Clan Titan

Nodding in agreement that it would be easy, her sharp eye looked for what would be the best way. There weren’t many things she could do, but something caught her eye. Turning to the boy she noticed him mocking her, slightly angering her and reminding her to try and find something to blame on him. She didn't take the emotion far to keep from risking being caught.

“The only thing I could think of would cause a lot of damage.”

The boy's eyebrow cocked, his head turned towards her. "Oh?" He squirmed a little to get comfortable looking at Picaboo. "...and what would that be?"

Georg wasn't necessarily a vandal, but wouldn't mind having some fun with this girl and then blaming her. Of course, he figured that it'd be a little hard with her trouble... he shrugged. Even if he got in trouble, he'd have fun.

Her eyes darted to a fireplace and back, “Start a fire of course.”

Pausing, Picaboo shrugged.

“But that’s a bit too much, don’t you think?”

If she couldn’t think of anything better to do soon, she would have to settle for getting him in trouble. Things were going to get boring very fast if she couldn’t come up with something, and she didn’t want that at all.

Georg's face contorted; he clearly hadn't thought of anything like this. Running everyone out was fun enough, but putting peoples' lives in danger? He might be reckless or malicious at times, but he knew where to draw the line.

"No," he said simply, then added, "I think not." His face contorted into a loathsome frown that clearly showed his reluctance to put life on the line. He looked about again and saw that the bar was a good place to get attention, and an idea struck him.

"Hey, why don't you jump up on that table while you're visible and then pretend like you're about to kill yourself and then disappear? That'll confuse the heck out of 'em." If Picaboo did that, he would add to the effect in very special way.

She nodded at his expression, “Exactally.”


Seeing the idea on his face, she perked up. She was brought to giggles by the site alone, making her disappear. It was a great idea. “Alright, I’m moving now.”

Moving into a dark corner, she went visible before pausing for a moment. Ready, she crawled up on to the bar, skipping over to the middle. Everyone had their eyes on the strange pale girl that no one had seen before. She couldn’t interact with the things around her to pretend as the boy most likely had an idea for, but there was one thing she could do that was kind-of similar.

When no one expected it, she fell quickly. Right in front of her was someone’s fist rested by their plate on the bar; the knife they were using upturned. The person jumped fast enough to pull it away in time, but by then Picaboo had disappeared.

It had confused people well enough, up her place up in the rafters again she could tell. The man who had jumped was on the floor, paler than her from what happened. She looked over to the boy.

The boy played along with this easily as though acting for this moment came to him naturally. He stood suddenly a looked shocked, and in actuality he was quite a bit. She should have picked up a knife to pretend to commit suicide, not fall on one. And yet, she disappeared all the same.

With the fall of Picaboo, Georg's mouth opened mildly and a loud, shrill scream began to echo about the room; it rattled the walls and caused many people to shut their ears. If they didn't think this girl was a ghost, they would now.

And then it hit him. Being a ghost would explain why she seemed to float, why she disappeared and appeared at will and why she didn't pick up a knife. Feeling a bit betrayed and somewhat scared, his eyes watered a little, but the boy milked it a little to look as though his best friend had just killed herself. Without much other thought he wheeled about on his heels and ran out the door quickly, not at all ready to deal with any person who might be interested in talking to him. When outside, he noticed it had gotten close to dusk and so ran around the other side of the building to hide.

He found an old pile of clothes laying randomly scattered. He quickly collected it into a small pile and wormed under it, thankful that the clothes smelled merely like it had only recently been stained with dirt. There he waited, either for the tavern to clear out or calm down, or perhaps for someone to find him.

Picaboo covered her ears when sound pierced into them. It didn’t help. The thick sound would have made her fall to the ground and curl up had gravity been able to affect her. As if she faded from the world more, no longer was sound tangible to her. She looked about the silence, other people stick trying to cover their ears.

The boy ran out, seaming to cry. She didn’t really get it. Following him out the sound of the world faded back in as people screamed and ran out of the tavern. She would float above the boy, face twisting as he piled clothes up. There must have been something wrong with him.

Flying down above him she’d stay invisible to keep people from seeing her and give away his hiding place. Poking him lightly she let the little cold get his attention. She used the tone her mother always had when she was caught doing something wrong or screwy.

“What are you doing?”

