RPG The Year of Otaku

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]Hmm. Ellie, want to be my roommate?
---

Ken snoozed idlely in the middle of one of the hallways after a long night of just hanging out. Sheer exhaustion finally forced him to a sleep- a short distance away from the room he had decided on, his roommate remaining unknown for now.

Standing, he stretched and let out a slight yawn. It had been a fun night- one that he was glad he could still remember. He walked a short way before running into none other than the super duo, Tori and John!

"Hey guys, what are you up to?" He said, greeting them with a wave.

"Just touring around the house, getting used to the surrondings." John said.

"I see, I see. It's a cool place, heh heh. Plenty of little spots for two people to steal away to."

He winked a bit with that and continued, "I passed out in the god forsaken hallway last night and could use a little shower. I'll leave you two to your touring- have fun."

With that he grinned and walked away, going to the nearest shower that he had found with his own little exploration the previous day.[/color]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]OOC: You guys can't let this die. I have tried to incorporate numerous characters into each of my posts and to just give up on it now is just plain laziness. Now come on, people. Someone get Charles out of jail.[/color][/size]

[Sara]

[size=1]Where are we in relation to the beach?
--
[b]"I hate grocery shopping," Sara said cheerfully.

"Then you probably should not have come," Josh said. "Here, go find...um..." He glanced at the list. "Cabbage."

Sara blinked. "Cabbage?"

"Yes."

"Why are we getting cabbage?"

"It's on the list," Josh said patiently.

"Yes, but [i]why[/i] is it on the list?"

"I...don't know."

"Meh."

James look at them from around the corner. "Are you two coming?" he asked.

"We're trying to solve one of the greater mysteries of life," Sara informed him, walking towards the cart.

"Oh? And what's that?"

"Why anyone, when asked what they want for breakfast, would ask for cabbage."

"Well, they probably don't want it for [i]breakfast[/i]," James said reasonably. He glanced at the list in Josh's hand and looked down the aisle for canned pinapple. "Maybe they want coleslaw for lunch or something."

"Can we stop obsessing over cabbage?" Josh asked. "Sara, I changed my mind. You go find some Cheerios."

"I told you I hate grocery shopping," Sara said again, and wandered off.

She returned a few minutes later with two gallons of milk. "I don't know how long this is going to last," she shrugged, setting them underneath the half-filled cart. "There are how many people here?"

"Oh well," James said. "First come, first serve. Josh, do we have everything on the list?"

"I think so," came the reply.

"Hey," Sara said. "Josh, do you have fireplaces in southern California?"

"Um...why?"

"I think we should get stuff for s'mores tonight, if we have a fireplace."

"It's a big house," James said. "There's probably a fireplace somewhere. If there's not, we can build one outside someplace."

"Are you sure? Is that legal?" They both looked at Josh.

"How should I know?" Josh cried.

Sara grinned. "Well, you do live here."

"Well, I haven't exactly found reason to research the city fire codes."

"Teasing," Sara said. She grabbed a couple bags of marshmallows from a shelf. "There's chocolate in the next aisle. I'm surprised that [i]it[/i] isn't on the list, too. Anyway, if all else fails, we can just make them in the microwave." [/b][/size]

[terra]

The kitchen meeting had adjourned into various factions, the major one going to the grocery store. As Ellie wished no part in that, she headed back out to the foyer, where she saw a dog sniffing its way toward her.

"Eh?" she said as the dog all but attacked her. Her hand, that is. With the lethal weapon of his tongue.

Though Ellie rather hated getting any type of saliva on her skin, she relented at the adorable plumpness of this dog and knelt down to greet it. "Hey there, boy," she said. "Joining into our circus?"

She looked up in search of the owner, and her eyes fell upon their other entrant into the circus. "Hello there," she said.

"Jordan," he said, holding out a hand. Ellie was distracted from taking it by a distinct hissing sound.

Jenna's cat appeared to have discovered one of their new bunkmates. Though Ellie didn't know a lot about cats, she knew enough to recognize when one was not particularly happy.

Pleasantries were ignored as Jordan and Jenna went to deal with their pets, which Ellie hoped (mostly for their sakes) wouldn't be an ongoing motif in the house. Feeling rather useless around animals, she headed back upstairs towards her room, with a vague idea about reading ... something.

As she entered, though, she was surprised to see a male figure standing wrapped in a towel, hair still damp. "Oh!" she said. "So [i]you're[/i] my roommate. Good to know."

