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 Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 7:43 pm
Gabrian was not in his room.
Ren knew this in his mind, even before he had spent a good five minutes picking the lock on the nix's door. It had been a little difficult, considering that it was the middle of the night, dark, and he had a pillow and a blanket stuffed under one arm, but after a little bit of fiddling he managed to push open the heavy wooden door and slip quietly inside.
The room was deserted; there was no sign of a nix nearby. In fact, more than just being absent of an emerald haired boil, it seemed to be distinctly lackign in other things as well. The fish tank that Gabrian slept in was empty, the lights off. There were books missing from the shelves, no clothes hung up in the expansive closet, and there was a thin line of dust on a few of the ledges.
Most importantly, it did not smell right. The air was stale - stagnant - as if nothing, or nobody, had been in here for a very long time. There was no familiarity in the air, no warm reminder of the person he wanted to see more than anything right now.
Ren scowled in the darkness. This was not how Gabrian's room was supposed to look, and it was certainly not supposed to be missing its primary occupant.
Where the Jacking hell are you?!
He stalked over to the bed. The sheets were drawn, the pillows neat, like n one had touched it for weeks, months even. Gabrian did not sleep in his bed, but Ren certainly did, and on occasion, LW and Alessa. The nix had gotten the bed for them specifically, after all, considering how often Ren had napped on the floor of his room.
Except now the bed was cold, the blankets stiff. Ren tugged them off irritatedly, mashing them into an untidy pile. He stared at it for a moment, as if internally debating, then climbed into the bed, flopping down on his back.
He could feel sorry for himself, of course. Sorry that the nix was ignoring him (even if he wasn't), sorry that he was here alone and cold instead of having the candles lit around to emit a warm, familiar glow. There was no sound of the fish tank gurgling away, no sound of the soft breathing of another person in the room with him.
Ren threw a pillow at the wall.
Damn you, Sir Snake, he thought, but the second pillow he pulled over his face, breathing slowly through his clenched teeth. He knew perfectly well just how...unorthodox his relationship with the nix was; knew just how often it was mistaken for something else, knew the strangeness of their closeness. But what he had with Gabrian was different than anything else, and Ren was certainly not going to explain it - not that he even could. There were really no proper words for that, for any of his relationships with Gabrian, LW, and Alessa. They were all special in their own way, all deeper than how it appeared to everyone on the outside.
Which was why he was suffering from Acute Nix Withdrawal Syndrome.
With a frustrated sigh, Ren rolled over onto his side, clutching his pillow to his stomach. His wings fluttered, pressing against his back, and Ren curled himself into a ball, closing his eyes for just a moment.
Where did you go?
And why aren't you back yet?
He did not realize he was falling asleep until it was too late.
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Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 8:45 am
It hadn't been easy for him to leave. Once upon a time, wouldn't have been particularly difficult to do so; he wouldn't have thought twice about it, really. However, when his parents had called him, asking for his assistance with some important family business, Gabrian had been... wary of leaving the school. The only (slightly) good point of the whole situation had been that he had just finished his exams with surprisingly good marks and the new 'year' had not yet started. It was mostly thanks to that, that the nix was able to pack up and go home, hoping to Jack that it would not take him ages to complete whatever the heck it was his parents wanted him to do. Apparently, upon arrival, he'd learned his sister had left to better herself; a different school, a new life and would be working her way into accessing the human world, which was all fine and dandy. Or at least in theory, for his sister's sudden lack of 'presence' in the house meant that those important tasks she took on while she was there were no longer being handled. Their parents had been unable to handle it alone and when the work had piled on them, they'd asked their son to come lend a helping hand. Thankfully, the paperwork had been filled, and he'd be able to lend a helping hand from campus henceforth. Their family would not lose face (which was extremely important to his parents, obviously), and Gabrian would be able to continue studying in Amityville. It was a win win situation, though the nix regretted