[color=red]Previously on Reverie Manor...[/color]
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty looked around the grounds of the manor, her white hair whipping her face slightly. She let out a frustrated sigh and pulled it back, hoping to make it stop but to no avail. She let out another sigh and walked closer to the Manor. She wore a simple white dress and no shoes. She didn't know why either, or even how she got here. She just knew she was supposed to be here, wasn't she? She scratched the back of her head gingerly as she walked up the Manor. She got up to the front steps and looked up at the huge front door. A large rope huge from one side of the door, presumably the doorbell. But, Kitty didn't know that.
She pulled at the door for a bit. It wouldn't budge. The big wooden doors would not budge in the slightly. Kitty pouted at it and in her frustration, kicked at it. She turned around swiftly to sit down on the steps and try to formulate a plan when she heard a creaking noise come from behind her. What? She turned to see the doors opened. She blinked, a bit surprised. Why had they opened? She shrugged, deciding to think nothing of it, and walked inside.
It was beautiful! It was so old, yet so well kept. There was an ornate rug that went from the front entrance all the way back into what looked like a hall way with several doors. To the left of the hallway was a large stone staircase that led up to higher floors, a thing rug running up it's middle. She turned to the right and noticed a big living room type area with a small fire place. Interesting... She walked forward, inspecting the rooms. The first floor didn't really have much. She walked down the hallway and looked into the first room she came across. It was a kitchen. She looked around, looking at all of the pots and pans and several doors that led somewhere. She highly tempted to check them out but, she'd have to do that another time. She jumped when she heard a voice and a blue cloud of smoke appeared in front of her. [color=#004080]"Hello, Carmen. Come upstairs, I have much to discuss with you."[/color] it told her, it's voice almost monotone, without a gender. She nodded, her eyes wide and followed the wisp upstairs, not really sure where she was going. When they finally stopped, they were in a big expansive room, far to large to be held upstairs. What?
She looked over to see the wisp hovering over a big ornate desk. [color=#004080]"Soon, there will be many people coming to my manor. I wish for you to be among them. Every so often I will call upon you. Do not tell them where you are going or what you are doing. I will ask you several questions. You will tell me everything truthfully, understood?"[/color] It asked her and she nodded gingerly, to afraid to do much else. Something about this scared her, as if one wrong move would be the end for her. She could have sworn she saw it smiling too... [color=#004080]"Good, then go back downstairs and wait for them. You will not remember this encounter. Now, go."[/color] It told her before vanishing. She watched as the room went black and suddenly she was in the living room again. Wait... How did she get there? She shook her head and decided it was time for a nap. She found a sofa and laid down, closing her eyes to take a small nap.
[color=#00BFBF]Ianto Jones[/color]
[color=#0080BF]"Heh heh heh..."[/color] The sinister figure stood tallwith its pristinely clean black and white uniform wandering about the silent halls of Reverie Manor. [color=#00BFBF]"Soon... They'll be disappointed. They'll be crushed..."[/color] Its bony-like fingers touched the surface of faded red ornate wall with a flicker of burning candle light. As it lit, darkness escapes away from it. It lit up a small portion of the near pitch-black surroundings and the detailed features of the floor... Ceiling... Began to unveil themselves. Pictures of ancient revered artwork of angels decorated the sky of the manor. The curtains were closed, and all you could see through the thick material was darkness. The shadowy butler's footsteps echoed as he continued to light the rest of the candles around him until the creaking sound of the Front Hall made him turn his head back, peering into the darkness. [color=#00BFBF]"They're here..."[/color] He could only hear a set of footsteps.
He steadfastly moved to the living room of the Reverie Manor expecting the first guest to arrive inside this twisted mansion. His footsteps were so light, even the wind could not tell what was treading. His eyes, toxic in colour peered to the silvery texture of the lounge sofa. It seemed alive. He could hear breathing other than his own, so that thing resting upon the couch must be the guest. He quickly stood himself tall and proceeded to unknowingly walk as he normally would to light up the unburnt candles by the coffee table. The rhythm of his footsteps were entrancing and bewitching. Almost unnatural to the normal ear. Ianto kept silent as he lit the candle and continued to walk past the sleeping female figure on the seat. Using a water tap nearby, he filled it with luke-warm tasteless water, but placing a small sinch of powder that seems like salt and it dissolved clearly into the water. As he returned, he placed the water on top of the table and continued to wander around the Living Room to expect more guests.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker slowly walked forward until he had reached the manor. He knew it was the one just by its presence, but it also gave off an odd feeling in him that he couldn't explain. He pressed his glasses up against the bridge of his nose and took in the atmosphere of the manor. Everything around him was so different than he was used to. Growing up in another country, everything around him, even the most simple things, seemed so foreign to him. He was a smart person, and knew just enough about the change from his standard to Metric to get him by. He would have liked to learned more before he left his home country, but he knew that this was important. He was told that his dreams could come true, he wasn't all too sure about that, but he certainly wasn't going to pass up the offer to travel. He loved to go to different places and explore, so he hoped that this would be some good inspiration.
He took a step forward and was greeted by a large door. His hand lightly felt the door and it complete ornate-ness. Although he was good with words, he just couldn't find any that would explain how it looked and felt. He gave the door a light push and looked inside as soon as the slightest crack was visible. Te more the door opened the more he could see of the amazing Manor. He knew that everything was much more fancy and high quality in England compared to America, but he couldn't have expected the change to be that drastic! A look of awe appeared on his face as he took in everything around him and took a step in, his messenger bag slung around his shoulders, and a decently sized suitcase begin dragged behind him. He didn't know what he should or should't take and decided to bring clothes, everything he needed for his camera, some pens and pencils for his note book, and his notebook itself.
At he looked around, Booker took more steps forward and looked around. It was completely silent other than very light breathing that he was sure it wasn't his own. with a quick look around he found the source of the breathing and saw a young woman with white hair laying down on the sofa and sleeping. He only smiled lightly at her and continued to look around, making sure to keep as quietly as possible so that he wouldn't wake her up. He was a pretty quiet person overall, but that didn't mean he could make a mistake and make a mess and ruckus.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
Jared trudged on along the road on his way to this ritzy-sounding little manor. He hadn't gotten around to purchasing a ride of his own, though his parents had been kind enough to drop him off close enough to the odd little estate. He still had to do some quite a bit of walking, all things considered, but that didn't bother the young man. After all, years of solitude stuck inside buildings would probably induce a wanting to go outside and see the world. Nevertheless, he still had that numbed out feeling in his body, especially his legs, and every now and then it would just straight up force him to limp along... Or at least, limp along worse than he already did. Served him right for delaying proper exercise, he figured. Speaking of which, this walk was another one of those times where his leg that had began to lag. Fortunately they had become much less frequent an occurrence.
"Ah, there it is," Jared chirped upon seeing the Reverie Manor for the first time. It was definitely the one, if the instructions he was given as well as the vibe he was getting had anything to do say. He was told his 'dream' would come true, but, really, did he even know what he wanted specifically? He had a good idea, at least. Save the world, end all suffering, something within that general train of thought. But... that was impossible right? Even if he was an optimist, Jared knew that, even with his intentions and efforts, he'd need some kind of miracle for that to happen.
"I wonder, can this place really make a miracle?" Jared inquired as he leaned against the recently opened door frame for a momentary respite from that hike of his. It wasn't all that far, if one were to actually measure the distance, it was just that the young man obviously had quite poor endurance given his previous medical history. After drawing in enough breath, the brunet finally properly entered the mansion and closed the door behind him. His first sight of the house gave him the impression that the owner was more wealthy than he had initially thought. His second impression was that there were other people in the area, if the sounds of steps and breathing were anything to go by.
Jared started up his walk again, his current intention going to meet up with what seemed to be other people. He didn't know why he had assumed that he'd be the only person to be invited, and it did make sense that there'd be others...
But the young man hoped that the guy who would grant their dreams wouldn't force them to do some menial tasks like solve some kind of mystery or search the world for some stupid treasure.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty slowly opened her eyes, the sounds of quiet movement surrounding her. She sat up and stretched, her arms to the sky. When she was done she scanned the room. Several people where here now. One of which looked to be a butler. Where had he been earlier? She shrugged. The other two looked like normal boys, one had glasses but didn't look quite like a boy. He looked older, like he'd seen more. Though, first impressions could always be wrong. The other boy looked younger and seemed more irritated than not. Why was that? There were so many people to talk to now!
Kitty smiled to herself and continued to inspect the room. There was a small coffee table nearby that held a single glass of water. She eyed it, her head tilting out of curiosity. She reached for the glass and picked it up slowly, bringing it to her lips to smell it. Smelled like normal water... And she was rather thirsty... She smiled and drank a bit of the water, careful to leave a bit of it in case it had been someone else's water. It was refreshing! She hadn't had good water like that in a few months. The water she'd had had always been muddy and mucky. It was nice to finally be able to drink nice clean and clear water for once.
She got up after putting the glass back down, and walked over towards the forming crowd, her white hair bouncing behind her. She smiled up at the man with the glasses. [color=hotpink]"Hello!"[/color] She greeted him, a small grin on her face, her eyes looking slightly down at him. Were all men this small? She chuckled to herself and then continued. [color=hotpink]"I'm Carmen Whitshaw but you can call me Kitty. It's nice to meet you!"[/color] She purred, her eyes bright and shining. She was finally with other people. She wasn't alone anymore.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker continued to look around the house in silence, getting lost in passing thoughts as he examined the area around him. He still couldn't get over the fact about how different everything was compared to America, and even jumped a little as he was greeted by someone, breaking the silence that filled the Manor. Booker was more or less the average size for his family, and when he turned around to look at the person who greeted him, he had to look up a little to meet her eyes. At the moment, he wasn't entirely sure if he was a little short, or if she was a little tall, but he was going to go with the former in his best attempts not to insult or harm anyone.
With a small smile and press on his glasses, he examined the woman in front of him. Although she was indeed taller, she seemed younger than him, just be how she appeared and acted. He wasn't exactly sure about the age, but he wasn't going to bother with that kind of stuff until much later when he had the time. "Hello." He said in a kind tone of voice. He wasn't one to talk all that much, but would try to when he would be needed. "I'm Booker Hendrix, and it's nice to meet you too." He had a soft and calm voice, and even when he would be angered or upset his voice never seemed to change all that much.
On the inside, he had hoped that she was from here, so that his stories and travels would sound a bit more unique, but in no way did he want to take advantage of anyone by telling them anything false, leading them to spread wrong information to other people and turning the person that he had talked to in to a fool. He hated to mislead people, and wanted to give him his most truthful answers when he decided to speak.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
[color=#00BF40]"Hello."[/color] He said in a kind tone of voice, [color=#00BF40]"I'm Booker Hendrix, and it's nice to meet you too."[/color] She giggled, feeling giddy. It'd been so long since she'd heard another person's voice. [color=hotpink]"So, what brings you here? I... I just kind of happened across this place myself. At least, I think I did. I don't know." [/color] She began, feeling her head start to hurt already. She didn't like thinking about these sorts of things. The answer would never come to her anyway.
She walked around Booker, inspecting him. [color=hotpink]"Are all men this short? I've yet to see one my size..."[/color] She asked with a huff. She wasn't so much insulted by being tall but she wanted to be able to see at least someone on eye level. She let out a small sigh and walked back to face Booker, eyeing the other boy in the process. He seemed more her age, but still shorter... She let out another little huff and turned to face Booker, waiting for an answer.
Why did all of these people come here anyway? Her head hurt. For some reason she remembered someone telling her there would be more people but... why? Where did they all come from and why? Maybe Booker would be able to answer this for her.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
[color=#00BF40]"I received a letter and a passport."[/color] He spoke simply, his eyes following the slightly taller girl in front of him a she walked around him and inspected him. From what he had seen so far of her, she seemed friendly and nice, but was a little surprised to hear her ask if All Men were short. A thought came in to Booker's mind as he thought about the possibility of her begin sheltered from life. She may have been speaking in a general sense, but as he heard it, it sounded as if she believed all men to be shorter than women. During his silence, he also thought about the sizes of people, and how over the millennium or so, the human body has grown and evolved in many different ways depending on the area. Some people have better built and strong bodies, because that it was they require when living in that certain area, and some are smaller and faster, for the same reason.
He pulled himself out of his thought to look slightly up and smiled softly. [color=#00BF40]"Size varies from person to person. Not all men are short."[/color] Although his thoughts were much more complicated in his head, he had know idea about how smart the girl was, so he thought it would be best to explain it simply, and make it more complicated if needed.[color=#00BF40] "I don't know about the sizes of people here. I've only been in this country so long and you are actually the first person I have had a full conversation with."[/color] He nodded and looked over to where her gaze was at before, another your man that also seemed younger than himself. He was starting to question if he was the oldest one in the manor as of now, since he hadn't seen and staff or help yet.
[size=5]Marcus[/size]
"If you want your dreams to come true, visit Reverie Manor and try your luck." What a crock of shit.
Marcus reached into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out a small pouch of tobacco and a rolling paper and with the deft movements of long practice rolled a cigarette and lit it. Not like I've got anything better to do though.
The grounds were impressive, he had to admit that to himself if no one else. His boots crunched softly as he made his way up the walkway towards a side door, preferring not to enter from the main entrance. He stopped before the side entrance and looked over the manor itself. The smoked helped him think and he dragged deep again before flicking the mostly smoked cigarette onto the walkway figuring that a place like this would have maids or butlers or whatever rich people called them these days to come pick it up in their normally stuffy manner. With a scratch to his beard he walked up the steps and opened the door to step inside and sighed at the blatant display of grandeur and money, wondering again why he bothered to accept the invitation. He stepped over to an ornate dresser topped with vases and the like and dragged a finger across it. Not even a little dust, he thought to himself. He shook his head and continued to look around finding it mildly strange that he was allowed to simply walk in and stroll around a place like this. As he moved further in he heard the soft noise of voices from a bit further in and moved to investigate.
He opened a door to find two slightly built people engaged in conversation. It was hard to gauge their ages though he guessed the man was older by his demeanor despite his age. The girl still looked like a kid to him though. So apparently age doesn't matter here. Interesting," he thought to himself. Marcus nodded politely towards them but stayed quiet as he moved into the room to look around.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya was winded. Huffing her hair out of her face she trudged up the road towards this mysterious manor. She had just barely had enough money for the plane ticket here, thus she'd had to walk from the airport and it was a long walk. Finally after what had seemed like hours she reached the beginnings of a driveway. Looking up she could see the impressive manor. It was gorgeous. If she had more time she would've set her stuff down right there and started a sketch or maybe even a water color painting. Sighing wistfully she set down her very scant luggage for a minute. Smoothing down her hair and her dress she felt anxiety build up in her small frame. She wondered if there'd be people in there other than her. She felt her face heat up as she rubbed a hand over the many leather bands crisscrossing her wrists, covering her scars. She was dressed simply in a white lacy cotton dress and brown leather belts, her numerous bracelets matching the belt. She wore simple worn sandals. It might not be apparent from her appearance but Lidiya was very poor, making just enough income from her waitressing job at a small diner in Colorado to support a small one bedroom apartment. But when a letter had arrived in her mail she quit and sold anything extra she didn't need for her trip here. She had always craved adventure and human affection, and maybe this place could bring it. Sighing Lidiya picked her carpet bag back up and shifted her violin case in her other hand. Walking up to the massive front door she just stopped and stood there for a minute, taking everything in. She felt the familiar roll of anxiety and butterflies in her stomach.
Taking a very deep breath she pushed on the door, sending it open with a loud creak. She was awed by the site she was met with, the place seemed like something out of one of the many romance novels she had read in her younger days. It was romantic England, after all. Chewing on her lip she stepped inside the hall and shut the door behind her, letting her thin fingers trail over the surface. This place sparked her creative spirit, endlessly. Yet somehow, it had a strange feeling to it, as if she couldn't quite tell whether this place would bring her happiness or danger. Turning back around she walked tentatively into one of the many rooms lining the hallway. It was a living room and there were several other people in here already. There was a tall girl with long white hair talking vibrantly to a bookish sort of man with glasses. There was another man with long hair and a beard appraising the room across from the other two people. Lidiya felt her body tense up. She didn't know there would be people here and especially men. She felt her hands clam up and she set down her luggage to keep from dropping her precious violin. Wrapping her arms around herself she remained quiet, looking around the room. She tried to quell the hysteria that threatened to bubble up. Standing off in the corner by the door, Lidiya felt awkward but still, this house excited her, after all it was supposed to make her dreams come true. She sighed wistfully.
[size]Ianto[/size]
As expected from his suspicion, more and more people gathered directly at the Living Room adjacent to the front entrance. Some of them took no extra time and begun to speak with one another. One was just plain curious and seemingly filled with glee over this place. [color=#00BFBF]"Nothing is interesting here... I'll give you that."[/color] He thought in his mind. The short butler remained silent-- most of the people there hadn't seen him so he quick backed himself away from the corridor he came from to go to the kitchen where he could get some food ready for them... But there was no cook. Perhaps water will just do. Ian stepped to the dimly lit corridor of candles, and saw a set of eyes peering into the living room. A large man, bearded and smelled like ashes of tobacco. Looked like he had intruded in from one of the side entrances.
