**2** [Audio/Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz is currently sitting in the hallway in front of a line of pumpkins, her gaze bereft and full of tears. Her voice is choked and she sounds like a complete and total mess.

Hysterics are approaching.]

Look, ummm... I, like, don't even know if anyone will hear this, but... Could I, like, get some help, please?

The pumpkins...

[She breaks off in a choked sob, hands over her face.]

I- I t-tried to, like, pick it up, but I can't... I keep going right through it. I almost had it with my telekenesis, but it started, like, screaming and it startled me and I tried to grab it, but... She told me not to and yelled at me, but I couldn't put it back... She screamed and...

[She chokes off, unable to finish. She'll be sitting in the hallway with her best friend Tori's pumpkin practically disolved on the floor in front of her.

Problem with being a ghost... it's possible no one will even see her sitting there. They will see the pumpkin, sure, and hear her crying/talking, but it's all up to YOU! Maybe you will see her. Who knows!!!]

Comments

[audio]

[morningfeather]

I shall help. Where are you?

[At least this way it'll get her away from her own pumpkins and distract her from the whispering.]

[audio]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Oh, thank God someone actually heard her! She sniffles pathetically, still being jeered at by the other pumpkins.]

S-second floor.. outside room 2133.

[And she'll be sitting there looking at the destroyed pumpkin, while a demonic pumpkin continues to speak to her softly.]

[audio-->commentlog] I coulda swore this posted hours ago, apparently not

[morningfeather]

I shall be there shortly.

[And Te Ata is up the stairs and at room 2133 in just a couple minutes. She notices Liz on the floor and starts to clear up the mess on the floor while she speaks.]

I will get rid of this and be back in just a moment.

[commentlog] It's failed to post my comments the same way in the past

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz can only wait, staring blankly at the mess of pumpkin in front of her. She glances up at the sound of someone approaching and looks at the unfamiliar woman that comes to her aid.

She hitches a soft breath, feeling completely useless, but nods.]

Okay...

[commentlog] Rawr, LJ

[morningfeather]

[Te Ata quickly scoops up the pumpkins guts back into the pumpkin and picks it up with a small grimace. Not really knowing what to do, she takes it around the corner and places it in the other hallway. She'll take it outside and get rid of it when she leaves.

Te Ata wipes off her dress as much as she can and returns to kneeling down next to Liz.]

It's gone, dear. Please try to calm down.

[commentlog] isn't it the best? *sighs* WHAT r NOTIFS?

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz watches the unfamiliar woman move in and pick up the remains of Tori's pumpkin, following her with her eyes until she disappears around the corner. When Te Ata returns, sans pumpkin, Liz let's out a shaky breath and closes her eyes.

She remains as such until Te Ata speaks, opening her eyes to find the woman crouched right in front of her. She swallows around the knot in her throat, nodding.]

I'm, like, sorry. I didn't mean to, like, be a problem. I just didn't know what to do and when she screamed and... died I panicked.

[commentlog] /flips LJ

[morningfeather]

[Te Ata tries to give Liz a small smile, but it feels so forced she just lets it drop.]

I understand. It kind of freaked me out too when the one I had in my room did that. Are you going to be okay, or would you like me to sit with you for a while?

[Audio]

[fallintheriver.livejournal.com]

[Flail flail. Liz is in distress! How does one handle this sort of situation? Play it cool, Ezra, and pretend that your social education didn't completely gloss over this sort of thing.]

Liz! Are you okay? They're just pumpkins, it's fine. Probably.

[Audio] I <3 you and Ezra so much! xoxoxo

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz is absolutely a mess right now, Ezra. She is most certainly in distress right now and kinda sorta hates herself for it, cause she's supposed to be the bubbly positive one.]

Ezra... she was, like, talking and I wanted to bring her back and then I couldn't, cause, like, my hand passed through the stupid pumpkin. I tried to, like, lift her with my powers, but that didn't work and then she screamed and I tried to, like, put her back but it didn't work and she melted into a puddle..

[She hopes, on another level, that you understood all of that, Ezra.]

And now, like, my dad is saying stuff to me, and, like, it's not nice and he says that Tori is dead anyway so it, like, doesn't matter and she was just, like, a stupid pumpkin.

[She whimpers, huddled against the wall outside her room.]

None of them will stop talking...

[Audio] <33

[fallintheriver.livejournal.com]

[Somehow, Ezra gathers that 'Right, they're just stupid pumpkins. Don't worry about it', is not an appropriate response in this situation.

But, wait! He knows how to make them stop talking! He can help!]

We have to find the one with you on it. Someone s- I heard that if you take it off the stake, the voices stop.

[He really, really hopes this information is accurate.]

[Audio]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz thanks you for using your best judgement in this matter, Ezra. She looks up at the pumpkins lining the hall in front of her, but doesnt see her own; just her father's demonic visage.]

I don't, like, s-see mine... and I can't, like, pick it up on my own. I'm all incorporeal and ghosty and my telekinesis isn't, like, working.

