Author's Note: Dennis, the Kriticoses, the ghosts = Not Mine. Merry, Laurel, Amber, Sebastian, Erik, Anna, Jenna = Mine. Use at your peril. And if you look closely you can see elements of Mr. E (from Vertigo comics) and Kermit (from Kung Fu: The Legends Continue, not The Frog) in Erik. I always did think Scott Wentworth would make a good Mr. E.
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They had all sat down to dinner when the man came to visit.
Amber and Laurel and the twins were over to visit, which meant that Sebastian and Dennis were likely to beat a hasty retreat to the tv room as soon as possible. They'd somehow (despite the crowd of three women and one man in the kitchen) managed to get all the food on the table, with the Lady's plate in the middle. Dennis found that phenomenon particularly interesting, although the moment of silence before the meal was traditional in many households. Still, it was the first time he'd ever been part of what could conceivably be called a family. He wasn't going to begrudge people their religious observances because he found them odd.
Dinner had started, and they were engaging in the traditional activity of extended families everywhere: pass the food and the gossip. Food went around to the left while gossip went around to the right; it seemed to be an unwritten rule. Amber and Dennis chatted about Merry's adventures in school, while Laurel tried to listen in and hold a conversation with Jenna at the same time. A bizarre variant of Whisper Down the Lane was occurring between Anna, Merry, and Sebastian as they all tried to debate the best method of teaching Dennis. Sebastian was inclined to a purely hermetic approach, and Anna to a purely witchy approach, while Merry (who was sandwhiched between the two) took a moderate position.
They were so heavily engaged in conversation that they never heard the knock on the door till it became positively thunderous. Everyone froze, thinking the worst for a second... Dennis was for one brief moment terrified by the memory of the Hammer... and then Sebastian set his napkin and fork down and calmly went to the door.
"You needn't break the door down, Erik," he said calmly, unlatching the door and opening it. "We heard you perfectly well."
"Of course you didn't, Sebastian, you buffoon, otherwise you would have let me in within the first five minutes."
Dennis stared.
The man Sebastian had called Erik was imposing, even though Dennis stood at least two or three inches taller. He was well-muscled, in better shape than Dennis, Sebastian, or any of the girls. He was fairly well dressed, too, in slacks and a dress shirt, a trenchcoat draped over one arm. To top it all off he wore red sunglasses that neatly obscured his eyes almost entirely, and what little Dennis could see of his eyes made the man look blind. To top it all off, there was an aura of forbidding and power about the man that made Dennis never want to so much as brush against him in passing, much less shake his hand. Fortunately, he didn't offer it.
"What's going on, Erik?" Sebastian said, sounding tired as he ushered Dennis back into the room and pulled up a chair. The twins moved aside wordlessly to make space for him. There was a chorus of quiet but respectful hellos from around the table.
"Thank you, but I won't be staying long," Erik said dryly. "I came to warn you..." his eyes suddenly focused and looked at everyone around the table in turn. Dennis was moderately surprised that the two younger girls didn't shrink from his gaze (like he wanted to). "The ghosts you turned loose from the Ocularis Infernum are loose. They are slowly drifting back to their haunts, or so I presume from what I have heard. And most of them are wreaking havoc all along the way."
A silence fell that was almost oppressive. Sebastian and Erik seemed to be communing in some sort of magical magus fashion. Merry, Amber, and Laurel were looking at each other in slowly dawning horror and dread.
"I take it you plan to have us hunt down these ghosts and dismiss them from the material plane?" Sebastian said finally.
"I will help, of course, if you like, but I do believe that those who created the problem should clean it up."
"Unfortunately they are either deceased or imprisoned, at the moment."
They seemed to be having a contest for dryness of tone. "Failing their availability, your girls know the situations best of anyone I could call in. And you, Dennis."
The psychic shrank slightly under that red-tinted gaze. He wasn't blind, he could see everything about Dennis, and not only did he not like what he saw but he despised it as well, derided it. Dennis wasn't worth the scrapings on the bottom of the man's shoe...
Amber and Laurel reached out and took his hands, one from each side. Warmth flooded through him, and a little bit of calm. The frenzy of self-loathing subsided.
"So you want us to play Ghostbusters?" he said, sounding more brave than he'd thought he could under the circumstances. "Hey, I already tried that once, it wasn't that bad." It had been hell on earth, but he wasn't about to tell Erik that.
"This will not be of the kind of mission that you can turn into a game, Rafkin," he replied. "This will not be a simple containment. It is a banishment, which I do not think you have learned to perform yet. I also do not think you will have time to learn it adequately, which means you will be along in a support capacity only. This is dangerous work, Rafkin. The girls know how much, even the young twins."
They locked eyes for a moment.
"Ah," Erik said after a few minutes. Somehow the atmosphere in the room seemed lighter.
"If that's all you came for, Erik, surely you can stay for dinner."
"No," he said, and sighed. It was the first human expression Dennis had seen out of him, ever. "I have to catch a flight for England. An old friend of mine's daughter is in trouble, and as usual he isn't around to help her."
"Wh... oh. I see." No further explanations were forthcoming.
Erik nodded, slipped on his coat. "I'll return as soon as I can. And you should deal with the ghosts as soon as you can," he said pointedly, looking at each of them in turn. Merry walked him to the door, taking his arm and looking oddly like a young woman out for a stroll with her uncle.
"Good luck, Erik," she said quietly, and shut the door. When she turned she faced the combined gazes of everyone at the table. "Well?"
Dennis took a deep breath. "It's my fault, guys... it's my fault that the Ocularis was built, I shouldn't have dragged you all..."
