Star Trek: Starbase 777 - buffet-tables-2

The buffet tables were well, buffet tables! People could take whatever food they wanted! There was food from all over the galaxy, but the most plentiful was bajoran white rice and bajoran tea. There were also meat platters, crackers, fresh vegetable dishes! There were also 2 very hungry ghosts wandering around causing a bit of a ruckus. A Dullahan and a poltergeist, slapping food out of people's hands and off their plates.

Having left the Baku for the other hunter to sort out, Silver had wandered over to the buffet table. She looked around for any ghostly activity, spotting a poltergeist knocking people’s plates over. She approached, wanting to lure it away a bit so she wouldn’t annoying any living humans or friendly ghosts with her vacuum.

The ghosts were having a good time just terrorising whoever they could. A few of the renjens were trying to chase them, but they didn't want to risk accidentally hoovering up someone's sandwich so they were trying to corner the ghosts towards the edges of the buffet tables area. The poltergeist was over by the big alter at the front trying to shake the potted plants into the food.

Being well, not alive, meant that Silver was sometimes too brave for her own good. She didn’t have much of a sense of fear, and so these ghosts didn’t exactly scare her. She approached the poltergeist, vacuum in hand. She switched it on and off again as she got closer to it, hoping it’d start running away from her and the altar, so she could suck it somewhere without so many people trying to eat their food around.

He arrived at the second round of buffet tables and was immediately greeted with the vision of Silver and the rejens present trying to corner a ghost away from the food they seemed so keen on ruining. Seeing Silver’s attempt at intimidation, he prepared himself and stood in one of the possible directions the spirit could run too, signaling to the few rejens to do the same, as he waited for the ghost’s reaction.

The Dullahan was tossing its head over the table whilst the poltergeist shook some tables and played like... handball? catch? with the dullahan, it was an odd sight and was definitely disturbing some guests.

As he saw the playing, an idea immediately popped into Tarsek’s mind. He abandoned his posting, putting the “sucking gun” on his waist and tried to get as close to the line of the poltergeist’s throw. He was going to try and intercept the dullahan’s head mid air, grabbing it.

The ghosts looked STUNNED that this living being was joining in on the fun! The poltergeist tossed the head, allowing the Vulcan to grab it, the Dullahan's head was laughing, chattering in some ghost language.

The Vulcan had a defiant look in his blue eyes as he glared at the poltergeist. “I bet you are not fast enough to catch me!” It seemed Tarsek wanted to convert this game of “catch the head” to “tag the Vulcan”. “What do you think?” He did not wait for the response, starting to run in the middle of the tables, but careful enough not to disturb the people and spirits seated.

The poltergeist put his HANDS ON HIPS and darted after the Vulcan. The Dullahan floated up and the head made a loud whining noise trying to wiggle out of the Vulcan's grasp.

Tarsek may have been big, but he was also quick! As the three of them ran around the room, he imagined the spirits must have been enjoying this chaos despite his living-being AUDACITY. Some laughter could be heard. He darted through the tables and easily spotted an area with three non occupied small tables at the corner of the room after a few laps. He placed himself in said corner and looked back at the ghosts after him, faking shallow breath. Who said Vulcans cannot act? “Oh no…” Breath. “I am trapped… You got me…” Breath, as his hand went to his hip stealthily and readied the gun. As soon as the first ghost got close enough to range, he pulled it and activated the vacuum in their direction. 🎲3

Rolled: 1d6

[3] ➜ 3

The two ghosts rushed after Tarsek, only stopping when he whipped out the hoover. The poltergeist screeched and the Dullahan threw his hands up. When they braced themselves for the mighty suck it never came. It missed them! And the two laughed maniacally!

Well, it is always better to try than to give up! Tarsek might have missed, but he still had the head with him and both the ghosts attention. “Congratulations, I guess you get to win the head back.” He said showing it off in his other hand. It did not seem very happy. He threw the head underneath the closest empty table, expecting at least one of the ghosts to try to retrieve it. With the distraction he maneuvered himself out of the corner and activated his vacuum again after them. 🎲6 🎲6

Rolled: 1d6

[6] ➜ 6

Rolled: 1d6

[6] ➜ 6

WOW A DOUBLE SUCK! Both ghosts made a little minecraft creeper explosion noise when sucked!

From under the table crept a very long ghost.... no legs, just dragging itself across the floor GRABBING random people's legs. It was a floor crawler of some sort. Nothing from mythology, but it was creature that terrorirsed a few random homes in New Jersey in the 21st century, which was oddly specific but it was true.

He wasted no time, stepping onto one of the tables - with no food or guests of course - to avoid having his very long legs grabbed and pointed his vacuum towards the bizarre sight. 🎲6

Rolled: 1d6

[6] ➜ 6

The NJ ghost was sucked, ONE SHOTTED even, incredible!!! The buffet tables were safe!

