Well, I'm somewhere else. (Open)

[yanagi]

Limber came out of Ms. Williams' house a little faster than she normally moved. She turned back in towards the interior as she held the frame of the door and reassured the old woman for the fifth time. "Thank you. No, I don't need a place to stay. It was very nice to hear about your grandson Mathews' broad shoulders. No, I'm sure I can't stay until he comes back from work. Thank you, good bye."
She shut the door and faced the street.

Now she needed to find a place to sleep. A tree would work, even a bench, though Limber had no idea if there were police officers in the world to kick her off a bench.

The sky had just begun to resemble that of her home world, turning red as the sun sunk down.
Either her world had a very different time zone than this one as she had only left early that morning or Ms. Williams had talked about her handsome grandson Mathew for most of the day.
Both possibilities seemed equally plausible.

Limber wandered around and around and around.
Hm, this place seemed to be barren of trees. No potted plants either, not a single palm that she could hide in.
She wondered if she was going to have to sleep on a roof top and sighed, staring around. My, there were some interesting people who came out at twilight.

she found a roof top that seemed within reach and climbed up to it using the wall of the neighboring building for grip. She settled on the slanted roof and crossed her legs as she watched the people below her. She turned her head towards the sky. What was wrong with that sun!? True, it was slightly smaller than she was used to and more orange than red, but she had taken a while to find a roosting spot and it still had not set.
Hm. Was she in some sort of time warp or a minor hell where people never aged or stopped working and the sun never set, leaving no time for sleep?
Limber smiled to herself and allowed a little chuckle.
If that was the case, maybe she was dead.
She wondered if her folks had gotten a black dress for her funeral, or, was it white?

Well, she was somewhere else, wherever that was. She really needed to find someone who would actually give her information.
She stared pensively out at the street as person after person passed her by. Some spared glances while others stubbornly walked by their gazes straight ahead.When she saw someone wearing or carrying something she found interesting she would smile and laugh quietly to herself.

After a while, a cat joined her on the roof edge and allowed Limber to pet her as they both people watched.

The girl felt a terrible pain in her hand and looked down.
The cat had bitten down on the flesh of her palm and was sucking her blood. blood spilled out of its mouth as it continued to look out at the passerby on the street sucking absently.
Limber tried to pry her hand away but the cat scratched her.
She began to feel lightheaded. the head ache was back. She was about to faint as her vision faded she hoped that the cat would have it's fill soon. Blood loss was the last thing she needed right now.

[darkunslint]

People watching… The last thing that reminded Darkun that he wasn’t just a shadow that drifted from place to place, aimlessly hoping to meet someone he knew. Inside his shadow he watched people perfectly, the outlines of there shadows moving above him, completely oblivious to the fact that below Darkun scurried, moving through the shadows, silently.

He drifted about for a while longer before eventually heading to the rooftops, as was tradition for him when it came to nighttime. Nighttime here was slightly different, the sky was ever so slightly darker, so slight that a person that hadn’t been here for a fair amount of time probably wouldn’t recognise the difference. But it was nighttime, the flow of people started to decrease.

Forming up on a rooftop, pulling himself from his own shadow. Each and every time he did this, it felt like the shadows pulled him back, and every time they felt stronger, it was harder, more difficult, to keep himself as a person rather than a shadow. Was that what would become of him eventually? Would he truly become a shadow?

A shadow a few houses away, he saw a girl, long hair, sat atop a house, a small cat sat beside her, it seemed to be biting her. What a peculiar person. And as people watching goes, he watched her, interested by what she was doing. Even though the cat was drawing blood, she wouldn’t remove the cat. Why? Was its life so important to her?

He wondered if he should get her attention, to do so he thought about granting the gift of relaxation, a gift that he could grant thanks to his homeworld, a gift of song. The sad melody rang out through the streets, the echoing of his words only increased the intensity of the words. If one was attentive and listened to the song, they might divulge some kind of true meaning to it. The fact that it sang of the end of his world.

