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

L | Living Room | strider

“It’s something bad that happens to your skin in the cold.” L explained as best he could. It seemed important that Orpheus know this, so he tried to explain it. Orpheus wasn’t aware, yet, that it was a bad thing, and he needed to be, he needed to know that this was a problem.
He shivered, trying to gather his thoughts enough to explain better. Then he shook his head, letting out a breath. It was so hard to think, and he wanted to rest and think and figure out what to do next, and he was still shivering badly, so badly it felt like he might never stop.
“It hurts.” He added, because that seemed even more relevant somehow. He glanced at Orpheus. Did they both have frostbite? It seemed possible, and it would explain why his feet hurt as badly as they did.
L fell silent, listening as Orpheus tried to explain. “Mean.” He repeated, puzzled. “Bad.” He didn’t really know what that meant, but he had a feeling he would later, probably. “And you don’t want to be...mean?” He suggested, hesitant because he wasn’t at all sure whether he was on the right track, and he usually knew things like that. He questioned suspects. Wait...did he? Or did other people do that? Not having that information made him frown.
It was supposed to be there.
He nodded, satisfied, as Orpheus confirmed that sitting had been the correct action. Right. Words had meaning and then sometimes that meaning had consequences and then sometimes you needed to sit down or...maybe something bad would happen? Question mark? He couldn’t think of any consequences to standing up, but since he was already on the floor, it seemed okay to stay there. Besides, he was tired. Probably too tired to get up. Maybe. Should he try?
He looked at Orpheus, frowning slightly as he tried to figure out what to do next. A shudder went through him suddenly and he curled in on himself, trying to stop his teeth from chattering as though that would help. Well? Maybe it would.
“Because it’s right.” He repeated vaguely, looking at Orpheus again. His eyes were very bright and they kept wandering, but he brought them back to Orpheus again every time, because this felt important. “I’m your...friend?”
That almost made him stand up again, more out of surprise than anything else. He stiffened, then let himself relax again, his foggy mind trying to figure out what he was supposed to say next.
In the end, he just said the first thing that came into his head.
“I’m not nice. I’m…” he searched for the correct word, but it was eluding him. “Mean.” He decided finally, because that was what Orpheus had said earlier, so maybe it was the opposite of nice. “Un-nice.” He added, for good measure.
Warm.
He looked up when Orpheus moved. “I’m...not warm, either.” He tried to tell him, confused by that word being applied to him at all. Then he copied Orpheus’ and reached up, clumsily feeling his chest. ”I am warm.” He murmured, startled by the discovery. He looked up, considering that for a moment before he nodded. “Yes.” He said simply. “That sounds...logical.” That also sounded like a good thing to be, so he began to crawl forward (he still didn’t think he was un-tired enough to get up). When he reached Orpheus, he sat down again, then leaned over so he was leaning on the other blinker, his head resting on his shoulder. He was still shivering violently, but he nodded seriously and tried to keep talking, his voice low and thoughtful. “Correct.” He muttered, his thoughts slipping by like a stream he couldn’t quite catch. “This is...correct.”

