ic Curiousities and Antiques...(IC)

[Supercape]

GM

Saturday 4th August, after sundown...

Mrs. Fairfield was an old woman, nearly eighty and looking every inch of it. She was still of reasonable height, and weight, but was stooped over and walked with a stick. Her hair was completely white, tied back, and reading glasses tumbled from a chain around her neck. There was something sprightly in her eyes, despite her venerable body. Something that spoke of a sparkling youth. The speculative soul, on examining her would wonder about just how handsome and attractive she would have been decades ago, for there was the remnant of youthful beauty still.

She stuck to the main streets, gripping her stick, and scowling at anyone she thought might mug her. She wouldn't normally roam the streets.

But the dreams....

Something was up, of that we was sure. Ever since that Russian Priest had come in, all polite. Knew a lot. Asking about all sorts of stuff from her shop, and religion, and magic. She prided herself on having a firm academic base, but that man knew more than she ever would...

And then, he was asking about Ghosts. Said he wanted one. No...he needed one. Yes, that was his words. He needed a Ghost...

And then came the dreams. Vivid, magical dreams, exciting and terrifying at the same time. A dream of a girl...

There!

She stopped and stared at the youngster on the street. Peering at her with an open jaw.

Just like the dreams!!!

She approached the young girl.

"Excuse me, dear..." she said, politely, her fingers tapping on her stick.

"I know this sounds, well...senior..." she laughed. "But I have the sensation I know you. I have...dreamed of you..." she explained, rather awkwardly.

[Gizmo]

Kimber jumped a little when the old woman spoke to her, remembering just in time to actually come back down to the ground again. Sneaking out into the city after nightfall when she could pass for a living human had become a pretty frequent occurrence, especially in the summer months between school years, but usually Indira or their other friends came with her. As it was, the summer heat had had her feeling cooped up in the stuffy dorm room and she'd decided to take Avro for an emergency sojourn into Freedom City proper. Disguised as a mundane tabby, the manticore cub adjusted his stance on her shoulders to lean forward and sniff curiously in the old woman's direction.

"Oh, um... t-that's... nice?" she attempted to reply, a little unsure how to respond to the odd greeting. On one hand, the senior seemed a little off and might have been in need of her assistance. On the other, Nick had warned her about the potential dangers of those seeking to use ghosts for less than sterling purposes. "Maybe I just have one of those faces?" she suggested with a slightly apologetic smile, her helpful nature winning out over her caution as usual. "Are you out here all by yourself? Is there someone we could call?"

[Supercape]

GM

"Are you out here all by yourself? Is there someone we could call?"

Mrs. Fairfield's face darkened very slightly.

"Young lady...I am not senile" she retorted "I can take care of myself perfectly well" she added, stamping her walking stick on the pavement, wet with a light drizzle of rain.

"I run my own business. Successful. I use internet banking and everything!" she added, with a note of pride.

Her face broke into a smile.

"But, yes, what I say is a little peculiar.." he conceded, with a little shrug.

"The thing is, I have had visions of you...very odd dreams. About you...dying..." she said, with a whispered tone "I'm sorry if that's morbid, young lady, I don't wish to alarm you. The other thing is, I...think I have something that might belong to you at the Shop...I can't tell exactly what it is...I just have this feeling..."

She shrugged an apology.

[Gizmo]

"Woah, you can do banking stuff on the internet now?" Kimber gaped, completely without irony. "That sounds super convenient!" Avro batted a paw against the side of her head and mrrrow'd reproachfully, reminding her of the matter at hand. "Oh, um, right! Well, I'm definitely not dead! Obviously. That would be pretty silly, huh!" With an awkward laugh, the poltergeist tapped the tips of her index fingers together. She had a sudden realization that this extremely uncomfortable conversation must be what it was like every time she offhandedly brought up death or being dead with her friends. Her story sounded super suspicious even to the trusting Claremont student but surely someone actually trying to trick her would come up with a better story! Unless she knew I'd think that so she came up with a terrible story on purpose! Ahhhhh, what do I dooo?

Fighting the urge to flail her arms in the air, she told the old woman, "Um, okay, so I'm going to assume you're not crazy or evil or maybe both but I want you to understand that I'm giving you an outrageous benefit of the doubt here, so if this is a trap you should feel really, really bad about it, okay?"

[Supercape]

GM

"Um, okay, so I'm going to assume you're not crazy or evil or maybe both but I want you to understand that I'm giving you an outrageous benefit of the doubt here, so if this is a trap you should feel really, really bad about it, okay?"

"Trap?" answered back Miss Fairfield, genuinely befuddled. "What makes you think its a trap? I know I gave you all that talk about not being senile. Well, my wits may be with me, but the body is unwilling!" she explained, tapping her stick to give emphasis.

"I doubt I could fight you if you had one hand tied behind your back, young lady" she laughed "I couldn't trap you if I wanted to. Too old!"

She perfused her voice with a little of the old steel.

"Mind you, you try looking this good when you are eighty!" she said, defiantly.

"Are you ready to go? I can call a taxi or something...this new modern I-Phone, it's wonderful!" she said, happily, bringing out a state of the art new gadget.