[CLOSED] the ghosts that you saw behind the cellar door

[openhanded]

WHO: Sorey and Dante and their respective groups
WHERE: Viea Village
WHEN: Late late night, Saturday, June 24th
WHAT: One group hunts ghosts, another hunts the ghost hunters.
WARNINGS: Possibly language? Please let me know and I'll warn for something more specific!


A. gathering outside

[It's 10 PM and the sunlight has finally faded from the sky. This means it's a perfect time to meet up in Viea Village for some traditional ghost busting. Dante is here to help them get inside the building, but then he's going to leave, since he's too grown-up for this sort of thing. Or that's how the story goes. It looks like the chain link fence around the school lot can be jumped over pretty easily; it's more just a token thing to keep people from camping there. The lock can also be picked. Either way, they'll be getting into the lot and hopefully not attracting too much attention...

Thirteen people is a lot, still, but Sorey implores everyone to be as quiet as possible and not to turn on their flashlights until they're inside the building. The exterior of the school itself looks pretty run-down, though it's still significantly whole. It may or may not be able to be re-purposed in the future, though signs lead to yes, since the fence was put up not too long ago.

Before they head inside, Sorey stands at the front of the group and addresses everyone in a low voice. He urges everyone to come in close so they can hear.]

All right, guys. This is it. Have your flashlights ready and your cameras, if you have them. If you don't have a flashlight then let me know. I brought a few extras.

We're only going to be here for a couple of hours. I figure that should be enough time to cover the length of the school.

A few rules before we begin: flashlights inside only. Don't raise your voice unless you're in trouble. Respect the spirits since you're in their house. Stay close and don't wander off. [A pause.] Oh! If you have a camera, take as many pictures as you can! Even if you can't sense anything, sometimes weird things turn up on film. We'll look at all of it later.

Any questions?

B. creepy crawlies and jump scares

[The first thing that greets the explorers is the choking dust. While the city might be interested in selling and renovating the property, no one's stepped inside for quite some time. Dirt has been tracked in by the occasional small animal if the paw prints are any indication.

The place does seem haunted in its own way: there are old benches and broken desks, ruined fireplaces and woodstoves, peeling paint. The telltale sound of creaking slats in the roof overhead. It seems that an attempt to modernize the school was made, though it ultimately failed. Decaying books are scattered on the floor. Their publication dates all seem to stop in the 1950's. Old pencils and abandoned gym clothes and other small personal effects-- like a hair bow-- may be salvaged by intrepid explorers. But it also might be good to leave those things where they are. Sorey doesn't seem to care if asked.

However, there's nothing in the way of ghosts or even nervous energy. It looks to be just another creepy abandoned place...

Until the party crashers come, that is.

Dante leads a small group of people silently into the building. He waits until the perfect time, and then the main group is ambushed by people pretending to be spirits. There's a lot of screaming, yelling, panic-- and someone might even be wearing a white sheet. Sorey yelps and throws himself in front of the group before he realizes what's going on. Talk about embarrassing... He doesn't look happy.

That's when the real party starts.

Spiritually-attuned characters will hear the peal of children's laughter, joyful and mysterious, echoing all the way down the halls. It's followed by the pitter-patter of tiny feet. That's definitely not them, so Sorey calls for his group to follow the sound. Standing before them is the spirit of a boy about Roderic's age, playful and mischievous. Though he takes his time sizing up the party, he seems most interested in Roderic. He won't answer any questions from Sorey or the others. He gestures for Roderic to follow, and he won't move until the living boy takes the lead.

The ghost boy leads them through the back door of the schoolhouse to the play area. This place was supposed to be modernized too, though it fell short of the ideal. The playground equipment is all rusted beyond measure and choked with weeds. There is a little area with aged asphault that looks promising, however.

It's covered with sidewalk chalk. How it lasted this long is anyone's guess. There are hopscotch grids, stick figures, rainbows, normal kid stuff. Still silent to the group, the spirit boy points to a square that has a bunch of red and yellow scribbles on it. A fire? An explosion? Who knows. He giggles and disappears, leaving the ghost hunters to ponder the meaning of the crude drawing.

It doesn't take long. Smoke begins billowing out of the schoolhouse. There are no flames, but the smoke is something that everyone can see; it's thick and very real-looking to those with sensitivity, but to the others it only looks like wisps. For those who run back into the building, it seems that there are no flames whatsoever-- nor any sign that the school is actually on fire. Passing the administrative office will be rough: sensitive characters can hear the screams of an adult male though the source is impossible to track.

All the remaining doors in the schoolhouse fly open at once. The illusion-smoke clouds everyone's vision until they're forced to leave. Sorey urges everyone to link hands as they evacuate so that no one gets left behind.]

