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Alyx somehow managed to wake up a good hour or so before either her or Elizabeth's alarms were due to go off. She lay, staring up at the ceiling and willing the dull headache she had to just go away. In one deft movement, she pushed the covers away from her body and immediately shuddered. You would think that in such a big house they would have overnight heating. Instead, Alyx was lying there with goosebumps on her bare arms and the urge to just curl up and sleep for another hour.

Her pounding temples would never allow this, however, and she made it her first mission of the day to find some kind of painkillers to numb her for the time being. It wasn't a hangover, she hoped - there had only been a few drinks the night before and she had only been a little tipsy. Maybe. Pushing the memories from last night aside, Alyx ran a comb through her hair, slipped on a silken kimono she had packed and crept out into the hall.

A part of her mind worried at the fact that she was nowhere near glammed up like she usually was, but the others would have to get used to it at some point, may as well make it now. Her gaze lingered on the door next to their own, Calum's(?), for a second before she carried on walking. The boy loved his sleep, she knew that much. It would be cruel, even for her, to disturb him.

Alyx spent at least ten minutes wandering the halls in search of the kitchen, too proud to ask any of the staff where to go. Looking on the positive side of things, she was fully awake by the time she reached the kitchen. Awake enough to internally groan when she recognised Joshua sitting over a cup of coffee.


Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What are the odds that for the first time in at least four years Josh wakes up early to bump into none other than Alyx? He had just been leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee, letting the morning sunlight heat him up when the soft padding of bare feet on wood caused him to look up and meet her gaze.

Of course, his heart did the stupid thing where it 'skipped a beat', but he managed with some effort to keep his expression the same - slightly bored and unimpressed. He did let his lips stretch up into a glimmer of a greeting smile, however, just so not to be rude.

"You the only one awake, huh?" Her voice, still slightly husky from sleep, surprised him. It didn't have the usual guarded nature that she had used around him for the past few months. Of course, the question clearly had a different meaning - is he up, too? Or are we stuck with each other? But it still surprised him all the same.

"Yeah, I guess so." His voice sounded intrudingly deep and loud in comparison to her softer one, especially when hers was lacking its usual scrutiny.

"You want some coffee? Tea?" Gesturing to some sort of complicated machine next to him, Josh made to grab an extra cup. He had spent too long trying to figure out how to switch the bloody thing on, so he decided to save her the hassle. But she shook her head anyway, so he sat back down and watched her as she began rifling through the cupboards with obvious intent.

"I have the worst headache so I need drugs. Lots of 'em." Although her hands were hidden from Josh's view, they were trembling slightly. They hadn't spoken much the night before as he had arrived late, but this time alone together felt so intimate that she wanted to leave. Now. Alyx found herself wishing Calum, Lizzy, or Shay would barge through the door to her rescue, but for now she would have to handle things on her own.

Outfit: i.imgur.com/FkPmKSW.png

Eva stood outside, having watched the sun rise early that morning. She held a bowl of the cereal she'd brought with her. It was less sweet and more spicy than the cereal Elizabeth was sure to have stocked. Lazily, she popped another piece into her mouth. She hated eating cereal with milk ever since she accidentally put orange juice in there one time. Since then, she's preferred it dry just to avoid the risk. Plus the milk down-played the spices. She was standing on one foot, the other bent and resting on her leg. Her father had always told her he didn't know where she got her balance from, but he was jealous. She even tried to teach him once, but that ended poorly. He'd spent the next few weeks in bed with a sore back from falling so much. Mom had yelled at them both for the next month or so about it whenever she found an opportunity.

Now that she thought about them some more, she realized how much she missed them. She had to fight back the tears. She wouldn't cry again. Granny would have her head if she knew. Eva shook her head and turned back to head inside and put the bowl away but stopped when she noticed people in the kitchen.

Blinking with a blank look on her face, Eva watched some of the interaction. Deciding that nothing of real interest was going on, Eva decided to barge in and see if she couldn't make things more interesting. Popping another piece of her cereal in her mouth, she opened the door to the living room and stepped inside, crunching on the cereal. With almost ghost like foot steps, she padded her way over to the other two and smiled.

