Paranatural Roleplays Redux
STONEHAVEN MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL

A large building complex decades old looms over the hillside of Stonhaven, having just completed the latest of several mostly fruitless efforts to renovate the old school one bit at a time. Its walls freshly painted a borderline garish shade of green and dull gray, and the tiles of the ancient west wing bathrooms redone, the school halls bustle with the din of activity as the bell rings and students pour out of classrooms ready to go home.

A handful will stay after hours for club activities or the dreaded half hour sentence of detention doled out to trouble students by frustrated faculty.

At the end of the hallway, looming outside his office smelling faintly of citrus, stands the school Principal, Mister Harvey Gray, like a beam of sunshine in a room swimming with dust. Smiling, he casts his gaze out on the bustling student body as the last students gather up their things and hurry to the buses.

Terra walked softly up the hillside on the sidewalk, the school daunting before her. She nervously adjusted her hat to help cover more of her scarred face as she makes her way forward. Almost shaking with fear and anxiety at the building. She couldn't help as her emotions held high, making her slightly fume blazing orange energy, making her stand out to all who could see the spectral world.

Too many people, far too new, far too different. She was used to her small community back at home, where everybody knew each others name, where everyone knew her scars and didn't care, didn't ask questions or shirk. She never went to school before, homeschooling was the only option besides a 2 hour drive, now she was in a building full of strangers.

Sun or not, this was harrowing. She did her best, took in a breath, and kept her head low as she made her way to the building, trying her best to keep calm, and to keep her shaking to the minimal.

As Elaine walked out the doors of the school she gave Mr. Gray a wink as her friends chattered around her. As most of her friends were shorter than her, it was easy to get away with without them noticing. Elaine bid her friends farewell, as she sat down on the steps of the school and manipulated her spectral energy into words that read "If you can see this, come talk to me." while pretending to fiddle with her phone for a bit. Hopefully any spectrals would come talk to her. School ended right? I'm not crazy? Or are we gonna go with that school just started?

((We're all mad here, Soroya. I'm mad. You're mad. You must be, otherwise you wouldn't have come here.))

Kaiser woke with a jolt at the sound of the final bell. He was sprawled over his desk in the back of the classroom, as usual, with his headphones on and his hood up. He must have nodded off earlier. Typical that everyone would just leave him there without nudging him or anything. The boy stretched and sat up -- as he did, he felt something tumble off of his back with a surprised hiss.

“Do be more observant next time,” a voice muttered.

He turned and blinked sleepily at the spirit that had been sitting on him. It was some sort of eyeball cat thing that was narrowing its giant pupil in annoyance. Kaiser quickly decided that the whole ordeal was not his problem, and, picking up his backpack, he shuffled out of the room without a word.

Conjunctiva hopped back onto the desk the boy had occupied, which was completely drenched in sunlight, and curled up once again for her nap.

One might have considered the eyeball cat to be interesting, to say the least, if they hadn't been a spectral for years. Kaiser witnessed this kind of thing daily. As he trudged down the hall towards his locker, he passed several odd creatures that few others could see: birds with butterfly wings, sentient furniture, the occasional ghost, and so on. There was a puff of teal energy near the front door that looked like it was mimicking words. Spectral students passing notes, perhaps. Kaiser might have thought to read it if he didn't spot his brother scampering towards him.

“Kai--”

“Nope,” Kaiser cut him off, arriving at his locker.

“Mom and Dad are in a meeti--”

“That's nice.” He opened the door to block Pascal from his view.

“So we have to wait a few hours,” Pascal summarized.

Kaiser reached into the locker and ignored his textbooks in favor of an extra-large bag of cheese curls. “What do you have against texting?” he asked, closing the locker door to give his brother a pointedly grumpy look.

“My phone's dead...”

“Have fun with that. See ya' at home.”

Mister Gray nodded slightly at Elaine and continued his vigil. Most of the lockers had already been slammed shut with a few handfuls of stragglers still scrambling to get home. He recognized two in particular, or rather, he could recognize every student in his school, but these boys he knew to look for.

"Misters Wilhelm! Kaiser, Pascal!"

He called down the hall though Kaiser's locker was fairly close to his office. It was not a coincidence.

"Pascal, you may wait in the teacher's lounge if you wish, I'll need a moment with your brother."

His voice carried far, and his note held a tone that was not to be argued, but he wore his characteristically warm grin all the same. He had that air about him that brooked no contest but remained completely welcoming all the same.

Terra shut her locker, her hand still trembling, but not has bad as before. Class was, definitively a new experience. It was most certainly less personable, which was understandable, 20+or - kids in one class. It often felt chaotic, as she everyone had different class schedules making sudden explosion of activity as everyone traveled, talked, trying to each reach their own destinations. It made her feel even more alone.

