I ain't afraid of no ghost [closed]

[flight_15]

Characters: Bradley, Zeetha, Ichigo, and a ghost of a certain NPC from a long time ago. You remember, the one that strung Hughes up from the mast of the Winding Way? Yeah.
Content: Ichigo caught one of the ghosts for interrogation, as per Zeetha's request.
Setting: Halls of the Amestris
Time: Near the tail end of the ghost infestation
Warnings:

Comments

[daughterofchump]

Zeetha was sitting her desk, scrolling through her difference engine when suddenly she snapped to alertness, ears straining. Could that faint noise have been her name? Then she heard it again, a little closer, and realized what was happening.

Damned hot-head, she thought. My difference engine is right in front of me, I'd have seen a message if he bothered...but discovery took priority over chewing out, at least for the time being. Besides, maybe ghost-busting meant using both your hands, she had no idea.

She cracked her door open and stuck her head out, cupping her hand to her mouth. "I'LL TELL THE CAPTAIN," she yelled down the hallway, though between both their shouting, probably half the ship had been alerted as well. Both of them had a healthy set of lungs on them. As soon as she had informed Bradley she'd be out to join Ichigo.

[notrueking]

This was quite infuriating.

Also just silly; while it was absolutely nonsensical not to believe in ghosts when all evidence pointed to the fact that they existed, that didn't make this situation any less ridiculous. The fact that you couldn't deal with these damned things by stabbing them didn't help much.

Of course, the only potential hint to his anger as he walked down to the hallway outside the first mate's office was the fact that there was some tension in his hands. ...it was fairly easy to assume who the person who'd brought the ghost must have been, as the sheer ridiculousness of his stance commanded a great deal of attention.

"Ah!" he said loudly, though not in a yell. "So you must be Ichigo, eh?

[flight_15]

Ichigo turned to look at Bradley, surprised (still holding onto the ghost under his arm). He hadn't been on the ship long enough to recognize the captain. "Yeah, that's me. Who are you?" he asked bluntly.

It looked a little like his arm was moving on its own as the ghost struggled, hurling insults of an increasingly foul nature. Ichigo ignored it.

[daughterofchump]

"That's your Captain, Ichigo. King Bradley," Zeetha interjected quickly, sounding slightly apologetic to the Captain. Ichigo was a good fighter because he was spirited, but for that same reason, he wasn't very diplomatic. She knew that, but it still hadn't occurred to her that he wouldn't have gone out of his way to learn who the Captain was. She still hoped he would make a good impression on the Captain, though.

"I suppose I should have described him to you." There, make it her fault.

[notrueking]

"Haha, don't worry about it. I don't believe we've met before," said Bradley with a friendly smile. "It's good to meet you then... it's a shame I don't have a melon, but it'd be difficult for you to carry it."

He paused, looking somewhat thoughtful.

"It seems a bit awkward to do this in the hallway. Do you think we ought to go into your office?"

[flight_15]

"Oh," Ichigo said, leaning to the side to mutter to Zeetha behind his hand, surprised. "He's a king? What's he king of?"

Straightening, he addressed the captain head-on. "I'm cool with doing it anywhere. Just do it soon, this guy's really starting to get on my nerves." He glared down, throwing a punch (that seemed to connect with something solid) at the empty space under his arm. "Shut up, I didn't bring your mother into this. Huh?" Ichigo blinked in surprise again, looking more concerned this time. "That's weird. It sounds like he knows you, Zeetha." He looked back and forth from Bradley to Zeetha, wondering if he should really say what the ghost was accusing her of in front of the captain.

[daughterofchump]

"It's his name," she said under her breath, hoping that was really right. Like Ichigo she had been initially confused, and she still felt embarrassed to ask him about it directly. After all, naming a child after a station was pretty confusing. You might as well be naming them 'Soldier' or 'Farmer' or something. It didn't make any linguistic or logical sense to her, but she had known a performer who went by 'Queenie', and then of course Princess was used as a pet name, so at least she was slightly prepared to be cautious and hadn't embarrassed herself by calling him 'Your Majesty

[notrueking]

"Haha, yes it is," said Bradley cheerfully, although there was definitely an edge to it that suggested he'd heard it one time too many. He had been too apathetic about the whole thing to want to change it, but... couldn't the scientists have named him after some king? He wouldn't care if the confusion wasn't invariably highly irritating. "My parents had fairly odd ideas about naming conventions-but that's not important at the moment..."

