Elizabeth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tearmeanewone) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
thisavrou2017-12-10 04:01 pm
tearmeanewone) wrote in thisavrou2017-12-10 04:01 pm
[Video]
[The video starts and the first thing that's apparent is that Elizabeth's left arm is in a sling and she's propped up her ACE to film because she needs a free hand.]
So this. Thing. That's attacked a few of us throughout the station-- I got a good look at it when it attacked me. Which is fortunate, I guess, because I was able to cross-reference its features with the Moira's collection and come up with a theory.
I believe that what we're dealing with is called an onryō-- a spirit aiming to cause harm or even killing people as vengeance for wrongs it suffered in life. Which sounds far-fetched, I admit, but--
[And this is where the first book comes out. She holds it up, storytime-style, and shows a page with a clearly Japanese illustration of a four-armed creature. And wouldn't you know it, it looks a lot like this.]
--this is what attacked me. Four arms, black holes where the eyes and mouth should be. According to this, [She turns the book back around to read.] the story behind this particular spirit is a fairly tragic one. She's the spirit of a mask maker's daughter-- also his apprentice-- who made masks for Noh theater. She fell in love with an actor, but on top of being quite popular and famous, he was from a noble family. Still, she convinced herself that he was in love with her, and worked herself to the bone trying to make her masks perfect for him. When she learned that he had become engaged to another noble's daughter, someone he'd grown up with and loved, she apparently died, and turned into this creature out of sheer anger. Coincidentally, the theater where the actor performed was destroyed in a fire, and everyone that had ever performed there was found dead in one room. [There's an uneasy look at the camera here.]
That's more or less where the recorded history portion of the story ends, however folklore says that the woman's sister later received a mask in a box covered with seals, brought to her by a monk. The monk said that it contained the last mask her sister had ever made, but also warned her never to open the box.
I have a very bad feeling that mask is on this station, and it has been for a while. When I was attacked, I remembered seeing someone wearing a mask that looks like this-- [She produces a sketch she no doubt did while recovering. It's crude, but it's definitely a Noh mask with horns and fangs. Once she's sure the camera has focused properly on it, she turns a page in the book and holds it up next to the drawing. It's another woodcarving of the woman holding a mask, and it looks uncomfortably like the one Elizabeth drew.]
This is a Hannya mask, a Noh theater mask that's worn to indicate a female demon. Has anybody seen this mask around the station? If so, we may have an honest-to-God possessed item that's hunting us. [She can't believe she just suggested something so deeply rooted in myth and hearsay, but there it is. Elizabeth shakes her head a little and lets out a defeated sigh.] And I've never been particularly good at banishing angry ghosts even with two working arms. Perhaps if we just... do what the story says happened before: find a box, seal the mask, and never, ever, open it again... she'll disappear? Is that how most haunted-object situations go?
((OOC: Hey guys! Kazuhira Miller was originally going to make this post, but Liz has picked up this part of the ongoing Hannya mask plot. I'll do my best to keep things rolling, and I definitely encourage threadjacking and sharing of ideas in here, because Liz's involvement has always been limited to just the lore portion so I'm flying a little blind as well. Thanks! ))
So this. Thing. That's attacked a few of us throughout the station-- I got a good look at it when it attacked me. Which is fortunate, I guess, because I was able to cross-reference its features with the Moira's collection and come up with a theory.
I believe that what we're dealing with is called an onryō-- a spirit aiming to cause harm or even killing people as vengeance for wrongs it suffered in life. Which sounds far-fetched, I admit, but--
[And this is where the first book comes out. She holds it up, storytime-style, and shows a page with a clearly Japanese illustration of a four-armed creature. And wouldn't you know it, it looks a lot like this.]
--this is what attacked me. Four arms, black holes where the eyes and mouth should be. According to this, [She turns the book back around to read.] the story behind this particular spirit is a fairly tragic one. She's the spirit of a mask maker's daughter-- also his apprentice-- who made masks for Noh theater. She fell in love with an actor, but on top of being quite popular and famous, he was from a noble family. Still, she convinced herself that he was in love with her, and worked herself to the bone trying to make her masks perfect for him. When she learned that he had become engaged to another noble's daughter, someone he'd grown up with and loved, she apparently died, and turned into this creature out of sheer anger. Coincidentally, the theater where the actor performed was destroyed in a fire, and everyone that had ever performed there was found dead in one room. [There's an uneasy look at the camera here.]
That's more or less where the recorded history portion of the story ends, however folklore says that the woman's sister later received a mask in a box covered with seals, brought to her by a monk. The monk said that it contained the last mask her sister had ever made, but also warned her never to open the box.
I have a very bad feeling that mask is on this station, and it has been for a while. When I was attacked, I remembered seeing someone wearing a mask that looks like this-- [She produces a sketch she no doubt did while recovering. It's crude, but it's definitely a Noh mask with horns and fangs. Once she's sure the camera has focused properly on it, she turns a page in the book and holds it up next to the drawing. It's another woodcarving of the woman holding a mask, and it looks uncomfortably like the one Elizabeth drew.]
This is a Hannya mask, a Noh theater mask that's worn to indicate a female demon. Has anybody seen this mask around the station? If so, we may have an honest-to-God possessed item that's hunting us. [She can't believe she just suggested something so deeply rooted in myth and hearsay, but there it is. Elizabeth shakes her head a little and lets out a defeated sigh.] And I've never been particularly good at banishing angry ghosts even with two working arms. Perhaps if we just... do what the story says happened before: find a box, seal the mask, and never, ever, open it again... she'll disappear? Is that how most haunted-object situations go?
((OOC: Hey guys! Kazuhira Miller was originally going to make this post, but Liz has picked up this part of the ongoing Hannya mask plot. I'll do my best to keep things rolling, and I definitely encourage threadjacking and sharing of ideas in here, because Liz's involvement has always been limited to just the lore portion so I'm flying a little blind as well. Thanks! ))
no subject
[But that's a problem for another day.]
Well, that's a start. Though I imagine that if this thing can move around at will-- the mask, I mean-- it might be harder to track down. And if there's anything I've learned about ghost stories, it's that usually the ghost isn't so happy to just go back into a box.
no subject
[Like luring a cat with fish under a box with a stick propping it up. Or a brother with the guise of his dead mentor. Or something.]
We'll probably have to track down the mask, track down the... ghost, track down something to put them in...
I'm sure it'll be quite exciting.
no subject
Sounds like a lot of tracking. You've seen the mask before though-- where did it appear?
no subject
[The Snake family and their boxes.]
I found it on my bed, strangely enough. I suppose we should check everyone's sheets, hm?
no subject
[And maybe her tone implies that she's not about to let someone go into this blind-- she'll make sure of it.]
...somehow I doubt it's obsessed with beds and sheets.
no subject
[Or else things aren't going to go so well.]
And that's the best idea I've got of what attracts it, so if you've got a better idea...
no subject
[She's not arguing the necessity, just the hunting method.]
Given no one's reported finding a mask in their bed-- and frankly that would be something I'd report just from sheer oddity-- I'd be willing to bet it's somewhere else. Potentially deeper in the station. That's where I was attacked.
no subject
[But, all joking aside, he does understand her point.]
Alright, unless it's mistaken some curtains or a tablecloth for some sheets, maybe we'll need to narrow down potential locations a different way. Deeper sounds likely, maybe it can establish a sort of hiding place somewhere.