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[Verona]

Jameson Francis

"Tele-" Jameson gave his head a sharp shake and turned enough to look back at Ricchon, eyes still wild but beginning to narrow as fear turned quickly back to anger. "Teleportation my ass! I almost went blind!" There had been darkness, creeping along his vision, seemingly trying to just destroy his eyes where they still sat in his head, and he didn't want to think of what Ricchon's normal face had turned into, what his voice had done. It only made him want to crack the boy over the head with his stick, and somewhere in his addled brain Jameson knew it wasn't Ricchon's fault.

"You know what - screw this! I am getting out of here." He turned to trudge through the snow towards a different edge, follow the roof around to where it dropped to a lower story. "I hate this place." He continued to rave as he laid down at the edge to carefully lower his walking stick down enough to drop it into the snow where he wouldn't land on it and it wouldn't break. "I hate all of you. I hate my stupid ass life."

If adrenaline hadn't still been working its way through him in the fear and anger, the drop might have worried him. As it was, he approached it as best he could, lowering his legs off the edge first until he was supported on it by just his arms, then giving as much of a push backwards as he could manage and dropping the remaining few feet to the next story. It hurt his freezing feet something terrible and dropped him onto his behind again, but nothing broke and all he had to do was fish his walking stick out of the snow and get himself down to the ground pretty much the same way, with hopefully no broken ankles to speak of when it was over.

He was perhaps twenty feet away from the higher edge he'd just traversed by the time the rage started to fizzle out in the cold, and he was left feeling lost and worried for himself for not the first time. Everyone in this place was just as lunatic as he was, and even if their powers were very different from his and he was losing more of his marbles on this night than he had his whole life, somewhere he knew they probably hated it as much as he did. Being born so different wasn't easy.

And what was his plan? Walk back inside and pack his things again, then leave before anyone noticed? The way everyone was gathered near the stairs it was impossible, and the difficult, snowy walk cramping at his bad leg kept sucking away all hope he'd had by reinforcing logic. He was doomed to this place for the foreseeable future, until he learned enough to actually find a way out. He couldn't leave his stuff behind or he'd never get anywhere before they caught him again.

". . . Hey." He finally turned back towards the upper roof, standing still at first and eventually moving a little closer to shout up at Ricchon from one story down. "I'm assuming because you're still here you don't know how to get back inside. . . Come over here. I'll give you a hand down." As adrenaline began to fade he was starting to feel wet and cold and miserable, and he just wanted to get back inside somewhere and have a hot shower or just a dry bed. But life had beaten into Jameson a 'no man left behind' sort of feeling when he dealt with anything he wasn't sure other people could handle, and even though he was still angry and nervous inside Ricchon was shivering and looking just as miserable as he felt, if not worse so. He couldn't just leave the specter boy up there to freeze if he couldn't get down on his own.

 

[Laivindur]

Feeling rejected Ricchon watched the blonde curse and wade past him through the snow. The projection of hatred caused something to grow within Ricchon, making him stronger. Ricchon's powers fed on negative emotions, and as his sadness and fear turned to hatred when receiving it from another, it all just ended in bitter need of revenge. Ricchon started to appear darker once more as these feelings manifested within him. Was this what he got for apologizing and trying to explain? And trying to save his life?! He just wanted to help!
When Jameson finally hopped down the edge with his injured leg, and left Ricchon behind like he had no meaning, Ricchon's heart had already frozen. He no longer shivered, and he no longer hunched at the cold. His tall form showed up on the edge above Jameson, and he looked down with a cold gaze. The blonde brat had made him feel patronized, and by the way he looked up at him now made Ricchon feel sick. The brat was just like everyone else, apparently. It was only this much Ricchon could take from others, and that wasn't much. Ricchon wasn't one of the forgiving types after all.

