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 Post subject: Obscure [OPEN]
View Likes PostPosted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 12:55 am 

you catch more flies with honey but you catch more honeys being fly

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"Continuing coverage of our top story tonight, a train car arrived today at Amersham station with all its passengers missing. The train had been full when it left a station earlier in the morning and only one of the twelve cars was affected by the mysterious disappearance. Authorities have called it an act of domestic terrorism citing an extremist group who are against the proposed demolishing of abandoned South London streets to expand the Underground Rail."

Jamie drummed his hands in some manner of haphazard rhythm on the large stretch of reception desk in front of him, tuning in and out of the news broadcast and reclining in his chair. The most interesting part of his job was the fact that it was actually not interesting in the slightest. Hotels in the small Buckinghamshire town largely served little purpose; tourists didn't come to Amersham, and whoever had family here lived here. And Jamie didn't mind that at all really. No new check-ins meant that he could watch the small television at the end of the table, which he normally enjoyed quite a bit. But this particular news story made him uneasy, and between all the news channels it had practically been playing all day.

After the woman at the news desk talked some more, the scene changed to reveal a heavy set police officer in a very nice uniform standing at a podium on top of some stairs. He grumbled from beneath his mustache and spoke into the forest of microphones which prodded out at him from the stand.

"These people have made it clear that they will stop at nothing to undermine the efforts of the municipal planning authority to expand the Underground Rail and now they have resorted to kidnapping citizens as they travel to work. The Metropolitan Police Service will stop at nothing to bring these criminals to justice and return the missing loved ones to their families..."

"Weird, right?" The only other receptionist at the desk, and his best friend, Darren. A nice enough man, but he really needed to stop asking that question every time the story replayed.

Jamie merely hummed in response, vaguely listening to the statement from the Metropolitan Police. "I wish you would change the channel. This is nothing we haven't heard a hundred times tonight," he said. He propped an elbow up on the table, cupping his chin in one hand and holding a pen in the other. The button was turned toward the table, and Jamie pushed it down and let it bounce back up only to fall back down to the desk with a small clatter. "I'm pretty sure you know that officer's entire speech by heart by now."

"I'm just saying-," Darren started, and Jamie gave a rather dramatic groan of despair as he let his head fall to the desk, long hair pooling around him. He heard Darren huff in agitation, but unfortunately that didn't exactly deter him from continuing. "I'm just saying that it seems a bit too weird that only one car was affected. One out of- what was it- twelve? Those cars hold a lot of people, Jamie. What would this group even do with them?"

Jamie lifted his head just enough to be heard. "Hold them for ransom? Kill them? Make them sit through another one of your weird theories?" he guessed, tapping a finger on the desk for each reason he listed. Darren disregarded his comment with a resigned tsk and turned back to the television. Jamie rolled his eyes and sat up straight again. "Alright, what does the great Darren Thompson think happened to the passengers, then?"

Darren shot him a look that Jamie was sure was meant to be threatening, but it really wasn't. "He thinks that the not-so-great James McGuire needs to shut the hell up." Jamie laughed at that and spun his chair around to face him, gesturing with a wave of his hand for Darren to go on. After a moment, Darren gave up the silent treatment as Jamie knew he would. The man could never resist talking about his thoughts on something, no matter what it was. "There has to be something that they're not telling us in the news. I mean, they had to have found something."

"Except they didn't."

"They had to. It doesn't make sense. Say this group unloaded all the passengers of that car onto the railway. Fine. But then what? Where did they go?" he asked, waving his arms for a bit of extra emphasis. "They could have kept marching on the tracks, but they could only do that for so long before they reached another station. And if they did reach another station, I'd like to think that someone would notice a terrorist group leading a bunch of people on foot through the tracks."

Jamie nodded slowly, much the way you would if you were listening to the nonsensical ramblings of an extremely annoying five-year-old. "So, what are you getting at, then? That they actually vanished? Like, disappeared into thin air?"

"That's the only possible explanation. You can't abduct an entire mass of people without someone noticing something."

Jamie rolled his eyes and gave a slight shake of his head. "You're eccentric," he dismissed, pulling his hair back into a ponytail. "I still have a half-hour until I get off, please don't make me sit through this until then."

Thankfully Darren relented, throwing his hands up in a defensive gesture and turning off the television. Darren disappeared into the file room and with a bit of reluctance, Jamie pushed his chair away from the table and stood, stretching his arms into the air with a groan. He busied himself in organizing the papers that had been strewn across the desk throughout the day. He and Darren were both very competent at what they did.. they just weren't exactly neat about it. More often than not, by the end of the day they wound up with service requests mixed between check-in logs. It could only be described as a miracle that they managed to get it all cleaned up and sorted out each night.

"...a train car arrived today at Amersham station with all its passengers missing. The train had been full when it left a station earlier in the morning and only one of the twelve cars was affected by the mysterious disappearance. "

Jamie jumped at the sudden sound and clutched a few papers to his chest, feeling his heart race and then slow down. Without dignifying it with so much as turning, Jamie rolled his eyes and laid the papers on the desk, trying to force them to lay flat from where he had wrinkled them. "Very funny, Darren, now turn it off. We don't have time for this." The woman's voice was cut off, and Jamie was greeted with silence. Which meant that Darren had taken to ignoring him now, but at least he'd been courteous enough to turn the television off again. "Thank you."

"You say something, Jay?" Jamie turned around on his heel, and saw Darren poke his head out from the file room. "Earth to Jamie. What did you say?"

Jamie stared at him with confusion and then turned his eyes to the television. He shook his head slowly at first, then quick with dismissal. "Nothing. I think I'm just tired," he said, leaning backward against the desk and tapping his nails on the wood. He stood in contemplation a moment before forcing it to the back of his mind. "Hey, hurry up so we can get out of here."

They had managed to ready everything for the next shift on time tonight, a rare occurrence between the two of them. They stood in front of the large glass doors, Darren lighting a cigarette and Jamie drowning in a black coat about two or three sizes too big for him. Once his cigarette was lit, Darren took a long drag and shoved his lighter back into his pocket. "See you tomorrow, man." He gave Jamie a firm clap on the shoulder and walked to his car, leaving Jamie to his thoughts. He listened to the car door slam and the engine roar to life, and just like that he was alone. He watched the car get smaller and smaller, and for a moment he wished for the world that he had asked for a ride home.

Because not even a minute later, he found himself walking down Chiltern Avenue as he normally did, but he was going in the opposite direction of his home - he was going in the direction of the Amersham station.

When he arrived, station was cramped, hot and smelly. Even with a pre-paid ten trip ticket he didn't seem to get through the huddle any faster than anybody else but before long he was standing on the platform catching the first train that had boarded. Any ridicule or complaint he was contemplating was rudely interrupted by the screeching of a halting train car pulling onto the platform. He, along with several hundred others, ambled and shoved onto the train where they would spent the next moments of their lives uncomfortably pressed against one another. There were women holding the hands of children tightly and clutching their handbags even tighter still. There were homeless men who occupied entire stretches of sitting space while they slept and occupied even more space around them with their stench. A few people were like Jamie, just bundled up button pushers making their way to or from work. The last group Jamie could see were the perverts who slid their way like inky snakes to stand by women or children and press their bodies against them, rubbing themselves on the clean and unsuspecting with their eyes closed and perverse grins on their faces.

He hated the train.

The speeding train car rocked back and forth, jarring everybody around within its bowels. Occasionally it would breach the end of a tunnel and more natural light would break into the surroundings but more often than not it was dark with only the hum and bleak glow of halogen bulbs which lined the top of the car. Though even then only a few worked and even fewer didn't constantly flicker. The train sped off from another station and into the darkness of the tunnel. Through most of this, Jamie had his eyes closed and was trying his best not to pay attention to the heat or the smell but he could tell when the car lit up with each stop and he counted the minutes between each one. It was the same as yesterday and the day before that and countless days before them still. It was the same as it would be tomorrow. Four minutes of blackness, then a stop. Six minutes, stop. Fourteen minutes, stop. The next one was four minutes away again. Four...

Five...

Six...

Seven...

Blackness passed and passed without light. Jamie opened his eyes and looked around to see the windows of the train car still awash with the same black that permeated through whenever the train was between stations. Puzzled, he pushed his way to the window and squinted his eyes to see if he could see the subtle red lights that dotted infrequently on the walls of the inside of the tunnel. Minutes more passed and no red glow. Not even a flicker. It was around this time that Jamie noticed the train car wasn't rattling and bumping like normal but rather gently swaying back and forth rhythmically. He pressed his face closer to the glass and used his hands either side of his eyes to peer out and tried his best to focus. Perhaps the train had stopped and something was being serviced. It was strange that they wouldn't announce that on the intercom though.

A few more minutes passed before Jamie saw much of anything. The first movement was a distant blinking white light which swung back and forth out in the expanse of nothing. It drifted closer and closer with each fade in and out and was almost mesmerizing. Jamie blinked and it was closer again. He watched it carefully for a minute before pulling away and looking around the car. It seemed that no one else seemed fazed by the prolonged darkness and gentle rocking of the train. No one was even looking out the window except for one man. A homeless man had risen from his slumber and was peering outwards into the same deep blackness that Jamie was, and he was watching the swaying white light.

Then, as if from nowhere, the train car was illuminated from the right side by the swaying light. Jamie and the homeless man were the only two passengers who reacted to this at all and the light violently jerked upwards to reveal something Jamie had never seen before. Right in front of his eyes was a gaping maw of teeth and tongues and eyes. He stumbled back and fell to the floor, disturbing passengers all around him. The maw in the window opened wide, and everything went black.

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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 11:17 am 

the stars look very different today ★

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V I V I E N N E
When Vivienne was a small child, her older brother fell out of a tree.

