Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sitting at the desk in his room Corbin was waiting for the evening to arrive. He'd sat unable to sleep nor willing since he'd been unable to see Roan the prior night after his rounds on the mansion grounds. Mostly he was uneasy and there was little he could think to do to distract himself besides drinking and seeking a tool for engraving steel.

The latter he only thought of in the afternoon and was still working with the tools at hand.

Taking a swig from his bottle of whiskey he then took a long drag on his cigarette before butting it out. He then finished the final line of the engraved symbol on the flat side of his second flick knife. They weren't anything fancy, just tools he could augment with his blood manipulation, and if need be they were very disposable. That's where the engraving came into play, the same one he had engraved on his rounds and demonstrated in the TR.

Finally, night fell. He'd heard a variety of goings on within the mansion including the siblings, and even Nines. He had wanted to pull Nines aside and, quite frankly interrogate him about the Daemon that had reached him however, that would be anything but wise considering. So he let it be.

With the day gone though he could finally chase up the boss, so with the knives folded up and dropped in his pockets he took one last swig of whiskey and was out the door, heading for Roan's chambers where he'd knock, and await her call.

He had however very purposefully left the feather left by Amatsu in his room, convinced it wasn't unreasonable for Take to notice it with proximity, if he hadn't already, let alone reports of his behaviour during the perimeter check reaching Roan's ears.

If there was one thing that had been conspicuously absent in the last week, it had been any sight of Také. While Roan was indeed in contact with him, he simply wasn't as out and about as usual. There were good and obvious reasons for this, and in that respect Corbin had little to fear.

More over, there was a better reason as to why the feather wouldn't have caused much comment, though it was of course a moot point.


When Corbin reached Roan's rooms, the door was still open, and Roan still stood on the veranda. She was in low conversation with someone who was obscured by the curtains at the window. The conversation ceased as Corbin entered, and there was a sense of something leaving the immediate vicinity suddenly.
Turning, Roan walked into her room and picked up the untouched glass of vitae on her desk, proferring it to Corbin.

"Good evening Corbin. Everything alright?"

You know, being called a host makes it sound like you're a glorified tapeworm. So something tells me thats a door better left shut, locked, barred and forgotten. Sure, my foot and my mouth are fond friends it seems, but hey, I can live with that a whole helluva lot more readily than having worms. Not like there's a lo....

Nines paused. He was stood before the wall, his solvent-stained fingers clutching a rag and little else. On the workspace he had chosen the second of the two handguns was resting in pieces, neglected in his ramblings.

Shaking his head, he realized he had been drifting away from his intended purpose.

You know what? ******** it. You don't get to hear it. You're the one voice that can't guilt trip me into feeling shittier than I already am. Now ******** off and lemme concentrate; I'm trying to be nice about the toys I borrowed.

Returning to his bench, Nines began to sort through his self appointed task once again, this time fully aware of himself again. The last bits of spoken words were stated knowing he could potentially be overheard. Considering most folk in the mansion suspected he was crazy anyways, he found he didn't care if he confirmed the suspicions by muttering to himself.

.: In my language, we call people like you 'lyu camlur puidud'. 'Host' is merely the closest term your language has, and the one your own mind substituted in to what I said to you. After all.. I'm speaking to you in my native language, you're just 'hearing' it in English. :.

The daemon sounded indifferent as Nines spoke, and he replied before once again vanishing from Nine's consciousness. Again, there was that feelig of sudden vacancy, though this time it would be more akin to a sudden and unwanted ear pop, including the pain that could bring.

"I do not know what it said to you... but I am gravely concerned, sir."

Jan;s voice. Quiet as ever, calm, but his face depicted a look of extreme concern as he stood in the doorway.

"I generally find that I forget I am until someone points it out, sir. That being the thing with being insane, or crazy, or just inhuman. We are all, individually, just what we are, and that is our definition of normal.

The serial killer does not find anything strange about wanting to kill. That is normal to him. The vampire finds nothing abnormal about desiring blood. The ghoul and the zombie find flesh a stable meal, and the werewolf doesn't think twice about having one bed and one basket in which to sleep.

If you believe you are insane... then you are not. The truly mad do not even realise they have fallen. Sir is very much human."

It would be the first time Nines was likely to see a dark shadow within Jan. The quiet, withdrawn, almost background personna he normally had was shed for a few brief moments to reveal the truth of just what a ghoul IS, and what one as old as Jan becomes.

Then it was gone. Quiet, affable, easy to talk to Jan. The Lady's greatest asset for gathering information and insight.

"There always consequences to what one says, sir, but that can be a benefit too. I hear 'sorry' and 'can we start again' work wonderfully. As does refraining from repeating the same mistakes, prehaps?

That aside, as I would not presume to tell you your business,... what will you do if the voices continue? "

Jan smiled sardonically, knowing well he was indeed telling Nines his own business, and shouldn't be.
He sat down on a crate in the front of the armoury, facing Nines as he pulled off his gloves.

"If you wish to leave... do so. If you don't... act on it."

Jan met Nines' gaze easily enough with an impassive stare. He didn't move, meaning Nines would have to walk through the mans' personal space to leave, but nothing was keeping him here, having the awkward conversation.

"Her Ladyship had me do a lot of digging for you. The name should lead you to vengeance, is that's what you desire. But after that, then what? Every minute, her Ladyship closes off from you more. I fear she is rather scared of you. It has been many years since I last saw her patently hide."