[IC] The Magical Boarding House

[AgniSpirit]

When the letter said she was inheriting a beautiful, Victorian manor, Sonya had thought it was too good to be true. She didn't really think it was too good to be true. People said that all the time when they got a supposedly amazing gift from someone. But now that she was standing behind the rusty iron gate and looking over the "beautiful manor", she felt as though the universe had completely ripped her off. Even from where she was standing she could see that the windows were covered in filth, the paint was peeling off the walls, the wooden pillars holding up the balcony was ready to collapse at any given moment along with the rest of the house.

Sonya scanned the building one last time and let out a sigh. It wasn't what she imagined, but it was hers. And there was no way she was going to crawl back to her parents. Not like her parents would be letting her back in the house anytime soon after she walked out screaming that she was going to make something of herself in her brand spankin' new mansion. Anyways, what's done was done and she had to move forward. Digging into her front pocket, Sonya pulled out a slender, gold key. She thought for a moment about turning around and selling the expensive looking key to the nearest pawn shop but decided against it as she inserted it into the gate. Immediately, the gate swung open without any problem or creak. Sonya raised an eyebrow, but simply shrugged and headed for the door, pulling her rolling suitcase over the weeds and dead grass.

It wasn't until she made it safely over the rickety staircase that she realized that she did not have a key for the door. Her great uncle had only sent her one key. Maybe it was a master key? It made sense... Sonya stuck the key into the front door's hole (she snorted at the dirty joke she made in her head) and turned it without any difficulty. Sonya waited for a moment, thinking the door would magically open by itself like the gate did. Unfortunately, she didn't.

Well there goes my hopes in having a magical house... She thought as she swung the door open herself. The inside made her gasp. The inside was completely [i]clean[/i! And there was already some furniture inside! From the foyer she could see a nice sitting room to her right with a couch and some armchairs encircling an oak coffee table. To her left was a formal dining room that looked like it was used often and instead held some mail. From that room, she could get a peak into the kitchen and what looked like the casual dining room. And in both rooms was a closed door. She'd have to explore them later on. Right now, she was still in awe. It seriously looked like this place was still being lived in. But by who? It couldn't have been any homeless people; this place was too tidy. Deciding the best course of action to see if anyone was still living here, Sonya let go of her luggage and took a small step inside.

"Uh, hello?" She called out.

[Fabricant451]

Kaycee Barrow was staring into a mirror. Well, not a mirror exactly, but a portrait of herself given to her by another in a line of wannabe suitors. Of the portraits, the one she was currently staring at was far and away her favorite; it was the only one that, in her opinion, accentuated the emerald color in her eyes. Such a pity that the artist would forever be just a suitor. Silly repercussions. Back in the Barrowlands, it was required for Kaycee to lull the artists into obsessing over her; but here in this strange urban place, folks tend to get a tad angry when a corpse is discovered. From what she could tell, these people were in no short supply, but better to mingle as they say rather than consume. Even if the painter of this particular portrait was rather pleasant to look at.

Sighing, Kaycee turned to one of the small porcelain sculptures sitting on a desk in her room. The sculpture just so happened to also be of her. The scultptor was considerably harder on the eyes, but the work produced was worth it. Lining the walls and desktops of her room in the manor she now called home were various items all seemingly dedicated to herself, from caricatures to still lifes and everything inbetween. It'd be narcissistic if it wasn't a by-product of who she was. Or what she was, in this instance.

Yet, despite all the pieces of art, there was something sorely lacking. Kaycee couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she felt nothing from looking at replicas of herself, not any longer. Perhaps she needed new ones, new suitors. Or maybe she was growing tired of humans and their easily charmed brains.

A faint sound caused her pointed ears to prickle. A voice. Inside the manor, if her ears were to be trusted. That could prove to be slightly problematic. The gate and the door were locked, unless someone forgot, and a normal human wandering around was bad news. Such an intrusion had to be dealt with. It wasn't all bad, though. With any luck, Kaycee could have yet another devoted suitor to shower her with gifts.

Leaving her room, Kaycee headed for the stairs leading down to the main foyer. Adorned in a shimmering, flowing, emerald green dress, Kaycee stepped down the stairs, long red hair falling to just above her lower back; the hair was covering her sharp pointed ears. Her eyes saw a young-ish human. Woman.