It wasn't a particularly large or dangerous tree, but a short, easily climable oak that had been firmly chainsawed into submission. In any case, her brother did fall out of the tree, and landed quite harshly.

Her brother Jordan was ten years old, and completely allowed to play in the backyard of the Locke family's house all by himself. They lived in a somewhat peaceful suburb, and the tree didn't seem very dangerous after all. Vivienne was too young to play in the backyard by herself, and so she sat in the living room, chubby dark hands clutching a toy train while her parents listened to the radio. They couldn't see the backyard from the living room, and so Jordan fell with no one to watch, dropping to the ground right on his left leg and breaking it neatly. Yet, despite not seeing, Vivienne felt it. She felt Jordan's fear, helplessness, and even a little bit of pain. Being a toddler, she didn't quite understand the situation, but it was clear enough that it was something to cry about. She dropped her toy train and began howling, bawling her eyes out and clutching her left leg. Her parents rushed to her side, concerned and worried, but Vivienne shook her chocolate curls and cried her brother's name, pointing to the backyard. Her bewildered mother left her husband to take care of Vivienne while she looked on Jordan. Sure enough, she found him on the ground, clutching his left leg in the same manner as Vivienne.

Jordan was brought to a nearby hospital and his leg healed nicely. Vivienne's parents assumed it was a coincidence, that perhaps Vivienne heard Jordan's cries. But she didn't.

As Vivienne grew older, she began to understand her special talent. It was hard to ignore, especially at school, when she could feel everyone's individual worries, fears, heartbreaks, pounding in her head and pushing out her own thoughts. It made her want to vomit, and occasionally she did, chalking it up to her parents and teachers as simply a sensitive stomach. While of course she felt others' negative emotions, she felt positive ones as well, experiencing joys normally incomprehensible to a child. In this way Vivienne became attracted to more optimistic people, and strived to be optimistic herself.

Despite her attempts to make friends, Vivienne was often shunned by her classmates because it seemed she knew everyone's secrets. When Lily Rodgers was worried about a geography project, Vivienne gave her a thumbs up and word of advice. When Susan Shear was conflicted between two boys that liked her, Vivienne recommended a sound course of action. When Emma Zippoli's baby sister was born Vivienne congratulated her with her signature front-tooth gapped grin. All those things Vivienne knew, before they had told anyone. Whispers around the classroom suggested that she was a witch who could see into people's very souls, and sometimes Vivienne believed it.

Vivienne only ever wanted to help people. As she developed more understanding and control over her gift, she began feeling more carefully, no longer needing to vomit every time there was a crowd. She spoke little of people's 'secrets' but still help the best she could, in a roundabout manner. Vivienne was a lover of being organized and having lists, so when she was 10 she wrote one on everything she knew about her gift.

1. I can feel others' emotions when I see them.
2. I can feel others' emotions strongly when I'm near them.
3. I can see the causer of the emotion when I look into their eyes. Usually:
a) a person
b) an event (test, party, etc)
c) an object
d) themselves
4. I can 'give' them an emotion when I look into their eyes. Through the processes of:
a) emotional suggestion (hope, excitement)
b) thought suggestion ('it'll be okay' / 'only three more hours!')
5. I can transfer physical pain to myself.
6. I can't read a person's thoughts.
7. I become tired and nauseous after feeling others' emotion for too long: don't stay in public places for long periods of time!
8. I get a headache using 3, 4, and 5 repeatedly
8. I am not a freak

40 years after Vivienne wrote that list, she sat on a bench overlooking a plastic playground. When her children were growing up, she realized that playgrounds and parks were places of positive energy, and began to go near them more often when she needed a release from her troubles. Even though her children were now grown and on their own, she still went to the playground just outside her flat complex. Perhaps if she were a man it might have seemed strange, but who would be suspicious of a 50 year old, slightly pudgy black woman sitting on a bench near the park every so often? No one had complained so far.

Of course, children weren't always happy. Sometimes they would cry or fuss or have worries, but their problems were so very simple to Vivienne, unlike the problems of her patients. Earlier that day Vivienne had listened to a woman who had lost her infant son and husband in a car crash. Vivienne had done her best to console the woman verbally, and sent an aura of peace through her to end the session. More often than not the positive emotions Vivienne sent to the grieving were swallowed up by the darkness, unless the receiver was willing to care for it.

Vivienne was reading a murder mystery novel, smiling softly at the shrieks of joy from the kids on the playground. Books and TV were so strange to her, as she couldn't feel what the characters were feeling. With her power in reality she could have easily known who the murderer was, but with them being simply words on a page, she couldn't. Perhaps that was why she loved mysteries so much. Finally, unanswered questions! TV similarly messed with her mind. She imagined, as she watched a soap or the newest sci-fi movie, that how she felt watching them was how normal people felt all their lives.

Suddenly Vivienne's head snapped back as she sensed distress. She dropped her book on the bench and rushed to the playground. A little girl had fallen off one of the beams and scraped her knees. Vivienne knelt next to the girl. "Are you okay?" She asked, focusing on the girl's tear-filled eyes. Vivienne calmed the girl, and eased the pain in her knees. Vivienne's knees prickled from the transfer. Children had such a low pain tolerance, or simply cried for attention.

The girl nodded just as a woman carrying a large bag rushed up and dropped next to them. "Ohhh, sweetheart, are you alright?" the woman asked. The girl who fell was her daughter, it seemed. The girl nodded and wiped away her tears, brushing the gravel off her pants. "Thank goodness." The woman turned to Vivienne. She seemed too young to be a mother, but Vivienne wasn't one to judge. "Thank you sooo much," the woman said, adjusting her bag straps and standing up.

Vivienne lifted from her squat. "It's no problem," she replied, looking in the woman's eyes. Concern and gratitude ebbed from her.

"Look, I know this is kind of stupid to like, pay you or anything," the woman said abruptly, rifling through her bag in a haphazard manner, "but I've had this gift card to a coffee shop - gift from a friend, y'know? - and I've been trying to get rid of it forever. Do you drink coffee?" The woman held the card out, smiling sheepishly.

Vivienne stared down at the card in slight surprise. The woman's words and feelings seemed aligned, so Vivienne took the card with a thank you and a nod before walking back to her bench. She picked up her book, glad that no one had taken it, and decided to return home. Before she left she hesitated, and turned to thank the woman, but both her and the child were gone. Vivienne frowned. It was strange for them to have gone from her site so quickly, as the playground was a very open area. Some people were fast, she supposed.

It wasn't a long walk to her flat, only taking a few minutes. Vivienne certainly wasn't out of shape, she was simply shapely. She had always been a sturdy size, albeit on the short side. She had been teased about her weight when she was a child, but learned very easily not to take things personally because of her ability. Often the bullies on the playground had bigger bullies in their mind.

Vivienne walked up several flights of stairs. The elevator was broken, and it had been for some time. She didn't live in a particularly bad area, but it was certainly one for the working poor. She had always understood the phrase "smell of desperation" all too well. Often times second-hand emotions Vivienne encountered were coupled with some sort of sense, like smell, taste, or simply the idea of a colour came to mind. She had researched it once, curled up on her swivel chair, tea in hand, short fingernails clacking away at the keyboard of her laptop. She was surprised to discover it was a real condition, known as synesthesia. She never felt it as acutely as it had described on the web sites she had found, but the aspect was certainly there.

The hallway to her group of flats was unusually quiet as Vivienne reached into the pocket of her tan cardigan for keys. They jangled lightly, the sound sending prickles down Vivienne's neck. She had three keys: one for home, one for her car, and one for her office. She lived a predictable life, or as she liked to call it, comfortable. She was pleased with the friends she had, the job she had, and the possessions that she had. She wasn't a material person, and liked to stay that way.

She unlocked the door and pushed it open, greeted by an empty hallway. Her children had moved, her husband had passed, and while animals had simple emotions, even more comforting than children's, she didn't think she had enough time to care for a pet. She flicked on the light quickly to make the apartment feel more welcoming. She had always hated the dark. Sometimes she thought she saw strange faces and creatures, especially at night, but everyone saw those, surely.

Vivienne locked the door behind her.

Vivienne went to the TV and turned it on for some background noise. It was on a news station. Vivienne disliked the news. It was always depressing stories, of murders, deaths, bombings, or worse. The occasional good that was mentioned got swept away with the tide of dreadfulness. She was simply glad she couldn't feel their pain.

Vivienne prepared a snack of peanut butter crackers before grabbing her laptop. She reached into her pocket and drew out the coffee shop gift card. It was for a place she had never heard of. Vivienne had little interest in coffee but did enjoy a tea now and again. She navigated the web expertly, looking up the name of the shop and quickly finding their website. It wasn't a chain, just a single "family owned business", as the website proudly stated in a dark brown, swirly font. The location: Amersham Station. Not far, but far enough to need to take a car. Vivienne's fingers itched. She wasn't sure why, but she wanted to go to this place. It was later than when she usually went out, but her friends had always insisted that she should have less routine in her life. Plus, she hadn't yet taken her shoes off.

It was decided.

She finished her crackers and put the plate in the dishwasher. Like most lovers of lists, Vivienne was also a lover of being tidy and organized. Her schoolwork had always been colour coded and her handwriting always neat. She wasn't one to cheat, and her powers couldn't be used as such, in any case. Vivienne turned off the TV, grabbed her keys, and locked the door behind her. The hallway was still empty. She walked down the stairs and headed to the car park. Her car was a blue Volkswagen, with decent mileage and a big enough boot to fit her weekly groceries. She had had the car for years now and it was still highly reliable.

It was a short, uneventful drive to Amersham Station. Vivienne was a good driver, although she was sometimes a little bit reckless. She got out of the car and headed into the station. It was somewhat busy, with people heading home from their jobs. Vivienne was now proficient at blocking unwanted emotions, so busy places didn't bother her like they once did. The coffee shop was inside the station, overlooking the tracks.

