[. . . july showers bring august ghosts]

[sevenhorrorsmods]

Who: EVERYONE
When: August 3, wobbly hands
Where: Around the school!
What: some things happened. the school is suddenly a lot more crowded
Warnings: references to blood and bite injuries, but otherwise, non! unless you bring something to the party yourself

[August 3 stars off. . . weird.]

[The morning bell chimes at 6 a.m., as it usually does! But there appears to be a very thin layer of fog settled against the ground outside. Some of it seeps into the school's hallways, before dissipating in a few wisps of haze. Weird??]

[As the day goes on, you feel like you can hear strange whispers echoing in the air-- a voice, hissing the word miiiiiiiine over and over again. Also weird!]

[And by the time the afternoon hits, you may find yourself running into some very unwanted guests. You've been here two weeks, and this is the first time you're seeing these guys?? Where have they been??]

[By the way, the nurse's office is unlocked!]

Comments

[eonsadrift]

Wh-

[ He's startled by the sudden hand around his wrist, though he's not exactly difficult to pull back. It's the fact that she seems genuinely afraid that gives him pause more than anything else, and that he's yet to see any of these "ghosts" himself yet. ]

Let go of me. Who cares about a stupid ghost?

[suplexer]

[ As far as responses go, this one is on the ruder side. Still, Tifa does let go of him, realizing that it's her own fear that had spurred her to reach out for someone who might not like to be touched.

(At least he's not a Shiawase?)

Though she might realize that being scared of ghosts is silly, it feels less that way now that they've seen some of the damage that can be done by them. ]

... I'm not really a fan of them, unless they're the nekomata. [ All she can do is be honest in the moment, as she calms down from that spike of fear. ] They don't bother you?

[eonsadrift]

[ He is grateful every day that he's not a Shiawase.

But physical contact is still not his favorite thing, nor is being told what to do. He does, at least, seem to realize she's genuinely afraid and doesn't snap further. Nor does he immediately storm away, which has to count for... something. ]

They're just yokai. What's there to be afraid of?

[suplexer]

Yokai...?

[ Tifa frowns in mild confusion. It's not a term she's heard before, and seems to differ from just a plain old ghost. ]

[eonsadrift]

...annoying creatures that haunt places like this. Where I come from they're usually fairly weak or harmless.

[ That doesn't seem to be entirely the case here, but it's enough to make him confident. ]

[suplexer]

We can't really assume that's the case here, though. That thing that tried to get into the classrooms when we first arrived definitely didn't seem harmless.

[ If they were weak enough that a quick punch or kick could deal with them, maybe Tifa wouldn't be so shaken up. She just hates ghosts in general, though. ]

[eonsadrift]

That was clearly stronger than whatever these small fries are. If they're already indoors and haven't killed us all, how much damage could they possibly do?

[ He still sounds overly confident, especially for someone who hasn't actually seen what they're up against. ]

[suplexer]

Maybe you're right, but I don't think it's a good idea to underestimate them either. We don't know anything about them.

[ Even petting the nekomata had a negative side effect of sorts, though it was a mild one. ]

[eonsadrift]

[ The nekomata did manage to affect him somehow, but... ]

It could go even worse if we act like we're scared of them, you know. If they sense weakness, they could take advantage of it.

[suplexer]

...

[ Well, that's not a terrible point, actually. Tifa frowns, dropping her hand back to her side instead of using it to grip her opposite arm. ]

That's true. They do seem to like to prod at our insecurities...

[ Ask her how she knows. ]

[eonsadrift]

Has this already happened..?

[ He was taking an educated guess and doing the usual to keep from exposing any of his weaknesses, but if she’s already experienced it… That’s not a good sign. ]

[suplexer]

Yeah.

[ She pauses, studying the color of his uniform. ]

Did Hanabi not tell you? She's the one who organized our trip into the woods. Garnet was there too.

[eonsadrift]

I didn’t hear much about that, other than us being unable to leave. It loops back on itself or something along those lines.

[suplexer]

That's right. But we could also hear voices through the trees, mocking us.

[ It's probably no big surprise that neither Hanabi nor Garnet wanted to talk about that part. ]

[eonsadrift]

Did it..? [ He’s not surprised they didn’t tell him, but it is interesting new information. ] And they were specific to each of you?

[suplexer]

It felt that way, although sometimes it was hard to tell.

[ There were certain phrases that Tifa was pretty sure was for someone else, but could have just as easily been for her. Which is unfortunate, that anyone else could have a background similar to her own, but... ]

I doubt you want to experience it yourself, but you could always go out there yourself, if you're really curious.

[eonsadrift]

...I'll take your word for it.

That seems more like a defense mechanism than a true haunting, however.

[suplexer]

[ That's what she thought. ]

A defense mechanism?