Allan sat down at one of the tables, taking a very deep breath before he opened the little container he'd brought and slowly taking the things he'd made and placed them onto the table. Some pão de queijo (something that T'Alea really got obsessed with after an Academy trip), some cinnamon rolls with redspice instead of cinnamon (don't knock it until you've tried it), and some chocolate-chip cookies. Vulcan-safe chocolate, of course, but... Allan supposed he wanted to share that recent baking hobby of his with her, too. Once he had placed them neatly on the table, he took some of the Bajoran tea and sipped on it slowly as he waited. Actually, no, he put it down almost right after he'd taken the second sip - it would probably be embarrassing to be sipping tea right when she got summoned. But then what was he supposed to do while he waited, just sit here and stare at the empty seat next to him? Lord, this was nervewracking. Deep breaths.

In the empty seat, a ghostly figure began to materialise. It was hazy, but it was clear it was of a Vulcan woman, who seemed... very sad. The soft sounds of weeping could be heard, but the woman in the seat was not crying.

Allan's expression shifted quickly from nervous to concerned. Were the Bajoran renjens lying to him, had he fucked things up already somehow? Or had he actually done something that made T'Alea - okay, okay, another deep breath... and then he spoke. "T'Alea..? Are you - are you okay..?" He looked at her, and then looked around to see if there was for some reason another ghost that was crying. And then back at her. "I, um... I'm sorry if uh, taste preferences change from like, the living to the ghost world, there's... other stuff here?"

"I'm... okay," The Vulcan said with a slow nod, the sobbing didn't stop but it became quieter. "Mmm... the taste is fine," She said as she reached for the food that Allan had set out for her. "pão de queijo... This is good," She said slowly. "And the chocolate... Vulcan safe chocolate, even though I'm a ghost?"

"Yeah? I've... I've missed you." Wow, that just came out of him like a breath, didn't it? "A.. um, a lot. Um-" He froze for a moment at her comment about the chocolate, a small, nervous laugh coming out of him before he answered the question. "Ah, yeah, I - I sort of, um - I just wanted to be safe, I guess, you know, uh - just in case, I guess. I've, um, been getting into cookie baking this past year, it's kind of really fun? But I, um..." Oh, all his words were going out of the window. Again. As always. "How have you like, been, in general? Or, um, sorry if that's a weird.. question.."

"That is thoughtful of you," The woman said as she slowly ate the food that Allan ha set out for her. "Mmm.. baking? I never would have thought you to be a baker, but it is nice. I have been alright... really.... lonely," She said, and the sobbing began again, this time it was evident on her face, with ghost tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Yeah, it- I never really thought so either, I kind of just started doing it for the holidays, but I really liked it, and it's an easy way to start a gathering, to say you baked cookies. Kinda like when we had our soup nights, really. I should do another one of those, maybe." When the sobbing began again, he looked away for just a second, trying to not cry himself, but it was... hard, admittedly. It was hard not to cry when this was the outcome of... of course she'd be lonely. Nobody else she knew was dead, and so was that how it worked, if you were a ghost? Was it hard to make new friends in the ghost world? He had no idea. "God, I'm sorry, I... I should've, I should've done this sooner, right? Found a way... I just, um- f-" nope, he caught himself from cursing there, "I guess it's selfish? The way I didn't feel like I could try this earlier, but I... you don't have to be alone anymore? At least, not, um.. not right here, not .. right now." Gods, words were hard.

"Soup... yes... You were always one to love social gatherings," The woman said with a slow nod. She looked at Allan and reached out a ghostly hand towards him. "Please do not be sad, it is alright. I am not alone. I can watch over you and... everyone else. I am glad to be here and speak to you like this," She said, leaning in a little closer to Allan...

"Mhm, I... wish you could come to them, it's - is there anything I can.. do? To help?" You feel less lonely was what he meant, as he took her hand that she offered him and held it. Gently. Oh, okay, yeah, now he was crying. He was definitely very much crying. At this feeling that he never thought he'd get to feel ever again, even if it was the ghost version of T'Alea... "I really, it's - I don't - I know, I just, um - I feel like... I still.. sometimes I still feel like I did it. Like I did something, like I forgot to check something, was there.. do you know what went wrong? I just... there's too many times that I think about the possibility that I'm the reason, that you're..." he sighed, sniffling a little. "That you're here, instead of... well, alive. And if I am, I... I don't even know where to start apologizing for that."

She held his hand, which was a bit strange considering all the other summoned ghosts up to this point weren't able to actually 'touch' a living being. "I don't know what went wrong but I have to admit. I was a little hurt... I know you struggle with remembering things but I couldn't help but feel like you were careless back then. I don't know if I can truly accept your apology, the reason we are like this is from your carelessness... Allan."