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]OOC: Lets form a "pick up Charles from random hotel in random locale" fellowship. :D
---

Ken tilted his head, overcoming the slight startle he had gotten from the door opening. He walked over and offered his free hand, not wanting to appear rude- even if he WAS just in a towel.

"Sorry I didn't make an appearance sooner, but I passed out in the hallway. What a crazy night it was."

"You actually remember what happened?"

"Funnily enough, I didn't drink alot. It was a great time though. Stuff like hula-hoop racing even. Just fun little things like that."

He grabbed some clothes and put them on his shoulder, pausing a moment to consider the situation at hand, finally coming to the conclusion that he had to ask- might as well be honest, they are going to be roommates.

"How do you uh.. want to work the changing of the clothes thing? It wouldn't bother me, but I want to make sure its alright before I just randomly start dressing."
[/color]

[James]

[color=#707875]Josh looked at James and Sara. "So, are we ready to get back?" he asked.

James rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Not yet. Now that we've bought everything on the list, there are a couple of things I'd like to add."

"Oh?" said Sara, who was juggling milk and cabbages. James nodded and gestured for the others to follow.

As they walked down the aisle, they came upon the asian food section.

"Aha!" James exclaimed. He reached up onto a nearby shelf and pulled down a box of fortune cookies. Sara and Josh both looked at each other with confused expressions.

"What?" asked James innocently. "Don't you know how much I like fortune cookies?"

Josh smiled and began to speak, just as James interrupted him. "Yeah, I know that cookie eating is your thing...but these are [i]fortune[/i] cookies, Josh!"

Sara rolled her eyes. "You're crazy," she said with a smirk.

James simply nodded and pointed down the aisle. "Okay, let's get out of here. Doing all this grocery shopping is making me hungry."

Sara and Josh both nodded and followed James to the checkout.[/color]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]Tori had finally finished it. She was very happy and went dashing out of her room to find Jenna. John was left sitting on the bed alone, reading something. He looked up for a moment as he saw her head out and didn't think too much about it. She seemed pretty sporadic.

Tori bounded down the stairs happily and made her way through the house, calling out Jenna's name happily. She finally found her, accompanied by Jordan.

"Jordan!" Tori said, taking him by the hand and shaking it enthusiastically.

"Nice to meet you, too," he said. Tori just beamed happily and then turned to Jenna. Jenna actually jumped at her sudden movement.

"I'm done! I've completed it!" Tori said to her excitedly.

"What?" Jenna said, a bit puzzled.

"The design for the waitress outfit! Just look!"

She thrust a piece of notebook paper into Jenna's hand. Jenna looked it over, smiling widely.

"This is perfect. Now all we have to do buy the materials to make the costumes. I'm sure someone here knows how to operate the sewing machine in the basement."

"There's a basement?" Jordan and Tori bothed asked.

"Of course there is. A house this big and you don't think there'd be a basement?" Jenna laughed slightly.

"Oh well, I guess I just didn't think about it," Tori said.

"Well, I'm planning on getting the group together tonight at dinner to discuss tomorrow. We're going to take our list and go look at all the possible locations for our restraunt. We need a few people to volunteer to drive." Jenna explained.

"Oh, sounds like a ton of fun. I know I'll be driving," Tori said.

About that time, the phone began ringing. The three of them looked over at it curiously.

"I wasn't even aware that we HAD a phone yet," Tori said.

"Someone want to answer it?" Jordan said.

Jenna walked over to the phone and the wall and answered it.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hello, is this Jenna? This is Charles...I'm in big trouble..." he said.[/color][/size]

[Drix D'Zanth]

Jake stood, tail stirring an Everest-storm wind. The cat?s back arched as the big lumbering mass of Jake started towards it. Jake sniffed the cat despite the hissing, curling towards a heating vent near it, and laying down.

?I?m surprised your cat didn?t kill Jake,? Jordan sighed; glad he wouldn?t have to save his pathetically wimpy dog.

?Yeah, lucky him,? Jenna laughed.

Jordan sat down at the counter looking at the scenery outside, ?Pop a squat,? he patted the chair next to him. Jenna sat down joining his idyllic gaze, ?I heard you are from Michigan too.?

Jenna nodded, ?Yeah, I moved to San Buenaventura for a few reasons.?

Jordan smiled sarcastically, ?It didn?t take much more than one reason to get me out of Michigan. I know it?s home? It doesn?t feel right.?

Jenna nodded,? I guess I have that feeling too. I still miss my friends.?

Jordan cocked an eyebrow; ?Tell me about your endeavors in mitten-land.? (to those non-Michiganders, the lower peninsula is shaped like a mitten? J)

[Mitch]

Mitch sat in his room frantically writing away about nothing.

