(no subject)

[gh0stly]

WHO: Aria Megido; 1 closed prompt for Arlene, and then 1 OTA.
WHAT: Haunting various places tbh. For those who needed ghost echoes.
WHEN: The entire weekend; Friday the 21st, Saturday the 22nd, Sunday the 23rd, whatever works for people.
WHERE: VARIOUS PLACES...

[ CLOSED: THE MALL W/ ARLENE ]

[ Aria had never spent a great deal of time at the mall to start with, to be honest. Even when she was alive. Mostly she spent her time outdoors, or at significantly dorkier locales, but...it was sort of almost interesting to wander around Locke, now. Or at least it kept her busy. She wasn't exactly drowning in things to do other than to check the network, so poking around places that were packed with people was...nice.

In a crowd, it was easy to pretend that she was a part of the crowd. Until someone walked through her, anyway.

It was all around easier to pretend to be a part of a crowd in a small store. So she was doing just that, absently browsing as she went. It was unfortunate that no one would be able to see her browsing, although anything she touched certainly moved... ]

[ OPEN: LOCKE HIGH SCHOOL (FRIDAY ONLY) ]

[ School was a fading habit, but it was still interesting to go there. Or at least it was...habitual. It was happening less and less, but Aria still shows up for a portion of Friday to wander the halls almost absently, looking quite normal from afar to those who could see spirits until they realized her eyes were pure white and she wasn't actually walking on the floor.

She spends some time peering into her locker (...opened, not sticking her head in) before locking it back up and leaving, apparently having taken some things from within. ]

[ OPEN: THE PARK ]

[ More often than not she can be found in the park where she used to go running, though, if Aria hasn't figured out a new activity to occupy her time. There is only so much one can take of the Network and the internet before one decides they're bored.

Granted, the amount Aria can take before deciding that these days is significantly less, but she's trying. She sits on a bench and reads a book, though she carefully sets that on the bench as well so it doesn't float mid-air for passers by. Anyone who could see her would find her quite normal: jeans, sneakers, a loose red sweater. Until they notice they glowy white eyes. Those aren't very normal. Anyone who couldn't would just see a book, occasionally flipping pages. ]

[ OPEN: ...THE MOVIE THEATER... ]

[ Look, what else can you do to kill time? Hang around the police station, yes, she could do that, but sometimes even doing something useful is a little dull. So she just...hangs out places where people are and where things happen.

Sometimes she goes and watches an action movie or something of that nature, although it can be annoying if it's popular and she has to keep moving seats.

If you happen to be in the theater and can see her, she's not texting on a cellphone. The irritating glowing whiteness? Her eyes. ]

[ OPEN: NEAR THE FENTON'S HOUSE ]

[ ...And, well, she basically haunts the Fenton's place when Danny's home or at nights, although she doesn't exactly need to sleep. But it's kind of nice to go somewhere where she can actually talk to one of her friends in person and without the need for text, and it's better than haunting her own room, which made her feel awkward in some distant way.

So she haunts the surrounding area as well, when nothing else is happening. ]

Alternately, choose your own adventure and make something up.

Comments

AT THE PARK

[grannyfucker]

[Jovan wishes he had a car right about now, because he is pretty sick of the 15 minute walk through the park from the bus stop to his apartment. Then again, even if he had a car, he couldn't drive it, what with the broken arm. God fucking damn it.

It's when he's contemplating how shitty his life is that he stops in front of a bench where there's a girl reading a book. Normally this would be pretty unremarkable, if not for the fact that he saw that her eyes were completely white and...glowing?

He's still not used to seeing people with crazy appearance-altering echoes--at least not out in public. So now he's staring right at her, and before he can keep his mouth shut, a few words slip out.]

What the fuck.

AT SCHOOL

[gogoghostpowers]

[Good news: he can finally go back to looking like a human in school again. No weird hair, no averting his gaze. Bad news: school is just as boring as ever.

It's when he's desperately trying to keep himself awake in English that he gets a proper wake up call in the form of one (1) Aria Megido. When he spots her float in through the wall of the classroom, he jolts upright and chokes on air, earning a snide look from the teacher for interrupting their lecture, and some confused glances from the other students.

Danny does not really notice, though, because he is giving Aria a Look. A Look that is screaming "WHAT ARE YOU DOING??"]

[gh0stly]

[ Guess what the benefit of being dead is? When people can see you, you don't have to even play the "but are you numbered" game.

When people can see you, they're on the Network. At least, in Aria's experience to date. Granted, this is only the second time it's worked, but when someone stops near her she looks up, and when he looks at her - she's sure, because she turns around to check, and there's nothing remarkable behind her - she mentally files him under "Numbered".

She's never seen him on the network, but she wouldn't have, would she? MR. ANONYMOUS TEXT MAN. ]

You're numbered. Right?

[ The voice has a hollow echo to it, but she sounds pleasant enough. ]

[gh0stly]

[ WAS THAT A REQUEST TO WALTZ IN THROUGH THE CLOSED DOOR because apparently Aria took it as such. She breezes past the teacher and down to stand near Danny's seat, indicating the hallway. ]

I left a book here.

[ you know before she died. Her tone is completely level and unwhispered, but uh, since no one but Danny can see her she can carry on a completely private conversation without saying a word. ]

[grannyfucker]

[Oh god, oh fuck, what the hell is wrong with her voice. That shit ain't normal. Okay, it's fine. Keep calm. Don't freak out, Jovan. Or at least try not to.]

How do you know that?

[gh0stly]

Because you can see me.

[ That's said calmly, as Aria flips her book shut. It disappears, captchalogued into the hammerspace inventory system that she got back a while ago. ]

Normal people can't.