"Ye cannae be here, childer," Kaycee spoke, her accent thick and sounding vaguely like a human Irish accent - though her accent was heavy her voice was considerably softer, non threatening, "Yer gonna make a right hames'a things if ye stay. Ye never came here, ye never saw inside, yer gonna go back rightways inta town and continue on with yer life. Understan, childer? Go on, then."

Kaycee descended the stairs, her steps slow and methodical, dress trailing along the ground behind her.

[Epiphany]

Arachne could hear movement downstairs. Four years, for four years she has never left her room in the boarding house. She was a quiet one she was, always lingering in her dimly light room covered with crumpled pieces of lined paper and thrown pillow cases. She liked it this way, alone.

She placed her fingers on the jaw of her skull, a numb sensation overwhelmed her at the touch. She disliked that feeling, it was as if her own head was not hers. Arachne let out a grunt and picked up a pillow off of the floor, holding it close to her own body for warmth and comfort.

Something told her to check what was happening downstairs, her curiosity yearned to see what was beyond the crack of the door.
Arachne slowly good up and turned to face the door, staring for a moment. She dropped the pillow and extended her arm gripping the handle and slowly turning it. The silence of the room was broken as the door creaked open. She peaked through the crack of the door, her hand stopping her from opening the door any further. She could feel her heart pounding in the depths of her chest, she felt anxiety.
As quickly as she opened it, she slammed it shut, locked the door and launched herself onto her bed. A shower of papers scattered off the bed and onto the floor.
She threw her blanket over herself and tried forgetting what she had recently did. A cowardly lion, that's what she viewed herself as. Something that was so minuscule that she was practically non-existent.

Arachne shivered and turned her back towards the door. She couldn't sleep, nor eat, nor excrete waste like a normal human could, but she wanted to be as human as possible, which was deemed impossible. She spent every waking moment writing, or sitting, or staring. The environment she lived in was abnormally quiet.

---

The girl wrote novels, fantasy novels of sorts, she used her past life in her realm as a plot, which ended up being a successful hit. No one would ever know or believe that the author of the novel came from a realm of people who had the heads of skull, or had a war. Humans were ignorant and stayed true to their own beliefs. They read her books without the slightest idea that maybe there was more than just them. But it didn't matter, writing allowed Arachne to stay inside, in her room, and that was important to her.

[Zombehs]

Panic. That was what it woke up to, the feeling overwhelming as wave after wave of magical energy washed over it. It jerked around in the air unsteadily for a few moments as it tried to get its bearings, before it finally reigned in its more primal and instinctive side. The feeling of panic had died down somewhat, not completely gone though, and replaced with a cold annoyance. Whatever had just happened had robbed it of its lair of many years, the Watchers would come swooping down soon enough. In fact, in all likelihood many of its kin would swarm here, in search of a feast.

It moved around the small cavern quickly, gliding through the air effortlessly. Organized as its home was, it took only a few moments to get things in order. Troves of valuables were disintegrated, vanishing completely and without a trace. More valuable and magical treasures were given the attention of an eyestalk, the air shimmering about them as they floated alongside it. With its lair cleaned out, it took one finally look around before it made its way towards the source of all its problems so far.

The anomaly had formed near the back of its lair, and as it drifted closer and closer, the sheer volume of magic in the air stunned it briefly. Its approach slowed, and numerous eyes observed the shimmering object cautiously. Despite the ambient magical energies, the main bulk seemed to be safely contained at the moment. It was actually quite pleasant to bathe in the energies surrounding the anomaly, it couldn’t recall the last time it had been exposed to such a large amount of magical energy; not for at least a decade now.

Nevertheless, reassured by the neutral nature of this magical energy, it was emboldened and neared the mass of energy. How to interact with this strange anomaly though… None of its abilities would do anything, save one, and hitting a mass of magical energy with Anti-Magic hardly seemed smart. Its options were limited, unfortunately, and if it didn’t leave soon enough it would be torn apart, quite literally, when the others arrived. Briefly it considered slipping away through one of the numerous escape routes it had carved in its lair through the years, but the thought of hiding away underground for years on end, barely getting by brought a surge of anger. No… if it could somehow master and contain this anomaly, surely it would be more than enough power to hold its ground. Though it did wish it had more time to study and observe the anomaly, it would have to make do with what it had.

