The Others [IC/PG-16/Accepting]

[Skaia]

Carmen hadn't done much with her day, simply lazing about in bed and scrolling through various dog pictures. She had felt compelled to pick up her pen and start to get working on her next drawing, but the allure of her mattress was all the more convincing at this point. And it wasn't like she could be blamed, she had been working hard these past few days! Carmen rarely ever felt like leaving her house but now she had been near forced to several times to deal with other people's problems. She had always held onto some kind of paranoia about the outside world, that random strangers she had never met would cause her harm or that there was also something dangerous lurking in the shadows. And she was right! 

"Heh, heheh," the girl let out an uncharacteristically smug laugh as she was realizing that everyone who had thought she was crazy for living the way she did was now proven to actually be the crazy one. Her triumph, however, was interrupted as her phone buzzed and she looked at a new article. After reading it, her expression became far more displeased as she let out a low groan, thinking that this was truly one of the problems with getting into a relationship with someone. It was only after a moment passed that she realized who had sent her this article in the first place, letting a slowly forming realization hit all the quicker as she realized there was now a van waiting for her outside. 

As she left her apartment and walked into the van, she looked at the strange sight of Shiki in a cowboy hat, clearly curious about it but unwilling to say much on the subject matter. Still, her focus on it was clear as she stared it briefly, before looking at the twice covered face of Shiki, raising a shaky hand as she stammered out a, "u-um....uh...Hi, uh, Sh-Shiki..."

Shiki nodded their hat towards Carmen, acknowledging and returning the greeting to her. The girl, still curious about it, went to go sit back in the van, curiously glancing at it the entire ways way to their destination. 

Once they had reached their destination, Carmen was curious about something. Namely, what it was that they were here to do in the first place. She figured that the stabbings had something to do with some kind of ghost, as all of their other jobs had so far. But only now realized that she never actually knew what it was they were getting into or what it was that Shiki had figured out that even lead them to this job in the first place. For that matter did they spend all of their time on news websites or did they just happen upon these? The girl, stepping up was about to say something, only to stop herself as Brian spoke up and got out of the van. Clearly he was neither bothered by this nor cared to ask, so she figured that it must be something that he already knew about too. Not wanting to be the odd woman out here, Carmen simply responded to his request saying, "um...sure..." The girl grabbed the flashlight and box, following after Brian. An extra burrito did sound nice too. 

[LordCowCow]

The two made their way into the house. Going up the steps, avoiding the railing on their left that was hanging off, and up to the front door. It was locked but it wouldn't be hard to get their way into it regardless and as soon as they entered the building they would hear something.

However what they heard was different.

Brian heard a young male voice. Oddly familiar for some reason he couldn't quite place. They sounded afraid, and pleading. From somewhere in the house he could hear the small voice, "please, help me. I'm in danger. You need to help me." Despite everything Brian felt a deep compulsion to find where the voice was coming from and help them out. Not just a compulsion but a need. As though his life couldn't possibly continue without helping out whoever was calling to him.

While Carmen heard a bit of an older voice, raspy, and female. It sounded angry and bitter and it told her in no uncertain terms. "Stay away. You're not wanted here. Get out and leave me alone or else!" Which conjured the most expected emotion. Carmen felt frightened of the voice. Knowing that whoever it had come from was someone, or something, that she didn't want anything to do with.

The house itself wasn't incredibly large but it was cluttered. It looked as though it had been in the process of being cleaned up after a year of abandonment and much of the stuff was piled off to the sides which at least left a path through the living room into the kitchen beyond.

Spoiler

 I of course can give more information/details as needed. Sorry if feels like I'm telling you what to feel but also that's sorta the point.

 

[radio414]

In retrospect, of course the door was locked. That didn’t stop Brian from trying the knob more than once. It was supposed to be a pull door -- fire codes or something like that -- but he still pushed more than once just in case. Brian looked at Carmen. “Did Shiki give you a key or something without telling me?” he said. Wait, what was he saying? “Don’t answer that.” This was still Carmen he was talking about. “Alright, stand back.”

The way un-stucking a door was done in movies was with a kick right under the doorknob. Brian tried that first and stubbed his toe for his troubles. “Son of a fuck,” Brian said. It didn’t stop him from trying again, but his second kick was wildly off-target and was even less effective than the first one. Even the “BANG!” sound from the impact was worse. In one final effort, Brian grabbed the doorknob again and yanked as hard as he could.