Ian took no more interest and continued to get water from the kitchen. The presence there was unnaturally silent. Sounds of clattering pans could be heard, even though no one was preparing anything. A ghost--- Apparition in his mind formed by the stove, but disappeared as his eyes peered to it. The normal occurrences that happens here was all normal. Four glasses of water, all pinched with a powder but the water remained clear. [color=#00BFBF]"Perhaps some bread wouldn't hurt them... Or would it?"[/color] There were loaves of bread in a bag. inside, it seemed as though the bread was fresh and recently baked. The immediate moment it was touched upon, warmth of the hot steam escaped. He brought five breads before returning to the living room. The man seemed to still have stayed where he was watching the living room. The first person to get their set of meal was this bearded man. As he approached him, Ian placed a masking smile over his face as if to look friendly before gesturing to him insistently.
[color=#00BFBF]"Take this water and bread. Your journey must've been a long one."[/color] Regardless of his response, Ian would've given it to him. At that time then, he would step into the Living Room and make his presence a little bit more renowned. The people around him was taller-- except for the shortest lady. What more could he say? There is an old saying that Short people hold great power. Napoleon for example. [color=#00BFBF]"Welcome guests. Please take a drink and bread. As for you miss..."[/color] Ian turned to the silvery-haired girl. [color=#00BFBF]"I just brought bread for you. Freshly baked."[/color] He placed the platter down for the guests to freely enjoy their meal.[color=#00BFBF] "I am known by Ianto Jones. Feel free to refer to me as Ian. I am the Butler of this Manor and the O is certainly expecting you."[/color] As cliche as it could've sounded.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
[color=#00BF40]"I received a letter and a passport."[/color] He spoke simply, watching her as she walked around him. She watched him with wide curious eyes as he seemed to consider the question. She smiled looking at him. He was interesting. He wasn't someone that spoke without thinking. He combed over his words carefully. Or, so it seemed to Kitty. But then again, what did she know? She looked down as he replied to her, his eyes soft like his smile, [color=#00BF40]"Size varies from person to person. Not all men are short."[/color] She thought on his words carefully before hearing him continue, [color=#00BF40]"I don't know about the sizes of people here. I've only been in this country so long and you are actually the first person I have had a full conversation with."[/color]
So... Sizes of people vary. She began to wonder why, her mind ever curious. Did some of them need to be taller than others or is it just random? She sighed and shrugged, deciding to give up on the endeavor. She smiled, hearing that she was the first person he'd had a full conversation with. [color=hotpink]"I'm glad! I mean... not that you haven't had anyone to talk to... I just..."[/color] She said, her thoughts scrambled. She really needed to start thinking before she spoke, like Booker. She let out a soft sigh and looked down at him, a soft smile on her face. [color=hotpink]"Nevermind. I'm just glad that I could give you someone to talk to."[/color] She explained, her voice soft.
She looked up and scanned the room once again, a few more people had arrived. A tall burly man and a thin short female. Her eyes were set on the man, the only one taller than her in the entire room. Then, her gaze shifted to the girl. She looked uncomfortable, as if agitated by the people. Had they all not expected people other than themselves to be here? She looked back down at Booker, a smile on her face, bigger than before. [color=hotpink]"Excuse me, Booker. I'm going to go get acquainted with a few of the other guests as well. I'll see you around."[/color] She told him and then stepped around him, headed for the girl in the corner of the room. Her bare feet padding against the hard wood floor, before she reached her however, her nose was graced by the smell of freshly bake bread.
She turned to see a rather short man headed her way, bread in hand. [color=#00BFBF] "I just brought bread for you. Freshly baked."[/color] He said before turning to place the rest of the bread on the coffee table. He straightened slowly before saying, [color=#00BFBF]"I am known by Ianto Jones. Feel free to refer to me as Ian. I am the Butler of this Manor and the O is certainly expecting you."[/color] Kitty blinked. O? She looked down at the bread in her hand, moving it around in her hands. Slowly, she tore off a piece and tasted it gingerly. It was nice, certainly freshly baked, a delicacy. Not that she'd know what a delicacy is. Any food prepared nicely would seem like a delicacy to her. She turned and walked over to the blacked haired female. She stopped just several steps away and simply stood near here, messing with the bread in her hands. [color=hotpink]"My name's Carmen. But most people just call me Kitty. What's yours?"[/color] She asked, turning her head in the direction of the girl, a warm smile on her face. Something told her not to get too close to the girl, something in the way she stood seemed as if she was trying her best to protect herself from the world.
[size=5]Maggie[/size]
The soothing croon of her favorite singer died away suddenly. The song was a familiar one, one that she liked to play on repeat, and it made her feel better to listen to it. It was a song she had listened to before everything changed. Before the accident. But with a quick turn of her wrist, she turned the key in the ignition and killed the engine. The 2002 Jeep Wrangler gave a final shudder, then fell silent. Before making a move to exit the vehicle, the driver glanced at her reflection in the rear-view mirror. Her large, almond-shaped green eyes were no longer red and puffy, as it had been a few hours since she had cried in her motel room. These days, she only broke down occasionally. Every week or so, she is struck by overwhelming sadness that nearly renders her immobile. The burst are short-lived, and they go as quickly as they come, leaving Maggie with a fresh, white-hot anger. Yes, the sadness that she had felt had subsided now, on the drive from the hotel to the mysterious manor. And now there was only rage. Her green eyes were hard emeralds as she studied her reflection.
The driver’s side door opened with a creak, and closed with a sharp slam. The lanky individual who emerged had an army green military duffel slung over her shoulder. Her red hair fell over one shoulder, a stark contrast to the brown Carhart she wore. It was a no-nonsense look, with her faded blue-jeans and large work boots. They made a satisfying crunching sound as she made her way up the drive and toward the front door. The manor was beautiful, even a hardened young woman like Maggie West would admit that. It had a certain mystery to it that she found captivating. If nothing more, she could spend her days wandering the grounds, and exploring the many secrets undoubtedly held within the stone walls. Surely, nothing else could come from this little trip anyway. The invitation had promised her dreams would come true. But who could bring her father the justice he deserved? This was all so silly, and almost every piece of her screamed to get back in her Jeep and go home. Most likely, she was walking into a serial killer’s lair. But a small part of her mind reminded her that she had no where else to go. The police had stopped looking. Months had passed. Her boyfriend had left her. She had no other family. She was alone.
With that thought in mind, she readjusted the pack on her shoulder, lengthened her stride, and without hesitation, strode through the front door.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya had been staring around the room when a man in a suit came in carrying bread and water. He set it down on the table. She eyed one of the glasses of water but didn't even glance at the food. [color=#00BFBF]"I am known by Ianto Jones. Feel free to refer to me as Ian. I am the Butler of this Manor and the O is certainly expecting you."[/color] She wondered to herself just who this O person was and why in the world he had invited such drastically different people to a secluded manor out here. Looking down, she studied the floor, engross in thought. She never even noticed when the white haired woman walked up and stopped a few feet from her [color=hotpink]"My name's Carmen. But most people just call me Kitty. What's yours?"[/color] Lidiya jumped at the sudden interruption of her thoughts. Looking up she watched as the woman smiled at Lidiya, her eyes taking in her body language and appraising her. Lidiya tried to smile but it felt fake. Her cheeks heated up and her words came out so soft as to barely be heard.[color=#00FFFF]"M-my name is L-l-lidiya.[/color] She stuttered on her words. This had been happening ever since her parents died. It became very hard for her to interact with people. [color=#00FFFF]"I-I u-u-us-used to be called Liddy... b-but that was a long t-time a-a-ago.[/color] She looked up at the tall girl, briefly flicking her eyes around her to study the others in the room as well.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty smiled warmly as the girl replied. [color=#00FFFF]"M-my name is L-l-lidiya."[/color] She stuttered, her voice small and soft. [color=#00FFFF]"I-I u-u-us-used to be called Liddy... b-but that was a long t-time a-a-ago."[/color] She continued. Her eyes fluttered around the room, as if trying to avoid contact with Kitty's. Kitty simply sighed and pulled another piece of the bread up to her mouth, chomping on it silently.
When she finished and swallowed, she looked down at the floor, leaning against the wall. [color=hotpink]"It's nice to meet you Liddy."[/color] She said, her eyes still at the floor. She looked over at Liddy with another soft smile, noticing how tense the girl was. [color=hotpink]"You don't have to be so tense. I don't bite. And if anyone tries to hurt you, let me know and I'll beat them up for you!"[/color] She told the girl, smiling widely and flexing her arm for emphasis. She chuckled at herself, hoping that her attempt at breaking the ice had worked. She was never good at it anyway.
She looked up at the rest of the room. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing. She was confused as to why no one was talking to anyone else. Did they not like talking to other people? She sighed. She had so much to learn about people. Why did they all seem so sad all the time? Did any of them know how to truly smile? Why had they all come here anyway? Booker had said he'd gotten a letter and a passport. Why hadn't she gotten a letter? Had she? She didn't remember getting one. Did the other's get letters too? [color=hotpink]"Did you get a letter too?"[/color] She asked the girl, her eyes focusing back on her. She felt like it was rude to talk to someone without making eye contact and she didn't want to seem rude. She just... wanted friends.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
Jared had momentarily gotten lost within the halls of the Reverie Mansion in his effort to find other people. His sense of direction was decent enough to pass, it was just that he had gotten a bid over-sidetracked by the amount of sights to see. Pictures, decorations, and pretty cool wallpaper were only some of the objects of his attention. Unfortunately, by the time he realized that he had been sidetracked, Jared was... lost, sort of.
Fortunately, the sound of people began to seemingly increase and was able to give him a substantial 'trail' to follow, as it were. The fact that he could practically smell food moving through the halls was another bonus. People + Food? Count him in, that's for sure. After having to had regulate his food intake, the thought of being able to dig into the good stuff was overpowering. But that was about 11 years ago, and while it had gotten 'old' so to speak, he still enjoyed a good culinary experience when he tried one.
After a while of wandering towards the general sounds and smells aforementioned, he came upon a butler-type fellow that was walking through the place like he knew where he was going, which he obviously did, and was carrying a platter of some kind of foodstuffs. After following behind the guy, though quieter than he had intended, Jared finally came upon the rest of the folks all gathered in a living room-sort of area. Among them was a bespectacled green-haired guy chatting up a white haired girl, a man that looked like a biker from one of those movies, and a brown-haired wallflower... Really, the sorts of people gathered here made the whole situation feel movie-esque. Perhaps they'd all learn the meaning of friendship or some other stereotypical moral on their stay in this place. Jared smiled at the thought as he listened to this Ianto Jones, the butler from earlier, introduce himself to the white haired gal, and vice versa. Additionally, it seemed the brunette wallflower decided to pipe up and introduce herself also.
Guessing he might as well act in kind, Jared did a little cough to announce his presence and gave a little wave of the hand as he leaned against a wall. "Ah, hiya, everyone. Jared over here."
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
[color=hotpink]"It's nice to meet you Liddy."[/color] Kitty looked at her and smiled slightly. Lidiya chewed on her lip, noticing how Kitty had called her Liddy instead of Lidiya. [color=hotpink]"You don't have to be so tense. I don't bite. And if anyone tries to hurt you, let me know and I'll beat them up for you!"[/color] She lifted her arms, flexing them slightly and chuckling. Lidiya couldn't help but smile slightly, tilting her face to the floor. This girl seemed nice. She smiled, maybe they would be friends. But then she remembered how nice Blaine had seemed and she felt the anxiety in her stomach flare again.[color=hotpink] "Did you get a letter too?"[/color] Raising an eyebrow Lidiya struggled to understand what the girl had meant. A letter....? Oh! Lidiya nodded. [color=#00FFFF]Y-yeah. A letter and a p-pa-passport.[/color] The corner of her mouth twitched. [color=#00FFFF]"I-it was very...m-mysterious sounding.[/color] She felt her shoulders relax slightly. Flitting her eyes up she noticed a new guy walk in and appraise the room. He leaned quietly against the wall and then spoke up, waving a bit. "Ah, hiya, everyone. Jared over here." Lidiya just looked down at the floor. She didn't want to raise her voice to greet him lest she draw any more attention to herself. Looking down at her luggage she felt her fingers itch to do something to get her nerves out. She wanted to paint or play her treasured violin.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty blinked, watching Liddy, her expressions rather amusing. When asked about the letter, she seemed confused before her face lit up and she responded. [color=#00FFFF]"Y-yeah. A letter and a p-pa-passport."[/color] She said, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly. What? Kitty blinked confused but decided not to think about it too much. So, she got the same thing that Booker had received. Had someone invited them here? [color=#00FFFF] "I-it was very...m-mysterious sounding."[/color] She added, finally seeming to relax. Kitty smiled, happy that she was beginning to relax around her a bit, even if the girl felt like a small time bomb, waiting to go off at the faintest touch. She seemed so small that if Kitty were to touch her, she'd disappear. It made her a little bit nervous herself, like a poison that had filled the air around them.
Kitty watched as Liddy looked up at something. Kitty could hear a voice introducing himself, [color=gray] "Ah, hiya, everyone. Jared over here."[/color] She smiled and turned around to look at him. Wasn't he the boy from before? Had he wandered around or something? She hadn't seen him move. She raised her arm and waved a bit shyly. [color=hotpink]"Hello. I'm Carmen, aka Kitty. It's nice to meet you!"[/color] She greeted him from across the room, a sweet smile on her face. She walked forward and beckoned Liddy to follow her as she walked over to the couch to sit.
When she sat, however, she felt something crunch under her. [color=hotpink]"Wha...?"[/color] She murmured and got back up, inspecting the seat. There was a now crumbled up envelope sealed with wax. She picked up and inspected it. On one side it had a wax seal and the other said, "To My Esteemed Guests" She blinked, looking down at the paper. [color=hotpink]"Uh... Guys... I found something."[/color] She said, already pulling at the wax seal. She opened it carefully and pulled the letter out. It read,
Greetings, My Darling Guests,
I hope you have all become rather acquainted with one another. Once the last few guest have arrived, I've asked Ian to give you a small tour through the rooms of the Manor. There will be a small Welcoming Party in the ballroom completely with Dinner and desert. Afterwards, I've also asked Ian to show you all to your rooms. Be assured that in the morning I have something very special planned for all of you. Let's just call it a... Practice Run.
Yours Truly,
O
She blinked, reading the letter. Practice Run? What did he mean? She shrugged her shoulders. At least the thought of desert and dinner peaked her interest. Maybe she'd have real food for once.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya watched as Kitty greeted the new guy. She was almost jealous of her outgoing personality. [color=hotpink]"Hello. I'm Carmen, aka Kitty. It's nice to meet you!"[/color] Walking forward to the couch she beckoned Lidiya to follow her. Lidiya approached a few tentative steps. Kitty looked confused and pulled something out from under her [color=hotpink]"Uh... Guys... I found something."[/color] Looking at it Lidiya saw it was an envelope. Kitty read it out loud. Listening, Lidiya blinked. A practice run? She wasn't sure she like the sound of that. Tentatively she shuffled forward and perched very lightly on the couch next to Kitty, looking over her shoulder at the letter. It was signed O just like the letter she had gotten had been. Wringing her hands in her lap she wondered just what this practice run was. But then she remembered it had also mentioned a dinner party and all at once Lidiya felt very anxious. She wondered if anyone except Kitty would try to talk to her. Looking up through her lashes she once again looked around at the men in the room, chewing on her lip.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
With a nod and a wave, Booker returned to being by himself. When he looked around, it seemed to him that more people arrived while he was talking to his new friend Kitty. He looked around and took mental notes on the people around him while looking as calm as he could and not draw any attention to himself. He wasn't a person to dive in to every conversation around him, but at the same time he wasn't a wallflower either. Unless he had something to say, he wouldn't start up a conversation on his own, and he certainly wouldn't try to avoid a conversation if one came to him. He liked considering himself on the middle grounds of things.
As he looked around, he decided to find a place to sit for the moment, not only to gave a second to relax without his luggage weighing him down, but also to collect some stray thoughts that had came in to his head. He set his messenger bag down on the ground next to his suitcase gently, to make sure that nothing would break. He opened up his jacket and pulled out a small notebook and pen. Back at his home, he had too many notebooks to count. There were everywhere in his home and they were all filled with story ideas and many other thoughts. He wanted to think of a new story, but he just didn't have what he needed to start on something completely new. He looked up and over at Kitty as she read something aloud.
This 'O' person was the same one who addressed the letter to Booker, but he didn't know why he or she would simply use the letter O. He didn't have the slightest idea about what would be going on, other than it being called a 'practice run.' Booker didn't like the sound of that, as it sounded mysterious and somewhat dangerous. He didn't know what could possible happen, so he simply waited to find out.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
"Nice t'meet'cha too," Jared said to Carmen with a curt nod before heading across the room to take a seat and take a moment's respite. So many people, and probably so many interesting backgrounds to hear about. He made a small smile as he leaned back... And heard Kitty announce that she had found something. Naturally, like most-if-not-all of the others, he went to check it out.
"Hmm..."
