Ghost Lights

By the time Irina half-floated, half-walked her way to the castle itself, it was black as pitch outside, not that it made much difference to the ghost. She saw equally well at night, sometimes better, given her eyes couldn't block out the excess light in their current, transparent form. She also had the odd quirk of glowing slightly at night, at least when she wasn't so frightened she was invisible, not that she noticed either way. It was merely the signature of her energy, and of no use to her (though possibly a decent night light for someone else).

By now she has pulled a crystal pendant from beneath her shirt--how a ghost can hide something beneath clothing is perhaps, for some other time--and is constantly running her fingers over it, petting the silver chain fixed to the crystal's base with trembly fingers, each time pausing as her thumb hits the uneven wire setting. This has to be the place, how many castles this size could there be, especially on the only road she'd seen?

Irina's automatic gesture to knock on the door pushed her hand right through the wood, so she bit back the nauseous feeling of having something solid passing through her and just pushed right on through into the castle's vestibule... she didn't have a way to open the door. "Hello?" she calls quietly, now aware of the hour as she peers around the dark room, darker than the world outside. Was that a fish tank in the middle? Who in their right mind would put a tank that size in a reception area? Just the thought of the sheer amount of water in a two-story tank made her shiver convulsively. "Anybody home?" she calls out, voice shaking in direct contrast to the playful lilt in her tone.

Aisling was drifting down the stairs, her mind wandering as she floated about. she was still rather smoky and insubstantial from the carnival, so she looked more like a cloud of purple and auburn smoke than anything. however, if she were to stay still for just a moment, features would be visible: wavy red hair, and bright, pupil-less green eyes. she zipped quickly down the stairs, and actually passed right by Irina before her brain even processed what she saw. wait--what?

she turned (her smoky body on a bit of a lag from the movement) to look at the transparent girl standing there. she was so taken aback by the other ghost, that she forgot to even say anything. instead. she just sort of blinked

Esha was walking through the building aimlessly because of her bed... She couldn't sleep on it because of the main fact her body was screaming at her to sleep upright like a statue - and her roommate might freak out or something. She wasn't bothered by the cold so the chills that were running through the castle due to the time of day didn't bother her.

Her stick swung in front of her to keep not bump into things, her pupiless eyes scanned the hall for familiarity, Ah- she knew where she was now. She continued through to the vestibule. Was that voices she was hearing? Maybe she'd meet some new people.

If Irina hadn't been paying so much attention to her new surroundings, she probably might not have noticed a passing bit of mist in the gloom. As it stands, however, she watches in some surprise as the fish tank she was staring at gets blurry, then refocuses. "Hello?" she repeats, not sure if she's imagining things. "Is someone there?"

The new ghost girl's image is hazy, and hazier now that she's uneasy, but her general outline is there for anyone to see, khaki slacks and white polo shirt vaguely tinted light blue in the dark. For those who can't see ghosts, at best she might be a couple lines of pale blue light, just hinting at her presence, but even that might be pushing it. The quiet click/swish of Esha's stick in the stillness makes her turn away from where she thought she'd seen something, to scan the darkness for who or whatever might be approaching.

Aisling quickly shook herself, blinking again. the girl in front of her was very hazy on the very top planes--the ones where humans and then visible humans were visible. Aisling shifted through them like someone shuffling cards until she found one where the girl was quite visible.

she was about to say something in greeting when she heard a slight tapping sound nearby. goodness, the vestibule was full tonight! her confusion and wonder formed itself in an odd ghostly sound that didn't seem to come from her directly--something that was quite frequent when she was in this form. it sounded like a soft wind, while somehow sounding concerned at the same time, if that made any sense.


darn, why couldn't she get more solid? if she tried to speak like this it would come out as a ghostly scottish wail--it was ridiculous! she consciously tried to pull herself together, to no avail

Entering the large room, she immediately heard a voice, coming from somewhere... but where? she scanned the room with hyper vigilance but could see absolutely no people. I'm too young to go crazy! she thought while trying to calm herself, ignoring that she was over 100 years old, she made her way to the center of the room.