C. well, that happened.

[Once outside, everything seems to stop. The building is fine and there's no sign of fire or smoke. The night is the usual brand of suburb silence one expects in Viea Village, though someone seems to be driving down a nearby road. Sorey urges everyone to go home and look through their photos if they have any. He won't let anyone walk home alone, but they certainly can't stay here.

Some people may be inclined to look through public records on their own time later, but there is no record of a fire at the schoolhouse to be found...

Was everything they saw a lie, or were the records scrubbed clean? Who knows.]

[Toplevels are up! Please mark if you don't want your threads hijacked. Thanks! For any questions, @ me at fonfabre or discord @ fonfabre#0318.]

Comments

A. grouping up

[openhanded]

[openhanded]

[If characters need help getting over the fence, Sorey can give them a boost. Or they can go through the (newly unlocked) lock. Either way, he tries not to let people wander off alone. He's essentially babysitting and he's taking it very seriously.

Sorey waits for everyone to be ready before they head inside. For his own part, he seems relaxed and optimistic. Even if nothing happens-- he almost hopes nothing happens-- he's happy to explore new places and have fun.

He'll just ignore that gut feeling that says it won't be fun at all.

A drawstring bag sits at his back, filled with snacks and water and spare flashlights. He'll be handing out all of these things to people who seem unprepared.

And if he gets a moment alone, he stares at the dark entrance, his brow furrowed.]

[fashioneebo]

[Mikleo goes in through the unlocked door, thanks. He's not about to risk breaking an ankle or something, which will make him lose the ability to continue with dancing and will put him in the category of "stereotypical damsel in distress." No thanks.

After making sure his own supplies are good, he goes to find Sorey. It's not hard, really, but the look on his partner's face gives him slight pause.]

Careful, your face might get stuck like that.

[Not that the brunet's the only one uneasy about going into a haunted school. Mikleo's not at all psyched about it, but he's here for Sorey. ...The place is just creepy, okay, he's not scared of ghosts!]

[complementing]

[Minako isn't leading this group expedition, but force of habit from ReVA work and her earlier trip into the woods has her making sure everyone is set to go anyways, keeping an eye on the others and lingering near Sorey, to make sure he's okay.

If you've seen her before with her spear, you won't be surprised to find her with it again tonight. This time, though, she also has a bright white holster around her hips, with what appears to be a gun sitting snugly inside of it. Her fingertips brush against the grip as she stares with her red, red eyes at the school.

She speaks softly when she senses someone at her elbow.]

It's so sad. I can't imagine a Japanese school being abandoned like this, even if the city had no need of it anymore. It would've been converted into something else useful to the community, not...left to fade away.

[A school is the heartbeat, the pulse of a town or city back in Japan. More than any other abandoned building, to lose it in this way would've likely meant the town was in a downward slide towards ruin.]

[frisyr]

Yeah... We could've used it for something else. There aren't too many abandoned buildings in Recollé, I wonder why they didn't need this one anymore.

[ He looks up at her and raises a brow though ]

Do you really think you'll need that?

I mean... even if ghosts were real, don't you think a spear isn't going to hurt them?

[darkinferno]

a1: initial entrance
[When Sorey first brought up the idea of going ghost-hunting, Dante hadn't thought twice about telling him he was completely full of it, that ghosts didn't exist. And he still doesn't believe in them, either! But hey, if he and the rest of these kids want to go and parade around a schoolhouse shrieking about how "spooky" it is, he's not about to stop them.

In fact, if they're willing to advertise the fact that they're planning on making themselves walking targets for anyone who might happen to stumble across the post... well, he'd be doing them a disservice if he didn't give them something to find, right? All of these people coming out and hoping to find ghosts would be so disappointed otherwise.

But he hasn't told Sorey about his plan, and he's not going to let anybody else in on it yet, either. Not when they might tell everybody else and ruin the whole game! So while they're waiting for people to arrive, Dante's nearby but visibly separate, arms folded as they wait for everybody to show up. He'll certainly talk to anybody who wants to come up to chat with him, but he is definitely affecting an air of aloofness here, every inch of his body showing what he thinks of this entire endeavor.]


[Regardless of if people decide to talk to him or not, Dante doesn't hesitate when it's time to go inside. "Follow me," he says, leading the pack over the the chain-link fence with a practiced ease. Once they get to the door he pulls out a couple tools from his pockets, and it isn't long before the padlock is undone, chain rattling as he unloops it from the door handles.]

All right. Once you guys go inside, I'll loop the chain back around so it's not obvious you're in there. When you leave, make sure to lock it back up unless you want to risk being caught.