Kelsier | Living Room | strider

Kelsier paused, looking at Nico. Somehow, there was no fear in the boy’s eyes, none at all. Somehow, the way he was looking at Kel...well. It was the way people usually looked at him after he managed some impossible heist. He looked...Kelsier smiled at him, because he was alive, because they were out and though the living room was far from safe, it was a good deal safer than in there. There probably wouldn’t be any Inquisitors or titans here, for example.
He wasn’t lying, and he didn’t think Nico actually thought he was, which was a definite step in the right direction. He wasn’t Soothing Nico, and that meant that the respect in his eyes...that was real. That meant a lot to the Mistborn, more than he found he had words for.
He couldn’t help thinking about their first blink. When he’d given Nico that scar, when he’d killed him for nothing at all. He’d been so angry, then. He’d been so convinced Nico was just another nobleman hurting the innocent for nothing, throwing away lives like old clothes. He’d never been more wrong. He’d never been more ready to accept what Marsh said about him. What so many people said about him. Looking at Nico, he never wanted to know who was the better fighter between them, because that would mean that this...this trust between them was broken. And he didn’t want that.
“I can be sentimental.” He protested, straightening up in mock offense. “Who’s saying I can’t be sentimental? They’re lying. I’ve never met them before in my life.”
He smiled again, because Nico was alive, and though he still seemed to be in pain, he looked a lot better than he had before.
He let his gaze fall on the mistcloak, still pressed against the wound on Nico’s chest. “Don’t worry.” He repeated, waving away the concern in Nico’s expression. “It’s just a cape thing, right?” He almost said it’s not that important to me anyway, but he stopped himself, because that was a lie and he refused to lie to Nico, even jokingly. And the truth was, the mistcloak was important to him. Besides, Nico could probably see that pretty easily. He did tend to blink in wearing it an awful lot, didn’t he?
He couldn’t help thinking about Nico curling up next to him, right before the boy had fallen asleep. How long had it been since he had done that? How long had it been since he’d been held, had let himself be held? Too long, that much was obvious. He didn’t know who the last person Nico had allowed that close was, but his gut said they were dead now, and his gut had a bad habit of being right. He wondered how much of that had been the blood loss, and how much had been the kid. He wasn’t going to push anything. He wasn’t even going to bring it up unless Nico did, because that wasn’t his call to make. Besides, he was willing to bet Nico needed time to figure out exactly what he wanted. Kel wouldn’t rush that. Never.
He opened his mouth to protest, to say that they were just assholes then, that it didn’t mean anything about Nico’s worth. He barely managed to stop himself, but he managed it, because suddenly he understood what it was Nico was saying and he needed to process it for a moment.
He met Nico’s eyes, and his own hawk-like features softened. He understood better, now, how much this meant to Nico. There were people who would have just left Nico there to bleed out, probably taken his sword for good measure. Those...those were the people Kelsier hated. The people he killed.
But he wasn’t thinking about that right now. He was thinking about the look in those dark eyes, and he smiled. It was a soft, genuine smile, not one he even needed to think about, not one he forced out for someone else’s sake. A smile just for Nico’s eyes.
“Okay.” He agreed softly. “I accept. But if I accept your thanks, then you have to accept mine. You saved my life just as much as I saved yours.” He didn’t look away, didn’t even blink. “Thank you.”

“Ah.” Orpheus’ reaction was probably… duller than it should have been, but how was he supposed to react? What good were fingers anyway? Except for… ah. Music. He couldn’t play if his hands hurt. He held them in front of his face, eying his fingertips. They were a weird color. White, but not skin-tone white. “Frostbite,” he repeated, a little bit more distaste in the word this time. “Bad.” It was a simple word, and normally he was more eloquent, normally he had more specific synonyms, but ‘bad’ would have to do for now.
He had to agree that it hurt – if Λ’s feet hurt nearly as much as Orpheus’ fingers, then… how had he stood for so long? The very idea of holding onto anything made Orpheus shudder. Or maybe that was just the shivers that kept wracking his whole body, desperately trying to warm him. Oh… was that what the shivering was for? Or was it just his body’s way of protesting what he’d just put it through? His hands were weaker than the rest of him at the moment, it seemed. He would have to blame this ‘frostbite’ for now. He would have to hope the House was kind enough to heal it when they blinked back. But the House wasn’t nice. It was the House that was mean. And Bad.
“I don’t want to be mean,” he confirmed softly, as though that was the clearest thought in his head. It wasn’t so much just… not being mean, but if that was what his brain was providing now, then he was going to go with it. It seemed easier than prying up thoughts that kept popping up and disappearing like they were nothing. Like they were everything at once.
“Hm?” Orpheus looked up again, trying to keep his gaze trained on Λ’s face. It was harder than he cared to admit, focusing. He wanted… he wanted a blanket. He wanted to go to sleep. He wanted… did music make people warm? Warm and fuzzy… that was a feeling, but was it actually… warm? Something nagged at the back of his mind, saying that was a different kind of warm, but he didn’t pay it any heed. Music could make them warm.
“No,” he said firmly, shaking his head. “You are nice. You told me… things. About here. And you wanted to learn…” his brow creased and “You played. You played good. That makes you nice.” That logic would make less than no sense when he thought back on it, but it was all he was capable of right now. Evidently his energy wasn’t going towards keeping his brain running well.
With that settled, he laid his head back against the couch and lazily watched as Λ approached. He could have moved forward himself, but he was against the couch, and the couch was soft, and that meant… it was probably a good place for them to be.
“Logical,” he echoed, as though he hadn’t considered the merit of it before. That seemed… good, if it persuaded Λ to come closer and keep them both warm.
“Ah,” he murmured again, smiling just a touch at the weight of Λ’s head against his shoulder. It probably wasn’t the most comfortable given how much Orpheus was shivering as well, but Λ was warm, and that was enough. Orpheus lightly wrapped his arms around Λ as though by holding the warmth close, he could make it stronger. He made sure Λ could still escape his grip if he wanted to, but he couldn’t imagine he would want to. After all… Λ was warm, and if he was that warm even in spite of the shivering… then maybe Orpheus himself was that warm too.
“Nice.” He murmured softly. He wasn’t sure if he was referring to Λ or the situation.

