[attr="class","lance"]

[attr="class","lance b"]

[attr="class","lance i"]sighing, he turns to look at her. "not really. why did you have to dare me?"

too stubborn to have said no, lance finds himself staring up at this large, abandoned mansion in the middle of the woods that is said to be haunted. it sure looks haunted, but he doesn't let them deter him. this is but another challenge, one to overcome.

still... "ladies first?"

Mimi Cheng

[attr="class","mimi"]just his expression is enough to make the entire trip worth it, in mimi's eyes. she wants to laugh. he's grumpy and too proud to show it.

"i'm only a lady to you when it's convenient," she half-complains, half-teases. having grown together, their relationship was more of a sister-brother deal, and mimi was perfectly happy with that. that, of course, doesn't mean she'll waste a good opportunity to embarrass him. "aren't you glad a lady is thinking of you to protect her?"

mimi herself is unfazed by the threat of ghosts. really, it's more a promise than a threat. she wants to meet a ghost or two. so she pushes the gate open, creaky from disuse, and urges lance on. the overgrown maze of a garden that the mansion has is their first obstacle. she's grateful she's wearing jeans today.

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-drampa inactive"]

LANCE VOLLANS

[attr="class","lance"]

[attr="class","lance b"]

[attr="class","lance i"]if ghost-types are real then it is entirely plausible that there are other ghosts out there too. it is for this reason that has lance on edge, alert especially after mimi opens the creaking gate for him.

"of course i'm glad." she goads him and he falls for it too easily. his posture straightens, hands reaching up to straighten his jacket, before stepping through the gate.

the front door of the mansion is missing, allowing them to enter without any issues. he wishes there was a door. he could have at least made the excuse that it was locked.

"stay close to me, yeah?" like a knight in shining armor, he is every bit keen on protecting her as they enter the mansion.

Mimi Cheng

[attr="class","mimi"]mimi can't quite believe lance actually believed her. the year he has on her feels close to nonexistent at this point. she only has two options now: to call him out on being dumb, or to play along with their little act. if he's acting like the knight in shining armor, does that make her the damsel in distress? better yet, the warrior princess disguised as damsel in distress. yeah, she likes that last idea.

"okay," she ends up agreeing. as requested, she stays close, close enough to give him a scare when he got distracted, if she so wanted.

sadly, she has no chance to make use of their proximity during this first part of their haunted mansion exploration. something else bothers her. after a few more steps deeper inside what can only be the mansion's old hallway, mimi stops in her tracks. she can't see anymore. night has fallen to reduce the midsummer heat from earlier in the day, as well as the natural light they had available. "lance, did you bring a lantern?"

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-drampa inactive"]

LANCE VOLLANS

[attr="class","lance"]

[attr="class","lance b"]

[attr="class","lance i"]darkness overcomes them and he's left blinking, unable to see much beyond his feet. "i--i didn't." the stutter in his voice isn't out of fear but disappointment in himself. he should have known better. should have prepared better. clicking his tongue, he pulls out his flip phone and points the screen away from him.

"this works, yeah?" it really doesn't. the screen even dims after a few seconds due to the power options set on his phone. he's too dumb to know how to change it.

Mimi Cheng

[attr="class","mimi"]she wants to say something, but nothing comes out of her mouth. there's a bit of amusement mixed in with deference in her smile. "it works, but..." why is the light on his phone so dim? no, nevermind. they can use his phone for now, and switch over to her own later.

without giving it much thought, she brings her hand to his phoneless one. this way, they wouldn't get separated in the dark. she makes no comment on it, and rather gives him a light push to urge him on. the only thing worrying her is "how much battery do you have left?"

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-drampa inactive"]

LANCE VOLLANS

[attr="class","lance"]

[attr="class","lance b"]

[attr="class","lance i"]but what? is what he wants to respond with but her reaching out for his hand stops him. the act is innocent and natural and warm all at the same time. his cheeks flush under the cover of the darkness.

