Lie to Me (Solo)

[Aello]

Spring 7, 511 AV Aello was standing in the middle of an empty street, listening to two ghosts go back and forth. Aello's quiver was the only item that remained on her person, the rest of her belongings having been piled up beside her. Yune was sitting quietly on her left shoulder, as Aello stood on the sidelines, absent-mindedly checking her nail-beds for dirt and grime. She had been listening to the two ghosts argue for hours, neither ever gaining any ground. It seemed to be the same thing over and over between the two sister ghosts, and it was starting to not only bore Aello, but give her a massive headache as well. "Well if you hadn't killed Demi, then we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!" the ghost on the right said with a look of exasperation upon her face. Her pale blue eyes seemed wild, despite their having started to glaze over. Her ghastly white complexion was growing a pale red, and her dark red hair was swirling angrily around her slender face like a crackling fire, waiting to erupt into a fit of roaring flame and billowing smoke. "Holly! You know how many times to tried to poison me! What else was I to do?" the ghost on the left spat back. Obviously their family dynamic was rather screwed up. Her blonde hair fell innocently around her pale, delicate ghostly features. The soul mist that swirled around her tiny feet seemed to be fading. One could only just make out the fact that she was hovering an inch or two above the ground. You're telling me like it's something I didn't already know, the other half of Aello's brown scowled. The soulmist that swirled around the first ghost seemed to strengthen. Grow darker, and twist in tiny tendrils all around her body. They circled around the ghost's long, slender arms, like ethereal bracelets, fading in and out of sight. "You could have run Meredith. Or looked to mother for help, you know she could have easily gotten Demi under control." "If that were the case Holly, then why didn't she?" Meredith spat back. "You know I ran to mother's side begging for her help, yet she never once so much as offered to help. You know how she was in her old age... not at all there!" Holly sighed heavily. "You know you waited far too long to ask. And if it weren't she whom you sought help from, you could have always looked to someone else you know. You had more than enough friends, especially those in high places." Meredith snorted. "Like they would ever want to go against our little sister. Everyone loved her despite her insanity, and you know it!" Meredith paused, "you know what never mind, I was the only one who knew the extent of her insanity, of the darkness that consumed her. The only one that knew she had turned to dark magic, and had lost every ounce of her innocence. It wasn't until she murdered you that you realized it. Surely you are not proud enough to disagree with what you know to be true!" Holly groaned. "It was an accident, she didn't mean to start that fire. Demi simply didn't know what she was doing." Meredith snorted as she crossed her arms over her slender chest, "you can keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better." "You know it's true!" Holly shot back as she lunged for her sister, and the two started to pull each other's hair, and repeatedly punch each other. Meredith winced, "we're... never going to move on... like this." Holly grit her teeth and kept on tugging on her sister's hair. What is the point in the two of them fighting? Of course they are already dead, and have all the time in the world, but they're wasting the living's precious time. The living, unlike some people, doesn't have all the time in the world. Aello rolled her eyes. Surely they can't be at this much longer? Holly kicked Meredith in the stomach, and Meredith screamed, before pounding her sister on the head multiple times. They were both screaming at each other to cut it out, but neither would stop fighting until the other had stopped, so they got no where. This is just pathetic. Aello cleared her throat, trying to get each of the ghost's attention. The two just kept on fighting. Aello cleared her throat again, this time a little louder. Still nothing. "Hey, ghost girls!" Aello shouted. For an instant, Holly and Meredith stopped fighting. Meredith's right arm was hovering in the air, her hand was balled into a tight fist, and she was inches from her sister's face. Holly had let up on Meredith's hair, and was extracting her teeth from Holly's left arm. They seemed to have finally noticed Aello's presence in the street. When they did, however, they shrugged slightly, as though deeming her an unimportant nuisance, before going back to fighting. "Oh would you two cut it the heck out?" Aello hollered. "You asked me to help you with something, yet all we've heard is lots and lots of yelling, which has little to no sense at all. Not only that, but you two repeat yourselves like it's going out of style, and go at each other so much, that it makes the stryfe look nice." Aello paused. "Come on now, you two are sisters, and the living haven't got all day, so tell us what you want, or we're leaving." The two sister ghosts reluctantly let go of each other, and took a few steps away. They glared at each other menacingly, as if to say, come just a step closer, and I shall kill you. It was difficult for Aello not to laugh, they're both dead, what in all of Mizahar do they expect to do to each other? she wondered. "Now, that's better," Aello paused to give emphasis to the next two words, "much better. Now, why don't one of you tell me what you wish to ask. Otherwise, Yune and I shall get out of here." The ghosts exchanged nervous glances, before it was decided that Holly would speak. "We have been unable to move on in the cycle of life and death, since we became ghosts," Holly began. "That one can plainly see. The problem is, you see, that none of us is willing to forgive the others completely for the things that brought us to this place." Aello nodded. "We have heard that spiritsts, such as yourself, can disguise yourselves using soulmist. We would like you to disguise yourself as Meredith, go to our sister, and tell her that Mer apologizes for killing Demi." Aello nodded. "Sounds... complicated," Aello commented. "Not really," Mer cut in. "And why, may I ask, won't you do this yourself?" Aello inquired. "It'd be far easier than having to send someone to go find Demi, and then impersonate a person they had only just met." "Never been good at apologies. Doubt I'd seem sincere enough to free the girl's soul, so we can all move on," Mer explained. "Until she hears a sincere apology, she shall feel no peace. I shall feel no peace for killing her, and for her not feeling peace." "I'm merely around since my sisters are so uneasy," Holly explained. "Although, perhaps I want some answers too. Why Demi hated Mer so seems like such a mystery. The fire too..." she said, her voice trailing off, as if she were replaying the day of her death in her head. "So will you help us?" the sister ghosts asked in unison. Aello was silent for a long time before she replied. "Got nothing better to do." OOCBold is for Aello's thoughts. The "we" is to refer to Aello and Yune.