It touched the anomaly with a single eyestalk, intending to only breach the containment to sap some energy, but the action was not without reaction. The moment it made contact, a strong tug pulled on its entire body. A fresh wave of panic hit it as it felt its body being stretched in every direction, yet at the same time being crushed. The sounds of its treasures clattering to the floor behind it didn’t even catch its attention, so focused on the excruciating sensations it felt. In a last ditch effort, it opened its central eye and hit the anomaly with a full wave of anti-magic. For a moment the sensations faded, but before it could feel relief, they returned, stronger than ever, and its mind and body were torn apart in a blinding flash.

---

It awoken to a myriad of strange sensations, but most annoyingly was the pounding headache. Yet, despite being most annoying, it was not what concerned it the most. No, the most concerning was the strange body it now had. It could feel the difference from what it had known all its life, the arms and legs felt odd… unnatural to it. It tried to open its eyes, but even the faintest light caused sharp pain and it scrunched its eyelids shut in a hiss. Its left eye throbbed painfully even when closed. Clutching at it with his hand, the feeling of its hand against its face was disturbingly odd, but no less than the fact that its face, left side at the least, seemed disfigured and marred.

Lost amidst these more pressing concerns were things such as; the smooth, yet cool wooden floor it laid out on, the slightly warm light that streamed in through a nearby window, the sound of a door clicking shut just behind it, and even the old, and slightly musty, smell to the air. Many sensations, too much for it to consider at once. Tired from the strange ordeal of being ripped from one world to another, all while being shoved into an entirely new body, the Beholderkin allowed sleep to overtake it and fell to its embrace.

[Stryder]

The african savanna was silent and black, night had fallen upon the rolling grasslands, the void of black prompted cover for any predator to strike. The low trumpeting of a bull elephant could be easily heard resonating within the savanna. The male seemed to have been lost, separated from its group by mere chance, maybe it lost itself when the others passed into the clearing? The male's large, sensitive, grey flaps of ears flapped ever so gently and at times shifted direction as if it were trying to pick up sound even when there was none. It's searching eyes passed over the tall grass at a constant pace, as if something was in fact there but what?

Traces of moonlight reflected off of a black surface that looked to be just over 3 meters in length. The male began to roar as a means to intimidate whatever it was facing, standing his ground against it. The shadowy black mass rose up from the brush and took form, standing at a towering 3 meters it's rounded snout sniffed the air with its slit-like nostrils. A mouth didn't seem at all present, neither did eyes for that matter, along its back were spikes of a sort, they seemed dangerously sharp. Claws extended from its large paws like individual switchblades, the beast let out a threatening hiss. The whip-like tail of the creature swished from side to side, it was eye to eye with the largest herbivore on the planet.

The bull looked as if it hadn't faced anything like it before, a thick coat of saliva dripped down from the beast's now gaping maw, its ivory white, razor sharp teeth were now visible. In what seemed like an instant, the beast's jaws were around the elephant's neck, slowly crushing its throat with a powerful bite force. The male's struggle proved fruitless as its neck was effortlessly snapped, suggesting that the predator was only prolonging the suffering. After its death, the massive predator tore a large chunk of flesh from the now lifeless elephant's midsection, swallowing the piece whole, bone and all. The beast's was covered in blood by the time it had finished, the once mighty herbivore now non-existent, it had eaten it in full. The beast was going to continue his hunt but something had happened. There had been something lighting up the area where the beast was present, something unnatural. A swirling purplish black mass, it seemed like a rip in the dimension, a new dimension meant new prey. Weighing the options the predator charged in, finding itself inside of a building of some kind. Prowling the halls it picked up the noise of a door opening, shifting its head in that direction it growled as the door slammed shut and then locked, quickly the door was effortlessly forced down. The predator cocked its head to the side, someone with a head for a skull was present, that was strange. Daringly it crept forward to inspect the being, sniffing the odd humanoid, certainly it didn't smell like food.

[Epiphany]

​Arachne held her breath, her head slowly turned to face the creature. Light from the door seeped into her room, it blinded her slightly as she tried to get a good look at the creature that was trying to get a wiff of her; As her eyes adjusted to the new lighting, she saw a large feline looking creature, it was dark, a hungry looking thing it was. It was strange, to see another living soul in the same room as herself.

