001 || Video

[justahost]

[And in the quint home of Yamane Hideki and Fujiwara Anzu, after a flicker of the screen... He seems an out of place, perhaps even imposing, in his dark layers of jackets and clothing. Not even completely facing the device in and of itself. It might leave to question if this was purposeful, or accidental

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[notlikethemovie]

Sadly, I'd have to say no. [Mika sighs, her ears folding back before flicking forward again. She's watching something off to the side with a resigned expression, then looks back at her phone.]

Welcome to Jigoku Apartments, land of the dead people. Looks like you got here just in time for everyone to be officially turned into ghosts. This place is known for pulling strange and unusual paranormal activity on us, but I have to say having the tables reversed on us is a new one.

[She nods in the direction of Shino's new house-mates.] I'm willing to bet that she's the original tenant to your apartment. With us all being ghosts now, I don't think we'll be able to communicate with them the usual way. While I'm not exactly up for pulling a poltergeist trick just yet, I think we may just have to sit back and watch for now. Observation might be the best tactic, I don't know when things will get ugly.

Because I hate to say it since you're new, but things usually get really ugly around here.

I'm Mika Whitepaws, by the way. If you have any questions, I'll try to help.

[justahost]

[He's a patient boy. Listening carefully, repeating it back in his mind. Keeping himself informed... that would be a rather good thing. But this woman in the screen.

She is unlike that of anyone he had seen, at least so far. Perhaps not odd... but in a way, he is... oddly reminded of Kiba. In a way.

But what she's said so far. It lines up with the man from before. This does not bode well. This does not bode well in the slightest.

Outwardly, it doesn't appear as if Shino's demeanor has changed at all.]

...Aburame Shino. You say... ghosts? And apartments...

[notlikethemovie]

I'd say nice to meet you, but it's...kinda hard to say that while I'm here.

Spirits of the dead, yeah. This building is an apartment complex, where everyone got dragged to somehow and woke up in. Up until the first of the month, it and the whole town was haunted by ghosts, swarms of them in some places. The only way to keep them out was the rolls of red tape we woke up with nearby.

Only now we're the ghosts, watching the people who probably turned into the local hauntings we're used to. I'd been keeping a sort of compendium of the different apparitions in a notebook that came with me. Frankly, I have no idea what's going on or what's going to happen. It's probably happening for a reason, though.

[justahost]

I see...

[A long, drawn out pause. This is quite... surreal, actually.]

Then I will have to take your word for it.

[notlikethemovie]

Yeah, it's a mess.

[justahost]

Is there anymore information you can give me?

[notlikethemovie]

Aside from us being officially screwed just by being here? I'll give you the rundown, although most of the information I have is pertinent to how things usually are around here. I can't say I've got anything useful for suddenly being a ghost.

When we get here, we all woke up with some cinnamon candy and a roll of red tape. The red tape is used to ward of the various ghostly manifestations. The town is generally deserted, and what buildings are out there are usually either just as haunted as the apartments or even more so. The forest is one of the worst, and I wouldn't recommend going near the lake, either. While I know the forest is a nasty place to be, we don't have any real concrete evidence that the lake's dangerous, I just have a really bad feeling about it.

The hospital's a nest of bad things, the ghosts there will attempt to trap you if you try to venture too far inside in search of supplies. The only way I know of that could possibly lead out of the town is the train tracks. The only problem is that nobody's ever made it through the train tunnel. Ever. It seems to drop people right back out in the town if you try to go through there.

[justahost]

[There's a long, thoughtful pause, as Shino takes it all in.

And finally:]

You may chose to believe that there is such a thing as 'officially' in the deep end. But as the kabutomushi must learn to thrive above ground, so, too, is there a way.

[Shino doesn't even have the words 'give up' in his vocabulary.]

[notlikethemovie]

Well, I'm glad somebody here thinks so. [Honestly, she should have expected it from a Konoha shinobi.]

If you ever find something, give somebody a head's up so we can pass the information along.

[justahost]

[She might also expect skepticism as well as a fairly strong, stubborn sense of independence.

Shino nods, nonetheless.]