Long story short. If your user name isn't ~Prototipo-Annette or Limbo, kindly don't post here as this would be a private role play. Kay, thanks, bye~

Plotline

Your average public school and your average two students, as long as you overlook the "minor" details. At this school, there are rumors of ghosts that haunt the halls at night, but our two protagonists are intent on proving this rumor wrong. The only problem is that it's true. While investigating the school- closed for the weekend- they find themselves completely snowed in, trapped with the company of no one but each other; well, each other and the poor souls that have yet to pass on, that is.


Annette's Character

Name || Echo Giannakopoulos
Age & Grade || 15; Sophomore
Gender || male
Personality & Bio || There was never a father in the story of Echo's life, but in his story, a father was something that was never missed. He grew up with only his mother, and the type of relation that they had was quite strange. Instead of raising her son with love and scolding or malice and discontent- as he was the product of teen pregnancy- his mother raised him with a distant and aloof style of parenting. The calm and collected person that was his mother wasn't the type to shower her son with motherly intentions, but instead acted more like she was a live in baby sitter and, as he got older, a friend. They were never particularly close like a pair of old friends that no longer lived close. This kind of relationship had a interesting effect on Echo, though: the few pieces of advice that his mother granted him ("smoking will kill your lungs""Drinking ruins lives") were things that he took to heart. Because of this, he took her advice of "No one but you can answer your questions" and turned it to mean he had to figure things out on his own. Because of this, he's a good learner and never asks questions. Like his mother, Echo turned out to be rather calm and open minded with a heart large enough for the world, kept guarded from naive ideas by his intellect. He thinks things through and doesn't make rash decisions, but he also does one thing his mother never did as he was growing up- laughing and smiling. Echo is quite good natured and can take a joke. It's because of his attention to answer his own questions that he thought it a good idea to discover for himself whether or not there were ghosts inhabiting the school, though his opinion still remains with the idea that it's nothing more than a prank or something of the sort if not nothing a all.
Appearance || Curly hair that was once black but has since been bleached and dyed till it was nothing more than a soft mass of convincingly seafoam-green hair. His eyes are a deep shade of blue that's almost eerie- his only trait from his father. Being prone to hanging around outdoors, he has a light tan to his skin with the occasional freckle and a slightly muscular build, but nothing exceedingly so. At around 5' 7", Echo still has plans to grow taller before he graduates high school.
Habits & Hobbies || When Echo is thinking- which happens somewhat often- he tends to stay completely silent and listen. This also happens when he's talking to people, so conversations with him tend to come out one-sided. With little else to do, Echo picked up the hobby of drawing and carries and sketch book and pencil around with him everywhere. Because of sheer practice and determination, he's become quite good at drawing.

Opening Post
A dark school in the dead of night- the perfect setting for a classic horror movie, except this was more real than any movie. Echo stood just inside the main doors of the school he attended during day light hours, flashlight in hand and eyes peeled in calm observation. Though there was no cheesy murderer, according to rumor there should have been ghosts littering the area, but he didn't see anything of the sort. His sparkling blue eyes carefully soaked in the empty hall around and his ears picked up on nothing but dead silence. Soon, he knew, the boy he'd been sent to investigate with would be following through the double doors that marked the schools entrance, but for now it was just Echo and empty space. On a whim, the green-haired boy clicked off his flash and calmly took a step forward, emerging himself in the darkness. After all, if he was right- and he was pretty sure he was- then there was nothing for him to fear in the dark of the school.

Name || Jale
Age & Grade || 15; Sophomore?
Gender || Male
Personality & Bio || Jale is a rather quiet and serious guy, with a tendency to get on peoples nerves.
And he have had a not all too unusual childhood. His mother got pregnant with him at a young age, and the father is somewhere unknown. And his mother, being a bit of a violent woman, did what many parents done to their children. Abusing them. But on other hand, that kind of shaped Jale into the kind of person he is. He's not like his mother of course, he's actually a really kind person, and he is really protective of his friends. Not that he has many. He actually scares most of the other people in school since he always looks so serious and barely speak.
Appearance || To keep it simple, he looks like this. [X]
Habits & Hobbies || Jale does have a passion for material arts. He does take classes three times a week, and it's really helped out with the problem of abuse at home. At least he can defend himself when his mother gets in a nasty mood. He of course don't harm her or anything, but at least defends himself till he can lock himself into his room. But he at least have a good life away from home.

