thefarshore | Video ☆ Spirits Fearing Ghosts

( The video is normal enough! Urashima props his phone up so it's at a good angle and holds up a poster for everyone to see. )

Look! There's going to be a lot of haunted houses in this park soon! Everyone should go! It looks like a lot of fun!

( And he sets the poster down next to Kamekichi, his always sleeping turtle. Right now, she appears to have a cooling washcloth on her shell. It's hot, guys. Summer is here. Someone get this turtle to a cool pond. )

Hmm... you know, it's that time of year, too! Isn't that fun? Maybe we can tell each other ghost stories! I'll start, I'll start!

Have you ever heard of tsukumogami? They're spirits that live in "things." I think the scariest one is Boroboroton! Boroboroton is an angry futon spirit. If you don't take care of your futon, it'll come to life, throw you out of bed, and cover your face. Isn't that scary? So you should take care of your things before they get angry!

( He isn't very good at this ghost story thing and he has twenty more stories just like this one. )

What do you think?

For those interested, this is a mini prelude for my upcoming player plot so check it out!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You think so?

Maybe.

But there's a thin line between playing a prank and just being mean. And it's not like the Kasa-obake can tell you which it means.

If you think 'oh, they're just kidding around' then the spirits could get away with all sorts of stuff.

Yeah, it isn't a nice way to have fun.

( He puts his head down on the table and tries to think. )

I think... If I saw him, I'd yell at him to not pick on me. Maybe he'll listen. People don't talk to a lot of the old spirits in stories...

[What a weird thinking posture, Urashima.
Not that Yukine's own posture is so different at the moment, slumped forward against the low table with one hand propping up his head, but he's not on video.]

That's kinda gutsy of you, Urashima-kun.
But then, I might just draw a borderline at a spirit bugging me like that.

Thinking about it, I suppose you're right.
People don't normally think of communicating with a spirit - they just react.

(He nods some!)

I think its because most people can't see us. (So they don't know how to react.) And then when we become spirits... we don't know what to do so we just react...

I think a lot of the ones we meet are scary and dangerous... but not all spirits are bad, you know?

Shinki are different from spirits, you know. [He remembers mistaking Urashima for a regular wandering spirit when they first met though. Ahem.]

I know what you mean. Like this one: when a well-made item is thrown away it somehow gets a spirit from the earth, and becomes alive. It likes being near people, and wants to protect them. When it senses a disaster coming, it will run around the house trying to warn them.

Given how people usually can’t see sprits I don’t know how helpful it is, if it really exists. But still, it’s a nice story. Like a good-guy tsukumogami.

But we're not too different, you know?

( But hmm. He likes this story a lot more than the scary ones. Honestly, despite the purpose of his message, he prefers happy stories over scary stories any day. )

I like that one. If you take care of your things, they'll take care of you. ( He hums a bit thinking over the story. and what he knows. He doesn't remember much and he dwelling makes him uncomfortable but he remembers just enough. He was a tsukumogami too and he was treasured. ) That's the kind of story I want.

I suppose. [He'd admitted at the start that they are kind of like ghosts, too.]

['story he wants?']

Are you collecting stories?
Is that why you were talking about scary stories at the start?

Well... you know since we're shinki, we don't remember our own stories? Since I didn't remember, I wanted to make my own story. Like Urashima Taro.

( #Goals. )

But then I remembered a little bit and I thought about a lot of mean stories. Like Boroboroton and Burabura and Kasa-obake. ( All tsukumogami stories. ) I don't know what my old story was but I want my new one to be nicer.

[There is a long delay until Yukine's next message, compared to how promptly he was answering before.]

If I were there I'd whack you on the head.
Just concentrate on now. What happened before doesn't matter.

[Another bit of a pause.]

I don't get what you mean, but it doesn't matter what those tsukumogami stories have to do with you. You should stick with making your own story now.

Going after the character you happened to be named the same as isn't bad. [Not that he knows a lot about that story... something about the ocean and a treasure? Meh, he'll ask Hiyori later.]

...Actually, I'm pretty sure you'd be incapable of making a mean story, Urashima-kun.
So don't worry about it.

H-huh? ( What? He isn't actually thinking about anything! Whenever he felt like it before, he'd become so uneasy he had to go out and run off all of his nervous energy. ) I am, I am! Don't hit me!

( Please, don't. He's squishy. Or at least, likes to pretend he is. )

( He's nodding along as the new lines appear. He definitely wants to make his own story. A nice one. One with kind spirits and a happy ending unlike all of the other tsukumogami and Urashima Taro. )

Heh heh, thanks, Yukine-kun. ( He looks a little proud at the comment but he feels like he should maybe explain something? ) I never told you what I remembered?

I used to be a tsukumogami too.

[Somewhere on the Near Shore Yukine headdesks, dropping his phone to the table.
He doesn't want to be drawn into being curious about another shinki's past. It doesn't sit right, on so many levels.

After another long pause-]

You new shinki are really weird.

But like I said, it doesn't really matter to the life you have now.

( He blinks. Weird? He doesn't really get it. He's heard that the new shinki are different for a lot of reasons but he's never really considered them to be weird.

He can only agree with Yukine in the end, though. )

Yeah, yeah. It's not important anymore, right? ( The entire conversation is beginning to make him feel uneasy now, though and it shows in the way he brings his brows together and starts to make a face, ) This is a new story, now.

Right.

That's the spirit! It's your new story.

[Relieved that Urashima agrees, Yukine breathes a little easier. But... maybe one more thing, from his own experience to help drive it home for Urashima.]

...This is the last I'm gonna say about this--
One last bit of advice from your senpai, okay?
It really doesn't matter 'what' you were before. You're not bound by the past.
You have a god-given human name now, so you should live like a human.

So go and enjoy living your story.

Like I said before, I'm sure it will be a nice one!

( Uwah, senpai, why are you so cool. )

( But he lights up like the sun and smiles at Yukine, )

It's going to be really nice! Really, really nice because I'm sharing it with you, Yukine-senpai~!

['Cause he went through the school of hard knocks. ~~It has NOTHING to do with Yato having said something like that to him, ok ok.~~]

[Yukine is a little bit glad once again that he's on text. This way he doesn't have to work so hard to stifle his pleased expression at being called 'senpai', and at being smiled at like that.
On the flip side, he's glad Urashima stuck to video so he got to see that smile.]

Thanks for saying so.

[Congrats, he actually used an emote.
Uh... really, what else is there to say?]

Video ☆ Spirits Fearing Ghosts

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