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Thanes was quite careful as he slowly looked over the room. He recognized the vanity, which had attracted the girl, and then the balcony where he had thought there had once been a figure. That was the dangerous area, he supposed, paticularly as the clock assured the group the witching hour was drawing near. He avoided both areas, leaving them to the Forgotten they had attracted initially. His own attention fell onto the photographs. Almost against his will his hand groped into his pocket, pulling out the photograph he had found in the bucket earlier.

As he passed it, his hand set the old photograph down, instead gently picking up the vase.

What isss that for, Thaness? the Mimic daemon questioned. She stayed close to her other half's side, finding she liked the room less and less. Proud as she was, the whole adventure was beginning to become a bit too creepy. There was almost a quarter hour left before something happened. Of that, Thanes had been sure, and thus Rotary was as well.

"Weapon," the magician in training commented, keeping his tone quiet so that no one else might hear. He raised it again to respond to the still odd girl's question. "I want to be out of here by eleven."

Dimitri cursed at the locked doors, giving them a good shake on the off chance they were just stuck. He considered pounding them until they broke but threw that idea. No knowing how the House would act towards broken doors. Instead he leaned against glass that separated the room from the balcony and thought about what to do. He considered showing them the stamp but now didn't seem like a good time.

Remember agreed with him and looked at him, then darted her eyes towards the armoire. Di gave a nod, -Might as well.- He told her and began to head over the armoire, glancing at the clock again. Suddenly he stopped and looked at the clock again. The hands hadn't moved a hair. 10:42... Both thought, thinking it sounded familiar.

Of course! Triumph reigned in Dimitri's mind as his brain snapped the grandfather clock and the picture together. Remember flicked her tail in surprise. "Why would you want to be out by 11:00? The picture said to meet someone 'there' at eleven and since it was a picture of this click, I'd say there's a pretty good chance it might be here. Sure, the picture's old but we might as well stay." Dimitri explained his reasons, making it a considerably long speech to him. He rarely explained anything to anyone except Remember.

Instead, he walked over to the clock, looking everywhere to see if it opened, Remember standing to the side, feeling useless. "What time is it?" He asked in an off hand way, like it was somehow unimportant as he continued to explore the clock with his fingers.

For a very long moment in time, Thanes just stared at the other boy as though he was sure Dimitri was mentally disabled. He seemed almost surprised by the sheer morbid idiocy he found in the other's reasoning. For an instant, the wizard in training was definitely speechless.

"Brilliant," the Forgotten declared, if only to make the previous statement no longer true. With a last glance at the picture with a finger-print upon its surface, Thanes strode a step or two towards Dimitri. "Absolutely. Wonderful. Let's just wait here and hope it's all wonderful. Right. That's ever so intelligent."

As the boy moved so did his daemon, bat-like wings flapping as though she was quite frightened herself. Yet, in Rotary's mind she was merely attempting the complicated hand gestures that her other half currently was not capable of performing.

"Have you ever thought a little pessimism might be healthy for you?"

Thanes nodded quickly towards Sera as she commented on the time. It had not been long since her last requested time-check, but all the same it was getting closer to eleven. To the meeting time, or what the wizard himself had proclaimed the house's 'witching hour'. He went forward again, not stopping until he was right by the other male. His gaze shifted easily past the Forgotten onto something else.

"Stand back," he commanded, and without a second thought he pulled back his arm then let it fly forward towards the clock's glass face, vase and all.

The Master Bedroom

Something had indeed clicked under Dimitri's probing fingers, but he had little chance to act on the latch he found on the side 'repair' door of the towering clock. Moments later, the heavy vase was hurtling through the air, directly for the face.

As glass shattered against glass with a deafening smash, the repair door swung open...divulging its contents forcefully, as though they'd been held to long. Shards sprayed and tinkled from the face, reaching the rug the same time as the wadded fabric that tumbled out of the side door of the clock. It was a faded blue, smudged with soot...too crumpled at the moment to say what the cloth once formed. They didn't really have a chance to look.