((Horrible bad profile, I know, but I warned you XD))

Jale got to the school, a little while after his friend. He had actually been waiting outside for a bit. He wanted to see if Echo might actually be scared of something actually plopping up. So he had been hiding and waited for Echo to get there. And once he saw his friend enter, he quietly sneaked in after him, staying quiet as he snuck up behind his friend, and waited for the right moment to give him a scare.
The moment Echo turned the flashlight off, Jale placed a hand on his shoulder, and finally let him know he was there.

"Echo."

He said plainly. He was always like that. And even if Echo was his friend, he just loved getting on his nerves some times. And this moment had just been to good to pass up.

"Hey Jale," Echo answered the touch, turning around slightly to face the other boy, ignore the tingles that the touch had sent down his spine, something Echo was quick to blame on fleeting fear, "I was wondering where you'd gotten to."

It wasn't that Echo was fearless, simply it was hard for him not to recognize the voice of his friend. Besides, he was firm in his belief that there was nothing in the school to be afraid of and would hold firm to that philosophy unless proven wrong with hard facts or cold evidence. Shivering a bit, Echo reprimanded himself for not wearing a thicker sweater on account of the weather, but pushed the thought of aside. The chill had lasted only for a moment, leaving him once more just as half-warmed as he'd been before. It was almost as if there'd been a breeze from the air conditioner, but those didn't run at night.

"C'mon, let's get going," Echo suggested, more curious than he was afraid. Still, he grabbed onto Jale's hand before taking another step down the hall, presumably to drag his friend along but mostly for the comfort of having another living being with him in the dark.

Jale seemed a bit disappointed in the lack of reaction from his friend. He had hoped for much more of a reaction. Maybe a little jump or a yelp, something, so now he was bored. He gave a bit of a pout, crossing his arms for a moment.

"You're no fun."

He told him plainly, before he gave a sigh, looking at Echo. At least it seemed Echo was ready for this. No doubt there. How long had he been getting himself ready? Seemed as if he had been preparing himself for this for weeks or even months. Echo must be more excited then scared, no doubt that. And as his friend grabbed his hand and pulled him along, he just smiled and went along. Probably for the best. If the janitor saw them, he would throw them out and lock the school up, then they wouldn't have a chance to get back in.

"Yeah. We better hide. The janitor will probably be coming this way soon to lock up the school. Wouldn't wanna be there when he comes."

With a sigh of exasperation, Echo nodded. He wanted to hurry up and start adventuring, not hide away in some remote corner or something. The rest of the school wouldn't be satisfied with their report unless they'd looked everywhere and that wasn't going to get done sitting around in hiding. Pausing a moment in his steps, Echo peered around for a convenient place to tuck away while the janitor did their nightly rounds; stupid payed employees. Always getting in the way.

"How about a the storage closet?" Echo suggested, pointing to one nearby. It was bound to be a bit smushy and a classroom seemed more logical, but that was too risky; about half the teachers locked their doors and about half didn't, so it was hard to know which doors would prove to be impregnable and which would offer safe refuge. Besides, cleaning classrooms was part of a janitors job and storage closest typically held nothing but spare toilet paper and things that wouldn't be needed in the middle of the night.

Jale was doing what Echo seemed to be unable to, staying quiet. Was better just to act then to talk. So eventually, Jale just covered Echo's mouth, since he could hear footsteps. It was the janitor, no doubt about that. At least Echo had given a good suggestion where to hide, so Jale pretty much pulled Echo along to the storage closet, opening the door and pulling him inside and quietly closing the door, pretty much on time, since the janitor came walking by. Hopefully, he wouldn't have any business in there, but just in case, they should hide the best they could while they waited. You never knew. He might go in there to get something.