"Dennis!" "Dennis, stop that." "Don't be silly." "Of course it's not your fault," Merry concluded, out-projecting everyone else. "And of course you won't be doing it alone. We're not a family of magic wielders so we can all go running off solo." She stepped up next to him, put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "We'll do it together. All of us."
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They had all sat down to dinner when the man came to visit.
Amber and Laurel and the twins were over to visit, which meant that Sebastian and Dennis were likely to beat a hasty retreat to the tv room as soon as possible. They'd somehow (despite the crowd of three women and one man in the kitchen) managed to get all the food on the table, with the Lady's plate in the middle. Dennis found that phenomenon particularly interesting, although the moment of silence before the meal was traditional in many households. Still, it was the first time he'd ever been part of what could conceivably be called a family. He wasn't going to begrudge people their religious observances because he found them odd.
Dinner had started, and they were engaging in the traditional activity of extended families everywhere: pass the food and the gossip. Food went around to the left while gossip went around to the right; it seemed to be an unwritten rule. Amber and Dennis chatted about Merry's adventures in school, while Laurel tried to listen in and hold a conversation with Jenna at the same time. A bizarre variant of Whisper Down the Lane was occurring between Anna, Merry, and Sebastian as they all tried to debate the best method of teaching Dennis. Sebastian was inclined to a purely hermetic approach, and Anna to a purely witchy approach, while Merry (who was sandwhiched between the two) took a moderate position.
They were so heavily engaged in conversation that they never heard the knock on the door till it became positively thunderous. Everyone froze, thinking the worst for a second... Dennis was for one brief moment terrified by the memory of the Hammer... and then Sebastian set his napkin and fork down and calmly went to the door.
"You needn't break the door down, Erik," he said calmly, unlatching the door and opening it. "We heard you perfectly well."
"Of course you didn't, Sebastian, you buffoon, otherwise you would have let me in within the first five minutes."
Dennis stared.
The man Sebastian had called Erik was imposing, even though Dennis stood at least two or three inches taller. He was well-muscled, in better shape than Dennis, Sebastian, or any of the girls. He was fairly well dressed, too, in slacks and a dress shirt, a trenchcoat draped over one arm. To top it all off he wore red sunglasses that neatly obscured his eyes almost entirely, and what little Dennis could see of his eyes made the man look blind. To top it all off, there was an aura of forbidding and power about the man that made Dennis never want to so much as brush against him in passing, much less shake his hand. Fortunately, he didn't offer it.
"What's going on, Erik?" Sebastian said, sounding tired as he ushered Dennis back into the room and pulled up a chair. The twins moved aside wordlessly to make space for him. There was a chorus of quiet but respectful hellos from around the table.
"Thank you, but I won't be staying long," Erik said dryly. "I came to warn you..." his eyes suddenly focused and looked at everyone around the table in turn. Dennis was moderately surprised that the two younger girls didn't shrink from his gaze (like he wanted to). "The ghosts you turned loose from the Ocularis Infernum are loose. They are slowly drifting back to their haunts, or so I presume from what I have heard. And most of them are wreaking havoc all along the way."
A silence fell that was almost oppressive. Sebastian and Erik seemed to be communing in some sort of magical magus fashion. Merry, Amber, and Laurel were looking at each other in slowly dawning horror and dread.
"I take it you plan to have us hunt down these ghosts and dismiss them from the material plane?" Sebastian said finally.
"I will help, of course, if you like, but I do believe that those who created the problem should clean it up."
"Unfortunately they are either deceased or imprisoned, at the moment."
They seemed to be having a contest for dryness of tone. "Failing their availability, your girls know the situations best of anyone I could call in. And you, Dennis."
The psychic shrank slightly under that red-tinted gaze. He wasn't blind, he could see everything about Dennis, and not only did he not like what he saw but he despised it as well, derided it. Dennis wasn't worth the scrapings on the bottom of the man's shoe...
Amber and Laurel reached out and took his hands, one from each side. Warmth flooded through him, and a little bit of calm. The frenzy of self-loathing subsided.
"So you want us to play Ghostbusters?" he said, sounding more brave than he'd thought he could under the circumstances. "Hey, I already tried that once, it wasn't that bad." It had been hell on earth, but he wasn't about to tell Erik that.
"This will not be of the kind of mission that you can turn into a game, Rafkin," he replied. "This will not be a simple containment. It is a banishment, which I do not think you have learned to perform yet. I also do not think you will have time to learn it adequately, which means you will be along in a support capacity only. This is dangerous work, Rafkin. The girls know how much, even the young twins."
They locked eyes for a moment.
"Ah," Erik said after a few minutes. Somehow the atmosphere in the room seemed lighter.
"If that's all you came for, Erik, surely you can stay for dinner."
"No," he said, and sighed. It was the first human expression Dennis had seen out of him, ever. "I have to catch a flight for England. An old friend of mine's daughter is in trouble, and as usual he isn't around to help her."
"Wh... oh. I see." No further explanations were forthcoming.
Erik nodded, slipped on his coat. "I'll return as soon as I can. And you should deal with the ghosts as soon as you can," he said pointedly, looking at each of them in turn. Merry walked him to the door, taking his arm and looking oddly like a young woman out for a stroll with her uncle.
"Good luck, Erik," she said quietly, and shut the door. When she turned she faced the combined gazes of everyone at the table. "Well?"
Dennis took a deep breath. "It's my fault, guys... it's my fault that the Ocularis was built, I shouldn't have dragged you all..."
"Dennis!" "Dennis, stop that." "Don't be silly." "Of course it's not your fault," Merry concluded, out-projecting everyone else. "And of course you won't be doing it alone. We're not a family of magic wielders so we can all go running off solo." She stepped up next to him, put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "We'll do it together. All of us."