Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by AkiBlue
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"Sheesh, I'll leave... You don't have to be so mean." Ace was going to head toward the door, but stopped. "I'm human, yes." Her attention went to the bunnies, who were still weary of her. "Are they now?" She smiled and petted one of them. "To bad for you~ don't you ever think about leaving? Maybe a vacation?" But it didn't seem like her question would get answered because the rabbits managed to open the door finally.

Ace followed the Nobody with a slight bounce to her step- although that was all the time. She giggled lightly and retorted to him, "I never lied. I was the only human in that room. Hehe, this is a totally different room." She continued walking beside him. "You're not going to get a challenge here... You could always try... Oh I don't know, stacking bunnies or something." As they approached the door, Ace's eyebrow raised. Harper and Jasper were...kissing? It immediately occurred to her what they were doing, and she held in her laughter. It was a pretty good plan, but for those two it must've been so awkward. To make matters worse, Ace whistled. "He's right, you two should get a room."

It wasn't long before Harper was pulling both girls out of the town hall. She looked back at the Nobody and waved. "Nice meeting you!" Ace laughed softly before keeping up with Harper, who was running away like a madman. "Slow down!" She yelled when they were far enough away from the hall. She skidded to a halt when he stopped and sighed.

"Are you two okay? Ha, I'm not caring any of you if you pass out." Ace said, mentioning the kiss. From observation, the two didn't seem like the "kissing" type. Still, it was kind of adorable. Though, that was answered when Jasper went over and puked by the lake. "Gross..." Ace said to herself still loud enough for them to hear.

"Oh... You guys found stuff." She skimmed through the papers, only retaining bits and pieces- leaving the other two to hold most of the information. Well, they got clues... The two had their first kiss... And they still had the lake to cover. Ace handed the papers back and looked between the sickly pair. Trying not to sound too teasing, she spoke up for them.

"We can take a break for a moment... You know, so you two can regain consciousness, and focus again. Heh, um, if you two want to like talk to each other or something- by all means go ahead. I'll probably start wandering around the lake." Ace couldn't help the small laugh that escaped as she crossed her arms under her chest and waited for one of the two to speak up.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by GreenGoat
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The new person had given her a jacket. How nice. The only other person who gave her stuff was the pirate lady, but the hat was eaten by a blue-backed flying shrimp somewhere along the way.here. After shaking herself dry,or as dry as possible, she put on the jacket, even though it seems like several sizes too big for her. Her fingers barely made it out through the sleeves. Mado put her hands together and sniffed the cuffs of the jacket.

"...strange smell..."

The new person kicked down the door suddenly, and entered the house. And he just knocked a few times too. What if they were asleep upstairs?

Mado skipped in after him, searching through the room. A shadow caught her eyes as she was looking under a sofa however, something that flitted up the stairs. Was that an other? She moved slowly through the room, leaving the new person behind searching for things. The stairs creaked ominously as she headed upstairs, the knife held in her grip like it was the Excalibur of knives. The gentleman was not with her to watch her back, having gone on another route to search in another house, s she hoped the new person would at least be able to keep the others away from her.

Fortunately however, the room upstairs seemed empty save for a bed and a few bits of old moldy furniture. Just to make sure, she looked under the bed where she found a box. Her face lighted up immediately. A box shut was a box filled with possibilities. Will it hold the Song? A treasure map? An endless supply of groceries that she may never be deprived of healthy food ever again?

She pulled out two whips, several cuffs, several lengths of chain of different sizes, small weights with clamps on them, and a large artificial carrot among all the things inside. Noticing the switch at the bottom, she pushed it to the on position. The carrot started vibrating.

"...massager?"

Searching deeper inside the box, she pulled out a black leather outfit that didn't look like it covered much.

"..leather armor?"

Wonder how much protection it gives her? It would seem she had discovered an adventurer's trunk, with all these strange tools used in some way to facilitate adventuring.

“Oi, Mado-san. Did you find anything?”

"..ah... Yes! Upstairs."

Perhaps he'd be willing to put on the leather armor.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by Headphones
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With Leon having left to play his role in the first act of the play, Hakuren and Leila both headed forwards across the street, towards the first house.
It was neither grand, nor glorious. The wood, from which the walls were made of, had several patches of mold, which bore bizarre colours, such as pink, ginger and blue, and holes both big and small, in some of which a cork could be seen. The chimney was nothing more than a few pipes suck together and had tilted rather dangerously to the side, yet the residents had not removed it, either because they were too preoccupied or because it posed no threat to them. Sounds of footsteps and loud mumbling could be heard from inside, the voices rather unclear and harsh.
The young man in the midnight green coat gave the girl behind him one final glance over his shoulder, before he pulled out the black notebook from the inside pocket of his upper cloth and opened it. Within was the lace, the bookmark, which instantly slid towards his fingertips and formed a black pencil in his hand. Wearing a friendly smile on his face, the youngster politely knocked on the door once. There was no answer. Whatever was stirring from inside became quiet and not a single sound was let out, until the human knocked once more, adding a "Hello? Is anyone home?"

"Waddaya vant?" came a reply as soon as the dver was opened.

The one who came to answer his call was quite the figure to behold. It was a chameleon standing on two legs, dressed in a red and white striped shirt and military pants. Eyes huge and staring in different directions, what was most peculiar about this creature was the fact that at the end of its long tail was a lamp quite literally glued to it. Judging by the Nowherian's voice, it was a man and was certainly disturbed by this sudden visit.

"Good morning. We-" the lad began, but was cut off quickly.
"Bah, vhat's so good about it? Nothin'. Nothin' at all. Naw hurry it up, yall. I don't vant to vaste this stupid life on yous." the villager told him with a rugged, irritated tone.
"We're here by orders of the Queen of Nowhere to do a survey regarding living conditions in Yonder." Hakuren explained, unfazed by the other's harshness.
"A servey. Vat vill you do? Serve me some grub? I'm a picky eater, ya know. Mostly flies and them multileggid critters are my thang, but no sawse and them fatty stuffings and such. Can't disappoint the Missis, ya know."
"No, this survey involves us asking questions about your life and how you feel like when living here."
"Bah! Petty talk! Git outa 'ere, ya fish. I vant no part'a' dis nonesenshialaticallness or vatever them fancy-pants merinjays call it!"
With that the door was banged shut right in front of them, a cloud of dust being blown in the two's faces. For some reason, Hakuren was still smiling, although now it was more like one of those annoyed "I'm going to get you for this" side grins. Several moments of silence passed on that porch and, just when the duo was about to pack up and leave, a loud monstrous roar was heard from within the house. It was as if a tremendous beast had just been woken from its slumber, its eyes bloody from lack of rest and fangs shining in the light like the fine surface of a new blade. Something was broken and something fell, accompanied by pleas, apologies and screams of terror only a little girl could make. This was so sudden that the humans stayed pinned on their positions, as if lightning had struck them in place. Only a heartbeat later, the door opened once more and someone far different appeared before them.
A crocodile taller than the door itself, also standing on its hind legs, wearing a pink dress and slippers, was smiling with a mouth with a full set of razor-sharp teeth, hands clasped together in front of it.
"Palease excusé my husband's awfully rude behavior. The poor thing's exhausted from all the hard work at the light house during tha nighté. The time's are thought 'n' all. Now dearies, don't be shy~ Come right in~" It spoke with a womanly meow in its voice, hinting that it was female.
"Much obliged, ma'am."
The time spent at the Anaisiuol family's home was a delight compared to walking down the empty streets. Mrs Anaisiuol treated her guests kindly with herbal tea, which Hakuren found oddly similar to the lake water he had tasted when he had gone 'swimming' the other day, and biscuits of various flavor, most of which were either different kinds of meat or 'fruit'. The crocodile chatted endlessly about her family life, so much it felt as though the humans were not there to do a survey, but her autobiography. From the time of her great great great uncle Loui to the present day, she knew all the gossip and all the murmurings, all the affairs and all the filth of the locals. She didn't hesitate one bit in the never-ending chain of words, not even when mentioning past humans, whom she only described through the rumors and fantasies Yonderers had created and the preposterous conclusions they had made of them and their world all on their very own, without ever coming into true contact with those outer-worldly beings. Her blabbering made the entire structure that was their unstable house shake as if there was an earthquake and it was a miracle that Mr. Anaisiuol continued sleeping, most likely due to the fact he had gotten used to it after living for years with his big-jawed wife. Hakuren only fueled this bubbling machine by asking her questions and faking astonishment and curiosity. It would be untrue to state that he was not interested in hearing the story of the town, but the many side-notes and additional information the crock packed into this giant sandwich was too big of a bite to swallow with a straight face. Still, he continued forwards. This woman was far too easy to get talking and only needed a few hints before steering into the right direction. Once they somehow came on the topic concerning the caves, she mentioned that old folk used to hold a festival there or nearby in their day, but the tradition had been long forgotten, along with all the reasons why it was created in the first place. In addition, she told them about uncleanly whisperings of who did who when at the caves and who was the result of that happening, as well as how they lived and got to face the truth and all the little dramas of those stories. At one point, the young man actually thought this would be the best TV program for elderly people. "Teatime with the crocodile. You'll never guess what's below the water". If she was in their world, she might as well become famous.