"Hello," Vivienne waved politely to the bored 20-something behind the counter who was busy pretending to stock shelves with bags of coffee. The girl jumped, startled by the appearance of an actual customer. She rushed to the till.

"Welcome to Mystic Moon Café," the girl blurted, attempting to fix her wrinkled apron, "how can I help you?" She reminded Vivienne of the woman she had met in the park: hasty and bubbly, exuding youth and busyness.

"I would like..." Vivienne scanned the menu, having second thoughts on coming to the station. She could have just had the same tea at home. The urge had been strong at first, but now it simply seemed like a pointless, spur of the moment idea that wasn't very well thought out. "...Earl Grey tea, please? Small?"

The girl nodded and set to work. It wasn't long before she handed the hot beverage to Vivienne. Vivienne handed the gift card to the girl, whose eyebrows drew down in a puzzled expression as she looked down at the laminated plastic. "I didn't know we had gift cards," she mused, swiping it through the machine, "but hey, it works! Enjoy your tea."

With a polite nod Vivienne took the card and left the counter. She went to sit at an empty, small round table that was just slightly uneven. She faced away from the cafe, overlooking the entrance of the station to her left and the tracks to her right. People rushed back and forth, ignoring the cafe completely, as if it didn't exist. People were always too busy to look around and notice things.

I've forgotten my book, Vivienne realized, just as I was getting to the good part. She took a tentative sip of her tea. It was absolutely scalding, burning her tongue in the most irritating manner. She set it down and sighed. While waiting for it to cool, she decided to people watch to pass the time. Humans were surely the most interesting things in the world.

Opening herself up to feeling, Vivienne watched more intently than most. A businessman passed as a dark swirl of stress and greed. A woman's heart was all aflutter, full of the type of love Vivienne hadn't felt in a long, long time. She selfishly clung to the feeling until the woman disappeared from her sight. Ever since her children had left, Vivienne felt like she was missing something. She wanted to protect, nurture, and care again. She would fight to get it all back, but it seemed like it was too late.

Deep down in her heart, Vivienne was sad, not comfortable. But she would never admit it.

She took another sip of tea.

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Last edited by Cotton on Sat Mar 12, 2016 11:16 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 2:42 pm 

eye of newt, tail of newt... rest of newt...

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A N N A
If you can't summon the flames directly from Hell, store bought is fine._______________
"Yes, within three to five days, usually, depending where you live, of course. No problem at all. Have a nice day!"

Anna pressed the part of her phone screen that ended the call with a customer who had wanted to know about shipping. Honestly, she did not understand what was so damn hard about looking up information online. Anna always did so, only resorting to phone calls if it was absolutely necessary. The bottom floor of her shop, as usual, smelled like earth and something sharp she couldn't quite put her finger on. Maybe that was what magic smelled like, but then again, she wasn't entirely sure what magic really was - just that she could use it, and most people couldn't. They didn't want to. Amersham wasn't a very good town, as far as magic went. People occasionally disappeared in mysterious ways, but that happened in the Philippines and Finland as well. Nothing worth getting too worked up over.

A demanding meow caught her attention, and she looked up from the desk. Fisk was sitting on one of the topmost shelves like a throne, precariously close to a wide array of deep blue bottles. "Don't you dare," Anna told him a sing-song voice, returning her gaze to the laptop in front of her. A little red icon was blinking, indicating she had a new message from Francois, or ParanormalIrritator, as he called himself on the forum they both frequented and had met on. They had agreed to meet up, as Francois reportedly had nothing better to do with his time than go to a relatively quiet town like Amersham. His train would be there at 16:00, he claimed. She glanced at the time. It wasn't a terribly long walk to the station, but she was not looking forward to leaving her comfortably warm store. Shrugging on a dark blue jacket, far too short for the season, she locked the door, stuffed her hands in her pockets, and went on her not-so-merry way to the station to pick up her friend.

Despite her arriving a little past 4 PM, Francois' train hadn't yet come in. The wind howled melancholically through the gaps in the partial roofs that covered the tracks. Anna jumped from foot to foot, trying and failing to stay warm. Finally giving up, she almost ran into the Mystic Moon Café. She could wait for Francois in here. There was no way she'd miss him if he'd gotten on the right train. With an elaborate beverage that could only be described as coffee if one used the loosest of definitions, she sat down on a bar stool, positioned to give her a good vision of the station. She eyed an unfamiliar black woman with casual interest. There was something about her, as she sat hunched over her steaming styrofoam cup; like she knew what Anna had eaten for breakfast a week ago. Maybe she was like Francois. She had that vague, yet at the same time very present look on her face.
F R A N C O I S
Religion lied to you - the afterlife consists only of bothering me._______________
Public transportation was very, very close to being Francois' enemy number one, coming in close after cemeteries. The white noise of hundreds of spirits who for some reason found themselves particularly attached to this very train was, as always, at the back of his mind, like it had been since he was about fourteen. At first he had thought he was going mad. Who doesn't, when they walk home from school on an otherwise empty bridge and suddenly hear a cacophony of bloodcurdling screams and cries of "I want to live!"? It had been a long time before Francois had learned how to drown the noise of the ghosts in this world. Even now, almost a decade later, he relied heavily on the violin and piano concerto currently gliding through acid green headphones and into his ears. His sister Beatrice was a true virtuoso.

The trip to Amersham had been rather uneventful, and he was looking forward to seeing Anna again. He estimated it had been a good three months since they last hung out. It was kind of ridiculous, considering they lived about two hours from each other. The train was the biggest issue, and Anna was understanding and low-maintenance enough for it to not be a problem that they saw each other so relatively little. Francois smiled as the music continued with a slightly slower rhythm than before. He was torn out of his thoughts by a young man who decided that the train ride wasn't dramatic enough.

The stranger fell to the floor after a quick stumble backwards, almost as if he had tried to escape something. Francois looked out the window. It was a perfectly normal autumn evening, and the man's expression was absolutely terrified, as was the expression of an older man who had fallen along with him. Passengers all around Francois moved away from the two oddly behaving individuals, clearly having the collective idea that madness was contagious. Francois, being a weirdo himself, rose from his slumped position and cautiously moved towards the man on the floor. He squatted down and reached out for his shoulder.

Silence met him. Francois halted, his hand never reaching the stranger, who was lying very still on the floor. Francois should have been more concerned, but it was so hard to worry about anything when the eternal chorus of spirits had finally subsided. A chill ran up his spine. There was absolute dead quiet; no ghosts to mourn their own passing when no one else would. Francois was shaking, and he sat down next to the stranger on the floor, hugging his knees. The peace that he thought he had craved was broken by a jarring, metallic screaming that echoed in his head; his hands flew up to his ears automatically even though he knew that the noise didn't come from the outside. His vision went red, then blurry, and then everything went dark.

    Notes: Anna runs her own website that sells magic items, whichcraft dot com. She also has her small physical (work)shop, above which she lives. Fisk is the name of one of her familiars, who takes the shape of a large tabby cat.
    Tags: @Muse; @Cotton


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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 9:20 pm 

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Why did the phone have to ring? Iris Liu grumbled when she heard it ringing over the music she had playing through her stereo. Three weeks ago she had purchased her first home. It was a quaint little townhouse. She had gotten it at a good price. It was livable but needed some updating. She was spending all her free time trying to fix it up to her tastes. To save on money, she was trying to do as much as she could on her own. She was up on a ladder, trying to paint a wall, when her phone rang.

"Screw it, I'll let the machine get it."

Iris told herself out loud. It was her day off, she was going to get this damn room painted. When Iris set her mind to something, she wanted to get it done, as soon as possible. It always drove her parents and her brother nuts. Speaking of her brother...Her machine beeped that she couldn't come to the phone.

"Iris? Iris. I know you're home. Answer your bloody phone. I'm just going to keep calling until you do."

It was Ian, her twin brother, on the answering machine. Iris cursed, she knew Ian. He would keep calling and calling until she answered it. She looked over where the cordless phone was sitting on the table and sighed. She hated ladders. It took a while to talk herself into climbing it. Wanting her living room painted, outweighed her fear. Problem was, if she went down it, she probably wouldn't go back up it again. Plus, Iris didn't doubt that whatever Ian wanted would take all day. That was just how he was. She needed to get this wall painted. She didn't want to leave it half assed. It would look terrible if she didn't finish it.

Iris knew she shouldn't but she made a slight movement with her head to bring the phone to her. Ever since she could remember, she could move objects with her mind. Nothing too huge, just a glass here, a tv remote there. It made life a little easier. One day her grandmother had caught her doing it and warned her it was dangerous to use gifts like that too much. Especially to be lazy. Iris and her brother were Chinese British citizens. Their father had been born in Beijing and had married their mother, who was a British citizen. Iris and Ian had been taught to respect their elders. Not just their parents but to also respect their grandparents. Grandma Liu had been a wise woman and Iris tried to remember her grandmother's lesson about her telekinesis. She didn't use it often.

"Sorry, Grandmother, but your grandson will nag me all day and night until I answer it."

Iris said out loud, apologizing to her grandmother's spirit. Grandma Liu had passed away five years ago but Iris thought she'd better cover her butt just in case Grandmother had decided to pay her a visit. Not that Iris could see spirits, but Chinese folklore was full of stories about spirits and it was better safe, then sorry with the supernatural.

Just as Iris used her mind to bring the phone up to her ear, Ian was calling, again. She set the brush down on the tray that was at the top of her ladder to answer the phone.

"Yes, Ian?"