She sat up and extended her hand to stroke the creature, her hand stopping at the top of its head. What is she doing? Was she insane? A creature was in her room, why should she pet something that might be deemed dangerous? Arachne drew her hand back and stood up, pointing towards the door, "Go," she murmured, her voice sounding rather ghoul like - what with the overlapping voices and what not -. Maybe the thing couldn't understand what she was saying?
​This is ridiculous!
Arachne felt her heart beating, has fate decided that she leave the room?

​She threw her blanket over herself to cover her face and shuffled out of the bedroom, into the hallway, and into the main foyer. She couldn't believe what she was doing, at a time like this she had the guts to come out.
​"There's uh..." Arachne didn't want to interrupt the... Human? And the resident talk? What was a human doing here?
​"I uh... There's something in my room..." Her voice quieted down, "sorry..." Arachne raised her head slightly to stare at the human, though she did try to remain unidentifiable.

---

She felt utterly stupid, leaving the room without thinking. She scolded herself silently taking in all of the anxiety and embarrassment at once.
What had she done? Why was she so reckless? Arachne had more sense than this, she was an intelligent girl after all. A rash decision like this could never be made by her, not in one-thousand years.
Arachne gripped onto her blanket and inhaled deeply, thinking of all of the possible outcomes that would could happen, and how it would affect her and in what way.

---

"I'm sorry... Again..."

[Stryder]

In utter surprise, the Petentem beast called Cassius jerked back as if he was startled by her course of action. Never before had anyone been fearless in his presence, the touch of the being was surprisingly pleasant. He kept his head tilted down, glancing up when the being's touch ceased, looking up curiously. He watched the skull headed point toward the door and told him to go, he had never been spoken to like that before. He cocked his head to the side, confused when the room's occupant exited.

He began to sniff around the room, retaining the scent of the room, the pheromones suggested she was female. Future visitation could be in order, if this one didn't fear him then maybe she wasn't half bad. He exited the room to find the female gone, now that he had her scent he could find her easily. His claws retracted suggesting he was in a docile mood, every room door was sniffed out of curiosity. He wondered what else was in this place, were they all like her or were they ample prey items?

Going into the foyer, he looked toward the female who seemed to be speaking to, a human? His gaze shifted to the human, a long, slick, pink tongue graced across his teeth. He couldn't help but salivate, the slick, toxic fluid hit the ground before he could realize. He took a step forward, then a few more before he was right next to the female. His maw continued to gape, the toxic saliva coated his teeth and tongue, he saw a substantial prey item but one wouldn't do, not at all.

[AgniSpirit]

Sonya raised an eyebrow at the beautiful red-haired woman descending the staircase. For a moment, she briefly wondered if this was the mistress his great uncle might have left behind as the woman began to greet her. Well, Sonya thought she was greeting her. She couldn't really tell from the woman's thick Irish accent. But from her facial expressions and after a moment of decoding the message, it was clear that it was not a greeting. More like a warning to turn back.

"Um, I don't know who you are but this is my home lady." Sonya replied. She wasn't one for confrontations but dammit, she wanted her inherited house. It was the prime example of that one phrase. Although it was crappy on the outside, it was gorgeous on the inside. And she wanted it so bad. Before she could say anything more, she heard a noise to her left. Turning her attention away from the red-head (which was surprisingly hard to do since the lady was freakin' gorgeous), Sonya's eyes widened when she saw another figure standing inside her supposedly empty house. The figure had a blanket draped over her head, muffling her voice. But Sonya could still feel the woman's (?) gaze trained on her without having to get a good look of her face.

"Wait, don't tell me you live here to? This place was supposed to be dese-" A loud crash in the sitting room made Sonya spin around where out of nowhere, a guy suddenly appeared unconscious in the middle of the floor. This time, Sonya made no movement to acknowledge the third mysterious person and simply turned back to the first stranger she met.

"What the hell is going on?!" She yelled, finally reaching her boiling point. One could only take so many strangers infiltrating her new home.

[Epiphany]

'Oh God.' It was that feline thing again, it surely was up to no good. It stood near the human as if preparing its new meal. "Ah!" Arachne skidded down the stairs and threw her blanket over the human-eating creature, she clamped her hands around his muzzle and quickly looked back and forth at the human, and it.