having to leave on such short notice, not to mention the fact he'd missed the very start of the new year and he would, inevitably, have some catching up to do. Hoisting up a large box, he used his tail to fuss with his dorm room door, only to find it... unlocked. Granted, this wasn't particularly rare (or it hadn't been in the past) but upon his leave, he'd made sure to lock the room in order to ward off unwanted strangers, "That's odd, don't you think?" he peeked over his shoulder, where another large box was moving, seemingly on it's own. As the box stopped moving, two small heads popped up from behind it to stare up at their master; there stood two floresces, one ghostly in nature, the other sizzling and crackling with fire. They looked questioningly up at the nix and then over to the door, obviously not sure what the demon was referring to, "Right," he murmured as he pushed the door open with his tail, "You wouldn't know; you've never been here yet. Leave that box near the bed, would you? And don't fight!" His words stopped the two floresces, which had been in the process of hissing, arching and spitting at each other, no doubt attempt intimidation tactics. The fire floresce's response was to hiss slightly at his owner before helping the other pick up the box, carrying it inside with little difficulty. When both creatures arrived by the bed, they hoisted the box up and tossed it with little care over the covers. The resulting sound was not what was expected, and while the ghost floresce remain blinking on the floor, the fire one hissed loudly, climbing upon on top of the bed in a flash of red hued movement. He arched up, opening his mouth threateningly, almost like a serpent about to strike; there was no doubt this little mini was Gabrian's new watch dog. Thankfully, having set his own box on his desk, the nix saw the speedy movement out the corner of an eye and was fast enough on his feet to stop the floresce from striking, "Wait, wait, wait! NO!" he grabbed the mini just in time, and the creature struggled restlessly in his owner's grip for a few moments before giving up.
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Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:53 am
Ren had, for the most part, not slept entirely well. Restlessly tossing and turning in the familiar bed, he had been submerged in a sea of unpleasant dreams, most of which involved something terrible happening to either LW, Gabrian, or Alessa. Since his relationship with LW had started, their newfound romance making him deliriously happy, Ren had actually been sleeping relatively decently as of late, his nightmares subsiding.
At least until he’d seen that damned pendant again. Then it was like reliving the entire experience.
He hated Arel for having it – why, of all things, did it have to be that? Why couldn’t the secretary have been holding something else?
Like a bouquet of flowers. Or maybe a pumpkin.
Knowing he was being quite ridiculous, and slightly loopy, Ren drifted in and out of sleep for several hours, his head spinning, his mind going a million miles a minute. There were quite a few times where he awoke, not knowing where he was, slipping in and out of that place between asleep and awake, until, finally – at a moment near dawn – he finally succumbed into the heavy sleep that made him unaware of the world around him.
He did not hear the door opening, nor did he hear the low, murmured voice that indicated someone had just entered the room. Curled up on his side, his back to the entrance of his room, Ren was very nearly completely out of it, his breathing slow and even, his eyes shut tight, wings curled against his back beneath the heavy covers.
It was only after something very heavy and uncomfortable was unceremoniously thrown on him that Ren awoke.
With a squawk. And some pain in his hip.
”What the Jacking hell – ”
He heard an angry hiss, a shout, and Ren, irritated, began to roll over grumpily -
Wait a second.
He knew that voice. Knew it all too well.
Unless I’m still dreaming.
Ren shot up, turning his head so fast he very nearly snapped his neck. There was a boil standing there – a very, very familiar boil.
His hair was longer than it had been than the last time he’d seen him; the emerald curls tumbled down his back in thick waves. A dark green fedora was perched on top of his head, just above the three curled horns, and he was dressed in a pinstriped vest, white shirt green tie, and tan pants.
Ren stared at him, swallowing hard. Then decided he was still hallucinating, slid off of the bed, and walked slowly over to the boil.
And promptly reached over and pinched Gabrian’s arm as hard as he could.
“Well,” he said. “You certainly don’t feel like a hallucination. So maybe you are really here. Or maybe you’re a ghost. Or just a really strong delusion.”
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