Logs:Ghosts, Pens, and Magic

Ghosts, Pens, and Magic
Dramatis Personae Cassy, Elli, Harm
In Absentia	2019-03-24 A search for a pen becomes a discussion of magic (and perhaps punk based exorcisms)
Location <XS> Workshop
A large barn-like building situated at the far end of the gardens from the mansion proper, this makerspace functions as a classroom for many of the more hands-on classes. An expanse of workshop space, it is subdivided into smaller segments for the different types of activities: Woodshop, Welding shop, Machine shop, Electronics, Bike shop, Screen Printing and Photography, Fabric Arts, and the Rapid Prototyping Lab with a trio of 3D printers. The space comes complete with a large host of tools available for use, although many of the more dangerous require prior clearance from administration to use -- students with appropriate clearance to use them can gain access to locked equipment with their student IDs. From sanders to MIG/TIG welders to soldering stations to industrial sewing machines to its own darkroom, though, this space is well equipped for teaching students how to *make*. Afternoon on Saturday, it's not a surprise that the workshop is empty except for a single figure over by the screenprinting setup. However, the volume of Yellowcard blaring over the speakers wouldn't have been out of place in a packed club dancefloor. Dressed in her ever-present black clothes, today with a bleach-blonde mohawk with pink highlights, Elli is singing along with the music. Or shouting along with it -- the line is definitely blurred when it comes to Elli's musical ability. "There's just no one, no one like you, you are my only, only one!" The x-acto knife in her hand flashes briefly as she waves it in the air along with the music before carefully returning to the screen laid on the table in front of her. It's been a while since Cassy last braved a trip down to the workshop outside of a class. Not since the mysterious encounter with a possibly haunted robot in fact. But alas. Sometime on Friday her favorite pen went missing (a really sweet one with a hidden compartment for brightly coloured silk scarves for a magic trick she knows) and ever since she's been trying to retrace her steps in the hope of finding it again. And that's why she's in full on sleuth mode as she heads across the grounds outside. Checking every bush, clump of grass and pretty much anything you could lose a pen behind. Unfortunately that's a whole lot of things and she maintains an almost constant murmur of "Oh..gosh.it..must..be..somewhere..But..Where?" There don't seem to be any moments when she pauses for breath and the more frantically she searches the more the mantra blurs into a single almost droning noise as the spaces between words gets even shorter. Approaching the workshop from the other direction, relative to most of their schoolmates, Harmony is emerging from the woods. They're bundled up against the early spring chill in a forest green cloak, a bulky green-blue-purple ombre knit scarf, brown linen wrap pants beneath which bright sunset-hued socks or leggings can be glimpsed as they walk, and hunter green boots of hand-tooled leather, trimmed in brown. They look about ready to walk past the workshop altogether when they spot Cassy in her desperate search. "Hey, are you okay?" they say, raising their voice to be heard over the music that is loud even just outside the building, sparing a curious glance inside while waiting for the girl's reply. Elli doesn’t immediately see either of the other two Xavierites — it takes a few more moments of fiddling with template in front of her before she spots the other students. She doesn’t immediately turn down the music, though she does peer curiously through the window and wave out to the other students. “Here I go, so dishonestly,” she sings to herself. "Me?" Cassy replies without looking up or indeed seeming to move her mouth as she digs around under a shrub nearby the path. The sound simply broadcasting from all of her. "Oh I'm fine I just... lost something important. It's only a pen but it was a gift and... No it's not here either. If it's not in the workshop somewhere then I'll have to ask around, see if anyone has handed it in as lost property." "A pen," Harmony echoes. "What does it look like?" They are already opening the door to step inside the workshop, as if glad to have an excuse to get out of the cold. "There are probably some that are /supposed/ to be in here. Hi," she waves at Elli. "Sorry to disturb your work, but we're looking for a pen?" They glance back over their shoulder for Cassy to supply the details. Elli, at least, is quick enough to pause the blasting punk music with a quick double tap to get phone, head tilting to one side and shaking her head, as if to clear the music out of it. “Sorry, what were you saying? A pen?” Elli glances around her and shrugs, stepping back over to a small pile of black shirts. “I was using a pen earlier, I’m sure I can find it...” It doesn’t take much rummaging around before she comes up with a plain ol’ Bic pen, which she proffers towards Harmony. "Uhm. Well it's about this big, a fountain pen, and it's sort of blue.... There's a bit which if you press it you... Well that bits a secret and you wouldn't know by looking anyway. It's not expensive just my Dad brought it back from this magic shop in Hong Kong." Cassy explains, finally glancing up and looking at Harmony and Elli with a mixture of gratitude for the help and borderline despair. "I don't usually misplace stuff either it's just... something creepy happened last time I was in the workshop and now every time I go in there it weirds me out." "Oh, hey