Jack startled mid-sigh. He drew in a sharp gasp through a throat that wasn't there and turned, shoulders up, arms straight at his sides. The skeleton stood stone still for several long seconds and stared at Gino with his empty eye sockets. And then he burst out laughing--cackling really. It was a high, thin noise like an old door hinge caught in a storm.
"You scared me!"
He'd been so sad and Ginko had given him just the jolt he needed to get himself up and out of the dumps. Jack brought a long thin hand to his chest and sighed again, happily this time.
It was almost encouraging that this guy seemed as shocked by Ginko's interruption as Ginko was by his... existence. At least it seemed to mean he probably wouldn't be in danger. Probably.
...The laughter, however, he wasn't sure how to feel about... or even what to think of. "Uh-- you're... you're welcome?"
Jack wasted no time in closing the space between the man and himself, grinning a grin fit to split his skull. How brave this human was! On a normal day, Jack might have felt discouraged or even a little insulted that Ginko wasn't running or dropping to the ground at the very sight of him. But today was not a normal day.
It hadn't been a normal week or even a normal month.
Jack bent at the waist and reached without any hesitation for Ginko's own hands to shake them. "I am so glad to finally have someone to talk to! Maybe you can tell me where I am."
Ginko was just... doing his absolute best to figure out what the fuck was happening here. He might assume he was hallucinating or something if it weren't for the villagers' reports, but he couldn't recall hearing of anything quite like this previously.
He was so busy considering that, in fact, that he completely failed to avoid Jack's reach for his hands, instead just tensing up at the excited shaking. Those hands were definitely made of bones. What the fuck.
"You're-- well, you're in a squash field," he managed. "Where were you before?"
"Halloween Town," Jack answered as though Ginko ought to know where that was--a casual, breezy answer. Once he'd shaken both Ginko's hands, the skeleton stood tall again and turned his gaze back toward the distant tree line. "Or just outside it, specifically. I found a well I hadn't noticed before and from there things get a little..." Jack narrowed his eye sockets, somehow. "Foggy."
He turned to give Ginko his attention again, his wide smile having softened to a more concerned, grim line. "It's been very exciting and very interesting, but I would like to go home now."
"What... where is Halloween Town?" That 'what' wasn't exactly him misspeaking, because he definitely was also wondering what it is, but... 'where' might be a better start.
Ginko was, in theory, trying not to stare too much, but... okay, who was he kidding, it was only in theory, and he was staring. This guy sure looked like he was made entirely of bone, but in that case he shouldn't have been able to move his face like that. Maybe his body just resembled bone, and was closer to flesh in texture, or was composed more heavily of life force, like the bodies of mushi... that might explain it. But he didn't seem to be any kind of a mushi - or at least any kind that Ginko had seen before.
"And I'd like to help you with that, if I can - but that'll mean figuring out where to start. Do you remember anything particularly notable about the well you saw?"
Jack was quiet (surprisingly) as he waited for Ginko to puzzle out a few questions to ask him. He was well aware this was an unusual meeting--had it been usual, Jack might have popped up behind Ginko and well.
That wouldn't have ended well for anyone.
The skeleton lifted a thin finger to his jaw line as he thought. It was a little hard to tell someone where Halloween Town was. It was--well, it was home! It was just home. If he was finished running amuck in the human world, he just went home and didn't think too hard about it.
"The well was made of stone," Jack said finally, not feeling quite confident enough to answer the other question yet. Jack wasn't used to not feeling confident. About anything. He was ready for this yucky, unfamiliar feeling to stop any minute now. "Black stones, no crank and no pail." His toothy grim grim twisted into a thoughtful frown. "Maybe it was not a well."
"That... doesn't sound like a well, no." Not a functional one, at least. He let out a breath and looked away, partly as an excuse not to have to keep making his brain try to process the skeleton man it's seeing. "Do you know where you first ended up here, after you found the well?"
A bird in the distance let out a low hoot as the sky shifted into a deep, comfortable purple.
Jack thought. Where had the well that wasn't a well been? Instead of answering, he actually lifted one leg, pivoted on a small foot, and turned only to start stalking toward the far end of the field.
"I've never had such a gap in my memory before. How strange!"
"So you don't remember?" That wasn't good. At the very least, it was bad in that it was inconvenient - but, worst-case scenario, it could be a sign of something more dangerous happening here.
He let out a breath and followed after the skeleton man, and-- damn this guy's legs were long, he shouldn't be having to walk this fast. Unfair. "I assume you've tried retracing your steps."
