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lana forces her eyes to shut, because if she didn’t then the conversation would be ruined by the sight of her rolling her eyes. edgar allen poe, god ––––– does he have to be so pretentious? she leans on the chair’s armrest and scratches the top of her head before finally meeting julian’s gaze again, nodding along with the timeline of events. “well, he can’t be that smart of a serial killer,” she feigns soft laughter, shrugging at her own statement. “right? i mean, he got caught but a couple of random college kids.” and yet, julian has a point. it never made sense to lana how he managed to fool so many people for so many years and then this group of self-proclaimed ghost hunters come along and blow his cover. a group dumb enough to fall for every lie lana sends their way. it just doesn’t seem realistic.

she shakes her head, waving off his question,   “   oh, enough about me.   ”   lana goes quiet for a moment ––– a finger tapping on her chin as she walks slowly in front of isaiah. she knows he’s lying, he couldn’t be any more obvious. so, she's pacing the room, debating whether she wants to bother isaiah now or elijah later. this might be one of the hardest decisions she’s ever had to make. while she’s weighing the options, she thinks about how isaiah is standing here trying to deceive her. and hey, she’s gotta appreciate someone willing to lie right to another person’s face. therefore, as much as she loves to mess with isaiah, she’s got to give him credit.   “   alright, fine,   ”   lana rolls her eyes, stops in her tracks, and looks back at him again.   “   what are you planning? i’ll help.   ”

“  that’s cause i’ve been in here the whole time,  ”   she shrugs, suspiciously quick to move on from the subject.  “  and what are you doing in here, hm?  ”   lana squints at him, if only looks could kill. she knew he was up to something. why else would he have to sneak into a room that he normally spends seventy percent of his time in. it would’ve been easier for him had he just walked in like he regularly would instead of trying to be stealth, since he was incapable of it.   “  does your sidekick know you’re in here? taking things from the beyond the grave table, no less.  ”

“doc?” lana shakes her head, eyebrows pull together. she was playing dumb–– she’s obviously heard of their documentary, it’s what put her father back in prison after all those years. but it’s just that; she’s only ever heard about it. she can’t bring herself to watch it. knowing her father was responsible for hurting a bunch of people is enough, she doesn’t need to see it. as julian begins, lana lowers her head and focuses on his every word. until finally he gets to the part she wants to hear. “yeah... you’d have to be a real idiot, huh?” she fakes a chuckle at her own joke, which technically wasn’t a joke. you would have to be a real idiot. “so... this serial killer, mayer willis. he attacked them, right? how the hell did they get away? sorry for the overload of questions, this is kind of confusing. i thought the mysterbusters busted ghosts not serial killers.”

she shrugs in response, not wanting to expand any further on her choice of words. and luckily she doesn’t have to, julian was already speaking up again before she had the chance. just like the feeling she has with julian, lana doesn’t think naomi is capable of hiding a juicy secret. she knows naomi better than she knows any of the other mysterybusters so far, and the only bad thing she believes naomi to do is cry about being called a bitch by the infamous blair maxwell. who lana hears is quite the shit stirrer herself. personally, she wont mind any drama within the group as long as she’s not involved. that’s not to say she’ll never cause any, she’ll need some sort of entertainment to keep from dying of boredom. there’s probably a better possibility of that than dying at the hands of a ghost, who they're so desperate to find evidence of. lana’s eyebrows raise at julian’s comment about ashley, feigning surprise. she has yet to meet ashley but she’s well aware of her reputation, so of course she’ll know her when she sees her. when julian grabs a chair next to her, hands retract from the keyboard and she leans in the opposite direction, a bit of a disapproving expression etched on her face while she watches him take a seat. just the way he sits manages to irritates the hell out of lana, and yet she doesn’t protest his company. “yes,” she answers, the corner of her mouth curving into a smirk. it’s an answer, he can figure out to which question later because she’s ready to move on. talking about herself for too long is dangerous, even more so with a person who’s job title is literally researcher. “anyway, enough about me. i want to know about what i’m getting myself into. so, tell me... what’s the worst thing that’s happened to these guys?” lana hopes this is a way to get him talking about mayer without actually having to ask.

she pretends to be typing something on one of her keyboards, but really she’s listening intently as julian speaks of verena. lana has been mentally taking notes of all the members she’s met thus far, trying to find out their weaknesses and insecurities early on. just in case. god forbid one of them found out who her dad is and she needed some of her own form of blackmail. and unfortunately for julian, he was easy to read. “mmm,” she hums at the information given to her. however, that’s not at all what she’s interested in. his body language, that she sees from a reflection in one of the screens left blank, is what she’s more focused on. maybe he was unable to stand still because she wasn’t the best person to hold a conversation with. or maybe his awkward back and forth was because of the girl he agreed to join a ghost hunting group for, when he didn’t even believe in such a thing. at least, that’s the impression she got after watching a couple of youtube videos–––– julian thought the paranormal to be impossible, and it’s only further established when he asks a follow up question. lana isn’t entirely sure she believes in it either, but she knows nothing is impossible. “sure, i have a few of those. but in my experience, we won’t be seeing many orbs. probably just the standard behind your back gossip and accidental slip of secrets. so, i’d be careful if i were you, julian.” she’s not trying to scare him by any means, it’s a sincere warning. although, she does find it difficult to suspect him of hiding something worse than a serial killer father.

