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Post by Penny Royals on Jan 17, 2015 12:34:14 GMT -8
"I'm sure they will," Jane replied.
"I- I don't remember," Johanna gave a soft sigh, but got to her feet, pulling Nat up with her.
Ryan stopped again, sticking closer to Melody.
"I hear something," he whispered. The voices from the dorms, surprisingly nearer than they could have thought, came through to them - but below that were the sounds of something lurking, waiting.
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Post by Alastor on Jan 17, 2015 12:40:21 GMT -8
Lovecraft sat in his office as the lights flickered out around him, even the small candle on his desk. He grimaced as the Hyborean age text gave way to the inky shadows around him. Lovecraft sighed, setting aside the ancient book and standing up, grabbing a small bag and filling it with some of the tomes and other snippets. The man made his way to the door way, and into the halls.
He was going to have to carry the research on in the safest spot here, wasn't he? He sighed, making his way to the infirmary. The darkness had long since stopped bothering him. The ghost girl and her sister were just annoying at this point.
There was far worse than some demonic brat out there in the cold, uncaring cosmos they were all in. Far worse waiting just beyond the boundaries of the house, even.
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Post by toothpiic on Jan 17, 2015 13:53:51 GMT -8
"I'm sure they will," Jane replied. "I- I don't remember," Johanna gave a soft sigh, but got to her feet, pulling Nat up with her. Ryan stopped again, sticking closer to Melody. "I hear something," he whispered. The voices from the dorms, surprisingly nearer than they could have thought, came through to them - but below that were the sounds of something lurking, waiting. Nodding her head she shifted a bit awkwardly. It must of been his imagination or something she thought. Gently moving him to sit more comfortably. Turning her head she felt she heard something.talking maybe the others?
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Post by JW% on Jan 17, 2015 16:53:57 GMT -8
Poe sighed as the children debated which stairwell to take as he tried to shepherd the four girls. He would have preferred they all return to their rooms and go back to sleep, he didn't believe for a moment that the informal agreement they had for staying out of certain places in the house and that certain... influences... would therefore stay out of the infirmary was worth anything at this point. Still, it seemed to give the four girls a united purpose and courage enough not to cause him further efforts if they made their way to the infirmary area.
"It's this way." He said, pulling Eulalia with him, which in turn took Johanna, Natalie, and Angel. "See, they've already got the lights on, you can see the glow." They walked towards a soft glow that might have been purely imaginary and he reached out, flipping a switch at the stairwell off and then on again.
"There, seems that they've fixed the breakers." He declared as the lights came on. Something about his tone said that this wasn't the truth, and that the truth was far less of a positive thing. "Best we don't stumble down stairs in the dark."
At the base of the stairs they found the door to the infirmary, Lovecraft already heading towards it with his book bag, and both Jane and Mary waiting just inside the door in the light. "There we go children, I'll leave you in the care of Doctor Godwin and Miss Gilman while I look for Mister Stark and Miss Grace." He let them rush ahead of him as he stepped aside and took Lovecraft by the arm.
"Were you not paying attention, 'master' Lovecraft?" He hissed, a touch of sarcasm in his voice. "If you can't be bothered to take a small preventive measure against something we do... did... have control over, then you are going to suffer more and more setbacks in your research. Without dealing with the occasional annoyance before they become major issues, things are only going to get worse long before you've wrapped your mind about the truth of the threat we're facing, and at best the blessed madness such truth you say brings will be a solace you alone hold as you won't have had time to share it with the rest of us!"
"Mary, Jane," Edgar used their first names, slipping from his formality. He looked them over as the children came in, eyes narrowing a little. "I... see. If Alphonse isn't dead yet, I most surely would like to see him dead by the end of the day for what he is responsible for this evening. I strongly suspect that El," Elinor... or Lilith, it was all the same and the habit of playing the game of not using her name, just as she had not revealed his own true name, had caught him, "has already or is in the process of slaying him with his own incompetence." They could hear some of the screams and baying howls after all. He recognized the black hound of the moors and the hydra of the loch, thought to be contained by de Sade's menagerie until now, but there were others who added their multi-throated shrieks to the night. "Keep the children safe, either Ryan or Melody have quite obviously stumbled on to... an artifact that will be drawing attention to them that they are not equipped to handle. I am going to look for them to see about keeping them and Amanda from harm. Do try to stay together and barricade the doors if you feel the need." It wouldn't matter if it came down to it, but it might make them feel better.