Thinking about the blonde's weak spot, Ricchon thought: he doesn't like to teleport? Too bad.
"Oh no, let me," Ricchon said low, though that was no problem as the darkness around the two boys drifted his voice close to Jameson's ears. He didn't want to hurt him. He just wanted to show him he was not bullshitting.
The darkness manipulator did what he could do best: he drew the night sky closer around him. He did this with great endeavor however: his teeth bared before clutching, and he tensed while the same fog from before appeared around him. The lack of light particles around them could work as a hypnosis, and even though time did not go any faster, it could look like it did to untrained eyes.
Ricchon gasped when he suddenly vanished into the thick fog he'd created, and another thick, clammy fog appeared right in front of Jameson. Ricchon smiled devilishly while travelling through this fog to grab Jameson by his shoulders.
Ricchon felt proud that he'd succeeded, but when he realized that he was crashing into the kid instead of just taking hold of him, he took the fog with him to make them both land in the garden downstairs instead. It was like falling through dark portals, and landing in ice cold, white topping.
It hadn't gone just as well as Ricchon had planned, but at least he'd gotten them down from the roof without any limbs broken, and the snow had dampened their fall.
Ricchon quickly moved to get up, and shouted "There! I got you back down! Happy now? Teleportation your ass?!" He did a good job at hiding his embarrassment for his plan gone awry, though he rarely shouted like this. The fog and all traces of it was completely gone. Ricchon was back to normal, and he'd spent a lot of energy, but his gaze was just as piercing as before. He started to shiver in the cold again though, and stared grumpily at Jameson.
@Verona

 

[Verona]

Jameson Francis

It was with not some little amount of trepidation that Jameson realized he needed to hold his temper better in a place like this. Children and teens generally didn't want to murder other children and teens, not in his experience, but this place was full of power, and of twisted backgrounds. Who was to say he wasn't in any actual danger with his meager, barely useful abilities in this place? At the very least, he should have just used those meager powers to get himself down, but it was the nerves and the confusion and the whirlwind of arriving in this place that had him on edge and yanking at the leash. He couldn't have stopped himself from shouting even if he'd realized he was being an idiot.

Looking up at a dark, sneering face above him and having his vision do strange things again made it very clear just how small he could be in this place.

Wary, Jameson did start to step back, backing up as if he might turn tail and run should things get out of hand, but teleportation did not move at the same speed as legs and suddenly there was a shadow in front of him darker than the night, and his feet were no longer under him. As a child and younger teen he'd been in rough and tumble scuffles before, and he'd been ready to throw Ricchon off, toss him into the snow and use his walking stick as a weapon for the first time because he needed an edge no matter the risk. The way darkness enveloped them for just a split second before they hit the ground had his brain on the fritz, and landing on his back with someone atop him knocked the air from his lungs despite the snow providing a bit of a cushion.

Jameson turned onto his side once Ricchon was off of him, coughing hoarsely as he remembered how to breathe, and reached a hand blindly for his walking stick in the snow before getting himself up to his hands and knees. "Fuck you..." He managed when he had the breath for it, voice rough through a few more hacking coughs that made him want to throw up.

When he could, he planted the end of his stick against the ground again to help him up to his feet, stumbling when it sunk deeper into the snow before hitting the ground, and finally managed to get himself upright again. He was shivering and glowering, hands and feet beginning to numb, joints aching as the cold sunk to the bone of his bad leg.

"Leave me alone." He said as he hobbled out of the larger pile of snow and onto relatively flat ground, exhaustion in his voice. He didn't usually have to use his stick for such short walks, but after taking a few falls on bare feet he was leaning heavily on it, and only glanced over his shoulder at Ricchon as he started the trek towards the entrance of the building, a weary sort of anger on his face. "If you ever grab me like that again, I'll knock your goddamn lights out."

He just wanted to get dry and go to sleep. No more of this superpowers nonsense. No more of anyone touching without his permission, trying to control him when they hardly knew his name. He just wanted to be alone, and far, far away from this place.

 

[Laivindur]

Ricchon smiled wickedly at the pathetic sight before him, though he missed the look of a victorious villain by the way he trembled in the cold. A more amused grin formed on his pale face however, when the boy talked about punching the lights out of him. "I'll be sure to grab you then..." The pun was just too good to ignore. Ricchon doubted he'd ever grab the kid again though. Deep down he felt sorry for the kid, but that didn't get in the way for his need of respect. Secretly he liked how people feared him. It gave him power after all. Hatred was harder to act upon as it made him reckless, but revenge, fear and jealousy- those feelings were useful. "You sure you wanna go back in there?" They couldn't know if everything was safe.
@Verona

 

[Wicked]

Despite the time of the night, the place seemed to be pretty loud. Someone came to open the door, appearing out of breath, as if they had been running; a staff member, a woman with wisps of curly hair that had escaped from the tightly done bun from the back of her head. She tried to appear put together, but it was obvious by how her concentration wandered off as she introduced herself that something was amiss. Angie and Joakim shared a confused and concerned look with each other before the door was held open for them to step inside. It was obvious that they had been expecting his arrival due to it being informed months beforehand and planned through.