"M-May. I say something?" Arachne tried staying calm while holding the big cat still, "Uh, humans aren't usually welcomed here, but you've seen too much already so you can't just go as you please or we'll be forced to execute murder! Not like we will if you keep your mouth shut... Uh, judging by your things you must be A) a new tenant, or B) you're the new owner of the household. You see, this isn't a house house, it's a boarding house and our old mistress is long gone you see. You must be her replacement?" She shut herself up and whimpered slightly, "I don't usually talk this much..."

She dragged the beast away from the human and grunting all the while. "Bad dog..." Arachne whispered to it as she hauled.

---

Ugh, she felt so talkative, highly unlikely for her to do something like that again. She risked her own identity for the sake of this... Dog? Cat?... Panther? Whatever it was. At the moment, she wasn't to happy at this sequence of events, it was far too strange compared to her expectations. It was random, and loud, and it made Arachne frustrated. Why are there new residents coming? The dog thing, the unconscious man, the human? Such a strange thing, such a horrible thing. The human must have felt so confused and scared. She placed her hand on her skull, trying to think while her other arm was wrapped around the creature.

[Fabricant451]

The situation must have been serious if one of the residents, the quiet one, was out and about, talking like it was going out of style. Kaycee had been a resident here for longer than she'd care to admit, and even she only rarely knew about the quiet resident, and even then only when she heard the door close as she walked past. Kaycee never intruded, it just didn't seem right; and there was never a noise complaint or a bother, so issues never arose. Kaycee made a mental note of the asleep figure on the floor, wondering if yet another wayward sort found their way here, poor thing. As Kaycee approached closer to the human, the quiet one leaped towards some sort of larger-than-normal housepet and threw a blanket over it.

"Whisht!" Kaycee exclaimed, lifting a palm towards the human and another towards the other resident. "No one's gonna murder anyone, I dinnae about you, but I amn't one fir murderin'" Kaycee lowered her palms and approached the human girl. Kaycee was taller than she, but kept her eyes focused on the human's face. "I dinnae who ya are, childer, but what the quiet girl o'er there says is true. Yer kind ain't allowed in here."

Suddenly, Kaycee lifted her head, remembering back a brief moment ago to what the human said. It was almost lost in all the confusion, but something was mentioned about this being the human's home. Kaycee took a step back from the girl. "So it's you then, is it? Someone in yer family died, no? I dinnae expect there ta be another. What the quiet lass said is true." Kaycee nodded her head towards Arachne. "This may be yer house by right o' inheritance, but it is our house by right o' inhabitancy."

Kaycee stepped forward towards the human again, placing an arm on her shoulder.

"There's something ye dinnae know about this house; Not surprised he dinnae tell ya."

With her other hand, Kaycee flicked back her hair, revealing her pointed ears to the human girl, looking at her expression for a response.

"Ye've so much ta learn if ya wish ta call this place yer home, childer."

[Stryder]

Cassius was going to strike at the human, crouched down and prepared to lunge until he heard a vocalization. The sound of rapid steps caused him to turn toward the source, the skull-headed female. In that moment he wasn't sure what to make of it, to his surprise a blanket was thrown onto his head. He was going to open his mouth to hiss with disapproval but his muzzle was shut by her hands. He wasn't even remotely sure how this was possible, he felt calm when under the blanket for some reason.

The large petentem just lied down as if it were comfortable, his tail swaying from side to side as the female spoke. She seemed as if she were nervous and uncomfortable talking with people, maybe she'd need help on that. He huffed when he heard the words 'bad dog' come from the girl's mouth, that was something usually said to someone's pet. His claws raked the ground as he was dragged away, he didn't like it. He wasn't going to just going to hurt her, in most instances he would but he had no idea what this girl could do to him if he tried to.

[Minder]

In a clearing by the roadside, set into the grey rock of a small cliff face, Erin had found a door. She had been walking this route, one she had stepped down countless times over the years, but she had never noticed this door before. It was dark brown wood, polished to a sheen, with an ornate metal handle. It stood out from the dreary, dusty rocks and the dewy, mist-strewn forest like a beacon.

It was quite the most interesting thing she'd seen all week.