Well that surprising revelation certainly piqued Jared's interest. It seemed that the proprietor of this fine establishment had left a note for the 'participants' of this little Make-a-Wish-Foundation-esque gathering. It was about a tour, a ballroom party... and a mysterious morning 'Practice Run'. Whatever that meant. "Well here's to hoping that it's just running," Jared joked to lighten up the mood after that cryptic little message. Not that he'd really be pleased even if it actually were running, as he probably wasn't as fit as the rest of the group, all things considered.
[size=5]Maggie[/size]
The scene that she walked into reminded her of a bad movie. Contained within the beautiful, ornate entryway was a handful of other individuals. It seemed that some were already introduced, as they were engaged in conversation. Maggie winced, and for a split second, considered exiting the manor immediately. It had been foolish of her to assume that she had been the only one to receive the invitation. On the contrary, the rooms of the manor could hold hundreds of people for all she knew. The thought alone made her shudder. Too many people. From the other side of the room, she heard a young man introducing himself, but she had not payed attention and did not catch his name. Another voice, louder and a bit more sure of itself, answered. So the girl with white hair was named was Kitty. It did not matter to Maggie, who was still considering taking her leave. That was, until Kitty announced that she had found something. The redhead’s curiosity took over, and she joined the ranks to listen in.
‘A practice run?’ She thought to herself. What could the mysterious “O” possibly mean by that? She cast a final glance at the door over her shoulder, before deciding that she would stay a while. At least, until she knew who this O person was.
[size=5]Ianto[/size]
Having kept watch for the people around him, he noticed that Carmen, the silvery haired girl have seemed to have sat upon the first letter that the O had given to them. The first piece of the puzzle, the one that would waddle the surface of the sea that bore to its malevolent waves. His sharp eyes kept watch-- an owl waiting on its prey. Carmen read the letter aloud and the reach of her voice struck to his ears as clear as the morning church bell. Ian knew before hand... It was like bread and butter to him. Every single visitor... Would be invited to a full meal in the ballroom. After their fill of food, they would be brought to their rooms where they would be 'staying' and they could then commute with one another as much as they like until the night falls darker.
Upon the break of her speech, Ian immediately followed with an announcement for the guests.[color=#00BFBF] "That's right. Dinner is ready. But for this dinner, the O themselves made the dinner for you. Take your fill and eat as much as you'd like. The ballroom is located in the North Wing of the Manor and is the furthest point in the manor. I will make sure to get you familiar with the layout of the mansion before we dine."[/color] Ian inspected several other guests nearby him who seemed to have brought their own luggages. It was thoughtful of them, but he would've preferred them to dress the way that the manor's dressers had been filled with. Victorian clothes that were decades old-- kept clean and unbelievably vibrant from unknown forces. [color=#00BFBF]"If you have your own luggage, you should keep them here for the time being. You don't have to worry-- It'll be there when you come back. There's no one else here besides the O and me."[/color]
A jagged smile came to Ian's face. He bowed to the group with his short and storky body and lifted his arms towards the candle-lit hallway. [color=#00BFBF]"Please. This way to the Dining Hall."[/color] When all of the guests would follow after Ian, they would come to a fork in the hallway. There is a sign on the right that was written in italics that read 'cellar'. [color=#00BFBF]"As you could probably read from the sign, the hallway on the right leads to the cellar. There is a set of stairs and the lighting there isn't exactly the brightest as these candles.I'd advise you against to descending down there."[/color] As a result of that, he continued left where there was a doorless frame that lead to a rather large room. It was decorated with two beautiful chandeliers above and a set of tables and chairs. It was the dining hall. On the far side of the room were perfectly clear glass that shone the dimming sunlight inside. [color=#00BFBF]"The door adjacent to the windows there leads to the library. If you're quiet the bookworm you may enjoy staying there and learn more about our geography in Chesire. Or more about this mansion if you'd like."[/color]
Their destination was not the library. Ian continued on into the candle-lit hallway where paintings of the Reverie Manor began to decorate the walls. From the first time it was built to its previous inhabitants. Anybody with a keen and sharp eye would realise that the manor looked exactly in each frame. There wasn't an explanation to the phenomenon. Judging from the style of painting too, the manor seemed to have stood for more than four lifetimes. A chandelier as they kept walking, and another fork in the road. As they crossed the fork, Ian stopped to point to them to the other direction.[color=#00BFBF] "This corridor leads to a second living room. You'll find that it's really similar to the one close to the entrance. However, there is a door there that leads to the manor's garden. Feel free to use any of them for your own uses."[/color] He finally continued walking towards the destination. [color=#00BFBF]"We're close to the Ballroom. The ballroom is generally used for celebrations as you probably would imagine. Today, it would be filled with food."[/color]
The ballroom door wasn't like the other doors. It looked staggeringly different. It was a white solid door with golden handles on them. despite of Ian's poor height, he was able to reach for the door handle and pulled it open where glimmering light bleed through the door's cracks. As soon as the entire ballroom door would open, dazzling light would open their arms and embrace the guests with all kinds of food and drinks. Food prepared fit for a king. The styles of food originated from a mixture of nations and cultures-- all the work of the O. [color=#00BFBF]"Please, make yourselves feel at home. Once you're ready, I will take you to the places where you will stay for the rest of your... Stay."[/color] He bowed and stood aside, inviting the guests in to dig right in to their desires for food.
[size=5]Rose[/size]
Rose watched as the taxi as the taxi drove out of sight, hoping she had made the right choice by accepting the invitation. She turned to the building, a magnificent sight for sure but it left an unsettling feeling of dread. Was this just yet another trap? She swallowed, if it was a trap she was at a supreme disadvantage. She grinned and shrugged, it wasn't worth wasting her time worrying about. Rose walked up the stairs, admiring the beauty of the architecture, she had wanted to be an architect, and in another life she would have been, but her fate had been decided for her a long time ago. With a pang of sadness in her heart she adjusted the duffle bag on her shoulder and opened the grand doors to the Manor.
The beauty of the manor was evident here as well, but it was had a darker feel to it than the outside. Shaking off any doubt she noticed that there were voices coming from another room. Quietly, she followed the noises to that appeared to be a gorgeous ball room, looking in she saw a group of people sitting at a dinner table with food fit for a king. some were conversing while most were apprehensively watching their surroundings. In a strange way it reminded her of the first day of school, some looked nervous while others looked excited to be here and meeting new faces. With a spark of audacity, she marched into the room. [color=#FF8000]Hello every one, my name is Rose and I really didn't think this through...lets try this again...[/color] She left and then rentered much more calmly, [color=#FF8000]Hi, my name is Rose, I'm sorry for bursting in, mind if I join you?[/color]
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya followed after Ian, walking through the rest of the house. The scenery here was absolutely beautiful. Walking down the hallway she walked past the cellar. Next they passed the library, Lidiya's eyes lingering on the door just a little longer. A library.... She loved the feeling of being surrounded by books. Next they passed a door that Ian said led to the garden. She wanted to visit there too. She assumed it would be gorgeous. Oh how she wanted to paint this house. Walking into the ballroom, she looked around. It was filled to the brim with all sorts of food. Exotic foods she'd never seen. [color=#00BFFF]"Please, make yourselves feel at home. Once you're ready, I will take you to the places where you will stay for the rest of your... Stay."[/color] Walking into the room she immediately headed toward one of the windows, ignoring the food altogether. She stood at the window, looking out onto the grounds she wrapped her arms around herself. She felt the persistent depression nagging at the corners of her mind. She wasn't really sure she wanted to trust these people but parts of her wanted to learn to trust someone... anyone. Sighing, she stared into nothing.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker got up and followed the crowd at his own pace, still writing things down in his book and still thinking. He assumed that it wouldn't be hard to stay with the group if he look up every once and a while to make sure he was going the right way. As he entered the ballroom, he ignored the food or now and simply stood near the door while he continued to write things down in his book For some time that was all he was concerned about, he wanted to continue writing down ideas and characters. He looked up as he saw a new person come from the door using his peripheral vision (even if it wasn't much due to the fact he was practically blind without his glasses.) and turned her head to look at her to get a better view. She marched in with confidence, but that confidence soon began to fade in to shyness. [color=#FF8000]Hi, my name is Rose, I'm sorry for bursting in, mind if I join you?[/color][/quote] He moved his book down a little and gave her a light smile. He knew that it wasn't directed specifically at him, but it didn't mean that he would accept her company. "[color=#00BF40]Hello, I'm Booker. If you want to join me, sure![/color]" He spoke in his soft and calm voice as he raised his book and pen just a little to continue writing.
[size=5]Rose[/size]
Rose smiled at the green haired man, [color=#FF8000]Thank you, Booker[/color] Rose sat down at the table and watched him work, she held back a laugh, Booker seemed to like books and writing, who would have guessed? She then turned her attention to the food, during her years in hiding she diet had been disgusting drive-throughs, vending machines, and whatever the gas station had. Very occasionally she might indulge in a sit-down restaurant but spending too much time in public places was like begging them to find her. Using an amazing amount of will-power she took a healthy amount of food and managed to eat like a normal person. She paused midway through her meal, for a few moments she pondered, everyone was already eating or at least they were supposed to be, so had she missed any thing important? [color=#FF8000]Excuse me Booker but I have a feeling like I missed something, could you possibly fill me in on any important events I missed?[/color]
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker looked up from his work and nodded with a small smile. He hated to leave thoughts before he wrote them down but he had a question to answer. She hadn't missed much, since everyone only seemed to have arrived just before or after he had, and the only real important thing was the letter that lead them to the ballroom. Booker still wasn't all that hungry, and although he could most likely put a buffet out of business, eating wasn't something that was needed constantly. He put the though of food away and set his book down on the table and sat in front of her. "[color=#00BF40]We found a letter, and tomorrow we are having a.... 'Practice run.' I don't know what that means, but something should happen tomorrow.[/color]" He nodded once more and picked his book back up and continued to write down thoughts and ideas that came in to his mind. He wasn't sure that anyone knew what this "Practice Run" had in store for them, but the only thing that Booker was able to was simply wait for it to happen.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
Jared was relatively quiet as he followed after the group, general random thoughts floating in and out of his mind with every step. The whole place was nice, but now that he was able to get a good look around, he couldn't help but feel something was off underneath this veneer of extravagance. However, these thoughts were pushed aside once the group had been ushered over to the ballroom. There was food... but Jared wasn't all too hungry yet, and it might be rude if he just jumped in without permission or something. The young man took a glance around the room and noticed the green haired bloke, Booker if he remembered, sitting with a girl who he had apparently arrived late, as it were. Not being one to really shy away from introducing himself to the world, Jared approached the table the two were at and posed the question, "Hey... Booker, was it? Mind if I sit down here?"
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya pulled herself from her thoughts and turned her back on the window. Looking around the room, she saw the man with the glasses speaking with a new girl with red hair. The other man who had introduced himself as Jared was walking up to them. She noticed that the bespectacled man was writing in a journal, and she edged slightly closer. Had she been braver, she would've walked right up to him and asked what he was writing. But she wasn't like Kitty, and male interaction made her vastly uncomfortable. Walking over to the table, Lidiya eyed the food. She wanted to eat but at the same time she wasn't hungry at all. That was the funny thing about skipping meals, after a while you stopped being hungry. Slowly Lidiya picked up a small pomegranate and a glass of water. Sitting down, she gently broke open the blood red fruit. The juices squirted out onto the tablecloth a bit and she felt slightly guilty, but she said nothing. Taking a few of the seeds in hand, Liddy brought them up to her lips and placed them on her tongue, gingerly biting into it. However, when she went to swallow them, it felt like glue in her throat and she gagged slightly. Had she been less afraid of appearances she would've spit them back out, but as it were she was too afraid to call attention to herself. So in her attempt to be discreet, she swallowed the seeds quickly. That's when it went wrong. The seeds got stuck in her throat and Lidiya began to cough. Quietly at first, but as the seeds did not dislodge, her coughing began to get louder, as her face got red from not being able to properly breathe.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
"What's that s- Oh Christ, she's choking!" Jared exclaimed after noticing the labored, suppressed coughing of someone who definitely couldn't get enough air in their lungs. The sound wasn't exactly foreign to him, as quite a few years ago he was making sounds relatively similar to those, except less 'throat-y' and more 'asthma attack-y' despite himself not actually having asthma. Nevertheless, upon catching sight of her, it was obvious that this girl needed help. Fast. Of course, he didn't know if anyone was officially trained here, but he couldn't really take the time to cry out for help, and his personal morality wouldn't allow himself to just stand idly by when there was something he could do about it. He moved over towards the choking lady and went to lift her off the seat so he could get a better angle. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Jared reassured, knowing that that wasn't exactly as true as it could be. He did 'know' what he was doing, but he hadn't taken a course, he just read about it from a manual and had seen it happen on TV, "if this hurts... Sorry."
'Okay... First step, 5 strikes between the shoulder blades with the heel of my palm,' Jared mentally recited as he took in a deep breath and did exactly that. Assuming that that first step of dislodging the seeds from her throat didn't work, he'd go on to try a Heimlich maneuver on Lidiya, and assuming even that didn't work, the boy with the transplanted heart would just alternate between abdominal thrust techniques until he succeeded or someone more qualified took charge.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
For the most part, Booker had most of his focus on the book he was writing in, but as much as he loved to write his book was going to have to wait. His head snapped up as he heard a voice in alarm. "What's that s- Oh Christ, she's choking!" He heard. He looked over to the source of the choking sounds and stood from his seat. Before he hand the funds and everything that he needed to go to college, he spend most of his time doing various and multiple jobs to the he could work up the money as soon as he could. One of those jobs was babysitting and for that he was required to take a couple classes, some of them involving health while others involves safety and care. He was going to see if he could use those classes to his advantage but before he could it seemed that Jared had already begun to help her.[color=#00BF40] 'He's going everything right... but nothing seems to be coming from her throat...'[/color] He thought to himself as watched as he did his best to get her to stop choking.
He walked over to the both of them with a serious face, much more different than his usually calm, relaxed, and happy face. He looked around the area for a glass of water, used or unused it didn't matter since she was choking at the moment. After finding the glass of water, Booker picked it up and looked at Jared. He held a hand in front of him and looked at him wit serious and almost cold eyes, signaling for him to stop so he could give her the water. He hoped that the water would be enough to push whatever she was choking on further down and hopefully dislodge itself from her throat. "[color=#00BF40]She needs water first. It doesn't seem that she had any before choking.[/color]"
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya's face was bright red. Both from the choking and the humiliation of the whole situation. But she became even mortified when both of the boys who had been sitting on the other side of the table came over to help her. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing, if this hurts... Sorry." The first one, Jared said to her as he began to beat against her back. She felt the seeds move slightly but they were still stuck. The one with the glasses stopped Jared, holding out Lidiya's untouched water. Lidiya could barely see through the tears that were now welling up in her eyes from the pain and humiliation this whole ordeal was. She took the water from him, very shakily and attempted to drink it, but of course she just had to cough right as the water was going in. She spluttered as the water only served to go up her nose. If she could talk she would be apologizing profusely for the interruption she'd caused in their interaction and meal. But alas, she could only make small gasping and choking noises.
[size=5]Rose[/size]
Rose was about to thank Booker for the information when the dark-haired girl began to choke. Rose sat frozen for a few minuets as she wracked her brain for some thing she could do. She snapped out of her trance and ran over to them. Keeping her distance, she tried to think of something she could do. Rose hung her head, she had no idea how to help the girl. [color=#FF8000]If you guys need any help I can totally do whatever it is you need.[/color] Rose stared at her shoes, she had patched up her fair share of injuries but when it came to things like choking she was completely useless. All she could do was wait for them to dislodge whatever was in the poor girl's throat, even though she couldn't do any thing about it she still felt like she was being rude by not helping. She began to pace often looking over to check on the choking girl, waiting like this was unbearable but there was nothing she could do about it.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
"[color=#00BF40]Can someone get another glass of water? Preferably unused for her sake.[/color]" Booker was still in his more serious state of mind, and took the glass of water from the choking woman as she coughed up the water. He didn't want for her to drop the glass, so he took it from her as soon as possible. He was glad that some people wanted to help, but as far as he knew all she needed was a glass of water to down whatever got stuck in her throat. When people didn't move, Booker even went so far as to growl a little at the fact people just stood there. He was never like this, but she was choking and someone needed to take action.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty looked around the hallway. What? She blinked, thinking for a moment. Why was she here? OH! Right, the letter from O. She walked down the hallway, headed for the ballroom. When she stepped through the doors, she looked around and noticed several people surrounding someone. Wait... That's... Liddy? She rushed over, trying to access the situation. She was trying to drink water, her face red hot. Booker was on one side of her and another boy, one from before, stood on the other side of her. There was another female standing off to the side, making quick glances their way, apparently very nervous. They all looked pretty nervous in their own right. Booker looked like he'd about chomp someone's head of if they didn't do something right.