Hit me up on the network if you need outside support.

[You don't actually need outside support. Don't text him. Definitely text him.]



a2: this time for real (closed to the party crashers)
[When Dante comes back to the building about twenty minutes later, most of his feigned ennui is gone. He checks to be sure his phone is on silent, waiting for the others to join him. Luckily in scoping out the building he'd been able to find a secondary entrance to go in, one that should give them a leg up when it comes to causing chaos. Whenever one of their group of party-crashers shows up, Dante will beckon him over so that they won't be spotted by the ghost-hunters.

And in an undertone:]

Hey. Glad you made it. You ready for this?

B. the actual exploring part

[openhanded]

[foretellable]

[ ghosts.

ghosts!!

actual ghosts!!!

earlier he was ready to yell at the pranksters for doing that - only because that was dangerous! it was kinda funny to do, the more he thinks about it, but it was definitely dangerous with where they were at right now - but then something... something cool happens! before he knows it, there was an actual ghost right in front of them and he wanted them... no! he wanted him(?) to follow along?

welp. since the ghost asked so nicely...! ]

Come on guys! We gotta follow him-!!

[ without further ado, roderic heads on with the sort of honest bravado and confidence only a ten-year-old can muster in this sort of situation.

this will end well, he’s sure of it. ]

[commandertoolbelt]

[ look if Leo had known his little brother was out here, he would never have let Dante crash their little ghost hunting party. But what's done is done, and now that the cat's out of the bag and they've apparently summoned a real ghost(?!), Leo wants to make sure he's safe. ]

What- Roderic, don't just follow it! Hey!

[ Without any hesitation, he follows. Ghost or no ghost, he is not leaving Roderic alone out here!! ]

[strawberrypunch]

[You know what? Tatsuma's fine with this. He knows Roddy already and, rather than try to stop him, he'll just follow close behind. From what he can see of the ghost, it isn't likely to want to help just any of them, and if he stays near he can at least keep an eye on things - especially Roddy himself - in case things go south.]

...You can see it?

[He's honestly losing track of what he can see (and, apparently, hear) and what others cannot.]

[openhanded]

[I. poking around]
[Sorey is especially interested in dating the objects found around the school. Normally these places are swept clean, but it doesn't seem that way this time. He pores over the books they find, marveling at the dated maps (however stained and ruined they might be).]

It's from the fifties. [He sets the book down, then moves on to another.] This one, too...

The spirits I saw before were dressed from the same time period. They said something had changed and they didn't like it. I wonder if this has anything to do with it?

Let's keep going.

[II. party crashers and revelations]
[Once it appears they're not being assaulted and Sorey doesn't have to throw himself bodily in harm's way, he's mad. In fact, he might even give your character the cold shoulder if they're part of Dante's group-- no matter how friendly he is normally.

As they follow the sound, and meet the boy, that anger seems to disappear. He's all curiosity and caution, though he keeps trying to ask questions.]

Excuse me-- what's your name? Where are you taking us? What happened here-- do you know?

[He's met with resistance though, and sighs.]

I'm not that old...

[III. the fire]
[So much for staying together. As soon as he sees 'smoke' pouring out of the building, Sorey tries to gather everyone up and do the typical teacher thing of stay calm, stay calm.]

It might be dangerous-- if you stay outside, be ready to call for help. Everyone else-- let's go!

[He takes off again, slipping through the back door. As he expected there's no sign of fire or smoke or anything; it's just eerie darkness. Sorey doesn't let down his guard at all, however.]

What was he trying to show us?

A;

[complementing]

[Minako's phone is snap snap snapping away as she takes picture after picture in the rooms they walk through. She even peers over Sorey's shoulder and snaps a picture of the book he's holding from that angle.

She's getting really good at one-handed picture taking.]

You got it, boss.

[And a pause to take a picture of the blackboard before the phone disappears, and her spear is at her side, the peacock green of the shaft disappearing into black as she heads back out into the hallway, her clip on flashlight lighting the way.]

Which room next?

B

[frisyr]

[ Emil is starting to think this is all some sort of elaborate ruse set up by some people who wanted to cash in on the whole ghosts business, but then he remembers that he didn't pay any sort of money to come on this ghost hunt. Whatever, maybe it's a dry run and they'll start taking people on Recollé haunting tours. That'd be a way to reuse this building anyway. ]

I think it's scarier if you give him a name.

A

[sivard]

[He looks at the pictures carefully. The fifties, huh? His parents would have been little kids back then. That's a long, depressing time for spirits to stay stuck in time.]