He grumbled about her taking so long to answer. It annoyed Iris, like she was supposed to drop everything in the world for him. Apparently he had a few days off. The case he had been working on, had been settled out of court, and Ian decided to come visit her. He was offering to help with some of the remodeling needed for her new home.

"Great! I'm at-"

Iris was going to give him directions but Ian cut her off. He was terrible with directions. The man rarely drove because he always got lost. Ian lived in London, he worked as a barrister. Every where he went was by cab or train. Iris was the one that had been blessed with a sense of direction. Iris agreed to pick Ian up at Amersham Station.

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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 8:30 pm 
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Joshua Kraven packed his small duffle bag taking care with certain objects of an eccentric nature while the television played the newscast in the background yet again. He didn’t bother looking up as the female voice warned him for the third time. “Joshua, you need to leave this one alone hon.” Joshua stuffed the small wooden case into the duffle bag then picked up the amulet from the small scarred table next to the bed. It was a smooth red stone encased in intricately woven threads of silver and hung on a thick leather cord. The amulet didn’t look to be especially expensive and the red stone didn’t appear to be an actual ruby but it did look to be extremely old. He hung it around his neck before pulling out a few changes of clothes packed in milk crates in the corner of the room. He smelled them to make sure he had pulled them from the clean crates then shrugged and tossed them into the bag. “Your little charm isn’t going to help you with this one Joshua.”

Joshua stopped and turned towards the woman whose face held a look of strong concern. “It's what I do babe. You know that. I’ll be fine. Worst that can happen is they get me this time and we can be together again.” He found his tablet and checked to make sure that it was fully charged then stuffed it and the charger into an inside pocket of his heavy duty camo jacket. He folded the opening closed on the bag and secured it shut, grabbed his helmet from the bed then headed for the door. “Those people had to go somewhere. Nobody just vanishes. I might be the only person that can find out where they went. I have to try.” He opened the door to have the knob pulled from his grasp when the door was slammed shut. The air shimmered between Joshua and the door and the woman appeared in front of him. “Murphy let's not do this again. You know I have to go. I can’t not go. That’s not who I am.”

She hung her head as transparent tears trailed down her cheeks. “I know but you can’t blame a gal for trying. Just be careful Joshua.” He brushed a cheek that he couldn’t feel mimicking wiping her tears away. She smiled at him. “Silly boy.” He felt the chill on his lips as she leaned in and kissed him then faded away. He touched his lips where her kiss from beyond had left her love. “Yeah, I’m a silly boy.” He opened the door again and stepped out of the room. He looked down the hall through the window at the end. The rain was coming down hard and he already knew it was cold. He checked his pocket for cash and came with about half of what it would cost him for a bus ticket. He had already paid his rent for the month but he would still need to eat. “Oh well. looks like I’m getting wet.” Joshua wasn't necessarily concerned, cold and wet was just life here especially if your only transportation was a motorcycle. Luckily his jacket was lined so his tablet would stay dry. Sometime he felt as if his phone and his tablet were his only contact with the human race.

After descending the three flights of stairs, Joshua paused at the lobby entrance and pulled his goggles down over his eyes before putting his helmet on. he pulled the strap of his bag over his head so that the baf was crossways on his back and secured the strap tightly. he looked out the door and saw his motorcycle, a 1955 Vincent Black Prince, parked right where he had left it. The bike was old but he had paid next to nothing for it. He did buy it in pieces and had to rebuild it but the previous owner owned a mechanic shop and let him work on it right in the shop with access to the tools he needed. The owner just basically wanted it out of his way. He loved his bike; it was reliable and he had put his own blood and sweat into it.

Joshua felt for his tablet under his jacket and double checked the strap on his bag then stepped out into the cold rain that was typical weather for Plymouth. His ride to Amersham would probably take him around four hours depending on traffic and road construction. With any luck he’ll ride out of the storm and get a little sunshine but he wasn’t counting too much on the sunshine. He straddled the bike, kicked it once and the motor fired to life. He sat with the motor running a few moments letting it warm up then kicked it into gear. he checked the street behind him then started on what was going to be the most incredible and possibly terrifying journey of his life thus far.

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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 5:37 pm 
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Maia MacAleese had her nose buried in a pile of papers like she usually did. There had been a break in between classes and where most people affiliated with the local university took the opportunity to drink and get rowdy or relax in front of the television playing their video games or watching their favorite shows and movies, Maia was busy getting things ready for her next course. On campus she was the youngest professor there, just having had her 25th birthday recently in the month of October. And while sometimes it was mentioned to her by her students, for the most part she didn’t bother entertaining the interest, her having been used to mentoring and teaching peers close to her age and working with her elders as if they were colleagues since she was around five years old. Having a Mensa IQ of 162 had made sure of that fact.

A soft mreow came from under her desk and one of her furbabies ruffled his long fluff against her bare leg. Maia reached down absently to stroke him until eventually his insistent meowing tore her away from her menial task of sorting and preparing her Theology lessons and she looked to find not just Dante, but Agatha, and Shakespeare all staring up at her.
“What?” she asked them pointedly, throwing her hands up in a shrugging gesture. Dante pranced around her leg a bit then scurried over toward the kitchen, mewling all the while, heading straight past the bar divider toward where their food dishes were. “Oh, so that’s it,” she scoffed playfully, uncrossing her leg that was held at the ankle to her other knee before sliding from her desk chair to head into the kitchen. Poe and Woolf were already there waiting to be fed as well.

Glancing at the clock the digital clock on her stove she realized why they were all mad at her. She had lost track of time and had skipped lunch, hers and theirs. Signing she picked up all the small dishes and set them in a line down her countertop after cleaning them each carefully with very hot water. When she reached into their cabinet they all came running, circling around her feet and meowing relentlessly, eager for their treat.

“Alright, alright,” she greeted them, spooning out Fancy Feast into each of their respective bowls, though when it truly came down to feeding time they didn’t bother to use the correct one, even if she did have them color coded. For all intents and purposes, Maia was, the crazy cat lady. She lived alone in a small house just off campus at Buckinghamshire New University, aside from the seven felines that kept her company.

Three females and four males graced her presence on a daily basis, keeping her warm on cold nights, enjoying their solitude from the outside world. One would think that teaching a classroom full of students would make any person quite the outgoing sort, but Maia was quite the opposite, coming come after a long day of being surrounded by society, completely exhausted and ready for the calm, still, quite that her otherwise eccentric hermit lifestyle allotted her.

Dante was her youngest, the boy still a kitten for the most part, barely reaching six months old at the moment, and as a result he was her most whiney and playful of the seven she had. He was also the largest believe it or not, the fluffy Maine Coon weighing in at a whopping 18 lbs already. After setting down the bowls she peered around her kitchen for something to eat. But in truth, she wasn’t really hungry.

On the counter was her mail, and on top of that was a flyer that had been taped to her door, a little printed advert that looked like it had been photocopied at Print Republic by the hundreds and haphazardly taped down the street and placed in car windshields. Lifting it up the tape stuck a little to one of her telegrams before it pulled free and she held it in the light to read it.

Mystic Moon Café
Just inside Amersham Station
Open Monday – Sunday
6am to 10pm
Bring this ticket and receive a free cup on the house!
Image

Green eyes stared at the flyer and Maia thought about it for a moment or two, then shrugged and made herself ready, bundling in layers of clothing, leggings with knee high leg wool leg warmers, a mid-calf length skirt with her thermal shirt, sweater, and fluffy coat and scarf bundling her up to go out into the cold. She stepped into her weathered brown leather boots and tied them off effortlessly before carefully opening her door so none would venture outside other than herself, and she unchained her very girly bicycle with the metal cage basket that hung off the back and rode her way down the drizzled streets towards Amersham station.

Once there she locked her bike where a few others were chained to bike racks along the side of the building that led to the train. She nearly missed the small cafe as she went inside, walking past it twice before settling her gaze on it and heading inside. Maia ordered a Pumpkin Spice Mocha, that to her delight, was on the menu still, and handed the woman the flyer. "Wow, that's twice today. I didn't know we were doing these too!" the young woman said, scanning the barcode and the bottom, and sure enough her register beeped and opened and the charge was dropped to zero. Taking her coffee she sat on a nearby plush chair, still bundled up to the neck to combat the chill that followed even inside the station.

Note: Just for the sake of curiosity, the seven cat's are all named for Authors: Dante, Agatha, Shakespeare, Poe, Woolf, (and the two not mentioned by name) Anaïs, and Oscar.

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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Thu Mar 03, 2016 10:11 pm 
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When Tomoteo “Teo” Uta’i was in his teens all he ever dreamed of was becoming an officer of the law, and when he graduated high school he began to make that dream a reality and joined the academy.As soon as he graduated he wanted to visit his sister, Sasa’e, who had received a full ride scholarship to Buckinghamshire New University in Amersham UK. However after getting there he soon discovered that his sister had gone missing.

He spent the next two years searching for her instead of going home to New Zealand and accepting his position on the police force. After discovering his sister’s case he found out that she wasn’t the only one, there were many other people missing too. They all went missing at around the same time as well. Within months of discovering the disappearances he was soon able to find himself work as a private eye. He went searching for all their files, and tried to find out anything that they had in common. He found out one thing. The only thing that he found was that they all went to school at the University.

When the events at Amersham station happened it felt as if the same thing was happening all over again. After discovering this he went to Amersham station and started to talk to the people that are normally there or the “usuals”. While he’s there taking notes on his digital recorder he notices it’s running out of battery and gave it a little boost with a jolt from his fingers. When he looked up he noticed a particularly small coffee shop, The mystic moon cafe, noticed he was a little parched. So he headed inside to go over his notes more comfortably and settle with a nice cup of herbal tea.