Kitty let out a small sigh and walked over to the other side of the table, kneeling in front of Liddy, a soft smile on her face. [color=hotpink]"Hey Liddy. It's going to be okay. Just try to stay calm. We'll get this all sorted out."[/color] She told her, her voice calm and soothing. She looked around and spotted a glass of untouched water a few tables down. She got up and walked over, grabbing it carefully before walking back and placing it near Booker. She looked up at Booker, a smile still on hehr face. [color=hotpink]"She'll be fine. Just keep calm."[/color] She told him and then knelt back down to look at Liddy. [color=hotpink]"It'll be okay. Booker's taking care of you and I'll be right here. When this is all over with, you and I can find a bathroom where we can clean up, okay? Just hang in there."[/color] She purred, her voice smooth and low.
[size=5]Rose[/size]
[color=#FF8000]Right, unused water![/color] Rose dashed over to the table she grabbed an unused glass and poured water from a near by pitcher in it. She ran back over to group of people helping. [color=#FF8000]Here, I got it![/color] She handed the glass to Booker, he was still calm as ever but there was a dangerously cool edge to his voice. He had certain aspects that reminded Rose of herself before the accident. [color=#FF8000]Is there any thing else I can do?[/color] This was most definitely a time to pull herself out of the world she had been living in for so long. Again all she could do was wait for some one to give her some task, she could try to comfort the choking girl but there was no need to crowd around the poor girl and it looked as if a white haired girl was doing just that and she noticed the girl called her Liddy... probably a nickname. Rose didn't even know who this person was, but after this choking business was cleared up it would be nice to meet her. Right now however it looked like as much as Liddy was panicking about choking she was also alarmed with all the people around her.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
With the two glasses of water being handed to him, Booker took one of them and slowly put it to LIddy's mouth, tilting it so that just enough water would go down without risk of giving her too much. He only hoped that the glass of water was enough to wash whatever was stuck down her throat. After giving her some water he placed the glass down on the table and took a step back, just to make sure that if she did spit up, it wouldn't get all over him. He only hoped that that glass would be enough, and it if wasn't, he was useless in this situation.
[size=5]Penelope[/size]
Penelope glanced at the clock on her radio and gave a sigh as she started the final trek towards the manor. It was getting late, probably nearing dinner time, and if the manor was anything like she expected, it would probably be served precisely on time, and then of course, she'd have to be made the spectacle wandering in after supper was served. [color=#FF0000]"Certainly late."[/color] she huffed. But it was alright. She could see the enormous estate coming in to view now, and perhaps if she moved quickly she could still make it inside without too much of a scene.
The sheer size of it hadn't actually hit her until she'd gotten up close, but the moment she did she could tell just how lovely it truly was. Back home they'd lived in a mansion of sorts, but this place spoke of old world England, and though it was in fashion these days for modern homes to try and do the same, there was no way one could capture the history practically pouring from a home such as this.
That was enough gandering though. She gripped her hands tightly onto the steering wheel and let her head rest on top of them for just a moment. Her mind was racing. There were millions of reasons for her to turn around and go home right now and every bone in her body cried out in protest but something, something she couldn't quite place, told her to take a chance. She wouldn't bet on anybody's dream coming true, and she certainly wasn't sure she'd ever see the outside of this eerie looking manor again, but what did she really have to lose?
[color=#FF0000]"Nothing."[/color] She confirmed for herself aloud.[color=#FF0000] "Nothing at all."[/color]
She climbed out of the sleek black vehicle and for the first time noticed the other car, a jeep, parked in the driveway. She'd been so focused on the manor when she pulled up that she hadn't seen it before. It looked very conspicuous and terribly out of place set in front of the backdrop that was the pristine manor behind it. Even her own luxury ride seemed ridiculous in this driveway. Perhaps she should have arrived in horse and buggy. She imagined it was the only thing that seemed to suit the place well. Either way it confirmed her suspicions right then that she wouldn't have been the only one invited here. [color=#FF0000]Nothing is ever that easy.[/color] she thought to herself as she shuffled around to her trunk and began unloading her luggage. It was a four piece matching set, which layed flat instead of standing up straight, that way three could be stacked upon each other and one could be carried for easy travelling.
Locking her doors she made her way up to the front door. Again she stopped as her stomach urged her not to enter. She had no idea what she could be getting herself into, and after several times of pacing back and fourth between the door and her car, she decided enough was enough.[color=#FF0000] "No turning back now."[/color]
Finally, she made her way up to, and through the slightly cracked door and briskly closed it behind her. There didn't seem to be anyone present in the parlour, but she stood, nonetheless, half waiting to be greeted, half wanting to survey the place before anyone saw her, that way she could leave if she came across something she didn't like the looks of. And it only took her a moment to find several.
Raising a singular gloved hand, she lifted the arm of her long pea-coat and checked the watch situated on her wrist. It was certainly dinner time, and judging by the glasses of water and half eaten loaves of bread littered around the little waiting area, they probably hadn't been gone long. Making her way over to where a piece of paper lay slightly crumpled on a couch, she read the letter quietly to herself. She wasn't sure how she felt about this "O" person yet, and though her eyes made one final glance back to the door, she strengthened her resolved once more. [color=#FF0000]You're not leaving.[/color] she scolded herself harshly as she folded the paper up and stuck it inside her bag.
Her mind made up once more, she slowly began to remove her coverings. First a black velvet scarf, followed by her gray coat, and then, one by one her, her matching black gloves. She draped them lightly across her luggage, assuming that from the other sets of left behind baggage haphazardly scattered throughout the room, she was probably supposed to leave her things here. With her coat off now though, another twinge rose in her stomach. She suddenly felt out of place. She was wearing a long sleeved, deep blue dress which hung just above her knees. It was slightly puffy shouldered, and had a high collar which was adorned in fragments of emerald. A pair of thick designed tights ran the length of her legs, till they reached her ankles where she sported a pair of heeled booties. Her long, regal jacked had disguised it at first, but now, she felt as if she had been transported back in time, and that she probably should have had on a long gown of some sort, or at least something that covered her legs better. While moving it to sit neatly against the wall, she combed through her luggage in her mind, noting she had several pieces that might due, but she hadn't been given a room yet, and might even miss dinner completely had she left to change.
She gave a sigh then and tugged at the petticoat underneath her dress to adjust it just right. "Hopefully I'm not terribly under dressed.." she sighed again and grabbed the smallest of her luggage bags, which she'd been using as a purse, draped it casually across her forearm, and then ventured towards the hallway in hopes of finding the others.
She could more or less guess what the layout of the manor was. A few mistakes here and there but she figured she was getting closer as she began to hear noise picking up through the halls. She got distracted by the many rooms of the manor, however, and before going to assess what commotion was taking place several rooms away, she instead made a detour at the garden. Her bag that held her sketchbook and art supplies was still left in the foyer, but she could certainly see herself relaxing here to work or read.
[size=5]Maggie[/size]
The young woman was just dropping her bag on a nearby bench, her attention on a beautiful little statue hiding on a shelf, when she heard the commotion behind her. Whipping around, Maggie witnessed one of the other guests begin to choke. Her motions were jagged and rough as she attempted to cough up whatever was lodged in her throat, and her face turned red as her eyes grew wide. This was not merely some cutesy action to attract the attention of the guests in the house. No, this was a very real problem. In seconds, other guests had rushed to the woman's side. Realizing she had very little else to offer them, Maggie thrust her hand into the pocket of her Carhartt and closed it tightly around her phone. Should the situation grow any more dire, she would call for help. Briefly, she found herself wondering if a 911 call would do her any good way out here in the country. Why, she did not even know if her phone had service. But she rid her mind of the thought. If she needed to call for help, she would try. Certainly, she was not an especially loving, warm individual. But she would not watch a stranger choke to death in front of her without doing anything about it. She was not that cold-hearted.
Her green eyes followed a young man slowly press the glass to the choking girl's lips, gently tipping the water through her lips. Whether forcing water down the throat of a victim like this was the right move or not, Maggie could not say. But it was most likely better than the back thumping she would have tried to offer. There was no immediate response from the girl, and after a few seconds of silence, Maggie spoke for the first time since entering the manor.[color=#FFFF00] "Y'alright?"[/color]
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
There was so many people around her Lidiya was beginning to feel panicky and lightheaded. But that also could've been from the choking. The nice man with the glasses was still trying to help her, this time even going so far as to pour water into her mouth as Kitty whispered encouraging words to her. The other man, Jared, was on her other side, standing around and the girl that Jared and the man with the glasses had been talking to was also trying to help by offering assistance in any way possible. She felt honored, but also extremely humiliated. But then something shifted. The water somehow must've dislodged at least one of the seeds because suddenly Lidiya could breathe again. Discreetly she choked down the rest of the seeds as the barrier in her throat finally broke and she gulped in air as fast as her lungs could take it in. Sinking to her knees, she held out a hand, her face the color of a cherry tomato. [color=#00FFFF]"P-p-p-pl-please..... w-w-wat-t-ter...."[/color] This was so humiliating. Forced to communicate with others because your eating disorder prevents you from eating properly. Lidiya felt like she wanted to dissolve into the floor and fall asleep forever. Tears pricked her eyes with the sting of the blow she'd been dealt by a cruel fate.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker was more than glad that more than one person had brought a glass of water to help him, and when he saw her sinking down, he moved back in front of her and took the hand that she had extended out to him. When he heard her speak, he took a mental sigh of relief and even started to revert back in to his more normal state by letting out a calm smile. He grabbed the other glass of water with his free hand and pulled his other hand away from hers so that she could hold her glass of water herself. He didn't want to give her the water like he was, because he had no idea if he would be giving her to much or to little. It was in his blood to help people, and he was very much like his mother in more ways than one. He was glad now that he was so much like her, although it didn't help all that much when he was younger.
"[color=#00BF40]Here's some water, if you need anything else just say so.[/color]" He knew little about the woman that he was helping, but that wouldn't have mattered even if he did know her. He helped people, and even if he didn't like someone he's help them however he could.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty let out a small sigh of relief and stood up, the smile still etched into her face. She walked back a bit, going over to inspect the food placed at the table. It was all really nice stuff but nothing she'd ever seen before. She's wasn't too keen to eat something that looked like nothing she'd ever seen before. She spotted some cupcakes down the way a bit and trudged off to go see those. With all of those people around her, she figured Liddy just needed some space. Kitty would go back and talk to her again later.
She picked up one of the small cupcakes and bit into in gingerly, playing with the taste. It was very good and she decided to sit for awhile and munch on them, taking her fill. After a few moments, she'd eaten over half of them. Her eyes grew wide and an awkward smile grew on her lips as she got up and walked over to one of the wall, inspecting it. They designs were so intricate. There were gold trimmings lining rather old looking mirrors that reflected those around her. There were several people in the ballroom, but only a few of them were really doing anything. Why weren't they eating? Why waste perfectly good food when it's sitting right in front of you? She let out another sigh and then walked back to try on what looked like a casserole.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
As it seemed Booker took care of the situation out of his own hands, Jared merely backed off and let the more-qualified individual get to work. After all, if he couldn't save a person with his own two hands, he might as well stay out of the way of the people who could do the job. Unnoticed, Jared just backed off from the group of saviours that gathered around the gal. While it was great that they were all helping out, the heart-transplantee couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed he couldn't do better. 'But... it isn't like I couldn't do better,' he thought, turning his head away from the situation and towards the food area. The sooner he got that out of his mind, the sooner he could stop thinking about all the things he could've done better. At that moment, his stomach grumbled.
"Ha... I should get food," he murmured, completely turning his back on the scene and heading towards the tables before picking up a plate and gathering some of the extravagant looking goods on his plate... "Mind if I take a seat here?" Jared called out to the white haired girl, Carmen, who he had seen sitting there before she left to take some food. He glanced back before tentatively taking the seat in front of her. After doing that, he sort of stared at his food in thought before.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty smiled up at the boy she'd been seeing. She really aught to ask his name. [color=hotpink]"Sure. But first, you have to tell me your name! If you said it before, I must have forgotten."[/color] She said, looking up at him as he sat down. There wasn't something about him that calmed her, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it... She shrugged it off and pulled a fork full of salad up to her lips.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
[color=#00BF40]"Here's some water, if you need anything else just say so."[/color] Lidiya was mortified about the episode, but still grateful to the help. She took a long drink of water. [color=#00FFFF]"I-I think I'm o-okay for now.... S-sorry for y-yo-your tr-trouble but th-th-than-thank y-you."[/color] She kept her eyes on the ground, sneaking small looks at him every now and then. Hadn't she wished earlier she could talk to the others? Well... it looks like fate had tried to grant her wish in a very strange way. She sighed.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker wasn't entirely sure about how to react to her way of giving thanks. She was of no trouble to him, and she didn't really need to say sorry for anything. Now relieved to see her breathing just fine, he shook his head lightly and smiled. He reverted back in to his more normal state of mind, which could be noticed by listening to his voice that was now lighter and in a happier tone. [color=#00BF40]"It's no trouble at all. I'm Booker."[/color] He though back and remembered that they hadn't even spoken before she was choking, so he thought that it was rude of him not to introduce himself earlier. He extended a hand out to her to shake and gave her a small smile of kindness.
[size=5]Penelope[/size]
The beauty of the garden had truly captured Penelope, and as she trekked through rows of intricately designed and layed out plants and flowery, she had a bit of a sentimental moment to herself. [color=#FF0000]These are the type of things we should be taking time to enjoy.[/color] But it was almost as if that very thought had jogged her memory as to why she'd been in a rush in the first place. And so with one more round about the place she stepped back inside the manor and headed in the direction she thought noise had been pouring from before. It had significantly died down during the course of her detour, but the sounds of low conversations still held echos in the hall, and so once again she followed it as best she could.
It was only a moment before she reached the grand room where there were several people scattered about, either standing or seated, and while she was indeed impressed with the grandeur of the room, she was not, however, with the sight before her. The sight very much reminded her of a high school lunch room, as she was incredibly surprised to find a buffet layed out instead of specific place settings. From the looks of each of them, she could be sure without a second though that none of them was "O", which disappointed her slightly as well. If nothing else though, she was pleased to know she was at least not terribly under dressed when compared to the others, even if compared to the room she still was by leaps and bounds.
Running her free hand through the perfectly pin straight flames she called hair, she addressed the room all at once. Her voice though soft, and directed at no one in particular, commanded attention. Whether she got it or not she did not care. It was a simple formality to introduce yourself, especially when strolling in late, and so she did. [color=#FF0000]"I am Abelia P. Whitewoode, and though I go by Penelope, I encourage you to use whichever one suits your fancy. It is a pleasure to meet each of you."[/color] As she spoke the words rolled off her tongue like honey, a distinct french accent heavy in her voice, though clearly Americanized enough for each of her words to be especially clear when spoken.
With that she left the limelight of sorts and made her way towards the food. Everything looked quite nice, but she decided she'd firstly have herself a glass of wine before deciding on anything heavy. She also wanted to keep her hands free to mingle about, and perhaps find out if anyone had any more information on their mysterious host.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya watched as the man shook his head and smiled at her. [color=#00BF40]"It's no trouble at all. I'm Booker."[/color] With that Booker held out his hand toward her, smiling. His voice seemed happier now that she was no longer in danger. [color=#00FFFF]"M-my name is L-Lidiya."[/color] Very carefully she took his hand, almost as if it were a bomb or a spider. She shook it lightly before dropping her hand back to her side. She smiled politely at him, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. [color=#00FFFF]"Fu-funny how i-i-it took m-me choking to tal-alk to you."[/color] She didn't say it accusatory, nor harshly. She simply stated it.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker was a little confused at the statement. Not really the statement itself, but how she said it put him off. She spoke so casually, as if this had happened to her before, and this wasn't something that would happen on occasion. As her hand fell from his, he dropped his hand as well and looked at her with a little curiosity. He saw the smile that she had on, but it was only halfway there, it just seemed to odd to him. [color=#00BF40]"You say it like it happened before."[/color] He had a curious tone to it as he spoke, unable to understand why he felt or thought this way.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya had been staring at the floor when she heard the soft spoken words. [color=#00BF40]"You say it like it happened before."[/color] She flinched slightly, as if his words had physically pelted her. She wrapped her arms carefully around herself, running her hands down over the numerous leather bracelets that were her disguise. Again she tried to smile but it felt grotesque on her face. She shook her head, speaking quietly. [color=#00FFFF]"N-no... i-i-it's not th-that. I j-just....[/color] She let out a very nervous sounding chuckle. [color=#00FFFF]"I-i just thought i-it w-w-was fu-funny was a-a-a-all."[/color] Then she seemed to consider her words. [color=#00FFFF]"N-not that ch-choking is funny p-per s-say... j-j-just that... I-i..."[/color] She gave up trying to explain as her face heated up and her hands floated around noncommittally. She wasn't quite sure how she had planned to end that sentence.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker could see easily that she seemed to be struggling with finishing her sentence, and it made him feel bad that it seemed that he was the cause of this. He didn't want to put her out of her comfort zone, and as much as Booker liked a conversation every now and then, he knew that it wouldn't go on much longer. he nodded to her and rose a hand. "[color=#00BF40]I understand. Save your words for when you need them the most, don't force them out when speaking.[/color]" It was part of something that he was taught when he was younger, also having a difficult time when it came to social interaction. 'Save your words and courage.' He thought to himself. He lowered his hand and looked to the table of food.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty looked around the grounds of the manor, her white hair whipping her face slightly. She let out a frustrated sigh and pulled it back, hoping to make it stop but to no avail. She let out another sigh and walked closer to the Manor. She wore a simple white dress and no shoes. She didn't know why either, or even how she got here. She just knew she was supposed to be here, wasn't she? She scratched the back of her head gingerly as she walked up the Manor. She got up to the front steps and looked up at the huge front door. A large rope huge from one side of the door, presumably the doorbell. But, Kitty didn't know that.