“If you are near to the dark
I will tell you 'bout the sun
You are here, no escape
From my visions of the world
You will cry all alone
But it does not mean a thing to me

Known is the song, I will sing
Till the darkness comes to sleep
Come to me, I will tell
'Bout the secret of the sun
It's in you, not in me
But it does not mean a thing to you

The sun is in your eyes
The sun is in your ears
I hope you see the sun
Someday in the darkness

The sun is in your eyes
The sun is in your ears
But you can't see the sun
Ever in the darkness

It does not much matter to me”

He stopped the singing, returning his glance to the girl, probably at this range he might just look like a silhouette. He doubted that any features would stick out, perhaps his azure hair and eyes. He phased himself, appearing behind the cat, fully formed, sat down.

“People watching… it’s a good thing to do. It teaches patience… and reminds us that we are here.” He spoke, tipping his head to one side, his long azure blue hair now falling down to his waist brushed against the tiled roof, similar to this girl, they both had long hair.

His attention flickered to the cat, drawing blood hungrily from the girl’s hand. It was cruel, and she didn’t want to hurt it. “This wont hurt” he whispered, placing two fingers on her wrist he made her arm phase through the cat’s mouth for a second, having the cats hungry teeth off it they clashed together with a light snap. The cat looked up, slightly confused as to where its meal had just disappeared.

[yanagi]

As she slipped out of consciousness she thought she heard singing and, soon after, someone touched her arm. The pressure of the cat's fangs was removed.
Limber snapped back into focus. Her hand was free and her headache was gone. She felt all around much better. She stared down at the cat and tapped it lightly on the nose. "Darn cat, she said. don't do that." The cat looked affronted but seemed other wise fine. What, was this a town of vampire cats?

She turned to the young man beside her.
"Is this town full of vampire cats?"
As she asked she noticed him fully. She was feeling a little out of it. She blinked, blue hair, blue eyes, blue..skin? and clothing as strange as many down on the street. His patchwork garment covered most of his face, giving the impression of someone peering over the top of a wall. She looked down as the cat curled up in her lap and back up at the man, wondering what to say next.
She glanced down at jumper, glad that it was such a dark blue and wiped her hand off, wincing.
Wait, he had said something, what was it?

“People watching… it’s a good thing to do. It teaches patience… and reminds us that we are here.”
He was either being deep or trying to hit on her.

She looked back at him, it was hard to gauge an expression from a pair of eyes. And the hair, such a curtain of long blue hair. She looked again, yes, it was still blue and not as long at hers but epic in its own right.It was hypnotic (your hair isn't down past your knees, is it?)

[darkunslint]

“Vampire cats?” he asked strangely. “No, it’s probably just thirsty or hungry. Do you want me to remove it?” he glared down at the cat which glanced up at him giving him a light hiss.

Glancing back at her he smiled. “You’re new here. I haven’t caught you on this world yet.” That came out a bit strange, the way he phrased it, he didn’t want to inform her that he knew everyone’s shadow, but he made it sound like he knew everybody. Ah well. “You passed out by the way. Will you be ok or would you like me to get you to a bed? I have a place I stay not too far away. It has a lot of spare rooms, you can borrow one if you don’t mind the cold.”

The place of course he was thinking of was the old Mansion, he didn’t live there, but he lurked there quite often, he didn’t need a bed, he lived within the shadows. This girl seemed completely clueless to what he was, obviously she hadn’t seen him earlier and so far wasn’t questioning how he had appeared behind her so suddenly. Perhaps it was due to the passing out.

“You need a drink if you’ve lost fluids.” Placing a hand behind him as if he was getting a bottle out of his back pocket (even though he had no back pocket, but she couldn’t see that) he teleported a bottle of water from the stall a few rows along to his hand, the shadows dripping off it he wiped it and handed it to her. She would be none the wiser.

[yanagi]

Limber heard his answer and was mildly disappointed. A different world should have different dangers and blood sucking cats seemed just perfect.
She watched as he and the cat in her lap glared at each other.
“You’re new here. I haven’t caught you on this world yet,” he said.
“You passed out by the way. Will you be ok or would you like me to get you to a bed? I have a place I stay not too far away. It has a lot of spare rooms, you can borrow one if you don’t mind the cold.”Limber considered this. She did need someplace, though she would prefer to sleep outside.

“You need a drink if you’ve lost fluids.”
Limber looked down at her hand. The puncture marks were small and neat crusted lightly with blood, she had only lost maybe a sixth of a cup, if that. She was far more worried about the head aches. The man, no boy. The blue tinged person handed her a water bottle from behind his back. He just put his hand behind his back held it there for a split second and came back with the water. No grasping movement at all. Odd.

