. 007 // Accidental Video/Mirror Mirror

[gratefultogetaway]

I swear to God, hair, if you don't agree with me, I will grab the scissors and make you agree with me.

[Anya's in her bathroom, caught in a post-shower wrestling match with her hair. She's focused on the mirror and the hairbrush, and doesn't seem to realize that she turned her little camera on when she put the communicator down.]

Jeez...you'd think that they'd have come up with an easier way to deal with tangles...we're living in the future, after all...

[She frowns in concentration, working on a particularly tough knot.]

Honestly, of all the things they haven't really improved ye--AAAAAAAAH!!!!!

[It's now that she sees it. The woman in the mirror, dressed in a beautiful white dress, who looks just like her...except for the gunshot wounds and bayonet stab wounds covering her torso, bleeding and staining the dress red with blood.
Who looks just like her, except for the chunk of her skull missing, as if smashed in by the butt of a rifle.

She's only there for a moment, but that's all it takes to terrify Anya.

Anya just screams, darting as far away from the mirror as possible. She stares at the floor, eyes wide in horror, as she tries to catch her breath.]

...That...what...what the hell WAS that...?

[When she finally gets the courage to look up at the mirror again, the woman isn't there anymore.]

...Right...okay, that...that didn't happen, you didn't see any dead girls in the mirror...you're fine...
...Jesus Christ...

[ooc: History ain't pretty, boys and girls.]

Comments

Video

[just_displaced]

[It should probably seem impolite to respond to this, since it's very obviously accidentally posted, and very obviously disturbing, but he can't resist. Before even thinking about it, he's turning the communicator on, his own face looking perturbed.]

You're seeing things too? In the mirror, I mean. I keep seeing things, things that shouldn't be there...

Video

[gratefultogetaway]

You...you saw her too, right? It wasn't just me?

[She's still clearly shaken by what she saw.]

I just...she was there for a second, then she was gone....that's not normal....you're seeing things too?

...I swear to God, if this is a curse, I'm going to punch somebody, because that's NOT funny.

Re: Video

[just_displaced]

I saw it, too. I mean, probably not as clearly as you did, but there was definitely something in the mirror. Something unpleasant.

[He won't be much help in making her less shaken -- he's pretty obviously shaken himself.]

And yeah, I've been seeing things. In the mirror. Reflected in the back of my spoon when I was eating my cereal this morning. Things that shouldn't be there, things that're... things that aren't right.

Video

[gratefultogetaway]

[She's still freaked out, but somehow, knowing it's not just her seeing terrifying shit in the mirror makes her feel...relieved.]

Yeah, unpleasant is a good way to describe it...

What....what've you been seeing? If you don't mind me asking, I mean...

Re: Video

[just_displaced]

I... that's the thing, I don't know. I can't tell. It's like there's something there, right in the side of my vision, something right behind me, something two steps away, just out of reach, and then I try to focus on it, and stare at it, and it's just gone.

[A shaky sigh.]

And I don't want to focus on it, because I know that if I look for too long, I'll see something I don't want to see.

Video

[gratefultogetaway]

....I'd been feeling like something was watching me for a day or two now...just...I'd see something out of the corner of my eye, and I couldn't make it out, but I had this awful feeling, and then this happens...

[She shudders, biting her lip a bit, uneasy still.]

...I don't like it. I just...I don't like it.

Re: Video

[just_displaced]

I don't like it, either. All I can see is shadows when I look in the mirror, but I know they're dangerous somehow. I just don't know how.

Video

[gratefultogetaway]

I don't like the feeling of being watched...and knowing I'm being watched by something like that....

Re: Video

[just_displaced]

Maybe it's not anything. Maybe it's just gonna stay in the mirror and we won't have to worry about it.

Maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Video

[gratefultogetaway]

It had better just stay in the mirror...!!

Re: Video

[just_displaced]

I heard that October around here...

[He shakes his head again, as if trying to clear it of unpleasant thoughts.]

I hear that it's bad. I hear that it can be really, really bad. I know I'm not being reassuring, and I'm sorry, but I'm just as scared as you are, even if it's probably embarrassing to admit it.

Video

[gratefultogetaway]

[She blinks, looking a bit horrified at that.]

...You've got to be kidding me...

It's okay, it's not your fault this place is messed up...I just hope these...mirror things go away soon. I don't want to see a dead girl who looks just like me haunting me...

Re: Video

[just_displaced]

Maybe we're seeing what we're most afraid of. I don't like to think it's some kind of premonition. I don't think they'd kill us all. I think they're just trying to scare us.

[A pause.]

Well, it's working.

[mortemscintilla]

...Are you all right, Miss Anya?

[gratefultogetaway]

Y...yeah...yeah, I'm fine...

[mortemscintilla]

Are you sure?

...I could've sworn you said something about dead girls...

[gratefultogetaway]

I'm okay, I just...saw something in the mirror, that's all...

[She doesn't sound fine. She's totally not fine.]

[mortemscintilla]

It's some sort of ongoing curse, I think.

[ The images he sees in the mirrors -- well, they're much uglier than dead girls. ]

[gratefultogetaway]

Oh, great. Well, if it's a curse, then at least it'll end...

[mortemscintilla]

It will. It just might... take a while.

[ He summons a friendly smile. ]

If you like, I could take you to the Welcome Center. It's better if there are people nearby. It takes your mind off other things.

[ ...Not that it works for him. But Hei's levels of isolation are triggered by something else entirely. ]

[gratefultogetaway]

....that actually sounds nice. Thanks. I'd like that.

[mortemscintilla]

All right.

Sit tight. I'll be over in a bit. [ A beat. ] With treats for Pooka.

[gratefultogetaway]

Oh, you're about to become his favorite person.

[mortemscintilla]

[ That is the nefarious plan. ]

Every puppy should have one. [ A little smile. ] What about you, Miss Anya? Anything you'd like me to pick up on the way?

[gratefultogetaway]

[She shrugs, smiling and shaking her head.] I'm fine, thanks.