stop! ghost time (open post)

[warmheartedly]

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.]

Comments

[reticence]

"Ah," Faolan says, making a soft noise of recognition. He might not attend the school, but he's been a hunter for a long time not to have heard of the Institute. A lot of cogs start shifting into place. "I know of the place. Never been myself, but I know of it."

And he knows what that makes her then, too. And what that makes her capable of. Eventually, if perhaps not now. He lowers his voice slightly as he continues, raising his coffee to take another sip. "That means you'd know, of course, if that man were lying or not. About a presence in this shop." He raises an eyebrow at her questioningly, although he hasn't outright asked. It's her choice of course whether he wants to tell the truth. But he's become pretty good at reading people, over the years. He's had to, with the line of work he's in.

[warmheartedly]

Bianca grins, glad to finally have confirmation that he's in the know of what she knows. When he asks, but not really ask, her the status of the ghost here in the coffee shop, she pretends to think over her answer though the spirit in question is right next to her giving her a 'oh you' look. She needs to bite the inside of her cheek to not smile.

"Well-- I can definitely say he was misinformed about lot of things," Bianca tells him with a cheeky and honest smile as she finally looks at a direction next to her. No one is there and yet it's like she's locking eyes with someone for a moment of debating with the 'person' before addressing him again. "The idea of her being dangerous is kind of funny. The most she'll do is ruin your coffee like she did to mine earlier."

Clara, despite knowing that he can't hear or see her at the moment, waves at his direction and gives a polite 'hello' to him. It never hurts to be too careful. Or give someone a proper greeting since she is eavesdropping, more or less, in a conversation here. "It's not like I meant to earlier, Bianca. I didn't think that server would just stroll on by like that! You should be glad I didn't hit him earlier otherwise we would have this conversation much sooner, less surer."

[reticence]

Faolan quirks an eyebrow at her, the corner of his mouth joining suit in the twisting of a wry smile. He flicks his eyes towards the space that she looks at, but he's just an ordinary human, like it or not, and all he sees is blank space. "Is that what happened, then?" he asks. He draws his own closer to him in mock concern. "This might be the last cup I should be allowed all day," he says, addressing the air around them, "try and spare me if you can, yeah?"

He looks back to Bianca. "You know her, then," he says, and it's less of a question and more of a statement. He sits back in his seat and speaks up to continue, knowing it's an odd way to put things and wanting to be slightly reassuring. "The way you talk about her, I can tell. Plus the thing with the sweater..." He chuckles slightly, raising his coffee once more. "It's the first time I've heard an EVP of someone fussing like that, but I suppose there's a first time for everything, yeah?"

[warmheartedly]

Bianca gives her own smile while she raises her cup a bit to and gives a swirl to emphasis how cold it sounds. The foam is more like slush thanks to the chill as it moves around in the styrofoam sluggishly. "You have no idea how often she does that. You think she'll age with grace but--"

Clara shoots Bianca a look and pokes her hand through her arm to show you can't sass this little old lady when she's around. It causes the redhead to squeak a bit and jump in her seat, miffed but amused. "--eek! Apparently not. Wait, hang on... She says she'll spare you. You seem very nice and not 'at all rude' like someone... Hey. Mrs. Seville."

Calming down, Bianca still finds enough humour in the situation to laugh herself, eyes twinkling in genuine merriment while she nods. "Anyways-- I know her for sure, yeah. She's part of the school staff as security in the evening. She's been with the school for a while but only joined in a official capacity last... month or so? Volunteered and everything. I never seen a ghost do that before since, you know, they're usually gone in a bit."

Bianca's smile fades a bit when something occurs to her, her expression turning a bit more serious. "Since you know she's real and you've been a great guy so far... You don't need to, um, do anything about it, right? I mean, some others and I can definitely vouch for her friendliness if we need to."

