Ьlaring șilence [o/f]

[The Defective Doll]

Greyson
xxxxI swear to God we've been down this road before...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe guilt's no good, and it only shames us more...

Michael
xxxxAnd the truths that we all try to hide,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxare so much clearer when its not our lives...

Endere
xxxxxxxxxOur promising lives, are full of empty promises...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTemptation's falling and calling you home again

Grey shook his head to refuse the offer of the cigarette. He leaned back against the heavy door, crossing his arms over his chest and just quietly listening to what Jonathan had to say, from comments about his behavior, straight up to Anna's funeral. Grey hung his head, not really keen on talking about it. It was hard enough for him to accept, that such a sweet little girl had been snuffed out like a candle flame in a windstorm. He knew he should have gone to the funeral...but he just couldn't. It was something he just couldn't face. Especially when he and Jonathan didn't see eye to eye. How the hell was he supposed to go to that funeral? See all those people who knew and loved her, when he was just the kid that came over when he was with Kai and the rest of the group? It wasn't like he and Jonathan were close, so him being close with Anna would be seen as creepy. At least, now, he thought like that.

"Look..." He sighed heavily, leaning his head back and staring upwards at the sky. "It's not that I didn't want to. I just...couldn't. I couldn't go in there and see her like that. I'm not that strong. I still sort of pretend she grew up and went to college or something. And it's not like you and I are best friends or anything. I didn't want to show up and somehow make it worse. Don't act like I skipped it just to spite you...because I didn't." His explanation was short but invariably honest. He might not be best buddies with Jonathan, but he tried to be honest. Tried was the key word, because some things just weren't acceptable for him to put out into the open.

He decided to peel the conversation back to their friends. "I dunno what you're going on about with Davik. He seems okay to me. A little cranky and blind, but that's about it. Maybe I'm bad at gauging people." Grey shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. It wasn't important. He and Davik always got along for the most part. At least, he liked to think so. "Maybe it's not him with the stick in his a**," Grey shot Jonathan this pained grin, hinting that Jonathan was the one with the attitude without saying it.

"Kailee has one, too. If you notice, she hasn't shut her damn mouth since we got here. At least, since I've gotten here. Following you around like a lost puppy dog. Probably a placebo till her husband shows up." There he went with that sardonic grin of his again. Grey could be quite bitter when he wanted to be.

"Winter seems off, too. She looks tired. But at least she's not acting like a rabid animal. The ******** happened before I got here? Did everyone get into a pissing match before I showed up?" Grey was never this inquisitive. It was his nerves, it was trying to dance around his own problems that was making him act this way. He really needed a drink. No, actually, that would make it worse. Yikes.

I'm sorry, if we've let you down....

Won't you believe in this lie with us all?

[Corifish]

Jonathan Brian Clouse

●So I'll blame it on bad luck, And I'll say a hard life did this to me●

You don't even bother anymore
You cut to the bone
Pick up the phone
To hear my swan song but I'll admit I'm impressed
By your vanishing act
Place your bets on your best guess
Of when you're coming back

Jonathan gave a sad chuckle at Grey’s comment about her going to college. He shook his head no. “Dude, she’d be twelve now if she were alive. I doubt even she was that smart…” He shut his mouth and kneeled down, resting his back up against the house as he took a long drag, listening to what Grey had to say. Grey tried to explain that it would be weird if he had shown up. Jonathan shook his head no. “Grey, Anna would have WANTED you to be there… Trust me on this one…I’m sure she would have loved to see you there.”

He gave a huff at the stick up his own a**. He blew out the smoke, and laughed slightly. “No offence dude, but it seems like Davik has some issues, aside from the being blind part. He snapped at Winter before you showed.” Jonathan took another drag. “Almost got into a fight with him over it.”

Jonathan then froze when Grey had brought up Kai’s husband, and how Jon was just a temporary replacement for him. Jonathan wanted to say something mean, something just to get Grey mad. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He just shook his head no.

“Kai can do whatever she wants. She’s the one running the show tonight.” He mumbled. Jon wondered if Grey remembered that he liked Kai. Jonathan was sure he did, considering he brought up Kailee’s husband. To be honest, Jon had almost forgotten about him. It seemed like so long ago when she got married. Man was a b*****d anyway. What hurt Jon more was the fact that Grey was comparing him to Kailee’s rat b*****d of a husband. But boy, what Jon wouldn’t do to be the one who married Kai.

He felt this warmness in the back of his head, something he hadn’t felt because Eric was good at suppressing Anna, but maybe because he was talking to Grey she was starting to come around.
“Dude…. Honestly… I miss her….” Jonathan mumbled, pulling in one last large drag into his lungs and then putting his cigarette out on the floor.

