theattic | PSL: You don't have to go home

Face slicked with tears, Roman fought to his hooves and finally stood upright. He turned and glowered at Ginko, huffing out fine trails of smoke. He'd been planning on scaring him away with little fireballs. Maybe even some light possession. Throwing his voice around just to mess with his head. Things like that.

But no. He was dealing with someone who threw salt in people's faces. Who does that?

Roman clenched and unclenched his fists. His tail writhed by his heels and he seethed.

"I c-c-can't decide...if I wanna t-tie you into a knot...or spread you on the ceiling like peanut butter. Eugh!"

He flung an arm out and a small storm of books, keys, an ashtray, alarm clock, assorted loose change, and a tacky dragon statue all hurled themselves at Ginko.

The thought that he might have fucked up a little occurred to Ginko an instant before the first of the barrage of objects smacked him in the head. He dropped his bag once again, automatically raising his arms in an instinctive effort to protect himself as his senses desperately tried to catch up with what was happening.

The items whirled around and struck at Ginko from all sides. Roman watched this with his teeth locked into a grimace. His eyes still stung. Holy fuck did they sting.

It was then that he decided something.

With a loud clunk, all the doors and windows within the house locked themselves.

"Wanna stay so bad? You c-can rot in here!"

He ducked away out of the bedroom and fell out of the visible realm once again. He dared the man to try and leave now.

After taking multiple hits all over his body, it took a moment for Roman's words and what he'd just done to register in Ginko's brain.

"What--" He didn't jump up so much as he kind of staggered to his feet, dread coiling in the pit of his stomach. He immediately went to try the bedroom door.

The doorknob seared hot as a NASCAR tailpipe. Nasaly laughter echoed throughout the house as though from the very vents.

A growl came from the other side of the room. The bed started to shift and the knobs on the headboard rolled on their posts, becoming two huge globular eyes. The mattress tore itself in two, sharp springs forming teeth dripping with smelly drool. It shuffled awkwardly on its short legs.

Ginko yanked his hand back, not sure himself if that hiss he heard came from his mouth or the flesh of his palm. He didn't have time to really think about it, though, as his attention jerked to the warping form of the bed. He froze where he was, cradling his hand as he watched the creature warily, desperately hoping that this was just some kind of illusion or a cheap scare tactic.

As the bed monster blinked and awkwardly shuffled around and explored Suddenly Being Alive, a quiet voice screamed into the man's ear.

"Ginko! Ginko can you hear me?"

It sounded like he'd been yelling for a while.

He tensed for a moment, then recognized the voice. Ginko swallowed hard and nodded slightly, still eyeing the monster warily.

"Yeah. Yeah, I can hear you."

"Oh thank God! This is horrible! I can't--I can't show up! I've been trying this whole time! I didn't leave I promise!"

The bed's 'snout' for lack of a better word, lifted and it sniffed the air. The brass eyes rolled to Ginko. He looked delicious.

"I'm gonna try to make the doorknob cold!" The knob started to rattle. Maurice was holding it fast and trying to force the heat away like he'd done to Ginko's poor engine many a time already without saying anything. "I won't make it weird!"

"It's... it's alright, don't worry about it." Honestly, it wasn't like he could have blamed Maurice if he had left, given how rapidly this all went downhill.

He gave a brief nod, still watching the bed creature. "That... that would be good, thanks."

He figured the 'please hurry' was kind of implied.

Maurice furrowed his brow and squeezed the doorknob as tightly as it could. Slowly the hot glow faded away and the metal was soon reclaimed by a thin layer of frost and ghost ooze.

"Try now! I can't hang on much longer. God, it's like tryin' to force two magnets together the wrong way!"

Sure enough, the knob would be cold enough to hold and turn. What bedroom door locked from the outside anyway. The hallway was waiting for Ginko, though, already a mess. broken shards of glass from the ruined family photos that lined the wall were poised in the air like angry bees, ready to swam his exposed flesh.

