#anyway he's a cool dude always walking around town sometimes reading on the lawn of the old high school

[july-19th-club]

our least honorable regulars tend to come and go, and it depends on their age or how many disruptive children they have or if they're just passing through. Map Lady only stayed a few months but she gave us years worth of annoyances. but our MOST honorable regular is easy. he is a man named geoffrey who is sixty years old and deeply deeply deeply autistic and when he comes in the building i know i'm going to have a pleasant interaction and even when i am incredibly grouchy and bitchy i can see geoffrey and its like yippee a real patron has arrived. i love geoffrey. so does everybody else. he doesn't do anything in particular to be beloved but he is the mildest mannered man on the planet with only one flaw which is an unfortunate disdain for kleenexes, although for all the sniffling i WILL say he is a ready hand with the sanitizer. he reads largely music biographies and has a set of about twelve sentences for regular conversation, some of which are just echolalia material. when you chat with geoffrey you know exactly what you're going to get, which is one of the most refreshing parts of having him come in on a busy or unsettling day. the exception to his catalogue of stock phrases is when he is sharing actor/musician birthday and death day trivia. he always brings his books back on time and he always says "i always bring them back on time" and we say thank you we love that about you. and he says "sorry to keep coming in like this" and we say please do not apologize for being the best part of our day every day. we love you. geoffrey <3

[whumpingcrow]

Ink Poisoning - Chapter 1

Introduction

Surprise! A new story, new characters, inspired by all the lovely authors of tumblr who do BBU or WRU writing :) enjoy!!

CW: BBU and everything in relation to that, drugs/alcohol, party themes/setting, plane mention, college setting, breakup mention, tattooing/tattoo shop mentions (let me know if I missed anything!)

Nicko and Salem had never really been too close. They lived a few houses away from each other in high school, had some of the same classes, and were tied in with the same friend groups. They were friends, as much as you could be friends with someone you only hang out with cause they’re close by, but not close by any means. Salem felt a certain way about Nicko, he always had, a way that told him to keep himself a safe distance from him. Maybe it was his recklessness, the way he did awful, often mean, things seemingly on impulse, just because it popped into his head and he wanted to follow through. He was unreasonably harsh and manipulative and just attractive and charismatic enough to not suffer the repercussions.

Because of this, Salem wasn’t really entirely sure how he had ended up living with the kid in his last two years of college. Both him and Nicko had gotten into the state college and were both art majors (Nicko was in visual arts and Salem in music), so they had been around each other since they both moved into the dorms as smooth faced freshmen. Nicko was on the football team for the first year and a half, then he got kicked from the team. At that point he hadn’t spoken to Salem for a while, so he never figured out the real reason why. He heard gossip, that Nicko was caught doing drugs, that he had slept with the coach’s daughter, that he’d been fighting, but it was impossible to know if it was the truth. On one hand, Salem wouldn’t exactly be surprised if it was something like that, but on the other hand he didn’t want to believe that he was that bad. After that, he focused on his studies. Salem saw him around campus working in sketch books or on a canvas, sometimes he would show up to a class covered in paint and tired, like he’d been working on something all night. He was also doing an internship at a tattoo shop, he got paid a lot to stab people with needles, and he genuinely enjoyed it. Plus, Salem had seen some of the stuff he’d made, and he certainly had talent, even though he was sort of a dick.

During that time, freshman and sophomore year, Salem was pretty preoccupied in his own respects, so these were the only things he really knew about Nicko. Those two years had been difficult, looking back on it he was surprised he was able to pass all of his classes with what he had going on. There was a messy relationship, horrible breakup, and he used it mostly to put into his music. He wrote some of his best pieces about it, so in a way he was thankful. He was better off now, anyway.

