"No! I mean, I don't even know your name! I'm not going to sleep on your bed, no matter how tired I am!" she exclaimed, waving her arms in the air for emphasis. "Sleeping in people's beds that you don't really know is a no-no!"

"My name is Amani Siiya. If you sleep on the couch, then I'm going to sleep on the floor." He sat up a bit to look at her. "Do you make it a habit to lean against strangers?"

"Alright, Amani...I'm Tessan Eyn, if I haven't told you already. And no," she said, stretching upwards. "I don't do it all the time, only when I'm sleep, when I do other odd things. Such as taking off clothes before the bathroom, which I am slightly embarrassed about." As she finished her stretch and brought her arms down, her face reddened and she smiled sheepishly.

"It's not like I would've looked," he muttered, diverting his stare to the kitten next to him. "So are you going to sleep here or not? I don't know if you have a place of your own to go..."

Brodie woke up as the light of a new and sunny day shined through his window. 'Oh, joy...' He thought as he blocked part of it from his eyes. When he moved his hand up, he noticed a few thin lines of black against his sleeve. He quickly realized these were a few strands of fur, and instantly remembered who they were from. "Shozii?" Brodie looked around and under his covers and bed. He wondered if maybe that whole day had been a dream, but the bag of cat food in the corner and the small white business card on the table proved that it did happen.

Sighing exhaustedly, Brodie pushed himself off his bed. He thought maybe he could run through the whole thing in his head while he got ready for school, but that was rather hard to do without confusing himself.

Later, downstairs, Brodie swiftly made his way to the front door. He decided that by some stroke of luck, at least parts of yesterday didn't actually happen- mostly the part where he had a demon-death-cat in his room. He'd also decided that talking to his parents would get him even more disoriented, so he'd avoid them the best he could. No such luck.

"Brodie," his mother caught him by the sleeve before he got out the door, "Are you sure you're alright to leave already?"

"Yeah," he said quickly, "It's fine, Mom. It was nothing, I'm gonna be late-"

"Ok, Ok, just so you know I went ahead and let the cat out earlier. It's pretty smart, getting back into your room like that after you let it out."

"Uh, yeah. Sure. I've really got to go now." She didn't let go of him. "Brodie," she said, "Terry's funeral is this Sunday." She knew how much Brodie disliked talking about these things, "Your father and I have already told a few of your uncles and aunts and some friends, but...do you think you could tell some of Terry's friends?"

Brodie turned away, "Yeah, Mom..." he easily slipped out of her grasp and out the door. He didn't really intend to talk to anymore of Terry's friends, Lord knew Terry had a lot of them. He knew that the date would've gone through family friends and the school-parent meetings and such. Plenty would know it by now.

((Wargh.))

"Yes, I'll sleep here," she said, smiling, jumping beside him on the couch, stealing the blanket from him. "Well? Are you intending to sleep here with me? Get on the floor." As she fired out her questions, she was grinning, knowing he'd move to the floor.

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

Tessan's eyes fluttered open, alert to the sunlight in the room. Clumsily standing up, she tried to walk before her legs were ready, her leg buckling under her, bringing her to the ground with an 'oomph' sound from her.

Shozii had already left and gone back home to retrieve his car. He'd left Brodie's house a little over an hour previous, as he walked into the building of the boy's school. Only - something was off. There were no tattooed markings underneath his eyes. His hair was slightly tamed, though it was damn near impossible for him to completely tame it (his hair refused to obey him), and his skin was no longer the rich, bronze tan that he always had. Instead, his skin was a much paler color, which blended in with most of those surrounding him.

His eyes were still the same unmistakable shade of bright orange.

A small, simple breakfast consisting of a two fried eggs and toast laid out on the counter next to the kitchen stove. Tessan's clothing lay clean, dry, and folded on the arm of the couch (Amani had taken it down to the laundry room in the building's basement and washed it while she was sleeping). And Amani?

Amani was in the bathroom, taking a shower with the door closed. His little black kitten sat up against the bathroom door in the hallway, anxiously awaiting her master's return. The apartment had already been tidied up, the cat and her owner had both eaten. Now, Amani just needed to finish his shower, get dressed, and rush off to school.

In a small studio apartment in much need of repair, an older brother tended to his sick sister. She'd been sick for several weeks now, and he was more than aware that this time was worse than it usually was.

"Are you feeling any better, Kay?" he asked softly as he pulled the blankets up over her.

"Uhuh," she groaned, shaking her head a little. Her head movement knocked the cold wet cloth from her forehead, and her brother reached forward to replace it.

"Then take it easy, Sweetheart. I need to make something to eat, but I'll be right here," he told her, patting the top of her head gently and standing up from the chair he sat in. The apartment was extremely small, with only a single bed in a corner. A few feet away from the bed was a pile of blankets and pillows, where the older brother slept. Their apartment was almost empty, save for a small table, a few dirty dishes, and a small television set.

Elizabeth still lay in her room, oblivious as to how much time had passed and whether she had even fallen asleep or not. With the thick curtains on her windows and a blanket pulled over her head it was always an eternal night in her opinion.

