"...Now why would I do that? Have you seen these boys?" Val spun around quickly, clothes still in hand. "Regardless of what you were identified as in the past, the fact remains that you accepted this job. As such, you are my assistant, and the new butler to this household, and that is what you shall be as long as you are here." Holding up the clothes to gauge how they might fit, he soon nodded in approval and handed them to Nina before returning to the cabinet and taking out another jacket. "I don't see any reason why I should be refusing an opportunity to make this job any less difficult, honestly. As long as you understand that I will be giving you the same workload I would expect of any other student of mine, you have no reason to be leaving."

After a quick examination of the jacket, he handed it over as well. "Besides, I am not exactly in any position to send you back, anyway. You would have to stay either way. You need gloves." He murmured quietly as he moved to another cabinet and dug through it to find a pair. "From today, your name is officially Nico, and you are my student. You will have your own room, which I will be showing you next so you may change. Any problems are to be reported to me immediately, and nobody is to know anything about this conversation." Holding out the gloves as well and taking back his own jacket, the blonde smiled again. "I expect that you shall not disappoint me. I would hate to have to find a new assistant."

Allie said
(Laughed so hard. Still laughing. xD)Allie didn't ask what Rex meant. He seemed upset, and whatever was bothering him, it wasn't really her business anyway. She didn't want to intrude. She picked out a random book from the shelves, sitting criss cross beneath the shelve that he was still on top of. "How about this one?" she asked, holding the book above her head so he could see the title.

Rex blinked, examining the title. "Hm, a fair title," he offered his opinion. "However, my fancy usually strays to darker stories. Stories of wars and heroes, villains and monsters. Stories that examine the beast in the heart of every man, woman, and child. It's there, I assure you. All it needs to rear its ugly head is one thing. Madness is a lot like gravity." Rex set a book up on the edge of his nest. "All it takes--" He pushed the novel with a finger, and it landed on the floor with a thud. "... is a little push."

Allie picked up the fallen book, carefully looking it over. She cracked it open and began to read. She was silent for a moment as she let his words process. "You know," she wondered, flipping to the next page, "I've never really thought about it like that before. I guess I've just taken comfort in the fact that books take you away from the world for a while, dumping you into another one to experience the lives of others. I like how you think, Rex."

Rex paused. That was a sentence nobody had ever uttered before, at least to him. "If you knew how I thought," he answered, "you might not like me." He blinked, his eyes flickering in the darkness as he backed farther into his nook.

Way to sabotage yourself, The Voice said. If I had hands, I'd be clapping.

"Shut it, you!" Rex growled, unable to contain the outburst to a thought. "I didn't ask for these ladies to be brought, just like I never asked to share my brain with you, Beastie!"

Allie recoiled at Rex's angry outburst, taking a minute to realize that it wasn't her he was speaking to. He was yelling at someone else, maybe something else. Someone only he could see. "Rex? Are you alright? Do you need to be alone?" she called up to him softly.

"I-I-I'm sorry," Rex managed to stammer. "I'm not mad at you. This happens every once in a while to me. Maybe you should go see my brothers. I-I-I'm sure there's more of the mansion you'd like to see." He tucked himself in a ball, moving as far back into the corner as he could. Rex had never felt so vulnerable.

Lyra had followed at the back of the group having no desire to be ahead of anyone, as they walked they turned and twisted so many times that even she with her impeccable memory had become terribly lost. As they walked however sweet and heart shattering music filled her ears, she was lost as the sound seemed to caress her completely and when it stopped she was standing alone in an empty hallway. She knew she shouldn't be lost in this place and that if these boys really were monsters getting separated from her friends would mean death. Lyra started walking at a quick pace never once running and being unladylike. As she turned the corner just in time to see everyone kind of scatter, she was alone again and had no idea of which way to go now. So she made the choice to try and calm herself with music never realizing her song would be heard throughout the massive halls of the mansion.

Allie frowned. She decided to do something bold. "No, I think I'll stay. Unless you want me to go. I was really enjoying our conversation. How about either you come down, or I'll sit up there with you so you aren't alone?"

Rex shook his head. "That's the problem," he said, tapping his head with a finger. "I'm never alone. He's always in my head. He whispers venomous words, lies. He tells me to kill my brothers. I want to sometimes, but The Voice isn't me... he's my beast." He paused. "You'd be better off being around my other brothers. None of them have a Voice. Just me."

Allie looked up at him from her spot on the ground. A voice, huh? How terrible to have something so cruel whispering into your ear all of the time. I would have lost it a long time ago. Do all of the brothers have their own form of beast then? If that's true, then they should be helped, not ostracized. "Well, he doesn't sound like a very good friend. He might be evil, but that doesn't mean you are. You don't have to punish yourself because of him, it's not your fault." She smiled, going back to the book. "I'll stay here. You need real company."

Rex was silent for a long while. "You're... not afraid of me?" he asked, peering over the edge of the shelf. "Why?"

She's one of three things, The Voice said. Was Rex imagining things, or did The Voice sound almost... impressed? Brave, stupid, or mentally handicapped.

"Considering she reads, Beastie," Rex whispered, barely loud enough for himself to hear, "I don't think she has a mental handicap."

Then I say stupid.

