Audience: Mahito

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Comments

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k!

[and literally seconds later, lust enters the library and wanders among the shelves looking for a wayward mahito until they spot him in a corner.]

I didn't think you were an arts and crafts kind of person.

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[WELCOME, LUST... He'll raise a free hand in greeting and gesture them over.]

Yeah, you're not the first person to say that. [Wow no idea why people who know what he is continue to struggle with the fact that he has very normal interests, like watching horror movies and playing at the beach.]

I like it, though! It's kind of relaxing. Here--

[Passing over some yarn!]

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Thanks! [they take the yarn and immediately pick out some colors to start tying together and work on a bracelet.] I think it's pretty relaxing, too, but not everybody has the patience for it.

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[Just two arts and crafters vibing over their bracelets...]

Yeah, I get it. Sometimes I don't, either... [HIS WHIMS.] But when I do, it's a lot of fun! I've made tons of nice stuff before.

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Like what? Maybe there's a different kind of artform you can try out to keep busy while we're here and when you run out of yarn.

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Different kinds of sculptures!

[This is a terrible demon joke.]

But with yarn, I only know how to make bracelets and hair ties and things like that. I wouldn't mind trying out some other stuff, though. I've heard watercoloring is fun?

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[hate that.]

Watercolor is fun. So's fingerpainting if you're into that kind of thing. [messes...] Pottery? But we don't have a wheel here or anything.

[hmmmm....]

I mostly draw or do cute graphics on my computer.

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[FAIR!!]

Oh... I've never tried that, either! [Well. If fingerpainting with blood doesn't... count... ANYWAY, it's fine, he's distracted by the mention of their passion for graphic design.]

What kind of stuff do you draw? Can I see some of it?

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Would you want to? It's kinda cheesy! [but they obviously care about it and don't really mind.]

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[Lust is cute... can't wait to find out they're actually a serial killer robot or something]

Yeah, I do! [He does in fact seem to be pretty intrigued by it. SHOW HIM THE ART!!] If you don't mind sharing and all.

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[:)]

Sure! [give them a second to reach into their pocket and pull out a phone? it looks like a pink cell phone, and they power it on to flip through things. it's a lot of cutesy graphics like this of various things like cats, flowers, buildings, etc.]

Simple, but cute.

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[i aki am just sitting here looking at this and losing my shit WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE.....

Mahito on the other hand is perfectly content to watch as they flip through their phone, enjoying the images as they go by.]

That's a good style! Totally the kind of thing you'd see in like, advertisements and stuff in Shibuya.

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[i'm crying come back at endgame.

but! yeah! cute!]

Yeah, exactly! It's all stuff I use for my videos on my streaming channel so I have to keep a certain style to match.

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[im so afraid

Mahito is just vibing though, as he always is and always will be. God bless.]

Hey! Do you have any of your videos here? Like, access to 'em? I wanna see one.

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[rude.]

...yeah! Yeah, I think I have a few on my phone? Let me see...

[give them a moment to click around...before handing this pink-ass cell phone to him and hitting play.]

This one's pretty goofy, but it has my art in it!

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[i still can't believe this

WHAT THE FUCK IS EVEN HAPPENING HERE oh my god. Good thing Mahito is just here to vibe and consume weird content. He's a 4chan gijinka, he's seen much weirder shit in his short cursed life.]

Oh! That's you? You've got a cute face. I like these, too! [Pointing to her fuckin cat ear whatever the hell these are. PART OF HEADPHONES?? Mahito probably knows but i aki don't. ANYWAY...]

This is some high-energy stuff, huh? --Eh? [WHY IS THIS CREATURE BACK. WHAT IS IT. WHAT'S THIS. She's getting abducted for the views...

Mahito watches with a sort of perplexed interest as this? Bizarre story?? Unfolds??? He's quiet, brow knitting together every so often. He also seems pretty amused at parts, though. Like the explosion. Wow. ANYWAY WHEN THAT'S DONE he'll hand her pink-ass cell phone back over!]

--Huh... A little more niche than I expected! But I can definitely see why it'd catch on.

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[IT'S A LOT YEAH and she just kind of shrugs!]

Aw, thank you! It was kind of a filler episode when I was still uploading weekly. I was just trying to get my name out there.

[scrolling, scrolling...] Oh wait, I should have shown you this one! We talked about urban legends and stuff before, right?

[she will click play on something less weird.]

Just ignore the weird glitch at the end. [mahito shouldn't have asked because now he has to suffer.]

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[YOU SAY THAT LIKE HE'S GOING TO BE SUFFERING. He's just fussing absently with the yarn as he leans over to watch now...

Unsurprisingly, he's more avidly interested in this one. God. Hate that!! He really seems to enjoy the story itself, and even interjects at one point with:]

You're a pretty good story-teller! [Before he goes back to listening, propping his chin up with his free hand. He also looks vaguely intrigued by the glitches because of course he does!! But he won't address those first. Instead, he's just pointing at the carousel's final shot with a little nod.]

This is the kind of place a curse would be born in.

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[that's true, i stand corrected. she smiles though from under the hood, holding her phone so that he can keep watching.]

That doesn't surprise me. That was the place the first of the new Cyclops killings happened.

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[Once it's done, he'll lean back, picking up where he left off with his bracelet making but still keeping his eyes on her.]

Oh! See, even a strong urban legend would be enough, hah. But if it's the source of a death or a real human's misery, that's even better.

[For. Birthing curses but he doesn't clarify and instead just sounds like a serial killer which he essentially is anyway so it's fine.]

Serial killing case where the victims lose an eye, I'm guessing?

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You think? That's so crazy! I know we've talked about it before but it's always fascinating to think about what it takes to make a curse.

[she's like vaguely aware of what he means. she puts her phone down to keep working on her own bracelet.]

But yeah, that's right. I did a short segment about the old case, too, before the new ones started up. It started six years ago when four young women were killed. Their corpses were found in the Akikawa Valley. The killer signed a letter that they sent to the media with the name Cyclops. That's the real reason they were called the Cyclops killings.

Up until recently, the culprit was still at large, too.

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Yup! As long as even one human is directing their strong negative feelings toward a source, that's all it takes. Urban legends can get pretty powerful since it's always tons of people believing the same thing, but real fears like murder and death always hold more weight.

[A little nod! He is always so perfectly happy to explain this shit to her, god.]

Pretty gruesome, though. But you caught 'em? Was it the same killer, or were you guys looking at a copycat?

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And people tend to panic when they're in a group anyway, so that's even more stable for curse births...[cirths...]

It was the same guy! Or one of them, at least. It's really complicated to explain but Date figured it out in the end. It worked out.

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[CIRTHS. ABSOLUTELY HATE THAT.]

Yep! Haha. Though, to be honest, sustained fear over a looong period of time will usually result in something more stable than a sudden burst of group panic.

[The more you know... about cirths. He'll nod along as she explains, though.]

--Is that the friend of yours? Who was in the wrong body or something?

[Look the lore he got was confusing BUT HE MADE AN EFFORT TO REMEMBER.]

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[you know i absolutely deleted this when i read cirths assuming it was some other cursed bullshit but no, it was my cursed bullshit.]

So like stories about the boogie man instead of just a jumpscare video. [also nodding along like this is a normal-ass conversation.

but ah!]

Yeah, that's him. A lot of it was really, really involved and I think only Date could've figured it all out anyway.