Stacey jumped when the door opened again. How many people are here? Where are they coming from? It was a man with a deep scar on his face and wearing a suit. He looked condescending. Great. Stacey didn't want to anything to do with this man. He didn't like his vibe at all. The man walked by him, seemed to ignore him, the flat out told him that's not his name. Like what the fuck? Where does he get off saying something like that? There's a possibility it's not the name his birth mother gave him, but it's the only one he knows and will go by. Not much makes him mad, but his name is a touchy subject. Not his fault it's feminine sounding. He doesn't feel like beating this dead horse again, so he keeps his mouth shut. No point in saying anything. It changes nothing. The man went to the jukebox, then turned back to him and apologized while pointing out his anxiety. Even better. A bullshit apology and a calling attention to his flaws. Stacey hates very few people, but this guy was making it on his list. He's never hated anyone this fast. Not even himself, and that was years in the making.

Finally a song played and it took a few seconds through the piano intro to recognize it. The Killers. One of his favorite bands and his favorite album. He swayed to the piano, tapped his fingers through the drums, then strummed his fingers like he was playing his guitar. He learned to play this song a while ago. He hasn't played it in a few years, but the notes came back to him. He closed his eyes mouthed along to the song. He felt like playing now. Maybe after the song was over. He tried to tuned out what the man had to say and focus on the music, but he was hard to ignore. Stacey stopped and opened his eyes, but tapped his foot. Looks like he won't be able to enjoy himself while they chat. He'll come back to the jukebox later and jam out if he can.

"Heh, nice to meet ya, Stacey," Zoey said to him with a smile. "Nice last name, welcome to the Gray Gang."

What went over Zoey's head was paid attention to by Odessa... neither Stacey nor Lilith told where they were from, or what they were doing before they got sent here. Intentionally? High possibility. Stacey kept his voice low as nobody would notice him, however, few things escaped Odessa. If he was trying to hide something then he was doing a terrible job at it and Odessa was curious to find out. The girl kept this to herself as she kept her attention on Lilith, oh so patiently waiting for her next move. Odessa wondered when she was just gonna tell how she knows this.

Someone else walked in. Odd. Odessa didn't get a tingle in her skull telling her someone was approaching... odd. The girl saw the boy walk in with a cigarette and a suit and she got a peculiar vibe about him. He walks in like he owns the place, and knows everything. That made Odessa roll her eyes as he comes in, insults Stacey and puts out his theories.

"I'm taking bets. We're dead, we're here for a reason, or we're suffering for something we did. I think we're here for a very special reason, five bucks says that."

Odessa couldn't help but chuckle as Zoey looked around nervously as she was at a loss for words. She pulled at her collar and in the process dropped her cigarette. "Damn it." She said as she bent over to pick it up. Stacey also had a pretty poor reaction to the guy... probably because he insulted him low-key, yet didn't open his mouth to say a peep! That could suggest he's not that good at conflict and just wants to lay it off.

Still, that meant that Odessa was the first to speak to him.

"Oh, look at you," Odessa started, smiling at Elron in a way that suggested she wasn't phased by him at all. "Walking in here like you own the place and interrupting our conversation. Do you have any manners?" Oddessa's voice was rather chipper, which betrayed the scolding words that she was using.

"At least give us your name before you make us put up with the detective act."

---

---

And She did well to bathe in the stillness, let herself embody it and, in turn, allow its objectivity to funnel into her senses. In chaotic places, She found, the Way helped quite often to make things a bit clearer. This situation—this chaos—was a bit of an exception. There were too many factors to keep track of, too many names and faces all vying to proclaim themselves as real creatures in their newfound Limbo. She preferred the opposite—would have rather lived in the negative space. The Stillness.

The mute girl, who introduced herself as Lillith based on a squinted reading of her scrawling, also seemed out of her mind. Much like Zoey, it was straight to magic, or in this case ‘the Extra-Normal’. She supposed she wasn’t much better, but it made sense that others sought a bright billboard welcoming them to their death, or whatever was next, wheresoever you choose to call it…

Zoey’s own appraisal of her manner of speech brought a smile to the enigmatic girl’s face. All too often, her progenitor sages were lumped together. The Old Master, the Lord of War, and… Haiku master Basho, it seemed. Any excuse to recede into the watcher was comforting enough. This was not the time or place, she thought, for elaborating on foundational principles. Alas, the maelstrom exchange game of names, and faces, and final resting places continued to reign; and up next was Stacey Gray.

His meek voice hardly carried, and as the doors propagated more and more new subjects of conversation, his words seemed swiftly overlooked. He did, however, manage to direct a modicum of attention in her direction, and she couldn’t quite deny the question. Was she afraid of being painted suspicious? No. Not in Limbo, but courtesy and poise couldn’t be foregone. Not even in some simulated abandoned place—their new hellscape. The girl slid her hand across the bar where she sat and secured a barback’s receipt pad. For a moment, it appeared as though she ignored Stacey, occupied instead with little, fervent slashes across her new canvas. 34 in total. It was just long enough, she hoped, for the attention to be eschewed elsewhere. Only then could the sage retain her constant state. Better off unknown... Better off dead...

It read: “魔緒”
The sort of characters daddy bribes the priest to paint on your grave.

“Mao.” She nodded to Stacey, not much caring to pursue the topic further. It was interesting, that subtle ability of hers to drop her words into the offbeats—as though waiting for moments when few were listening. Something else caught her attention. The jukebox activated just at the right moment—a sort of saving grace for Mao faux-focus on. Instead, her eyes lingered on the newcomer who entered purgatory dressed to head to the heavens. Mao knew her bet.