I guess blue and green vanishing from the world would tend to freak people who notice it out-- maybe they've noticed some of the other bizarre things happening, too. Like the chocobos and singing fruit.

I.

[destiny_key]

[Sora's hesitant to touch anything in the building, not because he's scared of ghosts, but because he doesn't quite want to disturb anything that shouldn't be. Maybe he's watched one too many of those abandoned building exploration videos on youtube, but he's seen what happens when a building is only left for a decade. Who knows what could be lurking around if this place has been sitting here for over sixty years?

Still, he does get up the nerve to cautiously poke through the books with the rest of the party, though he doesn't find much that hasn't already been determined.]

So, d'you think this place was just... left? In the fifties? Or did something happen, d'you think?

[adoringpast]

a.

[ Thirteen people... That's a little too much for some low-profile ghost-hunt. So of course Sena is going to be annoyed as well. 'Cause if you are to grab on to his arm or something while everyone walks down the eerie halls of this abandoned school, he's going to push you away in disgust. ]

Don't touch me. What, you scared or something? Why did you even join in the first place? So annoying.

[ He forgot to tone down his voice so maybe you should remind him? ]

b.

[ Ugh, so dusty... Sena can't help but let out a few coughs as he picks up a random book from the floor and tries balancing his own flashlight with his one hand while opening the book with the other.

...Crap, still won't work. He's going to approach one of you and hands both flashlight and book at you for a while. ]

Hold on to these. I'm just gonna get something --

[ Give him a moment to go through his bag. ]

c.

[ AND HERE COMES THE PARTY-CRASHERS. They haven't even made a lot of progress so why the fuck is this happening now? The one with the stupid white sheet tries scaring him of all people but ends up pissing Sena off more, leading him to grab the sheet and attempt to pull it off them. ]

You-- Take this stupid blanket off so that I can take a proper look on you. How dare you pull that stunt on me!!

B;

[complementing]

[Minako doesn't mind, though she has to prop her spear up against the wall in order to take the items off of him. She has a clip on flashlight for herself, which helps her illuminate the area around them while she points his flashlight into the bag to help his search.]

What are you looking for?

[complementing]

PRANKS ARE ONLY FUN WHEN YOU'RE NOT BEING PRANKED [When the 'ghosts' come flying out at the group, Minako is right up there with Sorey, blocking the way bodily like he is. She promised him she would help him protect everyone, and that's why in two seconds flat her gun is out and pressed to her temple in preparation for a summoning. She still has the gun in her hand when it's revealed that these ghosts aren't real. That, combined with the spear in her other hand, and the absolutely furious set of her face, you might want to think twice before stepping in her direction.] What the goddamn hell do you think you're doing here? [Once the fake ghosts disperse-- with Minako throwing glares at their backs that could kill a man the whole way out-- she jams the gun back into its holster, forcefully breathing in and out to calm herself. Want to make sure she's not suicidal? Or are you going to ask if she's okay? Either way, approach at your own risk.]

[feistytrader]

[Now that there is a girl he does not under any circumstances want to mess with, and he almost feels bad for the guys pulling the pranks. Mindful of his place on the food chain, he doesn't say anything to her until after the gun's away- she seems to know what she's doing, at any rate, although he can't imagine what the hell that was actually supposed to accomplish other than being sort of terrifying- before questioning her questionable methods.]

Hey, uh... Was that gun supposed to accomplish something other than killing you?

[He is currently walking around with a Totodile- because apparently he's just accepted the little blue alligator as normal at this point- so he isn't really in a position to assume that anyone's crazy right off the bat.]

[strawberrypunch]

[WOW THAT WAS ACTUALLY TERRIFYING and not in the way he was expecting tonight to go.

He waits for the anger to calm, well... a little before he tries to approach her, concern clear on his face. He's not too happy about the fake ghosts himself, but that's taking a backseat to seeing someone nearly shoot themselves??]

Minako...?

[darkinferno]

b1: everyone livin' in ghost town
[The first step for the party-crashers is to get up the stairs as quickly and silently as possible, heading up to the highest level they can reach. They hadn't managed to get into the building beforehand like Dante would have hoped, so they weren't able to set up anything the way Dante or Leo might have liked to, but that doesn't mean they can't make spooky noises of their own accord!

Dante's got the chain from the front doors and he'll rattle it at intervals, pacing the floorboards and seeking out the squeakiest spots for best effect. He might motion at one of the others to help him drag a desk across the floor, but if any of the ghost hunters come near, he'll hide or flee, whichever option seems to work best.