[grannyfucker]

[Both her statement and the book's disappearance raise more questions than answer them.]

Wh--what's that supposed to mean?

[gh0stly]

I'm dead.

[ .......LOOK, THERE JUST ISN'T A WAY OF EASING INTO THIS. ARIA CAN ATTEST TO THAT BY THIS POINT. ]

...So people without the ability to see spirits can't see me. I think. ...Anyway, people with those abilities...they're pretty much Numbered. Ergo...

[gogoghostpowers]

[He opens his mouth to respond but then realizes that if he does, he'd be kicked out of the room or thought to be crazy. Or worse, people would find out he actually is one of the weird superpowered people from the snake fight.

Instead, he makes a quick beckoning gesture as he writes something down in his notebook.]

In the middle of class?!

[gh0stly]

[ Danny, please, you're just going to have to get used to ghosts showing up to interrupt your daily life at inopportune times.

At least you don't have to wrestle her into a thermos. ]

If I opened my locker when people weren't in class, they might find it a little odd.

[ SEE? LOGIC. ]

The park

[gobybessie]

[ A book. Just floating. And sides flipping.

He comes to a stop and stares. Frowns. What even?

It would have been stranger before July, of course. Now he's sure there's an explanation. But he can't think of what. ]

The park, Friday

[icy_heavens]

[Sure, riding the bus home would be faster. But it would also be more crowded and full of kids that would neither shut up nor sit still. He doesn't need some idiot knocking into him, not with the condition he's in. And the noise is just plain annoying.

[So Toushirou walks home today, backpack slung over his good shoulder, taking his usual route through the park. There aren't that many people about, possibly owing to the lingering crappy weather, but that suits him just fine. He doesn't notice anything particularly out of the ordinary, except maybe for that book somebody seems to have left behind.

[... With the pages occasionally flipping, though there's no wind . . .

[And then the now familiar sensation of an Echo floods him for a few seconds. In the next instant, he can see that the book hasn't been left behind at all, and he stops short. There's a girl there reading it. A white-eyed girl that until the Echo had hit him, he couldn't see.

[He blinks, sort of unsure if he should say anything.]

[grannyfucker]

[He's having trouble wrapping his head around this.]

What do--what do you mean, you're dead? You're right there! [He gestures vaguely with his good arm while he tries to find his words.] Reading, and sitting there, and talking and--and stuff! How can you be dead?

[gogoghostpowers]

[He scratches out the first sentence and writes below it.]

And this ISN'T odd?

[twelfthspark]

[This isn't typically a busy time of year for the mall, but Snakezilla seems to have brought in a bunch of tourists, and the store's a bit understaffed for the amount of traffic. Arlene's keeping busy, and she doesn't notice anything weird going on for some time.

A shirt seemingly floating off the rack right in front of her, though? That gets her attention.]

What the-?

[Arlene reaches out--probably right through Aria--to grab it.]

[gh0stly]

If you try to touch me, you won't be able to, however. I mean what I said.

[ She seems pretty calm about it, all the same. ]

...And most people can't hear me nor see me. They can read my texts, though.

[gh0stly]

...I guess I could have come at night.

[ THAT...MIGHT HAVE MADE EVEN MORE SENSE... ]

...But I was bored.

The park

[gh0stly]

[ She's...fairly certain she saw something on the network. That was John, wasn't it? With a new face.

She managed to find her cellphone, eventually. The service to it was stopped. But it still works to connect to the network, and the book disappears, captchalogued into hammerspace, to be replaced with that.

...She doesn't know his phone number, but his network number... ]

hell0
0ut f0r a walk?

[ Even if he doesn't have something to connect on him, a floating phone is probably suspect. ]

[gh0stly]

[ Perhaps there is a wind. ...Admittedly, there isn't. Just the lingering remnants of a girl, reading in what sunshine there is, though she can hardly feel it.

When someone pauses, she does look up. Is he looking at her...?

...Well, it's not as though speaking does any harm. Only people who have been able to see her so far have been able to hear her. ]

Yes?

[gh0stly]

[ Whoops. She'd thought the shop attendant hadn't been watching her area. It's...disconcerting to have people going straight through her, and she sighs and releases the shirt without complaint.

...It wasn't as though she could wear it.

...Just meandering over to shake all the snow globes up, though, don't mind her. ]

[icy_heavens]

[Huh. He doesn't really have much of a concept of what exactly this Echo did, so he can't be sure what the right thing is to ask, here. But she's noticed him and she's talking, so.]

So were you supposed to be invisible, or . . .

[gh0stly]

To most people. [ There's a hollow feeling to that voice, almost an echo, but she doesn't sound upset or anything. Neutral, maybe. ]

I'm dead. So far, only some of us have been able to see me. I think...it must require the ability to see the dead. Probably.

[icy_heavens]

[He frowns thoughtfully. Partially because of the hollow quality of the voice -- it just doesn't seem right to him for some reason -- and partially because he's processing what she just said. So that's what it did, huh? When he thinks about it, he's actually not surprised. Why shouldn't he be able to see ghosts, really?]

Makes sense that it'd be that. You're Aria, aren't you?

[grannyfucker]

[He still doesn't believe it--and it's clear from the disbelieving look on his face. He needs to test this.

He walks over briskly and tries to shove her by the shoulder, only to find his arm going through her. Immediately, he yanks it back out and jumps back several steps, looking horrified.]

What the fuck!

[His voice has risen an octave.]

[gogoghostpowers]

[Scratch scratch, new message. This is the most he's written in his English notebook all month.]

So you decided to come to school in the middle of the day when everyone's here?