The sound of the lock breaking was obvious, but also obvious was how little of a problem that was to Brian. “Between libertarian serial killers and this horseshit, you’d think Shiki’d invest in getting us a fireman’s axe or something,” he said. “Hey, what’s…?”

There was someone in there? He couldn’t see anyone, but given how ghosts or spirits worked, that didn’t mean anything. Saying “Who’s there?” also didn’t help, but Brian still did it. He backed up, positioning himself behind Carmen on the stairs before realizing what he was doing. “Doesn’t matter. Someone’s in there. Come on.” He put his hands on Carmen’s shoulders and started pushing her through the threshold into the house.

[Skaia]

Carmen grew increasingly more nervous about what they were doing as Brian went to go break down the door to the house they were supposed to enter. This was the scene of a crime and from what little she knew about the police she figured they'd probably be back to investigate again. And this was also someone's house in general, even if they were arrested, so this was still breaking an entering. Carmen could barely handle the police when she didn't do something wrong, but now she was sure that every street corner she turned for the next few days she'd be worried about being caught for this crime. Unless the person who owned the place was the victim, in which case maybe it didn't belong to anyone and she was fine? She hoped that was the case. 

As she and Brian approached the house, the girl stammered out a "wh-who's there?" almost in unison with Brian as a voice called out to her. Carmen felt her hairs stand on end as the disembodied voice very clearly told them not to enter and for fear of both police and spiritual retribution she was very much inclined to agree. As she took a step back she felt Brian's hand on her shoulder as she said, "w-wait I don't....uh this sounds really dangerous and maybe we should just- ahh uuggghh..." Was all that came out of her as she was forcibly moved into the building. 

The interior of the house did nothing to assuage her concerns either. It was mostly square in area, a couch against the left wall and a TV entertainment center to against the right. Immediately to her left as well was a chair, a table and an out of season fake Christmas Tree. To the far end of the room there were CDs and DVDs piled up as well as a vacuum cleaner pushed into the corner that had gone mostly untouched. Between the incredibly dusty TV and the tree, Carmen couldn't help but feel as though this place was both well lived in and may as well have been abandoned months ago. She couldn't help but wonder if the couple even lived here in the first place or if it was just ghosts all along, a point that was made even more reinforced by the fact that the previously disembodied voice still had no body for her to attach to it inside. 

All the same, nervously, the girl began to continue stepping forward and looking around before looking into the kitchen. This was a somewhat familiar sight to her own kitchen life; the counter cluttered in knickknacks, the table cluttered with unopened mail on top and unopened boxes and packages on the bottom. The girl took a step into the kitchen and - 

"Ahhhhh! Ahhh!" Leaping back, knocking into Brian, the girl frantically through her hands all around as she felt something touch her face. After knocking things around the girl then wiped her face, removing the spider webs that she had walked into, only to then hear the voice warn her to leave yet once more. A chill running down her spine, Carmen looked back and said, "B-Brian I uh...I think we should do what the scary voice says and leave, right? It's - er, well um ugh - I just...this place is really creepy." 

[radio414]

Brian made sure to keep himself between Carmen and the exit as they moved further into the house. Perhaps it was a detriment that he kept his focus on her instead of whatever was calling them in, but on the other hand, he was still going in. The worst part was, Carmen wasn’t even acting all that weird. That didn’t mean Brian couldn’t be more annoyed by it. “Even if there wasn’t a weird voice calling us further into the house, you know we have a job to do, right?” Brian said. “I hate that I have to remind you of this every ti- oof!” 

Whatever (justified!) diatribe Brian had been on was interrupted by Carmen leaping back out of the kitchen and straight into Brian’s chest. It was all he could manage to keep hold and keep Carmen from bolting entirely. Of course, when he looked into the kitchen after all that, there was nothing that could plausibly cause any of that, but he wasn’t Carmen. When she held up her hands to reveal nothing but cobwebs, only spooky if one were a housefly, Brian couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Well, that was a lie. He didn’t try to stop himself. “Didn’t I tell you to grow up?” he said. “Or was that just the ghost version of you? Either way, I don’t want to say it again.”

