R5: ghost hangout

[foundationmods]

[What's this? The fog of the miasma has pulled back, revealing a path down to the basement. None of the living seem to notice it though, only those who are dead are aware of it.

Down in the basement is a large furnished room. It doesn't seem as dusty as the rest of the house, and it actually seems lived in? Or...un-lived in, technically. But the lighting here works and there's plenty to do. Even if the ghosts might not need it, there's several beanbag chairs (brought in by one of the many groups of teenagers who have disappeared into the house), a large couch, and even a jacuzzi. Because even if you're in eternal pain, you can relax a bit, right?

If the ghosts look up, they'll see that the ceiling appears to be made of spider-patterned stained glass. Which is weird, considering that it should be floorboards and such. But the stained glass allows them to look up into all parts of the house and easily spy on the living. What they hear can be hit or miss, especially if the living are whispering, but seeing what they're up to should be easy enough.

Well. Might as well make the most of this space, right?]

Comments

[foundationmods]

They do not have to like me/us.

They will be me/us.

And then we will be together.

[deadanimemom]

That would be nice. But we... you don't have to make them all us. We don't all have to be together.

[carbide]

[...watching this exchange closely.]

[foundationmods]

...Then we can kill the ones who won't be with us.

I/we like that idea.

[deadanimemom]

Would that make you happy?

[foundationmods]

Mmhmm!

[deadanimemom]

I think, once we get out, you'll find out that there are lots of other things that would make you happier.

You said that once we're free, the pain is going to stop. I think you'll discover that there are things you want to do other than just hurting people. I believe in you.

[foundationmods]

...? Um...okay.

[eyeforai]

Can we at least have a vote to keep more assholes out of this? I don't want to be together with them forever.

[foundationmods]

...Okay. Then we can just hunt them.

[eyeforai]

Works for me.

[Because he doesn't wanna be with more Subetes and Hikages!!]

[kaliedoscopes]

[ Excuse, you know you love him ♥. ]

[eyeforai]

[excuse, he's AIless for a reason!!]

[kaliedoscopes]

[ Rejection stings... ]

[noneforall]

Ha. I guess you can have useful ideas sometimes.

[There's an actual sliver of amusement floating around, but it's not like it's hidden either -- it's just rarer these days.]

[eyeforai]

[On the other hand, Date's irritation surrounds him like a cloud (probably even moreso now because deda ig but i digress), but it's clear that a lot of it is directed in Subete's direction. Thank you, hivemind?!]

Thanks to your inspiration.

[noneforall]

[If it was a literal miasma cloud you could probably just watch it wash off his equally miasma-like cloud of... something? I don't know, I guess they're all just leaking miasma these days but like. Subete will actually raise a hand to wave the grumpy aura away like a misbehaving terrier.]

I've been told I'm an inspiring fellow, yes.

[eyeforai]

[Wow! You may wave away his grumpiness but you can't take it away from him!!]

Tch. Then go inspire someone else.

[He has enough!!]

[noneforall]

[Something something grumpiness suffering something, or maybe it's purely Subete-side schadenfreude to mess with his fellow ghosts as he did in life. Hard to tell so far.]

Despite both our wishes, it seems you're stuck with me.

[So stuck. So stuck!!!]

[eyeforai]

[Subete needs another ghost hobby, especially since he can't do tea time anymore. Learn to knit or something bro!!]

Then why do you have to make it worse by hanging around?

[noneforall]

[You think he can't do teatime, but all things considered ghost teatime might be more productive than alive teatime in some ways. Sadly, this does not include the actual tea part, but beggars can't be choosers. Besides, he can't take Giovanni's graveyard gig, that'd be rude.]

In case you forgot, we've been summoned here by the Master Spider itself. Ourselves? Themselves.

[Somehow he says Master Spider with a straight face.......?]

[eyeforai]

[What is teatime without the tea!! You might as well be drinking coffee then, like common-blooded swine!! Also fine! Do origami.]

Yeah, but you don't have to talk to me. ...Us?

[...Nah that still sounds dumb to him, hivemind or not.]

Anyway, go haunt your own corner.

[noneforall]

[It's not like they can drink anything, so any kind of beverage-related activity is always just going to be window-shopping with extra aromatherapy. Something?? Their lives as ghosts are somehow both terrible and luxurious at the same time...?]

Haha. [it's not really a laugh so much as a derisive noise] You really don't know how this works, do you?

[He'll fall silent after that. But. A few moments later Date is just going to get like half a year's worth of newspaper crosswords dumped into his hivemind mailbox. No talking, no problem.]

[eyeforai]

[What a waste! Also actually does their tea replenish here or what... or are they actually just brewing miasma tea. ...Teasma?

Also wow he never asked for this shit!! Ironically enough, he actually is kind of used to having exposition in his head courtesy of Aiba, but even she hasn't dumped this much useless info on him all at once before.]

Stop it!

[And then he's going to retaliate by sending his own porno care package. His... interesting sense of taste shows through sometimes, let's just say that.]

[noneforall]

And here I thought you didn't want to talk--

[There are so many things happening at once here, but in order:

1. He's totally brewing actual tea leaves, from the house stores, because there's nothing quite like minorly inconveniencing the living by using up all their supplies! Where once he tried to preserve them by fighting raccoons and minxes, now he is the supply slasher. It's him.

2. There's a brief flutter of amusement, but alas he is not a head hamster and therefore he eventually runs out of crosswords; he is also not completely used to the hivemind gig despite having, probably, more experience with it than you'd expect and so:

3. His eyes widen briefly when the care package hits like some kind of virus download, and his cheeks may have flushed a little but in a moment it's obscured by a heady rush of miasma across everything. Convenient censorship!! At least it seems Date has finally managed to throw him off for once, because there's a momentary flash of irritation through the cloud like lightning, before:

4. Subete is indeed not a head hamster or anything of the sort, but his counter is somehow apropos anyway: have a truly unnecessary and ridiculously obtuse amount of mechanical specs and design sheets thrown back to stem the flow of what's being sent, prototypes, finished robots, aircraft, wildly improbable designs, even pens(???). How long is this stupid war going to go on for and is anyone else getting any of this, who knows...............]