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Phantom blinks furiously, trying to get the tears out of his eyes so he can see properly. To his relief he is able to blink them away and he quickly scans the dark coridoor. Empty. He darts quietly on his tiptoes to where he's pretty sure the kitchen is.
This is likely the most dangerous part he warns himself, he is currently stood in the doorway leading away from Copia's ghouls bedrooms. Now he has to cross a four-way stop made up of; the way he came, the coridoor to Terzo's ghouls bedrooms, the kitchen, and very open plan sitting room.
He glances to Terzo's ghouls wing first, all clear. Then the kitchen straight across from him, empty. Then the sitting room, he turns slowly expecting a pack of ghouls to be observing him that he will suddenly be aware of and they will all jeer at his skittish movements and his occasional zoning out to check his mental map.
Luckily he was just overthinking, the sitting room is empty. It is 4am. He darts, still on his tiptoes, to the kitchen and opens the first cupboard he sees.
Being summoned at such a young age (only 800 years compared to the ministry averege of 4.000) he is yet to be taught any language other than ghoulish, meaning he is unable to read the packaging in the cupboards.
Phantom is also unfamiliar with what topside food looks like. He grabs a few small packets from different cupboards and without bothering to check the coast is clear scurries back to his room with his supplies. Once he reaches his door he doesnt care how much noise he makes, the adrenaline of not getting caught enough for him.
He kicks the door open and chucks his findings on his floor before spinning round to shut the door and lock it. He is suddenly overcome with regret as he hears movement from the room next to his. He presses his ear to the wall and hears faint talking.
From what he can decipher of the language this ghoul pack speak this is the earth ghoul speaking to his plants. The unfamiliar earth ghoul is often awake when Phantom goes for food but Phantom is pretty sure he's the only one that is and because half the ministry is awake at 3am and the othet half wake up around 5am he really has no other choice.
After his breath is recovered Phantom pushes his pile of what he thinks must be food towards the window and sits on his floor to organise it.
Phantom organises the food by its colour, he finds red and pink and purple shades often taste vaguely like fruits he was used to in the circles and beige things are second best because they're consistent.
He pushes his neatly organised piles under the empty bedframe, he has one of his blankets draped over it, which is quite the sacrifice considering he was only given two to begin with for his nest but he makes do. He climbs over the bedframe to where his matress lies in the corner, as safe as he can be here, and promptly falls asleep.
He is awoken by a knocking on his door and the voice of someone he has determined as Papa. "℘hׁׅ֮ɑׁׅ֮ꪀׁׅtׁׅᨵׁׅ ꩇׁׅ݊, ꪱׁׅtׁׅ꯱ׁׅ֒ tׁׅꪱׁׅ ꩇׁׅ݊ꫀׁׅܻ tׁׅᨵׁׅ ᨰׁׅɑׁׅ֮ƙׁׅ֑ꫀׁׅܻ υׁׅ℘. ᨰׁׅꫀׁׅܻ ꪀׁׅꫀׁׅܻꫀׁׅܻժׁׅ݊ tׁׅᨵׁׅ ℘ꭈׁׅɑׁׅ֮ᝯׁtׁׅꪱׁׅᝯׁꫀׁׅܻ, ᝯׁɑׁׅ֮ꭈׁׅᨵׁׅ... ɑׁׅ֮ꭈׁׅꫀׁׅܻ ᨮ꫶ׁׅ֮ᨵׁׅυׁׅ ꪱׁׅꪀׁׅ tׁׅhׁׅ֮ꫀׁׅܻꭈׁׅꫀׁׅܻ?" The door handle rattles and Phantom jumps up quickly.
He chirps vaguely in answer to whatever he was just asked, luckily the cadence topside and in the pits is somewhat the same. He glances at the device a bigger quintessence had given him just after he was summoned. It usually had four characters on and made a scary noise when he was supposed to go to practice but now it was just flashing at him.
Phantom didnt know what that meant but he didnt expect it was good. He quickly pulled his uniform on guessing he was supposed to do something today. He walked out of his room to find Copias ghoul pack coridoor empty. That was never good.
He creeps out to the sitting room and a number of impatient ghouls are sat there tails flicking. He thinks what to do for a minute before deciding to make a little trill noise to announce his presence.
The unfamiliar pack whip their necks round to shoot him venomous looks. Papa quickly stands and claps his hands together. "᥎꫶ׁׅɑׁׅ֮ ϐׁׅ֒ꫀׁׅܻꪀׁׅꫀׁׅܻ, ᥣׁׅ֪ꫀׁׅܻtׁׅ υׁׅ꯱ׁׅ֒ ℘ꭈׁׅɑׁׅ֮ᝯׁtׁׅꪱׁׅᝯׁꫀׁׅܻ tׁׅhׁׅ֮ꫀׁׅܻꪀׁׅ," Papa pushes open the door and the other ghouls trudge out annoyed.
Phantom is again handed a guitar like always. This should be easy for him. He was born to play, it was his element, but he didnt have parents to teach him and the fire ghoul in his pack had tried his hardest but lead and rhythm just weren't the same.
Phantom made so many mistakes and not to mention this form, it was much larger than his form below and although this guitar fit his form, he was not used to these fingers.
The first song goes by without more than an uncomfortable stare through the bridge of the song from this packs fire ghoul but the second is a disaster. He has a big part at the beginning of a song where one of the air ghoulettes has a big keytar solo, hes not necessarily the centre of attention... or, he's not supposed to be.
He can feel the heavy stares from the rest of the group as his fingers fumble the fast part before Papa starts singing. He manages to get through the rest of the song but at the end the fire ghoul seems to be complaining to the rest of his pack as Phantom gets his guitar in tune for the next bit.
Then the fire ghoul starts walking towards him, he squeaks when his back hits the wall and the fire ghoul stops mere centimeters in front of him. The ghoul starts shouting at him but he doesnt understand a word of it. He cowers and is too overcome with fear to notice the smiley ghoul who smells like all the elements gently forcing the fire ghoul away.
He feels the smiley ghouls hand on his shoulder and he flinches violently, he looks up to the shocked faces around him and decides it is safer if he runs away from these ghouls.
He runs as fast as he can back to his room, or what he thinks is his room. He opens the door to the ghoul wing and finds nothing but large bookshelfs and stained glass.
He gives up and curls into a corner sobbing quietly to himself, he doesnt notice the door slowly opening until he can smell the smiley ghoul again. He lifts his head.
The ghoul is smiling, different than usual though, he looks more gentle and sad. The smiley ghoul sits on the floor about a meter away from Phantom and keeps his hands visible on his knees.
"ɑׁׅ֮ꭈׁׅꫀׁׅܻ ᨮ꫶ׁׅ֮ᨵׁׅυׁׅ ɑׁׅ֮ ƙׁׅ֑ꪱׁׅtׁׅ, ℘hׁׅ֮ɑׁׅ֮ꪀׁׅtׁׅᨵׁׅ ꩇׁׅ݊?" The smiley ghoul asks. Phantom squeaks in reply, hoping he will be left alone. The smiley ghoul tilts his head before his eyes light up.
"You dont speak english?" The ghoul asks him, Phantoms eyes go wide like saucers and he remembers to shake his head. The ghoul in front of him smiles, "Phantom, are you a kit?" He asks gently. Phantom nods.