The true phenomenon occurred when the Mrs actually allowed them to leave. They had to stop several times along the way. Once at the door of the living room, twice in the hallway, once in front of the shoes and at the front door. By the time they were finished, the young man could hear the sound of a television, which had lost contact, in his head.
"You darlings watch out now~! Don't wana get into Mr. Esel's way~! Remember, don't try Mrs. Hwyaden's cooking! Don't believe Mrs. llwynog! The old fox is always drunk! Oh, and don't forget to stop by Mr. Doberman! He's a good man, he doesn't bite!" Mrs. Anaisiuol said at the door, along with a couple of more wishes about staying warm and closed the door.
"And this is why I rarely visit my grandmother." Hakuren sighed with a smile. "Well, after hearing all about the "Great adventures of Chad Eboric Anaisiuol" and Mrs. Ilwynog's cooking, I think we learned quite a few tasty things."
Of course, he didn't mean all of that nonsensical chatter. Between her long soapy tales about her ancestors and other villagers of the past, the gator had truly given them valuable information. She had mentioned the past batches, only clearly remembering the members of the last, yet only by gender and appearance. The caves were surrounded by mystery and myth, but among the many rumors there was bound to be a grain of truth. Regarding the siren, the crocodile had not spoken in great detail, mainly because she herself had not participated in the act that was the witch hunt, yet her mouth seeped story after story as to why the drowned woman was considered a witch. She had put a spell on the man she loved. She had poisoned a rival. She had killed by simply speaking. She had turned into a hotdog. Sang strange songs. Talked to thin air. Ran off on her own. Slept with shadows. Chanted in an incoherent language. Almost all of them had no evidence to back them up except the mass belief of the townsfolk. At her only venom was spit, but the Mrs also hissed from time to time at the Mayor's address, concerning his egoistic corrupt nature. Interestingly enough, individuals she was fond of speaking of were Brandy, Two Thirds and Songbird. Once she learned they were with the humans, she quickly wrote down on a sheet of moss a list of items she wished to order. Apparently, she was a great admirer of all three, especially of Two Thirds, in whose shop she had dreamed of entering ever since she was a wee lass, yet had never had the opportunity to do so. Other important information she had provided regarded some areas in Nowhere, as well as some important figures within them.

Having written down notes in his notebook, Hakuren now quickly shut and placed it back in the inside pocket of his coat. Strolling down the street without an exact destination in mind, he listened carefully for any sound that might give away Leon and Mado's location.
"I found the sweets far better than the tea. And you?" the youngster attempted to initiate a conversation with his partner in crime, who was currently following him.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by Fox of Spades
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"Are you two okay? Ha, I'm not carrying any of you if you pass out."

Harper didn't really know what to say. A part of him was fearful about what had happened, yet a part of him told the boy to just shrug it off. It was over and what mattered now was that they had what they had came for and were a step closer to home. Home, the word made him ache for his mom's home cooked meals, his dad's silly jokes and his sister's loud laughter. He missed them a lot and the thought of dying in Nowhere and never seeing them again, ever, made him feel sick to his stomach too. Jasper ran to the lake and threw up and Harper straightened in place, his expression shifting into one of concern.

He took in a deep breath then focused his eyes on Ace. "I'm okay...not sure about her. Jasper?" He found it hard to look her in the eyes, but managed to in the end. Nowhere did weird things to them all, so he tried to forget what had happened in the office. It wasn't a big deal and if he allowed his thoughts to linger on it then things would have been awkward and he didn't want that. "Are you okay?" Jasper wiped at her mouth and blamed it on the adrenaline. "Okay."

Harper continued holding the papers in Ace's direction and the girl read through them, just as chipper as ever. How had she handled the bunnies so calmly? In a way she reminded him of his reckless sister. Then Ace suggested rather teasingly that the duo have a break and Harper felt the heat return to his face. "N-No, I'm good though if Jasper wants to rest we should all stick together. Nowhere can be a scary place..." Memories of the choatic star came flashing back and he hoped the Siren would be just a siren or something like Martini and not some Crocosharkgator. Knowing Nowhere though, he didn't know what to expect.

"Let's head to the lake together," his voice was firmer now. "If anything goes wrong, we'll be together." He wasn't calm like Haku, brave like Iro, or fearless like Mado, but he thought stuff through, weighed his options and tried his darnedest to be as reasonable as he could be. Harper tucked the newspaper clippings into his bag for safe keeping, waited for Jasper to recover then turned to Ace with a slight smile. "You can lead the way," he offered before waiting for both girls to walk ahead. He trailed behind them and focused his eyes on the fluffy clouds that rolled across the sky like lazy sheep. Nowhere was frighteningly beautiful, and as much as he adored the constellations in Nowhere's sky, he feared the place more than anything else.

"Ace, Jasper, what do you think we should find?" He wondered if Haku and the others were luckier and wished them the best. They had to finish the list...they just had to.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by Oblivion
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Upon hearing Mado’s distant voice, Leon replaced the broken jade vase on the rickety dresser and made his way out of the messy living room. It truly was a mess; it looked like a hurricane had blown in and displaced everything. Not to mention the occupants had had a bad taste in decoration, even for Nobodies, Leon added to himself, wrinkling his nose. Taking to the stairs, he raced up the uneven slabs of wood two at a time, careful to keep his hands off of the decaying walls which were slowly turning a shade of garish neon pink.

Checking the first two rooms showed no Mado anywhere; the bathroom and the spare room were in chaotic disarray just like the rooms downstairs. What exactly had happened? Leon wandered down the hallway to the last room, its door ajar. Peeking inside, Leon saw Mado’s form with his blazer almost down to her mid-thigh. She seemed to be standing over a box, whose contents she’d scattered around. Leon stepped in, his face alight with excitement. Had she found something?

The items on the floor and bed were nothing related the Song. As his eyes fell on the whips and handcuffs, his face completely blanked out, unable to find a proper expression. Confusion raged inside him as he picked up the carrot and inspected it, jerking slightly as it started vibrating when he flipped a switch at the bottom.

Dropping the carrot, he watched it roll awkwardly across the floor. Taking the leather suit from Mado, he held it up to himself. “I don’t think this is going to fit me.” There were a lot of places to be left bare in the suit, defeating its purpose as armor. It was extremely small, only reaching the beginning of his hips. “…maybe you should try it instead–“ He was in the middle of handing the suit to Mado when it finally hit him.

The purpose of the other items in the box hit him like a ton of bricks and he smirked slightly. “Mado-san, close that box unless you’re planning on trying some of those out.” Oddly, it seemed like something Hakuren would’ve said. It was something Leon would’ve expected to come out of the boy’s mouth rather than Mado’s. However, his smirk only grew as he reached down and replaced all the items in the box. “Looks like the previous occupants were a tad adventurous.”

Straightening, Leon turned and walked out of the room, beckoning Mado to follow him. “Next house. There’s nothing here apart from those… things.” Absentmindedly, he wondered how the nervous girl, Jasper, would’ve reacted. It’d have been amusing, no doubt.

Once again walking across the length of the hallway and descending down the stairs, Leon left the house and stepped onto the street, squinting at the bright sunlight that assaulted his eyes. It took several seconds for his vision to return to him and he turned to the next house, surveying the shabby walls with interest. There had to be something there, right?

Knocking on the door, Leon impatiently stood outside, bouncing lightly on his feet. He was about to kick the door down again when the sound of shuffling filled his ears. Bracing himself, Leon plastered a genuinely welcoming smile onto his face, his face taking it on with practiced ease. The scene would’ve looked ridiculous to an outsider; a tall, lean young man with dark hair and feather earrings flashing a blinding smile at a closed door. To an unknowing stranger, it almost seemed like he was in love with the piece of wood. That lasted for only several seconds, however, as the door was yanked open by a large, neon pink sea urchin, never mind the sea part. Leon’s smile never faltered, even as he was inwardly looking the sea urchin over, wondering where exactly its face was, or if it even had a face.

His eyes followed the bob of the brightly blue spikes striped with yellow and purple, moving along with the Nobody’s breathing. Despite having nowhere to look, Leon could tell the Nobody was already convinced he was friendly. A light wisp of smoke escaped a pipe lodged into a hole into the urchin’s body, almost like another spike. So it has a face. Leon thought, nearly laughing. …Somewhere.

“Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” Leon started.

“I’m a woman.” The thing rasped, contradicting her own words.

“I’m terribly sorry, miss. You look fantastic, by the way. I’m digging the colors.” Leon added, laughing lightly. The compliments were genuine; the colors truly were fabulous, especially the neon blue. Perhaps that would be the shade of his next suit.

The urchin only bobbed in response, prompting Leon to continue. “I’m here on behalf of the Queen, conducting a survey on the inhabitants’ living conditions. May I come in?”

The urchin grunted in response and rolled away towards the living room, Leon following it into a cove-like area. Turning his head slightly to make sure Mado was with him, he sat down on an oyster-shaped couch-thing and patted the space next to him, telling her to sit down.

“So, any complaints? Any improvements you’d like to make to your living standards? Though I already see you have an amazing house.” Not too much flattery, just the right amount could have the recipient mellowed-down and eager to talk. And that was just what happened.

“I’ve been living here for a very, very long time,” The urchin paused, taking a long drag of her pipe. “Back when Mr. Syook was still alive, this house looked even better. The outside is really falling apart, ever since he died.”

Leon’s ears perked up at ‘very, very long time’ and ‘since he died’. Perhaps he’d committed suicide as well? But it would’ve been terribly rude of him to ask. “Would you care to describe this house in detail at its finest?” He let Mrs. Syook talk for over half an hour, nodding along to her words. Her detailed descriptions of her home were of no significance and when she showed signs of slowing down, he took the opportunity to switch the topic slightly. “That sounds absolutely wonderful. I’ll make sure to add a note for the merchants to bring marble curtains back, they sound lovely. Shame I can’t see them.” Mrs. Syook made a raspy, hissing sound and turned slightly pinker, if that was possible. “What was Yonder like back in the day, though?”

Mrs. Syook seemed to have taken a liking to the young lad as she started talking again, describing Yonder in vivid detail years and years back. Leon wasn’t exactly sure where her eyes were but he was pretty sure she was making lovey-dovey eyes at him, despite being as ancient as the town itself. He absentmindedly wondered how she kept the wrinkles away and was tempted to ask her her secret when he heard ‘witch’. The single word commanded all of his attention and he stared at various points on the urchin, listening intently.

“At some point, something strange happened. Mr. Syook was away on business when I remember a huge crowd rallying up the streets, up this very street, carrying a couple of Nobodies above them, tied up of course. They were screaming about something… let me see… ah, yes. They were yelling ‘To the fire! Witches to the fire!’ I couldn’t see the Nobodies but later I heard those were false accusations among real ones, though I never saw the real culprits. They say that the innocent to guilty ratio was 20:1.”

Leon nodded, eyes fixated on the urchin’s pipe puffing out a steady stream of smoke among her slow words. “Culprits? What were they accused of?”

