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.
"Good question." Very helpful, Ginko. But he looked back at the sign, thoughtful, and kept talking.
"If this is a problem specific to you, it might just mean that the problem - whether it's some type of mushi or another phenomenon - may be attached to you. But it might just be because you're... pretty different from any other being I know of in this world. Could be a reaction that simply doesn't happen to humans."
Jack tried to distract himself from the strange feeling in his skull. He was tempted to stick his fingers into one eye and feel around to see if something were stuck there but he felt that might be rude with living company.
So he is dead. That... would sound pretty fake, if it weren't for the fact that Ginko was already having a conversation with a fully animate skeleton.
Instead, though, it just went to raise a few more questions - not that Jack simply being some kind of living creature that happened to look like an elongated human skeleton wouldn't have. But those questions might have to wait.
"...That's a possibility. Not like dead people walk around very often here. Did you used to be a living human, then?"
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wolfintheattic) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
theattic2014-11-09 07:23 pm
no subject
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!"
no subject
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."
no subject
"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."
no subject
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?"
no subject
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!
no subject
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?"
no subject
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.
no subject
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."
no subject
"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!"
no subject
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?"
no subject
"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?"
no subject
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."
no subject
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.
no subject
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?"
no subject
"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.
no subject
(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."
no subject
"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?"
no subject
"If this is a problem specific to you, it might just mean that the problem - whether it's some type of mushi or another phenomenon - may be attached to you. But it might just be because you're... pretty different from any other being I know of in this world. Could be a reaction that simply doesn't happen to humans."
no subject
That thought lead him to another though.
"Perhaps it is because I am dead?"
no subject
Instead, though, it just went to raise a few more questions - not that Jack simply being some kind of living creature that happened to look like an elongated human skeleton wouldn't have. But those questions might have to wait.
"...That's a possibility. Not like dead people walk around very often here. Did you used to be a living human, then?"
Or he could start asking right now.