haveyouseenalittlegirl | Search Twenty One: Halloween is Coming

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Search Twenty One: Halloween is Coming | Video

[The screen flickers to life and Harry offers a wave to the camera. Maybe someday he will be comfortable talking to random people. Today is not that day. However he's got something to talk about that does interest him so let's get to that.]

Hey everyone. I'm sure you've all noticed October starting, and that means Halloween is coming in a few weeks. I thought maybe in keeping with the season we might share some scary stories with each other. Whether it's a "true story" or one you've made up is up to you. I'll trade a story for a story if anyone's interested.

[Action: For hotel mates/travelling companions.

There is a small group of Pokemon surrounding Harry, one has a sheet on its head. That would be the Pichu. The rest are part of Harry's little adopted band of ~~children~~ pokemon]

I told you Hazel you can't steal the sheets from the bed to be a ghost. We'll find you something else to wear. Halloween isn't for a while yet.

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Huh...right, this is the whole season for people scarin' the hell out of themselves now, isn't it?

[lancer for god's sake catch up with the times already]

Themselves, the people around them... that would be the one. It also has the double purpose of children getting an excuse to eat candy.

Right, right. It's not that far off from what I'm used to, though the candy's an interesting change.

As for scary stories...huh. Wonder if I have any.

As a father I've found that children manage to turn most holidays into an excuse to get candy.

Any story, so long as it's scary. Or Halloween like. Either or.

...and as a father, I can tell you that terrifies me. [hoooo boy. a rampaging kid on sugar: bad enough. a rampaging scottish murder machine on sugar? gods save us all.]

Uh...shit, let me think. I ain't really sure what qualifies as scary these days.

It is a scary thought.

Well I suppose scary to you counts as well. If you can think of something.

That's the tough part--ain't much that scares me. I guess I'd have to go with the kinda shit I always heard other guys lost it over.

Actually...nah, scratch that. I think I got an idea.

Excellent, let's hear it.

A long time ago, the armies in my country used to talk about this one knight. It's said he was a hell of a fighter, the kind that never lost and killed everyone that came up against him. That would've been unusual enough in itself, a guy strong enough to never lose a fight. But there's a little more to it.

This guy, he had a...talent, I'd guess you'd call it. See, when he got angry, shit tended to go crazy. Some said he turned into a monster.

But then others went into a little more detail. Some--out of the few who survived seeing it--swore up and down this guy turned into something worse than that. They said his bones and joints broke and contorted into some horrible inhuman shape, that his mouth was suddenly full of way too many teeth that were like inhuman fangs. A few of 'em even said his goddamn eyes were so screwed up that one was just hanging out of the fuckin' socket. And on top of that, all of them were dead certain he was gushing blood like a fountain all over the place.

Nobody was ever certain, and most couldn't keep their stories straight. But everyone was sure--one day in the middle of a war, something made him angry. Maybe it was the circumstances, maybe he was just having a pretty shit day in general. But something or other set this knight off. And whatever he looked like, the enemy army and half his own army was obliterated. Probably with his bare hands, too.

And hey, you ask me? That's some scary shit. Can you imagine, not realizing the guy fighting next to you could just explode into a blood-spewing mindless monster if you piss him off?

That's a good one.

Was that a "real" story you heard, or one people made up?

Oh, it definitely happened. I can assure you of that one. Apparently the guy was a pretty normal knight, fits of berserk murder aside.

Ah... Halloween? What's that?

_{[because scary stories is just what he needs when he's on the road!]}

It's a holiday some people celebrate. It used to mean different things but now it's come to mean a night where children dress up and collect candy. It's also a sort of tradition to try and scare people. Whether with costumes, decorations or with stories.

I can't say I've heard of anything like that before. I'm not even sure any of the books back home mention it... I guess there isn't really a point to it when there's plenty of scary things in my world.

You'd be surprised. But what sort of scary things are in your world?

It's probably hard to believe, but... giants that eat humans.

......really?

Like....giants from fairy tales, sort of giants?

Um... What's a fairy tale?

.....

Fairy tales. Stories parents tell their children, witches, hansel and gretal? ...Basically life lessons in story format and stories about heroes, fairies, princesses and dragons and giants?