He had made a story with all the people of the house in it--well, in a way, at least. He'd even put a touch of poetics in it, trying to sound cryptic and all.

The story followed a man named Bob. Bob was a regular guy in a regular school in a regular town. The town was affectually called Calvinoushobbesland. It was straight out of a great comic book a certain girl that lived in the house would have known. But Mitch did not know enough about this certain comic, so he was only able to base it in the most banal things of the comic.

The comic, Mitch could remember, had a tiger of some sorts. So he made Bob, the lovingly dull and unusual usual, wear a tiger suit. He probably looked just like Tigger in it. You see, Bob had the shape of a tiger and all--it was really, really neat how Mitch saw him in his mind. He was like an athletic John Schmo, for lack of anything better to say.

He had blonde hair--like a certain someone whose name is not going to be disclosed--and he really liked to eat cookies. Special cookies. Imaginary cookies. He was also very shy. Almost to the point where he waddled about like a shyguy from those old mario games.

The story started off in the usual, uncrisised life of dearest aforementioned Bob. He was on the bus, as usual, in his tiger costume that looked like Tigger from that one Pooh show that Mitch couldn't remember.

Bob was sitting alone as always. There was Betsy Sue, the only one that was his friend, but she was, sadly, sick this day in Calvinoushobbesville. So he sat there alone, thinking of Betsy Sue, knowing she usually didn't come on the bus anyways. But he had always, each and every day on the bus, looked for Betsy Sue's Mother driving her to school. And this day, he had not seen her.

All the other kids made fun of Bob for wearing his tiger suit. Even the teacher did. All he would say is, "I will not eat green eggs and ham, no I will not Sam I am." The teacher would only look at him--her name was Ms. Asuka--but he much rather called her Pooka, it sounded like a bear. She had these wide, staring eyes, and loved Pink Floyd. And when Bob came to class in his tiger costume, she would get mad.

Bob's thoughts were ambling, though. And here he was back in the bus. It was rolling on its wheels, the bus driver steering the steeringwheel, the kids chattering. And Bob still sat in the back as the bus rolled on its wheels and school approached.

Mitch stopped writing, realizing how long he'd been writing. Nearly the whole time, while others were doing whatever they were doing. He felt stupid, too, for taking so damn long to write out this little chunk of story. Well, it was about two pages. But there really was something about Bob...he was so real in Mitch's mind.

Mitch got up and left the room finally, drifting off to get something to eat.

[terra]

"The changing clothes problem, eh?" Ellie said, pondering the question for about half a second. "Well, it wouldn't really bother me to see *your naked back* or anything like that. Or if you saw mine, for that matter. So how about I'll just knock next time I walk in, to avoid anything full frontal, and we can always just keep our backs to each other when necessary?"

"Sounds good," Ken said, glad that somehow while he was passed out in the hallway he'd ended up with such a cool, cool roommate.

Ellie puttered around organizing her clothes while Ken changed, each studiously facing an opposing wall. He eventually announced he was finished, and they both headed downstairs where someone was yelling rather loudly into a phone.

"But that doesn't explain how you ended up in [i]jail[/i]!" was what they heard of the tail end of the conversation.

Tori hung up the phone and turned to Jenna and Jordan, who were still sitting nearby in the foyer. Ellie, by now, was all ears, and she and Ken had descended into the foyer as well.

"Charles was in jail," she said, a bit unnecessarily. "He asked us to go pick him up at _____ Motel."

Jenna raised an eyebrow. "That's a pretty shady motel." She shrugged and grabbed her keys off a hook by the door. "Well, I suppose there's no help for it ... let's go get him."

"Are we sure we want someone living in our house who was not only in jail, but also in a sleazy motel?" Ellie said, but it was a murmur under her breath, and only Ken heard. He just laughed.

"Oh, yes," he assured her. "We're all sure we want Charles living here."

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]While Mitch had slaved away at his writing, D'Ann on the other hand had recieved several phone calls and IMs....cried, and then gotten furious.

Subsequently resulting in her slamming her books around, screaming primal death screams while listening to P.O.D., and also banging away at her keyboard. All in one day. Mitch either didn't notice, or was an expert at ignoring the rage.

Finally, she calmed herself with the aid of several songs, a glass of cold water, and several nail marks in her palms. Then she opened her eyes after having them closed for several minutes, and put on her earings. She slid down the banister and walked down the hall just in time to hear the following words issue from someone, Jenna.[/i]

"We all want Charles living here."

"Then let me get him Jenna." [i] D'Ann had appeared out of nowhere, and looked ready to kill.