"Thanks-- thank you." He didn't waste any time in opening the door with his non-burned hand, ducking into the hallway and closing the door behind him... and then immediately regretting it.

"Oh for--" He froze up for an instant before grabbing his coat and pulling it up to cover his face and neck as well as he could, for all the good that was going to do, and just... running for it. He choked back another hiss of pain at the sting of the glass that made it through, barely watching where he was going in the rush to get through the hall. If he could just find the demon, and... God, he didn't know, he wasn't sure talking to him would work, and the combination of the remaining throbbing of bruises and the sharper pain of burns and stings and cuts wasn't helping.

But he definitely couldn't stay here.

Maurice tried to throw himself into the path of the shards but they zoomed right through him. His chill had no effect on them.

"I'll start on the front door!" He rushed through the living room and had to stop at the sight of what Roman was doing.

The boy stood in the middle of the room conducting a whirlwind of furniture as though he were re-enacting the Fantasia short: Night on Bald Mountain. A few of the chairs fell when he felt the chill pass him by and he grinned a wicked grin when he heard Ginko's cries of pain from the hallway.

"You look t-tired! Take a load off!"

The loveseat hurled itself at him. Lucily it couldn't fit through the hallway so it just ended up thundering against the 70s wood paneling.

"I've been thinkin' about it and I've decided to leave that lady alone. You're way more fun."

Ginko flinched at the impact of the furniture against the entryway, still trying in vain to fend off the glass shards. At some point one had sliced into the back of his leg, and he was having to lean against the wall a little more than he would like.

Somehow, that comment still got a wry snort from him. "Good to-- to hear. Means I can at least say I did my job."

A framed photo of some kittens in a basket went sailing past Ginko's head like a throwing star.

Roman stopped his triumphant cacklng that he absolutely did not practice by himself in the middle of the night. This guy wasn't playing along at all! He was supposed to be writing in fear and begging for mercy. Roman leaped into the air and swum through it like a dolphin, coming to a halt upside down near Ginko's face.

"Really? You're gonna go the hero route?"

He winced again, trying not to take too much focus off the effort of keeping his leg from giving out under him. He did, however, let himself scowl at Roman, drawing back a little - and wincing at another jab of pain.

"Wouldn't call it that." Why did people keep saying crud like that lately?? "Came here to get you to leave her alone to begin with, after all."

Roman rolled his yellow eyes and then started to speak in Ginko's voice. "Urrurur I'm a brave detective and I'm gonna sacrifice myself in demonfire so everyone will see how brave I wa--"

He didn't get to finish his mocking sentence because a TV remote had sailed through the air and hit him square in the jaw. He dropped like a stone, too distracted to perform his magic and clapped a hand to his face. Blood streamed from his busted lip.

Maurice hung near the hallway entrance, his entire outline blazing. "Don't talk to him like that!"

Ginko started when the remote smacked into Roman's jaw, and it took him a moment to realize what had actually happened.

At the same moment he did, he also realized that the glass had stopped moving and the demon was out of his way - for the moment, anyway.

He went for the entrance as fast as he could move, scrambling over the sofa in the way and swearing under his breath as he stumbled. If he could just get to the door...

While the door was no longer hot as a tailpipe, it was still hot to the touch. The deadbolt was slid across up top and had melted. Breakable, but a hell of a lot of trouble.

Roman sat up, staring at Ginko's back in rage and alarm. How had--a picture frame clocked him on the shoulder and he threw his arms in the air to shield himself. "HEY!"

He was the only one allowed to do stuff like that!

Maurice was done being afraid. It was time to be mad. In the wreckage he snatched up all the small but sharp items he could and threw them at Roman, one after the other. The demon scurried to his hooves and lifted into the air again to avoid the debris. He raised his own round of ammo and threw it blindly. It was obvious now that something besides Ginko was in the house--HIS house!

