2nd Shadow: Action

[rumorbound]

[This evening, Yuuko can be seen near the very back of the side of House H with a large, slab-like rock of some sort. She appears to be erecting it in a hole she'd dug; the shovel used for that is nearby, tossed aside once she had finished digging. There is also a tangled rope near the shovel, possibly used in dragging such a heavy object as that rock to this spot. She first fills in the gaps between the rock and the sides of the hole around it, using up the dirt she'd dug up, and afterward crouches onto her knees to return to finishing the carvings gouged into the rock, humming absently to herself as she does so. Most of the rock has solidified into the rock she remembers, but she left the front part very dirtlike so she could keep working on writing everything that was supposed to be on there. Not all of the names immediately come to mind. Maybe if instead of going off of memory, she keeps relying instead on whom she remembers died during the epidemic, and gouges as many of those in as she can, that will be close enough. It's a large rock, so there's plenty of room. And of course, the inscription toward the bottom, plus the later names scrawled on top of everything from after the rock's initial purpose in being erected.

She did most of the work while in her room, away from the possibility of being walked in on or interrupted. Now that she's on to the finishing touches, it wouldn't be difficult for someone to catch her caught up in her task. The finishing touches will take a while.]

Comments

[dereban]

[ Inaba, of course, has been in her room the whole day, but with the fact that she's been keeping herself awake for the last twenty four hours which is why she'll definitely hear the sounds coming from right outside the house. Usually she would remain a shut-in; but it's annoying and it's bothersome and if she can't concentrate on her tasks, then she might as well not be able to do them at all.

Until she figures out how the hell to get earplugs. ]

... What exactly are you doing?

[rumorbound]

[she blinks a few times, glancing over/up in the direction of the voice]

Ah, Inaba-san. It's been a while.

[What's a couple of days to her, anyway?]

I'm working on recreating something.

[dereban]

Recreating what, exactly?

[ Her voice is curious as she speaks, folding her arms over her chest. It's a little chilly out considering how late it is, but she won't let that get to her. It's been pretty warm lately, after all. ]

[rumorbound]

Something holding an important clue about my past.

[She reaches a hand out and gives the front surface of the rock slab a caring pat.]

When Yuri-san first made that announcement a little while ago, I couldn't come up with anything I felt comfortable entrusting with another here... but if I can make something like this, that changes things.

[dereban]

That makes sense. I don't exactly trust just anybody with my memories. I'm just lucky that there was someone I knew here.

[ Though it's pretty bad luck in that case. ]

But what is that, anyway?

[rumorbound]

Mm... People call it the Rock of Curses. It's one of the Seven Mysteries of the school where I died.

[Many of the names that appear on the rock look small and orderly, but over them the rock is marred by larger, haphazard carvings and scrawlings of kanji used in common names. It's easy to imagine how they found themselves there on the original rock back in the living world.]

[dereban]

... The Rock of Curses?

[ That actually sounds interesting. And seven mysteries, huh. It seemed like almost every school had one of those. ]

Why exactly was it called that?

[rumorbound]

[She gives a wry smile.]

There were rumors you could curse someone to death by carving their name on it.

[dereban]

And is it true?

[rumorbound]

Of course not.

[Soft laugh.]

People might convince themselves of its power, but the rock is just a cenotaph from long before their time.

[dereban]

Well, that's good, at least.

[ Not that she expected anything less, honestly. ]

[rumorbound]

You didn't seriously think curses were real, did you?

[dereban]

I don't exactly believe in anything unless I see it for myself. I've seen pretty strange things, so a curse wouldn't be completely out of the ordinary.

[rumorbound]

Is that so?

[She glances back at the rock, gaze aimed at the text on the lower half.]

Even then one has to be careful not to subconsciously delude oneself into believing in things that aren't real.

[In a quieter tone:]

...I've seen it happen a lot.

[dereban]

[There's a sigh from her end as she places her hands on her hips, stretching herself out.]

Well, if you do that, you can end up in big trouble.

[rumorbound]

Mhmm. Even the most well-meaning people can lose to the weaknesses in their hearts.

[dereban]

That's true. ... And it's difficult.

