I wanna take you for granted, yeah, yeah well I will - Phone

[ceasetoexist]

[Phone]
[There's a small, throat-clearing sound on the other end of the phone before Pokey finally begins to speak.]

I found something in the ghost town that opened up during the fight with that stupid robot. You jerks have fifteen seconds to get a pen and paper, because when I start reading? I'm not stopping.

Alright. Hope you're ready, cause here we go.

[And Pokey will proceed to recite what's written on this note. He goes at a moderate pace, not super fast but not particularly slow or meticulous either. He doesn't stop, aside from one time. He pauses a bit before the last paragraph, and that one he reads noticeably slower then the others. And then a short pause after he finishes.]

I hope you losers caught all that, or at least one of you did, cause I don't want you bugging me to repeat.

[Filtered to Legion of Doom Members]

Alright listen up. The Riddler's droned, probably not for good, but we should probably elect someone to act as an impromptu leader with him gone if he hasn't done so already.

That being said, I'd actually like to do something now that we're settled down after all the bullcrap of the last few weeks. We were supposed to have a meeting last week but, uh, oops, understandably that didn't happen. So I suggest we have one this week, or try to. If no one else can host it, we can use my place because there's only drones here aside from myself, so if you have family members you don't want finding out about this, you don't have to.

I also want to suggest that everyone brings some kind of list of what they saw, what happened, and who they met during this mess. It's going to be best to try and understand this crap from all angles and, because of the mess it was, if any of us have info on the other people in this town we're stuck with, it'd be a good idea to get it out now so we can compile it in case we have to go against these jerkoffs sometime.

[Filtered to Mindy]

Hey squirt. I just...wanna make sure you're alright, after all that went down last week. That's all. Just making sure you didn't go and somehow get hurt.

[A pause. And then, he asks, slowly.]

...You wanna do something today? Like play a game?

[And after these phone calls, Pokey prepares to put the phone up. And stops. And for a long moment, he hesitates between putting it up and dialing one last number.

In the end? He chooses to dial that number.]

[Filtered to Lucas]

[When Pokey starts speaking, his voice is low. Trying to force calm. Struggling to say what he's trying to say.]

Stup-

Pig's bu-

Lucas.

[It was a struggle just to get your actual name out. THink that was hard? It's even more strained when he says the next part. Strained, and somewhat angry, but oddly enough? There's an odd sincerity in his tone. He means it.]

What you said about other people. About needing them. About some of them actually being good.

You were right.

I was wrong.

[And he just stops. He'll stay on the phone for a moment or two, waiting for a reply. And if none comes, he puts the receiver down.]

Comments

[friendly-ghosts.livejournal.com]

I don't understand....

Who are all those people in the letter? Did they use to live in Mayfield?

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

[Well, this is something he'd rather not discuss with someone so little, but you know what? He might as well try.]

...Yeah. They used to live here, then they escaped, and then they probably got brought back again.

Do you know who the Police Chief is? The mean guy?

[friendly-ghosts.livejournal.com]

..... Yeah. He's the scary one.

[She kind of views Grady as the boogeyman.]

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

[Not a bad thing to view him as.]

Well, he's the person they're calling Olney in there. And once upon a time, he tried to escape with them.

And then he betrayed them.

[friendly-ghosts.livejournal.com]

Why? Weren't they his friends?

[But it would explain why he was always angry. He was mean to his friends and now they all went away and he's lonely. At least something makes more sense.]

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

Because he's stupid, and cruel, and a coward, and sometimes what looks like the easy way to do things is actually a really bad thing to do.

[friendly-ghosts.livejournal.com]

[And now he was mean to everyone here and couldn't make new friends. He should've caught on by now. Grown ups really made no sense.]

What happened to them....?

Did they die?

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

....I don't know.

Maybe they did. Or maybe they were droned. I just don't know.

[friendly-ghosts.livejournal.com]

..........

I went to the dairy. While everyone was fighting....

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

WHAT?!

[There's the sound of Pokey knocking something over, probably a cup by the sound of it, as he bolts upright. It may be hard to tell, but that's concern, not anger, in his voice. Are you okay? Did you get hurt? Did someone protect you? Did you even understand what happened there? But all he can think to say is.]

...What did you see there?

[friendly-ghosts.livejournal.com]

[Mindy is actually a little embarrassed. She knows she made people worry. She didn't want to, but some things were important.]

A lot of people helped me get inside. And no one tried to hurt me....

But I saw it. That thing that powered the town...

[From her tone, it's obvious that she wishes she hadn't seen it.]

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

[Pokey only heard about it, and he knows he didn't want to see it. Dammit, Mindy, he can only imagine the effect it must've had on you.]

It's....okay now Mindy. They're not hurting people anymore.

[He can't guarantee that, but he'll say it anyway.]

Would you like me to come over?

[friendly-ghosts.livejournal.com]

There were.... all these faces...

[Her voice is a little shaky, but she's trying hard to hold it together.]

But it's gone now. All those people went home, right?

[Really she's just looking for assurance here.]

...... Can I come to your house?

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

Yes, they did.

[And even though he doesn't believe it, in fact knows he is just lying out and out to Mindy's face...he doesn't feel bad about it. She doesn't need to know the truth of it, right now.

And Pokey can't really deal talking about the truth of it, to be honest.]

Yeah. You want me to come pick you up?

[friendly-ghosts.livejournal.com]

[She feels better hearing that from someone older and wiser than she is.]

Okay...

Can I sleep over too?

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

Sure.

We'll make it a party. Just our own little one, you and me. That sound good?

[His voice is oddly nice, warm.

He's tired of hiding the fact that you're one of his best friends here, Mindy. At least when he's talking to you, he's tired of hiding it.]

[friendly-ghosts.livejournal.com]

Yeah! And no one else is invited.

[Secret sleepover sounds pretty cool. She'll even make the ghosts stay home.]

And I can tell you about my special plan for Easter!

[Another silly little idea that she is just so excited about...]

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

[He actually laughs at that Mindy. He just....feels happy again. After all he went through in the last week, it's nice to laugh and mean it.]

That's right! Just us.

Yeah? [And he lowers his voice, conspiratorily.] What's your secret plan?

[friendly-ghosts.livejournal.com]

[She pauses long enough to check behind to make sure no one is listening in. And then replies in an excited tone that she fondly imagines is very hushed.]

You know how the town is real mean and ruins all the holidays? Well, I figured out how to beat it.

I'm gonna have Easter... two weeks early. That way, they won't be ready for it. And they won't have time to ruin it.

[godisachild.livejournal.com]

[He lets out one more little laugh.]

Heh. Sounds like a plan to me.

I'll be over in just a few minutes, okay? So have your stuff packed and ready for tonight.