Journal Entry 1

[grandduchess_anya]

Sender: Anya
To: Everyone
Subject: Strange Riddle

Hi everyone. I don’t know if anyone has noticed this right now, but I have found something that arrived with my talismans while I was cleaning up my treehouse weeks ago. Strangely enough, it has a similar handwriting to the writing on the pieces that I found in the hut with my partner last month. This one sounds a lot like a riddle but I’m still trying to understand what it is talking about.

It said that someone knows when we’re sleeping and they still stay where they were when we’re awake, and a warning about a being that has a fang-toothed grin, and said figure could either be man or a rabbit munching on cheesecake. That’s what I am getting at the moment. Has anyone else found a copy of the riddle coming with their set of talismans too? Maybe we can find out what it is trying to tell us together.

Comments

Sender: Tenn

[perfectenn]

Wait. The handwriting on the papers you found in the hut is the same as the message in our journals?

[ This insinuation that the witch has access to their journals is going to have his hair on end for some time, thanks. ]

[grandduchess_anya]

I wish that I was making things up right now, but it is pretty clear that the handwriting on both of them do match.

[perfectenn]

[ Moment of silence while Tenn hangs his head in his hands and contemplates all the ramifications of this.

Which leads to some disturbing ideas when he recalls his recent correspondence with Neir. ]

The fangtoothed grin could be referring to the mutton man. Eustace and Nier reported they fought it near Baba Yaga's hut originally. It might have come here in pursuit of the witch, if not us.

But what most concerns me are the passages before. Where I'm from, there are stories about a figure on the moon. Either a man or a rabbit, depending on the culture.

[grandduchess_anya]

Hmm… A mutton man? I haven’t encountered him so far, but I’m curious to know what does he look like. And I wonder why the mutton man has been trying to find the witch for.

Oh, so there are stories where there is either a man or a rabbit that inhabits the moon in various cultures. I haven’t read much about them before. Maybe you can share some of the stories of the inhabitants of the moon.

[perfectenn]

[ He flips through his journal to direct her to the right entry. Ah, here it is. The illustrations are still... poor, but at least it’s something. ]

Their report on the mutton man is a few pages back.

The citizens sent us to find Baba Yaga when the moon grew and the sky turned red. The mutton man was lurking near her hut, attacking those it came across, and there were ink stains in the grass. I don't think it's a coincidence. There appeared to have been a fight.

In common folklore, if one looks at the full moon, the shadows on it form the shape of either a man's face or a rabbit. Some say the rabbit is pounding rice to make mochi cakes. Others say the moon is a celestial being resembling a man, or perhaps a spirit banished from the earth.

[grandduchess_anya]

(She did a good read on the report on the Mutton Man and is left shocked by absurdly strong he was/is. Now she is wondering if the Mutton Man is either a new form of Eraser, or a new form of the Story Eater, or possibly both.)

Ah, so that is what the Mutton Man looked like. I didn’t expect to hear how dangerous he could be until I read the report just now. Hm, I will have to watch out for him if ever I run into him in the near future.

That is really fascinating. So many stories about the man itself. Though I am not that knowledgeable of what mochi cakes are, but I assume that they are a kind of sweets. Never had them before.

sender: lalli

[skittering]

sounds fake

[grandduchess_anya]

Um, hello? It sounds like you might be wary of the riddle and what it is saying. Maybe you don’t have a copy of it?

[skittering]

don't have one. not wary

just doesn't sound like a real riddle.

[grandduchess_anya]

I see. This is unlike any riddle anyone would have read and might not be meant to be read as such.

But someone else in here did explained earlier that the fang-toothed grin might be a reference to a being known as the Mutton Man. There is also a report about him in one of the previous entries before this one.

[skittering]

what about the cheesecake?

[grandduchess_anya]

That would be in connection to a story about rabbits pounding rice to make these things called mochi on the moon, I believe.

That’s what the other person had told me as well.

[skittering]

this doesn't make sense

do you still have it

( the riddle, he means. )

[grandduchess_anya]

And yes, I still have my copy of the riddle with me.

[skittering]

show me

( .....right. not everyone knows how to do that. siiiigh here comes more: )

look at it

then look at the page and picture it there

( as a demonstration, a very small slip of paper appears on the page beside his words (so there's plenty of room below it) with 'THIS RIDDLE DOESN'T MAKE SENSE' written on it. )

[grandduchess_anya]

(Agh, what a stubborn fellow. And she thought Dmitri can be unbearable at times, and this one person couldn’t even try to let her explain this properly.)

Well, you must be very persisting in wanting proof that the riddle is a joke.

But… What if I had told you that it is highly possible that the Mutton Man could related to these creatures called Erasers and their maker the Story Eater? And that some of the dreamwalkers had encountered the Mutton Man in the previous month’s dreamshift

[skittering]

what? i don't want that. doesn't sound like a joke anymore, but it also doesn't make sense. might make more sense if i read what it said instead of what you said


just got here, haven't heard of any of that. except mutton man now.

has anyone seen it outside of the dream? or just heard of it ( the post about the mutton man didn't say one way or another - they just seemed to assume that the mutton man killing sheep here was the one from the dream. )

[grandduchess_anya]

I can try to write the riddle down for easier access. It goes something like this:

He sees you when you’re sleeping
He’s still there when you’re awake
Some say there lives a man on it
Or a rabbit with some cheesecake

Just beware the fangtoothed grin
For it drips with forgotten sins

Well from what I have heard, some of the other dreamwalkers have encountered them earlier this month. There is also a report on them as well.

[perfectenn]

Mochi cakes are sweets made with rice. Sometimes other flavors are added. They're a popular dessert in Japan, where I'm from.

Moon cakes are also sometimes made with rice. The conversation with Nier made me think of it. Though neither has sinister connotations. They are usually sold during holidays and festivals.

[grandduchess_anya]

Oh, so they’re festive Japanese sweets? I have never been to Japan before, but they do sound delicious, maybe I could try to make them someday.

I wonder what kind of flavors they usually come in.

[perfectenn]

Oh, what country are you from?

Rice absorbs flavors easily, so there are a lot of choices. I like green tea, and some of the regional varieties sold during flower festivals. They have a mild sweetness, so it’s easy to eat a lot.

[grandduchess_anya]

I’m originally from Russia in Europe.

(Actually, it is called the Soviet Union in her world these days, but who is checking right now?)

Oh, that sounds really delicious. Might want to give those a try someday.

[perfectenn]

So that's why the cold doesn't bother you?

[ Gently teasing; being a yuki-onna sure did fit her then! ]

I'd like to make some in the spring once the flowers are blooming again. I'll let you know if I do.

[grandduchess_anya]

Yeah, it gets snowed a lot in Russia since we’re located up north.

Oh, that sounds really great. I’ll be looking forward to it.