forum Not what you signed up for // Closed // (Mature)

Started November 20, 2019 by @The-Magician group

tune

Semele slipped into the house through the back door. She was carrying her heels, her dirty feet leaving soft prints along the floor. Frowning, Semele mentally promised to clean it up before Harrison awoke. It was much too early for everyone to be up and about. Well–at least she hoped so.
Pulling her coat tighter around her, the maenad stepped silently through the house, eyes glimmering with the the obvious evidence of the magic and naughty trouble she had gotten herself into the night previous. She didn't want to think of what Harrison would say if he saw her sneaking in the house again. The poor boy just wasn't a fan of her occultist ways.
Just as Semele stepped into the kitchen, she froze, eyes locked on Harrison. "Shit–Ah. Good Morning." She murmured lightly, hiding her shoes behind her back. She could make it look like she was heading out, not coming in.

”Back door again?” Noel quickly wrote and turned the note towards Semele. He decided to give up on getting more sleep, he wasn’t gonna be able to do that with all the people coming in the house and coming out of their rooms.

He liked sleeping on the couch, he does. Though Harrison is a little confused as to why Noel wouldn’t sleep in his room, he just simply did not like it as much. With that, though, came the exchange of the fact that he hears everything in the house, everything, making it hard for him to get enough sleep, even after being here for a month or two now.

"Good morning Semele, leave your shoes at the door and go and wash your feet." Harrison sighed, flopping his hand in a half-hearted wave. The woman smelled strongly like pine, so he could only imagine what she had been up to now. The kitchen was now becoming crowded with everyone there, and just when he thought he could open out the window, he saw the bright green eyes of Lock. What he didn't need was for even more people to be crowding around the kitchen.
"Look," he turned to everyone, rubbing the bridge of his nose as if a migraine was forming. "If we all intend to have a conversation, how about we take it to the comforts of the lounge where there is a lot more space." To support his statement, he picked up his sketchbook from the counter and wove his way through the group towards the living room.

The curtains were still drawn, but the soft movements from the cloth and the slight chill in the room, the window must have been left open over night. The sofa closest to said window was the one that Harrison knew was Noel's sleeping space, and he was in no way inclined to possibly frustrate the boy by closing it. Harrison found himself at home in the armchair beside the fireplace, and sat cross-legged with the sketchbook open on his lap. The pages were already filled with outlines and detailed sketches of the other inhabitants of his house, and the one he was currently working on just happened to be Cat.

When Harrison paced towards the lounge, Noel followed and upon arriving, realized that he had not closed the window he left opened all night long. At least the room was quite cold and refreshing now.
”You want the heater on?” was written neatly on the note he showed as he knocked the wall beside the appliance once to get Harrison’s attention.

Harrison looked up from his sketchbook, taking the pencil down from his ear. He smiled gratefully but shook his head before his eyes drifted to the cold fireplace. "The cold air gets the mind working, thank you though. Plus I don't want someone 'accidentally' setting something on fire in my living room."
Harrison remembered Noel from his time at school, though back then he hadn't really taken the time to get to know him. What a coincidence that they should go to school and end up living together. Though he never found out why the swan had fallen off the grid the previous year, he was grateful to have him back. At least Noel was alive.

Nas, of course, found the highest thing to perch on as soon as they entered the room. "Hey, I saw an ad for a dating site on the… Uhhh…. Name for it or whatever." They brought up, raising an eyebrow. They did care for the boy, they just showed it by teasing. Nas couldn't have him growing attached to them, just in case… "You know what'd be fun, if you went on there and tried to find a girlfriend."

Noel nodded when he received his answer. He went over to his ‘personal’ couch he basically lives on and laid down in a supine way. Though comfortable living in this household, Noel haven’t had the chance to visit or seen anyone else in the house other than the familiars. Maybe that was partially his fault for being bad at first impressions. He grabbed the headphones that were on the floor, turned them on, and covered his ears with them, trying to get a small nap of at least five minutes.

