undergrounds | stop! ghost time (open post)

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stop! ghost time (open post)

JULY 21; COFFEERS' SHOP (LATE AFTERNOON)

Clara doesn't always snoop around the city and sometimes her work isn't always needed in the school. Sometimes she likes to stay in the shop. Sometimes she enjoys listening to idle conversation of the customers, not really listening in on them, that'll be rude, but nonetheless enjoying the buzz of activity the shop has during their busiest hours.

And sometimes that isn't enough. That's when she goes over and pokes around the lost and found box, seeing what's there and if anything is something that belongs to a current patron she can give back to without them looking. It's there that she finds a pair of marigold gloves during her search and about them draws her to them... Naturally she reaches out to and concentrates a bit to have a goodish grasp of it to see if there's a nametag anywhere when she notices a peculiar thing:

It feels... solid under her touch, real and tangible without the strange numbness to her fingertips she's become accustomed to at this rate. It takes her a second to realise what this means. She can touch them! She can hold them! She can do it with ease, most importantly of all.

Oh, what an exciting day for her as she mutters one little apology under her breath and zips off to the back of the shop with her new item. Already she has a little million ideas for them popping into mind, the excitement of the discovery along with the possibilities just enough to drown out her guilt for taking something out of the lost and found box that isn't hers.

JULY 25; AROUND THE CITY (ALL DAY)

After the last few days of activity, Clara decides it's time to be both proactive and to use her gloves to her advantage.

She'll now be found in areas that she usually doesn't snoop around in her attempts to glean information: The darker parts of the city, the seedier alleyways of the town, and etc. She'll peek through windows and go through walls, doing her best to stay invisible and quiet as a mouse while going through things with a newfound ease thanks to her gloves. (When she can bear the itching for long as she can, of course. Goodness do they chafe her skin.)

From Haringey to Hackney to Waltham Forest and then some, she'll be exploring and peeping into a lot of people today if she can. It's risky but she does her best. If she's to be a good observer of information, she needs to dig deep and hope she finds some things out, see what's going on in the heart of the city.

[ OOC: Or make your own scenario in your comment! Prose and brackets welcomed! A note, though, is that only one person can step in to help Clara get rid of the medium that she'll run into on July 25.]

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"I knew I could count on you." Which brings a little bit of a smile back to Maera's face. "It's just irritating, you know. It's not even her words that bother me - it's that I've gotten my temper very much under control and she's threatening that."

"Did they really?" Faolan asks, although he's looking more amused at their enthusiasm than he is intrigued by what it is they are saying. Although the mention of a ghost is interesting, he's a hunter, and he's used to this sort of supernatural stuff going on all around him. Besides, there are a million other reasons why streetlamps could explode in one area as well besides there being a ghost in the place, half of them supernatural, half of them perfectly rational.

He glances to the young woman across from him with a wry sort of smile. As if he promises in that look not to join their enthusiastic number, he swears it. Though if anyone's an authority on these happenings, it will probably be her. And from the sounds of it, she's probably the only one to give him anything of a truthful account of things too. Or at least, her version of the truth, anyway.

"I've known you far longer than anyone else I've met here in London so far," she tells her friend confidently, "and I know for certain is this: You'll be able to do it, keeping her from getting the best of you. You've always been able to do anything if you put your mind to it."

It's what made Clara admire her friend so much in the past, looking up to the girl when she was still young herself. "I'm sorry she's being so awful to you. I don't understand why others can be so... so... so like that. If that makes any sense."

"A... lamp?" For a second or two, in Faust's state of exhaustion, he envisioned a genie's lamp -- some ancient, arcane vessel of gold that would grant one's wishes in one fail swoop. But that was ridiculous. She meant a much more mundane piece of furniture, of course.

"I don't have any spare end tables, Mrs. Seville. Unless it's a floor lamp."

"They did! Someone filmed it and I have a video of it too." The man begins looking in his bag to pull something out, a laptop maybe, to play the video as Bianca is now more than happy to take a swig of her too cold drink if it gets the taste of dread out of her mouth. "It's not the first time she did this sort of thing, breaking lightbulbs and disrupting technology, but it's fact she blew out multiples is what blows my mind. Usually she only takes out a lightbulb or a streelamp. She took out several for some reason."

"Maybe she was in a bit of a mood," Bianca offers while she tries to take a glance at Clara to quietly ask with her eyes did you really do that?

To which the ghost can only shake her head in reply. "It's a long story, Bianca. Mostly involves another ghost and an interesting chat we had. My friend meant no harm at the time."

"Aw man, I think I forgot my laptop at home." What a stroke of luck! Both Bianca and Clara sigh in relief inwardly, glad that he didn't have that incriminating vi-- "Oh wait! I have my recorder here. Do you guys want to hear her speak?"

What.

"I'm sorry. It's a normal desk lamp. We had a floorlamp but then I, ah, broke it after I died." Still learning the limits of her powers at the time. She was lucky it only affected the floorlamp, ceiling fan, and microwave back then.