[hypervision]

[In the midst of your attempt at the finishing touches on the rock, you might hear some noise coming from the other side of the rock for a second before there's suddenly a...hand-puppet here? It's peeking out from behind the rock as it waves at her.]

"Hello, Onee-chan! What are you doing here?"

[rumorbound]

[Yuuko has been so caught up in concentrating on replicating the names gouged into the rock's surface, both orderly and otherwise, that it's easy for her to lose awareness of her surroundings, making it easier than normal for a small child to approach the other side of the rock and hide without her noticing. So when she spots the suddenly appearing hand puppet only a moment before the voice follows it, she jumps in place.]

Iyaaah!

[hypervision]

[At the sound of the scream, the hand-puppet; or rather, the owner of it, starts giggling with laughter from where he's hiding behind the rock.]

Did I scare you, Onee-chan? [hihihihi...]

[rumorbound]

[Hand on her chest, Yuuko shuts her eyes for a moment. Child giggling. This is what she gets for being so wrapped up in her work. Once she calms down she flits her gaze toward where she'd seen the puppet. It's still there. She takes a slow breath.]

Just a momentary startle.

[Not precisely a scream, more of a 'yeek!' after spotting a snake or rodent you weren't expecting nearby, a knee-jerk reaction.]

Sneaking up on people like that's mean!

[hypervision]

[...If you're expecting a sincere apology, then you're out of luck, because he just giggles at that.]

It's not like I meant to scare you [which is probably a lie] but...hahaha, that was such a loud scream, Onee-chan!

[Reisuke is a brat sometimes, sorry.]

[rumorbound]

[Well, small children can get free passes to a certain extent.]

You call that loud? I suppose I wouldn't call it 'quiet,' but I've heard much louder screams than that.

[She adds a cheeky little laugh at the end. A little friendly teasing isn't bad, especially with a child that clearly enjoys mischief.]

[hypervision]

Yeah? [He giggles a little, before the owner of the hand puppet is peering around to properly look at her.]

So, who are you, Onee-chan?

[rumorbound]

My name is Yuuko. I don't believe I've seen you around here before.

[Yuuko also doesn't know many of the other real people, so that isn't surprising.]

[hypervision]

[Well, he is pretty small, so he tends to slip past the notice of some people here, despite being a resident for some time now.]

I'm Reisuke Houjou! [He holds up a second hand puppet that he has on his other hand, pretending to speak with it like before.] "It's nice to meet you, Yuuko onee-chan!"

[rumorbound]

It's nice to meet you too, Reisuke-chan.

[Small children always get the 'chan' tacked on.]

And your puppets. They're cute.

[hypervision]

[Oh good, we would be sad if you didn't like the puppets. Anyway, he points back to the rock again.]

So what are you doing with the rock here, Onee-chan?

[rumorbound]

Working on finishing this up. I'm trying to recreate something from the school where I died.

[hypervision]

...Why? What's so special about it?

[rumorbound]

Some of the writing on it is an important clue about my past. You know about those big scary shadows that everyone wants to avoid, right?

[hypervision]

Yeah, I've seen 'em before.

[...Still not quite seeing how a rock is supposed to help you in dealing with those...unless the writing on it is supposed to jog your memory if you ever end up as one of those NPCs...]

[rumorbound]

[Reisuke is right on the money with that.]

...If one of them turns me into an NPC, someone could use this to bring me back to normal. Because of a memory associated with it.

[hypervision]

Oh. [...Honestly, Reisuke hasn't considered yet what kind of memory he would be willing to share with others in order to turn back to normal from an NPC. He's so young, and the memories he does have of life were not kind ones.]

So...if you look at this rock, you'll remember stuff and be able to turn back to normal?

[rumorbound]

I think I might need to have that person say a few things that the other person in the memory with me said... but those together should hopefully do it!

[She'll have to consult someone who came back via memory recreation.]

[hypervision]

[Hm. He looks at the rock again, before pointing to it.]

Why are there all these names on it?

[rumorbound]

Most of my village was killed off by a horrible sickness called the plague. The remaining villagers erected this to honor them.

And then over the years, as everyone forgot what it was for, people started carving names into it to try and curse people.

So, the names are there for two different reasons.

[hypervision]

Oh... [He looks back at the rock, headtilting.] Did those people actually get cursed from having their names written on it?