You don't have those?

Nothing like that, no. I mean, we had 'heroes', but they were just soldiers who went out and fought the giants. My parents used to tell me stories about them before I left to become one myself. They're real though, not just stories.

This would work better if this were done in the dark... Maybe under a flashlight or somethin'. Not sure how far you want to go with the scare factor.

[He chuckles at that.]

A flashlight in the dark would have set the mood a bit better, you're right. But there are kids on here, so I don't want to go too far.

The stories themselves however, can be as scary as people make them. I think a good story shouldn't have to rely on mood too heavily anyway.

Maybe. Unless you're talking to a baby.

[Wait let's backtrack--]

I don't mean to be facetious about it but kids can handle it. You can't stop their imaginations from running wild.

Oh I know. I have a daughter who would steal the books I wrote when she thought I wasn't paying attention.

But there are some kids wandering around alone here and if they don't want to hear any stories then I don't want to startle them if they happen to see the post by accident.

Yeah... I get it.

You really got this parenting thing down to a science.

[He chuckles.]

I do my best. I've been doing it for a while that's all.

[Twice in fact, but that's...well yeah.]

I don't think I'll ever get it. You guys got your work cut out from you: you keep them safe but you don't want them to be sheltered. It's a 24/7 job.

[He may or may not be projecting over here. Mostly the former.]

It really is, and it's a lot harder when there's just one of you. The first time with my wife seemed a lot easier then after she died and I had to start all over again.

I'm sure my daughter would say I tend to steer towards overprotectivness, which I confess I tend to do. But...

[Well Silent Hill...he shrugs, not wanting to mention his very good reasons to just a person he only knows somewhat.]

I think writing true crime for a living when I was younger didn't help things much either.

You're looking after Shaun here right?

Yeah. I'm not his dad though...We're not even related. But we come from the same place and Ethan-- his dad I mean...

[He pauses.]

It's real complicated. I wouldn't know where to start.

[His tone gets softer.]

I've spoken to Shaun a few times. ....He told me about what happened to his father.

Has he?

[He looks down. Why does that surprise him? Poor kid has been trying to piece all of this together ever since he got here.]

He keeps blaming himself for everything.

I made a post on fathers day and we ended up talking about his father. He meant the world to Shaun it seems. I did my best to try and tell him his father would be proud of him. I've...had some experience in things like this.

[He falls silent for a moment, because the guilt from Shaun was so similar to the guilt his own daughter expressed at his own death.]

Can you tell me more about what happened? Shaun said that a bad man kidnapped him and that his father rescued him?

...About a year ago a boy was murdered. He was nine-years old at the time. It didn't happen overnight though. There were a series of cases of young kids found dead. All of them drowned from rainwater.

Shaun was the killer's recent victim. At the time I was building a profile for the killer but... Somehow our stories split apart.

That's horrible.

[He hates things like this so much.]

...your stories?

I saw it-- with both of my fuckin' eyes. We caught him. We caught the fucking killer and Ethan Mars is alive.

[...]

He thinks...He thinks his father is dead.

I suppose it all depends on what one considers frightening... I may have a tale or two to tell in that regard.

It can vary from person to person, but you'll find a lot of fear is universal.

I'd love to hear them if you want to share.

Keeping with what season?

[you're gonna get all the uncultured fucks in this post]

The fall and or Halloween season.

[He doesn't mind.]

It's a holiday where people scare each other. It's a lot more complicated and with more of a history then that but it's essentially what the holiday has come down to.

That and collecting candy if you're a child.

...That...sounds fun. [Strange to have a holiday dedicated to that, but fun.] Scare each other with...stories? Like ghost-stories and fairy-stories?

Ghost stories are always popular. You hear less fairy stories to scare people with these days.

There's also monsters and just humans in general. Anything you could possibly find a way to scare people with in story form.

[Point. Walter makes a "huh!" noise, leaning back and nodding once.]

I've seen plenty of frightening things before, but I've no idea of how to make them into a story. I know a few ghost-stories that scared me as a child, though. [No shame in admitting that, unless you're still scared of them now.]

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Search Twenty One: Halloween is Coming | Video

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