**2** [Audio/Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz is currently sitting in the hallway in front of a line of pumpkins, her gaze bereft and full of tears. Her voice is choked and she sounds like a complete and total mess.

Hysterics are approaching.]

Look, ummm... I, like, don't even know if anyone will hear this, but... Could I, like, get some help, please?

The pumpkins...

[She breaks off

Comments

[audio]

[morningfeather]

I shall help. Where are you?

[At least this way it'll get her away from her own pumpkins and distract her from the whispering.]

[audio]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Oh, thank God someone actually heard her! She sniffles pathetically, still being jeered at by the other pumpkins.]

S-second floor.. outside room 2133.

[And she'll be sitting there looking at the destroyed pumpkin, while a demonic pumpkin continues to speak to her softly.]

[audio-->commentlog] I coulda swore this posted hours ago, apparently not

[morningfeather]

I shall be there shortly.

[And Te Ata is up the stairs and at room 2133 in just a couple minutes. She notices Liz on the floor and starts to clear up the mess on the floor while she speaks.]

I will get rid of this and be back in just a moment.

[commentlog] It's failed to post my comments the same way in the past

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz can only wait, staring blankly at the mess of pumpkin in front of her. She glances up at the sound of someone approaching and looks at the unfamiliar woman that comes to her aid.

She hitches a soft breath, feeling completely useless, but nods.]

Okay...

[Audio]

[fallintheriver]

[Flail flail. Liz is in distress! How does one handle this sort of situation? Play it cool, Ezra, and pretend that your social education didn't completely gloss over this sort of thing.]

Liz! Are you okay? They're just pumpkins, it's fine. Probably.

[Audio] I <3 you and Ezra so much! xoxoxo

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz is absolutely a mess right now, Ezra. She is most certainly in distress right now and kinda sorta hates herself for it, cause she's supposed to be the bubbly positive one.]

Ezra... she was, like, talking and I wanted to bring her back and then I couldn't, cause, like, my hand passed through the stupid pumpkin. I tried to, like, lift her with my powers, but that didn't work and then she screamed and I tried to, like, put her back but it didn't work and she melted into a puddle..

[She hopes, on another level, that you understood all of that, Ezra.]

And now, like, my dad is saying stuff to me, and, like, it's not nice and he says that Tori is dead anyway so it, like, doesn't matter and she was just, like, a stupid pumpkin.

[She whimpers, huddled against the wall outside her room.]

None of them will stop talking...

[Audio] <33

[fallintheriver]

[Somehow, Ezra gathers that 'Right, they're just stupid pumpkins. Don't worry about it', is not an appropriate response in this situation.

But, wait! He knows how to make them stop talking! He can help!]

We have to find the one with you on it. Someone s- I heard that if you take it off the stake, the voices stop.

[He really, really hopes this information is accurate.]

[Audio]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz thanks you for using your best judgement in this matter, Ezra. She looks up at the pumpkins lining the hall in front of her, but doesnt see her own; just her father's demonic visage.]

I don't, like, s-see mine... and I can't, like, pick it up on my own. I'm all incorporeal and ghosty and my telekinesis isn't, like, working.

[She looks miserably down at her journal, her tone plaintive.]

C-can you help me, like, find it, Ezra??

[Commentlog]

[sociopathicwolf]

[Derek hears this over the journals, but doesn't bother asking Liz where she is. He can't track her scent, but it still doesn't take him too long to find her, particularly with the sound of her crying.]

Liz?

[Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz looks up, her expression miserable as she gestures weakly at the shriveled up pumpkin on the floor in front of her.]

I tried to, like, put her back, but I couldn't...

[Commentlog]

[sociopathicwolf]

[He crouches down next to her, though he doesn't try to touch her.]

It wasn't her.

[He wishes he'd found it first, he'd have smashed it and Liz would never have to know.]

[Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz sniffs and looks at Derek, nodding.]

I know that... like, I know that, but it caught me off guard. I mean it was, like, bad enough when she was just whispering, but she, like, screamed and I panicked. It sounded just like her...

[It had been horrible.]

[thii2ii22tupiid]

*Sollux does indeed see and hear her as he wanders down the hall. So he does the nicest possible thing.
He stops in front of her and scowls.*

Cut it out. Crying doesn't do anything.

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz is just kind of staring at the pumpkin before her, although no one would recognize Tori now; even if they'd known her.

She sees the feet first, her gaze lingering on the floor, and blinks at the dry tone that follows. She actually snorts a laugh behind the tears, having expected that reaction least of all from anyone.

Looking up at Sollux's voice, she actually sees him for the first time. She blinks, sniffles, and then grins a bit awkwardly.]

No... I don't imagine it'll do, like, much good at all. Much less shut any of the others up, huh?

[She rubs the sleeve of her shirt across her nose, studying the first troll she's ever seen. She actually smiles a bit wryly, shaken out of her self-misery fest rather successfully.]

You don't pull any punches, do you?

[thii2ii22tupiid]

Its really just annoying to anyone who has to hear it.

*He shrugs.*

There's usually not a reason to.

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz laughs again, and there is far less strain this time.]

Well, God knows I wouldn't want to, like, annoy anyone.

[There is even a teasing note to her sarcasm. She then sighs and nods.]

Be what you are, not, like, what others want you to be.

[She is silent for a minute, her gaze drifting to the pumpkins once more.]

These things are all over the place, aren't they?

[Audio --> Commentlog]

[ghostly_stutter]

L-Liz?

H-hang on! I'll be right there! I'll be--

[And here she comes, racing down the hall to your door, hoping that's where Liz was. If not, she would find out momentarily.]

[Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[If Chloe isn't paying too much attention, she just might run right through Liz, who is sitting rather quietly on the floor of the hall.

However, being as how Chloe is one of the few that can see her ALL the time, this is unlikely.

She looks up at the approaching steps and when she sees who is coming she simply looks back at the shriveled up pumpkin.]

It was Tori...

[Commentlog]

[ghostly_stutter]

[Chloe ceases running when she sees Liz, her mouth forming a small 'o' as she slowly edges closer.]

Tori?

[Crouching down next to Liz, Chloe looks at the shriveled pumpkin and her eyebrows rise. It did resemble Tori, though it was slightly misshapen now.]

Liz, wh-what's going on?

[Commentlog]

[bffpoltergeist]

[Liz looks miserable as she looks up at Chloe.]

You hear the voices, don't you? All the mean little whispers and blame and, like, stuff... There's pumpkins from home, Chloe. They have the faces of people we know. I, like, found Tori and my dad...

[She gestures to the looming demonic pumpkin still on a post behind Chloe.]

I, like, tried to take Tori down, but I'm all ghosty right now. So I tried to use my telekinesis, and it didn't work too well and she, like, started to scream and it was horrible and I, like, couldn't hold her and she slipped. She shriveled up and died and I just want to go home.

[The last is said in a rush, but is heavy with emotion.]