She always goes for the cute ones

A perfect time to visit my grand mother, I hate coming to this place. Of all the places she decided to spend the rest of her days, it had to be a creepy, eerie, dark forest in the mountains in the country side. Who would live here? Who in there right mind would bring themselves to be in the presence of …. THIS place? My grand mother was always for the creepy. Yet no matter what we say, no matter what I say, she never seems to realize her choice of lifestyle is just…. Weird.

So I’ve been on this trail walking to her “cabin” or house, whatever you want to call it, for a while now. I can’t drive because there’s no actual roads in this forest. So, like people from before technology was invented, I have no choice but to walk to my grand mother's home. Lovely. I wouldn't complain as much if it were just right up the hill. However her house lies within this "Blair Witch Project" scenario of a forest. It is so irritating to--

I lose my train of thought when I spot another human being. It's a girl. A cute one. And she's walking in my direction. What's she doing all the way out here? She doesn't even look like she lives out here. She dressed in a t-shirt and jeans and a pair of blue chuck taylors. Kind of plain for a girl that cute, but then I would question why she would be dressed to impress in the middle of the woods. She looks at me as she walks up to me, meeting my eyes. She smiles and waves. Such a lustful look. What's with that? She stops in front of me. Oh boy!

"You're not from around here are you?" She asked

I clear my throat and answer. "No I'm not. My Grand Mother lives around here. She's in a cabin."

"Oh I know the one." She says. "Here, I'll take you."

Well that's awfully nice of her. Here I am complaining to myself and the locals decide to help out. Oh I should ask that.

"Are you from around here?" I ask.

"Yes. Believe it or not, I've lived here my whole life. We get alot of people like you around here. Lost and upset."

"I'm not upset" How did she know I was upset? Do I look angry?

"You seem tense when I came up. It's not so bad here. Once you know the area, you'll never want to leave."

The way she said that made me feel a little.... weird.

"Well I'm just visiting. So I'll probably be gone in 2 days and I doubt that's enough time to learn anything about this place."

That sounded kind of rude, but then she told me this: "Well one thing you might want to know about this place is that it may be a little haunted."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, they say there's a woman out here who goes around and throws her head at people. The head bites down and sucks out their life essence. Creepy huh?"

Lovely. Now I'm upset again. Now I have to walk the rest of the way to my grand mother's house with a crazy lady who believes in ghost. AND she's cute! God, Why is it always the cute ones?

"That does sound pretty creepy. She wouldn't happen to be around would she? We're not close to her.... haunted... nest... place are we?"

"No, she doesn't come out until night fall. You're fine for now. But I'd stay indoors after hours if I were you."

"Oh yeah? What she only goes after men or something?"

"Well she does go after the cute ones. Or so I hear."

Well that's sweet of her in a creepy sort of way. She thinks I'm cute. Well she's not bad herself. Now if only she wasn't such a wierdo, I think we could make this trip interesting.

Well we eventually end up at my grand mother's house and I couldn't be more thrilled. My feet are killing me.

"Well this is it" I tell her.

"So it is." She says.

"Would you... like to come in for a while?" I'm totally gonna go for it.

"It's getting late. I have to be getting back. Besides I don't think the old lady likes me."

Really now. Why wouldn't my grand ma like her? I mean she is a christian woman. All that ghoustly, ghoulish talk would drive any elderly church goer bat shit crazy with religious talk. Though it sucks because it only means I'm going to bed alone tonight. Oh well.

"Well thanks for the company miss..." I never asked her name.

"Sam. You can call me Sam. It's short for Samantha but I'll answer to Sam."

"Well Sam, you be safe out there."

"And you too. Don't let the headless ghost get you!"

"Yeah.." Please go away now. I don't want you to come in anymore.

So at Grandma's house. It's the usual. Greet me with hugs and kisses, pinch my cheeks, ask me where my dead Grand father is, and of coarse, have I been in church recently. It's always good to see her. Though I still wish she had picked better living conditions.

"So I saw you talking to that girl on the way up here." She says

"What girl?" I like playing dumb with her. It's a habit that's hard to break.

"You know. The girl. The devil girl."

Now that is just mean. Just because she believes in ghost doesn't mean she should be considered a satanist. Old people are mean to people who are different.

"Oh her. Why is she the devil girl?" I ask

"She speaks the tongue of the beast! I've seen her do some devil things in the forest."

"Devil things?"

"You know. Like, making herself bleed all over the place, screaming at the sky, doing... magic... I don't know. Don't talk to her anymore."

"If you say so." Okay so she IS a crazy girl. Maybe it's best she didn't come in.

