Forums » General Roleplay » Ripley and the Ghost Club (1x1)

Ripley gave the teen a final glare to make sure he remembered his place before turning to Francis. "Really? A bicycle crash? Just an accident? How could something like that end up with a ghost dude? I thought it took violent and horrifying deaths to make ghosts." She glanced at the teen. "Thank you for your information. I don't think we need anything else, but if we do, we'll find you here. Right?" It was not quite a question.

"You'd be surprised." Francis responded. "Death is in of itself horrifying. Beyond that, the old adage about 'unfinished business' holds true in reality. That can be enough to keep spirits earthbound."

The teens flinched away from her not quite question. "Yeah, totally! We'll be here!" one of them swore. They would stay there the rest of their lives with how much she had them intimidated. Now that they had all the information they needed, Francis started walking back towards his bike.

"The more I think about it, the more it fits what we've found. Jared doesn't want us involving the authorities, so I suppose all we can do is...inform his family." He pulled out his phone and brought up Jared's social media profile. It included information about his parents. "This will be difficult to explain..."

Ripley followed Francis back to the bikes and shoved her hands into her pockets as she watched him scan through the socials. "I don't think we'll be able to get around the authorities thing, whatever Jared might want. I mean, even if we just told his parents, what are they going to do? Come and pick up his bones themselves? Bury him in the backyard in a box?" She shook her head. "We're going to have to tell them. Somehow." She looked away with a frown. "What about an anonymous tip? Tell them there's a body in the ditch? Jared might be mad about it, but that has to be better than laying in the ditch for the rest of his afterlife."

"Yeah, you're correct." Francis sighed. "In addition, they won't be able to identify the body themselves. They'll only have our word that it's Jared. The police will be able to determine it's him."

Not wasting any time, he contacted the police to leave the anonymous tip. Before long, the police had the area sectioned off to investigate. It was towards the evening that the kids gathered to watch from outside the police tape as the authorities gathered up Jared's remains and took pictures of the crime scene. Livia clasped her hands together and said a prayer for the departed. Once she was done, Francis turned to Ripley.

"So...you've been able to perceive at least one ghost, and you've been a great assistance to the investigation, even if you didn't want to get involved." he began. After fidgeting with his hands a moment, he held one out in offer of a handshake. "Would you like to join Ghost Club? We're always looking for new members."

Ripley leaned on her bike, watching as the police carefully gathered bone after bone. One of those bones had been the finger she'd unknowingly carried with her for so long. It was a strange feeling. She hoped that whatever his beef was with the police, this wouldn't make him too upset. She hoped he found peace. What would it feel like to know you were forgotten and rotting under a bridge? She often felt forgotten in her family. She often felt alone and expected to look after herself, but eventually, someone would come looking for her. Maybe not right away, but someone would realize they hadn't seen her and would send out the call. Jared had had no one looking for him. Or maybe he did, but no one could find him even if they were looking. What must that feel like? To be lost and knowing that someone was looking for you, but they'd never find you. It must be a horrible feeling, the type she hated and tried not to feel. She hoped he felt better now. She hoped he got to go home to his parents and all would be fine again. For his sake.

Francis' words drew her out of her thoughts, and she turned to see him holding out his hand to her. "What? You want me to join your club?" she repeated in surprise. "I mean, there's no saying I'll ever see another ghost. I had to carry this dude's bone with me to see him, and I'm not a nerd like you guys. Why would you want me in your club?"

"There is no statistical correlation between being a 'nerd' and having the ability to see ghosts." Francis stated, never escaping the nerd accusations. "But you have a good point. This may have been a simple fluke. In most cases, you either see all spirits, or none of them. However, there have been exceptions."

He tapped his chin, thinking about how to test if she had other abilities. If they knew of another ghost, they could see if it's visible to her. Then he snapped his fingers, getting an idea.

"How would you like to meet Visia's parents?" he asked, seemingly unprompted. "Her mom is quite knowledgeable about the paranormal, and her dad...well, he's actually a ghost himself. If you can see him, I think it's safe to say you have 'the sight' as it's sometimes called. It only occurs in 0.3% of the population, and we need every one we can find for the club."

