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Post by Franciska on Oct 29, 2012 22:00:32 GMT -6
Fran tapped her fingers on the arm of the couch as she waited, eyes darting anxiously around the room. Good or bad, she was now dying to see what they'd find lurking in the darkness below their feet. She dearly hoped she didn't lose her composure if she manages to catch sight of it. Wait, can you even see ghosts? The amount of unanswered questions made her head spin. The sooner they went downstairs the sooner they could start finding some answers.
Fran watched Elissa as she played with her fire axe like a toy. If she wasn't so preoccupied she might have scolded the pyro for being so reckless. After all, you can only sew fingers back on so many times before it becomes tedious. She shrugged. Eh, let her have her fun. Elissa was such an interesting person to observe. The pyro's behavior struck her as odd, alien even, the way she spoke so plainly about strange things and the way she conducted herself with almost childlike innocence. She had a sincere frankness about her that the medic found equal parts fascinating and charming.
"Well then."
Zacharie reentered the room, the familiar stench of cigarette smoke following close behind him. Fran wrinkled her nose but said nothing. Gordon too appeared in the doorway, bearing flashlight for all of them. She grabbed one and flicked it on and off a few times to test it.
"Ah, I can not believe I almost forgot something so important." They could rely on the light switch for now sure, but if past events were anything to go by, this entity had more than enough strength to sabotage the power. If it came to that, these little things probably wouldn't do them too much good either, but it was better than stumbling around in the dark...again. Fran turned the light over in her hands, testing it's surprising weight.
"Looks like everyone is ready. Shall we go then?" She wished she felt as cheerful as she was able to make herself sound. Dread clutched at her chest, but it was her thirst for knowledge that had the stronger grip now.
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lissapants
Scarcely Lethal
The burner of all things burnable
Posts: 38
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Post by lissapants on Nov 1, 2012 19:31:34 GMT -6
Ready, yes. Should probably stop swinging the axe around now. She slipped it through the holster and patted it into place, then pulled out the flashlight. "Kay." She smiled over at the group and shuffled out the door, stopping just before the stairs and turning back toward the three, "I'm not opening it." It didn't stop her from turning the flashlight on and making spooky shadow faces at her teammates, though.
ERMEGERD I GERT A STER
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Zacharie
Truly Feared
The Proxy
Posts: 247
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Post by Zacharie on Nov 1, 2012 20:31:35 GMT -6
He picked up a flashlight with his left hand and gave it a good look over before finally turning to give Gordon a nod of approval. He knew the sniper didn’t care much for the human sacrifice idea, but perhaps he had been a little too openly enthusiastic about it. Zacharie nearly ignored Fran as he walked past her, following Elissa, save for a small side-glance in her direction. He wondered if she ended up bringing anything with her on this expedition, after all she had a good collection of gadgets last time.
"I'm not opening it."
He took a single step forward after she spoke, raising his right hand. “That would be my job.” Zacharie said with a sort of dutiful tone, he was volunteered to go first after all. “I’ll take the first few steps down and get the light.” He glanced back at his team mates before he reached for the door handle with his right hand. It was then that he noticed that the banging had stopped; he hesitated for just a millisecond as the realization hit him. For how long though? He had stopped paying attention after certain point. Making sure to keep a mental note of it, he grasped the handle and turned. The wooden door’s hinges creaked loudly as he slowly pushed it open, revealing the bare concrete steps that led into the darkened basement. There was nothing else.
“Right.” Zacharie finally said after a tense moment of silence between them all. “Looks clear so far.” He didn’t glance back at them, he only held the door open and pointed the flashlight down into the depths. It didn't go too far past the steps but he could see the switch about half way down. In the back of his mind he felt a bit of unease stir, but he wasn’t going to let it get to him.
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Gordon
Sufficiently Lethal
RED Sniper
Posts: 179
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Post by Gordon on Nov 1, 2012 20:59:31 GMT -6
As Zacharie carefully opened the door, Gordon couldn't help but cringe at the loud creaking as the view of the basement and the staircase leading into it came into view. Looking back down there now, a bit of apprehension and uneasiness began to grasp at him like a lurking gut feeling. He wouldn't let it bother him though, letting the slight anxiety and anticipation get to oneself would be troublesome. Noticing nothing behind the door, though peculiar, he let out a held breath lightly.