Even if they would be in deep trouble if they were caught, it was actually rather fun. Jale at least was enjoying this. Would actually be fun to spend the night in school. But if it was too much fun, they might end up forgetting about what they were supposed to do.

At the sound of footsteps, Echo had been tempted to urge his friend into hiding but was quickly cut short when the other boy's hand shot out to cover his mouth. Blinking a little in surprise, and half tempted to bite him- not out of any malice, but simply out of curiosity of how Jale would react- the green haired boy refrained from making another sound until they were safely concealed within the janitors closet, no doubt decided upon as their hiding place to do his suggestion. As far as he was concerned, the longer the janitor hung around, the less likely it was that there'd be some light shed on the scene to reveal Echo's faint blush; the close quarters weren't very far from being down right awkward. Fidgeting a little, Echo quietly wondered why the janitor didn't just hurry up and go home.

For a while, it was really tense, specially when the janitor was walking past right outside of the door, and on top of that, he even stopped by the door for a moment. And then you could hear keys going into the lock of the door to the storage where the two were hiding. But it didn't seem as if he was actually opening. In fact, he was locking the door. He had probably noticed that it was unlocked and had decided to lock it on the way out. Lucky for them, they could unlock from the inside. Thank god for that.

And soon enough, the janitor headed to the front entrance, going outside and locking up. He was done for tonight, so they didn't have to hide anymore.

Jale just gave a relived sigh when he heard the doors at the entrance being locked. But they better wait a few minutes before getting out of the storage. Since you never knew. The janitor might take a break outside to smoke or something. But at least they could finally speak again.

"Let's wait a bit so that we know he's really gone..."

Echo sighed in relief, pausing just long enough to give a quick nod in reply to his friend. The fact that the janitor had done nothing more than pause to lock the door was nothing short of a miracle, and Echo was grateful for that, even if miracles weren't exactly something he believed too firmly in. The point was, they hadn't been discovered and the janitor was hopefully gone for the night. After what seemed like an unending bought of silence, Echo determined that the janitor had probably upped and left, their job done for the night. Turning a bit to address his friend, Echo voiced his opinion.

"I think the coast is clear," he replied, voice level and calm as it usually was, blue gaze unwavering. Any sort of fidgeting or signs of discomfort had by this point been eradicated from his soft features, once more leaving him with the relaxed expression that one could easily identify him by.

Seemed like Echo was right. It was dead quiet out there now. So the coast was probably clear. But just in case, Jale opened the door slightly at first, taking a look out at the front entrance. Yupp, the coast was clear. The janitor was gone. What a relief. He gave a relived sigh and stepped out of the closet, putting his bag down. Since they were staying over the night, he had of course made sure to bring along a sleeping bag and something to eat and drink. Probably nothing that Echo would like though. Jales favorite snack was dried seaweed. That wasn't exactly something normal people liked. But on other hand, Jale was Jale.

He turned to his friend, waiting for him to get out to, so they could decide what to do now and where they should begin the exploration to prove their classmates wrong about the ghost rumors. But first it would be nice if they found a good place to sleep at later too. Then they could unload their stuff and then take a look around the school and get this over with.

"Where you want to start?"

Before he stopped to ponder the question any further than absorbing the fact that it'd been said, Echo stepped forth from the janitor's closet. Closing the door softly in his wake, he brought his hand up to his chin, removing his other hand from the door knob in order to rest his opposite elbow in its palm. Letting out no more than a 'hmm', he proceeded to drifting into a state of deep thought, weighing all of the possible options.

