[Dictated]

[schrodingersghost]

So, just out of curiosity...  What do people think of ghosts around here?  Potentially nice guys or odd manifestations of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness whose only goal in afterlife is to make all the living miserable?

...Also, anyone willing to fill me in on this loss stuff?

Comments

[ectobabble]

Why don't I come find your room, then. I can show you around! What floor are you on? [happy things. Ray is very good at making people focus on the happy things]

[schrodingersghost]

Ah, okay?

[Danny gives the floor number.]

[ectobabble]

[and soon enough, he'll be up there, knocking on his door and grinning] Hey, Danny? ... It's Ray.

[schrodingersghost]

[Danny quickly opens the door. The teen looks much the same from the last time Ray had met him, despite being older by a few months. Even the worry obvious in his expression is the same.]

...The ghost-hunter?

[ectobabble]

[he's very quick to make the distinction, gently and firmly] No. Your friend.

[schrodingersghost]

[He frowns unhappily, as he steps back to let Ray into the room.]

You know I can't remember anything about this place. Or anyone I knew.

[ectobabble]

Exactly why I'm helping you remember. [he smiles. he's not wearing any gear, not even his jumpsuit. just jeans and a faded t-shirt for some science expo at Columbia University] Just because something's what I do back home doesn't mean it's who I am. We played video games together, a lot, in the game room, and you helped me take down someone who was a massive threat to the castle at large. ... I didn't get to know you as much as I would've liked to before the castle sent you back, but ... I was trying to help you understand that.

[he gives him a hopeful smile] Would it be okay if I kept trying?

[schrodingersghost]

[Danny gives him a hesitant smile.] I know that ghost-hunters are just people. I mean, technically I'm one. And I know a lot of people who hunt back home. Some of them are pretty good friends.

It's just.... none of them know what I am. Every time a hunter has tried to be friends with my ghost side, it has always been a trap. Or with the understanding that we'd be going back to being enemies as soon as the crisis was over.

[He shrugs.] No offense, but I'm not that great at trusting people anymore. Even if I can't hide my secret here, that doesn't mean I can trust people here that easily. But I would like to try.

[ectobabble]

[Ray listens attentively, nodding every now and then, just letting Danny talk it out. it's more than the kid even said to him at one go, the last time he was there, and he's both pleasantly surprised, and saddened at -what- is being said. once Danny's said his piece, Ray clears his throat]

I think you'll have more luck here, honestly. ... I swear, the more I hear about your homeworld, the more I wanna follow you back and knock people's heads together until they stop being colossal dickwads.

[schrodingersghost]

The only luck I believe in is bad luck.

[He shrugs awkwardly, not really sure how to react to that.] It isn't that bad? I mean, parts of it suck, but it's still my home and my family.

[ectobabble]

See, that might even be part of the problem. The more you believe in something, the more likely it becomes. If you start believing a little more in good luck, more will come around. [haaaaad to talk to the optimistic Pagan, didn't you]

[schrodingersghost]

...You sound like my sister. She's always going on about the effect of negativity on the developing adolescent psyche, or some nonsense like that.

[ectobabble]

Well, I don't know about that. I'm hardly about to sit you down in a chair and pick your brain apart. ... Pete's the one with the psych degree.

[he smiles. joke? yes?]

[schrodingersghost]

I'll make a note to avoid him, then. I try to stay far away from psychologists.

...And sisters who think they're psychologists.

[ectobabble]

Actually, he doesn't really do that much in the way of practice, here. [ahaha, not yet. give it a couple days when he opens his office. oops] He's a good guy - we've been friends for a long time, since school.

[schrodingersghost]

...Please tell me you guys didn't go to the University of Wisconsin.

[ectobabble]

Nope, Columbia, in New York. Last year we were in residence was 1983.

[schrodingersghost]

That's a relief.