With that he took off with a purposeful and hurried stride up the stairwell again, pulling a weapon from inside his waistcoat. It was no arsenal as de Sade had, but it might be enough of an edge to provide a distraction. He had no idea where Ryan and Melody were. But he trusted two things to help him find them. The first would be that the house would guide him along the swiftest path. The second was that he knew where his raven was and could circumvent the pranks of the house if he needed in order to reach it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Ryan and Melody sat and listened intently to what were distant echoing voices from the other people in the mansion, something above them shifted, causing Aurora to react with customary malice towards this particular threat.
"Hear something!" The raven cawed, keeping itself on the mantle and well away from feline paws. Of the four of them, the cat would be the most likely to be able to see in the dark, and the raven was all but saying that it could "Hear something!" the bird repeated snippets of dialogue it had heard in the darkness, probably thinking they were meaningful in some way. "Nevermore!"
There was a fluttering of wings and the raven divebombed the two children, flying into the darkness past them with a raucous cry. A much deeper growl, which turned into an angry malevolent roar, could be heard answering from that darkness, the fluttering of raven wings and the cawing of ravens throat filling the inky morass of blackness as the bird battled a monster clearly much bigger than it in a desperate, perhaps futile, attempt to stall the beast so the children could run once more.
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Post by toothpiic on Jan 18, 2015 7:39:10 GMT -8
Protectively Aurora lowered herself and growled reaching up to try and attack the raven, when it flew off she took it as a chance to stock after it, seeing the beast the cat took the chance to help the raven to keep Melody and Ryan safe.
"We need to get out of here" Melody said grabbing Ryan by the arm and standing up. She didn't know what the raven was fighting but she knew it couldn't be good.
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Post by Penny Royals on Jan 18, 2015 9:54:39 GMT -8
Ryan stumbled to his feet, watching the raven and Aurora fight an unseen beast while Melody pulled him up. He looked to her, nodding and taking her hand, rushing off to their side in a third direction.
The duo would find themselves going up stairs rather than down as they might have suspected, reaching carpeted land. The glass of portraits caught the miniscule amount of light from a window at the end of a hall, lighting up the faces within to watch them run past.
They'd round the corner to their right, and rush inside to find a glass wall overlooking the forests and illuminating this section totally. They would be able to see, somewhere far below, the resident groomsman slicing the head off the giant serpent he'd faced earlier. The two might have paused for a brief moment, but clattering noises behind them would quickly send them back on their way.
A few doors and hallways - and in one strange case a double-doored bathroom - later, the two stood in a massive hall. Mirrors surrounded them at every angle, catching the miniscule light that might have been there to show off the two wherever they looked.
Ryan moved inside, towards the middle to sit down and breathe. He pulled the book out in front of him, still looking it over cautiously, unsure of it now.
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Post by toothpiic on Jan 18, 2015 15:07:50 GMT -8
Following Ryan quickly pulling the door shut behind them. The room was large, reminded her of the ballroom her parents got married in. Sitting beside Ryan she looked at the book that was in his arms "What is that?" she said not noticing it before now.
The two would notice the mirrors that had been reflecting their silhouettes would slowly start to change. The house was pulling up their memories and displaying it to them. They'd be seeing the memories they both would rather forget, they would be able to feel the sting of each others attacks as if they were reliving the events together.
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Post by Penny Royals on Jan 18, 2015 15:41:47 GMT -8
"I found it," He replied, scooting closer to her to look down at the book. It opened easy for them now, displaying an unreadable text of symbols. He looked to her then, trying to see if she could read any of it. His eyes caught something in the mirror, and darted upwards to see what was going on.
He saw their figures morphing, the scene itself changing into a dimly lit room. Five burly men sat around in a circle of couches, beers laying out in the open, spilled snacks and a TV going on in the background. In the middle stood a short young girl with long curly hair, wearing a soft blue cotton nightgown. Her eyes were downcast, before one of the men turned from the other men to motion for her to come up. As she looked up, green eyes stared right through the mirror.
He turned away quickly, breath caught while he looked down at the book.
"S-so, any luck?" He choked out.
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Post by toothpiic on Jan 18, 2015 15:54:39 GMT -8
Looking at the book her brain trying to make sense of what she was reading. Looking over at Ryan she followed his gaze to the mirrors infront of them.