The urchin stopped puffing smoke for a moment, hesitating as she searched her memories for anything relevant. A minute later, she spoke again. “Of helping some ‘witch’ or something. I think she was their boss, you know what I mean?” Leon nodded in response, cracking a small smile in gratitude. Everything she’d said concerning the witch hunts had been lodged firmly into his mind, even now, she was still going on. When she was done, Leon closed with a few residence-related questions and stood up when she’d answered the last one. And then he’d realized he’d stared at her mouth the entire time; specifically, at the pipe, but she couldn’t tell as she rolled closer to Leon on her spikes. “Why don’t you stay here a little longer? The girl can leave.”

A polite smile made its way on his face as he inched away, unsure of what to do when being hit on by an ancient urchin. He sure as hell didn’t want to be the next Mr. Syook. “I’m flattered but I need to give this information to the Queen. You really need your marble curtains back, they’d make your house even more gorgeous.” Mrs. Syook huffed but rolled away from the door, allowing them to leave. As soon as he stepped out and inhaled a breath of fresh air, he waved to Mrs. Syook and made his way down the path. When Mrs. Syook finally closed her door, Leon turned to Mado and raised his eyebrows. “What did you think of that?” He wasn’t sure whether he was referring to Mrs. Syook’s liking to him or the information she’d just given them; he wasn’t even sure Mado had been listening.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by John
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Leila found Hakuren’s answer to her question rather incomprehensible, much as expected. It was loaded with conditions and speculations and metaphors, and concluded with "Well, it's not wise to try making conclusions just yet".

Which, Leila could only reasonably translate to, “I have no idea either”.

She did agree, though, that the presence of shoes would prove a significant barrier in examining whether one had cold feet.

Leila continued to think about the Siren’s song as the two of them approached to inspect the first house.

* * * *

“That’s why I never visit my grandmother” was, uttered by the boy, a very appropriate way to sum up their visit at the Anaisiuol’s. The cameleon and the crocodile were and interesting couple, to say, but as far as Leila noticed, there was not much significant information to be gathered.

Leila eyed Hakuren as he scribbled into the notebook he had in hand - an action that had been observed more than once. Back on the Star Fisher, in the cabin...he seemed to be writing stuff into that little stash of paper at the most peculiar of times, and she couldn’t help but wonder what exactly he had written down - that compulsion to read whenever there was something to be read had always been a part of her: the subconscious urge to lean in and make out characters she couldn’t see quite clearly on pieces of paper nearby, or the attempts to memorize the sequence of bus stops on signs in those few times she went outside. The need of revealing a message when it is made clear that there exists a message to be revealed.

Leila then reminded herself of the task she was assigned. And it was not randomly speculating what the boy was writing down.

Signs. Verbal and gestures. Yeah.

Leila actually had no idea what she was supposed to look for.

“Twenty two times she touched her forehead when delivering a sentence. Eighteen times she scratched her neck or nose. Eight instances in which she appeared to have decided to go off and take care of or look for something but then changed her mind against it afterwards...” Almost as if compensating, she immediately started to recite much random facts about the events that occurred throughout the conversation “...Eleven parts of her various stories conflict mutually in chronological sequences, five of them circularly.” She decided to leave out the parts about the ones which contradicted themselves logically(Turned into a hotdog? what.) ”The support for the stairs leading the second floor is likely partially rotten. Might collapse the next time the crocodile fetches tea. ” That should raise the odds about enough, she thought. And then, almost as an insignificant afterthought, Leila added one last comment: “A pot of liquid has also been boiling in the kitchen throughout the course of the latter half of our visit and hadn’t been attended to.

That must have been one of the largest sequence of words she had delivered in a monologue in a very, very long time. She didn’t have many chances to do so since after the time when she was a bit obsessed with reciting decimal representations of transcendental numbers. Leila smiled weakly, looking at Hakuren, with the hope that at least something in there was what he was looking for.

"I found the sweets far better than the tea. And you?"

She did not remember when exactly that question was dropped - perhaps before, perhaps after her rant. She only remembered that it was placed and not yet answered.

Might as well do that now.

“The tea wasn’t bad.” She said. Her opinion was probably biased, though, since she was a fan of tea in general although really lacking the taste to distinguish good tea from bad tea; and also because of the fact that she only tried one of the sweets under the urging of the overly enthusiastic host.

The two of them continued to walk along the road. Do they call the investigation of the first household a success? Leila could barely tell.

She persisted to make efforts to resist the urge of kicking the cobblestones that littered the roads, and that of trying to peek over at the writings in Hakuren’s notebook.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by Kimchi
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"Let's head to the lake together. If anything goes wrong, we'll be together. You can lead the way", he stated turning to Ace. A sigh of silent relief escaped through her nostrils as she clutched her emptied stomach. It was time for the newbie to take charge and Jasper was sure she would be completely capable of doing so. Ace looked to be quite experienced, seeing as to how she had handled those bunny soldiers back at Town Hall. An atmosphere of knowledge, that Jasper could not grasp, surrounded the red-headed teen and she admired that about her.

Understanding why he would want to avoid the topic right now, she didn't want to get into it either, so it was best to leave it alone till later, after the investigation perhaps. One thing is for sure, it had to be clarified. Maybe she was making a big deal out of it on her own, but the truth of the matter was, it was a big deal. Once a first has been given away, then it can never be taken back. That was that.

"Ace, Jasper, what do you think we should find?", he asked them from behind.

A shrug was all she could do. Almost dragging her feet in the sandy bank, Jasper felt absolutely miserable and sluggish at this point. Still she had no idea what they would be needing to look for. Whatever it was, she was hoping it would be something eye catching or attention grabbing. Something out of the ordinary so that they may find it easier. Not exactly sure what 'out of the ordinary' may be defined as here in Nowhere, Jasper wished for the investigation to end with the finding of this 'Siren Song'. Fingers crossed, no fighting huge monsters involved in the equation.

Staring into the distant expanse of the lake, a light curtain of mist hovered over its quivering surface. She tried to imagine how it'd been like when the witch was drowned. 'Is her body in there?' The thought sent a sensation of millipedes scuttling up her right leg. Her throat tightened. Back in New York, she remembered accidentally walking into the wrong theater room where they had been playing a drama-horror movie. The scene she stumbled into was when a lady in a nightgown was being chained up to a pair of bricks, one on each foot, and she was pushed off a boat into the middle of the ocean. No, Jasper didn't turn around and leave, she stared at the screen until a ticket man came and dragged her out of there and into the correct destination.

'Did the witch die like that? What a depressing death the would be.'

In just the couple of seconds she was dragged under the lake last night, flashes of fear and death already began to race through her mind. She wondered how that girl in the movie must've felt. Seeing the wavy light of the sun as she stared up into the bottom of the boat that contained her murderers. Her vision getting darker. Bubbles of air rising up. No breath. Heavy bricks yanking her down. She stopped thrashing. White dress afloat.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by AkiBlue
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"If you're sure..." Ace decided to take the lead anyway, before Harper had offered her to. She decided to walk towards the edge of the lake, wondering what could be so frightening to the two. "With only three of us, I don't think we need to split up. Ha, and in all the movies I've seen, every time the group splits up, they run into trouble. And I'm pretty sure trouble is the last thing you two are looking for." Ace bounded ahead toward the lake, a little faster now that she knew they were following.

"Ace, Jasper, what do you think we should find?"

The red head stopped at the edge of the lake, looking at the shore. "At a lake. Searching for a song. Where a possible Siren lives? I say look for the impossible. Or don't look at all. Things appear when you least expect them to after all." She spoke with a surprisingly serious tone as she peered into the lake. Though that seriousness was sure to fade soon enough. Unfortunately, she couldn't get a good view inside. So what did the wild Ace decide to do?

She slipped her shoes and socks off, and tiptoed her way forward. "If I get close enough, maybe I can see if anything is inside the water~" The girl didn't plan on going too far. She didn't need her clothes to get wet. (Because that was the problem with this.) The girl was pretty daring and reckless, but she felt that was the only way the three would find something at all.

The two were entirely too timid, and afraid of something Ace had not experienced. So it was Ace's job to take initiative. Besides, the lake was so serene and the cool water felt nice. She wasn't entirely too far, and still she couldn't see any type of clues. "I'm not going any farther than this..." The water had reached her ankles. "Nothing but rocks and sand." Ace called out and then followed the ankle deep water along the shore. Maybe there was something on the other side? The lake had to have some type of clues. It's serenity was just too out of place for the tension around the place. Well the mist Ace just noticed was pretty fitting for the mystery. "Any idea what could be here? Or what I should look for?" Ace was searching blindly, and searching blindly got boring fast.

She waded for a bit before turning to walk back to Harper and Jasper. "Don't know... Unless we're suppose to find the actual Siren... But that would be bad for everyone wouldn't it." She mumbled the last bit to herself as she turned to walk towards them.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by Fox of Spades
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"What have you done?" Skitzs stared at the bloodied sword in her hand then at the nobody who was crumpled on the pristine, marble floor. The expression on his face shifted into one of fear then dread. He didn't know what to do, so he stared, stiff and with hands shaking.

The girl before him was transfixed by the crimson blade in her hand, her eyes glazed over. "What...what have I done?" She approached Skitz and reached out a hand, but the butler recoiled, nearly stumbling over his own feet and too scared to say a word. Her hand tightened around the blade's hilt and Skitz yelled out for the bunny guards, for help. These humans were too far gone and maybe they were beyond saving. He and the Queen had did everything in their power to help them, but they were lost.

Luke stared at the bloodied pipe in his hand, eyes blank and knees shaking. What had they become...why were they so angry? So full of hate? Nothing made sense anymore! He just wanted to scream and beat something, anything to a pulp. He didn't think twice, instead, he allowed his body to move as it pleased. He swung his arm sideways as the metal pipe connected with Skitz's jaw.

The butler crashed into a wall, slumped, and brought a hand to his bloodied jaw. "Luke, Caitlyn...are you?" His red eyes widened, "are you still you?" The butler curled up against the wall, as he hugged his arms close. Perhaps the other nobodies were right, perhaps the humans really were evil. After all the queen had done for them, didn't they understand...the laws of Nowhere weren't like the laws of the human realm and while the Queen was in charge, she couldn't send them back. She couldn't even leave Nowhere if she tried, the list was the only way and they had to understand! They had to be reasonable! Fear brought anger, but what good would any of this do? What good would attacking and--was John the Flying Avocado dead? Oh, gosh...he wasn't breathing! Schizophrenia felt sick to his stomach and suddenly the humans he had enjoyed chatting with had become monsters in his sight.

