|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:13 pm
Quote: Halloween just wouldn’t be the same without ghost stories, but after a while, the same old stories stop being scary. It’s up to you to bring some of the horror back to Halloween! You’ve got to finish the story--and it all starts with...
‘It was a dark and stormy night…’
Her barely-a-studio apartment was a tiny, nearly insignificant thing. But damnit, it was hers. Kitchen by the entrance, mini hall leading from it and the front door past the bathroom and mini coat-closet to the living room slash bedroom. A small table next to the kitchen area with two chairs, a little love seat pointed towards the decent sized TV, and a bed rather close to the sliding glass doors that lead out onto a mini balcony. As in. Not even enough room to put a chair out there, mini.
Getting guests in there was kinda tricky at time, unless the person didn't mind sleeping on the love seat or could somehow fit into her twin bed with her.
Guests of a feline variety? Were plenty welcome in her limited space.
Kailey had the glass door open, letting in the nippy night air as she sipped a coffee she'd coaxed out of her single-serving cups machine. A bowl of popcorn sat on her chest as she reclined on the love seat. It was her third bowl of popcorn in less than an hour. The damn bites on her arm still itched from the other day... but at least her symptoms seemed to have been clearing out. She wasn't as snappy... just her usual self.
The news coverage over the strange event split to a haunted house commercial... and Kailey frowned, looking towards a particular feline guest whom she'd offered to share her popcorn with that evening. Even gave him a decent sized bowl of hot chocolate--she figured that'd be easier than trying to maneuver a mug without thumbs.
"Hey Hani, have you ever celebrated Halloween before?" He... was a cat, prior to being a guardian cat, from how she understood it all to work. So uh... did he even know what the holidays were around there? Did they register to him? Or was he just kinda now experiencing it all..?
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 4:28 pm
After having been sleeping outside for the most part ever since he had 'awakened' into his Guardianship, not that Hania minded it per say, Kailey's apartment was a welcome change of pace. He didn't mind it was small, after all he was just a cat in this form and didn't need a lot of space to begin with. At the moment he was sprawled out on the floor watching the tv while enjoying the breeze that was coming through the open glass doors, as well as the bowl of hot chocolate next to him. He may look like a cat after all but as an alien he didn't have to worry about the chocolate being bad for him. He did however look up when the young woman spoke up. A brief look passed across his eyes but it wasn't there long for Kailey to quite read what it was if she noticed it at all. He then tilted his head and swished his tail lazily behind him. "What's Halloween? I keep hearing about it but no one explains what it is." He said in a very believable confused tone. Of course he knew what it was, he wouldn't be a very good Mau if he hadn't used the internet to look up the holiday information but Kailey didn't have to know that yet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 6:00 pm
She'd been a bit apprehensive giving chocolate to a cat, even if he was a magical one, but hey. If he got sick, she'd get the amused satisfaction of bringing his a** to the vet and he'd have to deal with all of those awkward as hell tests himself.
It'd be worth the bill ha.
The look wasn't registered by her eyes, flicking between the guardian and the TV lazily. Her attention returned to him fully when he asked what Halloween was. "Wait. Seriously?" She blinked at bit down at him. Well she did ask...
She popped some popcorn into her mouth and chewed, trying to piece together a bit of a history lesson from the best of her understanding... "Humans dress up as creepy stuff and decorate their homes with creepy stuff, so they can scare away the real creepy and horrible stuff that might hurt them. Unfortunately, it seems to be entirely useless against youma," she added dryly. And demon bats...
A wicked gleam came into her eyes as she watched Hania. "But it's also when the veil between this world and the other world is... particularly thin. Which... given all this magic s**t is real... guess means we need to be a bit more careful about what we're doing this time of year." She gave a thoughtful hum, a genuine sounding one as if she was suddenly realizing the potential danger that could lurk around.
"Especially on cold, dark nights... dark and stormy nights though... oh those are the worst. That's when the veil is at its thinnest... and gateways form."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 6:15 pm
Hania hid his amusement as Kailey seemed to believe his ignorance and started to, some what vaguely, explain the holiday. "But why would they think that dressing up and decorating would help them? Surely the creepy stuff would know better like the youma apparently are." He asked, giving her another pretend confused look. Though to be honest, even though he knew the history of Halloween and sure it still didn't make complete sense to him why people had ever thought it would help scare away evil or dead. Her pun on the gateways got her an amused look and a tail swish from the Mau. "Well then does that mean you are the true cause of the creepy stuff Miss Gateway?" He purred jokingly then went back to his pretending. "Have you ever seen any of the creepy stuff on such nights then? Besides youma."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 6:41 pm
That actually was a good question. Her lips twitched, mind whirling as she thought back to various documentaries and random articles she'd read over the years. Random explanations tossed around by people who, supposedly, knew the subject way better than she did.
"It started a long time ago. People used to believe a lot of things... like that there were horses that lived in water and would drown you and eat you if you rode on their backs." She shivered and made a face, shrugging. "So people thought that they could trick the monsters into thinking they were monsters, or that their decorations were monsters... kinda like how some animals have spots that look like eyes and stuff to trick predators, y'know?" She figured that might help with the explanation--the cat did seem to watch a bit of TV from what she knew...
She paused a moment, a shiver running down her spine. If all this magic stuff was real though... did any of those old stories have a grain of truth..?
Shaking the thought, she smirked down at Hania. "Oh no, my dear Mau~ I'm just one of the people you don't want to piss off. The bad spirits want the gateways open to get here, right? Who's to say I'm not the one keeping them closed?" She winked and laughed, moving the popcorn bowl onto the table and sitting up. Setting down her drink, she moved off the love seat and onto the ground beside Hania. Mindful to not bump the hot chocolate, of course.