Lunch wasn't much different, who wants to sit next to the girl with the face scars? She ate alone, pretty much in silence in the corner, too nervous to approach people. It was so much easier with animals, they were straight forward. You could tell when they were scared or frightened, friendly or not, when they were hurt or not. They didn't shirk at her face, they didn't care. It was more smell then anything they judged you by anyway.

Now the day was over, and she would have to repeat this ritual, again and again. She was just going to have to get used to it. She considered asking her uncle for advice. He had a lot of friends, dad always said he was a people person, maybe he could give her tips...

Terra made her way through the hall, head down with cap over her face, not paying full attention to her surroundings besides to escape. Probably not the best decision looking back. She had just past the two brothers and the Principle before her foot hit something, causing her to fall forward, her body hitting hard on the floor and sliding a little, the overflow of new books in her hands falling to the floor (New student, no idea how to handle the clutter yet.)

Behind her, the apparent Rock that had suddenly phased through the floor out of no where hooted.
"Wooooooooooooooooooooh!" Shouted the rock in triumph. It apparently had arms and a face. "Did ya see that bro?"

A second rock materialized out of a wall. "Woah dude, thats awesome! That dweeb is worth 10 points at least, your like the prank king!"

"I nah bro! That spill was sick!" It fist pumped.

"Now I gotta catch up bro"

"Haha, you'll never beat the Prank King Bro." The Bro rocks hooted some more before passing through a wall on the side, setting out to do god knows what.

Terra recovered through the noise but stayed down, "Stupid rock people." She muttered. School, while daunting, she could get used to, with time, lots and lots of time... But spirits and ghosts? That might be out of the question.

Terra then noticed her hat fell off, she quickly grabbed it and slapped it back on her head before attempting to get back up.

Elaine's head jerked up as she heard somebody fall inside. She dissipated the energy construct and looked inside to see a girl on the floor with her books scattered. Elaine walked over quickly and kneeled down to help pick up some of the fallen books. "Here you go." she said holding out some of the books "You're new to Stonehaven aren't you? My names Elaine!" she said smiling. Elaine remembered vaguely that a girl wearing a hat was spewing out orange energy in the morning. She wasn't entirely sure that this was the same person so she focused and made an energy construct that read "Can you see this?" before asking "So, what's your name?"

"Pascal, you may wait in the teacher's lounge if you wish, I'll need a moment with your brother."

“Yes, sir!” Pascal said, leaving the way he came.

Kaiser sighed. Pascal, Pascal, Pascal. If the kid kept kissing up like that, he'd end up with a brown nose.

He briefly considered leaving the building and letting the man add another detention to the pile, but ultimately decided against it. Kaiser crunched on a handful of cheese curls as he walked around the two girls on the floor and up to the principal, pausing to wipe the orange dust on the side of his battered jacket. “S'up,” he said flatly.

Harvey saw the girl trip on a rock spirit and kept from flinching at the spill. He had just barely moved to help up the young girl- Terra, her name is Terra. New student.- when Elaine beat him to the punch. Not anything unusual.

He opted instead to keep the Wilhelm child's focus while he had it, an unusual opportunity. As the boy walked up and around the two girls, the principal pointed at the two of them with his eyes as if to say "Aren't you going to help them?" without actually saying it. Realizing the futility of the effort, Harvey sighed.

"Kaiser, you have gathered a small collection of detention slips haven't you? I think this is a wonderful opportunity for you to cash some of them in. What with your parents occupied so, you'll have plenty of time here before you can get a ride home.

To fulfill all four of the detention slips you somehow managed to gather today, as well as one or two more, I'd like you to assist me today with some club activities."

As he spoke he willed some of his own spectral energy onto the floor, where it spelled out for Elaine to see, in rather poor handwriting: She was tripped by one of the rock spirits.

Terra hid under her hat as she stole a glance at the girl helping to collect her books. "T-thank you." Was the best she could mutter in response as she recovered from her landing. Terra took her time to get up and collect the books, the landing had made still stun.

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"You're new to Stonehaven aren't you? My names Elaine!"

"Terra," She squeaked out, "My name is Terra." As she was kept her hat low, it took a couple of seconds to realize Elaine was actually producing spectral energy, the realization dawning in her eyes, despite not actually being able to see all the words. She jumped a little. She didnt know how common her... condition was. The Spectrals that had found her had been pretty vague about the whole thing, almost unwilling to tell her anything.