There was something weird about the cobwebs, in that normal people didn’t tend to have those anywhere near a kitchen, but then again, that could have been any number of things. Sometimes his apartment had cobwebs, and he still lived there, and as far as he could tell, he wasn’t a ghost yet. Maybe they just didn’t run into them like Carmen did. There were probably a lot of things they didn’t do that Carmen did. The tree and the dust in the living room were a little more obviously annoying to a potential living person, but it was also entirely possible they just didn’t use the space very often. And also, of course, if someone was trapped somewhere where they needed help, they wouldn’t be able to get any of this.

Someone needed help. That much Brian knew. There were two more places Brian could think to check immediately: beds and baths. Beyond that, maybe they needed to rifle through some closet space? He supposed he would if he had to. He returned his focus to Carmen. “We’ve got to keep searching. Bathroom next, I think.” That was where ghosts seemed to show up, right? And really, if whoever needed help wasn’t a ghost, that would be where he’d expect to find them also.

[Skaia]

Carmen couldn't help but let out a concerned groaned as her ghost hunting partner continued to seem uncaring towards her plight. The girl was certain that there was something wrong with this house - which was obvious because they were here to begin with - and that whatever haunting force was here was out to get her. Brian seemed as unconcerned as ever about the voice, and while she was very much ready to book it at a moment's notice she didn't want to face whatever wrath her partner would inflict upon her if she didn't follow through with solving the mystery. It was for that reason that Carmen had carried, paradoxically taking point in this mission, as she made her way into the bathroom. 

The actual room itself didn't look out of the ordinary, though Carmen instinctively let out a small yelp again as her foot pressed into the ceramic tiling on the ground letting out a loud cracking noise echoing through the quiet enclosed space. Steeling herself once again, the girl daintily stepped into the room, seeing nothing more than a shower, a sink and a mirror, the latter both housing their own cabinets. Carmen really had no idea what she was looking for here, but quite like the office incident, that didn't stop her from deciding that anything and everything could be searched and dug through and perhaps she'd even find some kind of candy again. Not like she wanted to eat bathroom candy anyway. 

Searching high first the girl went to the overhead cabinet, slowly creaking it open and keeping one eye closed, as if not seeing would help her face whatever was inside but still curious as to what it was only to be met with the sight of...some toothpaste and other basic toiletries. Letting out a sigh of relief as nothing had leaped out and begun tearing at her face the girl immediately stood to attention as there was rustling behind the shower curtain. Every piece of survival instinct that Carmen had told her not to step forward and that it was dangerous there, but going on these missions had continued to stoke her curiosity and she simply couldn't help but grab onto the curtain, terrified of what was behind it yet curious to the monster that could be there. 

"Leave us alone!"

"Ah! I'm sorry!" In a panic, Carmen inadvertently pulled the curtains back as she attempted to immediately flee from the scary voice, feeling like she had to escape more than ever before, before bounding into the bathroom wall, and then falling to the ground, causing yet another obnoxiously loud cracking noise to reverberate through the room. With pain going through her arm that she had fallen on the girl whimpered out a, "oooww...I don't like it here..."

Were Brian to check the now revealed shower tub there was nothing more than regular soaps and things one would find in such an area. 

[radio414]

Brian stared at the shower in disbelief. In a world with secret goblins, ghosts, and ghouls, the fact that Carmen was still jumping at shadows was beyond him. Unless, of course, “You’re really scared of showers, huh?” he said. “I guess that fits with your general…” He gestured vaguely all over Carmen. “…sitch.” Still, he did offer that same gesturing hand out to help Carmen back up.

The rest of the bathroom was so unremarkable, it probably should have raised Brian’s suspicions that something was wrong with the house at all. But whenever he thought that, his thoughts immediately returned to the voice begging for help further inside the house. He did check the medicine cabinet, though, just in case. “Nyquil, Dayquil, Day-for-nightquil, antihistamines… Don’t think anything here is going to help you with the sitch part, but here’s some Tylenol if you need that.” He examined the bottle and noticed a date that was no longer in the present decade, but he still tossed it to Carmen. “Might be haunted, though. Who knows?”