Abandon the people who shaped who you are
Selfish and thoughtless, you drown in the dark
I hope that you realise the damage you've done
You could not see light even staring at the sun

[Zephyrantha]

Look at me behind the scenes.

Look at how I pull the strings.

Look at how they follow me:

Control the heart, control the king.

Greyson practically squeaked when she sat on his lap. Why? It hadn't been that long since they'd all seen each other, had it? His bright red cheeks spoke for themselves, though, and then he shoved her off his lap, onto the couch. Hazinyul crossed her arms and pouted at him. Was that manipulative? Probably. Making herself cute to convince him to do something he didn't want to do... yeah, definitely. Hazinyul smiled at him instead and tucked herself against the arm of the couch, curling her legs up beneath her. Grey said that it was good to see her, but he didn't look very glad. "Lighten up, Grey," Hazin laughed, "I'm not going to bite! I promise." He explained what she'd missed. Kailee and Jonathan came back, but Jon left again and Grey went with him, leaving the room pretty much silent. Hazinyul looked over her friends again. They all looked different. Maybe not different like Jonathan did, with his new tattoos, but they looked more grown up. Kailee looked like always, but Hazinyul didn't think she really felt as good as she was acting. No one did, when they acted that cheerful, and she should know. Winter looked so tired and Davik looked wary, angry. Hazinyul eyed the alcohol on the table. She'd had some before and didn't particularly like it. Anyway, she wasn't twenty-one yet. She could stick to the law for another month.

Hazinyul snatched a bottle of beer off the table and got up, crossing the room toward Davik. He'd obviously be able to hear her getting closer - she could hear her own footsteps, so he would certainly be able to. His face closed off with every step she took and his eyes narrowed. He was treating her as a hostile, and he'd certainly act hostile if he thought he needed to. Hazin had been learning about how to deal with that for practically her whole life. It wasn't even something she'd just learned anymore, something she would have to stop and think about. It was second nature to analyze a potential threat and find a way to diffuse it. "I'm going to touch a bottle to your arm," she warned, her voice a bit quieter than usual, just a little more gentle. If she wasn't a threat to him, he wouldn't be one to her. She could deal with that. She held the top of the bottle's neck and touched the bottom against his arm so he could find it. Once he had it in his hand, she retreated to the kitchen to find some soda.

A minute or so later, Hazinyul returned to the living room with an open can of Sprite and took the same seat Grey had shoved her into. She curled into the couch again. "So what's new?" she asked, hoping to dispel the silence. "Am I the only one still in school?" Her sweater had slipped down her shoulder again, so she tugged it back into position. Davik's dog was sitting hopefully at her feet. With some coaxing, Hazinyul convinced it to jump onto the couch beside her. The sweet puppy curled up with her chin on Hazin's knee and the small girl scratched her ears with alacrity.

[Zephyrantha]

.:~If [S E E I N G] is believing then I don't believe in [you]~:.

Someone was shouting upstairs. Davik tipped his head back slightly, as though he were staring through the ceiling to see what was going on. When Kailee wondered aloud, he drawled, “Jon’s swearing at himself. He’s not being very creative about it, either.” Then he frowned. That last word had been a name, although he hadn’t caught what it was. People pronounced names a certain way because names were meant to draw attention. But it’d had the cadence of a two-syllable name, which ruled out Jonathan or Jon. Unless he’d started using a strange nickname for himself, there was someone else around. Kailee went to check it out.

“There’s nothing in the basement,” Davik said to the world at large. “Big, empty, smelly room. Nothing down there at all. Wasn’t worth the bother of going down the stairs, really.” Grey told him that the chav remark had been a joke – so he didn’t know what it meant after all. Davik didn’t even grace that with a response, just scowled in his general direction as Hazinyul breezed into the room in a cloud of cheerfulness and energy. God, he was going to die. There was no way he could put up with so many people for an extended period of time, especially if they continued to insist on being so… chipper.

