The Stark Agreement IC

[Garinovitch]

“Nice to meet you, Zack, Ryan, and... Ch-Jayce, was it?”

Jayce nodded, "Jayce," he affirmed, smiling meekly in an attempt to make the situation a little less awkward. The Stark boy was a little red from embarrassment but thankfully the woman didn't seem to really notice.

“I’m Victoria, by the way... And this is Sasha and Alessa. Thanks for helping us with our bags,”

"Of course," Jayce replied, watching as Victoria picked her bags up by their handles, a smile gently drawn across her face. Jayce froze for a moment as the woman turned away from him, the eldest Stark boy had been dazzled by an absolutely gorgeous smile. Jayce Stark pushed his fingers into the collar of his dress shirt, softly tugging on his collar as Jayce turned his head towards the wall so no one could see his red face. It was pretty obvious that something had caught Jayce's eye, despite his best efforts to hide it. He was just happy that Victoria was facing the other way and was unable to see his reaction. The Stark boy would have probably killed himself in embarrassment.

"Well, I'm going to grab myself a cup of coffee, let me know if you girls need anything else," Jayce excused himself, his face now a normal color. Jayce had only taken a few steps down the stairs, and before he could reach the bottom of the stairs he heard a loud. 'Thump!' The Stark boy paused for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should go back upstairs to investigate. After a few moments, Jayce decided against it, and continued down the stairs and into the kitchen. Jayce walked into the kitchen, grabbing an empty mug off of the nearby shelf and pouring himself a glass of coffee, after throwing in his usual dose of cream and sugar, he took a seat at the kitchen dining table. Like every morning, his father always left the morning paper on the kitchen table, Jayce swooped the newspaper up from the table and folded it open, his eyes rolling across the morning headlines.

[Pykuaa]

Ryan followed Jayce to the kitchen and got himself a mug of coffee. Ryan liked his coffee black, he felt that was the way it was intended to be drank, the coffee had more flavor that way. Jayce was reading their father's paper when Ryan asked. "Anything interesting in the paper?" He didn't wait for an answer. "You know one Alessa's was full of books, I wounder if she has the one I wrote?. How are you feeling Jay?" Ryan started to ramble, their was no stopping him at this point. "Because it looked like you were not comfortable with the situation we find ourselves in but, don't despair it's only temporary. Unless they want to stay on the staff. Which would be interesting." He took a sip of his coffee. "You know if I didn't know any better I would say you like Victoria, just a bit." Ryan teased. "I bet you could go give her a more extensive tour if you left right now to her room, take her around the estate show her the beauty of it." He leaned in close. "Then you would take her into the stables where after showing off your horse, she would say 'I bet you have to be really fit to ride such a beast' and you would respond while caressing her face 'No, to ride such a beauty you must be gentle' then you would show of your riding," Ryan air quoted 'riding,' "skills to her." He lean back. "Of course Father would never approve of such a thing and kick you both out." He took another sip of his coffee.

"Where did Uncle Clint run of too? I thought he would be in here waiting for us." Ryan looked around. "You know he just got back into town yesterday. I was emailing him, or trying to, you know how he is with anything past the 17th century. He when all over and he said he got us gift. What if he brought us that really expensive coffee." Ryan thought of a moment. "Cà phê Chồn, from the Vietnam, won't that be something. I heard its roughly £2000 per kilogram." He took a long drink before continuing. "What do you think he brought you Jay?"

[Lights]

Just as Victoria was about to leave her room, an average sized paper slipped through the crack of her door. It was a portrait of her mother. Knowing it was one of Sasha's, Victoria smiled and placed it next to the photo of her family. Her mother had only ever brought good memories, so she'd have to somehow get it framed. Now, where to start first, Victoria thought as she left her room. Knowing that she would most likely be spending most of her time in the house from now on, Victoria decided on exploring the exterior first. She quietly hummed to herself as she plotted through the never-ending maze of a house, abstaining from the most common areas in which she could run into Vincent Stark. He hadn't mentioned when they would be required to start their chores, so to give herself a little more free time, she avoided him.

Finally finding a backdoor, Victoria slipped out. Her eyes wandered the entire side of the lot, finding the edge of a field, a greenhouse (which an elderly man was tending to), and a trail that lead into the forest and probably opened up again at the other side of the lot. Living a similar life, Victoria wasn’t too excited about all of the features, though her parents hadn't been a big fan of horses, so that little component she was. Making her way towards the greenhouse, Victoria decided to introduce herself to the elderly man.

“Hello,” she smiled, waiting for the man to turn around. But he didn't. “Hello?” She said again. Was he ignoring her? Or maybe she wasn't speaking loud enough. “Hi there!” she practically shouted, though she was shunned yet again. Moments later, the man finally turned looking surprised as if he hadn’t known she was there. The man simply nodded to her and dug his eyes back into the ground where he was working so intently. Victoria raised a brow just as the man turned again, giving the same expression. The man moved his hands in a strange motion, causing Victoria to finally realize that the man was deaf. In return, Victoria moved her own hand in a simpler gesture as to offer her help. It was really the only thing she knew of sign language after seeing it on television. The man nodded with a grin and began to teach her what he was doing so she could follow.

