#ghost patton

His spell gives them what they want, yes. But will slowly weigh on them psychologically in subtle ways. They live a long happy life but based on their desires, insecurities, or flaws, there will always be something slightly off balance. Not enough to ruin what they have but enough to make them spiral day by day. A life of pure bliss but of inescapable mental torment.

Spirits are usually very joyful after this. Enjoying the misery it brings them and will thank Patton endlessly. But once said person passes, if they are to ever meet Patton, he can grant their wishes targeted at other spirits.

They want to get back at the person who cursed all of their years on Earth to be filled with anguish? Sure thing! That's allowed! They just have to choose their words carefully. The other spirit will suffer with no consequences to them at all. But if another spirit comes along with the same goal targetted at them...say if they are a relative of the other spirit and was hoping to spend a peaceful eternity with them and they wanted to spite them for what they've done? Yup! Also allowed! No rules against it.

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“No, Joan… Listen, I’ll call you back, no, it’s fine, I’ve just started unpacking, you can come by later…” Logan watched warily as the new human shuffled boxes around, speaking ceaselessly to someone on his phone, occasionally laughing, reassuring the person that he was fine, the drive had gone well, making idle chatter.

 It hadn’t been all that long. Merely three months, but he wasn’t all that surprised the house went so fast, to a first-time owner, as well, judging by the looks of the young man. No doubt at an insanely low price, thanks to the laws dictating they disclose any deaths on the property, Virgil’s having been so recent, as well. He was sure Virgil was lurking somewhere, watching all of this, or perhaps he was hiding somewhere.

 They’d caught glimpses of him, here and there. Nothing much, just a flicker of shadows, a tinge of darkness, always out of the corner of the eye, always gone before they could say a single word, and it was driving all of them a bit mad.

 Patton and Janus had tried everything, to get him to come out, to get him to come back, but to no avail. They still often spoke out loud, when doing things, now, holding conversations with the air, just in case Virgil was nearby, listening, reassuring him that they were there, if he needed anything, wanted anything, they were there for him. To his frustration, Logan had also started doing it, not noticing until someone called him out on it.

 And Roman. Roman was worse off than the rest of them. He was miserable, he was apologizing endlessly, trying at every turn to seek him out, but if anything, that seemed to drive Virgil farther away, the sense of his presence dwindling, the paint on his door fading and chipping off, a sign that he hadn’t been in it at all, maybe since the last time they’d all seen him, which meant he wasn’t getting the rest he needed, either.

 With a sigh, Logan shook himself out of his thoughts, swapping back over to the spirit plane.

 “Well?” Roman asked, laying upside down on the couch.

 “Young adult, thirty, brown hair, brown eyes, named Thomas. Seems nice enough.” He reported. “Didn’t seem to notice me at all, no mentions of cold spots, hearing my voice when I spoke, seems just as oblivious as the rest of them.” He commented, noticing the tenseness fading out of Patton and Janus’s shoulders, Remus’s grin growing feral.

 “Good. I like a challenge.” He sighed, ignoring Remus’s commentary.

 “And… any sign?” Patton asked hesitantly. He shook his head, eyes clouding with worry for a moment.

 “No. I would have expected… something, but there was no hint of his presence. I don’t know… I hate not knowing things.” He muttered, falling onto the far end of the couch.

 “I know, Lo, but we’ll figure this out.” Patton answered, though his own voice was tinged with disappointment.

 There were some cases, rare cases, where humans could see ghosts, speak to them, as if they were just normal, still alive people. None of them had ever met someone like that, the most they got were amateur ghost hunters, in years the house sat empty, when it had still been an old plantation house, and even they weren’t very perceptive. Some humans were more sensitive, catching glimpses of things, picking up on words here or there, cold spots, hot spots, that was more common. They’d have to wait and see, if this one could pick up on any of that.

…

In hindsight, they maybe should have been more worried, when the human, Thomas’s, friend showed up, with a bottle of wine, a cactus as a housewarming gift, and a Ouija board.