"Can you do me a favor?" she asked

"What's that Grandma?"

"I need you to go out and get me some logs for the fireplace. It's going to be cold tonight and I'm keeping the heating furnace off to save on gas bills. So can you be a dear?"

"It's dark out."

"Please sweetie, it's going to be cold."

"Fine"

I really do not want to go out there in the dark. I don't want to be killed by some wild animal. I'd rather die with dignity. But I decide to suck up and be a man. My grandma's cold. I throw on my coat and slip on my boats and head out into the... wilderness. I can't believe I even have to say this. So now I'm out in the middle of the woods.

It is pitch black. If it wasn't for my dear friend, the moon, I wouldn't be able to see a thing. I find a couple of pieces of logs for the fire so I gather them up. However, when I'm ready to get back, I realize... I'm kind of lost. I'm pretty sure you can tell I am very upset. I walk around for a bit and then something catches my eye. Something flickered. Something shiny, something... not dark. I look over to see what it was. I remember that white t-shirt from earlier today.

"Sam?" I call out to her.

She slowly turned to me and smiled. But something was wrong with that smile. It was cold, bad, .... evil.

"She always goes for the cute ones!" She says in a low raspy voice.

"What are you... talking about?" The moment I said that, something dropped. Something heavy hit the ground. I'm not sure what it was because my eyes were fixated on something rising. The shiny thing, Sam's face, rose into the night sky. Her eye's still fixated on mines. I then assume, that whatever hit the floor, was probably the rest of her. I was too scared to realize anything at that moment.

"SHE ALWAYS GOES FOR THE CUTE ONES!!!!!" she screamed. Her head flew at me and bit into me. That sharp, sudden, pain gave me the push to snap out of it. I wrestled her head off of me and threw it to the side. It never touched the ground. Instead, it rotated to stare at me once more and she smiled again.

"I really think... you're cute..." She flew towards me again. trying to bite me. I hit it with a log and ran for it. I don't know where I was going but I sure as hell needed to get away. I eventually ended up back at the cabin. I threw open door and slammed it shut behind me. My grandma came in and saw the fear in my eyes.

"You saw her didn't you? The devil lady?"

"What... what... what the hell is going on here!! Who is she?!" Seriously though. What am I dealing with here?

"The devil himself. The headless ghost."

The myth my story is about: the Nukekubi

Its kind of fascinating. A ghost that throws it's head at it's victims. I really like ghoulish myths like this one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nukekubi

BlazBlue series

One game that’s influenced me is probably the Blazblue series. It’s different from any other fighting game I grew up playing, with an interesting cast of characters, all with their own unique game play. In most fighting games, story isn’t very important and that may also apply to Blazblue as well. However, Blazblue is probably one of the only fighting games that’s so heavily influenced on a story that develops these character’s strengths and personality with each entry through the series.

The characters I believe are what make this game’s story interesting. It’s not your typical cast of fighting game characters like the martial arts expert, the large wrestling characters with the cheapest grab moves, and the evil dictator whose hosting a tournament to gain every fighting ability to rule the world. Blazblue’s characters stray away from that tradition with it’s own unique style. With a half vampire who lost his arm, an officer with amnesia, a blob of living sludge that shoots insects, you always ask the question “how in the world did these characters get like this?” It made me actually wonder about the plot of this game and though it is extremely confusing to follow, it still keeps me interested in how it’s all slowly unraveling.

From what I’ve gathered, the story is about Ragna, a rebellious fugitive, who searches for his younger sister who was kidnapped by an entity named Terumi. Having his arm sliced off and left to die, he was turned into a half vampire by Rachel Alucard, a vampire with seemingly ungodly powers, who watches over everything from her own Halloween type realm. Ragna goes to a city in hopes to find his sister there but only finds his younger brother along with the rest of the cast of the series there waiting for him. It turns out he has an S class bounty on his head for attacking NOL branches and destroying devices known as Murakumo units which are robotic copies of his sister and also have developed a human emotion of love towards him.

The Story at first felt like it was all over the place, with each character having there own path to walk. However it all ended up being connected and the characters actually had progressing relationships with one another and that carries over into the next game. I never knew that this type of thing could be possible or even remotely interesting especially in a fighting game. While I may not think that story is that important in fighting games and it may not be that important in this one either, I find it fascinating that the affects from the previous story slightly changes the character’s game play and fighting style in the next entry. I’m currently waiting for the third entry which is supposedly the conclusion to the series, but as long as the hardcore fans enjoy the hardcore fighting engine, even though the story may end, I think the game’s going to be around for a while.