"Do we have some kind of problem here?" Angie questioned as she unwrapped the scarf from her neck once the door was closed behind them. Joa glanced at it now a bit unsurely, wondering if they locked it at night to keep the kids inside.

"Oh, no, no! Everything is completely fine!" The staff member hurried to reassure the social worker a little bit too fast. "We just have one of our younger kids trying to avoid bed time, she sleeps very badly and we were trying to give her some sleeping medication, but she ran off. We're currently looking for her," the woman said, turning her gaze at Joa, "I read your file, you take some for your sleeping too, isn't that right Joakim?"

"What?" Joa snapped out of his thoughts when he realized he was being addressed (it took a moment, due to the woman mispronouncing his name - that happened a lot with the first timers) and turned his attention now towards the women in front of him, before answering politely, "I mean, yeah. I do. I try to avoid them with my best of abilities though. They can be very addicting, the doctor said."

"That is a wise approach, young man." The staff member added, before waving them to follow her. "You can leave your coat in the closet over there," she pointed down the hallway near the entrance, "and then follow after us, if you'd like. Me and Angela have some paperwork to fill now that you've arrived before she leaves you to our care."

Joa nodded and let them women go ahead on the other direction of the hallway, speaking about his admittance to the house and using complicated words regarding legal clauses. They could have been speaking in tongues for all Joa understood any of that nonsense. With a sigh and another readjusting of his duffel bag on his shoulder, he started towards the coat closet to put his pilot jacket away.

The place was old a bit old, which could be told from the horrid choice of tapestry, the boy noted. Flower patterns and faded shades, the type you would see in a grandmother's house, and with furniture that could have been antique. Hell, it probably was antique. Despite it all, the house did have its own charm, though Joa decided it could also have potential to appear like a haunted house in the middle of the night and lights out. It would take time to feel comfortable over here, but like always, he would adjust. He always would.

He barely noted how the closet door seemed a bit decayed; everything here appeared to be a bit old, so it was just probably "part of the charm" of the house. He grabbed the round handle and opened the closet, and froze at the sight awaiting him.

When Joa realized he was staring at a little girl curled up on the floor under the hanging jackets, he barely halted a surprised yelp by swallowing it back down his throat. She was obviously years younger than him, maybe ten or so, he wasn't entirely sure. She looked like she had been crying, and was definitely looking more than a bit miserable despite her little doll-face. Couple of seconds passed as Joa just stared at the kid in complete confused silence, when a man, another staff member jogged down the hallway, yelling at him.

"Hey! Hey you, the new boy! Have you seen a little girl here somewhere?" The man questioned the sightings. Puzzle pieces clicked together in the boy's mind at that immediately; the woman had said there was some girl on the run, trying to avoid sleep medication. His brown eyed gaze wandered briefly to glance at the little girl in the closet, before he turned his eyes towards the man several feet away again. Joa closed the closet door as casually as he could to avoid unwanted attention.

"Sorry, no. I haven't." He said, lying to the staff member's face rather fluidly as he feigned ignorance of the girl's whereabouts. The man just nodded at that, and was on his way again, the sound of his footsteps disappearing down the hallway as he ran off to find the girl again. He glanced at the closed door of the closet, feeling like he should leave the girl alone, but at the same time feeling like he should stay to check she was alright. But it wasn't his problem, was it? But she was just a small kid, around the same age as his own younger sister. That kind of hit him right in the older brother feels. Maybe he could talk her out of there.

Leaning on the wall next to the closet and crossed his arms on his chest, all casual like. Knowing that she could hear him through the door, Joa spoke; "Hey, why are you hiding?" Cutting straight to the point, he did. He should have probably done the socially appropriate question first, the "Are you alright?" but he felt it was kind of useless, seeing from her tear tracks that the she was pretty far call from alright at the given moment. "I doubt you're trying to get into Narnia from there, are you?"


​

Players mentioned:
@Sarokhor​

 

[Starrnico]

Ann Marie Rayne

Ann gasped when Alicia ran off. She was knocked off balance a bit at the sudden move and had to stand before she could follow the younger girl. She lost sightof Alicia before they made it down the stairs, looking one way then the other before going to check the kitchen. Alicia was scared, but she wanted to be alone, so Ann figured she might try to hide there. She ignored anyone trying to stop her or restore order as she went to the kitchen and started to search anywhere small enough for the girl to fit into.