 But most of that stuff was just hocus pocus, as Logan said, which set Roman off, quoting what was apparently a Disney movie.

 “Roman, I am begging you to shut up.” Janus moaned. “I am trying to watch these idiots.” Roman scowled, but ceased, watching the two humans laugh as they lit candles around the board, turning off the lights, to add to the atmosphere.

 “What do they think candles are gonna do?” Remus asked, continuously blowing out the small flame as they tried to light the final one.

 “Probably supposed to symbolize a portal to the afterlife, or something similarly ridiculous.” Logan scoffed, still watching their actions with interest.

 “Ok, who should we try and talk to?” Thomas asked.

 “Uhhh, Abraham Lincoln!” Joan responded, earning a startled laugh from Thomas.

 “What? Why was that your go to?”

 “I don’t know, it was the first famous dead person that came to mind! What was your plan, then?” Joan asked indignantly, though they were smirking too. Thomas shrugged.

 “Um. Hey. Anyone here who’s friendly and not, like, gonna go all Amityville horror on us, feel free to communicate with us, using this board.”

 “Dude, they’re ghosts. How are they gonna know what Amityville horror is? Since when do ghosts watch movies?”

 “I don’t know! You were trying to talk to good ‘ol Abe, I feel like you don’t have room to lecture here.” They both froze as the planchet moved. Not much, not far, but it had definitely moved.

 “Did that just…”

 “Hoooolly shiiit.” Joan whispered, wide eyes meeting Thomas’s. Neither of them had even had their hands near the board, much less touching the planchet.

 In the ghostly realm, everyone’s eyes locked on Roman, who stood frozen, mouth agape, staring at the planchet he’d bumped against while leaning in to examine the board, as easily moved as anything he summoned himself.

 “Oops?” He said, shushing Logan as the two humans started speaking again.

 “Ok, um, ok, that’s normal! We probably just bumped the table! Um, is… is anyone here, with us?” Thomas asked. Immediately the planchet started moving again, landing on ‘yes’.

 “ROMAN! What do you think you’re doing?!” Janus hissed, and he wrung his hands.

 “I-I don’t know! They asked! It seemed rude not to answer? I haven’t exactly been in this situation before, Jan!” He fired back, their own panicking mirroring the panic going on between Thomas and Joan.

 “What do we have to lose?” Patton asked softly, getting everyone’s attention.

 “I am unclear what you mean, Patton.” Logan said, gaze turning to him, where he sat, biting his lip, fiddling with his cardigan.

 “I mean… by answering them. What do we have to lose? We’re all stuck here, anyway. It’s not like they can hurt us. And… we live here too! Shouldn’t we get to know our new roommates?” He asked, voice getting higher in pitch with each word, until he squeaked out his question.

 “Who are you?” Came the question from the humans, from the board, and Roman hesitated, looking back at everybody, asking what he should do, the question evident in his eyes.

 “Fine. Go ahead. Patton’s right, I suppose, there’s not much they can do, besides leave. But I will not be involved in this.” Janus sighed from the couch, retreating to his room, to avoid whatever action was coming next. Logan nodded.

 “I second Janus’s sentiments. Pardon me.” With that, it was Roman, Patton and Remus, who tried to swipe the planchet, but failed, swiping right through it, letting out an annoyed squawk.

 “What?! Why!?” He screeched, Roman grinning like an idiot.

 “Their opening. They said…” He broke off laughing, “They said anyone who wasn’t gonna Amityville them, Ree you’re literally a poltergeist, that stupid line is keeping you from doing shit!” He laughed harder at Remus’s indignant expression, eyes flashing with ire.

 “OH, they’re gonna regret that bullshit. Imma haunt them so hard it’s gonna feel like a-“

 “Thank you, Remus, that’s enough!” Patton interrupted, not wanting to know the end of that sentence, and Remus vanished with a scowl and puff of black smoke. Roman rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to the board, spelling out his name.