While he's drinking his tea he is observing the people in an odd sort of secretive way. After he finishes his tea and trows it away, he notices a few different patrons in the cafe along with himself. He also realizes that he hasn't had any conversations with any of them. Teo chose to spark up a conversation with them. "So, some awful strange things have been going on here. People disappearing with no trace. What do you all think?"


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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 10:29 am 

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Iris finished painting the section of wall she had been working on before her brother had called. She had planned to do more, but since she had moved to Amersham, they saw each other less then they used to. Especially with how busy he was in London. One nice thing about her job, she could take time off whenever she wanted. She restored antique furniture. While some clients had deadlines, she could take a break whenever she wanted.

Iris cleaned up and grabbed her purse. She checked to see the when Ian's train should be coming in. She'd have time to get a bit to eat at the café in the station. She walked in and looked over at the menu, trying to decide what sounded good. She was about to order when her phone beeped that she got a text and Iris excused herself from the cashier a moment.

Iris moved out of the way and grumbled to herself when she read Ian's text.

"Dumb ass."

He had boarded the wrong train. He was on his way to Aldgate, instead. Oh, Ian...She loved her brother but he was such a scatterbrain at times. He would get distracted with work, or he saw some pretty girl he wanted to chat up. That's probably what happened. He boarded the same train to hit on the girl some more, Iris could totally see that. Now, he wanted her to meet him Aldgate.

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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 12:55 pm 

eye of newt, tail of newt... rest of newt...

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If you can't summon the flames directly from Hell, store bought is fine._______________
A dark skinned man was watching her. Them, rather. A dark skinned man was watching them; the patrons of the Mystic Moon Café. Anna shrugged at his question.

"People disappear all the time. This is no different than any other place in the world where mysterious, traceless disappearances occur on a regular basis," she replied, looking at him sideways with a glint in her eye, her steaming cup at her lips. She patted her pocket. Arh, for helvede. She had forgotten her phone at home, a most inconvenient thing. What was she to do without her miniature personal version of the library of Alexandria/time piece/messenger pigeon she usually always had on her? Francois could probably have explained to her why his train was late, as the screens outside the café were falsely displaying the information that the train to Aldgate passing through Amersham had already arrived and was now patiently emptying its bowels of passengers on platform three, but without her phone he had no way of contacting her. Technology was so inconveniently convenient.

Ah, but there it was. The train that Francois was supposedly on rolled into the station, and people hurried out like they should have done four and a half minute ago. Anna got up, carrying her still unfinished decaf caramel soy mocha with her. She shuddered as the wind outside snuck inside her still open jacket. She was grateful that she had at least worn a turtleneck.

She waited, and waited, and waited, but Francois never came. Could he have fallen asleep? Anna raised an eyebrow at the graffiti covered windows of the train. It wasn't like him. Usually he left as fast as he could, never wanting to stay in the exact same spot for too long. He had gotten better, but to the point of being so relaxed that he had fallen asleep? No, it must be something else. Not having her phone on her, Anna saw no other way to get to her friend than boarding the train herself. She didn't have a ticket, but so what? Nobody did these days, anyway, and she wasn't even going anywhere. Once inside, she looked around. No sign of Francois. She took a deep breath, very aware of the fact that the train would be leaving soon as she walked through the carriages in a purposeful stride. She would find Francois soon enough.

    Notes: "For helvede" is a Danish curse word. Means "for Hell's sake".
    Tags: @Xaphan


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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 12:19 am 

the stars look very different today ★

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V I V I E N N E
The last sip of her tea wasn't overly pleasant, the last dregs over-saturated with sugar Vivienne hadn't requested. As she had been drinking the beverage she wondered why it was sweeter than usual; as she set down her cup, that was one mystery solved. The cup was still warm, so Vivienne kept her hands wrapped gently around it to warm herself slightly. Vivienne wasn't one to enjoy the colder months, becoming slower and constantly tired as the sun slipped away earlier and earlier. She seemed to be neither a morning or a night person, instead simply working through the day at the same steady pace. Her coworkers had always noted that about her, admiring her ability to work consistently with a variety of clients even early in the morning and later at night. Normally Vivienne's work schedule wasn't that archaic, as usually the people she spoke to had certain time-slot appointments, but sometimes there were emergencies.

So was life.

Unearthing from her thoughts, Vivienne noticed a woman with blonde hair and interesting eyes gazing at her from a stool several seats down. As their eyes met for a fraction of a second Vivienne's mind expanded to accommodate the newcomer before she could prepare herself. She was waiting, worried about a man who had not yet arrived. And a curiosity, centred around a hunched black woman with a very present look in her eyes-

Vivienne straightened her back abruptly, looking away from the woman. It had been an unusual connection, something the empath wasn't prepared for, and the woman had seen Vivienne. It hadn't just been mild curiosity, a passing glance at a stranger, judging their appearance and wondering what their shoes felt like. The stranger's musing had involved Vivienne's power. It was like the woman knew her, hit the nail on the head without Vivienne uttering a word.

Despite her age, Vivienne had never met anyone with a similar ability to her, or any supernatural talent whatsoever. It was mostly through Vivienne's lack of searching. She never really questioned her powers, much less her existence, although in the back of her mind she always wondered if there were others like her, especially as a child. In the classroom she would imagine other gifts like hers, and give them to the people around her in her imagination. It helped her to feel more normal and adjusted, even if it was only in her mind that her classmates could breathe fire and lift the teacher's desk above their head. It was so very possible that this woman-this strange woman-really had a gift, that Vivienne just barely brushed upon when their eyes met.

Vivienne was jolted by a sudden questioning voice, speaking at a volume to be speaking to the room as a whole.

"So, some awful strange things have been going on here. People disappearing with no trace. What do you all think?"

This was news to Vivienne. Even though she often let the news play in the background of her flat, she rarely ever listened to the words coming out of the newscasters' mouths. A bad thing to have done in this situation, to be at such a seemingly dangerous place on a whim. Vivienne turned in her seat to find herself face-to-face with a dread-locked young man. Vivienne prepared to inquire more on the details of these disappearances, but her soft voice was cut out by the more assertive tone of the blonde woman.

Traceless disappearances? Vivienne could feel her heart rate increase with worry. This was something she didn't want to be involved with. She could handle murder and kidnapping in the pages of a novel, but not in reality. She had seen the shadows of the scars left from those events, and couldn't even imagine the real thing. She raised her cup to her lips in nervousness before realizing it was empty. She distracted herself from the talk of the two strangers by standing and walking to the trash bin and disposing of her cup. Vivienne thought littering was one of the most awful things to do, and strove to keep her 'carbon footprint', as they said nowadays, to a minimum.

A cold draft entered the café, sending a shiver down Vivienne's spine. She was wearing her thick green cardigan over a sleeveless black sweater, but it seemed an overdue time to wear an actual coat. She kept her appearance tidy, but seemed having difficulty transitioning through the seasons, becoming partial to the clothing of each weather period. She sighed, rubbing her arms as she turned to leave the café.

Then she saw the back of the strange woman as she left the café, walking toward the newly arrived train. Vivienne chewed her lip lightly, frozen for a moment like a deer in the headlights.

She was so impulsive today.

Catching the door just before it closed, Vivienne followed the woman at a respectful distance, boarding the train just behind her. Vivienne didn't know what she wanted from the woman, or the train. She didn't even know how to get back to the station. But, at 50, Vivienne decided she should listen more to instinct, and her instinct told her that this woman knew...something. Vivienne would figure it out as she went along. Normally when she made a decision like this, she would make a pros and cons list, but there was no time now.

As the doors of the train closed behind her, she realized she hadn't bought a ticket.

Oh well.

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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 12:45 am 
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The trip wasn’t near as bad as it had appeared it would be from the onset. The rain only lasted about thirty or forty minutes before it went away. The sun acted like it wanted to come out a couple times but knew that there was no place for sunshine in this blasted country. Even without the sunshine, the wind dried him off fairly quickly as he was able to ride a bit faster. He made great time to Amersham and parked near the station at almost the exact three hour mark from when he had left Plymouth. He slipped his tablet from his jacket so that he could check the PlanetX website for any posts made to him or anything regarding the disappearance. It wasn’t easy culling through the gibberish from the crazies on there sometimes but there were legit researchers who offered educated theories on events. He touched the picture of Murphy that came up that he had as his wallpaper.

He missed her so much even though he talked to her every day. It still wasn’t the same as being able to touch her and hold her. He did his best to push the memories back with some success, enough to focus on the present. He searched for any nearby internet he could use and a few bars came up for public access at a cafe. He looked around the area until he spotted the cafe across from the stations and walked straight to it. While he strode to the cafe, he did his best not to make eye contact with the many spirits in the area. There were so many here that if they noticed that he could see them, he could well be overwhelmed.

He walked into the cafe and looked around for an empty seat and took in the scene in general. There was a Native American male speaking with a blonde haired woman. He took a seat at a table for two against a wall and ordered coffee when the waitress passed by him. He looked back down at his screen searching for the posts of a certain somebody in particular, For some reason that he couldn’t explain his attention was brought back to the blond as he looked back up in her direction. The voice came from behind him even though he heard it more in his head than his ears. He knew it was a spirit. “That’s her. She is one of the ones you search for as well as the man she speaks with. I know you hear me but also know why you don’t acknowledge me. That is fine. The woman with the pumpkin spice mocha also. All of your fates are intertwined. You will follow them to Aldgate.”

He couldn’t help himself, he turned to see the origin of the voice in time to see it waft away in a cloud of smoke that he knew only he could see. “Something wrong sir?” He turned to see the waitress standing next to his table with his coffee and a puzzled look on her face. “Uh, no. No, not at all. I thought I heard a familiar voice behind me. False alarm. Thank you very much for the coffee.” He smiled and nodded trying to appear sane and normal as the next person, a feat that he rarely pulled off with any success. “Of course sir. Well if you need anything my name is Katy with a Y.” She pointed at her name tag and smiled her practiced smile. “Enjoy your coffee sir.” With that she turned and walked away.

