perpetual anticipation is good for the soul but it's bad for the heart

[maxxx]

Comments

[slavophile]

Let's go over it one more time.

( "Steve Jobs" reborn (complete with black sweater and glasses) sits across from his boyfriend at the small Italian restaurant located across from their target. )

The scariest haunted house in Star City, where someone dies from fright every year - reopens its' doors once a year for one week. And in that one week, it always claims a victim. People think that it's just that scary, like it's a rite of passage. Reddit is all over it and it has the highest profile it's ever had - likely due to the new PR team hired by the dead owner's daughter, Charlotte. The dead owner, who died inside in the off-season. And we think - actual haunting.

[positiveinfluence]

Oh, yeah.

[He pulls out his own notes from going through the newspaper records and turned it to face him. It lists every victim of the haunted house recorded, with two of the names circled - one towards the middle being the owner who died in the off-season, and one being the final name on the list.]

Check out the last name. It's the same four being repeated over and over again. Granted, they're not all related, I checked that, but the four names are pretty generic, so it makes sense that multiple families would have them. To me, that's not a coincidence - that's a spirit with a motive.

[slavophile]

( He cross references his notes and his boyfriend's. )

The spirit is only killing people with specific last names. Four of them. ( Repeating. ) Four lines of lineage? ( He drags his finger down. ) Look. In the same order.

[positiveinfluence]

[He shakes his head.]

They're not all related, I checked. But the last names are still probably a clue. Like people with these names hurt the spirit, and the spirit doesn't care enough to tell the difference.

[slavophile]

Like a very scattered, obsessive Freddy Krueger. The sins of not really your parents, but someone's.

( It sounds like they have to do more research. )

And we have to find where the spirit's body is buried, or if it's attached to something, or someone.

[positiveinfluence]

That's only usually if the body is already creamated. Usually, if there's a body you just have to salt and burn it.

[He takes a sip of his coffee before holding up a finger, ticking up with each step:]

Step One, find out who the ghost is. Step Two, find out where the body is buried. This is usually pretty easy. Death records are public. Step Three, sneak into the cemetery and salt and burn the body. Step Four, make sure the spirit's actually gone, and then have a victory beer.

[slavophile]

Victory beer. Do we bring the victory beer with us? Body goes up in smoke and we cheers?

( He jests! )

So, we should interview the daughter. Maybe the surviving family, though, that wouldn't matter if they're collateral damage. And, if need be, buy tickets? We have a plan. Or, almost a plan. You have a real step by step plan.

[positiveinfluence]

Usually depends on where the hunt is.

[You bring the beer if there isn't a bar near by, but since they're in the middle of Central City, that shouldn't be a problem.]

Ghost hunts are honestly the easiest. They're usually pretty straightforward. What should our cover be with the daughter?

[slavophile]

Right, cover. Well, hopefully, the daughter doesn't read page six?

( Covers usually come with anonimity. )

You think we can get away with, I know, everyone tells me I look like that guy.

[positiveinfluence]

Maybe? But if we need to, I could take the interview with you in my ear.

[That way William can still contribute but they don't have to worry about him drawing too much attention as Oliver Queen's son.]

Most of it is just going to be routine questions.

[slavophile]

You'd be like my asset.

( Something fun to roleplay another time. )

Your call. You're the seasoned hunter, I'm just the boyfriend tag-a-long.

[positiveinfluence]

We're partners. It means we play to our strengths.

[Not in the romantic way, but in the practical, professional way. If they're going to do this, they'll do it together.]

So maybe that means doing the interview together or maybe it doesn't. But we'll figure it out. Right now, we need to figure out who the ghost is. Do we know anything about the first of the deaths?

[slavophile]

( It's hot, either way. He flips through pages. )

The... first death happened when the haunted house first opened five years ago.

[positiveinfluence]

Do we have a name for that dead person?

[That's going to be their best place to start until they can actually lay eyes on the spirit.]

[slavophile]

Martha Delacourt.

( Easy enough to find. )

[positiveinfluence]

Does it say how she died? Natural causes or murder?

[Sometimes things happen in haunted houses. If they can rule out murder then there has to be another reason why she's sticking around and why she's targeting these names.]

[slavophile]

Wait, you mean the first first death. Not the first -- ( He's catching up. ) Martha's was the first after-death, AH - After Haunting, the first death, the original, was Raymond Berry. And, he shot himself.

( He squints. )

It says he shot himself anyway. I'm guessing there's a possibility he did not shoot himself.

[positiveinfluence]

Suicides don't usually leave ghosts behind.

[They don't usually have unfinished business. So yeah, Coop's opinion is that someone probably faked it to get away with murder.]

Getting away with murder on the other hand? That leaves a ghost almost every time.

[slavophile]

But, none of the victims were shot. At least, not in the ME or the autopsy reports.

( Is there a reason the MO would differ? )

[positiveinfluence]

Ah - method of death does not always equal their own method of killing. It generally depends on the type of spirit. While some will inflict how they died onto their victims, some are constrained by the type of the spirit they become.

[A beat.]

Take ghost ships for example. Always trigger a bunch of dry-land drownings. But I've heard of spirts that were actually killed on the water, but by other means than a ship going down and still becoming a ghost ship and drowning their victims. I think what will give us more clues as to what's going down is trying to figure out the motive, which I think will tie back to our repeating last names.

[slavophile]

Okay, so, in this case, this spirit is scaring people to death.

( Not shooting them. )

People who have recurring last names in the same order.

[positiveinfluence]

Willing to bet that someones with those last names were involved in his not-death. And they were probably involved in the man's life, so if we can talk to the right people, maybe we'll find some answers.

[Fingers crossed.]

[slavophile]

People who are still around five years later. Probably probable.

( And if not, they have phones, right? )

[positiveinfluence]

[More or less.]

So let's make a list, and I'll see if I can get into the haunted house to see if there's any other evidence we can find.

[slavophile]

( He's sure they'll find answers, the sins of the father, etc. But at least they have a plan.

For William's part, he does some online legwork, can he match the last names of the victims to last names involved with the original victim. His natural (1) taps his desktop tower's power accidentally and his computer shuts off before he's able to do anything.

Whoops. After a fifteen minute reboot, he tries again: (21) to find any good information. )