Realistic or Modern The Apartment on13th Street

[eheu]

On no she noticed me.


Claudia hopped sideways on the window frame as the human turned around.


She panicked a bit, trying to decide whether to quickly leave her alone, as the girl let out a loud screech, launching herself backwards.


Sorry, sorry. Calm down. Time for me to go. Bye pretty human.


She didn’t really even remember why she decided to visit this room in the first place. Oh, right, wrong floor. Then it’s probably about time -


”Hello.”


eh?


She stopped in her tracks and turned back around, the human now facing her and inching carefully in her direction. This girl didn’t look as frightened as she first was now. Claudia tilted her head to a side and stared back.


Hello.


She would have waved back, but again, human hand gestures were largely incompatible with wing anatomy. She took small sideway steps on the frame, anticipating the next action from the human girl.


She felt a delicate finger touching her back and gently stroking her feathers, and lowered her head in satisfaction - couldn’t deny that it felt rather comfortable - as well as in interest, as she pondered what the girl was thinking with her expressions indiscernible between caution, fear, and affection. Claudia sighed mentally - never was great at reading people.


You are one very adorable human.


Was the conclusion she reached. At least temporarily.


"What are you doing, you silly bird? ..."


-excuse me?


A series of uncomfortable sounds interrupted the girls following words as the raven twisted its head in a way that appeared like it was dislocating its own neck. In a way, actually, it was. All of the sudden, there was the growing sound of fluttering wings as the wings changed shape in the process. As well did the body and legs - the form of the bird that had just a moment ago hopped off the frame and into the room was transformed into a chunk of deformed skin and bone and flesh, which existed only for a very brief moment before it reassembled itself - twisting and squirming back into place - into the figure of a human female.


Claudia started coughing immediately after the transformation. Messed up the lungs, she commented, as a couple of black, detached feathers sputtered out from her mouth and dropped to the ground. She was now sitting against the corner between the wall near the window and the bed, legs curled up ,arms wrapped around them, and head placed upon her knees.


”...silly?” She protested, brows locked in an upset expression.


While mentally complaining - she simply had to do so - about the unpleasantness of the process and the inconvenience of a lack of clothing, It occurred - only then - to Claudia that she probably should’ve have advised the girl not to look while she was doing that.


She looked back to the human, who would now probably be rather terrified.


”...uh. Hello.”


Now she could do the waving she couldn't have done earlier, though.


So she did.

 

[jinkx]

Mitsuki screamed again, falling over backwards. She probably could've passed out right there and then from shock. What the hell just happened? What? She had to cover her mouth so that she didn't scream again.


"You- uh, I- what?" Mitsuki murmured, backing away. She hit the wall, which she banged her head against in an attempt to clear her head.


"I... Bird... What?" she rubbed her temples in confusion. She screamed again. This whole situation was so incredibly ridiculous. It couldn't be real. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. There was only one answer. She must've been drugged and now she was hallucinating. There was no other answer.


"My god, I must be high. That's it. I've been drugged." she decided, and saying it out loud only confirmed it for her, "Oh my god, my mom's going to kill me when she finds out." Then, she opened her eyes again. It looked like she'd have to wait for this insanity to end.


"I..." She leapt up, "Who are you, drug induced hallucination? And why were you a bird and now a person? ARGH-!" She screamed for the third time.

 

[clarinetti]

Nathan woke up to the sound of high pitched screaming and bolted up from the couch. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around in his dazed state, unsure exactly where the sound had come from. His meds were definitely working- he couldn't hear anything besides the humming of the fridge and the cars from below, so it must have come from nearby... "Maybe one of those women found a spider in their room." he mumbled to himself sleepily, and content with this answer, laid back down on the couch to continue his impromptu nap. However, he had just closed his eyes when another scream pierced the air, even louder than the one before. He was fully awake now, and not in a good mood. What was going on that someone could make such a ruckus? With a sigh he pulled himself off the couch and moved towards the window, popping out his head to see where the noise had come from. He could see a few people on the street looking about also, but when the screeching continued, he could pinpoint it to the floor below him. While he doubted that there was a burglary or anything happening this time of day (Let alone in a shithole like this), he knew he wouldn't be at ease until he checked the situation out himself. With that, he grabbed his keys from the counter, hastily locked the apartment, and started rushing down the stairs.


Within a minute he was there, and was about to knock the first door when he heard the scream again- it had definitely come from the apartment below him. Passing the other rooms, he began knocking insistently on the door. "Excuse me, is everything alright in there? Do you need some help?!" he called out to the person on the other side.

 

[yistae]

Kurt moved out of the way as several people started up the steps, then sat down and watched in mild amusement as Julian dug through the grocery bag. Honestly he didn't care too much if he was given anything since he didn't need to eat to survive. One of the perks of being a spirit. He almost laughed when Julian pulled out a can of bean soup and at his expression, but Kurt was fairly certain that cats couldn't laugh. Instead he just smiled and purred, leaning into the petting subconsciously.