The small coldness gave Georg a start and he stirred violently under the clothing. Realization of what the girl was assailed him again, this time like a bludgeon, but he stopped flailing as soon as he realized she was still the same person who he thought was just a little girl with abnormally special abilities... much akin to himself.

"Hi," he answered. His hiding place obviously hadn't been good enough, but he felt that it might have been better that she found him anyways. With his tears now dry, Georg began sound-seeing to locate where Picaboo was but (of course) did not see her anywhere.

"Hiding," he answered finally. "They might think something was up with me and plus, I hate talking to people."

Though filled with confidence, his next words were a bit feeble: "Are you dead?" Stories of ghosts ran through his mind; of phantasms and other beings, and Georg turned his mind to mortality. Was he going to die?

Seeing the boy thrash about didn’t give her the joy it usually did. Peeking between the clothes at his eyes she actually felt sorry. She frowned and pulled away.

She blinked when he expressed worry for getting the blame. And to think, she was going to try to pin it on him. It was going to be a lot of fun; or so she remembered thinking. She connected with him on that; knowing just how much it sucked to have to have one of those ‘talks’ you were given when you did something wrong.

His next words shocked her, bringing the first answer that came to mind. “No.”

There was silence as she thought.

“I’m not alive, but I’m not dead.” Her voice was filled with uncertainty, but she shared her reasoning. “If I was dead there would be much more or nothingness; that’s what my parents said death was. They didn’t talk about it much or they would bicker.”

Repetition was comforting. "I'm not dead."

Georg nodded under the clothing; the pile bobbed up and down just a tiny bit. "Yeah, that's what my dad says. Well... said." He looked at nothing in particular, thankful that partial blindness sometimes gave him an easy time of spacing out.

The boy wasn't sure as to what he should say. Should he ask what it's like being a ghost? How she died? Why she's here? What she's doing haunting the bar?


"...What's your name?" he asked.

The boy seamed to understand well.

“Samantha. But my friends called me Picaboo. It’s really become a fitting name recently.” With her being a ghost and all. “What is your name?”

Sticking only her head through the tavern’s wall, she found that the people left only worked there. No one was coming down the alley either. She made sure to check very quickly to not miss his answer.

“It’s safe to come out if you want.”

Picaboo. Heh. Georg definitely agreed with the girl; it was a very fitting name. When she asked for his name, he hesitated for a moment, enough time for Picaboo to stick her head in the tavern.

Knowing that he could stop hiding now the boy writhed and wiggled his way out of the clothes, sitting up somewhat like a worm from the dirt. His clothes were just a tiny bit scuffed.

"Name's Georg." A smile covered the boy's face but his eyes glazed over with a complete and total inability to care about whether or not he saw the girl now. "Well, that was a fun game... we cleared out the tavern."

His smile turned to a gigantic grin from ear to ear. "Without burning the place down, too!"

Georg. It seamed that, even as she was, she was able to have a friend. At that moment she was so content that even if she wished to she wouldn’t have been able to be visible.

She giggled when she called it a game. That’s just what she thought of things as. He was absolutely right, and just as glad that no one was hurt other than a bit of shock. “Yeah!”

Picaboo wasn’t even worried about the not living thing he brought up anymore. Instead she was just excited at the chance that they could do more together. “We should team up again sometime.”

Georg got up off of his knees and onto his feet. Stepping out of the pile, his meager eyesight returned and he stepped out towards the corner of the tavern. Georg looked about for the girl but did not see her. Regardless, he responded to her suggestion with a simple, "Yeah. I'm up for whenever."

He needed some more money. Five silver coins was enough for now, but he'd run out in but a few days. Eh, he can always get some more tomorrow.

Returning the conversation at hand, he nodded. "Yeah," he said. "So... are you stuck to this tavern? Or what?" All of the old stories he'd heard said that she would... but there didn't seem to be anything keeping her there, like the stories did.

He stood around almost awkwardly awaiting her answer.

Georg didn’t sound as excited as she was. So long as it was fun then she guessed.

His question confused her for a moment. Then she got it; “You mean like in stories? No, not at all. Some things are the same, but then again they’re told by people who are alive. I just go to taverns because there are lots of fun people there; but I can’t stay in one long. People tend to get weird if I do.”

She landed in front of him before fading into view. He looked like things were weird for him too, but she didn’t want them to be. “Would it be better if I stayed visible? It’s hard but I can try.”