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[Staircase x2; Rosc's is the only entry that counts for the game.]

When Sin moved away from them, then after a moment of starting at the mirror she was gone. Julian looked to her boilfriend, but the other demon was just standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. A glance at Rosc's hands... Julian wondered if the boil was less pale, would his knuckles be a lighter shade than the rest of his skin, near-white from clutching his arms so hard?

Well, the other boil hadn't moved, so Julian guessed it must be his turn.

He approached the mirror and...
And nothing happened. All he saw was his reflection.
"Huh? I d-don't get it..." he mumbled with a frown as his reflection frowned back. He could even sort of see Rosc in the background behind his reflection-self. Curious to see what made the mirror shimmer like it did, he reached out and touched it with one claw...
Recoiling back in horror as the touch sent circular ripples over the surface of the mirror, distorting everything in it.

WATER.
Julian's eyes became huge as the golden centers shrank in terror. The mirror was water, it even felt like water when he touched it! No! He couldn't go on, he couldn't go through that!
But his friends... What would they think if he had chickened out in a little haunted house? He already wasn't known for being the bravest student on campus. He was the one who hid in his room more often than not, who stuttered whenever he had to talk to anyone, especially ghouls.

But it was WATER. Memories flashed in his mind of the day Bran had pushed him into the family lake when he was six. It had been an accident, they'd just been playing, Bran hadn't known the water was too deep there, that Julian's wings were too large, too heavy, too coated in oils for him to even attempt to swim. Michel had been the one to come running. He'd been home on break from school, had heard Bran crying for help. Had dragged Julian out before they lost the youngest brother.
Their mother had kept him at her side for two weeks and sometimes wept quietly when she hugged him.

But Sin was gone. And Rosc wasn't moving.
It couldn't be real water, could it? N-no, it had to be fake. The teachers wouldn't let any real harm come to them... would they?
Not yet knowing what all had happened on the trip to the island, Julian took a slow, deep breath and held it before he launched himself through the mirror.

And felt a short sensation of cold water on his skin before he crashed into Sin and sent them both to the floor.

-----
Rosc didn't think he could move towards the mirror just yet. Sin was already gone and Julian must have taken some sort of hint, because he was the next one to approach the mirror. Rosc watched the boil touch the mirror before recoiling back and starting to shake. Whatever Julian saw, he was terrified. It took him longer to move than it had Sin, but when he did, the other boil literally launched himself through the mirror, as if he was plunging into a pool.

He almost had to wonder what Sin and her friend had seen in the mirror. It had clearly been more than either had expected, from what he had seen on their faces.
And now it was his turn. There was no doubt about that. He wouldn't turn back, not when Sin was on the other side. And especially after her timid little friend had enough courage to make it through. So he took a slow breath and approached the mirror, arms moving from his chest to his pockets. He expected to see himself at least.
But he didn't.

Instead, his aunt stood in front of him, a soft, tender smile on her face. She had been a beautiful woman, he could still remember the blonde of her hair, the amber color of her eyes. Her ears were more pointed than his were, her curls falling far down her back like his mother's had. She had been a thin woman, but not frail by any means, and when she opened her arms beckoning a hug, he could see her hands were clawed, the teeth that he glimpsed through her lips sharp and deadly.

His head turned away, his heart as tight as the fists in his pockets. He could feel his nails digging into his skin as he tried to relax. It took a moment, but he managed to finally look back at the mirror and the world stopped.
His aunt wasn't there anymore.
Sin was. She was reaching out to him, in the same pose as his aunt had been in moments before. And still her hands were clawed. She could hurt him, she could break him, she could even possibly kill him. Had he given her too much trust? Would she turn on him one day like the beautiful creature he had first seen in the mirror?

All he could do was hope, believe that she wouldn't.
Clenching his teeth tightly together, he walked into her embrace and through the mirror.

Only to see Sin and Julian on the floor. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened.

"And that's why we don't leap in small spaces," he said a little drolly, crossing his arms back over his chest, doing his best to stop his hands from trembling.

One by one his companions approached the mirror. One boil even turned and fled. Others stared at the mirror, their expressions turning into ones of trepidation. Worry etched over the faces of the crowd but not the strix. His expression remained placid, the smile etched into his features and his eyes wide. He let his friend's hand slip from his own one by one and he smiled wider as they each passed through.

Once his turn game, Ulmuka approached the mirror and tilted his head to the side curiously. Fears were not anything he gave much thought to. It wasn't that he was fearless by any means, it was just not a subject he'd ever put his mind to. He pondered for a moment whether he had a fear at all.. what happened it nothing showed up on the mirror's face? Would he be stuck in this house forever? That would surely be interesting!