 “R-o-m-a-n. Roman. Like, a Roman soldier? What would they be doing here?” Thomas asked.

 “What would they be doing speaking English?” Joan piped in.

 “Good lord, these two are slow.” Roman muttered, moving the planchet once more, Patton giggling at his remark.

 “My name is Roman, you idiots.” He spelled out, “And I am not a roman.” The two humans stared at each other for a moment, before bursting into only slightly hysterical laughter.

 “We just got called idiots… by a ghost! What even… how is this happening?” Thomas wheezed, trying to pull himself together, devolving into giggles every time he and Joan looked at each other.

 “I mean, they’re not wrong!” Joan shot back, once they got their breathing back under control.

 “How did you die?” Blurted Thomas, and Roman rolled his eyes.

 “Oh my god, you can’t just ask people how they died!” Roman replied, enjoying the befuddlement on the two human’s faces.

 “I’m… I might be wrong, but did it just make a mean girls reference?” Joan asked.

 “Yes. And I use He/Him, thank you. If you must know, I was a civil war soldier. Fighting for the North, y’know, the right team? But my family were assholes and lived here so… here I am!” He answered.

 “Oh, good. He’s anti-slavery and not a homophobe. Cool, cool, cool.”

 “Is there anyone else, with you?” Joan asked, and Roman bit his lip, turning to Patton, who eagerly grabbed the planchet.

 “Hey kiddos! I’m Patton!” His answer was met with instant bursts of laughter.

 “Wow. Straight from civil war action to dad mode. Um. Hello, Patton. It’s… nice to meet the both of you? We’ve never really spoken to ghosts before. Uh, you guys…live here?” Thomas asked a bit nervously.

 “Yuppers! But we’re all pretty friendly. Mostly. None of us are violent, or anything, though some can be a bit… startling at times.”

 “That’s only a bit worrying. Oh god, now I’m gonna hear every noise and think it’s a ghost. Because it could be a literal ghost.” Thomas mumbles, shoving back his hair, Joan chuckling nervously.

 “Yeah, good luck with that one, Thomas.” Joan answers, getting to their feet. “It’s late. I should probably be going.”

 “What? No, uh uh, after this, you do not get to ditch me on my first night in a new house in a new town that you made me learn is actually haunted, though the ghosts do seem polite, no offense, guys, just a liiittle freaky.” Thomas said, gaze shifting to the board for a moment, and Patton laughed.

 “He’s worried about us! That’s sweet!”

 “He’s worried we’ll haunt his nightmares.” Roman muttered back, watching the humans argue back and forth, before finally agreeing.

 “Alright. Uh, we’re gonna go to bed and try and sleep. So… talk to you later, I guess?”

 “Yes please! This is fun!” Thomas chuckled a bit at that.

 “I’m guessing that was Patton. Good night, Pat. Good night, Roman, who is not an actual Roman. Uhhh, you’re dismissed?”

 “Are you a school teacher? ‘you’re dismissed. Get some style. Farewell, my fellow brother in arms, may your gay heart guide you true!” Roman replied, making them both break down into a giggling fit yet again, as they blew out the candles, setting aside the board as they got up to get ready to sleep, Patton and Roman returning to their own living room in the spirit world.

 “Well, that was… interesting.” Roman said slowly.

 “It was… a bit nice. Talking. To other live people.” Patton said softly, and Roman stopped, pulling Patton into a hug, which he easily melted into.

 “yeah. It was. But it did still take quite a bit of energy. We should get some rest, as well.”

 “I’m gonna stay out here for a little bit. Just… just in case.” Roman sighed softly, but nodded, stepping away.

 “Alright. Rest well, Pat.”

…

He had been asleep for a few hours, when he blinked open his eyes at a small movement. All he caught was a deep shadow, tucking a blanket tight around him.

