Realistic or Modern Mad House 2.0

Ryder reached the bottom of the stairs, seeing new faces. I see the others are starting to arrive. He thought as his blue eyes swept over the other orphans, his face wearing a light smirk. Looking over to where Remy was standing, Ryder saw a blonde girl. The corners of his lips curled as he heard her speak a foreign language. Interesting... He then put his hands in the back pockets of his grey skinny jeans before he decided he would go into the kitchen.


Fancy... He thought as he looked at the sleek counters and appliances. There were two other kids in the kitchen, conversing. She doesn't seem too happy. He noted as he looked at the redhead from the corner of his eye. He walked over to the refrigerator, opening it, and retrieving a can of soda before closing it.

Once Avery had finished unpacking, she looked over at Kida, her thin arms hugged around her penguin plushie. She put on a sympathetic smile and moved closer to her. She thought about kneeling down and speaking, but she didn't want to patronise her-she knew how she felt when her Father would talk as if she was stupid, but just because she was little didn't mean she was completely incompetent. "So, how about we go down to the kitchen and see if we can get a little something to eat? I think I heard some people in there, and it wouldn't hurt to introduce ourselves, right?" Smiling, she turned and checked herself in the mirror that was attached to the wardrobe. Looking good wasn't her main goal, but she wanted to make an impression, and she didn't want to look 'scruffy'.


Smoothing down her shirt and brushing her hair to the side. She took a well deserved breath in and looked back at Kida. "Ready?"







"Easy tiger, you might choke there." She watched Nick in awe as he stuffed almost 3 pieces of orange into his mouth. "But if you must know, yes, I think I chased them away. Obviously I was too damn amazing for them." She rolled her eyes, knowing how ridiculous her statement sounded. Tiredly, she rested her head on the heels of her hands and ran her fingers through the top of her hair. She was startled by the sound of the the fridge opening and, as she looked up, she saw a boy helping himself to the soda. Somehow, she felt a little protective of the soda, as if it was rude and that he shouldn't have just helped himself. She was about to pipe up, but she decided not to. For a start, Nick had helped himself to the fruit, and she hadn't spoke up about that, but for a second, she wanted to give the impression that she wasn't an open book, though that's entirely what she was. Her face regained it's sulky pout and she awkwardly pulled her knees up onto the stool next to her.







Remy heard a noise to the left of him, a strange sort of noise, and for a moment, he thought he had grown some bad plants and was about to promise to the lay off the weed, but he noticed it was just a girl. He noticed she said something about a Remy room, and he almost laughed. He remembered Pamella saying something about a German girl arriving. He smiled, encouragingly. "Uh, yes, room room icht dis weyh." He said, probably offending the girl, but then again, she wouldn't understand. Slowly and signalling her to follow, he guided her up the stairs and pointed her to one of the rooms. He noticed it had already been taken, but Pamella had told him to leave some of the rooms free. "A nice red haired girl stays here too." He said, with his best actions that could explain red head. He thought her name was Jodie, but he didn't want to make things even more difficult for the poor girl. He grinned, awkwardly, not knowing what to say, and then just nodded and jogged back to his spot at the door.

Helene was taken aback by the man's stupid attempt at speaking German. She forced a small laugh to make the hippy feel better, and followed him up the stairs to her 'remy-room', and the man said something about a girl with red hair, then grinned and ran off. As his footsteps echoed and eventually stopped, she turned around and entered the room, dragging her large suitcase with her. She placed her suitcase next to a bed and took off her backpack and set it down. She fell backwards onto the bed and looked around the room.

'If you must know'? I didn't even ask. I almost forgot that she blabbed off on things like this. Still, he gave an amused chuckle at her latter comment. "Obviously." Just as a take back to her cautioning in his eating, he popped the rest of the orange in his mouth before he had even finished the other rest of the half. As a result, his cheeks puffed out and he laughed a little, hardly able to chew on the fruit that was stuffed in his mouth. He covered his mouth to conceal this by propping his elbow on the counter and cupping his hand over his lips just as another boy entered the kitchen, the likes of which his pale eyes trailed after with vague curiosity.


Nick juggled the fruit slices with his tongue, attempting to make the task of consuming them actually feasible. He was vaguely aware of Jodie's sudden shift of demeanor as the kitchen fell into a silence. He became increasingly perplexed as the quiet persisted and Jodie almost had the appearance of cutting off any possible conversation, contrasting sharply with how she had dropped in on him. Am I missing something? Where's the elephant in the room? He looked back over at the other boy. I mean, it's not like he's spectacular looking or anything. Especially not with me here.


