---

---

"You catch, I bat," Vera said, in what passed for a modestly accented English as she nodded at Aron. She had been practicing. In between drinking at the F Club, conveniently resurrected in Decibitus and haunted by dead rockers. Punk and Goth. Goth and Punk. Vera didn't really need much else when it came to music. One day she would figure out what the F stood for, but she had some ideas.

Looking ahead at the oncoming train wreck, Vera felt a smile tugging at her lips. She didn't mind a brawl. She minded boredom. If the wisp wanted to fight, all the better. No wasted time. No pointless running. Dry cleaning was an obvious business expense. She wasn't worried.

"Dream of the gallows," Vera hissed, as her sword appeared in her hand in a rush of midnight. Kicking a squarish rock the size of a bowling straight at the furry creature, the orange orangutan monster, Vera moved to close the distance at a brisk jog.

Cut. Stab. Chains. Chains. Stab. Cut. It was all the same to her. Dead was dead. Or at least it was supposed to be.

Head in the bag, that's what the boss wanted.

Remains for the kiln.

No trouble.

---

The wizard was mildly amused initially that the man didn’t recognize them as ghosts, not as there were any tell tale signs. Still, there was a sense of hurt pride when he addressed them as some form of hirees for his production, as if one day job wasn’t enough. He was another of the ‘bossy’ type, it seemed. Too many of those around. Still, he remained idle as he wasn’t the social type.

Of course, he watched in bewilderment as Lucian, the pitiable ignorant fool, unknowingly threatened the man with the false pretense that this was our guy. Perhaps, in some form of tragic irony; this movie-shooter was indeed the ghost they were looking for. Somehow blending in as a mortal.

A silly thought, to be sure, and impossible. But doubts set in when he noticed that earring.

It was subtle and quick, a detail that he could have easily missed if he wasn’t focused on the conversation. Could that really be? No, there’s no way a mortal could have obtained something like that…

He could have passed it off as some sort of, conveniently identical trinket, if Maya hadn’t also noticed it. Now, he was curious. Is the core why he can see ghosts? Did a ghost give it to him or are they suddenly letting the living carry those? Or perhaps, if he can see ghosts..

Edward did what all bookworms would do and made a note on the observation, he had briefly retrieved his spell book to jot down what he could on the matter. it could be nothing; but this kind of information should be shared with the hire-ups. Well, since he was building a profile



“Oh, could we also have your name? You don’t have to answer that if it’s too personal.”

---

---

The cigarette in his mouth had burnt down to the filter at this point, but Ogawa continued to hold the butt in his mouth rather than throw it away; he could have stamped it out and put it in his pocket but he didn’t want to stain his jacket with ash, even on the inside where no one would see, but he also didn’t want to be the kind of cretin that littered on a hiking trail. He probably should have thought about all of this before he’d accepted the cigarette from his fellow reaper, or at the very least before lighting it up, but he wasn’t one to turn down a kind offer and when someone offered you a cigarette you had to smoke it.

Saving it for later just seemed impolite.

Not that Vera likely would have minded. She didn’t seem like the type to care too much for the same kind of formalities that Ogawa adhered to, but others being forgiving of your bad manners wasn’t an excuse to forget to be polite. You could develop bad habits if you mistook others tolerance of your faults for your behaviour being acceptable.

Anyway, it was time to work; he could think about pointless things later. The wisp they were here for rounded a corner in the trail ahead of them and headed directly their way; that saved them the trouble of tracking it down and would normally be celebrated, if it wasn’t chasing an unlucky hiker and being watched the whole time by a camera drone anyway. Rather than this being a quick, easy job they now had to deal with their target while keeping their bystander alive and footage of this thing ending up online.

The others leapt into action as Ogawa reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulling a pure black hammer; Aron giving the hiker a little boost to help them get away while Amelia dealt with the drone and Vera took the vanguard in dealing with the wisp. That left him with little to do himself but look to provide backup where needed, which most likely meant helping Vera.

“I’ll support.”

Fighting while trying hold a cigarette still between his lips was going to be a hassle as well; another reason why he should have thought ahead. He walked behind Vera, matching her pace but intentionally falling a little behind when she drew her sword out; he’d let her lead, try to stay out of the way of her weapon and pin this thing down if he could get a clear shot.

---

---

Bless Lucian, he made this mission bearable.

It was charming to watch the model in familiar territory. Like a fluttering moth to a bright light, he made a beeline to where he thought he should be, not where he actually needed to go. There was a small, inconsequential thought in his head that said he should be guiding the gorgeously dim young man, but if he was being completely honest with himself, Chase adored Lucian. And by that he meant that he absolutely loved watching this guy go in circles until he could figure out what he actually needed to do. It was hilarious to watch and endlessly entertaining.

Chase barely held back a laugh as Lucian told the wrong dude that they were there to reap him. He had to pat his shoulder, making no effort to hide his grin. "It's a good thing you're pretty, bud," He said as he gently pulled him back once Maya took over.