He took a step in front of Elissa and Franciska, standing slightly behind the spy as he flicked the flashlight in his left hand on and off to test to see if it worked. The light was decent enough to shine through the darkness of the basement at least. Nodding a bit quietly to himself, he also kept his right hand ready to draw his kukri should anything in particular attack them. With extreme emphasis on should. Hell would break loose should anything attack them and physically harm them. At that point Gordon pondered as to whether or not it would be safe to remain in the base. But there needed to be some answers and some resolution to it all. Perhaps it was beyond their grasp. Or it was within their grasp. Either way, they needed to find out something and hopefully, they would discover something and not make this investigation a wasted effort.
"Alright, be careful when you go down there." Gordon warned Zacharie. Perhaps it was a bit too early to be so cautious but in actuality, that was the most necessary thing to do! Normally, simply walking down the stairs and turning on the lights would be a simple thing to do. But the idea of a haunting or rather, even threat of a ghost made everything about this arduous. He had a bad feeling about what would happen and what could happen. Already, he could feel an ominous aura emanating from the basement. How positively exciting.
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Post by Franciska on Nov 1, 2012 21:50:37 GMT -6
Fran nodded as Zach took the lead, a bit surprised he was actually going first without any argument. He did like to be in charge of things, so maybe it wasn't too out of the ordinary after all. One thing that eased her mind was she was now fairly positive that he wouldn't try to sabotage things by scaring them. No, it was clear from the anxious silence that he was taking this seriously as the rest of them for once. Guess you only need to get set on fire once before you start being more careful around ghosts.
Fran scurried after Gordon, not wanting to be the last one down. She inched to the edge for the first step but waited for Zach to reach the light before she would move any further. She restlessly turned her own flashlight over in her hands, tapping her foot as she waited for the basement to be illuminated.
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Zacharie
Truly Feared
The Proxy
Posts: 247
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Post by Zacharie on Nov 3, 2012 13:21:07 GMT -6
He proceeded down the concrete steps with extreme caution, making sure to keep an ear out for any odd sounds. But as he descended it was very clear that the basement was as quiet as it was dark. It was difficult to judge whether or not this was a sign of good or bad things to come. Zacharie kept his flashlight at the ready as he approached the switch, which was to the left of him and just within arms reach. He held his breath for just a moment as he took another step and flicked the switch on the wall.
Squinting a bit as the basement's dim florescent lights began to flicker on, Zacharie quickly switched his flashlight to his left hand and drew his revolver just in case. It only took a second for his eyes to adjust to the light, he aimed the gun straight forward, hoping that there really wasn't anything there for him to shoot. But no, there wasn't. The dingy basement was very empty, in fact it was true that all of the red paint was gone just as Fran had mentioned. After another second of looking around, he released his held breath and looked around carefully.
The spy didn't say anything at first as he turned to his comrades, giving them a look of mild surprise. "I don't see a thing out of the ordinary." He finally spoke up after a moment.
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Gordon
Sufficiently Lethal
RED Sniper
Posts: 179
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Post by Gordon on Nov 3, 2012 17:23:01 GMT -6
The lights turned on in the basement, revealing nothing in particular other than the usual. Zacharie scanned the area with his revolver ready to shoot. But again, there was nothing. Gordon raised an eyebrow as he looked around a little as well. He walked down the steps slowly, keeping an eye in case for anything that would come up. He held the flashlight in his left hand as he took his kukri out, holding onto it rather tightly. He was soon behind Zacharie before carefully stepping out into the basement.
"Hm." Gordon couldn't feel any sort of presence other than their own. Everything seemed to be normal.
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Post by Franciska on Nov 3, 2012 21:40:07 GMT -6
Somehow, the fact that there was nothing out of the ordinary made her stomach tie itself in knots. It was like...the calm before the storm. Something had to be waiting for them down there, they just heard it banging and scratching on the walls mere moments ago. An audible groan slipped from her lips, but Fran descended the stairs anyway, pulled by her comrade's staring and her own accursed curiosity. Damn it all why must ghosts be so interesting and so terrifying at the same time?
