Ghost Catch-All

[xenoqueen]

aint afraid of no ghost

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friday, after investigation, week 2

[xenoqueen]

[Following the investigation, Ripley has made her way out into the courtyard, trying to gather her thoughts. In one hand, she holds a notebook and pencil. She keeps crumpling up the pages and throwing them into the fire pit, watching the paper flare up and burn to a crisp.

With a sigh, she slips the notebook back into her pocket, rubbing her temples in frustration. A pigeon flutters down on the end of the bench next to Ripley, letting out a gentle coo. After a pause, Ripley extends a hand towards the pigeon, making quiet clucking noises and trying to coax it closer.]

[resortghosts]

[Here Ripley. Here's a sticky note on your hand.]

Hold your hand steady to make a stable perch. Most of my birds also know to come when you make a short, sharp whistle, but this flock came from the resort so I don't know if they'll understand that. Archimedes will, though.

[xenoqueen]

[The smell of burning paper lingers in the air. Ripley starts a little when the sticky note gets pushed into her hand, but pauses when she reads over the message. She glances over her shoulder to see--well, nothing. She didn't know what she expected, to be honest.

Expression unchanging, Ripley holds her hand out for the pigeon. The bird approaches, and Ripley gently pushes under its chest to have it step up onto her hand.]

Got bored with your boyfriends, did you?

[Said in a dry tone. Slowly, she brings the pigeon a little closer to her body to keep her hand steady.]

[resortghosts]

I don't spend all my time at their beck and call. There's much more to being dead than romance.

Her name is Amelia, by the way.

[xenoqueen]

Amelia, huh? She's a pretty bird.

[Ripley uses her other hand to gently stroke the pigeon's head. The pigeon settles on her hand, cooing quietly and compressing itself.]

Maybe it was a good idea Jones didn't come here. He'd probably bother these birds all the time. [A pause.] And the rats.

[She's thankful for the distraction, but the tone of her voice indicates that something is still bothering her.]

[resortghosts]

[The bird perks up slightly at the use of her name.]

A cat? Yes, perhaps so. Archimedes knows to stay away from cats, but I don't know enough about this flock yet. And I have no idea how the staff would react if a rat was killed but... I can only assume it wouldn't end well for him.

... The boy arrived as a ghost, of course. He's shaken, and I've been keeping my distance for now. I can't tell you any further specifics, even if I knew any.

[xenoqueen]

[Ripley frowns and switches to gently scratching the pigeon's head feathers. After a moment's thought, she gently transfers the pigeon to her lap.]

You mean the kid that died today? [She hesitates.] From what I heard, the scene was...gristly. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone here.

[Her gaze settles on the fire pit in front of her, her expression hardening.]

[resortghosts]

I wasn't there at the time of death- not that it would really matter if I was. I did see the body in the courtyard, though.

Grisly is one way to put it.

It's the kind of death I would only give to someone truly deserving of it. Not a child.

[Sorry Ripley, this time around you get a melancholy ghost.]

[xenoqueen]

Even if you were there, I don't think you'd be able the share anything about the murder itself, would you?

[She sighs deeply, taking the opportunity to lean over the pigeon and listen to it cooing for a few moments. We're all emo here--time to take comfort in therapy pigeons.]

I've heard talk from the kids that they want to try and save the monsters. [She snorts.] Of course they would. Not that I hold it against them.

thursday evening, week 3

[xenoqueen]

[Before Ripley gets ready to settle in tonight, there's...definitely something she wants to check in on. Something she noticed after opening up that fortune cookie today. Surely, it's probably nothing, but...she needs someone with medical expertise. Syazel is out of the question, and that other girl...well, ghosted.

She just needs to find where the greatest concentration of birds are in this resort. It doesn't take long, though--when she wanders out into the lobby, she sees pigeons perching on almost every viable surface, preening and dozing off occasionally.]

Medic? You here? I need to ask you about something medical related.

[resortghosts]

[You just said the magic words, Ripley. Medic's been waiting to have some medical fuckery to deal with for a while!

Several of the pigeons take off and fly away as Medic stands and goes to join her, typing on his tablet as he does so.]

right here!!! whats wrogn

[xenoqueen]

[oh jesus--god, the fortune cookie has also made her more liable to jumpscares. Ripley jumps back a little, and then sighs, running a hand through her hair. Which only makes the problem far more apparent--at least, to her.]

Okay, uh, this is--I'll admit, this might just be me overreacting, but...I think there's something wrong with my heart?

[She crosses her arms, frowning. She can't believe she's saying this, but Medic seems like a reasonably trustworthy individual.] I, uh, opened the fortune cookie...thing I was given, and I've just been noticing a lot more stuff, like the walls getting more worn, and...I dunno, I've got a lot on my plate tonight, do you mind just checking it out real quick?

[resortghosts]

[Hell! Yeah! Hearts! Medic knows the SHIT out of hearts!]

of coruse!!! let me get a stehoscope from ymroom and i can lsitne

what toehr symptoms have you eben having

[xenoqueen]

[Ripley sighs. At least some good news around here.]