Grey asked where all his charm had gone. “Left it with my sight on a bloody island other side of the ocean,” he answered flatly, nothing in his voice indicating that the subject could be up for further discussion. “If you want to date high school girls, be my guest. The rozzers might have something to say, though.” Something someone – probably Hazinyul, since she settled in Grey’s vicinity – did freaked him out, but he couldn’t really tell what had happened. Well, sod it. He didn’t care enough to ask. People shuffled around a bit, Grey told him not to kill anyone (Davik only grunted at the stupidity of this order) and then left him alone in the room with the girls. Well then. Hazinyul got up and headed toward him with deliberate steps, slower than usual for her but no heavier. His glare intensified the closer she got – honestly, could she be any more stupid? – but instead of trying to sit down and cuddle, she told him what she was doing. A second later, he felt cool glass touch his arm and, surprised, took the bottle. She went back to wherever she’d been. Davik twisted the top off and took a swig, not sure what else to do. He didn’t say anything, though. He didn’t want to give the impression that he was grateful or would, God forbid, welcome further intrusions into his personal space.

“So what’s in the basement that we have to leave alone, Kai?” he asked, ignoring Hazin’s questions. If the dog got it into her thick head that being on the couch was alright, he was not going to be happy. The last thing he wanted was a bundle of slobber and fur cuddling up to him all the time.

You can whine until your mouth dries up
You can hang your head and wonder why
You can die or you can stand upright
And never go down again.

.:~Davik [A R I A N -- Byw ]~:.xxxxxxx
xxxxxx

[S T A T i C H0RR0R]

SPAAACEｗｉｎｔｅｒ ｍａｙ ｅｓｔｒｅｍ



Come on skinny love justlast the year,
Pour a little salt, we were neverhere
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer
In the morning I'll be with you, but it will be a different kind
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall
Come on skinny love what happened here?

The meds made everything a little foggy, the yelling from upstairs, Kailee disappearing to investigate it. The arrival of Hazinyul - however Winter did note how she so aptly chose to settle herself in Greyson's lap. It made her uncomfortable...until he suddenly seemed to freak out and shoved the girl away from him, his cheeks flaring in such a way that they might have done in junior school, when his crush accidentally brushed his hand. The thought made her smile to herself, though it was a pained smile. Winter had never understood Hazin's ways, why she felt it necessary to drape herself all over the male company. She shifted in her chair and averted her eyes, feeling slightly better at Hazin's hurt look. Wait, what was that feeling...jealousy? No. It couldn't be, that was ridiculous.

A scowl settled itself on the blonde's face as she watched Jon and Kai reappear in the room, only for Jon to disappear quickly with Grey. She watched as Hazin approached Davik, and chose not to warn her...though she wasn't entirely sure why. But to her amazement, Davik took the bottle and made no other reaction. She frowned again, familiar feelings from high school emerging. It was ridiculous. She mentally scolded herself as she pushed the thoughts away, watching as the petite brunette settled herself back on the sofa with the dog, asking about what was going on, and listening to Davik talk about the basement. "I'm going for a smoke." she muttered darkly, pushing herself to her feet and leaving the room. But she had gotten up too fast and the room span for a moment, causing her to steady herself on the doorframe before disappearing out the front of the house. ********. She was so tired.

Pulling out a carton of cigarettes she placed one between her lips and lit it. What? It wasn't like she was dying from lung cancer...and the brain tumor would get her long before cigarettes ever had the chance to. She caught her name being said and turned to find Jon and Grey. "Who snapped at me?" she asked without thinking, edging slightly closer to them. "What? Davik? That was nothing Jon, give the guy a break." she nudged him gently with her foot and looked between the two as she took a long drag from her cigarette. She didn't even enjoy them that much, it was just a like big ******** you to her tumor. "Since when did you two start braiding each other's hair and sharing secrets?" she teased, grinning at them both.

[The Defective Doll]

Greyson
xxxxI swear to God we've been down this road before...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe guilt's no good, and it only shames us more...

Michael
xxxxAnd the truths that we all try to hide,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxare so much clearer when its not our lives...

Endere
xxxxxxxxxOur promising lives, are full of empty promises...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTemptation's falling and calling you home again

Grey shrugged his shoulders, "Shuddap, I can pretend if I want to." He responded softly, a wry smile on his face as he thought of Anna, all grown up. At least, old enough to give you a hard time and gray hair." Grey laughed to himself, his gaze still pointed up at the angry looking sky. The weather really didn't wanna break and give them sunshine, did it? Then again, they were in a creepy town in the middle of nowhere. Kai really knew how to pick them. He closed his eyes and tsk'd when Jonathan made a remark about Davik's attitude and snapping at Winter.

As if on cue, she appeared with comments about them being outside together. He opened his eyes and turned to look at her, grinning crookedly at her. "We're talking about cranky pants in there," he responded to her question about Davik, and shrugged his shoulders. As far as him being buddy-buddy with Jonathan? Not in a million years. Not even if there was a serial killer in the house.

Okay...maybe if there was a serial killer in the house. Then, and only then. Grey's thoughts sure wandered far.