Miss24601 said
I spent all of this time watching the others, and wondering to myself how I could possibly escape this predicament. Such an odd one, too. The personalities of the boys were so horrifically unexpected that my composure withered away almost immediately, and I was left in a puzzled, albeit mildly curious state. As they all began to disperse, I pondered the purpose of my being here. The town had told us of ravenous beasts, not air-headed teenagers! Why were we even here if not to be served as sacrifices?! Not that I was disappointed, of course. Anything had to be better than bloodthirsty monsters, surely?At the mention of a library, my head perked up, but I resisted following the girl. Allie.. was that her name? She seemed so sugary sweet.. she reminded me of Angelique, my little sister. To be frank, I did not get on all that well with Angelique.Heh, I don't really get on that well with anyone.My curiosity writhed inside me, and moments later, I decided to quench my thirst, choosing to explore. I wandered down the hallway, glancing left and right as I peered through doorways into different rooms. Suddenly, though, I reached the end of the hallway, and opened the great pair of oaken doors that stood there. A flood of colour washed into my vision, and, after descending the ivory steps, I found myself in a beautiful garden. The awe was clear on my face as I strode through the flowers. Statues were scattered throughout the scenery: nymphs adorned with ivy, lions stood at attention. I approached a little Cupid with a small smile, reaching out to touch its tiny, ivory fingers.Only to break one off."Oh, sh-" I awkwardly tried to reattach the finger, but to no avail. "Come on, you stupid.."

Kyle snapped his book shut, he was leaning against another statue of a gargoyle beast.
"You'll have to pay for that, you know."
He held up a hand and cut off her inevitable question.
"Before you can ask, I'm not here because I followed you. This is a nice place to read."
That was.... Partially true. After introducing himself in the parlor, he had hung back and observed the goings on and read from his book. It wasn't until the visitors and his brothers started to drift away that he noticed he wasn't the only one just observing.
He studied the girl until she left the room, fir some unknown reason she piqued his curiosity. So he had followed her until she got to the garden.
Buy honestly it is a nice place to read as well.

Allie closed the book and looked up at him. "No, I'm not. Doesn't everyone have their own little evil thoughts? In a way, you're not that different from others. Sure, you can't control yours, but I don't believe that you'll let it get the best of you. Everyone deserves that chance."

Rex moved back into the darkness. How wrong Allie was! He knew what he could do... vaguely, at least. Snippets of blood and gore, bleeding flesh in his mouth... the reflection of a monstrous creature in the still lake.

Allie let out a small sigh and continued reading. She hoped he would come around eventually. She found him interesting and felt bad that he distanced himself from others. She knew what it was like to be lonely. She didn't count his voice as company. Being with someone mean and ugly was far worse than being alone.

Ruko eventually rose from his seat in the parlour and began wandering around, no exact destination in mind. Since everyone else seemed to be preoccupied, perhaps he should just find something quiet to pass the time until lunch. Just...what, though? He didn't know what he felt like doing. He supposed that he could just walk through the halls until something caught his attention or the meal was served. Either way, at least he didn't just have to sit still.

Nina's mouth hung open as Val spoke. She was going to be able to... stay? Nina wanted to cry, to reach out and hug Val for doing this for her. Instead she merely handed back the jacket and took her new gloves and uniform. "I will do my best to help you, for as long as I am able." Nina felt resolved for the first time since she'd come to this castle. She was going to give it her all, even if her reason for coming wasn't to become their butler. "So, where to next?"

Val put his own jacket back on and turned to the door. "You need to get changed, so I need to show you to your room. We do have a spare one prepared, fortunately." Opening the door, he stepped out into the hallway once more. "This way, please."

After a few short minutes of walking and a number of turns throughout the corridor, the butler stopped in front of another fairly ordinary door and produced a key. "This will be yours, so take good care to lock your room if you want to keep the others out. We have rules regarding the privacy of our workers, of course, but it doesn't hurt to be too careful. Especially when people get bored." He shook his head and chuckled. "I'm afraid that we may not have much time left, so the hair will have to be dealt with properly after the meal has been served. As soon as you are finished here, please report to the kitchen. It's just down th stairs and down the hallway on the left. You should be able to hear when you get close." He gave a short nod before handing over the key and starting back down the hall.

Nina nodded and followed Val obediently, trying to remember where to go to find her room. However, the castle was just as convoluted as the forest that they'd walked through to get to the castle, and Nina was pretty sure that it would take a few nights to find her room again. Val handed her a key to the door, which was her room apparently, and he left to go and work in the kitchen. "Well, that was the easiest job interview I've gotten in a long time." Nina mumbled to herself, turning the key in the lock to unlock the door. Her room was fair sized and had all the basics, a wardrobe and bed and a few other pieces of furniture that Nina didn't focus on. She locked the door behind her and started to get dressed, carefully removing her shirt and vest, her chest still somewhat sore from the last few days.

Once she was dressed, she started to head towards the kitchen, trying to remember Val's directions, but ending up getting somewhat lost in her wanderings. Figures... Nina wondered if she was starting to lose her sense of direction, because she was lost again already, she couldn't even really backtrack to her room to try the directions again. I'm lost in the castle on the first day, maybe he'll fire me after all..

"If you knew what I'd done," Rex said, "what we've all done, you'd be afraid... especially at night."