge, smirking. “Well, in that case, you would have to catch me first. I think my...what was it, SPD? Would outrank yours.” That was the proper video game term, right? He’d been trying to pick up on some of them in an attempt to understand what Alex was talking about half the time. As for whether he could deal “with a flourish,” he supposed he was about to find out.

And so the games began … after they finally came to an agreement on a friendly Go Fish game to practice and stretch their fingers first. Between the snacks and banter, they hadn’t actually settled on what exactly to play first anyway, and a fast round of Go Fish went by quick enough that a healthy competitive appetite had struck them all in some shape or form. Quick searches on the internet allowed them to explore games that emphasized the speed of the players, and others that demanded strategic planning. They also stopped to find games that brought them to tears in fitfuls laughter, from the blunderings of those who could not bluff convincingly, and even when they could bluff well.

Although they dreaded and eagerly anticipated punishments with equal trepidation, so far no actual tackling had taken place just yet. The worst that had been done was when several people found themselves divested of their sweaters when they couldn’t be trusted with their long sleeves - or pockets. And further threats that involved duct tape seemed to be strong enough to dissuade them all from accidentally making use of their powers.

In time, at least 2 chip bags had been devastated, and the second animal cracker pack (a limited edition package that included dinosaurs) had been unleashed. There was still plenty left for everyone else, but as the card playing group was the first to find the pack of sunflower seeds, they agreed to sin together and completely emptied it by the time they came to finish, or at least a brief respite, in their game of Cheat.

A sudden bang cut into the air just when it seemed the current game was ending in the final round of turns. Emiyn, being one of those startled by the loud noise, almost dropped his cards. Giving the door a look, he got up to the window.

“Strange... It doesn’t seem to be that windy, hm…” he commented loud enough for the others to hear, before closing the window. Finally coming back after re-opening the door, the exciting and tense gaming mood accumulated from the succession of card games seem to have dampened by that bang. A rather anticlimactic ending compared to the previous games, perhaps it meant it was time to change activities.

“That’s what they all say! That’s how it always starts!” Thea cried out dramatically, throwing her hands and her cards up into the air. While the cards landed quietly into a messy pile, Thea was anything but quiet in how she threw herself into the corner of the long couches, where most of the pillows had been. Just as the actual fun of the game had been drawing to an end, Thea was glad to have found something else to turn to, to continue their night of festivities.

She scooped up one, then two, fluffy pillows into her arms, curled up around them like a child, and then threw a glare at Emiyn in jest, “we all know what happens when strange things begin to happen in the middle of summer, with a group of friends stuck inside an old dusty shack of a cabin in the middle of nowhere,” she carried on her dramatics, rolling herself down the couches and to the other end of the room.

“There’s always something that goes wrong: the door closes in on you without anyone on the other side, the windows rattle without a hint of a breeze outside, in your peripherals maybe you’ll start hearing the voices of a baby, a mother, and their dead father crying at you...” the blonde woman stopped her roll when she reached the frame of the door, conveniently also where the light switches were. “Or maybe, it’s just something simple you brush aside, like ...”

The lights flickered on, off, on, off … again, and again. Until the room was stuck in relative darkness.

“... a black out,” Thea finished grimly, and the silence carried on until Thea had to add, sheepishly, “how does the rest of these horror things go? Everyone gets picked off by one by one until the prettiest one is left alone? Or is it the smartest one?” She mused as she tried to toe her way back to where the group was.

“Now that we’ve got the right setting for it, let’s go all the way - the lights are out, we’ve confirmed the windows are haunted; a ghost story or two won’t make us anymore cursed than we already are,” Thea tried to cajole the group a she gathered the left over cards from the floor and from their hands. “Who’s in? Highest goes?” She suggested, holding up an ace of spades to illustrate her example before slipping it into the deck and shuffling again.