"Nah, no hair braiding here, just Jon being a worry wart." He teased, sticking his tongue out and sort of trying to break the tension that had built. He crossed his arms, gazing out at the long stretch of lonely road that stuck out in the middle of the woods that led to the manor. It really was kind of creepy, how far they were from civilization. Greyson decided not to mind it too much. He turned and smiled a little at Winter, a little more at ease now that they were in their own space, and outside. It was a little chilly but it kept everyone at a comfortable distance.

"What's the matter Winter? Did Hazin decide to ambush you, too?" He teased gently, raising his brow. She had rushed out there rather quickly, just as he and Jon had left. "Or is Davik being a p***k? Do I need to go rough him up and call him bad names I don't know the meaning of?" He smiled widely so his teeth showed, a goofy grin that he had practically trademarked in high school.

I'm sorry, if we've let you down....

Won't you believe in this lie with us all?

[S T A T i C H0RR0R]

SPAAACEｗｉｎｔｅｒ ｍａｙ ｅｓｔｒｅｍ



Come on skinny love justlast the year,
Pour a little salt, we were neverhere
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer
In the morning I'll be with you, but it will be a different kind
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall
Come on skinny love what happened here?

A shiver ran down the blonde's spine as she settled herself on an old worn down step. Yes, she felt much better now that she was sitting down. Stubbing out her cigarette, she rolled her eyes at Greyson. He always had to make a joke out of everything. Winter was a little worried about Davik truth be told. "Don't be so mean about him." she muttered quietly. The young woman always did have a soft heart and whilst she could be cutting when necessary, she couldn't bring herself to be nasty without good reason...most of the time.

Her expression darkened at the mention of Hazin, though she said nothing, simply wrapped her arms tighter around herself. "It's bloody cold out here." she muttered. "Why are you two out here anyway? Burning questions that can't be addressed in front of everyone?" she teased, squinting up at the two men in front of her, only to see something flicker across Jon's face that suggested she may have hit a nerve. Her smile quickly faded as she got to her feet. "I'm sorry did I interrupt? I ********] there went her balance again, as she grazed her palm along the rough brickwork to try and steady herself. "Headrush." she giggled. ******** meds. She needed a lie down, but refused to give in. "Jon are you alright?" she frowned over at her friend who seemed unusually quiet.

[Corifish]

Jonathan Brian Clouse

●So I'll blame it on bad luck, And I'll say a hard life did this to me●

You don't even bother anymore
You cut to the bone
Pick up the phone
To hear my swan song but I'll admit I'm impressed
By your vanishing act
Place your bets on your best guess
Of when you're coming back

Winter had questioned him if he was okay, snapping him out of his thoughts. Maybe he had just lost track of time. He looked Winter in the eyes, when she suddenly got woozy. Jonathan had a concerned look on his face. He wasn’t a doctor or anything, but being a tattoo assistant, he could tell when someone wasn’t feeling good, aside from just a common cold or something. He was used to helping people who had gotten head tattoo, or feet tattoos. Mostly people with head or face though got woozy like her. “I should be asking if you’re the one who’s okay.” He said, standing up. He walked over to her and touched her arm softly.

“Let’s get you into bed so you can rest.” Jonathan looked over at Grey. “We can finish talking later. We have a few more things I want to talk about.” He said, looking back to Winter and giving a smile. “I’m sure you’re just tired from the trip. Hell, I’m sure we all are.” He gave a chuckle, rubbing his head. “I know I’m tired myself.”

He smiled. Winter was a nice girl, and Jonathan never had any issues with her. Sure, he never thought of her as more than a friend. Hell, Kai had taken up most of the space concerning girls. But she was cute. A little on the small side, but still cute. He walked over and opened the door for her, giving a smile.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed. We have a while to all play catch up anyway.”

Abandon the people who shaped who you are
Selfish and thoughtless, you drown in the dark
I hope that you realise the damage you've done
You could not see light even staring at the sun

[The Defective Doll]

Shipwrecked by a sea so stormy
I'm lost but I'm never lonely,
I follow my heart through it all...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxκailee ɱay ϩerath

Arrival Clothing!

Kai watched as Jonathan and Grey left together, something that put her on alert. The two never really got along that well, so just hopping off without a fight sort of caused some concern in her. But she didn't comment, instead, she just sunk into the couch and sipped at her drink. She was supposed to be excited! Her friends were here! But they were acting strangely...and that was not going to work, because if they noticed that she was off, as well, they were going to start suspecting her of things. Kai squeezed her eyes shut, listening to the short interaction between Hazinyul and Davik. It shocked her that he didn't snap at her, but then again, maybe she knew better how to approach the situation than Kailee did. She never was good at dealing with conflict. Definitely not her strong suit.