In a school, there were really only a few places to go. There were, of course, utility closests and bathrooms, but those weren't exactly exciting places to explore. Then there were gyms and locker rooms, but those smelled funny and Jale kind of looked like he wanted some place to put down his bags. Of course, there was always the most obvious option: a class room. They came in plenty of shapes and sizes, so there was no doubt the duo could easily find one to suit their needs. To be more specific, it was the class room of a specific teacher that he was thinking of. Bright and bubbly, she always had her room decorated with bright colors and a small amount of desks compared to the average class size. Also, it was the most convenient place to set up base as it was somewhat near the center of the school, but close enough to the emergency exits should they be discovered and need to head home on short notice.

"Mrs. N's room might be a good idea," Echo replied calmly, resuming normal posture.

When hearing Echos suggestion, Jale thought about it for a minute. That was a good suggestion. Which made him wonder one thing. Turning his attention to Echo for a moment before asking him.

"Have you done this before or something?"

He knew Echo most likely hadn't. Since who would go and sleep in a school alone at night? Even if there were no such thing as ghosts, it was still one hell of a creepy place at night. Not many lights were on during the night. Just a few, so that people would find the way in the mornings. But it was better then nothing.
Giving a bit of a yawn, he looked in the other direction, since that was where they were supposed to go.

"Should we go then? The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can sleep? I hate being up too late. I usually get really cranky if I'm up for too long."

Being who he was, Echo most likely wouldn't want to get on Jales bad side. So it was better to just hurry and then go to sleep.

Titling his head to the side, Echo looked a little confused with Jale's question; of course he hadn't done this before. There really wasn't a reason for him to go unnecessarily tromping around a school building in the dead of night, but he guess that his assurance of where to spend the night had made his friend believe other wise. Instead of responding to Jale's first question, he tuned in to listen to the next bought of conversation from the other boy; yes, going to bed soon would be a good idea as far as Echo was concerned. Even if he didn't quite fall asleep, he could work on drawing something as- though he'd forgotten to bring anything else- he'd brought the sketch book and pencil he took with him everywhere. The only reply to what his friend had said was a combination of movements. Rubbing his tired eyes, letting out a soft and muffled yawn that was reminiscent of a cat and a slight nod of the head. Stretching, Echo took a length gaze down the hallway as he let the blood recirculate to his brain; yeah, getting it over with would be a great idea as well, but he'd let Jale take the lead on this one. Observing things was easier if all else you were doing was following someone.

Seemed as if Echo was getting tired as well, so, yeah. Time to get going. And there wasn't really a reason to sneak around anymore. The janitor was gone and no one but them were dumb enough to be here at this hour. Jale could barely wait till morning. Just to get all of this over with and prove the idiots in class wrong. Would be easy enough to just put their stuff in the lockers and then take it back home after class tomorrow. Easy enough.

He gave a bit of a sigh. This meant they would be sleeping on a cold hard floor tonight huh? Darn good to have a sleeping bag then. But he hated being on the floor. Too hard and uncomfortable. Maybe he should have taken a nap before leaving earlier? He would most likely not get much sleep tonight. But oh well.

"Bleah... I hate sleeping on something hard. Probably not gonna be much sleep tonight. We will probably have to call in sick tomorrow and go home huh?"

Jale knew that he most likely would. What would the point be in being there if you were dead tired after all? You wouldn't exactly pay attention to anything, and you would most likely fall asleep and piss the teachers off. But oh well. They finally were at the classroom at least. Just drop their stuff off and make it comfortable and then take a walk around the school and go to sleep.

Echo shrugged at the idea of calling in sick the next day. He was sure to be totally exhausted when morning came around, but his mother wouldn't understand him staying home from school unless he'd passed out the day before. It wasn't that his mother didn't care, or that she was some type of cruel monster simply she was a very practical person and didn't think highly of missing too many days of school. Echo agreed full-heartedly agreed with his mother on that point, though, and wasn't just about to agree to missing school when he wasn't actually sick. After all, as far as it went with Echo, his mother's few words of wisdom were law. He wouldn't blame Jale for taking a day off, but he himself would not be doing such.

