Closed A night of games and pranks (Meville)

[Zisien]

Timestamp: 82nd of Autumn, 513AV It was a particularly blustery night, with strong winds and low visibility due to the heavy snow falling. Of course this is nothing new for the northern city of Avanthal. Now late in the season snowfall and snow storms have been frequent. Zisien always thought it was because Morwen wanted to leave 'a bit' of a reminder of herself to her children and the people of Avanthal when she leaves in the winter to the rest of Mizahar. Normally on such nights Zisien would be tucked away in her little room at the barracks, warm and drinking hot chocolate. However duty calls, her temporary squad and Zisien have the lovely pleasure of investigating the Crystal Hall about some rumors passing through the lips of the children lately. Normally this duty would fall to the Iceglaze branch but Icewatch is short staffed at the moment. Zisien stood in the spacious office of Jariah, the Sulnara of the Frostfawn branch awaiting further orders from the older lady. "It appears there has been a ghost sighting around midnight and now its escalated to a point where the kids are daring each other to spend the night in Crystal Hall. Childish pranks and gimmicks I'm sure but its all fun and games until someone gets hurt." Jariah only meant it half heartily and found it more amusing than anything. She probably was only saying to go investigate because most residents of Avanthal are leery of ghost and the Icewatch didnt want this to blow up out of proportion. So now Zisien and the temporary squad made up of unbonded pairs are making their way to the Crystal Hall. Zisien would never admit openly that ghost gave her the willies and most definitely would rather not be on this mission. The snow had picked up and was borderline blizzard and was hard to see much in front of her much less hear anything past the rumbling roar of the wind. By the time the plat bear reached her destination, she had gotten separated from her squad and now was on her own. "Might as well go inside and see if the rest are inside or at least wait for them there." Zisien said, shivering against the cold some. This night just keeps getting better and better.

[Meville Brightshade]

Ghosts.

Meville had never actually seen a ghost before, be he'd heard plenty of stories from the various travelers who had. They were as diverse as humans, from what he understood, but it wasn't uncommon for such a creature to refuse rebirth, choosing instead to remain in a specific place. This choice was commonly referred to as "haunting", though what exactly that entailed depended upon the ghost. Of course, having never had any first-hand experience with the beings, Meville found the whole idea a bit ludicrous. After all, the dead were dead. Or were they?

He'd gone to the Crystal Hall that evening after hearing the rumors. The children spoke of just the thing he'd been meaning to further investigate. The little urchins were often attracted to him as a larger, more exciting sort of play thing. His poor Vani coupled with his unusual mannerisms seemed to be the perfect sort of allure the young Vantha's enjoyed. Meville was still uncertain whether he enjoyed their affections or not. Either way, they were quick to tell him the happenings of the city as they saw it, though often he had to have them repeat what they wanted to tell him several times, which almost always ended in the little creatures getting frustrated and choosing instead to wrestle or chase him. The monsters.

Meville had waited in the recesses of the building, finding something between a nook and a cranny one of the older children had suggested he conceal himself within. It was a bit cramped, but it did the trick. As everyone began to leave the building, those in charge of making sure no trouble makers remained in the building before it was locked up found no trace or sign of Meville's presence. Once the hall was void of people, Meville squeezed himself out of his chosen place of hiding and began to investigate.

The all was, as far as he could tell, very much the same, mundane - though ornate - Crystal Hall it had always been. There were no sounds of distant clanking of chains nor howls of agony or trails of phantom blood. In fact, it was all very somber and boring. He spent roughly a bell's worth of time ambling through the building, checking rooms that sprouted off into the darkness and calling down the empty hallways, but it was all to no avail. There was not a single disturbance other than the echoes of his feet against the surface of the floor and his sing-song cat-calling. All in all, it seemed the night was all for naught, and the children had gotten the better of him. The little rascals.

It was then, as Meville was just about to sneak out one of the unlatched windows, he heard the sound of the main doors opening. His bright eyes flashed with a quick shine of mischief as he made up his mind to make sure the night would not be a complete waste. With great care, Meville carefully slithered up the stairs. His eyes, already accustomed to the darkness of the building, quickly picked out the figure who had entered with light in hand. She was... White-haired. The stark contrast of her silvery hair against the shadows that surrounded her certainly added a bit of an ethereal glow to her features. For half a moment, Meville imagined she really was the ghost, but the tentative uncertainty on her features and the solid sound her boots made against the floor told otherwise.

Deciding not to waste any more time, Meville fluidly drew his astral arm from his physical one, sliding the invisible glove off as he had done a thousand times. With it, he extended his reach, tugging on the woman's pony-tail and quickly trailing his fingers across the exposed skin of her cheek. His grin widened as his night as the Ghost of the Crystal Hall began. Tonight wasn't going to be so dull after all.