Thank you, I...really appreciate it. [She starts walking down the hall towards Medic's room.] I mean, regarding the heart thing, all I've noticed is that when I'm sitting down or not doing any activity, my pulse is a little different. Faster, I think? At least, faster than what I'm used to.

[it could also be the stress!!! she's been stressed out a lot lately!!!]

As for noticing other stuff, I've mostly just seen that the walls seem to have aged quite a bit for the amount of time we've been here, but I don't know if that's correlated to the heart thing.

[resortghosts]

unless your heart is soemhow connected to this resort!

which could technicalyly be possible considering this palce is like. alvie

[Medic takes a few steps forward to open the door to his room, startling one or two birds chilling inside. It's... a complete mess, honestly. He still doesn't have a bed, but the blanket nest has been claimed by a sleeping bird. There's loose wires, feathers, the contents of a few first aid kids, bird shit, and spare parts all over the floor. The microscope on his desk has a slide loaded inside, with several dozen other slides laid out on the desktop.

Oh, and there's a suspicious bloodstain on the floor that's been halfheartedly covered by a full trashcan.

Ripley may not want to go inside.]

[xenoqueen]

I sure hope that isn't the case. I fully intend to burn this place to the ground if we escape.

[She doesn't...look like she's joking. Ripley peeks inside, catching a glance at the sheer mess littering the place. Unfortunately, due to her opening the fortune cookie, she can definitely pick up on the sorry state of this room.

...Oh, oh God, that's definitely blood.]

...You know what, maybe it's better you bring your supplies back to my room.

[resortghosts]

perfeclty valid repsonse!

[Medic's a little surprised, but he acquiesces, picking his stethoscope out from a pile of equipment.]

fair enough! atleast you'll havbe a bed to lie abck on instead of the floor

Some hours after Week 4 meeting

[resortghosts]

It's Iwai

[Hello, captain]

Heard the meeting was a rough time for you

[Iwai wasn't there, but, well...it's hard to not find out stuff in this place when you're a ghost]

[xenoqueen]

[Oh. She hasn't heard from him since...well, since he died.]

hi iwai. been a while.

had to leave halfway through, but it wasn't anything i couldn't handle. i just needed some time alone.

[that's a lie and they both know it, it's just...difficult to talk about.]

[resortghosts]

Everyone here can be a headache sometimes. The Foundation's way of bringing random people gets a bunch that shouldn't get involved in anything

[Iwai likes people in here, and respects the others enough to not mind their presence, but he doesn't have much faith in most people here's ability to stay alive in tough situations.

Not that he did much better. He sure thought he'd live]

You're one of the few sane ones in this madhouse, it's amazing you lasted this long until you told them what's what

[Iwai would have agreed with her completely if he had been there, that's for sure]

[xenoqueen]

thank you for the reassurance. though i feel like i might've told them too late.

[She feels...sort of bad for being contrary to what everyone else spoke, but she needed to put her foot down. Seeing all these kids running off and acting like they're invincible frankly terrifies her.]

i don't know. i feel like it's easy to blame it on them when really the circumstances are the ones pushing them to try and do their best. it's just that the more i find out the more i think they shouldn't be intentionally putting themselves in danger.

[resortghosts]

I know how it's like. Dumb teens think they're invincible. We still being around after death kind of makes it seem less dangerous than it really is, too.

[Despite the circumstances, it sure would be great not to put them in danger. They're just kids, trying to mess with stuff they don't even understand]

If anything dangerous is going to be done then the least that should be done would be send those experienced with this kind of thing and force those who have no idea what they're doing stay back. Lock them somewhere if necessary.

[The amount of people in this resort with experience in fighting and infiltration is pretty low, yeah]

[xenoqueen]

whoa, maybe locking them up is a little unnecessary--we don't want to be tyrannical about it. i mean, these kids do have good ideas, but i'm not sure if they're all entirely safe, and i don't think they're the ones who should be executing those ideas.

i just wish that sometimes they would see the adults as another valuable resource, but then again most of them aren't exactly a great example for being responsible. especially with phil distracting most of the men here.

["""distracting""" is one word for it]

[resortghosts]

Tyrannical, huh. [To him it seemed pretty natural for a moment. Maybe it's because he's trying to think of most people here as coworkers, and the only people he's ever had as coworkers are yakuzas and the such. Getting rough for one reason or another is pretty normal.

But these aren't yakuzas. These are...fellow soldiers? Fellow prisoners? Hard to know what word to use. He should stop trying to think of them as coworkers.

The comment about Phil distracting the men here amuses him so much he actually has to put down his tablet for a moment to enjoy the hilarity for a moment. That's why it takes a while for his reply to arrive]

I should be glad he didn't try to woo me.

[xenoqueen]

i mean, i don't know how it is back in your world, but we don't just go around locking kids in their rooms just because they won't cooperate

at least most people dont??

[Ripley can't help but let out an actual laugh at what Iwai says.]

don't give him any ideas. just because you're a ghost doesn't mean he won't stop.