Mommy? (Minerva)

[Johnny]

25, Summer, 512

Where was he? He was not sure as he hovered above the ground moving slowly around the city. He was a little boy looking left and right. He had no idea where he was or even who he was. His image going in and out as he “blinked” forward as emotions ran in his head and heart even if he did not have one so to speak.

The sun barely coming out for the day as the night was coming to an end. He saw a few people roaming the streets, some looked twice at him but he paid no one anyone mind as he just kept roaming in this new city that looked like it was rebuilding.

He would have just kept roaming and odds are leaving without anything but his eyes caught such a strange sight after awhile. It was a painted seascape of bright colors that event stood out to him in the dim light was on the side of a house. As he looked closely the small yard was a mess and tracks that he could not tell was normal or not in the dirt.

He would have left if he was anyone else but his mind was still that of a childs. Curiosity got to him as he moved to the door, his ghostly being far from solid as he passed in the wood passing into the house without any problems.

Inside was a mess of different things. Saw, nails and other bits laid along the ground. He kept looking left and right and just could not take everything in at once which ranged from circles of chalk in the ground, to drawings on a wall to blocks of wood near the door. He did not take time to look to see if anyone was in the dim house or anything else really as he moved to the drawings, never touching the ground yet just hovering above it like normal.

So many things he could not grasp as he looked at them. Yet it was due to he was not able to understand the weird drawings which ranged from tools, wolves and more that made him get upset as he racked his brain to try to understand. His right hand moving along a drawing close by, a wolf of some sort with gears, as his soulmist became more tangible as he focused along his Materialization power.

As he became more “real” for the world he moved his little fingers along the drawing pulling it off the wall holding it in his hands. As he pulled, the edges that were being held up ripped from the wall as he looked it up and down. Not understanding even in his hands as he dropped it before grabbing another one thinking he would find something he would know if he held onto it. How many drawings did he take off the wall before he became intangible was lost on him as emotions ran high as the air in the room became chilled in his childlike rage still not paying any mind to what was around him.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock was on her way home from working on a special project. It had been a long day, considering she had gone to her day job, then spent the afternoon working on the tailor shop. She was tired, and wanted to either go straight home and crawl into bed, or go straight home and start working on another of her own projects. Maybe both; she'd worked in bed before. She was humming softly as she approached her door, cuddling her foot and a half long wooden spider, Bitey, in her arms. Naily, the little hammer on wheels, was rolling along at her feet. When she got to the door he started poking his head at it, trying to get inside. Even if he'd been able to reach the door handle, he wasn't smart enough to be able to open it himself. He looked up at his Mommy, squeaking his wheels in a little whimper. "'Old on, baby," Tock said, as Handy, the wooden hand Automaton, worked on opening the door. Tock had her hands full with Bitey, who for some strange reason was clawing at her and trying to crawl up to her shoulder. Handy was strapped to Tock's belt, and he reached out from there to open the door, letting the family inside. Tock stepped inside, almost tripping over Naily as he rolled in ahead of her, then suddenly rolled back outside. "Huh?" she muttered, looking around at him. He was crouched outside with his head lowered to the ground. "Naily, stop playin'. It's late and Mommy's tired." He didn't move, technically because she hadn't given him one of his programmed commands, but she just thought he was being stubborn. "Naily, 'ere, now!" she commanded. When he heard the pre-programmed commands, he rolled up to her, and she shut the door to make sure he wouldn't try to go back outside. Tock set Bitey down on the ground, and the spider immediately scurried under the bed. He usually only did that when someone else was in the house. She looked around, and frowned when she saw some of her papers lying on the ground. "What the...?" she muttered, leaning down to pick them up. She looked around, then up, then froze. It was cold in the room. And Tock saw... well, if childhood stories were at all accurate, she saw a ghost. But she had never seen one before. She hadn't thought ghosts really existed, but then again, anything was possible. She slowly stood, heart racing, her mouth going dry. She couldn't process what was going on. There was a... a ghost in her house. Messing with her stuff. Throwing her papers on the ground. She screamed and grabbed her mallet, swinging it furiously at the ghost. "Git out git out GIT OUT!" she screamed, flailing furiously at it. "Choppy!" she shouted, pointing to the ghost. "Chop!" The axe waddled forward on its metal legs, cocked its handle back, and swung hard for the intangible foe.