The boy finally managed to swallow the majority of the mush in his mouth, allowing the rest of him to easily take the rest of it down his throat with a gulp, which belatedly felt uncomfortable as it traveled down his jugular. Nick coughed faintly into his fist, though more to break the stillness of the room than anything. He straightened up and brushed his palms together, dissatisfied with the sticky texture that clung to the pads of his fingers now. He slipped off of his stool and walked over to the sink, carelessly leaving the peel of the orange behind. He twisted the handle to release a flood of steaming water over his hands, nodding at the other boy's fist clamped around a can, ignoring the angry red his hands were turning from the water that was entirely too hot in the interest of time. "What'd ya' get?" Any small talk will do at this point.

The sound of Avery's voice broke through Kida's sleepy haze. "Mmmmm?" she first responded. Then she actually registered the words. Her stomach too seemed to have understood for when she heard 'eat', her stomach grumbled.


She lifted herself up and threw her legs over. Kida stretched her tiny arms and legs. She observed Avery as she checked herself over. Kida found Avery's shirt funny. A small smile expressed her amusement. When she saw Avery turn towards her and asked if she was ready, Kida nodded. Jumping off the bed, she still clung onto Mr. Simmies. She was about to walk out with him until she decided that she didn't want him to get dirty, placing him gently on the bed.


Kida walked over to Avery then and said, "I'm ready." As her time grew longer in the orphanage, she began to feel more at ease, at the least.

Ryder felt someone eyeing him as he took the soda. Must be Red's over there. He opened the can, a satisfying fizz sound escaping from it. About to take a sip from the can, he noticed the other boy in the room was talking to him. Ryder took a sip anyway.


"Hmm?" He looked over to the boy and motioned to the freshly opened can in his hand. "Coke." His lips slightly curled and he nodded over to Red, who looked in a sour mood to him. "This wouldn't happen to belong to Red by any chance? If so, is that why she's so..." He shrugged his shoulders, seemingly to can't find a word to describe her mood in a nice way.


He let out a chuckle, shaking his head before taking another sip. "I'm Ryder by the way."

"Ah." He twisted the long knob of the faucet to shut the water off, vaporized water still puffing up in tiny clouds. I mean, I know I shouldn't have been expecting free energy drinks but... He sighed inaudibly through his nose. Soda will do. Nick flicked his wrists, not bothering to grab for the towel that was draped over the spout and instead just allowed the droplets to spray off of his hands and onto the floor. He locked his fingers together, pressing them inward to stretch, as his knuckles seemed resistant to pop at the moment, but was still satisfied nevertheless to have returned to the normal, clean texture of his palms.


He gave a perplexed frown at the boy's next question. "Who?" he responded automatically, but just a moment after asking, he had caught on to where the other boy's gaze had drifted and the only person he could have been possibly talking about. Nick looked back over at Jodie, becoming increasingly irritated by her silent staring. "Oh. Like hell if I know." He looked at her for a moment, brows furrowing in an irked manner as a vague suspicion of what precisely she was trying to accomplish began to form in the back of his mind. Can't exactly count on her for social things now. I guess I'll have to be nice.


Nick walked over to the refrigerator, intent to slip behind the other boy, now Rhyder, after formalities were exchanged. I bet that name's horribly misspelled and everything. Still, maintaining a neutral expression, as opposed to the somewhat harsh one he had been directing to Jodie, he extended his hand out for a firm shake. "I'm Nick."

Ryder turned to Nick as he walked over to him. "Nice to meet you," he said as he took Nick's hand, giving it a firm shake before letting his hand slip from Nick's. He probably has some nice things I could perhaps borrow... Ryder thought as he slightly gave Nick a quick once over and to mask that he was doing that, he jerked his head slightly move his hair from his eyes.


"Oh, I'm in the way. Sorry," Ryder said, noticing he was in the path between Nick and the refrigerator. He walked over to the table that the girl girl with the red hair was sitting at and sat down on the stool that was next to the one that was occupied by her feet. He took a sip of his soda, smacking his lips before looking at her through the corner of his eye. The corner of his lips tugged upwards as he placed the can down on the table. "'Sup, Red?"

