crittersheep | RUMORS: CLOVER

RUMORS: CLOVER

WELCOME TO SILVER STAR, YOUR SOURCE OF THE BEST OF THE PASTURE NEWS! From Newspapers, magazines, radios and more, we at Silver Star are determined to bring you the best as it happens live. ... Is what we normally say but you work here today! So it's not like you need the big run down. You heard the boss though, we need you to get to WORK.

Your editor is RYUGYO!

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Entries are due at 4:30 PM EST, unless an extension is required.

[ So they're making creepypaste stories? He's not so sure about this one, although he's read plenty. ]

Hmm...I kinda wanna leave out ghosts, if possible, but it's basically a ghost story, right? Or an urban legend kinda?

[ He might be just talking to his editor here (?) help ]

Edited 2024-05-04 19:02 (UTC)

[here is your editor, I'm sorry]

Urban legend stuff, yeah. It don't gotta be ghosts!

[ It's okay, he likes anyone Hannya likes (?) by proxy. ]

Well, seems like I can pretty much choose anything myself... [ Unless Hannya pops in, but even then Shade can probably play director here? ] ...in that case, I guess I can go with somethin' based off of flowers, maybe...? Sakura trees.

[ That's a pretty vague statement but he's genuinely giving it some thought here. ]

If ya got any opinions I'll listen to 'em, though.

[he's giving it some deep thought, nodding along]

Flowers are a good one! Sakura trees have all kinds of legends about 'em, comin' up with a new one could be fun.

Well, if it's an urban legend it should be creepy, I guess...?

[ Since he doesn't know the fulfilling part he's just. Thinking about it like what he'd read back when he was locked up...of course reading all those creepy stories is how he got himself terrified of ghosts, so what the hell, Shade.

He tips his head to one side, then the other. ]

I'm not gonna plagiarize, but there's that one that says there's a corpse buried under the Sakura tree. I'll use that as my base of inspiration here. ♪ Anythin' in particular ya wanna have me include?

[oh no, ghosts can be fun, Shade :( Ryugyo hung out with one once, it was great]

Oh, I know that one! It don't necessarily gotta be creepy, but the best ones are, ain't they?

Could make it a specific tree somewhere? Like, there's conditions or somethin', like you gotta find one at midnight on the full moon, that kinda thing.

All the urban legends I read were kinda on that sort of vibe...though "entertainin'" ain't that clear a genre, we do got some time to work on it. Not totally sure about my skills here, but I'll do my best fer Clover. ♪ Well, there's some at the hot springs...so maybe we can make the goal tree one o' those ones.

[ Hm hm hm. He cracks his knuckles one by one, apparently just idly. ]

Lemme give it a go, then ya can edit away for feedback here.

[ He's spitballing. ]

They say there's a corpse under one of the cherry blossom trees at the hot springs. The blossoms o' that tree are a deeper pink, almost red...but that color only comes out at night when the moonlight shine on those bloomin' petals. How'd that person die, and when...? No one remembers, not even the person buried there. What the corpse does remember is what it felt like when it weren't buried. It could breathe easy, it could see with its own eyes, it could touch whatever it wanted to...

Ya can't do that sort o' thing when you're buried in the ground with roots growin' through you and dirt in yer mouth.

Still, those wishes came up through the soil. What a tree feeds on is half what it becomes, ya know? With strong, fertile soil you get strong, fertile trees. When it's barren ya get somethin' less hardy and more fragile. When ya grow on top of a corpse with bitter regrets and wishes, that's what ya get, too: a tree that wants, and wants, and wants...but even a tree can't see nothin'. It can't feel the things a human could, once. There's sunlight and moonlight on branches and a breeze through the leaves, but that just can't compare to livin' yer life out as a human...can it?

...Anyway, that's just place settin'. ♪ Ya gotta have if you do this ya get that, so...There's a corpse under one of the cherry blossom trees. They say if ya go to that tree and put one of the petals in yer mouth and make a wish, that wish'll come true. And they ain't wrong, but somethin' else happens too...

Wishes don't come free, do they? There's always a price to pay. They don't tell ya that part at the start of a story ever - it always comes after ya make the wish and have to pay up. So every petal ya put in yer mouth and make a wish with...yer givin' somethin' away to the corpse that tree shelters. ♪ Maybe a blossom'll grow out of yer eye, and yer eye will be down there in the corpse, lookin' up at the dirt. Every wish ya make gives that corpse one piece o' yerself, givin' back a piece o' the tree...and once enough wishes have been made, it'll claw itself up out o' the ground, wantin' to breathe that air again, see the open sky. ♪

[ Shade: I hate ghosts

Also Shade: anyway, here is my creepy urban legend, what do you think :)

He legitimately read a bunch of this stuff as a kid and still does on occasion. Help him. He's willing to dial it back if the editor says to, or dial it up...he's just kind of having fun with it right now and this is only Take One. ]

[ guess who was sleeping under the table.

crawls out to give a thumbs up.</small. ]

[ UNDER THE TABLE - Shade doesn't jolt, at least, though he blinks in slight surprise. ]

Glad ya like it? ♪

I got no notes.

[ sits up, rubbing at his head. ]

Ya really just came up with that?

Yep. Well, I've read lots o' that kinda thing when I was growin' up. ♪ Creeped myself out readin' a lot o' that stuff, though...

[ Literally why he's afraid of ghosts. He read too many Japanese urban legends, lmfao. ]

There a story behind the corpse? Like, why is he or she down there?

[okay listen, Ryugyo isn't necessarily into urban legends but he is totally into this, Shade has his FULL ATTENTION]

Whoooa . . . you came up with that so quick, it's real good! It's got a lil of everythin' a good legend needs!

[why were you sleeping under the table Hannya-san]

[ because every couple of days i just pass the fuck out. ]

What.

Hmm...ta make it circular, guess it could be explained a bit at the end, like...

"Made up of all the pieces o' them that wished upon the corpse's tree, it'll stand there. Sometimes, it seems like there's more than one, 'cause there's so many wishes, so many parts...yer hand that was once flesh, ya see it there - even though yers is now bark and blossom. It's made up of the things ya regretted and wished for. And maybe that's always been the case.

Time and again, humans'll wish fer things they don't have. When ya see that corpse ya realize what died to make it: dreams, hopes, desires, things ya never could get but desperately wanted. This is the corpse o' you and those who came before ya. If you take those pieces o' yerself back yer wishes stop bein' true...but if ya don't, ya become part of the story. Yer the corpse under the tree, yer the thing that dreams of something more and wants more, forever after."

[ Shade: I still hate ghost stories tho ]