[Aello]

Both of the ghosts clapped their hands together merrily. "Great," they said in unison, clearly pleased by Aello's decision. Aello smiled weakly. Oh what did we get ourselves into? "It's a good thing we have some soulmist left over," Aello said as she knelt down, and opened her bag. She rummaged through it for a few moments, before she pulled a glass jar out of the bag. She stood back up. The jar Aello was holding in her hands was filled halfway with an off-white gel; soulmist. "Have a funny feeling we'll be needing this," Aello commented. The ghosts nodded as their eyes grew wide. They looked like they were about to pounce on Aello so that they could each get their ghostly hands on the soulmist. "So Meredith, since you're the one being imitated, why don't you just float on over, so we can get a better look at you? Concentration and keeping close to details will be key to our success, no?" Aello said as she slowly twisted the lid counter-clockwise, until it came off. The lid fell from Aello's hands, and landed on her right foot with a muffled clanking sound. Instantly, Aello's hands felt a little cooler around the edges. The mist was causing her flesh to chill. Meredith floated over to Aello. She now stood directly in front of Aello, no more than a foot away. "Good, now just stay as still as possible," Aello said, as she glanced up and down the ghost's body. She needed to be sure she understood every detail she possibly could so as to limit her mistakes, and chances of being caught in her lie. Mer had wavy blonde hair that ended just above her waist. She had bright green eyes, a small nose, and pale pink lips that seemed to fade into her ghastly-colored skin. Her ears were small, and lost behind her thick head of hair, as was her long, slender neck. Her body was slender, although her hips were far wider than the upper half of her body. Her legs were short, as was her torso. She couldn't have been taller than five feet, and three inches in life. "Alright, here goes," Aello said as she closed her eyes, and breathed deeply in through her nose and out through her mouth. She was trying to calm her heart, it was beating more and more rapidly in her chest, as Yune chirped ominously in her ear. Well thanks for the vote of confidence, you really do make people feel loads better about themselves, Aello's brain muttered unhappily. Slowly, Aello inched her right hand along the side of the cool, glass jar. When she reached the top of the jar, she lowered her hand into it. The tips of her fingers trembled as they neared the soulmist that pooled at the bottom. When the tips of her fingers meshed with the mist, a chill shot down Aello's spine, and her fingers began to turn a dark purplish-blue tone. Aello scooped some of the mist up, and lifted her hand out of the jar, and towards her face. Aello took a deep breath, with each moment that the mist spent on her fingertips, they grew darker shade of blue. Each time they inched closer to her face, she was certain she could feel the cold it gave off tickling her nose. Her heart was pounding, and Aello wished she could simply calm down. Aello took another deep breath, in through the nose, and then out through the mouth as she pressed her fingertips onto her left cheek, and then proceeded to smear the soulmist all over her face- her forehead, closed eyes, nose, right cheek, lips, chin. As she did so, Aello concentrated deeply on her memory of Meredith's appearance. She started with the woman's face- her hair, her eyes, her nose, high cheekbones, prominent chin, pale lips. From there, she moved onto her slender neck, and then down to her torso, hidden by a pale white v-neck dress, her arms, her legs, her feet, the soulmist that swirled around her. When Aello was done, she opened her eyes. "Did it work?" she asked. The ghosts looked from one another, to Aello, and then back to each other again. They seemed to nod slightly before they turned back to face Aello. "Well you do look like Meredith," Holly commented, "but when she was alive." "So it didn't really work," Aello said, slightly defeated. "Well, it did," Mer replied, "but you still wouldn't pass for a ghost." "She could always say she had a lot of soulmist recently," Holly piped in. "Besides, Demi tends to be distracted, she probably wouldn't so much as notice that she isn't covered in the stuff." The soulmist Aello had applied to her face seeped into her skin. "Well, we just need to work on the voice now," Aello said as she dipped her right hand into the jar of soulmist again, and scooped some mist up. She then raised her hand to her lips, and swallowed the mist. Instantly, her mouth grew cold, as she thought about the sound of Meredith's voice- it was high, almost piercing, nothing melodic or sweet sounding about it. As she thought, Aello chewed on the mist absently, before swallowing it. Her throat felt as though it had frozen solid, like no sound could ever escape, like the fish trapped beneath the ice of a lake. Aello stood silently, trying to get used to the chill in her throat, waiting for her mouth to form more saliva to swallow so that she may warm it up again. But the saliva never came. "Do.. does... this sound like Mer?" Aello finally managed to muster. The girls nodded, "far more than before," they replied. Aello nodded, as she bent over, and put the lid back on the jar. She then placed the jar with the remaining soulmist back into her bag, before throwing it over her shoulder. She then picked up her bow in her right hand, and then stood up. "Do you think we're ready?" Aello asked. The ghost girls nodded. "As ready as we'll ever be," they said in unison. Aello nodded, as Holly added, "Demi tends to stay in one place. I shall lead you there, Mer can wait for us here. Perhaps she will sense when the deed is done." Aello nodded and lifted her left hand towards Yune, who was still perched on her shoulder. The bird instantly hopped up onto it, "you should wait here," Aello said, "you'll give us all away." The bird chirped once as Aello lowered her hand to the ground, and the bird hopped off. Little did Aello know, the bird would wind up following her, it rarely ever left her side.