Jodie watched Nick and this new guy exchange greetings. She almost laughed as she realised Nick was being nice. She shook her head and looked out of the window, but when she looked up, she noticed 'The New Kid' had sat down in front of her. "What's up Red?" He spoke. Oh God, not that name again. "Jodie." She said and avoided his eyes, this would make her seem more interesting, "And nothing else but Jodie." She was about to give him a dazzling stare, when someone else entered the room, making Jodie roll her eyes.





Avery made her way into the kitchen, looking into the large room. She held back a little, but began to walk in as she realised it wasn't too busy, but it was busier than any other kitchen she had been in. Her throat suddenly locked, and she realised that she didn't want to talk. Her hand went to the nape of her neck, as she rubbed her hand across it, trying to appear casual, but it wasn't working. It had been a long time since she had had to introduce herself properly. She wasn't daunted by adults, but kids her age, she was especially scared by. There was a girl say at the table with ridiculous eye liner and a rather tight t-shirt on. Across from her, was a boy, simple enough, wearing a hoodie as most guys did. And then there was another boy, standing near the refrigerator in khaki shorts. Awkwardly, she smiled and stepped forward; knowing that it was either her, or Kida who made the first move, and she had to set and example. "Avery." She began, "I'm Avery." She then nodded in no particular direction and looked back and forth from each of them. "This here is Kida." She turned behind her, to look down at the girl she was now supposed to be a role model for.

Helene had sat in the room for a while before deciding to put her clothing up and place her belongings in their respective places. She stood there for a minute admiring her handiwork and then her face fell as she realized she had nothing else to do.


"Ahh, mist." She cursed, silently.


She sighed, turned and walked up to the door, stopping for a moment. She knew that the people down there didn't speak a lick of German, and she barely spoke a lick of English. She took a deep breath and turned the knob, and stepped outside. She heard voices downstairs and smoothed her clothing down and then started down the steps. She followed the voices until she arrived at the kitchen, where most of the house was, speaking about something. Perhaps they were introducing themselves, Helene didn't know. She lingered outside of the kitchen for a moment before taking a deep breath and stepping through the threshold into the kitchen. There was a few of them in here, a boy who wore khaki shorts, a ridiculously bright red headed girl, which Helene wondered if this was the girl who she shared her room with, another boy who wore his hair over his eyes and who was probably a ne'er-do-well or a hooligan, a girl with unfeminine short hair, and then lastly but not least, a small female child, who hid behind the other girl. She heard the short haired girl say Avery, which Helene assumed was her name. Helene stood there silently, hoping that she wouldn't be asked who she was.

Ryder tried to catch eye contact with Jodie as she tried to avoid his gaze. Amusement danced in his bluish grey eyes as she told him not to call her anything else, but Jodie. I am so gonna call you Red from now on. When Ryder was about to open his mouth to say something about that, he noticed someone entered the room.


His gaze went to the girl with short hair that entered the kitchen. He noticed she looked like she was struggling a bit to speak and when she did, he noticed she didn't seem too confident. He learned her name was Avery and she revealed that there was a small girl standing behind her. It made Ryder's eyes soften a bit, but he quickly shook his head and smiled.


"Hey there, I'm Ryder," he introduced and he pointed at Jodie, "And this is Red." Then he turned his head to look at Nick and he jerked his head to him. "And that's Nick."


Ryder's eyes flicked over to the new person that entered the kitchen. Ah, the foreigner. He thought as he looked at the blonde haired, blue eyed girl.


"Did you find that Remy-room you were looking for?" He asked, remembering hearing her say that to Remy earlier, though he knew she probably didn't understand a lick of what he said.

Kida took her time down the stairs, taking exaggerated jumps down each one before she stopped behind Avery. Not exactly comfortable enough to introduce herself, Kida clung onto Avery's leg and peered over to get a look at the others in the kitchen.


Her eyes glanced up as Avery spoke. At first Avery took a moment to speak before she introduced them. Kida then felt the eyes of the others on her so she averted her eyes over to meet theirs. She saw the eyes of one of the boys soften up the one named Ryder. He then turned his attention momentarily to the girl next to him who's name is Red then over to the other boy whose name is Nick.


