RPG The Year of Otaku

[BabyGirl]

[color=deeppink]Ok, so here's the deal, you all get to choose your own roommates. Preferably start off your first post as your approach to the house, or being already at the house and greeting people as they arrive. Basically everything is centered around this mansion as of right now ^_^[/color]

[color=purple]The 101 Freeway had been met its fame in songs, as had the 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. To Jenna, the PCH was far more superior.

?See how the mountains there are brown? It hasn?t rained for months.?

Jenna?s passenger, Justin, craned his neck to stare up at the hills that met the 101. She had just picked up the Southern native from the Los Angeles airport, and Jenna loved to show off her domain.

?We?ll take the PCH from here, it runs for a few miles along the ocean until it meets back up with the 101. It?s beautiful, so tell me if you want me to pull over so that you can get out and just look.?

Justin chuckled, she had hardly been quiet the entire two hours they had been together. Even though they had met a few years back, they hadn?t seen each other in at least a year. As soon as Justin had walked out into the baggage claim area after his flight from Alabama, Jenna had pounced on him. He thought that she was going to suffocate him, all wrapped around him like a giant, four-legged boa constrictor.

?So is all of your stuff arriving today or tomorrow??

Justin shifted his gaze from the ocean to her, ?Today, hopefully. I hate to think of all my posessions getting lost in the shipment process.?

?That [i]is[/i] a scary thought. What are you going to do about a car??

He shrugged, ?I?ll either lease one or buy a used one that I can fix up and make it look all ?purty.?

Jenna let out a laugh of delight at his Southern accent, ?Wait until you see this house, it?s gorgeous. The neighbors are these stuffy white Republicans, very rich. But the good news is that the houses are fairly far apart.?

?So I?m going to be living the high life now, huh??

Jenna turned and wiggled her eyebrows at Justin, donning a cheesy British accent, ?Oh yes, darling. We [I]all[/I] will. Look,? she shifted the topic at random, pointing out toward the ocean to their left, ?that is Mondos, where I learned how to surf. You?re going to come out with me and learn, I demand it.?

?Oh yeah? And what do I get out of the deal??

Jenna turned to look at Justin, a small grin tugging at the corners of her mouth, ?Oh, we?ll see.?

The Pacific ocean, dark and slightly green, broke peacefully as they passed. [/color]

[Raiha]

[color=royalblue][i]She was sitting in the foyer, reading a book, back propped up in a huge, overstuffed chair, legs resting on the automan. The car wasn't due for another fifteen minutes, and she chose that time to soak up the wonders of JRR Toliken.

Her room was in order. Futon on the right hand corner, just beneath the window, out of line of sight from the door, against her dresser. Her desk was in the other corner, low, oriental, covered in clean deskplanners, and the sitting place for her computer and fishtank. Delightful really. The way the aquarium blended into the rest of her items. The bloodfins were very active, and the Plecostomus, showing the usual signs of happiness, was sucking away at the algae wafer she had thrown in earlier. Her sewing was folded neatly in one corner, and her watch was stowed away in the desk drawer. Neatness to the extreme perhaps. But that was the price she paid for living with her mother. No worries there.

But of course, there was always the challenge of dealing with a slobbish and boorish roomate. She silently prayed that noen would come in her direction. Perhaps there was hope afterall. She turned the page and delved deeper into the Elvish language.[/i]

"Lothlorien, Symbelle, Luthwane."

[i]She spoke the words outloud, knowing full well that doing so in the company of others was taboo....personal taboo anyways. The car pulled into the driveway five minutes ahead of schedule. D'Ann pulled her feet in and stood up, stretching luxuriously. Backwards, then forwards again.[/i][/color]

[Justin]

"All right, I'll learn. I've never been too much for seawater though." Justin said passively.

"You'll come to love it before long, I promise." Jenna said with a reassuring smile. She then realized she was all over the road, "Does my driving bother you?"

"Heh, hardly. My best friend back home drives just as bad. 'Fact, I say she taught me how to drive, rather than my dad. All total, I think I probably road more with her than any other one person in my life." Justin said lightly.

"Jeanine, right?"

"Yap. She had a Focus, too. 'Cept hers was a ZX3, I believe." Justin turned his attention to a sound outside the car, "Oh...my..."

"What?" Jenna turned, half expecting to see some horrible accident.

"That's a '67 GTO! I want it!" Justin said with child-like excitement.

"Oh, shut up! Last time we were together you almost jumped out the car when you saw a car you liked."

"I can't [i]help[/i] it..." Justin threw up a sheepish smile.

"Hey, we're almost there..."

-Justin

[Semjaza]

OOC: I think this is the right thing to type right? I know this takes place like two years from now... but what season is it? Are we just going with Fall?

Also, just pretend ferrets are legal in California at this point lol. She won't be any trouble, I'd figure.
---------------------------

The flight so far had been uneventful. I had no idea how much time had passed, as I had forgotten my watch yet again, although it seemed like a couple of hours by now. There was no one in my row to ask. The seats nearby were mostly empty, with a few people scattered here or there -- none of which looked worth talking to. Of course, a man and his wife just happened to be sitting just in front of me, leaning backwards until he was practically in my lap. I amused myself by making faces at my reflection on his shiny bald head.

I was allowed to bring my pet carrier to my seat with me since the adjacent seats were not taken. Kit had never flown before, so I figured it was for the best. The last thing I needed was her being packed by the luggage somwhere and making a mess of things. Of course, she had slowed down in her old age... but I always thought of her as the little, insane ferret I bought years ago.

