[Closed] When there's something strange in your neighborhood...

[cameprepared]

🧙 WHO: Claire & Tifa
⚔️️ WHAT: Questing
🕒 WHEN: December
🗺️ WHERE: Around Camelot
⚠️ WARNINGS: Possible violence and language. Claire's usual Zombie related warnings.



There was some sort of grand irony to all this, standing at the end of a street that was supposedly home to ghosts and holding a ghost-trapping bottle. Claire was not at all above humming a familiar tune and looking at her companion. Tifa was clearly not as unafraid of ghosts as Claire, but it was alright.

"So, when there's something strange..." she muses, checking her gun and resting a hand on The Dog's forehead. The barghest wheezes, annoyed at her trying to reference something he doesn't know, shifting his weight and trundling forward. He'll just voice his displeasure over there, thanks.

"You ready to give this a go?"

Comments

[cameprepared]

[Claire definitely notes Tifa's appearance, and the ghost's as well, such as it is. She'd remark proudly on Tifa holding her ground, if there wasn't a ghost hurtling towards her! That's not great, and the rapidly onrushing chill feels like a Minnesota blizzard bearing down on her.

Thankfully, she's not alone. From out of a shadow flies The Dog, the barghest's snapping jaws and flaming breath burning away some of the cold. His spectral shape snarls, bristling, and the ghost comes up short, suddenly scuttling back.]

The jar! Use it!

[She tosses hers towards the thing, trusting the magic, and with another motion swings a hand down to bring a curtain of shadow down over the ghost, keeping it from flying away without being blinded. That seems to deter it, since it doesn't want to risk The Dog's jaws catching it.]

[starshower]

[Tifa doesn't throw hers but rushes straight into the fray with the lid popped off. The only way she's going to push out all of her fears is to face it head on, and she does, holding the jar in the ghost's direction as Claire's magic falls over it, and her own familiar swims around to guide the ghost towards Tifa.

She feels the jar go cold and takes that as a sign to screw the lid back on and twist it shut, and inside is a small little light, dim and shuddering, as a light fog starts to coat the insides of the glass.

... There's a pang of doubt in the back of her mind that goes as suddenly as it had come, and her frown is visible as she looks into it.]

... I think I got one.

[But there are more, aren't there?]

[cameprepared]

[Claire watches Tifa charge in, a little surprised that she's doing that. Not that she'd figured her companion was a coward, but she definitely hadn't seemed all that keen on getting too close. Cutting the shadow curtain back, she encircles them instead, letting the dim light cast by the jar illuminate a more enclosed space.]

I think you did, too.

[Flashing a thumbs up, she retrieves her own bottle.]

Good job. That's one down, and I think we both need one to get paid. So we're halfway there.

[starshower]

[She's not sure why she thought that it would be just the one, but what Claire says makes sense. There is, however, a tension that rises again in Tifa's shoulders and she squares them against it, mentally preparing herself for the next one.]

Right.

[Her voice is firm, taut, but determined as ever. She's going to take these ghosts down...]

We should be more careful. I'm betting they know we're here, and what we're doing, so they'll be on edge.

[Which only puts her more on edge...]

[cameprepared]

[Claire nods her agreement, a tenseness rising in her own body. She knows that this could be bad. Real bad. But a part of her, the adrenaline junkie part, is extremely excited.]

Well. Then we need to make this fast before the others can go to ground.

[Looking to The Dog and Tifa's familiar she offers a questioning glance.]

Think you guys can do a scouting run for us?

[starshower]

[She hardly even needs to get the question out before the dolphin is giving an excited chirp. She's just as much an adrenaline junkie as Claire is, or perhaps more given that she's a magic familiar, but she's already batting her fins at the Dog to join her before diving into the ground, splashing the two women with water as she makes her fast departure.

Meanwhile, Tifa is prepared to stay on her guard, but she does start to move forward, leading them out of the alley and onto the better-lit street adjacent it. No point in standing around in the dark... and probably not the best idea if they're going to be hunted by the ghosts they are hunting.

She lowers the jar so that she doesn't have to look at the captured light from hers pulsing inside it, and she tips her head.]

Do we know why we're catching them?

[cameprepared]

I don't.

[Claire tilts her head to Tifa, looking a little confused by the question. Not upset, but more like it was something she'd never considered.]

...Presumably they were causing trouble. I don't know, though. I never thought to ask, since it was ghosts that were the targets.

Why?

[starshower]

[As much as she's afraid of them...]

I dunno.

[At first, she only shrugs as they walk, and she can hear their familiars up ahead—or at least, the very loud and enthusiastic chirping of a dolphin.]

I guess I just wondered how it might feel to be chased down like that and captured.