[reticence]

Faolan raises his eyebrows slightly at the idea of it. He can't say for certain that he's heard of a ghost sticking around long enough to be staff anywhere himself, but he supposes that there are firsts for everything, and again, his expertise is more around vampires than around ghosts.

Which, of course, brings them to her next question. Faolan winces slightly at it, internally, but it's a legitimate question. Not every hunter from Hillingdon is the same as him. There are some that would jump at the chance to hear about something like this. And jump at the chance to be able to eradicate her as well. "No," he says, looking down at the coffee in his hands, sobering slightly himself. As if he has just been reminded who he is and the fact that he, well. Essentially does kill as a profession. What is he doing, chatting with a student in a cafe like this? "No," he repeats. "I don't have to do anything about it. I'm not... I'm my own man, for all the organization I work for. If she's not harming anyone, I don't see why I should." And with the way he says it, he knows that he doesn't share everyone's opinions on this, that she's right to be asking as much. And that he feels almost ashamed about that, in some regards.

[warmheartedly]

Bianca's heckles lower as she scans his face for the truth and, seemingly decides, that he's telling the truth to her. Clara next to her sighs in relief and decides she'll take his word for it too, a little bit nervous at the prospect of someone going after her. Again.

"That's good to hear," the girl says. Realising her attitude might have been a bit much, she does add, "Hey-- Sorry if it seems like I was on the defensive but... Better safe than sorry these days, yeah? I can't help but feel like everyone's on each other's throats if the gossip in my school is anything to go by. Last thing I want to do is let nice people get dragged into anything. You included."

"Can you tell him thank you?" Clara asked. "It means a lot to me that nothing will happen now that he knows."

The girl smiles at the invisible space before relaying the message, "Oh. I should let you know: She does say 'thank you', by the way. It means a lot to her."

[reticence]

"The gossip at your school?" Faolan can't help but asking, raising his eyebrows slightly as he does. He's not in attendance at the Redbright Institute, after all, maybe what they're saying around there is something he hasn't heard yet. Hillingdon is a great faction and all, but if he wants to hear anything about anything, then he's got to do the work himself. If there's one thing he can count on them doing, it's staying the hell out of just about any sort of business there is, frustratingly enough. "And just what is the gossip on about?" he asks.

At the thanks, Faolan can't help but glancing himself to the space where the young girl did -- maybe if he looks in just the right way at just the right time he might spot her. No such luck so far though. After a moment, he glances back to Bianca. It feels better to address her than thin air. "You're welcome," he says to both of them. "I do what I can."

[warmheartedly]

"There's been weird things going on lately," she explains to him, waving her hand in a somewhat dismissive but peppy manner. Is that possible? Somehow it is with her. "The faeries acting up and coming here out of the blue, the witches' fighting becoming more prominent, the vampires being more reckless, and the werewolves being more quiet-- Things like that."

Clara, in her opinion, doesn't think one can be so casual about it. "Not the best thing for anyone at the moment, I like to believe. It's almost like having a keg full of gunpowder near some lit matches..."

The student can't help but look behind her, seeing her table of friends spying her in an obvious manner at this point. She winches and shakes her head, huffing in amusement as she looks back at Faolan and gives him a smile. "Looks like my friends are going to start gossiping about the two of us soon! I'm so sorry for that in advance. They can get pretty nosy at times. Wha-- 'Takes one to know--' Oh! Ha ha, Mrs. Seville. Very funny."

[reticence]

Faolan raises his eyebrows at the idea of anyone gossiping about him. Especially with a girl so much younger than him. (Okay, so he's only 28, hes not that old, but he feels it, and talking to a girl of her age he feels so especially. So of course he'll be be surprised they think anything of the sort.

"I'm pretty sure that I can take them," Faolan says, wryly. "I hunt monsters for a living. I'm fairly certain I can handle a group of gossiping teenagers. Though if you mean that to be my cue to take my coffee to go, then I can take a hint just as well," he adds, with the quirk of a smile and the raising of his coffee to take a pointed sip as well.