"let's see..." he flips his flip-phone around. the screen is so dim that he's forced to squint his eyes and move the phone closer to his eyes. the little green battery icon in the corner is so hard to see but he manages. "like fifty-percent?"

he should have never turned the phone back around because the moment he does is when he's met with the sudden sight of a smiley face. just the wide eyes and the empty mouth, nothing else. he squeezes her hand in reaction, somehow stopping himself from jumping. it disappears after a second, making him question his sanity.

"wh--what was that?"

Mimi Cheng

[attr="class","mimi"]fifty percent is good. not optimal, but good. hers is probably at around sixty or seventy, too. mimi's never used her phone exclusively as a lantern, but she estimates they'd last a few hours at the very least. even at a young age, quick calculations were her forte.

the squeeze makes her attention shift from math to the boy responsible for it. "what was what?" she asks, perhaps a little too eager. excitement suddenly coursing through her veins. could it be a real ghost? but mimi doesn't see anything when she turns in the direction lance is facing. "ah, is it gone already?"

the disappointment is almost palpable.

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-drampa inactive"]

LANCE VOLLANS

[attr="class","lance"]

[attr="class","lance b"]

[attr="class","lance i"]stunned, lance slowly turns to look at her. "you didn't see it?" was it just his imagination? a trick his mind is playing on him? he mulls over it for a second but soon remembers he is a knight. strong and brave. he tugs at her hand, continuing onwards.

"let's keep going."

Mimi Cheng

[attr="class","mimi"]mimi shakes her head no when lance asks, and tilts her head at the frown developing on his face. she has no time to ask, though, as he tugs at her hand to keep going. smiling to herself, she wonders if he's liking the tour a little more now.

they reach the bottom of a grand staircase and decide (or rather, she decides) to climb them. "do you like ghost pokemon, lance?" it's an innocent question. she's come to associate the image of a shedinja to him. his star pokemon, she'd call aave. mimi doesn't have any ghost pokemon herself. "i've heard tales of a very cool-looking half-ghost, half-dragon roaming the skies in galar. i want to tame it one day."

she's so caught up in imagining how she'd meet it, how she'd befriend it, how she'd battle with it, that she doesn't notice the reappearance of the same grin and eyes lance had seen before. this time, it shows up in replacement of a portrait's face. no less scary than the last time. like the last time, though, it blinks and disappears after a second.

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-drampa inactive"]

LANCE VOLLANS

[attr="class","lance"]

[attr="class","lance b"]

[attr="class","lance i"]they approach a grand staircase and she's pulling him along even before he has a chance to hesitate. "only aave. the rest are just okay." just okay meaning he's not a fan of how scary some of them can be. he'd rather not think about it, if he's being honest.

"you want to tame every dragon so that doesn't surprise me." he believes she'd be able to do it. she's skilled, determined, and oddly good with dragons. it still confuses him sometimes. "but galar sounds coo—"

lance stops dead in his tracks. the same face appears on the portrait and this time he jumps as a reaction. he points up the portrait seconds after, but it's already too late. "d--did you see it this time? it was right there..."

Mimi Cheng

[attr="class","mimi"]a grin finds a way to sneak into her face. "you're not wrong." while mimi did not train only dragons, the passion for that type of pokemon had been instilled in her since she was very little. shifu, her drampa, had done the job of her nanny, and so many other baby and not-so-baby dragons hanged out in her garden that it was natural for her to fall in love with them.

"huh?" she exclaims, turning quickly to the portrait in question. she doesn't see it, and by now she begins to wonder if lance isn't just conditioned to believe he's seeing ghosts. "was it the same one from before? do you think?"

throughout it all, her grasp on lance's hand remains firm.

[attr="class","seelie"]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-drampa inactive"]

LANCE VOLLANS

[attr="class","lance"]

[attr="class","lance b"]

[attr="class","lance i"]no, lance is sure he isn't just imagining things. he could've chalked the first one to just his nerves but to see the same thing twice? it definitely exists, and it's messing with him.

"yes, i think so..." he peers to their right which leads further up a flight of stairs. all he can see is darkness. "should we turn around?"

Mimi Cheng