The bottle was not haunted -- at least, it was not haunted in a way that either Brian or Carmen could detect -- so there wasn’t much else worth investigating in the bathroom, and soon the two were on to the bedroom, one still more enthusiastically than the other. The bedroom itself was more of the same, with an emphasis on the “more.” Brian had not realized that it was structurally possible to demolish a wall between two rooms to make one big room -- at least, not to the extent that this wall had. And yet, it remained obvious that that had happened; the telltale markings were there on the ceiling. It was preferable to the floor, though, which was covered in beer cans on one side and a spilled litter box on the other. Where there wasn’t either of those, there was still miscellaneous refuse. The titular bed was on the beer cans side, lying directly on the floor. “You lucked out, Carmen,” Brian said. “I was going to make you check underneath the bed if there was an underneath.”

The only other feature worth talking about was a closet on the beer and bed half of the room. The doors were also bigger than Brian might have expected, in a “who has two doors just for a closet” sort of way. The fact that one of them was hanging ajar was less surprising given the state of things, though, and- “Oh, that makes sense.” The words slipped out of Brian’s mouth as he realized it wasn’t a double-door closet at all, but one of those sliding door closets. One of them had just fallen off the track. “Okay, sure. Okay.”

Not that he told Carmen what he had been thinking about to prompt such a reaction. Instead, he just gestured towards the closet. If Carmen didn’t move, he would, but otherwise, he still wanted to keep in the way of her getting out of the house before they found what he was looking for.

[Skaia]

Carmen followed after Brian as he guided her to the next room, a bed room of sorts that looked more like a trash heap for empty cans then a place one would sleep in. Well, it's not like her own room was in a particularly clean, or what some people might call "liveable," state but that would hardly keep her from judging another's. 

Carmen tensed up as Brian threatened to make her look under the theoretical underside of the bed, or more promised that he would have, only to watch him cautiously as he went to mess with the closet doors. Before actually opening them, though, he gestured for her to step up first. "Eh?" Carmen was only growing increasingly uncomfortable with being someone to trip any landmines the group might come upon first, but she was even more uncomfortable about dealing with the consequences if she didn't. At least if a ghost killed her it would all be over pretty quickly and she wouldn't have to worry about interacting with someone who would constantly be angry with her. Oh, but she would be dead and she couldn't imagine any death by ghost would be pleasant so she figured that that would be bad in its own way.

The girl opened the closet, with the door that was properly still on, only for her hairs to stand on all ends as a growl started to echo throughout the room. The girl's eyes darted around trying to figure out where it was, Brian himself seeming not phased by this noise at all, before gulping and checking the inside of the closet. There were old board games and photo albums that looked at least twice as old as she was, prompting curiosity in the girl as she continued to walk closer in. 

 "Mine, mine..."

A grumbling sent a shiver up Carmen's spine as she walked back and closed to the door, wordlessly. With her eyes wide looking around, she could again not find the source of this noise, which only prompted to make her even more nervous about the house they were in presently. "I uh...I think they don't want me to touch it..." The girl whimpered, knowing that Brian would try demanding something from her before deciding to just leave the rest of the closet to him. 

Deciding to scurry back on over the bed, with which had no bottom that she would be force to inspect under, the girl took a quick note of it. The bed was big, very big, and had similarly heavy blankets draped across it. Perhaps that was too fancy of a word to use, as it was more a mess and looked like it had never been made once since whoever it was woke up and got out of it. The girl also saw a dog bed in the corner but, thus far, hadn't seen any other evidence of a dog being here. Looking up as well, the fan and curtains that were near the bed seemed to be caked in dust. Still not sure what to make of it, and unsure how it would even work, Carmen blurted out, "do...uh...do you think uh, anyone actually like...lived here?" 

[radio414]

Brian’s immediate response was, “What kind of stupid question is that?” Of course people lived here! There was all this shit lying around! Granted, the dust and disuse of all of said shit was a bit much, but “lived” was a strong past tense sort of word. People could live anywhere. Was Carmen’s apartment any better? Now, “living” present tense was a better question, and if any credit could go to Carmen for this, it was to spark Brian’s thinking on this very topic, because it seemed like the answer was no.

But then, who was it that got pulled out of the apartment in that news story? Brian had assumed it was a tenant, but it could easily have just been some urban explorer, squatter, or other vagabond. It could have been just some kid. Brian remembered the kid they had pulled out of that haunted office building, the one where a fake Carmen attacked him. He hadn’t assumed anything about that kid. “She might not have lived here, though. What did the news say she said? ‘I need it, it’s mine?’ That sounds like she found something exploring. She could have been like us and just got here first.”

