09 ⚜ Text

[restingstitchface]

[Crane had always been possessed of a deep fascination of Halloween and its related celebrations and symbols; pumpkins, corn-husks and scarecrows that stand tattered in the cornfields. Death and evil, black and orange. The ending of the harvest and the beginning of winter. And the good old-fashioned principle of scaring people.

He's been observing people discussing costume and telling stories. But in his mind, there's no real love of the horror of this night.

Story time? Story time!]

I've listened to your stories. None of them happened; they were fake. Worst of all, none of them were terrifying.

Fortunately, I'm here to help.

Edmund Burke once said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Let me assert that terror lies in the fact good men understand evil. Once upon a time, there was a man who cherished his work, cherished his men. Cherished his lovely wife. Cherished his adorable children.

Now, this everyday man sounds like you or me, doesn't he, imports? Anyway. This man lived above the law but feared people didn't respect him enough. He bullied the citizens with violence and force. He intimidated judges and made them afraid to prosecute. He made everyone terrified. Made them scared. He corrupted the politicians and police and strutted around believing he had nothing to fear, because he understood the world.

Can you guess what happened next? Regretfully, he couldn't understand that not everyone was afraid of him. Yes, this evil man discovered there was a good man willing to do something about him. He lost everything. His money. His power. His freedom. He then lost his mind; he tried inflicting fear upon a fine, upstanding member of the community through blackmail. Honestly, I don't know what the world's coming to. In any case, he had an ongoing delusion this man was weak and easy to intimidate. Now, if you're going to threaten a man, you must understand that good and evil share the same face. And he learned that lesson. And he screamed. He screamed the name of the monster inside his cell as it came upon him night after night. He screamed for mercy as he was restrained, and he howled himself hoarse.

Now, nothing remains for him but to die away from the crowd. Out of sight and out of mind, rotting away in a forgotten room. Drip, drip, drip. Clang! All alone and terrified out of his mind.

Evil is unspectacular and always human,
And shares our bed and eats at our own table.

Remember that evil people can appear normal. And that is the most frightening thing about them. It's those who claim to be good that you should be most wary of.

[And Crane lived happily ever after. The end!]

Comments

[ text ]

[crapbearer]

Scary, sure, but not exactly a summer blockbuster.

permatext

[restingstitchface]

Many acceptable films fly under the critic's radar, you know. Have you heard of word of mouth?

[crapbearer]

Nope. In my entire life, never have I once heard of such a thing.

text

[orions_shadow]

Who are you to judge what stories are real and fake?

That's not really scary either it's just some psychoanalytic talk about things everyone already knows.

text

[restingstitchface]

I see you know nothing of horror, nor the distinction between horror and terror. Furthermore, I see you know nothing of metaphors. Therefore your opinion is useless.

Re: text

[orions_shadow]

Way to make assumptions. your story is boring.

text

[prostheticbody]

Trying to frighten children with platitudes, I see.

permatext

[restingstitchface]

Oh, I'm just getting into the holiday spirit. It is de rigueur to tell spooky tales at this time of year, you know.

[prostheticbody]

The only thing approaching spooky tales that this holiday still inspires are the dentist bills, not cliches about the innate evilness of man.

permatext

[deadtective]

I've had more problems with indifference, honestly. Good and evil's pretty easy.

I'll permatext you

[restingstitchface]

On the surface, yes. Disagree if you like; it makes no difference to me. I won't be angry. I won't be sad. I won't care.

[Do you get the joke, there?]

Frankly, I can't be bothered to educate the plebians here.

oh dear

[deadtective]

Wow, look at you. I'm trying to have a nice outpouring of philosophical bullshit and you just go straight for the bad jokes. No wonder your fireside spinetingler is so lackluster.

text;

[itistolaugh]

anyone we know?

[restingstitchface]

I wager so.

Do you want to guess?

[itistolaugh]

i can think of like 10 guys off the top of my head
happy halloween btw u big nerd

[Permatext]

[sleight_of_hand]

So next you tell us it's scary because it's a true story, right?

Permatext

[restingstitchface]

Not at all. It's terrifying because good and evil have no difference. Anybody here could secretly be a murderer.

[sleight_of_hand]

[HA.]

Well that's true; when it comes to murder cases, it's almost never the person you expect.

[hostage]

tl;dr

[restingstitchface]

I'm sorry to hear that. I'll try to contain my disappointment.

reaction

[112ounces]

[ Carl is preparing his costume late in the afternoon, ready to go actually out in the first time since, well, August. He got his pirate costume ready and was checking out all the late night happenings in Heropa. He was hoping whatever Dad is at, he'll be back by now, although Carl is beginning to suspect Dad might have gone home temporary. (These things always last a few days, tops, right?) His communicator bleeped and he dutifully took note of the latest posts of the imPort community.

Crane. Of course.

Carl cannot deny that there's something between him and Crane, even if he hasn't seen the man face to face after that fated session. Maybe it is because after Crane's showed his true colors, his words have more of an impact. That they actually matter, despite what he's done. That there's some truth to them.

Evil is unspectacular and always human,
And shares our bed and eats at our own table.

This hits too close. Carl can remember that talk he had with Michonne.

"I'm just a monster too."

No. No. He's not going to think on this any longer. He's going to have a good time in a long time. He's not going to let Crane ruin it for him. Carl is not going to talk to him. Not on this night. Carl is going to have one night where the screams are not from his head, and if Crane wants to tell scary stories about fake people with monstrous minds, then let him. Let people give Crane the attention he craves. Carl's not going to be a part of it, not when he's trying his best not to think to hard on the meaning of Dad's disapperance.

Carl quickly dresses up in his costume, carefully tailored by Death the Kid. He puts on his eyepatch and bandana and walks out the door. ]

[beneathbluerafters]

musings on the nature of good and evil lose their impact when coming from a wretch such as yourself. You must be terribly bored.

[restingstitchface]

Aggressive.

You feel the need to inform me of my irrelevance, yet you engage. Are you experiencing stress, perhaps? Or frustration?

text

[tactile_telekinesis]

blah blah blah terrifyin stuff im sure

delivery was bad, gave up after the first part

text

[restingstitchface]

[Hello, you.]

Well, everyone's got to surrender sometime.

Regardless, surrendering at the first instance? That isn't super of you, boy.

[Super. Boy. He knows.]