 

[Taska Vilna]

♫ Now Playing: 21. 'Waltz in Orphan Major'

​

Eden slept rather soundly, appended to the wall of the upstairs dorm hall. She remained somewhat ignorant of the escalating excitement, as well as the new arrival, whom The Don had rushed downstairs to greet, in addition to finding the runaways, to no avail. She returned to her office on the lower floor in an attempt to recoup while Nurse Enns handled locating and medicating Alicia, and sending the other kids to bed. It was now reaching well into the night.

"..."

Eden's breath was somewhat foggy as the air grew colder and the night grew longer. But she remained comatose on the wall, dreaming of sheep.

Meanwhile, downstairs. Nurse Enns had procured two syringes of Valium, one half-, and one quarter-dose. She rushed around the downstairs, at one point running across the new boy, who seemed to be without escort, but she couldn't bother with him.​

 

[Sarokhor]

Alicia Winters

Alicia received quite a shock when she was discovered hiding in the coat room, the face of a boy she had never seen before. She wasn't 100% familiar with all the orphans here but with a face like Joa's she would have remembered him easily. The room decayed slightly as they stared at each other before a staff member spoke to the new arrival. Alicia expected to be turned in right then and there but Joa simply closed the door and sent the man away, lying to cover Alicia's tracks. The girl sat there for a moment in shock, wondering why he would help her when she was obviously being a fearful disobedient troublemaker right now. It didn't feel good for Alicia, to be the source of chaos in this place... she preferred order and obedience but the thought of taking valium and being forced to relax was extremely terrifying to her. She didn't know much about the medicine otherwise she would realize that it would treat her anxiety and let her get a nice bit of sleep in peace.

"Narnia? No I'm not... I just wanted to avoid the medication. I had a nightmare and my powers started destroying things... I don't want to sleep. It always ends badly and I cause lots of trouble afterwards. I just want to stay awake all the time so I wont be out of control anymore..." She sniffles and cracks open the closet door to speak more clearly to Joa "Are you new? My name is Alicia, Alicia Winters. What's yours?" She smiles a bit as she speaks to the new arrival with a bit more composure and manners now. She really wanted to ask him about his face but she had a feeling it wasn't a pleasant story and was too personal to just tell some strange girl he just met hiding in the closet. Still he seemed nice and Alicia definitely liked to socialize and make new friends, she was definitely in need of as many friends as she could get if she wanted any hope of replacing the fearful memories of her father with pleasant memories of friends

 

[Wicked]

There was barely a beat of silence before the girl in the closet answered back to his inquiry about her late night hide and seek game.

"Narnia? No I'm not... I just wanted to avoid the medication. I had a nightmare and my powers started destroying things... I don't want to sleep. It always ends badly and I cause lots of trouble afterwards. I just want to stay awake all the time so I wont be out of control anymore..." The girl sniffled, while a bit concerned frown appeared on Joa's face as he listened her. Staying awake all the time never worked out well on a long term; he had been suffering from insomnia since the incident which is now almost a decade ago, he would know. He stayed up three and half days once (one the third day his memory started really spazzing, and it freaked him out) because of similar fear to sleep. Well, not that he feared that his powers would get out of control and start wrecking things, his were far too lame for that. His reasons for staying up were far less heroic sometimes. He just despised the nightmares he sometimes had. They were just old memories that his brain modified a notch to be more terrifying. It was usually the same recurring nightmares, and they often ended in flames and Joa screaming himself awake because he thought he was burning again. Doctors said it was his PTSD acting up, and if he simply took his therapy sessions more seriously, he might be cured of them in time. Too bad Joa was rather skeptical about the power of therapy.

The girl cracked the closet door open, snapping the boy out of his thoughts as he glanced down to see her face appear in the crack to size him up. Snot-faced or not, Joa still stood by his opinion that she was a doll-face; a pretty little thing, too good for this world. He was sure a smile would suit the little girl's face far better.

"Are you new? My name is Alicia, Alicia Winters. What's yours?" She inquired and introduced herself politely, and ah, there it was. A smile. He had been right, it did suit her far better than the upside down frown, lighting her still childish features up. She did indeed remind him a lot of Josefina, his little sister.

"Yeah, I'm new. I arrived literally just now." He smirked, "I have to say, this place has its way of making the most interesting first impressions." Teenagers on the roof and kids in closets. What next?