Jack let out another chuckle, though this one was less cheerful and creaky and instead dry. Very very dry. If Jack had been paying attention to his steps, maybe he wouldn't be in this pickle.
"It's been a while. You know, this reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me." He turned to gesture to Ginko as he walked and talked. "He haunted a house in a place called Maine and when people would try to move in, he would have them forget themselves. They would go mad in that house and no matter where they turned, the front door would always be right there. They could go no deeper into the house than the foyer."
He brought a bony finger to his chin.
"No one would do that to me, of course. That would be stupid."
He raises his eyebrows slightly as Jack explains. "Interesting friend you've got there." Whatever this guy is, Ginko finds himself wondering if he and this friend of his might be adjacent to mushi in some way. Not quite the same, but... maybe similar. What he's describing certainly sounds like a somewhat more self-aware version of something a mushi might be capable of.
Okay, well, literally nothing about that has assured Ginko that "no one" would mess with this guy. He doesn't want to go into this trying to instill paranoia or anything, though, so, to start with:
"Just how broad a group of people are you talking about when you say nobody would do that?"
"Everyone in Halloween Town...I've got friends all over the world. They all tell me I'm the scariest and well..."
Jack gave Ginko a helpless little smile and a vague gesture with a bony hand. He was a simple man and that was simple logic. If he was scariest, he was boss, and if anybody fucked with him, he skinned them alive. That's just how it be.
"I miss them so..." He dropped his hand to his side and sighed.
"...I hate to tell you this, but if someone were to try and get rid of you, fear could be a possible motivator." Assuming these people actually were scared of him?? All this mixed in talk of friends and fear and everything was getting... confusing.
He watched Jack slump, his mouth twisting thoughtfully. "Well, if you got here to begin with, there's bound to be a way to get back. Most connected worlds aren't strictly one-way."
The ridges above Jack's eyesockets pinched together ever so slightly. Ginko was saying all sorts of things he didn't want to hear...but. As Sally had once showed him, sometimes those were the things he needed to listen to more than anything. He wanted to think everyone in Halloween Town was his friend...but he had seen that wasn't true.
"Fear, no...jealousy maybe." He rubbed one arm and looked ahead again. He wouldn't let himself fall down the stairwell of worrying about who would be trying to take his place, his friends, his whole life away from him. Had he said something rude and not realized it? Had he left someone out? Were spiders getting more attention than black cats? It was all so much to keep up with.
Jack sucked in a deep faux-breath and let it out again.
"Right you are! I've been through a number of strange doors and a door always goes two ways!"
Man Ginko was getting some mixed messages here. Or... maybe some cultural confusion. The guy was a skeleton, it would figure that he would be used to thinking of things in a different way from what Ginko was used to--
He really couldn't think about the skeleton thing for too long at a time actually, he was going to just... set that aside to keep working on later.
Ginko managed a smile, just barely, and nodded at Jack. "So we'd better find that door."
"Not terribly far--you see that ridge there," he pointed with a long bony finger. Maybe a quarter mile ahead of them was a hill capped with stones and a few dead trees. Someone had put a sign post there.
"When I try to find my way back, I feel I always pass that sign but I'm afraid I can't read whatever is written on it."
This was a point of mild shame for Jack--he felt he was pretty well versed in most languages. He had to be to keep his legends and fellow monsters sorted in his mind. Oh well, there was no shame in being humble, he supposed. He was already asking the living for help.
And speaking of.
"I'd like to say--I appreciate your help very much. But I need to know...are you not afraid of me?"
"That's odd... let's go take a look." If the sign wasn't in Japanese, he wasn't going to be able to do much with it, but... that in itself would tell them something, he supposed.
And then Jack asked something he wasn't sure how to answer.
Ginko hmm'd softly, glancing over at Jack again. "...Honestly? A little bit. I mean, you don't really see skeletons walking around here." He snorted softly and looked ahead again. "My work brings me into contact with a lot of strange things, and you're... not quite like any I've seen before. Which-- is pretty alarming, I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about my work." He doesn't even feel bad saying that, frankly. He is good at what he does, and he doubts that this skeleton who keeps talking about how scary he is will mind him saying as much.
"But... maybe I'm just primed to accept weird sights. Or maybe I'll break down about it later."
"It would make me feel better if you did," said Jack.
Because his feelings were oh so important.