As soon as Julian spoke again Kurt looked up and meowed, his way of confirmation, before leading the way up the steps to Julian's flat happily. He knew which one it was since he'd been in there a few times before, and was happy to have a drink with someone, something he hadn't done in some time.


A scream made him freeze halfway up a step, and he stared in the direction it had come from. His body relaxed though when he located Claudia and the new girl in one room, listening to the screaming and hearing something along the lines of "you were a bird and now a human". Claudia probably scared the poor girl, he thought, resuming his climb up the steps and mentally cursing himself for being so small in his form. It helped sometimes, but when the lift was out and there were about a bazillion steps, it would have been nice to have longer legs. Finally thy got to Julian's floor and he padded down the hall, stopping and sitting patiently on the welcome mat in front of Julian's door.

 

[eheu]

Screams.


Claudia winced at the high-pitched sounds the girl was now producing.


In a bit of a panic herself, she - compelled perhaps by a sense of guiltiness, as unlikely that seems for her - made her best attempt at persuading the human to calm down. The girl didn’t seem to be exactly in the mood of listening, though.


"You- uh, I- what?"


Donk.


Ow.


She winced again when the girl continued to stumble backwards and bumped her head against the not-so spacious interior of the room.


"I... Bird... What?"


The girl then began repeatedly driving her forehead into the nearby wall.


”Ey - don’t do that?”


Claudia wasn’t sure why exactly the girl was behaving in such a way, but only asserted that self-concussing couldn’t be something that was beneficial to her health.


In response, the human ceased briefly, and then resumed screaming.


”No no don’t do that either- ei -”


What do I do what do I do


Claudia panicked, not being able to come up with any appropriate response to the violent reactions.


"My god, I must be high. That's it. I've been drugged. Oh my god, my mom's going to kill me when she finds out."


You what?


Claudia frowned and thought back, only to remember most of the neighbourhood to be rather nice people. She wondered where and how the young lady could’ve possibly accidentally come across drugs of abuse.


But since that was brought up, the girl actually was acting a bit like it. Claudia ruffled her hair in confusion.

* * * *

​

Julian flipped out from his pocket a plain leather keychain, on which only a couple of keys were attached. He flipped through them with his free hand, and opened the door. The cat sat happily on the welcome mat as he did so. He closed the door behind him after the cat walked in.


The room wasn’t much - like every other apartment in the complex. The walls were concrete coated in a layer of imperfect white, stained in some places and cracked and crumbled in others. The entirety of the furniture inside were a desk and chair, a bed, a bookshelf, and a small refrigerator.


He placed the bag of supplies onto the desk and opened the fridge. He removed the several items of beverage - a pack of soda with four cans left, and two bottles of alcohol. That made space for him to start moving the necessary items from his groceries into the fridge, while he waited on the cat.

* * * *

​

"Who are you, drug induced hallucination? And why were you a bird and now a person?"


Where’d that come from?


Claudia was unsure whether to feel insulted or to feel sorry for the human. Maybe a bit of both? And should she actually come up with a serious reply because...it’s kind of a long story?


She spoke slowly and clearer than she usually did, hoping that the human could gather herself soon enough:


”My name is Claudia Noether, and...I live upstairs from here…?”


Okay good she’s calming down -


”-ARGH!”


Claudia froze as the human, for a third time in such a short time, screamed again. Claudia let out another suppressed cough as the sharp note stretched on.


Now she was absolutely certain that she should’ve had the human look away.


Sometime between that happening and Claudia succeeding in her struggle to come up with something to say came a stream of firm knocks on the wooden door, with an indistinct male voice coming through.


"Excuse me, is everything alright in there? Do you need some help?!"


Claudia looked at the girl, then at the door. Then at the girl again, confirming that she had no way of telling whether it would be acceptable to call this scenario “alright”.


”Uh… . You want to answer that?”

 

[jinkx]

"You... I... What kind of name is Claudia?" Mitsuki frowned, "What on earth were your parents thinking?" It was a weird thing to focus on as her version of reality pretty much collapsed around her. Oh god, this was terrifying. What was she supposed to do in this situation? Right. She should probably stop screaming for starters, she was going to drive herself crazy if she kept on. And she should probably reassure whoever was at the door that she wasn't being murdered.


Slowly, she made her way to the door. She kept glancing over her shoulder at Claudia, to check that she was still there. When would this craziness end? Mitsuki pulled open the door to find that guy from earlier standing there.


"I.... I'm..." She wanted to scream something along the lines of "THERE'S A WOMAN IN MY ROOM THAT USED TO BE A BIRD" but decided that she didn't want to come across as crazy.


"I don't need any help. I'm fine." Mitsuki said, her face flushing pink, "I'm sorry if I bothered you..." How she was speaking so calmly now, she wasn't sure. She wanted to scream and jump up and down in panic.


"I really am sorry, I-" Her head was throbbed with pain and she doubled over, grabbing her head with her hands. Her hair fell in her eyes. She stayed there for a moment, bent over and not moving. Then, she straightened up.


