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Alise was no stranger to rumors and gossip, and normally she even lived for it, being the paranormal enthusiast as she was; with the strange happenings that tended to occur in Destiny City, there was always something that would catch her attention . Ever since she started school at Crystal last year, though, she had largely started to tune it out, as any gossip was usually just Rich Girl Stuff… which was boring and uninteresting, in her opinion. Certainly, she wasn’t interested in talking about makeup… or clothes… or horses… or anything that normal teenage girls supposedly talked about, really. Even into her second year of high school, she felt like her family had made a mistake in enrolling her here, no matter how much money they had.

(Really, Alise always felt like she was meant for some higher calling overall, which being a senshi played a part in.)

This morning had started out no different, and Alise had been all prepared to stare off into space and wish she was anywhere but at school, until she heard just what was being talked about: the Carnival Fire of ‘42, and a supposedly haunted carousel. That caught her attention, and Alise listened intently, though found herself highly disappointed in what she heard. Apparently, while the rumors were that the restored carousel being possibly haunted, with people hearing voices, or seeing shadows, the general consensus among her classmates was that it was probably a prank- and one in very bad taste- from an unruly student from one of the other schools. Although it wasn’t mentioned aloud, Alise had a feeling she knew which schools they meant; it wasn’t terribly hard to guess, after all.

Being the resident ‘weirdo’ of the class, of course, Alise was certain that it was more than just a rumor, and perhaps, even the Real Deal… though this sentiment was not shared by her classmates. As usual, she had been dismissed as being up to her usual (so, basically, ‘being weird’), and left alone as the last one out of the classroom, as usual. Such was the daily life of someone as misunderstood as herself.

There was a small silver lining, though, and by a small stroke of fortune… or perhaps just by the luck of someone showing just a vague amount of interest and not escaping fast enough to avoid being ‘recruited’, Alise had managed to acquire a ‘helper’ in her plans to prove that the rumors were true. Cinta, one of the girls in her class, had been the only one who had seemed maybe even just a little interested in what Alise had to say, or at least hadn’t outright laughed at her, anyway. Either way, it was good enough criteria for Alise, and plans had been made and arrangements… arranged, for Cinta to meet up with her later that night after school, so they could check out the carousel for themselves.

Ideally, Alise would have liked to have gone after everyone else had left for the night, in true ghost hunter fashion, whatever that was. However, since the rumors required the carousel to be in operation, the teen had begrudgingly joined the crowd waiting for the ride, and hoped that her newfound sidekick hadn’t bailed on her. While she wasn’t sure if Cinta herself was a senshi as well, Alise had brought Etoile with her, stowed away in her backpack as usual, if only for moral support, or perhaps to zap any unruly ghosts, or… something?

Now all there was left to do was wait, and hope that her newfound accomplice would show.

"Aha! And so my new sidekick makes her debut," Alise said, as her weird way of greeting her classmate, perhaps. She really didn't do herself any favors by acting the way she did, but it did serve a handy purpose of getting the more snobby girls to steer clear of her.

Eyeing the tote Cinta brought along, Alise felt Etoile shift around in her backpack, no doubt having caught the scent of something sweet. "And what's this? Have you brought supplies to assist with our mission?"

"Ah-"

While Alise had let slip to Cinta that she owned a cat for the purposes of bait giving the other girl incentive to tag along, she hadn't been able to disclose that Etoile wasn't an ordinary cat. Rather, Etoile was a magical talking cat who preferred sweets to actual cat food... though Alise couldn't quite tell this to Cinta without knowing if she was a 'chosen one' or not.

Of course, as Alise was determined to take the secret of harboring Etoile in her home to the grave, she had sworn her classmate to a vow of silence in the regard, to keep it a secret from anyone else. A badly kept secret as usual, as anyone who Alise was remotely acquainted with would eventually know she toted a kitten around with her while out and about around town, but a secret nonetheless.

