(Untitled)

[payback]

Who: Rin Asano and perhaps YOU? Anyone whose character might be around
When: Night of the 15th. All night loooooooong.
Where: The Dog's Breakfast Pub.
Summary: The One Night in the Darkness story slam is taking place tonight and Rin can't pass up a good story. She's tried to wrangle together a crew from the boarding house to go hear some spooky

Comments

[vinovidivici]

Sure! [ Jutting his mug forward enthusiastically. The steam rising from it makes the gesture a little alarming, but miraculously he doesn't spill hot cider anywhere. ] You get to hear some crazy stories when you're travellin' around - and the true ones are the worst!

[payback]

Oh yeah? [She switches her attention to him with a smile.] Where did you travel?

[stoicloyalty]

[ Chane's sitting not too far from him with a mug of something spiced and sweet, just right for the cold edge the Port outside seems to have to it tonight. Personally, her storytelling abilities are nonexistant, and she can recall very few from memory, so she's content to listen from just outside the circle, comfortable in her chair. Probably not the correct mindset for scary stories. Her eyes flicker up at the mention of Claire's travels, but she doesn't stir to show any involvement. ]

[vinovidivici]

All over America! Not many states I haven't been to. Louisiana's got some good ghosts about, all kinda swampy fellas though. And you can't beat Massachusetts for witches and long-dead revolutionaries crawlin' from their unmarked graves. [ He puts a slight growl on the last word for the benefit of the small audience, grinning over his mug. ] But that ain't real, so don't worry.

[payback]

Hm. [She watches him with quiet interest. She's not all that easy to scare with made-up monsters, she's had a broad acquaintance with some real ones.]

I've never been to any of those places. Will you tell one of those?

[vinovidivici]

Sure. [ He takes a swig of cider, considering. ] All right, Louisiana: I got a good one from when I was workin' a spell near Baton Rouge. Few years back - so this'd be uh, tail-end of twenty-nine, I'd figure - I wound up stayin' in some cut-up motel on the riverbank. Pretty dead out there, can't hear nothin' but cicadas for miles around, and the occasional jalopy goin' up the one dirt road to town. Heading down the other way it's all overgrown, with nothin' to see but some decrepit old building almost hidden behind the trees. [ His hands are starting to wander and he finally has the common sense to set the mug down. He's already forgotten that he'd said the stories weren't true. ] I found out from the old timer that ran the joint it used to belong to old cotton blood, practically a dynasty back in the day. But it'd been empty ever since the head of the family up and decided to go for a promenade off the third floor balcony

[payback]

[Some of what Claire says, Rin doesn't even understand. The slang he uses, for instance - but she just rests her chin on her hand a lets him go on. The words wash over her and in a way it's peaceful.

But she blinks when he stops.]

- oh, I know now. [She didn't before, but that's pretty easy to pick up.] Why do they do that? And what's a jalopy?

[stoicloyalty]

[ Scanning the reactions (or lack thereof) on Rin's face soon gives way to her own piqued interest, eyes drawn to Claire's motions, then, as he tells the tale. There is something in the energy and investment resounding in his explanations that propels them forward to the listener; and though Chane, too, is barely hanging on to the colloquialisms that make up the bones of this story, his actions and tone makes it clearer.

It's only when Rin asks those questions that she notices she's lowered the mug from her lips, then, and as though called to attention, sets it aside to open her notebook. She gently offers a note on the lined paper to Rin from across the circle of chairs. ]

A car.