She wasn't dumb, it was not hard to figure out that they did not want to give information to the thing inside her they didn't have to give, it had shown on more then one occasion it was most certainly capable of listening and seeing through her. She also figured why they had sent her here was because there were enough Spectrals to deal with a problem if it arose compared to her home. But she did not figure she would be meeting anyone her age.

She briefly wondered if she was here, with the exact same problem, or some other problem she had know way of knowing about. In surprise, Terra responded. "Your a spect-!, huh, s-s-sorry. I-I should be using code words or something, right? I'm not very good at this..." Terra did not see the second message that was made by the principle as she was too deep in thought.

'It was something like 'The Queezy Crow' that the spectral in the pajamas said to say to identify each other, I think. Or was it 'The Quirky Comb'...?'

Elaine smiled "Nice to meet you Terra! It's okay, I'm guessing you're kinda new to this world." She eyed the words that Mr. Gray had formed. Poorly formed, yet legible. She sighed. The rock spirits had caused a problems before, but it seemed like it was time to have a talk with them. "So I'm gonna guess you tripped because of two rock spirits yes?"

Kaiser was about to roll his eyes over the Canadian border at Gray's request, but something made him stop. Four detentions? He counted off the ones he could remember on his fingers and ended up short. Where'd that fourth one come from? Ah, never mind. It hardly mattered.

“Club activities.” That was probably short for spectral stuff, as the principal's behavior indicated that he had spectrals on the brain. That could be alright enough, Kaiser admitted to himself. It was certainly better than walking five miles home and having to deal with his brother's pushy pet duck.

Kaiser made a huffy sort of sound, a small wisp of magenta coming out with the breath. “Sure. Yeah. Fine.”

Meanwhile, the spirit Conjunctiva, unable to fall back asleep, phased through a nearby wall. She eyed the newest spectral student, strode over next to her, and patiently sat.

So I guess I can enter down my OC here?

((No, sorry. The rules and application skeleton are here: https://paranatural.forumotion.com/t245-paranatural-rp-redux-information-and-applications .))

Kat tapped out a rhythm on the pavement as she sat slouched on the curb in front of the school. Having to wait for a ride home was a pain, but she hadn't quite figured out how to get from school to the new house on foot yet. It didn't help that her brother seemed to be taking his sweet time getting here. Probably hoped Kat'd be chatting it up with her classmates or something. Or maybe he doesn't know the way yet either. Heh.

The teenager didn't bother hiding a yawn as she glanced around the campus, searching for something to occupy her attention. From the entrance she could spot the tell-tale vapor of a Spectral letting loose with their energy. Silas mentioned that this town was friendly to their kind, but she still couldn't wrap her head around being so open with her powers – it was like waving a big “I’m Here!” sign for any passing spirits with a grudge. Hehe, or a grudge with a grudge. She’d have to use that sometime.

Craning her head back, Kat tried to get a better look at the spectacle. Unfortunately it looked like whatever was happening was going down inside. Inside where she couldn't see. So Kat hopped up and feigned a stretch, nonchalantly walking over to perch on the steps outside the entrance just in time to peek in the window and see – two girls talking. Great, apparently she’d missed the excitement.

Just as she was about to dismiss the incident as “as boring as the rest of this school” Kat caught a glimpse of a... A big eyeball? An eyeball cleverly disguising itself as a pile of licorice? Whatever it was, it had put Kat right back into the Ignore All Spirit Shenanigans camp. She steadfastly turned her head to resume her search for her brother’s car, telling herself she wasn't curious at all about what was going on inside.

Harvey beamed at Kaiser's response.

"Wonderful!
Let's gather up our other members then!"

He strode the short distance down the hall to where Tera and Elaine were talking, assuming Kaiser would follow.

"Good afternoon, Terra, Elaine. Miss Bolman, have you managed to find any more members for our little project?"

The principal grinned a brilliant smile as he spoke, bursting with his typical enthusiasm.

Elaine looked at the window behind her. She was sure she had seen somebody peeking through the window in the corner of her eye, but there was nobody to be seen. "Not really sure. I could go out again and see if anybody else turns up?" She stood up and held a hand out to Terra. "I think there has to be at least one more spectral here."

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"So I'm gonna guess you tripped because of two rock spirits yes?"

Terra nodded her head slowly. Elaine seemed nice. More pleasant then anyone else in the school had been today anyway. She even caught a teacher grimacing at her face. Elaine didn't seem to notice, or care. 'Maybe the hat is working?' Terra hoped despite knowing how silly it was.

"Y-yes. I, sorta, walked into one. I-I should have looked where I was going." She apologized. Terra was now feeling bad about, she had gotten someone nice to take time out of their day to help her cause she was in too much of a hurry to run and hide at home. It was a silly guilt, but she couldn't help feeling it, which made it a little worse. The apology came out all the same.