The most incontrovertible evidence that someone was here was the voice calling for help. That still needed to be resolved, and hopefully soon. To that end, Brian also approached the closet. He couldn’t trust Carmen for anything. The side she had checked, of course, had nothing worth anything -- Carmen appeared to be as scared of organization as she was of showers. The other side was a little harder to open, though. The doors being broken didn’t help. Brian had to give it a good yank, and was immediately rewarded for his troubles by a stack of blankets taller than he was, all jammed into that side of the closet. “This is somehow even more boring than the other side,” Brian said.

Just as he did, the blankets shifted. Brian flinched, expecting it to be the house’s ghost or something equally malevolent, but it turned out the only baneful force behind the movement was gravity, as the blankets came spilling out. There were more than Brian expected, and they all fell into Brian and knocked him over, sending him tumbling to the ground. Brian’s “Fuck,” was muffled under it all.

“Okay,” Brian said as he pulled himself out from the blanket avalanche. He sat down on the bed and leaned forward, almost taking a classic Thinker position, but ended up just putting his hands together by his knees. “Let’s talk this out. The house looks abandoned, but there had just been people in it. Shiki sent us here, and, unless this is another axe-murderer instead of a ghost, the place is haunted. You want to leave, but we have work to do and a person to save. So!” He said it like he had come to a conclusion, but nothing came out just yet. “So… Whole place could be the ghost. Could be inside a ghost right now and we wouldn’t know it. In that case, I definitely want to get this other person out.”

[Skaia]

Carmen was certainly hoping there wasn't some kind of axe murderer in this building, but she also couldn't help but feel that there was something off about what Brian had said. As far as they knew there was only two other people who had been here, the murderer and the victim, so there wasn't anyone here to "save." The girl's eyes then darted around as Brian mentioned the whole building could be a ghost, suddenly growing more on edge about everywhere she stepped before he finished his part. 

The final comment that Brian made left the girl completely confused, looking at Brian as though he were crazy. “Huh?  I uh…we uh, shouldn’t bring the ghost outside…right?”

Brian returned the look. "What are you talking about? I'm not talking about getting a ghost out, just getting a person away from whatever the ghost is."

“Eh? Person?” There was certainly a human-like voice that was speaking to her this whole time but she was certain it was more of a ghost then a living person that needed saving. And they certainly sounded like they wanted nothing to do with her. Besides, she couldn't help but feel a bit weirded out on Brian actually wanting to willingly help someone. “No no no, they really don’t want to leave and I really don’t want to make them more mad.”

"We must be talking about different people, then," Brian said. "That, or you've finally lost it. I've been pretty clear what I've been hearing, and that's that somebody needs our help."

Growing a bit more defensive the girl looked away and said, "o-or maybe you've lost it...A-anyway! There's nothing here that's been talking like it wants to be saved. Just a voice that keeps telling me to leave and not touch anything and I really don't want to make it angrier." She was certain that she wasn't the crazy one here and that staying longer was just asking to be killed. Besides why did he think she had been freaking out this whole time? Carmen knew that she could be a bit jumpier than the average person but she was had been repeatedly shown that her thoughts that everything could and was able to kill her had ben very justified! It wasn't like she was just afraid of every old thing, like a shower. She had gotten over that fear years ago. 

[radio414]

So Carmen was the crazy one here. That part was obvious. What was less obvious was what to do about it. They had identified the fundamental discrepancy, at least, so it was a start, but as Brian sat there on the bed, staring back at Carmen’s delirious eyes, he still tried his hardest to reconcile everything. What had happened last time they had gone through this? Well, last time he wasn’t able to get Carmen to see things his way, it had turned out she was the ghost all along, and she had attacked him. Was there something similar going on here?

That said, because Carmen was so jumpy anyway, there was a chance that things would escalate to physical. It wasn’t something Brian minded normally -- after all, he’d done it before -- but he didn’t want the damsel in distress getting hurt if he or she decided to show up in the middle of a fight. The fact that Brian hadn’t seen any sign of him or her was making him antsy. He’d been thinking about how to resolve (apparently only) his particular problem with the voice asking, begging him for help, and he hoped this would be an adequate solution, no matter who was right (even though he absolutely was).

