☪ The Darkest Romance [CLOSED] Thanks for Participating

[Hikaru Ohayashi]

It was a mistake to leave off how in the world Olivia had suddenly found herself with a knife once more. He would have told her playing with such a thing was dangerous, although he doubted she would listen. Stubborn. She came off as the type. There were a lot of those types amongst the ladies of this lot...

One eye nearly twitched when the blade made contact with the ceiling. It was probably becoming obvious he was far from pleased with her behaviour...

He rose from his seat slowly, taking a brief glance at her upon her words... A cat, was it? "I have no interest in such trivial things." He spoke bluntly, deep grey-blue eyes narrowing upon the words. "Rather than that..." He pursed his lips lightly, soon turning his attention to the knife embedded into the ceiling. "I would appreciate it if your fascination for blades didn't acutely involve destroying my property."

There was hardly another option, so he jumped up carefully to retrieve it and gracefully landed back onto his feet after saying his piece. She replied to his question then. And, instead of his fan (having set that on one side of the table some time during the exchanges,) the handle of the knife he retrieved tapped near his lips. His eyes lidded lightly, a slight but otherwise thoughtful frown upon his expression, "Shane has a few special circumstances. Please treat him with care." He replied before his gaze lifted away from the blonde woman and onto Phillip, gesturing to the other male with his free hand, "This one is Phillip and the small bird near him is a pet." He glanced at his brother's side of the table briefly before adding, "Phillip, dear brother... would you kindly take Wenceslas off the table?" He requested before averting his attention back to the blonde woman.

"Soren would be the loud man who was shouting at Aradia when you arrived at the dining hall."

A small smirk played lightly upon his lips when she made a comment of his manners. He had to stifle another soft chuckle. "Humans assume so ill of us... Of course... They have good reason. But there is nothing more hideous than those of your kind who would sacrifice things that are not even theirs to guarantee their own place, wouldn't you agree?" His smile curved up a bit more upon his words, slowly closing his eyes as he turned to seat himself once more,

"Pray that you don't ever have the chance to see me drop the formalities, darling, especially if the cause was something one of you would have provoked..." Salem trailed off slightly, taking a few portions of the meal his brother had prepared for everyone and placing a helping on his plate. It wasn't necessarily a threat, but the warning was there.

With a soft breathe, he turned his attention towards Olivia although he was still absently taking portions from the food set out, although this time, he placed it on Olivia's plate. "I see Shane was a little too blunt... But what he has told you was true. This house is not a place you can leave..." He pursed his lips, lifting his gaze slightly and tilted it lightly upon the words, "You are to live here with all of us from now on, simplistically speaking... and as such, we have a few house rules set up for all of you." He started slicing the meat from the stew on her plate in flawless grace, pressing the fork down on the tender meat before lifting it up to near her lips with a plate below it so that the sauce doesn't drip to her dress.

"Not to worry, however... They are not to your disadvantage." He said calmly as he gazed into her eyes and waiting.

If it wasn't obvious to her or anyone else by now, Salem was quite serious when he offered to feed her.

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tab tab ❦ WITH | tab Livi, Phil, Maddie, and Josie
tab tab ❦ LOCATION | tab dining hall
tab tab ❦ OOC | tab uwu; *pats Olivia?*

[UmbraVitae]

#AE0C00
𝕺𝔲𝔱 𝕺𝔣 𝕮𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰⊱

Sulking was something he was doing a lot of lately. It was almost like he was a different person entirely right now. At least he thought so. Always with the yelling, it seemed. He did not like it.

A long, drawn out sigh passed his lips as he rocked on his heels as he pushed and pulled on the rail. He should likely go get his cherries before Ria returned there. But first, he took the time to button up his shirt and then buttoned his vest. That really was just... He shook his head, pushing off from the rail after he took one last look at his trees and headed off; going back inside the house and walked down the halls as he recounted which room he was dragged from.

The door was open... Well he hadn't exactly shut it behind him when he left. But when he got closer; well, it seemed he had taken too long to decide on getting his cherries back. Ria was in the room in... lingerie. Oh god why? "Couldn't you have like, stayed in the dining room?" He asked, well, more like whined about it. He felt like this was no longer going to be something easy; getting his cherries back and he was right, when Ria had positioned herself between him and his bag. He really wished he could just give up on his cherries.

Soren averted his red eyes from her form, looking away as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Will you cover up?" He asked perhaps a tad impatiently, but he could only hope the girl would listen. And it was something he doubted she would do. She never listened to anything before; why start now? But... mmm... "I'm sorry for yelling at you before." Soren said, well, mumbled it a bit. It's not like apologizing was hard; not at all. But he had acted a bit out of hand; it wasn't his intention. He didn't want to be mean or anything. It wasn't that Ria knew those trees meant so much to him; or, perhaps she knew they were his, just not how important they were to him. Either way. He just didn't want to be doing everything he had been so far.

Yelling, arguing, fainting...

It was fine that she stood between him and the item he wanted, just as long as she didn't get closer to him. He would figure some thing out; hopefully. Just to make her move away from it just enough so he could snatch his bag and leave.

ЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖЖ

tab tab W̙̟͉̦̗̩̾̋̇͑͌̋ͬ͌͆͑͊̿̉͗̈́i̪̫͍̩͉̖̗̬̼͍̫̤͍̻̰̤̟̬͆̅͐ͤ̇̋̓͐͆ͬ͗ẗ̼̱̫̳͕̥̞͔̩́̆̾̐̌͐ͨ̿ͥ̓̅h͕͍͚̫̳̖̙̻͈̮̣͔̤͈́͌ͧ̓́̔̑͐ͯ̀̚̚: Aradia
tab tab tab tab tab tab A̪̬̪̯̜̱̠̤̪̤̠̠̙͒̋ͪ̈̐̍͒ͯ̔̚̚ͅt̳͍̠̗̞̺̺͇̭̼̱̯̘͚̏̆̽ͦ̎̍̈̀̆ͭ̚ͅ: Ria's room

[Timecraze]

tab tab `⊰x ON EARTH, AT WAR, WHATEVER THE SEASON
tab ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬ ▬▬
tab tab tab tab I AM A MAN FULL OF AMBITIONS xxIN THE BEDROOM, THE LIVING ROOM
tab tab tab tab tab I MAKE LOVE AND REVOLUTIONS -- I ADVANCE, ADVANCE BACKWARDS!xx♞xxI AM THE KING, THE KING OF PRICKS tab tab tab tab

tab tab tab tab BODY IN A CAGE AND HEART IN JAIL -- I AM THE DENIAL BORN FROM MAN
tab tab tab tab tab tab A SENTENCE TO ME, MY OWN PUNISHMENT; I WALK AROUND, WALK AROUND
tab tab tab tab tab tab A SENTENCE TO ME, MY OWN PUNISHMENT; I WALK AROUND, WALK AROUND
tab tab tab tab tab tab A SENTENCE TO ME, MY OWN PUNISHMENT; I WALK AROUND, WALK AROUND
tab tab tab tab tab tab LIKE A MISTAKE FROM NATURE, ON EARTH WITHOUT A PURPOSE
tab tab tab tab tab tab tab tab tab tab tab tab tab I AM A MAN AND I REALIZE THE ENTIRE HORROR OF MY NATURE



Both Soren and Ria were gone. Phillip was grateful Salem had arrived, otherwise he would have felt quite uncomfortable on his own. Shane must've had a fit. He would want to check on his brother later. For now he was obligated to stay and show some civility to the women. It had been quite obvious that he had been avoiding attention. Now that he wasn't attempting to subdue his powers, he felt a lot more comfortable with himself, in consideration to the amount of energy he was using. The women here knew -- or would know -- they were demons with unnatural abilities. Even one as harmless as Phil's was still deceitful and false. There was always a negative connotation. Perhaps it was a pessimistic thought of Phil's, but he wasn't about to change his mind.

He looked up when two others entered, Madeline with another girl Phillip didn't know. He smiled politely at them. "Good evening ladies," he greeted in a low voice. His eyes turned slightly as Olivia introduced herself. Now he knew her name. There was on left he did not know. The conversation between Salem and Olivia was not in his interest, so he added nothing to it. that was, until he came to be time to introduce him. He was willing to do that himself, but Salem spoke for him. Phillip smiled lightly at the girl as he was introduced to her.

His eyes glanced briefly at his brother, and a sheepish, more genuine smile crossed his face. "Sorry Salem," he said, scooping the bird up in his hand and perching it on his shoulder. Wenceslas ruffled his feathers indignantly and chirped loudly. Phillip reached up and soothed the bird with a few strokes to his feathers. Spoiled little thing. Ah, but that was his own fault. He couldn't help it. He would have left Wenceslas in his room if Salem hadn't requested them to be in the dining room. Phillip also assumed that if he had left Soren to his own devices the man wouldn't have made it a foot in here. He didn't think the little bird was doing any harm, but would respectfully listen to his eldest brother.

▇▇ ♞ l o c a t i o n ⊁ ( dining room ) ▇▇ ♞ c o m p a n y ⊁ ( Olivia, Salem, Josephine, Madeline )
▇▇ ♞ o o c ⊁ ( owo )

[Lollilox]

█████████████████████████████████████████████
ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ: her room tab tab ᴡɪᴛʜ: soren

After she'd had a gander in the closet and changed into something both less and more comfortable, Ria felt more at home. She'd dug out a silk robe and had been about to thread her arms through it when Soren approached, wishing she'd stayed in the dining room.
Ria smirked, tossing the silk robe onto her bed, folding her arms under her chest, raking her eyes up and down the redhead's body. "Why? Do you think I need to gain some weight? I'm probably already heavier than you." She chuckled, watching his movements closely.
His eyes were averted; she'd expected him to do as much, but the hands in the pockets were a new thing. A twitching smirk pulled at her lips. If this continued for much longer, she'd have a smirk constantly plastered on her features. The poor guy. Some kind of super human he was turning out to be.

"No." Ria responded plainly at his request that she cover up. The teddy she'd chosen hadn't even been that bad. It was opaque, for the most part, and cut rather modestly for her taste. She'd have to do some reconstructing of the wardrobe eventually.
She moved then, slinking her way between Soren and what he wanted, which she still happened to have. If he wanted it back, he was going to have to do something for her.

When he apologized, Ria laughed bitterly. "Really, that's the best you can do?" She rolled her eyes, then set them back on the redhead. "If I cared that you yelled, you'd know about it." She wasn't the type to take that laying down. "But if you want your cherries back, you're going to have to work for them."

