CHARACTER SWAP

Ravyn: I shot Ezra a look that clearly said 'duh'. "Of COURSE they're different! It would be wierd if they werent! Both of them were born on totally random impulses...... with Freya, i just felt like experimenting someone who would just kill people and not care.... and with Jamie, well, i just had the urge to create a bisexual crossdresser for about two solid weeks..... but then they both began to very much embody me as they began to develop. Freya is basically my angry rage-y violent side. Whenever im really really mad and i really just feel like ripping someone apart, i channel that anger through Freya. She's like my stress relief, if that makes sense. Jamie represents the practical side of me that likes to give advice. I love giving advice and solving people's problems. Sometimes when im writing for Jamie, i wind up thinking 'what would i say in this situation?' and sometimes when im in a tough spot, i think 'what would Jamie tell me to do?'. She's basically the calm, rational part of me. So, yes, they're different, but from one moment to the next, i can also be very different, so they both represent me specifically because of their differences. Hopefully that makes some sense." i said, attempting to explain things coherently.


Ash: I nodded. "That's pretty neat. Ive always sorta wondered about taking vocal lessons, but its just something i do as a pastime so ive never really worried about it. Plus finding people to teach in the middle of the night could pose a problem." i said, chuckling a little.

Peter

Well...that wasn't random. And what was up with Visi's brother's expression...?

"Near Richmond," I answered Visi's dad. "I've been living in New York City for the past six years or so, though." I hoped that he didn't want any more specifics on my hometown, because I was fairly certain that it didn't exist here.


Winter

"Be sure that the door is closed tightly," I informed T.Mor, already entering the house.

The first thing you see upon walking through the dark purple door to my home is the breezeway. To the immediate left is a low coat-rack from my childhood from which some random sweatshirts, jackets, and baseball caps hang. Umbrellas (mostly broken) stick out from a fancy, white cylinder directly below them. Porcelain, I think...though I never really checked. On the left side, three large paintings of ships and seascapes hang proudly on the metallic rose wall. That's the color of the room, by the way. And the ceiling is white. A thin, wooden table sits against the wall directly below the middle painting; this one, done by my grandpa, depicts "Old Ironsides"--the U.S.S. Constitution.

And at this point I get bored of describing my breezeway.

I took off my white sneakers next to the wicker basket where we put our shoes. I'd put them in the basket itself if that didn't mean they'd get buried. I'm always scrambling out the door to get to school in the mornings, so I need to slip my shoes on quickly. Thus...that spot right there. Always there. Always.

"Take your boots off," I told T.Mor. "Mum doesn't want any dirt being tracked around the house." Out here on the purplish-navy carpet was fine. But on the hardwood floors that existed through the entire main part of the house...not so much.

Bells

"Bleach works on blood right?" I wondered aloud, standing by the front door.

"Why does that ev-" Grandma's question was cut off with the small ding of my phone.

"Just a moment," I grumbled, pulling out my phone and glancing at the screen.

Wait. Mr. Face was texting me.

"Um..he's here.. I'm going to like.. walk to the school to get him." I grumbled.

Oh, sorry. I didn't know you would show up at the school. I'll be there soon. I sent, putting my phone away and starting out the door, ignoring my Grandma's grumbling as she went back to her room.

Invisimort:

"Oh, Ok. I did some work down there a while back with the computers down there for... for the government." My father talked some computer jargon as he cut up lasagna for everyone and distributed plates full of the steaming noodle dish.

"Er...So... Did you know that the Egyptians used to flatten their children's heads because they thought it was beautiful?" My sibling interrupted a second time.

"...Joe. SERIOUSLY?" I glared more at him, which my mother noted.

"Visi. Behave. You have a guest over." My mother reprimanded me.

"So? He's not even got his FACTS straight!"

"That's no reason to bite his head off." ...If I wasn't against cannibalism morally... "I really can't stand when you two fight like this."

Let it be noted that I do not consider this fighting.

"Visi... You always yell at me for being happy." My brother whined inappropriately.

If I were in a situation where I could headdesk... "I'M NOT AGAINST HAPPINESS IN GENERAL... JUST...ACK." I paused for a moment, remembering that I had a guest over who probably didn't want to hear the whinyness. "YOU CAN'T EVER SHUT UP."

Silence kind of hung in the air for a moment.

"Don't tell your brother to shut up." My mother instructed me after a bit.

T.Mor:

Winter's ceiling... was... It didn't have any holes in it...or... weird peely bits... and the walls... had these big fancy paintings... and she had a whole bucket full of umbrellas...