"I've got a headache." Mitsuki apologised, "I'm sorry. I really am."

 

[clarinetti]

Whoever had been in the room must have heard him, as the noise died instantly. Nathan thought he could hear mumbling, but with his meds working full blast, he couldn't decipher anything clearly. A moment later there were footsteps approaching, and when the door opened, he found himself facing the young woman from before, the one who had helped the pregnant lady. However, it was clear to him that she was frazzled for some reason, and even in his fatigued state he knew something was amiss.


His conclusion was further proven as she began apologizing, albeit much calmer than he had thought for someone who had been screaming but moments ago, her face glowing a vibrant pink all the while. He was ready to give her a rant on how there were other tenants in the building, but that thought shot out the window as she doubled over, seeming rather ill. No, she was most certainly not well. Was it really his concern? Well, since she had been making such a terrible ruckus, and he was not going to tolerate random bouts of screaming at all hours, yes.


"Please, don't apologize-I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling unwell, Miss. It seem to me you're having a migraine rather than a headache, though: you may want to take it easy if you're having trouble standing. Do you have any Advil or other mild painkillers?" he asks gently, his eyes flicking away only as she slumped down, but in that moment he could make out another person within the room, a woman seemingly sitting on the floor. Hmm.... an unexpected guest perhaps?

 

[yistae]

Kurt quickly followed Julian into his flat, careful not to get his tail caught in the door as it closed behind him. Only happened once before, and it was not something he wanted to repeat. Padding through to the back of the small flat while Julian went to the "kitchen"-it was terribly small to be called a kitchen-, Kurt literally walked into the wall and vanished.


Well, his physical cat form did. To any eyes of spirits or supernatural, he seemed to fade into existence as the cat faded out. He hated changing in front of people, hence the back of the room, and brushed off his jacket. Unlike Claudia who changed and didn't have clothes, Kurt always wore a pair of nice jeans, plain white tee, and a suit jacket. He could change what it was if he really wanted to, but he'd have to actually get his hands on some physical clothes and transfer them into the spirit world. Reiterating: a lot of work that he was too lazy to do.


Mentally making sure he would be visable to Julian, Kurt put his hands in his pockets and perched himself on the edge of the desk, looking through the bookshelf as the other put groceries away. "It's been a while since we talked," he said after his friend was done putting away the food, asking, "What have you been up to?"

 

[eheu]

What kind of name is Claudia? What on earth were your parents thinking?"


The girl frowned, and Claudia frowned back. Okay, she thought, adorable. Not exactly polite.


Claudia kept staring at her when she walked over to open the door, but quickly shifted her eyes away every time the human turned back to look at her.

* * * *

​

"It's been a while since we talked. What have you been up to?"


Julian smiled as he heard the warm human voice for the first time in a very long time.


He looked over his shoulder as he piled the last few items of food into the fridge. It’s been long enough he almost didn’t remember how Kurt looked like as a human anymore. Then again, he was perfectly identifiable - Kurt’s signature blue eyes remained ever as sharp.


Same set of clothes as well. He asked him about that a couple of times some time ago. Still didn’t get it, but he was okay with that, though.


”A while indeed.” He replied:


”Much the same things.” He never had particularly good answers to these kinds of questions - what has him been up to? He’d been doing the same few simple things ever since what seemed like forever.


”Still work at that warehouse. ” He said, ”Still live here.” followed by a short laugh.


Not exactly forever, though, he knew. But he didn’t talk about that much anymore.


”Still, good to see you.”


He said as he gestured at the empty seat, and at the beverages placed atop the table. After Kurt sat down, Julian did the same, grunting as he sunk into the seat of the collapsible metal chair that was that bit too small for his frame.


”So, um. Life -”, he felt like stressing that a bit, ”- hasn’t been that bad. Rather monotonic, but not bad.”


He reached for one of the sodas.


”Oh, uh.” A change in topic, remembering the exceptionally crowded lobby when he returned: ”Have you any clue what was happening back down there?”

* * * *

​

...Migraines?


Claudia curled herself up a bit closer upon the man coming into the room, wrapping her arms a bit tighter around her legs.


The man seemed to ignore her presence entirely at first, though, and she listened as he spoke.


”...you may want to take it easy if you're having trouble standing. Do you have any Advil or other mild painkillers?”


Then she looked back at the human girl, who was bent over and had a distressed expression over her face as she hastily apologized. Then she noticed that the man was looking at her now.


”I - er -” Claudia said, ”-I can go back to being a bird if, uh, if that’s...better?” The girl seemed to like the bird more, so she figured. But then she remembered another necessary point of consideration being whether the man would freak out seeing a person turn into a bird as much as the girl did seeing the reverse. Maybe she should have him turn around this time - something she could do this time around since she was in the form of a human at the moment?


She honestly didn’t know. Humans were all but unpredictable.


Besides, another transformation was one of the last things she would want to do after just doing one within that short of an interval. Her ribs weren’t done aching yet. She probably made that offer more out of ...politeness? Rather than actually expecting anyone to accept it.