"I hope one of us enjoys ourselves here" I mumbled to her, just loud enough that no one else would be able to make it out. She just blinked and opened her mouth wide in a yawn. I have no idea what I would do with her if ferrets were still illegal in California. I could have left her with my mom, but I'd probably come home to a worn out skeleton by the time I came back home. A year is an awful long time to leave her. She'll probably take to the local wheather than I will.

I leaned back in my seat, not that it amounted to much. The release for the seat didn't even work. I still wasn't even sure why I was coming to California. Sure, some sort of joint business... but there was more to it than that. I guess I just wanted a change. I always figured I'd wind up in Seattle or some other cold city, though.

I slipped my headphones off in a vain attempt to hear the pilot on the intercom. Normally, this wouldn't even be an issue, but this plane was particularly noisy. That's what I get for taking the cheapest ticket I could find at the last minute. I managed to miss everything he said anyway since I had my volume up too high to begin with. I just assumed we were almost there. The flight attendent walking around confirmed this once she made the jerk in front of me put his seat in the upright position. Finally some time to be comfortable... as comfortable as you can be in a chair that seemed designed to force spines into perfectly straight lines.

I gave my last peanut, overflowing with the oil and salt of his departed brothers, to Kit and looked out the window on my left. I could already make out the towns and cities below us, not that I had any idea what they were called. We were fast approaching the airport and before I knew it the plane had gone into its final decent. I never liked this part of the flight as it always made my stomach sink. The plane landed on the airstrip with a small thud and the all too familiar sound of the air shreiking by as it tried to slow down to a normal speed.

Well, we're here, I thought to myself. I sighed and waited for the plane to get to the terminal. This always seemed like the longest part of the flight. Today turned out to be no exception. We were still moving and I could already hear the sounds of people unbuckling their seatbelts and shuffling about. When the plane came to its final destination, most everyone on the plane was already running around trying to get their things out of the overhead compartments. I always just stay in my seat during all of this... I see no reason to stand around for fifteen minutes waiting for every idiot onboard to get ready. When they were done, I picked up Kit and my headphones and strolled off the plane and down the hallway to the terminal entrance.

There was no one there to greet me. I half expected otherwise, even though I already knew I was to meet everyone at the house. I'm too used to being picked up at the airport, I suppose. I lugged Kit over to the baggage claim, got my things and went outside to wait for a cab.

A few drove past before I was able to flag one down. Figures that I managed to get the one that stunk like hell. I checked to make sure that his license plate didn't say "FRESH". There were no dice on the mirror either. Oh well.

We got to our destination pretty quickly. The cab driver helped me get my things out and I paid him, hoping he'd just get out of here before I died from the smell. Luckily, it didn't linger in my clothing or anything else.

I walked up to the doorway and rang the doorbell.

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]Driving cross-country to California took three days. But number 1: Tori was determined to have a means of transportation in her new home and number 2: She was determined to bypass the stupid weight and baggage restrictions that airports often have. She had way too many clothes, shoes, assessories, stuffed animals, knick knacks, bedding, etc to just leave behind. She looked in the rearview mirror of her crappy Ford Explorer and saw how packed she was. She just hoped there was room...

She was taking the Southern route, through the bottom of the United States and she was stopping in San Antonio to pick up Kenneth. It was sort of scary to be by herself at first, but the radio and Scott Weiland kept her good company. The trip to Texas didn't take as long as she thought, and before she knew it, Ken and his relatively small amount of luggage were loaded up. They were on the road, finally, to California.

"California, huh? I can't believe it..." she said to him, finally turning down the radio.

He smirked a bit, slipping his own headphones off. Apparently Stone Temple Pilots was not his cup of tea. "Eh, we'll be fine."

"Yeah, I suppose so...after all, we'll all have each other. Aw, isn't that so sweet?" She grinned innocently.

"We all are aware of who YOU want to have, Tori..." Ken said, laughing.

Tori turned a deep shade of red. "Well, don't you think it's about time that we actually met one another...I've been waiting for this day for a long time, Ken...long distance relationships can be brutal..." she sighed a bit, but then quickly smiled and squeaked loudly. "EEEE! I'm so excited!"

Ken smiled, too and the rest is history. Within the three days, they had made their way to Monticeto and were standing at the grand doorway of the mansion.

"Should we just go in?" she asked.

"Let's ring the doorbell..." he said.

Tori took a deep breath and walked up to the doorbell, ringing it. She knew the rest of the folks were supposed to arrive today.

[i]What if he's already here?[/i] she thought to herself and felt this surge of anxiety.

She looked over at Ken and he smiled at her as they waited for someone to let them in.[/color][/size]

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]"Maybe no one is here yet.." She said, glanceing to a nearby window.

Ken rang the doorbell a few more times, eyebrow raised as they waited. This was going to be a great time, especially for him- he was still pretty young, so maybe he would learn something.

"[i]Prolly not.[/i]" He thought, a slight grin appearing on his face.

A few moments more passed, and Ken finally knocked on the door- loudly. There was a slight pause, before he stepped back to look over the whole front of the mansion- it surely was the most massive thing he had ever seen, and quite beautiful looking from an architectual point of veiw.

He shrugged and leaned foreward, grabbing the handle. He turned it- but it was locked as tightly as it could be.

"Maybe we are too early?"

"We can't be [b]that[/b] early. I mean, you took a detour deep into Texas and-.."

The door handle jiggled slightly as someone unlocked it from the other side. It swung open slowly, steadily to reveal a lush entryway and.. D'Ann.

"Boy, this entryway was nearly perfect, too." Ken mused.

"You interupted my unpacking. This place is huge.." She said, opening the door further.

Ken and Tori began the long process of dragging their luggage in- the former having to help the latter with her large amounts of baggage.[/color]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]After Tori and Ken had finally unloaded all of their belongings and gotten them into the house, they parked the Explorer in the over-sized garage so that it couldn't be seen from the outside.