Common | Vani

[Zisien]

Zisien shivered, but not from the melted snow that clung to her clothes but from an ominous feeling that ran down her spine. Either it was her imagination or not but she had the sensation that she was being watched. The kelvic wasn't sure what was taking her bloody squad so long to get inside but she wished they would hurry up. All of her senses were screaming in protest and her instinct were telling her to flee. They were rightly so because not even a few chimes had passed when suddenly something tugged on her ponytail and caressed her cheek. Letting off a muffled squeal she ran in a small circle swatting at nothing in particular, trying to hide her apparent fright and see who the culprit was all at the same time. Her little dance looked something like a frightened girl who was trying to escape a bee but with little to no success. "Nalak Iceglaze! That was soooo not funny! Tired of your teasing!" Zisien yelled into the darkness. Nalak has been her temporary pair for the last couple of days and ever since its been his mission to torment the silver hair girl because she was younger than him. She couldn't wait until she was switched with a new apprentice partner. Zisien didnt receive an answer nor saw anyone in the immediate area and it only increased her fear. She had no desire to stay by the entrance anymore and be a sitting polar bear so she ventured further inside and really really hoped it was Nalak and not a real ghost. The polar bear decided she needed to find a nice big open area where she could keep her wits about her and be able to keep an eye on her surroundings better. Only place like that, that came to mind was the second level below her. The second level is where a stage, tables and chairs would normally be during the day but at closing time the tables are pushed to the sides and the chairs are stacked neatly in the corners. So right now it should be one big empty room and a stage. Zisien made her way to the stairs that lead down below. She was still very jumpy from the unexplained occurrence before so the slightest noise made her squeal. The roaring blizzard outside pelted the big glass windows that made up most of the Crystal Hall wasn't helping her on edge state. She paused at the top of the stairs and looked quickly behind her. She thought she heard something.

[Meville Brightshade]

The woman's little jig of fear was certainly Meville most deadly nemesis when it came to donning the garb of the resident haunt. His body shook with his silent fit of giggles as the silver haired woman swatted about her, narrowly missing his floating hand several times as he just managed to tug it out of reach between his fits of mirth. She was, from what he could tell, part of the Icewatch or something like it. Upon arrival, she'd appeared to have been looking for someone particular, not the aimless sort of wandering eye that came with a curious inspector. If that were the case, the rest of her group would probably arrive shortly, thus Meville had a limited amount of time to both frighten the wits out of the woman and make a clean escape. A challenge he was certainly looking forward to.

As her shout faded into the empty darkness, Meville was extremely careful to control his breath such that it matched the sound of the snow smashing itself against the glass. In the relative quiet, both figures stood deathly still, daring the other to move (though one knew not where to look). With nothing but the steady drum of icy precipitation against glass, the woman appeared to come to the decision that her current position in the entryway was neither strategically sound nor practical, especially if she were going to be accosted by a ghost. It seemed as though she had resolved herself to fight, should the need arise, as when one often left the only route of escape, it tended to mean a commitment to whatever lay before. So, as she began her tentative approach, Meville slid back down the stairs, careful to place his weight upon the sturdy steps and avoid those that creaked. Not entirely without flaw, several steps let out a slight moan that was mostly deafened by the gale outside.

Once upon the second level, Meville swung is astral arm about until he felt it hit something solid, creating a strange sort of echoing noise somewhere between wet feet upon stone and a clap. The woman's steps stopped then, as the creaking of the boards below her gave clue to her movement of turning back to see what it was. Very carefully feeling around the wall with his detached hand, Meville quickly located a chair that had been stacked upon the desk on the floor above. Waiting until the halting steps of the woman began again, Meville gave a great shove, sending the chair to the floor with a clattering that rivaled even the sound of the snow outside. As soon as the chair left the table, Meville made a muted dash for the little cranny he'd inserted himself into earlier. It was a hole in the wall, concealed by the legs of a table that had to be shoved only slightly to the side to come and go from its entrance.

As he made his way over the hole, Meville quickly drew off his other arm before sliding into the wall and carefully pulled the legs back into place. From there, he waited for the woman to descend. From his vantage point, he could see the majority of the room, but unless she explicitly took the time to investigate all the irregularities of the walls in the room, he was well-hidden from the gaze of others. A sly grin danced around his lips as he sent his other arm to go tug and pull at whatever he could reach. In this case: her ankle and left elbow.

Common | Vani

[Zisien]

The sound that Zisien thought she heard behind turned out to be a figment of her imagination and paranoia. Instead of calming her nerves to know it was nothing, it only made it worse and she started to shiver. Some Icewatch polar bear I make out to be. I can fight off sabers and frosthawks but scared of ghost.. she scoffed at herself. She continued down the stairs as quickly as possible without tripping, even jumping down a few, the noise echoing off the empty walls. As she descended, the began thinking of ways to fight a ghost. How does one even begin to hurt let alone hit a ghost? Zisien couldn't draw any worthwhile information on ghost other than mental images of scary white, see through beings with menacing red glowing eyes. Her thoughts were interrupted by first a weird sound then followed by a loud crash from downstairs. The polar bear managed to hold in a scream but not before tripping down the last four steps of the staircase and landing promptly on her butt. Now at the bottom of the staircase, Zisien stood looking about the large room. As she had predicted the tables and chairs were pushed up against the sides leaving plenty of room to assess her situation. The loud crash from moments before had come from a chair falling off a desk. Chills ran down her spine and tried to brush the feeling off to remain brave but was having little luck. She was tempted to check out each nook and cranny to ease her paranoia but decided against it. The kelvic decided to pick a corner to camp out in but before she could make her way to it, the same deathly cold touch grabbed her ankle and left arm. This time she couldn't hold back a scream as she fought against the ethereal hold on her. Zisien was seriously regretting to accepting this nightly 'adventure'. The hold on her slipped slightly and she took advantage of it to make a mad dash to her corner and hide under a table. Childish of the kelvic to think a simple table and tablecloth would save her from a ghost but at the moment, Zisien wasn't thinking clearly, even yelled out,"I'm not hiding under this table, so leave me alone!"