However, as the world did not revolve around the Elizabeth and the death of Terrance Fisher the same could not be said for the real world.

"Liiiizziiiiie!" came a loud yell, followed by louder knocking on her bedroom door. "It's time to rise and shine!"

Elizabeth decided to ignore her mother's voice, as she had been doing for the past two weeks.

A tall, blonde, athletic-woman burst through the door, nearly opposite in appearance to her daughter. "Come on now Lizzie," she said as she pulled the curtains open allowing the sunlight to enter a very messy room, "I've been lax these last two weeks on account of that boy who tragically died, however, I can't allow you to mope around the house anymore."
Moving toward her daughter's bed, Holly Adner pulled the sheets off her daughter and forced her to sit up. She looked her straight in the eye. "Even though you think the world's against you, I understand how you feel. However, this world is still continuing, still living, as are you. So today, Elizabeth Adner you will go to school. Besides, your grades can't handle missing anymore days."

After a few more struggles, Elizabeth gave in and started on her way to school.

Picking herself up off the floor, rubbing her eyes, her nose led her to the food beside the stove, hungrily grabbing the plate, not bothering to sit anywhere. Quickly scarfing down her breakfast, Tessan put a hand to her stomach, signaling she had eaten too fast. Rinsing her plate in the sink, she stretched her way over t the couch, standing beside her clothes.

Picking up her bra first, she blushed, not liking other people to see her undergarments, let alone touch them, even if it was to wash them. Hearing the shower sounds coming from the bathroom, she decided it would be safe to change there, putting her bra on underneath the pajama shirt first, then throwing the pants off and putting her skirt on. She stretched as she pulled the pajama shirt over her head, throwing it beside the pants, picking up her shirt with her other hand. About to pull it over her head, she stopped and smelled it, breathing in the sweet scent of flowers.

Brodie walked down the quiet street, by this time the strangeness of the previous day was very welcomed. Anything to keep his mind off of his brother. Or the funeral. Or Terry's friends. Or the rest of the people at school. For a moment, he forgot which one he was trying not to think about.

Soon, a lot sooner than he would have liked, Brodie found himself in front of the tall building. He thought that he might stall for a few minutes before going in, but the stares he tended to get lately were easier to ignore while he was moving. So, he continued into the school.

The place was clean enough, for a high school. The hallways were a bit crowded and the floor usually had quite a few stray papers and such, but it was in a nice part of town, so graffiti and damage to school property were very rare occurrences. There were still about ten minutes before class started, so Brodie was free to roam aimlessly though the hallways and among his peers. 'Oh, joyous, joyous day...'

The water in the bathroom stopped and Amani dried himself off. Quickly getting dressed, he towel-dried his long hair as best as he could before darting out of the bathroom and into his room to shove his things into his backpack. It was then that he paused to smack his head against the wall, remembering that he couldn't go to school today; he had to work.

Growling at himself for forgetting, he pulled a few things out of his bag and threw a few other things into it. He hurriedly pulled on a pair of socks and his motorcycle boots, then pulled on his backpack and tightened the straps to keep it close to his body.

Whipping out a cellphone, he grabbed his helmet and went into the kitchen, his wet hair trailing and dripping behind him. "Yeah. Won't be in today. Work day. Might not be in tomorrow. Gotta go," he said quickly into the phone as he opened the fridge and pulled out a sandwich he'd made before his shower and a small carton of orange juice, putting them in his helmet. He hung up his phone and jammed it into a side pocket of his backpack.

He stopped on his way to the door when he saw Tessan was awake. "Oh. Sorry if I woke you. I really need to get going or I'm going to be late. Please lock the door when you leave," he said quickly, going to the door and grabbing his keys off the small table next to it. The door opened and he slipped out into the hallway, pulling it closed behind him and stuffing his sandwich into his mouth as he hurried towards the elevator.

He made his way to the front office of the school for a quick conversation with the staff. He was informed of where to go, and went about his way to find the right classroom.

Her face blushed red as once again he saw her bra-except this time she was in it. suddenly it hit her; the fact that she would be alone in the house, without anything to do but be bothered by The List. "Gah!" she cried out, throwing her shirt on, hurriedly pulling one sock on as she hopped over to her shoes, grabbing them and pulling her other sock on. Opening the door and locking it, she ran towards the elevator, attempting to put her shoe on at the same time. "Wait!" she called out, reaching out with her other hand towards the elevator.

"Mm?" was all he could ask, watching her with wide, curious eyes as he somehow managed to nibble at his sandwich without his hands and without dropping it. He pulled the remaining sandwich from his mouth and swallowed. "What? Did I do something?" he asked, blinking at her.

Stopping to put her shoes on properly, she looked up at him, saying, "No, I just didn't want to be alone all day. I mean, I'm used to being alone, but now that someone talks to me, I seem to get lonely..."