Davik was asking about the basement. Why, for the love of all that was right, did he have to keep bugging her about it? Kai groaned and rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers. "I don't know, Davik, they told me to stay out of there. Toxic mold and construction...asbestos...monsters...dead bodies...take whatever will keep your stubborn a** out of there as an excuse. Considering I got this place at such a fantastic price, I decided staying out of the basement was a decent trade off." To be honest, she hadn't really pushed it as far as the basement went. Basements freaked her out, anyways. They always smelled bad and had gross things living in them. That was why her basement was finished and completely clean at all times.

Kailee's attention flickered back to Hazinyul. School? Right, school. Hazin was one of the youngest. Kailee shrugged her shoulders. "I guess so. What are you taking up, anyways?" She finally sat up to properly acknowledge her friend, offering her a small smile. Her 'run around and tackle everyone' nerves had worn off and she was acting a little more natural. But something was still slightly off. Oh well. Everyone had changed, she decided to play it off as growing up. Or at least she would try to.

Winter got up abruptly, and Kai couldn't help but tilt her head in confusion. What was going on with her? Was everyone generally miserable today? She sighed and slumped down into the couch, defeated, snatching up a bag of chips and tearing into them. She would make this work, if it killed her. And maybe it would.


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I'm beat but I can't be broken,
These scars on my heart I own them,
Dark days when my will was stolen...
I can bring it back!

[The Defective Doll]

Greyson
xxxxI swear to God we've been down this road before...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxThe guilt's no good, and it only shames us more...

Michael
xxxxAnd the truths that we all try to hide,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxare so much clearer when its not our lives...

Endere
xxxxxxxxxOur promising lives, are full of empty promises...
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTemptation's falling and calling you home again

Grey frowned, watching the situation unfold in front of him. Winter was clearly interested in what had dragged the two of them into the bitter cold together, and he really wasn't in the mood to discuss it. Hell, he wasn't in the mood to discuss the situation at hand with Jonathan to begin with. He crossed his arms, only really budging when Winter got up and just as quickly stumbled.

"Oi, you," he said, raising an eyebrow at her. "You gonna make it?" Grey was always pretty short and subtle when it came to asking the hard questions. Thankfully, Jonathan swooped in, able to take charge of it and sort of leading Winter indoors. "Behave. Both of you. I've gotta go put my stuff away." He made a motion with his fingers, motioning from his eyes to Jonathan. It was mostly a playful motion, but he didn't trust him as far as he could throw him.

Though, Jonathan was kinda skinny. Greyson started to contemplate the possibility of tossing Jonathan across the room just to see how far he would slide. He really didn't hate Jon, he just found it more fun to mess with him than to be buddy-buddy with him. Grey slid past, grabbing his bags from the hallway and jogging up the stairs. He chose his bedroom, finding one that was decorated in several different shades of green.

Greyson set his bags down, pausing and sitting at the edge of the bed. It was bizarre, trying to act like they were all in high school and nothing had changed. Some things hadn't. He still wanted to punch Jonathan. He still had really confused feelings about Winter that he would never be able to express without seeming like a creep.

But some things had changed that he would never be able to talk about with his friends. They would think he was a monster, and he knew that the girls would never be comfortable with him again. He wasn't like that. He would never consciously do that to anyone. He would be the first to rip apart anyone to do something like that to anyone he loved. Greyson couldn't make the connections in his mind. That night felt like a bad movie he had watched.

Grey dragged himself out of his thoughts, conflicted. Part of him wanted to go and check on Winter, not sure if Jonathan actually took her to her room...or if she had been stubborn and brushed him off. He decided to wait it out, leaning back and staring at the ceiling.

I'm sorry, if we've let you down....

Won't you believe in this lie with us all?

[S T A T i C H0RR0R]

SPAAACEｗｉｎｔｅｒ ｍａｙ ｅｓｔｒｅｍ



Come on skinny love justlast the year,
Pour a little salt, we were neverhere
Staring at the sink of blood and crushed veneer
In the morning I'll be with you, but it will be a different kind
Cut out all the ropes and let me fall
Come on skinny love what happened here?

And this was why she hated the meds; they made it so difficult to hide anything from anyone. She shook her head as Jonathan made a fuss – something that she had always hated. ”Ooop. Headrush!” she giggled again. ”See what happens when I go too long without a cigarette?” Winter was good at talking, talking about anything and everything, anything to create a distraction, but even Grey glanced across at her and made a comment, causing her face to darken slightly.