Just then, un unsuspecting Tony comes up and rings the doorbell, carrying Kit in a carrier beside him. He sits there, waiting for someone to answer the door.

Meanwhile, Tori stands inside the doorway of the room she has picked out for herself...and her victim...er, roommate. The ceiling is vaulted and from one wall to the other forms an angle that makes the ceiling progressively higher. On this part of the ceiling are beautiful windows and the sunshine pours into the room. Up against the wall with the highest part of the ceiling is the bed. It's a huge four-poster bed with a sheer white overhead drapery covering, hanging down and covering the bed in long layers of ruffleness. On the covering is white daisies embroidered in, and as the sunshine shines through it, the bed is covered in the shadows of the daisies.

The bedding is white, with more yellow and green layers of blankets and sheets. She sighs happily at her claim. This had to be the most maginificent bedroom in the house. It had it's own bathroom connected off to the side where she had already stored her toiletries. She left plenty of room for whoever chose to be her roommate. Her clothes were still packed in boxes and she saw that there was indeed a large walk-in closet on one side of the room. There was also a magnificent vanity that was made of mahagony and had a luxourious mirror and seat. She smiled happily and sighed deeply.

Her thoughts were suddently interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.

"Hmm...I wonder who that could be?" she said outloud to herself, walking towards the staircase that led down to the first floor. This room of hers was all the way up on the third: a long way for her to haul her belongings, but well worth it. She descended the staircase as the doorbell was continually rung.

"I'm coming, I'm coming...geez, where is everyone else at? And why couldn't THEY answer the door?" She sighed a bit.

She reached the doorway and slowly pulled it open. She prayed it wasn't John...just yet. She still had to shower and make herself beautiful. The last thing she wanted was for him to meet her after she had been riding for three days straight and had the nastiest hair ever.

Sunshine poured in and standing in the doorway was Tony. She let out a huge sigh of relief.

"Well, good to see you, too," he said, laughing slightly and walking in.

"HEY TONY!" It finally dawned on her. "Crap, I look awful!"

She took off running up the staircase again, abandoning Tony in the entryway.

"Geez, that was rude..." Tony said.

Tori ran up to her room and slammed the door shut behind her. She quickly made her way into the bathroom and began running a hot steamy shower. She hadn't had one since she left Georgia and her body wash and shampoo was just screaming for her. She stripped down and stepped in, letting the water soak her. She quickly washed and conditioned her hair, lathered up, and took a nice shower.

As she rinsed off and turned off the water, she opened the shower curtain and realized one crucial thing: she had forgotten to get herself a towel from out of her luggage.

"Ugh, this is just great...."

The air was a bit brisk and with water running down her soaked body and from out of her hair, she made her way into her bedroom to find a towel in one of her boxes.

As she dug around through the third box, still soaking wet with water dripping from her body, she heard her bedroom door being opened. She looked up just in time to see Josh entering the room. In what felt like an eternity the both of them layed eyes on each other and realization dawned on them. Josh, just arriving at the house and trying to find other people, had walked in on Tori naked.

A pair of blood-curdling screams could be heard throughout the entire mansion. Tori, finally finding a towel and grabbing one, wrapped herself up quickly. Josh slammed the door shut and stood outside it against the wall, panting.

Ken came running on the scene to investigate. He saw Josh standing there, breathing hard, his face as red as can be.

"Hey Josh, what's going on?" he said, noticing the extreme blush.[/color][/size]

[BabyGirl]

[color=purple]?Dang!? Justin whistled as Jenna pulled up to the front of their house, ?It?s huge!?

?I know, I wasn?t exaggerating, see?? She popped the hatch on the back of her Focus and started hauling out one of Justin?s two suitcases, ?I?ll let you carry the heavy one.?

He laughed, ?Gee, thanks sweetheart.?

Jenna simply stuck out her tongue and set off for the entrance, leaving Justin behind to wrestle with his giant suitcase.

Jenna kicked at the handle on the front door. As it swung open, the spacious front foyer elicited a sigh of content. Huge taped up shipping boxes littered the floor around her, ?Hey, Justin, your stuff is already here.? She called over her shoulder.

As soon as Justin stepped into the doorway, Jenna took a second to look and smile at him, ?Do you feel like a fish out of water in this brown land of the ocean??

Justin nodded, ?You bet I do.?

?You?ll get used to it. The people aren?t always friendly, so just smile and say ?hi? to warm them up. That usually will get a response.?

?Great, an unfriendly state where nobody else has a Southern accent.? He rolled his eyes, feigning a pout.

?Aww.? Jenna grabbed his arm, ? Everyone will warm up to a handsome guy with a Southern accent, the girls will love it! Come on, I?ll show you around.?

Jenna?s room was undoubtedly the largest in the house, but she felt justified in the sense that she needed the biggest closet. It sat directly next to the patio that led to the pool, near the back of the lower level. It took a short trip across the kitchen and down a short hall to reach her room.

?Chloe, baby.? Jenna?s long haired Ragdoll cat was curled up on the foot of her bed. Upon hearing her name, she opened her eyes and blinked sleepily at the visitors who interrupted her nap.

?So this is the famous little lady cat?? Justin stood in the doorway as Jenna slipped onto her bed and scooped up Chloe in her arms.

?Yes, she?s my baby.? Jenna scratched her cheeks and set Chloe into a loud purr, ?Come say hello, she won?t jump up and gouge your eyeballs out or anything.?

Justin had never been one for cats, but he hesitantly joined Jenna on the bed and stroked Chloe?s head. [Oh my God, this is so sexual sounding, and I totally don?t mean it to so STOP THINKING THAT WAY YOU DIRTY PERVERTS!]