"Good morning." She greeted them, even her voice sounding lazy. "Woah, you managed to get that piece of shit working again?" She exclaimed, looking at Josh. "I spent like 10 minutes early this morning trying to get it to work and then gave up. I was pretty sure it was broken." She laughed, the sound echoing around the mostly empty space.

The kitchen was mostly white with specks of black and gray in the marble counter tops. The only splashes of color in the room were the plants you seemed to be able to find everywhere in this house. On the other side of the sink, next to the fridge, was a basket of wild flowers that seemed to brighten the room all on their own. That was enough to at least make the room tolerable for Eva.

"Mind pouring me a pot, Josh? Don't worry about putting anything in it, I like it black." she told him. She turned her attention to Alyx who she, in a joking way, looked up and down. "Wow, so even you don't wake up that way. I'm impressed." She joked, winking at Alyx. She laughed a bit at her own bad joke before continuing, "How was last night? I didn't get in until late so I just stayed up."

And it was true, Eva actually didn't get much sleep last night, even if she'd wanted to. She kept thinking about her grandmother, and that woman and her husband, trying to steal her away. The poor girl that was with them, Ana? Eva would have hated to be her, essentially thrown away by what you've thought all your life to be your parents. How could they even begin to do that to her? Needless to say Eva had had a long day and an even longer night, not that she'd admit that to anyone.

@Filthy Mudblood

As fate would have it, Callum -of all people- wasn't far away either. He'd padded his way down the hallway, not long after Eva had gone into the kitchen. It was almost unheard of for him to be awake at this time, let alone be up and moving. Drawn in by Eva's laughter he made his way over to the kitchen, slowly and with heavy footfalls. Absently running a hand through his hair as he rounded the corner, his eyes flicked from Eva to Josh and back again "Explains the laughter" He murmured, his voice sporting an unnaturally husky edge.

Before he could say anything else, Shay burst onto the scene."Don't jump!" Shay hissed as he sprung past Callum, landing with an intrusive thunk in front of him with his arms outstretched and a grin on his face. Callum inhaled sharply and instinctively flinched before his eyes narrowed and he punched Shay on the arm.

"Ow, ow, ow, owwww!" Shay complained -though he had the decency to keep his voice low this time- as he rubbed his arm. "Unnecessary violence! I bruise easily you know!"

Callum shook his head as he pushed Shay out of the way and headed over to the nearest sink in search of a glass.

"Well...that was uncalled for" Shay murmured, his eyes settling on Josh before flicking to Alyx and then Eva.

"You saw that right? I totally made Cal jump" He told them, recovering quickly and gliding into the room to stand near Eva and Josh. Shay's attitude had never matched his voice, the tone was lower than one would have expected, so despite speaking like Jack Mcfarland from Will & Grace, he sounded more like Dean from Gilmore Girls.

"No you didn't" Callum grumbled as he poured himself a glass of water. He was still in his 'pyjama's' which were in fact just a black pair of Superdry jogging bottoms.

"Denial is futile! Shay one, Callum zero" Shay grinned to himself, miming out a large tick in the air. Unlike Callum, Shay was fully dressed, sporting a light blue Jack Wills polo shirt and a plain white pair of shorts accompanied by pale blue converse. All of which was rather practical for him. His hair was already styled _{with enough product to fuel a small fire} and the beard he'd been sporting the night before was gone.

Realising how obtrusive he was being, Shay cleared his throat and settled himself down "I'd apologise for interrupting but it'd be insincere...so what'd I miss?" He asked, tagging in as close to an apology as they were going to get.

Callum leant back against the counter with his glass in hand. Resting his other hand on the counter top, he took a few meaningful gulps as his eyes briefly passed over Alyx before focusing on the others. He decided to stay quiet for the moment, he hadn't quite shaken himself free from sleep yet anyhow. Mornings were possibly the only time of the day he couldn't be bothered with.

@Filthy Mudblood@HylianRose