Now, he and Nicko lived together off-campus, along with three other art majors who neither of them knew too well, but rent was cheaper with more people and they were easy enough to get along with. School was almost over, it was their last stretch of their senior year, and things were good. Salem’s future was looking promising, he’d already been speaking to different producers and composers who he’d been set up with by his teachers, as soon as he graduated he would have enough saved up to buy his own place, closer to where he would work, on his own. Life was so simple, Salem was happy and hopeful and for once, things made sense. He just had to get through winter break, then the last few grueling months would crawl by, and then he would be free.

But then winter break came and went, Salem went back north to visit his parents, and when he got back things suddenly got...complicated.

Nicko would insist over and over again to Salem that they had “talked about this!” and he tried to persuade him by saying “you said it could be cool!” every time they talked about it afterwards. Salem told him that bringing it up as a concept while they were getting drunk after midterms was not talking about it.

What happened was someone had read an article somewhere, maybe it was from a click bait thing on Instagram or a frightening news article on facebook, and had brought it up while they were all throwing back beers before they went out to their own respective parties. It was about something Salem had only heard hushed whispers about online, he wasn’t even sure how legit it was because of how rarely he heard about it: boxies. The word made him cringe every time one of them threw it out drunkenly, like it was something cute. If what Salem had heard about it was true, they were essentially criminals who were brainwashed (or trained, as they liked to call it to sound more appealing) instead of taking another sentence. Box Boys, Box Babes, they had more gross marketing names, all involving a box. Supposedly it was because they were notoriously shipped to you conveniently in a box right to your front porch, as if they were an Amazon package. Yes, living human beings stuffed inside of a box and left on your porch, just waiting to be let out so they can start doing whatever it is they’ve been retrained to do. And somehow it was all completely legal, if you did it through certain companies.

So, that’s what they’d been talking about, when Salem looked back on it, all he remembered from the conversation was something like:

“Dude, how the fuck is owning a boxie legal at all? I was just reading this article and-”

"Those are like, those servant things you order online or whatever? I've heard about those, I think."

“That’s not the point, Nicko. I’m talking about how it’s fucking crazy this is allowed.”

“I think it’s cool. I mean if it were me I’d rather get to live in a house as like...a maid or whatever than go to jail. Jail sucks. I dunno, I think it’s cool. What about you, Cobain?”

Salem hated when Nicko called him that, he’d been doing it since freshman year, when one of Salem’s songs was suddenly being passed around the school in a youtube video he’d forgotten he’d posted. Nicko told him that it was edgy, that he sounded like Kurt Cobain. That would have been fine, Salem really wouldn’t have cared, if Nicko hadn’t personally told him before how much he hated Nirvana, how the music sucked. So every time he used the nickname it was patronizing, a little stab at him.

Still, Salem merely looked up from his laptop, he was probably checking back on his flight information for going back home, maybe checking to see if his test scores were posted yet, and scowled at him. “Yeah, Picasso, I think that owning a person is super cool.” He’d been sarcastic, obviously so, and Nicko knew that.

And still, here he was, telling Salem that he’d “agreed” to getting this boxie. Salem would disagree every time, and Nicko would just roll his eyes and shrug his shoulders and he would get away with it. He was always getting away with shit, it was really starting to piss Salem off.

The day Salem got back from break it had been snowing. The drive back from the airport was stressful, it was late, Salem just wanted to go home and sleep. Going back to the town he grew up in was draining, sometimes. It reminded him of complicated times and hopelessness. He wanted to forget all about those feelings, things were going good, he could be hopeful now, and going back home made those feelings a little...muted, for a while. So he figured he’d go home, get into bed, sleep it off, and get back to being hopeful in the morning.

Only he couldn’t do that, because of course Nicko was having a party. He usually called it “having people over”, because he was trying to be an adult now and that’s what adults usually said, but when it consisted of beer pong and body shots that didn’t seem like the right term. The lawn was covered in cars, so was the driveway, so were both sides of the street directly outside. Salem had to park halfway down the block, get his suitcase and guitar, and walk down the street. To his own house. He wanted to break Nicko’s face.