Vincent Stark

Sitting in his office, Vincent Stark had his head buried in his hands. "You have to tell her," a woman told him frustratingly. "It isn't fair for me, hell, it isn't fair for her, for you to say you love me and then to just keep silent about it.”

“I know,” Vincent finally spoke, “It’s just so complicated.”

With tears in her eyes, the woman left the room swiftly and entered her own office that she was given when she was hired.

[KuiKarasu]

Alessa was quite content to just lay on her new bed for a few moments until the rustling of paper drew her attention. Something had been slipped under the door, and being her normal curious self, of course she had to go see what it was. The picture that greeted her had her smiling wistfully. The charcoal sketch of a child in front of an older woman, a book held on her lap. Even though she had been perfectly capable of reading, she had often begged her mother for hours on end to read her a story. Her mother's voice was gentle and could spin worlds out of words, an echo still remained in her mind as her fondest memory. Picking up the paper, she idly placed it on the shelf so that it looked over the room. She'd need to find some sort of frame for it so it remained in tip-top shape.

Deciding to settle in, she set about unpacking. First her clothes, perfectly folded and color coordinated per drawer. Next her books. Organized by height of the book and separated by genre. She was a bit OCD about how things were organized, but she never liked to spare extra time looking for something if she already knew where it was supposed to be. Looking about her new room, the previously soulless room now held a hint of Alessa all around it. In a few days, no doubt it would look fully lived in. Checking the clock, she wondered if they would be starting their work today or delaying it until tomorrow. Either way, she wanted to explore. Bouncing off her bed, she snatched up the map and hurried into the hallway, silently closing the door behind her. It was time to find that library! An adventurous grin stretched across her lips as she sidled down the hallway, feeling like an international jewel thief sent to snatch precious items from the safes of wealthy people.

The carpet muffled her footsteps and she carefully unfolded the map, noticing that her position was just across from the stairs. She remembered a little bit about what the youngest- 'Ryan' -had said about the layout. The library and a few other rooms were located in the West Wing. So... how did she get from the East Wing to the West Wing?

[Garinovitch]

Jayce had only spent a couple of minutes enjoying his warm cup of coffee along with the morning paper when Ryan Stark, his younger brother followed him into the kitchen. Before Jayce could really study the paper or enjoy his coffee, his younger brother looked down at him, "Anything interesting in the paper?" the younger brother inquired. Jayce opened his mouth for a moment, about to point out an interesting article on the front page, but before he could say anything, his brother interrupted him. "You know one of Alessa's bags was full of books, I wonder if she has the one I wrote?. How are you feeling Jay?" The eldest Stark boy didn't even attempt to answer any of these questions. He knew full well that his younger brother was on another one of those rambling sessions. Once that boy opened his mouth, there was no stopping him. "Because it looked like you were not comfortable with the situation we find ourselves in but, don't despair it's only temporary. Unless they want to stay on the staff. Which would be interesting." Jayce shrugged. Jayce didn't say much, raising his coffee mug to his lips and taking another swig of his delicious morning coffee.

Jayce pushed his hair backwards as his younger brother took a seat next to him, watching as Ryan took a sip of his own coffee. Before Jayce could swallow his coffee, his younger brother decided to open his mouth again, "You know if I didn't know any better I would say you like Victoria, just a bit." Jayce froze, choking on his morning coffee and swallowing the hot coffee down the wrong way.

The Stark boy shot off a menacing glare towards his younger brother, "Right. You're crazy, Ryan." Jayce rebutted, his eyes dragging from his death stare and back towards the morning paper.

There was a bit of a silence for a moment, until Ryan decided to keep pressing his elder brother's buttons. "I bet you could go give her a more extensive tour if you left right now to her room, take her around the estate show her the beauty of it." Jayce's eyes tentatively trailed back towards his younger brother, then back towards his paper.

"Uh-huh," Jayce replied, the eldest Stark boy picking up his mug once more, taking another sip from his morning coffee.

Unfortunately, Jayce's younger brother just had no idea when to quit, opening his piper once more, "Then you would take her into the stables where after showing off your horse, she would say 'I bet you have to be really fit to ride such a beast' and you would respond while caressing her face 'No, to ride such a beauty you must be gentle' then you would show of your riding," Ryan exclaimed, making small hand gestures on the specific words, 'riding' and 'skills to her'.

Jayce was practically as red in the face as the inside of a watermelon at this point. Jayce didn't listen to another word until Ryan finally closed his goddamn mouth. "What do you think he brought you Jay?" Ryan inquired.