[She looks miserably down at her journal, her tone plaintive.]

C-can you help me, like, find it, Ezra??

[Audio]

[fallintheriver.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'll start looking. If you, uh, find it first, tell me and I'll help you smash it, okay?

[And he's already off searching.]

[Audio --> Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Ezra, you are the bestest person ever! She looks miseraly at the pumpkin before her before slowly rising to her feet.]

T-thanks, Ezra...

[Seriously, she might be a cheerleader and a total and complete girl, but she's been far more productive in the past. How could she just sit here and let him look alone?

So, since she's ghosty right now, anyway, she takes advantage and begins searching. It's amazing how much quicker things go when you can just walk through sections of wall. However, it's not without price, as with each wall she passes it gets harder and harder to do so without feeling the effects.

It hurts. It has never hurt before.

She's searching for a bit when she winds up on the fourth floor and comes face to face with her own pumpkin. She exhales and reaches for it with trembling hands, but she's still very much unable to pick it up. She fumbles out her journal, sounded winded and strained when she speaks.]

Ezra... fourth floor or the barracks. I'm kinda, like, ghosty right now. I think I can at least tip it over, but my powers aren't working too well...

[Commentlog]

[fallintheriver.livejournal.com]

[Ezra has been scrambling around the keep, going pumpkin to pumpkin, cursing under his breath as he continues to fail at finding the single pumpkin he's looking for. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

So when he opens his journal again and hears the message for him, he sighs in relief. There was the hard part over with. He replies with a quick 'I'm coming' and boots it to the barracks, skidding to a halt as he approaches Liz's ghostly form. Honestly? Before Vertiline and the Keep, ghosts were to Ezra something inherently wrong, and he can't help but flinch a bit at the sight of her. But this was his friend, and she wasn't evil, and he suppresses the part of him that is still trying to tell him that Ghosts Are Bad. Funny how being brought back from death will change the way a person sees things like that.]

I'm here. So you just want me to, uh. Smash it, right?

[He looks at the pumpkin they've spent so much time searching for. He knew he was here to destroy it, but seeing the carving beside the original suddenly made the whole thing kind of weird.]

[Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz feels a swell of relief as Ezra appears, a faint smile alighting on her lips. She's not entirely see through, although if he wanted he could physically walk right through her right now.

Her gaze flits from Ezra and back to the pumpkin with her face. Liz's expression flattens as the pumpkin continues to whisper and mutter at her.]

Yeah, I think so... like, that's the only way we can quiet them all down.

[She trails off, fiddling her fingers at the end of her shirt. her voice is soft and tentative as she continues.]

It's weird, isn't it...

[She looks at him sidelong.]

Did you find yours already?

[Commentlog]

[fallintheriver.livejournal.com]

[Ezra shakes his head emphatically.]

Not yet.

[He eyes her pumpkin, grimacing at the words that keep rolling out of its mouth. Well, there was nothing for it. As quickly as he could, he tears it from its place, his eyes screwed shut as he throws it to the ground and stomps it so he doesn't have to witness its gruesome, enchanted death.]

[Commentlog]

[sociopathicwolf]

[Derek hears this over the journals, but doesn't bother asking Liz where she is. He can't track her scent, but it still doesn't take him too long to find her, particularly with the sound of her crying.]

Liz?

[Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz looks up, her expression miserable as she gestures weakly at the shriveled up pumpkin on the floor in front of her.]

I tried to, like, put her back, but I couldn't...

[Commentlog]

[sociopathicwolf]

[He crouches down next to her, though he doesn't try to touch her.]

It wasn't her.

[He wishes he'd found it first, he'd have smashed it and Liz would never have to know.]

[Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz sniffs and looks at Derek, nodding.]

I know that... like, I know that, but it caught me off guard. I mean it was, like, bad enough when she was just whispering, but she, like, screamed and I panicked. It sounded just like her...

[It had been horrible.]

[thii2ii22tupiid]

*Sollux does indeed see and hear her as he wanders down the hall. So he does the nicest possible thing.
He stops in front of her and scowls.*

Cut it out. Crying doesn't do anything.

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz is just kind of staring at the pumpkin before her, although no one would recognize Tori now; even if they'd known her.

She sees the feet first, her gaze lingering on the floor, and blinks at the dry tone that follows. She actually snorts a laugh behind the tears, having expected that reaction least of all from anyone.

Looking up at Sollux's voice, she actually sees him for the first time. She blinks, sniffles, and then grins a bit awkwardly.]

No... I don't imagine it'll do, like, much good at all. Much less shut any of the others up, huh?

[She rubs the sleeve of her shirt across her nose, studying the first troll she's ever seen. She actually smiles a bit wryly, shaken out of her self-misery fest rather successfully.]

You don't pull any punches, do you?

[thii2ii22tupiid]

Its really just annoying to anyone who has to hear it.

*He shrugs.*

There's usually not a reason to.

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz laughs again, and there is far less strain this time.]