[She is chronically empathetic, it just happens. But holding the jar in her hands, she can't help but wonder about it.]

Or what it is they did for anyone to want to catch them and do... whatever it is they plan on doing?

[cameprepared]

That's...fair.

[Claire eyes the jar, not for the first time wishing that she had Death Magic. It wasn't pleasant sounding, but the ability to talk to the Dead might make her job easier in some ways.]

I don't really know, like I said, but...I don't think it's a good idea for us to just let wandering ghosts roam Camelot. They may not be harmful, but they could very easily be real trouble.

[The idea that this is some sort of false flag operation doesn't even enter her thoughts. Ghosts are, by default, frightful...right?]

[starshower]

Yeah, you're right... It's probably none of my business to ask.

[She only does because she can distinctly remember being helped by some ghosts the nights of the snowstorms, and... a part of her does wonder if this has anything to do with that, or maybe they are ghostly friends of theirs. She wouldn't know, and while she isn't inclined to ask or commune with the supernatural, she tucks it in the back of her mind to ask someone who might know later.

For now, they need to finish their job.]

Looks like they found something up ahead.

[And whenever they arrive at the scene that's playing out at the entrance of one of Camelot's parks, her own familiar will swim up towards them and point her tail in the inner parts of the park, where the lights have gone out. Yeah, looks like a place where a ghost would hide...]

[cameprepared]

No, asking is a good idea. I just...don't know what the real answer would be.

[She's not really much of a ghost person, and she's also a bit more mercenary than she'd like to admit. This is about the pay, really, but she's thinking on it now and maybe she should ask questions.]

Ah! Yeah.

[Claire frowns a little at the area, noting the lack of light, and looking to Tifa.]

I've got a trick or two that could light up the area. Or I could let the Dog try and scare it out. But, maybe you've got an idea?

[She's not sure what all Tifa has worked herself up to, yet.]

[starshower]

Not quite yet, but when we do find it, I might have an idea for catching it.

[One that comes to mind as soon as she sees her familiar waving her fins at them, chirping at the pair to hurry it up!]

If we can get the ghost into view, grabbing it shouldn't be a problem. Scare it or light its way out, doesn't matter.

[cameprepared]

[Get that hustle on! Claire picks up the pace a bit.]

Scare it. Well. My familiar can be pretty scary.

[Somewhere, the devil dog grins.]

He'll do and I'll make it extra dramatic. So, you just be ready with the trap.

[starshower]

We'll take cover somewhere. Less likely it'll notice us.

[Although her familiar is pretty flashy, loud, and bright. But she at least seems to be able to read Tifa's mind, because she's already flitting into the park to hide in the shadows. And before Tifa follows her in, she grabs Claire by the arm, and gives it a squeeze.]

I'll be right over there, okay?

[She's not going to screw this up, or let her down.]

[cameprepared]

[Claire reaches back, giving Tifa's arm a squeeze in turn. She trusts her not to flub this. And if she does, oh well, it wouldn't be the first time Claire's been in a bad spot with no backup.]

Yep. Here.

[She draws the shadows in around Tifa this time, dimming the light around her compatriot.]

Get ready, and we'll get this done.

[starshower]

I'm ready as I'll ever be.

[But she presses a finger to her lips as she rushes to her place at her familiar's side to keep the dolphin quiet. She can tell that she's getting herself pumped up, with the way the bubbles float and pop around her, and when she kneels in the dark, the two of them are shrouded in the shadows given to her by Claire.

And that's where they wait for their opening...]

[cameprepared]

[The opening comes, but not from Claire. She's ducked down in another area, playing spotter. It's her familiar that makes it happen, the huge devil dog. A ferocious barking splits the night air, almost a roar, and there's a shriek as the ghost stumbles out of it's hiding spot, wobbling a little. The massive barghest comes barreling right for him, jaws wide...driving the spectre back and keeping it's focus elsewhere.]

Tifa, now!

[starshower]

[It's not Tifa who comes out first but her familiar, shrouded in water that it slaps at the ghost to trap it inside its bubble. It tries to escape, but their combined magic manages to hold it together long enough for Tifa to leap in and catch it just as it finally breaks free.]

No you don't!

[A blast of fire sprays out of her fists and beats the ghost back into the bubble, where Claire should be able to catch it with her own jar.]

[cameprepared]

[Well! That's impressive! Claire feels a surge of happiness that Tifa's been able to get her magic under control like this from when they last met. It's great, fam.

She also bursts out of hiding, tossing her jar underneath the trapped ghost like in the Ghostbusters...]

Gotcha!

[The magic in the jar lights up as it gathers, and them with an odd sucking sound, draws the ghost inside.]

Who you gonna call, eh?