FIRST CURSE: video/action

[cawsforalarm]

public gear video - location unclear

Oh, hey! It did a thing!

[Two faces pop up on the screen, against a beautiful blue sky; the framing makes it clear that the Gear is on the ground, and neither of the two figures are making any attempt to frame their shot whatsoever. One is a young man who is smiling at his incredible achievement of turning on a Pokegear; the other is a rather exasperated-looking Vulpix. The latter reaches a paw out, puts it on the screen, and begins chittering to the human… who actually seems to understand.]

When the red light is on, it’s recording… okay, got it.

[The Vulpix squeaks again.]

“Say something”? Alright… [The young man rearranges his position in front of the Gear a little bit. One can see that he appears to be wearing purple-and-tan robes with really creepy eye designs on the collar.] Well, people in there, my name’s Henry and I’m from the country of Plegia! My interests include dark magic, nature walks, explosions, murders, explosions with murders— what?

[Henry looks down. The Vulpix can be heard screeching angrily, probably telling him to stop before he gets himself turned in to the police on day one. There is a short scuffle for control of the PokéGear; flashes of amber fur and claws can be seen, the audio becomes nothing but extremely staticky wooshes, and eventually the feed cuts out.]

action - goldenrod rocket hq

[Good morning, Goldenrod Rocket Base. How’s your day been so far? Woke up, stretched a bit, eaten breakfast? Picked up the cup of dirty water that passes for coffee in this joint? That’s good. Everything you’ve just done is normal, and in here, normalcy is a valuable commodity.]

[A commodity that won’t last for much longer, because Henry the dark mage has just woken up in the building.]

[This morning, yet another Grunt seems to have joined the ranks. It’s a young man who can’t be much older than twenty, with snow-white hair and a standard issue uniform. ...Well, “standard issue” except for the part where he has some kind of cape thrown over it. (Uniform regulations? What uniform regulations?) By his side, a Vulpix is walking and grumbling bitterly, and if one looks closely they might see a Murkrow making herself comfortable in the Grunt’s collar.]

[He’s also going around touching things. The walls, the furniture, his Pokemon, your face…]

Ooh, your skin feels nice! It’s super soft!

[Look, just bear with him. He hasn’t had a working sense of touch for quite a few years.]

Comments

video [YES. IT'S MADE OF CONDENSED MAGE TEARS.]

[cawsforalarm]

Well, uh... that's disappointing.

[He can still injure people, probably, but that's. Not the same.]

So is it like, you die and you come back to life immediately, or...?

video

[islandshore]

Something like that. I haven't been put in a position like that, so I couldn't say for sure, but it's just as likely that we just... faint. Like the Pokémon.

[Another shrug, and he idly starts fidgeting with a Pokéball.]

Some people have died before, but nobody knows how, and nobody's been able to recreate the incidents. The only proof it even happens are the ghosts of dead people turned Pokémon.

video

[cawsforalarm]

[...]

What kinds of Pokémon?

[He. May or may not want to speak to them. You know. The ghosts.]

video

[islandshore]

They're called Yamask. Basically, they're these spirits that carry around masks of their human faces, and they evolve into giant, living coffins.

[Which begs the question of whether or not their coffins resemble their human forms, too.]

video

[cawsforalarm]

...Whoa.

[Henry's mind = blown.]

Where do I find them?

video

[islandshore]

Hmm... I wanna say around Ecruteak or Lavender Town. Definitely wherever there's a lot of ghost activity.

[He squints, leaning closer to the camera.]

Why, you plan on interrogating them?

video

[cawsforalarm]

Well, I wanna talk to them, yeah! Back where I come from, you had to channel spirits through someone's body if you wanted to see them in the world at all.

video

[islandshore]

[Riku's eyes fly wide open, and he leans away from the camera.]

Wait, slow down. Are you saying that you have to let ghosts possess you?

video

[cawsforalarm]

Nya ha ha! Does it creep you out? That was part of my final exam in school.

video

[islandshore]

And you actually let a ghost inside you.

[Just... why? Why would anyone even--

Congrats, Henry. You've managed to creep Riku out. And that takes skill.]

video

[cawsforalarm]

Yup! Sometimes you have to be restrained. Oh, it's lots of fun waking up to that, nya ha ha!

[Well, if there's one thing that Henry's skilled at, it's creeping people out. So.]

video

[islandshore]

[Must... not... wince. Must... not... squirm.

He manages to keep a straight face despite the twisting, churning sensation at the pit of his stomach.]

I don't call losing control fun. I heard I already have to deal with that in the future, so... yeah. Can't say I'm a fan.

video

[cawsforalarm]

Really? You don't think it feels good?

I love it! It's like you're invincible! You can slaughter entire armies with a wave of your hand!

[H

E

N

R

Y]

video

[islandshore]

But if you're possessed, you aren't the one in control. That seriously doesn't bother you?

[...You got problems, man. Serious problems.]

video

[cawsforalarm]

[You've only just noticed this now?]

Not at all! I don't really care about control, just as long as I get to have fun. [Murdering people, that is.]

video

[islandshore]

Then you should stick around for October. That's usually when we have our routine possessions, nightmares, freakish blocks of pixels... It's like a party that lasts all month.

[Except it's horrific, exhausting, and downright weird.]

video

[cawsforalarm]

October... but isn't that in, like, a week?!

[Predictably, he looks very excited about this.]

video

[islandshore]

...

[Riku stops. His eyes flick wide open, and he glances at the calendar on the wall.

And then he proceeds to rub his temple.]

Great. It actually is. Guess you're in luck.

video

[cawsforalarm]

[...And his birthday is in mid-November too, so it's totally like an early birthday present from the universe, right?]

Nya ha ha! Guess I am!

...And you are, too.

video

[islandshore]

Right. I just can't wait to get haunted by ghosts, glitches, and quite possibly lose my soul.

[His voice oozes with sarcasm. Just... no. Not his idea of fun in the slightest.]

video

[cawsforalarm]

Me too! We should totally talk again about what happens!

video

[islandshore]

Hey, why stop there? We could go out on a dark and spooky night, sit around a camp fire with marshmallows.

[Given the way October usually goes, it... might fit as far as ghost stories go.]

video

[cawsforalarm]

[GASP]

Yeah! And tell creepy stories and summon demons from the netherworld and stuff!

video

[heartdive]

Can we please not talk about possessions?

[ SORA IS STILL KIND OF. YOU KNOW. CREEPED OUT BY NEARLY LOSING HIMSELF, OKOK. ]

Also, creepy dude [ that's you, Henry. ] you do know that you're super creepy being more than okay with that stuff, right?

[ right????? ]

video [please don't take henry's sassiness for fact, everyone is welcome in here \o/]

[cawsforalarm]

You know, people tell me that all the time, really rude guy who butts in on other people's conversations!

[Which is his way of saying: "Yes, I know, and I don't give a fraction of a shit."]