He had no intention of piping up any further--anything else he had to add would be redundant at this point. He did, however, give Maya an incredulous look as she actually dismissed the elephant in the room. Why the hell wouldn't she follow up on that? Sure, he was a little on the new side, but even he figured that core was not where it should be.

"Also where did you get that earring?" Chase ended up adding, flicking the ear where WhatsHisFace had the weapon core hanging from--and coincidentally, where his own core was.

---

@Obscene Symphony @dragonmancer @OwO

---

The corner of Kazuto’s lip twitched up into an impulsive, nervous smile that drew a half-choked breath as his eyes darted from a smiling face to the enormous mallet held in the owner of said face’s arms.

“Um, excuse me?” Well, he always figured that if he died, it’d be from overwork–wait, but his coworkers were still seeing him just fine. That was worse, wasn’t it? Worse. That was probably worse.

Thankfully, before things could get worse, the dark-haired girl put a stop to the misunderstanding…

…is what Kazuto would have liked to say, before her hand was suddenly in his chest. The chill was a psychological byproduct of the situation, the brunette knew, but that didn’t stop it from sending a shudder creeping up his spine. The man flinched back with a grimace, and he felt a surge of something between frustration and self-loathing rise like bile in his throat. Ah, damn it, he was a grown ass man–this shit shouldn’t still be bothering him, and it certainly shouldn’t have been scaring him anymore.

But still, Kazuto took a moment to gather his thoughts back into order and calm his thundering heartbeat before trusting himself to even try a response to any of the strangers’ questions. They were looking for a dead guy, and they were dead too, so maybe it had been a group ordeal? That was something that Kazuto definitely, abso-fucking-lutely didn’t want to know about. In fact, the less he knew, the better!

…

’Damn it. Damnitdamnitdamnitdamnit, goddamn it!’ He just couldn’t leave it alone, could he? At the least, he could stay at arm’s length from them for the moment. No need for a repeat of having someone phase halfway into him. Again. Or, god forbid, worse.

”Uh, Hayashi’s… fine,” Kazuto started with a small nod of acknowledgement to the least-threatening looking of the lot. ”And there’s always confused dead guys around the shrines, but I think a lot of them are supposed to be there. You know, called back for a ceremony or a seance or whatever, not the usual weird aura from confused dead folks. I–er…” The brunette rubbed his arm uncomfortably. ”Well, there are also a few at the hotel I’m staying at too. I, uh, tried to follow them a little before we started shooting last night, but I lost track of one of them around Kamakuragu and the other one ran into Raikoji. No way I could follow the guy there.”

Which… left that last uncomfortable question. With a grimace that spoke more than any words could, Kazuto instinctively moved to pinch the form of his earring for a moment. The emotional response was equal parts comforting and uneasy.

”And the earring was my old man’s. He gave it to me ‘cause of this situation.” He made a motion pointing to his own eyes before directing the two fingers toward the group, indicating his clear ability to see them. “The old fogeys back home always tell us only real specific people in the family know how to get them, but…”

The man’s eyes lingered, briefly, on the eerily similar gem that the red-haired stranger had adorning his own earring.

“Guess it’s too late for me to tell you that these freaky dark lookin’ ones don’t really work, huh? Least, never did its job a day in my life.”

---

@dragonmancer@OwO@Obscene Symphony@Hero

Even though he was dead wrong and was about to drag a living person to the afterlife, he wasn't really disheartened by it. Personally, he considered it a mistake anyone could make. Plus, it wasn't like he was going to knock his soul out with his pool cue. He was just going to drag him to be transported back to Decibitus. His hand passing through the man would have been enough to figure out his mistake.

Probably.

With Maya wrenching the hammer out of his hands to convert it back to smoke, Lucian was left without anything to do as his party conversed with the man. Looking for any way to keep his hands occupied once more, he automatically took off his shirt and slung it over his shoulder. Though, it felt strange as his other shoulder also felt something: Chase's hand as he was patted and pulled away.

"Aw, thank you." He replied to Chase with a smile. How nice of him to compliment his appearance.

Without thinking too hard about what Chase said, he turned to Edward. "Chase thinks I'm pretty. That's nice of him."

An important conversation happened between the rest of the members, but it unfortunately went over Lucian's head. Something about fashion accessories and more dead people. As was the case for Lucian, most conversations that weren't direct orders or within 3 simple sentences were lost on him. However, his sieve-like mind managed to capture something.

"Wait. Maya." A look of genuine concern washed over Lucian's face. "Do we have to grab all of the souls?"

He paused before continuing. "Having a bunch of souls stay is bad, right?"

It would have helped if Lucian had remembered that he had a direct line to Siggy and he could have just asked her instead.

Alas, Lucian was born with rocks in his head.

---

@Obscene Symphony @dragonmancer @Hero

The walk was pretty nice; lively too between the number of Reapers assigned to the job and the few civilians that wanted to talk to the Sister, the only one of them that had chosen to appear visible to regular humans. It was thoroughly amusing. Lena thought about following her example more on future jobs, but it was more fun to watch than to be the one being gawked at.