Really, it hurt going back and forth like this. She shuddered thinking about it, and then remembered something else.


”...painkillers?”


Looking back up at the man, she said:


”...can I have some?”

 

[yistae]

Kurt smiled and sat down in the chair opposite of Julian, wondering if he would be able to find a bigger and nicer chair for his friend before he picked up one of the drinks and sipped on it. It was good, though hard to taste. But then again, everything was hard to taste since he was a spirit and not in a physical manifestation. One perk to becoming a cat, he thought to himself, then looked at Julian, his inhuman blue eye's looking over his human friend.


Human was becoming a relative term now when it came to Julian. Since he'd moved in, Kurt couldn't remember any family or close friends drop by, and it seemed that Julian couldn't either. Add in the strange vibe that Julian gave off and Kurt figured he had something other than regular mortal blood in his veins, or maybe had something happen to him that changed him. Whatever it was, it worried Kurt a little, but not enough to avoid his friend.


Kurt hummed in thought at Julian's question, then shrugged before replying with, "I don't know. Think they were moving in, and they're both still in the building. Claudia seems to have introduced herself to the younger, non-pregnant one. In an unconventional way if I do say so myself," he added, grinning and sipping on the carbonated soda. "Based on the screaming I could hear, she changed shape in front of the poor girl." He chuckled, finding it very amusing, then cleared his throat and stared off into space. "What do you think of them? The pregnant girl that was by herself, what's her story you think?" Honestly he didn't really want to snoop, but Kurt would feel even worse if he was the only one thinking bad things due to old fashioned views.

 

[clarinetti]

As he casually walked into the room (As though entering the apartment's of other tenants without permission was business as usual), Nathan carefully guided the poor girl towards the bed, motioning for her to sit down. She seemed to be in a daze, perhaps more so out of shock than physical illness? he asked himself, but until she could be brought to her senses, questions would only do so much good. He tried to be discreet as his gaze shifted between the one from the stairs and the somewhat familiar figure on the ground, yet he was sure she knew he was watching her. Yes, he had seen this one before... Nathan thought, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to recall what little he knew. She had been around since the time he moved here, and though he rarely saw her, he knew she was another tenant. Why she was huddled on the ground in this state just left more questions for him to deal with.


"I - er - I can go back to being a bird, if, uh, if that's... better?" the tenant spoke, her voice a bit raspy, and at her words he felt his face briefly twist into a puzzled expression before returning to a blank mask. He was confident he had heard her correctly, but really, how could he answer such a nonsensical question? ...At this point, all he could say with certainty was that both women were... disillusioned, to some extent. He wanted to shake his head at the predicament he found himself in- he had just wanted some peace and quiet- but was pulled from his thoughts as she spoke again, this time a bit more clearly. "Painkillers? ...Can I have some?"


Nathan watched her, no longer trying to be subtle, as the woman shuddered on the floor, as though wracked in pain. He couldn't immediately notice any wounds, but he was hardly a doctor. She could be sick, or for all he knew, she could be a drug addict craving a fix... Damn it, why was Sarah working? She would know how to deal with this crap... he supposed he could try to get Julian- though they weren't more than good acquaintances, he knew he had a way with people, and perhaps he'd have some notion what to do. However, he wasn't comfortable leaving the two of them alone, and the thought that he himself was unable to deal with what should be an easy issue to resolve felt like a stab at his pride... the whole issue was frustrating.


"...Yes, we'll see if we can find something for you both." he finally replies after debating the matter in his head for another moment. After scanning the apartment and seeing nothing around, he looks at the traumatized young woman, that dazed look in her eyes. "I'm going to check your bags for some medicine, ok, Miss?" he said, more as a statement than a question, though he doesn't know if she hears him. With that, he begins methodically going through her luggage, neatly placing the items on the bed as he searches. "Do you have any serious injuries? Do you need to see a doctor?" he asks, directing his words to the bird woman.

 

[eheu]

"...based on the screaming I could hear, she changed shape in front of the poor girl."


Julian raised his eyebrows in an expression of confirmation of the plausibility of that assertion, while inwardly pondering: in which direction would the transformation be more terrifying?


He hasn’t actually seen either, though - he only got realized that through peripheral facts, relations between the presence of the crow, and the hazy-eyed girl with messy hair wandering around places. The latter was much rarer, though.

* * * *

​

Claudia watched as the man guided the young human girl to the bed. She kept her eyes fixed at the two of them as the girl sat down.


After all that, she wasn’t really sure the girl was quite right in her mind. Claudia laughed mentally, reminding herself of how she was more used to being on the receiving end of that remark, even though, hey, she wasn’t constantly screaming at things and was at least polite enough not to insult a person’s intelligence(“silly bird”) on the first meeting and the name(“...what were your parents thinking?”) briefly after.


Not like she was taking it personally. Or upset. Or anything. Just complaining.


The human was still pretty, though.