Well, God knows I wouldn't want to, like, annoy anyone.

[There is even a teasing note to her sarcasm. She then sighs and nods.]

Be what you are, not, like, what others want you to be.

[She is silent for a minute, her gaze drifting to the pumpkins once more.]

These things are all over the place, aren't they?

[thii2ii22tupiid]

*He smirks a bit, then shrugs again.*

Yep. They're pretty noisy, too.

[bffpoltergeist]

Don't they bother you at all?

[Liz sighs, staring up at the one of her dad. She points to it.]

Sollux, meet my dad, the demon lord of the pumpkins. Dad, this is Sollux.

[The visage of her father is something clearly demonoid and eeeeeeeeeeevil, but it seems less intimidating now as a pumpkin.]

[thii2ii22tupiid]

They'll need to try a lot harder than that to bother me.

*Really, this was child's play.
He cants his head a bit and peers at the pumpkin.*

Your dad is a demon? I thought you were human. Er, a ghost. Human-ghost. Or something like that.

[bffpoltergeist]

[She looks at him curiously when he says the first, pushing up so she's standing again. Ghost or not, she's going to brush off her backside, too.]

Consider yourself lucky. They're bothersome enough as they are...

[She then shakes her head, hands coming to rest on her hips as she looks at the pumpkin version of her dad.]

Not fully human. Half-demon, actually... s'where I get the telekinesis from. So, I guess I'm a telekinetic half-demon ghost.

[thii2ii22tupiid]

I didn't know humans could breed with other species.

*Let alone with demons, that could be a problem B|*

Telekinesis isn't normal for ghosts in your universe?

*Then again he only knew the one ghost, and she was telekinetic before she died, but it did get stronger once she did, so it seemed to make sense that it was a normal ghost thing.*

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz studies her companion as he asks her questions, seeing no reason not to answer him.]

Well, as far as I know it doesn't happen, like, super often, but it does happen. I couldn't tell you how many half-breeds there are, but there's definitely more than just me.

As for my abilities... As far as we've learned, I, like, have them because I'm a half-demon. I just so happened to get control of everything after I died. I don't know if all ghosts can do what I can do, but I don't think so.

[She seems to recall many that could not.]

[thii2ii22tupiid]

Huh.

*He rubs his head a bit.*

What do you know about ghosts in your universe?

[bffpoltergeist]

[She actually smiles at his question.]

Well, I can't, like, think of anyone that could answer questions abou them better than I could.

[Since she was one and all.]

Ghosts are spirits of the dead that haven't found peace, for one reason or another. They haven't gone to the light and they're not stuck in limbo, cause those are, like, two completely different things. We usually stick around because we've got some kinda unfinished business or because we were killed super violently and just get lost qnd confused along the way. Sometimes we hang around because the people still living are more interesting than whatever might be on the other side...

[thii2ii22tupiid]

Wait...the light?

[bffpoltergeist]

[liz looks at her companion with a bit of puzzlement, nodding.]

Yeah, you know... the light? When we die they say that there is some welcoming light, sometimes at the end of a tunnel, but not always. You're supposed to go to that light and it's suppsoed to be, like, all warm and stuff and and things are supposed to be better there.

[She gives a small shrug.]

I haven't seen it or anything, but then I've made it pretty clear that I'm here to, like, help out Chloe, Derek and the gang.

[thii2ii22tupiid]

I've never heard anything like that, it must work differently for you guys.

[Audio --> Commentlog]

[ghostly-stutter.livejournal.com]

L-Liz?

H-hang on! I'll be right there! I'll be--

[And here she comes, racing down the hall to your door, hoping that's where Liz was. If not, she would find out momentarily.]

[Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[If Chloe isn't paying too much attention, she just might run right through Liz, who is sitting rather quietly on the floor of the hall.

However, being as how Chloe is one of the few that can see her ALL the time, this is unlikely.

She looks up at the approaching steps and when she sees who is coming she simply looks back at the shriveled up pumpkin.]

It was Tori...

[Commentlog]

[ghostly-stutter.livejournal.com]

[Chloe ceases running when she sees Liz, her mouth forming a small 'o' as she slowly edges closer.]

Tori?

[Crouching down next to Liz, Chloe looks at the shriveled pumpkin and her eyebrows rise. It did resemble Tori, though it was slightly misshapen now.]

Liz, wh-what's going on?

[Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz looks miserable as she looks up at Chloe.]

You hear the voices, don't you? All the mean little whispers and blame and, like, stuff... There's pumpkins from home, Chloe. They have the faces of people we know. I, like, found Tori and my dad...

[She gestures to the looming demonic pumpkin still on a post behind Chloe.]

I, like, tried to take Tori down, but I'm all ghosty right now. So I tried to use my telekinesis, and it didn't work too well and she, like, started to scream and it was horrible and I, like, couldn't hold her and she slipped. She shriveled up and died and I just want to go home.

[The last is said in a rush, but is heavy with emotion.]