"Well, you did bring blankets so it won't be that ba-" Echo began, but cut himself short in favor of listening to what was going on around him. From down the hall, he'd heard a swish of cloth rustling, and then the start up of a steady dripping noise, as if someone soaking wet were standing around the corner trying to keep still. Titling his head and giving Jale a curious glance, he proceeded to creep forward towards the source of the noise. If it was a teacher, it would have already spoken, but if it was a student- which he was sure it was- than it would make sense for them to hide. And if it was a ghost; well, Echo didn't even entertain the thought. After all, there was no such thing as ghosts, at least in their school.

Jale was already getting in a bit of a grumpy mood, since he was getting tired, so he didn't even notice for a second, neither the rustling of cloth or the dripping, but he did notice that Echo was cut off from speaking all of a sudden, and seemed to be paying attention somewhere. Was there someone here? He seriously wouldn't be surprised if a few students had snuck in earlier just to spook themselves out and scare them, so he brushed it aside and just took his friend that was being way too curious right now.

"Hold it. Let's go and get settled before we start looking around."

He told him strictly, not letting Echo go off alone right now. You never knew what the others might have planned or set up for them for tonight. In fact. He would be surprised if they hadn't set something up. So he lowered his voice, so that whoever might be around wouldn't hear him.

"I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there are a few others here to spook themselves out to scare us. Or they might have set up a few 'traps'. I'm sure that they will do anything to scare us out of our minds. So don't give them the satisfaction of luring us into something."

Pausing in his tracks, Echo turned his head back when the other boy spoke, telling Echo not to get distracted more or less. Though Jale made a good point about why they shouldn't explore the noises- if Jale had heard them, that was- but Echo was still just as curious as before. Fixing his face with a puppy-dog expression, he addressed Jale in the same lowered tone so that, if there were only students lurking around the corner, they wouldn't be able to her him.

"But I heard a noise," he protested in whispers, "and it would take more than a prank to scare me."

It wasn't that Echo was fearless, simply practical and curious. If what lay around the corner was nothing more than a student dressed up for a prank, he was sure that he'd be able to note the difference pretty quickly. If, per chance, it was actually a ghost- well, Echo wasn't afraid of ghosts. Of course one that was more like a demon might frighten the boy, but in his eyes ghosts were nothing more than something yet to be discovered, something he'd yet to experience. And besides, they'd have time to put their stuff down later, right? But, if Jale insisted they settled down first, then Echo planned to stage no further protest. After all, it was pointless to argue beyond stating his own opinion.

Jale just gave a sigh. Echo could be stubborn sometimes, but they would have all night to check out every odd little sound that was coming from around, later. They better just go and set things up now or they will never get it done. And Jale wasn't going to let their classmates scare them. Specially not when things had just started. If they let them scare them then it would be too soon. And if they got tired enough no one would probbly be able to scare them at all, since then it would just get on their nerves instead.

"We have plenty of time to follow every little sound around later. Let's just get things ready so that we can go right to sleep afterwards, ok?"

Not that he was giving Echo a choice, since he just grabbed his shirt and pulled him along into the classroom. If Echo wanted to check out sounds so badly later, Jale would just follow him along. But he didn't want to be carrying his bag along meanwhile. It would just be in the way. Echo really was being far too excited about this in Jales opinion. He would rather be at home in his own bed sleeping right now, rather then be in school at this hour. Being in school now was a bit like a nightmare come true, but at least he didn't have lessons, or it would really have been lik ein a nightmare of his.

Echo wasn't even given enough time to shoot Jale another pleading glance before his friend seized his shirt and pulled him along. This he found distressing, as he was perfectly capable of walking on his own steam, but he didn't complain. Simply, he assumed that Jale just really didn't want to cart his bag around anymore. Besides, the logic was perfectly sound so it wasn't like there was much room for a solid argument on his behalf. Though he was curious as ever at the moment, he was quite sure that a night of finding nothing but student pranks and empty rooms was going to wear him out to the point where rolling over and sleeping promptly after might seem like a grand idea. Still, there was one little flaw in the plan he thought it best to point out.

