make way for the raven king

                “I would’ve said ‘Donate them to Goodwill’ but I don’t think anyone deserves that.” She imagined it would be like how there were just stacks and stacks of Fifty Shades books, except instead it would be bags and bags of pastel polo shirts, khakis and boat shoes. "You can distract him while I do it -- but more importantly where do you think we could get a tie dye shirt?”

                Noah chewed idly at his thumb-nail, thinking for a moment. He had asked himself that question once: ‘Am I a person?’... He still wasn’t sure if he had an answer to that, and so he simply answered “I don’t know.” Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick... The little clockwork thing went, chittering away in its own mechanical mind as he circled, wandering dangerously close to the edge. “I don’t think she likes me, the other ghost, she keeps hiding in the corners.” Though he couldn’t imagine why, he liked to think he was only ever friendly unless he had done something he hadn’t thought of. “What’s a gnome anyway?”

                Admittedly, going door-to-door was perhaps more of an effort than required, she could have just put up flyers or had some brochures put out in the local stores. Then again, she was asking about water and strange phenomena. Not the standard academic polling criteria one would expect. Coming up the drive, Angela clutched her papers tightly to her chest against the wind and cursed the fact she hadn’t worn a scarf today. Still, she made it to the door, and knocked three times.

                Modron stood quietly, her robe and locks of hair drifting in the wind. She was like a dream herself standing there, guarding the border between reality and her own dreaming. "Not when surrounded by countless others of its kind,” she answered, voice still quiet but pervading the distance nonetheless. The queen’s head inclined, examining him for a moment, perhaps equally as stone-faced as he was in that moment. “What did you dream of, greywaren?”

                “What if we just took all his clothing and threw it in that lake?” Then maybe he could be forced into wearing normal people’s clothing, not a single polo shirt or cargo short in sight. “Just picture this for a moment: your overalls, give him some of those leather straps Ronan’s always wearing, I could rustle up a shirt or --” she cut herself short with a sharp gasp, quickly overtaken by a bright smile. “Tie-dye.”

                "Both,” Noah answered, thought after a brief moment of thought. Maybe he didn’t go somewhere, but it wasn’t here or there either. He didn’t think he entirely stopped either, more like everything else did. Was it different for other ghosts? He couldn’t guess. “It doesn’t have a heartbeat, is it alive? I’m not and I don’t... What if the batteries run out? Will you replace them? Does a gnome run out of batteries?” What was a gnome? More importantly: could he get one to put in Ronan’s room?

                plotting call

                starter call

                “I’m considering it the world’s punishment for dating a raven boy,” Blue answered, giving a thousand-yard stare as she visualised the horrid things being thrown into a bottomless pit or a furnace or something similarly capable of getting rid of them altogether. “It’s a work in progress. I thought I might get him chucks for his birthday or something.”