|
Post by beastly on Jan 26, 2023 22:19:13 GMT -6
"Okay. 4 and 8, day hours. I should be done by then."
He'd been planning to make standing outside Ru's apartment part of his routine, so he'd have plenty of chances to see if the vampire had time to talk more. A frantic part of his brain insisted he not mess this chance up, despite the part that wanted to curl up. It said he didn't deserve to talk to his family, they were better not hearing from him. Jonny wasn't sure if it was his selfishness talking, but he remained determined to talk to them. He just. Needed time.
Jonny gave a polite tip of his hat, shifting it enough that the hole in his skull became more apparent.
"G'bye, Ru."
The ghost walked through the wall, through the air, across the street to sit on the roof of a neighboring building.
He would return tomorrow, after he did a job for the new boss. After he thought about some things. Mourned people he'd never known.
|
|
|
Post by jarahamee on Feb 1, 2023 2:38:50 GMT -6
“See you later, Jonny.”
Ru wondered about the mysterious life of this man. He supposed he could do some research, but he wasn’t sure that anything he’d find would be relevant.
Even if Jonny was a criminal element, or had been a mass murderer like the Haunters, or really anything else, his job was to help him out, and they were so close to getting there.
Part of him wondered if this would count as ‘sad ghost shit’ to Jonny. Probably.
Was it better that he didn’t know about his daughters?
Ru wasn’t really sure he could have gotten away with hiding it. And if he did, what sort of purpose would that have served?
He settled down to rest until daybreak.
The day passed, and the night came as usual.
Ru set up his ritual, having carefully printed out photos of all of the family members, setting them carefully within his ritual circle.
They were ready.
|
|
|
Post by beastly on Feb 2, 2023 9:51:01 GMT -6
The nice thing about the new boss, was that he'd been giving Jonny very easy work. He'd only needed to take a package from one mug, bring it to another, and report back. Very simple, pretty quick. Jonny was fairly confident that the new boss though he was stupid, didn't trust him, or both. He found he was only mildly insulted. Easy work made for plenty of time to sit on Ru's roof and think.
And he thought. And he mourned. He went over the could've dones, and the should've dones. What might have been.
Ultimately, he could do nothing. It was done, just as done as the rest of his life. It was tragic, but nothing would change the way things had happened, You stupid bastard.
He still wanted to talk to his family. He was still going to do that. He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk to the girls or not, if any of them would get anything from it. They'd lived their lives without him, it would probably be odd to drag them out of the afterlife to, what, apologize for not being there? He wasn't even sure what he'd say.
Eventually, Jonny made his way to Ru's door, staring at it for a long while before giving a knock. He refrained from sticking his head in the wall to see if the vampire was up and about, trying to have slightly more class. He wasn't a skeleton man anymore, which he was glad about. He rather liked his face, and he was more comfortable interacting with it on.
|
|
|
Post by jarahamee on Feb 7, 2023 14:46:20 GMT -6
Ru had just finished setting up when he heard the knock, and went to go open the door (even though he didn’t need to. He felt like it added more ceremony to the whole ghost-introduction thing, even if he knew that there was none required.
Jonny could probably just…drift in here.
Which reminded him that he should prooooobably ghost proof some parts of his house just in case some of the other ghosts proved less tethered and more hostile than the kinds he’d been fortunate enough to meet so far. The Ringu and Grudge sorts.
As Jonny entered the house, he’d see that the room had been set up for their séance. Photos had been set up around the ritual circle, with candles and objects that he had acquired in the time between.
“Hey…you…ok?” he asked.
He certainly had not looked ok last time they had parted.
“Who do you want to start with?
|
|
|
Post by beastly on Feb 7, 2023 22:51:21 GMT -6
Jonny walked in, absently looking for a place to hang his hat before reminding himself it wouldn't stick anyway. He took it of, just holding it in his hand as he surveyed Ru's ritual circle with an uncertain expression. It was really gonna happen. He'd get to talk to his loved ones again. The ghost worried the brim of his hat.
" Oh, that. Everything's Jake. Not as bad as it looked, see. I was just... surprised yesterday."
He was down playing his emotions there, but nobody wanted to hear a lamenting ghost.
The ghost looked hard at the pictures, running a hand through his curly black hair.
"Al. He died in the great war, before ma and...mmh."
Jonny met Ru's eyes, a slightly wary expression on his face.
"Are you gonna hear everything?"
|
|
|
Post by jarahamee on Feb 11, 2023 1:08:10 GMT -6
Ru looked back at Jonny, considering exactly what he’d tell him. To the vampire, being a conduit was kind of dream-like. He wasn’t really conscious like a normal person, but he could kind of tell what was happening, and sort of remember what was said.
“Sort of. I can remember a little bit, and if there’s like yelling, or I get hurt, I’ll wake up and the spirit in me will go away.”