Jayce dropped the morning paper onto the Kitchen table, glaring at his brother as he finished his morning coffee. The eldest Stark boy put his mug down, then politely grabbed Ryan's mug from his hands and placed it at the center of the table. "Hopefully," Jayce began, "hopefully Uncle bought me a roll of electrical tape, the big industrial kind." Jayce looked at Ryan in the eyes, who was clearly confused. "So that I can tape that awful mouth of yours shut for once!" Jayce wrapped his arms around his younger brother's neck, grabbing his younger brother into a reverse headlock and tackling his very insensitive and idiotic brother towards the ground.

[Pykuaa]

Ryan's head was in his brother's lock and they where on the ground. "Hey," he said laughing. "I was just kidding you know. No need for ..." he stopped. "Jay, Jayce, JAYCE!" he cried more desperately. The world around him was collapsing and being replaced. His voice caught in his throat as clawed at his brothers arm. "Jayce I need out now." he said sobbing. He started to hear laughing. "Stop it." He yelled more at the laughing then at Jayce. He went limb. Ryan opened his eyes and realized he wan't in the kitchen of his house but back at his boarding school. Sitting in his desk. Had he been there all along? The teacher was looming over him. He lean over a whispered into his ear. "Crazy," the teacher paused. "Failure." Ryan shouted at the top of his lungs. He was back in his kitchen.

Ryan had tears rolling down his face. He went into a fetal position and mumbled "No, no, no." Over and over. Ryan had a million thoughts in his head and none of them was what he wanted. "No, no. no." There was no stopping it. Floods of conflicting forces where driving into his mind like angry hornets drilling into their target. He wanted to go outside, he wanted to be safe, he wanted to be held, he wanted everyone to leave. "No, no, no." Ryan wanted to be alone. He needed to figure things out. Conflicting memories and thoughts and feeling prevented him from doing anything though. His body was shut down. Was he dead? "No, no, no."

Ryan was floating. Was he on the floor or in the air? At his house or in his bed? Alive or dead? He couldn't tell anymore. "Hey!" He couldn't tell who was yelling at him. "It's you, you dummy." Ryan stopped floating and looked up to see that he was look at a perfect copy of himself. "Get up off the ground." His copy said. "Why its nice and safe here." "No where is safe." "This ground is safe." "Why do you need to be safe?" "Because everyone thinks I'm worthless." "No one thinks that." "Jayce thinks that." "No he doesn't." "He said I was crazy and an awful person." "He never said that." "I heard him." "That wasn't him." "Who was it then?" "No one you that whole thing was a dream. You lean back to far in you chair and are now is some sort of limbo state. This is what really happened. His mind flashed back and he say himself in the chair next to Jayce.

Jayce dropped the morning paper onto the Kitchen table, glaring at his brother as he finished his morning coffee. The eldest Stark boy put his mug down, then politely grabbed Ryan's mug from his hands and placed it at the center of the table. "Hopefully," Jayce began, "hopefully Uncle bought me a roll of electrical tape, the big industrial kind." Jayce looked at Ryan in the eyes, who was clearly confused. "So that I can tape that wild mouth of yours for once!" Jayce pushed his brother playfully but, a bit too forcefully causing Ryan to losing his balance and went crashing to the ground.

Ryan opened his eyes to find himself on the floor of the kitchen. His chair was tipped over. He was glad that is what happened. He knew his brother would never hurt him like that. Jayce was kind and loving. Still though He should apologize for being insensitive to his brother. Ryan loved to poke fun but, he went to far and Jayce would be sure to understand that is was just fun and not anything more.

[Lights]

Apparently the man had almost been gardening for a while, since not too long after she offered her assistance, the job was done. Victoria was never too knowledgeable about gardening, it was more of her sister's thing, but she could see how one could enjoy it- especially the calming effect it gave. After waving to the nameless man, Victoria continued to wander, introducing herself to the rest of the lot. When she was completely familiar with her surroundings, Victoria returned to the door she came out of and began the inside of the house. It wasn’t difficult to get lost outside since it was so open, but Victoria wondered how her sister’s were making, considering the house was a bit trickier. As soon as the emptiness in Victoria’s stomach growled, Victoria knew where she was headed: The kitchen; where she could hear the only voices coming from, and one being from her sister.

Walking into the kitchen, Victoria did find one of her sisters, as well as Jayce and Ryan, though Ryan lying on the floor with his chair tipped over. Before she could laugh, Victoria looked away; At least she wasn’t the only clumsy one. Finding a bowl of apples on the counter, Victoria grabbed one.

[InkedWolf]

Sasha had smelled the most amazing coffee brewing. Being an artist who kept all odd hours of the night, she had a love/hate relationship with the brew. She walked into the kitchen to meet the two Stark sons, along with the coffee.

She gave a nervous grin as she looked towards the two brothers, "Hey guys, don't suppose I can get a little coffee before I get to work. My old job had me up at some very odd hours, and I haven't had a good cup of coffee in hours!"