“Here for a reason,” she said. “Clever...” Mao started tapping arrhythmically against the bar as the music began to play. She wasn’t paying much mind to the words or even its musical measures for that matter. That was the Way of Niten, after all. Keep no distinct rhythm. Reinvent. Find your own. The investigator speech continued, and Mao only grew more amused as she followed along. It was getting harder to hide it all. She furrowed her brow, showed an angled grin.

“He’s dead,” Mao echoed, and couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. It only picked up when he withdrew the badge and proclaimed his position. “Occult and Paranormal Activity, yes.” Mao showed the slightest sign of second-guessing herself, bringing a palm against her cheek. They were all out of their minds, she thought, but perhaps that was the way to be. When met with the void, eschew the self. The sage assimilates with the Way.

“It just sounds professional...” Mao shifted herself up atop the bar, setting the empty drink down next to her. “We’re all agents of something these days. Aren’t we? Some more delusional than others... My money’s on the Void, investigator—give it one of a thousand different names.”

Zoey appreciated the effort of the stranger giving her a cigarette. Even though she had others (that were also menthol!) and had a bad feeling about this place and this guy. However, with Penny here she knew that she would never let anything bad happen to her. The girl slid the cigarette between her lips and ignited it with her lighter. The stranger then goes on about the symbolism of the song... one that admittedly went over Zoey's head at the time (mainly this song was one helluva past from the past and she hasn't listened to the Killers in years).

"He's asking God for help. "No one realizes the meaning behind this song, or the symbolism. There was a reason I picked it, not only because it cranks but - the vocalist is asking for help. He's asking God for help because he's fucked up, he's so far gone. He's done something terrible, or is it his inability to do what he wants in life? He needs god to help him achieve that. I'm sure a lot of you are feeling like you need god right now, I do too and I can relate to the song. I don't know how I got here, or what here really is? The Big Empty? Hell? One thing I know for sure is, God isn't coming to save us. He's dead."

Zoey took a long puff of her cigarette and of her mouth out came a cloud of smoke. She kept her eyes on her boots as she said, "... God's not dead, that's for sure." Zoey finally spoke to the stranger as it seemed a strange nerve has been hit. She went back to avoiding eye contact as the girl introduced himself... brandishing a strange badge. "He's probably not going to save us, though." She looked off to the side.

"Agent Prescott, Bureau of Occult & Paranormal Activity. I also go by Elron, depending on your preferences of professionalism. I apologize if I came off as rude earlier, I just feel so excited. I don't know why."

"Huh?" Zoey spoke muttered to herself. So he was some kinda secret government agent or something? This didn't make any sense to the girl. The girl muttered something else to herself that was hard to hear, something about a "Farmer Hill".

When Elron pulled out his badge and introduced himself, Odessa's smirk immediately disappeared. The girl furrowed her eyebrows and leaned in really close to get a good look at it. "... Huh?" Odessa said confused as she stood straight up and took a few steps back. She was thrown off... and yet it didn't hit her until a few seconds later that Elron was still being cocky and annoying to the girl. And she probably provided the catalyst for him to act even more arrogant.

"You seem to be the smartest one here miss, and the calmest. I never claimed to have all the answers to this place, but maybe you do?"

Odessa shook her head from left to right as she took a few steps back and planted her behind on the table. It took a second but that cocky smile returned to her face as she shrugged nonchalantly. "Your guess is as good as mine, I was asleep and then I was here," She shrugged as she planted her hand on the table, "Obviously we are here for a reason - possibly paranormal - but I'm not sure what."

There was a pause.

"... and can I see your badge again."

After listening to them converse Zoey finally had enough. Right after the newly introduced, Mao kept talking weird the girl got up off the barstool after taking one more drag of her cigarette and gave everyone a look. All of this was getting so fuckin' annoying and she couldn't bear another second of it. She shook her head as she said, "Okay, let's do this name game bullshit so we can move on: name's Zoey Gray, I'm from the same shithole in Montana as her-" Zoey jabbed a thumb in her direction. "-and I was in LA partying, passed out, and now I'm here."

Taking another puff of her cigarette Zoey said,

"I think we're all getting a little ahead of ourselves, don't you all think?" Zoey started, "We're just in an empty city and before we start tossing around conspiracy theories an' shit - how about we just go? It's a novel fuckin' idea ain't it? I've got my fill on weird shit and magic and I don't plan on sticking around to find out what sort of magical weird shit is going on in a place so aptly named Paradise."

After her speech, Zoey slumped back down in her chair and looked off to the side, avoiding eye contact with the group. She couldn't even take another drag of her cigarette before she added on,

"... and I don't think we're dead, I don't feel dead. Going off my hangover."

“I know you’re all Extra-Normal beings like I am.”

Penny felt as if a shot of adrenaline had been spiked directly into her heart as she read that last part, her eyes widening in surprise as they betrayed her apparent calmness. She had anticipated as much, and Odessa’s little superpower joke hadn’t done anything to quell her suspicion, but she didn’t expect someone to just outright say it or, in Lilith’s case, write it. Zoey was quick to call bullshit while Odessa brushed the comment off as if it was no big deal. Penny eyed the room with a new brand of suspicion. Assuming Lilith wasn’t a nutjob (and Penny knew she was right for at least half the room), then what did that make everyone else?

Dangerous. Then again, so was she. Penny glanced down at a paper carryout menu. Odessa chided Lilith for not continuing the name game. She tore off a scrap of paper and drew on it as Guitar Guy spoke up. Stacey. She gave him a sorry look. If that was actually his name then it must’ve been a shit life in high school. She knew for certain that the old Penny would’ve made fun of him relentlessly. Hell, the new one was biting her tongue not to say shit. Stacey bounced the focus over to Beret. Penny sucked in her lip. Let’s see how she manages to deflect this.