"Y-You killed him!" Skitz wheezed as he kept a hand to his jaw.

"Yes," Luke's eyes were still glassy. "We did." He raised the pipe, but before he could strike something caught him in the shoulder. He dropped his pipe then stared at the carrot at the ground. So reinforcements had arrived? It was time to leave. ??? Continued staring at the floor, at the blood that surrounded the avocado guide. They were losing it, they were dangerous, they were becoming less human. Luke held onto her hand and before she knew it, they were running out the door.

The queen stared from down the hall, brows furrowed in worry and a frown on her face. "We can no longer save them."

~X~X~X~X~X~


Look for the impossible? Ace had the right idea, it was Nowhere after all.

"The impossible," he muttered, hoping that it wouldn't involve a flying shark that spewed acid or seaweed that tried to eat people. He shook his heads, willed the thoughts away then stared at the lake. It was less frightening during the day, pretty even, but still eerie. Jasper stared at the lake while Ace decided to go in, the moment the latter waded into the water Harper nearly protested. His heart did a panicky little jig in his chest, but he remained calm. There were three of them and it was day time, if anything went wrong...they could handle it, right? All the same, he cupped both hands around his mouth then called for the girl to be careful. For all they knew, something sinister could be lurking beneath the calm surface.

He held his breath, but Ace didn't go any farther and he let out a relieved sigh. Rocks and sand were better than sea monsters, but it wasn't a clue, it wasn't what they needed.

"Any idea what could be here? Or what I should look for?"

He shook his head. "Maybe it really is a music box?" It was unlikely, but the thought of finding something that wouldn't try to behead them was nice, though deep down he knew it couldn't be that. A music box would have been too easy...too unlikely for a town like Yonder.

"Don't know... Unless we're suppose to find the actual Siren... But that would be bad for everyone wouldn't it."

Not longer after Ace had mentioned a Siren, a sweet, childish voice filled the air. Harper froze, before jumping in place, eyes wide in terror.

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.


He waited stiff, but for some reason the song had no effect. His eyes flitted towards a girl, floating on her back in the water--she was quite far from the shore.


She looked around 15, with translucent skin and lights in her hair. She continued singing, her voice astoundingly beautiful, but not bewitching. He looked from Ace to Jasper a hesitant smile lighting up his face. Perhaps their search wasn't doomed. "Hm, maybe she knows something?"
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by GreenGoat
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GreenGoat Harmless Flower Person

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“Mado-san, close that box unless you’re planning on trying some of those out.”

She cocked her head to the side at that. Try it on what exactly? She didn't really know, but perhaps if she bought some of it along she'd have some idea. The moment the new person turned around, Mado gathered up what she could into a small bag she found inside the box. Remembering the new person's word, she took up the leather armor, dusted it off a bit, and with great effort, finally managed to figure out how to wear it.

It seemed to be meant to be worn under heavier armor, as it was just a leather bustier and underwear of the same material with lots of straps when she examined it closer. It was also surprisingly supple and comfortable for a set of armor.

Shrugging, she stuffed her still wet clothes into the small bag, wearing only the leather armor underneath the oversized jacket, as she skipped after the new person, before she found a window and jumped out of it in a shower of broken glass because she felt like it.

The next house they went to had an occupant in it, a living black pin cushion that was also curiously smoking. With no apparent mouth. Or any appendages she could see. How on earth did it fit a pipe through all those spikes?

All of those questions and her interest disappeared as soon as they sat down however. It was readily apparent the needle ball thing likes the new person. Very apparent. Mado would have giggled right then and there but the needle thing was so horribly boring. It was like watching paint dry on a baboon's butt. Actually watching paint on a baboon's butt would be more interesting than this drivel about history she didn't really care about. She'd stab it just to get some quiet but then she wasn't sure where to stab without getting stabbed herself by all those sharp spines. So the next best thing was obviously to fall asleep, right there in front of the urchin. It didn't seemed to mind, having its eyes(if it has eyes) only on the new person.

Mado jerked awake when it was time to leave, skipping out as soon as the urchin mentioned she can go.

“What did you think of that?”

"Eh?" The new person suddenly called out to her, breaking her chain of thought. Also he was standing a bit close to her...

Mado stepped away as discreetly as she could. "...ah.. marry her till she dies and keep all the money to yourself?"
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by Kimchi
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Kimchi

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As they continued to travel along the banks of the lake, Ace suddenly began to take off her shoes and socks then waded into the waters. Cupping her lips as she gasped, a sort of horror scene played into her mind as she imagined Ace getting yanked down into the lake's depths. Drowning. Every step the girl took, she got a little bit deeper, the more Jasper wanted to run in there and haul her out.

"I'm not going any farther than this..."

Letting out a sigh of utter relief, she was glad her imagination didn't come to life, or else they would've been in big trouble. Harper looked like his heart skipped a few beats as well, the two of them had the same feelings about the new girl's actions. She couldn't blame her. Ace didn't know what happened last night. The terror of waking up breathless; a throat full of water, drowning.

"Maybe it really is a music box?"

Jasper could only hope it was something as simple as that, but in the back of her mind she knew that it wouldn't be that easy. The thought of actually finding the Siren that had attempted to kill them last night made chills ripple over her body as she began to fumble with the hem of her shirt, twisting and wringing it continuously.

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.


The voice made her want to crumble up into ball, but Jasper listened. Unmoving, like a statue. Summing up the bravery to move, she cast her eyes towards the sorce of the song and laid gaze over a little girl swimming about in the water. Her choice of song was an elementary tune and the voice that matched didn't sound threatening at all.

"Hm, maybe she knows something?"

"I'm sure she does. Go and ask her", she shooed at Harper. There was no way she would be the one to ask the ghostly child anything. Something about the girl gave her the heebeejeebeez.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by AkiBlue
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AkiBlue

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"Music box or not, there's nothing ankle deep. I'm not going any further than that. It's cold." Again, her priorities weren't in the right place... She waded around a second more thinking she had spotted something before complying to Harper and Jasper's panics. "Relax will you? I'm getting out, I'm getting out. I don't need my clothes to be soaked anyway." What she saw was just another rock, that seemed lighter than the rest. Nothing special.

A soft and pretty voice filled her ears before she got out the water. "What a nice voice. And I've heard that song before..." She turned to see a girl floating on he back, ways away from them. "Look at that... She could be useful." She started to hum along to the song she had heard a few times at the orphanage. Ace's first reaction wasn't fear. Just like many other times, her first reaction was curiosity. She even started to go forward again, but stopped remembering the others' panics.

Hearing Harper, Ace smiled and looked over at the strange girl again. "I'll get her attention." Of course she volunteered to do something so risky. Again. What if the girl turned out to be a Siren? Well, all they could do was risk it- to be exact, Ace was going to risk her life getting the potential Siren's attention. It was amazing how reckless she could be sometimes.
With a deep inhale, Ace yelled across the lake. "Yoohoo! Girly that's singing and swimming!"

Ace was still in the lake, closer to the shore now, but it seemed she couldn't get her attention. Ace called out to her again, taking a step forward into the lake once more, once again going ankle deep. She whistled this time, loud enough for it to echo across the lake.

"Hopefully, she's a good person. If not, I think I'd be kind of screwed."

Despite the situation, and many scenarios that could've came to mind, Ace laughed at the thought. She waited quietly for the singing girl to notice them. "What if she's just a random girl that decided to swim on the lake? That would be odd... But then again, it is Nowhere."
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by Headphones
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Upon hearing Leila's lengthy reply to his inquiry, in which she had included the information gathered from her observation on the Nowhereian they had questioned, Hakuren felt impressed by the perfection, with which she had counted all of the gestures of Mrs. Anaisiuol during the dialogue with her. Indeed, his prediction concerning the young girl was correct. Albeit taciturn in most cases, she possessed an ability to notice every little detail by using her natural silence to blend in with the surroundings, as if she were a shadow, and, if given the necessary time to remain in that state, could engulf more and more pixels from the picture before her, storing all she had gathered as encryption codes deep withing the crevices of the maze we call the human brain. A person as thin as air, unnoticeable by the average beings of any existence, was an asset, which could provide quite the income if placed in the correct location at the correct time. The young man felt pleased by the answer, although there was little he could use it for. It was enough to know how proficient his companion was at picking the small pieces, which the common folk would not think twice to pay any mind to.
"We should piece a puzzle together sometime." the lad tossed that comment in the air, as if he had not heard what his acquaintance had said.
Puzzle games were a sweet little pastime he enjoyed, yet rarely indulged in. There were other activities which piqued his interest far more than that wordless game of logic, however, the student found it quite stimulating and rewarding. In the process of piecing the elements together, one's thought process must rapidly create connections and decisions, whilst the eyes must be forced to bare witness to a meaningless mass, which appears illogical at first glance. This stimulates the brain, perhaps even irritates it, and places two plates in front of us. One may chose to leave the game or continue struggling to find the parts that fit together. Regardless of the choice made, the time spent in front of a puzzle trains the mind and provides a healthy food for its dining table.
Taking into consideration the type of person this solemn girl was, Hakuren assumed a puzzle would be appropriate for a bonding game. Already having noticed the potential she had hidden within her, he made a mental note to attempt a closer knit relationship. There were more examinations he intended to perform, but having her 'scan' from time to time in certain areas back in their world would provide him with the various intel he loved to gather and sell. Of course, without knowing her background and standing, he could not make a complete plan, yet using that little eye ability of hers would at least offer another detailed view of the world.

"About what you noticed during her speech, it seems that Mrs. Anaisiuol lied to us eighteen times. Fortunately, there wasn't any such movement during the important moments. She wasn't completely stiff either, so at least she didn't give us false information about the past batch, the cave and the siren." he spoke whilst walking, now in connection with the topic at hand. "Time here is a bit irrelevant, if not completely meaningless, but I recon we spent a good portion at the gator's home. Lets just pick a house to infiltrate and be done here." Although he felt like asking around more villagers, their first visit seemed a bit prolonged and he did not intent to hold anyone back. After searching a house they would probably pick at random, he intended to meet up with his other two partners in crime, Leon and Mado, and head for the caves. If nothing came up there, they would simply head back and sniff a few more corners. "In the meantime, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?" the young man suggested with a friendly smile as he and Leila strolled down the dusty road. "I'm not going to brag about it, if that is what you're worried about." It was clear to him she wasn't, but common courtesy required that phrase.