She pulled at the door for a bit. It wouldn't budge. The big wooden doors would not budge in the slightly. Kitty pouted at it and in her frustration, kicked at it. She turned around swiftly to sit down on the steps and try to formulate a plan when she heard a creaking noise come from behind her. What? She turned to see the doors opened. She blinked, a bit surprised. Why had they opened? She shrugged, deciding to think nothing of it, and walked inside.
It was beautiful! It was so old, yet so well kept. There was an ornate rug that went from the front entrance all the way back into what looked like a hall way with several doors. To the left of the hallway was a large stone staircase that led up to higher floors, a thing rug running up it's middle. She turned to the right and noticed a big living room type area with a small fire place. Interesting... She walked forward, inspecting the rooms. The first floor didn't really have much. She walked down the hallway and looked into the first room she came across. It was a kitchen. She looked around, looking at all of the pots and pans and several doors that led somewhere. She highly tempted to check them out but, she'd have to do that another time. She jumped when she heard a voice and a blue cloud of smoke appeared in front of her. [color=#004080]"Hello, Carmen. Come upstairs, I have much to discuss with you."[/color] it told her, it's voice almost monotone, without a gender. She nodded, her eyes wide and followed the wisp upstairs, not really sure where she was going. When they finally stopped, they were in a big expansive room, far to large to be held upstairs. What?
She looked over to see the wisp hovering over a big ornate desk. [color=#004080]"Soon, there will be many people coming to my manor. I wish for you to be among them. Every so often I will call upon you. Do not tell them where you are going or what you are doing. I will ask you several questions. You will tell me everything truthfully, understood?"[/color] It asked her and she nodded gingerly, to afraid to do much else. Something about this scared her, as if one wrong move would be the end for her. She could have sworn she saw it smiling too... [color=#004080]"Good, then go back downstairs and wait for them. You will not remember this encounter. Now, go."[/color] It told her before vanishing. She watched as the room went black and suddenly she was in the living room again. Wait... How did she get there? She shook her head and decided it was time for a nap. She found a sofa and laid down, closing her eyes to take a small nap.
[color=#00BFBF]Ianto Jones[/color]
[color=#0080BF]"Heh heh heh..."[/color] The sinister figure stood tallwith its pristinely clean black and white uniform wandering about the silent halls of Reverie Manor. [color=#00BFBF]"Soon... They'll be disappointed. They'll be crushed..."[/color] Its bony-like fingers touched the surface of faded red ornate wall with a flicker of burning candle light. As it lit, darkness escapes away from it. It lit up a small portion of the near pitch-black surroundings and the detailed features of the floor... Ceiling... Began to unveil themselves. Pictures of ancient revered artwork of angels decorated the sky of the manor. The curtains were closed, and all you could see through the thick material was darkness. The shadowy butler's footsteps echoed as he continued to light the rest of the candles around him until the creaking sound of the Front Hall made him turn his head back, peering into the darkness. [color=#00BFBF]"They're here..."[/color] He could only hear a set of footsteps.
He steadfastly moved to the living room of the Reverie Manor expecting the first guest to arrive inside this twisted mansion. His footsteps were so light, even the wind could not tell what was treading. His eyes, toxic in colour peered to the silvery texture of the lounge sofa. It seemed alive. He could hear breathing other than his own, so that thing resting upon the couch must be the guest. He quickly stood himself tall and proceeded to unknowingly walk as he normally would to light up the unburnt candles by the coffee table. The rhythm of his footsteps were entrancing and bewitching. Almost unnatural to the normal ear. Ianto kept silent as he lit the candle and continued to walk past the sleeping female figure on the seat. Using a water tap nearby, he filled it with luke-warm tasteless water, but placing a small sinch of powder that seems like salt and it dissolved clearly into the water. As he returned, he placed the water on top of the table and continued to wander around the Living Room to expect more guests.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker slowly walked forward until he had reached the manor. He knew it was the one just by its presence, but it also gave off an odd feeling in him that he couldn't explain. He pressed his glasses up against the bridge of his nose and took in the atmosphere of the manor. Everything around him was so different than he was used to. Growing up in another country, everything around him, even the most simple things, seemed so foreign to him. He was a smart person, and knew just enough about the change from his standard to Metric to get him by. He would have liked to learned more before he left his home country, but he knew that this was important. He was told that his dreams could come true, he wasn't all too sure about that, but he certainly wasn't going to pass up the offer to travel. He loved to go to different places and explore, so he hoped that this would be some good inspiration.
He took a step forward and was greeted by a large door. His hand lightly felt the door and it complete ornate-ness. Although he was good with words, he just couldn't find any that would explain how it looked and felt. He gave the door a light push and looked inside as soon as the slightest crack was visible. Te more the door opened the more he could see of the amazing Manor. He knew that everything was much more fancy and high quality in England compared to America, but he couldn't have expected the change to be that drastic! A look of awe appeared on his face as he took in everything around him and took a step in, his messenger bag slung around his shoulders, and a decently sized suitcase begin dragged behind him. He didn't know what he should or should't take and decided to bring clothes, everything he needed for his camera, some pens and pencils for his note book, and his notebook itself.
At he looked around, Booker took more steps forward and looked around. It was completely silent other than very light breathing that he was sure it wasn't his own. with a quick look around he found the source of the breathing and saw a young woman with white hair laying down on the sofa and sleeping. He only smiled lightly at her and continued to look around, making sure to keep as quietly as possible so that he wouldn't wake her up. He was a pretty quiet person overall, but that didn't mean he could make a mistake and make a mess and ruckus.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
Jared trudged on along the road on his way to this ritzy-sounding little manor. He hadn't gotten around to purchasing a ride of his own, though his parents had been kind enough to drop him off close enough to the odd little estate. He still had to do some quite a bit of walking, all things considered, but that didn't bother the young man. After all, years of solitude stuck inside buildings would probably induce a wanting to go outside and see the world. Nevertheless, he still had that numbed out feeling in his body, especially his legs, and every now and then it would just straight up force him to limp along... Or at least, limp along worse than he already did. Served him right for delaying proper exercise, he figured. Speaking of which, this walk was another one of those times where his leg that had began to lag. Fortunately they had become much less frequent an occurrence.
"Ah, there it is," Jared chirped upon seeing the Reverie Manor for the first time. It was definitely the one, if the instructions he was given as well as the vibe he was getting had anything to do say. He was told his 'dream' would come true, but, really, did he even know what he wanted specifically? He had a good idea, at least. Save the world, end all suffering, something within that general train of thought. But... that was impossible right? Even if he was an optimist, Jared knew that, even with his intentions and efforts, he'd need some kind of miracle for that to happen.
"I wonder, can this place really make a miracle?" Jared inquired as he leaned against the recently opened door frame for a momentary respite from that hike of his. It wasn't all that far, if one were to actually measure the distance, it was just that the young man obviously had quite poor endurance given his previous medical history. After drawing in enough breath, the brunet finally properly entered the mansion and closed the door behind him. His first sight of the house gave him the impression that the owner was more wealthy than he had initially thought. His second impression was that there were other people in the area, if the sounds of steps and breathing were anything to go by.
Jared started up his walk again, his current intention going to meet up with what seemed to be other people. He didn't know why he had assumed that he'd be the only person to be invited, and it did make sense that there'd be others...
But the young man hoped that the guy who would grant their dreams wouldn't force them to do some menial tasks like solve some kind of mystery or search the world for some stupid treasure.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty slowly opened her eyes, the sounds of quiet movement surrounding her. She sat up and stretched, her arms to the sky. When she was done she scanned the room. Several people where here now. One of which looked to be a butler. Where had he been earlier? She shrugged. The other two looked like normal boys, one had glasses but didn't look quite like a boy. He looked older, like he'd seen more. Though, first impressions could always be wrong. The other boy looked younger and seemed more irritated than not. Why was that? There were so many people to talk to now!
Kitty smiled to herself and continued to inspect the room. There was a small coffee table nearby that held a single glass of water. She eyed it, her head tilting out of curiosity. She reached for the glass and picked it up slowly, bringing it to her lips to smell it. Smelled like normal water... And she was rather thirsty... She smiled and drank a bit of the water, careful to leave a bit of it in case it had been someone else's water. It was refreshing! She hadn't had good water like that in a few months. The water she'd had had always been muddy and mucky. It was nice to finally be able to drink nice clean and clear water for once.
She got up after putting the glass back down, and walked over towards the forming crowd, her white hair bouncing behind her. She smiled up at the man with the glasses. [color=hotpink]"Hello!"[/color] She greeted him, a small grin on her face, her eyes looking slightly down at him. Were all men this small? She chuckled to herself and then continued. [color=hotpink]"I'm Carmen Whitshaw but you can call me Kitty. It's nice to meet you!"[/color] She purred, her eyes bright and shining. She was finally with other people. She wasn't alone anymore.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker continued to look around the house in silence, getting lost in passing thoughts as he examined the area around him. He still couldn't get over the fact about how different everything was compared to America, and even jumped a little as he was greeted by someone, breaking the silence that filled the Manor. Booker was more or less the average size for his family, and when he turned around to look at the person who greeted him, he had to look up a little to meet her eyes. At the moment, he wasn't entirely sure if he was a little short, or if she was a little tall, but he was going to go with the former in his best attempts not to insult or harm anyone.
With a small smile and press on his glasses, he examined the woman in front of him. Although she was indeed taller, she seemed younger than him, just be how she appeared and acted. He wasn't exactly sure about the age, but he wasn't going to bother with that kind of stuff until much later when he had the time. "Hello." He said in a kind tone of voice. He wasn't one to talk all that much, but would try to when he would be needed. "I'm Booker Hendrix, and it's nice to meet you too." He had a soft and calm voice, and even when he would be angered or upset his voice never seemed to change all that much.
On the inside, he had hoped that she was from here, so that his stories and travels would sound a bit more unique, but in no way did he want to take advantage of anyone by telling them anything false, leading them to spread wrong information to other people and turning the person that he had talked to in to a fool. He hated to mislead people, and wanted to give him his most truthful answers when he decided to speak.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
[color=#00BF40]"Hello."[/color] He said in a kind tone of voice, [color=#00BF40]"I'm Booker Hendrix, and it's nice to meet you too."[/color] She giggled, feeling giddy. It'd been so long since she'd heard another person's voice. [color=hotpink]"So, what brings you here? I... I just kind of happened across this place myself. At least, I think I did. I don't know." [/color] She began, feeling her head start to hurt already. She didn't like thinking about these sorts of things. The answer would never come to her anyway.
She walked around Booker, inspecting him. [color=hotpink]"Are all men this short? I've yet to see one my size..."[/color] She asked with a huff. She wasn't so much insulted by being tall but she wanted to be able to see at least someone on eye level. She let out a small sigh and walked back to face Booker, eyeing the other boy in the process. He seemed more her age, but still shorter... She let out another little huff and turned to face Booker, waiting for an answer.
Why did all of these people come here anyway? Her head hurt. For some reason she remembered someone telling her there would be more people but... why? Where did they all come from and why? Maybe Booker would be able to answer this for her.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
[color=#00BF40]"I received a letter and a passport."[/color] He spoke simply, his eyes following the slightly taller girl in front of him a she walked around him and inspected him. From what he had seen so far of her, she seemed friendly and nice, but was a little surprised to hear her ask if All Men were short. A thought came in to Booker's mind as he thought about the possibility of her begin sheltered from life. She may have been speaking in a general sense, but as he heard it, it sounded as if she believed all men to be shorter than women. During his silence, he also thought about the sizes of people, and how over the millennium or so, the human body has grown and evolved in many different ways depending on the area. Some people have better built and strong bodies, because that it was they require when living in that certain area, and some are smaller and faster, for the same reason.
He pulled himself out of his thought to look slightly up and smiled softly. [color=#00BF40]"Size varies from person to person. Not all men are short."[/color] Although his thoughts were much more complicated in his head, he had know idea about how smart the girl was, so he thought it would be best to explain it simply, and make it more complicated if needed.[color=#00BF40] "I don't know about the sizes of people here. I've only been in this country so long and you are actually the first person I have had a full conversation with."[/color] He nodded and looked over to where her gaze was at before, another your man that also seemed younger than himself. He was starting to question if he was the oldest one in the manor as of now, since he hadn't seen and staff or help yet.
[size=5]Marcus[/size]
"If you want your dreams to come true, visit Reverie Manor and try your luck." What a crock of shit.
Marcus reached into the inner pocket of his coat and pulled out a small pouch of tobacco and a rolling paper and with the deft movements of long practice rolled a cigarette and lit it. Not like I've got anything better to do though.
The grounds were impressive, he had to admit that to himself if no one else. His boots crunched softly as he made his way up the walkway towards a side door, preferring not to enter from the main entrance. He stopped before the side entrance and looked over the manor itself. The smoked helped him think and he dragged deep again before flicking the mostly smoked cigarette onto the walkway figuring that a place like this would have maids or butlers or whatever rich people called them these days to come pick it up in their normally stuffy manner. With a scratch to his beard he walked up the steps and opened the door to step inside and sighed at the blatant display of grandeur and money, wondering again why he bothered to accept the invitation. He stepped over to an ornate dresser topped with vases and the like and dragged a finger across it. Not even a little dust, he thought to himself. He shook his head and continued to look around finding it mildly strange that he was allowed to simply walk in and stroll around a place like this. As he moved further in he heard the soft noise of voices from a bit further in and moved to investigate.
He opened a door to find two slightly built people engaged in conversation. It was hard to gauge their ages though he guessed the man was older by his demeanor despite his age. The girl still looked like a kid to him though. So apparently age doesn't matter here. Interesting," he thought to himself. Marcus nodded politely towards them but stayed quiet as he moved into the room to look around.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya was winded. Huffing her hair out of her face she trudged up the road towards this mysterious manor. She had just barely had enough money for the plane ticket here, thus she'd had to walk from the airport and it was a long walk. Finally after what had seemed like hours she reached the beginnings of a driveway. Looking up she could see the impressive manor. It was gorgeous. If she had more time she would've set her stuff down right there and started a sketch or maybe even a water color painting. Sighing wistfully she set down her very scant luggage for a minute. Smoothing down her hair and her dress she felt anxiety build up in her small frame. She wondered if there'd be people in there other than her. She felt her face heat up as she rubbed a hand over the many leather bands crisscrossing her wrists, covering her scars. She was dressed simply in a white lacy cotton dress and brown leather belts, her numerous bracelets matching the belt. She wore simple worn sandals. It might not be apparent from her appearance but Lidiya was very poor, making just enough income from her waitressing job at a small diner in Colorado to support a small one bedroom apartment. But when a letter had arrived in her mail she quit and sold anything extra she didn't need for her trip here. She had always craved adventure and human affection, and maybe this place could bring it. Sighing Lidiya picked her carpet bag back up and shifted her violin case in her other hand. Walking up to the massive front door she just stopped and stood there for a minute, taking everything in. She felt the familiar roll of anxiety and butterflies in her stomach.
Taking a very deep breath she pushed on the door, sending it open with a loud creak. She was awed by the site she was met with, the place seemed like something out of one of the many romance novels she had read in her younger days. It was romantic England, after all. Chewing on her lip she stepped inside the hall and shut the door behind her, letting her thin fingers trail over the surface. This place sparked her creative spirit, endlessly. Yet somehow, it had a strange feeling to it, as if she couldn't quite tell whether this place would bring her happiness or danger. Turning back around she walked tentatively into one of the many rooms lining the hallway. It was a living room and there were several other people in here already. There was a tall girl with long white hair talking vibrantly to a bookish sort of man with glasses. There was another man with long hair and a beard appraising the room across from the other two people. Lidiya felt her body tense up. She didn't know there would be people here and especially men. She felt her hands clam up and she set down her luggage to keep from dropping her precious violin. Wrapping her arms around herself she remained quiet, looking around the room. She tried to quell the hysteria that threatened to bubble up. Standing off in the corner by the door, Lidiya felt awkward but still, this house excited her, after all it was supposed to make her dreams come true. She sighed wistfully.
[size]Ianto[/size]
As expected from his suspicion, more and more people gathered directly at the Living Room adjacent to the front entrance. Some of them took no extra time and begun to speak with one another. One was just plain curious and seemingly filled with glee over this place. [color=#00BFBF]"Nothing is interesting here... I'll give you that."[/color] He thought in his mind. The short butler remained silent-- most of the people there hadn't seen him so he quick backed himself away from the corridor he came from to go to the kitchen where he could get some food ready for them... But there was no cook. Perhaps water will just do. Ian stepped to the dimly lit corridor of candles, and saw a set of eyes peering into the living room. A large man, bearded and smelled like ashes of tobacco. Looked like he had intruded in from one of the side entrances.
