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Post by Ashe on Oct 16, 2021 14:37:28 GMT -6
Santiago looked up suddenly, not paying attention to Ashe and Barb's grave anymore. Ashe felt his attention wane but he just suspected he was bored of whatever Ashe was doing. This stuff probably meant nothing to a dragon. They had their own rituals, he knew, and from what Santiago said, the bodies were normally dissolved in whatever element the clan supplied. Their spirits were then freed to pass on, and didn't hang around much. But! They could be contacted through another ritual. Guidance from ancestors, he'd called it. Which was sometimes what humans did, but it was more accidental than a rule.
"Who's that?" Santiago asked, breaking the heavy silence.
Ashe, who'd thought they were alone, looked up. He expected to see someone from the city, someone he might know. It might be nice to have a friend to explore this place with. But he didn't recognize this woman. She was pale and the moonlight seemed to be making her almost glow. Strange. Her clothes were in tatters, and he suddenly worried she'd been ravaged by the Mansion in some way. "Can we help you?"
Santiago: 1 0/5 Ashe: 0 5/20
October 5
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Post by Silver on Oct 18, 2021 19:22:14 GMT -6
OooOOOOooo spooky!
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Post by Ashe on Oct 29, 2021 21:47:33 GMT -6
She looked sad and a little lost. Ashe took a step toward her, and her head slowly turned in their direction. Ashe felt like an insect pinned under glass, caught in her gaze. He couldn't help but stare back, wondering at this strange feeling. He was starting to wonder if she was a human at all. While Ashe knew it was possible to see spirits, the only time Ashe had was when he had lost his best friend, and even then... Not as often as he wanted.
"Hello," Santiago tried again to greet her, but Ashe could tell by his tone that he was feeling the strange trapped feeling as well. Ashe doubted the dragon knew what that meant. The woman seemed to float toward them - Ashe couldn't see her feet, which he should be able to beneath the tatters of the pale dress. It was so strange, besides the glow, she seemed to be solid, not see-through like some ghosts.
Santiago: 1 1/5 Ashe: 0 6/20
October 6
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Post by Ashe on Oct 29, 2021 23:09:43 GMT -6
"Why doesn't she answer me?" Santiago asked Ashe, without turning his head to face his partner. Ashe didn't have an answer for him that he would also understand.
"She's not of this world," Ashe said softly. He was more and more sure that she was a spirit of some kind, restless with something preventing her from passing on. She was still approaching him, the floating speeding up, and it seemed like she would quickly crash into them. Ashe knew what was coming, but Santiago didn't. The ethereal form passed right through them with a wail like a banshee, and Santiago let out a wail almost as loud.
"She went through me! Where'd she go? How'd she-?" He spun around, having expected to feel the impact. Humans were solid creatures! But this one passed through him like a breeze. She had fizzled out once she collided with the bonded pair, no speck of glowing ghost seen when they both turned around to inspect. Santiago shuddered hard.
Santiago: 1 2/5 Ashe: 0 7/20
October 7
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Post by Ashe on Oct 29, 2021 23:23:44 GMT -6
Santiago spun in a circle, trying to puzzle out where the woman had gone and how she'd gotten through him. But he saw nothing. He felt his heart racing, and Ashe felt his emotion through their bond. Released from the pins when her gaze had been removed from him, he turned to his dragon and touched his side reassuringly. "Santi, she's a spirit. She's the spirit of a dead woman, probably buried on the ground somewhere. I think... I think she might be looking for something. They usually are."
Confused, Santiago rounded on Ashe, his eyes meeting his. "Usually? You've seen something like this before? Does this happen often with humans?" He was starting to second guess coming to the city. Weird things happened here, no doubt because of the sinful nature of the humans. He had laughed those rumors off, thinking Ashe just fine. But this stuff? It was more than a little weird, and Ashe didn't seem bothered by it at all.
Santiago: 1 3/5 Ashe: 0 8/20
October 8
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Post by Ashe on Oct 29, 2021 23:47:20 GMT -6
"Uuhhh, not often, but enough that I know what it is when I see it," Ashe said, holding his hands up in protest to the accusatory tone. "This is Vai Min Mur. The barrier between our world, and the spirit world, is at its thinnest. I told you that, remember?"