He crouched down next to the now slightly open door of the closet, offering his hand for a shake; bony in structure and calloused fingers from chores and honest work. "It's my pleasure to make your acquaintance, with such a fair young lady as yourself, Alicia." Despite the scars on his face, he could muster up the charm of a teenage heartthrob - well, jokingly at least. There was rarely a time where he was ever serious with whatever he let out of his mouth. He smiled in a way that was rather pleasant when he wasn't thinking of mischief or looking for trouble with his smart mouth. "Name's Joakim Hale, but you may call me Joa... And is it just me or is this closet rapidly rotting?" He suddenly noted, realizing that paint on the wooden panels was literally peeling off by itself in his very eyes.

He opened the closet door further, coaxing her to come out now with a concerned tone and with a hint of a southern drawl popping up subconsciously; "Ain't a good place for you to be little darling, can't be healthy. The coats stink, too. What's this?"​

 

[Verona]

Jameson Francis

Ricchon was speaking somewhere behind him, but Jameson kept focused resolutely forward and bit down any angry responses that wanted to come out. He had seen the beast and had no interest in continuing to poke at it. Even if he hated giving the other teen his back, he knew just ignoring was the best course of action. Sometimes a tactical retreat was better than being a bull-headed idiot all the time, and this place was driving him too insane to have any energy left after an impromptu romp in the snow.

Jameson bypassed the cars outside with little interest, shoving open the front doors and deciding he didn't want to shout at the staff for not caring two people had gone missing after all. He let the door swing closed behind him with little regard for who followed or how close behind, and just focused on making his way up the stairs. He waded through the staff running here and there trying to find people who weren't accounted for and move the girls into the boys' dorms, got himself new clothes, and made for the showers to turn the water on as hot as he could without burning his thawing skin.

Dried and dressed again, Jameson went back to where his things were and hung his jacket up on a corner post of the bed, his walking stick resting against the wall next to it, and crawled into his bottom bunk to pull the blanket over his head and sleep. He knew that Ricchon's bed was near his and that would present problems in avoiding the other teen, but so long as he didn't look at the specter or make any sort of acknowledgment he would probably be fine. And as the days went on, eventually he'd find a way out of this place and get away for good.

 

[Laivindur]

Ricchon felt torn between pride and bad conscience while watching the poor guy walk away on strange ground. Sighing, and dropping his head in defeat, Ricchon felt he had screwed up a good opportunity to make a friend- Again. He didn't feel like getting inside, and simply let the cold wrap itself around him. It was like a fitting punishment.
He wondered how things had ended up inside. Knowing the board, Alicia was probably tranquilized by now. He hoped she hadn't killed anyone this time. Poor girl, he thought. Getting angry at the world Ricchon felt like crying so loud it would tear his throat up, but he remained silent. Again negative emotions got to grow and grow inside of him, until they connected him to his powers. Feeling sorry for himself, frustrated, and sleepy, he turned into a light, black mist. Fatigued, Ricchon had given himself up to his powers. As this mist, Ricchon blended into the dark shadows of the trees, and disappeared to the naked eye. The shadows of the building, windows, and doors made a path for him as his bed was the only place he could think of right now. He didn't even care how he got to bed, he just ended up there when the lights came out, and he simply passed out. He was still cold and wet from walking and brawling in the snow, but he was too exhausted to even notice.

 

[Sarokhor]

Alicia Winters

Alicia looks at the boy as he introduces himself, her smile widening as she giggles. She gives a little curtsy when the closet opens "Well it has been awhile since someone acted so gentlemanly around me! Since long before i arrived here" she was pleased by his intro regardless of him not being serious about it. However when he mentions the rot she looks down and seems ashamed, sniffling a bit as her smile fades "that's my power... i make things degrade and breakdown... it often looks like rot..." she exits the closet, instinctively grabbing Joakim's hand as if he was escorting her. Alicia picks up on his southern drawl, her eyes lighting up with curiosity and her head cocking to the side as she looks up at him "are you from the south? I mean... im sorry, i was rude just then. Where are you from Joakim? Joa i mean..." Her eyes betray how interested she is in how his full name sounds compared to the shorthand version. Her repeating them both to herself quietly to find which one she likes better

 

[Starrnico]

Ann Marie Rayne

Ann came out, ignoring the staff and looking for Alicia still. She saw the new boy standing by the closet and frowned a little. She studied him a little bit before she saw Alicia now holding his hand. She let out a sigh, glad the girl was alright. She walked over to the pair, waiting for them to see her before going to hug Alicia then look her up and down to be sure she wasn't harmed or hurting herself again. She glanced up to the boy from where she knelt and gave him a thankful smile.

