donkaraoke

The Ghost of Bellies Past

Added 2025-06-14 07:45:25 +0000 UTC

(Big thanks to Coconut for helping me figure out what to do with this design!)

Ubume (産女): the restless spirit of a young mother who died a tragic death before she could bear her child.

Crumbling manors, dilapidated estates, ruins of fortresses once inhabited by noble families, in these places the presence of an Ubume might be revealed to a close listener. Soft, weary moans of exertion float through walls as she tries fruitlessly to bear forth what she couldn’t in life, yearning to finally meet the child she’s bore for hundreds of years now, carried low, contracting, in eternal labor.

Linger a while and you might see another side of the Ubume. Spend the night in one such place and you’ll wake to a visitor at your bedside. Don’t worry, her intentions will be benign: such an afterlife is a lonely one, especially for a flower picked just as it began to bloom. Swallow your fear and give her the company she’s after, and no harm will come to you. Just don’t acknowledge the way her stomach heaves and squeezes, constantly, rhythmically, lest you remind her of her grief.

Yuriko Takabe is an Ubume living in the modern day city of Miskaton. Like most supernatural citizens, she leads a reasonably normal life alongside the living. She has a job, an apartment, and a few close friends.

As a specter, Yuriko doesn’t feel pain, so her ghostly labor doesn’t interfere with her daily activities. It does unsettle people though. The perpetual, lethargic heaving and contracting of her belly tends to distract, and lugging around a distended stomach that audibly sloshes with amniotic fluid means she rarely gets a second date.