Santiago was quiet for a moment. He glanced around them again, seeing the Mansion and the grounds with new eyes, realizing that what Ashe had said earlier was not only true, but a little more creepy than he had thought originally. He opened his mouth to reply, then shut it, trying to find something to say. Eventually he settled on, "And this doesn't bother you at all? Isn't it scary?"
Ashe started to shake his head, then his expression turned sly and he narrowed his eyes at Santiago. "You mean to tell me... A dragon of shadows, is scared of a few ghosts?" Ashe poked Santiago in the chest with a finger, teasing him mercilessly.
Santiago: 1 4/5 Ashe: 0 9/20
October 9
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Post by Ashe on Oct 30, 2021 0:13:27 GMT -6
"What? No! No, I'm not scared!" Santiago snorted, but he backed away from Ashe's pokes. "I was... I was just caught off guard, is all. I've never seen anything like that before. I just...wasn't expecting it." He snorted and lifted his head higher, his chest a little puffed out in pride. Pride that would cover the raw emotion he had shown earlier.
Unable to resist, Ashe laughed at him. Then he sobered and looked past Santiago, in the direction the ghost had been going when she'd disappeared into them. "Uh, Santi... The ghost lady... She's back!" Ashe gasped, slowly lifting a hand to point behind him. There was, in truth, nothing there. Ashe was messing with his partner, to tease him about being scared. It was nearly cruel, but still lighthearted enough he wouldn't be mad. Hopefully.
Santiago froze, eyes wide. Slowly his head rotated on his neck to look behind him, bracing himself to see whatever ghost lady was waiting for him there.
Santiago: 2 0/5 Ashe: 0 10/20
October 10
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Post by Ashe on Oct 30, 2021 1:24:19 GMT -6
Searching eyes met... Nothing. There was some fog, and distant tombstones, but there were no ghosts in Santiago's field of vision. It took a moment for him to catch on that Ashe had pranked him. He turned back to face the human and snorted, pushing his face right up into Ashe's until their noses touched. "I see nothing!" He growled. He wasn't pleased about being tricked like that - mostly because he had shown weakness in being afraid, when he did not want to be afraid. Let alone allowing Ashe to see him be afraid. In many ways, he was Ashe's superior half. And yet, in the face of a spirit, Ashe had remained unmoved...
"Got'cha!" Ashe said, staring his dragon down. He felt the turmoil of emotions from him and knew he pushed a little too far. Sometimes a little push was a healthy thing, though, right? It would cause someone to grow a little bit, to confront something about themselves.
Santiago: 2 1/5 Ashe: 0 11/20
October 11
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Post by Ashe on Oct 30, 2021 1:33:24 GMT -6
"This was your first time seeing a ghost," Ashe told him. "It's okay you were sca-"
"I'm not scared!" Santiago protested, pulling back from Ashe's face but retaining his angry expression. It wasn't often that he got pissed off! Ashe knew how to push his buttons when he wanted to. He didn't normally want to.
"I mean, it's okay you were nervous." Ashe held up his hands and waved off his protest. "You saw something new, right? It's natural. When you see it again, you'll know what's up. You won't be as- nervous."
Santiago was a little bit satisfied with Ashe's response. The man was right. The first time encountering something, you couldn't control how you reacted. But the second time, you would know what was coming and how to react. He sighed deeply, letting his anger and annoyance flow out of him. Whenever he was grumpy with Ashe, the feeling passed quickly. That was the best part of being bonded, being in tune with each other.
Santiago: 2 2/5 Ashe: 0 12/20
October 12
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Post by Ashe on Oct 30, 2021 1:48:37 GMT -6
Ashe patted him on the shoulder and walked past him. He was heading to the grave yard, off to the side of the mansion itself. This would be the best place to see another ghost, he figured. Get Santiago more comfortable with them. This was Ashe's world, after all. Creepy things, dead things, monsters and ghosts and spirits. He wanted Santiago to be a part of it. Getting him involved in a holiday, bit by bit, maybe one day Santi would be one hundred percent with him. The dragon watched him go, then followed after. His long legs helped him catch up with Ashe easily, and he kept pace. He gazed about, watching the night deepen around them. He enjoyed the nighttime, the moonlight, the exaggerated shadows. But now that he knew there were spirits hiding out and about, he was extra watchful. He wondered - Vai Min Mur was a human holiday, but things besides humans had spirits. So did the veil thin for other species as well...?