When he walked into the house, the air was thick with smoke and reeked of pot and sweat and booze. The living room was mostly empty, Salem could see from the front door that almost everyone was in the kitchen playing some sort of drinking game or outside. The house was a mess, almost all the lights were off so Salem couldn’t see the full damage yet, but he could tell that he wasn’t going to like it when he did. He shuffled into the house, kicking away cups and bottles as he walked past them. Part of him wanted to just turn around and get back in his car and drive far away, never come back and never see Nicko or this shitty house again. But he had to stick to his plan, he had to play it safe here.

“Salem!” He snapped his head up, in the direction of the voice, sighing when he saw it was Nicko’s girlfriend, Aurora. Or Rory, as most people called her. She had dyed her hair a bright, shocking blue since Salem had last seen her, if he remembered correctly she had it a pale pink before. Her makeup was dark and heavy, like it usually was, making her eyes look all that more intense and striking. Except for right then, because she was very obviously high, her eyes hooded and lazy. She was sitting on the couch, a boy who looked a lot younger than her on his knees right in between her legs. He looked even more fucked up than she did, glaring hard at the floor and swaying slightly as she raked her fingers through his messy, dark hair. As Salem approached them, the kid flinched away from him and snapped his eyes up to look at him. He didn’t pay too much attention to him, too distracted by his anger. Rory had to shout over the music just a little when she started talking again. “I was wondering when you were gonna be back! How was your tri-”

“Where the fuck is Nicko?” He interrupted. His hand was tight around the handle to his guitar case, he could feel his heartbeat in his closed fist.

Rory gawked at him, then her crimson painted lips turned up into a lazy smile and she laughed. “Wow, someone’s in a mood,” she teased, “why don’t you have a drink? Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down, Rory. Tell me where he fucking is!”

Rory turned her attention downwards, toward the rough looking boy on the floor in front of her. Salem followed her gaze, realizing that he was now shaking, pressing his thin frame against Rory’s leg like he couldn’t get close enough. He was looking at Salem’s shoes, his face twisted up in a nervous frown. Rory instantly leaned close to him, hands on his cheeks and lips against his jaw, saying something in a real low, soft voice. She was calming him down, soothing him, Salem noticed, because he had frightened him.

Salem realized, then, how angry he sounded, shouting and cursing, and he sighed to himself. He decided he’d be better off just going to bed, putting in earplugs and waiting until the morning to deal with the problem. It’s not like he’d really be able to fight Nicko anyway, he was so much taller and he’d been on the football team and honestly Salem just wasn’t equipped for fighting. So he turned away from both of them and made his way down the hallway, to his room. He locked his door and set his things down, then he promptly stripped down to his boxers and got into bed.

The next morning, Salem was surprised to wake up to a clean, quiet house. He walked down the hallway, expecting at any second to see all of the trash pushed into a corner somewhere, he didn’t think Nicko would have cleaned up himself, unprompted. But it was clean all the way through, and he was impressed when he walked into the living room and saw Nicko, decked out in all black clothes and black boots, relaxing on the couch with his keys clutched readily in his hands, like he was leaving. He was speechless, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he approached him.

“Morning, sleepy head,” Nicko teased, tilting his head back and looking him up and down, “how was your trip?”

“Uh...good.” Salem answered, voice still gruff from sleep.

“Morning, Salem!”

He turned to see Rory standing there in fishnets and an oversized hoodie, dramatically tall heels wrapped around her ankles, making Salem wonder how she was standing straight. One time, when Nicko was busy doing an art piece or working on school work, he couldn’t remember now, she and Salem had been in the kitchen alone and Rory told him that she liked to wear tall heels because Nicko likes when she’s short and it entertains her to bother him. She said the best part of her day sometimes is irritating Nicko.