[TwistedSparkles]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxlife is a series of natural && *★ .
xxxxxxxxxxxx spontaneous changes
xxxxxxxxXXXXXxxxxXxxxxxx「 ♥don`t ! ) resist— & them !
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx⋰!*THAT ONLY CREATES SORROW ︾ LET REALITY BE REALITY
xxxxxxxxxxxxx▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅ ▅
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxLETXXXTHINGSXXXFLOWXXXNATURALLYXXXFORWARDXXXINXXXWHATEVERXXXWAYXXXTHEYXXXLIKE
Gods. Josephine still looked a bit concerned for the woman who was in front of her. It was...slightly assumed that the woman was hiding something..but who was Josie to pry? She didn't really know the woman, they were both complete strangers to one another, but this was how Josie was. Always looking to help others. Curious blue eyes blinked as she looked the woman over as if she was...interested in that accent that slipped from her mouth. What the hell was that? It was...interesting. Curiosity was a downfall of Josie...alongside her being clumsy. Poor girl. A small blink took her once more at the suggestion of food. Oh yes! She was to take this woman to the dining room..wherever that was. Madeline was her name yes? Well..Madeline must know the way there...right? Of course she did. Felt by the way Madeline pressed her own hand upon Josies lower back and ushered her out and away. Curiosity hit once more. Slowly looking upon all in the room. Strangers. But nevertheless, Josie couldn't stay in that room she was in all day could she? She was awake. Aware...and needed to figure out just why she was here. Taking a seat designated to her by Madeline, Josephine smiled lightly. Silent for a small moment to take it all that was around her. Attention given to a woman speaking to her, Josephine smiled a bit more and happily spoke out her name in reply. "Josephine." It was..happy. Eager to give her name out. As if..finding out everyones names would make it a bit easier for her to figure out why she was here and..just why she wasn't where she had..previously been. "Nice to meet you Olivia."

Then a new voice. Oh. Not new. Familiar. That nice man from earlier! Josephine turned her blue eyes to him and nodded with a small smile. A tinge hitting her cheeks. Speaking to men was a rarity for her. There were only priests she had conversed with and they were..really nice men. No one outside of the priesthood in the male persuasion had ever crossed her path before. That is..never spoke to her anyway. "Ah..Y-You're welcome." Josephine quickly spoke in reply to this man. The seat she was gestured, she had taken and looked around once more. "My name is Josephine. It's nice to make you're acquaintance Sir." Sir? Oh yes. Something she picked up from her family when they would work in the market. Ah..there was...more of them? "..Siblings? Ah...n-no? I don't think I have." The woman answered calmly as she placed a finger upon her lush lower lip, blinking her eyes slowly. Long eyelashes fluttering slightly. "I've..only met what I see..here?" It was honest. Of course. Josephine was filled with honesty. It was a hard thing for her to do, to lie. Even if she did, she was always found out. An odd habit of twirling her hair and blushing. Always a dead give away. Was he asking her? Josepine did not know, but she answered anyway because..it would be rude to not answer..yes?

The blonde woman spoke up and Josephine watched. There was indeed more people here. Too bad she had only seen so little of them yes? Perhaps she would get to know more of them later on? Seriously...Josephine was handling this all rather well was she not? Considering the odd circumstances, Josephine seemed to be adjusting to this place..easily. Yes? "Oh.." Josephine twirled fingers through the ending strands of her hair and watched the Olivia girl. Blinking. Interesting..really. She was..different wasn't she? Just like this..Madeline girl. Salem, the man there, seemed..none too pleased. Oh. Goodness. He was..reprimanding her like a man of high stature. Josie bit her lower lip. Watching what he did. How he maneuvered himself, Josephine looked...fascinated. Curiosity once more. Curiosity would be the ending of her one day. Her mother used to tell her that all the time. There was..another there. Goodness! Rude of Josephine. Her eyes fell to another man and she blushed a bit. She had..practically ignored his presence and that was just not nice was it? Rude girl. Wait. Wait. Did he....did he have a bird?! Her attention had been on the feathered companion for a small period of time that when Salem spoke of..'Humans', Josie found herself curiously looking at him and blinking. Wait..why..were others referred to as..humans? He was warning the girl. Olivia. Speaking of such things. Josephine found such sentiments...eerily..making her body shudder a bit. It was as if everything he was telling Olivia..was everything she wanted to ask. They..couldn't leave? Why not?

Josephine bit her lip once more but looked to Phillip. A small huff took her and Josephine smiled to the man. "I-I'm..s-sorry for being so rude." Bowing her head as she had been taught since she was a child, Josie turned her blue eyes to him and smiled gently. "I know..you've heard me..but that is quite rude if I don't tell you myself." The woman apologized gently. "...I am Josephine. Nice to meet you Sir." Eyes once more traveled to the bird and she looked...as if she was eager to touch it. Fingers clenching along the hem of her dress. "Your bird is...adorable." The woman softly spoke. "...I was never allowed to touch Birds.." Josephine sounded so sad about such a thing! But..it was indeed a cute bird and hoped the man understood she felt it was a cute..and adorable thing. Nevermind the situation, Josephine just..wanted to push away the uneasiness she was starting to feel and welcome something new. Something happy. Something..adorable.