"Soooo...." he began slowly, plopping himself down on top of a desk the second they were inside the classroom, "If, like you say, there students here waiting to pull pranks, don't you think our abandoned belongings would look like the perfect target?"

It wasn't that Echo could think of anything to do about it, simply he thought it best to present all options to his fellow ghost hunter. Finished with speaking for the time, Echo pulled a somewhat small sketchbook from one of his somewhat large pockets and flipped to a blank page. He hadn't brought anything that needed setting up, and he wanted to make sure that his lack of belongings didn't make Jale feel rushed. Besides, it was either focus his energy or drawing or sit there fidgeting until they got moving again.

There was a point in what Echo said that if there was students here, they might go and take their stuff and such. So they shouldn't really just go leave it like this. But it would be such a bother to drag it around, so that was out of the question. Maybe they should take it to their lockers and lock it in there? It's not as if anyone could take them there. If they broke up a locker they would be in deep trouble. Specially since Jale and Echo knew the ones that they had made this stupid bet with.

"Maybe we should take our stuff to our lockers instead? Can keep them there till we're done with looking around the school. I doubt they will go and break into our lockers. That would be going a bit too far after all."

This meant that they wouldn't get to finish things right away though. But better then getting everything taken by a bunch of morons. So it could be worth it.

"Should we pack things back up and get it to our lockers then?!

((Short... X_x))

((Tis okay~ It really isn't that short, though. ^^;; Unlike mine. =.= Le sigh.))

As was always his custom, Echo did his best to avoid a verbal response. Instead, he simply gave a brief nod of the head before flipping his sketch book closed. Depositing it in one of his pockets alongside the pencil he'd been planning on using to draw, he slipped off the desk and onto the floor. Giving a brief yawn, he decided to go ahead and meet Jale in the hall, somewhere near the other boy's locker. Sitting around wasn't what Echo wanted to be doing at that time anyways. Leaving his destination up to Jale's imagination, he wandered off down the hall in the direction of Jale's locker, hands behind head in a relaxed manner. If Jale was slow, that wasn't exactly Echo's problem. But still, the idea of putting his friend in a paniced rush to catch up put a small smile on his face. The cool and collected Jale looking flustered was something that he'd like to see sometime, so why not right then if he could manage it?

Jale gave a sigh as he had already started taking his things out. Darn this was troublesome. Now he had to put it all back in his bag. But it was so darn much better then some one stealing his stuff or something like that. He was not in the mood to fall victim for their classmates pranks today, so it was just to put it all back. He didn't pack it up as properly though, just putting it all in and getting up.

"Lets go then. I'm tired, so I just want to get it over with. Even if we might not get that much sleep depending on how much they have decided to bother us."

It was bad enough that they were to spend the night at the school hunting for ghosts, and most likely with some of their classmates hiding around the place to, but if he didn't get any sleep, Jale would be in a horrible mood tomorrow. But on other hand. If they were gonna look around the school now anyhow. He could as well bring his toothbrush and some toothpaste so that he could just go straight to brush his teeth once they were done with the tour around the school.
And stepping over to the door, Jale turned to Echo, looking at him to see if he was ready.

"You're coming or you plan on staying here?"

"Staying," Echo replied in his usual calm tone, keeping pace with Jale as not to end up left behind. Though his actions and words contradicted each other, it was only because he was trying to be sarcastic, though the dead pan tone sounded quite serious.

It's been Echo's intention to trail the taller male, but once they were in the hallway, he paused in his walking, allowing Jale to continue on ahead to his locker. Once more, he'd heard the sounds of moving cloth and faint dripping water from down the hall, tucked behind a corner. The same as earlier except this time he spotted a corner of white cloth- so clean it seemed to glow in the dark- vanishing behind the same corner. Tilting his head a bit, he was about to continue forward before he remembered Jale's mini lecture from the last time he'd tried to wander off. With a sigh, he gave a last, longing look over his shoulder and rushed to catch up with his friend. Still, he wanted to know just what it was that kept watching them from just around the corner, dripping away on the floor in a subtle manner.