Welcome to Hemlock Falls

[Atrus]

And it's in that moment, that very moment, that everyone starts seeing the ghost, not just Sarah. The ghost girl turns away, running toward the window, slamming her fists against it as if she were solid. "No, no, papa, don't!"

Everyone who was not distracted by the ghost would focus on the knife in Rourke's hand. It was extremely sharp and gleaming. Maybe too much so.

((Wasn't the knife in the backpack? Yes. ))

 

[Marcos Medeiros]

Marcos is seriously beginning to believe that he's somehow been sucked into the world's most terrifying telenovela. That certainly wouldn't be the strangest thing that's happened in this secret world of theirs.

He stares at the ominously glistening knife in Rourke's hand, at Screaming Sarah, at Suddenly Visible Screaming Specter Who is a Spitting Image of Sarah, thoughts racing at a hundred miles per hour as he tries to make some sort of sense of what's going on. And come up with a plan. Which someone will have to do, and quickly.

For now, Marcos plants himself in Rourke's way. Not the smartest thing to do, when in the same room with a possibly crazed knife-wielding man, but it's the only thing that he can think of. He has the feeling they'll be needing to get some information from these ghosts, after all... if that's possible.

"You can put that down now," Marcos tells Rourke, voice just a touch tight.

 

[Craft]

After tumbling into the room Craft takes a moment to process everything that's going on. Sarah staring wide eyed at Rourke, who seems to have a knife in his hand. The spectre near by who is screaming and has body (or out of body) language far too similar to Sarah's to be a coincidence. He watches the ghost pound against the window and catches the word 'Papa'. Unfortunately the expert on local lore was in no condition to provide any sort of assistance.

He pulls himself to his feet and looks to Marcos who wisely placed himself between Sarah and Rourke. He places a hand on Rourke's shoulder and says softly, "Rourke... Put the knife down. This isn't you."

There was confidence in his words, despite the fact he really didn't know if Rourke was stab-happy. But from all he had seen so far in Hemlock Falls he would bet against it. And he was.

 

[The Dullahan]

Rourke looked at everyone like they had three heads. What were they talking about putting a knife down? He was holding a gun.

He wasn't a threat.

Rourke looked down and saw the knife...and no gun. Huh. Well, Fuck. How the hell did that happened? He hadn't reached into his backpack. And he had no idea where the fuck his gun had gone.

Breathe.
Just breathe.

Why the fuck are you breathing like that? You need to go kill this Denzel bastard. The thought felt strange and odd, like it wasn't really his. But, he still decided that he wasn't putting the knife down and that Denzel still deserved to die. Rourke was familiar with the role of judge, jury, and executioner. And slipped into that role like he never left it. Denzel was a dead man.

It was the screaming that snapped him out of it.

The screams overlaid with more familiar ones. Ones that haunted him not only in his nightmares but during his waking hours as well. This was a hell he was familiar with. One he knew how to deal with. At least, thats what he told himself every time his world lost its color and it became hues of gold and yellow. When he saw faces of those gone. Those lost. Those that were only with him in his nightmares.

This wasn't real. It wasn't happening to him now.

He didn't know a Denzel. Which meant, this was...some supernatural bullshit.

And he wasn't in Afghanistan. The screams were in the here and now.

And they were screaming because of him. Or, at least thats how he took Sarah screams. The ghost that was suddenly visible, he didn't know what to make of that. Maybe she was friendly? But everyone was focused on him and not the ghost...so he figure that he needed to check himself before pointing out the obvious.

Rourke blinked, took a harsh breath, and dropped the knife onto the floor before taking a step back, hands raised to show that he only carried a flashlight now. He didn't say anything. What the fuck was he suppose to say? Sorry, guys. I don't know how that knife appeared or why you are all suddenly in my face about it. Why is no one concerned about the Casper? And by the way, do any of you know who the fuck this Denzel is?

Yeah...that wasn't the best opening line so he just kept his mouth shut.

 

[Molly Dufrene]

The ghost appearing, Roarke with the knife in his hand, very overwhelming and for a couple of moments Molly wonders if it's real or in her head. But no, it seems like others are reacting to these things, so either she's completely crazy now or it's not in her head.

The ghost didn't seem to be hostile at the moment, and the others were dealing with Roarke and the knife, so Molly awkwardly tries to lead Sarah out of the room, and preferably out of the house.

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

Molly? Molly is trying to take her somewhere. Away from the impossibilities? Yes. Away. Away is good.

Sarah starts to let Molly lead her, but ... wait. Knife guy in the way? She stumbles to a halt, partway to the door. Looks confused, looks from Molly to Rourke's knife-wielding hand and back.

 

[Craft]

Craft studied Rourke as he raised his hands.

From what he had seen on the trip thus far, the man wasn't a knife wielding maniac... or at least had enough common sense not to pull out a knife when others were around.

He looked to the knife on the ground trying to recall if he had seen Rourke carry it before. As hikers, they all likely had knives in their gear, it was just common sense. He kicked the blade gently away from Rourke, just to be safe, and then looked to the faces, both living and dead that occupied the room.