"Hello, show yourself." her voice was firm, but she was deeply unnerved out by the thought of loosing her mind, or someone being in the dark out there. No, there was nobody in the dark, she would see the heat signatures or at least something.

Looking around again, just on the off chance she'd missed someone, hoping she had she spoke aloud "Is anyone there?"

Irina definitely saw something this time around, both someone (or something) between her and the tank and an approaching someone else who was a little bit more solid. The solid person gained upper hold of her attention, however, as she was the only one of the two who'd spoken. "Um, you probably can't see me, most people can't. I'm, er... dead." How else is one to introduce themselves in this castle? She'd better start thinking of something or she'd be 'the dead girl' for the rest of time.

"Kinda surprised you can hear me, actually," Irina added, looking the readily visible person over. "Wild guess is you aren't exactly human, either?" The ghost moves one step at a time till she's in front of Esha. "I'm in front of you, more or less," she adds with only the very best of intentions. "I don't think I can offer much more."

Aisling frowned. why couldn't she see the other person in the room? oh, wait, she was still looking at the lower planes....holding them both in her sight at the same time was weird, but it worked.

oh! it was Esha! Aisling tried to speak, but instead she got that odd wind/wail noise again, only louder. she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. what a wonderful first impression! she continued t gather her smokey self together, to some avail, but not much. her color was at least a tad more visible--maybe her eyes, if someone were to look close enough.

alright, so the school had a new ghost. Aisling couldn't help but grin. did that make the school officially haunted then? Aisling hadn't even been around long enough to have to get used to the place, and now she had someone to share her random disappearing acts with. she would have a good time here, she was sure of it now

"And I'm Esha, It's a pleasure" She said sarcastically she said in a humorous tone, not being overly rude. "pfft, what good are mind tricks if you can't hear them?" She said furrowing her brows. She lost it at the next one "Oh come on subconscious, Is that the best you can do" She said rolling her eyes, tapping her stick impatiently "And after 40 years, all you can give me is questions to things you already know, I'm a stone person, In case you forgot..." She trailed off, talking like she would to a small child that didn't understand.

She sat on the stairs and waited, hearing a ghostly wind noise. "And we have a good cop, bad cop thing going on. One unnerves me, the other tries to comfort me" That's what I'm talking about, thought Esha. She was abandoning the usual politeness and going for a more witty, or sarcastic approach. It was only her and her mind here.

Her mind was gone, after only 40 or so years. Her body wouldn't go, because it was meant to last but going insane was less fun than she thought it would be, Esha was bored of it already.

It took Irina a moment to realize that Esha either a) didn't believe her, or b) didn't care to. "Gee, thanks for the welcome, then, Esha," she snapped back after she couldn't stand to let the other woman get the last word. "Such a nice place, this school." After all it took to get her into that darn boat, now all her welcome was summed up in the mind of a... stone-person, whatever that was... who thought she'd gone insane.

Rolling her eyes and seriously debating playing pranks for no better reason than she was tired and annoyed, Irina froze, squinting for a moment. Had she seen... yes, she had! "So I'm not the only ghost around here, am I now? Shame. Might've been awfully fun to screw around with peoples' heads for awhile, but you've probably already lost interest in that, am I right?" she asked the unclear mist-form she could somewhat make out beside her. "At least it won't get lonely while everyone else sleeps."

This one-sided conversation seemed pointless to the travel-weary new arrival, and she looked from one to the other of her strange companions. "What does one do in the middle of the night while those less nocturnal sleep?" she asked midair, then glanced at Esha. "Other than walk the hallways dreaming of sanity, of course."

Aisling's body suddenly came together (whether or not from recognition, she didn't know) and she fell abruptly toward the ground with an little "ooph", landing mid-air, about 2 inches from the ground.

"oh come, on, Esha," she said once she'd gotten her balance again, "you know better than that--i'm usually the good cop."

she turned to Irina, then. "Hi! sorry about the abruptness--i'mm Aisling. and no, i haven't been here long enough to get tired of messing with people's heads. its still plenty fun to me."