"Um... I guess so?" Ripley said. She glanced between Livia and Visia. If she didn't have sight or anything like that, what did she bring to the group? Then she thought of the teens in the parking lot. If nothing else, she supposed these weirdos needed some to protect them. She could do that! And maybe this club thing wasn't so bad. Weird, nerdy, but not bad. Different and unboring, that was for sure.

"Okay," she said to Francis. "I'm in! And I guess I'll meet some parents to see if I can bring anything extra to the group."

Livia gave Ripley an encouraging smile. Having someone else on the team to bully Francis would be a dream come true for her. Visia was looking elsewhere, and didn't even notice Ripley.

"Capital!" Francis exclaimed. "I'll lead the way!" He took off on his bike, with Visia riding on the back as usual. Livia followed on a red bike of her own. They rode out of the forest, back onto the road.

Their route lead them to a scarcely-inhabited part of town. The building they pulled up to could only be described as a stereotypical haunted house. Most people who passed by didn't even think anyone lived there. It was an ancient mansion, with imposing, dark architecture. Behind it was a mysterious forest, shrouded in darkness. An old, ornate fence surrounded the manor grounds. Francis climbed off his bike and stood in front of it, hands proudly on his hips.

"Here it is!" he said. "Visia's home!"

Ripley followed the others, surprised that they were going right away, but Francis never seemed to leave anything for long, and Livia and Visia seemed content to follow him wherever he went. It was such a strange dynamic, and she was somewhat worried about how well she was going to fit in with them. She hoped it'd go well.

When they pulled up in front of the haunted mansion, Ripley stayed on her bike, staring at the house and then looked at Visia and back again. "Yeah, that tracks," she finally said. "The haunter in the haunted." She sighed and got off her bike. "Okay. Let's get this over with."

Playing into her given role, Visia continued to stare blankly. Francis started to lead the way up to the house. Livia took a moment to pull Ripley aside.

"Don't worry, her parents are nice enough." she assured her. "For pagans, I mean."

Francis approached the intimidating front doors and knocked. His knocks seemed to echo inside the building. After a moment, the door slowly creaked open. On the other side was a woman with coarse black hair wearing a simple beige dress. She was decidedly more emotive and...present than her daughter. When she saw the kids, she smiled warmly.

"Hello children." she said, in a heavy Romani accent. Her eyes landed on Ripley. "Who is your friend?"

"This is Ripley!" Francis replied, moving over to introduce her. "Ripley, this is Mrs. Cygnus, Visia's mother." The woman knelt down to her level, offering a hand in greeting.

"Hello, Kushti. It's very nice to meet you. I take it they are helping you with some spiritual troubles?"

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," Ripley said automatically as she took the offered hand. "It's Ripley, though, not 'Cushy.' I don't think I need spiritual help, thank you for offering. Francis said that you could tell me about ghost sight and stuff."

The woman chuckled softly. "'Kushti' means 'good.' I call you this out of love." she explained. One of her eyebrows raised at the mention of ghost sight. "Yes, of course, of course! Please, come inside." With a gentle hand, she ushered Ripley into the mansion.

The inside was far better kept than the outside, but the age of the building was still obvious. The designs on the rugs looked straight out of a Victorian painting. The most modern looking feature was a chunky CRT TV in the corner of the living room. As the other kids followed inside, Mrs. Cygnus whispered to them.

"Say nothing just yet." After which, she gestured to the living room. "Now, Ripley: tell me what you see." There was the aforementioned rugs and CRT, a bookshelf full of dusty novels, and a window overlooking the front lawn. But also, seated in an armchair, was a man. He wore old fashioned simple clothing and bore a thick mustache. However, the most striking feature about him was that he appeared strangely faded, like being viewed through a fog, and the back of the chair could be seen through him.

"I don't appreciate being your sight test, Chi Shugra." he said, in a thick accent just like hers. But there was a slight smirk on his face, making it seem as though he wasn't actually mad.

"Um," Ripley hesitated, looking around the room. She doubted Mrs. Cygnus would appreciate a snarky review of her home decor, and she was clearly expecting something specific. "Well, there's some sort of hologram over there in the corner with some audio stuff," she finally said. "And, uh, a spider in a web over there in the corner. And... other stuff you normally would find in a living room-type place?"