Behind Rory, standing with his head dipped downwards and his shoulders slightly hunched, was the same scared looking kid from the night before. He was allowing Rory to pull him along by his wrist, focusing on his shiny black boots, ones that he looked rather unsteady in, like he wasn’t used to tall shoes. His thin, oversized black tee shirt hung off of one boney shoulder, showcasing a few tattoos up on his collar bone and neck. They looked fresh, like they were healing. After Salem scanned the rest of his body (why was he wearing shorts and a tee shirt!? It was snowing outside!), he had healing tattoos all over, scattered every few inches. Were they all new? Salem didn’t know much about tattooing, but he didn’t think that was safe.

Salem didn’t realize he’d been staring at him, silent, until Rory cleared her throat, redirecting his attention to her. “He’s cute, huh?” She smiled, smacking her gum at him. “Nicko picked out a good one.”

“I...What?” Salem muttered.

“Our boxie,” she explained, holding his limp arm up in the air and waving it a little, making the kid flinch hard, “You were looking at him. Isn’t he precious?”

Now, he was shrinking in on himself more, looking rather embarrassed and ashamed, his face hidden mostly by his floppy hair. Salem frowned at him, then at Rory, then at Nicko, who was smiling smugly.

“You didn’t.”

Nicko laughed at him, and thus began the famous “You said it would be cool” argument. Salem was so shocked in the moment he wasn’t able to form a proper argument, so Nicko took both Rory and the boxie out the door and into the snow with him.

So that’s when things got complicated. Well, not necessarily right away, but that was the thing that kickstarted it all. It was a total snowball effect, where one bad thing happens and it just gets worse and collects more velocity and severity the longer it goes on, until it’s huge and it can’t be stopped and it flattens a poor snowboarder or a small city. Salem had to finish school, he had to start living his life and building his career, he didn’t have time to worry about huge snowball problems. That could ruin everything, all of his hard work and pain would have been pointless. All because Nicko decided to get a fucking boxie.

[lillaxtrigger]

