video; un: hinokami

[zutsuki]

[The feed is horribly wobbly at first, the device obviously in motion in fumbling hands as it's set lengthwise against a surface, propped up. Tanjiro takes not-enough steps backward from it, leaving the video to be mostly awkwardly focused on his chin and shoulders. He has no frame of reference for how this works, let him live.]

I'm only about half sure I'm doing this right, but I really hope I am because I have something really important I have to share. I'm sorry-- for sharing it, because it's probably putting a lot of people in danger, but!! I'm Kamado Tanjiro, and I'm here to pass along a really unsettling message my friend received, and I hope you'll all pass it around and hopefully we can find a solution.

[He turns to look off screen for a moment, says something that's muddled by his facing the other direction, and then walks back to his own device with another one in his hand. He then proceeds to turn the other device toward the video of his own, showing a too-close view of what is ...still clearly a chain letter text message. He leaves it there a moment, as if expecting people to read it, before stepping back again.]

I don't know what it means, but if anyone has any details on this Bloody Mary, which I'm pretty sure is probably a demon, please let me know! You can also contact Hashibira Inosuke, this was sent to him first! I'll read it, too--

You are now cursed! You must send this on or you will be killed. Tonight at 12:00am, by Bloody Mary. This is no joke. So don't think you can quickly get out of it and delete it now, because Bloody Mary will come to you if you do not send this on. She will slit your throat and your wrists and pull your eyeball out with a fork. And then hang your dead corpse in your bedroom cupboard or put you under your bed. What is your family going to do when they find you dead? Won't be funny then, will it? Don't think this is a fake and it's all put to scare you because you are wrong, so very wrong. Remember, Bloody Mary can do anything!

[He's still too close to the video feed to really be seen properly, but he's also taking this entire thing Far Too Seriously. His grip on Inosuke's phone, which is the most visible thing at this moment, is even white-knuckled.]

Everyone please be safe!!

[Someone please help this poor idiot country bumpkin. Or at least laugh at him.]

Comments

[zutsuki]

[Excuse him as he continues to be not entirely in the frame of his video.]

Oh, that might help, yeah... [He's not especially religious, but it seemed like a good idea anyway.]

[affectueux]

[ god bless. ]

All right. I’m not sure if it’ll do much here, but it should at least help you calm your mind. Do you usually pray to anything?

[zutsuki]

[Please forgive this idiot mountain baby, Serge, he'll get better I promise.]

As long as you don't think it's a bother, I mean... I pray to God for lost lives, but this seems a little trivial.

[affectueux]

Nothing is too trivial for the Lord, Monsieur Kamado.

[ serge says this without a trace of self-awareness, because of course he does. ]

Should we pray for her soul to be put to rest, so that she need not haunt us?

[zutsuki]

[The fuck did you just call him? He's a little confused, visible only in the way his brow furrows at Monsieur, but he doesn't opt to question him. Hon hon hon.]

[He does hum in thought and then nod, tapping a knuckle to his lips.]

That's probably the best course-- It's terrible that she's not been able to pass on, but I really can't have her coming after me and Inosuke. [He looks pretty sincerely distressed about this, but brings his hands together in prayer anyway.]

[affectueux]

[ get cultured fool ]

I understand.

[ then, serge too laces his hands together and bows his head, and he has to come up with, very quickly, a prayer that seems appropriate for this “bloody mary” to pass on into the next world, or whatever. ]

Father in Heaven, please cast away this evil spirit from Messieurs Kamado and Inosuke, and all who might have suffered before them, so that we may continue to live in peace and enact goodwill upon others without obstruction or hesitation. [ a beat. ] Um, and please have mercy on the spirit herself, that she may too find peace in your loving arms, or absolution in your judgment. Our Father, Hail Mary… [ he falters ] …um, Mother of Jesus, and Glory Be. Amen.

[zutsuki]

[LISTEN...]

[As he uses a similar term again, Tanjiro figures maybe he kind of understands what it means, just a little. The way he falters through his prayer makes Tanjiro smile, softly at first and then a little wider, because hot damn this guy just made up a prayer on the fly for his sake. He bows his head into his fingertips.]

Amen.

...um, thank you, by the way.

[affectueux]

[ serge exhales when the prayer is over. he got a little intense about it, but maybe there are many more things he’d like to pray for. this boy doesn’t need to hear most of them. serge ought to find some time to really settle down and get to it. ]

There’s no need to thank me unless you feel better. Do you feel better?

[zutsuki]

[He smiles a little-- the intensity of it isn't especially off-putting, since it overall seems to come from a good place. He nods.]

I think so, yes. I might still worry a little, but I'd probably do that anyway.

[affectueux]

A little worrying is okay.

[ he sounds much less panicked, at least, and that’s all serge could have asked from this little encounter. ]

As long as Madame Bloody Mary won’t be keeping you up at night, or… what was it? Something about eyeballs and forks?

[zutsuki]

[Thank you for your service to his often-frayed nerves, Serge. He shudders slightly.]

It only mentioned one eyeball and one fork, and I'm not sure if that's merciful or crueler, really.

[affectueux]

She’s leaving you one. I think that’s quite merciful.

[ it could always be worse, but then, she could always come back for the second one. or, no, you’ll already be dead, so serge supposes there’s no sense in asking for mercy. ]

…my imagination is getting away from me, I would say.

[zutsuki]

[SWEATS...]

Yeah... Maybe so. [Both, for the merciful eyeball, and Serge's imagination, really.]