He was glad she left and didn’t try to spark any cumbersome conversation with him. Idle chit chat was not really a thing he excelled at, especially with the living. In fact he talked less with living breathing people than he did with the spirits of the dead. He scanned the cafe once more and spotted the woman who had the pumpkin mocha because its aroma stood out more than the other beverages in his vicinity. He quickly looked away before she noticed him staring. He hoped a ticket to Aldgate wouldn’t be much because he was already running short on cash. He sipped his coffee carefully waiting for it to cool and buried his eyes back down into the tablet.

He couldn’t help but wonder how the spirit would know their fates intertwined and why had it vanished when he tried to see who it was. Did he know them? The voice didn’t seem familiar but then it was hard to tell in their state. Their voices were usually distorted to some degree. Even so, what was he supposed to tell these people. ~A ghost said I should speak with you.~ That should go over well as a first impression. If what the spirit said was true, and it usually was from them, then they would be boarding the train to Aldgate as well. If he saw them on the train then he would find a way to spark a conversation with them.

He pulled his money out left a bit on the table to pay for the coffee and a small tip. He drank what was left in the cup which had cooled enough then slipped his tablet back into his jacket. He sure hoped he was doing the right thing taking the train. He would be leaving his bike and spending almost all the money he had left on a ticket. As it was, he was going to have to hitchhike back to get his bike, hopefully he wrapped this up pretty quick without having to eat too many times.

With a ticket and not much else in his pocket, Joshua boarded the train to Aldgate behind the people who a ghost told him had intertwined fates with his. He would be considered certifiable by many if not most people but for him it was sort of a normal situation that he had found himself in on numerous occasions. Speaking of ghosts, he remembered why he didn’t like public transportation, they were always overflowing with spirits. He took out his tablet and logged onto PlanetX with his online username for everywhere, Nytmayr. The conspiracy theorists had been working double time since earlier and now had a very heated discussion going on about the disappearance at Amersham station. Aliens and demons seemed to be neck and neck for the lead with vampires running a close second. The user he was looking for still hadn’t logged in yet or at least hadn’t posted. Well at least the tablet would help him to avoid eye contact with the spirits who kept trying to talk to him.

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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Sun Mar 20, 2016 10:25 pm 
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When the blonde answered Teo spoke in response, “ So it’s natural for an entire boxcar full of people to disappear?” After he got the words out of his mouth though, the woman walked away along with the other people in the cafe. He quickly got up and started to follow, wanting more answers to his questions than he was getting, trailing close behind a freckled woman with green eyes holding a cup of coffee in her hands.

Like most of the other patrons, Teo hopped on the train without buying a ticket either, happy he at least had some cash on hand should the conductor come through and ask for tickets. He started to speak up again, directly at the blonde that had answered him previously. “Don’t you at least think there ought to be a reason for the disappearances? Doesn’t it make you curious? I mean the whole car of people. Not just one or two at any given time, but the whole damn car of people at once.”


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View Likes PostPosted: Sun Mar 20, 2016 10:30 pm 
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As Maia sat and sipped her still too hot coffee, she glanced around at the inhabitants of the café. It was a strange bunch for sure, and quite diverse at that. On the side she noted a man sitting at a table that had come in last from them, scruffy and hardened from life’s probable distresses. Sitting at the front was an older black woman, who took a moment to look behind her at another younger woman with blonde hair, a seeming connection shared briefly between the two. While the younger woman looked fresh and ready for all of life, the older woman looked to be tired and achy in the cold weather that surrounded them.

She was drawn out from her sudden observations by another man talking off to the side of her. She could tell he was an islander, what sort she wasn’t sure of at the moment, but it was his words that captured her attention the most. Disappearances? Here? When did this happen? She didn’t watch the news because more often than not it was more bad news after the next with nothing good in sight. It was depressing to her so she rarely watched.

But the way he spoke about the disappearances and the way the blonde woman seemed to answer made her curious as to what was going on. She loved a good mystery after all, and enjoyed the thrill of finding things out. As she started to inquire as to what they were talking about the blonde woman headed out of the café quickly toward the train, the black woman following behind her quickly, and the hardened man following not long after.

Without pause, Maia got up from her seat, carrying her cup with her to follow after them onto the train, turning back just in time to see the Islander following close behind. Before she knew it she was on the train in the same car as the three that had left the café heading to Aldgate for no other apparent reason than to sate her curiosity. “Cla,” she stated under her breath as she boarded suddenly, not really sure if she ought to be doing so, especially without a ticket.

Note: Cla is Irish slang for Brilliant.

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you catch more flies with honey but you catch more honeys being fly

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J A M I E
Transcending life through death's decree.____________________
Jamie felt like he was lying on a bed of nails. If he had known a little more about the past few hours he may have even realized that this was not far from the truth. His eyes opened to blue velvet skies above him, stretching out as far as the horizon in all directions. He blinked once, twice and then he shook himself awake. Where the hell was he anyway? The last thing he could remember he was taking the train from work. That's right; he was on his way and the train was different. Everything seemed a little fuzzy and he was struggling to remember what exactly had happened. It was dark and the train was taking too long. Memories slowly coiled back into his cloudy mind as he concentrated as hard as he could. Like dust motes collecting in scant rays of light cutting abstract wounds into his memory things began to come together. The last thing he could actually remember were the teeth.


The teeth and those dancing lights.


It wasn't until all these many minutes of recollecting himself passed before Jamie realized exactly what surrounded him besides the infinite expanse of starless sky above him. He was lying on his back on some sort of shore. Faintly, as if many miles away, he could hear the gentle lapping of waves breaking on the shoreline but when he sat up, the pitch black sea that produced the noises was no more than a few feet away from where he lay. The beach he lay on, from a distance, would have looked like a great white paint stroke of pristine white sand and at first Jamie thought the whiteness, which stood as a stark contrast to the rest of his surroundings, was sand himself. It was only the texture that gave away what he lay upon was anything but sand. It felt like pebbles or maybe small polished stones or sanded wooden bits. It felt smooth to the touch but the small shapes left lots of jagged edges between each little pebble.


Jamie stood and surveyed the peculiar space which he alone seemed to inhabit. There was no wind and only the sound of the tide to keep his ears company. He was completely naked, which was really something he felt he should have noticed earlier but right now it didn't really seem to matter. He was completely alone and as such made no attempt to cover himself. In fact, he felt strangely calm about the whole thing now and as time went on he only felt more and more relaxed. All the buzzards in his head squawking shrill questions at his psyche were dying off and leaving him with something not unlike tranquillity. It was peaceful here. Lonely, but peaceful.


Hours passed and Jamie wandered around on the shore. The stones (or wood?) that nestled under his feet were uncomfortable at first but he quickly became accustomed to them. He lost perspective on how far he had walked before long and it just became aimless wandering. Always forward though. He had chosen a direction parallel to the tide and stuck to his guns. He wasn't overly concerned with finding anything out here but something inside his belly drove him to seek and discover more of this alien place. Eventually the sound of something slapping against water broke his trance and he snapped his gaze out to sea. On the cusp of the horizon a light was peaking its head over the blackness, eerie and pale the light bobbed hypnotically in the water and drew closer as he watched it. Rhythmic pounding against water added to the systematic sway of the light atop the black ocean and after minutes Jamie could have sworn that there was a faint song playing somewhere beneath the folds of the windless beach. It was something like a violin but far slower than he had ever heard one played before. It just hummed from all around quieter than a whisper.


The shape that emerged into his sight was, at first, silhouetted by the swaying light source. It appeared to be a large lump of black flesh in the water with something like a man standing atop it. The figure took his berth on the shoreline and Jamie wandered closer. The closer that the ex-reservations clerk got the calmer he felt and the louder the music reverberating in the back of his thoughts became. He could make out details of the thing now. It was a man, or at least something like a man but with arms far too long and thin, wrapped in a long dark cloak, the folds of which seemed to hold many lights almost too dim for Jamie to make out and he was riding on a large fish. A cross between an inky black manta-ray and an angler fish with a tail that arched gracefully out of the ocean and held on its crook a perfect sphere which emitted the pale light. Its head was hidden beneath the surface but there was no doubt in Jamie's mind that this fish was the monster he had seen on the subway. Oddly, that didn't bother him one bit.


"I'm dead aren't I?" Jamie spoke softly, his eyes dropping to his feet.
A M E R S H A M
There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going.____________________
There wasn't much to be seen in Amersham station at any given time, let alone now due to the rumors of a terrorist organization. The place looked much the same as ever lit by the pallid bulbs of the platform. Most of the kiosks were closed, save for the Mystic Moon Cafe and a small ice cream parlor by the name of Elsie's Ices. Even the station performers were no where in sight. Out of the hundreds of frequent patrons that could be found boarding or exiting a train at Amersham station, there were maybe fifty people there at this time catching a train to or from work. Drunks mostly and a peppering of businessmen and women who seemed to be in a perpetual state of agitation that the train was late even though it wasn't due for another few minutes. The only truly peculiar sight was the lack of law enforcement or investigative personnel or yellow tape. For a suspected terrorist attack site there was little to be seen in the way of anyone taking any of this terrorism business seriously.


The main light source of the entrance to the station, down that long flight of stairs, was the sun that was in an eternal battle of hide and seek behind the cloud cover. Many of the lights that lined the corners of the ceiling had gone out months ago. Every few minutes the sun would vanish behind thick dark grey and the station would take a notably dark turn for a matter of seconds, even up to a minute or two, before reappearing for a similar amount of time. It wasn't until after almost twenty minutes that the sunlight vanished for longer than before and didn't seem to be returning.