Ken blinked and Ellie looked slightly perturbed.[/i]

"I need to let off some steam anyways...before I go stir crazy."

[i]Jenna held out her keys, but instead D'Ann walked past and held the keys to her Accord over her head and jangled them furiously. Then she held up a Korn CD in the other and hissed through her teeth.[/i]

"Yeah, stir crazy."[/COLOR]

[BabyGirl]

[color=purple]"Take your time." Jenna called after D'Ann, completely empathetic to her situation. Jenna had days where days where even certain peoples' voices struck a nerve, sending her into an irritable slump.

"Hello to you, too." Jordan muttered as D'Ann slammed the door behind her.

"Oh, we all have our days." Jenna waved it off and started toward the pool deck out back, "How many people are home?" She called out rather loudly, letting her voice echo through the open foyer and drift up past the open upstairs hallway.

When no one responded, Ellie pointed to Ken and herself, "Well we are."

Jenna grinned, "Thanks. At least somebody here can speak. I think I'm going to head out and check on the cleanliness of the pool and then take a dip in it myself. If anyone cares to join me, feel free. As soon as D'Ann gets back with our resident felon I want to have a meeting. Things need to get straightened out and cell phone numbers need to be passed around."

"What if someone is cellphoneless?" Tori raised an eyebrow, her sketches tucked under one arm.

"I'm afraid that it's going to become a priority to have a cell phone now." And with that said, Jenna exited to her room to change into her bathing suit.

When she found Justin had fallen asleep, open book lying on his chest, she jumped on him noisily, "Come swimming."

"Agh," Justin swatted her away groggily and rolled over.

"Hey sleepy man," Jenna poked his shoulder, "get up."