He tried to keep his voice level, to calm Crazy Carmen’s frazzled nerves (he wondered if anyone had called her that before). “So here’s what we’re going to do, then:” Brian said. “We’re going to get the seals, we’ll stick each other up just to make sure you’re not a spirit trying to trick me again, and then we’ll go back through the place and tag anything that looks suspicious. The shower, closet, any weird noises, whatever. Same rules as the other ghosts, really. If nothing jumps out at you, then we can leave.” Not that he had any intention of leaving, of course. But it was probably better to alleviate Carmen’s fears at least a little bit by making her think there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

[Skaia]

Carmen nodded to Brian's suggestion, ready and willing to go along with just about any plan that would allow her to leave this house at a moment's notice. And so, first she grabbed the seals that they had brought along and as per the instructions stuck one on herself and then, very hesitantly handed one over to Brian to put on himself. The girl did not burst into flames at her action and, coincidentally, neither did Brian. There was some relief to know that, at the very least, she was not speaking with a ghost. There was further relief as well to know that she as well was not a ghost. That would have made this whole situation far more awkward. 

This was, naturally, only a temporary relief for the girl as she realized that they were still no closer to find out what was wrong with this haunted house and Brian would still not be convinced to let her go on her way. As such the girl looked around the room, and though her body was still her eyes were frantically searching for anything she might've missed before confirming that there was nothing else here. This too was a relief as the house had nearly been searched completely and they had yet to find a ghost. As such, the only thing for Carmen to do was continue searching the house and go into the only room she hadn't thus far. The basement. 

Upon opening the door the girl was greeted with nothing more than a few steps that lead to a landing with torn up carpeting on it. The girl stepped down, slowly but assuredly, only to find her path forward barred by a door that lead outside that was quite literally barred. Turning to the side the girl saw that there was yet another landing that she could walk down to and, deciding to not mess with the house anymore than she had to, left the boarded up door intact. Once down to the final landing the girl flipped on a light switch to see something of a mess. 

The floor was concrete and seemed cracked, broken or just unfinished in some locations. Trash bags littered the ground with all other manner of random items being strewn about, showing itself to be even more chaotic and unkempt than the room that she had just previously been in. The object that drew Carmen's attention the most, however, was a dog crate sitting on the ground next to the furnace. Having just had an experience with dogs, the girl walked over to the crate slowly, expecting some kind of monstrosity to be lying in wait only to see that nothing had inhabited it. 

As she bent over the girl grabbed the door to the cage and clenched her eyes shut, before she opened the door as if ripping off a very stuck on bandage. The girl let go and leaped backwards as the door creaked and squeaked loud, made only louder by the enclosed space that she was in. And then silence. Opening one eye first, the girl looked at the dog crate before opening the other and letting out a sigh of relief as there was nothing strange to be found there. 

The girl looked around and cautiously said, "well uh, maybe that's uh, everywhere?" Though, as she had opened the door to the dog crate Carmen realized something felt off. Usually around this time there would be a voice that shouts at her to leave but she heard no such thing this time. The realization itself cause the girl to jump and frantically look around, as a child would when they had broken something and expected their parent to find out about anytime now, only to find that once again nothing of the sort had happened. Well, it wasn't as though the girl needed a scary voice telling her to leave to want to anyway! 

[radio414]

Brian did not immediately follow Carmen out of the bedroom. Instead, he exhaled and remained on the bed a little bit longer. Having properly demonstrated that he was not a ghost, he took the seal off of his body and put it to the side. “God,” he muttered. There was a part of him that, like Carmen kept insisting, wanted to get out of this stupid house, for the same reason that he wanted out of every other part of this job every time he did it. But he was also unhappy with the compromise that he himself had just set up. After all, why shouldn’t he? Why shouldn’t he want to stay and figure out who needed his help so badly? That was what good people did, and he was a good person, right? Not perfect, sure, but good enough.

He was about to get up when he heard the voice again. “Help me!” it said. But it was different this time. For the first time, it felt like Brian knew exactly where it was coming from. It was coming from the bed.

Carmen was busy, and this would just take a second. Brian reached out and grabbed at the covers, tearing them off and making another heap of fabric to go with the rest of the mess on the floor, leaving just the undersheet, the pillows, and the source of the voice: a small hand mirror. It was old -- Brian could tell just by looking at it that it was the kind found in antique stores that was just a polished slab of metal instead of the more traditional glass inlay. But that didn’t stop it from talking. “Please,” the voice said. “Help me. Take a look and save me.” It hadn’t even finished its sentence before Brian had it in his hand.

