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"He was watching us to see what we're planning to do. We're not the only ones that make plans," Cassandra interrupted the confused ramblings of the others with a soft sigh. She pointed with great confidence to the window in question, where she had seen with great definition the face and body of a man that looked to be in his thirties. And since she had seen him in such remarkable clarity, she was most certain that he was not among the living. But there was no sense in letting the others get spooked about what they weren't certain was there or not before they even got into the building.

She winced as the girl fired off her gun once more, and shook her head in mild irritation. She couldn't see any practical use for the guns being fired...at the very least, it was going to irritate the spirits inside the house. But she didn't bother informing the girl of this, as it likely would have resulted in some form of tantrum throwing.

When Alex asked if she would need help, she smiled and gently shook her head. "No, thank you. I'll be alright once we're heading into the building."

Alex had turned around when the gun fire started.........again. He had already taken two guns from the girl, how many more would he get before the first hour was up? And why did she even bring guns? To add to the spirits anchored to this place? Bullets would do jack against a spirit and any modifications done to the gun itself or the ammo would cost unreasonable amounts of cash.

Grinding his teeth, Alex walked up to Ariana for the third time in several minutes and grabbed her hand holding the gun, around her wrist. "Look little girl" he snarled, degrading her from girl to little girl, "I don't know if your deaf or just stupid but when I said no guns, I meant no guns. I've already had to take two of your toys away, one would think you'd be smart enough not to take a third out and start playing with it. Now put the damnable thing away or I'm going to use the two I took from you, to shoot your knee caps out and leave you for whatever tormented spirit dwells with in this house to play with."

Still fuming, Alex turned from the brat and looked at the newest person to appear at the house. "Yes" he said, trying hard to sound his normal pleasant self, "I am Alex Dawning and if you can stand the stupidity of a few persons, you can still join the investigation of this home."

"You haven't missed much," Cass answered the girl who was speaking with a slight smile, tucking the walkie talkie into her bag and looking once more to the brightly lit (in her view) building. She could see the man standing in the window, still, though he was lingering back in the very corners in what she considered to be a rather hostile manner. She could see traces of activity all around the building, ranging from foot- and hand-prints to mere hints of trails in all different colors and opacities. The place was buzzing with activity...yet they seemed to be taking their sweet time in entering it to find out what was actually going on. "We're splitting into three groups to cover more ground, like Katrina said," She added to the newcomer, nodding towards the house.

"The house is completely loaded with activity...it's like a regular bee hive in there, I've never felt a place more full." She used 'felt' instead of 'see' and 'full' instead of 'alive' out of habit. It generally saved at least a half hour's worth of conversation on why the words were or weren't appropriate for the situation, and at least an hour's discussion worth of how she did her portion of the work. And she was sure they had wasted enough time with bullets and introductions already.

"So let's get to work, shall we?" She asked with another soft smile. And with this, she headed towards the front door with the surety of a visually functioning person.

"Come with Cassandra, the little girl and myself" said Alex, pocketing the second gun he had taken from Ariana and turning to walk towards the house. He easily caught up with Cass and her comment about the house being full of activity was all he needed to regain his happy mood again. Of course, with the spoiled little child Ariana around, his mood was likely to crash back down with the damnable gun thing of hers. As he walked with Cass, he fiddled with the electromagnetic field reader and audio recorder attached to his belt and turning them on.

Cassandra gingerly removed her hand from the gun-toting girl's grip. She wasn't one to really hold grudges, or even to be angered easily, but she also tried to avoid being led by people that she suspected to be crazy. And she wouldn't have been surprised if the girl tried to walk her into a wall, or something equally embarrassing. "My name is Cassandra, but most people call me 'Cass.'"

Once they reached the door, she grabbed hold of the handle and held the frighteningly clear portal (to her) open for the others. Knowing full well that her unusual dexterity with the house would likely confuse the others, she flashed them an almost embarrassed smile and repeated what she had first said to Alex: "I see what I need to. Let's go."

