Peridot had only been in the house for a few minutes, exchanging a few pleasantries with some familiar faces. The general public might be shocked how many celebrities they likes to follow had experienced their own paranormal encounters at some point in their life. It had spurred a reality show which had aired on some cable network. Yes, celebrities had their stories too and sometimes when they had been in a position to, they would call someone like Peridot to help.<br/><br/>She was largely distracted though and only caught snippets of conversations she was meant to be participating in. Her focus kept sweeping up towards that enormous, twinkling chandelier and then to the staircase that yawned out below it. She had been fixated on that chandelier though when the tail-end of a question pulled her back into reality. "...think this place is really haunted?" Peridot turned towards the voice, because it had not belonged to the person she had been talking to, but instead its source was none other than the host of this evenings happenings; Eric (http://s24.postimg.org/vrkbbx6id/suit.jpg).<br/><br/>He was smiling at her, his dark eyes expectant, his energy slightly agitated and wired. She forced a half-hearted smile and set the half consumed glass of champagne on a tray and focused her attention on him, "Well, all places with substantial age and happenings have some type of<em>haunting</em>, Eric. Just some places have more than others," she said finally and waited for his response.<br/><br/>Eric's facial expression was that of someone who had never even encountered a strange noise and didn't have a logical way to explain it. He looked momentarily disappointed and then that smug skepticism appeared and he looked precisely like he had when they had met two days prior to this evening. They had eaten dinner and he had spent the majority of it trying to find out if she was a complete quack or some typed of infamous phony. For him, the dinner had yielded little more than her half-assed response to his question. She frustrated him because he was a man who liked to be in total control and in<em>the know</em>in every aspect of his life. Peridot's statement had irked him, she could tell because she could see the thunder in his eyes. Eric was a handsome man, all right, but he had a temper.<br/><br/>Peridot did not give in the intense stare though. She gazed evenly back at him and finally won the contest when he turned away and held his hands up to get some attention. "Ladies and Gentleman! In about ten more minutes we will have the toast and then all of your pumpkins will arrive to take you home," he paused a beat to let those who were going to chuckle at his comment do so and then continued, "that is, everyone but the ticket winners. We will bid the farewell and hear all about the scary ghosts tomorrow morning," he finished, smiling in a practiced way. Then he turned and jogged up the stairs to the second floor.<br/><br/>Peridot took another glass of champagne and sipped it thoughtfully as she watched the host disappear through the crowd of people mingling up there.<br/>