Bed? No! She didn’t want to go to bed, that was the last thing that she wanted to do. Her lips pursed slightly as a pinched look crossed her face. But really, she knew that it was best to give up while she was ahead. If she pushed herself too much then she would be bed-ridden for days, and then people would really start to wonder what was going on with her. Heaving a heavy sigh, Winter shrugged and followed Jonathan into the house, but when he made to help her upstairs she batted his hands away. ”I am not eighty years old thank you dear.” she grinned at him. ”I’m just a little run down that’s all.”

It took a lot of effort to climb the stairs. Why were there so many anyway? But eventually, Winter made it to her room, closing the door gently and drawing the curtains. Just a little nap, just to restore some energy and allow the effects of her medication to wear off. Yes. Just a little nap. She climbed into the huge bed fully clothed, welcoming the comfort and the pillows beneath her head. As she lay somewhere halfway between sleep and consciousness, she could have sworn that she heard someone moving in the bedroom next to her. And then suddenly she was up, up and awake, coughing up a lung. Smoker’s cough, not made any better thanks to her shitty immune system. God, her head hurt. Yes, sleep was definitely on the cards. Whether she liked it or not.

[The Defective Doll]

Shipwrecked by a sea so stormy
I'm lost but I'm never lonely,
I follow my heart through it all...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxκailee ɱay ϩerath

Jammies!

Conversation slowed. Things grew quiet and Kailee eventually slipped away to unpack her things, giving everyone time to settle and just get used to the house. She was in her room, and some time had passed. It was night time now, and completely dark outside due to the now angry sounding storm raging outside the window. By now, Kailee had changed into her pajamas and let her hair down out of its ties that kept it away from her face.

All was calm. They didn't all need to be up each others' asses to be having a decent time. Kailee shoved the last of her luggage to a corner in the huge room, shoving the remainder of her clothing into one of the large wardrobes. Her clothing choice really didn't flow well with the elegance of the manor, but it was pretty much hers for the next few weeks, so she had all rights to be a messy twenty something year old if she wanted to.

Maybe she should go and check on the others. Maybe some were in bed. She wasn't sure how everyone's sleep schedule went lately, particularly with the long trip out to the manor. Kai sat on the edge of her bed now, gently humming to herself, barely hearing it over the boom of the ever present thunder outside. It almost sounded like the storm was trying to break into the manor. It was a strange way to think about it, but Kailee wasn't exactly a cookie cutter person. Boom. The thunder rattled her windows and Kai laughed to herself. Well it certainly wanted her attention. She wrapped her arms around herself, looking around and playing with the edges of the sleeve of her sweatshirt.

"Gonna take a lot more than that, storm!" She called out playfully, mostly entertaining herself. She laughed about it, until suddenly the lights went out. Full on darkness. Full on lack of light, lack of sense, lack of where she was. Kailee froze. Of course. The damn storm had caused the power to go out and the caretaker wouldn't be there until morning. Kailee rolled her eyes, slowly getting up and making her way towards the door that led to the hallway, bumping into quite a few things along the way. Holy s**t, how did Davik manage? This was miserable. "I got this," she murmured, irritated, to herself as she maneuvered and somehow managed to find the door.

"No worries, guys, I'm gonna go flip the breakers or something. I'll be back. Nobody break a limb while I'm gone." She called out, unsure of who was awake and where. For all she knew, they could be downstairs. Kailee nervously moved out into the hall, hating the sensation of being unable to see. The lightning would light up the room from time to time, but other than that, she was screwed. The manor had a strange feel to it at night...something was wrong. Even during the storm, she smelled dirt and roses. It made her gag for a moment, before she continued her quest towards the stairs. Kailee grabbed the banister like it was a cord to her life, and slowly, carefully, inched her way down the stairs.

Seriously, how did he do this? Kailee really wished she had light, but her cell phone only provided a few seconds of light, and the idea of a flashlight had gone over her head when packing for the trip. After a few minutes of fighting with the stairs, she tentatively put her foot on the bottom step. Success! For now. In the darkness, which was quickly closing around her, she fumbled around, trying to find walls and things to touch to guide her way. As much as she hated it, she had to go to the basement. One visit to flip the breakers wasn't going to kill her. She hoped. Kailee grimaced, clutching her phone in some dismal attempt to see in the dark. This was ridiculous. What was she doing?