Kida gave a small smile at the name of the girl. Without filtering thoughts, she began to speak without thinking. "Red? Like Red Riding Hood? I like that name. Ryder...and Nick," finally knowing something gave her some comfort. She appreciated Avery's courage to introduce them, now Kida felt more at ease. Slowly she walked around Avery and stood in front of her and repeated, "Yes I'm Kida. Nice to meet you." The corners of her mouth lifted up into a smile so big that her eyes squinted.


Then she felt another presence approaching them. Her head turned over to see another girl coming to meet the group. Kida heard Ryder say something but didn't understand it.

Helene looked at Ryder with an eyebrow raised. She was sure it conveyed a sense of superiority to him, but in all honesty she wouldn't know if she wanted to. He mentioned the "Remy-room" and she nodded her head.


"Ja. Das Mann hat mir geholfen." She answered him.


She made a motion of long hair to Ryder, hoping he'd understand what she was saying. She turned back to the ground and smiled, embarrassed. It was probably time she introduced herself.


"Hallo, Ich heiße Helene Schröder." She said, with a bow.


That's how she was taught to introduce herself anyway, her tutor had been sure to drill that in deep. She straightened up, folding her hands and holding them in front of her waist.

After standing around waiting for the two people to go inside for what seemed like an eternity, Ares got tired of waiting and standing around holding his bags. If the lady had something important to say, he'd end up hearing it eventually. It didn't matter if he found out what it was now or later.


He quietly walked around to the door, leaving a large berth between him and the lady. He entered, and stopped in the doorway to look back and see if she'd noticed him avoiding her. Apparently not.


Ares turned back and let go of the door, letting Lucas struggle with sticking his foot in the door on time, keeping it open, and getting in with the extra burden of the boxes. He'd catch up just fine.


However, Lucas ended up not having to do hardly any catching up as Ares quickly halted anyways. Before him was a tall, grinning, hippie looking dude. Since he was an adult and looked like that lady, he'd probably have something to say too. Silently, Ares waited for him to start.

Nick made a small noise of assent, similarly dropping his hand soon after a quick, single shake. He stood there a moment, vaguely growing disconcerted as the other boy seemingly stared at him. Yeah, do I got something on my face? Step aside. Still, it didn't take long for his message to get across, it seemed. "S'fine," he dismissed after Rhyder's apology, immediately stepping where he had been and tugged the door open. Nick put his palms on his knees, leaning forward to stare into the refrigerator. On one of the shelves was a rather formidable selection of carbonated beverages, all of which interested him a lot more than the ongoing conversation that he was vaguely tuned into. Coke or Sprite, Coke or Sprite, Coke or Sprite, Coke or Sprite...


Finally, he relented, swiping for the green aluminum can. He straightened up and took a step back, kicked the door shut behind him with the heel of his foot. He spun around, thumb lingering on the tab of the can, if only to see another girl enter the room, and Jodie acting... whatever. He was confused for a moment when she, Avery, indicated toward a little girl clamped onto her leg, whom he had failed to notice at first. It partly caught him off guard because kids of that age demography seemed to be such a rarity in all the orphanages he had ever been in, which only now struck him as odd now that he was thinking about it.


Nick snorted lightly in amusement as Rhyder completely disregarded Jodie's insistence to be called by her name, and a grin settled over his lips as Kida proceeded to inquire about that being her name. She's going to be known around the orphanage as Red at this rate. Serves her right. He raised an eyebrow and laughed a little as the other boy continued to speak, not even bothering to look at who in particular he was addressing. "Remy-room?" His expression blanked, however, when the girl responded, only foreign words rolling off of her tongue. Nick finally cracked the soda open, the can hissing back at him as he nearly bent the tab off of it. "Okay," he muttered. He took a thoughtful swig of it, feeling a faint burning as the fizzing liquid traveled down his throat. He looked back over the can at the blonde girl, but as it tilted away from him, he flashed a smile at Rhyder. "Yeah, you catch all of that, too?"


What had that been anyway, German? Did she even know how to speak English? Unless she was trolling him, he was clueless as to how someone could have ended up here without being able to speak to anyone, unless... Nope, don't care enough for theories. Nick was quick to back out of that portion of the conversation. Any attempt to communicate with her sounded like it would be exhausting. So instead he slid back onto a stool at the end of the table, setting the beverage down before laying his arms on the table, bending them to have either hand resting on the nape of his neck, then tucked his chin between his elbows to stare absently at the can before him.