She shuffled down the stairs, sticking close to Gordon and keeping her hands close to her body. She was so worked up with equal parts horror and giddy anticipation that she nearly made herself dizzy. She drifted across the musty basement, examining the blank wall that once bore an ominous message. "Hmm. There is dust on the wall here. Where the paint was. It looks far too thick to be a few days old." How perplexing. This dust wouldn't be here if someone painted over it and it certainly wouldn't remain after said paint was wiped clean. Fran's foot tapped rapidly against the floor, sending echos bouncing around on the cold stone walls.
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lissapants
Scarcely Lethal
The burner of all things burnable
Posts: 38
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Post by lissapants on Nov 3, 2012 22:34:36 GMT -6
The Pyro watched her teammates disappear down the stairs, bringing up the back of the line. She wasn't necessarily nervous, the only off thing about the place she's noticed so far was that god forsaken pounding that went on in the middle of the night. Besides, she was pretty sure her teammates didn't have a problem with her sleeping in odd places around the base, did they?
She was too focused on the flashlight to see that the group had stopped, almost running right into Fran. She could tell the Medic was feeling uneasy however, the other two were perfectly content. She shrugged and turned her flashlight off, then leaned against the wall, waiting on what to do next. Whatever it was, she hoped they would be done soon so she could go scavenging the BLU base for her beloved spaghetti noodles before it got too late.
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Zacharie
Truly Feared
The Proxy
Posts: 247
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Post by Zacharie on Nov 3, 2012 23:10:29 GMT -6
After he turned on the basement lights, Zacharie switched off his flashlight and tucked it away inside one of his coat pockets. Revolver in his left hand, he made his way across the basement with the rest of his team mates. It was eerily quiet, save for their footsteps and hushed voices. What had he expected? Something visible or tangible? Was this spirit going to continue to taunt them by making all of that racket and leaving nothing for them to show? It was starting to annoy him at that point.
He stopped next to Fran and examined the dusty wall for himself, swiping his right index finger across it. Sure enough it was only dust, he pinched the mote of dust between his thumb and let it crumble to the ground. "Then it must have been here the whole time." He said in a pensive tone, still observing the wall as he carefully rested his arm at his side again. Any sudden movements were still pretty painful.
"Do you suppose-" Zacharie began, glancing to the side to see how Gordon and Elissa were fairing. "That the paint was, well, an illusion?" As he finished his sentence he looked back to her. This wasn't the first time he contemplated the possibility of a mass hallucination.
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Gordon
Sufficiently Lethal
RED Sniper
Posts: 179
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Post by Gordon on Nov 4, 2012 0:13:17 GMT -6
"An illusion? As if we were all hallucinating? Actually, that doesn't seem all too crazy." Gordon looked around for anything suspicious. It was far too calm for comfort really. He observed as they studied the wall where the red paint had been. The thick layer of dust seemed to support the notion of a mass hallucination. There could have been something in the basement that would cause it.
But that thought was rather disturbing in all honesty. Either way it was much better to think about it like that rather than think of a ghost.
As he studied the wall, Gordon could swear that he could hear barely audible chuckling in his ear that sent a small chill down his spine. They didn't come from any particular area but they seemed to come from everywhere, surrounding them. Was this paranormal activity already occuring? Gordon hoped that the whispers were merely his imagination. He shook his head but the quiet chuckling still lingered on. "Hey. Do you guys hear anything?" He asked.
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Post by Franciska on Nov 4, 2012 9:44:12 GMT -6
"Well...we can all certainly agree we saw it, correct? And if there is no way something could have been written here, it must have been some sort of trick of the mind." Fran reached out to touch the dusty wall with her own hand, as if she still needed to convince herself of her own words. "The atmosphere down here at the time of the event was quite tense as well. Maybe it was a case where someone sees or hears something, tells the others, and then they begin to see and hear it as well because everyone expects something supernatural to happen."