Going to the basement, apparently. The smell of dirt overwhelmed her. Disgusting, no wonder they didn't want her down there. Kailee bit her lower lip, knowing that this was her only option. Either this, or have everything in the freezer melt. Gross. Kai took a sharp breath, and grabbed the basement door. It flipped open with no resistance, and she was hit with a wave of the stench of wet dirt. Dear god, who would want to go down here? Kailee wrinkled her nose and started her descent. With each step, the smell got worse, to the point that she wondered if it was safe to inhale this stuff. Well...she would have to risk it, because she didn't want to spend the rest of the night in the dark.

The basement was horrid. It was just a damp, dirt smelling, room of dark and gross. Why the hell did it smell like roses down here? Kailee couldn't see what her bare feet were touching, but it felt...soft? She made a face, but continued, blind, through the basement. The storm raged on, but now she was in dead darkness. It scared the crap out of her. She never was the superstitious type, but there was something in her stomach that dropped with each step. Her heart raced as she kept stumbling over things and bumping into the walls, desperately trying to find the circuit breakers.

It took her quite a long time to finally find the box, holding up her phone and pulling the breakers. Nothing. She glanced at the basement door, seeing no light creeping from under the door. This meant it hadn't worked. Damn. Maybe they were going to have to deal with darkness until the caretaker got there in the morning. Whatever, so long as she got out of that basement. Kailee coughed, feeling the wet air starting to creep into her airway. It was gross. It tasted bad, it smelled bad, and it was making her far too uncomfortable. The air felt like it was wrapping around her, grabbing her and squeezing her...

No, her imagination was getting the best of her. Kailee stumbled through the basement, desperate to get up the stairs and out of the basement. When she reached the door, though, it wouldn't budge. The doorknob wouldn't turn. The door wouldn't move, no matter how much she slammed her body against it. ********. "Guys? Guys?! ********! The door won't budge!"

Well, this was the beginning of a fun night.


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I'm beat but I can't be broken,
These scars on my heart I own them,
Dark days when my will was stolen...
I can bring it back!

[Zephyrantha]

Look at me behind the scenes.

Look at how I pull the strings.

Look at how they follow me:

Control the heart, control the king.

Hazinyul slept soundly. She normally did, although she was easy to wake up. Kyllyng had taught her that, too. Just because she felt safe... didn't mean she was. At any time, she knew, someone might break into her room to try and kill her while she was unaware. And he would know; Kyllyng had been the equivalent of a policeman, or an assassin, in the village back in Hungary. He would know how they worked, how they fought.

But for now, Hazinyul slept soundly. She woke in the middle of the night, but not because some stranger had gotten into her room. It was the thunder that woke her. She came awake all at once and lay tense for a second, then relaxed and rolled out of bed to find her slippers. There was some kind of commotion in the hallway. Hazinyul opened her door and peered out... the hallway was dark. For some reason, there was a... quality, she supposed, about the darkness which unnerved her. "Guys?" Hazinyul asked. Her voice didn't tremble, exactly, but there was a subtle note which suggested her nervousness and vulnerability... And it didn't need to be there. She was trying to manipulate her friends again. It was such a habit now that she was doing it automatically, trying to make everyone think of her as small and frightened so that they wouldn't suspect her of anything. She cleared her throat and tried again, deliberately keeping her voice free of any such inflection this time. "Why is it so dark?"

Kailee answered, saying that she would go and flip some breakers. Was the power out? That explained it, then. Darkness was always much thicker when you couldn't do anything about it. She drew back into her doorway until she heard Kailee on the stairs, then stepped cautiously out onto the landing. "Well," she said after a moment of tense silence, "I suppose we could play Marco Polo now." Who else was even awake?

OOC //
New outfit, y'all.

[Zephyrantha]

.:~If [S E E I N G] is believing then I don't believe in [you]~:.

He had underestimated just how difficult it would be for him to sleep in a house with people he didn’t trust. Davik felt a moment’s quiet remorse as he thought that, but it passed quickly enough. After all, why should he trust them? It had been a long time and things changed. He had changed, drastically, since high school… why not the others, too? Perhaps they were just better at hiding it than he was. He’d locked both of the doors in his room – both the one leading to the hallway and the one leading to the bathroom he shared with Hazinyul – but still lay awake on the bed, his eyes staring unseeing into what he assumed was darkness. There was a storm outside, vaguely entertaining to listen to… He imagined the lightning which preceded the nearly constant rolls of thunder, punctuated with the occasional crash.