Or humans, as it would be more fitting to say as there was more than one of them in the room right now. The man didn’t look bad himself: tall, tidy hair, good clothes. There was this particular thing about him that made her a bit uncomfortable - she didn’t know what, though. Maybe it was him appearing to know exactly what he was doing (the concept of predictability is very unsettling.)


Or maybe he was magically capable of manipulating the emotions of other minds, or something, Claudia mused as she watched him flip through the luggage at the other end of the room.


"Do you have any serious injuries? Do you need to see a doctor?"


Injuries. What injuries? She searched over the surface of her body briefly and made sure there were no injuries she was not aware of. Then, a bit absent-mindedly, she composed a reply:


”Uh, no. Do you?”


Claudia then furrowed her brows momentarily as she came to notice something that was contrary to her initial assumptions. She looked at the man:


”You’re...not a doctor?”

* * * *

​

"What do you think of them? The pregnant girl that was by herself, what's her story you think?"


Julian bit his lip. To be honest, he didn’t know.


”Something that’s more credible than anything I will be able to come up with now, I suppose.” was his answer, in lack of anything better to say.


He took a few satisfying gulps out of the aluminium can.


He then wondered whether it was actually better for them - the new tenants - to realize these things earlier. He was used to it - used to it before he came down here. He didn’t know how long Kurt had been there, but a lot longer than he had for sure.


He wondered.


The apartment was a good home, to be honest. But hardly benign to begin with.

* * * *

​

The aching from the initial transform having much faded away, Claudia took a few refreshing breaths to find that the arrangement inside her thoracic cavity was now reasonably accurate.


She was starting to get a bit stiff curled up on the ground all this time, though.


Claudia looked around the room, then groaned a bit as she stood up, before quickly quickly grabbing a nearby blanket sheet and wrapping around herself to protect her skin from the air. She plopped onto the bed, next to the human girl, and sat there comfortably for a while as the man - who was not a doctor - was still sorting things.


For some reason, after the few frantic preceding minutes, this moment had left Claudia in an exceptionally good mood. She almost wanted to start bouncing around on the edge of the bed, although she did make efforts to resist the childish temptation.


Might as well distract herself with a conversation. Claudia turned her head to look at the girl next to her.


”...what’s your name?”


How did you start a conversation again?

 

[jinkx]

Mitsuki was sure by this point that she must be going mad. She was lead to the bed, where she sat down and realised that if she hadn't sat down, she might've ended up fainting. Her vision was swimming a little. This wasn't like her at all. She wasn't prone to panicking or screaming or fainting or anything like that. In fact, she often looked down on people that screamed all the time as pathetic and silly. But then again, she wasn't prone to seeing birds turn into people.


She took several deep breaths to steady herself and tried to ignore the pounding in her head. She watched the man rummage through her bags and frowned in discomfort. She didn't want him going through her things, even if he was trying to help her.


"I have some medicine in that bag." she pointed at one of her bags, "I have some stuff for headaches in there. I get them rather frequently. Not normally this bad though. And-" She glanced over at the woman that had sat down beside her. Slowly, she edged away a little.


"I'm so sorry to bother you, sir." Mitsuki said, "I, um... I don't scream a lot, usually, I can assure you." She found a hole in her sweater and picked at it. That was when Claudia asked her name.


"It's... It's Mitsuki?" she replied, in confusion, "Um, it's nice to meet you, Claudia? I think you might have driven me to slight insanity but it's nice to meet you all the same. I'm sorry I said your name was weird. I was mid-panic, that's all. I'm really sorry." She looked down and continued to pick at her sweater, wondering what kind of world she'd just stumbled into.

 

[clarinetti]

"Hah, not in the least, but it's not hard to tell if someone's in pain. Would you still like something?" Nathan replied to the bird woman's question as casually as he could, managing to chuckle a bit as he said it- the thought of having to patiently deal with a bunch of whiny sick people at any and all times of the day made him want to wince. When the younger girl spoke finally, he turned his head to her, and he could tell by her general demeanour she was uncomfortable. It probably would have been better to just grab something from his apartment rather rummage through a strangers things- he had been hasty. "Yes, of course... my apologies, miss." he said, putting everything back as it had been before moving to the bag she had pointed to, easily finding the bottle of pills.


The name was familiar... had he tried these ones out before, back when he didn't need the larger doses? he quietly ponders, moving to grab a glass from the cupboard. As he filled it with some water from the tap, he listened as the two girls spoke to each other- so the newcomer was Mitsuki, while his acquaintance (Though he doubted they were even that, since this was the first time speaking from his recollection) was Claudia. He walks back to the bed, watching as Mitsuki picked away at her sweater. He still was frustrated by the whole incident, but the girl clearly was feeling guilty enough already, and his scolding her wouldn't help her or her self esteem from what he could see. "As I said earlier, you don't have to apologize, Mitsuki, was it? It had been a surprise, to say the least. However, clearly it was the result of, unusual circumstances... and so long as no one was hurt, there's no harm done." he said after a moment as he holds out the water and medicine, hoping to ease her worries.