[Johnny]

The young child had turned to face the person that had come inside the house. He was going to say something but before he knew it things had moved so quickly that he did not even know she was trying to attack him and whatever was on the ground. The hammer and the axe on wheels just passed in his body as if he was just fog. He was no longer solid so the attacks passed him as if he was not even in the same room. However he was becoming more and more scared of the woman and whatever her “pet” was as he yelled and did her best to attack him. However his fear quickly came to the surface as the room dropped once more in temperature as he hovered a foot above ground not sure what to do. He was not even sure what he was doing that was so wrong but he felt like he was in danger even if he was not in pain. With that thought alone he let his powers take hold and come to life as white tendrils shot out of his body wrapping around her hammer in her hand as his soulmist projection tried to hurl it away from her towards the wall. If it worked the effect would be instantaneous once the tendril touched it but he had let himself be open for harm. Even if it failed the axe on wheels would still cut in his foot for the only way weapons could harm him was either with soulmist on them or if he was solid. He could not be harm unless he wanted to interact with the world around him but once he willed it he was more then vulnerable. The axe sliced along his right foot as he yelled in pain. What would have been red blood to most people was a fine layer of mist along the ground. It was his soulmist as he cried out both in pain and overall starting to cry as even as a human he could not deal with pain very well due to his age. A normal ghost would have ran but he was far from normal as his body faded more and more coming back to his intangible form so he could not touch the world around him but he was safe from harm at least. As his form went back to normal he rushed past her moving and hiding under the bed crying. He had no idea what was going on or why he was in so much trouble. The only thing he knew is that he wanted to hide until the mean people were gone or at least done as he recovered what was lost. In his crying fit he did not even take note of the spider around as he kept his eyes shut from the world filling the room with a child’s cry.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock's eyes widened when the strikes just passed right through. Then she almost smacked her palm into her face... of course it would just pass right through a ghost. She didn't know much about ghosts beyond the stories told to little kids at night, but passing through physical objects was like Ghosts 101. But since she'd never taken the 'Advanced Class,' she was surprised at what came next. The ghost somehow threw her mallet aside, prompting Tock to step back, trembling. She hadn't expected that it would be able to touch her stuff... though then she looked at the papers in her hand, and realized the ghost must have done that. She watched as Choppy managed to slice through the ghost's foot, prompting a cry of pain and a stream of... blood? White floaty ghost blood, or something. She had no idea how Choppy was able to strike the ghost when Tock's mallet had passed right through... she thought it must have been because Choppy was magical. Not understanding the principles of ghostly manifestation, the only conclusion she was able to come to was that Choppy's astral body, being sculpted by Djed, was somehow able to connect with the ghost's form. The ghost fled under the bed, and Bitey scurried out, fleeing across the room and crawling under a pile of discarded clothes. Choppy, still under a command to chop at the ghost, wobbled over on his metal legs, his clawed feet clacking against the floor. He cocked his axe back, the springs on his axle coiling tight, ready to strike, unable to understand that he was about to chop Tock's bed in half. "STOP!" Tock shouted, and Choppy froze. He now wouldn't be able to move until she gave him another command. Since the command hadn't specified one Automaton's name, it froze Naily in place as well. Bitey, however, couldn't understand or obey commands, and simply huddled in the corner. Tock pulled her dagger from her belt, breathing heavily. Then she sheathed it, confident that it was useless. She didn't know what to do. Choppy was too big and awkward for her to swing him the way she could have without the legs in the way. Assuming she was even right that the magic axe could kill the ghost (little did she know the ghost was no longer manifested enough to be touched at all), she still didn't know how to get at the ghost without destroying anything in her house in the process. While she stood there, trying to process what to do, she realized the ghost was... crying? "What the...?" she muttered, crouching down to peer under the bed. But before she could figure out what to do next, there was a loud knocking at her door.