[UmbraVitae]

#AE0C00
𝕺𝔲𝔱 𝕺𝔣 𝕮𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰⊱

What... what did that...? Why did she jump to such a conclusion? He did say for her to have stayed in the dining room, but that didn't necessarily mean eating. She... could have stayed to talk. Yeah, probably not. But seriously. Heavier than him?... That just might be a possibility because well, as far as he knew, the life essence of someone wasn't exactly fattening. Of course he wasn't sure if she knew that but it wasn't something that mattered; the reasons why she was 'heavier' than him.

A sigh escaped his lips when she said no. Though he couldn't really say he expected otherwise. He knew it wasn't fair for any of the girls to be here, but why did she have to particularly make it so damn difficult? He did nothing to her. And for her rejection of his apology, well, he knew it wouldn't be fair or the like if she just settled for it. But she didn't need to be so mean about it either.

However, his face nearly dropped when she said that he had to work for what was rightfully his. How could Ria be serious? "What do you mean work for them?" He asked but never turned his eyes towards her. A part of him was really dreadful of what she might have in mind. Was it possibly going to be something to get her kicks off? Because it seemed like it from before. Or maybe it was something else entirely. He didn't know and he didn't want to know; this girl was just too much. But he did wonder; how far did she think he'd go to get his cherries back? He didn't want to easily give up his bag but, really, just outside held cherry trees with a bunch of cherries. So what if it was... one bag.

Not a choice he was entirely fine with no matter what. Perhaps later on he could try to get the bag, even if it would be empty.

"How far do you think I'm willing to go for this?" Soren decided to ask curiously, wondering. Perhaps this might give him insight into what she thought of him. He could understand if he seemed like a push over with all his... regrettable fainting, but there was no way he was going to let that happen a third time; no matter what, he was not going to let it happen. He absolutely refused.

A part of him wondered why he was even sticking around right now, perhaps he doubted that she'd go really insane for a request, but he did doubt that too. He really wasn't sure what to think at this point when it came to her. Which wasn't something he was really happy about. Not that unpredictability was bad... But... Ria was very different.

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tab tab W̙̟͉̦̗̩̾̋̇͑͌̋ͬ͌͆͑͊̿̉͗̈́i̪̫͍̩͉̖̗̬̼͍̫̤͍̻̰̤̟̬͆̅͐ͤ̇̋̓͐͆ͬ͗ẗ̼̱̫̳͕̥̞͔̩́̆̾̐̌͐ͨ̿ͥ̓̅h͕͍͚̫̳̖̙̻͈̮̣͔̤͈́͌ͧ̓́̔̑͐ͯ̀̚̚: Aradia
tab tab tab tab tab tab A̪̬̪̯̜̱̠̤̪̤̠̠̙͒̋ͪ̈̐̍͒ͯ̔̚̚ͅt̳͍̠̗̞̺̺͇̭̼̱̯̘͚̏̆̽ͦ̎̍̈̀̆ͭ̚ͅ: Ria's room

[Infectious Biscuit]

[ MOOD: Indifferent ] xxx [ LOCATION: Dining Room ] xxx [ COMPANY: Phillip, Salem, Madeline, & Josephine ]




Emerald eyes watched as Salem rose to his feet. He retrieved her knife from the ceiling but he didn’t give it back to her. Though, of course, she had expected that. He made a comment to her about damaging his property. She couldn’t help but to roll her eyes slightly as she listened to him. It wasn’t like she had actually caused that much damage. A knife or two into the wall and all of a sudden it was “destroying” his property. It wasn’t like she had actually meant to cause any damage. It had just happened that way. And besides, Salem had just demonstrated to her that it wasn’t that big a deal for him to get a knife from the ceiling. As far as she was concerned, there wasn’t much of anything for him to be unhappy about.

Salem tapped the knife to his lips. She stared at it intently. He went about introducing his brother at the table. Olivia didn’t take her eyes off the knife. She was given the name of the angry red head from before as well. Phillip and Soren. She made a mental note of the names. Although the expression on her face and the fact that her eyes never left the knife implied that she hadn’t been listening. The pink haired girl spoke up as well. Her name was Josephine. Livi still didn’t look up. She didn’t need to be staring at someone to listen to what they were saying.

“But there is nothing more hideous than those of your kind who would sacrifice things that are not even theirs to guarantee their own place, wouldn't you agree?”

At this she averted her gaze from the knife and instead focused on Salem. He was smothering another chuckle, a smile widening across his features. Was he trying to provoke her? Or did he just think it was funny? She shrugged, not really caring what the answer was.

“Couldn’t the same thing be said of the demon who accepts an offer knowing full well that the one making the bargain has no rightful claim to what he hopes to use as payment?”

She watched him reclaim his seat beside her. She took note of the fact that he seemed to be threatening her… or rather, warning her. Don’t piss off Salem. That much was clear. She wasn’t sure if that was something she was even capable of. The demon obviously didn’t care much for her fascination with blades. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to give them up because of some warning. If that had been his intent, it would certainly take more than just a few pretty words to get to her.