"Wow."

Wow indeed. Beret Girl had managed to summon a dickhead in a cheap suit. No, wait, she’d uttered something at the same time. Mao? Anway, not the weirdest presence any longer. Penny adjusted her collar. Dickhead wasn’t Penny’s initial thought. She’d smiled at him when he entered, as if she was actually working the bar and had just seen a customer come in. However, the smile quickly faded as he blew smoke at Stacey’s face, eyefucked Zoey in front of the entire room, and, most damning, sacrificed a perfectly good coin to the jukebox. She made a note to bust it open later. Scarface—Penny frowned, the new guy seemed like the kind of loser who’d love that fucking movie for all the wrong reasons—leaned up against the jukebox.

“Maybe if you consider fuckery special,” muttered Penny under her breath. Even with Scarface’s disruptive entrance, she was still stressing about what Lilith had said. A bunch of Extra-Normal assholes all walk into a bar. Yeah, there was probably a reason they were all here, but it wasn’t special. Nothing good ever came when a bunch of people like them showed up in one area.

She ripped another piece of the menu. What had happened to the first? If anyone had been paying close attention to her instead of Scarface that would’ve seen her drop it at her feet right before she had adjusted her collar. However, it wasn’t there anymore. It was under the stairs now, resting against the wall that led outside. Kicked there somehow? Whatever happened, she clearly missed it because she was drawing the same design on this one as Odessa questioned the newcomer. Her sketching stopped at Scarface’s—Elron’s—mention of god being dead. Penny smirked. No, they couldn’t actually know that. It was just pretentious prattling, like Mao with her talk of the Void. Or was it? Did his agency actually exist, and had they monitored the events in Montana?

"... and I don't think we're dead, I don't feel dead. Going off my hangover."

“Pretty sure you defied death too many times for it to come take you in your sleep. If either of us were actually dead I’d imagine we’d remember being hounded down by him,” said Penny. “But you’re right, Zoey, figuring this out is dumb. We should really just fucking go.”

Not to say that she didn’t want to learn more. She just wanted to do so when she knew they were safe. There was an easy enough way out. She reached for her phone—no signal, no wifi, no nothing. Figured. So much for the easy way. She sighed, and grabbed the bar phone. No dial tone. Cool.

“Let me guess, none of you have working phones?” she asked, not even bothering to wait for an answer to a question that’d only receive nos. Penny shot a look at Lilith and Elron, “She says we’re all extra-normal, and Special Agent Scientologist over there works for the Ghostbusters. Y’all wanna go ahead and magic us a quick way out of the city?” She scoffed. “Well, while you’re all making sure the summoning circle is properly salted and the candles are respecting mercury’s retrograde by only being placed in the proper quadrant, I’ll be walking.”

Penny stepped from behind the bar, the slip of paper still nestled between her fingers. They could ask questions until the sun came up, assuming that this city even had a sun, but hanging around would get them nowhere—and hanging around other extra-normals would get them nowhere good even faster. She took a few steps towards the door and then looked at Zoey expectantly.

“C’mon, stop pouting and start moving, girl. You know I’m not gonna put you on the back burner,” said Penny, winking. She glanced at the others. She didn’t trust them but the words were already coming out of her mouth, “Don’t be stupid and just hang here. Best case scenario the owner actually comes back and has you all arrested for trespassing. Let’s go, Zoey.”

Lilith expected such reactions. She only shrugged when Zoey had called bull on her :speculation". "Now why would I lie about something like that? Call it a sixth sense if you will, but I don't spout bullshit." the delinquent wrote in response, then turned her attention to Odessa. "Atleast you're willing to be honest." when called out for not continuing the name game, Lilith added, "I was getting to that. Besides I'm not that good at talking, obviously."

Though before she could address the empty girl or the timid guy, the latter actually spoke up to introduce himself. Albeit in a nervous wreck. "He speaks!" Lilith wrote, giving a reassuring grin to Stacey. The poor dude really needs to be calmed down...

But before the delinquent could tell the others about him, some James Bond looking guy had entered the building. And ain't he acting like a new kind of prick. Atleast Prescott seemed to divert everyone's atention, Lilith could've sworn Odessa was catching on to what the delinquent was. "Something tells me it's not that simple." she wrote when Penny suggested they magic their way out of Paradise. Or was the ghost town called Paradiso? Eh, who knows. "But yeah, we should get moving."

While all of this went on, Odessa stared at the badge. Looking at it from all angles, even using the hand that was practically glued to shine it under some light. Zoey glanced at her and immediately learned just why she was covering her chest. And Zoey would too if they were that big. It was like she had fuckin' bottle caps.

“Pretty sure you defied death too many times for it to come take you in your sleep. If either of us were actually dead I’d imagine we’d remember being hounded down by him,” said Penny, which made Zoey tug at her collar yet again at the mention of him. “But you’re right, Zoey, figuring this out is dumb. We should really just fucking go.”

It was strange - not the whole getting trapped in an abandoned city thing... that Penny was agreeing with her. That they just leave, which was a novel idea wasn't it? Why didn't they fuckin' think of it sooner?! Penny made her intents clear as she walked to the door and Zoey was quick to move over to her. To be honest, Zoey didn't want to stick around anyhow for a wide variety of reasons - namely the fact that if it had something to do with him, she didn't want to chance it. She threw up the peace sign as she walked towards the door. "Later fam, catch ya'll on the flipside."

That was when Elron went on a giant mad ass speech... and for the first time in what felt like ages, Zoey smirked like a cat. The guy went on like they were some amateurs. Like really? Zoey survived hell on earth! "Fragile ego, much?" Zoey muttered underneath her breath... she didn't want to stir the pot any further to be honest. The bastard would probably get violent at this rate.

