~ Tнє Pαяα∂σχ Hσυѕє ~ now back to regularly scheduled chaos

Kelsier | Boss Battle Room | strider

Kelsier found he could read Nico surprisingly well, now. He could tell, for example, that Nico was in pain, but he was okay with Kelsier being there. Somehow, impossibly, he was okay with this. He was okay with the Survivor being this close, with their skin touching, with the pressure on the wound and the smile on the hawk-like features and everything they were and everything they would never be.
He managed a grin. Yes, their reputations mattered, more than most people probably realized. They understood each other, perhaps because they were actually similar in a lot of ways. They were both made to fight, both survivors of the impossible, and both so very human. Looking down at Nico, Kelsier knew that his image was already so fractured there was no way the boy couldn’t see him through the shards. He knew that, and somehow, he was okay with it. He was okay with being seen by Nico as who he was, not just who his world needed him to be.
He looked at Nico’s hand resting on top of his, both surprised and pleased at the gesture. It was strangely comforting - was he allowed to let Nico comfort him? It seemed like it should be the other way around - and he didn’t move away. He wanted to be comforted, he found. He was scared, though he would never admit it, not even to himself. He was so scared of losing Nico. He didn’t know for sure it would be temporary. It sounded exactly like something the House would do, conditioning them to believe that they were safe and then tearing one of them away forever. Yes, that sounded like the House. Kelsier would never trust it enough to fall for that.
He looked down at the wound again, and gently lifted the material a little, checking the bleeding. “It’s slowing.” He reported. It was. A little bit. Enough? That might be another story.
He looked at Nico, suddenly wary. “What could you try?” He asked cautiously. After all, there was probably a reason he hadn’t done it already. Which made him think this was not a safe suggestion.

Arthur Dee | Living Room | strider

He wouldn't have said what he did was dancing. Arthur Dee didn't dance. Not if he could help it. But alchemy required a gesture, a wave, a step of the foot. And the more original it was, the more the language varied, the further he searched for ingredients the more likely it was for what he wanted to do to succeed.
He was trying to work out where to put his feet. As he did, he slid them along the ground, trying to test out how each step would look upon its completion.
He was holding a book while he did so, finger resting on the pages as he did. To an outsider, it really would look like he was shuffling along to some unseen music while he read. That would have been wrong, but he was fine with that.
He did, however, stiffen when he appeared in the living room, hurriedly shoving the book under an arm. What?
He really needed a good explanation for all of this.

Arthur Dee | Living Room | strider

Arthur watched as Orpheus appeared out of nowhere.
Honestly, he wasn't particularly freaked out. He could do something just like that in his spare time, if given enough spare time. But he did note the fact that Orpheus didn't exactly have the normal garb of what he was used to.
Hum.
He dipped his head. Or maybe a slight tilt to the side might have been a better description of the action he made.
"Who might you be?" he inquired. He didn't have a poor impression of Orpheus, more of a loose set of expectations. He wasn't sure who he was, that was for sure.
The living room might have been somewhere he'd been before, but the whole place was a bit more of a mystery than he liked.
He adjusted his book under his arm. He might have considered using one of the constructs he had, if any of them were useful here. They weren't. The ones he was wearing just weren't going to do much for him right now, and even if there was an entity here, he doubted that his constructs would hold up well when they were outside of their intended element.
"What you might be could be a second question," he added.

(Mint sees how many living rooms she can start at once.)

Myrnin | Living Room | ®Hawkpath®

"This is going to be the death of me," said Myrnin. He'd been perched somewhere when he'd blinked in, so now he was perched on the back of the couch like an overgrown blackbird.
Which was a fair description, considering the cloak he was wearing that almost extended down off the back of the couch and to the floor.
"Oh yes!" he said, raising his hands into the air with a sigh. "I was only hunting a murderer, House! It wasn't anything special. I'm sure it'll wait."
It would wait, but it was annoying while he was at it.
He stayed perched on the back of the couch, watching the living room to wait and see who would turn up.

-------------------------------------

Arthur Dee | Different Living Room. Just like the rest are all different living rooms. I'm being THAT person today. | Hawk again

If there was one thing that Arthur hated, it was mornings. He'd dragged himself out of bed and stumbled around his room for a bit, before he'd finally worked up the energy to actually clean himself up a bit. Even still, when he blinked in, his hair was still sticking up a bit on one side, he hadn't tied it back, and he was still wearing the loose shirt and trousers that he tended to sleep in. It was different from, say, his full gear and cloak get-up or anything he wore when he went out to do doctor.
This was more annoying than he expected. He felt a lot more comfortable when he was in his full outfit rather than his around the house wear.
Even still, he couldn't do anything about it now.
He tried to smooth down his hair.