Salem began dishing out a severing of the food. She stared at it for a moment, reminded of the fact that she still hadn’t eaten anything. He spoke to her as he dished out the food, verifying what Shane had told her before. The church had sold her and the other girls in the house to the demon brothers. Apparently that meant they weren’t allowed to leave. Why that was, she wasn’t sure. But something told her it couldn’t be good. Most situations in which you’re a “sacrifice” usually don’t result in a happy ending.

As she thought on the matter, Salem began dishing out some food for her. She didn’t pay much mind to it at first. But then he began cutting a piece of meat on her plate. The next thing she knew, the demon was holding the piece of meat up to her mouth with a fork. Livi blinked. Was this some kind of joke? No. Salem was staring into her eyes, waiting for her to take a bite. It was awkward. She sat there, silent for a few moments. He actually expected her to let him feed her. Her mouth dropped open, not because she was going to take a bite but rather because she was shocked. The next thing she knew the fork was in her mouth. She didn’t have much of a choice at this point. Closing her lips around the fork, she slipped the meat off and chewed.

“So we can’t leave because the church offered us to you? Why? I don’t know about these two,” she paused, pointing in the direction of Josephine and the red head. “But if the church is offering you people like me and the whore. Then it’s pretty safe to assume that they’re only giving you the people no one gives a s**t about. In which case, it’s also safe to assume that nothing good can come from this situation. So then, what does a group of demon brothers want with the unwanted misfits of society? You going to eat us? Please don’t tell me you just fed me my predecessor.”

She leaned back in her seat, far more relaxed than someone who had just posed the questions she had should be. A paring knife found its way into her hands sometime shortly after she spoke. She rolled the paring knife on her knuckles, her eyes lazily fixed on Salem.

“Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t care less of my fate by this point. But I’m sure the same can’t be said of my companions.”

[Hikaru Ohayashi]

The roll of her eyes and her intent stare at the knife he held instead had him, in response, narrow his. Her retort would have been well placed... If not for the fact he and his brothers didn't necessarily have the luxury to pick, although he did say that they would be happy with four pure, untainted maidens...

He pushed the fork into her open mouth, taking another piece for her while she chewed and swallowed.

A brow raised upon her words after, lips pursed lightly into a frown. And then she talked about eating them and being fed her predecessor and Salem couldn't help but openly laugh, covering his lips with a lightly fisted hand.

Utterly hilarious--this woman's antics were... Unfortunately, her amusing mouth needed to be taught a lesson regardless of the humour he found within some of her words.

The paring knife in her hand found its way to his empty one and in one swift and sure motion thrust right into the right side of her face, aimed so very close to her eye. "I would advise that you care a little more about your fate, dear Olivia... There are things within this manor that are far worse than what you've mentioned." He said with a small smile, the tone in his voice having done nothing to even hint at any anger when he sought to hurt her. It was even almost as if he cared instead.

Salem placed the metal of the knife on his lips, licking the blade lightly with a small smirk before putting it down, pointing it back towards her direction in an almost casual kind of act, although the threatening tip was only inches away from her skin.

"You are correct to assume that I am rather livid with the selections." Salem stated calmly. It was hard to even believe from his demeanour that he was saying he was actually angry about it. "Miss Josephine aside, you lot are rather troublesome and spirited little children who do not know their limits..." He continued, as if he were simply carrying on a discussion... The side of his lips quirked upwards a little upon the next few things he mentioned,

"I am almost despondent... Amusing idea regardless. I'm afraid this is genuine pork, dear. Not human flesh. Although... I can't help but wonder what expression would have been on that face had I affirmed your words' truthfulness..." He smirked slightly, angling his gaze a bit as he spoke to her... The way he talked was almost as if he weren't openly talking about the morbid topic of cannibalism.

Salem shifted slightly, leaning back for some space, "To clarify, I never implied that your situation was fortunate. I only say that the rules set are for your wellbeing, not mine and they are neither for my brothers..." He spoke freely, retracting the knife away from her for now. "When I say you cannot leave, I mean it as just that. By all means, little lady... walk out into the forest if you must. But I guarantee you that what you will find out there is neither the village you are familiar with or your freedom." He said, narrowing his eyes lightly as he continued, drawing the blade beneath her face, lifting her chin up by the cold steel. "You are quite astute to assume your use correctly. I'm afraid, however, that it isn't quite like how you pictured... No physical harm should come to you when we feed off your life force... Certainly, none of you would find yourselves stuffed into a pot." He smiled slightly with somewhat lidded eyes.

"You will be treated as beloved guests while you live here in this manor... that being said..." he paused, his more amiable demeanour suddenly disappearing as he pressed the blade closer to her neck, "The moment those wandering eyes of yours show me any disrespect again, I will pluck them out from their sockets... You can be certain... If those lips of yours open to utter insults or cusses... if those ears of yours any further prove to have no use other than to decorate your face... That I will personally make sure you are rid of such pointless devices."