As the approached Punk's Wall Lena cupped both of her hands around her eyes, blocking the sun while she took a look at the cliff. The earth's colors were so bold against the sky, it was really pretty. It was quieter in this area too. With a few more minutes, Lena was sure a serene feeling would have fallen over the Reapers. As it was, a harsh shriek cut through the air instead.

"Hugrook? Oh my."

She swiveled toward the sound, still using her hands as a visor against the sun's rays. A small wisp this time, and from there it looked like some kind of cross between a sloth and an orangutan. It was coming toward them fast, in pursuit of some hapless man. He was rushed toward the only other person in the area: Catherine, and behind her the crew of invisible people.

"Hardly any detective work this time, hm? I suppose we'll have to thank this guy for finding it for us," she said, watching as a moment later the rest of the group burst into action. Jumping at the chance to break something, Amelia went off to handle that pesky drone. Vera and Ogawa moved up to confront the wisp, and Aron cast a spell on their helpful stranger (a boon, to be sure).

That left herself and Catherine, though the Sister could be said to be serving as a target at the moment. Lena reached up to fiddle with the earring that was her weapon core, though she didn't summon it to full form quite yet. If she stepped into the battle, it would be over a little too quick - and she knew at least two of the women on the team liked their exercise.

"Don't let it get away this time, okay~?" she told Vera and Ogawa as she walked a little ways away from Catherine and Aron, putting herself in a good position to jump into the fray and keep the wisp locked down if it looked like it would escape again.

---

Before anything else could spiral out of control, Clare, recognizing the issues her presence may have on drone footage, flickered out of existence and out of view.

Then, everything else happened.

Empowered by Aron's spell, the running climber lurched forward all of a sudden, his legs pumping up and down with an explosive energy that would have made an Olympic sprinter jealous...if it wasn't for the increased amount of profanities being spewed out from his mouth now. Regardless of how fast he ran, climbing shoes were still terrible for running in, rigid and cushion-less as they were, and the man made sure to let the world know just how fucked he was as he disappeared, leaving everyone in the dust. There was no doubt about it: his toes were toast!

And so were Vera's.

Her Doc Martens, polished to a mirror shine, was perfect for the rugged Australian outback. Her body, heightened to the apex of human capability in death, was perfect for inflicting violence upon the ghostly types. But her toes were still toes, and even the toughest human beings weren't all that tough. Thus, with foot reared back and aimed squarely at a square-shaped, bowling-ball-sized rock, the chainsmoking reaper experienced one moment of battle-frenzied exhilaration, followed by a transient eternity of agony as her boot crunched against stone, blunt impact breaking her biggest toenail before traveling up her bones, into her nerves, and up her leg.

It, frankly, sucked, and only by the merit of being a reaper were her bones still intact afterwards.

And for that rock? It shifted somewhat.

The drone, however, shifted plenty. Amelia had the perfect shot after all, and both her rock and the drone couldn't have seen her coming. One written spell, one translocation, and her feet were upon the drone, cracking all four rotors in one fell swoop. The main body of the drone looked to be fine though; the chassis appeared to have been built tough specifically for rough use, and more effort would have to be expended to crack the delicate electronics underneath, but on the plus side? It definitely wasn't flying anymore, and all Amelia needed to do was to kick it in some bushes to keep this little scrap clandestine.

If, of course, there was much of a fight at all.

With Ogawa stalled by Vera's happy little accident, and Lena stalking the perimeters in anticipation for the ape-like monstrosity's evasive maneveurs, the wisp itself slowed to a stop. Another rip-roaring bellow resounded from its chest, only to be cut off mid-way as the wisp straightened, letting out a very human groan as it stretched its arms back.

"Damn son," he said, "That's some Bolt shit."

And then, as if wholly unaware of the presence of the five reapers who were moments away from banishing him to the Crucible, the ape reached for his head and tore it right off, revealing a young Caucasian man with a meaty potato-face and a shock of gelled-up blond hair. Sweat beaded down his forehead and he wiped it with his shoulder, before a glimmer of metal caught his attention.

"Aw shit. Hey Dave, ya knobdiddler! You crashed the fuckin' drone again!"

A shout further away from the distance resounded, sounding whiny and petulant but wholly indecipherable. It only drew a scowl from ape-costume-man though, as he stormed off in the direction of the drone, squatting down right in front of Amelia.

"Damn, hit the ground hard enough to break all that? Clownass. Out here sweating my balls off for this vid and now we're gonna have a short instead."

---

Well, suppose Edward was a bit too optimistic with the questions. Didn't seem like he could give any detail to the specific ghost they were sent to track, figures. Regarding the familiar earring, if that is to be believed, that raised more questions on the cores. Perhaps the cores were made by mortals before being used in Decubitus? More questions to ask later.

Lucian was a bit...empty-headed, but it did seem he trying at least.

It wasn't his question to answer, but he felt obligated to reply.

"We were only sent for one spirit specifically that seemed to be disturbing the shrines, I'd imagine we'd get an update if we had more then one target. Speaking of, Chase are you able to use your divination to locate which shrines in particular our target has bothered?"