Alala thought for a moment on Vilas's question. "Well, we have plenty of explorers, but we need guards and scientists. Guards can either enforce law inside the city or kill poltergeists outside of it. Scientists are mainly divided into two unofficial groups: traveling scientists that go out to study ghosts, poltergeists, and the disease, and ones that stay in the city to do so. If you become a scientist, you can choose your field of study, weather it be ghosts, poltergeists, or the disease and register with the science lab in the city. But keep in mind that studying the disease and poltergeists is very dangerous. And you still have the choice of becoming a shopkeeper or medic or something along those lines." She paused. "Oh! If you decide to study ghosts, I'm sure your brother could help you! And Zerial," she said, glancing at the ghost, "I'm sure the other ghosts in the city will help you discover your powers."


"No survivors there? That's a shame," Luciana said sadly. "Though I suppose a few scouts should still get sent there just to check, and grab any supplies. If there are no survivors then there must be a lot of ghosts and poltergeists there." She marked the spot by a small claw mark with her hand before folding the map back up and fluttering a little higher to start making her way to town again.

(Sorry it took a bit, for both of you!)

Thorn opened his eyes, staring up the trunk of the hollowed tree. It took him a minute to recall everything. He remembered... Sylesties invading the house... Fluffers leaning over him worried... and he remembered feeling horrible, as if a tight collar was around his throat. Thorn sat up, on his bed of leaves, and thought for a moment. That's right, he was sick. ..but he's not sick anymore. Thorn noticed that his paws were transparent. That was weird. He got up, and headed out of his hollow tree. Suddenly something came to mind, 'Fluffers! She was sick, too! Is she okay?!'

Thorn raced to the tree next to his, which belonged to her sister. He hopped inside and looked around. She wasn't here... Thorn felt worry building up inside. Then he heard a voice, cracked with fear and sadness.

"T-Thorn.. is that you?"

Thorn spun around to see his sister, standing there, trembling. He ran up to her, "You're okay!" Fluffers gave him a sad look,"W-what happened to you?" That is when Thorn noticed, his sister too was transparent.

'No...' thought Thorn, 'what happened to you?'

(Hello, glad to see you could join! :D If you want, I'll make my poltergeist character right now to meet your characters, or if you'd rather, you can start making your way into town and bump into some that I'm already using.)

(Don't worry about it! ^-^ Also, I might be going out for lunch soon, for my dad's birthday. So if I stop posting all of a sudden, that's probably why.)


"Studying ghosts seems like it would be interesting..." Vilas said, more to herself than anyone else. Life was certainly getting strange, and she wanted nothing to do with the danger that loomed over everyone in the form of poltergeists. She was pondering ghost research when a startling thought suddenly hit her, "Um, Alala, wouldn't a large settlement of living beings attract more poltergeists? Although I guess that's what guards are for... Never mind..." Vilas was a bit embarrassed that she didn't think her question through before asking it, and hoped Alala didn't think much of it.


"Oh, that sounds great!" Zerial smiled and continued speaking, "I could definitely help you if you decide to research ghosts, Vilas! And if Alala's word is anything to judge by, which I think it is, then I bet the ghosts in town would help too!" Unlike his sister, Zerial wasn't scared or nervous, he was excited that everything was so different.

(Your characters are so precious omg ;_; Also happy b-day to your dad from a random stranger on the internet)


Alala nodded and continued onward, exiting from the trees to one of the four main dirt paths to town. It was well worn from years before the plague, and dusty footprints were visible in the dirt. "When we get there, you'll have to register as a citizen at town hall. You'll be given an apartment number so you can live in the apartment complexes. They've been cleared out and cleaned so you can put all your stuff inside. When you're ready, you can register for the job you want at the respective station. The lab is near the main guard tower, which is in the center of the town." Alala stretched her wings out before making her way to the main gate and calling up to the guard in a small tower nearby. The ghostly guard vanished in a wisp of blue smoke before reappearing near the gate's controls and opening the gate to let them in.
The town was constructed with mostly wood buildings, although the more important guard towers and apartments were made of brick and wood. The wall itself was concrete, with wood logs stacked on both sides to add thickness, preventing spirits from passing through. Old and rustic signs displaying shops and restaurants were now rusted with peeling paint, a testament to the city's old glory. Sylestis and ghosts hurried about, occupied in their work. The guard towers loomed over everything, with one tall tower at each corner and the largest one in the center. A signpost right in front of the entrance showed where the apartments, hospital, guard towers, and town hall were located.