He nodded, listening to the ghost talk about Al. He had his picture out here too, labeled. His connection would be stronger if he had an object, but a photo and knowing his background gave him some of the information that he needed.
“Is… that ok? I can’t really completely go away… since I’m the conduit.”
Ru looked a little awkward, poking his fingers together, and focused on the photo. Al, the great war, focus, make a connection between Jonny and this person. They were connected by blood, and this improved the likelihood that his summon would work.
|
|
|
Post by beastly on Feb 13, 2023 0:34:49 GMT -6
That was about what Jonny had expected. The ghost nodded, looking back at the set up. He wished, for a moment, he had a space of his own for his family's pictures. Well, he'd just have to be careful not to burn bridges with Ru accidentally so he could have the vampire show them to him.
"Yeah, it's how it's gotta be."
Jonny paused and then went for the chair by Ru's desk. He put his hat on his knee and looked back at the pictures.
"Now, see... Truth told, Ru, I don't really know what I'm gonna say. I mean,I do. I've thought about it for decades. I have several roads I could head down. But."
Jonny looked up at Ru, a wry smirk on on his face. Asking the Vampire for advice wasn't something he was totally comfortable with, but it was, he figured, his best bet.
"The truth of it is, I'm not joining them. Up there. You've done these before, right? What would you recommend? Do I tell em? This is your job, right?" The sad ghost shit?
|
|
|
Post by jarahamee on Feb 13, 2023 0:53:37 GMT -6
“Well, I’d let them know the things you want to tell them. That you love them, and miss them, and you want to know about their lives, all the details that you missed when you were gone, and they were alive.”
Ru was in the same boat as Jonny. Sad ghost shit indeed. He still hadn’t really made his peace with never being among either his family or his passed friends again. And if he died again, he was definitely going, well…down there.
“Do you really want to tell them you won’t be joining them? They have no sense of time here. They have one another. I don’t think they’ll ask you about that. Or, if you need to, you can always say that you have something to do here, but you’ll join them when you can. It is not a lie.”
He smiled sadly. It would be a bad idea to lie to a ghost, but a good one to give them hope, and let them know that Jonny was alright. Well, as alright as he could be.
|
|
|
Post by beastly on Feb 16, 2023 23:34:21 GMT -6
"That's what I told Maria," Jonny nodded, looking more relaxed, "I was gonna look after the family here. And I'd join them later."
The ghost seemed to like Ru's advice. The pressure to just tell them everything had been heavy. But it was easier with permission. He didn't have to. He could just ask questions and keep things nice. It was better that way.
"It is a lie, but it's a kind one. And a hell of a lot easier to explain... Thanks."
Jonny picked at the band of his hat, then pointed at the circle.
"Anything else we gotta do?"
|
|
|
Post by jarahamee on Feb 17, 2023 3:20:58 GMT -6
Ru shook his head and smiled, holding his hands wide as he sat down on the floor.
There was nothing else they needed to do, except start the ritual, and, to be fair, Jonny was a good object to have to link the spirits together, as important as any of these portraits. A bloodline relative, and also another magical entity.
Like attracted like, and that’s what they needed most here to glue the ritual together and make sure everything went as smoothly as possible.
“No, just hold hands with me.”
The vampire focused, and stared at the picture of Al. He’d have to do his best, since he didn’t have the most information about the guy, but he started the ritual, murmuring and chanting, focusing his power into the lines on the floor. Things felt right. The ritual was going well.
The power flowed through him, and then…Ru was no longer in the room with the ghost and Jonny. They had whatever passed as privacy as the spirit used his body.
|
|
|
Post by beastly on Feb 22, 2023 21:18:06 GMT -6
Jonny held hands with Ru, quietly anxious. Al had died before him, an ocean away. When Jonny had still been a child. He would be able to talk to him again, through Ru. Something he hadn't thought possible.
He could see Ru's aura shift, and his posture change, and that's when Jonny knew his big brother was there. His grip on Ru's hands grew slightly tighter.
"Al?"
"Jon!"
From there, Jonny got to do what he'd always wished he could've. He told Al he'd missed him, that he loved him, it'd been rough without him, but Jonny had tried to take care of the family best he could for him. He glossed over the less pleasant details, but told Al all about the present day, their nieces and nephews.
Al assured Jonny he was doing alright, and he hadn't died a painful death. He was happy up with the rest of their siblings, mother, and father. He did ask how Jonny died, and Jonny had been truthful, at least about the method. Shot in the head, he'd hardly known what hit him. He told Al he'd be sticking around in the world of the living a little longer, but he'd catch up eventually.
It was so lovely to 'see' his big brother again. They talked, about important things and silly things, until Al said he needed to go, and Jonny said he understood. He told Al of his plans to speak to the rest of the family. Al agreed it would be nice, and wished him the best until he could see Jonny again.
And then Al was gone.
|
|