L | Living Room | strider

“Bad.” L agreed, finding the word adequate. If that was why his feet hurt so badly, then bad was a perfectly valid way of describing it. Orpheus hadn’t been aware of it, before, which explained why he hadn’t understood everything. “Very bad.” He added, because his feet hurt a lot and that seemed to indicate that this was more than the word ‘bad’ could entirely explain, but he couldn’t think of another word for it.
Sitting down was a lot easier than standing up. His feet were still wrapped in the short shirt, he noticed, but that didn’t seem to mean much. Except...it was obviously someone else’s shirt, he thought idly, because he was still wearing his own shirt. Right? He glanced down at himself to check, then nodded, satisfied that he was in fact wearing a shirt. He had a feeling the shivering would be worse if he wasn’t. Which meant….what, exactly?
He managed to meet Orpheus’ eyes, barely managed to focus enough to tilt his head slightly and consider him. Oh, that was where the shirt had come from. “You’re not supposed to not have a shirt.” He said severely, latching onto the thought because it was concrete enough for him to feel like he could still think clearly. “You’re supposed to have...something else. Otherwise you’ll get frostbite. Frostbite is...bad, remember? That’s what you told me.” He was getting a little upset, but he didn’t show it, just kept staring at Orpheus, as though challenging him to disagree. He wouldn’t be able to, L was confident.
He was so cold.
“Annoying.” He muttered, frowning at the thought that kept invading his mind. “I’m cold.” That was true. He glanced at Orpheus again, and made a sudden connection. “You’re cold, too.”
He listened, falling silent as Orpheus explained. Wait...that didn’t make any sense. He hesitated, then forced himself to focus on Orpheus, his gaze steady even though he was still shivering too hard to sit up properly. “You did it.” He insisted. “You solved the...the thing. The words. The strange words on the wall. You were right. That means you’re...you’re smart.” It seemed important he knew this somehow.
Only when he was finally settled next to Orpheus did he realize how hard they were both shivering. His body seemed to have decided it couldn’t trust him anymore and gone rogue. That was the only explanation, right? Otherwise why would he be shivering when it wasn’t cold anymore? That didn’t make any sense.
“Logical.” He repeated one more time for good measure. “This is logical because...you’re not cold.” He must have gotten that wrong earlier. “You’re warm.” He was too out of it to really be surprised when Orpheus wrapped his arms around him, and besides that, he really didn’t want to leave, because this was warm and comfortable and it felt nice on a way he couldn’t really describe. “Nice.” He repeated. “You’re nice.” He frowned. Did he mean that, or did he mean the warmth was nice? He wasn’t completely sure what the difference was. Orpheus was nice and he was also warm. Those two things seemed like they couldn’t be separated.
“You’re warm.” He added, to be clear. “Both. Nice and warm.”

Myrnin | Power Room | ®Hawkpath® ~∂єѕтιиу

"True!" said Myrnin happily. "I should get him a hat!"

He didn't make any comment what so ever about saying something twice. That would have been telling, now wouldn't it? He preferred to be mysteries and odd.

Well, that happened automatically, but it was the aesthetic of the thing.

"Ah," he said to Juuzou as it was clear the ghoul investigator started to suspect him of something.

He could tell that Vincent was thinking about where he was going to escape to. Better than that, he'd know where Vincent aimed before he ended up disappearing, because that's what Vincent would think about. Thing was, if he told Juuzou right now that this was how he was doing it, then Vincent would hear. If he didn't, then Juuzou would make the incorrect assumption that Myrnin was a ghoul. Or at least another thing considered 'odd.'

It was a bit of a weighing of the odds.

Eh, he wanted to have a bit of fun. With Juuzou, mind. He wanted to see what Juuzou would think later. He wanted to test this new blinker.

And if Vincent knew, then tough luck.

"Same reason you can survive a high drop from a several story tall building," he chirped happily, winking at Juuzou. "But shhhh. Don't tell him."

Shouting after Vincent, he said, "Weeeeeeeeee cooooooooome iiiiiiiiiiin peace ... idiot. Now where are you going?"