(Feel free to make your poltergeist character, but you don't have to.)



Fluffers looked at her brother, worried. 'He's alive! But what happened to him?' She ran over and hugged her brother, crying.

"H-hey!" Thorn protested.

"I thought you were dead!" Fluffers cried.

"Okay, but you don't need to cry about it! I'm okay!"

Fluffers let go of Thorn, and wiped away her tears.



Thorn sat there awkwardly as her sister calmed down. But now she was giving him a worried look. "What now?" she whispered quietly.

Thorn hated it when Fluffers looked like that, he had to cheer her up! "H-hey!" he started, "Maybe there's a city nearby, with someone who might know what happened to us."

Fluffers seemed to be slightly more cheerful at this thought, "Yeah... maybe" Her voice was full of hope.


And so the two siblings started off to the nearest city

(It's an abandoned one, so they probably won't encounter any else's' characters)

(Are they? I hadn't noticed! XD But thanks. And, I'm back from lunch. And shopping. It was a longer trip than I had expected. Still no great ideas on what to write, but hopefully I manage something at least decent.)


Vilas was a bit intimidated by the number of sylestis and ghosts, but happy to know she could do something to help everyone. "So do we just go into town hall and tell them we want to become citizens?" She asked, unsure of what to do.


Zerial was starry-eyed at the town, and admired the old signs and busy townspeople. He was eager to join them and make new friends. With a smile and a laugh, he said, "This place seems great! I can't wait to see what it has in store for us." He was busy reading the signs and thought that he and Vilas should vist some of them soon.

"You're right about that," said Alala to Vilas. "You know, since I'm the leader of the guard, I'm allowed to make survivors citizens. I'll just sign your papers myself, if you'll both follow me into the town hall. I'll need things like your lineage, old place of residence, and list of genes and mutations for the both of you, and I don't know all that." The Lupora began padding toward the town hall, nodding to a few sylestis she knew as they passed.

(I know what you mean...I'm not on a writing roll like I was yesterday.)

"Lineage might be a problem... I don't know anything past our parents, and Vilas never even knew them. I was pretty young when they passed, so I only knew them as 'mom' and 'dad'. I never even thought about their names. Vilas looks just like our mom, though, if that helps. Except mom didn't have flowers growing on her. Old place of residence is just that old shack in the forest, no address or anything. I assume genes and mutations for me would be the ones before death?" Zerial decided to wait for Alala's answer before telling her what Vilas's genes and mutations were.


Vilas let Zerial do the talking in fear that she might say something wrong, and she couldn't answer anything about lineage anyway. Zerial didn't talk about their parents much, and she didn't ask about them often. She wanted to learn about them, but didn't want to make Zerial remember they were gone. Without realizing she was saying it out loud, Vilas quietly said, "Could there be anything about mom and dad at the house? Like papers or letters?"

"Well, lineage is optional," Alala said quickly, not wanting the pair to worry about it too much. "It's really the genetic and mutation stuff that's important, because those with more genes and mutations are resistant to the disease. Of course, everyone can die from it, mutations included...but you get the point. We have a lot of genetic scanners for this purpose and our scientists found a way to reuse them. That's another reason to go to the town hall: so you can get scanned. Well-- I mean, so the living can get scanned." The Lupora shot an apologetic look toward Zerial. "They don't work on ghosts, and even if they did, there's not really much help in knowing since you've already died from the disease." She paused before adding, "And of course, mutations can affect a sylesti's magic. Like my ice crown, for instance." She had been walking as they talked and they were now approaching the town hall, which was two stories and made of brick, with a gray roof and wooden accents painted white. It was quite elegant, obviously built from before the plague.