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tab tab ❦ WITH | tab Livi, Phil, Maddie, and Josie
tab tab ❦ LOCATION | tab dining hall
tab tab ❦ OOC | tab uwu;;;;;;;;;;; I'msosorry. You could have him barely miss her r just nick her lightly or whatever works for you.... just... don't challenge him any further than this QwQ;;;; </3

[Infectious Biscuit]

[ MOOD: Excited, surprised, scared ] xxx [ LOCATION: Dining Room ] xxx [ COMPANY: Phillip, Salem, Madeline, & Josephine ]




He was laughing. Under normal circumstances that would be a good sign. But something in the air had shifted in the coming moments. Before Olivia knew it, the paring knife between her fingers had vanished. The next moment the knife was slicing through her cheek as if it were butter. Her eyes widened, more shocked than anything. The pain didn’t set in at first. She felt a shutter run down her spine. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. It was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Not once in her life had she been faced with an individual who posed any actual danger to her. Granted, she had seen her fair share of threats. But, until just a moment ago, no one had ever acted on them.

She felt a tremble through her fingers. Was this fear? No, it was something beyond that. It wasn’t just fear. It was astonishment and excitement. Pain was radiating from her cheek. But she didn’t care. It was a rush unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She felt alive, truly alive. Her heart was racing, the sound of her heartbeat was pounding through her ears like thunder. She could feel her body shuddering against her will. But she didn’t mind it. In fact, a slight smile was threatening to tug at the corner of her lips. The swarm of conflicting emotions welled up within her like an erupting volcano. It was invigorating.

He brought the blade to his lips shortly after cutting her, licking the blood from the cold steel in one swift movement. The demon then placed the knife down at the table, pointing it at her as if to imply he’d cut her again if she didn’t behave. And he probably would. Something about that fact made the conversation all the more interesting to Olivia. Salem had her full attention. Her suspicions were confirmed. He wasn’t too happy with the offerings that had been presented to him and his brothers. If that was the case, she couldn’t help but to wonder why something hadn’t been done about it.

“If we’re so unsatisfactory shouldn’t the blame fall upon the people who provided us to you? The church did pick us after all. If you’re so unhappy with what you were given, why not do something about it?”

She spoke calm and evenly, ignoring the fact that blood was pouring down her face. By this point it was dripping onto the cupcake dress, covering it in little scarlet droplets. Salem picked up the knife as he continued to speak to her. In time the blade found its way under her chin. She could feel the cold steel against her flesh, forcing her chin up so she could better look the demon in the eyes. More of her suspicions were confirmed. Apparently today she was very good at connecting the dots. Though she had made a few errors, she didn’t consider them to be too major; she had been pretty damn close.

“Ah, but I was close, shouldn’t I get points for that?”

She questioned just as the blade was pressed closer against her neck. So they weren’t going to be eaten per say, but their life forces were going to be devoured. The two sounded similar enough to her. Salem threatened her yet again. The words ‘don’t piss of Salem’ echoed through her mind. She smiled softly, her eyes staring back at Salem. She could feel the fear prickling deep within her gut, the throbbing pain from her cheek reminding her that the demon meant every word that slipped passed his lips.

“I see, my apologizes. It would appear I’ve overstepped my boundaries.”

She grew silent for a few moments as her eyes slowly glanced down to her dress. There was now a small pool of blood gathered atop the fabric. She was still bleeding, the scarlet liquid having nowhere else to go other than down her cheek and onto her dress. Something told Livi the gown was ruined now, there was actually quite a bit of blood on it, staining it dark red in places. Looking up at Salem again, she continued the smile.

“May I be so bold as to request a napkin?”

[Katlin-chan]

Madeline had taken to the task of eating her soup with her left hand. It wasn’t terribly difficult, just a tad awkward. However it kept her mind on something else and not the current conversation. She’d just about had it with the demon sacrifice bull. Not being able to choose her own fate was bad enough, but a sacrifice? She hated it here, and the day wasn’t even over yet.

It was probably the first time in years since she sat so quietly, simply listening to trying to ignore the conversations. Josephine was a strange one. Wanting to see some bird. Perhaps that’s how she was distracting herself from the harshness of reality. Ignorance truly is bliss.

But this Olivia lady... Blue eyes looked up from the dish in front of her when the other female pointed. “Why don’t you keep your finger to yourself Miss Olivia.” She huffed, “some of us aren’t in such a hurry to our grave. Besides, with the way things are, I have a feelin’ offin’ the back sheep will be no problem at all.” None. Madeline felt the pain in the back of her right hand more as she thought about what had happened a few moments ago with the blue haired demon.

“You honestly can’t expect us to sit idly and let you consume our souls, can you Mister Salem?” She asked, rather frankly. Eyes fell upon the blade at the other girl’s neck. Only a cut on the cheek? Cute. Her fingers curled into a fist whilst her left hand placing the spoon on the table. “After all the lyin’ and cheatin’ by the people who so kindly raised us? Maybe if they were a bit more honest with the situation your sheep wouldn’t be so tainted.”

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wɪᴛн: Josephine, Olivia, Phillip, and Salem | ʟᴏᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: Dining room
ooc: (=ↀωↀ=)✧

[Hikaru Ohayashi]

The blonde woman's reaction in part only made it more difficult for him to return to being civil. he supposed, however, that most would not want to show a weakness in front of someone who poses them a danger. Salem had his patience, but if words cannot convince them of the truthfulness of what he spoke of, he was more than willing to demonstrate it. Right now, however, he simply desired to wipe the smug little smile off her features... If it meant carving the sides of her lips downward into an obvious frown instead, he well wouldn't be against it.