 

[Wicked]

It appeared that his tactic was working quite well. By acting a bit silly in a charming way, he got the girl forget the worries that had plagued her prior to tears, at least for the moment. What could he say, Joa had always had bit of a knack with the kids younger than him, and often little girls took liking to him. It just often took a moment or two for them to warm up to him, since his appearance could be a bit off-putting or outright scary to some. But then there were some cases like Alicia Winters right here; she was too curious to let the fear to dominate herself with new people. He figured she probably was a relatively social girl by heart and liked people by how well and quick she was responding to him positively.

However, her smile faded. She looked down at her feet, suddenly finding her toes very interesting and she sniffled again, as she responded to him; "That's my power... I make things degrade and breakdown... it often looks like rot..."

Oh. Well then.

Would you look at that; little girls rotting things within their vicinity. Charming. It should probably be worrying how well he took this information and how it just felt like any ole day meeting people who could probably rot you to the bone if they felt like it. Well, not that there was much to go for with his looks in the begin with anyway, so what the hell? He just looked at her for a second longer, and then proceeded to shrug casually, as if saying he's seen weirder. (And he has. He used to know this large kid who could turn into a miniature elephant, and whenever that happened by accident addressing that one in the room was always awkward.)

Alicia exited the closet, grabbing Joa by the arm, apparently taking the "my fair lady" thing a bit too seriously. Not that he minded, it was quite alright, even if Joa didn't have the habit to get too chummy with people too fast. But little girls had a special place in his heart. If they wanted him to play their knight or prince or whatever, he would gladly play the part. She proceeded to look up at him, stars in her eyes and wonder in her voice, as she tilted her head like a puppy to bombard him with another set of questions.

"Are you from the south? I mean... I'm sorry, I was rude just then. Where are you from Joakim? Joa I mean..." Rest of it is lost in silent muttering of his name, as if testing it out to see which rolls off her tongue better, or perhaps which one comes with a better flavor and which leaves a nicer aftertaste. Joa couldn't help but smile a little bit at her as he patted her hand draped around his arm.

"What, did my dialect give me a way?" He asked, paying extra mind to try and suppress the drawl right back down. It often popped out subconsciously when Joa got agitated or otherwise rode high on emotion. "It's fine, I know I speak like a country bumpkin sometimes. I mostly learned off it when I was in the orphanage before this one, but yeah. I'm from South Virginia, and I used to live in a town so close to North Carolina I could practically hike there in few hours... Oh, someone's coming."

He noted out loud as a girl with the palest hair he had ever seen approached. (What was that color? Platinum? White? Could it still be considered blonde?) She was probably around his age, a bit shorter, and very quiet. The neutral expression on her face was a bit uptight, making her appear a bit snob-ish in his opinion, so possibly the classic case of a resting bitchface syndrome. But as she knelt down to Alicia and hugged her, and then proceeded to look up to him with big blue eyes that only messaged silent kindness and gratefulness (possibly for finding Alicia, he wasn't sure, the chick wasn't saying a word after all), Joa decided he definitely misjudged her. Like someone wise once said, never judge a book by its cover.

"Um... Hi?" Joa demonstrated his superior communication abilities in a social situation with a pretty girl fluently. And damn, well, she was pretty. Pretty girls his age were kind of terrifying, especially when they walked around in flocks and giggled together. And it was never because they actually did anything, it was just the simple matter of few glances and then whispers and laughter among themselves that could drive Joa feeling very insecure about his face in the matter of seconds. It was alright when people looked nice, he just didn't need to be reminded that he had a cosmetic flaw or two. He was aware of them without any Captain Obvious pointing them out.