 “Virg?” He asked softly, the shadow freezing, the room dropping in temperature with his fear, and he moved to hide away. “s okay, bud. I love you kiddo, okay? Jus want you to know.” He mumbled, smiling as his eyes drifted closed, pulling the blanket tighter with a soft sigh. “you can come talk to me, anytime. I won tell. Promise.” He felt a soft pat against his hand, then the shadow slipped away, though Patton was sure he felt a little better than before.

Day 9 of inktober, swing. Ghost!Patton, watching a part of his childhood, I'm assuming?

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Gen Taglist:

So for the prompt ‘Haunted House’ I paired it with Patton and well, I might not be good with ghosts or scary stories given that I literally got taken out of that task in school and allowed to write a mystery instead, but well, lets see how I manage with the next few I sketched out.

TW: house fires, ghost Patton

@spookylissawho @sanderssidesspook

After the fire, Patton had watched his father and sisters as they packed and moved away. He’d wondered for years what had happened to his mother while an estate agent showed families around the home he’d known.

It was only about a month before the house was sold that he saw her again, with burns over her neck and face, crying as she entered the kitchen that had taken her sons life. “We miss you Patton.” She whispered, touching the side, now long since replaced from where it had been burnt the day she was injured and her son died.

None of them had known he remained as a ghost, or that he’d watched carefully all the people who came to view the house. Some of them he accidentally put off, walking through the boy in sunglasses who was part of that first family coming to look at the house. Others he’d deliberately put off, knocking things over around the guy who had constantly been telling lies to the friends that were looking around with him, manipulating them enough that Patton wanted to do everything he could to make them fall out.

The only ones he’d really liked were the three boys which came around, especially the one that kept on singing and referencing Disney films, some of which Patton hadn’t even heard of before. He’d followed them carefully and hoped as his mum spoke about the house being sold now and cleaned it along side his sisters, that they were the ones moving in across the road.

/\/\/\

“The house seems to be haunted.” Logan stated a week after he’d moved in with Roman and Virgil. “Either that or we really need to check the buttons on the cooker.”

“He just doesn’t like fire, dude, stop worrying about it.” Virgil shrugged, glancing up from his laptop. “We can still use the oven regardless.”

Roman however was scowling too. “But what about fried eggs, bacon, and sausages?” He insisted. “The grill and hobs just turn straight off as soon as I look away from them each and every time I try to make them.”

“Like I said, he doesn’t like fire, especially if it’s exposed. Didn’t you look into why the family was trying to sell this house?” Virgil rolled his eyes, ignoring the continued complaints as he tried to put the music together for another track.

They’d been in the house for a month by this point and while they knew there had been a fire which killed someone only Virgil had been in the kitchen each afternoon. Logan would be at the office, trying to get a promotion so he might actually be able to take some cases at the law firm. Roman was always at rehearsals, starting early in the afternoon staying into the evening with the performances of the show.

The afternoons were when he’d seen the figure, baking and dancing around before he started backing from the stove, trying to put out flames that Virgil couldn’t see at all. Virgil had watched through carefully the first time it happened, somehow fascinated by the morbid scene and taken out of his spiralling thoughts that his music was worthless, no matter how well people enjoyed it and brought it.

Now the others just accepted that the kitchen was his office, even with the stove turning off if they tried to use anything other than the oven. Virgil was trying to learn more constantly though, about the fire years ago and the families son they’d never mentioned the name of.

“So what does the great Virgil know about the ghost then?” Roman’s taunting voice finally broke through his attention again.

Virgil looked up with a sigh. “He’s called Patton, and died because his mother was making fried eggs while he was baking some biscuits to give out for Halloween. From how the echoes of the past appear I’d guess he was taking the biscuits out when the frying pan caught fire.”

Logan let out a grunt. “Just cause he died because of the oil fire does not mean we shouldn’t be allowed to have things grilled or fried.”