As he made a few more unintelligible sounds, she used the bounce of the bed to propel herself onto the floor. She decided to be curteous to her roommate and change in the bathroom, saving him from any unwanted or unexpected voyeurism.

~~~

The pool looked beautiful. It was set in ground and modeled after the shape of a large lima bean. Jenna fished out what stray leaves had fallen into the shimmering blue water and tested the chlorine level. She figured that growing up with a pool and being forced to help her dad maintain it was now paying off as a handy skill.

The water temperature was perfectly lukewarm as Jenna slipped into it, pushing off of the pool's wall and gliding like a mermaid through the water. When she came up for air, Justin's grinning face greeted her, "'Lo little fish."

"Are you going to join me? Water's fine."

"Nah, but it amuses me to do this." As he finished the sentence, Justin reached down and pushed Jenna's head playfully under the water.

"Bastard." Jenna sputtered as she resurfaced, grabbing the side of the pool with one hand and his arm with another. Her attempt to pull him in was an obvious failure, seeing as how he saw it coming.

"Nice try, little fish." He laughed as he escaped her grasp and hurried back toward the French doors that led to their room, "Better luck next time!"

Before he could disappear, Jenna hurled a handful of water and thoroughly soaked the seat of his pants. She smirked at her victory and resubmerged herself into the water.[/color]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]Without hitting other cars by some miracle of machinery, D'Ann backed out, and shot down the hill and out onto the main freeway.

Resisting the urge to gun the motor, she shot down the highway, headed for the local police office. Having been transfered over temporarily, she had only a vague idea of what to bring. So, naturally, she had brought her student ID, check card, and the emergency cash. Keeping one eye on her rear view mirror and the other on her speedometer, she continued, keeping the pace steady. Well, as steady as it could be while blasting "Did My Time" through the sound system.

Several songs and albums later, she reached the outer reaches of Santa Barbara, where he was being held. As soon as she neared the parking lot, she reduced her speed and cut the music. She parked and got out, adjusting her sunglasses. Once inside, the officer greeted her courteously and asked for ID. Then he led her down the hall to another room.[/i]

"He's in here."

"Why? Is he in trouble?"

[i]The officer gave her a look. She relented.[/i][/COLOR]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]Tori went and placed her sketches back up in her room. John was still sitting on the bed, but this time he was watching something on their small television. Tori thought nothing of it and made her way into the closet.

"What are you doing?" John called out to her.

"Well, I thought I would go swimming. Jenna's out in the pool and I don't like to swim alone, so I thought maybe I'd join her." Tori smiled as she picked up her favorite pink and white bikini.

"Swimming, huh? In the pool? When you know the ocean is out there?" John asked.

"Yes, the pool. I will have plenty of time for the ocean...oh yeah, did you know Charles is in jail?" Tori said.

"What?"

"Yeah, he just called a little while ago and asked us to go pick him up. D'Ann just took off. She said she needed to get out and no one really wanted to argue with her. She's the type you just need to let have her way." Tori smiled a bit, sighing happily as she began to change into her bathing suit. Embarrassed to be see in it, she put on a tank and shorts over it. She walked out of the closet and stood in front of the bed where John was.

"You and I need to go do something..." Tori said, pretending to pout.

"Like what?" he asked.

"I don't know...but we need to be spending alot of time together. I think that once the business gets started up, things wont be so relaxed. Oh yes, and we have to give Jen our cell number."

"Don't you mean MY cell number?" John said, raising a brow.

"Well, I don't have a cell and since we're almost always together anyway I figured it would be most convenient." She smiled innocently.

"Okay well, give her the number and maybe I'll meet you out by the pool," he said, giving in.

Tori smiled and jumped on the bed and hugged him tightly.

"I'll see you in a little while!" she said and she made her way out of the room and down to the pool, where she found Jenna.

----------

OCC: Mitch, that was hilarious.[/color][/size]

[terra]

Ellie couldn't help but crack a smile walking outside as she passed a wet behind, on the figure of Justin. Luckily, she wouldn't have to worry about getting her own clothes wet, as she'd changed into her bathing suit (after giving Ken fair warning, of course).

She'd been very quick about it, and only Jenna was out there when she jumped in, rejoicing in the feeling of the cool water enveloping her body. She loved swimming, more than most other things she could imagine.

"Hey," Jenna said when she resurfaced.

"Hey," Ellie said, grinning. "Pool -- hot tub -- you picked a [i]good[/i] place."

Jenna laughed. "Well, I'm working for you guys. How's it all going?"

"Good," Ellie said, moving her hands back and forth idly, enjoying the weightless feeling in the smoothness of the water. "Ken and I are rooming together ... I don't really know him yet, but I think it'll work out pretty well. And I'm really excited for when we start up the restaurant, though I bet it'll be a ton of work."

"We can start getting things ready," Jenna informed her, pushing off with her feet to float comfortably on her back. "Tori's already designed a costume -- I mean, a uniform for the waitresses."

"Really? Are we going to order them?"

Jenna looked thoughtful. "It sounded like she hoped to make them ourselves."

"Wow, that'll be intense," Ellie said, surprised. "Well, maybe she'll let me help out -- I'm pretty good with a sewing machine." (<-- OOC: [i]complete lie[/i].)