Ichigo's statement certainly piqued his curiosity... though he wasn't quite sure what it would mean.

"It would certainly be an interesting coincidence if the spirit did, although a bit morbid..." he said as he headed into the office.

[flight_15]

Well, Ichigo could accept that. He'd heard weirder names in his time. "Don't worry," he reassured Zeetha, tightening his headlock on the ghost, "this asshole isn't going anywhere."

He followed Zeetha and Bradley into the office, glad the ghost was unaffected by any solid matter that wasn't Ichigo. It made getting through the door much easier. Once he was inside, he looked from the captain to first mate. "Okay, here he is," Ichigo said, concentrating. Channeling ghosts was really easy compared to a lot of the other spiritual stuff he'd had to do in his time, so the figure under his arm became visible almost instantly. All you had to do was blink and all of a sudden, there was a very disgruntled-looking Badlands cowboy, hat somehow still on, pinned under Ichigo's arm and glaring up at Zeetha.

[daughterofchump]

It was to her credit that Zeetha didn't startle when the man under Ichigo's arm materialized. While it had been a long time since she'd felt her life was on the line, old reflexes were still in place. Besides which, she did not yet believe that this creature was really the spirit of the last man she had killed.

Emotion struggled inside her before she repressed it. For a moment, her stance and the look on her face was very sharp, the focused look of something capable of methodical, level-headed and cold blooded acts of violence. It was an expression she was usually very careful not to show, one she rarely had need of anymore.

Intellectually, she knew why she must remain calm, shapeshifters took on familiar or provocative forms to drop people's guards and make them easier to feed on. Time would tell what this thing was.

Her face relaxed somewhat, but it was still nothing like the jovial look of a career performer.

"Why are you here?" she asked bluntly.

[notrueking]

Bradley had managed to catch the look on Zeetha's face, but didn't mention it. It was more prudent to keep quiet about a thing like that...

"That was my question as well," said Bradley, looking somewhat thoughtful. "Of course, I'd also like to know why the other ones are here, as well..."

[flight_15]

The ghost glared, hacking up a gob of ectoplasm and spitting it at Zeetha's feet. "I ain't tellin' yew shit," he growled.

The expression on Ichigo's face was rather more telling -- he glanced away from the two officers, suddenly looking a little nervous and very, very guilty. He knew why the ghosts were here.

He was going to have to leave, wasn't he? If he told Zeetha and Captain Bradley the reason why the ghosts were here, it was painfully obvious what their decision would be. He'd be kicked off the ship.

The only alternative was going to Yuuko, and...Ichigo had his reasons for not wanting to do that. He'd rather go than risk "help" from her.

[daughterofchump]

Zeetha didn't move backwards, but her face took on a stonier, more mulish countenance. It was irritating enough to be forced to look at the face of the last man she'd killed, but now he sounded and acted like him as well

[notrueking]

...in all honesty, Bradley couldn't help but feel a faint sense of approval-nothing that actually endeared her to him on any level beyond the feeling that they'd work fairly well together. ...aside from that last bit. His reactions were easy to control, but there was always that irritating feeling in the back of his mind.

"It may sound harsh... but I'm afraid you leave us with little choice otherwise, if you don't talk," he said, his expression still calm.

[flight_15]

The ghost-cowboy struggled in Ichigo's grip, but death had robbed him of any real strength. "And here I thought killin' me would be the end of it," he accused, still talking to Zeetha rather than the captain. He couldn't hide his concern completely -- he'd thought himself invincible now that he was dead, but those didn't sound like empty threats. He didn't doubt that she'd throw him to scientists at Unseen University. Those inept, bloated sacks of wizards would probably rip him apart by accident and do more damage without even trying than they could have inflicted intentionally

[daughterofchump]

"You...do?" Zeetha was surprised, wary, and already regretting her idea to do this with the Captain present. During their journal exchanges she had felt a prickle of conscience, or perhaps simply discomfort when she had found herself concealing bits of information she was learning about various crew members from him. Looking at her replies she had been worried they sounded evasive, so she had moved to include him in something so she wouldn't appear not to trust him. It was nothing too personal, after all, she hadn't entirely trusted her last Captain either