Bailey came and flopped down on one of the couches before lazily drawing shapes in the air with one hand. "So…" she began.

"I don't need a girlfriend, or a boyfriend for that matter." Harrison mumbled, not taking his eyes off the sketch he was working on. While it would have been nice to have a significant other, he was already concerned that he wasn't doing enough to make the current residents of his home happy. All of them were stuck there, all those beings were tied to him now, and so to make everyone's lives easier he was doing everything he could to make them happy. If he was to acquire a romantic partner, well then there would be another person whom he would have to think about. Having a relationship was just an extra layer of stress that he neither wanted nor needed. Not at the moment anyway.

Cat cane into the room kind of late. She had finished off her beer. Her smile a little more loose. She plopped down in the couch right next to Harrison practically sitting on the boy. She saw the picture and smiled. “You alwaysshowmy beauty,” she said smirking. Her Italian accent that she tries hard to hide always slips when she’s tipsy. “But everyone’s right you would definitely benefit from get laid.”

"Not you too Cat." A sigh slipped from Harrison's lips and his shoulders slumped. He finally looked up from the drawing, smiling tiredly. "I thought at least you would be on my side. I'm not planning on getting in a relationship any time soon, besides, that would require for someone to actually like me." He would never tell them the real reason he wasn't ready for a relationship, it would only end in everyone feeling bad about themselves. It was easier to just pretend that the reason he didn't want to have one was because no one liked him.
He carefully moved Cat away from him, leaving the open sketchbook and pencil on the seat while making his back through the kitchen to thr back door. "I'm getting some fresh air."

Cora looked down at the phone in her hands, and at the number on the screen. She blew out a breath. Okay, she told herself. It's early. If he's not awake, then it won't work out. She looked out the window, then back down at the bedspread on her hotel bed. She looked down at her phone again. No more stalling. She pressed the button to call Harrison and held the phone up to her ear, holding her breath.

A soft buzzing in Harrison's back pocket caught his attention just as he stepped out into the back garden. Steam flew from his lips when he read the caller ID. "I thought she would still be asleep." he hesitated in answering the call, but a little smile lit up his face when he did. "Hey Cora, how's it going?"

Cora smiled and the butterflies in her stomach immediately stopped their fluttering. "Hi. Harrison. Good. I'm good, really good. Um, how are you?" She knew she sounded stupid, but she didn't much care. It had been far too long since she had seen Harrison, let alone talked to him, so she was far too giddy to care about things like sounding stupid.

Nas looked outside, a delighted grin growing on their face. "Our little boy Harrison is calling someone! It's a girl, for y'all who hear worse than others." They exclaimed, pointing out the window with their eyes shining.

Cat turned into her snake form. silently slithering to the door and then outside. Listening to the conversation.

Harrison could hear the nervousness in Cora's voice, assuming it was because of how long ago they had last spoken. "Yeah, I'm doing good, graduated college last year." What was the odd feeling he was having in his stomach? It felt kind of warm, but in both a soothing and frightening way. Sort of like fluttering… "So uhm, why the unexpected call?"

"Oh, right. Well, are you still in Kingston upon Thames? Because Helen, you remember Helen, right? Well, she's getting married there. Here. And I'm in town for the wedding. It's today. And I was wondering if I could visit you tomorrow, maybe stay with you? If you're not busy, that is. It'd be nice to catch up." Cora finally let out her breath.

Harrison tensed up at Cora's question and began pacing around uncomfortably while running his fingers through his hair. It wouldn't have been a problem if there weren't others living in his house. Other beings. He would find it a lot easier to explain the mass of residents if they were 100% human, but they weren't, and he doubted their ability to hide it from others. On the other hand, he couldn't say no to her request. It had been a long time since they had last seen each other, it would be stupid to turn down an opportunity to catch up. "I uhm.." his gaze drifted over his house, and he slowly shook his head. "Yeah that's fine. Let me know when you want picking up yeah?" I am going to regret this!!!!