Nano · Dec 19, 2020

» Luciano Bianchi

『 TAGGED 』

Quark

“Thanks,” Luca said as he handed Nari’s leash off to Ruki. He wasn’t quite able to process all of her RPG talk, but her enthusiasm was much appreciated. After expending so much energy on manning the food stand and cleaning up after Glenn, he wasn’t too keen on putting in the extra effort of untangling Nari and Chase’s leashes every minute.

Luca breathed out a sigh of relief when they left behind the chaos of the beach house. As Ruki had observed, few people were still up and about, choosing to retire into their homes for the night. The handful of people present were either people closing up shop, joggers, or those walking their dogs just like Luca and Ruki.

Having answered similar questions in the past, Luca’s reply to Ruki’s inquiry came quickly, “The docks are usually a good place to get some nice shots. Also, there aren’t many cliffs along the shoreline here, but there’s a small one with a lighthouse if you don’t mind the hike...”

The brunette would have continued to list out more locations had Glenn’s cafe not caught his attention. At present, the man was standing by the storefront speaking to another man that he couldn’t recognize. From the barely concealed displeasure contained in Glenn’s eyes in spite of his professional, yet very much frigid, smile, Luca could tell that the unknown blond was a man that Glenn was at least vaguely familiar with. But a visitor at this hour? The late falling dusk of summer had only just settled, but the café had long stopped receiving customers two and a half hours prior. There was a chance that the man had decided to wait for Glenn to finish closing up shop out of courtesy, but, from the looks of it, that didn’t appear to be the case.

“It probably isn’t a good idea to interrupt,” Luca murmured to himself and turned back to Ruki. “Sorry, where was I? I thought I’d wave at Glenn, but he seems a bit occupied right now.”

The next five minutes remained uneventful, with Luca doing his best to push the unknown man to the back of his mind while chatting with Ruki. However, a series of rapid-fire buzzes from the phone in his right pocket interrupted the conversation once again.

A quick look at the screen revealed that they were texts from Glenn, drawing out a groan from the brunette before he even bothered to read the contents.

Could you do me a favor and check out the lighthouse?
Please?
I saw you and Ruki walking in that general direction
An old friend told me that they spotted something suspicious there but I’m too busy to go myself
Don’t worry
He’s not very reliable and I don’t think anything is actually there
Thanks in advance! :
D

As per usual, it was just Glenn tossing his responsibilities on to his coworkers. However, the mention of “an old friend” and the hint of sarcasm attached to it piqued his interest. If the blond he had spotted was the one who had mentioned the suspicious activity, does that mean he was a Babel agent?

Luca frowned at the thought. It was typical of Babel to not trust them on something as simple and innocent as a workplace outing.

Noting that he’d left Ruki hanging for far too long, he tilted his phone as a gesture for her to read the texts displayed on the screen. “It’s still nighttime, but do you want to check out the lighthouse before sunrise? Though if we see anything odd, we’re going to have to call the others back at the house.”

code by

Nano · Dec 19, 2020

» Ethan Lefebvre

『 TAGGED 』

Juli’s mention of Ethan’s “terrific receive” was met with an eye roll. He’d gotten over the embarrassment of mixing up two sports by the end of the match, but he hadn’t expected anyone to have caught the scene on camera. When Juli mentioned sending the pictures to Stella, the redhead nearly piped up in protest, but his mouth ultimately shut with a click. Even if he managed to convince the man to refrain from sending them to Stella, the lady would hear about it and find a way to get her hands on all of their beach pictures for her scrapbook. He could almost swear the witch had eyes and ears everywhere, though, given her Last Words, he supposed that wasn’t too far from the truth.

The trio’s venture into the attic quickly took his mind off of the pictures. Ethan had to agree with Juli: no matter how you looked at it, the attic was beyond creepy. It was a classic picture of the stereotypical attics featured in horror movies.

Whilst Juli attempted to track the furry critter that had clipped past their feet, Ethan removed his own phone from his pocket to shine the torch towards the back of the attic, where he could feel a light draft coming from. As expected, a black garbage bag was hanging uselessly off of a single piece of duct tape, being pushed slightly upwards by the gentle stream of air flowing into the room from what he assumed was a broken window. He let out a sound of frustration. It wasn’t even a broken section of the wall but a damn window. He doubted they were that difficult to get fixed, so he couldn’t understand why Glenn held repairs off for so long that raccoons had decided to nest up here.