The face of the mirror rippled and changed causing the strix to unevenly blink. His reflection adjusted. He wasn't in his human form but his natural one. He was a giant owl with fierce yellow eyes and a jagged beak. His feathers were white, cream, tawny and dark brown. He was a frightening sight, something no human would want to see outside of their window or swooping down on them in the night. He was full, fluffy and fierce... for a moment.

The boil's smile faltered as he watched it changed. The feathers thinned, the full form sunk into emaciation. The eyes dulled and the flesh sunk in until the once fierce monster seemed to shrink into starvation. Ulmuka gasped! Oh no! His fear seemed to be that he would be a failure.. as a monster. He would fail to sate his hungers, he would fail to make it to the human world. He would waste away into a skeleton. No longer beautiful and fierce.

He clapped his taloned hand over his mouth. He'd had no idea! His subconscious revealed this to him through the mirror? Taking a deep breath the image only seemed to reinforce the teen's resolve. Hie smile once more crept back up onto his face and he giggled his familiar screeching response. He would be the best monster. He would! Oh this school was amazing!

The mirrored surface cleared for him and with a cackle he stepped through. The strix seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Facing his fear had been more enlightening than he expected!

[Hallway]

The mirror was simple; no fanfare, no extravagant decorations, no overdramatic twists and curls. Nothing but a quiet mirror just large enough to keep Ren from trying to step around it. The surface was the only thing out of the ordinary; it was rippling silently, the silvery glass contorting in an oddly disconcerting way. Ren stood in front of it, hands left against his sides, the wavering, disembodied voice sending shivers of unpleasant anticipation up and down his spine. He had long since lost track of Jove; a gross oversight on his part, but Ren was morbidly transfixed on the mirror, unable to tear his eyes away from that glittering surface. He already knew what he was most afraid of; already knew what would appear grotesquely in that mirror should he step up to it: a pair of hardened, blood red eyes, a flash of wide, expansive wings, and a heavy feeling of disappointment mixed with hatred and anger. He had seen it all before, on the island; why did he have to see it now, again, here in front of everyone? Ren didn't know if he could face that fear again, but he was not about to turn around and walk away. Not here, not now. To face it meant passing, meant moving on, and slowly - very slowly - Ren took a hesitant step forward.

Just one.

It took him a few seconds of dragging in shaky breaths to take the next step, his hand clenched into a fist so tight his knuckles were beginning to turn white. But finally Ren moved further, his steps small and uncertain until he was finally in front of the mirror.

And there he was. The coldness of his gaze ripped into Ren, past his defenses, ripping down the carefully prepared and fortified walls as easily as if they were no more than pathetic cardboard fixtures. It was the look Ren always got from him; the only one he would ever get.

But something was different this time. The man in the mirror was beginning to change, beginning to twist and contort, his face stretching until it seemed to sag towards the ground. His fingers elongated and began to drip, pooling on the ground beneath him. He was disappearing; and so were the others around him that had appeared quietly, Ren's eyes flickering with panic and desperation to each figure. Emerald hair slid into nothingness while purple eyes blurred into oblivion. A glimpse of teal and auburn and then...

Nothing. Everything and everyone had simply...melted away, leaving behind only the faint scent of cinnamon and a heavy, suffocating blackness.

Ren did not move. He couldn't think, could hardly breathe, even. His fingers were trembling, clenching and unclenching subconsciously, as if he were trying to grasp something but not quite able to hold onto it.

Not Loki. You're not afraid of him anymore. What you're afraid of is -

The mirror shuddered, the glass shimmering. Then the silvery surface smoothed out, the blackness evaporating and Ren drew in a ragged breath of air, visibly shaken. But the mirror shifted, and quietly, his lips pressed together in a thin line, stepped around it and moved on.

((Hallway......more or less))


There was a buzzing sound in the air that roused the boil from its deep, deep slumber. It was a warm, comfortable place, he could tell that much, even if he didn't keep his eyes closed. For some reason he just didn't have the energy to open them and take a look around to find out why it felt so nice here.

He supposed it didn't really matter much, he was awake, that was enough right? The buzzing that woke him up like some kind of alarm faded away into silence but got replaced by a couple of sets of voices that sounded like it came from either side of him. Even thought he tried his best to reach out to them blindly, his arms came across nothing tangible, just air, and yet the voices sounded like it was no father than a meter away.

"Now what the hell was that?" a gruff voice said along the boil's right side, clearly pissed off about something.

"Yeah that was really scary!" the other voice said in reply, a bit more timid than the Baku that he met not long ago.

"Mutt, this is not the time to start thinking about ghouls, though she was rather cute." he scolded back, reading Damien's mind somehow.

"Uh, how did you know I was thinking about that, I didn't say it." he cried back indignantly, already wanting to punch whoever it was in the face, oh if only he had the strength to open them.

"you said it with your mind puppy!"the other voice all but giggled out before continuing on. "As for that mirror, that was pretty mean of it, using our fears like that."

"I dont fear nothing!" the other one growled out before he heard a distinctive huff.