Ian took no more interest and continued to get water from the kitchen. The presence there was unnaturally silent. Sounds of clattering pans could be heard, even though no one was preparing anything. A ghost--- Apparition in his mind formed by the stove, but disappeared as his eyes peered to it. The normal occurrences that happens here was all normal. Four glasses of water, all pinched with a powder but the water remained clear. [color=#00BFBF]"Perhaps some bread wouldn't hurt them... Or would it?"[/color] There were loaves of bread in a bag. inside, it seemed as though the bread was fresh and recently baked. The immediate moment it was touched upon, warmth of the hot steam escaped. He brought five breads before returning to the living room. The man seemed to still have stayed where he was watching the living room. The first person to get their set of meal was this bearded man. As he approached him, Ian placed a masking smile over his face as if to look friendly before gesturing to him insistently.
[color=#00BFBF]"Take this water and bread. Your journey must've been a long one."[/color] Regardless of his response, Ian would've given it to him. At that time then, he would step into the Living Room and make his presence a little bit more renowned. The people around him was taller-- except for the shortest lady. What more could he say? There is an old saying that Short people hold great power. Napoleon for example. [color=#00BFBF]"Welcome guests. Please take a drink and bread. As for you miss..."[/color] Ian turned to the silvery-haired girl. [color=#00BFBF]"I just brought bread for you. Freshly baked."[/color] He placed the platter down for the guests to freely enjoy their meal.[color=#00BFBF] "I am known by Ianto Jones. Feel free to refer to me as Ian. I am the Butler of this Manor and the O is certainly expecting you."[/color] As cliche as it could've sounded.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
[color=#00BF40]"I received a letter and a passport."[/color] He spoke simply, watching her as she walked around him. She watched him with wide curious eyes as he seemed to consider the question. She smiled looking at him. He was interesting. He wasn't someone that spoke without thinking. He combed over his words carefully. Or, so it seemed to Kitty. But then again, what did she know? She looked down as he replied to her, his eyes soft like his smile, [color=#00BF40]"Size varies from person to person. Not all men are short."[/color] She thought on his words carefully before hearing him continue, [color=#00BF40]"I don't know about the sizes of people here. I've only been in this country so long and you are actually the first person I have had a full conversation with."[/color]
So... Sizes of people vary. She began to wonder why, her mind ever curious. Did some of them need to be taller than others or is it just random? She sighed and shrugged, deciding to give up on the endeavor. She smiled, hearing that she was the first person he'd had a full conversation with. [color=hotpink]"I'm glad! I mean... not that you haven't had anyone to talk to... I just..."[/color] She said, her thoughts scrambled. She really needed to start thinking before she spoke, like Booker. She let out a soft sigh and looked down at him, a soft smile on her face. [color=hotpink]"Nevermind. I'm just glad that I could give you someone to talk to."[/color] She explained, her voice soft.
She looked up and scanned the room once again, a few more people had arrived. A tall burly man and a thin short female. Her eyes were set on the man, the only one taller than her in the entire room. Then, her gaze shifted to the girl. She looked uncomfortable, as if agitated by the people. Had they all not expected people other than themselves to be here? She looked back down at Booker, a smile on her face, bigger than before. [color=hotpink]"Excuse me, Booker. I'm going to go get acquainted with a few of the other guests as well. I'll see you around."[/color] She told him and then stepped around him, headed for the girl in the corner of the room. Her bare feet padding against the hard wood floor, before she reached her however, her nose was graced by the smell of freshly bake bread.
She turned to see a rather short man headed her way, bread in hand. [color=#00BFBF] "I just brought bread for you. Freshly baked."[/color] He said before turning to place the rest of the bread on the coffee table. He straightened slowly before saying, [color=#00BFBF]"I am known by Ianto Jones. Feel free to refer to me as Ian. I am the Butler of this Manor and the O is certainly expecting you."[/color] Kitty blinked. O? She looked down at the bread in her hand, moving it around in her hands. Slowly, she tore off a piece and tasted it gingerly. It was nice, certainly freshly baked, a delicacy. Not that she'd know what a delicacy is. Any food prepared nicely would seem like a delicacy to her. She turned and walked over to the blacked haired female. She stopped just several steps away and simply stood near here, messing with the bread in her hands. [color=hotpink]"My name's Carmen. But most people just call me Kitty. What's yours?"[/color] She asked, turning her head in the direction of the girl, a warm smile on her face. Something told her not to get too close to the girl, something in the way she stood seemed as if she was trying her best to protect herself from the world.
[size=5]Maggie[/size]
The soothing croon of her favorite singer died away suddenly. The song was a familiar one, one that she liked to play on repeat, and it made her feel better to listen to it. It was a song she had listened to before everything changed. Before the accident. But with a quick turn of her wrist, she turned the key in the ignition and killed the engine. The 2002 Jeep Wrangler gave a final shudder, then fell silent. Before making a move to exit the vehicle, the driver glanced at her reflection in the rear-view mirror. Her large, almond-shaped green eyes were no longer red and puffy, as it had been a few hours since she had cried in her motel room. These days, she only broke down occasionally. Every week or so, she is struck by overwhelming sadness that nearly renders her immobile. The burst are short-lived, and they go as quickly as they come, leaving Maggie with a fresh, white-hot anger. Yes, the sadness that she had felt had subsided now, on the drive from the hotel to the mysterious manor. And now there was only rage. Her green eyes were hard emeralds as she studied her reflection.
The driver’s side door opened with a creak, and closed with a sharp slam. The lanky individual who emerged had an army green military duffel slung over her shoulder. Her red hair fell over one shoulder, a stark contrast to the brown Carhart she wore. It was a no-nonsense look, with her faded blue-jeans and large work boots. They made a satisfying crunching sound as she made her way up the drive and toward the front door. The manor was beautiful, even a hardened young woman like Maggie West would admit that. It had a certain mystery to it that she found captivating. If nothing more, she could spend her days wandering the grounds, and exploring the many secrets undoubtedly held within the stone walls. Surely, nothing else could come from this little trip anyway. The invitation had promised her dreams would come true. But who could bring her father the justice he deserved? This was all so silly, and almost every piece of her screamed to get back in her Jeep and go home. Most likely, she was walking into a serial killer’s lair. But a small part of her mind reminded her that she had no where else to go. The police had stopped looking. Months had passed. Her boyfriend had left her. She had no other family. She was alone.
With that thought in mind, she readjusted the pack on her shoulder, lengthened her stride, and without hesitation, strode through the front door.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya had been staring around the room when a man in a suit came in carrying bread and water. He set it down on the table. She eyed one of the glasses of water but didn't even glance at the food. [color=#00BFBF]"I am known by Ianto Jones. Feel free to refer to me as Ian. I am the Butler of this Manor and the O is certainly expecting you."[/color] She wondered to herself just who this O person was and why in the world he had invited such drastically different people to a secluded manor out here. Looking down, she studied the floor, engross in thought. She never even noticed when the white haired woman walked up and stopped a few feet from her [color=hotpink]"My name's Carmen. But most people just call me Kitty. What's yours?"[/color] Lidiya jumped at the sudden interruption of her thoughts. Looking up she watched as the woman smiled at Lidiya, her eyes taking in her body language and appraising her. Lidiya tried to smile but it felt fake. Her cheeks heated up and her words came out so soft as to barely be heard.[color=#00FFFF]"M-my name is L-l-lidiya.[/color] She stuttered on her words. This had been happening ever since her parents died. It became very hard for her to interact with people. [color=#00FFFF]"I-I u-u-us-used to be called Liddy... b-but that was a long t-time a-a-ago.[/color] She looked up at the tall girl, briefly flicking her eyes around her to study the others in the room as well.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty smiled warmly as the girl replied. [color=#00FFFF]"M-my name is L-l-lidiya."[/color] She stuttered, her voice small and soft. [color=#00FFFF]"I-I u-u-us-used to be called Liddy... b-but that was a long t-time a-a-ago."[/color] She continued. Her eyes fluttered around the room, as if trying to avoid contact with Kitty's. Kitty simply sighed and pulled another piece of the bread up to her mouth, chomping on it silently.
When she finished and swallowed, she looked down at the floor, leaning against the wall. [color=hotpink]"It's nice to meet you Liddy."[/color] She said, her eyes still at the floor. She looked over at Liddy with another soft smile, noticing how tense the girl was. [color=hotpink]"You don't have to be so tense. I don't bite. And if anyone tries to hurt you, let me know and I'll beat them up for you!"[/color] She told the girl, smiling widely and flexing her arm for emphasis. She chuckled at herself, hoping that her attempt at breaking the ice had worked. She was never good at it anyway.
She looked up at the rest of the room. Everyone seemed to be doing their own thing. She was confused as to why no one was talking to anyone else. Did they not like talking to other people? She sighed. She had so much to learn about people. Why did they all seem so sad all the time? Did any of them know how to truly smile? Why had they all come here anyway? Booker had said he'd gotten a letter and a passport. Why hadn't she gotten a letter? Had she? She didn't remember getting one. Did the other's get letters too? [color=hotpink]"Did you get a letter too?"[/color] She asked the girl, her eyes focusing back on her. She felt like it was rude to talk to someone without making eye contact and she didn't want to seem rude. She just... wanted friends.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
Jared had momentarily gotten lost within the halls of the Reverie Mansion in his effort to find other people. His sense of direction was decent enough to pass, it was just that he had gotten a bid over-sidetracked by the amount of sights to see. Pictures, decorations, and pretty cool wallpaper were only some of the objects of his attention. Unfortunately, by the time he realized that he had been sidetracked, Jared was... lost, sort of.
Fortunately, the sound of people began to seemingly increase and was able to give him a substantial 'trail' to follow, as it were. The fact that he could practically smell food moving through the halls was another bonus. People + Food? Count him in, that's for sure. After having to had regulate his food intake, the thought of being able to dig into the good stuff was overpowering. But that was about 11 years ago, and while it had gotten 'old' so to speak, he still enjoyed a good culinary experience when he tried one.
After a while of wandering towards the general sounds and smells aforementioned, he came upon a butler-type fellow that was walking through the place like he knew where he was going, which he obviously did, and was carrying a platter of some kind of foodstuffs. After following behind the guy, though quieter than he had intended, Jared finally came upon the rest of the folks all gathered in a living room-sort of area. Among them was a bespectacled green-haired guy chatting up a white haired girl, a man that looked like a biker from one of those movies, and a brown-haired wallflower... Really, the sorts of people gathered here made the whole situation feel movie-esque. Perhaps they'd all learn the meaning of friendship or some other stereotypical moral on their stay in this place. Jared smiled at the thought as he listened to this Ianto Jones, the butler from earlier, introduce himself to the white haired gal, and vice versa. Additionally, it seemed the brunette wallflower decided to pipe up and introduce herself also.
Guessing he might as well act in kind, Jared did a little cough to announce his presence and gave a little wave of the hand as he leaned against a wall. "Ah, hiya, everyone. Jared over here."
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
[color=hotpink]"It's nice to meet you Liddy."[/color] Kitty looked at her and smiled slightly. Lidiya chewed on her lip, noticing how Kitty had called her Liddy instead of Lidiya. [color=hotpink]"You don't have to be so tense. I don't bite. And if anyone tries to hurt you, let me know and I'll beat them up for you!"[/color] She lifted her arms, flexing them slightly and chuckling. Lidiya couldn't help but smile slightly, tilting her face to the floor. This girl seemed nice. She smiled, maybe they would be friends. But then she remembered how nice Blaine had seemed and she felt the anxiety in her stomach flare again.[color=hotpink] "Did you get a letter too?"[/color] Raising an eyebrow Lidiya struggled to understand what the girl had meant. A letter....? Oh! Lidiya nodded. [color=#00FFFF]Y-yeah. A letter and a p-pa-passport.[/color] The corner of her mouth twitched. [color=#00FFFF]"I-it was very...m-mysterious sounding.[/color] She felt her shoulders relax slightly. Flitting her eyes up she noticed a new guy walk in and appraise the room. He leaned quietly against the wall and then spoke up, waving a bit. "Ah, hiya, everyone. Jared over here." Lidiya just looked down at the floor. She didn't want to raise her voice to greet him lest she draw any more attention to herself. Looking down at her luggage she felt her fingers itch to do something to get her nerves out. She wanted to paint or play her treasured violin.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty blinked, watching Liddy, her expressions rather amusing. When asked about the letter, she seemed confused before her face lit up and she responded. [color=#00FFFF]"Y-yeah. A letter and a p-pa-passport."[/color] She said, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly. What? Kitty blinked confused but decided not to think about it too much. So, she got the same thing that Booker had received. Had someone invited them here? [color=#00FFFF] "I-it was very...m-mysterious sounding."[/color] She added, finally seeming to relax. Kitty smiled, happy that she was beginning to relax around her a bit, even if the girl felt like a small time bomb, waiting to go off at the faintest touch. She seemed so small that if Kitty were to touch her, she'd disappear. It made her a little bit nervous herself, like a poison that had filled the air around them.
Kitty watched as Liddy looked up at something. Kitty could hear a voice introducing himself, [color=gray] "Ah, hiya, everyone. Jared over here."[/color] She smiled and turned around to look at him. Wasn't he the boy from before? Had he wandered around or something? She hadn't seen him move. She raised her arm and waved a bit shyly. [color=hotpink]"Hello. I'm Carmen, aka Kitty. It's nice to meet you!"[/color] She greeted him from across the room, a sweet smile on her face. She walked forward and beckoned Liddy to follow her as she walked over to the couch to sit.
When she sat, however, she felt something crunch under her. [color=hotpink]"Wha...?"[/color] She murmured and got back up, inspecting the seat. There was a now crumbled up envelope sealed with wax. She picked up and inspected it. On one side it had a wax seal and the other said, "To My Esteemed Guests" She blinked, looking down at the paper. [color=hotpink]"Uh... Guys... I found something."[/color] She said, already pulling at the wax seal. She opened it carefully and pulled the letter out. It read,
Greetings, My Darling Guests,
I hope you have all become rather acquainted with one another. Once the last few guest have arrived, I've asked Ian to give you a small tour through the rooms of the Manor. There will be a small Welcoming Party in the ballroom completely with Dinner and desert. Afterwards, I've also asked Ian to show you all to your rooms. Be assured that in the morning I have something very special planned for all of you. Let's just call it a... Practice Run.
Yours Truly,
O
She blinked, reading the letter. Practice Run? What did he mean? She shrugged her shoulders. At least the thought of desert and dinner peaked her interest. Maybe she'd have real food for once.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya watched as Kitty greeted the new guy. She was almost jealous of her outgoing personality. [color=hotpink]"Hello. I'm Carmen, aka Kitty. It's nice to meet you!"[/color] Walking forward to the couch she beckoned Lidiya to follow her. Lidiya approached a few tentative steps. Kitty looked confused and pulled something out from under her [color=hotpink]"Uh... Guys... I found something."[/color] Looking at it Lidiya saw it was an envelope. Kitty read it out loud. Listening, Lidiya blinked. A practice run? She wasn't sure she like the sound of that. Tentatively she shuffled forward and perched very lightly on the couch next to Kitty, looking over her shoulder at the letter. It was signed O just like the letter she had gotten had been. Wringing her hands in her lap she wondered just what this practice run was. But then she remembered it had also mentioned a dinner party and all at once Lidiya felt very anxious. She wondered if anyone except Kitty would try to talk to her. Looking up through her lashes she once again looked around at the men in the room, chewing on her lip.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
With a nod and a wave, Booker returned to being by himself. When he looked around, it seemed to him that more people arrived while he was talking to his new friend Kitty. He looked around and took mental notes on the people around him while looking as calm as he could and not draw any attention to himself. He wasn't a person to dive in to every conversation around him, but at the same time he wasn't a wallflower either. Unless he had something to say, he wouldn't start up a conversation on his own, and he certainly wouldn't try to avoid a conversation if one came to him. He liked considering himself on the middle grounds of things.
As he looked around, he decided to find a place to sit for the moment, not only to gave a second to relax without his luggage weighing him down, but also to collect some stray thoughts that had came in to his head. He set his messenger bag down on the ground next to his suitcase gently, to make sure that nothing would break. He opened up his jacket and pulled out a small notebook and pen. Back at his home, he had too many notebooks to count. There were everywhere in his home and they were all filled with story ideas and many other thoughts. He wanted to think of a new story, but he just didn't have what he needed to start on something completely new. He looked up and over at Kitty as she read something aloud.
This 'O' person was the same one who addressed the letter to Booker, but he didn't know why he or she would simply use the letter O. He didn't have the slightest idea about what would be going on, other than it being called a 'practice run.' Booker didn't like the sound of that, as it sounded mysterious and somewhat dangerous. He didn't know what could possible happen, so he simply waited to find out.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
"Nice t'meet'cha too," Jared said to Carmen with a curt nod before heading across the room to take a seat and take a moment's respite. So many people, and probably so many interesting backgrounds to hear about. He made a small smile as he leaned back... And heard Kitty announce that she had found something. Naturally, like most-if-not-all of the others, he went to check it out.
"Hmm..."