Leila (post is below) said
”Noelle. Leila Noelle. Seventeen years old. Daughter of Joseph and Zora Noelle. 317 Westbourne Avenue.”


It took the lass quite awhile to reply, judging by the distance they had walked. This did not surprise the young man a bit. From the many occasions he had had the privilege to be part of her company he had noticed there was always a delay before any sort of response was given. Once more, a quite typical note of her character appeared to be giving brief answers, with the exceptions always existing, of course. Yet he found her retort displeasing. It was far too limited, far too shallow. There was the chance of this person being socially awkward and that possibility just seemed to gain more points and heading towards level Fact in the lad's ladder. This was bothersome to a certain extent, yet also proved to be an advantage, for him at least.
"I'm not an office worker here." Hakuren chuckled it off. "I meant to ask it in another way. Like "What do you like?", "What do you do?","What's it like where you live?" and stuff like that. For instance, I like meeting new people, talking with friends and going around the city. By myself I like listening to music, reading the news, going around the Internet. Normal pastimes like that. I'm a psychology student, so naturally I have a taste for information connected with it." It was a short, little and quite incomplete description of himself, yet he hoped this would lead the girl towards the right direction. "Now, what about you?" he smiled as always.

[This space here will/might be edited, depending on Four's(aka John's) reply]

They continued down the path, taking several twists and turns as they inspected buildings from the outside. Many alleyways they walked across and many windows they looked through, yet nothing managed to catch their eye. Abandoned, ruined, most houses were too dangerous to even come close to. From what could be seen through the stained filthy glass plates and the many cracks within them, the homes had an eaten floor and rarely a piece of furniture inside. It reminded Hakuren of an old custom in the human world. After a house got positively lifeless, a person or two might just accidentally find themselves inside and just by chance take, say, a chair or a table, maybe even a bookcase or a TV set if they're lucky. No doubt some of the locals had the same habit of 'getting lost'. Seeing as the atmosphere was so damp, it created bad results for the wooden roofs, a great number of which had already crumbled down upon the interior they once protected. Climbing up another small set of moldy stairs, the duo found themselves upon a level, from which they could clearly see the take. Light glided atop its surface, as if it were a silver brush, combing through the wild hair of a sea princess. A lovely sight it was, a bright flower in a dead forest.

"Say, Leila-san." Hakuren spoke out of the blue. "If you have a nest with four eggs, where the mother had begun incubating after the last one arrived, and one hatched early, how many eggs would there be left in the nest?" And odd little question, on an odd little day, in an odd little village.

Leila said
"Three."

Her answer came quicker than the last. It proved only that she did not have throwout knowledge on biology and maybe hadn't thought much of the inquiry. The green-blue-eyed lad himself knew it was a rather ridiculous question to ask, yet he had hoped only a bit that she could answer correctly. This didn't cause her to drop in his eyes. It simply proved her knowledge did not extend as far as one of the possibilities suggested, rendering it completely useless.
"Wrong answer." he told her. "If incubation began after the last one arrived, all the eggs received the same amount of heat, meaning that they should all hatch at the same time. If one hatches earliest than the rest, at a time it is not supposed to, it means it's a parasite, like the cuckoo bird. The chick will then push the rest out. So, there will be no more eggs in the nest."
If he was with someone eyes, he would have never even dared to speak in that manner or at least not so early on in their relationship. He simply found that talking in that mannerism would be an easier way for his companion to understand the message.
[It's very likely that I will completely change this birdy section. I just have to get online at the same time as Four. -_-"]

Once they had settled the matter, Leila and Hakuren came upon a house, which caught the green-blue-eyed boy's attention. Apparently still in relatively good shape, it was a two-story building, on the walls of which blue paint faintly remained. Two chairs were positioned in front of a small fountain in the backyard, which lacked water, yet had become the residence of many small colourful members of the Nowhereian flora, whilst at the front was a small rotten white fence, which could easily be stepped over. A doughnut weather vane was at the very peak and pointed eagerly towards the lake as the wind blew towards it. What was eye-catching about this house was not only its better condition in comparison to its neighbors, but also the remarkable painted windows on the second floor, from which the light jumped, reflected in various colours. The front door was cracked open and let out a high screech once pushed to the side. Not a single soul in sight. No a breath to be heard. The sign on the door read "Mathema Family", who had not been around for awhile. The youngster recalled Mrs. Anaisiuol mentioning a man called Mr. Mathema, who had been known as one of the few eccentric individuals in town and Yonder's Professor. According to the crocodile madam, he had been a very handsome young man. With good looks and a brilliant mind, the only reason why all the village girls did not go head over heals for him was due to his strange mannerism, which he owed to his upbringing in the bustling city of Babuna. Still, as a young fish in a fishy place, the lonely female hearts still gazed in awe at him. He had been a charmer, the Mrs had insisted and spoke of his departure with great sadness, yet did not explain it in detail. It was one of those times when she touched her nose.
"Lets pay Mr. Mathema a visit, shall we?" Hakuren said and headed for the house.
Knocking on the door politely, he allowed an "okairi" to escape his lips and echo through the empty hallway. There was a long purple carpet beneath their feet with yellow stripes at the very end and numerous rips and holes. Every step taken created an irritable noise as the wood squeaked. No one had given it the honor of walking upon it for a very long time, thus it was giving its warm welcome, like a chirping little chick. The corridor branched out into three separate parts. To the left was the kitchen, to the right was the living room and straight ahead was the bathroom, or so it said at the very beginning, where a map had been pinned to the wall, like a valuable art piece. The black-blue-haired lad headed right. Entering the living room, he found himself in front of a wide open space, with light entering through the big tall windows. Books and sheets of paper, too many to count, were littered all over the floor, a consequence of the strong winds, which had most likely blown and shaken the bookcases, which now stood, for the most part, empty at one side of the room. A couch with a few chairs and ottomans were located not too far away from a pink polka dot piano, which most likely served an entertaining purpose for the guests. Above the musical instrument, on the wall behind it, was a painting. More precisely put, a portrait, and what a portrait it was. The human was at a loss of words. The figure portrayed was a tall, elegantly dressed man in a yellow suit. A blue-striped orange tie was tied around his neck and his shoes were a bright cherry colour. But his attire was beyond the point. That face. It could simply stun you in place. Nowhere was filled with many bizarre creatures, yet very few would imagine one could be as peculiar as Mr. Mathema. The man's head was nothing more than a big square root symbol, under which were located anime-like eyes, nose and mouth. The expression he was painted with was a slight smirk, which gave off the player vibe. Hakuren did not know whether he should have laughed at the sight or simply allow himself to remain in the disturbed state he was in after the first glance. He liked math, he really did, but to see the incarnation of it was, although not surprising, very very disturbing. There was always some sort of logic he found in Nowherians, but this being he could not fathom. How and what was a square root supposed to eat? Tree roots? Bad homework? From the portrait it was visible that the rest of his body was with human proportions, without any unnecessary extras, and bore ink black skin. He was truly a one of a kind character, this Mr. Mathema. It made the youngster wish he'd actually gotten to talk to him and not that old crock. Passing the initial state of disturbance, the boy cracked his usual smile.
"I'd hate to be in his class." he commented before turning around.
Curved wooden stairs, which looked promising, lead upwards towards the second floor.
"I'm going up. If I don't come back in five minutes...Oh, wait, time doesn't exist here. Well, scream if there's anything out of the ordinary." he told Leila. There was that little fact that everything in this house was probably out of the ordinary, but he didn't mind making the comment as such. Ever since the train ride and the first party, most of the elements of Nowhere he didn't consider extraordinary at all. The constant randomness of Nowhere had such an effect on him.

Having set foot on the upper story, Hakuren walked through a hallway of paintings, most of which were portraits of the Professor with different expressions and in different poses. It was one ridiculous moment after the next. What the home spoke about its lord was that he was a narcissist in full bloom, with a taste for colourful and beautiful artworks. The window frames were marvelously carved with a flower pattern. Wood-works could also be found on walls and doors. The carpets bore the delightful chaos of expressionism and the candle-holders were miniature statues of different creatures. Some were ice-cream cones with eyes and cat ears and tails, others were three-headed giraffes with long braided manes. After a walk through this peculiar museum, the lad held to a stop at a door, behind which he presumed were the master's quarters, as the rest were either rooms for tea or entertainment, or bedrooms for guests, which the human had entered and scanned, yet found nothing of notable importance.
The confines of the mentioned last living space were as expected of this rococo interior. The walls and ceiling were rich in decoration and artworks. Whilst many constellations were drawn above, accompanied by the creatures from the legends they connected with; below, on the sides, were paintings of a different character. They were simple strokes of paint on the walls, curving and twirling lines, which changed colour if you were to follow them along. It was far more humble than the self-centered gallery or the other sheets in the living room, like the one which revealed the everyday life of bread men working on the field under the hot summer sun, their surface bearing several cracks caused by the pangs of the blistering rays. The bedroom of Mr. Mathema was lacking in appeal, compared to the rest of his home, yet the gigantic double canopy bed slightly made up for it.
Weak light entered through the painted windows, the transparent curtains allowing it to pass and break down into the many colours of the spectrum. It was a wonderful sight, but the young man had not come to bare witness to something as simple as that. Waltzing through the room, he made his way to the personal writing desk of the landlord. Checking every nook and cranny, he could not find anything, other than some books about local flora and fauna, writing materials, empty envelopes and unused post stamps. This displeased the youngster quite. He had not searched a couple of rooms and traveled all this way, just to go back empty-handed. There had to be something more. Grabbing the piece of furniture, he pulled it forwards and to the side. Indeed, at the back of it there was another compartment, a small closet. Inside he found a notebook, shabby, its cover curling upwards, covered by dust. Nature had taken its tole on the little object. Flicking through the pages of the newly found item, it proved itself to be the diary of the head of the household, dating back to the first day he arrived in Yonder. Albeit Hakuren did not read everything word by word, he took note of a couple of facts as he went towards the end. One those facts was that ten Newt Years had come and gone for Mr. Mathema in Yonder. Unfortunately, the human kind the author mentioned as revolting and unsightly creatures, ones so filthy and absurd, he did not wish to come close to them. This could not help determine the precise age of the book, because the professor had left the village not too long after the witch hunt or so the gator had said. The further ahead he read, the shorter the entries got and the style changed along with them. The finely crafted letters became rash and sometimes even unreadable. Descriptiveness was replaced by blunt briefness. Gradually, it became less and less recognizable. This peculiar change of heart was explained in the very last chapter the square root wrote.