By now, he thought he had a somewhat clear idea of what had happened- Mitsuki had been startled by Claudia's sudden appearance in her apartment, supposedly as Claudia had originally been a bird before changing into a human, or at something like that, hence the screaming. His only qualm was that this was completely irrational, yet he himself could sense that they both felt this to be the truth (Their emotional responses felt real enough at least)... though he wouldn't say it, the conundrum troubled him deeply.


xxxxxxxxxxxxx


Sarah slowly dragged herself into the building, slumping over from the weight of her satchel and the bags in her hands. She was fortunate in that the evening at the office had been a quiet one, and so she had been able to leave her shift early. She had thought of coming straight home, but knowing Nathan had likely forgotten to go get groceries, she had stopped by enroute to grab a few things. However, carrying the bags in her hands was much more tiresome than loading them in the bike pannier as she coasted along the relatively flat streets, and the thought of going up stairs made her sigh with exhaustion. After giving a brief nod and smile to Harper, everpresent in the lobby, she collapsed onto one of the squishy armchairs, allowing herself a moment to breathe. She'd call Nathan to come help her, but she just needed a few minutes.

 

[yistae]

Kurt gave Julian a joking, pointed look, something that roughly translated to 'Seriously?' That was no way to answer his question, but Kurt supposed it was fair. Not a direct reply, but still a reply that was respectable. "Ok. Well if you come up with answer, just find me. I'm always glad to have someone to chat with," he said, grinning as he pulled the little soda tab thing off and stashed it in his pocket. He always did that, or if he and Julian shared something that had a lid he would take that.


They acted as a reminder to himself, basically. Tokens, if you will, that people talked to him and he replied in some way or another. He wouldn't be able to keep the tab on him for long, it being physical and him being only so-so in that category, but in the attic of the building that no one ever went into, he had his own little stash of 'tokens'. Old bottle caps, lids, a few coins, some cat toys from tenants who didn't know about the less than human aspects of the building, and soda tabs. He would pay to see the reaction of whoever found them if they were ever found, a random pile of junk in an attic.


Pushing the thought away as a tingle traveled through him, Kurt seemed to zone out for the briefest second before he smiled at Julian and got up. "Sorry, I've gotta go. Someone just came in and is hanging around the lobby," he explained, bowing his head politely and saying, "Thank you for the time," before vanishing. It wasn't the nicest way to end a get together, but it was a habit and felt natural when he said it, so Kurt wasn't going to change.


After quickly dripping off his new tab with the others, Kurt went downstairs, changing into his cat form down the hall and jogging over to where Sarah seemed to have collapsed into a chair. He looked up at her and tilted his head, meowing loudly to draw her attention.

 

[clarinetti]

Sarah's eyes had just begun to droop when the cat started meowing. The loud noise startled her, and she found herself jolted awake, her body straight as a rod in the chair before looking down to face the bright blue eyes of the hotel's cat. She wasn't sure whether or not it belonged to anyone in the building, but it had been hanging around the place since she first showed up, often getting food and water from one of the tenants. Nathan wasn't a cat person, and in his fouler moods had shooed it away whenever it wandered near their place, but Sarah liked it well enough, and would sneak a bit of food or water for it from time to time.


Her body gradually relaxed as it meowed again, the weariness resettling itself in her, and gave it a tired smile. "So you caught me dozing, hmm? Well, thanks for waking me up- wouldn't do any good to let the food go bad, would it?" she said softly, getting out of her seat to kneel down and pet the feline, rubbing its ears softly.

 

[eheu]

Julian smiled somewhat apologetically at Kurt’s disapproval at his response to his question.


He did the same when Kurt stood up from his seat and then nodded, allowing Kurt to stash the tablet from the soda can into his pocket.


Julian never knew what he did with those. Maybe he collected them - he heard some humans did, although he didn’t know where he could possibly take them since he’s usually a cat.


”Right. Nice to speak to you too.”


He grinned as Kurt’s image vanished just before the sentence ended.


Never get tired seeing that. He forever remained amused at the capabilities of these friends of his that he had come to know in the human realm. Could’ve at least waited till I finished saying that though.


Joking only to himself he gulped down most of the rest of the soda, whose temperature was quickly converging towards that of the room.

* * * * *

​

"Hah, not in the least, but it's not hard to tell if someone's in pain. Would you still like something?"


Claudia was slightly disappointed at the revelation that her assumptions were incorrect, which bothered her because the doctor she knew in her old home was a good person and this man not being a doctor just removed a reason for Claudia to like him. She was also that much upset that the decent-by-her-standards efforts to hide her discomfort were seen through that easily.


”uh...yes, yes please.”


She replied, absently biting on her lip in anticipation of what the man was going to conjure.


"It's... It's Mitsuki?"


Claudia then diverted her attention to the young lady sitting besides her.


"Um, it's nice to meet you, Claudia? I think you might have driven me to slight insanity but it's nice to meet you all the same.”