Just then, Tori walked out of the house with a towel slung over her shoulder. "I guess you can ask her yourself," Jenna said.

[DeathKnight]

[color=crimson]OOC: Mitch's post had stunned me for a few days, but I am successfully back into reality.

;P
----

Ken was pondered quietly, coming to the quick conclusion he would enjoy a nice swim. He got dressed into the generic swimwear and stepped over to a dresser-mirror, checking himself over- just in case. Without his shirt, there were a few scars that could be seen now.. otherwise it was all good. Hair messed up as usual.

He laughed a bit at that and grabbed a towel from the various things strone out on his bed- the next thing that he had to do was toss the little crap he had into the various available spaces.

"Eh, thank god I didn't bring a ton of ****. Not that I.. had.. a ton of **** to.. bring. Ah, whatever."

For now, he wanted to relax a bit and see if the pool was as outstanding as the house/mansion/castle.. so he began to make his way there.

---

Arriving, the only people there were Tori, Ellie and Jenna. They were discussing Tori's waitress uniform, and from the discussion it sounded like it would be a lovely uniform- one fit for Tori, indeed.

He jumped into the deep end of the pool, as good of a distance as he could get from the others- trying not to destroy them with some monsterous tidal wave. Still, being the tall, somewhat large person he was, there was a substantial choppyness in the water.

It was highly refreshing- pumping him full of energy. Coming to the surface, he floated idley, letting the water wash away the various ills that the hectic move had placed on mind and body. [/color]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]As Tori had arrived at the pool, she saw that Jenna and Ellie were already there. She quickly started removing the clothing over her bathing suit, when Ellie asked her about the uniforms. Tori perked up happily.

"Oh, they are great! The colors can be whatever we like and they have lots of ruffles! Ruffles are always a blessing, I say," Tori said happily, stepping into the water.

"Jenna says you're wanting to make them yourself?"

"Well, I'm hoping to do that, but I'm not any good at sewing," Tori said, a bit embarrassed. "I'm so ambitious, but sometimes there's nothing there backing it up!"

"Well, no worries. I'm handy on a sewing machine." Ellie smiled, proud of herself.

"That's great!" said Tori. "Now all we have to do is purchase the material and we're set!"

Jenna splashed the two of them and the begin splashing back.

"Yes, and as she says, there are plenty of ruffles to go around," said Jenna, grinning at the two of them.

About that time, Ken made his appearance, jumping into to pool. When he resurfaced, he began to float. All of a sudden, Tori came out of no where and threw her arm over him in an attempt to pull him underwater. Instead, she just sat there, her arm over him, struggling to do the impossible.

"Ah Ken, you suck.." she said as Ellie and Jenna burst into laughter.

Quietly, the door to the outside where the pool was opened. There stood Sara is a nice bathing suit. She just stood there, looking over the scene, a smile touching the corners of her lips. Tori spotted her after a moment and yelled out to her.

"Hey Sara! Come join us in the pool! The water is great, like they always say!" she smiled widely, waiting for Sara's reply.[/color][/size]

[Sara]

[size=1]"I'm not...really...much of a swimmer," Sara said, slightly embarrassed.

"You're in your swimsuit," Ellie said pointedly.

"Yes, well...that. Hm." Sara paused for a second. "The groceries are here. And put away. No thanks to, well....anyone else. Well, James. And Josh. But they're not here. So...yeah."

"Aw, c'mon, Sara," Tori laughed. "Come have some fun."

"I am having fun!" She said shrilly.

"No you're not," Jenna said, siding with Tori. "Come on."

"I don't want to get wet."

"Then why are you in your bathing suit?"

"You already asked me that."

"And you didn't answer!"

Ken grinned mischieveously, pulling himself up out of the pool. Sara's eyes widened as she watched him, not noticing the newest arrivals to the pool sneaking up behind her.

"No--Ken, if you push me in, I swear--Aaiiah!"

[i]Splash[/i].[/size]

[Charles]

Charles picked up the television remote that was chained to the night table and began surfing through the six-station programming. He could almost distinguish figures behind the thick blanket of snow buzzing on-screen.

He peeled his formerly white tank top from his sweaty, filth-streaked body and tossed it onto the bed. It was now tinged grayish brown.

He ran his fingers through his hair; it had become sharp and dagger-like, hanging over his face in rigid jawline-length wisps. His eyes spread out like the wings of a hawk, and a frightful shiver overwhelmed his limbs.

He slumped onto the mattress and practically gnawed a hole through his bottom lip.

That's when D'Ann let herself in. She just shook her head angrily. She stalked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut with a resounding thud. Charles closed his eyes and finished collapsing on the archaic bed. Once again, he threaded his fingers through his hair.

He reached into a small refrigerator and sifted through the contents (which largely consisted of empty beer cans) until his hands found a full can.

"Bingo," he said.

A scream suddenly pierced the air, catapulting him off the bed and to the closed bathroom door.

"D'Ann?" he called, rapping his knuckles on the wooden surface.

"What's the--"

In response the door flew open and D'Ann hurried out nearly bowling him over.

"There are roaches all over the place," she hissed, a tremble rippling through her body.

She shivered before turning petulant eyes on him.

"First I drive across the country," she said.

"You sure did," Charles said, "And I'm [i]so[/i] glad you could make it to my suite. Almost like a honeymoon without the wedding."

"--Then I go to the police station," she said, "to pick up your sorry ***--"

"And might I say they're very nice people," Charles said, "They were kind enough to offer me a room, even."