Helene shook her head, remembering that none of them here spoke any German. She swallowed hard and turned a bright red, obviously embarrassed from that.


"I am sorry, I forget I am not in Deutschland." She said, struggling to get the words out. "I am Helene Schröder."


She looked up, and smiled at no one in particular, her eyes scanning the people In the room.

"Good afternoon!" Remy greeted the next boy, and was about to embrace him when he noticed the rather strange look on his face. He was sort of smiling-but not smiling all at once. His eyes were glassy and he waited an appropriate ten seconds to check he blinked, and when he didn't, he held out his hand in front of the boys' face and waved it. "Are you on a bad trip, dude?" Remy had been there, he had bought a cheap bag and had been left feeling rather dazed, not knowing what was real life. "If you are, man, I can totally make you a smoothie-" He stopped as he suddenly realised his face wasn't moving at all, it was almost like a mask. Maybe it was a mask. Remy was in no position to ask, and more to the point, he didn't want to. He felt more awkward than ever having just suggested that the kid was smoking weed. To cover up his confused and awkward face-that wasn't used very often-he smiled and said, "So, follow me to your room." Remy began to walk up the stairs, trying desperately not to think bad of the kid-but he didn't know if he could sleep at night, knowing someone wearing possibly the creepiest mask he had ever seen in his life was sleeping, up stairs.





Jodie shuffled, bursting with excitement as others sat around her, but she hoped it came across as uncomfortable. She looked up at the 3 new people. "My name is Jodie, not Red." She frowned. Nick was at the other end of the table, staring at a can of Sprite, looking a little dazed. There was something strange about him. For one, he had been friends with Isadore in the past, which she thought was completely impossible, considering the fact that Isadore was on the extremely mentally ill and crazy side. But she supposed they all were. Here she was, pretending to be 'emo'; an imposter. Her hand held up her head and she, like Nick, stared hopelessly.





"Ah." Avery smiled lightly, not knowing if she should take a seat, but she did anyway, nearest the boy, Rhyder. He was the most welcoming figure and the girl seemed extremely fake, with her died hair which had visibly brunette roots. Besides, she had gotten on with boys more in the past-not that either of the genders had done her any favours. "So uh," She was going to start conversation, but nothing flowed, and her mouth was left awkwardly open, so she closed it. Her hands were bundled in her lap and she stared down at them.

Kida's eyes wandered between the teens. The blond haired girl who supposedly spoke a different language was named Helene. And it turned out that the red haired girl's name was not Red, how dull, but instead was Jodie. Hopefully Kida's little mind will remember that little fact.


Then silence enveloped them. Kida saw Avery take a seat. Not wanting to hear the awkward atmosphere of silence Kida walked over to the table and jumped onto a chair right by Nick. She then examined the teens before her. Not exactly understanding much of hormonal stages and awkward tensions Kida blurted out, "Is it always this awkward in orphanages? This is my first time in an orphanage."

Ryder had to suppress a chuckle as he heard Kida's question about Red Riding Hood. He gave Jodie an apologetic look. Sorry, not sorry, Red.


Ryder just smiled a bright smile at Helene as she spoke in a language he did not understand, though she did nod her head so he assumed she did. I'll take that as a yes. He sucked in a breath through his teeth before drinking the rest of his soda. He looked over to Nick and shook his head, still smiling, "No, not really."


His fingers were tapping away at the sides of the empty can and he noticed someone sat down beside him. He looked over and it was Avery. His fingers stopped tapping and he watched her as she tried to start a conversation with him. He ran a hand through his hair, half smiling with a hint of awkwardness. Ryder wasn't too good at conversations with people he barely knew. He was about to say something when Kida blurted out her question. Yeah, is it always this awkward? You all need to chill like that hippy, Remy.


"Yeah, that's an answer I'd like to know, too, is it always this awkward?" He asked, shrugging his shoulders. I hope they all loosen up a bit soon so they wouldn't be so on guard...

Nick slipped into a completely zoned out state, aided by the silence that had enveloped the kitchen. His eyes were unblinking, staring fixedly at the splashing design on the can, though his vision was blurred from his focus having drifted off to a particular memory. His finger twitched slightly, faintly wanting to pull his phone back out, but did not act on this desire. Instead, he was snapped out of his reverie by the small sound of a girl's voice beside him.


