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"Hm?" Summer floated above and behind Tali so she could look over her shoulder. Her black and green hair floated around her head as she did so, a sort of anti-gravity effect happening to her because of her floating. She folded her arms over Tali's head and rested her own head on her arms, looking between the phone and the photo. "Hey, would you look at that? I would've looked it up myself, but technology and ghosts don't mingle well."
Tali blinked, having managed to forget for a second that Summer was there. She glanced around, startled to find the ghost behind her, but not as startled to find her floating. She was slowly wrapping her head around that. "I wouldn't think they would. Ghosts stories tend to involve tech malfunctioning. But holy-Blackbeard.(im unoriginallll) What the hell." She shook her head, her tongue poking out slightly as she set the photo back and pulled out the paper carefully. "Find it there in wood of old, the next clue to find this treasure of gold. The key marks where the next clue lies, right where man meets the skies."
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"Man meets the skies…" Summer said slowly, reading off the last bit of the note and trying to place it. "Nope, have no clue. You got any ideas what it means?" she chirped, still leaning on Tali's head without actually leaning on her. Seeing as it wasn't her ancestor, she wasn't as surprised to see that it was Blackbeard in the photo. She was only interested in the puzzle and the supposed treasure of gold. She had heard rumors of people trying to find a certain treasure but ended up quitting because of the danger it posed.
"It's a riddle." Tali stated, her eyes lighting up as she took a picture of the paper with her phone, before tucking the device away. "Wood of old is pretty self-explanatory, my guess is we're looking for an older building, made of or at least made using wood." She continued to mutter to herself about the architecture of old building for a minute, before shaking her head. "Treasure. Who'd'a thunk? Man meets the skies, man meets the skies…somewhere high up?"
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"Hmm, there's a lighthouse 'round here," Summer hummed, getting up and floating in the middle of the room, legs crossed as if she were sitting on something. "No one goes there though, 'cause people say there's ghosts haunting the place from when it failed to do its job and ships crashed 'round there." She had no clue how old the actual lighthouse was, nor did she know if it was made out of wood. All she knew was that it barely worked properly.
Tali snapped her fingers, pointing at Summer with thinly veiled excitement. In fact, it wasn't really veiled at all. When she was younger, she had constantly written and daydreamed about hunting for treasure, and despite the years that had passed, she still carried that dream around. "That's the perfect place to start. Especially considering no one goes there. That just screams 'hidden secrets'." She set the box down on top of a stack of boxes, bending over to scoop Queenie up into her arms. "Are you coming with?" She asked Summer, tilting her head curiously. Side note, stop and get some warm-weather clothes. Hoodies aren't working.
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"Oh, so now there's treasure and you're suddenly okay with all of this?" Summer said, indicating herself with a flourish. "Rude, but whatever." She disappeared with her usual pop, riffling around the entire house for a bit before reappearing with a pile of clothes in front of Tali. "And you look hot," she said with a smirk, then gestured to the clothes that she had dropped to the floor, "See if any of these would work. Fenja let us stash clothes in case we stayed over."
Tali jumped as Summer returned, looking from the clothes, to the ghost in front of her. "I-I wouldn't say okay, just…resigned? It's not like I could really change any of it, even if I wasn't." She said, cradling the purring tabby in her arms as she nudged the pile of clothes with her foot. Queenie seemed content to bat at a bit of Tali's hair, occasionally meowing when she wanted pets. "Is…mind reading a ghost thing? How the hell did you know I needed better clothes for this weather?"
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"Uhh, sweetheart, I used to live here, remember? Sweatshirts are a no-go in this kind of weather." Summer rose a brow and gave Tali an 'are you serious?' look. "No, ghosts can't read minds. It's called an educated guess based off of previous personal experiences." Summer floated over to Tali to pet Queenie, smiling to herself as she did so. She really loved the cuddly cat.
"I didn't realize it would be so warm here all the time." Tali admitted, color painting her cheeks out of embarrassment. And I didn't expect to be here long enough to even need a change of wardrobe, anyway. She scratched underneath Queenie's chin before looking back up at Summer, though her eyes flickered over the ghost's face instead of meeting her eyes. "Think you could hold her while I go change?"
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"Sure." Summer sat on the floor and scooped up Queenie, holding the feline as she petted her with a content look on her face. She didn't seem to notice Tali's inability to meet her eyes, as she said nothing about it. Instead, she kept her attention solely on the cat, eyes never leaving Queenie or straying over to Tali.
Tali watched Summer and Queenie for a moment, before shaking her head slightly and gathering the pile of clothes, glancing around for a moment before heading for the ladder in the floor. Changing in the same room as anyone was a no-go.
She was back a few minutes later, pulling on a floral cardigan over a tank top before pulling herself up a few steps on the later to poke her head through the opening. "We good to head out?" A small part of Tali almost expected her only answer to be from the cat. Though she knew that wasn't very likely, the idea that she'd just hallucinated Summer or something still flickered through her mind.
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"That depends on you," Summer said from below Tali, now sitting on the floor of the room below the attic as if she's been there the entire time. "I'm dead, remember?" She was grinning from ear-to-ear, happy to go along for some dangerous adventure that posed no threat to her what-so-ever. She was also looking forward to messing with Tali the entire trip. A win-win opportunity that she was happy to take advantage of.
Tali jumped slightly, wobbling a bit on the ladder. Making a face, she climbed back down and turned to face Summer, her arms crossed over her chest. She'd been lucky to find the cardigan, otherwise, she would've had to leave her scars visible to the rest of the world. "I was being polite. Anyway, if that's your stance on the whole thing, then I'm leaving. Feel free to follow." She turned on the heel of her sandals, starting down the hallway. Queenie headbutted Summer's chin before following Tali with a happy trill, catching up easily to the woman.
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Summer swatted away some cat hair that floated around, though it didn't do much. The fur just passed through her hand, as she was no longer solid. She got up and floated behind Tali, following her. "Awww," Summer pouted, flipping onto her back and looking down at Tali. "Don't be mad. I'm technically right. Really, I could just pop on over to you whenever I wanted, or secretly follow you around without you even knowing I'm there."
"I'm not mad." Maybe just a tiny bit. "And I would really prefer if you didn't follow me." Tali said, turning a bit to flicker a slightly annoyed and slightly wary look up at Summer. "Especially if I can't see you. The last thing I need is a ghost watching my every move." Just the idea of somebody watching her all the time filled her with unease. There were things she didn't want anyone, dead or alive, knowing. From the nightmares, to her inability to get in a car without throwing up, there were so many things. She was good with no one knowing about those.