Livia let out a gasp of excitement. Francis bounced on his heels with a big, stupid grin on his face. Mrs. Cygnus clapped her hands.

"Well done!" she said. "You do indeed have The Sight. That is my late husband seated on the armchair. He died 10 years ago and remains on this Earth to keep me company and help raise Visia." She knelt down in front of Ripley, placing her hands on her shoulders.

"Most people spend all their lives despairing over what happens after we die. You have been given the gift to see with your very own eyes. I want you to understand that. This is a gift. Do not hold any fears that it is a curse. It may be frightening at times, but you can see beyond what most will see their entire lives." She gestured to the other kids. "And you have already met three others who share the same sacred gift, and use it to better the lives and afterlives of others."

"There, we have empirical proof!" Francis said. "That means you're most certainly Ghost Club material, beyond all reasonable doubt. So, will you join?"

Ripley leaned back as the woman got in her personal space. So, the adults were just as weird as the kids in this group. Huh. This was going to seriously annoy her parents, especially her mother, if they ever found out. She smiled in satisfaction at that thought. "Yeah, sure, I guess I could stand to use some good karma or whatever," she agreed, still leaning back from Mrs. Cygnus.

Despite the evidence of her own eyes, Ripley still held a healthy dose of scepticism about this whole thing. Granted, she couldn't argue that ghosts existed, not after having one haunt her for a month, but just because "her" ghost was real didn't mean that this ghost wasn't some sort of trick. And if this ghost was real, that didn't mean other ghosts were real, too. One ghost at a time. Maybe she could help people out, maybe she could keep these weirdos from getting taken in by con men, and maybe she could bug her parents with who she chose to hang out with. Any one of those was a win.

Although, her own reputation at school was a bit at stake here... She had been getting bored, and maybe she could just not hang out with them during school hours. They could be coworkers and business partners, not friends. That couls totally work out!

The woman let go when Ripley leaned back. She'd been trying to be affectionate, but wasn't about to force that when the girl didn't want it.

"Capital!" Francis exclaimed. Pulling out his phone, he immediately got to work adding her officially. "I'm adding you to our group chat, we have social media groups you can join if you like, our 'club meetings' occur 3:30PM to 4:30PM every weekday, which also serve as 'office hours' for people to come and request assistance."

"I think you've done the right thing." Mrs. Cygnus told her. "Now you are not alone in your journey. They will help guide you into this new phase of life."

Ripley blinked a few times at the speed things were happening. "Okay, cool," she said with a nod. She eyed the spectre in the chair across the room. "So, um, not to be rude, but your dead husband just sort of... hangs out and offers advice?" she asked uncertainly. That was a boring way to spend an afterlife. She certainly hoped that when she died, something more interesting would happen to her.

Something squirmed in her breast pocket. It was a strange movement that had the fabric puckering and folding weirdly before going still again.

Before the woman could answer, her husband stood up to speak for himself. "I remain with the woman I love. What more could I ask for?" He placed his arms around her shoulders, though it was apparent he was hovering them. As a spirit, they couldn't actually touch. Similarly, she held a hand over one of his arms.

"We are older now. It may seem uninteresting for one so young, but we don't need very much excitement in our lives. We spend our time talking, reading, and at times watching television. That is enough for us." She gestured to Visia. "And we have our lovely daughter to raise."

At that point, she blinked, noticing the movement. "Is something in your pocket?" she asked.

The adults were being lovey-dovey and affectionate. Ew. And one of them was a ghost. She couldn't decide if that was more ew because he was technically dead, or less ew because they couldn't technically touch. She kept her thoughts to herself and tried not to show any expressions other than neutrality. She wasn't sure how successful she was.

Then the conversation shifted to a topic she was far more comfortable with. "What?" She glanced down at her shirt. "Oh, yeah. It's just Jonesy. I think he's getting hungry."

If they noticed, it didn't bother them. Kids will be kids. They'd understand when they were older. Francis wasn't exactly bothered by this show of affection. It was far more "ew" when his parents did that. But he was also interested in this new topic.

"Who's Jonesy?" he asked, peering around to see what she was looking down at.