It was starting to get too much for Demi to just stand there quietly, feeling as lost as a newborn pup, as he made his presence known.
"Wait a minute, Our fears? Who are you two, and where am I?" he barked out.

And promptly wanted to keep his mouth shut as he felt the stares the both of them were giving him, sight was not needed for such a reaction as they started to get more faint for some reason as the floor gave way .

"Why is he so Jacking dense, he should have figured it out by now."

"Language and one day he'll get it." the softer one cooed out before the other one went back into a fit and snarled at him.

"One day when we're all dead! Hey wake up so we can get out of here!"
was all he heard before everything went quiet again.

It felt like he was shot out of a cannon when he woke up, his eyes apparently were already open and staring at the brightly colored walls and a boil was next to him and Jack, did his head hurt. It felt like he did a drum roll right on top of his skull for an hour as he refocused of the boil and saw the light markings and the tail.

His voice felt groggy but it still worked. "Faint?' he groaned out before pressing his fingers along his temples. "What in jacking blazes happened?" he asked quietly, not wanting to hear too much noise and letting it make his headache get any worse. It was just so strange, he could try as he might, but memories of what happened right before his sudden blackout just vanished. it was upsetting to say the least as his tal flicked to the side in irritation.

All he could remember was a mirror and looking at it then.... then he was here, on the ground next to the were Tiger that looked just as frazzled as he himself felt. "hey, you alright man?" he said quizzically to Faint, before putting a unsteady arm on his shoulder, feeling concerned for the boil's well being. The were tiger was a guest on the school's grounds, and it was his duty as a student to make sure he was OK, even in odd situations like this.

[Staircase x2]

Rosc let out a slow breath when she released him, feeling a good bit better now that it was over. Much as she had passed a great test, it still had not been a very comfortable experience for him. Even as another wall inside of him began to crumble slowly, it was still something he would have to get used to if she wanted to continue.
Wounds like that were hard to heal.

"I'll admit it's more than I expected from this place. Whoever set up this house knew what they were doing," he replied as Sin linked arms. He reached over with his other hand and touched her shoulder lightly with the backs of his knuckles in a silent apology for earlier.
He smirked when she gave Julian a complement. No matter how hard she might like to try sometimes, when push came to shove she was always looking out for her friends, especially the little ones.

-----
Julian couldn't help but wonder after the short interlude between Sin and Rosc, the way the boil tensed up when she hugged him. Maybe it had to do with his wing. But Julian wasn't one to pry, he wouldn't speculate any more than that. He just kind of stuck his hands in his pockets as he wrapped his wings around himself again and shuffled his feet a bit.

But then it was over and Sin was ready to move on. He looked up in time to see her reach for him and place a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. He smiled a bit at her words, shuffling even more

"Th-thanks Sin. I d-don't think you're q-quite r-right, but th-thanks," he replied, took her hand in his and they started walking again.

[Hallway]

He breathed a sigh of relief as bright green pigment began to bleed into Demi’s eyes, and let go of him to rest his own forehead in his hands. Augh. This was stressful. What the jack. “When you looked in the mirror you freaked out pretty bad.” He looked up and tilted his head. “Don’t you remember?” Oh, he wished he didn’t remember what he saw. That would be too convenient.

He backed off so he wasn’t hovering over the boil any longer and rolled his shoulders, trying to get himself into functioning condition again. “I guess I’m fine. Feeling a little sick to my stomach. I’ll be able to keep going though. But how’re you feeling? Thought we’d lost you for a second.” He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. The challenges they were facing just seemed to be getting worse and worse. Where the staff of floresctival really this insane? … That was a stupid question. They most certainly were.

[Staircase x2]

Julian only caught a glimpse of whatever Sin had screamed at. And whatever it was, it had been fuzzy and small.
"You know, the rest of this place would probably be a lot more scary if half of the scary stuff didn't look like food- OH JACK!" He had started off mumbling the words when suddenly a bunch of sparkling pink butterflies burst out of a hole in the wall, fluttered in his face for a moment as he tried to swat them away, before they fluttered into another hole in the ceiling.

Still waving his hands about uselessly, his back pressed up against Sin's side, Julian blinked his eyes open again, finding the butterflies gone.
"I g-guess I was wr-wrong," he mumbled, straightening back up again and smoothing some of his feathers down.

-----
Unlike Julian, Rosc had seen the kitten, and when Sin screamed, he slipped his hand from her arm to her waist and aimed a kick at the fuzzy little beast. When it was gone and Sin had calmed, he relaxed his hold slightly before Julian exclaimed and he turned to see the butterflies. His grip tightened again and he used his other hand also swatted at the pests.

"At least they're not as bad as the mirror or those Jack-damn rabbits," he replied with a frown, still glad that he hadn't gotten all snuggly, or had someone get snuggly on him.