"If you ever do need a lamp or a ghost hand, I'm here! I used to be a homemaker when I was still alive." Because if there's one thing that Clara did miss it was cleaning and tidying things up. It's so soothing to do. And if it gave him more time to research and study things that further his goals, she'll be happy to take the cleaning duties up for a bit. Few as those seem to be. "Um! Plus I have something that can help me make easier contact with objects. So there's that."

"I suppose I could still use it for the reception desk," he mused. Give a little character to the waiting room, maybe? This was why he needed someone with some home decorating abilities every now and then -- he had no idea how to make people feel more at ease.

"Oh? And what would this something be?" It didn't sound like it was ghost magic, from the way she described it. Perhaps an arcane item?

"Well, if you think I can, then I have to keep myself under control. I can't let you down, of all people." Maera's smile is more real now, and though she can't reach out to clasp Clara's hand like she might have years ago, she hopes there's enough warmth in her voice to make up for it.

"It makes sense. I get why Mom fell in love with Dad at times like this. I love fae, of course, but they can be so... I don't know. Humans are more kind without needing reason for it."

She looks happy that he seems interested in the lamp and she makes a note to get him it in the future. When she has money to give to the shop before tugging it away, of course.

Feeling at ease enough, she's more than happy to answer the question, "I think the best way I can describe them is that they're ghost gloves! I thought they were simple gardening gloves at first but then my friend and I, we realised I can hold things better if I have them on. Only ghosts can hold them though. My friend tried but..."

Hmmm. How to describe it. "Her hand went right through them. I think that's how it went. It was rather strange."

The Nogitsune has established quite a few hideouts, places where he can lay low for a few hours or the night if he has to. So far, he has only avoided going into werewolf territory, most likely due to their sharpened senses. The one that Clara finds isn't in any of the 'settled' territory but next door to Greenwich Park which lingers under no one's control.

The things that sit around on the crude ledges that serve as shelves are of the cheap but flashy variety, gilt instead of gold. Little wonder considering the creature that hoards the shiny things once came from the low class of labourers. When it comes to rhinestones versus real gems, the Nogitsune doesn't have the skills to know which is which. All he knows is that he likes the pretty flash and spin of unique (to him) things.

He takes a look over the abandoned flophouse room as he rises from his daytime sleep. A too human yawn comes from the inhuman creature as he runs a hand through his hair and looks over his trinkets. A stolen cellphone in particular draws his attention as he tries to understand what the hell a 'touch screen' even is.

Now, more than ever, she's happy that she has the ghost gloves on her. One of them at least. It allows her to hold a dear friend's hand without trouble, without fear she'll literally slip right through her touch and loss the moment.

Definitely going to keep them if this happens often enough.

"I hope it isn't harsh to suggest but maybe the word is calculating for the rest of the fae." Clara wrinkles her nose and shakes her head. "No; that's too harsh. Perhaps the best way to describe it is... is... oh! I feel so out of depth with all of this half the time but knowing the others, especially you, are part of it makes it all worth it."

It's been a long evening for her. After the altercation with the medium and running across Akane, she's more than eager to finish the rounds and head back to the coffee shop to 'rest' herself. She doesn't need to sleep but it doesn't hurt to take a break and--

Oh, she thinks, noticing the flophouse out of the corner of her eye as she makes her way out of Greenwich Park. I never did check in there before, have I?

Uncomfortable as she is to investigate this on her own, especially after the near exorcism, she knows she can't let an opportunity pass and ventures to investigate the place. So far nothing is there, mostly empty rooms and remnants of questionable activities down here. She's about to leave when she hears a yawn coming from one of the nearby rooms and she freezes at first.

Who could be here of all places at this hour?

She ventures further and does her best to be quiet by phasing through the rooms to both get their closer and to not be spotted faster. It would have almost worked too if not for the fact she doesn't notice a cat sleeping on top of an abandoned dresser in the room she's going into as she creeps on closer. She goes right through the poor animal and the cat does not take it well.

Heckled and angry, it lets loose the loudest reeeooooorw! she's ever heard in her life.

"!!!! Kitty please!" Too late, she knows, but it can't hurt to try and shush the cat?

"Ghost gloves," said Faust agreeably. Yes, of course, that made perfect sense. "Perhaps some sorcerer decided to help out a ghost friend of theirs? Or perhaps they were made strictly to further someone's research. In any case, I should be happy if you'd let me examine them."

Er. Was that really wise, though? Faust seemed like the type to get a little carried away by his research.

"No, you're right. Humans have a-- sorry, most humans have a certain time span for their life, right? So they want to be good. Most of them, at least. Like, they want to look back when they're old and say, yeah, I was good. But fae don't have that. So they're less motivated towards goodness."

The little speech seems to take a lot out of her, and she's frowning to herself by the time she finishes. "Not that I don't love the fae. But- you can love something and acknowledge the truth of it as well, I think."

"I thought that too! There's also the possibility that a fae did this themselves. For mischief on how a ghost would react to these sort of things." If one thinks long and hard enough on it, her reasoning somewhat makes sense.

The offer is a bit of a surprise and she seems intrigued by it. He is a doctor after all. What could go wrong? "I see no problem at all! Maybe it can even help you in the long run. If it does, I'll be more than happy to let you take a look at them. Er, to let you know: No one else so far has been able to hold them."