He shut his eyes, squeezing them as he realized it had been entirely too long since he had blinked. When he opened them again, he rolled his head in his head to beam at Kida, pleased that she had been comfortable enough around him to sit so close. "Nah, it's just..." He lifted his head to sit erect, only sparing a moment to look over at Rhyder before focusing on the girl again. "I mean, none of us know each other." Nick chortled to himself, belatedly realizing that was a lie, but continued on with his explanation anyway. "So, I mean... no one's going to just blab off to total strangers right off the bat, because... people are concerned about coming across as jerks or talking about something no one cares about or..." No one cares about the psychology of it. Oh, the irony. His smile broadened as he tapped a finger on the table, attempting to blow off his embarrassment at this epiphany, his ears burning a faint shade of pink. "Usually the kids know each other, but this place is new."


Those were hypothetical questions. You're an idiot, he continued to berate himself. Nick thought it was high time to stop talking at that point, but he registered the implications of their questions belatedly. New orphans. He propped his elbow on the counter again, angling his head such that he was still grinning at her, running his fingers through the short hairs on the back of his head and tugging at various segments. "So, how old are you, Kida? I'm fifteen." He blinked, ceasing his fidgeting and frowning as he worked out what he just said, eyes narrowing. "Why did I just say that?" The smile returned as he chuckled a little, his head resting back into his palm. "Seventeen. Jeez, it's getting so hard to remember anything at my old age."

Helene sighed, and turned to leave the kitchen. There was no point in staying in there, none of them understood German, and her English wasn't too great either. She arrived at the living room and laid down on the couch, kicking off her Vans. She took her phone out of her pocket and began to play some of her classical music. The beautiful piano echoed throughout the empty living room. Helene closed her eyes and began to day dream about her home and the estate that was left her. It had barely been 2 hours and Helene already wished she was 18 so she could go home. She hummed along with the notes and waved her finger in the air to go along with the tempo. This was her happy place, listening to classical music pieces. She suddenly wished they had a piano so she could play, that would give her something to do, since no one would want to try to speak to a foreign girl who barely spoke English.

The masked boy had gone inside, silently, having made no indication that he was aware of either Isadore or the woman's presence. It seemed that the other children were already accommodating themselves in the house, though the woman remained standing by the front door. Isadore tilted his head and spared her another curious glance. She was also under the 'mute spell' that was plaguing the others, and frowned perplexedly at the stitching of her skirt that she was currently picking at. Does she...dislike me? Or maybe I wasn't an expected arrival? "that stupid goblin fritter..." Isadore scowled in irritation and clenched his fingers tighter around his backpack straps. It wasn't too difficult for him to imagine a cartoonish, miniature Dr. Finchman gleefully prancing about with the applicant papers that he 'forgot' to send to Whitaker House. The next time I see him...that old man...


Releasing a sigh of exasperation, Isadore walked over to the front door and opened it, pausing to gauge the woman's response. He cleared his throat in comical fashion, pretending to degenerate the gesture into a wild coughing fit. "Ack...ghakah...ahem. AHEM!" Adopting a stern expression, he nodded curtly at the woman. "I do believe I have an appointment with a certain, ah, Mister Room. If you will excuse me, madam." With that, Isadore twiddled his fingers in a little wave and leaped into the house, letting the door close behind him with a bang to announce his arrival. "The gentleman has arrived." He took yet another sweeping bow and straightened quickly, glancing about the foyer in mild disappointment. Tsk...and after I went through all that trouble... Isadore paused in his theatrics to carefully examine the room he was in. It was not so much a foyer, he now realized, than it was a living room. The doormat and a pile of shoes lined haphazardly along the wall was the only indication that the door in which Isadore just came from was indeed the entrance of the house. The walls turned sharp corners and expanded out from where he stood into a spacious, well-lit room with a prolific population of couches.


The faint murmur of mingling voices came from the open doorway on the opposite side of the room. Silently, Isadore circled along the edge of the room until he was standing against the wall directly facing the front door. Ever, ever so carefully, he tiptoed up to the edge of the doorway and closed his eyes, honing in on the conversation from his hidden position.


"-awkward in orphanages? This is my first time in an orphanage." Isadore could feel a gleeful smile twisting up. Oh, you poor, poor little girl.


"Yeah, that's an answer I'd like to know, too, is it always this awkward?" Isadore chuckled quietly in amusement. The sarcasm is appreciated.


"Nah, it's just..." Isadore tilted his head to one side during the pause. A different guy's voice. This one sounds like him.