She took the water and tapped the blue boy on the nose."Don't do that, don't start a fight with her. She followed with a tap to the cat's nose, who just looked at her sleepily. The cat's fine. She likes the taste of blood. Now that I'm-

She stiffened. " Did you know, I can see some things before they happen? Her lips tightened as she fought not to grind her teeth. Small things, like that the headache is coming back!" Limber gripped the water bottle in one hand and the blue haired person's arm in the other.As the pounding, screaming thing came back she felt the water bottle burst and plastic dig into her hand. The cat jumped off her lap and settled one roof top over, shaking her whole body in disgust as she tried to dislodge the water droplets.

Suddenly Limber's head felt fine and she had gained something new, she relaxed her grip trying to figure it out.
She turned to the boy, though all she could think of when she looked at him was blue hair. "Maybe I do need a place to stay. What's you're name? I could cally you Bluey but I've a feeling you might not like that."
She went back to puzzling the thing inside her head. Was it a premonition? Or, was she just imagining things?

[darkunslint]

Darkun listened as she said about being able to know what will happen before it does. Then she talked about having a headache? “ What headac--” Suddenly cut off by the water splattering through the air, the cat running off in a different direction and finger nails digging deep into his arm.

It barely broke the skin; a small trickle of blood ran down his arm under his cloths. It was a strange sensation. He had always turned intangible before a wound; he hadn’t felt physical pain in so long.

“Yeah… lets get you to a bed.” He smiled as he looked at her with a smile, a fake smile, and one that only someone that was used to seeing smiles could tell apart from another smile. Darkun had mastered the art of fake smiling, but if this girl people watched as much as he did… maybe she would be the first person to figure out that none of his emotion was real.

“I hope you don’t get nauseous, and don’t be afraid, it’ll all be over in a second.” With that both of their shadows began creeping up their bodies as he placed a hand on her shoulder. The shadows crept up like caressing hands, until reaching the shoulders upon which they was slowly pushed down into the shadows.

Time seemed unreal for a few moments… weeks… months… Time just didn’t seem to matter, neither did anything? Nothing mattered here, within the shadows, all that existed was shadow. Then they appeared, the shadows still stuck to their skin, in a small tranquil garden, very peaceful, trees surrounded it and a large manor was in front of them. “ Welcome to home” he spoke pleasantly, checking on the girl to hope she wasn’t going to vomit… they always vomit the first time.

[yanagi]

Limber wasn't sure she wanted to go anywhere with this person. His behavior didn't match, it just didn't. He came up behind her on a roof. He didnt' react properly to the vampire comment and he offered a place to sleep to her right off the bat. What was going on?

He placed a hand on her shoulder. “I hope you don’t get nauseous, and don’t be afraid, it’ll all be over in a second."
"Wait-, she paused to watch the shadows creep up their bodies, was she hallucinating? The headaches and now this. No, she turned to the person before they were completely enveloped. Whatever was happening he was doing it. She felt the color drain from her face as it was covered in darkness. She hoped she hadn't gotten into anything she couldn't handle.

They were stuck, not moving, not breathing. Limber felt as if she had fallen into a vat of half congealed salt water taffy which was bad since a person would die in a vat of half congealed salt water taffy. But it wasn't so bad, peaceful in a suffocating way. If she had some warning it would be a bearable place. she wondered if the person had trapped her there and that was worrisome.

Then they were free and in a garden and it had a tree!“ Welcome to home” said the person. Something about that sentence was wrong but Limber wasn't too concerned about it. She broke free of his grip and fell to the ground, hugging it. Ground, time, space, light! Twilight but light just the same. She felt a little sick but as scary as it was, the journey through the shadows was nothing compared to the headaches she had begun experiencing. God, she hoped that last one was the end of it.

Limber realized that as much as she loved the ground she had an audience. She stood and went over to him keeping a distance of about three feet. It really wasn't safe but she felt better with the space between them.
"Don't do that." She said rearranging her hair so that it at least hung down her back, the snarls would have to be dealt with later.
She stared at the impassive blue eyes, suddenly angry.
"I said I needed a place to stay. I didn't say I would stay with you. I don't know you.