The ghostly maid: Stanko the clown

A green ghost clown floates around town. A couple walks down the street. The clown floats past them. The boy says "Did you feel something?". "No, but I smell something. Is that you?". the girl said."No I-". "Good lord! That's rancid! It's making my eyes water! Listen, just go home and take a shower." the girl said as she walked off. The boy smelled himself and said " I don't even smell that bad.". The ghost passed through a building. Everyone inside rushed out to get away from the smell. "Why does the whole building stink like that?" someone said while their eyes watered. "I don't know, but it smells like something died in there." someone else said. The clown sighed and was floating towards Trevors manor. Trevor and Pike were walking along the hallway. They saw that all the cleaning staff (including Jewely) were working as if there was no tomorrow. "Um, why are all the maids and bulters cleaning so hard?". Pike said. "Well if you must know. There is a representative of a popular magazine called "Manor Mag" that is coming here. My future of weather or not I get my late moms company depends on this review turning out well. So I'm making all the cleaning staff work double time." Trevor explained. "Does anyone even read magazines anymore?". "Even in this technelogical age of dying print media, most people do still read magazines from time to time." "Cool...Shouldn't we help too?" Pike suggested. "Why? Everything is under control and everything is nearly spotless." "I'm just saying that you could pitch in too. I mean you do live here.". "Oh Pike. That what maids are for." Pike suddenly looked behind Trevor and said "Ummm...". "Jewely's right behind me, isn't she?". Trevor asked. Pike nodded his head. The boy turned around and saw his ghostly maid, who was rather upset at the remark he just made. "I, uh...I didn't mean..." Trevor stuttered. But before he could finish his sentence, Jewely floated off. As Trevor was trying to catch up to her, saying "Wait, Jewely! Come back!", Both his and Pikes noses caught a horrible smell. "Ah...ah man! What is that stank!?". Pike said. "I don't know. Reginald!" Trevor said while pinching his nose. The butler came to them and asked "Yes, master Trevor. What do you need?". "I need you to find where that stank is coming from.". "Of course.". The boys followed the butler to the Trevors quarters. The butler wetn in while the boys waited outside. Moments later, Reginald ran out of the room, crying and screaming. "What was that about?" Pike said. "I don't know, but I think whatever's causing the smell must be in here." Trevor said. Both of them put on a brave face and enter the room. Coming into the room, they saw the green ghost clown, playing video games. "A ghost!...Why is it a clown?" Pike said. "Why are you a human?" the ghost said. "That's not even a real comeba-(sigh) Why are you here?" Trevor said. "Is the stink coming from you?". The ghost sighed, stopped playing and said "I am Stanko the clown. When I was a clown working at the circus. I entertained the children with funny stuff or whatever. I died when I was caught in a landfill full of garbage. Now my spirit stinks forever." the ghost said. "I meant why are you here? In my mansion?" Trevor said. "You own this mansion, kid? Nice. Anyway, I'm bored. Everywhere else in town is dumb. This place is cool though. Think I might stay here for like...I don't know, ever.". "No way! You're stinking up the entire place and I have someone important coming over. I want you out of my room and out of my mansion, pronto!" Trevor demanded. "Nah. Not right now. I'm on a bonus level...". "I wasn't asking!" Trevor said then tried to grab Stanko, but he just passed through him. "Ah! Ah my god! Ah, that's foul. The inside of him smells worse than the outside! It smells like a graveyard with all the graves dug up and the caskets open.". "Dude, that is a very specific and morbid analogy." Pike said. As Trevor was getting up, he felt woozy. Saying "Uh...I...I feel funny..." as he stumbled. "Yeah,I don't...I don't feel...feel right either" Pike said as he stuggled to stand. Both boys stumbled around until they finally fainted. As Trevor came to, he heard mumbling all around him. He then saw Jewely above him, who said "Maîtriser Trevor, are you feeling well?". "What...happened?" the boy asked. "One of the butlers smelled noxius fumes and everyone evacuated. A found you two passed out next to a ghost clown and had to carry both of you out.". "I can't believe this. That ghost clown hobo smells so bad that he's making fumes that are out right toxic. The represenative is coming tomorrow. If she sees my manor like this, I'll lose my company.". "Can you tell me how a bad review on a shallow magazine that will probably just be sold in the check out aisle next to tabloids affect weather you inherite your families company?" Pike asked. "Image.". "What?". "The company chairmens care alot about image.". "That's kind of shallow." Pike