[PRP] all very scientific (Jordan & Horace & Gloom)

[prolixity]

It was entirely dark outside when Jordan re-entered the library. The scanner beeped for his card, and he had a moment of trepidation as he realized that if anyone cared, they could probably be tracked as having been here right before closing. Then again, they probably weren't the only ones here. He knew quite a few night owls who preferred to do their work at odd nighttime hours. He himself preferred evening to early morning, given the choice.

The single bored employee behind the front desk didn't so much as look up from her book as he walked past. He headed for the table in the back of the library where he'd met Horace earlier, and sat down to wait, flipping open a book on the table in front of him as an excuse.

xThe Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

When Horace showed up, it was five minutes late, with Starbucks. The desk staffer watched idly as he struggled to pull out his ID card and balance the desks. "Real graceful," he heard the girl mutter as he finally slipped by. He winked at her in response, feeling oddly light-hearted tonight.

"Hey, Jordan. Like coffee?" He set down the cups between them. His held a ton of sugar and Jordan's he kept black, but there were some creamers and sugars next to it. If Jordan didn't like coffee, well, then Horace would have two coffees. It was a win/win situation.

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

"Only heathens don't like coffee," Jordan answered, his face lighting up with a delighted smile as he reached for the coffee. He pulled the lid off long enough to check that his coffee had not been in any way diluted, then replaced it and took a sip, sighing happily. The sugar and creamers remained unused. "Thank you. That was a great idea. I hope they didn't give you any crap over bringing it in?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"You take it black?" Horace squirreled away the sugar packets into his bag - he always had a use for sugar. "The only crap I got was the check-out clerk laughing 'cuz I almost dropped it all." He sighed and took a sip, wincing as the hot liquid hit his tongue - bit too hot still.

"Figured we could use the caffeine. I guess we should actually... study and stuff until mission start." Horace frowned and, instead, started looking around himself furtively. For ghost hiding spots.

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

"Yeah, I'm a weirdo. I like bitter stuff more than sweet. I was the weird kid who didn't want a piece of cake at the birthday party." Jordan took another small sip. The coffee was too hot, but he liked it just short of burning.

"Yeah, probably wise." Jordan put his phone on the table where he could casually glance at the time, and pulled a notebook out of his backpack. "Seriously, thank you for the coffee."

---

About ten minutes before closing time, he casually flipped his notebook shut and tucked it and his textbook away into the backpack, gathering his stuff up as though he was planning to leave. He picked up his phone from the table and angled it at Horace, displaying the time for him, a silent signal that it was time for them to find somewhere to not be seen. Something occurred to him then, and he took a moment to switch his phone to silent vibrate mode before slipping it into his pocket again.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace leaned back in his chair, texting, as Jordan got up. A few seconds later, Jordan's phone would buzz.

Quote:

To:Jordan
looks like best bets are upstairs study room, downstairs bathroom, or upstairs closet - think it's unused. what do you think, wanna hide together?

Then he gathered up with book, packing it away and stood. Then, with a nod at Jordan, he ambled off, just out of view of the desk staff and waited for a text back.

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

Quote:

To: Horace
May as well. Upstairs study room? If the light's off they shouldn't check inside.

Jordan headed up the stairs, walking as quietly as he could and keeping the stupid smile contained. He felt like a kid again, creeping around and planning mischief. He wasn't entirely sure why he was going through with this, with a guy he barely knew, but ... hell, it was fun.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Once sequestered in the study room, Horace shoved some chairs around the communal table in the middle, forcing most of them on one side. Then, he promptly ducked under the other side of the table.

"In case they check," he whispered.

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

"Good idea," Jordan whispered back. He peeked briefly out of the window in the study room door, then turned the light off and ducked under the table to wait.

Time seemed to stretch long, as it always did when you were waiting for something. He resisted the urge to check his phone for the time again, just in case the glow of it might be seen. After some time, footsteps passed by faintly outside the room, and a little while later, the main lights of the library shut off, leaving only the glow of the exit signs and the faint light coming in the windows from the lamps outside the building.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I think it's safe to come out," he whispered and slid out from under the table. The staying quiet and waiting had made him antsy. Opening his backpack, he pulled out a notebook and a recorder. "For EVPs and because it's not science 'less you write it down." He grinned, thoroughly excited for a silly venture into ghost hunting. It was a little weird to be jumping into this with a guy he barely knew, but it had been a while since he'd felt excited over something fun.

Horace creaked open the door. The library lay before them, dark and silent. Small emergency lights banked in the corners, the exit sign glowing a bright green. Stepping near the stacks, he flipped on his recorder."Where do you wanna start, upstairs or down?"

prolixty

azuredreams

 

[prolixity]

Jordan slipped out after Horace, and opened his own backpack to pull out a notebook, a small flashlight, and what looked like a keychain light. "I downloaded a thermal camera app on my phone to check for weird hot or cold spots," he said. The flashlight and keychain got tucked into the front pocket of his hoodie. He was a little dubious about the actual effectiveness of the app, but it was worth a look, right? He turned the phone on and pulled the app up; pointing it at Horace got him a multicolored, human-shaped blob. "Check it out, it at least sort of works."

He closed the study room door behind them quietly. "You said you heard about a ghost up here, right? Might as well start where we are." He turned in a slow circle, watching the phone's screen for any anomalies, and said, "12:17 AM, upper floor of Rider-Waite College Library. Are there any presences here with us?We're not looking for any trouble, we just want to communicate."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[azuredreams]

There would be a strange blip on the thermal camera - a strangely shaped blip in fact - when it was spun towards a window.

Then there was a particularly spoopy noise from high up on one of the bookshelves.

If chirps were spoopy.

The Semblance of Unity

Proxlixity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace heard the chirp and whirled towards it. "What was that?" His voice came out high pitched and squeaked at the end. "I, uh-" he lowered his voice back its normal timbre. "If there are any ghosts here, please speak to us - show yourselves!"

Looking back towards Jordan, he whispered. "Did you hear that? Wanna see if we can check it out?"

prolixity

 

[prolixity]

"Hey, I think I saw something - " There was a distinct noise from the shelves, and Jordan almost dropped his phone in surprise. He hadn't actually expected anything to answer him. Maybe he should have taken the possibility into account a little better, he thought. He hadn't been really tired, but now he was sharply awake, his body fizzing with adrenaline. He pointed the camera back towards the location where he'd seen the something.

"I definitely heard that," he whispered back. "It sounded pretty deliberate." He moved slowly and cautiously toward the set of shelves where he thought the chirping noise had come from, opting not to pull out his flashlight, since his eyes were pretty well adjusted to the dark anyway and he didn't want to blind either of them or frighten anything else away.

azuredreams

The Semblance of Unity

 

[azuredreams]

It was an oddly colder than usual blip on Jordan's screen but the shape was erratic. Then it shifted and was gone, zipped off the screen.

There was another chirp followed by a voice, a sweet voice, "... there aren't any ghosts here, y'know. This is the wrong place for them."

The Semblance of Unity

Prolixity