"I'm going on a date tonight. I probably won't be back until tomorrow, so find a way to amuse yourself while I'm gone." Liz was saying something, but Belle wasn't paying much attention. There was a new ghost program tonight, and despite fighting ghosts himself, he was still interested in those programs, even though most were fake.
"Oi! I'm talking to you! Sigh, whatever, see you later." Liz calls out on her way out the door. When the program finishes Belle glances around to look for Liz, but finds she's gone, leaving only a sticky note on the door.
Since I know you didn't hear any of the shit I said, I'm going on a date tonight, be back tomorrow probably.
It was a short note but as Belle reads it he vaguely remembers her saying something along those lines.
"Ah, then, what should I do tonight?" He muttered. He'd already watched all the interesting shows and movies and there was nothing new to read. Whenever the encroaching boredom takes over his mind his first thought is, of course, the system.
"Let's see if there are any interesting side missions." He chirps, settling down on the couch to look through them. The next side mission being presented before him is called [Charlie Charlie] Obviously, he knows about Charlie Charlie, it's a common folk game played in schools by young kids looking for a scare. He had even had the chance to play it one day but came down with a cold before he could play it. Games like this shouldn't be played alone, so he swiftly grabbed his phone and made a call to Leslie.
About an hour later, they were sitting in the living room as Belle set everything up. A few minutes earlier, he had accepted the mission, which called for some supplies.
[Charlie Charlie]
[A popular children's game around the world, while most know how the game is played not a lot of people know about the story behind it. A young boy named Charlie was the town gossip, people would come to him asking questions and he would answer. Couples were found to be cheating on one another and kids were found to be doing drugs. People were enraged that so many of their secrets were being told by this boy. So one day, someone decided to get revenge, they killed Charlie and cut him up into pieces, spreading him around the town. The rumor went that you could still contact Charlie and learn his secrets from beyond the grave by playing a simple game.]
[Grab a piece of paper and draw a cross, then write yes in two corners and no in the other two. After that grab two pencils and set them on top of the other. To activate it ask "Charlie Charlie are you there?" and ask a yes or no question. Survive finding out the answers to six questions.]
"Have you ever played before?" Belle questions Leslie as he draws the cross on the paper.
"No, I mostly stayed away from stuff like that, in high school I was working part-time jobs and in middle school and elementary school I was a bit of a loner," Leslie explains.
"Sorry if this is an insensitive question but how come you're taking care of Lou alone?" Belle asks.
"Well, our parents died in a car accident when I was in high school, I wanted to take Lou and have us live at a family member's house but they didn't really want to take Lou in. I didn't want to have us get put in a system or anything so I used the money I had saved up from one of my jobs to get a small apartment, then I got another job and did my best to provide for Lou." Leslie responds.
"Yikes, that sucks. I know how hard it was for me to provide for myself when I moved out, I can't imagine doing that as a teenager in school." Belle sympathizes.
"We all get dealt different hands in life, but we're doing great now so it's fine, is everything set up?" Leslie easily waves off the heavy topic with a question.
"Yup, now I just need to start the stream, and we'll be ready to go." He clicks on the button to start the stream.
"Welcome everybody, today we're going to be participating in the classic game of Charlie Charlie. All you have to do to play is set up a piece of paper like so and say the words to activate it." Belle explains, the old camera automatically focuses on the paper.
"Ready?" He asks Leslie, who gives a nod of affirmation.
"Charlie Charlie, are you there?" They both chant at the same time. The pencil in the middle starts to spin wildly as the lights in the room go haywire, eventually turning off. Belle left a few candles around so that Leslie could still see the paper in case this happened. The pencil stops spinning and slowly turns toward one of the yeses on the paper.
"Alright! How about we take turns asking questions? I'll start, do you think Leslie and Luna are going to get together?" Belle starts.
"Hey!" Leslie exclaims, his face beet red, it only turns redder as the pencil flips to yes.
"See, even a ghost thinks it'll happen haha." He chuckles. Suddenly, he feels a pressure pushing down on him.
"Do you feel that?" Leslie questions.
"Yep, but we only have five more turns so it should be fine." Belle waves off his worries.
"Right, my turn then, will I become rich in the future?" Leslie asks. The pencil quickly whips around to no.
"Wow, called you broke in more ways than one, is it even possible for a pencil to move that fast?" Belle laughs as the pressure increases again, making him sag a bit.
"Next question! Will Liz ever introduce me to her partner?" He asks a question he's been dying to know the answer to. The pencil flips over to a yes.
"Hell yeah!" He cheers. The pressure increases again and Belle has to switch his position from sitting on his knees to sitting cross-legged.
"Will Lou grow up to find happiness?" Leslie asks. The pencil flips over to yes. The pressure increases again and Belle has to prop his hands on the floor to stay upright, a headache already forming.
"Does Liz secretly hate me?" He questions the ghost. The pencil flips to no. This time the pressure dramatically increases, the ghost seemingly sensing they were almost done. Belle's face gets smushed into the floor and he can feel it straining to do more.
"Ask the last question!" Belle urges Leslie.
"Will I die of old age?!" Leslie hurriedly shouts. The pencil flips over to no, and the pressure increases again but Belle is ready and asks the system to banish the ghost. The lights flick back on and the pressure is gone.
"Well that wasn't disconcerting at all, my dreams of dying in old age are gone," Leslie whines.
"I'd be more worried about the not getting rich part, I was too scared of the answer if I asked that." Belle shudders. He says goodbye to his viewers and shuts off the stream, earning 300 Ghost Points for his troubles.
"I have to go now, I don't want to leave Lou and Luna home alone together, they might destroy the house." The way he says it makes Belle think he's not exaggerating.
"Thanks for doing this with me, I thought it'd be way more fun with two people." Belle smiles.
"Of course! See you later!" Leslie calls out as he exits the house.
[Ghost Index]
[Name: Charlie Medos. Spirit-Type: Third-Level. A young gossip who got murdered due to spreading too many secrets. He didn't become a spirit initially but because of the rumors of a game being used to summon him, he was quickly brought back as a malicious spirit. Ability: The Weight Of Your Questions.]