If that was some sort of weird ghost quirk, Allan had forgotten all about it. There was too much else to focus on right now. Notably, that she was now telling him that he was... careless and - couldn't accept an apology. He was speechless for a while, looking down and feeling the warm feeling of his tears falling down his face. His chest was tightening like a fist had closed around his ribs. Held in place by some sort of heavy, invisible force. He swallowed in some sort of effort to prevent himself from outright sobbing, but it wasn't very useful when he started speaking. "Yeah," he finally got out, "...yeah, God, you're right, I... I was, yeah, wasn't I, I... careless, yeah. Yeah, I should've been more - I should've, you know, checked again, I - I, but I didn't, and I didn't, and now you're-" his voice cracked, and he bent forward slightly, shaking some as he tried to get the rest of his words out. "I killed you. I swear to God, I never meant to be... careless, with you, I... it replays all the time, T'Alea, in my - in my head, it goes, and every time, it's always the same, I forget something, I miss something, I ruin, I k- fuck, I-" he put a hand to his mouth and shook his head quickly, "I don't know how to live with it. I don't. I can't fix it, I can't take it back, and I - I really.. I loved you more than anything, and all I gave you... was... this," the last word came out as a whisper, quickly replaced by a sob. Seemed the words were out, now.

"Did you love me more than anything though? If you were so careless you killed me? Allan, I don't think you cared at all," The spirit said, releasing Allan's hand and raising her voice. The sobbing seemed to stop, and a very dark energy began to form around them. "It was your fault, and now you're crying? You're not the one who met an early grave!"

Every word, every phrase she spoke seemed like a command that tightened that deep feeling in his chest, to a point where he almost felt he couldn't breathe after she'd finished speaking. He was frozen in place, breaths shallow and uneven, and definitely couldn't bring himself to look at her. All of the words in his brain - that didn't feel like they meant anything at all at this point - died in his throat. Eventually, something was said, barely audible, probably. "I... I didn't mean t- fuck, I'm sorry, I'm - I'm sorry, and I kn- that doesn't mean.." anything, did it? Probably not. "I.. don't have anything else to say, you, um, you can - leave, if you want, you don't... have to stay here," 'with me', was the implied end to that. Why would she want to be around the guy who fucking killed her? Jesus. And if for nothing else, the... energy? Here felt incredibly... unsafe. Was that because of him, too? There really was nothing else for him to say. Just the sound of his ragged breathing, his body trembling as if the weight of everything - the grief, the guilt, and a touch of fear - was pressing him into the floor.

"Oh.... oh allan no... I'm not leaving-- without you," And that's when the ghost revealed itself to be -- La Llorona, a creature from hispanic American folklore!! A weeping woman whose weeps were said to bring bad luck to anyone that hears! At Allan's feet. A shadowy hand wrapped around his ankles, it was the infamous Japanese toilet ghost but on the floor for some reason. His 'girlfriend' ghost grabbed Allan!

As if the situation couldn't get any better! La Llorana, the ghost said to come about near bodies of water, nowhere near a body of water, coming to bother him by pretending to be T'Alea, who... they'd spent a lot of their time together in the water itself. Often with friends, whether they were surfing, swimming, taking some kayaks out on the water... from all angles, this was bad. Sunlit memories of them together in the water were starting to twist into something sinister in his mind, and it took a lot for him to actually realize that he was starting to be tugged by his ankles. "W- no, hey-" He flinched, scooting back in his chair, his arm knocking over the cup of tea he'd had, spilling the warm liquid that spread across the table and soaked into his dress. He barely cared, caught still in the whirlwind of emotion that had such a grip on him. "Shit, I - no, don't... c'mon, let go, you..." His eyes flicked back to the fallen teacup, a small accident, and yet it felt stronger in his head now. Just another sign that he couldn't control anything, couldn't protect the people he loved, couldn't even manage the simplest tasks... "You don't want me, the hell are you even gonna - do," he said as he attempted to kick the ghost off of his ankle. Really, though, what would even an evil ghost want with him?

Silver, having taken her shot at the floating head ghost at the shrine, had ran to the buffet area to give other people a clearer shot at that ghost without her tall ass in the way. However, this did not mean that there were no ghosts for Silver to deal with here. And hey! This ghost was grabbing Allan! And she would not let that happen to A- her senior officer, and B- the guy who taught her to make cookies, so she ran over to hopefully get this ghost off of Allan and into her vacuum. “Hi! Get off of him, please and thank you!” Silver said, in her usual polite tone, very odd given the circumstances, but this was Silver, after all, and Silver was very odd as a person. She turned on her vacuum and pointed it at the ghost. 🎲1

Rolled: 1d6

[1] ➜ 1

Regardless of which ghost she tried to suck, she failed! And the ghosts both kept trying to pull Allan into the ground!