The scene shifted annd seemed to blur focusing on a scene of a small blonde being forcefully slammed on the ground by a man atleast twice his size. Wincing at the image, as the man started to shove the small boy over the side of a sofa. Looking quickly away from the screen back to the book"No...I uh..can't understand them" she stampered feeling her stomach lurch at the image that was still flickering in her brain.
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Post by Penny Royals on Jan 18, 2015 15:59:16 GMT -8
He took a deep breath, burying his face back in the book.
"There's got to be something - anything." He started quickly flipping through it as the mirrors began to rattle down one side, something massive beyond bounding past down the hallway.
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Post by toothpiic on Jan 18, 2015 17:54:09 GMT -8
Feeling the movement of the mirrors she sat up rigid, what was it? What was going to happen? What was there? What power did this book have. Looking at the symbols and shapes, they looked like something she had seen before but she couldn't pin point in her brain what it was.
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Post by Penny Royals on Jan 18, 2015 21:00:11 GMT -8
He moved closer into her, forcing his eyes to stay down at the book while he continued to flip through it as fast as he could.
The rattling grew faster until the door was burst open. Ryan scrambled to his feet, pulling Melody over to be backed up against a set of mirrors while a massive, shadowy cat-like creature prowled in.
Behind them another scene played out - a grimy bathroom, a screen closed to the shower with water running down and a small shadowy figure inside. A door opened on a heavy, dark man with a beard who set a hunter green cap aside on the sink, knocking on the screen that opened to reveal the dark-haired girl for a split second - before the cat figure slammed into the mirror as the two split apart with a scream, diving out of the way. The mirror shattered and the cat reappeared the next mirror over. Melody would feel a sharp pai in her head.
"Did you hear that?" Johanna asked the others, rushing to the door of the infirmary.
"Screams," Angel replied, taking a few steps over.
"...We need to help them! They've got to be somewhere up there, and they must be in danger!"
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Post by toothpiic on Jan 18, 2015 21:05:11 GMT -8
Screaming she clutched onto her head feeling what felt like a blow to her brain. Leaning against the mirror behind her for support when a new scene played out on another mirror. There was a young boy bent leaning against the wall being lectured for doing something wrong by a very tall blonde man, vivid red lines striped down the young boys bare backside shedding light to the events that where playing. The man in the scene raised his arm before the cat-like-creature once again slammed into the mirrors smashing the image to pieces, giving Ryan the same feeling of a rough blow to the head.
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Post by Alastor on Jan 18, 2015 21:31:25 GMT -8
"Did you hear that?" Johanna asked the others, rushing to the door of the infirmary. "Screams," Angel replied, taking a few steps over. "...We need to help them! They've got to be somewhere up there, and they must be in danger!" "But how!?" Eulalia shouted, running to the door with the blonde. "We don't know what the hell that thing is!" "Simple," Lovecraft muttered to the children, looking disdainfully at Poe as he left. "You get a sword and you stab it. It doesn't matter what it is, if you jab it with metal enough, it'll retreat." Usually, anyway.
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Post by JW% on Jan 18, 2015 21:48:05 GMT -8
Poe came up to the hallway and turned on the light. The place was a bit of a wreck. Something large had come through here, clawing at the walls and floor, smashing furniture. He shook his head. Damage to the house, soon to be windows and doors broken, more pain inflicted. He could picture Amanda, as he had last seen her some time ago, crying softly from the pain. She seldom appeared in a way he could see, but always seemed to make herself known. The beast was gone, probably tracking after the children as they had fled.
"Nevermore!" The raven cried out, and Poe came over to it, looking down. The raven had made a friend.
"Aurora, right?" He asked the cat, reaching down and gently picking her up. "We need to find your friend." He glanced at the raven. It limp hopped across the floor flapping it's wings before the bird managed to lift itself to the air.
Still holding the cat Poe followed after, hoping to catch up to the children before anything bad happened.
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Post by Penny Royals on Jan 18, 2015 21:50:14 GMT -8
The boy gave a sharp cry of pain, connecting with the floor, book up to shield his head. Gasping he continued to dig through the book as the cat creature jumped and broke various other mirrors, attempting to break its way out.
"I need a sword!" Johanna replied quickly. She then glanced to Eulalia, looking her up and down. "...Do that thing you did earlier!"