"To the top floor then" said Alex, grinning broadly. He turned on his digital camera and flipped open the touch screen. It was your standard Sony Handycam HDR-SR11 camcorder that a few techie friends of his had fiddled with. He could use it like it was normally intended to and that would catch spirits at times, just like normal film does or she could switch it over to inferred mod and catch spirits moving around, as their passage changed the temperature of the air, just like they changed the electromagnetic field around them.

His first steps into the house caused a few floor boards to creak. Glancing around and heading towards the stairs, he spotted tracks in the dust, left by the last team and their video equipment scattered around, some standing up right and looking in perfect working order and some smashed to bits in falls.

"Ground floor group" called Alex, "Get the cameras laying around and see if any are still working. They could hold valuable data."

Cass sighed as the violent girl went tearing up the stairs, talking about being violent with the ethereal man that had appeared in the window. She was going to get herself - and everyone else in the group - hurt. Brushing past Alex, Cassandra quickly stepped up the groaning stairs after the girl until she was in front of her. She turned, holding her arms out to impede any further progress.

"You seem to be confused about what we're doing here," She said softly, looking at the part of the spiritual blur that she assumed to be the gunner's face. She had learned from practice that people preferred it (or at least responded more strongly) when she looked into the two brightest portions of their blurs: the eyes. And she did this now, locking her pale gaze onto that of the girl. "We're not going into a graveyard to battle zombies, or shoot up a raging werewolf. Bullets are useless in situations like these, it doesn't matter what they're made of. Have you ever tried physically breaking a feeling? It's the same idea. We're in someone's house. They don't have a living body, but they certainly have working thoughts. And you can't damage those with your guns, no matter how loud they fire or how well you aim. If you want to actually accomplish anything, you're going to have to settle down and remember...we're the guests, here."

With this, she sighed and turned around, taking the last few steps with her hand resting carefully on the dusty railing. Of course, she couldn't see the dust...just the place where those who had passed had placed their hands before. She stopped on the level floor, looking this way and that. There were trails all over, and most of them felt icy cold when she even brushed near them. Of course, this meant that they were recent. "Mr. Dawning," She said softly, folding her hands behind her back, "Did you want to find something, or just see the rooms?"

"Thank you Cass" said Alex, walking up to stand at the top if the stairs, "You have made clear our mission statement every well. We are here to find and record the spirits, then determine the level of threat they are. If and only if they should prove to be a great threat to the living and we are unable to to send them on by peaceful means, we will ask a local church to send us aid."

"Now" he continued, making a sweep over the hallway of the top floor with his camcorder, "I would love to find someone and catch them on film." His foot step echoed in the stillness as he took a few steps down the hallway. Hidden away from all living things, The Woman started to stir from around the remains of her corpse.

Alex jumped at the bullet tore through the floor boards right under his foot and exited right at the tip of his shoe. The gunfire behind him had caused him to nearly drop his camcorder but the bullet nearly taken off on of his toes was the last straw. How many times did this gun totting child need to be told not to play with her toys? Was she really that stupid? Shaking with a rage he almost never felt, he turned swiftly, pulling one of the handgun's from his pocket and leveled it at Ariana's chest.

"You really are just plan stupid aren't you!?" he roared, his temper finally reaching the breaking point. Hot and fast burning anger coursed through his very being. "I told you once, I told you twice, I told you a third time but did you listen at all or could my time have been better spend trying to teach a retarded monkey to play Beethoven's ninth symphony? This is a team to investigate the spirits dwelling in this place NOT some drugged up Nazi death squad. I have encounter scores of spirits that seek not to harm the living, that only wish to help them."

Alex stood there breathing hard and if this had been some cartoon world, steam would have been billowing from his ears. "Now get out" he said, slowly and calmly for the first time in the pass minute, "You are no longer welcome in this house so long as the rest of the team is, as you pose the only threat to their health. Go pout in your partner's SUV."