?You should room with me, Justin. I?d rather have you in here, it?s more comfortable that way.?

?Er,? Justin blushed slightly, ?I guess that could work??

?Great! Oh!? Jenna said randomly, ?I wonder if anyone else is here yet!? Placing Chloe back onto her favorite blanket, she started for the stairs, ?Hello?? She called, taking the steps two at a time.

?Hello!? Came a female voice in reply, and a blonde head poked out of a bedroom.

?Tori!? Jenna squealed with delight and tackled her with a hug. [/color]

[Justin]

"Eh..." Justin looked down the hall, "I'm gonna unpack my stuff real quick. And all my mom, all that good stuff....try not to hurt each other, y'all." Justin said before disaprearing into his new room.

After locating the unused of two spacious closets, Justin begain pulling his poorly folded clothes from the largest of his two suitcases, and find places to put them(mainly the floor).

A thousand things were jiggling around in his head at one time. How was everyone back home, what he was he going to eat tonight, where's a place to find a car magazine, and many others. He finally realized all his clothes were out of his suitcase, and now he had to set up the rest of his room.

"Great..." He looked around. There was a bed, but no mattress, a bedstand, and a lot of open space on his side. He just walked out, deciding instead to go and greet everyone. He peeked in Tori's room long enough to see that Jenna was no longer there, so he continued on thorugh the house until he found Jenna in the kitchen, getting something to snack on.

"Speaking of..." Justin said loudly, purposely to spook Jenna. "I'm hungry, watcha got?"

"Um, we'll we have to go grocery shopping once everyone gets here. But, uh...here, have a cookie." She handed him a chocolate chip cookie with a grin on the side.

"Thanks." Justin ate it greedily, ruffed up Jenna's hair, and started for the door...

The bell rang almost on que, as he step into the foyer. Someone else he'd yet to become aquainted with answered it, and yet another person he'd yet to meet stepped in. Justin turned quickly around, and headed for his room again.

"I need a car." He thought to himself. California was famous(in his mind) for it's vast amounts of good cars in good condition. "Jenna, dearest, lovely friend Jenna. You're looking so very lovely today. Can I get you something? A cookie, maybe?" He said, obvious that he was sucking up.

Jenna looked at him kind of funny at first, then realized what he was trying to do. "Dearest, lovely friend Justin, whatever is it that you want?"

"A ride to a gas station so that I can get a car buyers catalog." Justin said bluntly.

"How about I just let you drive yourself? There's one about two miles up the main road outside the neighborhood. You take a left. Think you can [i]handle[/i] the Focus?" Jenna said with a raised eyebrow.

"Heh, yeah, I think I got it."

"[i]Don't[/i] hurt it." Jenna said, withholding the keys.

"All right, all right. She'll be fine."

"She better be." Jenna handed the keys to him and he nearly bolted for the door.

Once he hit the open road, he felt way better. "Living with all these people...man, this is gonna be crazy." He focus back on the road, and then he suddenly stopped. "It's been a while..." Jenna had had the automatic transmission in her Focus changed over to a 5-speed manual, and now Justin was gonna try it out. He floored it, waiting until it reached 5k RPMs before moving to second gear, then 6k before he hit third, then 6k again and hit moved to fourt, and then he finally punched into fifth after letting the car reach 6,500 RPMs. Then he saw the gas station getting very close, very fast, and hit the brakes.

"Impressive." Satisfied, Justin hopped out of the car and ran into the gas station. When he walked out, he was bewildered by the price difference of the catalogs at home, and the ones here. "I hope the cars aren't that bad." Justin drove home in the same fashion he had driven before.

-Justin

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]D'Ann blinked a few times then settled back in her little world, quite unaware of the insanity going on around her. Visibly anyways. Thanks to the factor of the echo, she was hearing preppyness spread like a disease over the entire domicile. She shuddered inwardly, but kept up the cool unresponsive front. Instead, she moved her legs out of the way, and slid the automan to one side, forcing her body to shift in another direction. Her back didn'dt like it, and she didn't either, but it was the one place to spare her body from being near ay extra prep exposure. Maybe she was going over things too quickly.....but really.

A shower? Being excited over a lover that showed up? What more is there to do but be yourself? There's nothing wrong with....bad hair? Then again, that might be a little excessive. She didn't have much to speak of, and liked it that way! Quiet and calm, and indifferent once more.

Pleasant thoughts. Find a happy place. Pleasant thoughts. Find a happy place. Just keep repeating it, it'll happen.[/i]

"DING-DONG!"

[i]"What is the goddamned meaning of my goddamned existance?"

Instead of speaking this new revelation outloud, she charged to the large oaken door and yanked it open, lips set in place.[/i][/COLOR]

[Sara]

[size=1]A girl of nineteen stood on the step, brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and eyes wide. One hand was poised to pull at the door knocker--well, where the door knocker had been a moment ago--and the other grasped the handle of a red [i]Radio Flyer[/i] wagon piled with bags.

Sara blinked at the woman in front of her. D'ann did [i]not[/i] look pleased.

"Um," she said. "'Eyo."

D'ann stepped to the side of the doorway with a sigh. "Come on in," she said. "I hate that doorbell."

"Well, I was [i]about[/i] to use the knocker," Sara said pointlessly, pulling her wagon over the step and into the foyer. Her eyes flitted to the ceiling and around the room. "Wow. Big."

"Not big enough, maybe," D'ann said.

"Eh?"

D'ann shook her head slightly. "I'm going to my room. You answer the damned door next time."

Sara laughed. "Okay, then," she said, looking around again. "Who's all here, anyway?" But D'ann had disappeared down one of the hallways, presumably back to her haven.

"Well...alright then," Sara said. She tugged at the hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. "We're here....what now?"

