More than one inferno [D1, LA]

[Samantha Hayne]

She hadn't known the names of the others who had perished. Didn't even rightly know how many *had* in fact perished. But she remembered a male among them, yes. She was a tad reluctant, not knowing how that one would react. Handling one ghost could be difficult enough, two at the same time might be problematic.

But she allowed Rebecca to pull her further into the house.

[Mirachaya]

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, it wasn't another ghost that Samantha was pulled to. Instead, the ghost dragged her to the back door and pointed at the ground to an unclipped cat collar.

[Samantha Hayne]

"I see, cher."

It seemed, perhaps, as if Rebecca was giving her an easy way to resolve whatever kept her tied to this existence. Or at least, *a* way to resolve it, as Samantha had no idea how she was going to find the cat. Did she even remember herself what it looked like? She tried to conjure up the cat's image in her head. She must've seen it around plenty of times, after all.

[Mirachaya]

A small kitten came to mind, with all black fur. The cat had unusually orange eyes, Samantha remembered. It often liked to stay underfoot. The collar had a tag on it that simply read Louis.

[Samantha Hayne]

She filed the memory away for easier retrieval later, then looked back at Rebecca. Any opportunity to interact with a ghost was one to expand her knowledge. She wanted to see just how cognizant Rebecca was of her situation.

"Do you know what has happened to you, cher?"

[Mirachaya]

"N-no.... hot, too hot, pain! Burning! No escape!" Her eyes widened with panic as memories flooded over her.

[Samantha Hayne]

"De flames are gone now, Cher. I'm sorry, I gone and did a foolish thing, thinking I was helping. But you ended up dead, because of it."

She gripped Rebecca's hand tightly in an attempt to comfort her.

[Mirachaya]

"Dead? I can't be dead... we are talking right now... and it still hurts."

[Samantha Hayne]

This was how it usually was, she knew; most of them didn't understand what they were. But perhaps with a little prodding, they might be made to understand. That aside, there were other questions she'd like to take the opportunity to see answered, as well. For instance... Rebecca had seen her without her Mask; that was part of the nature of Bargains. But that had been only a momentary thing...

"Cher, what do I look like to you, now?"

[Mirachaya]

"Like you did that one time. Like a doll..." Rebecca spoke soft, almost confused as to what was going on.