(Ok, no edit. But whatever.)

J.J. watched as Lavender made her way inside, leaning against the wall as she waited to get her room back. John was moping, curled in the corner with a half pout on his face. He lifted his head slightly, blinking at her with a pale eye. "Oh...I thought I was scary," he whispered, tone harsh.

Bradin blinked up at Virgil as the ground was no longer under him. "Wow, aren't all lovey dovery today, Princess?" he cooed, green eyes practically glowing. He twitched when he heard the sounds of shuffling in the basment. "Oh my. Do we have rats?"

(I'm not sure what you meant by 'spet him off his feet', so I'm just gonna assume bridal carry....shut up, blame my head.)

(I meant where you grab someone around the waist and lift them bodily from the floor, straight up. It's affectionnate, but nothing like the bridal carry.)

Virgil set Brandin down, ignoring the lovey dovey comment.
"No, That's just one of our new house guests. He's collecting his things from the basement so we can move him into a room of his own."

Shadow yawned and leaned against a windowsill. The novelty of the doors had worn off as soon as a little green fleshy balloon had tried to slip it's sharp feelers inside of him. It had died instantly, as his insides were pure corrosive darkness. Shadow stared down at the lawn and wondered what was going on with Kirk, and those horsemen guys.

(Ah. I see.)

Bradin still watched the door, before turning back to Virgil. "Hmmm...by the way, who's this?" he asked, turning to give Silvian a curious glance. "He seems rather interesting."

Kogan watched a nearby tree boredly, looking it over as his eyes seemed to flash between different colors. Finally he stood and stretched, turning to the house. He stopped when he saw a jagged tear appear in the air, a thick blackness beyond. When he saw his mother step through, he stiffened visibly. Oh, lovely. When she stepped through, he realized her once pristine dress was slathered in red blood and there were horrifying scratches and bleeding cuts on her arm. When she lifted her hand a tore a cut rose from her hair, it disappeared in a whispy puff of smoke. Oh....well....that was by no means good.

Order's eyes landed on Kogan when she first stepped through, cold black eyes looking over her rebellious son with slight distaste. Th eportal to her own little world vanished behind her, but not before a wide grin and two, crescent eyes appeared, giggling as they bid farewell, Order turning to watch, but only catching a glance of the grin and eyes. When she turned back to Kogan, his eyes were a bright, amused green, a wide smile on his face. (I can never remember what color represents which emotion....I need to make a list.)

Keito was surprised seeing Kotone help him stand, especially after he didn't even notice she came back from where she went. "I-I'll be fine..." Darn it, she's going to see my demon form... I don't want her to... I must...Resist... Keito groaned, fighting an inner battle to not let his demon take over. After several minutes he managed, and the drawings on his body slowly started to fade away. The body hair that also appeared started falling out, but before it could reach the ground, it vanished in thin air. Keito felt that he regained some of his strength, and on that note leaned less on Kotone. Why did she help me? Why did she see me like this... Though he still felt exhausted, he put up a faint smile. "Thank you. I got it now. Something is trying to provoke my inner demon. Fighting it is a hard thing to do. Sorry you had to see me like that..." Sorry? More like regrettable. Now she's going to keep a safe distance of course.

(was the edit comment to me? did I miss something again?)

Lavender slowly stands and enters the room, nervously fiddling her hands together. "I'm really sorry about what I said... I was just scared and surprised. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." She said sincerely. "Why don't we start over?" She said as she closed the gap and kneels beside him. "Hi, my name is Lavender, I came from Floreterna, and you are?" She asked, motioning her hand to him.

(sorry it's so short, couldn't come up with anything else...)

(No, you didn't miss a thing. Earlier, I said I'd edit my post to fit in Bradin, but I never did.)

