"Hm?" She looked over her shoulder. Was someone there? She didn't feel anything. What time was it again? Just after midnight according to her phone. Might've been someone just passing by on the way to a club. Her fuku was rather eye catching. Maybe she should get off the main road. Suddenly she looked over her shoulder again, eyes darting around in search of something. Someone? Something? Andromeda frowned. "Weird."
When she turned back around the sight before her made her jump and yelp. A jumpscare stood before her, silhouetted by a not-so-distant street light. Oh, it's just a person.
... Right?
Andromeda's brow knit together a moment as she seemed to relax but studied the figure ahead of her. It was tall, very slender, with long limbs. Its... head? Yeah, that's a head. Its head was bowed down, and its arms were positioned in front of them, and its legs were... was that third position? Like, actually? Those even looked like proper pointe shoes. She slowly looked the figure up and down again, really taking in what she was seeing. They were dressed in a black costume, with a wide tutu and... black feathers? There were feathers lining up its arms, black ones, and they looked like they were coming out of its skin. Suddenly it snapped its head up in an unnatural movement. Too quick, it was like the head had never been bowed to begin with. Like an animation that skipped some frames for the sake of budget. The face had a too-wide smile, and too-wide eyes. Red lips, black eye makeup that resembled feathers. A black feather crown. Was someone doing a creepy Black Swan prank?
She backed away slowly, looking around now for others. Was there someone hiding in the bushes with a camera? "Uh... hello?" Andromeda called out, hoping desperately there was someone around doing just that. That someone would jump out laughing all 'HAHA GOT YOU THIS IS OUR CHANNEL BE SURE TO LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE LOLOLOLOL' right?
Right?
When that didn't happen Andromeda looked nervously back at the would-be Black Swan. Her arms were in front of her, folded neatly in preparation for something. But again, the movements were too sharp. Too sudden. Like a stop-motion animation character, but again missing a few of its frames. And then it was abruptly on one foot, on its point, the other bent at the knee with the foot turned inward. And then it spun, its leg suddenly kicked out and then in as if to mimic the motion of a set of fouettés. What. The. ********. Andromeda's heart raced as she continued to back away, her arms coming up and ready to defend against whatever the ******** this was. All hope of this being some weird human prank was dashed away when its head never turned. The body did a full 360, the head never moved. The movements were too sharp, too sudden, and missing any transition between them. "S-stay back.." She called out only a moment before there was a sickening snap. The ankle broke clean in two and the strange dancer collapsed to the ground. It landed on one knee, its hands supporting it, as it sat there. It panted, gasping for breath. There was no blood, but Andromeda could clearly see the ankle was completely snapped in half. She swallowed hard, clenching her jaw. What the ******** was going on? Suddenly the strange dancer's head lifted again, and it was still all smiles. Her makeup was running, tears smudging the black shadow and liner that had been used to design her feathers. It cleaned a faint line through her pale foundation. She stood up again, this time switching to her other foot and lifting her other leg, the foot swinging horrifically and uselessly from the broken ankle. She began to spin again, this time seeming to somehow travel a little closer and closer to the unnerved senshi.
"I SAID STAY BACK!" What was this thing?!
Quote:
The Spectre (15): You find it tucked beneath a bench, caught in a fence, lying on the sidewalk, or simply sitting somewhere it shouldn't be: a small piece of paper, folded neatly in half. There's handwriting on it, but you can't read the language; all you can make out are three short lines of strange, unfamiliar writing. Almost as soon as you come into contact with the paper, you get the distinct feeling that someone is watching you. Maybe it follows you. Or maybe it approaches immediately. Either way, there's a figure standing in front of you. It might be someone you know and hate or fear, someone from your past, or perhaps a monster straight out of a horror movie--whatever it is, it's someone--something--that has scared you before. And now they're standing right in front of you. They look and behave completely natural, but very close inspection will reveal that the manifestation is unable to interact with the environment; it can't open doors, move objects, or leave footprints--but it can hurt you. For you, and anyone who has come into contact with the paper, it can make physical contact. Its intention seems to be terrifying or harming you; it wants to scare you. It wants to hurt you. No normal attack can hurt it, and trying to fight back will only make it more persistent. The only way to make the spectre disappear is to destroy the piece of paper that brought it into existence. Players may choose to have their characters take lasting damage or have any damage fade when the magic ends; it cannot do supernatural damage or replicate any magic its source inspiration can, but it can do any physical damage. It does not need to be humanoid, but it should be relatively human sized for the sake of discretion. If characters do not naturally destroy the paper (intentionally or accidentally) then the manifestation may burn up so much power that both it and the paper erupt in flames. It cannot exist forever and will disappear within half an hour. But--unfortunately--there's a great deal of these papers around town.
MiddyGlow