In his attempt to shove his phone back into his pocket, Ethan accidentally let it slip from his fingers, letting it drop to the wooden floor with a dull clatter. The sound prompted what he assumed was all of the furry creatures hiding out in the attic to run out from their nest, and his stomach nearly lurched when he counted at least five pairs of shiny orbs staring out at them.

A sudden shove from the right sent him stumbling to the side where he crashed into the adjacent wall. Fortunately, there had been nothing on the floor to trip over, but the push had been nothing short of rough, leaving his left shoulder aching from the impact. It felt like he’d stepped on his phone, too. The heavy thud of someone dropping straight down from the attic to the 2nd floor remained a mere afterthought as his temper flared up.

“The fu-” Ethan shouted, though he quieted down the moment he heard more frantic skittering of the tiny claws of the raccoons that had been stirred up by him raising his voice. While rubbing his shoulder, the redhead steadied himself and walked two steps back to his original position. He was still scowling, but his tone was one of exasperation rather than anger. “Hey- God, they’re just dumb raccoons that may or may not have rabies. What’re you freaking out fo-”

Ethan’s confusion quickly replaced the scowl on his face when he saw both Juli and Lane still in the attic. Hadn’t someone jumped down? How were both of them still present?

Every muscle in his body tensed, the redhead quickly cycled through all of the potential options of what had occurred: (a) there was one really fat racoon in the attic; (b) Glenn was pulling one really elaborate prank; (c) ghosts somehow have weight; (d) it was a Regret. His thoughts also wandered towards those stories of people not realizing a stranger was living in their attic or within their walls, but that was one he’d rather not entertain the possibility of, and of the other choices, he’d really prefer if it were Glenn or a Regret. Whatever the case…

“We should…” Ethan trailed off briefly before swallowing nervously and continuing, “probably go check that thing out. Whatever it is. The raccoon thing can wait.”

code by

BondChu · Dec 21, 2020

Their next course of action decided, he followed Juli's lead, letting Ethan takes second place before setting himself in third. As expected of someone like him, Juli is ever so exuberant even when they're in a seldom used beach house which probably has a raccoon infestation on top of the possibility that they may be intruding in some restless spirit's abode. Lane merely gave the shapeshifter a hum of acknowledgement after seeing the photo Juli was showing him. He was never really big on photos, especially if someone asked him to smile or pose for the camera, but nowadays he didn't mind it either. That said, it would be lying if he said he isn't interested in seeing some of the other pictures Juli had taken during their time at the beach.

After what appears to be a short walk, they came upon the entrance to their destination. Not long after Juli made his presence known to any living and/or unliving beings that may reside within, they finally arrive in the attic. It's no surprise that the attic is in a similar state of abandonment just like the rest of the beach house before they started their big sweep of the place. The lack of proper lighting combined with the horrid condition of the barely breathable air contributed to the overall unpleasant atmosphere. He was pretty sure he can feel dust on his tongue just now. Lane had kept these thoughts to himself so far, up until he felt something brushes past in between his legs.

"Not ghosts," he mumbled to himself, whatever it was seems pretty corporeal to him.

Seeing as his attic exploration companions already determined with their light that it was in fact a group of furry creatures that made a new home for themselves, he did not feel the need to bring out his phone, still neatly tucked in his pocket. 'Well, that's that', he thought, mission accomplished. He was just about to suggest for them to go back down, but he was halted before even getting the words out when Ethan made noise, which is promptly followed by an even more noticeable noise. Certainly not a noise a raccoon or a group of raccoons would make if they were to evacuate down a floor. While he wanted to leave the attic because there's nothing else to do before, it appears a solid reason to return had presented itself.

"Yeah," Lane nodded at Ethan's suggestion, before glancing to see if Juli had the same idea.