Now came the tricky part: how did she divert Cinta's attention away from giving treats to Etoile, while not looking sus as hell? She already knew that if Cinta attempted to feed any of them to Etoile, that the little kitten surely wouldn't be able to keep from voicing her complaints, thus blowing this whole covert op thing.

"- Good thinking, my new sidekick!" Alise finally said, thinking up a lie on the spot, "I'll go ahead and take those cat treats off your hand, so that our faithful minion doesn't overindulge herself. In the meantime, surely, I could relieve you of some of the other treats you brought? If you put some in my backpack, I can help you carry some of that!"

“Excellent!” Alise exclaimed, though it wasn’t certain as to which of Cinta’s statements that was in reference to. The cat treats were swiftly stored away in her coat pocket, never to see the light of day again, unless they came across a normal cat… or a cat that liked the treats, anyway. The sweets were put away in her backpack, to be consumed by the void, which was actually just a kitten with a bottomless pit of a stomach.

The line was moving forward, as Cinta pointed out, and their turn seemed to be coming up shortly. Before they ultimately boarded though, Alise turned to Cinta, speaking in a conspiratorial whisper, “Now, my sidekick, you -do- know of the rumors, yes?”

“Only the screams of the damned,” Alise replied, in a casual manner most certainly unbefitting of the subject matter at hand. Only the screams of the damned, no biggie, happens all the time, right? “After all, this carousel is a relic of the past, the sole survivor of the Carnival Fire of 1942. A tragic event of which must have placed a curse on this ride!”

Was she getting a little ahead of herself? Was she getting maybe a tad too excited over this? Maybe. It was like something out of a video game, a haunted carousel, maybe something like an SCP, or an Object of Power… or something else that was escaping her memory at the moment, but Something Like That. This was, if nothing else, her first big chance at proving that she wasn’t just making up things for attention, or being just plain weird.

Finally, the crowd ahead of them thinned out, and the ‘promised’ or ‘fated’ hour, as Alise might have called it, had arrived. With a wide grin on her face, Alise boarded the carousel, picking out a white rabbit as her chosen ‘steed’, to the surprise of no one ever. “I do hope you aren’t thinking of backing out now,” she told Cinta, both for the sake of her desire to prove in the existence of the supernatural… as well as her desire to find out as to if Cinta was a potential unawakened ally or not.

The carousel started, the music indeed taking on an eerie tune compared to the normally 'expected' cheerful carousel music, not that Alise was really an expert on those sorts of things. Although this was supposed to be her opportunity to prove it was haunted one and for all, Alise had brought Etoile for a reason, and not just to feed her Cinta's homemade snacks. When she was certain no one was looking, Alise peered into her backpack, which she had placed on her lap, and gave the little kitten a questioning look.

"Well?" she inquired, hoping for good news.

"Hmm... I just don't know," Etoile responded, frowning, "I don't think I sense anything! Those cookies were really delicious though- do you think she has more?"

"Whaaaat? You're getting scared already?"

Alise was amazed, and yet, also a bit disappointed. Cinta had shown promise... and yet, she seemed to be chickening out so soon? Alise glanced back down at the kitten that was stowed away in her bag, frowning. Was Cinta truly not a 'chosen one'? Did Alise go wrong in recruiting her for her plans?

Meanwhile, Etoile, try as she might, simply could not sense anything from Cinta. She'd put in her best effort, but it didn't seem like her starseed needed awakening. It was too bad- she'd really liked those treats... if Cinta had been a senshi, she could have had an easier time getting more of them! It seemed that she'd have to continue having Alise act as a middleman, then...

"Don't be so scared- it'll be over soon," Alise told Cinta, feeling very sulky that her new friend was a bit of a scardeycat. When would she meet someone who shared the same passion she did for spooky scary things? When would she find someone who would ride a haunted carousel with her?

"This is but one of many tests of courage, to prove your loyalty to me," she explained, in the hastiest lamest excuse ever, "Pass this, and you will be able to meet my faithful minion, Etoile."

Bribe with getting to meet the cat was a valid strategy, right?