Kelsier | Living Room | mintedstar/fur

Kel turned, his eyes scanning for the owner of the voice, and then he paused as he found…ah. The vampire. He took in the other man’s appearance quickly, the suit and cape, the shoes, the….whatever he was doing with his hair. Was that a shoelace? It really brought the whole outfit together, he decided, and not least because it was something a nobleman would never do. He smiled, giving a half bow.
“I’m not the only one.” The Mistborn returned, straightening up again. He really did look quite fancy, very put together, like he was headed to a ball. Did they have balls in other worlds? He didn’t actually know, but he supposed if they did, it was possible Myrnin was headed to one.
“Where I’m from, you would be headed to a ball, dressed like that.” He added, deciding to test the waters. Either the vampire would ask what that was, or he would confirm or deny he was going to one. Whether or not he was a nobleman mainly depended on the answer to that question, as well, and - no, stop it, he ordered himself firmly. It was so easy to fall into old habits that didn’t work in the House. Myrnin wasn’t a nobleman for the very simple reason that Myrnin wasn’t in his world.
He watched the vampire carefully as he got down from the bookshelf - how long had he even been sitting up there? - then smiled. “From what I observed, it was far from your fault.” He pointed out, waving the apology away with a lazy gesture. “You’re a...vampire, right?” He paused, tasting the word, then continued. “And more importantly, you were defending Nico from me, weren’t you? I could hardly ask you to apologize for that. And I’m very much alive, so no harm done.”
His smile widened slightly as Myrnin continued and he nodded once. “And you’re Myrhin.” He said, and it wasn’t a question. He remembered the name Nico had screamed before his own perfectly well. “Pleasure to meet you in better circumstances.”

A small boy blinked in, a small set of pan pipes clutched delicately in his hand as he looked around, trying to take in where he was.
“Apollo?” He asked quietly, stunned by the sudden lack of both sunlight and the sun god himself. It was dark and he seemed to be standing in the middle of a sidewalk. Not that he’d ever heard of sidewalk, but maybe this…
“Mr. Apollo, is this a field trip?” His eyes widened and a grin bloomed on his face as he rocked back and forth on his heels, waiting for the god to materialize beside him. There were lots of houses on the street, most of which had their porch lights illuminated with decorations in their yards.
The boy couldn’t have been older than five or six, but he seemed tall for his age. His regular clothing had been replaced by something else. He was outfitted like a cowboy, a hat that was far too big for his head tilting down and obscuring his vision. He tugged anxiously at whatever it was that had appeared around his neck. It was… comfortable. Unlike the rest of his new clothes. But maybe that was just what people wore here.
In his other hand, the one without the pan pipes, a basket of some sort had appeared. It was bright orange and… if Orpheus wasn’t mistaken, that was a face. It was… kind of funny looking. He grinned, giggling a little bit as he waited for Apollo – or someone else – to arrive.

Little L | Trick or Treat Kids Room | anyone!

A very small boy blinked in, clutching an apple in one hand. He stumbled as he touched the ground and it was no longer soft carpet, but hard sidewalk, and the light vanished, leaving him blinking wide, dark eyes as he tried to get his bearings.
He was wearing a striped shirt and dark pants...or pant, rather, as one of them was actually a hard, wooden case around his leg. Stuck to one hand was a hook rather than a normal sleeve, and he was wearing a large black hat and an eyepatch over one eye, which he attempted to remove without luck. He glanced around, then sat down in the middle of the sidewalk and attempted to remove his shoes.
This also failed. The boy threw his apple in frustration. Then he got up, jumped in place to try to get the weird feeling of shoes out of his head, and brushed his long black hair out of his face,
Oh. There were other people ahead. L paused, staring at them warily, before he started towards them because...because, well, he didn’t know where he was, and maybe they could tell him how to get back home. He approached until he was close enough to see them, then stopped and tried to get the eyepatch off again so he could see better.

A wolf puppy appeared on the lawn in front of the nearest house. The puppy was old enough to be almost lanky, though young enough to be clumsy. She was dressed in a hot dog costume with a red stripe of fabric ketchup zigzagging down her back. Victoria- for Victoria it was- perked her ears and took in the sights of the area. Less forested than she was used to, and with so many houses! The puppy located the nearest friendly face and bounded over to the group of kids, oversized paws skidding on the sidewalk.

Scorpia | Trick or Treat Room | Orpheus, Victoria

Oh- it sounded like they didn't know where they were either. That could be a problem, Scorpia thought. She didn't recognize them and she wasn't sure the adults would be too happy if they found out she had accidentally snuck out. Well, she'd better help them get back then! "I'm Scorpia!" she said. "It's nice to- OH!!" She broke off, her eyes widening as she stamped her feet, clapping her pincers together. "A puppy!" She immediately rushed toward Victoria, dropping to her knees and reaching out for her, completely oblivious as to how it might look to Victoria, having two giant pincers coming at her face.

"Ah!" Scorpia stopped, seeing the look on Victoria's face as she was suddenly reminded to be careful. "Sorry!" she squeaked, carefully lowering one pincer to rest on Victoria's flank. "I'm not gonna hurt you! See?" She flashed a wide smile at the puppy.

The wolf puppy was clearly not acting like one would expect a wild animal to act, for she scrambled to her feet without instantly retreating. She cautiously looked up at Scorpia, tilting her head curiously. An unnaturally bright look sparked in her eyes, and she slowly wagged her tail once as Scorpia petted her, as if asking a question.