"Your house... Is... amazing..." I said as I sat down on the floor and unlaced both of my boots, realising that my socks were all... bloody. I mean... It was dry... and I didn't have any open cuts on my feet currently... but... er...Winter's socks weren't bloody... I felt a bit... out of place... or..something.

I put my boots over next to Winter's shoes and stood back up, wondering how she got her walls all to be the same colour...

Mr.Face:

My iPhone made some kind of preprogrammed noise. Bells had recieved my text. Good. She would be along shortly. Even better.

"Wonderful. I am in the hallway that sounds like a hallway." I informed her via OS talk-to-text. Was that vague? Yes. Could I have found out something more by actively looking for the ADA signs along the doors and actually reading them? Yes.

However... in this particular instance, the redundancy amused me for some reason, and I let it slide.

"Send?"

"YES, Send. Why do you even ask?" I briefly wondered if an eyeroll would be appropriately used in this situation. Then I decided it didn't really matter.

Bells

It took me around twenty minutes to walk to the middle school, assuming that it was the right school. He'd said he was in a hallways but..that wasn't exactly the best discription so I decided to just start exploring the halls in hopes of spotting a giant dictator dude.

The school was built kinda strange, like, there were three pods at one end of the building, that broke off of a square hall thingy. Each pod was a grade area, sixth, seventh, or eighth to be exact. On the other ends of the building were two halls breaking off of a large cafeteria /stage area. One hall led to the arts classes such as choir and such, the other had the electives like tech and cooking. In-between the halls were the two gyms.

Walking around for a moment I sighed, starting down the art hallway as some of the band practice music stuffs drifted into the hall from the band room. "Um..Mr. Face?" I asked, seeing a really tall person. Like..really tall to me..

Peter

...Somehow, I wasn't surprised by the exchange in the slightest. And apparently Visi's brother's name was Joe. I looked at Visi, a mix of a wry and a bemused grin on my face.

"All I have to say..." I started, "...August."


Winter

"Erm..." I started, looking at his bloody socks. "Is that dry? My mum'll flip if you get that on the floors. Well, I could clean it up after, but..." But I was lazy. "Oh, and you're going to be lodging in my room. You've got the bed; I'm on a cot."

We used to have a guest room, but it was converted into my brother's room once he was old enough to have one. So...no real place for guests. Which was perfectly alright, because we hardly ever had any anyway. However, since T.Mor was here now, I was definitely going to spare him from having to bunk with any of the other members of my family. Granted, he probably could've stayed with my brother, but...I hadn't wanted to take chances on how the two would mix.

Invisimort:

I grinned back. "Yes. Yes, Exactly." I replied.

"What are you talking about it's November!" My brother interjected yet again.

"My book... nothing." I didn't really like to talk about the book with the family, as... It was always...weird to do.

"...Wait, He can know about your book but I can't? That's not fair!" He made some kind of overblown pouty face.

"Life's not fair." I replied shortly, then shoving a craptonne of lasagna into my mouth. ...Ok... not a craptonne... but a decent sized mouthful.

T.Mor:

"What...oh... yeah... This is... from like... three days ago..." I told her. " And... I mean... you wouldn't have to...I mean... I can take care of it...if it gets on the floor...uhm..." I really didn't mind... I mean... It wasn't a huge deal to clean up some blood off a floor for someone...

I would be staying in Winter's room... Hm. I'd never shared a room before... which was... a bit odd considering my financial situation... but... My sister... yeah. I didn't really want to think about all that at the moment. I also didn't really know the difference between a bed and a cot... so I didn't know why she was distinguishing between the two... "Thank you..."

Mr.Face:

Minutes passed. A few more minutes passed. I actually pressed my fingers up against one of the door tags and learned that I was by an art room.

Eventually I heard an echo of footsteps down the hall, followed by a voice that I recognised from Invisimort's Skype endeavors. "Hello." I stated. "So glad you were able to find me based on my woefully vague directions. " I grinned down at her.

Bells

Okay, don't be creeped by his grin.. I mean..Just don't be.

"Yeah," I replied, with a bit of a smile. "This place isn't too big so it didn't take very much elimination. There's like..three halls in all."

Glancing at the band room that was most likely currently full of fifth graders I decided it would be a good idea to get Mr. Face back to the house before something happened that would be really hard to explain to the teachers.

"So, um..we can go out the door at the end of this hall and cut across the parking lot. Its about...a mile walk to my house..um...do you need a jacket or something..? Its kinda cold. I mean..like...30° at the moment. When we get back to my house we'll probably be having foodstuffs."

Peter

My gods... I suddenly had a much greater appreciation for Winter's little brother. He was worlds more tolerable than this...and he was ten.

Something occurred to me.