Despite the call of the next in the endless line of doomed souls, The dullahan stepped closer, running one gauntleted hand over the doorway as she looked up at it. "How intriguing..." She murmured to herself, trying the handle. To her delight, it was unlocked, and she slowly pushed it open to reveal a hallway, with wooden floorboards and painted walls, and the soft murmur of voices drifting from somewhere deeper in.

There was no way she could pass this opportunity up. She would just have a quick look, then be on her way again. The dullahan stepped into the hallway, turning her head in her hands to look either way. It seemed to be a house, pretty standard-looking as far as she could tell. Tucking her head under her arm, in its usual spot, she walked towards the sound of voices. Unbeknownst to her, the door silently swung shut and latched...

Erin appeared at the top of the stairs and looked down at the scene. The dullahan had a sense for souls, and she could feel something different about those below. Not a mundane dwelling, then. In fact, only one of the figures below was human. One was a beast of some sort, the other two more humanoid. There was something familiar about the red-haired woman, although she couldn't really place what it was exactly. Clad in sinister-looking black armour, with the hilt of a massive sword sticking out over one shoulder, the new arrival would have been an imposing sight even without the flickering blue flame where her head should be, her actual face peering down from under one arm. She didn't say anything, accustomed to being invisible among other creatures, simply watching curiously.

[Zombehs]

It hadn’t been asleep for long, that much it could tell as its eyes slowly opened. Despite the oddness of its newfound body, there was also a sense of comfort that lingered about the air. ‘Magic...’ it thought to itself, slightly in awe, as it felt the sheer amount of energy saturating the air around itself. It didn’t dwell too long on the strange, albeit welcome, characteristic of this place and tried to take in further details. Still unused to its limbs, it only managed to push itself upright shakily and glance about. Although part of the world it saw was blurry and distorted, that was still a great deal better than the other; dyed red with what it could only imagine to be blood. The hybrid touched the left side of its face gingerly, and sure enough there was a faint trickle of warmth from his eye. It couldn’t help but scowl a bit at that. Its body had been changed, and beyond the strangeness of it all, it didn’t even have the courtesy to function properly.

The hall it had woken up in was lined on either side by numerous doors, and opened up into a larger space further down. It was from that space that the soft sounds of conversation came and its open eye narrowed as it tried to strain its hearing. The voices had a distinctive feminine tone, something it could not recall from its old world; where voices were always guttural and with barely veiled malevolence. It struggled to stand, the wooden boards slightly cool to the touch, and the loss of its levitation slightly disorienting. With the help of the walls as a support though, the hybrid managed to find its footing well enough to advance forward.

It hadn’t quite reached the end of the hallway when an irritated yell reached him, and it flinched out of instinct before relaxing. This brief pause did reveal how exposed it felt though, a slight shiver running through its body. As if in response to that thought, his skin rippled and began to change in the oddest sensation it had felt yet. Dropping to a knee, it couldn’t do anything but bear with the uncontrollable twitching and crawling sensation.

When those finally faded and it opened its eye again, it found the world to be a much clearer place; the red dripping away to reveal much more. In fact, it saw much more than it did before with those two eyes; one of which was faulty. Turning a hand to face it, the reason became crystal clear when the hybrid found itself staring at itself. Its hand had undergone quite the change, nails changed into what would more fittingly be called claws, an eyeball embedded into the center of its palm, and the skin changed to something akin to black chitin. The change wasn't solely limited to his arm either, with plates of the chitin spreading further up his arm and encompassing his entire body. It was a bit odd to move about with the pseudo-exoskeleton that had formed, in comparison to simply floating about, but it managed. ‘Yes...’ it thought to itself, almost happily, as it examined the change that had occurred, ‘much better.’

Emboldened by the form even marginally closer to its original, the hybrid stepped out of the hallway and quickly took in the individuals standing about. There were four other humanoids in the foyer albeit one lacked the aura of magic the other three seemed to hold. The other four, four-legged beast included, and the air itself had a shimmer thanks to the magic that it could now see. There seemed to be a conversation already happening and it felt no need to intrude. Observation would be much more useful at the moment.

