black sheep boy

If Orion was a goat he’d freeze up and tip over from the shock he receives as the ‘ghost’ drops the torch in response to his offhanded comment. The sound it makes, followed by the boys scattered reaction, seems all too real. As in human. There. Right in front of him. The realisation makes him stutter in his step, halting as the other tries to catch the rolling light - or at least he can assume that’s what they’re doing as the shadows shit behind the globe.

“Shit-” he quickly moves to take his earphones out, pulling himself back to reality. Well, except for the second he glanced behind him for his other ghost friend only to find them gone. The alive were alone, at least from what he can tell. “Sorry- I- autopilot,” he waves his hand out in front of him struggling to come up with some excuse to why he’d thrown judgement at them. “Uh- is it?” He plays dumb, looking around as if he was just noticing its emptiness rather than it be the very reason he enjoyed it. “So, what are you doing here?” He prompts as if he was making a point.

Cass’ stomach swims with momentary guilt, then amusement, as he realizes what’s happened here. Two old ghosts giving each other a fright, like a scene out of an old slapstick film – improved only by the retroactive addition of white sheets over their heads. Hah.

“Gosh, I’m sorry,” he’s smiling, but he still feels bad. “Guess we scared each other, huh?” 

He stares down at his flashlight; the true villain of this whole ordeal. “I’m a park ranger. On the night watch, just doing my job. What are you doing here?”

Bez nodded. “Yes… because… if you use a flashlight, the whole world grows darker. Like, if you are in a lit room at night, you can’t see what’s outside,” they explained.

“Oh? That’s a thing that they do? You would think I’ve been in Pleasance long enough to know that,” they said apologetically. “I promise I’m not ghost hunting or anything, I just go for walks to calm my brain before I can sleep.”

“As far as I can tell,” Cass muses, leaning up against the rough hewn bark of the towering oak behind him. “Maybe they’re just laying down the law with me ‘cause I’m the new guy. Either way, I wouldn’t hang out around these parts too late. A lot of, uh...feral raccoons and weird old men with glowing eyes trying to get me to answer riddles for them.” A joke, yes, but in a town like this it could almost be a plausible anecdote.

He smiles tiredly, gaze moving to the stars sewn in the gaps between treetops. “I’m Cass, by the way. Just moved here. Have you tried meditating?”

Bez sprang up slightly at the sound of someone calling out, but instead of turning right around and leaving, they went towards the voice, shouting back a “hey, you’re not!” for good measure before appearing out of the darkness. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you, bruv, I should really start using my flashlight more often on my nightly strolls, but I feel saver without it.” They offered a smile and a shrug when seeing the stranger.

"You feel...safer without your flashlight?” Cass manages halfheartedly, searching for the stranger with the scope of his flashlight. After a moment of unenthusiastic panning, the light hits the stranger’s body head on like a sudden apparition. “Oh. There you are.” 

He stands with a practically senile huff. “Sorry to interrupt your, uh...strange little walk in the middle of the night, but, um.” He swings the flashlight on its loop with a flourish and taps his name tag. And smiles, sort of. “Park’s closed.”

Orion couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t anything particular, just the plague of insomnia that nagged him from time to time. Everyone dealt with that right? Orion didn’t want to think too much into it being yet another symptom to a troubled mind. When nothing in his apartment offered him comfort he would go for a walk around his neighbourhood in hopes it would bring him the gift of sleep when he returned to his bed. When he grew bored with one space he would warm his cars engine and drive to another. This is how he found himself at Southwood Forest, walking with very little light in probably a dangerous location but with earphones softly playing saxophone he could pretend it was the safest place on earth.

It probably should worry him that for some time now he’d had someone following him, but after a few turns and sudden stops Orion came to realise the familiarity of the figure. You’re seeing things out of the store now, he scolds himself silently. Ghosts or hallucinations, whatever they were, seemed to be pushing at the boundaries he was willing to accept. In the store it was one thing - late at night in a park was another. At least they didn’t try to talk to him.

Whistling along to his music, Orion turned on the path, his notes carrying in the still summer air. He finds his gaze drawn to a new figure sitting reading of all things at this hour. The face was young but unfamiliar, so his sleep deprived mind convinces him they are not really there. Just another figure, just another haunting. “It’s a shame what you’ve done to that book” he mumbles, used to talking to the figures and being ignored. The quite jazz in his earphone fills the quiet any way. Orion shows no sign of stopping his stroll, the comment the only notice he gives as he passes the figure.

Just when he’s returned his focus back to his book, a voice rings out from the stillness. Cass starts, dropping his flashlight. It skitters away helplessly. “Are you serious, man?” he mutters, standing up. “I can’t just have one night –”

He blinks rapidly, trying to adjust to the sudden dark, all the while fumbling around for the flashlight handle on the ground. He sticks the novel – still folded over itself crudely – into his jacket pocket. The flashlight rolls over a root and half-blinds him; he seizes it again, finally, and turns it on the stranger. “Thank you for that, by the way. You know this park closes at sunset, right?”

when: 10 pm on a sunday

who: open!

When Cass had pictured himself working the night shift, it looked a lot different than this. He’d sort of imagined doing crossword puzzles under lamplight, answering late night calls from crotchety old geriatrics, and occasionally shooing out some kids trying to smoke pot under the shadowy cover of a white oak. He did not, however, anticipate the long, harrowing stretches of mute darkness that seemed to stretch on for days, stewing in the seemingly uninhabited haunts of Southwood forest. Yes, he’d done some reading about the town, and it may have colored his expectations ever so slightly, but he’s not gonna let it get to him. No, not even when a shadow darts between the trees, humanoid and darkly clad. 

          “Uh, hello?” He calls from his stooped position at the base of a beech tree. He’d been reading Siddhartha by flashlight just to pass the time. Cass scans his flashlight over the horizon – nothing. Stupid. Stupid paranoia.

          Cass shakes his head and returns his gaze back to his book, folded-over and heavily dog-eared. “Christ. I’m already losing my fuckin’ mind out here.” 

full name: cassian elias richards

nicknames: cass

gender and pronouns: cis man, he/him

age: 25

date of birth: i'll be honest i forgot which birth date i put in my app so i'll just come back and edit this later LOL

hometown: logan, ohio

nationality: american

religion: ???

sexual and romantic orientation: bisexual biromantic

occupation: park ranger @ southwood public park

living arrangements: shacking up in a shitty one bedroom apartment in town

languages spoken: english

strange history: the grove at southwood forest