She once again blinked her green, pupil-less eyes.

"Unfortunately, i only know of one other nocturnal-type person, though he is a lot of fun to hang out with. otherwise, its ridiculously quiet at night."


Aisling looked fairly solid at the moment, though if someone were to squint, they would probably still see the fish tank through her. her hair was also having fun defying gravity, for whatever strange reason.

leaning against the banister with her can across her lap, Esha realized that she was actually talking to a ghost. "Sorry for the rudeness, I'm maybe just a bit sleep deprived and my first guess when I heard voices in an empty room wasn't 'ghost'" She didn't apologise for the sarcasm though, the girl deserved it partially for greeting her with the news that she was dead. That would scare people and confuse them.

"Oh hello Aisling, was there ever any doubt?" she arched an eyebrow and cracked a grin, still having no idea where the conversation was taking place, she simply gazed at the Chandleirs on the celing through heavy eyelids.

Hmm... maybe she could sleep in on of the store rooms upstairs?...later, she decided. She narrowed her eyelids, she resented the comment about the state of her sanity but let it go, barely. She was on the edge of just snapping at her.

"So, Irina..." She rolled the name off her tounge at a slow pace, as if she was tasting it. "Are you going to greet anyone else with an 'I'm dead'...Oh newsflash - the screwing with people's head's plan wont work very effectively. As far as I know I'm the only who person can't see ghosts." She wan't going to explain how that worked at this time of night though.

The newly arrived ghost was quite surprised to suddenly see Aisling, and the thought immediately ran through her head; Could I do that? Appear and disappear like, well... a ghost? Her attention distracted by the new input, she didn't respond at once, just smiling vacantly as she tried to get her thoughts in order.

Then Esha spoke. Irina counted slowly to five to suppress the snappy reply that rose to mind in response to Esha's needling. "Sorry, Esha, I didn't know how else to respond to 'show yourself'. If I could, believe me, I would." That was as far as she would let herself go, bitterness already having leaked into her tone by the fourth or fifth word.

"I'd rather have any company than none," she eventually decided. "I'm looking forward to existing. Till I got to that carnival, I really didn't know what I was going to do with myself. Wandering around messing with people might be fun, but it gets lonely." That was about as much of an apology as Esha was likely to get, but at least it's sincere.

"Well, I've still been able to mess with some people's heads here....no one can see me if i'm on the lower planes--not even a necromancer, though they've been able to pull me through before." she winced at the memory--it had always felt so WRONG when the did that.

"with some people here, you can simply sneak up on them and startle them...or there is the always-creative act of falling through ceilings! but yes, company is better...i don't even exist at all without people being around."

Aisling looked between Irina and Esha, wondering if the two would end up disliking each other, or become friends....or maybe even just agree to disagree. she hoped it was the second option, despite the rough start---though her random appearance probably didn't help things much.

She quietly listened to the voice, until she uttered the last word. Lonely? She sneered a that. "Darling, how about you do 60 years of complete sensory deprivision, have your family die, move on or abandon you" she laughed condescendingly at nothing, "then come to me feeling lonely"

Esha really was taking an instant dislike to this girl...Thinking because she had experience loneliness that she would receive sympathy. Ha! the idea was comical. She had simply stated why Irina had gotten off lightly. Cry me a river, she thought coldly.

She addressed Aisling "I sometimes play a few pranks, like in areas with statues I stay still and when someone passed - Boo!" She smiled at the memory, good times. The look on their faces was priceless, If only cameras had been invented.

"I didn't say I had a corner on the market," Irina quipped in response to Esha's remarks. "It doesn't take sixty years to be sick of it." She paused, trying to decide how to continue. She knew she was being rude, but she was having trouble caring at the moment. Hardly the way to get started in a new place.

Perhaps moving on was the best option. "I never tried falling through a ceiling," she admitted with a quiet chuckle. "I suppose it's likely to startle anyone, whether they know you or not. Coming through the floor might be fun, too," she suggested in Aisling's general direction. "Suddenly have your head be where they were about to step?" She grinned then pulled a foolish face, waving her hands. "Why helloooo there!"