[Johnny]

Not even John knew what was going on fully. His powers reacted mainly on their own when he was feeling a strong surge of emotions. This was not the first time he was harmed so he knew what it would be like. Yet still was very painful and almost new to him as his cries of pain slowly went down in volume.

The first time he was hurt was when he had more “solid” playing with a stick using it as a sword. It was a wolf that bit his leg but that wound took him almost forever it felt like to recover and it was then he started to learn about the rules or at least starting to learn them on his own.

He was about to try to attack once more with his powers as he saw the wheels and axe move to attack him again. However the woman once more yelled but this time it was the word “stop” and almost like magic everything in the room stopped moving. He could not understand what was going on as before he could even grasp the events he heard a loud knock at the door.

What time was it again? He did not know. He could not recall the time when he found the house. Was it late? Early? Why could he not recall? That thought soon passed as a new one came to mind. Who was at the door? He let his mind get the better of him as he moved up passing thur the bed as his head peeked out from a pillow looking around.

While the woman scared him his childlike mind wanted to know what was going on. Maybe it would be a friend but with his luck it could be a foe. Or it could have been someone off the streets checking up due to the sounds and yells.

He still had not said a word since the woman had came in the house but then again he had not said a word in a long time. Just the first night when he woke as a ghost and even then people did not aid him. Maybe she would be different?

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

Tock groaned and covered her face with her hands. This was the last thing she needed. "Oy, ol' lady Jenkins, ain't ya done 'ad a 'eart attack already what so's ya can done leaves me alone!?" she yelled at the door. Her neighbors were always complaining about the noise coming from her house, and it was so annoying. Didn't they know she had work to do? She headed to the door, glancing at the ghost, who was peeking his head up through her pillow. 'Ow's 'e do 'at? she wondered, then she opened the door to find not Old Lady Jenkins, but Jenn. Jenn had to be her most annoying neighbor of all. "Yer knocked up!" she immediately shouted, pointing to the new bulge in the woman's stomach. It hadn't been there last time Tock saw her, but that had been weeks ago. Though the math told her Jenn probably had been knocked up then, just not showing as obviously as she was now. Jenn gave her an irritated look, clenching her fists and her teeth. "Must you ALWAYS insist on making so much noise?" she asked in a tone of deep anger and frustration. "Who's the Daddy?" Tock asked, both ignoring the question and briefly forgetting about the ghost in her house. She didn't know a damn thing about Jenn's personal life, seeing as their relationship consisted entirely of arguing at Tock's door about the state of noise coming from her house. But she was pretty sure Jenn wasn't married. The woman sputtered at her and said, "That... That's none of your business!" Tock grinned and crossed her arms. She'd known enough knocked up girls in Sunberth to know this reaction. It had likely been a one night stand, and the girl didn't want to admit who the father was (or she didn't KNOW who the father was, if it had been a sailor or something and the bloke left port the next day). Snickering at her neighbor, she said, "Oy, c'mon! Maybe I know 'im..." she winked at the girl. Of course, Tock wasn't that kind of girl, but she enjoyed messing with Jenn (it made her leave Tock alone faster), and she knew from past experiences that girls who had been 'compromised' often didn't like to admit that their baby daddy likely got around. Jenn sputtered incoherently, then stomped her foot and said, "The noise! It has to stop!" Tock just leaned against the door frame and gestured into the house, "Ain't what nothin' I can does 'bout it. I's got a ghost..." Jenn stepped halfway inside to look, saying, "Don't be redic--" Then she cut off when she saw the head poking up through the pillow, and she screamed.

[Cascade]

Adventurer's Loot Tock's Loot : Skill XP Reward Observation +1 Lore: Seeing A Ghost For The First Time The Ghost of a Child Knocked-Up Jenn The story was far away from being over, but I squeezed out any rewards we could. Oh Tocky, pointing out Jenn's tummy like that. You are always so funny. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to PM me!