For one moment, he thought of the possibility that the attic might be to keep the thing in.

Quark · Dec 23, 2020

EMIYN YUEN

Despite the nervous sinking in his stomach, he was holding back a small amused laugh at her playful imitation of an eerie flickering light. [1] At Thea’s suggestion about picking based on drawing poker cards, he seconded with a “yeah, I think “going by highest” is a good idea.”

... ...

“I guess I’m going first then,” Emiyn said, looking around at everyone in the circle, holding the “Queen” card in his hand to show others.

Realizing what little horror fiction he had read, he frowned for a second. “Hm… Ah, I remember something I read months ago.” He started, leaning over to get in a more comfortable seating position.

warnings for story: lots of missing people and much stairs: This was something I had read online a while ago. This happened more than 20 years ago in XXX city [2], a few hours drive away from Genesis; it’s a city with lots of avenue steps in some suburbs, particularly near the beach. There was the case of the “serial snatcher on the staircase”, where lots of people went missing.

Police believed the first case happened in summer, when a young female student didn’t come home overnight. An elderly lady on her late evening walk, last saw her walking up a set of avenue steps. She was memorable because of how the loud heels when she was frantically running up the stairs. However, neighbours who lived on the top of the avenue steps all said that they didn’t see such a woman walking that night. The final clue was that a pair of her heels were left, on the side of the 7th step.

Police were confused, of how she could disappear in between the top and bottom of the staircase. While they were struggling to gain anymore new leads in the area, two weeks later a new similar case occurred.

An elderly man was suddenly reported missing. His children at his home said that they last heard he was taking their dog for the usual evening walk in the neighbourhood. It didn’t take very long for them to trace his usual walking route, and find the dog, at the bottom of the steps from the local park. The leash still attached, and the dog was firmly rooted at the bottom of the stairs, frequently looking at the top of the staircase.

A few steps from the top, was the yellow bucket hat belonging to the elderly man.

The lack of showing signs of struggle or violence. The memorable piece of clothing unique to that victim. The last known location always near stairs.

Another 7 more cases had followed in the next three months. Local residents were getting frantic. Some asking for the stairs to be all converted to ramps, while others were demanding to see why the police still haven’t found any useful leads.

“…” Emiyn paused, trying to remember something for a moment. “There was a picture attached as well when I was reading it. It was a map showing important landmarks of the suburbs and where the victims’ clothing items were found.”It was hard to indicate without paper and pen, but he tried his best to described what was shown on the map.

From the first case to the ninth. The steps were situated near the coast, then further and further inland, towards the north where the head investigator’s office was.

The final missing case occurred in a paint manufacturing company, just a few blocks from the police department. A worker’s name tag was found missing on the stairs adjacent to the building. The very next day, there was chaos in the police department as the head investigator was found to have committed suicide in his work office. Autopsy report said that the death occurred on the previous night he was hard at work. There was no suicide note, and no evidence that anyone else had entered. Thus, it was concluded that he had done this most likely due to the ongoing pressure from the serial snatcher case.

From that day onwards, no other person had gone missing from climbing avenue steps. It was as though with the death of the head investigator had been what the serial snatcher was after all this time.

“There were rumours, of what if it was someone that had a deep grudge towards the head investigator. Like someone who was wrongly prosecuted, or maybe it was the missing victims themselves. Whatever the case… with no new leads the suspect is still a mystery…” Emiyn concluded, remembering the last paragraph of what he had read. “And even scarier… The people who were missing… still haven’t been found.”

Following the two seconds of silence, Emiyn sat back upright and scratched his neck awkwardly. “And… that’s all to one of the scarier stories I’ve heard… I guess” he said while shyly gauging the reaction from the others in the relative dark room. He remembered he only read it since a friend claimed that the style was like one of his favourite authors. Now at the end of the story, a small part of him was feeling regretful he couldn’t remember and convey all the eerie points of the incidents.