said. "What are we gonna do?". "I could go in there and try to get him out." Jewely said. "Jewely, no. I can't send you in there. That'd be flatout inhuman." Trevor said. "I can't smell anything unless I inhabit a body. But, what do I know. I'm just a maid.". "Is this about what I said earlier. Cause you're so much more than just a maid." "It's more than that, Trevor. You don't appreciate what the other maids. What do you think they're doing all this for?" Jewely said. "A paycheck?". Jewely went inside the mansion. Some time passes and both boys were waiting. "I'm getting worried, Pike. She's been in there for an hour straight." Trevor said. "She'll be fine, man. She's a ghost. What can that clown or his stank possibly do to her when she's already dead."Pike said. "Jeez, and you critisized me form being morbid earlier.". The ghostly maid soon came outside and Trevor asked "Jewely. Are you okay? Is he leaving?". "Well...No. He's largely intent on staying and doing nothing but play your video games." she said. "What? Jewely, why didn't you force him to leave?" "Well pardon me. I'm a maid, not a fighter.". "Ugh. What are we gonna do now?" Trevor said. "What if we hire a ghost hunter? They might be able to catch him." Pike suggested. "There isn't any ghost hunters we can call on such short notice.". "Eh...that's not entirely true.". "What do you mean?" Trevor asked. Both boys were in a limo that was driving down a suburban street. "No way!" Trevor said. "Come on. We don't really have much of an option anyway." Pike said. "Yeah, but Tracy!? Don't you remember what he did? He broke into my home, tried to kidnap Jewely, and nearly got you killed.". "I don't like him either. But given the short time frame. What else can we do?". Pike saw the Trevor was upset about the whole ordeal and said "Look, I know this looks bad. But if the deal turns sour, I brought some toilet paper and eggs we can use to teepee and egg his house with. Would that make you feel better?". "...A little...". The limo pulled up to a normal, two story house. The lawn was well kept, the grass firmly trimed, and the porch was nice and tidy. As both boys got out of the car, Pike said "Huh. This place is nicer than I thought.". "Hey, how did you figure out where he lives?" Trevor said. "I just simply looked the address up on my schools data base. It wasen't that hard, really.". "Do all schools have a database?". "Yep.". "Huh. Guess that's how Tony found my house.". They walked up to the porch and knocked on the door. "I bet it's one of those thing where it looks good on the outside, but is run down on the inside." Trevor said. "I don't think it works like that, Trevor.". "Well how would you explain is selfish attitude and awkard social standings?". "Easy. It's because he's a-" Pike said before the door opened. A nice, well kept woman came out of the house and said "Oh, hello there. Are you one of Tracy's friends?". "Um...yeah. We are here to see your son. We want to talk to him about something." Trevor said. "Oh, I hope he didn't do something wrong again. Please come in." she said. As they looked around, they saw it was clean, tidy, and well decorated. "Wow, this house is nicer than mine." Pike said. "I don't get it. He's comes from a financialy stable home. Why is he such a goober?" Trevor said. "Do you honestly think that the way people act mostly ties to their financial statues?". "Does it?". "Well...sometimes yes, but not all the time.". "Tracy has always been...unique. He's always had an intrest in the 'supernatural' since he was 7. He constantly butts heads with his father in stopping his intrests and getting a real job. But everytime, it ends with Tracy saying that it is his job, then locking himself in his room." the mother said. "Where is his room?". Trevor said. "Down in the basement.". "Good. I'm gonna go talk to him.". "While you're heading down. Can you give him this batch of cookies?" the mom said as he handed a plate of doughy cookies to Trevor. "Sure thing.". As Trevor descended into the basement, he saw ghost hunting equipment. Some with wires sticking out of them. "Yeesh, he actually lives in this." Trevor said. "And proud to live in it." Tracy said as he pointed a machine that looked like a vacuum cleaner toward him. "So, you've come to rub your victory in my face have you? Well you made a big mistake, pal! This is my terratory! And your not coming out without a few bruises, buddy!" Trevor put the cookies down, drifted the nozzle away from him and said "Look, I didn't come here to rub my victory in your face or whatever. I came because I need your help.". Tracy put down his vacuum and said "Come again?". Pike was sitting in the living room with Tracy's mom. A moment of akward silence before the boy said "So...what does your husband do to support the family?" Pike said. "He manages the Waterman bank downtown.". "Oh, so he's a banker.". "More like manages some bankers.". "Oh, that must rake in alot of money.". "Yes. A salery about three