"If we're leaving this bar we're doing it all together."

"... Then get off your ass and let's go," Zoey loudly commanded before she went on a speech. "This is what I'm talkin' about Elron - you're getting ahead of yourself acting like you're the macho-man just because you're a secret agent or whatever." She took a puff of her cigarette as she threw her hands behind her head.

"Truth is, whatever comes for us - ain't gonna last long-" Zoey said.

Though, while Odessa was examining the badge in confusion she stopped at an instant before she smirked. However, that smirk didn't last long as Odessa felt a horrible presence... coming right towards them. The girl shouted, "Get away from the door!"

Zoey saw something heading towards them that was tall, black and coming fast. Zoey immediately tackled Penny to the ground as the thing finally made impact. It absolutely crashed through the front of the building like a crazy Kool-Aid man. It created a huge cloud of dust as it sent chunks of debris everywhere. When the dust settled, Zoey was still on top of Penny. She climbed up to her hands and knees and saw it.

It was definitely not human or even corporeal. It was like one of those Apparition things she heard mentioned on the Snapchat group a few times. It was spindly, humanoid, about fourteen feet tall, without a feature on its body. Its limbs were abnormally long, almost touching the ground, and the whole thing was made out of a moving black smoke. It had no head, it was hunched over so it's true height was hard to tell. Its hands were massive, probably big enough to completely crush Zoey's own torso with just a grasp and each finger ended sharp and pointy like a claw. By comparison, its feet were tiny and human-like, but not like it was using them - it was hovering up and down.

"... Apparition," Odessa said as she had her hands together at her waistline.

While it had no head the thing's voice came out of nowhere and it was near impossible to understand. Like it was a voice coming from the other side.

"... G̵̨̠̤͇̟͔͎̖͙̯̣͔̘̓̎̏͗͊͊͌i̵̟͚̩̞͈͓̰͇͉̼̓̌̓̃̾͛̃̋̑͘͘͠͝v̷̤̥̞̼̅̎̈́̋̋̔͒̂̀͠e̴̦̫̹̓͑͆͐͊ ̷̨̛̺͎̝̬̐̃̀͂͆m̵̢̛̛̤̜̲̰̹̲̥̞̤̺̃̀̈̓̈́̓̓̋̊͗͘͘ͅẽ̵̡̧̯͖̖̯͍̥͇̪͒̑̊̃̌͐̔̅̎̊͊͘͜͝ ̸̫̝̣͔̱͇͈̞͓͕̹̻̥͐̎͆͊́͘ẙ̷̝̙̏̔͌͝͝ǫ̵̖͚̲̱̼̣̥͉͓̪̓̉͊̆̅̽̊͂u̷̻̫̺̺͐͐̒́̑̇́̉̃̂̎̿̕ȑ̵̪̦̻̰̫̹̺͍͉́̆̋͑́̓ ̴̧̛͔͚͚̫̰̼̺̪̺̙̙̯̉ͅb̸̡̤̰̼͍͈̀o̵̠̳̜͉̣͒̆̓d̴̢̗͔͍͙̝̥̞͙̩̤́͆̌ͅy̷̧̢̟̖͕͓͖̠̠̰͔͕̟͓̩̒.̶̲̗̘̫͓͚̺̩̂͒̎̾̍̿̀́̈́̒̓́͊"

The thing's hand quickly extended and went straight for Stacey as if it was trying to grab him.

Penny gave Elron a doubtful look as he pulled a filibuster to stall her and Zoey from leaving by warning them about the unknown dangers of the world. Penny didn’t really know what an Eldritch Shifter was (she made a note to research it later) but she was fairly confident in her ability to be the one tearing instead of getting torn. Still, Elron didn’t need to know that, doubly so if his agency wasn’t actually some work of fiction. The last thing Penny needed was to have Uncle Sam breathing down her neck and men in black knocking at the door. She rolled her eyes at Zoey as he suggested that they all left together, as if that wasn’t basically what Zoey had said in the first place.

Penny folded her arms and said, “Did it really just take you all of that to say you—”

"Get away from the door!"

“—FUCK!”

Penny shouted as Zoey tackled into her, knocking the pair to the ground as the wall beside them burst open and peppered them with dust and debris. She covered her eyes and hacked out a cloud of dust as Zoey scrambled off of her, allowing Penny to prop herself up on her elbows. The moment she saw the gangly smoke monster she felt her vision pulse. Every moving mote of dust and falling chunk of debris had a calculated path, and she forced out the junk knowledge to focus on the Apparition. Her chest rose and fell in sync with its floating. Her hand tightened around the slip of paper, careful not to smudge the markings, as a voice of white noise being chopped to bits with ice in a blender filled the room. Penny grimaced at the sound.

Her hand extended almost immediately after the Apparition began to reach out towards Stacey. She slapped it against the ground and the paper blasted across the floor faster than anyone could slide it. In fact, it moved so fast that nobody would be able to see it under normal circumstances; it had just simply disappeared from her hand. However, Penny could see it as it skirted across the ground, her vision returning to normal as the glyph on the paper snapped and a small stone column erupted through the floor between Stacey and the Apparition. There was no way it’d stop it, but hopefully she’d bought Stacey a few precious seconds. She hopped to her feet.

“Haven’t you heard of consent, you spooky bitch?” shouted Penny, trying to distract the Apparition as her mind raced for any kind of plan. The second slip of paper was ruined, destroyed by the rubble, but the vodka bottle still had an active glyph. She took a half step back towards the counter. Elron shouted for everyone to follow him out the back. Good plan, as long as by everyone he meant everyone else. She’d buy them some time.