"Well," someone said drily, "the first thing to do would be to find a room."[/size]

[terra]

OOC: I'm young and uninformed. Josh is Shy, right?

Ellie would've had a lot to wonder about on the five and a half hours it took her to get from New Jersey to California, and then from the airport to the house. It was going to be weird, living for a year with a bunch of ... well, friends, but almost closer to "people she knew," really.

Luckily for her, she had the uncanny ability to fall asleep the instant she got into any vehicle of transportation. And, wake up five minutes before whatever destination was reached. Accordingly, the first thing she really heard and registered while in the state of California was the cab driver's loud, piercing, rather obnoxious whistle as the taxi slowed to a halt.

"Damn!" he said, as if the whistle hadn't been enough. "That's a big house. You visiting or something?"

"No," Ellie said, counting out her money, "I'm living there for a while with some friends."

"Friends your age?" the driver said, getting out of the car to help get her luggage from the trunk. "What are you, on [i]Real World[/i] or something?"

Ellie laughed and paid him, taking her suitcase from him. "May as well be," she said. "Thanks so much."

The suitcase seemed uncommonly loud as she rolled it up the winding sidewalk towards the front door. Maybe it was just because the sidewalk was so long. The place really was enormous, and she could hardly blame the cab driver for his disbelief. Though if he knew the number of people they were packing in ...

The door, Ellie saw, was open, and someone was standing in its archway, saying, "We're here ... what now?"

"Well," Ellie said as she rolled her way up to the door, "the first thing to do would be to find a room."

Sara turned and Ellie smiled, somehow successfully causing her suitcase to overturn. "Hey, Sara." She contemplated for a moment trying to do the hug thing, but she really wasn't that type of girl.

Sara smiled back. "Have you taken a look at the house yet?" Ellie asked.

"No, I just got here," Sara replied, as Ellie manhandled her suitcase into the foyer and glanced around.

"Well, I'm going to take a look around before I bother with all my crap," Ellie said, and leapt up the staircase to do a brief overview of the house and its other denizens.

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]She leaned against the walls of her room, trying to find some sort of odd solace. Sure it meant a chance of over-exposure to the threat of prephood...but she was willing to take the risk and avoid any other such annoyances. Like now. Tori was passing through the hall, hair tied back, face undergoing a transformation from non makeup to makeup....and she could hear still more females banging their way up the stairs. Mustering the tact to supress a silent scream.....she contented herself by smacking her face repeatedly with the large bodypillow she had remembered to bring along. As for her quiet Honda Accord....from 1989 no less.....it was starting to look better and better. Especially if people snored.

D'Ann picked up her own favorite copy of [u]Chinese Brush Painting[/u] and commenced the assimilation. For the fiftieth time. She could not get enough of the graceful paintings, the way the strokes melted into one another with perfect ease, never daring to do anything but harmonize....then footsteps. She looked up, prepared to bite back some sort of comment on girlish hell. The book was open in her lap, as she sat criss-cross applesauce.[/i]

"I'm not quite sure if this is the right room...." a man roughly the same age as her was standing in the doorway, a duffelbag slung over her shoulder, a bemused expression on his face.

[i]"Wow. He's a male. He has blonde hair. He is not a prep. ALL MINE!"[/i]

"Welcome to the lair of the English loving, fish caretaking, futon reposing female. You get the left corner and back wall."

[i]"Oh yes, that was smooth. Real smooth. The equivalent of hoping he never finds a live turtle in his soup."[/i]

"Sounds good."

[i]Without another word, she returned to my reading, quite unworried about his luggage. Obviously, he could handle it. Besides, what else were males good for? But to lift heavy objects perhaps.[/i][/COLOR]

[Charles]

A breath of hot air sweeps through the gray teeth of his prison cell. Flashes of sunlight are caught here and there on the many faces of his sweat-streaked skin. He polishes off the remains of a saltine cracker---eating with one eye open. Almost like a pirate.

Scattered clouds pass overhead; their movements can be marked by the shadows that spread out over the river and the low, eastern hills on the other side. His chin drops to his chest when he becomes tired of peering through the slits of the bars at the muddy water below. Sometimes he lets his spit slide off his bottom lip, down, down and away into the water, awaiting the slow departure of the day.

"It's been a good stay, yeah?" the prison guard coughs out, forcing the words through a sandpaper laugh. He runs his baton across the bars affectionately, as if playing a familiar musical instrument.

Charles looks up, having been off in some unnamable place, and then hatches a slow smile, the corners of his mouth being plucked upwards in the after of his dream.

"Yeah, it's been good," he says.

He lets the course of the river carry his eyes southwards to the bend.

"A piece of driftwood--like driftwood" he rolls around in his mind.

"It's been real good Mr. Jones sir," he says dropping some soft sarcasm and throwing a quick glance to his kind 'host."

Jones wipes his mouth and brow with a napkin, taking a quick breath of the balmy early summer air. And he grins.

"S' good to hear. Hope the accomdations've been good for ya."

"Just wonderful," Charles says, with a scrap of distance in his voice, "As a matter of fact, I was thinking about renovating it. Planting a fern in the piss pot. Maybe nailing the bed to the ceiling--you know, to give myself a bit of Zen space. A regular Marriott."

Jones throws the napkin on his desk and fumbles with a bevy of rusty skeleton keys, each singing a different jingle.

The perfectly square waiting room is large and open. One wall consists almost entirely of clear glass windows and one glass door. The others are white and windowless. Charles collects his belongings and celebrates his freedom by hopping on a bus whose passengers are a bunch of multi-racial sardines jammed inside a can on giant wheels.