The eyes remained impassive. She stepped closer so that she was about two feet away, any more and she would be staring up at his chin.
"Do you understand that someone would not like to be grabbed and pulled through shadows? It's startling and the last thing I need is a shock. I just came to this world,
she glared up at the sun. "Possibly this morning. I don't know where I am beyond the name twilight town or how I got here. And what's in a name? It's a designation not real information. I don't know if Twilight town is full or loonies or monsters or, she smiled in irritation, vampire cats. I don't know anything!"

She paused, composing her facial expression and staring off to the side. Perhaps, she said to herself. Perhaps, she had been in shock. She was far away from her family she was without contacts or even usable money. All she knew was that in the town of Twilight was the Thomas family. They had five boys. Mathew, Thomas, Mark, Jeremy and Micheal. That was hardly helpful.

She felt anger at the old woman for being so single minded. She felt anger at the cat who had bitten her and she felt anger at the person in front of her who seemed to show little reaction to anything.

She felt tears coming on and stopped them in their tracks, staring at the person in front of her as she waited absolutely still, for an explanation. Or a reaction. Something, anything really. Even just his name. Both her hands had begun to hurt, the one the cat had bittern and the one the plastic bottle had abraded but still she stood, waiting. The pain was a good complement to her anger.

(this is bothering me, he's still wearing the high necked shirt, so I can't see his smiles, fake or not?)

[darkunslint]

He listened to her rants, as random as they were to him, they probably made sense. She needed reassurance… how could he provide that. “Name?” he questioned in a strange tone. With that he unbuckled the two belts that created the high collar. As this fell down, his cheeks and mouth were revealed, also still, emotionless, strange markings on his cheeks looked like triangles.

“Darkun. What about you?” he asked, the fake smile emanating as always. “ And I don’t sleep here, so you’ll be able to sleep without my intervention. I don’t sleep, I just move about the shadows. As you can tell, it’s a nice place when you get used to it.”

“Ok, you know my name, do you feel slightly better now? Oh and the doors are open, first door on the right there’s a couch.” He gave a slightly smirk. “ Go exploring if you want but id guess you probably want sleep, the fire should still be going in the front room. I always keep it lit.”

He took a few steps towards the door before leaning against the wall. “ After you.” Everything he said with false smiles and fake smirks. Very good imitations, but for a good person watcher… perhaps noticeable.

[yanagi]

Limber watched Darkun take off his collar exposing the rest of his face. Unfortunately that wasn't much help. He smiled, he smiled and he smiled again as he told her about the house, that she could sleep on the couch, that she could explore, that the fire was always lit.

The smiles were useless as they didn't match up with the eyes.

The fire was always lit? That seemed like a bad idea. He was alone in this house and yet he always kept the fire lit. Ah, never mind. She would wonder at that later.

Darkun leaned against the wall beside the door to the manor. “ After you.”

Limber allowed her expression to go dreamy as she often did when frustrated. "You didn't understand me, did you? she swayed slightly.
"I don't trust you because I don't understand why you are doing what you are doing. Are you going through the motions?
You said that you don't sleep and by extension you don't dream. People who don't dream/sleep do crazy things. They kill people for no easily explained reason. They drop off of cliffs.I myself cannot feel at all when I go without sleep for days."


Her gaze sharpened."What are you to not need sleep?"

A word floated to the surface. He had said intervention. Maybe it meant something, maybe not.
She looked at him. Was he afraid of sleep? Was it something to be rescued from?

she stumbled. "Never mind she said brushing past Darkun and into the manor.She curled up just inside the doorway, unable to bring herself any farther in. "It doesn't matter, I don't have many choices right now." She lost consciousness, settling into darkness. She would have to see when she woke up, if he was harmless or not.

[darkunslint]

“You wouldn’t be the first person that didn’t understand me.” He chuckled as he walked in after her, looking to each side. Where did she go? Then he glanced down at the collapsed heap that was the girl.

“Dear me” he said, the fake emotion now gone from his tone and face as she slept. Expanding her shadow beneath her Darkun made a platform. There was something he wanted to try… He could make solid objects… but what about gas?