“That website was the only place where I had read about it. With such a big incident, it’d be strange if no one else on the internet mentions it. So thankfully and fortunately, it’s probably someone writing fiction based on a real city for setting…”

Awkwardly scratching the back of his head, he placed back his card to the pile in the middle, ready to listen to the story of the person with the next highest card number. [2]

NOTES
[1] Sudden weird blackouts or inanimate objects moving themselves is less scary to think about when with others. If it was by himself, Emiyn might just hide under the blankets.

[2] Can’t be bothered giving a placeholder name.

Tag:

voracity

Cryptid

Alteras

Elegy CS link

Dawnsx · Jan 15, 2021

Aria was sort of regretting her decision of joining the card-playing group. A blackout she could handle (even if she had to clutch Jerod a little tighter to feel safe), but ghost stories? She had her fair share of those from when she was still going in and out of hospitals back in her younger days. Kids sharing the same room as her would all huddle up and tell made-up stories about spooky rumors they heard, or the things they saw at night. Little Aria knew they were just trying to scare each other, but it still didn't keep away the nightmares of deceased patients coming to drag her off into the underworld.

A chill ran up Aria's spine as Emiyn finished his story, but she was able to take comfort in the fact that it took place years ago, miles away from where they were. Hesitantly, she showed her card.

"Ah, I'm next, I think? It's not really a ghost story, per se, but..." she began. Thankfully, despite her aversion for scary things, she was able to recall a game that Annette told her about. "It's a game of hide-and-seek with a doll. You toss it inside a dark room and shut the door, then count to ten. When you open the door, the doll will be gone from the spot you tossed it to, and you have to try and find it. But I'm not really sure what happens if you can't find it..."

"I suggested we prank her friends with the game, but she didn't want to," Jerod sniffed indignantly. "Said they might try and take me to get exorcised."

"Plus it's mean," Aria said in exasperation. "Sorry, it's probably not that scary since I already have a bunch of moving dolls..."

Cryptids · Jan 17, 2021

Flickering lights and blackouts didn’t phase Enoch; it wasn’t uncommon to experience either one at the apartment complex where he lived. When the topic turned to ghost stories, though, he sat up to listen with rapt attention, the card game forgotten in a matter of seconds. He’d heard many tales growing up, at school or from other foster kids bragging about the creepiest places they’d lived, and the ones he remembered ranged from obviously fake to spine-chillingly real.

Looking back at some of the best stories, Enoch had always felt disappointed that he’d never had such experiences himself. The eerie encounters with old urban legends and myths that made the other kids lean in with wide eyes as they listened, the youngest in the group always holding onto a stuffed toy or sibling for comfort.

Emiyn’s story earned an “ooh” as he finished. Even if it wasn’t real, Enoch thought, it made a good story. Then, before he knew it, Aria had finished telling the group about the game of hide-and-seek.

“I think it sounded scary,” he said. “It’s certainly better than many I’ve heard.”

In the ensuing silence, he glanced at his cards for the first time since the storytelling had begun. “Oh! Seems it’s my turn next,” Enoch said, displaying his card. After a moment of consideration, he decided on one particular instance he still remembered in clear detail. No, it wasn’t the type of exciting run-in with a centuries-old ghost he’d loved as a kid, but he feared getting the details wrong about any story he’d heard so long ago.

“Alright, I think I have one. This happened when I was 13, and I lived near a large expanse of woods. Sorry, it may not quite count as a ghost story…”

Transfixed, Enoch watched as a squirrel carefully buried a large acorn in the dirt. More and more signs of autumn had begun manifesting lately, from the slight chill in the air to the leaves in the boughs just beginning to show signs of red, yellow, and orange. This deep in the woods, nothing existed to disrupt the scene; he only wished he’d brought his sketchbook.

Overhead, the sun was nearing the horizon, signaling that Enoch had to head towards home. Yet he hadn’t walked long, when he thought he heard the sound of a little girl crying not far off. Concerned, he left the familiar path and went to investigate—besides his home, trees and underbrush were all that existed for miles. When Enoch thought he was getting close, though, the sound seemed to move, traveling deeper into the forest.