“I got this! Get to the back!” yelled Penny at the others. Still, she needed to give her eyes a few more seconds before they were ready to see what’s coming. She slipped her hand into a pocket. Screw the defensive then, time to attack. Penny removed her hand and slung a fistful of change out in front of her. She repulsed the change, and In the blink of an eye the parade of Lincolns, Jeffersons, and Roosevelts blasted away from her as if they were fired from a machine gun. She doubted it’d do more than annoy the smoke Apparition. She needed that bottle.

Stacey didn't know where to focus his attention. There's Mr. Pretentious, Zoey, Odessa, and Penny conversing, Lilith writing on her board, and Mao? (he thinks he heard her right over everyone else). Elron was some paranormal agent, no one else bought his bullshit. Too much. All of it. This crowd in a small bar made the space tight and all the conversation reminded him of is brothers' party two years ago. He didn't want to go back there. Not now. One panic attack a today was enough. His hands itched to play. He needed to get out of here, but he hated the idea of wandering off by himself even more. He liked being alone, but to be completely alone with nothing but himself to keep him company made him uncomfortable. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused on the music the best he could, until he was lost in it. He went over the notes in his mind, refreshing himself on how to play, until he can get his guitar in his hands. He picked up conversation of leaving here. He opened his eyes. Penny and Zoey headed to the door. He slid off his seat, he adjusted his case on his back.

"Get away from the door!"

Stacey didn't know what was going on, and he didn't get the chance to think about it. He took the warning for what it was and got away from the table. He crouched against the bar close to Odessa and Elron. A second later a tall, smokey black, headless creature crashed into the door. Zoey and Penny hit the floor.

"Apparition."

What the fuck? Like a ghost? A demon maybe? The Apparition thing spoke some language he couldn't understand, then shot out an arm towards him. Then a pillar sprung out of the floor in front of him. The hand smashed into it, but it didn't break. His hands shook, breathe stuck in his throat, and he wanted to piss himself. What the fuck? What the fuck? What the FUCK!

"We have to go, there's a exit out the back!"

Stacey followed right behind Elron, he jumped over the top of the counter and ducked. Its hand hit the back wall of alcohol no sooner had his head ducked down. Bottles shattered above them, glass and alcohol rained down. Why him? Why is it always him? Tears came to his eyes, terrified. He couldn't breathe for sure this time, but he had to move. He had to go.

Stop being a pussy. Sandy's voice yelled in his mind.

Not much for encouragement, but he'll take it. He didn't let his tears fall. He wouldn't do himself any favors if he couldn't see where he was going. He wiped his eyes, then moved. He kept low, he heard Penny yelling at, followed by something hitting it rapidly. He hoped she didn't die trying to save him. He followed Elron to the kitchen in the back. Please don't let the back door be locked. He didn't want to die today. As shitty as this situation is, if it were two years ago, he'd let the thing have him. But he's worked too hard to give up now. The kitchen was empty like the rest of the bar. The large metal counter top had pots and pans hanging over it. There were knives in blocks. He grabbed one. It was sharp and he doubted it'd save him from smokey, but better this than nothing.

"What is that thing? You're a paranormal expert, agent, something, right?" He turned to Elron, hoping he'd have answers; maybe someway to stop that thing from chasing him.

---

---

The more the misfit platoon spoke on the topics of intelligence—paranormal or otherwise—regarding the situation, the more Mao wished for a coveted clarity in whatever end she found herself in. Magic and monsters. Each new character in her new world had their take on the fate that awaited the condemned. In other words, them, the whole lot. Mao pressed the top of her fist against her chin and pursed her lips. Everyone seemed a bit desperate to splay out their knowledge of purgatory all too competitively, ‘Eldritch Shifters’ or not.

As much as she wasn’t particularly fond of any of her new companions, Mao did rise from the bar when Zoey and Penny headed for the door. She fancied another escape. It was always like that with her—one escape after another. This one would be into the empty city. It was just her aesthetic, she thought, but plans changed as the living embodiment of darkness bared down on them.

When it spoke, Mao’s eyes transfixed upon the spot where the creature’s visage should have been. She lingered for a moment, but Penny’s voice jostled her back into reality. It seemed that life in death wasn’t meant to be so easy. Mao didn’t have much a choice but to remain still as the creature’s hand shot past her and straight for Stacey. She slipped under the spindly arm without thinking. It probably wasn’t the smartest move to near it at all, but Mao figured that Mr. Special Agent Prescott had the right idea on this one.

“Not the line I would have gone for, really,” Mao said, to perhaps no one in particular. By the time Mao had reached the stairwell that led back up and out, she turned back just missing Penny’s rather magical endeavor to create a distraction. She didn’t really notice Penny at all. Again, she just stared into the blackness, like she was looking for its eyes or something. At least that would have given her a fixed point to focus on. Its smokey form just caught her, reminded her of something and left her reminiscing.

Emptiness. Path. Harmony. A strange configuration and stranger reading.

As Mao started to realize how swiftly the others made their exit, she didn’t linger either, though opted to take the same route in and out. Who knew what awaited at the back door after all? She figured instead that purgatory wasn’t the place to make things so easy if dark demons dared to devour any denizens freshly dropped off from other worlds. She darted up the stairs towards the balcony.

Today was probably a bad day for Stacey, Zoey thought. For some reason, it was going for him, but Penny was magnanimous enough to try to save him. Not that it worked, the spirit broke through the pillar but hey, Stacey got out of the way. Slinging around that heavy ass guitar did wonders for his figure. Though, she had better things to worry about than Stacey. Well, Zoey was worried about him, but they had to put a stop to this thing. It's what Claire would have done.