Allan was not going into the ground on Silver’s watch! No ghost hell for her boss/friend, no way! After hitting the side of her vacuum a bit (percussive maintenance for the win), she pointed it at La Llorona and switched it on. 🎲1

Rolled: 1d6

[1] ➜ 1

La llorona was unharmed and just laughed and pulled Allan harder!

“Gah! Work already!” She yelled at her vacuum, before feeling really bad and adding, “Please?” Before taking another shot. 🎲5

Rolled: 1d6

[5] ➜ 5

La Llorona was SUCKED!! But the floor demon was still pulled poor Allan!

“And you too! Get off my.. uh.. friend? Coworker? Boss? Whatever, get off him!” She yelled at the floor demon, also taking a shot at it. 🎲3

Rolled: 1d6

[3] ➜ 3

The hand released Allan but now went to grab Silver's HOOVER?! 🎲5 to steal.

Rolled: 1d6

[5] ➜ 5

05:51

Hoover was now in the ghost hand's grip, although it couldn't suck living beings, but it would hurt to be smacked with it! You would need to roll a d6 to grab it back.

“Hey! That’s not yours!” She said, lunging for her vacuum before the thing used it to suck up her hair or something, if that thing scalped her and she had to run to Tavek about it, she’d never live it down. 🎲6

Rolled: 1d6

[6] ➜ 6

The ghost was de-hoovered, but now trying to grab Silver's legs! (edited)

She, being about six feet five inches of pure synthetic muscle, ripped her leg out of its grip, kicking it for good measure. With her Hoover back in her hands, she aimed it at the ghost again, and switched it on. 🎲3

Rolled: 1d6

[3] ➜ 3

And the sucking failed! The hand tried to pull at Silver's leg to make her fall 🎲6.

Rolled: 1d6

[6] ➜ 6

06:19

And it worked! Silver was pulled to the ground!

Allan barely had a fucking clue what was going on around him. He felt like he was being torn apart emotionally, and yet he was also being dragged down in a very real way by some stupid evil ghost. Allan's No Good Very Bad Day, it seemed. He noticed the familiar ensign that walked in and tried to use... a vacuum...? To suck up the ghost, and was in a bit of a frozen trance as he watched that happen. Once Silver had finally succeeded in getting La Llorana in the vacuum, though, he tried again to kick the ghost grabbing his ankles off. Didn't quite work, but when he watched it pull Silver to the ground, he reached over to her. "Holy shit, hey-" his voice sounded raw as fuck, but he held his hand out, "I can uh, try with the vacuum?" And despite the voice in his head that said he'd fuck this up and kill someone, he tried anyways once she'd given him the vaccum. 🎲1

Rolled: 1d6

[1] ➜ 1

She went to the ground like a sack of potatoes, all 6’5 and roughly 170 pounds of her, though she’d started to struggle as soon as she was on the ground. Not having a vacuum on her made it easier to do that, so she did give her vacuum to Allan. And watched as he too failed to get the ghost. But, in more pressing matters (to her, at least, since it hurt), she had scraped her knee, a bit of coolant- colored in an oil-slick rainbow- trickling down before she cut off the burst duct. She could not fully remove her sense of pain, only dull it, so she still felt it as she tried to kick the ghost off of her and get back up.

The hoover was UNAFFECTIVE! The hand tried to grab Allan again!

The scene Iiani came upon was… chaotic, to say the least. But, to be fair, the entire night had been chaotic for a ghost hunter of her caliber. There was… someone crying and someone injured? And… it finally spotted the ghost causing the distress! She wasn’t a medical doctor or a therapist, but she could definitely suck a ghost. It aimed its hoover at the hands and switched it on. 🎲3

Rolled: 1d6

[3] ➜ 3

The hand avoided the hoover and took a big SWIPE at Iiani.

Great. Of course it didn't work. Okay, well, second try, sure, whatever. Even if he didn't particularly care about himself being dragged off to ghost hell, he sure didn't want these two innocent people to be! "Okay, fuck you, c'mon, just - there's gotta be a way on this thing..." He did the classic strat of turning it off and back on again. Hopefully that'd do something? If not, he'd hand back the vacuum to Silver. 🎲5

Rolled: 1d6

[5] ➜ 5

annnnd the hand was sucked!!! This ghost made a weird minecraft zombie noise when sucked.

Wow, Minecraft! Well, that was something familiar to Allan as well. Odd. "Thank God, that's... it's gone," he breathed out, forcing a smile as he looked at the other two officers. "Thanks," he said, before putting his head down on the table and - picking it right back up, because ew, he forgot there was spilled tea there. That was now in his hair. Ugh. Fuck this. He got up, shakily, and left. Time to go back to his quarters and get some rest. If he could sleep, that was.