[when the video clicks on, the lighting in the room is very, very dim; a billowy white blouse and shiny dark hair stand out in the pale light from the computer's screen. Shia has her back to the camera, and is sitting in the floor, an intricately-patterned skirt pooled around her legs. a boy sleeps with his head in her lap, a blanket pulled over him; some may recognize him as Kotarou Higuchi, her next-door neighbor and friend.

Shia lightly pets his hair, absently, as a mother would her sleeping child. for a moment, things are quiet; and then something happens. those of the community who are sensitive to the supernatural will hear a psychic voice speaking to Shia; those who aren't won't hear anything at all, only Shia's response.]

I feel something from that boy.

[Shia glances at something off in the dark, presumably the source of the psychic voice.]

Ah...? Feel... from Higuchi-san?

Yeah. He has the scent of the thing you're searching for!

[Shia doesn't seem to like the sound of that, somehow.]

Ah...

But we can't really be sure yet. Why don't you check? Don't you need to feel it more?

... yes...

[she pushes herself back from him, brushing the hair from his face. she murmurs something to him-- something very soft, something the camera's microphone barely picks up. if something has very, very good hearing, they may be able to make out her asking him to forgive her for something... and then she leans down over him. the darkness and the angle hide exactly what she's doing fairly well, unfortunately, and things are quiet for a moment.

after a beat of this, she sits back up, silently. she makes to stand-- but then turns her head just enough to catch the computer filming her, and she looks strangely horrified. for just a moment before she can close her hand over it, before she hits the button and switches the video off, the crimson glimmer of something that could be blood can be seen on her lips.]


((Responses are from early the next morning. She's gonna check the comm out of paranoia that it got posted. As stated, the only ones who can hear the voice in italics are people who are sensitive to supernatural things-- people who can sense demons and the like-- and psychics. Anyone else won't hear anything, just Shia talking to herself. There's gonna be a follow-up post to this later, so stay tuned.))

I wonder, what sort of world would you create for yourself? People were asking how I became King, and I simply told them that I created my own country. But, I did it out of my own bravery and courage to face the unknown. So, if you had the ability and the tenacity to do so, would you even descend into the bowels of the Earth to create the world you would want?

[this time, when the video clicks on, it's not Shia sitting at the computer, but her roommate, the lovely Misha. she's clad in a school uniform, and she looks panicked.]

Hauuuu-- Duckies! Duckies, su! Shia-chan said that she talks to yas and thatcha know all kindsa stuffs, su! Lookie, lookie-- [she clumsily scoops the laptop up and then turns around to point it at something nearby-- a futon, on which lay Shia and Kotarou, side-by-side. they both seem to be unconscious.]

We was just talkin' after school, and then she and Kotarou-kun fell down and fainted, su! And they won't wake up! I just don't know what ta do, su!

[she turns the laptop back around, and the camera gets a rather uncomfortably close-up shot of her panicked face.]

What should I do?! I tried everything, su!