"Only to find out that there was a processing error and you weren't even there," D'Ann said.

At that point he realized that no one had read his first role-play in its entirety.

Charles just clenched the muscles in his jaw and returned to the bed yet again. He grabbed a small plastic pail resting on the foldable table.

"Go get us some ice," Charles said.

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]She snatched it from him and, true to her character, flipped it over and slamed it down on his head.[/i]

"Get your own! I might have dated you but I never married you."

"Ah, but you two have so much in common. The ice is as cold as your bed habbits."

[i]The scream of rage was heard several floors up and several floors down. She hauled back and was about to punch him in the face before he picked her up, and spun around, and dropped her onto the bed. Before she could plant both feet on his hips and kick him into a wall, he pinned her down forcibly.[/i]

"Might of had something to do with the fact that you could never get it up for me in the first place."

[i]While he spluttered something uninteligable, she rolled her eyes. Then she pushed him up off the bed and opened the door.[/i]

"Let's go."

"To the courtroom?"

[i]She blushed, then held it open stubornly.[/i]

"No, to the house! It's a three hour drive and I want to get it over with."

"Awww, don't want to spend the night with me?"

"Not if you paid me. ....well....maybe if you paid me."[/COLOR]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]Tori laughed as Sara was pushed in the pool from behind by John and Josh, and was pulled in by Kenneth. As Sara resurfaced, gasping for breath, she looked infuriated.

"Aw, Sara, don't be mad..." said Josh, noticing the look on her face.

The angry look began to fade quickly as she looked around and noticed that everyone was looking at her intensely. She started laughing.

"Yay! Sara's laughing!" said Ellie.

Sara made her way over to the shallow end of the pool where Tori, Jenna, and Ellie had gathered. Tori looked up at John who was standing beside the pool with Josh. Neither of them looked like they were ready to go swimming.

"Why aren't you guys in swimwear?" Tori said sadly.

"We just thought we'd sit out here and have ourselves a nice cold drink of OJ and just watch you guys," John said.

"Yes, and I brought the cookies," said Josh, munching on one.

About that time, Kenneth made his way back into the water, splashing John and Josh as he jumped in. The two just stood there, soaking wet. Everyone burst into laughter.[/color][/size]

[BabyGirl]

[color=purple]When D'Ann arrived with Charles in tow three hours later, Jenna decided that enough residents were home to call an evening meeting. Cell phone numbers were exchanged, and she [i]strongly[/i] recommended that everyone who didn't currently own one to get one.

Tori presented her idea for waitress costumes, and it was accepted with some minor changes by a majority of the female house members. More job positions were debated and decided, and by the end of the meeting as the sky was blushing red with sunset, Jenna left them all with promise of finding a few prospective venues the following day.

As people filed out of the room, Jenna stretched out in her oversized leather chair and let the golden hour sun bask her skin in its beautiful orange glow. She must have been worn out from swimming earlier in the day, but Jenna didn't remember falling asleep.

When she awoke, the darkness of the house seemed to envelope her like a dark velvateen blanket. It was quiet, eerily so, and the patio lights were the only ones that illuminated the high ceilinged living room. The clock atop the fireplace clicked loudly in the silence, it's face revealing the time; 10:45 pm. She had been asleep longer than she thought.

Figuring that the rest of the house was still recovering from jet lag and adjusting to the new time zone, Jenna waited until her body fully awoke from its sleepy state. Her contacts blurred her vision as they always did after a nap, and as she padded barefoot across the cold tiled kitchen, she closed her eyes tightly in several attempts to clear them.

As the front door clicked open, Jenna assumed someone was returning from their night out and went to greet them. She fumbled for a light switch, but still being unfamiliar with the house, she gave up and rounded the corner toward the foyer. The entryway was moonlit, and as the door closed a shadow was through across the polished floor. Jenna glanced at it, trying to determine who it belonged to when the silhouetted [ok, i can't spell that word] figure startled at the sight of her.

"Hey," she smiled in the darkness to greet whoever it was, but as she turned to search for a lightswitch again, she felt a shove from behind and the hard marble floor came rushing up to meet her. Stunned, Jenna hardly felt the pain settling into her hip and shoulder before her vision winked out and she faded into blackness.[/color]

[Raiha]

[COLOR=royalblue][i]D'Ann woke up early, as usual, and padded downstairs to make her customary rice and soysauce breakfast, when she saw Jenna. Passed out drunk? No, there wasn't any left in the pantry. She walked closer and saw a hefty bruise on her forehead, and abrasions on her palms. D'Ann, true to her character, picked her up as a medic would, and deposited her on the couch gently. Then, she picked up the phone and speed dialed the appropriate number. The police, wouldn't arive for quite awhile, given everything she could tell them.... There just wasn't enough evidence to make any conclusions. The door was locked, the windows weren't broken, the usual norms.

It was freaky.

Jenna didn't stir, and D'Ann got a ice pack and a cup of tea. Then she placed Jenna's head in her lap and massaged her undoubtedly sore temples. It brought her around.[/i]

"Welcome back Jenna. Care to explain the morbid details?"

".....where am I?"

"In my lap. Now tell me what's going on please."[/COLOR]

[Queen Asuka]

[color=hotpink][size=1]OCC: I love it when Jenna takes the initiative. ^_~