It was a bit annoying for Myrnin, but he waited for Juuzou to catch up before he followed after Vincent.
"Apparently a 'Where's Waldo' power," he said. "Since the idiot isn't doing the best at hiding!"
This part was tossed in the direction that Vincent had disappeared to.
He wasn't going to say which power he had exactly (mind reading) because he didn't trust that Vincent wouldn't abuse it.
Even still, he was theorizing that Juuzou had regeneration or healing of some sort.
"Want to join my Vice-hunt?" he asked Juuzou conversationally. 
He wouldn't have taken no for an answer anyway, since he at once grabbed the ghoul investigators hand and started dragging him in the direction of Vince. Like they were best buds.

Orpheus looked back at the riddles up on the board, then at L, a soft smile on his face. If that was all it took to get out of the room, he felt they had done pretty well. Orpheus had never really tried riddles before, and Orpheus could tell that L wasn’t terribly used to singing (he had a nice voice, though, so it was a bit of a shame he didn’t use it).
He waited for a door to open as L finished the last notes of the song, giving a soft round of applause until his eyes met L’s and he realized the detective looked… scared was the wrong word, but uncertain, to say the least. Orpheus didn’t like that expression on L’s face, because L didn’t seem like the type to get scared easily. Distrustful, yes, but this had been a peaceful room. The House, it seemed, had other ideas.
The temperature dropped a couple of degrees, enough that goosebumps rose up on the back of Orpheus’ neck. He looked around warily, suddenly feeling as distrustful of the House as L had been. The House wasn’t fair, and it was about time he stop believing it was. The sudden temperature change wasn’t terribly unfamiliar to Orpheus. He knew what it was like when summer turned to winter, the way it used to change gradually, with the leaves turning vibrant hues of orange and yellow, but it hadn’t been like that for a few years. The temperature just dropped and the leaves curled up and died, and it happened earlier and earlier every year. Orpheus just… hadn’t expected the House to follow suit. Besides, it wasn’t winter in his world yet. It wasn’t even close. So this was a House-only thing.
“I’ve never seen snow,” he murmured. “We don’t get it where I’m from, but… I suppose I was bound to see it sooner or later.” He just had expected it to be in some far away land he had only heard of in songs. He hadn’t expected it to be in the House, with someone who was probably used to it. And then, slowly, it began to fall. Orpheus lifted a hand up to the little white raindrops, his eyes widening in quiet amazement when he realized that each one did look different from the others. It wasn’t just cold white blobs, it was frost in intricate patterns, as much an art form as the songs he sung.
“It’s cold,” he whispered in quiet awe.
He glanced up at L again, still not certain whether to trust the room. While on one hand he believed this could be some sort of present for having done well at their tasks, he had a bad feeling that the House wasn’t quite so kind. The wind began to pick up, roaring loudly in Orpheus’ ears and tugging violently at his hair and his bandana, whipping past his bare forearms until he was forced to roll his sleeves all the way down.
“We need to find cover,” he murmured eventually, looking up at what had once been the ceiling. Now all he could see was a plane of white.
“Wait! I see something!” he managed, noticing a door that had appeared out of the corner of his eye. He moved towards it, the snow picking up, flurrying all around him and blocking his view of everything. He knew where the door was. He had to get to it. When he looked back, though, L was nowhere behind him.
“L!” He yelled into the endless white, his voice torn away by the wind that cut at his cheeks and burned his eyes. “L!” he tried again, beginning to force his way against the wind, towards where he thought L was likely to be.

Arthur Dee | Living Room | strider and Cloverleaf

"You could say that," said Arthur. He wasn't sure what Orpheus was getting at. It would be far easier to say that he was just ... here. New implied some sort of permanence.
He didn't like the sound of that.
He'd asked who Orpheus was, but he was hesitant to give his full, real name. They tended to give constructs more power.
"Arthur Glover," he responded with ease, the fake name rolling off his tongue.
"Mostly human?" he asked, tilting his head back with enough of a chin tilt to make the question a bit dramatic. "Not exactly what I was looking for. Profession?"
How could someone be mostly human? It was suspicious about who he was dealing with. There were other things in his world, but he wasn't aware that they could ... breed. And needless to say, he still wasn't convinced that this wasn't his world.
It could be another, but the amount of power that would take ...
His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed someone else had blinked in. He turned so that his body faced both her and Orpheus.
"Hello," he said, though he sounded a bit wary. "Who might you be?"
He wondered if he should ask if she was also not quite human.
"I take it you're also more familiar with this place than I am?"

Myrnin | Hallway | <Raintalon>

When you thought about it too hard, Bob shouldn't still be alive.
Myrnin never thought about it.
Occasionally people asked.
He pretended he didn't hear.
It was his pet. Of course he'd ensured that there were ways for it to live longer than a common, household spider should have managed.
Heh.
He just wasn't going to say what (and he'd honestly forgotten.)
As it was, like other times, he didn't blink in while he was caring for his pets. Instead, he appeared with some flies and a grin and that was about it of note.
Oh, other than the fact that he looked like he'd escaped Victorian London with most of a wardrobe.
"Hello again, House," he said to the hallway he'd appeared in. He glanced around. Odd that he hadn't blinked into the living room, but he wasn't going to question it.