John perked slightly, finally standing to his full heaight. "Umm...I'm John...I'm from..." he trailed off, blinking his one eye. Now that he thought of it, he could not even remember his own world, his home. But...why? He blinked again, the floating objects, ready to be tossed, falling to the ground with a clatter. Including a very old necklace. One of J.J.'s many enchanted. He didn't even notice the crack that occured in rather small, blue gem. But, then again, he didn't care much for it at all.

(oh ok)

She stands up as well, then watches him as he trails off. She the smiles and waves it off. "It's alright of you don't remember... I'm very glad to meet you, and I'm really sorry for how I acted before. I came to learn but only showed my ignorance." Lavender noticed a necklace fall and crack as everything settled back down. "That's a pretty necklace." She says softly as she kneels down, reaching for it. "It looks like it got a crack in it though. What a shame..."

Virgil snorted and covered his mouth at Alexi's shocked and hurt face. He obvioulsy wasn't used to being ignored. He made a tremendous effort and pulled his face into a smile that seemed frayed at the edges.
"Ah, hello. I'm Alexi Devereaux. I introduced myself, but you must not... have heard."
Alexi offered his hand, his frayed smile still in place.

Shadow sighed and walked away from the window and turned toward the river of black energy seeping from one of thee back rooms. It would have to be done at some point, It might as well be now. Shadow walked slowly and deliberately toward the door at the far end of the hallway, his footsteps echoing dully against the wood paneling. Shadow began trailing the fingers of his right hand gently against the wall. His nails made a soft clicking sound every time they met a crack. Shadow reflected on how calm he could be when walking toward the brother of his past life, a by product of not having emotions he supposed. Pieces of happy memories wafted to the front of his mind like bits of musty leaves in a late autumn wind. Shadow reached the door finally and opened it soundlessly with one motion. He leaned against the doorframe and stared deep into Death's eyes. Death's eyes were surprisingly warm, but full of sadness, like a deep black pit lined with soft moss. Shadow smiled sadly and spoke, his words echoing sharply in the absolute silence of the room.
"You've certainly have been put through a lot recently haven't you."
Shadow cast around in his memory for some endearing nickname or something that Alastair had called Carlos, to convey the fact that all of Alastair's memories lived on within him, but he couldn't find anything. In all the times they had been together they had always called each other by their first names... strangely formal. Shadow looked back through the memories in this new light and sensed the distance he hadn't seen before. There were many memories, but for a life as long as Alastair's there should be so many more... It suddenly dawned on Shadow how rarely Alastair had actually been able to see his brother. He was suddenly overcome with the longing to hug the broken man standing before him, and he even began unfolding his crossed arms, but the motion died halfway through and his hands simply fell limply at his sides. No, an act so affectionate might make Carlos want to believe his brother was back, and shadow was by no means Alastair. Shadow simply contented himself to smiling sadly at Carlos, waiting for his response.

Bradin just blinked, tilting his head. "You introduced yourself?" he asked, blinking in utter confusion. "I must not've heard, I'm sorry. One track mind and all!" He extended his own hand, allowing the still contaminated skin to make contact with Alexi's. "My name is Bradin!"

Carlos lifted his head only slightly, narrowing his eyes at the man who shared his brother's face. This one seemed different than Lasarixat, almost warmer. Unconcioulsy, he teightened his grip on his scythe, unsure of what this man's presence meant. He relaxed only slightly when it seemed he only wished to talk. Truthfully, Carlos really wished for that. He didn't want to fight the image of his brother again. Never again. When he opened his mouth to reply, he slammed his mouth shut, eyes widening. He could hear it. A light tinkling on the wall, wood scratching and splitting under blade. He bit his lip, looking past Shadow toward the door. The sound soon stopped, though, causing confusion to glitter in Carlos' eyes. He whimpered involuntarily, taking a step back toward the wall.

(I am, by no means, going to stop his minnie freakout just yet. I'm having too much fun with it.)

(I forgot about John...)