[Epiphany]

Arachne sighed somewhat, she kept a strong grip on the animal making sure that it didn't wriggle free from her grasp. She sat down on the floor beside it and removed the blanket from over its head, though still keeping the blanket around its body. As an attempt to calm the animal down she stroked and patted his head, cooing somewhat. "I don't think this is a time to prey on the innocent," She murmured, her hands being gentle as she scratched under its chin. "If you keep quiet, I'll feed you dog treats... Or whatever you eat..."

She felt rather awkward, she had never owned nor touched an animal before, especially something as large as this. Arachne had always been fond of animals, cats especially, they were cute and was a bonus for being in the human realm.
"You're not so bad, are you?" Arachne cooed as it as if it were a puppy, the thing barely understood a word she said anyways... Or did it? Clearly it wasn't from here, it was far too strange to be a normal animal found in the wild. Maybe it was intelligent? Had she been embarrassing herself the whole time?
"Oh God... What am I thinking? I used to have a normal life, hiding in my room. Four years... And not one peep." Arachne whimpered and began talking to herself, cursing and scorning herself under her shaky breath, "I'm never going outside ever again... This is the last time."

---

She hated this, she felt humiliated. None of the tenants had ever seen her before, not until now at least. She felt as though she had came outside too soon, far too soon. Arachne was anti-social, and during those four years of solitude it never helped much, in fact it made her too anti-social, to the point where she couldn't even be in the same room with a person. But now here she is, sitting on the floor in the main foyer with a big cat and a small group of people.

[AgniSpirit]

If Sonya's eyebrow could go any higher on her forehead it would as she stared incredulously at the sudden appearance of a large four-legged beast, the soft-spoken girl covering it with her blanket only to reveal that her head was a blackened skull and the Irish chick showing off her pointed ears that did NOT look like prosthetics. Where in the hell did her great uncle find these people? Was there even a great uncle involved in the first place? She was obviously the only human in the house so maybe she was lured here to be there dinner...?

That was ridiculous. If she was supposed to be eaten, these people (?) would have lured her away from the door by now so as to shut off any means of escape. Something the skull girl mentioned in her tirade about murders piqued her interest. Owner...? Maybe that was why she was sent here. But why would a human be chosen as the owner of this house? That brought up an even stranger question inside Sonya's mind; Why were these magical beings doing in a human household anyway?

Sonya quietly watched the skull girl disappear around the corner with her beast pet thing before turning back to the red-haired elf lady. She had planned to voice her questions and concerns about this household and the mystery behind her 'inheritance'. Instead, words failed her when she saw a figure in terrifying black armor standing on the top of the staircase, a head snugged under its arm. For a few moments, Sonya wondered whether she should bolt out of here screaming or stay where she was but still scream. In the end, she swallowed her fear and glanced back at the Irish woman. That person (?) might have lived here as well and it would certainly be pretty rude of her if she let out a screech when she didn't react the same way to the other two residents. "Okay, so it's obvious I have no idea what the arrangement was here. And since I'm the only vulnerable human here, I'd first like to know if there is anyone else here besides you, Ms. Skull and her pet and Ms. Headless over there." Sonya announced, her voice edged with fear as she motioned to each person she had seen so far. She glanced around to see if she was missing anyone and sure enough, there was a black humanoid shape standing at the end of one hallway to her right. Sonya fought off a shiver of fear and pointed to it.

"And I guess that guy there too."

[Stryder]

If he had eyes he would have shut with in content, he wasn't minding the petting at all, it was quite soothing in his opinion. The petentem growled softly as if at had been purring in reaction to the gentle action taken by the female. Treats were promised, maybe staying with this girl wouldn't be a bad idea, then again this girl had no idea what he was, he wasn't from the natural human realm. His own dimension's inhabitants were unable to appease him, he would see to giving this girl a chance in doing so. It was interesting to hear the way she spoke, as if he were a pup, no being would have done what this one did, getting near a petentem was a death sentence unless you were offering food. Still though, he did hunger and if this female would award with food then he'd be silent just this one time.

Cassius growled when the human female referred to his temporal caretaker that way, it was obvious that she had a name, after all he had a name. But he'd do as told for now, his ebony black claws retracted back into his paws, the sharp spines on his back down to the base of his tail seemed to lay against his body on one side. He decided he'd at least make an attempt to clean himself, licking his front paws with his long, sticky, white tongue. Boredom was never a fun thing to experience and he was experiencing it, he was longer for a meal and sleep.