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Meanwhile, the spirit Conjunctiva, unable to fall back asleep, phased through a nearby wall. She eyed the newest spectral student, strode over next to her, and patiently sat.

It took a moment for Terra to realize the presence next to her, making her stiffen near instantly. It looked like someone had ripped an eyeball out then, like a balloon animal, taken the arteries and veins and made them into the shape of a cat. It was, to say the least, disturbing. Terra was used to seeing wounds and various poor states animals at her home and at the animal shelter came in with or had so it didn't churn her stomach. But it looked like mutilation, and that was something she was finding hard to stay in her comfort zone with.

The cat thing wasn't doing anything, just sitting, so Terra didn't do anything in return. It still made her stiffen and looked away, telling herself. 'Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it.' Her doubts of ever being comfortable around spirits seem increasingly more confirmed.

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Elaine looked at the window behind her. She was sure she had seen somebody peeking through the window in the corner of her eye, but there was nobody to be seen. "Not really sure. I could go out again and see if anybody else turns up?" She stood up and held a hand out to Terra. "I think there has to be at least one more spectral here."

Terra took the hand held out for her, allowing allowing the cheerful girl to help her to her feet. The conversation between the man in the hall, Elaine, and some other kid who seemed like he really could care less about what was going on had her lost. With the cat thing still near her, she took extra caution getting up, but the conversation was an amazing distraction to help her relax.

She didn't want to seem rude so she returned the greeting to the man, who she was almost positive was the Principle, but not quite sure. This was her first meeting with the man, he seemed to be at the very least a teacher. "G-good afternoon." She gave back as audible as she dared, which wasn't much.

"I'm sorry." She let out, apologizing again, cause it felt like the right thing to do. "A-am I keeping you from something? I'm afraid I don't know whats going on... What project? A-am I in the way...?"

Mr. Gray barked a laugh and chuckled his response to Elaine.

"Marvelous! I'll let you wrap us up then,"

He turned to Terra and offered her his most disarmingly warm smile.

"You're about as in the way as water is in the way of rain."

By this time most of the student body had either gone home or gotten to their respective after school activities. There were still a few waiting outside for rides or walking the halls for whatever reason, but the building was significantly more empty than it had been just a few minutes prior.

The stillness of the halls made the spirit activity within them all the more noticeable. Small fish-like creatures drifted through the too-thick fur of a lumbering creature with six legs and no discernible beginning or end, while the ghost of a lunch lady who cooked her last meal in the twenties bickered with a literal book work about the proper preparation of a flank steak. Something simultaneously serpentine and canine wove through the lockers in front of rooms 113 and 115 as Harvey noticed the fel-eye-ne spirit sitting beside Terra. He made a note of it as he offered Terra his hand.

"I am Harvey Gray, your Principal, you can call me Mr. Harvey or Mr. Gray, whichever you prefer."
He smiled as he spoke. He enjoyed connecting with students, it made the system seem so much less clinical.

"No need to apologize at all Terra, they take great pleasure from tripping anybody. We've all been tripped up by one of them at one point."

When Terra stiffened, Elaine looked down and saw Conjunctiva by Terra. "Ah good day Conjunctiva. Terra this is Conjunctiva, Conjunctiva this is Terra." Elaine gestured to the door, "Shall we go outside? Perhaps if any other spectral students are still around we can still catch them today rather than tomorrow. How much do you know about this world of ours Terra?" Elaine started to walk towards the door, sorta half turned so she was still facing Terra somewhat.

Kaiser was stuffing the cheese curls into his backpack when he looked up and saw that eyeball thing again. Was it following him? Gross. He wanted nothing to do with it. He put his headphones back on and proceeded to ignore it.

"Ah good day Conjunctiva. Terra this is Conjunctiva, Conjunctiva this is Terra."

The spirit looked at Terra and raised her tail in greeting. “Well met, Miss Terra,” she said, barely concealing the amusement in her voice. Few people were ever pleased to see her, as evidenced by the fact that only two people here would even look at her, but this poor girl looked absolutely terrified. Conjunctiva pawed at the ground contentedly at the thought of the fun she could have with this one.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Gray." Terra spoke softly. The man did have a warm smile, it was certainly disarming. Terra relaxed a little, the tension she felt was still high, but that was tension built from the day, it would take awhile to dissipate. Terra still slightly tugged at her hat, her social barrier still up.

Mr. Gray seemed to be the spectral in charge, the pajama pants people told her that she should introduce herself to which ever spectral was in charge of the town, Mr. Gray seemed a good candidate as any, and if not, he was a principle. Surely he would know.