Well that surprising revelation certainly piqued Jared's interest. It seemed that the proprietor of this fine establishment had left a note for the 'participants' of this little Make-a-Wish-Foundation-esque gathering. It was about a tour, a ballroom party... and a mysterious morning 'Practice Run'. Whatever that meant. "Well here's to hoping that it's just running," Jared joked to lighten up the mood after that cryptic little message. Not that he'd really be pleased even if it actually were running, as he probably wasn't as fit as the rest of the group, all things considered.
[size=5]Maggie[/size]
The scene that she walked into reminded her of a bad movie. Contained within the beautiful, ornate entryway was a handful of other individuals. It seemed that some were already introduced, as they were engaged in conversation. Maggie winced, and for a split second, considered exiting the manor immediately. It had been foolish of her to assume that she had been the only one to receive the invitation. On the contrary, the rooms of the manor could hold hundreds of people for all she knew. The thought alone made her shudder. Too many people. From the other side of the room, she heard a young man introducing himself, but she had not payed attention and did not catch his name. Another voice, louder and a bit more sure of itself, answered. So the girl with white hair was named was Kitty. It did not matter to Maggie, who was still considering taking her leave. That was, until Kitty announced that she had found something. The redhead’s curiosity took over, and she joined the ranks to listen in.
‘A practice run?’ She thought to herself. What could the mysterious “O” possibly mean by that? She cast a final glance at the door over her shoulder, before deciding that she would stay a while. At least, until she knew who this O person was.
[size=5]Ianto[/size]
Having kept watch for the people around him, he noticed that Carmen, the silvery haired girl have seemed to have sat upon the first letter that the O had given to them. The first piece of the puzzle, the one that would waddle the surface of the sea that bore to its malevolent waves. His sharp eyes kept watch-- an owl waiting on its prey. Carmen read the letter aloud and the reach of her voice struck to his ears as clear as the morning church bell. Ian knew before hand... It was like bread and butter to him. Every single visitor... Would be invited to a full meal in the ballroom. After their fill of food, they would be brought to their rooms where they would be 'staying' and they could then commute with one another as much as they like until the night falls darker.
Upon the break of her speech, Ian immediately followed with an announcement for the guests.[color=#00BFBF] "That's right. Dinner is ready. But for this dinner, the O themselves made the dinner for you. Take your fill and eat as much as you'd like. The ballroom is located in the North Wing of the Manor and is the furthest point in the manor. I will make sure to get you familiar with the layout of the mansion before we dine."[/color] Ian inspected several other guests nearby him who seemed to have brought their own luggages. It was thoughtful of them, but he would've preferred them to dress the way that the manor's dressers had been filled with. Victorian clothes that were decades old-- kept clean and unbelievably vibrant from unknown forces. [color=#00BFBF]"If you have your own luggage, you should keep them here for the time being. You don't have to worry-- It'll be there when you come back. There's no one else here besides the O and me."[/color]
A jagged smile came to Ian's face. He bowed to the group with his short and storky body and lifted his arms towards the candle-lit hallway. [color=#00BFBF]"Please. This way to the Dining Hall."[/color] When all of the guests would follow after Ian, they would come to a fork in the hallway. There is a sign on the right that was written in italics that read 'cellar'. [color=#00BFBF]"As you could probably read from the sign, the hallway on the right leads to the cellar. There is a set of stairs and the lighting there isn't exactly the brightest as these candles.I'd advise you against to descending down there."[/color] As a result of that, he continued left where there was a doorless frame that lead to a rather large room. It was decorated with two beautiful chandeliers above and a set of tables and chairs. It was the dining hall. On the far side of the room were perfectly clear glass that shone the dimming sunlight inside. [color=#00BFBF]"The door adjacent to the windows there leads to the library. If you're quiet the bookworm you may enjoy staying there and learn more about our geography in Chesire. Or more about this mansion if you'd like."[/color]
Their destination was not the library. Ian continued on into the candle-lit hallway where paintings of the Reverie Manor began to decorate the walls. From the first time it was built to its previous inhabitants. Anybody with a keen and sharp eye would realise that the manor looked exactly in each frame. There wasn't an explanation to the phenomenon. Judging from the style of painting too, the manor seemed to have stood for more than four lifetimes. A chandelier as they kept walking, and another fork in the road. As they crossed the fork, Ian stopped to point to them to the other direction.[color=#00BFBF] "This corridor leads to a second living room. You'll find that it's really similar to the one close to the entrance. However, there is a door there that leads to the manor's garden. Feel free to use any of them for your own uses."[/color] He finally continued walking towards the destination. [color=#00BFBF]"We're close to the Ballroom. The ballroom is generally used for celebrations as you probably would imagine. Today, it would be filled with food."[/color]
The ballroom door wasn't like the other doors. It looked staggeringly different. It was a white solid door with golden handles on them. despite of Ian's poor height, he was able to reach for the door handle and pulled it open where glimmering light bleed through the door's cracks. As soon as the entire ballroom door would open, dazzling light would open their arms and embrace the guests with all kinds of food and drinks. Food prepared fit for a king. The styles of food originated from a mixture of nations and cultures-- all the work of the O. [color=#00BFBF]"Please, make yourselves feel at home. Once you're ready, I will take you to the places where you will stay for the rest of your... Stay."[/color] He bowed and stood aside, inviting the guests in to dig right in to their desires for food.
[size=5]Rose[/size]
Rose watched as the taxi as the taxi drove out of sight, hoping she had made the right choice by accepting the invitation. She turned to the building, a magnificent sight for sure but it left an unsettling feeling of dread. Was this just yet another trap? She swallowed, if it was a trap she was at a supreme disadvantage. She grinned and shrugged, it wasn't worth wasting her time worrying about. Rose walked up the stairs, admiring the beauty of the architecture, she had wanted to be an architect, and in another life she would have been, but her fate had been decided for her a long time ago. With a pang of sadness in her heart she adjusted the duffle bag on her shoulder and opened the grand doors to the Manor.
The beauty of the manor was evident here as well, but it was had a darker feel to it than the outside. Shaking off any doubt she noticed that there were voices coming from another room. Quietly, she followed the noises to that appeared to be a gorgeous ball room, looking in she saw a group of people sitting at a dinner table with food fit for a king. some were conversing while most were apprehensively watching their surroundings. In a strange way it reminded her of the first day of school, some looked nervous while others looked excited to be here and meeting new faces. With a spark of audacity, she marched into the room. [color=#FF8000]Hello every one, my name is Rose and I really didn't think this through...lets try this again...[/color] She left and then rentered much more calmly, [color=#FF8000]Hi, my name is Rose, I'm sorry for bursting in, mind if I join you?[/color]
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya followed after Ian, walking through the rest of the house. The scenery here was absolutely beautiful. Walking down the hallway she walked past the cellar. Next they passed the library, Lidiya's eyes lingering on the door just a little longer. A library.... She loved the feeling of being surrounded by books. Next they passed a door that Ian said led to the garden. She wanted to visit there too. She assumed it would be gorgeous. Oh how she wanted to paint this house. Walking into the ballroom, she looked around. It was filled to the brim with all sorts of food. Exotic foods she'd never seen. [color=#00BFFF]"Please, make yourselves feel at home. Once you're ready, I will take you to the places where you will stay for the rest of your... Stay."[/color] Walking into the room she immediately headed toward one of the windows, ignoring the food altogether. She stood at the window, looking out onto the grounds she wrapped her arms around herself. She felt the persistent depression nagging at the corners of her mind. She wasn't really sure she wanted to trust these people but parts of her wanted to learn to trust someone... anyone. Sighing, she stared into nothing.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker got up and followed the crowd at his own pace, still writing things down in his book and still thinking. He assumed that it wouldn't be hard to stay with the group if he look up every once and a while to make sure he was going the right way. As he entered the ballroom, he ignored the food or now and simply stood near the door while he continued to write things down in his book For some time that was all he was concerned about, he wanted to continue writing down ideas and characters. He looked up as he saw a new person come from the door using his peripheral vision (even if it wasn't much due to the fact he was practically blind without his glasses.) and turned her head to look at her to get a better view. She marched in with confidence, but that confidence soon began to fade in to shyness. [color=#FF8000]Hi, my name is Rose, I'm sorry for bursting in, mind if I join you?[/color][/quote] He moved his book down a little and gave her a light smile. He knew that it wasn't directed specifically at him, but it didn't mean that he would accept her company. "[color=#00BF40]Hello, I'm Booker. If you want to join me, sure![/color]" He spoke in his soft and calm voice as he raised his book and pen just a little to continue writing.
[size=5]Rose[/size]
Rose smiled at the green haired man, [color=#FF8000]Thank you, Booker[/color] Rose sat down at the table and watched him work, she held back a laugh, Booker seemed to like books and writing, who would have guessed? She then turned her attention to the food, during her years in hiding she diet had been disgusting drive-throughs, vending machines, and whatever the gas station had. Very occasionally she might indulge in a sit-down restaurant but spending too much time in public places was like begging them to find her. Using an amazing amount of will-power she took a healthy amount of food and managed to eat like a normal person. She paused midway through her meal, for a few moments she pondered, everyone was already eating or at least they were supposed to be, so had she missed any thing important? [color=#FF8000]Excuse me Booker but I have a feeling like I missed something, could you possibly fill me in on any important events I missed?[/color]
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker looked up from his work and nodded with a small smile. He hated to leave thoughts before he wrote them down but he had a question to answer. She hadn't missed much, since everyone only seemed to have arrived just before or after he had, and the only real important thing was the letter that lead them to the ballroom. Booker still wasn't all that hungry, and although he could most likely put a buffet out of business, eating wasn't something that was needed constantly. He put the though of food away and set his book down on the table and sat in front of her. "[color=#00BF40]We found a letter, and tomorrow we are having a.... 'Practice run.' I don't know what that means, but something should happen tomorrow.[/color]" He nodded once more and picked his book back up and continued to write down thoughts and ideas that came in to his mind. He wasn't sure that anyone knew what this "Practice Run" had in store for them, but the only thing that Booker was able to was simply wait for it to happen.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
Jared was relatively quiet as he followed after the group, general random thoughts floating in and out of his mind with every step. The whole place was nice, but now that he was able to get a good look around, he couldn't help but feel something was off underneath this veneer of extravagance. However, these thoughts were pushed aside once the group had been ushered over to the ballroom. There was food... but Jared wasn't all too hungry yet, and it might be rude if he just jumped in without permission or something. The young man took a glance around the room and noticed the green haired bloke, Booker if he remembered, sitting with a girl who he had apparently arrived late, as it were. Not being one to really shy away from introducing himself to the world, Jared approached the table the two were at and posed the question, "Hey... Booker, was it? Mind if I sit down here?"
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya pulled herself from her thoughts and turned her back on the window. Looking around the room, she saw the man with the glasses speaking with a new girl with red hair. The other man who had introduced himself as Jared was walking up to them. She noticed that the bespectacled man was writing in a journal, and she edged slightly closer. Had she been braver, she would've walked right up to him and asked what he was writing. But she wasn't like Kitty, and male interaction made her vastly uncomfortable. Walking over to the table, Lidiya eyed the food. She wanted to eat but at the same time she wasn't hungry at all. That was the funny thing about skipping meals, after a while you stopped being hungry. Slowly Lidiya picked up a small pomegranate and a glass of water. Sitting down, she gently broke open the blood red fruit. The juices squirted out onto the tablecloth a bit and she felt slightly guilty, but she said nothing. Taking a few of the seeds in hand, Liddy brought them up to her lips and placed them on her tongue, gingerly biting into it. However, when she went to swallow them, it felt like glue in her throat and she gagged slightly. Had she been less afraid of appearances she would've spit them back out, but as it were she was too afraid to call attention to herself. So in her attempt to be discreet, she swallowed the seeds quickly. That's when it went wrong. The seeds got stuck in her throat and Lidiya began to cough. Quietly at first, but as the seeds did not dislodge, her coughing began to get louder, as her face got red from not being able to properly breathe.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
"What's that s- Oh Christ, she's choking!" Jared exclaimed after noticing the labored, suppressed coughing of someone who definitely couldn't get enough air in their lungs. The sound wasn't exactly foreign to him, as quite a few years ago he was making sounds relatively similar to those, except less 'throat-y' and more 'asthma attack-y' despite himself not actually having asthma. Nevertheless, upon catching sight of her, it was obvious that this girl needed help. Fast. Of course, he didn't know if anyone was officially trained here, but he couldn't really take the time to cry out for help, and his personal morality wouldn't allow himself to just stand idly by when there was something he could do about it. He moved over towards the choking lady and went to lift her off the seat so he could get a better angle. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Jared reassured, knowing that that wasn't exactly as true as it could be. He did 'know' what he was doing, but he hadn't taken a course, he just read about it from a manual and had seen it happen on TV, "if this hurts... Sorry."
'Okay... First step, 5 strikes between the shoulder blades with the heel of my palm,' Jared mentally recited as he took in a deep breath and did exactly that. Assuming that that first step of dislodging the seeds from her throat didn't work, he'd go on to try a Heimlich maneuver on Lidiya, and assuming even that didn't work, the boy with the transplanted heart would just alternate between abdominal thrust techniques until he succeeded or someone more qualified took charge.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
For the most part, Booker had most of his focus on the book he was writing in, but as much as he loved to write his book was going to have to wait. His head snapped up as he heard a voice in alarm. "What's that s- Oh Christ, she's choking!" He heard. He looked over to the source of the choking sounds and stood from his seat. Before he hand the funds and everything that he needed to go to college, he spend most of his time doing various and multiple jobs to the he could work up the money as soon as he could. One of those jobs was babysitting and for that he was required to take a couple classes, some of them involving health while others involves safety and care. He was going to see if he could use those classes to his advantage but before he could it seemed that Jared had already begun to help her.[color=#00BF40] 'He's going everything right... but nothing seems to be coming from her throat...'[/color] He thought to himself as watched as he did his best to get her to stop choking.
He walked over to the both of them with a serious face, much more different than his usually calm, relaxed, and happy face. He looked around the area for a glass of water, used or unused it didn't matter since she was choking at the moment. After finding the glass of water, Booker picked it up and looked at Jared. He held a hand in front of him and looked at him wit serious and almost cold eyes, signaling for him to stop so he could give her the water. He hoped that the water would be enough to push whatever she was choking on further down and hopefully dislodge itself from her throat. "[color=#00BF40]She needs water first. It doesn't seem that she had any before choking.[/color]"
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya's face was bright red. Both from the choking and the humiliation of the whole situation. But she became even mortified when both of the boys who had been sitting on the other side of the table came over to help her. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing, if this hurts... Sorry." The first one, Jared said to her as he began to beat against her back. She felt the seeds move slightly but they were still stuck. The one with the glasses stopped Jared, holding out Lidiya's untouched water. Lidiya could barely see through the tears that were now welling up in her eyes from the pain and humiliation this whole ordeal was. She took the water from him, very shakily and attempted to drink it, but of course she just had to cough right as the water was going in. She spluttered as the water only served to go up her nose. If she could talk she would be apologizing profusely for the interruption she'd caused in their interaction and meal. But alas, she could only make small gasping and choking noises.
[size=5]Rose[/size]
Rose was about to thank Booker for the information when the dark-haired girl began to choke. Rose sat frozen for a few minuets as she wracked her brain for some thing she could do. She snapped out of her trance and ran over to them. Keeping her distance, she tried to think of something she could do. Rose hung her head, she had no idea how to help the girl. [color=#FF8000]If you guys need any help I can totally do whatever it is you need.[/color] Rose stared at her shoes, she had patched up her fair share of injuries but when it came to things like choking she was completely useless. All she could do was wait for them to dislodge whatever was in the poor girl's throat, even though she couldn't do any thing about it she still felt like she was being rude by not helping. She began to pace often looking over to check on the choking girl, waiting like this was unbearable but there was nothing she could do about it.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
"[color=#00BF40]Can someone get another glass of water? Preferably unused for her sake.[/color]" Booker was still in his more serious state of mind, and took the glass of water from the choking woman as she coughed up the water. He didn't want for her to drop the glass, so he took it from her as soon as possible. He was glad that some people wanted to help, but as far as he knew all she needed was a glass of water to down whatever got stuck in her throat. When people didn't move, Booker even went so far as to growl a little at the fact people just stood there. He was never like this, but she was choking and someone needed to take action.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty looked around the hallway. What? She blinked, thinking for a moment. Why was she here? OH! Right, the letter from O. She walked down the hallway, headed for the ballroom. When she stepped through the doors, she looked around and noticed several people surrounding someone. Wait... That's... Liddy? She rushed over, trying to access the situation. She was trying to drink water, her face red hot. Booker was on one side of her and another boy, one from before, stood on the other side of her. There was another female standing off to the side, making quick glances their way, apparently very nervous. They all looked pretty nervous in their own right. Booker looked like he'd about chomp someone's head of if they didn't do something right.
Kitty let out a small sigh and walked over to the other side of the table, kneeling in front of Liddy, a soft smile on her face. [color=hotpink]"Hey Liddy. It's going to be okay. Just try to stay calm. We'll get this all sorted out."[/color] She told her, her voice calm and soothing. She looked around and spotted a glass of untouched water a few tables down. She got up and walked over, grabbing it carefully before walking back and placing it near Booker. She looked up at Booker, a smile still on hehr face. [color=hotpink]"She'll be fine. Just keep calm."[/color] She told him and then knelt back down to look at Liddy. [color=hotpink]"It'll be okay. Booker's taking care of you and I'll be right here. When this is all over with, you and I can find a bathroom where we can clean up, okay? Just hang in there."[/color] She purred, her voice smooth and low.
