A Night of One-Hundred Tales!

[faithfulflame]

Who: Rei Hino, Tsuzuki Asato, and ANYONE who wants to join in!
What: A Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, or telling ghost stories!
When: October 29th in the evening
Where: Tsukino Shrine
Summary: Rei and Tsuzuki decide to invite people to share ghost stories to celebrate Halloween. There will be food and drinks, and the ghostly interlopers are kept at bay by the shrine's wards to give people a break from hauntings. Turn up and share stories, or listen to them.
Rating: PG-13 at the worst, depending on the story!

It had taken quite a bit of work, but as night fell everything seemed as perfect as they could manage it. The andon were lit, the chairs were arranged in the courtyard, and the wind-screens were in place to keep everyone warm. Rei had thrown open the shrine doors and set out braziers to warm participants, stoking them with embers from the temple's main flames. Food had been laid out, snacks, coolers of cold drinks, and even thermoses of hot water for warm ones. They even had a mirror sitting on the steps of the shrine, reflecting light into the courtyard. Not the most traditional way of doing things, but it's what they had to work with.

The shrine wasn't large enough to house a crowd of more than ten or twelve people inside, but if the crowd was small enough they could move indoors. Everything was set up for a night of storytelling, casual fun, and a little bit of relief from the ghostly visitors that were assailing the villagers.

Guests start arriving around twilight, and Rei can't help but smile as they get underway. This was hopefully going to be a good time for everyone involved.

(OOC: Feel free to assume Tsuzuki or Rei made an announcement about the party. For those not familiar, the goal of a Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai is to share stories with other people. Each time a story is finished, one andon (small lantern) is extinguished and the room steadily gets darker. Feel free to have your character post a story of their own in a comment, and discuss to discuss what's been narrated. Linn and I would love to have characters share ghost stories from all sorts of worlds, scary or silly. I hope you guys enjoy this!)

Comments

[faithfulflame]

It's just not natural. I'm not fond of wandering spirits.

[She looks around, and beckons Haruhi inside]

I've prepared some snacks, if you'd care to join me.

[godbent]

Why not? I'm sure that spirits have a lot to teach us! [But... she'll follow on in, no probs]

[faithfulflame]

Because in my experience, very few of them are willing to share and most want to take advantage of, or hurt humans. Remember what I said about wanting to be a miko to help people? That is a big part of why.

[godbent]

Sheesh. Not all dead people are greedy just like not all humans are greedy. It's like with CEOs, the bad ones make any good ones that exist look awful. They're an easily misunderstood thing!

[Waving a hand dismissively.

This is totally logical] Even vampires sometimes, surprisingly.

[faithfulflame]

Haruhi-san, maybe in your world that's the case. In mine? Spirits of the dead are pretty hostile.

[She's more talking about Youma, but hey]

As for vampires, I've met two here. They were...strange, but alright.

[godbent]

Yeah, which two? [She misses Rosalie sometimes. Just a little.

Where's a seat she needs to sit imperiously]

[faithfulflame]

Marceline and a man. It's not my place to tell his secret, but Marceline was a funny girl.

[There's a chair not far from the snack table. Rei busies herself making tea from the hot water thermos though]

[godbent]

There's secret vampires here now? Jeez...

[sitting, she crosses her legs]

[faithfulflame]

Not everyone wants their secrets known. He's harmless enough.

[But she doesn't like him. Rei offers Haruhi a steaming cup of tea]

[godbent]

Of course they don't. That's why secrets are secrets, people don't want them advertised or figured out. [And she takes the cup, blowing on it a bit but not sipping, just keeping it in hand] That's understandable, but hiding what you are entirely's just weird, particularly considering what so many vampires I've known over these years take some weird pride in it one way or another.

[faithfulflame]

Well, perhaps it's something he doesn't want to live with. I haven't really thought to ask him. [Rei lets her own teacup warm her hands, watching the crowd] It's not my place to question how he chooses to live. Maybe it's shame, or maybe he's afraid people will try to hurt him.

[godbent]

Right, right. After all, one of the village personalities we have here made her name slaying vampires.

[faithfulflame]

Oh? I didn't know that, but...that would make sense.

[godbent]

You didn't? [She looks over, surprised someone has not heard of Buffy Summers?] Buffy Summers. She's a bartender at Good Spirits, but she's also the only one in this enclosure who'd killed the Third Party's General. She's one of the strongest people here. [A beat] Anyway, she's a "Slayer" - which basically means "kill all the evil, undead, and paranormal things" as far as I can tell and when she was younger it was mostly vampires.

[faithfulflame]

No, I haven't heard of Buffy-san. I haven't exactly gone looking for trouble, and I've only lived here for six months. And...I'm a little young to visit the bar. [Not to mention not interested, not sociable, and has no common links with Buffy save Haruhi]

But she sounds interesting.

[godbent]

Interesting?! She's a total pain in the butt! Seriously, she's nosy, she's all up in people's business, [Haruhi is listing these off on her fingers on the hand not holding her tea, knocking them against her other forearm] she's got a major attitude problem, she always thinks she knows best, she's violent...

[...Haruhi and her have Problems]

[faithfulflame]

[So what you're saying is that she's exactly like you, Haruhi...

Rei's got the sense not to say that, though.]

I meant that she hunted vampires, Haruhi-san. I don't know what she's like as a person.

[godbent]

Oh.


...An exorcist would be much cooler in that department too.

[faithfulflame]

Not all exorcists are up to fighting vampires though. I know I can handle them, but...I'd rather leave it to someone more specialized.

[godbent]

If you say so, Hino. [Siiiiip on the tea]

[faithfulflame]

I'm not sure what sort of exorcists you're thinking of. Taoist warriors or Yamabushi maybe, but aren't vampires supposed to be super strong and fast? That's a bit much for the average person, don't you think.

[Sips her own tea, raising one eyebrow at the other girl]

[godbent]

Since when are exorcists normal people? Any exorcist worth their salt has to either have obnoxious strong spiritual powers or have physical ability to back up their still respectable amount. [In Suzumiya Land.

Siip]

[faithfulflame]

Not...traditionally. At least, not outside of manga...

[godbent]

You just said you could handle it.

[faithfulflame]

Yes...but I have spiritual powers...I'm not exactly normal.