Visi... I thought, can you hear this? Just think 'Yes' if you can.


Winter

"No problem," I said. "And for the record, when someone's a guest in your house, you do everything for them. So if you track blood on the floors, I'll be cleaning it. Now...this is going to be your mantra from here on out, mmkay? Take heed: 'Don't question it.' Every time you see something you don't understand, repeat that to yourself a couple of times. Got it?"

Invisimort:

Holy Internet. Peter was talking in my head. That... That worked here? SWEET.

Yes.

"Visi, is something the matter? You seem to be attempting to stare a hole into the lasagna." My mom noticed.

"Wha--oh, no... Just thinking about the Tsar of Russia and how he kind of sucked...But it wasn't totally his fault." I came up with the first random thing that came to mind... which happened to be Tsarist Russia. "He wasn't a real tyrant... just stupid." I explained.

"Ah."

T.Mor:

I wasn''t sure how any of my blood on her floor could be my responsibility, but...if she wanted to be all nice like that... I guess that was...ok...
...Don't question anything? ...How...how different could this place be than Auda? And what If I got really confused? ...I mean...er... "...Ok..." I nodded also.

Mr.Face:

"Excuse me for asking you to repeat yourself, but did you just say that we would be walking? Outside?" I asked seriously. The outdoors and I... had a hate- hate kind of relationship that was comparable to most other people on the planet... if People weren't audible. If people didn't breathe and give away that they existed. If people didn't cause a displacement of soundwaves that you could manipulate to orient yourself in a room.

I didn't really register what the change in temperature would be, as Auda typically remained quite constant in temperature, and I found it somewhat... improbable that any place's temperature could be that variable.

Peter

Ah, good, I thought. So we can still have authors know our thoughts here... And by "we," I of course meant we characters. As an aside...your brother is very annoying. I don't know how you do it. I'm currently restraining the urge to whack him upside the head.

If there were two things I had absolutely zero tolerance for, they were whining and complaining. And he had no right whatsoever to do either one.


((Prepare thyself for a loooooooot of description... It ended up being loads longer than I thought it would.))

Winter

"Then let's head in," I said.

The door to the main part of the house opened into the kitchen. It wasn't anything fancy; the walls were mostly pale turquoise, save for one wall that was entirely brick and painted white. The ceiling was also white--come to think of it, every ceiling in the house was white. Except for my two pseudo-ceilings...though I wasn't sure if those counted. The kitchen was where you got your first glimpse of the Asian motif that permeated the rest of the house, and it was here where the quirkiness all but died off. So, sort of a transition.

I led him through the kitchen and into the dining room. Very large paintings and drawings covered most of the stark, white wall space, most of the artworks incorporating plant life and/or some Asian theme. (Almost all of the works in the house were painted by my great aunt Marney; the sheer number of them speaks to her prolific career.) The left wall of the dining room, to which the oak--I think--table was perpendicular, was dominated by a large bay window that looked out onto the deck. Under the table sat an elegant, black and gold octagonal rug, the design of which was based off of a stained glass window in...Versailles? Maybe. Since we had a guest, my mom had placed some new flowers in a pretty vase at the center of the table.

I walked a few feet from the kitchen and turned right through the wide, open archway that led into the living room. This room was the center of the Asian-ness, and very likely the centerpiece of the house as a whole. It stretched to the right, extending to the nearest breezeway wall. An elegant ("elegant" is a word that could describe most things in my house, especially my mother's decorations) fireplace sat in the center of the right wall; low bookshelves packed with books sat on either side of it. The mantle above it was home to some shiny things and crystal things and an Asian print in a nice frame. Calling the fireplace wall "forward" now, a...mahogany?...upright piano stood to the right. On top of it were more Asian decorations and a bamboo plant. To the left was a beige couch positioned under two silhouette portraits of my brother and me in profile, done when we [respectfully] reached age six. An earth-toned Oriental rug all but covered the floor in this area.

And then I got tired of describing my living room.

Calling the original direction "forward" once more, I walked forward and headed left to the stairs, which led upwards in the opposite direction that I was currently walking in. The railing--iron(?), painted white--was also elegant; the metal frame held some curvy, loopy designs. I headed up the stairs and paused on the landing.

"This door leads to the upstairs bathroom," I told T.Mor, indicating a door that was somewhat diagonally across from us. "Just so you know."

Facing out from the right wall was a door that was very obviously mine. It was home to some colorful paper flowers, a few drawings, a warning to knock first when the door was closed (which became moot when I made a habit out of locking my door), and some other random stuff. Deep blue fabric was taped (duct and masking varieties) over the space where the doorknob should've been. As the door was never closed when I wasn't inside the room due to the dire lack of doorknob, I lightly pushed it open.

