bad rap

[insertusername]

bad rap

The things we become known for aren’t always what we’d like to be known for. Reputations are hard to run from. Sometimes they’re not even deserved. So here’s your chance to set the record straight. Clear up some misplaced assumptions, debunk any rumours about yourself and defy your stereotypes.

how to play:

Top level with something(s) your character is tired of people assuming about them, blaming them for, or pigeonholing them about, etc. Say it in person or over text.

Comment on any surprising, or not so surprising declarations.

Comments

[horticulturalist]

I don't know any of these stories. How's the Girl in the Diner go?

[borrowyourcoat]

It usually starts with a trucker picking up a hitchhiker. He takes her to a diner, and she leaves him to ride with someone else, right before the truck is totaled. They never find anyone in the passenger seat, just an empty coat. Sometimes they like to add details like where or how the girl died, but the story usually ends the same way- dead drivers and empty coats.

[horticulturalist]

And that's you? You're the last one they rode with?

Does that mean you're dead?

[borrowyourcoat]

It's not 'on me.' I make sure they don't die alone, and I show them how to move on if they want to.

[She nods at the second question. She did say she was a ghost.]

[horticulturalist]

No, I wasn't— I didn't say that.
I get it.

Did you... actually die in one of these stories?

[borrowyourcoat]

I died a long time ago, in a little town in Michigan. I was run off the road. I was on my way to my boyfriend's senior prom at the time, and a good haunting always starts with a nice archetype like that.

[She drops her attempts to sound like a "modern" living teen, and she suddenly sounds like someone who might've babysat for his boys for pocket money on the weekend. Funny how the way people use language changes over the decades.]

[horticulturalist]

I'm sorry.
Is that what makes a ghost? Those kind of... bordering-on-ironic death circumstances?

[borrowyourcoat]

I've dealt with it, but I appreciate the sentiment. And... sometimes? Every death that creates a ghost is its own thing, but it seems to really help to have a big event like that. Sudden, violent death is the bigger part of the equation.

[horticulturalist]

Interesting.

I've seen some ghosts. But don't know a lot about them.
If every death makes one where do most of them go? The ones we don't see. Are they... still around somewhere too?

[borrowyourcoat]

Not every death. It takes a combination of things. Usually a violent death, or at the very least, intense emotions and unfinished business. Most people move on when they go- sometimes people like me help keep them from getting lost on the way.

I don't know what comes after that, other than that it's permanent.