He stands next to the door, holding a piece of the luggage rack, hanging right over the seats where the seated passengers are. That's when he first notices the letter. Invitation is more like it. Charles doesn't exactly know what draws his attention to it. But, when he sees it, it's like a shout from God.

Charles stands still for a second, staring at the row of brick buildings on the other side of the bus's tinted windows. He yells "Right here, big buy!"

The bus lets out a loud hissing noise before it stops and he swaggers out the double doors.

He struggles through the dank motel threshold, shifting his cumbersome belongings in his arms. Placing them by a small foldable table next to the bed, he shucks off his shirt and throws it on the floral printed mattress. The carpeting is stained and veiled strands of cobwebs decorate the ceiling corners.

The letter pins him in place.

Suddenly, the Los Padres mountain range doesn't sound so bad after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If someone wants to do something with me, then feel free. It can skip to me being there or whatever. Otherwise, I'll just figure out something, I guess.

[Mitch]

[size=1] The bag swung down from my hands as I hoisted it onto the tabletop surface of the dresser that was in the room.

"I'm not blonde," I said simply, running my hands through my hair, then unzipping my dufflebag.

"...Not...blah--what?" the girl I had found as I had walked into the room said. I ignored her momentarily as I took out my stereo system I had brought along, and then my two CD cases containing all the CDs I had ever owned. I looked at them as a child may look upon a box which would soon become a flying, sputtering space ship that would take them to the moon, yet only keep them on the Earth.

I turned to her, still holding my CD cases. "I'm not blonde, obviously. That would be my friend Tony...he has blonde hair."

"Oh," she said simply, in a way that said, "Am I really being this stupid to make these wrong assumptions to this guy that just walked in here?"

"Yeah, so what's your name again? I'd rather not just call you "girl" as it is the only name I can remember...at this point."

"My name is D'Ann. It rhymes with Sand, and--"

"You think the name's grand? I can rhyme too, heh." I made a small smile, trying to be amicable. "I write poetry pretty often."

"Me too! And what was your name, then....?"

"...Mitch," I said, then turned back around. I moved the dresser aside a bit, looking for an electricity outlet, and found it. It stood on the side of the wall, its two plug-ins with their holes standing motionless. Grabbing my stereo, I took the cord and plugged it in, then flipped my stereo on, the red light on its face lighting up like a manical, red eye.

I turned back to D'Ann, motioning to my stereo with my hands. "...Is it okay...if I?"

She looked at me, interest buried somewhere in her eyes. "Sure," she said. "What'cha going to play, anyways? How about some Hendrix...?"

"Eh, I don't have any. I'll just surprise you...how does that sound?"

"Sure," she said.

"All right." I turned around again, and took out a certain CD from a certain one of my CD cases, looking at the CD with all of the spark of a child, and soon I was off to the moon, but still grounded to the Earth.[/size]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Before she set the book down, the sound of Alice In Chains filtered through the room. Instant bliss. But not very good for the exact book she was reading. Instead of being pissed off at the inconvenience, she laid back, setting the book aside on the desktop. He shuffled a few things into his dresser, noting the way she had arranged all of her clothes in alternating piles of red, black, white, and gray. Neatness. He liked it.

And then, as he blushed and shut what was obviously a lingere drawer, she stood up and began rearanging the bookshelf.[/i]

"I hope you don't mind anal renentive people."

"Why do you say that?" [i]He looked more than just a little amused.[/i]

"Because I'm a neat freak. Perhaps in the extreme. But sometimes I let the closet go."

[i]He cautiously smiled and opened the sliding mirror. Perfect. Shoes in order. .....hiking boots? ...flip flops, Vans, where were the heels? He turned back, about to open his mouth and comment on the lack of girlish girly things.[/i]

"....they're in a box in the filing cabnet. I have nothing to do with formalwear if I can help it. Shoes included. Incase you didn't notice by the entire collection of large jeans and shirts...."

"I get it." [i]Mitch grinned and hung up his jacket and sweatshirt.

She smiled back and continued categorizing the books by title and size. So far so good. Tolkien, just before Tolstoy, and so on and so forth. An odd mixture of classics and such. He liked it.[/i]

"May I borrow them some time?"

"Knock yourself dead, just tell me."[/COLOR]

[Mitch]

[size=1] "I'll knock myself dead all right, with your neatness around my neck," I said, laughing at the end, placing in the obvious sarcasm.

"Oh, and will you? What do you have against neatness, hmm?"

I again smiled. "Well, let's just say neatness...is too neat. You've seen a mess before, right?"

"Of course I have. Do I really look like I don't get out that much. Oh please."

"Oh please indeed," I chuckled, "Anyways, I think messes themselves are pretty neat, wouldn't you say?"

"Sure," she said, then, "I'm sure I'm supposed to laugh at the pun, too, aren't I?"

"Oh please," I teased back, then finally got serious again. "Well, I mean it. Don't you think messes are beautiful and just...amazing?"

"Mm, I suppose."

"Well, at least you 'suppose,' that's better than nothing, I guess," I said, ending the little conversation, getting back to my music.

"I really like Alice In Chains," I muttered under my breath.[/size]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]As he finished up, I watched him meander around the space. Nice really. I could get used to him. He had morals, he wasn't drooling over me, he had nice hair, he actually had good taste. ....sure the music was a tad on the monotonous side, but hey, you can't have everything in life. Speaking of life.... I was getting hungry. I stood, and he turned to face me...amazing that he heard over the power of the Pioneers.[/i]

"Thirsty?"

"Yeah, kinda. Driving takes alot out of you."

[i]instead of saying anything else, yet again, I stretched over and then mentally prepared myself. He tilted his head to one side.[/i]

"Meditation? Yoga? Mantra?"

"I am preparing myself for the preppiness. It's a curse you know. And it's infiltrated this place."