The hiss of metal on metal filled the surroundings and a bright light tore the veil of the dark tunnel to the far left of the platform. The gearous whine of the breaks cut into the grim silence roughly and abruptly as a train pulled into Amersham. The twelve fifty five, the cross-town train of the afternoon. The train looked to be no different to its brothers in arms, a dirty chrome colossus tugging tons upon tons of metal cars each lit no better than the station that surrounded it. The sides of the car were covered in grime and paint, the odd tag visible on its armour.


Slowly but surely, the patrons catching their train to wherever shambled towards its doors. Of the slightly over four dozen waiting for the thing, the only thing that seemed off were random strangers who would wander towards the cars and slowly, subtly walk away from their initial destination and converge on one car in particular. The car third from the front attracted no less than six of the people catching the train. By any normal stretch it wouldn't look like anything odd. Perhaps the other cars had a smell to them or were filled with homeless who would be woken and kicked off once the train reached its last stop.


Whatever the reason, the third car seemed to be attractive to these few.


To those among the station with an astute sense for the supernal might feel the air grow denser with the arrival of the train. Something lingered here. It smelled old and sweet like pomegranate which was just a bit too ripe. There was one criteria which some in the station may recognize instantly. It was the scent of death. Anybody among the bystanders who had spent time close to death, or perhaps even in death, would probably pick up on this particular aroma quicker than others.


Two minutes before the last train finished boarding, six more individuals boarded the third car, aware or not of the weighted aura it projected.


The train was more than welcoming of the many passengers who boarded it, a disproportionate amount of them choosing the same car. At first impression the train seemed relatively normal, it was lit by the same lights as its comrades and felt more or less like taking the train any other day. The only difference was in the atmosphere. The lingering heaviness and not quite tangible smell and taste were a little thicker here though not alarmingly so. As the men and women would enter the train there would be a short pause before anything happened, maybe a minute at most. The doors, all at once across every car would hiss and close, signalling that it was ready to depart. By now, any aware individuals would know that if anything were going to happen on the twelve fifty five, it was much too late to get out of dodge.


With a screech the train began to lumber forward slowly at first but picking up speed as it dashed into the blackness between stations.

    Notes: There will be one round of posting before my next GM post.
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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:06 pm 

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Iris decided her brother was indeed an idiot at times. Grandmother was right, men sometimes only thought with one body part. Iris wondered if the girl he boarded the wrong train for would be worth it. Knowing Ian...This girl would be a fling. Ian wasn't one to settle down. Life was too short for that, he'd always told her. She grabbed a bagel and a cup of tea from the Mystic Moon Café before getting a train ticket to Aldergate.

Iris felt a little uneasy at Amersham Station, she had seen the news. People just didn't up and disappear like that. She noticed that people that had been inside the café were boarding the same train as her. What were the odds of that? It was even weirder they all seemed to be drawn to the same train car. She was near Teo and Anna and bit her lip when Teo talked to the blonde about the whole train car of people disappearing. That wasn't normal and made her feel a little uneasy being on the train now.

'Nothing is going to happen, Iris. Weird, random **** happens...You'll be fine. Soon you'll get to yell at Ian for wasting your time. And make him repay you for the train ticket,' Iris told herself. It didn't do much to reassure her. She couldn't shake the feeling something bad was going to happen.

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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 11:11 pm 

the stars look very different today ★

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V I V I E N N E
It started as a prickle in her skin.

A light, ghostly tapping across her neck and arms, a chill down her spine like a thousand needles. As Vivienne chose a seat near the doors of the train, using the pole to lower herself down gently, she regretted following the woman. The train car didn't feel right. It was strange: it almost felt like the inanimate, thoughtless machine had....feelings.

It was the smell, mostly, a sickly sweet scent that was usually attached to Vivienne's worst patients. The smell that signaled their last appointment, and not because they had been cured, but had found an escape. The darkest escape.

Death.

She couldn't do anything for those who brought that scent with them into her office. All Vivienne could do was look into their eyes, and give them a last burst of hope and peace, any kind of comfort from the monsters of decay in the heart. The monsters often jumped and squirmed, attempting to bury into her own mind, but she fought them off through happy memories of her life. Her parents, her husband, children, graduation. The happy memories could chase away the dark, but only for her. The goodbyes as her patients left for the last time were the hardest.

The strongest emotions always lingered in the room after it had passed, imprinted into the very being being of every object that was near it. Vivienne would never explicitly use the word aura, but that was the most accurate description of the imprint. Vivienne looked out the window as the train lurched abruptly to a start, touching her fingers lightly to the metal bar between the windows. The woman she had followed, and the dread-locked young man had both been discussing an incident with a train. Had it been this train car? She had never known an imprint to last that long.

Still, Vivienne's skin continued to prickle.

Vivienne began tapping her thighs with her fingers rhythmically, a nervous tick developed from years of self-calming techniques. She was playing a song, a lullaby her mother had sang to her as a child. The name had faded away over time, but the notes were still there. Vivienne had taken piano lessons as a child and became quite skilled in the technical movements, sweeping her hands across the keys with a speed not usually known to her age. Despite this, her music teacher had told her that she had no true talent because the notes she played were mechanical and unemotional, ironic when compared to her special gift. Vivienne's detachment to the music led to her downfall in the area, and she substituted the lessons for a math tutor.

It seemed that the dread-locked man was still determined in speaking to the interesting woman. Vivienne looked at the pair with an unobtrusive eye, something she had perfected from her years of watching. She would never consider it to be spying, but from an observer, the unintentional deepness of her view would make most people uncomfortable, as it had when she was in school. Through experience Vivienne learned not to mention anything she had learned through her gift, but to instead pick up when people were agitated, frustrated, or upset, and work around lowering their negative energy levels. Vivienne straightened as she watched the woman pace from one end of the train car to the other, the man right at her heels like an inquisitive animal. He wasn't letting off any unpleasant emotions; he simply seemed like a passionate, curious man. The woman was filled with haste, and worry. Vivienne felt a pang of concern, gathering her thoughts. Her eyes rested on the woman's own soft green ones for a fraction of a second, before Vivienne turned away so as not to gather attention. So it was a man, not showing up when he should have. Vivienne was surprised as disappointment filtered through her head. Perhaps she had been expecting something more interesting, from the woman who had seen.

So focused was the empath, that when another woman on the train muttered, Vivienne almost jumped in her seat. The newcomer into Vivienne's observation had wild hair and the general air of organized disorderliness. If Vivienne knew anything, she knew that this woman owned multiple cats. Not that it was a bad thing. Usually the least organized but caring people of the world had a richer inner mind, Vivienne had noticed.

This sudden inclusion of another individual caused Vivienne to take the whole train car into account. A bearded man with a strange amulet was slouched in the corner, fingers scrolling across the screen of a tablet. Vivienne was well-acquainted with the newer touch-screen technologies, though they occasionally frustrated her. Her daughter Sam had always been the techie in the family, helping her brothers and parents to keep in the loop with the newest advances in computerss. It seemed that Vivienne's list-loving and logical problem-solving nature had manifested itself in that way with Sam, always picking things apart to understand them.

None of Vivienne's children had acquired her special, otherworldly gift, to her slight disappointment. She had never told them of it, hiding it from everyone except her husband. She had told him on their wedding night. Naturally, she had been scared, scared he would think of her as some sort of witch, or cheater, or demon. He had simply smiled, taking her hand after she had explained, and proclaimed, "I always wondered how you knew exactly what to say!"

The memory caused Vivienne to tear up slightly, and she wiped at the corners of her eyes with her cardigan sleeve. She wasn't used to memories getting the best of her, but over the years, her vigilance had been wearing off. It was like a protective mechanism, for her to hide her negative emotions, even though she occasionally pried into others'. She had only ever raised her voice once in her life, at her brother after he refused to pass her a toy. He had been so hurt that Vivienne cried harder than he had, upset that she had injured him so deeply. Vivienne understood the stabbing pains that words caused to others. Now she spoke softly, or firmly if she had to make her point be heard. She was kind, but not a pushover. Just because sometimes what she had to say stung others, it still had to be said. So much was clear when her parents had gone through their divorce, and Vivienne became the mediator and messenger, until she became fed up with the pair and informed both of them that they had to fight their own battles.

Vivienne was not prepared for her own battle, soon to come up the winding train tracks.

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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 7:56 am 
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Joshua tried not to be too obvious as he glanced periodically at the people that the spirit had indicated to him. He tried to appear be observing the screen on his tablet. Most of the spirits in the car seemed to just be reliving a moment of their lives in a loop but others were trying to frantically gain attention to warn everyone off the train. They were ranting about teeth and bright lights which was strange enough just on its own. His attention was focused so much between the wandering spirits and his tablet that the voice that spoke up next to him made him jump. “They’re right you know.”

“****!” Several people turned to see the source and reason for the sudden outburst by the scruffy American while most paid the homeless looking fella no mind. They had no doubt just wrote him off as a delusional drunk or junkie. They probably figured he stole the expensive electronic device in his hand and was on his way to trade it with his dealer or pawn it. Joshua looked out of the corner of his eye at the spirit sitting next to him. “Yeah I know you can see me and definitely hear me. You heard me in the cafe. The spirits, ghosts or whatever you want to call them, they’re right. You shouldn’t have gotten on here.”

“But you said…” Joshua stopped short when he remembered that only he could see and hear the wraith sitting next to him. Lucky for him it seemed as though most had written him off as crazy after the first outburst. He logged into Docs on his tablet and typed out what he wanted to say. “But you said to follow those people because our fates were intertwined.” He he tilted his tablet a bit so that the spirit could read it. “You’re assuming that I can read. You living are pretty presumptuous. Lucky for you I can read. Yes I told you to follow them and your fates are intertwined. I didn’t say whether or not fate had something good planned for the lot of you.”