"Don't get cocky, Olivia, dear. Any reward you could have gained for using a minuscule amount of the intelligence bestowed upon you was lost the moment you further opened your mouth." Salem replied with slight pursed lips before he rose slightly and reached out for an unused napkin across the table, handing it to the girl upon her request regardless. He narrowed his eyes as he glanced at her briefly, "Don't think your punishment will be any lighter than the first should you cross that line again."

He listened to Madeline speak her mind and address both Olivia and himself. He'd refrained from answering the blonde's first inquiry earlier simply because he would have needed time to explain. His gaze lifted with mild disinterest, as if purposely looking down upon them, "Do you both dare to blame your unsatisfactory conduct on men and women who aren't present here in the manor?" He asked calmly, mostly to make a point. "Regardless of what they have done to you, you are responsible for your own actions and your own behaviour..." Deep grey-blue eyes narrowed slightly, "Any consequence you meet shall be burdened onto your own conscience."

Do something about it, she said... he could have scoffed at her stupidity and blindness. Does he look as if he wasn't doing anything to make things more to his liking? Certainly, she didn't realize...

Salem slowly stood up from his seat, "Don't get me wrong, dears..." He said rather quietly, somewhat addressing all the women in the room, "By all means, I will teach those fattened pigs a lesson. But it will not change the fact that you are here now." He continued, slowly rounding the table and making his way to Madeline's side, gaze turned down towards her although his chin was still slightly raised. One hand lifted, touching the underside of her chin and pushing her gaze up towards him,

"I did not say that we will devour your soul, dear Madeline. While you are in this manor, losing your life by serving us in that manner is rather improbable." He informed her calmly, "All you need would be to take a short rest after and you'll be fine, dear..." There was a short pause before he adjusted his grip so that she couldn't turn it away from him, his eyes lightly lidding, "I expect you all not to struggle. Unless of course you prefer being dealt more than you can handle."

After the words, he slowly bent down and pressed his lips against hers.


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tab tab ❦ WITH | tab Livi, Phil, Maddie, and Josie
tab tab ❦ LOCATION | tab dining hall
tab tab ❦ OOC | tab

[Katlin-chan]

“I never said I’d blame my conduct on them, simply the fact that I’m here,” she spoke and clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. This was probably the last place she’d ever want to be. With another huff she rested her elbow upon the table and her cheek in her hand. She held her breath as Salem stood and hoped that meant he was leaving.

Of course not! Her heart raced as he rounded the table. He didn’t seem terribly angry… he didn’t last time either. For a split moment she thought about grabbing the knife or fork, anything to have some kind of defense against him in case he was going to carve a chunk of her back out. Oh no, he was coming right at her.

Brows knitted together as she felt his fingers against her skin, lifting her chin up. She scowled at his words and wanted nothing more than for the demon to go away. A small gasp escaped her as he altered his grasp on her chin. She was about to open her mouth to speak when he pressed his lips to hers. What the hell was he doing? She brought her right hand up to slap him across the face.

He blocked it with ease, grabbing hold of her wrist. Damn him! If that wasn’t enough, the male wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her up from her seat, forcing her to stand. Her eyes widened. This couldn’t be happening! She twisted her arm to try to release her wrist from his grasp. She used her weight to try to forcibly fall back down to her seat and away from him. He was just too strong for her and that just wasn’t fair. She absolutely hated this.

Madeline shut her eyes tightly. Her head was spinning and she wasn’t sure what was going on anymore. This b*****d, the one that just carved into the back of her hand, was kissing her? This wasn’t really a kiss though, was it? She struggled more, desperate to pull away from Salem’s grasp.

She wasn’t sure how much more she could take of this. Whatever he was doing, it was making her head hurt. She couldn’t breathe correctly. Madeline was honestly clueless. Her struggling weakened the longer he kissed her. It was as if her energy was being drained. She just couldn’t fight any more.

He stopped. Oh thank the heavens, Salem pulled back letting her gasp for a breath. Her body fell limp in his arms. Never again. “W-what the hell?” the redhead muttered as she tried to push the other away, attempting to stand on her own.

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wɪᴛн: Josephine, Olivia, Phillip, and Salem | ʟᴏᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: Dining room
ooc: (=ↀωↀ=)✧

[Lollilox]

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ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ: her room tab tab ᴡɪᴛʜ: soren

Ria stepped toward Soren when he asked how far she thought he was willing to go for the cherry bag. "You tell me." She mused, tilting her head to the side to scan him up and down again. "You're the one who grabbed my breast for them." She smirked, remembering the absolute hilarity that had followed that. Passed out again, and after, she'd had fun taking him to her room just to freak him out. She'd put on the theatrics, and he'd fallen prey to it. She couldn't very much blame the poor guy.

"So, do what you want, but I can't promise I'll behave." She chided, licked her lips and picked at what she was wearing. The lace of the teddy had a bit of lint on it, which she pulled off, and let fall to the floor. "Or, I'll make you a deal. Come cuddle with me for a while, and I'll give you the bag back." It was a terrible deal. She could have tried to push her luck and ask for him to kiss her or something along those lines, though she'd learned her lesson from when Salem had puckered up for her. That wasn't something she really wanted to experience again.
Cuddling was neutral ground. Mostly. She hadn't specified what she'd be doing while they were cuddling. If he didn't believe she'd do anything, he was wrong on so many levels.