Then Aisling's words clicked in her head. "The lower planes? I thought the material plane was the lowest?" All right, maybe she hadn't paid all that much attention to the witch who had explained astral projection, but at least the key words had stuck. "Can you show me how to... pull through... from the astral?" With just a few chance words, the other ghost was suddenly the center of Irina's focus; it was too important to her that she might learn what the other knew.

"As a statue?" Aisling repeated, curious. she didn't know that Esha could become a statue....she instantly thought of Doctor Who fans and what they're response to that would be--hehe, if only aisling could turn herself into a stone angel. it would scare the crap out of those who recognized the reference.

she was taken aback by Irina's sudden interest, as well.
"well, the lower you go, the less visible you are...that's why we ghosts are so see-through. we're kind of on several borders at once...."

it was weird to explain, when she didn't know how to describe it herself.

"well, i consider them lower...but the planes aren't really in order, technically. they're kind of on top of each other, so i guess it could go the other way around but.....the very "lowest" plane is....scary, to say the least. so i always think of it as lower."

she didn't say precisely why she thought it was lower, but why would the worst of places be higher than the best of places? well, not necessarily best, but still.

"you have to be able to visualize the veil between the planes so that you can step through them, like a door. its the same way that ghosts can travel quickly from one place to the other, in a way. just, whatever you do, don't go to the very last plane."

again, it was confusing to explain. Aisling had tripped through the planes when she'd first died, because her eyes made her see the planes themselves when she wanted to, and they sharpened her astral vision so that she was seeing the veils all the time. therefore, they were easy to fall through. it wasn't until she'd gained any experience at controlling her vision that she didn't have to see them all of the time. Ghosts in general couldn't see the planes unless they traveled through them, but there were many exceptions, as well as many ghosts tht had special abilities. not all ghosts were poltergeists, for example


(look! its a big one! XD)

Esha yawned and stretched after nodding to Aisling's question. She had now decided to explicitly ignore Irina because she was just being annoying. Maybe they could meet some time in the future on better terms...or maybe not.

She listened intently as Aisling was giving advice on astral plains, whatever they were. Quickly guessing that only the dead could see them she kept on listening anyway. The last plain was scary? She had watched things shown on mtv before. Really though, The statue kept on listening.

Irina could try, she would finally get a glimpse. She wasn't all that interested but she liked to have a good idea of what the person she was talking to looked like.

"You sound like Tiv... a friend," Irina finished lamely. "She knew something about the planes, though I think it was book learning, not experience. I could be wrong, though, I didn't know her very well." The new ghost considered the visible one with interest, and then the room in general, as if willing herself to see more than what lay in front of her.

Irina opened her mouth to ask about the lowest plane, then shut it again to rethink that. If it scared the other ghost, it would probably scare her too. "How do you know the difference between the planes?" she asked instead. "Rational choice as you travel, or is there more to it?" She wouldn't mind being visible to more people at more times, but if she might chance ending up on the 'scary' plane, maybe it was better to simply stay as she was.

"I've only been a ghost a couple years, I haven't really had time to explore. Not that I would know where to start, I doubt many humans would. Too dumb to things beyond our five senses." Nah, she's not bitter at all.

Aisling turned her head slightly to one side. "well, for the most part, you kind of feel it. because we're less...dense...than people on the higher planes, there's an increase in pressure. the lower planes don't change all too much, but they do feel...different somehow. most of the lower planes hide your visibility, so you feel more solid to yourself. if you try to move higher, you make look a little more see-through, until you learn how to make yourself more solid on those plains. it takes more energy the higher you are--which is why its supposedly impossible to move to the plane that humans actually use. it's also why ghosts who exhaust themselves can end up in the lowest plane. that's were some of the spirits go whose souls have....."

she took a deep, shuddering breath, deciding not to say it. ghosts who spend too much time in the lower plane and had their souls picked away by other shades, or ghosts who are simply a bit weaker and can't switch to planes, stay in the lower plane. their souls actually started to rot, and they almost always turn evil because of it. ghosts go there to "heal" in a way, but if you let the shadows get you...