[size=5]Rose[/size]
[color=#FF8000]Right, unused water![/color] Rose dashed over to the table she grabbed an unused glass and poured water from a near by pitcher in it. She ran back over to group of people helping. [color=#FF8000]Here, I got it![/color] She handed the glass to Booker, he was still calm as ever but there was a dangerously cool edge to his voice. He had certain aspects that reminded Rose of herself before the accident. [color=#FF8000]Is there any thing else I can do?[/color] This was most definitely a time to pull herself out of the world she had been living in for so long. Again all she could do was wait for some one to give her some task, she could try to comfort the choking girl but there was no need to crowd around the poor girl and it looked as if a white haired girl was doing just that and she noticed the girl called her Liddy... probably a nickname. Rose didn't even know who this person was, but after this choking business was cleared up it would be nice to meet her. Right now however it looked like as much as Liddy was panicking about choking she was also alarmed with all the people around her.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
With the two glasses of water being handed to him, Booker took one of them and slowly put it to LIddy's mouth, tilting it so that just enough water would go down without risk of giving her too much. He only hoped that the glass of water was enough to wash whatever was stuck down her throat. After giving her some water he placed the glass down on the table and took a step back, just to make sure that if she did spit up, it wouldn't get all over him. He only hoped that that glass would be enough, and it if wasn't, he was useless in this situation.
[size=5]Penelope[/size]
Penelope glanced at the clock on her radio and gave a sigh as she started the final trek towards the manor. It was getting late, probably nearing dinner time, and if the manor was anything like she expected, it would probably be served precisely on time, and then of course, she'd have to be made the spectacle wandering in after supper was served. [color=#FF0000]"Certainly late."[/color] she huffed. But it was alright. She could see the enormous estate coming in to view now, and perhaps if she moved quickly she could still make it inside without too much of a scene.
The sheer size of it hadn't actually hit her until she'd gotten up close, but the moment she did she could tell just how lovely it truly was. Back home they'd lived in a mansion of sorts, but this place spoke of old world England, and though it was in fashion these days for modern homes to try and do the same, there was no way one could capture the history practically pouring from a home such as this.
That was enough gandering though. She gripped her hands tightly onto the steering wheel and let her head rest on top of them for just a moment. Her mind was racing. There were millions of reasons for her to turn around and go home right now and every bone in her body cried out in protest but something, something she couldn't quite place, told her to take a chance. She wouldn't bet on anybody's dream coming true, and she certainly wasn't sure she'd ever see the outside of this eerie looking manor again, but what did she really have to lose?
[color=#FF0000]"Nothing."[/color] She confirmed for herself aloud.[color=#FF0000] "Nothing at all."[/color]
She climbed out of the sleek black vehicle and for the first time noticed the other car, a jeep, parked in the driveway. She'd been so focused on the manor when she pulled up that she hadn't seen it before. It looked very conspicuous and terribly out of place set in front of the backdrop that was the pristine manor behind it. Even her own luxury ride seemed ridiculous in this driveway. Perhaps she should have arrived in horse and buggy. She imagined it was the only thing that seemed to suit the place well. Either way it confirmed her suspicions right then that she wouldn't have been the only one invited here. [color=#FF0000]Nothing is ever that easy.[/color] she thought to herself as she shuffled around to her trunk and began unloading her luggage. It was a four piece matching set, which layed flat instead of standing up straight, that way three could be stacked upon each other and one could be carried for easy travelling.
Locking her doors she made her way up to the front door. Again she stopped as her stomach urged her not to enter. She had no idea what she could be getting herself into, and after several times of pacing back and fourth between the door and her car, she decided enough was enough.[color=#FF0000] "No turning back now."[/color]
Finally, she made her way up to, and through the slightly cracked door and briskly closed it behind her. There didn't seem to be anyone present in the parlour, but she stood, nonetheless, half waiting to be greeted, half wanting to survey the place before anyone saw her, that way she could leave if she came across something she didn't like the looks of. And it only took her a moment to find several.
Raising a singular gloved hand, she lifted the arm of her long pea-coat and checked the watch situated on her wrist. It was certainly dinner time, and judging by the glasses of water and half eaten loaves of bread littered around the little waiting area, they probably hadn't been gone long. Making her way over to where a piece of paper lay slightly crumpled on a couch, she read the letter quietly to herself. She wasn't sure how she felt about this "O" person yet, and though her eyes made one final glance back to the door, she strengthened her resolved once more. [color=#FF0000]You're not leaving.[/color] she scolded herself harshly as she folded the paper up and stuck it inside her bag.
Her mind made up once more, she slowly began to remove her coverings. First a black velvet scarf, followed by her gray coat, and then, one by one her, her matching black gloves. She draped them lightly across her luggage, assuming that from the other sets of left behind baggage haphazardly scattered throughout the room, she was probably supposed to leave her things here. With her coat off now though, another twinge rose in her stomach. She suddenly felt out of place. She was wearing a long sleeved, deep blue dress which hung just above her knees. It was slightly puffy shouldered, and had a high collar which was adorned in fragments of emerald. A pair of thick designed tights ran the length of her legs, till they reached her ankles where she sported a pair of heeled booties. Her long, regal jacked had disguised it at first, but now, she felt as if she had been transported back in time, and that she probably should have had on a long gown of some sort, or at least something that covered her legs better. While moving it to sit neatly against the wall, she combed through her luggage in her mind, noting she had several pieces that might due, but she hadn't been given a room yet, and might even miss dinner completely had she left to change.
She gave a sigh then and tugged at the petticoat underneath her dress to adjust it just right. "Hopefully I'm not terribly under dressed.." she sighed again and grabbed the smallest of her luggage bags, which she'd been using as a purse, draped it casually across her forearm, and then ventured towards the hallway in hopes of finding the others.
She could more or less guess what the layout of the manor was. A few mistakes here and there but she figured she was getting closer as she began to hear noise picking up through the halls. She got distracted by the many rooms of the manor, however, and before going to assess what commotion was taking place several rooms away, she instead made a detour at the garden. Her bag that held her sketchbook and art supplies was still left in the foyer, but she could certainly see herself relaxing here to work or read.
[size=5]Maggie[/size]
The young woman was just dropping her bag on a nearby bench, her attention on a beautiful little statue hiding on a shelf, when she heard the commotion behind her. Whipping around, Maggie witnessed one of the other guests begin to choke. Her motions were jagged and rough as she attempted to cough up whatever was lodged in her throat, and her face turned red as her eyes grew wide. This was not merely some cutesy action to attract the attention of the guests in the house. No, this was a very real problem. In seconds, other guests had rushed to the woman's side. Realizing she had very little else to offer them, Maggie thrust her hand into the pocket of her Carhartt and closed it tightly around her phone. Should the situation grow any more dire, she would call for help. Briefly, she found herself wondering if a 911 call would do her any good way out here in the country. Why, she did not even know if her phone had service. But she rid her mind of the thought. If she needed to call for help, she would try. Certainly, she was not an especially loving, warm individual. But she would not watch a stranger choke to death in front of her without doing anything about it. She was not that cold-hearted.
Her green eyes followed a young man slowly press the glass to the choking girl's lips, gently tipping the water through her lips. Whether forcing water down the throat of a victim like this was the right move or not, Maggie could not say. But it was most likely better than the back thumping she would have tried to offer. There was no immediate response from the girl, and after a few seconds of silence, Maggie spoke for the first time since entering the manor.[color=#FFFF00] "Y'alright?"[/color]
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
There was so many people around her Lidiya was beginning to feel panicky and lightheaded. But that also could've been from the choking. The nice man with the glasses was still trying to help her, this time even going so far as to pour water into her mouth as Kitty whispered encouraging words to her. The other man, Jared, was on her other side, standing around and the girl that Jared and the man with the glasses had been talking to was also trying to help by offering assistance in any way possible. She felt honored, but also extremely humiliated. But then something shifted. The water somehow must've dislodged at least one of the seeds because suddenly Lidiya could breathe again. Discreetly she choked down the rest of the seeds as the barrier in her throat finally broke and she gulped in air as fast as her lungs could take it in. Sinking to her knees, she held out a hand, her face the color of a cherry tomato. [color=#00FFFF]"P-p-p-pl-please..... w-w-wat-t-ter...."[/color] This was so humiliating. Forced to communicate with others because your eating disorder prevents you from eating properly. Lidiya felt like she wanted to dissolve into the floor and fall asleep forever. Tears pricked her eyes with the sting of the blow she'd been dealt by a cruel fate.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker was more than glad that more than one person had brought a glass of water to help him, and when he saw her sinking down, he moved back in front of her and took the hand that she had extended out to him. When he heard her speak, he took a mental sigh of relief and even started to revert back in to his more normal state by letting out a calm smile. He grabbed the other glass of water with his free hand and pulled his other hand away from hers so that she could hold her glass of water herself. He didn't want to give her the water like he was, because he had no idea if he would be giving her to much or to little. It was in his blood to help people, and he was very much like his mother in more ways than one. He was glad now that he was so much like her, although it didn't help all that much when he was younger.
"[color=#00BF40]Here's some water, if you need anything else just say so.[/color]" He knew little about the woman that he was helping, but that wouldn't have mattered even if he did know her. He helped people, and even if he didn't like someone he's help them however he could.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty let out a small sigh of relief and stood up, the smile still etched into her face. She walked back a bit, going over to inspect the food placed at the table. It was all really nice stuff but nothing she'd ever seen before. She's wasn't too keen to eat something that looked like nothing she'd ever seen before. She spotted some cupcakes down the way a bit and trudged off to go see those. With all of those people around her, she figured Liddy just needed some space. Kitty would go back and talk to her again later.
She picked up one of the small cupcakes and bit into in gingerly, playing with the taste. It was very good and she decided to sit for awhile and munch on them, taking her fill. After a few moments, she'd eaten over half of them. Her eyes grew wide and an awkward smile grew on her lips as she got up and walked over to one of the wall, inspecting it. They designs were so intricate. There were gold trimmings lining rather old looking mirrors that reflected those around her. There were several people in the ballroom, but only a few of them were really doing anything. Why weren't they eating? Why waste perfectly good food when it's sitting right in front of you? She let out another sigh and then walked back to try on what looked like a casserole.
[size=5]Jared[/size]
As it seemed Booker took care of the situation out of his own hands, Jared merely backed off and let the more-qualified individual get to work. After all, if he couldn't save a person with his own two hands, he might as well stay out of the way of the people who could do the job. Unnoticed, Jared just backed off from the group of saviours that gathered around the gal. While it was great that they were all helping out, the heart-transplantee couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed he couldn't do better. 'But... it isn't like I couldn't do better,' he thought, turning his head away from the situation and towards the food area. The sooner he got that out of his mind, the sooner he could stop thinking about all the things he could've done better. At that moment, his stomach grumbled.
"Ha... I should get food," he murmured, completely turning his back on the scene and heading towards the tables before picking up a plate and gathering some of the extravagant looking goods on his plate... "Mind if I take a seat here?" Jared called out to the white haired girl, Carmen, who he had seen sitting there before she left to take some food. He glanced back before tentatively taking the seat in front of her. After doing that, he sort of stared at his food in thought before.
[size=5]Kitty[/size]
Kitty smiled up at the boy she'd been seeing. She really aught to ask his name. [color=hotpink]"Sure. But first, you have to tell me your name! If you said it before, I must have forgotten."[/color] She said, looking up at him as he sat down. There wasn't something about him that calmed her, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it... She shrugged it off and pulled a fork full of salad up to her lips.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
[color=#00BF40]"Here's some water, if you need anything else just say so."[/color] Lidiya was mortified about the episode, but still grateful to the help. She took a long drink of water. [color=#00FFFF]"I-I think I'm o-okay for now.... S-sorry for y-yo-your tr-trouble but th-th-than-thank y-you."[/color] She kept her eyes on the ground, sneaking small looks at him every now and then. Hadn't she wished earlier she could talk to the others? Well... it looks like fate had tried to grant her wish in a very strange way. She sighed.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker wasn't entirely sure about how to react to her way of giving thanks. She was of no trouble to him, and she didn't really need to say sorry for anything. Now relieved to see her breathing just fine, he shook his head lightly and smiled. He reverted back in to his more normal state of mind, which could be noticed by listening to his voice that was now lighter and in a happier tone. [color=#00BF40]"It's no trouble at all. I'm Booker."[/color] He though back and remembered that they hadn't even spoken before she was choking, so he thought that it was rude of him not to introduce himself earlier. He extended a hand out to her to shake and gave her a small smile of kindness.
[size=5]Penelope[/size]
The beauty of the garden had truly captured Penelope, and as she trekked through rows of intricately designed and layed out plants and flowery, she had a bit of a sentimental moment to herself. [color=#FF0000]These are the type of things we should be taking time to enjoy.[/color] But it was almost as if that very thought had jogged her memory as to why she'd been in a rush in the first place. And so with one more round about the place she stepped back inside the manor and headed in the direction she thought noise had been pouring from before. It had significantly died down during the course of her detour, but the sounds of low conversations still held echos in the hall, and so once again she followed it as best she could.
It was only a moment before she reached the grand room where there were several people scattered about, either standing or seated, and while she was indeed impressed with the grandeur of the room, she was not, however, with the sight before her. The sight very much reminded her of a high school lunch room, as she was incredibly surprised to find a buffet layed out instead of specific place settings. From the looks of each of them, she could be sure without a second though that none of them was "O", which disappointed her slightly as well. If nothing else though, she was pleased to know she was at least not terribly under dressed when compared to the others, even if compared to the room she still was by leaps and bounds.
Running her free hand through the perfectly pin straight flames she called hair, she addressed the room all at once. Her voice though soft, and directed at no one in particular, commanded attention. Whether she got it or not she did not care. It was a simple formality to introduce yourself, especially when strolling in late, and so she did. [color=#FF0000]"I am Abelia P. Whitewoode, and though I go by Penelope, I encourage you to use whichever one suits your fancy. It is a pleasure to meet each of you."[/color] As she spoke the words rolled off her tongue like honey, a distinct french accent heavy in her voice, though clearly Americanized enough for each of her words to be especially clear when spoken.
With that she left the limelight of sorts and made her way towards the food. Everything looked quite nice, but she decided she'd firstly have herself a glass of wine before deciding on anything heavy. She also wanted to keep her hands free to mingle about, and perhaps find out if anyone had any more information on their mysterious host.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya watched as the man shook his head and smiled at her. [color=#00BF40]"It's no trouble at all. I'm Booker."[/color] With that Booker held out his hand toward her, smiling. His voice seemed happier now that she was no longer in danger. [color=#00FFFF]"M-my name is L-Lidiya."[/color] Very carefully she took his hand, almost as if it were a bomb or a spider. She shook it lightly before dropping her hand back to her side. She smiled politely at him, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. [color=#00FFFF]"Fu-funny how i-i-it took m-me choking to tal-alk to you."[/color] She didn't say it accusatory, nor harshly. She simply stated it.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker was a little confused at the statement. Not really the statement itself, but how she said it put him off. She spoke so casually, as if this had happened to her before, and this wasn't something that would happen on occasion. As her hand fell from his, he dropped his hand as well and looked at her with a little curiosity. He saw the smile that she had on, but it was only halfway there, it just seemed to odd to him. [color=#00BF40]"You say it like it happened before."[/color] He had a curious tone to it as he spoke, unable to understand why he felt or thought this way.
[size=5]Lidiya[/size]
Lidiya had been staring at the floor when she heard the soft spoken words. [color=#00BF40]"You say it like it happened before."[/color] She flinched slightly, as if his words had physically pelted her. She wrapped her arms carefully around herself, running her hands down over the numerous leather bracelets that were her disguise. Again she tried to smile but it felt grotesque on her face. She shook her head, speaking quietly. [color=#00FFFF]"N-no... i-i-it's not th-that. I j-just....[/color] She let out a very nervous sounding chuckle. [color=#00FFFF]"I-i just thought i-it w-w-was fu-funny was a-a-a-all."[/color] Then she seemed to consider her words. [color=#00FFFF]"N-not that ch-choking is funny p-per s-say... j-j-just that... I-i..."[/color] She gave up trying to explain as her face heated up and her hands floated around noncommittally. She wasn't quite sure how she had planned to end that sentence.
[size=5]Booker[/size]
Booker could see easily that she seemed to be struggling with finishing her sentence, and it made him feel bad that it seemed that he was the cause of this. He didn't want to put her out of her comfort zone, and as much as Booker liked a conversation every now and then, he knew that it wouldn't go on much longer. he nodded to her and rose a hand. "[color=#00BF40]I understand. Save your words for when you need them the most, don't force them out when speaking.[/color]" It was part of something that he was taught when he was younger, also having a difficult time when it came to social interaction. 'Save your words and courage.' He thought to himself. He lowered his hand and looked to the table of food.