"Life expectancy, yes." She had lived well above what was expected of hers and is having at the moment a-- What's the term Magra's friend uses for his video game? A plus one bonus. "We might as well make the most of what we have and being so mean takes a lot of energy in my opinion."

Fae, from what she's gathered from past talks and understandings, have all the time in the world and then some. "I'm sure you're not alone on this, Maera. Out there is a fae or ten or think just the same! It's only a matter of meeting them since the world is quite big and we all have lives to play out."

"I'll keep that in mind. Really." It's as close to a promise as she can get. "And in the meantime, I'll be looking out for people who know more about ghost stuff like these gloves."

Faust smiled. "Perhaps so. Though I can't imagine it was a very powerful fae, in that case -- they usually have motives beyond simply creating mischief." At least in his experience.

"I would be honored to try and figure out how to hold your gloves," said Faust solemnly. "By the way, would you like to meet my Eliza?"

Clara is about to say something, a reassurance of some sort perhaps, when a shout from outside -- CLARENCE, THAT'S THE THIRD TIME! -- all but interrupts her train of thoughts by reminding her where she and Maera are.

Somewhere they shouldn't be in.

"I think it's time we get going. I would hate for you to get in trouble if Cindy or Johnson found you in here." Talking to herself too. "It was wonderful seeing you again, Maera. I really am glad you got to be the first person to see these."

Is. Is that a trick question?

"I--" On one hand, she feels like she should say no but on the other hand it's rude of her to be here as it is thanks to her earlier intentions. Turning down the offer seems wrong. No matter how much she feels like something may or may not happen. "I-- I would love to meet her if you're really alright with that. Be more than a delight, honestly."

Faust's smile turned into a beam of delight. "I'm so glad you think so! Come along, then, and we'll pay her a little visit."

He got up and headed toward the door. Honestly, this was probably a terrible idea all around considering that he'd said his wife was dead, so where was he even leading Clara? He went down the hall, opened one of the nondescript doors. It opened inward with a bit of a creak, revealing what looked like an autopsy table. The surface of the table was covered with a large blue sheet. And underneath that sheet...

Faust pulled the covering lovingly back from the table, revealing white bone. A skeleton, almost entirely intact save for the large hole prominently featured in the skull, right where the left forehead would have been in life.

He was keeping his wife's skeleton in his office.

Faolan sits forward in his seat, fascinated not only with the man's offer to show his proof, but also at Bianca's reactions to everything he has to say. It's almost as though she has a personal investment in...what? Something about the ghost, if not the ghost itself. Is it this place, maybe? She did say that she was a regular, after all.

"What sort of speech is this, then?" Faolan asks. He glances towards Bianca again and she's looking -- what, alarmed? She's definitely not anticipating whatever it is that this guy has to offer, that's for certain. For all Faolan knows, though, it could be one of those white noise suggestive whispers that any right-minded skeptic would write off right away. He's certainly not seen anything out of the ordinary in this coffee shop. Well, not much anyway.

"Aha! Here it is!"

Bianca looks at the darn recorder with some measured of annoyance but it could be just her annoyed that her conversation with Faolan has been thoroughly hijacked by a third party here. At least he seems quite interested in all of this, detrimental as it maybe for Clara as the man clicks a button and the tape begins to play.

"… swea…" A few false starts here and there but you can hear it, admits the sounds of people chatting in the coffee shop. That's a woman's voice for sure, saying words that can't be mistaken for static or noise. "… sweater… please…

"Please wear… so col…"

"See! It's a ghost!" He looks so happy that he can share this with people now. "See how she mentions being cold? Clearly a spirit still confused being in this realm."

"I resent that remark," Clara can't help but add, wrinkling her noise. Did her accent sound that obvious to other people? She feels a bit self-conscious now. "I'm asking someone to please wear a sweater. The winter was awful! Of course I'll ask someone to please wear a sweater. They could got a cold or something. I hope he doesn't take this too seriously."

That's a...

....

.....

What's this? She hasn't snapped back to the coffee shop yet. That's strange given her past experience. Is she terrified to the point she can't go back out of fear itself? Interesting; she'll keep note of that in the future as she stares at the, um, sight for a few more seconds. In her head she had been expecting maybe picture or an urn. Maybe a piece of her at best for a morbid second. She hadn't expected everything.

"Um. Oh. Right." Staring is rude no matter the circumstances and this is his residence. What could she say though? "This is her. I see. It's-- It's an honour to meet her proper."

She hopes that was polite enough because she isn't sure what else to say here. This means a lot to him, showing Eliza to someone after what's happened, but her mind is honestly at a blank here on what could be said. Besides asking if this is in line with health code regulations or not. (There's a strong chance that is isn't but she doesn't know anything of medical things so she's going to trust Faust on this.)

Maera jumps a little at the sound of the voice, then laughs. "You're sweet, Clara. I'll drop by again soon, alright? Don't get into too much trouble with those gloves without me." The usual tone of mischief has returned to her expression, but she's just trying to hide how pensive she's actually feeling.

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stop! ghost time (open post)

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July 25th (night if you're okay with that?)

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totally cool with it!

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