[Epiphany]

"Uh, we haven't quite introduced ourselves yet, but there is only three of us that actually live here... But now I guess there are a few more? I don't keep track very well... Ahem, anyways, my name is Arachne. Like the spider. It would be nice if we all remained calm and sat down and had a nice chat like civilized people, but I suppose that it is too much to ask for... I-I'm going back to my room..." She stood up and patted the beast on its head, she nudged it forward pleading it to follow her upstairs so that it wouldn't cause anymore disruptions.

What did this thing eat? Beef? Human chicken? Humans? It looked hungry and she didn't want to find out what would happen if she didn't feed it. Arachne shivered slightly as she stared down at the beast, questioning its intelligence for a moment. Maybe it had only its instinct alone? Whatever, not liked it matters anyways. Supposedly now it was in her possession, she never claimed it for responsibility!
"What am I going to do with you?" Arachne whimpered under her breath. She had never owned a living thing before, this was a whole new experience. "Please, just don't do anything bad?"

Where would I sleep? What were its needs? She began to think about how taking care of it would be a gruesome task. It was larger than a dog but had the look of a feline. It was blind and unpredictable, and she didn't even know what gender it was!

[Stryder]

Cassius was fully attentive when he heard the female who he now knew as Arachne, an interesting name in his opinion. His face turned to her as if he had eyes, he didn't but he could see with both his ears and nose which was just as good as any sight. Heeding her nudging and pleading he slowly made his way back up the stairs, being sure to stay right with her. He merely glanced at her when she stared down at him, it was interesting to see that the staring wasn't a product of fear but it seemed to be wonder. 'Maybe you should keep me...' Cassius had thought at the female, he knew his thoughts couldn't be heard but at least he could think them.

'Hmmm, I promise..' He thought, a toothy grin on his face, what would this female feed him anyway? Did she at least have an idea or was she basing him off of knowledge she attained overtime? He wondered many of these things but he also questioned whether there was a way out or not. As much as he enjoyed this, he didn't want to stay trapped within this...house forever. Though he did see many things around worth exploring, this place must have had other chambers, larger chambers, the noise he was picking up proving that. He seemingly slithered inside of Arachne's room and lied down in the middle of the room, rolling on his back out of sheer comfort. The flooring was made of a soft material, it was just as pleasant as grass, he hoped she didn't mind it, he started cleaning himself in a serious manner. (Like a male dog would)

[Minder]

Erin's eyebrows had shot up in surprise as the human pointed straight at her. That was unexpected, to say the least. She shouldn't have been able to see through her magic, unless she was dead or doomed to die... but she didn't get a sense of impending death from the girl.

"Oh! You can see me?" She said, noting the look of fear on the woman's face. She was used to such a reaction, but it never really sat well with her. The dullahan slowly walked down the stairs, trying to look as non-threatening as possible. "I do not live here, I am simply passing through on my travels. My name is Erin, and I am sorry that I frightened you." She said, her voice courteous as she clasped her head in both hands at her waist and bowed politely. Her voice had a similar, if not quite as thick, accent as the red-haired woman, and she quickly raised her head up to chest-height, turning it in her hands to look around. "This place is quite the curiosity! Do people really live here?"

[Epiphany]

"Ah! No! No no no no no!" Arachne yelped and threw her blanket over the beast once more. How could that creature do such a grotesque thing? Well, at least now she knew that it was male. Was that the way a dog cleaned itself? Whatever, it didn't matter.

She sat down on her bed and sighed in aggravation. She was upset and humiliated and felt surprisingly tired, even for a person who never slept. Arachne lays down on her bed and held a pillow to her chest, hugging it as if it were a person. Her feet fumbled around one another in a circular motion as she sighed and turned on her side to face away from the beast which was now covered.

What is she going to do? There are more people which meant more problems and more disruptions. She whimpered slightly and buried her face into the pillow, the same numbing sensation itched her skull once more. Arachne sighed heavily. Quiet fell onto the room once more, but it was nice now that there was more than one person in her room, she accepted the beast as an occupant, since temporarily he was in her possession, at least until it gets bored with her.
The room was dark, not one light seeped its way inside, yet Arachne still managed to see what was going on around her.