"Umm, I think I'm supposed to say 'Quickly Cone' or something like that. That's what I was told, by pajama pants guys.I feel a little, awkward now." Terra trailed off as her confidence on the subject left her. Did she get the phrase wrong? Maybe she misunderstood what is was about. Maybe she was confused ant that's not what they told her at all and now she looks like an idiot and this was probably a totally bad idea how could she be-

'Calm down' She exhaled a large shaky breath. 'Just, stay calm. C-confidence is key. R-right...?'

The cat thing near her seemed amused by her obvious discomfort, or Terra thought it looked amused. It was hard to tell. That was equally as disturbing as its form.

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 How much do you know about this world of ours Terra?"

Terra turned to Elaine, thanking the lord almighty for a change in subject from her awkwardness. She hoped at least. "Not very much. The spectrals that found me in my... condition told me a little, they didnt seem keen on answering all my questions however..." Terra knew the basics. She now could see the spirit world, she has a spirit inside her, and now she can manipulate spectral energy. And it was safer to be near fellow spectrals then alone in her condition. She managed to squeeze out a few more answers, but that was the jist of what she learned.

Seeing the boy in the corner put on his headphones, Terra realized she was being a little rude in not including the guy in the conversation. And she was taking the spotlight. She turned to him and gave a half gesture, doing her best to wave a hi. She did not know if he could hear her, but she mouthed at his direction. "H-hello. Sorry that I haven't been including you... My n-name's Terra. You can c-come talk, if-if you like. You don't have to."

Kat slumped back against the school building, idly picking at the frayed seam of her jeans. She was contemplating abandoning her spot at the top of the stairs in favor of the curb again when she heard a faint “BEEP BEEP” coming from her bag. Cursing under her breath, Kat dug through the debris that had somehow already collected in her backpack to pull out an ancient cell phone. Silas had presented her with it this morning, claiming they’d need to stay in touch since the town was so Spirit-infested. She flipped it open and found she had a text from said brother.

“traffic jam probably wont be there for an hour. can you get another ride?”

A heavy groan escaped Kat as she read the text. There wasn’t even anyone to strong-arm into taking her home out here – in the half hour since classes had been dismissed, the parking lot had cleared out. Only a handful of cars were left, probably faculty and a few club goers or something. She might have to try her luck with one of them – she was self-aware enough to admit her sense of direction was basically nonexistent, and there was no way she could find her way walking.

She could probably work something out, though. She remembered how to get to the front office; she just had to find the nicest looking old lady there and ask for directions in the most pitiful voice she could muster. Surefire way to get a ride, and maybe even some cookies!

Springing to her feet, Kat slung her bag over her shoulder and stuffed the phone in her pocket. She was still grinning to herself over her brilliance when she threw the doors open and came face-to-face with the herd of Spectrals (plus Spirit) she’d been dead-set on avoiding. “Uh,” she muttered, eyeing the group and trying to edge her way around them “Hi. ’Scuse me, just... trying to get to the office, bye.”

"Quirky Cone? I'm not sure if that is a phrase that is commonly used. Maybe it is amongst spectrals in your old community." Elaine was 90% sure that the spectrals in her community had been messing with Terra and had not actually been serious when telling her that spectrals had a code word.

"Not very much. The spectrals that found me in my... condition told me a little, they didn't seem keen on answering all my questions however..."
Elaine tilted her head. "Condition, like possession? I suppose that makes the situation a bit tricky, but in any case I can give you a basic rundown of what you should know just so we make sure everything is covered."

Elaine's head turned to see the doors thrown open by a girl who was smiling until she saw all the people in the hall.
“Hi. ’Scuse me, just... trying to get to the office, bye.”
Elaine smiled at the girl, despite the fact that the girl was looking at the ground and not her face. "Of course. Sorry for being in the way.". She stepped out of the way, only to replace the space with a wall of spectral energy as a test. If the student was a normal person, they would be able to walk right through it with no problem.

Harvey lifted an eyebrow at Terra's muttering. The code words didn't matter so much, but there was a code there. It meant a restriction of information, typically only enacted when dealing with a medium to a spirit both intelligent and powerful enough to use any information gleaned through its host against the Consortium. Harvey didn't like it, but then he didn't have to. It was a matter of necessity.

Dangerous spirit or not, Harvey would help the girl however he could.

He was about to address Kaiser when he turned to notice the boy had already put in his headphones. Then, almost immediately after, yet another student strode into the hall, and Elaine, clever as ever, reacted immediately. Harvey could hardly hold back a grin.