“I got this! Get to the back!”

"Like hell!" Zoey shouted as that tattoo on her hand finally started glowing. As Penny began unloading on it with some spare change - which Zoey noticed got stuck in its body and formed... cracks? Like that made sense, but nothing makes sense with Apparitions. Zoey stuck both of her hands out. Out of both of her hands came a torrent of snow that pushed the thing out of the room right back into the darkness. Gritting teeth, Zoey pulled out a cigarette and took one hell of a puff. "If you're gonna fight this thing, we're gonna do it together!"

However, just as they got it out of the room the thing started charging back in at lightning speeds. Zoey dove out of the way as the thing jetted past them completely. Zoey could feel the fucking speed in which it was going as it rustled her hair just as it went past. It broke past the wall to the kitchen and charged right into the middle of the group that was trying to escape. Breaching past that wall to the other one and stopping again out in the middle of nowhere.

"Oh, well, that makes this easier," Zoey said to herself as the snow around the Apparition was lifted off the ground to the point where there was nothing to suggest that there was even snow there. It was surrounded by a tornado of snow as Zoey spun her hands around. The goal wasn't to stop the thing but slow it down just long enough for them to come up with something. It seemed to be after Stacey, but whenever it charged it stopped for a moment. Just a second, maybe it needed to recharge. Zoey could see the thing in the miniature blizzard that she was creating as Zoey wished that she could control ice.

Ś̵̤̌̂͌͒́̈́̕͝͝t̵̢̠͇̤͕̀͌̃̈́͌͆̇̏͛͗̆͆̓͠ͅȁ̶̢̻̗̖̺̰̦̲͚̱̥̩̯́̿̀̀͛̈́̐̾̾̚̕̚y̷̛̮̥̫̳̋̂̎́̇́̕ ̸̧͎̪͓̳̅ǫ̷̡̢̨̩̱̩̝̤͕̦̞̬̬̗̅͆̕ṵ̴̧̘̞͗̈̂̂̀͗̏ͅṱ̵̡̭̭̹͕̳̼͖̯̍̓̓̔͜ ̴͚͖̲̻̘͇͎͚̥͌̓̔͂́̆̀͌̂͌͋̾̀͘o̷͈͗͑͌̿̐̂̾̈̑̉f̶͖̘̼̠̮̏̉͊̅ ̴̢̡̣̻̪̺͕̣̮̯͕̅͐̉̂̍̓̓̀͑̎͜͝m̶̛̼͂̿̏͋̕ŷ̷̺̻͚̝̠̺͛̎̕ ̴̧̰̪̟̜͔̣̳̥͙̪̬͛̅͌̑̔̈̀̀̕w̶̧̡̼̖̹̘̙̥͇̉͛͊̏ͅâ̴̢̨̛͔̖̝̠̭̳̖̫̬̠͈̩̏̂̅͜͝ÿ̵̨̧̥͖̥̞͘͘.̶͓͔̠͙̆̈́̒

They heard the thing moan at them as it slowly tried to breach the snow but Zoey was doing a hell of a good job keeping it inside of it.

"Oh, illustrious leader!" Zoey said, "I can't keep this up forever! Shoot it or something with your magic bullets! I dunno! Something!"

Her teeth started clattering.

"What is that thing? You're a paranormal expert, agent, something, right?"
"Incorporeal being, not sure if this one's function but it looks like it wants someone as a snack. Nothing my skill set can do, I'm not afflicted. Best we can do is run, maybe lose it but enough talk."

"... Sorry, but this is my area of expertise, Detective."

Odessa said as she had that confidence little smirk on her face as she walked up. Seemingly taking her sweet old time walking up. Almost as if she knew that she was completely safe from the thing. Though her arm wasn't covering her... undesirables, and they were on full display. Odessa didn't have time for that, what she did have time for was helping Stacey out the best she could. She hoped that Elron didn't take that the wrong way but it wasn't wrong.

"Many apparitions, when they lose their previous body, desperately seek out a new body to take over," Odessa explained flatly. "And usually they go for the closest match of their original body... which unfortunately is you," Odessa said with a chuckle almost like this was a game.

However, Odessa got uncomfortably close to Stacey's face as she said in a sultry tone, "One solution would be to just give it what it wants. You'll still have your soul and infinite potential..." She then giggled again.

Was it out of altruism or some other game that Odessa was playing? However, it got cut off when the thing came charging through the wall and Odessa tackled Stacey out of the way as the freak came barrelling through the door. Fortunately, it seems that it lacks maneuverability when it charges. Unfortunately, none of them could stop it when they charged. Maybe Odessa had a plan but she wasn't going to pull that card, not unless things got desperate. She stared at him with a smile for what probably felt like hours. Stacey probably realized that there was something... odd about Odessa's body. For starters, she was oddly cold and she didn't breathe either.

"Let's get out of here," Odessa said as she got off of Stacey, grabbing his hand and helping him to his feet. The Zoey girl was using her abstraction to slow the thing down and Odessa was more than certain that the two could stop this Apparition. "We'd only get in the way."

Whether or not he considers what she says isn't, at the moment, important.

What the what what? Incorporeal being? Not afflicted? He didn't understand anything that came out of Elron's mouth, but he didn't have much of an answer anyway, so he guesses it doesn't matter. What does matter is that the door is open for their escape and he's itching to get out of there. He barely had a foot over the threshold when Odessa gave him an unsettling answer.

"Many apparitions, when they lose their previous body, desperately seek out a new body to take over. And usually they go for the closest match of their original body... which unfortunately is you." She chuckled and got so close to his face that he almost pushed her out of his space. "One solution would be to just give it what it wants. You'll still have your soul and infinite potential..."

