Howard drops me off in front of my apartment, handing over the keys to my car. He was silent during the drive back to my place, but as I move to get out of the car, his sharp voice stops me in mid-movement.
"There's only so many more times I'll be able to pull yer ass outta tha' fire, kid. You need to get out of here."
"Easier said than done," I remind him, letting the bitterness of that statement show full force. "You think I like working for that piece of shit, and living in this place?" I gesture to the condemned building, a habitat for those on the shady side of legal; the only place people like me are allowed.
"I told you, I can get papers made that show--"
"And then what? Go work in a job with credentials I don't have? Go to school? I can have all the papers I want made, it won't take the place of experience. I haven' got no education, no name, no life. Papers ain't gonna change that."
"It would still get your ass out of this shit hole and into a place you could actually become someone."
"I was someone until Solo died," I remind him, and the conversation dies abruptly. Solo's a subject no one's allowed to talk about.
I leave his car, slamming his door in my ire. I had managed two days without having Solo pop into existence, and I know that the twelve-pack in the fridge isn't going to make it to the weekend.
It's been years since Duo's been involved with the occult. But when his boss hires a team of paranormal investigators to solve a problem they've been having, he finds himself diving headfirst into a life he'd hoped to leave behind. More and more, it looks like someone's out to repeat a mistake best left in the past... or, to be more direct, Duo's past.
My notes: This is one of those epic AUs that spiral down a rabbit hole of Jack Chalker-esque insanity involving ghost-hunting, necromancy, the occult, and strange paranormal investigations.