OOCSorry this took impossiblely long to reply kinda forgot about this thread >_<

[Meville Brightshade]

Meville stifled a snicker at the woman's desperate and nonsensical shouting, tapping his fingers against the smooth wooden floor, creating an eerie clicking noise in the silence that followed her announcement. It was entirely too simple, but the challenge was quickly losing to the entertainment he was gleaning from the situation. The waking mind was such a fascinatingly impressionable sort of beast. It filled in the uncertainties of life with images, smells, sounds that were far from reality. Or at least, the relative reality of the observer. To the one afflicted, the impressions and sensations were all firmly based in reality, occasionally slipping into the surreal, only to return with all the more certainty of actuality.

The second floor of the Crystal Hall, the room had surprisingly impressive acoustics when there were only two bodies present. The slightest sound was emphasized and echoed about the chamber, bouncing off the tables and chairs to the point where the source of sound was difficult to discern unless that source was held in plain sight. The steady, substantial thud of the snow against the glass filled the room with a dull undertone. Meville drew in air and gave a hoarse whisper that filled the room with a haunting rattle. "We are not fooled by its whining!" He released a hacking cackle. "Here!" He clapped his hands together in front of her face, letting the displaced air rush into her face before drawing his invisible limbs back some as he cackled again.

It was then that a slight tickle ran down his spine. He shivered slightly as the tickle continued towards his tail bone. Jerking around slightly, the tickling stopped, to be replaced with the sharp pain of something venomous being injected via fang into his lower back. Meville let out a piercing shout of surprised pain as he thrashed about in an attempt the remove whatever creature had latched itself to his tender flesh. In the process, he smashed his head against the beam directly above him, rattling the wall. His astral hands shot in two different directions: directly ahead and straight up. The prior landed with a solid punch to the woman's shoulder as the latter bounced harmlessly off the ceiling, to return to pushing against it as Meville blinked back the tears that had started in his eyes. Without control of his physical arms, he was unable to get the intruder off of him.

Common | Vani

[Zisien]

Zisien's hiding spot was doing no good and with obvious reasons. Things were clearly pointing to that in fact there was an actual ghost within these walls and not Nalak tormenting her. The kelvic didnt know if she should be relieved that it wasnt Nalak or horribly frighten further because it was a real ghost. However she had no intention to leave the "safety" of under the table. Zisien wasn't prepared for what was coming next. An eerie booming voice echoed off the walls. She couldn't even muster up a sound of fear before a huge gush of wind blew across her face. The polar bear trembled under the flimsy shelter she had pick out. She was on the verge of tears and just wished to be back at the barracks where it was warm and definitely no ghost. Starting to whimper like she was some pup again, she curled up under the table and began sniffing. Just as quickly as the situation seemed scary and her patrol unit never to come, it did a complete 180. A new voice echoed along the walls and it seemed frantic. New voice perhaps but now that she was really listening to it, it sounded the same as the one before just not as menacing. Zisien began to crawl out from under the table but was forcefully pushed back by a hard hit upon her shoulder. The force had come from no where and shocked her more so than scared her, not now that she knew someone was playing a cruel joke on her. The kelvic just felt silly for her previous reactions but pushed them aside to find the source of the new wailing. There was no way she would be able to pinpoint the direction of the noise due to the echoing effect of the large room so she decided to sniff them out. Even though her excellent sense of smell somewhat carried over in her human form it was still ten times better as a polar bear. After years of practice, Zisien quickly undressed and left the pile of clothes on the floor and shifted. It took no more than a few ticks if even that to change. Once again she was grateful for the room being arranged as such because in this form she would be crashing and bumping into everything. First sniffing in general to see what scents she could pick up right off from the start, the only lingering and current scents was that of her own and another, a male. Zisien lowered her nose to the floor as if she was a bloodhound and sniffed around to follow the trail. It led her to a crevice in the wall that out of the ordinary no one would have noticed unless they knew it was there beforehand and inside squiggling around was a person. A blonde hair, blue eyes person. Zisien wasn't sure what to do. One part of her wanted to smack the man for putting her through that horror, while another part wanted to bust out laughing watching him squirm so. It was like watching a worm emerge from the ground trying to escape drowning. The blonde boy didnt seem to have use of his arms and they dangled by his sides as he wiggled backed and forth to get out of the crevice and to dislodge something in his shirt. The polar bear figured it was rude of her to just stand and inner laugh at his dilemma, she was Icewatch after all. Grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt in her mouth, Zisien pulled him out. Hopefully now whatever was ailing him would remove itself.