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

After having a blast at the pool, Tori and John made their way into the kitchen for dinner. They cooked up some microwave dinners because of convenience and to save time, and ate them silently. The sun was setting out the huge kitchen window. Tori yawned and looked at her watch. It was still set in Eastern time.

"Geez...if it's 11 pm in Georgia, then that means it's 8 pm here. I am so tired...I don't know if I'll ever get used to the time changes..." She layed her head down on the table sleepily. John gently patted her on the head, softly stroking her hair.

"Well, let's get you up to bed then," he said, helping her stand up and taking her hand, the two of them making their way to the bedroom. As they got there, Tori immediately crashed on the huge canopy bed, still in her damp bathing suit.

"Tori...you'll get the blankets damp, and then you will not want to sleep there..." John said, sitting beside her on the bed. His clothes had long since dried since he didn't even get into the pool.

"Bah, you're right..." she said, slowly sliding off the side of the bed, somehow landing on her feet. She quickly made her way to the closet and changed into some silky PJs. They were pink, of course, and had little white hearts all over them. She dragged herself across the floor and plopped back down in the bed, immediately grabbing and hugging her stuffed Georgia Bulldog. She smiled sleepily up at John, who smiled back down at her. He got up himself, changed into some cotton pants that Tori made him wear to bed, and then sat back down beside her. Her eyes were closed and she was already breathing at a soft, sleeping pace. He leaned over and kissed her forehead, pulling the blankets up over her.

"You were worn out, weren't you?" he said, looking at the clock and seeing that it was only about 8:30. He smiled again, getting under the blankets himself and turning out the lamp before trying to attempt to go to sleep.

John was not the type to go to sleep early. He lay there in the bed, staring up at the canopy for a while. The room was dark, and little daisy-shaped shadows fell across his bed. The moonlight was bright coming in from the windows above, and he looked over at Tori who was sleeping happily, still clutching her bulldog. He looked at the clock. It had only been about 3 hours, 11:30 pm. He sighed a bit and then got up out of bed, pacing the room. He made his way into the closet, checking out how things were organized there, looked around in the bathroom, and decided to take a midnight shower. It was a crazy idea, sure, but he didn't have anything better to do and he didn't have his computer to keep him busy. He made his way in and turned it to hot, steaming up the entire bathroom.

As he got out, he wrapped his towel around himself, making his way back into the bedroom to escape the steamed bathroom. The house was eerily quiet, so he decided to put on his music very softly as not to wake Tori. He got dressed, made his way back to the bed, holding the remote to his stereo.

That's when he heard it. It sounded like someone was coming up the hallway. He muted the music, and sat there listening. The silence was buzzing in his ears, only broken by Tori's light breathing. Then he heard it again. Someone was slowly making their way up the hallway past their room. He sat there quietly, wondering who is was, and suddenly becoming paranoid of this ever so big house. He shut off the stereo completely, layed down in the bed, pulled the covers over his head, and turned towards the sleeping Tori, finally falling asleep.[/color][/size]

[terra]

That night, as Ellie and Ken were changing into their pajamas -- backs carefully to each other, of course -- Ellie paused, one arm halfway into her shirt.

"Did you hear something?" she asked over her shoulder, though not turning around.

"Nope," Ken replied, and Ellie could hear the sounds of him getting into bed.

"Hm," Ellie said, but decided it was just her overactive imagination, or maybe the house settling like her parents had always told her as a child. She finished changing and flicked off the light.

"G'night, Ken."

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

The next morning when Ellie awoke, she felt uneasy, somehow. Nothing she could place her finger on, but ... She got up quietly to avoid waking Ken, slipping noiselessly out the door and heading downstairs, unashamed in the T-shirt and shorts that served as her sleeping gear.

Nothing seemed out of order. In the living room, Jenna was lying in D'Ann's lap, which Ellie found a bit odd, thinking that they were apparently were closer friends than she'd originally thought. Upon closer inspection, though, she realized something must've happened, since there was an ice pack on Jenna's head.

"What happened?" Ellie said in something of an undertone. If there was an ice pack involved, loud voices probably wouldn't be very welcomed.

"She doesn't know," D'Ann answered for Jenna, who'd closed her eyes again at the relaxing massage of D'Ann's fingers. "Summary: last night she came in from the pool, saw a figure, and was pushed to the floor. I found her this morning."

"Oh my God!" Ellie exclaimed. "So we don't know who it was?"

The doorbell rang. "That'll be the police," D'Ann said, and Ellie went to get it.

After about half an hour of the police stomping around, asking questions to everybody in sight even though hardly anybody was quite sure of what was going on, Ellie was thoroughly ready for them to leave. And leave they did, with a few parting sentences: "Well, sorry folks, but we can't find any evidence. Nothing seems to have been tampered with. I'd advise you to make sure your windows and doors are locked every night, and feel free to call us again if you see anything suspicious. We've got you in our files now."

"Thank you, officer," Ellie said, and closed the door on them with something like relief. Though as she turned back to the house, she realized she should be anything but relieved. They still had no idea what had happened.