Then followed apologies about her earlier remarks, which cheered Claudia up considerably. Ok so this human is nicer than I expected - so she thought as she happily started rocking forwards and backwards on the edge of the only slightly bouncy bed.


”Oh, okay. Nice to meet you too.” She chirped, not stopping the rocking, while taking the cup from Mitsuki after the girl had her medicine, and washed down the pills handed her by the man while also hoping that the non-doctor wasn’t mistaken and the two of them won’t die terrible toxin-induced deaths soon after.


Okay.


ey stop picking on your sweater. You’re upsetting the wool.


Looking back at Mitsuki, Claudia frowned as she felt concerned over the strings of fabric being torn out of their perfectly interwoven mesh.


Slight insanity, She then pondered, remembering what she said earlier, ”Not half bad.”


”Welcome to the hostel then, enjoy your stay.” She said, in her own particular way that always left no way to determine whether it was sincere or sarcastic or actually meant something else entirely: ”This a nice place.”

 

[BloodThunder27]

As she slept, Angela soon awakened in dreamland. That wasn't a very good thing because as of late, she has been having nightmares. Was it something that came with pregnancy? She hoped not. As Angela woke up in the dream world, she found herself surrounded by a barren wasteland, ridden with dead trees and dark skies. When she tried to move, she found herself unable to, shackled by both her arms and legs. Soon a hooded figure approached her and started getting all touchy-feely with her, most notably touching her stomach, which started scaring her.


Back in the real world, Angela woke up, breathing heavily. She started feeling around her stomach, worried about the baby. She breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her baby kick. What was with all these nightmares as of late? Because having Nightmares four times a week wasn't exactly a normal thing. However, she noticed a trend. Whenever her husband was with her, the nightmares weren't as frequent, but whenever she is by herself? Nightmares get frequent. She then got up to grab herself a drink of water in the kitchen. "Maybe I need to get out more, I'm too anti-social..." she said to herself as she set the glass down and grabbed her satchel, putting all her necessities in it, including her room key. As she left her room, she wondered where to go next. As she looked around, she placed one hand over her stomach, and the other on her hip...Or at least what was left of it. Sadly, she then started thinking about all the jokes and comments that her Co-Workers made before taking her Maternity Leave. Sadly, most of those comments were more or so abrupt rather then interesting...


"Wide load coming through."


"Quite the beer belly you got going on there."


"Wow, you got even bigger, I didn't think it was possible."


"Wow, you're huge."


"Are you having twins?"


"Waddle on out of here."


"Oh my goodness, you look like you're about to pop."


"I leave for a week, then come back and you look like a whale."


"Is that a Christmas Baby?"


"Seems like New Years' at the latest."


"Looks like that's gonna be a big baby."


"You look like you're having a girl."


"You shouldn't be eating that."


"You sure about that name? I knew a girl with that name in high school and she was a total b*tch."


"You've been pregnant for like ever..."

 

[IceQueen]

Kora yawned as she awoke from her deep slumber. She had stayed up all night playing a videogame and these where the results. A tired, baggy eyed Kora lying on the couch amongst the empty energy drink cans and chip bags. She blinked, annoyed by this mess she had created. She sighed and got up, snapping her fingers and watching them fly towards the trash. "Better." She mumbled, yawning. She got up, walking lazily over to her kitchen, snapping her fingers and watching the dishes clean themselves as she started making breakfast for herself.


She got herself a glass of milk from the fridge, the cold air ruffling though her untamed hair. She sighed, the cool breeze providing relief from the heat she was experiencing at the moment. She sighed and shut the door, opening the carton and taking a long drink. She saw no reason to use a glass, since they where all dirty and no one else came and drank her milk. She let out a big sigh as she finished her drink, smiling at the wall. She heard a ding from her toaster and walked over, pulling out her toasted poptart and put it on a paper towel. She smiled at it and waited for a minute, taking another long drink from her milk before picking up her pop tart.


This continued for a while before she dried out all her milk and finished her poptarts. She smiled and walked to the bathroom, coming out later with her hair damp and combed and smelling like cherry blossoms. That smell was the only thing that reminded her of her birth place, though she didn't like to talk about it. She sighed and grabbed a tank top and some jean shorts, sliding it over her clean body. She smiled and decided to go see if anyone was up.


Walking out her door, she padded along the floor in her bare feet. This was not uncommon to the residents who knew her, but to the new ones moving in today, it might have been a surprise that she dared tread the floors with her perfectly clean slender feet. She walked over and down to her favorite spot, just to find Kurt in his little cat from being petted by one of the new residents. "Hello." She greeted, walking over to Kurt and giving his head a pat before sinking into a chair. She could feel her tails itching to stretch out and keep her warm, but she had to fight it. She did not know if this person was human or not. She would find out eventually.