And then he realized with a jolt that he couldn’t imagine what the lightning looked like. He was imagining how the lightning had always made him feel, that little rush of adrenaline which accompanied it, but he didn't recall how it actually looked. He knew that it filled a room briefly with pale light so bright that he’d never wanted to look right at it, but he couldn’t imagine how it would have been if he'd actually been seeing it. What colour was the light, for a start? Was it yellow, or more sort of blue? Or purple? Could lightning be purple? Davik shivered. He wasn’t sure he remembered what purple looked like. He couldn’t pin down blue or yellow, either. Or white. That was by far the most disconcerting thing he’d ever experienced. What if, someday, he forgot what colours were entirely?

As if in answer, the thunder came again with a noise like paper ripping… if the sound of tearing paper could be loud enough to make his ears ache. A moment later, he heard Hazinyul’s voice in the hallway outside. Davik knew that, normally, he would have just ignored her and gone to sleep, but not today. Or tonight – whatever. He got up, falling easily into the casual stride that he had developed. As he opened the door, he heard Hazin ask about the darkness. “Is it dark?” Davik replied vaguely, turning his head as though looking around. “I hadn’t noticed.” Kailee had, though, and from her assurances, he realized that the power must have gone out. Davik took a step forward.

“If anyone’s likely to break a limb, it’s you on the stairs,” he drawled, but there was a sort of warning in his voice too. “I’ll go. I know how to keep from hurting myself.” But it was too late; she was already heading down the stairs and Davik wasn’t interested enough to push the issue. She’d be fine, anyway. Cwn Annwn’s tags jingled as she joined him on the landing. She jingled off toward where he assumed Hazin was standing. The youngest member of their little group suggested Marco Polo. Davik snorted. “You want to fall down the stairs and split your head open? Find a wall and stick to it. You’ll be getting dizzy in a minute.” Most people oriented themselves by sight. Darkness disoriented the body and made the surefooted stumble, even on level ground.

And just at the moment, Davik realized, he was the most capable person in this house. Now there was something to be smug about.

You can whine until your mouth dries up
You can hang your head and wonder why
You can die or you can stand upright
And never go down again.

.:~Davik [A R I A N -- Byw ]~:.xxxxxxx
xxxxxx

[Corifish]

Jonathan Brian Clouse

●So I'll blame it on bad luck, And I'll say a hard life did this to me●

You don't even bother anymore
You cut to the bone
Pick up the phone
To hear my swan song but I'll admit I'm impressed
By your vanishing act
Place your bets on your best guess
Of when you're coming back

Time had changed. Everyone had gone up to their respective rooms for the night. Jonathan though, he couldn’t stand the thought of being in that room after Eric had gotten a hold of him. Jonathan was spread out on the couch, an arm over his eyes, trying to get some sort of shut eye. The rain had picked up, and the thunder and lightning were becoming more of an annoyance than anything. Jonathan couldn’t sleep like this. He disliked the loud noises anyway. He rolled on his side, facing the little table where his glass of water, that he had gotten after getting up to come down in the first place. He grab it, sat up a little, and took a sip.

As soon as he sat his glass back on the table, the lights went out. Great. Just ******** great. Jonathan gave a groan, and rolled back onto his back, closing his eyes, just wish the darkness to go away and the light to come back on.

The darkness… Oh no no no. Jonathan quickly sat up and looked around the room. It was for this reason that Jonathan always left his tv on at home. The darkness called to Eric. And Eric had a habit of coming out when Jonathan least wanted him to. Jonathan stood, getting a little dizzy from how fast he did it. Jonathan heard chuckling from behind him, and he quickly turned around, but saw nothing.

‘Deep breaths. Deep breaths.’ He thought to himself, moving with arms open wide around the room, trying to find where to go. He heard voices from down the hall. It was Kailee and the others. Jonathan gave a smile of relief, and walked forward, but then felt something tug him back. He didn’t want to turn and look, but he had to…

‘Gotcha.’ Eric laughed, a force pulling him back into the sitting room. He fell on his back, making a loud crashing sound just as the roll of thunder echoed in the house. Jonathan tried to scream out, tried to get someone to help, but it was no good. Jonathan felt something holding his mouth shut. His eyes got clouded, and his heart was rushing. Eric was laughing like a madman inside his mind. There was nothing that Jonathan could do…


Jonathan’s body stood without him doing anything. His eyes were glazed over, and he easily walked with no hesitation on his footsteps in the dark. He was almost like a zombie. Jonathan’s body walked over into the main hall, where the stairs up were, and the stairs down were. His body stopped right in the middle of the room, not saying a word. He was still, creep still. His eyes were still glazed over as Eric was beginning to gain control.

Abandon the people who shaped who you are
Selfish and thoughtless, you drown in the dark
I hope that you realise the damage you've done
You could not see light even staring at the sun