Yeah, he was tired of whatever she was trying to pull. Some weird mix of attempting to be sexy and flirty, but it made his stomach churn instead. He's not good with sneaky people and his initial feeling about her changed from probably won't hurt him to he needs to stay the fuck away. She's more dangerous than the girls that look like his ex. She's suggesting he gives into a demon when he has demons of his own he fights every day and the last thing he needs is one that's like him in anyway shape or form. He doesn't imagine he'd live long with Stacey Gray x2.

A loud bang came from the other side of the wall, then he was on the snowy ground of the alley with Odessa on top of him. The Apparition came through the wall and almost got him, before crashing through another wall to the outside. He barely paid her any attention with his eyes on the snow tornado surrounding it. What the fuck fuck? Spirits, demons, fucking Satan, and now whatever optical illusion that is. Then her body was off of his and she pulled him to his feet. He didn't linger on their handhold and let go of her as soon as he stood up. Something didn't feel right. She was colder than she should be and her breath didn't cloud in the cold like his and Elron's. Swear to God if she's a corpse he's out. Alone in this strange world or not. Alone with Elron, of all people, or not. He's not coping with this. At. All.

He tucked the knife into his belt loops, then tugged on Elron's sleeve so he stayed between him and Odessa. Can't trust her not to stab him in the back or strangle him. Best to have distance. He ran down the alley, away from the monster, away from the bar, and hoped Zoey and Penny make it out okay. He's not sure if he can function with two insufferable people. The alley let out to another empty street, more snow on the ground now. He didn't know where to go, so he went in the direction he came from when Zoey yelled out earlier. If the bar was warm and had a functional jukebox, maybe they could get the train running in the meantime and get as far from here as possible.

“Like hell! If you're gonna fight this thing, we're gonna do it together!” yelled Zoey as she blew the Apparition out of the room with a slurry of snow.

“Poor bastard doesn’t stand a chance then,” said Penny. She knew she shouldn’t be enjoying this, but she was beaming. The real thing was always better than slaying plastic bottles out in the woods. Stacey had managed to get away in time and thanks to Zoey’s assistance she was able to make it within arms reach of the bottle before the thing tore back into the room. Penny twisted out of the way so that the flying debris of the wall it broke through pelted her back and she cringed as she heard just about every bottle of expensive liquor in the place crash. So much for that plan.

She whipped her head around to check if Zoey was okay. She was more than okay; she was already moving. Penny followed after her, boots crunching over broken bottles as she made her way after the Apparition. She stopped momentarily as something in the kitchen caught her eye: a knife block. Without a hesitation she stole the block from the counter. If this place somehow did have an owner, she doubted the missing knives would be the first thing on the top of his list of concerns. She tucked the block under her arm and stepped outside through the other broken wall.

Zoey had trapped the Apparition in a whirlwind of snow, giving the others the much needed chance to beat feet as far away as possible. Penny set down the knife block, knelt next to it, and drew out the biggest blade, uncapping her marker in the other hand with her mouth. Time to get creative. Zoey’s snow seemed to be slowing down the Apparition, so she’d stick with that flavor. She began to draw a water glyph on the blade, carefully setting it down when she was finished as she picked up another one.

"Oh, illustrious leader!" Zoey said, "I can't keep this up forever! Shoot it or something with your magic bullets! I dunno! Something!"

“Magic missiles,” Penny uttered, mostly to herself. Her brother had insisted on referring to them as that, and now she couldn’t think of them in any other way. Her second knife was done now. Another simple water glyph, and one of the only ones of that type she could get right. She glanced up at the Apparition beating against its snowy prison. She didn’t have time to do another.

She snapped the lid back on the marker and, while grabbing the two knives and standing, kept it securely gritted between her teeth. Her vision pulsed and she felt a pressure behind her eyes. Short intervals normally weren’t so bad, but when the path of every single flake of Zoey’s snowstorm was being projected it was a bit too much to bear. Penny focused on the knives as she hefted them up and flung them forward. The moment they left her hands the blades snapped towards the Apparition like they had been fired from a cannon. They were followed by two pops cracking through the air as the glyphs erupted, encasing the knives in jagged spears of ice as they barreled toward the Apparition. Penny’s vision blurred ever so slightly as it returned to normal. No longer certain they’d hit, she was already dropping down to one knee and uncapping her marker to “reload” for her next salvo.

It was a huge exertion of power to keep this snowstorm going, however, Penny was quick to draw a glyph on the ground and covered the knives in ice. At that point, Zoey couldn't take it anymore, she was shivering as she dropped to her hands and knees. The Apparition barely had any time to dodge or flee, because by the time the snowstorm dropped the blades were flying right for the thing. They pierced through the Apparition's body that would have killed anything else and the thing let out an ear-piercing screech.

"... God damn it," Zoey said to herself as the thing still wasn't dead. "Fuckin' ghosts."

The Apparition retaliated by charging directly at the two and Zoey's eyes shot wide open as she rolled off to the side. She wasn't particularly worried about Penny right now, because that thing was going to kill her. It went right through the building - which couldn't take anymore and finally collapsed in on itself (killing Soraya in the process). It caved into a cloud of dust and debris and Zoey had to haul ass away from it, and she turned on her heel and saw the anarchy unfold.

However, Zoey heard a rush of wind and she paused for a second. Focusing, Zoey channeled her aura reading by remembering the grief that she felt upon learning that she was gone. A tear ran down her cheeks as she sensed the Apparition flying right in the direction Stacey and everyone else was going.

"Shiiiiiiit!" Zoey said to Penny, "That thing has one helluva hard-on for Stacey."