She paused for a moment, crossing her arms and staring perplexed at her companions. "Or you know, the ghost could just be trying to scare us." Fran spoke earnestly of the ghost now that she considered it's presence a viable option.
She honestly didn't care if Zach scoffed at her anymore. After all that's happened so far, most rational explanations had gone out the window, leaving them to confront the now very real possibility that their base was being haunted by...something at least. What that something was she couldn't yet be sure, but she was already down here so she might as well try to find out.
"Wait, we never came back down to collect our things. The board and the candles and such. Shouldn't they still be down here?"
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lissapants
Scarcely Lethal
The burner of all things burnable
Posts: 38
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Post by lissapants on Nov 6, 2012 0:30:32 GMT -6
At this point, Elissa was sort of jealous that she hadn't been down here for the first encounter, the silence was even worse than the thumping that would keep her up at night and all this talk of paint on the walls and teammates spontaneously combusting while nothing at the moment had changed, she wasn't exactly too happy. More disappointed than anything.
She turned her flashlight off, having no need for it at the moment, and eyed around the room. Looking at Gordon, he had seemingly gotten more nervous,
"You look like you're gonna pee yourself." Then the dust from the room finally got to her, throwing the Pyro into a sneezing fit.
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Zacharie
Truly Feared
The Proxy
Posts: 247
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Post by Zacharie on Nov 9, 2012 21:47:41 GMT -6
He had very little tolerance for the idea of an real ghost being around, but the group of mercenaries were grasping for straws at that point. However Fran was correct; they did bring a hefty amount of things down with them during that trip.
“They… would be about in the middle, wouldn’t they?” Zacharie placed a finger to his chin thoughtfully as he turned towards the middle of the basement. Where they currently where was more towards the back, near the collection of boxes Gordon had bumped into last time. The spy made a brisk walk for where the items were supposed to be. It was obvious that there was nothing there but he wanted to get a closer look for himself. Kneeling down on the spot where they had placed the Ouija board, he examined the ground. It was dusty as well.
“That’s impossible.” He murmured to himself, touching the cement ground to make sure that what his eyes were telling him where true. Perhaps someone came down after them and stole their equipment? Were they swept aside? Zach opened his mouth to speak again but a sudden chill overcame him. It ran down his spine and caused his mind to blank out for a moment. He heard the very subtle sound of a chuckle, it was like an echo in the back of his head.
He held his head for a moment in attempt to regain his thoughts. Did he end up getting a concussion from the hit he took earlier? Or was it some sort of presence causing his senses to freak out?
“Gordon, you were saying that you heard something?” He spoke quietly, glancing over his shoulder at the Sniper. He wanted to know if he wasn’t the only one.
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Post by Franciska on Nov 9, 2012 22:35:09 GMT -6
Fran was rather absorbed in her search for clues so she barely heard any talk of strange voices. She also didn't hear any strange voices for that matter. She continued along to back wall, side stepping boxes and the occasional can of paint. So much paint down here; what'd it ever get used for other than writing creepy messages on the wall? She made a mental note to throw them out when they were finished here.
Fran noticed she'd been rubbing her bare arms; it had gotten quite a bit cooler down here since they arrived. That was to be expected, ghosts always seemed to be proceeded by an unnatural chill. It simply meant everything was happening as it should. She half wished the phantom would just show itself instead of toying with them any longer, even if it surely meant trouble for their little group. It was proving to be terribly difficult to study something no one could see, hear, touch, or agree on whether it really existed or not.
Fran let out a heavy sigh as she found herself right back where she started, and without a shred of proof of any kind to show for it. Looks like whatever was messing with them planned to keep it up.
"Well this is going nowhere fast." Fran plopped down on one of the boxes, picking at the peeling cardboard on one of the corners. "The basement is probably cleaner than the first time we came down here." True there was seeming nothing of interest this time around, but she couldn't shake the overbearing feeling of dread that hung over the room like mist. She said it herself, the atmosphere was tense because they were all expecting to find something extraordinary, but at the same time, it felt like so much more.
Looks like there was to be no scientific breakthroughs tonight. Fran sat and pouted as she watched Zach and Gordon go about their own search.
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