Eurydice gave Arthur a scrutinizing look. She didn't want to let him know that she was out of her element here. Her gaze flickered over to the hallway; she couldn't see a door outside, or even windows. She felt claustrophobia beginning to weigh on her. Maybe she could... make an excuse, step outside, try to get her bearings. "I- who are you?" She countered, which was probably rude. Oh well. Better rude than stupid.

Speaking of stupid... there was a boy staring at her, offering her a smile. If she was being honest, he was kind of endearing, in a scruffy way. And he seemed... earnest. She hadn't met someone earnest in a long time.

Caught a little off guard, she turned a bead on one of her bracelets. "I'm Eurydice."

Orpheus decidedly didn’t like when other people assumed what he meant for him, but considering it was accurate, he decided to let it slide. He could speak for himself, regardless of what Arthur believed.
“I’m Orpheus,” he added after a moment, his smile softening into something smaller but perhaps a little bit more genuine. “Your name is like a melody.” Which was more of a compliment than he could give Arthur. He turned back to the other man, considering him for a few moments.
“I’ve never heard of… alchemists,” he replied, the term piquing his interest. He managed to offer Arthur a smile as well. “Does it have anything to do with that book you’re carrying?”
He leaned back, giving himself space to look at both Eurydice and Arthur without having to turn his head too much.
“I know you haven’t been here before,” he murmured, directing that at Arthur. There was no judgement in his tone, just fact. “But have you, Eurydice?” If she had, she would probably do a better job explaining than Orpheus would.

Arthur Dee | Living Room | strider Cloverleaf

"Usually the default for interactions isn't fear," said Arthur. "At least not for me."
Maybe such a thing was different for this woman. He had no way to know what her life was like.
Even still, he shook his head at her question of whether he and Orpheus knew each other. "We just met," he assured. He figured that this was the case for Orpheus and Eurydice as well. They still seemed to have rather interesting reactions.
He groaned a little as Orpheus flirted. Oh dear. Really? Here? In the middle of a strange living room?
He was curious what the woman meant by having been here before though. "Oh? And what happened then?" he asked her, curiosity in his voice.
To Orpheus, he said, "Yes. Yes it does." He lifted his shoulder a bit to make the book a bit more obvious. "It includes the concepts at least."

Rue | Living Room | mintedstar/fur

She knew she really should have been afraid of him. He had killed her, after all. Then again, she had also killed him, so maybe it was okay? No, it couldn’t be okay, but maybe…maybe she didn’t want to be afraid of him. Maybe she actually liked him, a little bit. Maybe she thought that even if he was sitting there perched on the couch like the bird that matched his style choice, he was actually one of the more genuine people she had ever met, and she didn’t really believe it was his fault.
“Um…” she hesitated, distracted from her thoughts by the fact that she really couldn’t honestly answer how she wanted to. “Not super good, to be honest.” She admitted, looking away. “How about you?”

Kelsier | Living Room | Minty-Minted-Mint!!!

Kelsier inclined his head, acknowledging that statement. “My crew would agree with that.” He commented, still smiling. “Pleasure to meet you, Arthur Glover. I’m Kelsier, Survivor of Hathsin.” He gave a slight, dramatic bow after the title, which wasn’t really necessary to give, but it was the House and he wasn’t going to be murdered for it so he hoped it would just let him have his fun, for now.
“Pretty much yeah.” He agreed, laughing lightly at that remark. “And you? Are you always so grumpy, or is it just the lack of sleep?”

Matt | Hallway | mintedstar/fur |

“Well, you can’t expect them all to go like that,” said Matt, shrugging. He paused briefly as his surroundings changed, then let out a small sigh of relief at where he’d ended up.

“Oh, thank god,” he said, then, spotting a familiar face, waved. “Hey Myrnin! Long time no see!”

Orpheus hadn’t genuinely expected his words to get a reaction. He had hoped Eurydice might smile a little bit, but he certainly hadn’t expected the way she looked away or the way Arthur groaned. Had he said something wrong? He’d only said what was true – Eurydice was a beautiful name. It suited the girl well.
“I’ve met a few people here,” Orpheus confirmed, then glanced at Arthur, “But not him. Or you.” It was odd to him that he was evidently the most experienced here when it came to the House. What sort of things did you tell someone new? Surely they weren’t both like he was when he had first blinked in, wanting to find any way to make the House fair and equal. Surely they didn’t want to hear this early on that death was not only possible, but quite common.
“I hope it wasn’t something unpleasant,” he said, smiling again at Eurydice. He gave a glance over at Arthur’s book, but since he didn’t seem to be volunteering any more information than that, he didn’t press the issue. He had tried to get used to the idea that not everyone here wanted to share what their lives were like.