As the sign drew nearer, it became clear that there were no spooky auras hanging around it or the stones surrounding it. No humming, no pressure just under Ginko's eyeballs, no weird taste in the mouth. The sign was in Japanese, older than what Jack was used to reading.
It was simply a marker for the town that had called for Ginko's aid.
However something interesting happened when Jack approached it. He walked up to it as though to gesture to it and then grew very still. He gained a far-away look in his eye sockets and then turned on one heel and started aimlessly wandering back the way they came.
"Uh... sorry about that." He sounded more bemused than sorry.
Ginko walked up to the sign, brow creasing as he looked over it. "That's... just the town marker. Sorry, I'm not sure what-- where are you going?"
He turned as Jack did, then hurried after him when it became clear that Jack was... not stopping. He circled around in front of him (almost running to move faster than Jack's long-legged stride) and held his hands up to try to get his attention. "Hey! What are you doing?"
For several long strides, Jack didn't respond. Only when Ginko shouted did he stop and look around. The skeleton turned and stared at Ginko, startled. How had he gotten over there? How was he not facing the sign now? He furrowed his brow ridge.
"This is it."
He came walking back toward Ginko.
"I believe this is the place. Something strange is happening. I have tried to..."
He wasn't able to meet Ginko. He got about a yard from him, spaced out, and turned and walked in yet another direction.
If it was, he was going to have some serious words with its resident! Jack's face had creased momentarily as he thought about just what words he'd have--but then his face fell and he brought a hand to his brow. He suddenly didn't feel well and it wasn't just swirling anxiety. He felt almost as though there were moths fluttering around in his skull.
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theattic2014-11-09 07:23 pm
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"You scared me!"
He'd been so sad and Ginko had given him just the jolt he needed to get himself up and out of the dumps. Jack brought a long thin hand to his chest and sighed again, happily this time.
"Thank you!"
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...The laughter, however, he wasn't sure how to feel about... or even what to think of. "Uh-- you're... you're welcome?"
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It hadn't been a normal week or even a normal month.
Jack bent at the waist and reached without any hesitation for Ginko's own hands to shake them. "I am so glad to finally have someone to talk to! Maybe you can tell me where I am."
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He was so busy considering that, in fact, that he completely failed to avoid Jack's reach for his hands, instead just tensing up at the excited shaking. Those hands were definitely made of bones. What the fuck.
"You're-- well, you're in a squash field," he managed. "Where were you before?"
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He turned to give Ginko his attention again, his wide smile having softened to a more concerned, grim line. "It's been very exciting and very interesting, but I would like to go home now."
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Ginko was, in theory, trying not to stare too much, but... okay, who was he kidding, it was only in theory, and he was staring. This guy sure looked like he was made entirely of bone, but in that case he shouldn't have been able to move his face like that. Maybe his body just resembled bone, and was closer to flesh in texture, or was composed more heavily of life force, like the bodies of mushi... that might explain it. But he didn't seem to be any kind of a mushi - or at least any kind that Ginko had seen before.
"And I'd like to help you with that, if I can - but that'll mean figuring out where to start. Do you remember anything particularly notable about the well you saw?"
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That wouldn't have ended well for anyone.
The skeleton lifted a thin finger to his jaw line as he thought. It was a little hard to tell someone where Halloween Town was. It was--well, it was home! It was just home. If he was finished running amuck in the human world, he just went home and didn't think too hard about it.
"The well was made of stone," Jack said finally, not feeling quite confident enough to answer the other question yet. Jack wasn't used to not feeling confident. About anything. He was ready for this yucky, unfamiliar feeling to stop any minute now. "Black stones, no crank and no pail." His toothy grim grim twisted into a thoughtful frown. "Maybe it was not a well."
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Jack thought. Where had the well that wasn't a well been? Instead of answering, he actually lifted one leg, pivoted on a small foot, and turned only to start stalking toward the far end of the field.
"I've never had such a gap in my memory before. How strange!"
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He let out a breath and followed after the skeleton man, and-- damn this guy's legs were long, he shouldn't be having to walk this fast. Unfair. "I assume you've tried retracing your steps."
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"It's been a while. You know, this reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me." He turned to gesture to Ginko as he walked and talked. "He haunted a house in a place called Maine and when people would try to move in, he would have them forget themselves. They would go mad in that house and no matter where they turned, the front door would always be right there. They could go no deeper into the house than the foyer."
He brought a bony finger to his chin.
"No one would do that to me, of course. That would be stupid."