John turned his attention to the small piece of jewelry, blinking at it boredly. "Please don't touch it. It's one of J.J.'s and those things have a bad habit of being...nasty," he said, starting to make his way toward her, feet barely skimming over the floor.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, moving her hand away from it. She stood up again and looked to him. "Well, I'm glad we were able to start over. I'll see you around then. Kotone is going to take me outside!" Lavender said excitedly. "I can't wait to see what's out there. See you later!" She said cheerfully as she turned to leave the room and goes looking for Kotone.

((sorry it's so short D=, It'll get better I promise! ^^; ))

John watched her leave, smile after her in that weird, lopsided smile he was forced to display. When she left, he looked back to the small necklace, wondering where it had come from exactly. He had certainly never seen it before. He took a step toward it, but stopped, turning to the door. J.J. was watching him, her eyes almost cold, causing him to back away. He eventually turned away, feeling as if she were glaring him teh whole time, even after he fazed through the wall.

At first, Kotone had no idea what Keito was talking about. Then she realized that he had looked a bit different when she came back to get him. She didn't notice it until now. "It's alright, you don't have to apologize." She replied as she took his arm and began leading him to his room, "Let's just get you into some clean clothes and into bed. You look terrible." Though she had a smile on her face, the gears of her mind were spinning fast. 'What happened to him? Is there something going on in the house?' She thought seriously. Once Keito was safe, Kotone decided to go check things out.

Keito only nodded, embarassed to say another word. ...I look terrible... And what did she mean with 'let's get you into some clean clothes and into bed? She's not going to dress me, is she? As they entered the room, Keito dropped himself on the bed. Panting a bit, he could feel himself getting more and more exhausted. "K-Kotone... Y-You can just leave me here... I feel like I'm about to pass out..." He put his hand over his eyes, trying to shield them from the bright lights.

Lavender walked along, remembering that Kotone went upstairs and heads up there to find her. "Miss Kotone?" She called, "...are you up here?" She stepped off the stairs and into the hallway, looking for her. She sees a door opened a crack and slowly makes her way towards it, hoping to find her there.

Alexi smiled, a little more genuine this time.
"Oh, that's quite all right. Virgil interrupted me anyway."
Alexi shot Virgil a scathing look, one that was only deepened by the fact that Virgil had stuffed his knuckles into his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

Shadow's sad grin fell slightly. Broken was definitely the word for it. It looked like something had brought this man's mind to the brink of insanity, and he still seemed to be teetering at the edge. Shadow glanced behind himself, where Carlos was staring, and tried to see if something was there. His pupils strained, opening and closing, trying to detect something that wasn't meant to be. He was only able to picked up the fuzzy, blurred shapes of interlopers. His eyes were good, very good, but he had no hope of seeing the hallucinations of a broken mind. With slow deliberate movements, he unfastened each of his spiked bracelets and placed them in his pocket. He then unhooked the fishnet top from each of his middle fingers and pushed the material up his arms, freeing his hands. Shadow lifted his hands, palm up, in front of him as he slowly stepped toward Carlos. When Carlos seemed to make no move to intercept or attack him, Shadow walked closer so he was only inches from Carlos. He lifted his hands and let them hover about a foot from each side of Carlos's head. He tilted is head to the side, silently asking with his eyes if Carlos would allow shadow to touch him.

(Anybody see the commercials for the new Final Destination? I honestly thought they were stopping at number 3...but noooo, they found more ways to terrify a small group of teenagers with prospect of death by some freak accident.)

Bradin turned to look at Virgil, giggling himeslf. "Princess isn't very nice," he murmured, waving his finger at the demon. "Princess should try and be nicer."

Carlos' eyes snapped back to Shadow, widening at how close he had become. He didn't move, wondering why his hands were so close to head, wondering what he was planning to do. But when he took a look at his eyes, he bit his lip. Whatever it was, it porbably wasn't going to hurt. At least he hoped it wouldn't. He gave a stiff, single nod in the affirmative, jaw stiff as the other's fingers lightly brushed into his hair.