“I’m happy having someone else making sure we’re safe, ask Pat yourself if you want to but considering it’s only the fire that you two have noticed I’m not asking him to stop.” Virgil shrugged again, glancing at where the knife Logan had dropped earlier now further back on the counter.

“How?!” Roman demanded now, flinging his arms up.

Virgil just threw a handful of flour on the table, packing up his things since it was obvious the others wouldn’t give him any peace until they were heading to work.

Patton however had been carefully watching for all the possible dangers the three might face in the kitchen, snickering a little at the bantering arguments between them since their frustration was actually directed more at him. The flour on the table caught his attention though since his musician had never actually tried communicating at all, except saying the odd thanks if he forgot to put a knife away.

hello, he had a go at writing in it, before adding a smiley face and hoping that he wasn’t about to get yelled at.

“Should we write in the flour too, or just speak?” Roman whispered, warily moving to stand opposite the writing.

Logan however had his phone out. “You do whatever you want, but ghosts have not been recorded before at all. I want to keep all of this on camera if indeed there is a ghost writing to us and not some prank from Virgil.”

“You were the one who wondered if the place was haunted because it’s been for sale for so long.” Roman hissed, before focusing as more words appeared on the table.

you two are bad at kitchen safety. 

“I’ve had that lecture from Virgil too many times. How about I take care of Disney, while you look after the knives?” Roman tried, only to step back from the table with a shiver.

“We have a haunted house too concerned with safety. This goes against basically every report of haunting ever, that I can find. Usually ghosts ignore the people, in the case of the buildings having memories that Virgil mentioned earlier, or they are malicious.” Logan frowned, still scanning through articles on his phone.

disney marathon is good, but stop playing with fire Princey. Patton had frowned at each attempt the actor had made over the month, wanting eggs and bacon. It was quickly becoming vital to observe him at all times when in the kitchen.

“Sure, Dad. We have a fire extinguisher because Logan already doesn’t trust me. I don’t think you need to lecture me on that too.” Roman was pouting before blinking as he realised the nickname he’d been given. “VIRGIL! Stop telling the ghost my nicknames!” He yelled in the direction of the stairs only hearing laughter in return.

/\/\/\

After that first conversation the boys learnt how to be safe enough that Patton wouldn’t constantly turn off everything on fire, as well as how to know he was there.

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“Well, that coulda gone better.” Remus gasped out, trying to hide his shaking hands behind his back.

 “What in the name of the universe did you do, Remus?” Logan asked, clearly shaken. Remus shrugged, smile trembling, eyes tired.

 “I pushed him. Wanted to see what would happen. What was going on behind those deep, dark balls of gelatin in his eyeholes. Didn’t expect… that.” He muttered, flushing slightly as Logan hesitantly reached out, resting a hand on his.  

 “are you ok?” Remus hesitated, taking a moment to catalogue himself. The fear was already fading out, it was more the images that still flickered behind his eyes.

 “Think so. Just gave me quite a good… scare.” He said, lingering on the last word. It felt odd, on his tongue. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had really truly scared him. Only Virgil, it seemed, could shake him to his core, and it was maddening that he couldn’t predict it.

 “It hurt. He’s hurting. I… there was so much buildup. That kind of power doesn’t come out of nowhere, Lo. His negativity is spiraling. Growing. Someone needs to get through to him, or he’s going to be completely consumed by his own darkness. He’ll turn into a shade or a shadow person, he’ll be completely lost.” Logan’s eyes widened and his face paled.  

 “We need to speak to Patton and Roman immediately. We need to make a plan, we need to figure something out, we need-“

 “Easy, teach. If you start panicking, everyone’ll start panicking, and that’ll make me lose what little self control I have, and no wants to be a part of that shit show.” A small smile slipped across Logan’s face as he rolled his eyes, getting to his feet before reaching a hand out to help pull Remus up. Instead, Remus took his hand, and pulled Logan back down, vanishing in a swirl of neon green and midnight blue, reappearing moments later in the living room.