He concentrated, willing the shadows to become light, light as gas, flowing in a controlled direction. Sure enough the platform with the girl on rose up, swiftly, without shudders. He sent the platform through to the next room following behind it.

They entered the living room and he had the platform slowly lay her onto the couch in front of the ever-blazing fire. He added a few more logs for good measure. “Sleep well” he whispered.

Taking a few steps forwards he formed a shadow to his hand and quickly flicked it at the table. Then another towards her, a large shadow coated around her, solidifying into a large blanket, as soon as she sat up, it would turn to an ash like substance and glitter away into the sky before disappearing into nothing.

The shadows shaped into letters and remained on the table. “ Say my name” was all it said and with that he phased into his own shadow, out of reality, and into the shadowy realm he called home.

He pondered on her earlier words, she already was getting close, she obviously could see through his façade, what were the chances of meeting someone that people watched well enough to see through it, there was going to be some explaining if he had to tell her what he was and why he didn’t have to sleep.

[yanagi]

Limber dreamed. She was at home, doing the books for the firm. As her father said, he took care of other people's money all day the last thing he wanted to do was take care of his own. They had one million-five hundred thousand dollars in profit that week. Limber stared at the number. One mill- that couldn't be right. She reached for the calculator but it bit her, becoming a small black cat. The cat smirked at her and suddenly it had dark blue eyes rimmed with light blue and long blue hair. The hair was long, long enough that it filled the room and she was swimming in an ocean of hair, she began to sink and as the hair was water, she couldn't' breath.
The water fell away and she was left floating in the sky over a town. The sun was nearly set, it was probably Twilight Town. She knew it was full of darkness and people made of darkness that were not dark and good people and bad people and just a few evil people and some so full of light they were blinding. She had no idea why she knew this. Towns were usually full of people of all kinds so it was safe to bet that she was right.

She didn't know who these people were or what the darkness looked like but she knew many other things, none of which she could remember when she was conscious. They were only barely tangible in this dream world. Even here, she was at a loss as to the meaning of any of it.
Limber began to descend, she floated through the streets of the town and back to the manor where her body was, drawn like a kite on a string.(This is all a dream. No out of body experience yet.)

She sat up and stared around, her blanket dissolved and she watched the pretty sparkles as they slipped under the window frame and into the twilight. It was still twilight. She gave up worrying about it.

She was on the couch. She guessed that answered the question. Darkun may not be harmless, but he certainly wasn't a threat. She would have to watch him though. He made her nervous.
Limber stared at the fire blazing in front of her, it cast shadows on the wall. Normal behavior for fire but she found it fascinating. She watched and drifted off to sleep.

When Limber woke the second time the fire had dimmed and the sky was just a little lighter outside. She wondered if that was her imagination but decided that if even imagined change made her feel better she would go with it.She had no memory of the dream.

She stood up and stretched. Sleeping on a couch never sat well with her internal organs. So what if she was small enough to fit on a love seat, that didn't mean it was comfortable.

Limber wondered where the blue haired, styrofoam person was. His name Darkun, was not one she had heard before. That would make it easier to remember.

She decided that before he came back she would. search the house, just the bottom floor. It was more fun to explore when you haven't told anyone.

Limber spent a few hours opening doors. There was not one living room in this place but several, there were also rooms she couldn't see a purpose for. Her enthusiasm waned as she returned to the room where she had slept. She had found a kitchen but it was bare, well really she couldn't make that assumption. All of the cabinets were too high up for her to reach and she was in no mood to try crawling on the counter. She wondered, did Darkun eat?

She sat down on the couch and let her gaze wander from one side of the room to the other. It settled on the table and suddenly what she thought were oddly placed shadows were words. Say my name, was written on the surface of the table. Limber hadn't been too interested in the table and so hadn't noticed.

She wandered over. So this fellow could leave messages, and make blankets and transport himself with shadows. things that normally had no substance. There was probably something existential there. Making meaning from nothingness or some such.
She was feeling in a better mood now, a little more trusting. And besides that and far more important, she was hungry.

Darkun, she said quietly, almost whispering.

[darkunslint]

As the time passed in stranger ways, he wasn’t quite sure how long it had been. He wondered if the girl had left him, abandoned him in the shadows for eternity. He could come back at any point, but why would he. What did he have to exist for?