"And by someone, you mean me?" he asked, quickly taking a bite of his sandwich as the elevator doors opened and he stepped out into the garage. He finished up his sandwich and pulled out the little carton of orange juice, drinking it in just a couple gulps and tossing it into a trash can on the way to his motorcycle. He gave a refreshed sigh from the feel of the orange juice in his stomach.

"Well, ya, I mean, I don't see anyone else talking to me. Or would it be hear...ah well, it doesn't matter, you know what I mean. So can I come? Huh? Can I?" she asked, jumping around him like a small child would.

"I can't take my bag and you at the same time unless you wear it," he said with a sigh. "If you want to come, you have to wear it. And this time, when I shift my weight with the bike, you do the same. It's harder to ride when you have a passenger that doesn't know the proper way to ride," he said, handing the helmet to her.

He sat his bag down on the seat of his bike and dug around in one of the front pouches until he found what looked like the tinted goggles a snowboarder would wear. He closed his backpack and pulled on the goggles, then held his backpack out to Tessan.

"Still want to come with me?" he asked.

"Of course!" she grinned happily, grabbing the helmet and putting it on her head, throwing the backpack over one shoulder. "So where are we going?" she asked, hopping on the back of the bike, putting her arms behind her instead of around him just yet. 'Because he doesn't like to be touched,' she thought to herself.

He reached out and put the other strap of the backpack over her other arm, then adjusted the straps to make sure the bag didn't move around. "I'm going to work. You're a reaper, so you should be able to conceal yourself. If you don't, they're going to be wondering why there's a girl following me around everywhere."

He sat down on the bike and started it up. "You're going to fall off if you lean back like that," he told her.

"I know, you just don't like to be touched right? I'm not going to wrap my arms around you when we aren't moving yet," she said, sitting up straight and tightening the helmet strap. "But if you insist..." Wrapping her arms around didn't have the same affect that it had had the night before. 'Hm, maybe it's because I've been close to him for a while, so it doesn't feel special anymore,' she thought to herself.

There were these little people next to Adalia. She knew that they were important to her but she couldn't see their faces. One of the little one's tugged on her skirt, "Dali!!" he whined. "I think it's gunna rain, whad do we do?"

"Huh?!" Adalia said as she awoke from the rain from the night. Looking around quickly she took shelter under a part of a structure that connected the building to the rooftop. Although she had woken up before taking the full brunt of the rain, she still was very damp.

As she waited for the rain to stop she tried to remember the dream she had. It seemed important for some reason. Still trying to remember she watched the sun rise and move across the sky as she wondered how she was going to get herself dry.

---

Elizabeth found herself at the school. Keeping her eyes on the ground she tried to make her way to the school, nearly bumping into at least 5 people on the way. No matter how long she attended the school, she always found herself very self-conscious. However, today , as every other day, she knew that no one would pay heed to her, especially as she heard people still whispering about Terry's death and how bad they felt for his little brother.

Soon enough, Elizabeth was standing outside of her homeroom class, but she couldn't go in just yet. The thought of Terry's spot being empty was not something she wanted to face just yet.
Maybe I'll just walk around a bit before class starts...she thought to herself, hoping that a few more minutes would give her the courage to start another day at school without Terry's smile to encourage her.

Again she walked with her eyes concentrating on the floor, but within moments she saw someones shoes appear before her as she collided into them.

"S-s-sorry..." she said, though it was barely above a whisper. Looking up at the person she bumped into she saw, "Terry?!"

He pulled out of the parking spot and headed out of the garage. After about ten minutes or so, he turned onto a somewhat worn-down road in a not so great part of town. He slipped into an alley between two buildings, parking behind a large dumpster. Dismounting the bike, he pulled his goggles off and offered his hand to Tessan to help her climb off the bike.

"You're going to have to conceal yourself if you don't want to get me in trouble," he told her as he waited for her to take his hand.

After a small compromised meal that wasn't nearly enough to satisfy a young child's hunger, let alone that of a full grown man, Itami returned to his sister's side, sitting down in the broken chair next to the bed. He slipped his hand into hers, a sad, sick feeling in his stomach that was visible on her face as well.

Kay was sleeping, though uneasily, a strangled cough escaping her every once and a while.

"If any of the ancient gods remain... Please... Don't take her from me," he said quietly under his breath, looking up to the ceiling.

"Fine," she said, taking his hand and sliding off of the bike. "I was going to conceal myself anyways..." Covering herself with the shadows around, she asked, "Can you still see me?" She used her other hand to remove the helmet, laying it on the bike seat.

"Barely," he replied, taking the backpack from her and loosening the straps. He took his helmet from the bike, slung the bag over his shoulder and used his keys to unlock a door on the side of the building, walking inside. It seemed to be the grubby staff room of a fitness gym.

He sighed and dropped his helmet and back onto a bench against the wall, then pulled his hair back into a loose tail and walked towards the front of the building to let his boss know he was there.

"Hey what should I-" Tessan started to say, but Amani was already too far away. She sighed and plopped down on the same bench as his helmet and backpack were on, sliding down so her bum was hardly on the seat anymore. She went to run her hand through her hair, but nearly cried out because of the pain; her hand had gotten stuck on a knot.