Weird-looking, half blind, spook wrangling world-walkers that smoke.

[goldeneyeball]

THREAD DIRECTORY

One Fine Day
A Taste of the Future
Pumpkins
Aches
Trauma 50% Off!
I Got a Disease and You're the Cure
Taco Night
Buck Eyes
The Turns Have Tabled
JW and Ginko's Fancy Dinner Date
You Know What They Say When You ASSume...
Sit, Stay, Beg

Comments

[onegreeneye]

"Well, as it turned out..." He paused, tapping a bit of brownish powder from a small jar into the water in the larger one. No algae this time of year, so he would have to go with another method. He swirled it around for a few moments as he continued.

"As it turned out, the mushi was a type that normally didn't live in human bodies at all; it's pretty rare, and usually spends the winter hiding inside the bodies of small birds, sometimes boosting their body temperatures a little to make it more comfortable for themselves. But these ones must have been caught without hosts after most of the birds in the area migrated or went into hiding to escape the snow. So they latched onto humans who were passing through the woods instead.

Trouble is, humans have lower body temperatures than birds do, so the mushi had to push them up higher in order to survive. Unfortunately, that left their hosts with dangerously high fevers.

In the end, the solution turned out to be pretty simple; none of the infected villagers wanted to be anywhere near fire, because of how warm they were already. But, after they were made to sit near a fire for a while and get warmer, the mushi stopped forcing their body temperatures higher. It was kind of a risky move, but the warm room made the mushi more willing to leave their hosts, and they could take medicine to actually force them out. From there, it was just a matter of catching the mushi and letting them go back into the woods. With any luck, they would find proper hosts out of the birds still in the area."

He gave another frustrated hum as he checked the now-green water in the jar. Still not safe, then. That made the answer as to what to do next simpler than if the liquid water had been safe but he hadn't known about the ice, anyway.

[goldeneyeball]

The paper catches his attention. He'd seen people use it to test water quality before but he never thought of using it to look for spirits. He'd only visited this time period a few times now and already he was getting new ideas to make spook wrangling back home easier.

But when it came to the story itself, JW listened in a quiet horror.

"It almost sounds like these mushi of yours are sentient viruses..."

[onegreeneye]

"Some are a bit like viruses, I suppose. But most aren't actually dangerous, and those that can be usually aren't unless they end up somewhere they shouldn't be. They don't choose to hurt people."

He carved a second mark on the wooden part of the well, then sealed the jar in his hand and slipped it into his pocket. "That should do it for this one. I'd hoped they would be gone by now, but... no such luck, I guess."

[goldeneyeball]

He propped his elbows on the well and thatched his fingers together, stealing a glance at the icy, sentient, man-drowning depths.

"Right, right, but...why isn't the countryside in hysterics over these invisible confused...I don't know. Spirits? Are they spirits?"

[onegreeneye]

"Close enough. Technically, they are alive, just... not quite in the same way we are."

As for the first question, he gave a slight shrug as he picked up his box and hooked the straps back over his shoulders. "Encounters with mushi are rare enough in some places that some people don't even know they exist, so there's that. Those who do usually have enough contact with mushi masters that they can usually find a solution if something happens. It's just a part of life."

[goldeneyeball]

"Back up, back up," He lifted his hands. "A mushi master? So you are part of a business...how's that happen? You notice there's a whole lot of weird spirit germs in the area and decide to get rid of them?"

[onegreeneye]

"Not exactly; it's just a general term for people who do this kind of work. We mostly work independently."

Another shrug. "Only if they're causing trouble. Some places get by just fine with high populations of mushi; we only intervene if they become a problem."

[goldeneyeball]

"I see..." He wished there was a word for what he was so he could at least put it on a business card. James missed the eighties in their entirety so Ghostbusters went unknown. "Does it pay well?"

[onegreeneye]

Ginko snorted. "Depends. It isn't exactly the most stable business; sometimes I'll get lucky, sometimes not. Some collectors are willing to pay a good bit for artifacts affected by or connected to mushi, so that can help."

[goldeneyeball]

"Hmm...you know." He rubbed his chin as he leaned away from the well. "I think there's a market for that back home. Friend a' mine says there's this market called Ebay and people are always sellin' haunted shit on there."