"I, uh... Hi. Crap, I already said that. I'm Joa, nice to meetcha." He stumbled around with his words a bit before managing to get back on the groove, shaking off whatever was bothering him. "I'm new, and I don't really know the places around. Could you guys show me to my sleeping quarters? We did drive all the way from Virginia, it's been a long day, and it's pretty late." Not that he probably would sleep much tonight. It was a new place, and he was pretty nervous, even if he wasn't exactly showing it. But Joa had packed couple of old dog eared books in his duffel bag, so that would be a way to spend time tonight.​

 

[Sarokhor]

Alicia Winters

Alicia is surprised to see Ann but she doesn't tense up at all despite the fact that she was supposed to be hiding from nurse Enns. She trusted Ann readily, her being a constant help to overcoming her fear and like a real friend to her. Alicia actually giggles at Joa having trouble speaking to her but she keeps her mouth shut until he is finished. She knows Ann cant speak so she decides to speak in her stead before an awkward silence overtakes the group "This is Ann, she's a friend of mine who is very kind and generous. She doesnt speak but she can still convey her golden heart through her words and actions..." Alicia looks at Ann and smiles before composing herself to the reality of the situation... Her eyes look to Joa and answers his request "we should be staying in the same dorm now that i pretty much wrecked the other one... so it should be no problem to show you to the beds" Her eyes then shoot to Ann and makes an odd request "Hey Ann... i dont plan on going back to sleep but... just in case i get sleepy do you mind if we share a bed? You make me feel much safer and maybe the nightmare wont return..." she was being needy right now, being too afraid to face her own fears alone. Alicia would have asked Joa but Ann was right there and she was more comfortable with her than sharing a bed with a boy she barely knew though did trust already. Plus she knows enough about gender roles to know that boys and girls were not supposed to share a bed together until adulthood and marriage. She distinctively remembers her parents having a discussion with her about not being more than friends with boys until she was 30

 

[Starrnico]

Ann Marie Rayne

Ann dipped her head when Joa started to speak to her, trying to figure out how to tell him she couldn't answer when Alicia took the problem away by answering. She nodded, first to answer his question about showimg him to the room then again to Alicia, reaching for her free hand so Alicia would walk between her and Joa up to the bedrooms. She didn't mind keeping the younger girl close if it made her feel safe. She just hoped it would work to keep the nightmare away without resorting to drugs. She didn't know much about the Valium herself, maybe she would look it up tomorrow if she could.

 

[Wicked]

The pale haired girl just looked at him curiously as he rambled. And when it became quickly obvious that she wasn't going to be opening her mouth, Alicia stepped in to speak for her stead. "This is Ann, she's a friend of mine who is very kind and generous. She doesn't speak but she can still convey her golden heart through her words and actions..." Huh, alright. So she doesn't speak. That explains. He used to know one kid like that too back in the other orphanage, but that was a boy and younger than Alicia. Something about a bad trauma. "We should be staying in the same dorm now that I pretty much wrecked the other one..." Wait, hold the damn phone. He was going to stay in the same dorm with girls? The flabbergasted confusion was quite obvious on his scarred face. He wasn't too excited about this. It was already awkward enough having to undress in front of his male peers! "So it should be no problem to show you to the beds." Right. Zero problems, surely... There was plenty of problems with that!

Alicia's attention turned to Ann while Joa was having his internal crisis. "Hey Ann... I don't plan on going back to sleep but... just in case I get sleepy do you mind if we share a bed? You make me feel much safer and maybe the nightmare wont return..." Ann nodded, and that was settled. She took the younger girl by the hand, and together the two dames started escorting him to the dorms.

They climbed up some stairs, and Joa was half-panicking by this time. It was obvious from his expression that he was suddenly very worried about something, and that it really bothered him. He had always shared his sleeping quarters with males only, and the whole sleeping with girls thing was mystified beyond reason to him. He wasn't sure about this at all. And then there was the matter of going to change into his sleeping attire (a simple t-shirt and some comfortable pajama pants) and where was he supposed to do that? All the girls would lose their appetite for a week if they had to witness him undressing. If anyone thought the scars on his face looked bad...

He reached to self-consciously scratch his burnt arm through the pilot coat sleeve. A little of the old burn scars were always visible on the back of his hand and wrist, but since he tended to wear long sleeves most of the time to cover them, a lot of it disappeared behind the veil of the fabric.

They arrived in the bedrooms, and he saw beds that were already occupied by the shape of some sleeping slumps under the cover. "Thanks," he mumbled and released Alicia's hold of his arm, and shifted uncomfortably the duffel bag on his shoulder, "I'll... get settled, then."

He approached one of the unoccupied beds. It was obvious that the males were lined up on the other side of the room, and the females on the other side. He sat on the edge of the bed, and let a sigh escape him that made him sound like he had suddenly aged fifty years in the matter of seconds.

And then he saw it; a curtain divider few feet away. Thank fucking god.