hundred thousand dollors." "That seems like a lot.". "Yes. We would have more money, if it wern't for Tracy's hobbies". "Really?". "And that's why I need your help?" Trevor said. "Hm. Well it only makes sense that you want the greatest around." Tracy said. "Yeah, on such short notice." Trevor whispered. "What was that?". "Nothing.". Trevor took a cookie and said "So are you gonna help me or not.". "Well, what are you gonna give me in return for my services?". "Will cash work?". "I already have plenty of money. What I want is that ghost maid of yours.". "What!? Absolutaly not!? Why do you even want her anyway?" Trevor said. "Well. For some reason, the parnanormal investigation club at my school refuses to make me a member. But if I bring them an actual ghost, they'll have no choice but to accept me." Tracy explained. If that's the case, why not show them the ghost that's stinking up my mansion. That'd kill to birds with one stone.". "Well that could work. If your ghost in question we're just a regular apperition. From the sound of it, your ghost is an aromus ghost. These kinds of ghosts emit scents. The scents they emit often depends on the aroma that is around them when they die. You know how sometimes you smell something and you don't know where it's coming from? That means their is most likely and aromus ghost nearby.". Tracy explained. "And what does it being an aru-whatever have to do with not being able to show it to your club?". "Because the ghost you described flat out stinks. if I try and bring that ghost to school, I could get arrested. Which is why I want your ghost. The maid.". Trevor sighed and said "How bout this. You can show Jewely to your friends, say whatever you want about the whole thing, then release her.". "Alright then. You got a deal." Tracy said, then shook Trevors hand. Tracy's mom was crying as she said "And I don't know what to do. I'd thought he'd grow out of it by now, but it's only gotten worse. His hobbies take up a quarter of our money and it feels like he's driving this family apart.". "Have you told him all of this?" Pike said. "I try, but he either ignores it or brushes it off. I can't get him to listen.". "Well then make him listen. You need to disapline him, else he's just gonna keep walking all over you.". "I know. But I just don't have it in me to do it. I love him too much.". "If you loved him, you wouldn't take this. You would take charge like a real parent.". The mother continued to cry. Pike offered to hug her and she took it, squeezing him tighty. Pike patted her back as he hugged back. Trevor and Tracy came out of the basement and were about to leave. Tracy, not giving any reeaction at the scene before him, simply went outside with some equipment. "Are...Are you coming?" Trevor said. "Uh...just wait for me in the limo." Pike said. After awhile, Pike finally came out and got into the limo. "You were in there for 10 minutes. What were you doing in there with her?" Trevor asked. Pike saw that Tracy was in the limo with them and was growing inpatient. "I'll...tell you later.". As the limo pulled back into the manor driveway, the three saw that visible, green fumes were coming out of the home. "Good lord! My house looks like a power plant!" Trevor said. "Or New York city." Pike retorted. "Jewely, What is going on? What has that buttclown been doing in my home?". "Well...after he was finished playing your games. He decided to raid the kitchen and eat nearly everything. Except for the popcorn and peanuts. I don't know why. Then he flew around, spreading his odor everywhere." Jewely said. "And you let him!?". "I keep telling you. I'm a maid, not a fighter. And besides, when have you ever heard a ghost fighting other ghosts. Ce serait bizarre.". "Ha! Never send a ghost to do a ghost hunters job. Now all of you pleb stay here and watch me take care of business." Tracy said. The hunter pulled out a gas mask and entered the mansion as he laughed. "I'm starting to think that he's not such a goober after all...a jerkwad is more like it." Trevor said. As Tracy treked through the mansion, the lack of any other people, the trashed hallways and decor, and the green hue from the stank gave the inside of the mansion an eerie aesthetic. When he made his way to the kitchen, the hunter saw that the whole room had been ransacked. The fridge and cabinets were open and bits of food littered the floor. As he traversed the kitchen, Tracy caught glimpses of a green streak pass through him. Quickly turning to try and see what was stalking him, he saw nothing. "I'm warning you. I have a vacuum and I'm not afraid to use it." Tracy shouted. The boy was startled when a glass seemingly fell off the counter all on it's own behind him and turned around. As he turned back, he fell over when he saw Stanko right in front of him. "Hey, how's it going?" he said to the hunter. "I-I-I got you now, you fiend!" Tracy said as he struggled to get his vacuum. "Neat mask. Can I try it on?" Stanko said as he was pulling