Ghosting

5

Thomas stared at the note. "Um... Dude, I'm going to need more than this."

Deceit appeared quite literally out of nowhere, hovering at the top of the stairs with a hopeful expression on his face. He pressed one scraped hand against the invisible wall the salt made, making a small noise in the back of his throat that made him sound like that little of tiny kittens Talyn had once adopted.

"I mean, seriously. You tried to rip out my throat. I can't just let you out of there on an apology," Deceit thought about it for a few seconds, then mimed writing something. "You want to write it out?" Deceit nodded eagerly, making what Thomas could only describe as grabby-hands. "Okay, what happened to the crayon I gave you?"

After a second, Deceit nyoomed back into the basement, returning a few moments later with four separate pieces of crayon.

Oof. "Bud, that was, like, the only crayon that I managed to unpack." Deceit flew in a small circle to show his displeasure with this. "You're the one who broke it, you idiot!" He wrinkled his nose, pulling his lip back to show him slightly bloody teeth. "Well, threatening me is going to get you nowhere fast."

After another displeased circle, something seemed to occur to the demon. He held up on finger in a "wait here" gesture, then flew into the basement. A moment later, Thomas heard water splashing around in the metal basin and splattering on the floor. There was a small, Cousin Itt-esque sound, and Deceit flew back up, looking excited. He gestured down into the basement, feet moving as if he were bouncing up and down on his toes.

Thomas was quiet for a long second. "... Can't you just talk to me?!"

In response, Deceit stuck out a heavily mutilated tongue.

"Okay... Look, dude, I can't go down there because you tried to kill me. I had to spend five dollars on a new flashlight because of you." Deceit looked completely and utterly horrified by this, staring at the flashlight, "Um... roughly thirty-nine cents in money from... how old even are you?"

He got a long, loud huff in response. Deceit thought for a second, then Thomas could practically see the lightbulb turn on. He pressed his palms together, watching Thomas intently, then placed a hand against the invisible wall. A second later, he jerked his head slightly towards it, then stared at Thomas' free hand. On a whim, Thomas nervously pressed his hand against Deceit's, and his vision blurred.

Farm farm horses screaming hat boy horses mama papa kids kids kids fire screaming dim horses wet cold chair hat me me me me barn horses screaming hat hat Joan hat-

Thomas yanked away, and the stream of words came to a stop. Deceit squawked in protest, looking extremely indignant.

"What was that?!" Thomas wasn't quite shouting, but he was close. Deceit tapped his forehead. "Huh?... your thoughts?" It was a shot in the dark, but Deceit grinned and nodded. "So like a Vulcan mind-meld? Is that what you're doing?"

"He's not gonna know what that means," Logan stepped in through the wall, adjusting his glasses. "Thomas, I believe you promised us you would stay out of the basement?"

"Well, Logan, he didn't go in the basement," Patton pointed out, descending out of the ceiling. Or maybe ascending, seeing as he was descending but upside down, so that his head just kinda peeked out of the ceiling?

"We're trying to communicate."

Logan huffed, walking in further, "I see. What has he told you so far?"

"Um... something about horses? I think? And I'm pretty sure I heard 'fire' in there somewhere," He glanced back at Deceit for confirmation, and Deceit nodded. "So... I got 'horses' and 'fire' and quite frankly don't like what that's implying."

Deceit's head shot up and he made a loud sound of protest, looking horrified. He shook his head rapidly, then pointed back at his hand.

"Well?" Logan gestured at Deceit, looking faintly amused. "Go on."

This time, Deceit's thoughts were a bit more understandable; Barn fire horses screaming locks field moon-

"Okay... so there were horses?" Deceit nodded, "And a barn... was the barn on fire?" Yes, "And the horses were locked in the barn?" Shrug and the so-so hand motion. "Did they get out of the barn?" Nod. "Okay, so the horses were completely fine." Nod.

"It is... truly fascinating to watch the two of you communicate," Logan smirked slightly. "However, I fail to see the relevance of this."

Deceit growled, literally growled, and zoomed back into the basement. Water splashed around a bit, then he shot back up and flicked his hands at Logan. Logan flinched as a few drops of water hit him in the face, and Patton made an "ooh," sound.

"You have got some nerve-" Logan started, taking a few angry steps towards Deceit. Deceit yowled like a jungle cat, his nose wrinkling and lip pulling back over his teeth. "You are lucky we don't exorcise you-"

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Thomas steppe between the two. "There will be no exorcisms in this old insane asylum that is a sentence I never thought I would say." He turned to Logan, who had a slight pink colouring the tips of his ears and back of his neck, "Let's just hear the demon out."

"He tried to kill you."

Deceit made a creaking sound, drawing their attention back to him. He shook his head slowly.

"What?" Thomas spun on his heel to fully face Deceit. "What do you mean 'no?'"

His bit his lower lip, then gestured into the basement. Curiosity outweighing caution, Thomas took a few steps forward, only to be stopped by Logan's hand around his upper arm.

"Are you certain?"

"If he kills me, you get to say 'I told you so.'" Thomas joked. When Logan went paler than usual, and impressive feat considering his snowy skin, he backtracked, "I think I'll be okay. Don't worry."

Logan smiled wryly, "I always worry."

"Touche." Thomas followed Deceit down the stairs careful not to break the salt line. Deceit grinned, zooming around Thomas like an excited puppy before flying over to the basin next to the control board, now filled with water. When he was sure Thomas was watching, he dipped two fingers into the water and began drawing something on the tiles.

Words. He was writing something.

Slowly, because he kept glancing up to make sure Thomas was still watching, he scribbled out a long message, then stood up and took a few steps back, practically buzzing with excitement as Thomas stepped forward to read what he had written;

I didn't try to kill you.

I didn't kill Logan either.