Professor Mathema said
Hello, dear wonderful self.

Today I write in rush once more. It has been long since I last wrote within this treasury of mine thoughts. Many events have taken place in the fair village of Yonder. One too many to count and of a caliber, perhaps, higher than even I, the brightest light of enlightenment in this forsaken corner of the beautiful Nowhere, could predict.

It was during an evening not long ago that they drowned her, the dastardly woman I have refrained from mentioning in a descriptive manner within this pure book. She, who was the witch of this town, has met her final judgement and has been sent to the depths of the lake. Her companions shared her fate. I was among the many spectators of this sight. A dreadful event it was, filthy and vile like her soul. She screamed, yet no one dared to listen. Pitchforks and hatchets and many more were raised up in the sky, as if there was not a judgement to be passed down, but a revolution to be made. It was an extraordinary occasion to bare witness to.
That woman had created much hassles and troubles for the humble villagers. She had turned into a hotdog and tempted many men into following her. Fortunately, I did not stoop so low as to drop my jaw at the look of such creature, who, despite beautiful in its curves and ketchup, could be seen through when looking at its eyes. Those two pits of horrifying evil. They were windows to the abyss. I caught wind of this trickery and was quick to escape the witch's clutches, yet not the same could be said for many of my neighbors. After finally crossing the line when a rainfall of peanuts came down on us, rather than the usual skittles, the uprising began and the flames within the simple folk burned like that of a soldier, ready to fight for his people. It was tremendous...How beautiful this hunt was...
That woman met her sorry demise. Yet...It seems I must face further turmoil because of her. I, who was among the few who did not bend their knee, not once, now have been cursed by that witch. Many Nowhereians have been drowning in the lake. Rumors speak of a siren's song. The witch's song. It is a curse. A curse, I say! I now face a terrible future here. A positively bleak one. Many of my companions in Yonder do not look at me with a good eye. I, who have always been different from them, who brought the light of knowledge in this ignorant town, now must bear the arrows of their suspicion. Recently, a rock broke my window, thrown by an unknown limb. I have also felt like someone has been watching me. A village acquaintance hinted at me the other day. It is clear. They are suspicious of me. Because I am different. Because I am fashionable. Because I am beautiful. Because I know more than they ever will. They shall never amount to anything greater than me. They shall never stand on or above my level. I see now. My attempts to be the sun of Yonder have reached their bitter end. I must escape from here. Quickly. Before I meet the same watery demise as that witch. I must save the beauty. I must save myself. I have to stop. I must fall asleep now. Tomorrow. Once I awaken. I must assemble all my things and hurry out. There will be a caravan at the town's square. With a bag in one hand and an umbrella in the other. I must abandon this place. I hope this beautiful house will forgive me. I made it into what it stands today. Such a lovely thing. Fear not, Jizzabell. I shall come once more, when all of the villagers are gone, when the siren dies from not having anyone else to kill. I shall come again and together we shall shine with out beauty. Now let us sleep. Thank you for protecting me from the rain once more.


'What a narcissistic fool.' Hakuren thought when he finished reading the last entry. 'He probably went on a long wet business trip. Then again, the gator would have noted his death, since she obviously had had a thing for him when she was young. Well, doesn't really matter, since the place is positively abandoned. Now, where was I...Oh, yes.'

A few heartbeats later, a noise, similar to a gigantic elephant walking and causing an earthquake, could be heard downstairs coming from the upper floor. The youngster had gotten the idea that, since he had found a diary in a closet behind a writing desk, it wouldn't hurt to check other possible hiding places. Thus he had proceeded with turning and shifting different pieces of furniture, such as closets, libraries and cabinets. Of course, they fell on their very own and he had nothing to do with the matter. It was fortunate that he had opened the window to get some fresh air, otherwise he would have drowned, this time in a sea of dust. If Mr. Mathema could see his house at that time, he would have been horror-stuck. The human had turned everything he could upside-down, everything that wasn't too heavy at least. The beds were far too troublesome to even get to budge, but he did take the liberty of using a broom he found to check below them. In the loud noisy search for clues, the black-blue-haired boy, who now had the shine of filthy silver all over him due to the dust, stumbled upon a couple of indecent pictures and papers, which were a pleasant sight, yet he did not fancy taking them along with him and left them at random places. Other than those, there was not a single hint. This irritated him a bit, but decided that getting worked up over it wasn't worth it. In fact, he found it refreshing to have done some damage. It was his warm-up for the caves. Having discovered nothing new, the lad headed downstairs, the journal of the professor in hand.

'"Leila~ Find anything interesting~?" Hakuren called out as he went down step by step, the wood creaking beneath him. "I found the landlord's diary, but there was nothing of particular significance inside. We should wrap up here and find the other two, unless you have something else you want to do." He always had ideas when a girl was involved, but wasn't particularly turned on, since his curiosity was currently directed elsewhere.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by Oblivion
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At Mado’s helpful suggestion, Leon snorted and shook his head. “I already have money so no thanks.” He shuddered at the idea of marrying that old, puffing urchin. No, he could definitely save that for… well, never. However, at that point, as he looked at Mado, he noted something definitely strange about her. The girl wasn’t ok, something was off about her, something that in turn made Leon step away from her with a weirded-out look on his face.

He ended up regretting that entire motion, however, when he finally noticed what the girl was wearing. Underneath his blazer was the leather outfit, all strapped up and form fitting that without the jacket, Leon would wager that even in Nowhere, Mado would’ve gotten arrested for indecency. His hand twitched and he clenched his fist, trying to suppress the urge. However, he had to do it— he facepalmed.

“Mado-san, you…” He started, unsure of how to break the news to her. “Your outfit is… weirdly flattering,” Where was all this coming from? “But completely indecent. I’m sure you don’t want Hakuren and the others seeing you like this. Where are your clothes?” Just then, he also noticed the bag she was holding and presumed her wet clothes were inside. Well, dry leather was better than wet cotton, he mused. However, something caught his eye. Clothes couldn’t have that sharp edges, could they? Leon resisted the urge to snatch her bag away and send it flying over the hills and beyond – the girl had brought along some of the previous house’s occupants’ belongings. Belongings he was sure nobody really wanted to see. But then again, he thought with a growing smirk, some of the humans’ reactions would be priceless. A perfect way to study their personalities. Some baffled him beyond belief, like Leila, with whom he had no choice but to appear brooding but worst of all, void of emotion as well. That last bit was perhaps him instead, a replacement for something he didn’t know about the dark-haired girl.

However, he just shook his head at Mado and pointed at a random direction, already having extracted as much information as he could. Mrs. Syook’s contribution was more than enough to bring back to Hakuren and Leila. “Let’s go that way, we need to re-group with the others.” He set off at a gentle pace, turning his head every once in a while to check on Mado. He still didn’t know what to do about Mado’s outfit – the rest were bound to notice. “So, you planning on changing anytime soon?”

As they walked through the nearly abandoned city, the houses grew less and less as they approached the border. Leon could already make out some faint, mysterious landforms in the far distance and presumed them to be the caves – certainly a very long walk from here. And Hakuren and Leila were still nowhere to be found. The houses grew more and more shabby, some nearly falling apart at their distorted wooden foundations as neon pink decay took over. It was a horrendous sight, Leon decided, and shifted his gaze back to the ground where tufts of blue grass grew between uneven rocks. Unexpectedly, he tripped, losing his balance for a second before returning a questioning glance to the ground, as if asking, ‘why did you do that?’.

Just as they were passing a house, Leon heard a faint thump. The house was in a remarkably better condition compared to its neighbours, its walls painted a dull blue color and a small white rickety fence surrounding the property. Surely no-one sane could be living there (but then again, you didn’t necessarily have to be sane in Nowhere to fit in) so that could mean only one thing: Hakuren and Leila. Leon backtracked a bit, still warily watching his step. “I think that’s Hakuren-san and Leila-san. Let’s wait here for them, I’m sure they’re nearly done knocking the house down.”
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by Fox of Spades
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"I'm sure she does. Go and ask her."

Harper turned to look at Jasper. He didn't want to approach the strange child and he didn't want to go into the lake. Her sudden appearance was unnerving, though to be fair, she had probably been swimming long before they had arrived. "O-Okay," he stammered. The boy took in a breath of air, puffed up his cheeks then marched towards the lake. He was going to stay calm, he was going to walk up to her and he was going to get some information. Harper wanted to go home and if going home meant sucking things up and being brave, then he'd do it.

Ace told them to relax and the boy gave her a slight smile. The lake terrified him, but it was less scary during the day. He could do this, definitely.

As he approached, Ace began humming. The girl's appearance hadn't fazed her at all and Harper wondered if Ace was oblivious to the dangers of Nowhere, or just ridiculously brave. He kicked off his slippers, rolled up his pant legs, and waded into the water. He quickened his pace so he could keep up with Ace, but the deeper he went, the more he worried. Soon, he was up to his ankles in water. Then Ace suggested she get the girl's attention and Harper watched. This girl...what was she afraid of?

Ace called out to the girl, but the child continued to sing merrily, as if she were the only person in the world.

"Hopefully, she's a good person. If not, I think I'd be kind of screwed." The words made him jump, if she really was a siren in disguise. It would be over. He could see their dead bodies floating. He could see the shocked expressions on the other human's faces and he gulped.

"Yes...let's hope she likes us." He inched closer to Ace, the girl called out to the child once more and eventually she turned her ice-blue eyes on them.