My room was easily the brightest and most colorful one in the house. It was oddly-shaped, sort of a trapezoid on top of a short rectangle, with a bigger rectangle tacked onto a near corner. Posters covered the walls and pseudo-ceilings (not quite walls but not quite ceilings, either--they made up the sides of the trapezoid), showing a variety of things from dragons to wolves to videogame...stuff. And a really big poster of the periodic table of elements. Green paper swirly things, each about a foot long, hung from the ceiling as well as some oragami creatures that were suspended by white thread (not readily visible). A flock of butterfly wall-stickers was spread out around the room as well, mostly on the ceiling. The left wall was home to a low bureau on top of which sat a somewhat old TV, a cable box, and a DVD player. Low bookshelves stood on either side of the bureau, much like the arrangement around the fireplace downstairs. Like those bookshelves, these were also completely packed.

And then I got tired of describing my bedroom. But I had a bit more to go that was actually relevant.

My bed sat tucked in the far left corner, the thin, pale green comforter all nice and neat. A cot, made up with a sheet, some fleece blankets, and a pillow, sat on the hardwood floor/old, pink rug a few feet away from the bed. My computer sat between them.

"Set your stuff at the foot of the bed," I said, pointing. "Oh, and the mattress for the bed is made of this stuff called memory foam. It's wicked comfortable." I paused. "Now that you've seen part of my house...do you get why I told you not to question anything?"

Ezra

I gave her kind of a blank, confuzzled stare...trying to take it all in. Thank goodness I wasn't an author. "That makes...sense? I guess...."

Gh

I smiled up at him, "Well if you want, while you're here I can show you some of the stuff she has taught me?"

Bells

"Well.. um yeah. We have too if you want to get to my house any time soon. There's about twenty minutes of outside before we get there, and I walked the distance to save Grandma the trouble of driving here. It's not too far really, just a bunch of hills between here and there. I used to walk it everyday."

The music coming from the band room stopped and I bit my lip. Having Mr. Face out here when the fifth graders came out would be a really bad idea.

"So, um.. If you want to get home before it gets any colder out then we should get going."

With a bit of hesitation I started towards the door, hoping he would follow me. If he didn't.. well.. I would have to figure out something.

Invisimort:

Well... It involves a lot of contemplating violence. And... Hiding in my room. And fuming silently in my head, and Frustration and I'm always the bad guy though... Even if I'm right. I had to repress an eyeroll regarding that. Random eyerolling at a dinner table sans context... would not assist with my situation as 'fun killer extraordinaire'.

"So, In other news... I am going to go outside after dinner, and plaster my arm with plaster." I stated bluntly, hoping to dissolve the annoyingness perpetuated by my sibling.

"For Mr.E?" My mother asked.

"YES. Still haven't figured out the gore bits yet...but...eh." I had been sort of commissioned to do this dismembered arm for an English teacher at my school. Until this point, I had had no time to do any such things.

T.Mor:

Winter...winter must have been like... loaded or something... Because... her house... was like... Was like... I don't even know. It was like... magic or something. She had what looked like a sort of shrinebox on some kind of tabley- thing...

I put the suitcase Invisimort gave me down where Winter told me to. I wasn't quite sure what was inside the suitcase...As...I really...don't own a lot of...er... things.

"...Your house...is... is so..." I wasn't even sure how to finish my sentence. "...It's...so..." And I mean... there was so much stuff that I hadn't...seen..ever... "...yeah... uhm. Yeah..." I looked back at the shrinebox. There was no handle.

There was no handle on the shrinebox. How did that...?

Mr.Face:

"I don't like outdoors." I had once stated when I was younger that outdoors needed to be taken out to itself and shot. Repeatedly. I was still of that opinion.

She started moving without me. Towards what may have been a door. I hated listening for doors. They were... irritating. I took a few steps behind her, but... then there would be the threat of the sky. The... emptiness of it.

I hated outdoors. So much. "I don't want to do this." I told her seriously. "Outdoors and I do not blend well."

Bells

I paused and turned back towards him, thinking quickly.

"The problem is this is the only way to get home. It's not too far, and it's not like I'm going to just leave you behind. Come on, we have to get back before it starts getting dark outside."

And before those kids came out of the band room. That was another reason to get moving. A really good reason.

Mr.Face:

"What does it matter if It gets dark outside? It's not like that actually modifies my situation any." I stated unhappily. "I don't really want to go outside either way, you see."

And I didn't even have a spacial reference for 'not too far'. How far was 'not too far'? "When you say 'not too far'... What does that mean? Like, can you provide me with some actual... numbers? You say twenty minutes... but... how far is that?"