"I mean, none of us know each other." Same guy. And he really does sound like him. Isadore opened his eyes and fought the urge to peek into the room.


"So, I mean... no one's going to just blab off to total strangers right off the bat, because... people are concerned about coming across as jerks or talking about something no one cares about or..." Listening to the voice rambling on about psychological speculations, Isadore unconsciously relaxed his stance against the wall and leaned in closer to the doorway. It's not possible, right? These things only happen in movies. Or books. He shook his head vigorously. It's not possible. The chance is one in a thousand. No, one in a million. One in a gazillion-trillion. There's no way... Isadore struggled with the goofy grin on his face...it's Nick.


"Nh" Isadore caught the name just before it left his mouth. I can't just barge in there. Tact, Isadore, tact! He paced along the wall, now oblivious to the conversation that continued in the room. Should I say hi? Ask how he's doing? Chewing on the nail of his thumb, Isadore paused just before he turned around to continue pacing. But if he's back in an institution like this, that means the foster home didn't work out...would he be offended if I ask? Maybe I should play it cool. As he approached the doorway again, Isadore nodded to himself. Yeah. That's probably best. Okay. Here I go. He started to walk into the room, one hand stiffly raised in greeting. Now I have to say hi. "NICK, I-"


And then the girl walked out.


Isadore jumped several feet back and stood rigidly against the wall while the girl made her way to a couch and lay down, seemingly unaware of his presence. He waited a few moments, wondering if he should talk to her. But if she wanted to talk, she'd have stayed in the other room. Perhaps she's uncomfortable around the others for some reason. Is she no good in crowds? Isadore glanced at the doorway. He could still hear voices. Turning back towards the occupied couch, he was about to say something to the girl, but the gentle, pattering gleam of piano notes stopped him. I guess she doesn't want to be bothered, he thought as he silently regarded the small, blond teen resting on the couch. Well, that makes this easier for me, I guess. Careful not to make any sudden noises again, Isadore peeked into the other room and wiggled his fingers along the edge of the door frame. It didn't take him long to find the person he was looking for.


"Hey. Hey, Nick." Isadore whispered from just beyond the door. He paused. Tact, Isadore, tact!


Isadore gave a flourishing wave before sauntering into the room. "Hi...Or perhaps low?" No, brain. What are you making me do? He nodded sagely. "Yesh, der gash prices 'ave bin gettin' down lately." Stop it, brain. "Mus' bee da 'conomy boot from them Wall-Street Wizzahs, eh?" Why am I doing this? Yet even as Isadore finished talking, he had a strange sense of inevitability. It's not like I can just 'play it cool' now, so I might as well... He lumbered over to the table Nick was sitting at. "Wut 'bout yer O-pin-on? Don't yah got no O-pin-on to sheer 'bout dem gash prices?" In his mind, Isadore cringed and bowed apologetically at Nick. I'm so sorry.

Nick's focus had been fixed on Kida, having settled with the potentially erroneous assumption that he had been hearing things when he suspected someone new say his name, as he looked only to see the German girl make her exit without a word, but now he was a little less certain. A bit hesitantly, the corners of his mouth dropped as looked over his shoulder again to the doorway. The sight made his expression blank, save for the widening of his eyes.


He completely forgot about whatever ongoing conversation he may have started with Kida in that moment as he took in the sight of the other, plain-looking boy. No. It can't be. But it could be. But there's just no way. There's already Jodie. There was already Jodie. But that wasn't exactly lucky. Good things don't happen to me. "Isadore?" Even as he uttered the name in disbelief, he knew no one else could make that type of entrance as he had. "Are you kidding me?"


Suddenly, he broke out into a wild grin, overtaken by a sudden and unexplainable glee, such that little of what Isadore had said had actually registered, and even if it had, he couldn't be perturbed by it. "What're you even doing here?" He was just rambling at this point, but he didn't care. Nick felt an inexplicable joy, which was shown in his wide eyes alighted with ecstasy, and just to have such a familiarity with someone here put him immensely at ease. Without another moment of hesitation, he slipped off the stool he had been perched on, and closing the small gap between the two of them, threw his arms around the boy's shoulders and clapped his hands on his back in a quick embrace. "It's good to see you, man. How've you been?"