Esha reconsidered seeing the Irina girl...Being on the human sight plane was quite useless to her because a solid form with some heat was needed for her to see. She stared off into the distace imagining how her life would be if her father's ambition and disregard of anything else but his own motives didn't interfere.
She would live, have a family and die -as was the only acceptable life of an early 20th century woman. Die... How nice. She knew she couldn't die in a hurry, which was disheartening. Over the year she didn't seem to age but at least she could change haircuts and mannerisms to seem what age she felt like.

She would spend years trapped as a statue until she was broken up or destroyed and then wander round as a spirit. Or would she just cease to exist thereafter? Or stay alive as stone chunks? All of those seemed horrible fates

She turned her attention to the two voices, Imaging in her head how they would look, but her mind came a blank. Continuing listening with some interest she turned her head to where the voices sounded like they were coming from.

"Sounds like I should be taking lessons from you," Irina decided with debatable enthusiasm. "Or at least practice with you for a bit... sounds like a fun way to waste time." The line between sarcasm and lack of enthusiasm is hard to define, especially with Irina's expression only partially visible. "It'll probably take me awhile to understand what you mean." She's a bit distracted by attempting to 'feel' the planes as Aisling had suggested, though she's not getting very far.

"Are you the only ghost here?" she asks after a moment's distraction. "I don't want to impose all my questions on you if you don't want to answer them. It'd be kinda rude of me to be a pain when I just got here." Honestly she'd rather get answers, but she feels it necessary to point out her awareness of the social niceties she should be displaying, even if she isn't doing so well at following them.

((Sorry for short, I'm distracted with sketching.))

Aisling rocked back and forth on her heals (in mid air, anyway).

"Well," she replied thoughtfully, "Headmistress Everly is a poltergeist...other than her though, i don't think so. there might be a few in this area in the last plane, but i haven't seen any here otherwise....and the ones in that final plane aren't really HERE, ya know?"

she giggled lightly, her eyes brightening a bit.

"ask all the questions you want! i think this is the most social interaction i've had in a while. i'll answer as many as I can."

Aisling let her mind wander a bit (accidently picking up on the planes--darned eyes) as she thought about teh other ghosts she'd met so far. there hadn't been very many. at one point she'd been drawn to a particular old house where there had been one or two hanging around, but they'd felt so weak that they may have just been impressions--replays, imprints, more memory and less substantial than normal ghosts. they were just blips on the screen from a ghost that had been there before. then there had been a few ghosts that she'd met sort of on the fly, and none of them had shown any real interest in actual conversation

Esha got up and stretched luxuriously, picking up her cane in a fluid motion while getting up. "Have a good night girls" She almost said Sweet dreams as in sleeping but stopped at the last second because ghosts didn't sleep. Oh well, she thought sleepily making her way up the stairs.

The conversation was great and interesting and all, bur she was feeling her head drift. When she slept it was either standing or with her back straight up so sitting against the railings must of done it, she also turned to stone and was a very deep sleeper, so a statue on the stairs that wasn't waking up wouldn't be good.

"Oh, Aisling?" She turned to stone and tried to look menacing "Don't blink" Esha had no idea if she watched doctor who, she didn't but that was the latest rendition in the media of living statues.

With that she waved slightly at the top of the stairs and made her exit towards the dorms.

(This is her exiting)

Whether Aisling knew Doctor Who or not, Irina was a big fan. As Esha left, the invisible ghost's quiet chuckling followed her out. The stone person rose somewhat in Irina's regard just for that one brief comment. Doctor Who fans unite!

She turned to Aisling and sighed. "I think I drove her off," she admitted quietly. "Wasn't very nice of me to ignore her and ask you questions." Her sigh echoed slightly in the large stone hall. She regretted not being nicer to the first people she'd met since the carnival, especially people who could see/hear her. (That was still a new experience for her.) Well, she could try and make up for it later, if Esha cared to talk to her ever again.

"So..." she begins, searching for a topic. "What do you do all night while others sleep?"


((Wow short. /shot ))