 

[clarinetti]

As a pair of bare feet entered her vision, Sarah looked up from petting the cat to see a young woman taking a seat next to her. She was confident that she had seen her once or twice before, but in the month since she'd first moved in with Nathan (Had a month already passed? It felt so much shorter), she had yet to speak to her. "Ah, good evening. I don't believe we've properly met yet, I'm afraid... I'm Sarah, I live on the 4th floor, with Nathan Waters." she explained, somehow finding the energy to sit back up in the chair and face her with a soft smile.


xxxxxxxxxx


Nodding in response, Nathan got up to grab a second glass of water for Claudia, who had resumed speaking with Mitsuki. Filling the glass, he contemplated again if he could get away with making sure the two were well enough to be left alone so he could return to the comforts of his couch, or at least to take another couple pills to ease his anxiety. It wasn't particularly late, but this whole situation had been unusually trying for his already weary mind, and as much as he was curious about some of the details, he was starting to sense that it may be best to keep his nose out of it and save himself the stress it would likely cause. Hmm, he'd see how they were doing after the meds kicked in.


"Alright, this should ease the pain a bit. It would probably help to take it easy and rest for the night though, depending on how you're feeling." he advises as he again taps the bottle to coax a pair of pills out. He puts them along with the pill bottle and the water down on the night table next to her- he gets the feeling she isn't exactly fond of him, or she's wary at the very least. Either way, he figures that she may not be so comfortable taking it directly from him, and if easing her tension results in letting him get back to his own issues sooner, then he'll certainly oblige.

 

[BloodThunder27]

As Angela locked her door, she felt something amiss about the building she was in. However, she did just have a vivid dream. Maybe it was just the fact that she was having a baby. Upon entering the Lobby back on the first floor, Angela wondered. How was she going to make a conversation with anyone. She barely knew her neighbor, who had helped her up the stairs a few hours earlier. As she sat down by a fireplace, Angela took note of a beautiful looking girl (@Icefox11 ), dressed in a very interesting looking robe. She had seen something similar in Korea, but couldn't exactly put her finger on it. However, as girl got closer, she started having a strange feeling. This would cause her to start cradling her belly in a fairly protective matter. To distract herself momentarily, Angela looked down at her belly, then sighed and looked out the window next to her.

 

[IceQueen]

Kora turned her attention to the woman who was sitting in the chair. She seemed friendly, and at the least nice, but if she tried to reveal who she was, especially in front of he pregnant lady in the corner, she was sure one of them, or both of them would freak out, and she would rather not have a fainting pregnant lady. She smiled at the girl next to her lightly, having fun already. "My name is Kora. I live.... gosh, I think it's the 6th floor and I live by myself. You see, I usually keep myself locked up inside for extended periods of time so it's not surprise if you haven't seen me yet." She said to her, tugging on her shirt and jean shorts.

 

[BloodThunder27]

While looking out the window, Angela began thinking about her husband, who was away on a Business Trip. As the thoughts flew by, her baby started kicking where her hands were, causing her to look down and smile. For a brief moment, she completely forgot about everyone else in the room, her thoughts on her unborn child. "Hopefully Daddy will be home soon, its hard without him around...Isn't it, sweetie?"

 

[amended]

Jamie wakes up from that dream with the drunk Rabbi and the second coming of Napoleon Bonaparte, he always hated that dream, Jamie gets up and gets on his regular day clothes; it consists of a field jacket, a lewd shirt, some jeans, some boots which he will choose at random out of all of the boots that he owns, and some John Lennon sunglasses. He then turns on his TV and watches some cheap programming while eating some knockoff cinnamon toast crunch,

"Wha-What's that scratching in the walls?" He asks himself as he hears a distinct clawing inside of the woodworks,

"I get up everyday, in fact, I have gotten up every day for the past twenty years, AND I HAVEN'T HEARD A DAMN PEEP OUT OF YOU, YOU PIPSQUEAK MICE! I DO NOT SEE A REASON FOR YOU TO BE DISRUPTING MY DAY, NOW WHY DON'T YOU RUN ALONG BEFORE I BLAST YOU AWAY TIL' KINGDOM COME!" He screams at the wall, there was then a faint tapping, and the sound was gone. Jamie seemed to be in a low-tolerance mood today, people from three floors up probably heard him. Jamie then cleans up his breakfast and walks outside his apartment, he locks the door before starting his way down the hall on the 3rd floor.​

 

[BloodThunder27]

From where she was at, Angela could hear him loud and clear. Despite being around enough people, Angela started feeling a bit frightened and startled upon hearing whoever was yelling a few floors above her. She then felt the baby kicking as she looked up above her before her gaze traveled back to her stomach. Could her Baby sense it as well? Another weird thing is that Animals were often attracted to her stomach, mainly because they could sense the life inside her, which at times she did think was cute, depending on the animal. Once before, a Fox took interest in her large stomach and started sniffing where her hands were. That was a cute moment a few weeks ago when she was out hiking with one of her friends. Though they didn't get very far due to Angela being so slow and unable to do heavy lifting, let alone carry a backpack. "What was that?" she finally asked, holding her stomach protectively.