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He raises his eyebrows slightly as Jack explains. "Interesting friend you've got there." Whatever this guy is, Ginko finds himself wondering if he and this friend of his might be adjacent to mushi in some way. Not quite the same, but... maybe similar. What he's describing certainly sounds like a somewhat more self-aware version of something a mushi might be capable of.
"What makes you think they wouldn't?"
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Jack's opinion on the title was neither here nor there, but if they wanted him to lead them, he would lead them with every scary bone in his body!
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Okay, well, literally nothing about that has assured Ginko that "no one" would mess with this guy. He doesn't want to go into this trying to instill paranoia or anything, though, so, to start with:
"Just how broad a group of people are you talking about when you say nobody would do that?"
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Jack gave Ginko a helpless little smile and a vague gesture with a bony hand. He was a simple man and that was simple logic. If he was scariest, he was boss, and if anybody fucked with him, he skinned them alive. That's just how it be.
"I miss them so..." He dropped his hand to his side and sighed.
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He watched Jack slump, his mouth twisting thoughtfully. "Well, if you got here to begin with, there's bound to be a way to get back. Most connected worlds aren't strictly one-way."
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"Fear, no...jealousy maybe." He rubbed one arm and looked ahead again. He wouldn't let himself fall down the stairwell of worrying about who would be trying to take his place, his friends, his whole life away from him. Had he said something rude and not realized it? Had he left someone out? Were spiders getting more attention than black cats? It was all so much to keep up with.
Jack sucked in a deep faux-breath and let it out again.
"Right you are! I've been through a number of strange doors and a door always goes two ways!"
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He really couldn't think about the skeleton thing for too long at a time actually, he was going to just... set that aside to keep working on later.
Ginko managed a smile, just barely, and nodded at Jack. "So we'd better find that door."
Too bad they didn't have much to go on for that.
"How far were you from that field to start with?"
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"When I try to find my way back, I feel I always pass that sign but I'm afraid I can't read whatever is written on it."
This was a point of mild shame for Jack--he felt he was pretty well versed in most languages. He had to be to keep his legends and fellow monsters sorted in his mind. Oh well, there was no shame in being humble, he supposed. He was already asking the living for help.
And speaking of.
"I'd like to say--I appreciate your help very much. But I need to know...are you not afraid of me?"
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And then Jack asked something he wasn't sure how to answer.
Ginko hmm'd softly, glancing over at Jack again. "...Honestly? A little bit. I mean, you don't really see skeletons walking around here." He snorted softly and looked ahead again. "My work brings me into contact with a lot of strange things, and you're... not quite like any I've seen before. Which-- is pretty alarming, I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about my work." He doesn't even feel bad saying that, frankly. He is good at what he does, and he doubts that this skeleton who keeps talking about how scary he is will mind him saying as much.
"But... maybe I'm just primed to accept weird sights. Or maybe I'll break down about it later."
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Because his feelings were oh so important.
As the sign drew nearer, it became clear that there were no spooky auras hanging around it or the stones surrounding it. No humming, no pressure just under Ginko's eyeballs, no weird taste in the mouth. The sign was in Japanese, older than what Jack was used to reading.
It was simply a marker for the town that had called for Ginko's aid.
However something interesting happened when Jack approached it. He walked up to it as though to gesture to it and then grew very still. He gained a far-away look in his eye sockets and then turned on one heel and started aimlessly wandering back the way they came.
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Ginko walked up to the sign, brow creasing as he looked over it. "That's... just the town marker. Sorry, I'm not sure what-- where are you going?"
He turned as Jack did, then hurried after him when it became clear that Jack was... not stopping. He circled around in front of him (almost running to move faster than Jack's long-legged stride) and held his hands up to try to get his attention. "Hey! What are you doing?"
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"This is it."
He came walking back toward Ginko.
"I believe this is the place. Something strange is happening. I have tried to..."
He wasn't able to meet Ginko. He got about a yard from him, spaced out, and turned and walked in yet another direction.
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(He did not really think through how bizarre holding onto a pair of skeleton arms would feel, but that really was weird.)
"--Jack. Don't try to head for the sign again, I... don't think you can go near it."
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"I don't understand...is it haunted?"
If it was, he was going to have some serious words with its resident! Jack's face had creased momentarily as he thought about just what words he'd have--but then his face fell and he brought a hand to his brow. He suddenly didn't feel well and it wasn't just swirling anxiety. He felt almost as though there were moths fluttering around in his skull.
"Or am I haunted?"
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