thisavrou

[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! ))