Santiago: 2 3/5 Ashe: 0 13/20
October 13
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Post by Ashe on Oct 30, 2021 1:58:37 GMT -6
They made it to the graveyard. It was so silent out here, just an occasional rustle of dead leaves when the wind blew hard enough through the hibernating trees. The ground was soft, but not squishy, underneath their feet. A recent rain had softened up, and sunshine from earlier that day had dried out a little bit. The grass was hanging onto life, not wanting to turn yellow and brittle yet. The moon was high, a waxing gibbous. It wouldn't be full in time for spooky season. And yet there was a magic in the air that didn't even require the full moon.
The stones were all old and weathered. Ashe couldn't make out the names on the stones in this light, so he brought out his flashlight. He shone it on the first stone that looked halfway interesting - and the words were too worn to read. Santiago peered down at the stone, wondering what this thing was for, and if it was connected to the ghost lady.
Santiago: 2 4/5 Ashe: 0 14/20
October 14
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Post by Ashe on Oct 30, 2021 2:18:06 GMT -6
"What are these rocks?" He asked finally. Ashe was checking the third stone for a legible name, and with a gasp the human dropped to his knees with the light illuminating the face of the stone.
"These are tombstones. They mark the graves of people when they die - though, we also use them to mark the graves of our pets and other things. This one for example..." He paused to peer closer to the stone. The name and the date were right there, looking a bit fresher than the others. Perhaps it was just at such an angle it dodged the rain weathering the other stones down. "Mary Linton. I can't read her birth year, but she died in the year.... nineteen twenty-four. That's almost a hundred years ago."
"There is a body under there?" Santiago asked, tilting his head. Humans and their rituals were strange. Keeping a body around even after it has returned to earth, and having a marker for it after the essence is gone...
Santiago: 3 0/5 Ashe: 0 15/20
October 15
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Post by Ashe on Oct 30, 2021 2:27:24 GMT -6
"There could be. Doesn't have to be. Sometimes, the body is never found - like if they died hiking in the mountains. Or if they were cremated. The stone marker is a place for their loved ones to go to feel close to the person they lost."
Santiago considered this. He figured that made sense. Sill enough to need a rock to feel close to someone when loved ones were always nearby if you needed their guidance. But if that was the reason humans did it, he could understand that. He dipped his head in silence, acknowledging that there had been a human of sorts buried here under the ground. Someone had loved this person enough to pick this spot for them and mark it with a stone. He wondered what the name of the spirit they had seen earlier was. Maybe they should have asked. Oh right, they tried - and the ghost had zoomed right into them and disappeared in a poof.
Santiago: 3 1/5 Ashe: 0 16/20
October 16
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Post by Ashe on Oct 30, 2021 2:34:00 GMT -6
The pair of them wandered through the stones, taking their time to sit with a few of them. Ashe sometimes struck up conversations and Santiago didn't know whether or not he truly saw someone there, or was just being polite in case there was someone watching. Santi couldn't bring himself to add his voice to the discussion, so he just listened. It sounded mostly like Ashe talking, just to talk. But occasionally...
Once, Santiago was sure he was hearing a small human cry. His head jerked up and he looked off into the distance, trying to pin point the location. Ashe reached up and put a hand on Santi's leg, gripping it as tight as he could. "Don't go to that noise. It's a trap." Santi didn't understand. How was a baby crying a trap? Dragons back home always tended to the babies, whether they were theirs or not. A crying baby never did anyone good, and it could do a world of harm...
Santiago: 3 2/5 Ashe: 0 17/20
October 17
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Post by Ashe on Oct 30, 2021 2:43:57 GMT -6
"Why?" Santiago asked, after trying to puzzle it out on its own. The crying had ceased, as if the baby knew Ashe and Santiago weren't going to go tend to it. Or it had died. Ashe could very well have just sentenced a human child to death - and there was no remorse? Humans were perplexing.
"It's not a real baby."
Santiago felt a chill at this. More ghosts and spirits? And a baby using its cries to attract the living? Sounded like a nasty trick to him. He snorted and shook his head, not liking it at all. "What is it, then? A spirit, like that woman?"
"Could be. Could be something much worse. There are creatures out there that want to attack you, too. Not just spirits and ghosts. There are demons. And people that want to take advantage of the dark nature of this holiday." Ashe personally suspected it was la llorona, a weeping witch. Could easily sound like a baby. But there were other monsters that took the forms of babies...
Santiago: 3 3/5 Ashe: 0 18/20
October 18
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