Ghostbusters

Ghost Time

"You know," you say, "eventually we're going to have to actually set them to rest instead of just dematerializing them for a while."\n\n"We'll let Sandra figure that one out," Siôn says, then grins. "In the meantime, you can't deny it's a nice adrenaline rush."\n\n[["Oh, yeah."|Flirting]]

"For sure," you say, grinning back at him. "Now, why don't we go back to my room and work off some of this energy?"\n\n"Now you're speaking my language," Siôn says. He steps in close and pulls you into a long, lingering kiss.\n\n"Come on," you say with a wink, once you've separated. "Graveyards are no place for what I've got in mind for you."\n\n"Oh, I don't know," he says reflectively. "I can think of a few things we could do right here..."\n\n[["Is that so?"|Graveyard sex]]\n[["Save it for the bedroom."|Bedroom sex]]

"'let be; call off'—"\n\nBefore you can finish, the ghost gives an unearthly howl, and a rush of ghostwind, ice cold, hits you, pushing your sword aside and interrupting the spell.\n\n"Shit." You're going to have to change tactics. Behind you, you can hear Siôn casting a spell of his own.\n\n[["'you need not fear the storms, the cries'!"|Shield]]\n[["'That cordial air made those kind people a hood'!"|Stillness]]

"'let be; call off thoughts awhile / Elsewhere'!"\n\nThere's another burst of light from your sword blade, and the ghost lets out one final shriek before fading into nothingness — returning to its grave, at least for now. You take a moment to catch your breath, then turn to Siôn, who's dusting himself off behind you.\n\n[["That was easy."|Easy]]\n[["Eventually we're going to have to do more than just dematerialize them."|Dematerialize]]

"Come on, you," you say, laughing and grabbing his arm. "Save it for the bedroom. It's too cold out here anyway — let's get back to my room where it's warm."\n\n"Spoilsport," he says, but he's laughing, too, as he follows you back out the graveyard gate towards your dorm.\n\nDIWEDD / END

It's well past the witching hour, into what your friend Sandra calls, with mixed irony and irritation, "Ghost Time" — those hours between 2am and 4am when all right-thinking witches, wizards, warlocks, or whatever else people choose to call themselves should be fast asleep.\n\nInstead, you (Tim) and your boyfriend Siôn are in the graveyard a few blocks north of campus, hunting the ghosts you've been getting intermittent reports of for the last two weeks. "Some nasty poltergeists, it sounds like," Sandra said. "But never more than two; it shouldn't be too much to handle."\n\nIt had seemed like a good idea at the time — and it was true, you and Siôn should be able to handle it if it was only two ghosts. But at 2:57am on what had been a Thursday night in March and was now a Friday morning, you're cold and ready to have gone home an hour ago.\n\n[[DECHREUA / BEGIN|"Tim!"]]

You grab the hilt of the sword with your free hand and manage to hold it steady in front of you, then shout over the ghostwind, "'That cordial air made those kind people a hood'!"\n\nLight blazes out from the blade, and almost immediately the ghostwind lessens until it's just a slight breeze, then dies out entirely. The ghost lets out another spine-chilling shriek; better get this done quickly.\n\n[["'let be; call off thoughts awhile / Elsewhere'!"|Laying to rest 2]]

"Back to back," you say, and Siôn nods.\n\nYou move into position — you've had a lot of practice over the last two years. It's comforting to know Siôn's there behind you, that he's got your back, whatever happens.\n\nThen you see one: not fully materialized, but definitely a ghost.\n\n"My one o'clock," you say.\n\n"My eleven o'clock," Siôn answers ruefully. You're on your own. But that's fine: you've done this before and you'll do it again. Dematerializing ghosts to rest is old news.\n\n[["'let be; call off thoughts awhile / Elsewhere'!"|Laying to rest 1]]

"That was easy," you say. Siôn rolls his eyes, but he smiles.\n\n"It always seems so straightforward," he says, "until you're actually there in the moment. Still, that could have been a lot worse."\n\n"And now we know it really is just the two," you point out. "So that's good."\n\n"True," he says. "We'll let Sandra figure out how to lay them to rest eventually. In the meantime, you can't deny it's a nice adrenaline rush."\n\n[["Oh, yeah."|Flirting]]

"Tim! Ghosts!" Siôn shouts.\n\nSuddenly the tiredness and cold and annoyance is forgotten: this is what you came for, after all; you know full well you wouldn't be here if you didn't love this job. You're always ready for ghosts.\n\nYou find yourself grinning and raise your sword. Oh, right: you have a sword. It's for doing magic. It's a family heirloom — or, in other words, it's some blunted costume sword your mother bought to use as a prop for a play when she was in college and then held onto.\n\n[["Where?"|"Where?"]]

kvp

"Where?"\n\nSiôn mutters something you can't quite make out, but you know even if you could you wouldn't understand the words: he's from northwest Wales, and all his spells are in Welsh. You asked him early in your acquaintance, before you got up the courage to ask him out, what brought him across an ocean to go to college and he just kind of shrugged and said he wanted a change of scene. Later, when you'd started dating, you asked him again, and he told you, "I wanted to be somewhere far enough away from home that I could be myself." You get that.\n\nBut all of that's beside the point, which is: there's a brief glimmer of light from his staff — a tracer spell, or it should be — but then it's gone. He shakes his head. "I don't know. I saw them a second ago — two of them, like Sandra said — but now they're gone."\n\n[["Back to back."|"Back to back."]]\n[["I'll try a tracer."|Tracer]]

"I'll try a trace and see if I have more luck."\n\nYou lift your sword up again and point towards the sky.\n\n"'These things, these things were here and'—" you start, but the ghosts cut you off by partially materializing, shrieking horrifically, in front of you.\n\n"Well, that's that," Siôn says ruefully. "I'll take the left, you take the right."\n\n"Yup." You point your sword at the ghost.\n\n[["'let be; call off thoughts awhile / Elsewhere'!"|Laying to rest 1]]

"Oh, is that so?" you say, raising an eyebrow.\n\n"Haven't you ever wanted to see the inside of one of those big mausoleums?" he says, and you can see the twinkle in his eye even in this dark.\n\n"Yes," you say solemnly, "I have dreamt of this moment, when my boyfriend will invite me to give him a blowjob in a graveyard, with who knows how many ghosts watching."\n\n"Only two ghosts, to be fair," Siôn says in mock earnest.\n\n"Oh, in that case..." you say; then you both laugh. "It's too cold out here, anyway — let's get back inside and you can help warm me up."\n\n"Oh, is that what they're calling it these days?" Siôn says, and, laughing, the two of you pick your way back towards the gate, then on to your dorm room.\n\nDIWEDD / END

You drive the point of your sword into the ground (good thing it's just an old prop) and yell over the ghostwind: "'you need not fear the storms, the cries'!"\n\nBright light flashes out from your sword blade, and the ghostwind is diverted around you, leaving you in a circle of calm. Good. Time to try again.\n\n[["'let be; call off thoughts awhile / Elsewhere'!"|Laying to rest 2]]