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Post by Alastor on Jan 18, 2015 21:52:07 GMT -8
The boy gave a sharp cry of pain, connecting with the floor, book up to shield his head. Gasping he continued to dig through the book as the cat creature jumped and broke various other mirrors, attempting to break its way out. "I need a sword!" Johanna replied quickly. She then glanced to Eulalia, looking her up and down. "...Do that thing you did earlier!" Eulalia looked at the girl for a moment, before realizing what she meant. With a sigh, Eulalia snapped her fingers and the clockwork rapier reappeared, handing it to Johanna. "Do you even know how to use that?"
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Post by toothpiic on Jan 18, 2015 21:59:20 GMT -8
Carefully Melody crawled over to Ryan and took a hold of his hand once more for her own comfort more than his praying that whatever creature that was attacking would stop. Wishing she had her bag, or at least a bottle of salt, something she could use to try and protect them from whatever it was that they were dealing with.
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Post by Penny Royals on Jan 18, 2015 22:11:33 GMT -8
"Of course I do!" She replied, bursting out of the infirmary and into the hallway that was still pitch black. Her sword was poised to strike now, as she moved further into the blackness, the others hopefully following - until Eulalia would be bowled over by the massive hell hound that had been poised to fight. Johanna quickly turned back at her cry, rushing to fight the beast.
Ryan was struggling with the book, holding Melody's hand. More mirrors shattered around them before he gave a soft crying laugh.
"I found something!" He cheered, moving closer to her. The top of the page was covered in symbols, but the lower was in butchered English. "'Wen ye of yung birth be suround by thee darc and those of Hell, enchanted wurds... thee must speek... thee must speek..." He struggled, stumbling over the first word of the next line and starting to get hysterical. The mirrors were almost all shattered now. "-Mel, I-I can't - "
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Post by toothpiic on Jan 18, 2015 22:26:58 GMT -8
Squeezing his hand tightly she looked at the words, and focused. They had looked familure before because they were i the same language as one of her mother's old spell books. Looking around to see if she could see the creature that was still smashing into various mirrors until it met her eyes. The creature starting towards them once more when Melody spoke up the words "Ini....tium Initium ...uh..est dimidium facti." she stuttered as the creature grew nearer "dum vita est, spes est" she said firmly. Taking a deep breath she repeated the line as a whole once more. "Initium est dimidium facti, dum vita est, spes est" she said proudly.
The lights in the house would turn back on as quickly as they had went out. Flooding the rooms with lights, candles that had once been out would be burning again, lamps were blinking back on and the ballroom that the Ryan and Melody were in illuminated with light.
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Post by Penny Royals on Jan 18, 2015 22:43:53 GMT -8
Ryan was clinging to Melody was the lights came back on, pale and breathless and staring around them. Broken glass coated the floor, but the monster was gone. His grip on her tightened, and he started to laugh. It was a strange laugh, and it only grew worse until he found himself sobbing into her shirt.
"We- we're s-safe..."
Downstairs, the fight wasn't over with the lights returning. The Hell Hound didn't disappear. As they came back on suddenly, Johanna found herself thrown back against the wall while her eyes were forced to adjust, the sword being flung from her grasp. She stared up into the jowls of the Hell Hound, its glowing red eyes beating down at her while she quickly scrambled to grab her sword. Its bared teeth came down to nip at her throat...
The point of what she thought to be certain death never came. The hell hound gave a screeing yelp, being pulled away from Johanna in a forced stranglehold by the resident groomsman, who threw it off to the side. The hell hound hit a corner roughly, scrambling its way out of the house.
Johanna watched it go and the man rush back after it, her heart beating. She took back the sword, blood splashing up the blade- even so at some point she'd gotten a mark in. She rushed to Eulalia.
"Are you alright??"
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Post by toothpiic on Jan 18, 2015 22:50:48 GMT -8
Wrapping an arm around him she was releaved that it all seemed to be over for now. Looking around amazed at how much glas surrounded them. Wondering who was going to clean up the mess, wondering where the creature had went. Looking to the door she saw a small black figure walking in carefully avoiding the glass. Afraid it was going to be another attack before it let out a meow and she realised it was Aurora "You're safe!" she smiled at the cat who ran over to the two of them.
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Post by JW% on Jan 18, 2015 23:13:58 GMT -8
"I am, quite frankly, not sure of that statement." Poe said, following the cat as it limped into the glass shards. "Are you two reasonably unhurt? Which of you found the artifact?" He looked around the room, shaking his head at all the glass.
"It needs to be returned to it's proper place, or else evil spirits like the beasts that caused this damage, will continue to assault us." He gave them a look. "Unless you're going to tell me that you broke all these mirrors."