Tracy's mask off. "No, I need that to-" Tracy tried to say. But when the mask came off, he soon passed out from the smell. "Meh, your boring anyway.". Stanko threw the mask away and flew off. Jewely pulled Tracy and the mask out of the mansion. "Well, seems that asking for his help was a complete waste of time." Trevor said. "Now what do we do?" Pike asked. "I've tried using some inscence to try and counter the bad smell. But they're not nearly strong enough. He said they smell nice, but they also don't drive him away. Which is rather disappointing. I don't care much for our houseguest. He's constantly hitting on me." Jewely said. Trevor thought to himself for a moment and said "Jewely you said that when he raided the kitchen, he left the popcorn and peanuts alone, right.". "Yes. It seemed rather strange.". "In any case. I might know what his weakness. Pike! I need you to lead the butlers and maids around town and try and find as much peanut inscence and gas masks as possible." "Gotcha, man!" Pike said, then lead the butler and maids out of the manor property. Jewely was about to go with them, but Trevor stopped her by grabbing the ghost's hand and said "Jewely, I need you to stay and help me. Remember that huge shipment of popcorn we ordered for movie night a couple weeks ago?". "Certianly, but they all came in cernals and microwavable packs. So you settled for pretzals and nachos instead.". Trevor put on the gas mask and said "Good, come with me. I have an idea." They rushed through the mansion and headed straight for the kitchen. They found a cabinet full of popcorn pack and bottles full of cernels. "Do you know how to make cernels from a pot?" Trevor said. "Of course. Your great, great grandma ester loved popcorn. I made it all the time for her when she was a kid.". "Good. We need to make as much pocorn as possible. I'll microwave the packs, while you cook the cernels." Trevor said as he tossed the bottle to his maid. "Trevor, we have a little time to talk so lets talk about how thankful you should be."Jewely said. "Oh, come on Jewely. Not now. We are in a crisis here.". "I'm serious. You take the people who help you for granted and barely give them any help back or thanks." "Jewely, look. I'm sorry. I was just under alot of pressure to get the place in tip top shape. I didn't think about the well being of others. And now look at it. I mean I live here and I've done little to nothing to help. But I want to change that. I want to help now. Will you help me?". "Of course, maîtriser Trevor." Jewely said. They began to cook popcorn like there was no tomorrow. With Jewely putting countless cernals into a big pot and Trevor put some bags of popcorn in the microwave. Popcorn soon began popping like crazy. Pike soon arrived with the rest of the butlers and maids with peanut scented candles and gas masks. They went around and lite the candles all around the mansion. Pike followed the scent of popcorn to the kitchen and Trevor said "Pike! Perfect timing. We just finished making all the popcorn we can. Help us spread it all across the mansion.". Trevor, Pike, and Jewely went all around the mansion, dropping popcorn wherever they could. As Stanko was flying around, he soon picked up the smell and said "Popcorn?...peanuts? Oh no! It's like the circus all over again! There's got to be somewhere where I can't smell it!". He flew all around trying to elude the scent. But wherever he went, all he could smell was peanuts and popcorns. "The vents. The smell can't get in the vents! " Stanko said. The ghost clown flew straight in to the vent to hide. Trevor put popcorn and peanut candles next to the fresh air intel and said "If he thinks he can hide in the vents, then he's in for a nasty surprise." Stanko screamed and finally came of the mansion, saying "That is it! I can't take the smell of this place anymore! You're a bunch of peanut , popcorn loving freaks! I'm out of here!" then flew off to parts unknown. Trevor went outside, took of his gas mask and took a big whiff. "Ahh. Smells like...nostalgia." Jewely said. Pike was chewing on popcorn as he said "Yep...Smells like a good time.". Both of them heard groaning behind them. Turning around, they saw Tracy on the ground, drooling and shaking. "Oh yeah. What should we do with him?" Pike said. "Well, considering that he did little to nothing to help us. I say we dump him out on the curb." Trevor said. All of them looked inside the mansion and saw that the whole place was a wreck. The halls were trashed, there were green splotches on the walls, and popcorn was all over the floors. "Ooh ooh, boy. That floating garbage boat did a number on this place." Pike said. "We have less the ten hours to get this place spotless. Jewely. Round up the other maids and kick it into overdrive. And get me a broom." Trevor said. "Why a broom, sir?" Jewely said. "Well, I'm gonna help out, I live here after all.". Jewely smiled as she departed. "So are you gonna help too, Pike?" Trevor. "I guess.".