"That was an...interesting...thing to do." A voice echoed from the balcony doors, behind them. They stood open now, a woman's form silhouetted against the still flickering sky.

As she stepped forward, her profile was clear. So similar to the woman in the photograph, but not the same. Couldn't be the same. Dark hair was cropped short, stylishly mussed. Her clothing was simple, pants and a sweater...all black aside from the vivid crimson scarf coiled round her neck. Her lips were the same shade of red.

"Don't worry, you won't be punished. This place has been abandoned, after all." Taking a step into the room, and another slow step, the woman lifted one of the silver frames from the mantle and stared down into the picture. "Take what you want, and go. I'm not particularly in the mood to talk..." Setting the picture back down, the woman let her dark rimmed gaze travel over reach of them. Her lips quirked with something less genuine than a smile. "...Nor am I particularly in the mood to babysit."

Turning to survey the wreckage upon the carpet, arms crossed over her thin chest, she paused with a tilt of her head. "It would be nice, though, if someone stayed...to help me pick up. You can decide amongst yourselves." She settled down silently on the arm of a chair, watching them all with a vague curiosity.

The echo of grinding gears cut the sudden silence. Pushing against twisted metal and broken glass, the hand of the old grandfather clock finally trembled...twitching into place with a foreboding click. The time on the clock...and on Sera's watch, if she cared to look...was 10:43.

Sera frowned. What Thanes was saying was quite rude! It was blatant sarcasm! What a jerk! Did he always look down on others or was this just an off day for him? The girl's eyes narrowed a little and she turned around before the boy was finished with his question about pessimism. "You're too pessimistic, Thanes! I haven't heard a single positive thing come out of your mouth except that 'good girl' comment back when I brought down the chandelier and nearly got us all hurt! And even then it wasn't exactly a positive remark! Would it kill you to be nice?! You're a paranoid, sarcastic, stuck up, disrespectful jerk!" The 'disrespectful' was added when the vase hit the clock. After she'd calmed down a bit her green eyes went wider than any human's eyes should open, her face growing pale as she realized what she'd just done. She put her hands on her cheeks and frowned again, walking over to Thanes with pleading eyes.

"I'm so sorry! So so so so so so soooo sorry! It's just that you really were being mean and then you destroyed that clock and I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!" The poor girl looked like she was about to cry! Sera gasped and turned on her heel at the unfamiliar voice, blinking and looking around. They weren't going to be punished for taking anything? So she could just take the entire jewelry box and he comb? Perfect. With a sniffle the girl turned away from Thanes and walked back to the vanity to pick up the box and comb.

"I'll help too." The girl said quietly, tucking the jewelry box and comb safely in her bag. They just needed a broom and something to put the glass in.

Seduire was just standing by the vanity staring at Seraphine in shock.

The Master Bedroom

The clock continued to tick as the conversation progressed, and the woman with the red scarf rose impatiently.

"I'm sorry, apparently you're hard of hearing. One of you will stay...and if you cannot decide, I will aid you in your desicion." The steady tick of the second hand was loud, sharp and slightly irregular. Time, apparently, was of the essence.

Turning to stroll back towards the balcony doors, the woman paused...one hand on each open panel. Staring out at the storm for a moment, she finally sniffed and closed the doors in one swift motion. The lock clicked audibly back into place.

The time read 10:46.

Thanes kept back a growl, and then a comment he was sure would mentally disarm Dimitri for at least a few more moments. The last thing he needed was the other boy's sense of adventure getting the group into further trouble. The sound and words were withheld, though, if only due to the fact the young wizard had just been chastised by a very feminine young lady.

In all honesty, it made him feel very small. Sera reminded him somewhat of his guardian, but then again she yelled all the time. If it was possible, now that the boy was noticing the glass and the vase he still held...

He might have felt embarrassed. Just a tiny bit, and that was enough to scar his rather robust ego.

"While I appreciate your offers, again, this is my mess. I will stay behind," the male Forgotten insisted, tone dark though not as commanding as it had once been.