Gathering the snow around herself, she created a dense mini-hill of snow and hopped on it. "Hop on!" Zoey said as she stuck her hand out for Penny to grab... forgetting that her hands were freezing cold. Once Penny was on, the hill jetted off and the pair quickly chased after the Aberration and the rest of the group.



It seems that Odessa made an impact on Stacey. To the point where he was looking afraid of her.

Ah, it was going perfectly.

He put Elron between the two like he was really capable of stopping her if she wanted to get him. Though, Odessa followed the rest of the group, only because she wanted to protect Stacey - even if he didn't want her protection. It might be better if he willingly gives up his physical form, not now, but later they'd find a common language. The sounds of the raging storm got further and further away as the group reached the street.

Odessa's body started generating heat - one that they probably wouldn't notice but suddenly the snow was melting underneath each step that she took. And the snow that dropped down on her melted into the water - but it disappeared quickly. The girl was, otherwise, completely unaffected by the raging weather even with her distinct lack of clothing.

However, right when they got in the middle of the street was when Odessa felt that tingle... she looked down the street and saw the thing coming towards them at raging speeds. So fast that she couldn't even let out a warning before the thing crashed into their group. Odessa tried to dodge but she was hit by the thing and sent flying down the street. She hit the ground several times as she came to a rolling stop... by an attack that would have killed anyone else. There wasn't an ounce of blood on the snow, however, it appeared some liquid stained it.

Odessa looked up and saw the thing right down the street.

The sonic scream of the Apparition followed by Zoey’s cursing told Penny that her shot hadn’t been the deathblow. She gripped the freshly graffitied knives and looked up in time to see the Apparition barreling towards them. She stumbled to the side and was knocked off-balance as it tore past her without hesitation, landing with her elbows on the padded snow. Penny ignored the sharp flair up of pain as she fired a knife off wildly after the Apparition. The blade was swallowed in the chaos caused by the collapsing building: a total miss. She cursed and looked for a replacement, but the knife block had been blown away by the rushing Apparition.

"Shiiiiiiit!" Zoey said. "That thing has one helluva hard-on for Stacey. Hop on!"

“I want the record to show that I hate this idea,” said Penny as she looked at Zoey’s conjured snow mound with uncertainty. She hopped up to her feet, smacked the snow off of her cardigan, and grabbed Zoey’s hand. “Fucking shit! Get some gloves or something,” barked Penny as she recoiled and helped herself on to Zoey’s poor-man snowmobile. “If this thing kills me I’m going to haunt your a—”

The final word was ripped out of Penny’s mouth as Zoey’s snow mound rocketed off after the Apparition at a much faster speed than she had anticipated. She barely managed to wrap a hand around the other girl’s waist to keep herself from falling off. Penny pressed her face into Zoey’s back to protect it from the cold of the whipping wind and buried a roller coaster scream into her jacket. Why’d Zoey ever waste her time with walking when this was an option? Penny peeked one eye open and caught sight of the Apparition as it barreled into Odessa and sent her skipping like a stone down the street. Her chest tightened and released as the under dressed girl looked up from where she laid. Good, she wasn’t dead.

“We’re totally doing that again!” said Penny as she jumped off of Zoey’s ride so she was near Stacey. Her vision buzzed. If Zoey was right about tall, dark, and smoky wanting to jump Stacey’s bones then it’d have to go through her first. She snapped her remaining knife-cicle at the Apparition and followed up with a flurry of loose pocket change as she positioned herself between the Apparition and its haunt. She wiped a droplet of blood from her nose and smirked as she activated her enhanced vision again. All of this swapping was proving to be quite the mental workout. Still, she’d rip this thing apart way before it wore her down.

“If you’re going to start running, do it directly away from me. Don't fuck this up,” she said to Stacey more harshly than she intended. She knelt down and began to draw a large glyph in the snow. Her other hand fished around in her bag for anything. The plan was simple: get the Apparition to charge Stacey and she’d spring the trap to hit it with the largest spike of ice she could muster. She had no concern about reacting in time to pull it off; she just needed a few more heartbeats to finish the glyph.

He heard the bang and hoped it was Zoey and Penny taking that thing down, but his hopes were dashed when they were hit by a strong force. Odessa went flying and he face planted right in the snow. Stacey turned around, face so cold his cheeks turned red and his hair was damp, the Apparition hovered close, hand ready to grab him when Penny landed close to him. She's okay, and Zoey's okay. Not sure if Odessa is alive, but he finds it hard to care when she psyched him out moments before. Too fast. He couldn't process anything and he hated it. He just wanted to be back home getting his ass kicked and locked out of the house. That's better than this. His shit home life is familiar, comforting in the wake of demons wanting his body and mysterious people he's not sure how he feels about yet.

“If you’re going to start running, do it directly away from me. Don't fuck this up.” Penny said while she got to work writing weird symbols on the ground.

Stacey flinched, she sounded like his mother when he did something that irritated her, like almost dying to her great inconvenience. He didn't stick around and got to his feet. He booked it towards the train, though with how fast that thing caught up to them he's not sure if the train was fast enough to outrun it, but it's better than nothing. It's a few blocks away and he's not used to running this far, especially with a guitar on his back and ice on the ground. Oh shit. His guitar. He landed on when Odessa covered him back at the bar. He can't recall if he hard it break and now wasn't the time to check, but he needed a rest if he was going to keep going. He was half way to Odessa when he stopped and swung his case around. He knelt down and opened it. The teal blue acoustic guitar shined under the streetlight. He picked it up, looked it over, and nothing was out of place. The neck was good, any wear was from the last two years, and the strings weren't broken. Good. He packed it up and continued on, a little more rested and a little less panicked about his prized possession.