Joa was quick to get into it, then. He took off his pilot jacket he had been wearing all this time, and hanged it on his bed post. He was wearing some jeans and a green polo sweater, and he kicked his combat boots off and settled them neatly next to his bed and jacket. All this time, he politely avoided looking towards the girls side of the room, even if a small voice in his head told him to seize the chance now that he had one. Opening his duffel bag, he pulled some fresh sleeping gear out and went to change behind the divider. It was fast and efficient, as he made sure not to waste any unnecessary time. Once he came out, he was wearing a white t-shirt and grey flannel pajama pants. The short sleeves of the t-shirt made him grasp the arm that was covered in ragged burn marks self-consciously. Maybe it was dim enough that nobody would take a note of it. Though on another side, maybe it was better to just get it over with since someone was going to see it sooner or later.

Putting the duffel bag on the floor and just throwing his clothes on top of it, Joa pulled the covers off the bed and crawled under the covers. However, he had pulled a book and a pencil out of the bag earlier, and settled a pillow behind his back as comfortably as he could so he could read on a sitting position. He opened the book from the last dog ear, and began reading. Whenever he came up with something in the story, he would scribble down his thoughts on the side of the page with the pencil; it was an old habit of his, which he did only on the books he owned himself. This was one was a quite new story, The Giver by Lois Lowry. He enjoyed it so far a lot.

And that was how the night would continue for Joa. Reading and scribbling quietly, until he would be tired enough towards the dawn to catch few hours of sleep before having to wake up with the rest of the kids.​

 

[Sarokhor]

Alicia Winters

Luckily Alicia had no need to change as she was already in her pajamas and had been sleeping not that long ago. She shudders at the thought of even touching a bed and risking the sleepy hauntings that claimed her in the night. However with her friend by her side she felt quite a bit more safe than before. She knew she shouldn't fear her father as he was in prison and the orphanage had plenty of security and supernaturally gifted children... Alas one does not simply get over 'the boogeyman' with brute logic. Perhaps it was just her age that made her so fearful of her father despite her own abilities, abilities that scared her just as much as that cruel man. She lays with Ann and keeps her eyes wandering over every aspect of the room, anything to keep herself awake. However walls, beds, and sleeping orphans aren't much entertainment and with the warmth of snuggling with another person Alicia falls asleep rather easily and rests peacefully throughout the rest of the night until morning comes. Normally Alicia would be one of the first children to wake as she had a schedule to keep in order to maintain her standards. She would always wake and proceed directly to shower and brush her teeth, then spend an absurd amount of time brushing her hair, before dressing and heading to go make her bed... She often liked to help others make their beds and clean up the mess in the dorms as well before she moved on to breakfast. Alicia was always taught to put personal hygiene, grooming, and cleaning as top priorities in the morning so that she could look her best, her home would look its best, and everything would be taken care of to have fun and learn for the rest of the day. It had worked for Alicia just fine all of her life though there were definitely days that she wanted to and did procrastinate, sleeping in on those rare days. This was one of those days as she did not stir at morning's first light, simply hugging herself to Ann as she breathes softly and peacefully in her resting state

 

[Starrnico]

Ann Marie Rayne

Ann pretty much ignored the new boy after he disappeared behind the curtain. He had found a bed and she had as well, getting herself settled with Alicia so they could both sleep. She did glance to Joa when he came out, simply because of the movement in the quiet room, but she made no move to draw his attention. Soon enough, she was asleep, the activity so late in the night had worn her out. The late night would also see her sleeping later than normal, though for once she didn't dream about that day. That was a good thing, since she didn't want to draw Alicia away from her own peaceful sleep.

 

[Taska Vilna]

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♫ Now Playing: 07. 'Morning'


As dawn peers up over the horizon, cutting through trees and skylines, an unfamiliar sun sheds a welcome, warm light through the windows of the orphanage. A light rain taps on the roof, as though whispering of the long snow that had now subsided. The rain added a small, comforting, drone to the bright morning light. The children are woken by the new day, seeing a sun that hadn't been seen in several weeks. The day promised a respite from the stuffy inside, and a few began wondering if Mr. Powers would take them into the harbor now that the weather was nice...

The morning brings with it the introduction of Professor Peter Powers, head educator at The Orphanage. He brings with him a promise to take the kids to the Inner Harbor once the inclement weather had passed over; only time will tell what plan he has to keep them safe in public!


[ @Verona , @Starrnico , @Sarokhor , @Laivindur , @Wicked , @TyranntX ]​