"Aren't you...over-reacting?"

[i]Around this time Tori and Tony were in the hall, the sound of coettish laughter filling the air. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sweater and a skirt. Mitch didn't miss it either. He raised one eyebrow and I gave him an equal look.[/i]

"Questions?"

"May Fates protect you from the Fearsome and Mighty hand of the god of Fashion and the goddess of Prep."

[i]He mockingly made the sign of the cross over my head. I bowed low and leaped into the hallway, turned a cartwheel down the hall, followed by a roundoff, and landed at the banister. Then, a typical D'Ann move, slid down feet first. I landed at the foot, skidding in halfsoles until I was at the kitchen door. The male I heard called Justin, standing near the door shouted in a perfect umpire voice.[/i]

"SAFE!"

"SCORE!! CA-CHING!! BA-BUM!"

[i]While I performed a minor victory dance, I poured out two of my most favorite delicacies, perfected here with the aid of two blenders and strawberries. Then I charged back upstairs, balancing both in my palms.[/i][/COLOR]

[Shy]

"I... I saw Tori," I said to Ken, trying to remove the slight hint of fear in my voice. Why does this stuff always happen to me? The first bedroom I walk into has naked Tori in it, doesn't anyone know how to lock a door these days? I explained to Ken that I had caught Tori in a compromising position, and that only managed to fuel his curiosity.

"Compromising, eh?" Ken said with a grin on his face, attempting to push me aside and open the door behind me, ?It?s a good thing you walked in on Tori, one of the others might enjoy that sort of thing.? I struggled with him as he attempted to force himself through the door, but after a few minutes he gave up and wandered down the hall. I immediately sat down, embarrassed from my encounter. This was not the best way to start a living arrangement, especially with someone I had known for as long as Tori. ?At least it was good to see her again.? I thought to myself as I banged my head against the wall, ? Even if it was a little too much.?

Now seemed like a good time to find my bedroom. Some of the housemates hadn?t arrived yet, and I definitely didn?t want to get stuck with a bad roommate. I lived with my brother for 16 years, and didn?t want a repeat of that fiasco. The long hallways in the mansion were making me a little homesick. They reminded me of the empty hallways that I saw every night, working late on the school newspaper, or the hidden tunnels beneath Disneyland. Maybe I was just being sentimental, but a new house full of new people felt so foreign to me at the time.

From across the hallway a familiar, brown-haired girl was staring at me. I looked at her for a second, and then shouted out,"Hello Sara/Cera/Girl."

She smiled, and slowly walked over to me. She outstretched her hand, which held a small white tin full of mints, "I believe these belong to you."

Upon further inspecion I noticed the tin read "Donald Duck mints." I laughed, remembering when I sent her the package a few days earlier. It was a combination of a going away and welcome home present... ergh, we're just weird like that.

"Have you found a room yet?" She asked, glancing at the pile of bags near my feet, "I think there's an open room or two in the left wing."

"Wing?" I asked, "I've never been to any place that needed to divide itself into 'wings.' How are we going to afford this again?"

"I'm not entirely sure, actually. Jenna said she got a good price on this place, and with all of us pulling in some sort of income it shouldn't be too much of a problem,"

"I still need to find a job. Those Donald Duck mints are going to be the last you'll see for a while; I had to take a leave of abcense from Disneyland until the year is over."

"Oh, I'm sorry--"

"Don't worry about it. I needed to take some time off to focus on my studies anyways. That darn degree isn't going to earn itself, but considering the tuition prices I'm paying it [i]should[/i]."

She laughed at my bad joke, just like old times, and we started looking for our rooms.

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]OCC: Raiha, I would just like to defend myself and say that the only make up I wear is black eyeliner. And just because I wear pink does not make me a prep. Geez.[/color][/size]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue]In my defense, this is the way I am IRL, but....of course, I lose my prejudices against all people who wear any sort of makeup in time. Give her a week....she'll calm down.

[Yes it does! Either that or my school just has alot of pink wearing preps. ....out of the 5000 student population.][/COLOR]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]OCC: Just the idiocies of high school, dear Raiha. Thank God I'm out of there.

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

Tori had let her hair stay wet without brushing it and it had semi-dried in this messy waviness. She had completely disregarded the fact that John would be arriving soon and we see her how she looked. She figured that her outfit could at least be decent so she put on a thin baby blue sweater and her khaki skirt. This should keep her warm. She was always cold like that.

At this time, she began unpacking her things. She didn't fill up the closet as much as she thought she would. Despite having at least three boxes of clothes, they didn't really seem like much when she had them all put away. Jenna at one point came up the stairs and greeted her and the two had a quick conversation about how the trip here was, the adventure with Josh, how she had abandoned Tony in the foyer, and so on.

She knew for a fact that Tony, Josh, Ken, Jenna, and Justin were all here. As for the others, she had yet to discover the rest of the house. She descended the staircase once again and headed in the only logical direction: the kitchen. Halfway there, she met up with Tony again, who had apparently found a room and put his stuff away. He seemed to be heading towards the kitchen as well.

"Hey Tony, sorry about earlier..." she said, tucking a few strands of damp hair behind her ears. "I freaked out when I realized I hadn't showered in three days."

Tony laughed a bit. "Hey, don't worry about it. So what do you think of this place?"

"Overly large. I bet it gets really cold in here. It's probably hard to heat up such a large home."

"Well, I'm pretty sure there's a fireplace in the sitting room. It's pretty amazing. You should go check it out."

"Perhaps I will later...I'm trying to find my way around and see if there are any other people here yet..."

"I could have sworn I saw Sara earlier, not to mention Terra and Mitch. And from what I gather, Raiha's been here longer than anyone else."