[onegreeneye]

"Really? Around here it's usually just a matter of getting lucky and happening to know someone who's interested. Occasionally other mushi masters will be interested, but... usually, we see enough of that to begin with."

[goldeneyeball]

"It's not experts buyin' 'em though. See, hardly anyone knows ghosts are real but a whole lotta folks will do anything if they think they can get a glimpse of one. Idiots, most of 'em, doing rituals and shit they don't know nothin' about. They make movies about it all the time."

[onegreeneye]

"Movies?"

He shifted a little to stand more comfortably, remembering after a moment not to lean against the well. Sometimes he didn't bother asking about all the references JW made on a regular basis; if he asked for clarification on every single one, they probably wouldn't talk about much else. But this sounded kind of important.

[goldeneyeball]

JW made a face.

Uh oh. Now he has to explain movies. But it's only one thing right now. The world-walker ran his fingers through his hair. He could do this. "Well, it's like a slide show...but there are so many slides that it looks like things are moving in real time. Folks use 'em to tell stories and hundreds and hundreds of people go to see them every day."

[onegreeneye]

Ginko nodded. That made enough sense not to confuse him further, anyway. "And... people make these about people trying to see ghosts?"

[goldeneyeball]

"Oh! No, they make them about people who do see ghosts and get attacked. They're called horror films. Ghosts, monsters, murderers. They love being scared when they know it's not real. Just a story."

JW was slightly envious of Ginko. He'd never been subjected to The Matrix. If James could erase one movie from existence, it would be that one.

[onegreeneye]

"...Yeah, I can believe that." People who never ran into mushi always wanted to hear about them, after all. "Must be strange, seeing those and actually working with ghosts."

[goldeneyeball]

"You have no idea."

[onegreeneye]

Ginko snorted quietly, shoving his hands into his pockets. "...You know what I mentioned about getting lucky, and knowing people interested in buying mushi-related objects? There's one guy I've been selling to for years - he can't actually see mushi, himself. But he's got quite a fixation on them."

[goldeneyeball]

"Seriously? Now that's gold. So how's that work anyhow?" He shifted hsi backpack a little, almost forgetting he was wearing it. "Somethin' your born with or do you have to have some rotting taxidermy nightmare slash you in the eyes?"

In Deuteronomy's defense, she was not activly rotting.

[onegreeneye]

"...Well, uh." That seemed like a weird thing to say out of the blue, but... he didn't quite manage to keep himself from glancing at JW's left eye.

Ah.

"Usually, it's something people are born with - though it can take a few years for them to actually start seeing mushi, in some cases."

[goldeneyeball]

He nodded, easily being able to imagine it being a trait one was born with. Like whistling.

"That's a shame. I'd like to see 'em...what do they look like?"

[onegreeneye]

"Any number of things. Suiko just look like water, for example. Others may look like plants, or somewhat like insects or bacteria. There's..." He pauses, glancing at a swirling shape in the air next to him. He lifts up a hand to usher the mushi over in front of himself, even though he knows JW can't see it.

"...this one looks a little like a shrimp, but with more legs."

[goldeneyeball]

"Bacteria..." he parroted. So they knew about that. That was good. While James prided himself in being 'old timey' sometimes, he was still largely ignorant of what things were invented or discovered when and where.

He squinted into the space where Ginko seemed to be looking. He squinted hard and concentrated, but couldn't see so much as a ripple in the air. It was so weird being the one who couldn't see the Other. It was inconvenient and made him feel put-out and a little stupid...but it was also exciting. He had to go on Ginko's word because so far nothing had actually harmed JW. It could all be fake, a controlling lie, or a hallucination on Ginko's part. But he was so strange-looking and everyone in town knew him. Just like him.

And JW was determined to do better than the people of Hawksaw.

"A shrimp, huh...so what's the shrimp one? What's it's whole deal-e-o? Is it going to live in my teeth or make me turn inside out if I whistle the wrong note at it?"

[onegreeneye]

Ginko gave a very quiet laugh.

"No. These are pretty harmless; they just eat shed hair and dead skin." He let the mushi tap its way across his hand, its segmented mouth tickling at his skin.