He was nothing, what was the point of even having a form… Darkun the word rang out softly through his ears. She had called him.

Forming up, arms crossed, the shadows dragged on his shoulders as if they tried to keep him inside the shadows. He flicked open his eyes and moved his hair to one side so he could see properly. “ Sleep well?” he asked calmly the fake smile back to his face.

“Oh yea, I assumed you would be hungry… so I got you some food. I hope you like it.” He waved his hand towards the table, and black cutlery formed up, along with black tablecloths and napkins. All of which were made from shadows. Plates formed into position along with two chairs, one either side. Then a rather out of place silver lid appeared in the centre. “ I hope you like Chicken?” he asked gently, next to it was a large bowl of salad and to the other side was some kind of cake.

“Please, eat up, you need your strength,” he said politely, taking a seat on the far end he pushed a few more logs onto the fire and it instantly kindled into a fire once more. “How was your sleep? I found you on the floor so I moved you. I hope you don’t mind,” he said with a fake courtesy.

Darkun could fake emotion; he could fake smiles, frowns and anger. He could fake everything… apart from his eyes; they always remained the emotionless shell. He could squint them to try and give the impression of guilt but that was it. For him it was true, the eyes were a doorway to his lack of a soul.

[yanagi]

Limber watched, he was back.
And he was smiling again. She wished he wouldn't do that. Maintaining a flat expression was a hell of a lot better than that smile. She pictured him with no expression and those doll eyes. Maybe not. Maybe smiling was better than that.



Oh good he had brought food. She watched as he materialized the dinner ware all out of shadows. He'd certainly be useful on a picnic. She could see cake and salad on the table. “ I hope you like chicken?” a silver lidded container appeared in the center of the table.

"I slept,said limber
"Thank you, I am hungry"She said because she was.
She sat down in the open chair and looked at the silver lid suspiciously.

She looked at Darkun. "I explored some of the house, this is a very big place, with tall cupboards, she muttered. She glanced back at the table." Um, this is probably a stupid question but is the chicken under that lid dark and shadowy?" she was serious, she was afraid to look.

[darkunslint]

“I’m aware you went through the house. You changed the layout slightly.” He mumbled as he stared at the food on the table. “ A … shadowy chicken?” his smile returned and a laugh was produced, his eyes still emotionless stayed perfectly still as he laughed.

“No. It’s a normal chicken, I went and bought it from a shop.” He looked at her giving her a strange look as he pulled the silver lid off to present a fully cooked medium sized chicken.

On his side of the table no food was present, no cutlery, no plates. “I hope you eat a lot, I wouldn’t want any of it to go to waste.” He said, looking at her for a few moments. “ If you was looking for food earlier, no, I don’t keep any in stock.”

He sat back in his chair, observing her wondering how much of the food she would eat. His hair swayed from side to side, the azure blue sticking out from the flickering fireplace behind. “So, what’s your name? And how did you end up here?” he asked quietly staring up at her.

[yanagi]

Might as well. Limber grabbed the whole chicken and put it on her plate. She began cutting off small slices and setting them to one side. “My name is Limber and I don’t know how I ended up here. I…may have come through the knot hole of a tree. She smiled slightly and shrugged. “I don’t know of any way to get from one world to another.” She finished slicing the chicken, having removed almost half the meat

As she pulled off a drumstick she thought of the night a day or two ago when she had left and grimaced. She hoped she hadn’t caused too much fuss. She was old enough to leave home, though doing so before dawn and without telling anyone was a bad choice.
She returned the chicken to its container.

She looked up at Darkun who was watching her attentively, no food or cutlery on his side. The fire flickered at his back, casting him even more in shadow while at the same time tinting him orange.The fire also gave him a bright crimson halo. His hair looked particularly striking, the color seeming to shift with the flames.

He seemed to be paying a large amount of attention to both her and the food.
If he did not eat, did he gain enjoyment from watching others? Was that why she was here, entertainment?

“Could you bring about another plate please?” Limber asked. she needed it for the chicken slices she had cut. She realized she was still waving the drum stick and put it down, scanning the table. No, he most certainly did not eat or hadn’t for a while. She didn’t see anything to drink.

She stood up. "I’m going to see if I can find the kitchen again. She looked at him. “Now that you're here, you can reach the cupboards.”