He tried to call out and offer help, but no response came. The crying never stopped. It began to grow darker and darker, and still Enoch chased the voice deeper and deeper into the trees. Unfamiliar branches loomed all around. Shadows grew long, then melded together. He couldn’t tell how much time had passed until, with a start, he realized that the sun had completely set.

Uncertain, Enoch called out again, explaining that he needed to go home, but he had a flashlight, and the girl could follow him to safety.

No response again. Only a steady, mournful sobbing.

Switching on the flashlight, Enoch turned to retrace his steps out of the forest. The crying grew quieter as he made progress, and eventually it vanished completely. He wondered if it hadn’t been an animal all this time. A mockingbird, maybe.

Until he heard the sound again. Much louder now, the girl’s sobs crescendoing into a desperate wail.

And it was approaching him. Fast.

Enoch spun around, but the flashlight illuminated nothing except trees and bushes. By now, the bluish shades of dusk had faded to pitch black. No matter which way he turned, the wailing came from behind him, getting closer and closer.

He ran. The beam of the flashlight bobbed up and down with his movement. Five, ten feet behind him, the girl’s wailing became a scream. Whether of anguish or fury, he couldn’t tell.

The edge of the woods came into view. With one last, desperate lunge, Enoch broke through the tree line.

The noise ceased.

He stood and listened for several seconds, but heard nothing save for his own ragged breathing and the gentle swish of the tall grass. Not even an owl or raccoon disturbed the quiet. Yet he had a prickling sensation on the back of his neck. As if someone were staring at him.

Then, gently, Enoch felt a tug on the back of his shirt.

He sprinted the rest of the way home without looking back. While he received a scolding for staying out so late after walking through the door, Enoch couldn’t bring himself to care, sinking to the floor with a long sigh of relief.

Days later, he told his foster sister about the strange occurrence. She looked surprised, and then proceeded to tell him about an ongoing investigation that’d been all over the news lately. A little girl, Josie, had vanished along with her father two weeks ago. The last anyone had heard of them was the father’s girlfriend, who told police that he’d said he was taking Josie to the park. Given that Josie’s father had a criminal record, everyone was worried.

“So, I must have seen the news on TV at some point and gotten a bit paranoid. There are plenty of animals in the woods at night,” Enoch finished, a carefree smile on his face. “Like I said, it isn’t that much of a ghost story. I did stay out of the forest for a week after that, though.” He laughed, oblivious to any reactions of those around him.

TAGS:

voracity

Alteras

voracity · Jan 19, 2021

In their line of work, it was all too easy to lend their own overactive imaginations into each of the stories that were being shared. They all have heard and buckled under uneasy silences, slipped through the fingers of after images, and otherworldly visitors; if one were not careful, it felt as if these silly stories could lull them back into more vivid memories. If Thea were not careful, more specifically.

She hadn't expected Emiyn or even Aria to be able to have delivered as well as they had. Just what exactly did teenagers get up to these days that involved ritual-by-dolls, Thea mused, picking at fraying threads of the pillow she had taken as hostage earlier.

When Enoch finished though, there was a shudder that crawled down Thea's spine. Even as the man laughed obliviously, Thea gaped at the sheer audacity of his laid back response, "13 you said? You were 13 and - did you ever go back in there?" Thea gwaked.

After everyone had their turn at interrogating Enoch, Thea revealed her card with a theatrical weep, "figures I'd end up dealing myself a poor card," she mused throwing hers at the top of their pile.

A Story That Gets Interrupted: This was something that happened during spring break - a boy and his family went to France to visit their extended family. He himself had no idea just how rich they were, but the house was built on a hill surrounded by the greenest of grass, beside a sparkling pond, and not a neighbor was to be seen, unless you squinted into the distance.