"Good afternoon!" The guy in front of Ares cheerily greeted him and approached him, lifting his arms. Seeing the threat of being hugged, Ares quickly stepped backwards, recoiling away. But it seemed he didn't have to worry too much, as the other man quickly realized something was off.


Ares grinned behind his mask. People's reactions were the best.


The man lifted his hand again and waved it in front of his face, and Ares flinched backwards again.


What.


"Are you on a bad trip, dude?"


Ares blinked. That was the first time he'd ever gotten that.





"If you are, man, I can totally make you a smoothie-"


He shook his head slightly, and was about to retort that he did not, in fact, do drugs, when the other man instructed him to follow him up to the room, sounding rather uncertain. That was more normal.


Following drug-man to the stairs, Ares felt something hit his ankle and he turned his head back, finding Lucas giving him a look from behind the boxes.


"Told you so." his cousin mouthed, and Ares ignored him, turning his head back around to see where he was going. After all, falling down the stairs certainly sounded like a bad trip.


Drug-man led him to a room with an open door, and Ares walked in. Looking around he noticed someone else's stuff was already there. Just great, he'd be having a roommate. And the room wasn't very large either, though hopefully all the shelves would make up for it.


"Just set them by bed." He instructed Lucas, and set his bags down on the unclaimed one. Sitting down next to them, he turned to watch his cousin. Lucas set them down carefully, and then turned to Ares with his hands on his hips. Ares sighed. What does he want now?


"It sounded like there were a bunch of other kids downstairs."


So?





After a minute of silence, Lucas sighed. "Go downstairs and talk to them. But change your mask first."


"Sure, I was planning on it anyways. I'm going to unpack first."


"Good."


Ares stared at him, not moving. They both stayed where they were for a few minutes.


Lucas sighed and glanced around, bringing one hand up to drag across the back of his neck. His eyes came back to rest on Ares before he looked around again, sighing. He dropped his hands and sighed yet again, and then he cleared his throat.


"Well.... I guess I'm going then."


"Bye."


Lucas turned around and left, leaving Ares in the same position he was when he first sat down. He waited a moment to make sure Lucas was really gone, and then flopped backwards onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. He sighed too, then rolled onto his side and stared at his bags.


But, they weren't going to unpack themselves, and he sat back up to begin the work.

Jodie, still staring into space, felt oh so uncomfortable. No one had made a sound and people were already leaving. She had to spice it up. Opening her mouth, she was about to start the subject of how she had arrived at the orphanage, when someone had walked in the room. He was rather tall and his hair was swept to the side. Jodie gulped down anger, vengeance, bad memories. She shook her head and leaned back slightly. "Ha!" She laughed. Her legs pulled her off of the chair and she stood up. "Okay, good one guys! Really!" Mockingly, her head shook and her hands clapped slowly. "This really was great, where's the cameras, huh?" She stared wildly at the short haired girl, Avery. "Did you do this?" Her mouth was curled into a maniacal grin and her eyes lit brightly with confusion and anger. Then she stared at Isadore. "You better not be real." Before she had even finished her sentence, she climbed atop the table and leaped towards Isadore, throttling his shoulders and thumping him in the chest, while her feet attempted to make hared blows to his legs.


"YOU KILLED HER, AND YOU GOT HIM FRAMED!" "YOU PSYCHO!" Her words were full of hurt and madness. She didn't care that Jamie had left, she didn't even care that the Headmistress was dead, she only cared that he knew he could get away with it. She knew Jamie could be an awful bastard, but he wasn't a killer. And who else, but the murderous Isadore, would kill off his guardian to frame his worst enemy?








Avery tried to paste a light smile on her face, but it wasn't working. Every time she got lost in thought, she had to pull herself away to maintain the polite smile on her face. To snap her out of her train of thought, she heard a voice behind her, a male voice. She turned slightly to see who it was and saw it was indeed a boy. He sat down next to one of the other boys, Nick, and started to converse in some weird accent. Avery rolled her eyes but grinned a little as he had sounded silly. Before she got a chance to introduce herself once more, Jodie, the red head was screaming. At her. Avery laughed a little. What had she done? She was about to say something that included 'crazy bitch', when the girl dove across the table and was strangling the boy who had just arrived. Avery could tell there was history between the two, or maybe she was just crazy, screaming 'you killed her'. Avery decided to stay out of it. It had been a long time since she had engaged in violence, and she wasn't keen on beginning an old habit again.