His question did give him a solemn look though. Or rather... a solemn look through him. "Yeah. I've seen some s**t... even before I knew youma were real and Negaverse agents were stealing starseeds..." There was a heavy truth to her words. Monsters existed long before the tales of creatures and terrorists in costumes... hell. Maybe because of them, if they really existed so freaking long ago.
"It was a dark and stormy night... I was crashing at different couches. Friends let me stay for a night or a handful, and I'd be out of there soon enough. Stayed with a girl I went to St. Mag's with, not sure how we managed to graduate-- anyways. She didn't see the harm in letting me stay a few nights, and I wasn't gonna complain about anything. Didn't even blink when her boyfriend came over. It was a big enough place. I just turned the volume up on the TV."
She paused, her gaze still unfocused. "...I thought the thuds and the shadows moving around... I-I thought they were just from the TV. I didn't... you don't think about that kind of stuff..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 7:37 pm
Hania tilted his head again and swished his tail as he saw how she shivered after talking about some of the beliefs. "But the horses that drown people in water were real." He said with a fake serious look. "Nasty things they were unless you made sure to offer them a basket of apples covered in blood." The cat gave an amused hum at Kailey saying that she might be the one keeping them closed. "Then I wouldn't have anything to fear of them opening then would I?" He teased right back and watched as she joined him on the floor. The Mau then paused as she started to spin her tale, listening intently. His ears perked up then started to slide back as she continued, tail wrapping around his body. "What type of stuff?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 8:00 pm
Kailey cut him a bemused look. For a brief moment, she wondered if the guardian was messing with her... or if he really did know that the beasts were real somewhere else.... y'know, this was starting to get a bit deeper than she'd planned to go this evening. Maybe it was a good thing she'd skipped the booze earlier...
She'd decided to not answer his little smartass retort to her being the one keeping things closed. Which really. Of all the beings that needed to be worried about that, if it were true... yeah. Hania wasn't ranked anywhere on her list of targets or acceptable casualties.
Instead, she kept her focus on her tale. His question made her shudder, as if coming out of a trance of sorts. She blinked, owlishly, at him, before her face contorted in confusion and disgust. "Something... else was in the house. It.. it came in with her boyfriend, I guess. The doors and windows were locked up tight. There wasn't... any other way for it to get in, except then."
She rubbed at her upper arms. Something else had come in with him. But that wasn't the story she wanted to tell.
"I saw a shadow move near me, and I got up. Thought maybe one of them had gone to the kitchen but... when I looked, nothing. The TV was still on... could only hear the sounds from it, and then those... weird sounds down the hall... I figured it was just a prank. Or just... my eyes playing tricks on me. The moving shadows were cuz of the TV, y'know? But then I got down the hall and... her bedroom door was open..."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 8:11 pm
Hania had to bite back a purr of amusement at the look Kailey gave him after his monster horse comment. It certainly was not something he would run with for a while and not tell her he had been pulling her leg if she brought it up again. Provided she didn't find out from a different source that they weren't real beyond maybe one care of magic or youma of course. You should always leave those options open just in case. His amusement disappeared when she continued with her tale and he shifted where he lay, trying to keep it casual rather then showing he was a bit unnerved. "And then what happened?" He asked, keeping his voice steady. While the words themselves weren't something terribly spooky, the way Kailey was delivering it was certainly something.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 8:39 pm
She'd save him the real story. But Kailey did go silent, even as Hania prompted her for what happened next. Her expression was still one of disgust for what she'd seen, but in her head she rapidly thought of an... alternative...
...ah! Ok it was a cliche one but. She didn't have a better option this late into things. Poor planning on her part. That is. None.
Kailey kept her voice cold, fearful, as she whispered, "...their heads were gone. They were... their bodies were on the bed, and their heads--" Her voice cracked. "Their heads were on the window sill... mouths open, eyes carved out... with lit candles inside them. Who needs... pumpkins to scare away the monsters when you've got heads?"
Though her voice trembled as she spoke, she turned quick, hands positioned to be like claws as she screamed, jerking like she would jump at Hania....
And then she laughed.
"Monsters have always existed, Hani baby. I still think people are the worst monsters out there, even with all this magical s**t. But never know what's worse... if it's a human going bump in the night... or not."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 8:53 pm
Hania's eyes dilated as Kailey described the scene she found and his tail tucked closer to his body while his ears went flat. The scene sounded horrific and bone chilling, the young woman's voice not helping in any way besides making it worse. And then she ruined the atmosphere by laughing. The Guardian Cat gave the other an annoyed yet impressed look then rolled his eyes. Clearly if she was laughing the story was not true. "True enough in the long run. Now back to your shows with you before my hot chocolate get's even colder as you tell your tall tales." He said with a fake haughtiness then turned to drink some of the cooled drink, acting as if he had never been affected by her story.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 9:01 pm
Kailey snickered at Hania's annoyed look. She hadn't gotten the vibe the guardian was actually upset with her, and his tone of voice just delighted her. "Naaaaaah," she drawled, peachy as could be, moving around so she could lay down on her stomach beside the feline.
She reached up to the table, bringing her bowl of popcorn and drink down one at a time to join them on the floor.
"I think you need some company, scaredy cat," she teased, lifting a hand to scratch him a bit behind the ears. Reaching into the bowl, she brought out a handful of popcorn and offered it towards Hania. A peace offering for the time being. "Someone's gotta protect you from the headhunters~"
It was the season of Halloween, after all. Never knew what could appear...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