Bells

"If it gets dark outside then most likely I will get grounded, and you're stay will be very...hard if I am grounded. Second if it gets dark outside then I won't be able to find the way to my house.

Not too far means that if it was all flat land, and not hills that make it hard to measure the distance, then it would probably be around two miles. Not far at all." I told him, giving what might have been a reassuring smile..if he could see it. And I realized a moment later..he couldn't. So.. the smile didn't do much good I guess.

Mr.Face:

Two miles? That... That was quite a distance. I didn't think that the entire Brownstone District of Auda had a circumference of one mile...So... this would be like walking twice that. ...Without any tangible ceiling. Or wall.

I also briefly wondered what it meant to be grounded, and then decided that it wasn't my problem at the moment. However... If It was going to complicate matters somehow... That would need to be somehow avoided.

"Well... Fine then." I muttered unhappily. I did not want to go outside. I did not want to go outside. I did not want to go outside.

The repetition wasn't really achieving anything, but, I almost felt as though it were necessary. Or...something.

"Let's go, before I rationalise further and decide that it would be better off for us to stay here." I requested.

It was very...irritating to be in a position where I was the one who was uncomfortable with the situation at hand, as opposed to the other person being the one experiencing considerable discomfort. I didn't like it. At all.

Bells

I smirked a little, glad that we could finally get moving. "Good, then let's go."

Turning around I started down the hall again, assuming that he would follow me this time. It's only like, twenty feet from the band room to the door so it didn't take long. Once there I held it open for him, shivering slightly from the cold breeze the swept in.

"So.. its still really cold... so.. if you need a jacket.. tell me." I muttered, unsure of exactly what to do in that instance.

Mr.Face:

She was moving again. And then... there was the feeling of a refrigerator. I think that she opened the door to outside.

Outside should not have been that cold. I realised that she was holding the door for me...which... was nice I suppouse, however... It did nothing for my reluctance. I walked outside...and Immediately shoved my hands in my suitcoat pockets from the cold. This... This was nothing like Auda. At all.

"Right. Well. This was nice. Glad to know that the outdoors here are just as loathsome as the outdoors in Auda." I was quite ready to be done with being outside, even though I knew that this was not possible at the moment.

I commenced with the clicking noises that I produce while trying to construct a more concrete image of something. Not that it helped much.

Bells

"Oh, it isn't normally like this. Well, most of the time anyways." I informed him, starting down sidewalk but keeping a close eye on him. "During the summer it can get up to 116 degrees. This is winter is all, not even too horribly cold for it. Like, its only 30 degrees now, it's gotten all the way down to like..the negatives."

As I spoke I kept walking, figuring that the faster I walked the sooner we'd be back to the house and out of the cold, and the outside...

Mr.Face:
I didn't know what she meant by 'the negatives'... At all. Negative what? Not that I particularly wanted to stop to find out at this given moment, but, It would have been nice to know. I would ask later. If the sky did not...I don't know, consume me or something.

And she was practically racing out into the...Abyss. "Where are you going? Come back here."

As much as I despised being dependent... I despised being outside with no actual... bearing... more.

Bells

Oh, oops. I guess going that fast wasn't a good idea when he kinda..couldn't see and all. With a sheepish smile I stopped at the end of the sidewalk and turned around.

"Sorry 'bout that." I said, trying to sound apologetic. "Um..so how do this? Like...just want me to walk slowly next to you or..Erm...."

Mr.Face:

I clicked some more, and heard her coming back. She apologised. I am not much one for apologies. Especially regarding things like this. I go out of my way to be as self sufficient regarding my blindness as possible. If you forget that I am incapable of sight to the extent that you are going to leave me alone outside, then, clearly, I am doing things correctly. I do not expect you to apologise for anything that isn't your fault. But, again, at the moment, that fact was neither here nor there.

"If you do not object terribly, I would like to take your arm. And If you could just...keep up a running narrative...of...anything really... That would be much appreciated." I informed her.

Bells

"Oh, okay."

Pausing next to him I offered my arm, thinking quickly for something to talk about.

"Well..I guess I should tell you some things about how it works around here so that we don't have any issues with the law." I began, realizing this would probably be an important subject. "For example, murder I'd illegal. As is sacrificing kids to the internet."

Shivering slightly I couldn't help but wonder if I'd been off about the temperature. No...it was probably the wind chill. I didn't see why sense we have constant winds almost they don't just add the chill into what they announce in the mornings but..meh...I guess it isn't really important..bit still...I would have brought a coat or something if I'd thought about it...