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Post by Penny Royals on Jan 18, 2015 23:38:33 GMT -8
Ryan's hand gripped tighter around Melody's. At the moment, at least, the book was out of sight, hidden by their bodies. His face was still streaked and red, eyes puffy, but he took a deep breath, looking around the room before looking to Poe.
"And if we don't?"
He honestly wasn't prone to acts of defiance - those usually turned out the same way as the last incident Melody had seen in the mirrors before the cat creature had broken it, and that one alone had been enough to discourage him from damn near anything. But this felt important.
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Post by toothpiic on Jan 18, 2015 23:48:49 GMT -8
"I dont know what you're talking about but I need a smoke break after that" she chuckled looking up at Poe.
Aurora hissed up at Poe jumping onto Melody's lap.
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Post by JW% on Jan 18, 2015 23:54:47 GMT -8
Poe fiddled in his shirt and produced a soft handkerchief as he approached, making soft tsk tsk noises at the broken glass. Some of it had apparently cut Ryan and Melody. And of course they had answered his question as to which of them had actually taken the artifact. "And if you don't, the evil forces that attacked you just now will continue to hunt and haunt you, attacking this house and trying to kill us all. The defense it provides is minimal and fading. Unless you want to risk dooming us all by taking the artifact and infecting yourself with it as de Sade did, bringing madness and cruelty to your heart for the questionable strength to battle outer demons by allowing an inner demon to kill you slowly."
Poe sighed, reaching out with the handkerchief gently. "You... have a bit of glass imbedded in your forehead, hold still while I try to clean this up for Doctor Godwin."
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Post by Penny Royals on Jan 18, 2015 23:59:40 GMT -8
The boy winced, letting him do such.
"It saved us just now," He replied softly. "And what do you even mean anyway?"
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Post by JW% on Jan 19, 2015 0:15:39 GMT -8
"It might be best for Master Lovecraft to explain the whole thing." Poe said gently pulling the bloody glass out and dropping it on the floor. "But some time back an artifact was discovered on the grounds." Poe started his story as he bound up the worst of the bloody with a tight tourniquet. "Master Lovecraft and de Sade both dealt with it, finding that it could be used to defend against the beasts out in the woods and beyond the grounds. But de Sade started to change afterwards. He became... more violent. He knew how to fight the beasts now, how to kill them, but he was enjoying that power a little too much. That was when he started keeping them, to... study them he said at first, though if he found any thing in particular he hasn't shared it with me. He wasn't the Alphonse... ah... de Sade that we knew any more, though I still see that side every so often. Goodness is still in him, even if... he does things now."
Poe trailed off, stepping back and offering his hand to help Ryan. "So Master Lovecraft decided to hide the artifact away in one of the sections of the house that we aren't supposed to go any more. We let the spirit of the house itself guard the artifact, and in turn the artifact was supposed to keep monsters like the beast in the gardens from entering the house proper. Without returning it, that ward is missing and I fear another creature of that size tearing through a wall or two if it gets it in it's head that we look delicious." He gave a weary sigh. "And those are not worst we have to worry about."
"By the way, that book there is the artifact, isn't it?" Poe said leaning around Ryans shoulder. "I had wondered, but I thought it would be an ancient scroll from how Master Lovecraft described it. It's best if you read no more and put it back where you found it." He clapped the boy on the shoulder and started to take all five of them, both Ryan, Melody, and the two animals, back to the infirmary where he thought everyone else was waiting for them.
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Post by toothpiic on Jan 19, 2015 8:05:34 GMT -8
Rolling her eyes at Poe Melody shifted her way out from under him "I don't know what 'artifact' you speak of, the book isn't anyone's but my own." she said her eyes narrowed begging him to test her. She knew guys like him, the 'i have power and I'll loom it over you' kind of nonsense. Nothing new to her, the book indeed must be important or Poe wouldn't be so keen on getting it back. All the more reason to keep it with her and Ryan. Bending don she picked up Aurora holding her close "Like I said, I could use a smoke" she laughed lightly.
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Post by Penny Royals on Jan 19, 2015 9:36:45 GMT -8
The boy glanced up, taking his hand to stand up and jumping as his hand went around his shoulder. They walked on, and his eyes stayed downcast while walking close to them.
"Uhm..." He spoke up, voice still quiet and light, "...Will we be getting punished for this, Sir?...."
He looked over to watch Melody as she kept it up, much braver than him, with mixed adoration and uneasiness.
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