Ria's green hues flicked their gaze to the bed, then back at the redhead. "How about it, lover? What are you going to choose?"

[Infectious Biscuit]

[ MOOD: Amused ] xxx [ LOCATION: Dining Room ] xxx [ COMPANY: Phillip, Salem, Madeline, & Josephine ]




The smile on her face faded away in time, being replaced by the blank expression from before. She took the napkin from Salem and lifted it to her cheek, dabbing the blood away. The bleeding had finally stopped. The red head across the table opened her mouth, addressing her with a bit of bitterness in her voice. Olivia glanced over at the woman. There was a bit of a challenging gleam in her eyes, as if she were daring her to do something about her pointing at her. According to the red head, she wasn’t in a rush to reach her grave. And yet she kept yapping in that angry tone of hers. She was quite the contradictory little thing, wasn’t she?

Unfortunately, Salem seemed to think that she and the red head both blamed their behavior on the church. But that wasn’t true in the least. Livi had never attempted to blame the church for her actions, simply for her being there. And she wasn’t necessarily upset about that either. She had simply been trying to assess the situation. She had only asked a some questions, made a few assumptions, and accidently lost a few knives. Was that really bad behavior? Livi certainly didn’t think so, she could have conducted herself in a hell of a lot worse manner if she had wanted to.

She didn’t open her mouth to correct the demon’s assumption. The fiery little red head had been so kind as to take his attention from her. It was only polite for her to let them proceed. She certainly didn’t want pissed off Salem’s attention. She watched as Salem rounded the table in silence. He came to a stop by the red head, whom he had called Madeline. There were a few words exchanged. And then Salem did something Livi hadn’t been expecting. Instead of striking or threatening the red head, he simply lifted her chin and kissed her. What the hell? Olivia blinked, not sure what she was supposed to think of what she was seeing.

But then she caught sight of something that was a bit chilling. Madeline was struggling against Salem but in time her movements grew weaker and weaker. Livi leaned in a little closer, her interest perked. What had just happened? The red head had so much energy before and now she just looked frail. She glanced over at Salem. He had done something to Madeline. Although, what it was she wasn’t sure. Livi looked back at Madeline, trying to the best of her ability to keep her face blank and apathetic. But it was hard. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t amused by the situation. If the red head hadn’t opened her big mouth when she did, that could have easily been her. She’d have to thank Madeline later. An amused gleam in her eye, Livi looked away from the scene. Her focus was diverted to her gown. Now that her face was cleaned up, she went about dabbing at the little puddles of blood on the fabric. All the while she bit into the inside of her lip, forcing herself to keep the laughter that so desperately wanted to come out suppressed.

[UmbraVitae]

#AE0C00
𝕺𝔲𝔱 𝕺𝔣 𝕮𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔰⊱

Hey! That was an accident! He wanted nothing to do with any part of her body when he had attempted to get his bag back. What had happened was a pure accident, damn it.

He continued to keep his eyes off her; hands staying in his pockets as he perhaps could frown to some degree. He didn't want to do a damn thing and what happened to her 'obedience?'... It was likely best that he didn't ask that in anyway. He didn't know how this woman's mind worked, he didn't want to know. He was more fearful, really. There just might be nothing that this girl held sacred to any degree and if that was true, he was wholly unsure what kind of person that would be. Because if nothing else, didn't she value her body and want to keep it away from others?

Her... offer of cuddling was not something he wanted to do at all; more so if her 'not behaving' deal still applied to this. Not that he was going to do it in the first place when didn't even trust her. She really was desperate for something, wasn't she? Perhaps the logical thing she should have wanted was freedom. But it did not seem to be that at all.

The red head visibly twitched when Ria had used the word 'lover.' A part of him believed that she didn't know the meaning to that word at all and he didn't really like when it was used carelessly. Love likely didn't mean a thing to Ria, but it did mean a lot to him. "Don't say that word unless you actually mean it." He said lightly before he finally turned his eyes to look at her. Well, just her face. He refused to look any lower. "Why don't you care about what you do?" He asked quite seriously as he looked at her. Was he one to be giving a lecture? Likely not. He wasn't a saint, but that didn't mean he was some absolutely bad guy. Even for it all, he still had morals.

"Why are you so insistent on this?" Soren would like to be wrong about his thoughts about her, he really would. But really, he never met a girl like her before. In part, he wondered if she just truly didn't care or perhaps thought herself worthless. Either way, both wasn't a good way to go about anything.

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tab tab W̙̟͉̦̗̩̾̋̇͑͌̋ͬ͌͆͑͊̿̉͗̈́i̪̫͍̩͉̖̗̬̼͍̫̤͍̻̰̤̟̬͆̅͐ͤ̇̋̓͐͆ͬ͗ẗ̼̱̫̳͕̥̞͔̩́̆̾̐̌͐ͨ̿ͥ̓̅h͕͍͚̫̳̖̙̻͈̮̣͔̤͈́͌ͧ̓́̔̑͐ͯ̀̚̚: Aradia
tab tab tab tab tab tab A̪̬̪̯̜̱̠̤̪̤̠̠̙͒̋ͪ̈̐̍͒ͯ̔̚̚ͅt̳͍̠̗̞̺̺͇̭̼̱̯̘͚̏̆̽ͦ̎̍̈̀̆ͭ̚ͅ: Ria's room