Instinctively, Brian wanted to cradle the thing, but he knew that wouldn’t actually keep the mirror safe -- he’d drop it for sure. That was the important thing, though, keeping it safe. It would fall out of his pocket… he’d probably get into another fight with a ghost or something, so it couldn’t be in his hand… What he ended up going for was tucking it directly into his pants, using the tension from his belt to keep it from slipping further down his leg. That way, it was pressed against his skin, too, which felt right. He wiggled his leg a little to make sure it wouldn’t slip or anything, then went to see if Carmen had actually done her job properly.

[Skaia]

The girl continued to look through the basement, which involved mostly standing in place and crouching down every now and then to see if there was anything of note around. Once she was largely certain that there was nothing left for her to check out the girl took the opportunity to quickly scuttle back up the stairs and out of the room. Halfway up the stairs the girl had realized something. No one had yelled at her to leave the house, that was something she had already realized. But no one was also there to force her to check every nook and cranny and mock her relentlessly as she expressed very reasonable caution and panic to the environment. 

The girl thought about it, wondering if Brian had even followed her down here to begin with. She didn't remember at any point that he was behind her and there was no point where he had said anything at all to her in this room. The girl took a quick glance backward, partially expecting Brian to just be there but found herself relieved the man didn't just suddenly appear in a place he shouldn't have been to begin with. As she looked across the room she didn't notice any sign that he was physically here at all, or disintegrated with nothing but his shoes remaining to tell the tale to unsuspecting explorers that would one day come across this room in their own investigation in the event that Carmen too was vaporized by a ghost. 

Thankfully, in an uncharacteristic moment of rational thought Carmen had figured that Brian must have never been down here in the first place and in fact never followed her at all. The girl's body tensed as she realized now that she was in fact by herself and also that she had just left Brian by himself without much of a plan between either of the two. As a result, the girl started to take her steps out of the basement much more slowly as she scanned the room after every step. 

Once she had made it out of the scary place the girl continued forward until she yelped at the sight of the person she was looking for. "Oh uh, Brian...I uh...there's nothing downstairs in the basement...um..." The girl's eyes didn't lock with Brian's as she was sure she would reprimanded in some way before her attention was caught by someone else. 

"Leave us alone." 

Carmen looked over to Brian. The voice was clearly not his, and in fact sounded almost muffled, yet it had come from his direction. The girl didn't see anyone else yet she tensed up all the same, as she looked to the man. "Um, did you uh, find anything?" 

[radio414]

Brian really couldn’t let Carmen out of his sight, could he? First, she’d taken fucking forever to do the one thing he’d asked of her, as evidenced by the fact she didn’t come back upstairs in a timely fashion; and second, the fact that she was so fucking suspicious of him for the not-even-a-crime of wondering about the first thing. Plus, now she was acting all suspicious, like, she was always jumpy, but now she was suspiciously jumpy. “There’s nothing in the basement,” she said. Right. Not that Brian was about to go check and fall for some trap she had set for him, but if that was the case, why hadn’t she just gone and finished up the rest of the house?

Carmen was staring at him. “Did you find anything?” she asked. Instinctively, Brian moved to cover the mirror’s hiding place on his person with his hands before he realized what he was doing and instead subtly shifted his body so that he was more between Carmen and that precious object. She wouldn’t notice. “No,” Brian said. Carmen was already weak-willed enough to do what he asked (eventually), surely there was no way she would question that further if he put as much masculine energy behind that as he could muster. There was no reason for her not to believe him. She wanted to get out of here, right? And now, in a way, Brian did too. He had phone calls to make. Safety deposit boxes to set up. Actually, scratch that. Safety deposit boxes, even those really fancy once he’d heard existed in Switzerland, still involved the liability of involving someone else. The only person Brian could trust with the mirror was Brian.

The good news was, Brian thought he was pretty reliable. Besides, padded clothing was just a different set of phone calls. He could make those and keep track of the mirror at the same time. He also had to get polish and adjust the lighting in his apartment and probably figure out a way to change jobs so he’d have more time to take care of the thing. Shiki probably wouldn’t let him work remote or anything, but there were employers that would.

Carmen was still staring at him. “What are you looking at?” Brian said. “Leave me alone.”