10 ⚜ Audio

[restingstitchface]

[Anyone who's familiar with Crane will recognize his compulsive need to study fear. But what's the curious thing, here? His approach. His voice is as soft and calm as it had been upon his arrival. It gives an impression of frailty that's deliberately misleading. There was nothing about him that sounded like the Scarecrow. And that's the frightening thing.]

Machiavelli once said, "And here comes in the question whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved. It might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both; but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved."

I put his question to you all; is it better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved?

[He likes the idea of letting the piddling powers in this place believe he's behaving himself; listening to that silly therapist he'd encountered recently. Maybe his audience all be dishonest in their answers. Frightened. Scared. He indulges in a smile. He will have to confirm all of their opinions with an experiment, of course.]

Comments

[glitterateur]

I dunno. That might be too frightening! Like it's one thing to jump out of a closet when someone's sneaking around looking for presents or something, but scaring somebody half to death sounds like too much.... Then it's only fun for you!

[restingstitchface]

That's the whole point.

[Isn't it?]

[glitterateur]

That kinda ruins it for everybody! Then no one will watch scary movies with you or trust you when you tell ghost stories, 'cause they'll know you're going to throw peeled grapes on them or something.

[restingstitchface]

... Peeled grapes?

[Really? REALLY? That's the extent of your capacity to spread terror, Mabel?]

How... ridiculous.

[glitterateur]

[Most amounts of terror are beyond her.]

It's 'cause they feel like eyeballs! Get it?

[restingstitchface]

I get it perfectly. Who on earth taught you...

... You really need a better teacher, child.

[glitterateur]

In biology?

[restingstitchface]

No. Scaring people.

[glitterateur]

Is that a real subject with actual teachers? [Has she been going to weird schools all of her life?]

[restingstitchface]

Crafting horror has been an art form for centuries, now. There are people who can teach you. I just happen to be the master of it all.

[glitterateur]

[Oh. Oh! Crafting. Art! Those are things she can get behind. ]

Can you show me how to do monster makeup? The kind they use in movies! [For the purposes of super sweet Halloween costumes.]

[restingstitchface]

[Uuuugh. Oh. Hold up. There's a lovely way to twist this!]

One doesn't need Hollywood make-up to hide their face, you know. Are masks something that pique your interest?

[glitterateur]

[She considers this. Masks are a great platform for personal expression and also glitter! Plus a guy who goes for the gold when it comes to scaring his friends probably has legitimate construction skills.]

Yeah! I've always used makeup, but masks could open up a whole new world of costuming!

[restingstitchface]

[... Glitter. Go and read Twilight or something and leave him aloooone.]

I agree. Masks are fascinating things, are they not? Their psychology is entrancing.

[glitterateur]

[Been there read that a hundred times.]

It is? I thought they just looked cool.

[restingstitchface]

[You poor, poor child.]

They do. They can look scary too.

[This would be where he'd insert a smiley face, were it in his character to do so.]

[glitterateur]

Well yeah but what does that have to do with psychology?

[That's the couch thing, right. Just couches and notepads.]

[restingstitchface]

Masks are our social faces that we present to the world. As children we learn when to wear them and when to pull them off. They enable us to act out our fantasies without revealing ourseoves.

[glitterateur]

Oh! So it's just like superheroing stuff. You can do whatever when you wear a mask because nobody can tell it's you.

[restingstitchface]

That's exactly it, yes. The anonymous thrill. The joy of scaring people. You should wear a mask sometime too.

[glitterateur]

Yeah! I could bedazzle so many things and people would have no idea. Anonymous.

[restingstitchface]

Indeed. You could play tricks on everyone and they wouldn't know a thing.

[glitterateur]

Nah, I'm a treat person! Except on Dipper, sometimes. But you've got some solid ideas!

[restingstitchface]

Well, I suppose scaring your brother to death is a good start.