thank you, but I think it's a specific pen." Harmony blushes, gesturing at Cassy with one hand, clad in a fingerless sunset-colored glove. "Your Dad has a magic shop?" They turn a wide-eyed but delighted look toward Cassy. "In Hong Kong? That's amazing!" They're peering at various workstation in the shop now, uncertain. "Something creepy? I heard some talk the workshop was haunted, but nobody seemed to know exactly /how/ it was haunted. Do you remember what you were working on, last time you came in here?" "Oh. Sorry, I thought you meant..." Elli glances at the pen in her hand -- still held out towards Harmony -- and hesitantly, jerkily, retracts it. She freezes up for several seconds from the Awkward, still holding the pen weirdly, though close to her body now, before she shrugs and tosses it back on the table on top of the messily piled shirts. "Haunted? I mean, I'd heard rumors but... I thought people were fucking with me. Tease the new kid, you know?" Her eyes dart around the room, as if ghosts were about to spring from the walls in some academically themed, rather immobile haunted hay ride. "I haven't seen anything like that yet, but, I can help you look around?" Though it's definitely phrased as a question, Elli begins picking up the things spread on the table in front of her, looking underneath them. Some black shirts, a variety of little bottles and dishes, a scale, some transparencies that have bits of tape applied to them masking out the edges of some words -- BLACK, A FREAK, US, LIKE, RYAN. "Blue pen, blue pen..." "Oh. No he doesn't own the shop," Cassy explains, frowning as she heads closer to the workshop itself and peers in through the door. "He was on a work tour to promote his magic tv show. And there's a shop there called... Eddies I think? Anyway it's /really/ famous. They sell things all over the world. He might have got some custom work done for one of the Vegas stage show sets. Anyway he always brings me souvenirs when he goes on tour." "I was over by that bench last time I had class here," she informs while pointing at a completely normal workbench. Then at another equally normal one. "And that one the time the ghost appeared... So the time we saw the ghost something turned on a robot and everything went... confusing. Fuzzy. Spencer was here and we both totally sensed some sort of presence. It's very hard to explain. Anyway Spencer managed to stop it without anyone getting hurt. I... was a bit too busy trying to keep my power under control. If I'd screamed in panic.... It would have been /bad/." With no sign of anything supernatural she begrudgingly heads inside and starts to search properly. "A magic /tv show/?" Harmony doesn't sound any less impressed now. "Wow, I didn't even know there were such things!" They listen attentively to Cassy's description of the ghost incident, nodding. "That...does sound pretty spooky! I wonder if the older students or the teachers might be able to tell us if there's some /history/ here..." Then they shift their cloak slightly to expose a shoulder bag made of recycled bike inner tubes, and withdraws a small black brocade pouch from it. Shaking some of the contents -- what looks like sugar, or salt, or white sand -- into their left palm, they start scattering minute amounts of it onto the floor as they continue their slow circuit of the room toward the workstation Cassy indicated. "What kind of shirts are you printing?" They ask, peering with interest at Elli's work. "A ghost turned on a robot?" Elli asks, a skeptical note in her voice. "Sounds like someone's powers went a little bit wonky to me. Like when it starts snowing in October on a bright sunny day when it's in the fifties." Though Elli gives Harmony a sideways glance when they start scattering... whatever it is, she doesn't bring it up. "Your dad's a magician? That's... that's pretty fucking awesome, actually. Does he teach you stuff? Like, can you saw someone in half? Without, you know..." Elli gestures towards the woodworking area. "A circular saw or whatever." A grin flashes brightly on her face, and she picks up a couple of the transparencies. "Making a shirt to support Ryan Black. You know, the guy who came out as a mutant at the Grammy's?" One of the transparencies is clearly a black-and-white image of Ryan singing into the microphone at a show. Well, a black-and-transparent image, to be precise. "Well. It wasn't /my/ power that turned it on," Cassy assures earnestly. "And Spencer he seems to teleport... he also seemed to know Ryan Black somehow. It came up because we both have sound powers. Apparantly." Her brow furrows. "I guess me having them was obvious from how I'm talking though.... Anyway! My Dad has kiiiiiiiiinda taught me some tricks. Some I picked up from other people doing the shows but a lot of that is just for cheating at cards. Oh and one time I got to go up on stage to be the assistant for a knife throwing act. With a spinning wheel and everything... My mom was so mad at us both for weeks." "Ohhh, /that/ kind of magic!" Harmony says, blushing fiercely and tucking their hand and bit farther under their cloak, though they continue scattering the grains cupped in their palm. "I heard about that guy. I like that song he did for /The Fifth Season/. 