"Oh? Well then, I need to start meeting up with people. Had anything to eat yet, Tony?"

"Nope."

"Hungry?"

"A bit."

"Anything in the kitchen?"

"I don't know. Let's check it out."

The two made their way to the kitchen, Tori telling Tony the story in full detail of Josh walking in on her as she was digging around for a towel.

"Have you seen him since then?"

"No, I haven't...he's probably scared to come around me. Poor Joshness..."

"John's not here yet, is he?"

Tori looked over at Tony and frowned.

"No, he's not...but I suppose he'll be here soon...."[/color][/size]

[PiroMunkie]

[size=1]I continued my drive as I had been doing for approximately twenty-six hours straight, but I was now on the streets of Montecito. A road trip is just not as fun if you do not attempt to drive the whole way in one sitting, and since the gas stations provide a non-stop supply of Mountain Dew, sugar, and restrooms, staying awake was not too difficult. Since it was still light out these last remaining minutes would be no problem. However, I know that once I get to the house I am just going to crash. I am pretty sure my sanity has dropped a couple notches because of this method of driving. I began to notice this when I was coming out of a gas station, hit and old woman walking along with a young child, and laughed at the incident.

Too bad that did not really happen.

My plans upon arriving at this place are as such: meet Tori, find a room, and sleep [strike]with Tori[/strike].

...

Honestly... I do need some sleep. I am glad that I have made this drive without dozing off, but I feel like utter crap... but it is worth it. This is the only way to road trip.

Singing along helps keep myself awake as well. The Misfits, Tenacious D, and Apocalypse Hoboken seem to do the best job for me. Currently, it was AFI. I was in their home state after all; too bad Ukiah is farther north.


After about a half hour (it would have been shorter had I not gotten lost a few times), I finally arrived at the house. My immediate reaction was "It's too big...", but I guess coming from Omaha, Nebraska, my expectations are a bit lower than Californian standards. I found a place to park, and immediately crawled to the back where I had a bag with some of my clothes. I changed into some fresher apparel -- jeans, t-shirt, hoodie (all black) --, grabbed my things, and headed for the front door. The weight of my luggage, despite the fact that I only had a couple bags and a large suitcase, seemed unbearable due to the severe fatigue of my body, but I carried on anyway.

Arriving at the front doors (or at least what I think are the front doors), I knocked as hard and loud as I could ... with my head ... and waited for an answer.[/size]

[BabyGirl]

[color=deeppink]Pink automatically signifies OOC for me, because I get confused by the letters OOC too easily... Anyway, this is a short addition, hardly worthy of being called one. But it's here anyway because I felt like writing, but I don't want to intrude upon the meeting of certain characters...[/color]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[color=purple]Hopping off of where she had been perched on the kitchen counter, Jenna breezed past Tori and Tony toward the front door.

As she pulled it open, she quickly pronounced, "I don't know why you all bother to knock." She cocked her head at the unbemused look on the man's face. He was damn cute, and the long hair gave him away, "Welcome home, John."

"Home? It should be 'welcome to the California Castle'."

"Hm," Jenna pursed her lips and pondered, "too big?"

John raised a questioning eyebrow in response.

"Too bad," she smiled and grabbed one of his bags for him "Welcome home anyway, John."[/color]

[Sara]

I sort of went off on a tangent about the game [i]Clue[/i]. If you don't know what it is, um...you should find out. And I do get sort of...loopy...if I'm tired. /

[color=666666]I grinned foolishly. "This place is so big," I said for the hundredth time.

"Yes," Josh said patiently, knocking on a closed door.

"But it's [i]big[/i]!" I said again.

Josh looked at me, but said nothing. I guess you kinda run out of responses when the other person repeats the same sentence more than a dozen times. What can I say? I was tired. It had been a long day, and I was still running on central time--two hours later than the clocks at my new Cali home. I was entitled to be a little out-of-it. And besides...it [i]was[/i] big.

Josh cautiously opened the doorhe had knocked on a moment ago, and blinked. "This room is also big," he said mildly, closing the door again.

"Can't I see?"

"No, I don't want you explaining to me how large it is for the next ten minutes."

"Silly," I said, taking the handle and pushing it back. The door opened easily, and my eyes went wide. "This is--"

Josh coughed.

"--un-small," I finished. "Oh, I [i]love[/i] it!"

I stood at the threshold of a large room lined with books. Shelves reached from the floor up to the high ceiling, almost all the walls--a full length window opposite the door looked outside. There was a huge old desk in one corner, and large, delicious-looking chairs in another. It looked exactly as I had always pictured the Library from the [i]Clue[/i] books and game.

"Oh, Shy, isn't it [i]perfect?[/i]"

"It is a very nice library," he agreed.

My eyes lit up. "Do you think there's a secret passageway?"

"The Library didn't have a secret passage," Josh said absently.

"It didn't?" I blinked, surprised. Not that he had known what I was talking about, but by his response.

"No. The Kitchen and the Conservatory had them. And the Lounge--"

"--and the Study," I finished. "Oh, yeah, huh? Well...maybe the Library had one, too. And they just didn't label it. I never understood why they labled the secret passages. Isn't that silly? I mean, I used to read the books all the time, and [i]everyone[/i] knew about them. Why did they even bother to call them 'secret'?

"And why did Mr. Boddy keep inviting everyone back to his house after they kept trying to kill him? He always explained it in the next book, but honestly, you'd think he would have caught on. I would have gotten at least a little suspicious. I mean, [i]everytime I invite these people over, something is stolen and/or I get pseudo-killed. Could there be a connection?[/i] Does that never cross his mind? I mean, how did he get to be so rich, anyway, if he was so stupid? What do you think?"

Josh looked amused. "I think you should sleep."[/color]