Joshua scowled out the spirit and typed something very quickly on his tablet. “Why aren’t you trying to warn everyone like they are? What’s different about you?” Joshua noticed an old woman sitting not far from him on the opposite side adjusting her glasses to read what he was writing. He turned to her abruptly. “Do you mind lady?? Tend to your own business you old hag!” He didn’t really mean to bite at the old gal but he was in the middle of something important that he didn’t want to explain to civilians. “It's not her fault you know. She just wanted to see what the crazy man was typing. It won’t matter soon anyway.” Joshua glared at the spirit out of the corner of his eye. “Fine then I’ll answer your questions. It won’t matter soon enough.” The spirit paused for a moment for effect before they continued to speak. “They are still **** off about dying and are trying to warn others to help them avoid Death’s embrace. They know something happened here but they can’t explain it so it's Death to them.”

Joshua waited a moment for the spirit to continue then typed some more. “Well what about you? You haven’t answered my question!!”

“Fine. I am loving being a spirit. I think everyone should be one. Also, I’m also what you call a Death groupie. I try to anticipate when someone or ones is going to perish and be there to get a glimpse of Death. Plus, being dead has lots of perks. I see lots of naked women and if I concentrate really hard, I can even touch them. I’m still working on getting better at that last part.”

Joshua typed on the tablet yet again. “Why bring me here to die with them? There were plenty enough people already to get your Death fix.”

“Mostly it was because I wanted someone to talk to. They all suck as conversationalists with their pessimistic view on being a spirit. They can be real party poopers. You were the only person there that could hear and see me. I know who you are Joshua. Are should I call you Nytmayr? You have a few groupies to on this side you know? Mostly the gals and it’ll be a big point for me when I tell them I was the last one you spoke to before you died. Spirits have needs too you know.”

Joshua was basically rage texting by now and possibly drawing the attention of some of the more attentive of the passengers. “SO i’M GOING TO DIE BECAUSE YOU WERE LONELY AND WANTED TO SCORE POINTS WITH MY FANGIRLS?? REALLY??”

“There’s no need to get all hostile and screamy. I know it sounds bad but it’s really not. We could hang out once it's done, I know where all your groupies hang out. I’m telling you fella, you will not regret it.” Joshua’s thoughts wandered to Murphy which brought him a sense of peace. He needed a bit of serenity right now. If dying would let him touch her again then it actually wouldn’t be a bad thing. Isn’t that what he wants, to hold her in his arms again? To actually feel her touch?

“Ok so let’s just move past the part where you, for all intents, murdered me. What’s going to happen to everybody? Do you know that happened to the others that vanished?” By this point Joshua had given up on the tablet and was just speaking in a low tone. He was definitely drawing attention now. The old woman next to him was not as nosey anymore and had moved to another seat away from him.

“I have no idea. I wasn’t here for the first incident. I heard about it and came to see Death. Maybe even touch them. I knew your fates were intertwined because you would all be on the train. I told you that to get you on the train to keep me company and score some females. I know. You don’t have to say it. I’m a bad person… err… spirit, ghost or whatever.”

“Well mister bad ghost person, do you have a name? At least then I would have something to call you.”

“I think it may be too late for that.” The spirit actually looked scared. Joshua knew that couldn’t mean anything good.

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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 7:25 am 

eye of newt, tail of newt... rest of newt...

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A N N A
If you can't summon the flames directly from Hell, store bought is fine._______________
Anna paused in her next step, one foot hovering just for a fraction of a second before it landed again without bringing her forward. She turned around and fixed the young man who had spoken to her with an inquisitive stare.

"Did you follow me on this train just to ask me how I feel about total strangers disappearing into thin air?" She asked, tilting her head. She wasn't offended. She wasn't even particularly curious as to why he had followed her. What did make her curious was how multiple people from the café seemed to have done the same thing, even if, when she thought about it, it wasn't at all strange to get on a train on a station - but it made her uncomfortable. She was just looking for Francois, not a train car party.

Anna resolved to leaving the inquisitive young man alone. She walked briskly down the car, trying to ignore the people who were talking to themselves out loud and the old black woman who was sniffling. The hairs at the back of her neck were standing up as she pushed the door aside and entered the second half of the car.

"Francois...?" She would recognize those vibrant green headphones anywhere. Anna almost ran towards the body of her friend lying on the floor, setting her coffee cup down so hard that its contents splashed all over the floor. She grabbed the front of Francois' hoodie and shook him, completely uninterested in the second body lying not far from him.

"Francois, Frankieboy, it's me..." Her voice sounded small and frightened, and she didn't understand what was happening. The man's body was like a sack of sand; heavy, unresponsive. Finally, he opened his eyes. Anna breathed a sigh of relief and hugged him tightly before she let go and smacked his shoulder. "Don't you ever do that agai- EWWW!"
F R A N C O I S
Religion lied to you - the afterlife consists only of bothering me._______________
Francois' head was floating a mile above everything. He could see the train moving; leaving Amersham station behind. He could see his own body that was rapidly coming closer. No, wait, Francois' head was coming closer, zooming in so fast he thought he might vomit, and vomit he did, somehow managing to turn his head a little bit.

"...ever do that agai- EWWW!" The voice sounded as if it was coming from very, very far away, but he recognized it none the less as not being in his own head. Francois blinked in an attempt to focus on the mysteriously colored haze in front of him. It somehow turned into Anna.

"Why are you on the train?"

Anna scowled at him, holding him out at arms length. "I'm on the train because you didn't get off, and then I find you here lying on the floor like you're dead, and then you puke on me. Gross, Francois, just gross."

Francois watched dazedly as she took off her jacket. A large, foul-smelling, green-beige stain was covering the left shoulder and down. He rubbed at the back of his head and groaned. "Sorry... What the hell is that?" He had spotted the faintly steaming cup standing on the floor. Anna looked at him sheepishly.

"It's - coffee?"

"Gotcha. It's been standing near actual coffee beans, is what you mean."

"This is the thanks I get for waking you from the dead?"

Francois grinned. He felt surprisingly well. "Well, I wasn't dead, but maybe you can try the same trick on that guy lying over there." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the other, very still body. It took him a moment to realize what he had said. Anna looked horrified at him. Francois suddenly felt very sick again. He scrambled to his feet and stood next to his friend, unable to tear his eyes away from the corpse no matter how much he wanted to. Even if he hadn't been a medium, he would have been able to feel it now; the sensation of a hole recently made in the fabric of the universe.

"We - what do we do?" He looked at Anna, feeling more hopeless and unsure by the minute. "Do we call the police?"

"I don't have a phone."

"****."

    Notes: Look who's totally alive and well(?)! I imagine the half of the car they're currently in is totally deserted except for the two and the corpse of Jaime (correct me if I'm wrong, I just thought it seemed logical for people to move away from the small horde of people suddenly collapsing.
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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Sun Apr 10, 2016 1:21 pm 
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When Teo walked behind the blonde woman he had started to ask her more questions, but she cut him off before the words came out. And then she walked away into the other half of the car. He thought about following her, but even he wasn’t so stupid to not realize that she was obviously preoccupied with something else on her mind. Not wanting to push the issue, Teo sighed, shook his head, and walked away to find a seat. This was getting nowhere fast.

Sitting there Teo noticed someone typing things on a tablet and then tilting it towards the right as if he was showing somebody else what he wrote, but there was nothing next to him but an old woman who seemed interested but obviously wasn’t who he was after. After a little bit of this he turned around quickly. Thinking the man was looking at himself, he made a weird face. He quickly noticed though that he was looking at an old lady though who was supposedly reading what he was writing. Following the man basically yelling at her, she stood up and walked away, and as she walked away the haggard looking man started to talk very low to himself. Teo’s curiosity peaked, and he asked “Oy, who are you talking to?”


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 Post subject: Re: Obscure
View Likes PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 6:03 pm 
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Sitting down in a seat somewhat close to the scruffy man Maia looked on with interest as the two interacted. It seemed as though blondie was too busy with her own mission to be bothered with the Islander man’s. She watched him too, sit down, defeated for the moment as the blonde stormed away and got herself to the second part of the car. In that distance, even through the graffiti and slime that covered the windows to the door she could see her rushing forward toward a man slumped on the ground.

Curiously she stared, straining her vision to see through the cracks of spray paint and grit in order to see if she could make out what they might be saying or doing over there. She was concentrating so hard that she very nearly missed the sudden conversation happening not but three seats down from her. That gruff looking fellow from before seemed to be having his own conversation with apparently no one. Maia looked for an earpiece, hoping perhaps he was just talking like many do on their hands free device but she saw none in his ears and none around his neck, even after turning and tilting herself to get a better view.

“Ok so let’s just move past the part where you, for all intents, murdered me. What’s going to happen to everybody? Do you know that happened to the others that vanished?”


‘Murdered? He’s not murdered he’s sitting right here very much alive,’ she thought to herself, pretty much staring at him now with rapt interest. It seemed as though the islander wasn’t the only one seeking to figure out what had happened to the people that had supposedly vanished recently. And what did he mean what was going to happen to everybody? Was he talking about them? The people here, on this train, right now?

Her mind raced as she thought logically about what was being said next to her, her thoughts interrupted when Island man spoke up and asked shabby man who it was he was talking to since other than herself a few seats over, there was really no one around. It seemed a reasonable question though it kind of surprised her to see anyone ask considering most appeared to be marking this guy off as some sort of crazy bum on the train.

She spoke up, and despite the many years of living here on the mainland, her accent was still thick of her home,
“I don’t believe he’s talking to anyone really. Though I do wonder myself who he’s talking about. What do you mean when you asked ‘what’s going to happen to everybody’? Everybody as in us? Is something going to happen to this train?"

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