so, she was right. this is julian. hm, well, he’s not what she was expecting. lana sits up straighter in her chair, eyes falling to his feet and then back up to meet his again. “i guess you could call it babysitting,” she finishes off the comment with a small shrug. sure, the twins needed to be fed and put to sleep now and then, but they basically took care of themselves. it makes sense considering who their mother is. and suddenly, just the simple thought of noah and ava brings the slightest of smiles to her face. lana doesn’t mean for it to happen, she’s grown fond of the two kids. and she hated admitting this but naomi isn’t half bad either. even if she wasn’t in this to find out about her dad, she’d probably somehow gravitate towards them, as if the universe wanted them to meet for a reason or whatever fate nonsense her grandma loves to drone on and on about. it’s much too early to be dropping her guard around julian, therefore to hide any sign that she’s capable of positive emotions she quickly turns in her chair, facing the screens again. “and how did you end up with this dream job?” lana asks him, in a dry and sarcastic tone.

lana had been babysitting for naomi castillo for about two weeks now. and after a little, light manipulation, she was able to convince the older girl to score her a job with the mysterybusters. despite the whole thing being a very public web show, the agreement was her job would be completely behind the scenes. this way she’d be able to hide behind her computer and mind her business while digging deeper into her dad’s past. she arrived at the headquarters bright and early and daniel, being the enthusiastic person he is, happily led her to the work space she’d been assigned. after settling into her corner, she heard footsteps approaching from behind. spinning in her chair, lana took a good look at who it was. he didn’t look too familiar, which meant she didn’t recognize him from any of the mysterybuster clips she’d previously watched on youtube. however, she did her background checks on all the members, needing to know everything about them before stepping foot in this place. and she’s nothing if not thorough. this must be julian vega–––– the new addition to the research team. “lana,” is all she says to him. but truthfully, it’s much better than introducing herself with hi i’m mayer willis’ daughter, nice to meet you.    (  @julicnsv​  )

if lana knew daniel’s father better, it’d be right about now that she figures out how similar the two are. they both had a way with telling stories, where it took them over completely. she notices the sparkle in his eye as soon as he begins. he says the words ‘so laura’ and just like that, he’s gone. daniel was sitting on the bed next to her, but he might as well be in 1986. lana listens, intently, her gaze set on him until he finishes, then she stands and walks over to the perfectly kept mirror over a chest of drawers. now that she understands why he’s brought her here, she feels guilty for giving him such a hard time. she should’ve known daniel taupo would go out of his way to try and bring lana some closure. she runs a finger over laura’s old jewelry box, wondering what could possibly be inside. “what was she like?” she finally asks, staring at his reflection. “did they ever tell you?”

she doesn’t respond right away, taking a long pause and letting the suspense drag out just a bit longer. lana hasn’t been the easiest person to decipher around here, but the one on the receiving end of the ‘joke’, as she’d like to call it, was ashley. and therefore, there was little to no hope at cracking this code, it’s just be downright mean to not tell her the truth. “i was lana-ing you. sorry, didn’t expect it to backfire like that...” lana eyes ashley up and down, truly taken aback by her reaction–––– though there was no evidence of it besides the smug smile drawn on her lips. “geez, ash, i didn’t realize you two were so serious.”

she shrugged, avoiding the implication that she enjoyed the time they spent together. she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’s right. when daniel tried his hardest to crack one of his jokes, lana didn’t break their eye contact. she didn’t even blink. and if he didn’t say sike soon, she was gonna finish what her father started on him. she let out a breath of relief when she figured out he was only kidding around. but when she heard his explanation, that wave of relief washing over her had once again turned into a wall of irritation that she was walking straight into. lana leaned back, placing her hands behind her to hold herself up,  “oh. so... you brought me to a normal bedroom? that’s somehow worse.”

“you’re—?”  she stopped herself before she could fully question ashley sincerity. it’s ashley cohen, of course she’s being sincere. and she was also uncharacteristically hyperaware of the other girl’s touch. lana looked down at the spot where ashley’s hand met her arm, and she let her mind wander to the first place it always went: harmless torture.  “i would have to, wouldn’t i?”  but is it really torture if she’s having this much fun?  “well... he might have mentioned it a couple of days ago.”  she bit down on her bottom lip, hiding the smirk she felt growing on her features and adopted ashley’s vocabulary as she went on.  “but that’s, like, totally crazy, right? like, you haven’t been together long enough to make that kind of commitment. i don’t know, maybe it’s time to dump him, ash.”

lana reluctantly watched as isaiah placed a kiss to the corner of ashley’s mouth and then walked out the door, leaving just the two girls alone in the main offices of the headquarters. she’s had to deal with these butt crazy in-love lunatics for long, but now that they were living together it’s only gotten more sickening to see how they act around each other. as if there was no one else around but them, they were the only two people in the world. it’s so bad that even verena and julian don’t bother her this much.  “you guys are disgusting. you're aware of that, right?”  instead of giving ashley a chance to answer, she continued on with her complaints,  “you’re like a full-on married couple and i’m sorry but i refuse to have another maxwell in this office.”    (  @ashcohens​  )

“i still think it’s weird that we’re here,”  lana told him, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. any sane person would think she meant it’s weird to be in a dead girls room that has seemly been untouched for decades, but would then notice that she’s sitting on said dead girl’s bed and would ultimately decide that isn’t exactly a problem for her. she didn’t quite understand how daniel even managed to convince the old couple who owned the home to let them inside. lana casually took a tank top beside her by it’s strap and held it up, tossing it back after giving it a quick scan.  “what is this? a time capsule from the eighties?”  she sighed, trying her best to contain her emerging feelings of frustration,  “daniel taupo... i know you didn’t force me off campus to investigate this random, so-called haunted childhood room.”    (  @daniellovestohavefun​  )