Okay, so everything here is dead, what did that accomplish?

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Gene, Jackie, Alex, Miles, and Aly
Date: Throughout November
Location: Throughout Keeliai
Situation: Hhholy crap shit's getting Real
Warnings/Rating: Child-abusing ghosts.

A. [Gene] | House Spicy Iron Dragon | November 14 | Tony and Pepper
Gene's been on high alert about all of this ghost stuff, because there's one ghost in particular that he knows has a bone to pick with him. Or, you know, several.
Naturally, this ghost appears when he's alone and not wearing his rings, because of course it would.

"Zázhǒng."

Gene's blood runs cold, and he turns to face the ghost. It's Zhang - spectral, but undeniably Zhang. And worse, he's in the Mandarin's armor, because ghosts don't have to follow the rules.

Gene reaches for the rings on his necklace, but Zhang gets to him first, one translucent armored hand closing around Gene's neck and lifting him off the ground. Gene chokes and kicks and hits at the ghost, but it's solid, or solid enough to keep him from being able to get to the rings.

B. [Jackie] | Water Sector | throughout November | open
Jackie's ghosts are much nicer. He's beaming whenever he's around them - they're clearly Triad members like he is, or used to be. He even almost makes them drinks at the bar before realizing they can't have any (which makes him quite sad), but he's happy to see his old friends from the Water Street Boys. His speech is peppered with Cantonese, which is a throwback to when he'd first arrived. Sometimes, he almost feels like he's back home.

C. [Alex] | Fire Sector | early November | open
Alex is thinking about the message from Tu Vishan. None of this is good, and he has no idea how to stop it. Any of it. But he's damn well going to try.

All he can do in the meantime is discourage crime as best he can, with his friendly smile and unlikely ability to wreak utter suffering with his cane.

D. [Miles] | Wood Sector | early November | open
If there was an 'opt-out' form for the ghosts, Miles would have signed it several times over, because he does not want to deal with whatever the goddamn Death plane might have in store for him. His terrible luck takes hold, as he'd been damn sure it would, and he gets some very unpleasant visitors.

Door number one: A priest - or a self-proclaimed one, anyway - preaching the gospel of the Walrider, following Miles around and calling him his Apostle. Said priest is also very, very badly burned.

Door number two: Very infrequently - a flickering young man in a plastic bubble, intubated to hell and back.

Door number three: A hulking brute with chains wrapped around his wrists and ankles, and his teeth permanently bared in a gruesome grin.

Miles does not like any of these ghosts. He will be power-walking away from the first, edging away from the second with a guilty expression on his face, and running like hell from the third. Possibly while screaming. Especially if he hears it say'Little pig.'

E. [Aly] | Sky Sector | throughout November | open
Aly, to any outside observer, would appear to be completely losing it.

They wouldn't be too far off the mark. She's frequently standing around, eyes hooded, doing what looks to be invisible cat's cradle and staring off into the middle distance. And swearing. Lots of swearing.

"I'm not trained for this! Stop it! Stop it! Why aren't you working?!" Half the time she sounds frustrated; half the time she sounds like she's on the verge of tears.

---

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Comments

E.

[ninjainviolet]

If Sheena didn't have her own training when it came to using gestures with her cards, she might have thought Aly was losing it. Still, she watches a moment to be sure she's correct, but even if she isn't, the distress in the other woman's voice sends her to her side.

"What is it? Aren't the wards working?"

[wolfishflame]

Aly's almost too distressed to notice Sheena for a moment, but when she does, she immediately falters, trying to pretend like she hadn't been acting crazy. "Things aren't sticking together like they should," she says, mashing her hands together for effect.

E

[annihilist]

After last month, Devin has been avoiding Aly marginally less. He hasn't been reaching out, either, but this world was throwing crap at all of them the past month or two, and he was starting to grow tired of fighting real people on top of ghosts and visions.

So, when he spots her cursing and pulling at the air like she's untangling a particularly thorny knot, he observes her for a few minutes. Whatever has her so agitated doesn't dissipate.

"If you're not trained for it, perhaps you can leave it be," he suggests mildly as he approaches.

[wolfishflame]

Oh, great. Devin. How did he keep coming up on her when she was losing her absolute shit?

She glances back at him, not letting what is-and-isn't between her fingers fall. "I can't. It's my job," she says curtly - more than she usually is, with him. Her teasing demeanor is gone, and she's half-gruff, half-terrified. Mostly trying to cover it up with being gruff.

[annihilist]

He's asked himself the same question.

The utter lack of a smart reply twice in as many months is almost as concerning of the frantic way she's picking at thin air. Devin gets closer and stops in front of her, frowning like he's trying to figure out what she has in her hands.

"What is? What is it that you're trying to do, exactly?"

[wolfishflame]

Aly shakes her head, a little like a dog worrying a bone. "Planes are fraying. Seen this before, when the Veil's fraying, and it's usually faerie work, those bastards. Florence knows how to knit tears back together properly, even if it's just a suture that the planes can heal on their own. They never taught me so I'm improvising."

She turns back to her work, grits her teeth, and grumbles out what's unmistakably a curse in some wolfish dialect.

[annihilist]

Devin surveys Aly for several seconds. It doesn't take a genius to see that she's in over her head - she seems to know it, too, but won't let that stand in her way.

"Give it a rest," he advises, not unkindly. "This isn't your responsibility to fix, and I'm fairly certain it has nothing to do with faeries. I think all you're accomplishing is driving yourself nuts."