Statement of Felix Verloren and Blair Matthews, regarding an encounter with the Skinsnatcher, otherwise known as Natasha. Statement given June 6th, 2020. Statement recorded live from subjects.
Transcript under cut.
[Click.]
ARCHIVIST Okay. Sorry, we're gonna start this again from the top. It should work this time.
Statement of Felix Verloren and Blair Matthews, regarding an encounter with the Skinsnatcher, otherwise known as Natasha. Statement given June 6th, 2020. Statement recorded live from subjects.
Statement begins.
FELIX To begin with, it took a few days to even find the location in question, Foxborough Shopping Center, though the name is more or less forgotten by this point, due to its closure in 1992. The rumored, and, likely correct reason being the sharp decrease in business after a homicide occurred on the premises. The victim in question, young Adaline McKinnon, was murdered in the dressing room of a department store. It was called murder, but the circumstances are unclear enough, without a killer being caught, that it is hard to say. BLAIR Yeah, it was real annoying trying to find that place. We got there at around three in the afternoon. It's quiet and a lil spooky but that's not important. Um, after a bit of searching, we manage to find the store and we find the doors, although they... didn't look like how they were described in the statement
FELIX For one thing they both appeared… normal in every sense of the word, versus how the statement described them. Nothing seemed quite amiss.
BLAIR Yeah, then uh, we went in and they led to two old dressing rooms. The first one was normal too, nothing was out of place. It did still have some old clothing hanging up, which was sort of weird, but it wasn’t that noteworthy at the time. The uh, next one however was a little less normal. The mirror in it was cracked, and I swore I saw the skinsnatcher. A pale woman in a plain black dress, long red hair and really dark eyes. She uh, smiled at me.
[Nervous huff of laughter.] I uh, was happy enough to blame it on ghosts in the moment.
Of course at the time, I didn't know it was the... thing. And when I looked back behind me, there was... nothing.
FELIX Nothing at the time, at any rate.
Investigating the one purported to have contained a 'void', it didn't seem off. Aside from the clothing inside. I... Personally found it strange that a completely abandoned facility would still contain any items within, but that is hardly important. Continuing our search, we didn't find much of anything mentioned in the account aside from the cracked mirror as Blair said. The building was almost empty and unremarkable otherwise. I had personally written the place off as a hoax until…
I saw her myself. It? I don't... I don't know.
BLAIR We were in the middle of the store when we noticed her. It. It was so… pale, and its features were almost weirdly exaggerated? It looked just off enough that we knew it wasn’t… normal. Whatever it was, it blocked off the door and charged us, leading to me and Felix getting separated.
I locked myself in the dressing room with the cracked mirror, and of course that thing followed me instead. Hearing it's creepy voice calling out for me was... not fun. It tried to lure me out, but I'm not that dumb. Eventually it resorted to… scratching, at the door. I don't know how long it took for it to give up, but it felt like ages…
FELIX [Quietly.] Whatever it was…
I managed to get outside the establishment, somehow. I don't know why it didn't simply come after me first, I was the easier target.
It took me longer than I care to admit, but I managed to get ahold of the bat we'd brought along. Er. Blair, brought along, specifically.
At that point it had lost interest in her... and... well, it very nearly caught me just trying to get back inside.
BLAIR While Felix was busy dealing with the thing, I waited for a while just to make sure it was clear. Thankfully, it was. Walking back out of the mall alone was... not easy, to say the least. I'm already a jumpy person, but the atmosphere was... terrible
When I got back outside, lo and behold, what I found out there was Felix beating the shit out of that thing. It was pretty badass. [Felix stammers slightly in the background.] While it was distracted, I got into the car and started it up. When I was sure Felix wasn’t in the way, I rammed into it with the car, sending it flying a good bit.
FELIX Right. That was impressive in its own right. [A pause.] Normally that would have likely killed a man, but... we didn't exactly look back to check. We left as soon as I managed to get back in the car.
I… hope it’s dead, anyway.
BLAIR Me too buddy, me too. That thing was creepy as hell... it looked... too human. If that's even possible.
FELIX Looked a bit like a painted mannequin attempting to masquerade. Her, its... limbs were just slightly off enough to feel a bit, sickening to look at.
ARCHIVIST Hm. [A pause.] And you guys--you’re sure it was the Skinsnatcher?
BLAIR It had to have been. Thing was probably waiting for another victim to snack on.
FELIX It matched the descriptions on file to a T. That thing was 'Natasha'.
ARCHIVIST Right, right. Okay. Did you feel like you were being followed at all, on your way back?
FELIX As much as one would after an experience like that.
ARCHIVIST Okay, that’s fair. Have you seen her since?
BLAIR Don’t think so.
FELIX Not as far as I can recall.
ARCHIVIST Okay. I don’t know if that’s good or not. If you see her again, let me or Hazel know immediately, alright?
BLAIR You got it, Boss.
ARCHIVIST Alright. You can get back to work. Just… take it easy, okay?
[Click.]
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The Archivist: @cacowhistle
Felix Verloren: @riku-reimei
Blair Matthews: @brassgiraffe