'Rogga'?" They reach the workstation Cassy indicated and kneel down, looking underneath it. "Are there people with the power to control robots? Or maybe turn invisible! That might seem ghost-like." "You know someone who knows Ryan Black?" Elli's focus is diverted momentarily from searching to give Cassy a wide-eyed look. "But he's /famous/!" This is said with the kind of convinction one might find from the statement 'water is wet', or 'the sun is bright'. "I mean, he's no Dead Kennedys or Paramore, but.... And you can cheat at cards? You should teach me how to cheat at blackjack, so when I turn eighteen I can get rich in Vegas." She nods in a mock sage look, grinning. "I mean, probably? With all the weird stuff people around here can do, I'm sure /someone/ here can turn invisible." "I /met/ someone who knows him. Not sure I really know many people here yet... Not properly anyway. I.... overhear a lot though," Cassy replies as she moves around the room searching. "But not on purpose! I don't want anyone to think I'm listening in it's just... everyone is so loud. It's really more of a bother than anything cool. Superpowers are overrated." She shrugs and leans against the wall. "But it's no big deal anyway. Some of the other students at my old school have famous parents. You just stop caring after a while." "So I promised myself I'd never use my power for gossip but I don't think I've heard anyone talk about controlling robots with a mutant power. Doesn't mean no students can do it but... if they can they did it from another room. Unless it was just programmed to kill." She giggles at the suggestion Elli might become a card shark. "Oh gosh no. I can't show you anything they haven't seen a million times in Vegas. As for invisible.. pretty sure that's not the case. Unless they also stop making noises?" Harmony stares blankly at Elli's listing of Musicians Who Are Better Than Ryan Black, but doesn't comment on it. "Oh right, you don't just make sounds, you have super hearing, too. That's probably not very pleasant in the dorms." Their wince is sympathetic. "But yeah, a lot powers are overrated. My roommate /kind/ of turns invisible and inaudible, but...well, it's hard to explain." They sink a little lower and peer under the cabinet beside the workstation. "Oh hey!" They throw the rest of the grains in their hand over their left shoulder and reach under the cabinet, holding a bluish fountain pen up triumphantly. "Is this it?" As they ask, the pressure of their finger triggers a button and brightly colored silk scarves start streaming out. Elli jumps a little bit in surprise when the scarves start streaming out, and then she bursts out in laughter. “Seems likely, unless those scarves are ethereal and we just found something else that’s haunted.” She flashes a wide grin at the other students, leaning against the table. “Come on, surely you can think up something. Right now, the only trick I have is pocketsand, and that’s not exactly a good idea in Vegas.” Cassy nods emphatically. "Yeah from what I saw on TV a speaker can be turned into a microphone and vice-versa. So in a way it makes sense that now my entire body makes sound it's also like... a huge ear... which sounds gross." She blinks. "Harmony is your room-mate /the ghost/? If I couldn't hear them and they're kinda invisible it'd make sense.." "That... Yeah that's my pen all right!" She exclaims with delight. Her voice getting just a little too loud for comfort for a moment. "I don't actually have any cards on me right now, but you're welcome to stop by any time I'm not busy with school stuff. I'll teach you everything I know but if you ever get caught in a casino you're on your own. Just try make sure it's not one run by the mafia or they willl totally break your fingers or something." Harmony giggles, delighted by the steam of scarves. "I like your brand of magic!" They stand up and return the pen to it's rightful owner, scarves and all. "My roommate isn't a /ghost/. His name is Kavalam, I can introduce you sometime. Or, well.../try/ to introduce you. Possibly /re/-introduce you." They dust off their hands and look around. "Either way, I don't think the workshop is haunted. /Anymore./" "Fuck yeah, I will. Elli, by the way," the punk says, giving a roughly coordinated salute and a wink. "Figured it might help if you knew my name, rather than just having to describe me by what hair color I was wearing a particular day. And you should definitely take one of these shirts and give it to your friend who knows Ryan Black when they're done." Elli turns the same grin onto Harmony. "Loud enough Yellowcard is kind of like an exorcism in itself." "How have I never heard that name before? Weird. If this Kavalam person knows about the killer robot he's probably the mystery ghost. At least this place isn't haunted and the rumours are probably wildly exaggerated." Cassy very carefully puts the pen, wrapped in all the scarves because it'll take forever to put them back now, into her bag. Then takes special care to zip it up tightly. "Elli your name I had heard. Nice to put a face to the voice though. " She frowns. "As for the shirts I really don't know if I can. Even if I wanted to I have no clue how to get in touch with him. If you see a younger kid about... this tall," Her hand motions at roughly Spencer height. "Teleporting in and acting like they're on a sugar high. That's probably Spencer." "I'm Harm," Harmony says. "It's great to meet you, Elli! I'm sure we'll see each other around, it's a small school. I'll be the one knitting in the corner, mostly. Music is pretty good magic, too." To Cassy they just shrug. "You probably /have/ heard his name before and just...forgot. That happens sometimes. And if you haven't seen Spencer around already you will soon -- he's Mister Jax's kid and he seems to know /everyone./" They flash the girls a friendly smile. "Anyway I'm glad we found the pen and got rid of the ghost. Have a great rest of the weekend, okay?" With a brightly colored wave and swish of cloak they're back out into the chilly spring afternoon.