He hoped at the very least Molly and Marcos were taking this in stride, as much as they could, considering they were recruited by the Council of Venice for this mission. He also hoped the Rourke they were dealing with now was Classic Rourke, not Knife-Stabby Rourke -- that would make things slightly easier.

Sarah and the spirit would be another thing all together.

"Our friend here..." Craft pats Rourke on the shoulder, "isn't going to do anything drastic here... right?"

He addressed the question to Rourke, hoping for a a sane and apologetic answer at least.

 

[The Dullahan]

Rourke nodded at Craft as the other man patted him on the shoulder. "Ah...no. No dramatics here." Rourke said awkwardly as everyone continued to look at him. "...to be honest, I don't even remember taking it out of my pack. I found downstairs in the kitchen." He said calmly. He swallowed once, and then looked over to the ghost, wondering if he should tell them that he keeps thinking about this Denzel guy. But, for now at least, he keeps that piece of information to himself. No need to look more crazy than he already did. Rourke kept his hands out in front of him, trying to put the others at ease.

 

[Atrus]

Things seemed to have slowly started to defuse. Rourke had dropped the knife. Craft and Marcos were keeping him at bay. Molly was moving Sarah away. The ghost was not attacking anyone. Everything was well.
Except...

Except the knife floated upwards on its own, and a figure coalesced around it. Another ghost, this time an older man in an approximation of Victorian finery. "My daughter!" the man cried in a terrible accent, "My daughter, where is Denzel? Where are you hiding him? Surely you know this cannot stand."
"No, papa," the woman cried, "no, no, you will never divide us! You will not tear us apart!"
"Very well then," the drama continued in front of their eyes, "I cannot have you two together in life. You will be together in death."
The man raised his knife and...

A door slammed. Both ghosts vanished, knife included. The light that made the ghostly scene so vivid faded just as suddenly.
The group could hear steps coming toward them from the front door and soon enough a surly teen, sporting ironic sunglasses even in the dim light of the manor house, poked his head through the door. "Ooookay. I do not know what of perverted game you lot were doing in here, but I could hear you all the way from outside, so maybe next time tone it down, you feel me? Anyway, Billyferro wants to talk to you all at the Firs. Oh hey Sarah, didn't know you were still around. Thought you were already on the way home to whatsitname."
Aaron Vert, Sarah thought. Of course it would be Aaron Vert to see her lose it over a ghost.

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

"We have normality. I repeat, we have normality." ​

For some reason, Sarah's brain pulled out a quote from an ancient TV show. Something about hitchikers in the galaxy. Then it pulled out the next line:

"Anything you still can't cope with is therefore your own problem."​

She shakes her head a couple of times, then steps back from Molly.

She's okay. She's okay. At least in front of Vert, she'll fake being okay. All that stuff? What she thought she saw? Ghosts and disappearing knives? Didn't happen. Can't have happened. Normality. Normality. Yes? Yes.​

Aaron Vert. She can cope with Aaron.

"I'll take them back to the Firs, Aaron." She smiles slightly, unaware that she's still pale as a ... ahem ... ghost. Unaware that her eyes still are too wide, the white showing all around. "They hired me as a guide. Wanted to see the historic sites."

 

[Craft]

Craft nods at the newly arrived Aaron Vert. His arrival was certainly an interesting coincidence...

With a quick grin he decided to add to Sarah's story. It was easy, they had hired her to show them some of the historical sites around Hemlock Falls, "We just had to see this old mansion. There's more to it than I expected. Far more. I expected the place to be empty."

Craft shrugs nonchalantly, "And back to the Firs?" He looks to Sarah and offers a sympathetic smile. He remembers his first encounters with the paranormal. But any conversation about that would have to wait until Mr. Vert wasn't present.

 

[The Dullahan]

Rourke turned and gave this new person the up and down. He didn't say anything, letting Craft handle the situation as he was still feeling a bit unsure of himself at the moment. He was relatively new to the supernatural and he still found it freaky as hell. Though, he tried not to show it. Rourke turned to the rest of the group and gave them a quick reassuring nod.

 

[Atrus]

"Cool. I'm heading out then." Aaron didn't seem terribly interested in the visitors, or historic sites. "And tell Billy I did give you the message in person, and I didn't just wander off or something."
The boy gives Sarah an 'I'm keeping my eyes on you' sign, then turns around and leaves the room.

((Sorry for the lateness. Do you still want to do things in the house before heading off?))

 

[Sarah Whittaker]

((Whether the others want to explore the house further or not, Sarah's had enough!))

Sarah gives Rourke a wild-eyed look that she probably intends to be confusion, but looks more like exactly the sort of shock/denial reaction everyone 'normal' gets when they encounter their first ghosts and possession events.

Then she attempts the 100-yard nonchalant stroll outta here. Sprinting would be better, but eh, a really, really fast walk that's a fake ordinary walk will do, right? She looks fine, okay? Normal? Not. going. mad. Nor is the world. Really.

((Anyone who wishes to interfere with Sarah getting the f- outta there, please do so. I used the word 'attempts' intentionally!))

 

[Atrus]

((The story continues here: http://thelowerworld.com/index.php?threads/rp4-it-was-a-dark-and-stormy-night.1154/ ))