One morning, he woke up and found that he had been left behind by the rest of the family, who went to visit the markets earlier in the morning. That's fine, he thought with a sly grin, and began his own self directed tour from the front doors. You see, the boy had the worst of proclivities: he could not keep his hands to himself. His mother often rapped at his knuckles for his insatiable curiosity - but she was not here to stop him this time.

At the front doors, there was a small table that held a bowl of fruits, crackers, and bottles of water - but it also held a few books. Of the three, only one was written before the 21st century, and so the boy turned its pages.

-December 16th. 1934-

The nightmares are becoming increasingly frequent. These old memories insist on returning, torturing me, night after night. It's your fault, they tell me, and now, even I am unsure at this point.

... remains closed ...

should not enter, ever. I'll personally take care of that.

... I'm afraid that now I've grown too weak.
- B.W.

A work of fiction, he concluded. Returning it to its place. He continued his explorations, past the kitchen, the pantry, and washrooms, he tried to enter a door tucked away just behind the kitchen, but the knob would not turn - it did not click the way you would expect a locked door to, though. He tried again, and while the knob gave a bit of way, he just couldn't turn it all the way, it dawned on him that there might have been someone else on the other side, holding onto the knob.

Fearing a lecture and a beating, he scurried away. But as his feet thundered past a closet, something else accompanied his frantic footsteps. It sounded as if something had dropped, and rolled on wooden floors. He himself had been running on carpet, and decided to peek into the closet in case he had inadvertently broken something.

This time he found a damaged book. There were only a few pages left, loosely kept together by the front cover, and perhaps one fifth of the spine of the book - with the rest of the book missing.

-March 5th 1935-
...
-B.W.

Everything inside of it had been too damaged to read, except for the signature, B.W.

Eventually, he found his way into the backyard - if he just kept himself outside of the house, then he could tell white lies about his non-involvement with anything else that might turn up broken in the house. As he followed the stone tiled path, he eventually came across three modestly decorated ... stones. Kneeling before them, he noticed that names and dates had been etched into them.

The leftmost stone read: Adam Wong 1933-1935. The rightmost stone read: Celine Miaba 1896-1935. Before he could read the last stone though, a loud bark had startled him - and after knocking the flowers and candles out of formation, he did his best to rearrange them ... it was pretty shoddy work, and he quietly apologized, to the two, and to Benjamin Wong. 1897-1935.

But when he went back into the house, a sobering thought came to mind.

This family did not own a dog.

And there were no neighbors, either.

Returning to the kitchen, in hopes that a glass of water would calm his nerves, he nearly tripped over his own feet when he stumbled on the back cover of the book he had previously found in the closet. There were no loose pages left, but he found that B.W. - Benjamin Wong perhaps - left more of his thoughts on the inside of the cover.

-June 6th. 1934-

Tomorrow the Ivory Wardens are coming to see Celine, they are very interested in her. She is a very special girl, she always was. Someday, I'm sure that she will become someone very important.

- B.W.

Again, in hopes of minimizing the punishment to follow his inevitable lecture and beating, he returned to the closet, placing the back-cover next to the rest of the damaged book - but he just couldn't help himself, and turned the front cover over to see if there had been something left in there as well.

tHE gIRl iS DanGERouS FoR EVerYonE, EvEN tO hERsElf. I hOPE yoU UnDERStanD ThAT.

Sufficiently scared, he made haste back into his own room after leaving the broken parts of the book together, and making a quick sandwich for himself. There were more books in the room, but to his relief, he did not find another entry from B.W. in any of them.

All was fine until

A sudden thunderous noise from above interrupted her. Given the room was stuck in a pitch black darkness, and the atmosphere had been forced into a heavy, almost suffocating silence to best experience their horror stories, it took every ounce of her conscious restraint to suppress her immediate reactions, and intentions; curling her hands into a tight fist, letting her nails press into the flesh of her palm, she was able to keep her body coiled and locked under control. All that was left was to control her mental state.

"FUCK," she screamed, rather shrilly. And sucking in a quick breath after that, she followed through, "was that?!", equally loudly.

Story comes from Pokemon Black Cinder, a Fangame

Cryptids