*Lucien continued to watch from the basement steps, feeling a bit of nervousness at the thought of all the insanely powerful creatures that could be hiding through out the house. He slowly crept up the stairs, watching for any sign of danger from his surroundings*

Kotone's eyes softened. "I-I can't leave you like this...." She mumbled, "I'm not-" That's when she heard a soft voice. The black-haired girl spun around and saw the fairy near the doorway. "Oh, Lavender. Will you give me a minute? We'll be going soon." She asked politely.

Virgil stuck out his tongue at Brandin.
"I'm nice, just not to pseudo-siblings."

Alexi sniffed, adjusting his black wings angrily.

Virgil noticed Lucien creeping back up the stairs and smiled.
"Right Lucien? I'm nice, right?"

Shadow placed his hands gently on each side of Carlos's Head and a new string of memories flooded his mind. Someone who looked a lot like Shadow wearing a long black jacket was attacking Carlos. Shadow's mind flicked back to the massive heartless library, to a particular entry about a race of creatures called Nobodies. He recognised the jacket at once, for there had been an illustration. Shadow's eyes widened as all the pieces began to connect.
"Ohhhhhh. Alastair must have been very special indeed, to create one of each of us. That's very rare."
Shadow stared deeply into Carlos's eyes.
"You should be proud of him, it means he had an exceptionally strong heart. That's probably the reason I didn't turn out as a slathering beast that rips out the heart of anything it sees."

Lavender nodded. "Alright, I'll wait for you downstairs." She said, she looked a bit concerned though. Kotone seemed bothered by something, and the one named Keito didn't look so good. She stopped halfway down the hall and looked back, thinking if she should offer aid, but at the same time unsure if she should interrupt them. She eventually decided to leave them be, since her aid was not asked for, and makes her way down the rest of the hall and towards the stairs, slowly heading back down.

Kotone turned back to Keito, a worried look still adorning her face. She didn't want to leave Keito, but she had made a promise to Lavender. So, she swallowed her concern and patted the man's shoulder. "I'll be back soon. Just get some rest, okay?" She asked.

Bradin just chuckled before he turned to watch Lucien creep up the stairs. The little thing was dirty and rather skittish, making the radioactive human wonder exactly who he was. He'd certainly never seen the skittish thing before. He perked as Virgil began to call the thing Lucien, leading him to believe that this was it's name. How precious.

Carlos just blinked, watching Shadow's face. "It doesn't matter..." he murmured, looking toward the floor. "He's still gone..." He twitched, head flying upward, a shuffling noise catching his attention. Kind of contradictory, considering they were on the top floor. Carlos bit his lip, wondering vaguely if it was his mind playing tricks or if something was actually up there and Shadow could hear it too.

Shadow tilted his head and smiled.
"I know. But at least he was happy. In the memories I inherited he always seems to be happy when he's around you. The only memory tarnished with sadness that you're in is the ceremony where they named you the reaper. I think Alastair knew that it meant you two would be seeing a lot less of each other."

Carlos returned his gaze to Shadow, eyeing him thoughtfully. His breathing began to even out as he watched that face, the one who shared many similarities with his brother. He opened his mouth, but closed, feeling his eyes begin to burn. He bit his lip, narrowing his eyes. He couldn't stop it though and the sorrow he held pent up inside ever since he felt his brother's presence vanish broke through. His cheeks soon became sticky and hot as the tears fell, sobs silently racking his shoulders.

(I needed angst....'nuff said.)

Shadow smiled sadly and opened his arms.
"I understand I may not be the best shoulder to cry on, as I look strikingly similar to your brother, and as I am a heartless. But it seems your grieving was completely preempted by a meddlesome nobody trying desperately to self actualize. Should you choose I can be here for you, we may even grow to be friends, though sadly I can never replace the brother you have lost."
Shadow made no move to embrace Carlos, and instead left his arms invitingly open.

(Eh, Carlos deserves some healthy angst.)