[Aello]

Aello straightened herself up again, and stared intently at Holly. "Lead the way," she said, as Holly turned around, and began to lead Aello through a series of relatively empty, wide, Ravokian streets. The girls walked in silence for several moments until Holly came to an abrupt halt in front of a simple dark wood house. An open window allowed the cool breeze to sweep inside the room that lingered to the left of the wooden door. As Aello gazed inside, she noticed yet another ghost inside the room. The ghost was muttering something to herself as she floated back and forth from one side of the room to the other. When they had reached the house, Holly turned around. She seemed to notice what Aello was doing, "this is Demi," she said as she gestured towards the ghost with her right hand, "and the house was the one she died in," Holly explained as she lowered her right hand again. Aello nodded. "I will take you inside, explain, and then you can make Mer's apology." "Sure thing," Aello replied, not bothering to ask the single question that lingered on her lips: she has been there the entire time? Holly nodded, turned back around and floated up and through the window. Aello not wanting to give the fact that she wasn't a ghost away, followed suit, and hoisted herself up and through the open window. She could have let her open the door so that this would seem slightly more believable. But apparently such a thing would be too much to ask, it's like a person's brain falls right out of their head when they die. When Aello had gotten herself inside the room, she simply stood for a moment, and took a look around. The room was essentially empty, save for the two sister ghosts. "What are you doing here?" Demi snarled as she stopped in the middle of her pacing, and stared at the newcomers. Even though she stared from Aello to Holly, it was quite obvious that the question was directed solely at Aello, who was supposedly Meredith. Aello cleared her throat, "just came to apologize Demi. You know, for killing you and all," Aello said as she shuffled her feet across the floor, and glanced down at them nervously. She was doing her best to sound sincere, but she was certain she hadn't done a very good job. She probably should have taken a little more time to study Mer's movements and general body language, but it was too late now. Demi raised her right brow, alluding to the fact that she found Aello's actions suspicious. "After all this time you wish to apologize now?" Aello nodded nervously, "better late than never, right?" she smiled weakly. Demi never took her eyes off Aello. The two simply stood in silence for several minutes, before Aello broke it. "Well, do you accept my apology Demi? Demi was silent for a few more moments until her lips began to roll into the shape of the letter "Y," her acceptance of Aello's fake apology was just about to ring through the room, when the real Meredith burst through the door. Aello's eyes grew wide, as did Holly's. Demi's took a moment to re-adjust, and when they had, Aello knew that she had been caught in her lie. "Who the heck are you?" Demi spat at her, as she floated to within an inch of her face. Aello could feel Demi's body sending numerous shivers up her spine. Aello could hear both Mer and Holly arguing with one another. Something about not being able to go through with it. "Well?" Demi hissed. "Your sisters sent me to apologize, so you could all move on," Aello stammered. "Did they now?" Demi mused as she rounded on her sisters, and left poor Aello trembling. "Why don't you leave," Demi said in a sweet voice, although it was obvious it was laced with darker things. "Spritist," she spat. "Before I change my mind." Aello nodded vigorously before she ran for the door, nearly broke it down, and ran as far and as fast as she could. Why couldn't Mer have said she didn't want to go through with it sooner? Aello wondered as she ran. OOCSorry it ended so abruptly, I was not in the mood for another possession or anything.

[Seth]

Aello: +2 Spiritism XP +1 Acting XP Lores: So Many Things Bind Ghosts to This World, Using Soulmist for the Lie, How Hard it is to Act, Sometimes Things Don't Go as Planned. The Method behind my Madness : Your points should explain themselves. You had to act a bit, so I offered you the Acting XP. You also used a bit of Spiritism to achieve the Lie, so that gets you those points. <3 Very nice going! I like how you failed at the Lie. It adds some realism to the whole ordeal, since you have never done it before. <3!