The walls started to drip.

Dammit. Ginko gritted his teeth, took a step back, and slammed his shoulder against the door as hard as he could - which immediately turned out to be a mistake as a jolt of pain ran through his arm and torso and his head pounded at the effort.

He glanced over his shoulder at the altercation going on behind him, swallowing hard. At least Roman seemed to be pretty thoroughly distracted - and had basically no chance of actually hurting Maurice.

...Okay, that was worrying, though. Dripping walls were generally a bad sign in his experience.

The door stood there, abused as ever. Suddenly, pounding came from the other side. It was their customer.

"What's going on in there!? Should I call the police?!"

It was kind of hard...not...to hear the sound of an entire sofa hitting the wall.

The ceiling started to drip curtains of ghostly blue ooze as Maurice shouted and swore and hurled things at Roman. This was absolutely exhilarating. Now he knew what the strange feeling was. Roman was a walking talking battery. Now that he was visible, it took no effort at all for Maurice to draw energy from him. "I used to eat nerds like you for breakfast!"

Roman dodged left and right, visibly working up a sweat and growing stupid in his panic. At one point, one of his own broken furniture projectiles doubled back and struck him in the side as he climbed atop the fridge in search of high ground.

Every light bulb in the place exploded.

Once again, Ginko jumped a little, his attention jerking back to the door. It took him a moment to find his voice, trying not to let it come out too shaky.

"Uh-- m-maybe, but I'm not sure if they can--"

He winced at the sudden sound of the lights exploding.

"--not sure they can... can do much, but just-- getting the door open would be good."

A yelp came from the other side of the door. She had tried to grab the knob and found it hot on the outside as well.

Maurice's outline expanded slightly as it continued to ripple as though his shoulders and arms were on fire. He watched Roman scurry like a trapped squirrel and managed a laugh when a toaster flew right through his body and crashed into the television.

"Give it up! Consider your ass GHOSTBUSTED!"

He pelted Roman with a rain of colorful fridge magnets. Roman had no retort because he didn't hear Maurice's quip but he was distressed enough to throw everything he had at whatever was assaulting him. Dishes from the sink, the potted plant from the window, and of course, every object in the kitchen drawers. They sailed harmlessly through the ghost and clattered loudly against the wall. And perhaps the medium as well. Maurice was too caught up in the moment to pay attention to what was happening behind him. He drifted nearer and nearer, chilling the whole kitchen.

"Get away from me!" Roman's breath fogged in front of him. What the actual fuck was happening? "Get away GET AWAY!"

"Shit-- sorry, should've mentioned that part."

He winced again at the barrage of sounds - and the potted plant that crashed into the wall right next to him. "Might have to break it down-- sorry, I know that's not ideal..."

He glanced over his shoulder again, brow furrowing. He really hoped Maurice had some sort of a plan here, because as much as he appreciated the effort this might--

That thought was cut off rather abruptly as a fork slammed into the wall next to him. He flinched and turned to face the demon and ghost - just in time for something that he didn't quite recognize at first beyond the fact that it was big and sharp to embed itself in his shoulder, much deeper than the glass shards had managed to go. He took a quick, sharp breath, going to grab hold of the knife's handle on pure reflex.

Maurice had no plan. He didn't really have a lot of anything going on upstairs for the moment. So much energy! So much! He felt like he could throw a whole house if he had to! Roman was really giving him a jumpstart.

And speaking of Roman, he finally couldn't handle the chill of the kitchen any longer. He turned tail, lowered his horns, and burst through the window. A scream came from outside and suddenly the entire house seemed to sag as the demon's grip on it was finally released.

The ghost gave a smart nod at the hole Roman had left in the window. Yeah, that's what he thought! He turned to proudly face his friend but then saw the sorry state he was in. The flames that licked up his arms went out like a birthday candle.

"Ginko!" He rushed to him, fretting and reaching out and withdrawing his hands over and over.

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