She stared at the trio and Harper stared back. It was like a game...for a few moments that was all it was then the girl broke into a childish grin, her eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Humans?" She practically screamed before she found herself laughing. They almost never got humans, the girl waved cheerily before she began swimming to shore. She dove beneath the lake only to pop out not too far from then, the broadest grin ever stuck to her face. "Oh golly, humans. I heard mommy and daddy talking about you last night." Her eyes were shining, and the lights in her hair flickered. "Mayor told everyone not too talk to you weird folks." She poked Ace's arm as if wondering if the human was real. She waved at Harper then waved both hands at Jasper, the only human still on the shore.

"We only see your kind once in a long while, so it was silly when the mayor told us to ignore you." She scrunched up her nose in displeasure. "We love getting humans." She pulled Ace and Harper into a wet hug and the boy winced, but it was hard to fear the spirited child. Her grin was cheery and she was just so full of enthusiasm.

"It's nice to meet you," he mumbled before the girl let go.

She made a face before beaming at them. "What did you want?" She tilted her head the same way a curious puppy would have. "Did you want to play?"

Harper looked at Jasper, then at Ace, before his eyes flitted to the little girl. "We could join you, but at the moment we need to know something. By any chance," he hesitated, was it okay to ask a child about the drownings. What if they frightened her? He decided to soldier on. "Do you know anything about the siren."

"Ah!" Her eyes filled up with sadness and the lights in her hair flickered off. "Serena, she was a really nice lady...we used to be friends." The girl avoided their gaze.

"Do you know what happened to her?" Harper motioned for Jasper to join them. He wondered if he was asking too much of the child.

"..." There was an awkward pause, the child fiddled with the hem of her dress. "She wasn't a witch...Serena was drowned because she saw something she wasn't supposed to." Memories of two cloaked figures came flooding back. "She died because of them." It looked as if she was about to cry.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by John
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"We should piece a puzzle together sometime."

Puzzle?

Leila found Hakuren’s remark a bit sudden. Abrupt, almost nonsensical even, considering how much she expected at least some comments about her report to follow - much like the strong expectation of a U to follow, instead of any other letter, immediately after the occurrence of a Q in English text.

People just don’t make sense.

This, now, meant also that Leila will still have no idea what to look for next time - they were expected to visit a number of households, she assumed - and she felt somewhat anxious about that. It was not, however, about not knowing what to look for. She had no idea what to look for for all her life and she considered that acceptable. It was not either because she had to search for something - such a task was required to be performed multiple times in the past, and she would happily carry them out. In some cases she succeeded in completing the search, in others she failed miserably. She was okay with either outcome as well. What worried her, then, would only be the combination of the two statuses - the state of having to look for something, not knowing what to look for - and, to make things worse, that she was expected to know what she was supposed to do. While in reality she didn’t.

Sometimes she didn’t make sense herself, either.

But why puzzles? Leila did not understand. Puzzles were, as she considered them, a rather...puzzling existence. A complete, well-formed image contains information. A cut up and scrambled version of such an image - a corresponding puzzle - does not possess such a virtue, although it is presumed to be possible for the image to be recovered by the simple process of rearranging the pieces back into their correct locations, by guidance of various things - the image that meets the edge of a given piece, the shape of its contour allowing or disallowing its combination with any other given piece of the puzzle. One could say that the completing of a puzzle would be the retrieving of the information contained in the collection of pieces, which could perhaps be considered productive. Yet they print the image on the box, which you inevitably observe upon acquiring the puzzle, defeating the point of retrieving the information through the assembling of the puzzle itself, as you already know what the information will reveal. Or maybe you weren’t supposed to look at the completed puzzle, and the box serves as a reference only to the purchaser of the puzzle, and is meant to remain unrevealed to whoever was practicing the puzzle-piecing? If that were the case, there was also the question why a puzzle should be broken and reassembled beyond its first completion. What more was there to learn if you’ve already seen the result?

Or perhaps the information was something contained not in the image, but in the puzzle version of the image? Maybe what you really are supposed to learn from the puzzle is a property of a puzzle, but not - as weird as it is to express in language - the puzzle; where the clues you rely on when you assemble a puzzle serves really only as a set of guidelines, without which the true meaning contained in the puzzle cannot be properly revealed? Or what you learn from a puzzle is irrelevant to the puzzle itself, but only related to the process of completing a puzzle? The order you assemble the pieces, perhaps? Or the clues according to which one deduces that order?

Puzzles are truly confusing.

They were explicitly designed, though, to be confusing, Leila supposed.

”That would be nice.” She said.

* * * *

A kind of greenish, slippery substance with a fuzzy texture lined the edges and surfaces of the roads and stairs the both of them walked along. They assumed they were molds, but no-one could say for sure that just because something resembled the molds they knew, mold were what they were. Nothing in Nowhere seemed to conform to the the expectations a human would possess based on knowledge of their own world. Here, Ks and Ws, as often as U, can be found following the metaphorical Q. Whether this made things more interesting or merely rendered them meaningless was up to the interpreter to decide. Leila pondered, instead, over the fact that whether the fact that something is meaningless would necessarily mean that it would not be interesting.

The U that followed the initial Q came a little bit later in the discussion, yet Leila noticed it, nonetheless. She also inferred from it that touching one’s nose or neck was considered a strong indicator for lies.

Then the boy asked her to tell him more about herself. "I'm not going to brag about it, if that is what you're worried about," he said; a statement Leila considered curious. She never had anyone brag about an encounter with her, or anything else about her. It was just as weird a notion to imagine someone that would. Even more curious, to imagine someone imagining her imagining that someone would go about bragging about her.

And then she panicked because she had no idea how to speak about herself. What about her was important, what was not? She was, again, met with a similar dilemma as the one she encountered earlier with collecting and reporting information gathered from a session of speech. She struggled with this sort of things - when she was met with “you can’t do that” or “be more specific” when she says “everything”. And in the end - quite some while after the initial question was placed, that was - she retorted to the one old line that was repeatedly carved into her memory since her childhood.

”Noelle. Leila Noelle. Seventeen years old. Daughter of Joseph and Zora Noelle. 317 Westbourne Avenue.”

What was important, and what was not?

* * * *

Their little stroll continued for quite a while without interaction. Hakuren had collected his notebook, and in response to that Leila focused her remaining attention to not kicking the moss-covered stones that littered the road.

"Say, Leila-san."

Leila turned to look at the boy. The “-san” suffix confused her greatly as Leila was not familiar with many foreign languages, and she could only speculate that be something they said, wherever Hakuren was from.

"If you have a nest with four eggs, where the mother had begun incubating after the last one arrived, and one hatched early, how many eggs would there be left in the nest?"

Sometimes people really didn’t make sense. Sometimes they seemed much as confusing, and, perhaps, meaningless, as puzzles.

Leila would have liked to take some time to determine whether people were to be considered interesting.

"Three."

* * * *

The residence of Mister Mathema was an intriguing place, to say at least.

There was a fair collection of books, for starters. The layers of stacked shelves, some half-covered in cobwebs, had been the centre of Leila’s interest since the two of them entered the house. A scene, it struck Leila, not unlike a miniaturized version of her own living quarters if left unattended for a sufficiently long amount of time. It had been a while since she had something to read - ever since she boarded the train, in fact; and she kind of missed the feeling of reading.

Another way to put it, though, would be that that books were an enormous distraction. Leila was near completely not paying attention when the boy remarked that

"I'd hate to be in his class."

Hakuren did, however, regain her attention when he mentioned he was going upstairs.

"I'm going up. If I don't come back in five minutes...Oh, wait, time doesn't exist here.

Time.

The boy had mentioned frequently that Time didn’t exist in Nowhere. Leila was slightly puzzled why he was so sure of that.

How do you construct a procedure to measure time? What do you measure it in correlation to? What exactly was time anyway, and what does it mean that time doesn’t exist? Nothing made sense. The time when she had passed out and stayed in bed on the Fisher - she couldn’t remember why - broke her perception of time just that bit. It now felt like she could understand, yet again she was confused, by the notion of Time in Nowhere. It’s like being able to construct a proof for both the validity and the falseness of a mathematical statement.

Speaking of mathematical statements. As Hakuren scurried in his investigation upstairs, Leila returned her attention to the scripture collection of the eccentric Nowherian who bore a name that was the study of numbers and logic with the last four letters truncated. Despite the accumulated dust that indicated their old age, the books themselves, sheltered by the shelfs they lay in, were in rather good condition. A quick skim across the titles would reveal the subject of the books to be much as expected from the collection of a being whose head was a giant square root sign:

Anatomy of a Natural Number. Technologies of Travel in (Linear) Space. Algebraic Phycology. A Non-Exhaustive Documentation of Obscure Geometrical Objects and Other Unnecessarily Complex Mathematical Constructions - that book was large enough to be divided into two volumes, with the title printed in three separate lines on the side of each of them. And beyond that there was Mister Mathema’s Fabulous Formula - probably a dozen copies of it, perhaps, lined up more neatly than any nearby books. A rather self-indulgent act of collection, surely a thing one could easily imagine the good gentleman who had an abundant amount of copies of portraits hung all around his place doing.

Leila smiled slightly, and then stood on her tiptoes and proceeded to slide a little book off the top layer of the shelf.

Elements.

* * * *

"Leila~ Find anything interesting~?"

Leila had her head buried in a copy of ALGO Rythms (A collection of lyrical poetry written in an archaic programming language, obviously) when the boy called from halfway down the staircase. She also reminded herself that she was probably supposed to be looking for things beyond the words and symbols on stacks of paper. As a sidenote, she mentioned to herself - “any signs, vocal or gestures” - that the fashion in which Hakuren uttered those words was a bit peculiar as compared to how he usually acted, although Leila couldn’t tell exactly what the difference was. She wondered if she should report it to him.

“Ah, um...”

She almost considered shoving the book back onto the shelf and pretending to be doing something else, yet when she collected her attention enough sound of the creaking stairs under the boy’s footsteps had already came to a stop at the end of the staircase.

That was, then, when Leila noticed something else.

It appeared that Leon and Mado were outside. Leila pushed the closed book back onto the shelf, feeling a little guilty of not having properly carried out the search, having learnt next to nothing about this Mister Mathema, or anything important concerning the Siren case.