Perhaps the best part, in his misguided plans, is the recent discovery that for some reason gravity doesn't seem to have the same pull on him that it used to--not in his normal waking life, but when he jumps and more importantly, when he falls. So one of the things he's doing is scaling the stairs up to the highest level and waiting for the ghost hunting team to come up the stairwell in their search. And then he's dropping from the top of the stairwell, controlling his fall so that he'll drift past them fast enough not to be recognized (and keeping his body turned so that they won't be able to recognize his face or see human skin tones!), but slowly enough that it's obviously not a human in freefall either. He'd brought with him in his car a change of clothes, all pale grays and long sleeves and long pants, the better to appear ghostly with, so all in all it looks a bit like a pale spectre floating downwards...

Please tell him he managed to get somebody with that! That was pretty freakin' cool.]


b2: everyone buried in wasteland
[Honestly, in spite of the lack of time to set up their tricks, Dante can't be disappointed with the reaction they get when they finally crash the party proper. There's a lot of yelling, a lot of screaming, and laughter from Dante when he isn't trying to convince the others not to kill them for scaring the living daylights out of them.

He's not expecting to hear someone else's laughter, nor is he expecting for what is definitely, undeniably a ghost to show up. Even though Dante can only just see the child's outline, there's no denying the laughter or the sounds of footsteps (he knows there wasn't anyone else in the building), A ghost? This is crazy!

But the others seem perfectly fine with following this spirit, and in spite of his disbelief, Dante's following, though he's a little bit more talkative than he was at the beginning of the evening. In an undertone, he says to the people near him:]

You've gotta be kidding me. We pretended to be ghosts and somehow that actually brought us a ghost?

I didn't bite it when I jumped down the stairwell, did I?


b3: we're dead in this ghost town
[In spite of his disbelief in ghosts, Dante won't hesitate when he sees even the small wisps of smoke going up from the building.]

We didn't leave anyone behind, did we?

[It doesn't matter. He's sprinting back toward the building, intent on making a sweep of the building just in case. He may not have been able to see the ghost child as clearly as some of their party seemed to be able to, but he could see the chalk drawings and he can put two and two together. It doesn't matter if the fire's real or fake or just starting or already burning strongly: he's not going to let anybody get hurt because of some harebrained scheme Sorey or he had come up with, and he's one of the few that can escape the building no matter how fast he has to get out.]

Come on! Get out of here!

[toushiro]

A
[ toushiro doesn't seem too enthused about being here. and that's because he was dragged here by silver, who'd wanted him to "get out more" and things like that; toushiro felt like he at least owed silver this much for buying a katana for him, so...here we are.

one thing you may notice about him, if you've seen him around retrospec or in-person, is that his hair is completely white. it definitely wasn't like that before??? what the hell. he doesn't appear to be too happy about that, either. but anyway.

he's looking through some of the abandoned books, noting that they're dated back to 1950, but he doesn't seem impressed by anything, really. he can believe that spirits at least exist--he did hear some voices in the forest, after all--but...then the party crashers come.

toushiro's startled, but years of self-defense training have him reflexively, uh. maybe elbowing or kneeing your character, if you're in dante's group. whoops? ]

Impressive. Real mature. I almost mistook you for a real ghost. [ so sarcastic. to anyone in sorey's group: ] Are you alright?

B
[ he sees the ghost.

he sees the ghost and he freezes up. is he scared? surprised? or a little bit of both? get him to start moving or ask if he's alright; only one way to find out, really. ]

OTA!

[strawberrypunch]

[Naturally, it was a bit of a letdown when the sounds and spooks turned out to be fakes.

It had even been a bit of a surprise! A moment of conflicting hope and unease, because previously in the woods, he could only see the spirits - not hear them. The fact that he was able to here had been a shock and he hadn't even the time to figure out if it was a welcome or not change when it came out that no, he heard them because they weren't ghosts, they were people.

Ah, well.

On the other hand, after that is when there starts to be the distinct sound of small children laughing, and... hm?]

Is this another prank?

[He says it to no one in particular, although if the person who catches it isn't spiritually attuned, they're gonna have no idea what he's talking about.]

[commandertoolbelt]

[ While they may not have gotten the time to set up like they’d hoped, Leo still had some equipment with him. Armed with a flashlight altered to strobe when he hits the button twice, a homemade portable fog machine from last year’s Halloween stuffed into a backpack, and a phone filled with spooky stock sounds, he couldn’t be more ready for this ambush!

While Dante floats down from the top of the stairwell, Leo uses the distraction to sneak up behind the ghost hunters with the fog machine running. He’ll stay as quiet as he can until he gets close enough to someone before he hits play on an mp3 with ghostly moaning, volume set just high enough to be heard. ]

C. everybody go home

[openhanded]