Leila made sure Hakuren was aware of the presence of the two other members of their team, and proceeded down the decaying wooden front steps of the house.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by Kimchi
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"Yoohoo! Girly that's singing and swimming!"

A nervous lurch sloshed around in her stomach as Ace began to yell at the singing adolescent in attempts to catch her attention. What if that creepy child was the Siren? Skin crawling and rippling as she felt an overwhelming urge to run, Jasper could only quiver at lake's shore; her nails could no longer take anymore of her reckless gnawing and they protested painfully. Observing in horror as the red headed female continued deeper into the lake towards the young stranger, Ace stuck two fingers into the crooks of her mouth and released a loud high pitched whistle that repeated itself multiple times across the vast surroundings of the water. Its surface shuddered at the peace splicing noise.

Harper had complied with her earlier request for him as well and he too marched towards the ghostly girl. The two of her partners were knee-deep in the water, she being the only one still standing on the sandy outskirts. Though Jasper couldn't here what they were talking about, she saw the little girl's lips moving in response as she showcased an innocent smile, broke into laughter, and waved at them, Jasper included with the double hand gesture. The feeling of uncertainty was slightly rolled off her chest as she shuffled a few meters closer towards the somewhat distant three in order to hear the current chatter. Suddenly seeing the girl hug her partners, she was sort of confused how they had gotten so close in such a short period of time, but was glad that she wasn't already there to receive more physical contact.

With her flip-flops already off, she joined the bunch into the lake just in time to get some insight on more clues to the Siren Lake mystery.

"Serena, she was a really nice lady...we used to be friends." The girl turn her head sideways in a grieving manner.
"She wasn't a witch...Serena was drowned because she saw something she wasn't supposed to. She died because of them."

Tears were beginning to well up in the folds of the youngsters eyes and though Jasper ached to know what it was that Serena had seen, she wasn't sure if they should keep pressing the girl with questions that only brought back hurtful memories of the past. Reaching out a comforting hand, she rubbed the child's back to help her recover, then when Jasper felt like it was okay to continue with the inquiries she asked the grueling question, "What did she see... and... who's them?" Her sentence ended with an audible gulp as she grew uncertain about attaining the knowledge of who the murderers might be.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by Headphones
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What Hakuren found on the first floor was a complete mess, only slightly different from how he had last seen it. Leila, his quiet partner in crime, was engulfed in a book, the title of which he could read on the cover as "ALGO Rhythms", and did not give out any signs that she had heard his call until she muttered a low "Ah, um...".
There was no need for an explanation, as the young man could clearly tell what the girl had been doing in his absence. Numerous pieces of literature were resting atop the table and floor, their pages freshly flipped and contrasting well with the others, whose pages were stained and yellow, due to being open long before the humans had come to pay the house a visit. The air had been stirred and there was far more empty space of the bookshelves than awhile ago. Miss Noelle had done a throughout research, yet the lack of a proper answer indicated that nothing concerning the case they were working on had been found. It was indeed unfortunate, considering what a marvelous home it was. There was a grand veranda towards the back yard, which offered a wonderful view of the lake. The windows with their yellow frames stood tall and allowed light to enter through the dirty glass and into a world where it was as if a tornado had passed through a library. All stood still as the two living beings silently remained in the room, only the breathing audible. It truly felt as though time did not exist there.
Whilst the lass gathered her thoughts, the green-blue-eyed individual took a few steps closer to the pink polka dot piano. It was grand, the top still held open by a big candy cane, revealing the rainbow strings within. Lifting the fall board, the youngster couldn't resist playing a couple of light gentle keys. He had always loved music, it was something most children of the modern age could not live without. His preferences always varied and he never stayed on one genre for too long, but there was a soft spot for the classical piano and violin somewhere in that complex heart of his.

Randomly tapping on the keys, creating a gentle pleasant tune, the lad turned his gaze towards Leila, who was looking at the window. Tall, lean, almost doll-like, her figure was well-composed and not too thin. Having scanned all of the girls in the group until now, Hakuren couldn't put her as his number one choice when it came to looks, albeit she was by no means unworthy of the adjectives "pretty" and "beautiful". In fact, she stood out as the one whose body had been tended to the most and the least messy of them all. A sheltered snail with a polished shell. How befitting.
With a somewhat guilty expression on her face, which was notably adorable, the puppy, as Dissonance had dubbed her, placed the book in her possession back in its rightful place and gestured at her companion. Turning to look outside, the young man noticed that Leon and Mado were waiting for them outside. This was very fortunate, since it meant they would not go around in circles searching for each other. However, before a word could escape his mouth, the young lady waltzed past him and towards the exit, like a queen with an iron fist through a hallway of soldiers who gave her a salute. Smirking to himself, he followed suit and was soon outside.

It felt nice to be out of the house, as the atmosphere was not as stale as it was inside. Smiling as always, the black-blue-haired boy greeted the other duo in a friendly manner.
"Hi everyone. Hope the two of you had a good time sniffing around. We found a few measly scraps, but if we have the energy for it, we can come back and do some more questioning later. Right now, the wind's blowing in our favor. Lets head for the caves and..." he held to a stop the moment he noticed a peculiar sight, which in turn increased his smile by a little bit. "What do we have here~?"
The wind was indeed blowing. Blowing through two tin tall brown mountains of leather. Mado, the Loco Coco as Hakuren had named her in his mind, had an oddly interesting attire on herself, which Leon had most likely attempted to hide by making her wear his long jacket. Styling a finely tailored leather mistress suit, the belts and chains of which gave it a nice rough appeal, it was as if she was a skinny amazon, knife in hand and ready to tackle everything face to face and skin to skin. Everyone knew there were a few lost screws in the girl's head, but this was perhaps the top of the ice-cream. The garment suited her well, but it was quite unfortunate that she wasn't his type at all. Perhaps if she were to put on a collar and cat ears she could be counted as a cute devil, yet the only label he could currently place of her was 'ferocious jackal".
"Mado-chan, that's quite the interesting armor you have there. And what might be in the bag~?" he had noticed that something was making it stick out. Maybe the collar was inside?

[Will definitely edit. It's half past twelve at night x-x]
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by AkiBlue
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Ace grinned proudly when the kid finally looked at them. She watched as the kid swam toward them in an odd excitement. Excited to see humans? That was new. Who was ever excited to see boring humans? Ace shrugged the thought away and laughed a little. "Weird folks? What did we do to get such a punishment?" She allowed the girl to prod at her arms, not phased by the contact. Suddenly, she was pulled into an unexpected hug. "So much for staying dry." She mused, pulling her shirt down. In realization, she then grinned playfully and poked at Harper's shoulders. "And you two were scared to get her~." The red head doubted the other two would've gotten her attention without her.

"Did you want to play?"
The offer sounded nice, but she decided it was time to let the professionals do their business. Maybe afterward, she could have a little fun. The thought was short lived when sadness replaced the excitement in her voice.

At that point, Jasper had joined them in the water. She scooted over to let Jasper stand in between them. Ace was paying a little more attention, trying to make sure she was of some help to the group, besides getting into trouble.

"She wasn't a witch...Serena was drowned because she saw something she wasn't supposed to."
"She died because of them."


"Another clue to this crazy puzzle..." Ace spoke softly. Unless the kid was lying, or in fact a 'bad person', there was a second party to the deaths. The former seemed highly unlikely. A friend of the now 'supposed' person who had been killing off the civilians. There were many pieces to the puzzle, but how would did they fit together?

""What did she see... and... who's them?"

Jasper asked the question that more than likely rolled through all of their minds. Who were the people that killed the Siren- Serena. The lights in the girl's hair flickered off and Ace's curiosity led her to reach forward to touch it. As she got close, she paused, realizing it would be a little rude to do so while she was sad. Instead, Ace decided on something else.

"What's your name kid?" She knew it would probably a lot more complicated to get information with a teary eyed child. Ace thought it would be best to at least lighten her mood. "You wanna know something?" Ace leaned forward and smiled. "I'll tell you two somethings. One: You have a really, really pretty voice. And two," Ace paused, lowering her voice as though it was a secret. She knew that if she spoke lower the girl would have know choice but to pay full attention in order to hear. "The only reason we're asking... Is to know the truth. Think of us as the good guys okay? We want to discover what really happened so Serena isn't accused of being a witch anymore. Don't you want people to know she was a really nice lady?"

With that, Ace stood straight again and then glance over her two partners before looking at the girl again, waiting for a response.
Hidden 11 yrs ago Post by GreenGoat
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New Person sure talks a lot. He seems to stare a lot as well.

“Mado-san, you…” He started speaking. “Your outfit is… weirdly flattering, but completely indecent. I’m sure you don’t want Hakuren and the others seeing you like this. Where are your clothes?”

"There you are, little lady." The Gentleman had returned, looking rather pleased with himself. "Oh and you, err... Leon was it? Her clothes are obviously in the bags."

Mado gave a small nod, confirming the truth of what he said.

“So, you planning on changing anytime soon?”

"My dear fellow, surely you are not suggesting she wear her wet clothes? She'd be... Oh my." The Gentleman took a closer look at Mado. "Regardless of little she is wearing, I stand by my opinion. Wet clothes will harm her more than dry revealing ones."

"...yeah..."

There was no more point in talking, so they walked about, searching for the other two, or treasure, or something of the sort. No treasures, but after a bit they did find the other two.

"Hi everyone. Hope the two of you had a good time sniffing around. We found a few measly scraps, but if we have the energy for it, we can come back and do some more questioning later. Right now, the wind's blowing in our favor. Lets head for the caves and..." Haku stopped talking for a bit. "What do we have here~?"

"...have what where?"

Haku continued. "Mado-chan, that's quite the interesting armor you have there. And what might be in the bag~?"

"Ah." Mado brightened up a little at being asked about her recent loot. She took out something from the bag, and with a big smile, cuffed one of Haku's hand. "...armor..." Would he like it? Perhaps, he was looking at her armor rather intensely. Jealousy perhaps. Maybe she'll let him borrow the suit. Maybe. So perhaps her sharing that piece would give him some solace as well as protection.

"Oh yes, Mado. I quite forgot to tell you but, I went to the caves and... No.. You should probably go and see for yourself." The gentleman spoke behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder so she notices.

"...the caves... I'm going."
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