Mayfair Manor

[Average Doe]

Volusia's eyes lit up. "Oh, Antha!" she exclaimed, spinning around, her arms outstretched. A big smile was painted across her round face. A giant flake landed gently on her nose, ticklingher, and making her giggle. She stopped spinning and looked in the eye and warmly whispered, "Antha, it's beautiful! Will it stay like this?" she quickly added,"--With out your help?" Her huge, blue eyes glittered like icebergs in a calm sea.

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

The girl only laughed, running a finger over the gleaming edge of the Mayfair emerald. Nine people died for this... she thought with a little amused grin, making sure the walls were tightly closed around her mind. Nine witches did everything in their power to make sure the next generation was as powerful as it possibly could be. Mother was weak, as was grandmother. But look at me. She looked up into the wintry clouds, watching her work with a strange sense of pride and vanity she would have expected from Nicolae. It almost made her feel like a God even. "It'll stop only when the clouds are spent." Giving a little wave to her cousin over her shoulder, she stepped in the kitchen via the sliding glass door, inexplicably glad to feel the warmth of the tile on her bare feet.

 

[Average Doe]

"Mmm." Volusia said, giving Antha a nod. She traipsed down into the yard and out to the mailbox. Volusia was expecting a package. When she finally broke into a run, only a few yards off from the mailbox, she was dissappointed to see that it was still empty. Deflating slightly, Volusia flopped down on the ground to wait for the mailman. Her watch read 10.46.
Awaking half an hour later, Volusia shook almost an inch of snow off. Her litte lips were blue, and the mailman still hadn't come.

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"Volusia!" Antha called from the door, opening it all the way so that the light came out more brightly to draw her attention. "Oh for the love of God, get in here!" Seeing the little lump of snow beside the mailbox whenever she shuffled past the window, Antha had recently informed Oncle Julien that the mailman had dropped a package off beside the mailbox instead of at the house again. And Julien, who was expecting a set of new books for his library, had begun cursing the mailman ever since in long lines of favored expletives. But finally, having made his way half down the driveway to get it, turned around and headed back for the front door. "It's your cousin," he had said simply as he removed the thick jacket he had donned for his excursion to the mailbox. Antha too had dismissed it for a moment and prepared to return to the parlor where she had been watching a movie with Malakai when the words sunk in. Hence, she proceeded to the door to call for her cousin to return to the house.

 

[+.+Your.Dark.Eternal+.+]

Ezekiel sat on the edge of his bed, staring out the window and letting his thoughts consume him. His eyes took in the gray colors of winter outside, bypassing completely the emerald green of the elegant room he sat in. He supported his head on his left hand, his chin in his palm, trailing the other back and forth across the thick, deep green sheets. He closed his eyes, tired; he had spent the night lost in thought and completely unable to sleep for some reason, though he had no idea why.

He opened his eyes again, and a slight flurry of movement outside the window caught his attention. Something pale, soft, and white drifted slowly down on the other side of the thick glass pane. "Snow," Ezekiel muttered into his palm, and immediately wondered if this was Antha's doing. It was only then that he realized how long it had been since he had left his room, and stood, stretching before making his way to the door. It had been nearly two days since he'd last eaten, and the lack of food was growing unbearable.

Ezekiel stepped lightly down the stairs, and soon entered the parlor. A cold wind hit him, and he looked toward the door, not surprised to find it open and Antha in surrounded by its frame. He stopped, saying in a voice tinged with exhaustion, "Good morning, Antha."  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Antha twisted only slightly, her head falling back as she held to the door frame to keep from falling. "Well good morning ducky dear. Nice to see you haunting the halls again." In a quick and seemingly singular movement she straightened herself and twirled around in the doorway to face him. For a long moment she stood staring at him, her hands placed on her hips in a fashion that suggested she was laying some judgement upon him. "You look like living death," she stated finally, backing up against the door so that it snapped shut at last. But still she watched Volusia from the window fitted into the side of the door, blurred though her figure was beyond it. "You really should eat something, Ezekiel."

 

[+.+Your.Dark.Eternal+.+]

Ezekiel nodded, his gaze following Antha's out the window. "What is Volusia doing out there?" He frowned, trying to force the blurred image on the other side of the glass into focus. Of course, he failed. "She looks like she's waiting for something." Ezekiel shook his head, focusing once again on the matter at hand. "I actually did come downstairs to eat, so you don't have to worry about that." He made a strange face, looking Antha in the eye. "Do I really 'haunt the halls'?" he asked, the very picture of childlike confusion.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Antha gave a faint little laugh and placed a single kiss on her bizarrely young uncle's forehead. "Only slightly." She gave him a little smile before taking hold of his shoulders and spinning him around, pressing him towards the kitchen. "Now, since you came down to eat anyways, let's go see what we've got." Jacob hadn't arrived yet, half an hour late because of the snow she imagined, so there wasn't anyone to fix food and few Mayfairs knew the placement of anything besides cereal, ramen, and the refrigerator.

 

[+.+Your.Dark.Eternal+.+]

Ezekiel allowed Antha to usher him toward the kitchen, slightly glad for the company she offered. He wasn't a great cook anyway, and at least if he wound up burning down Mayfair Manor, there would be someone to help put out the flames. Good job, Ezekiel, he thought sarcastically, Just keep thinking happy thoughts. "I take it Jacob isn't here?" he asked. "I don't feel his emotions anywhere..." Ezekiel had come to realize that each person's emotional array felt different, and even when two people felt the same way, they experienced those emotions in drastically different ways.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"He hasn't come in through any door that I know of." She grinned a little at her statement; everyone knew that Antha was the only one who knew all of the secrets of Mayfair Manor, including the old trap doors. It was just something else that came with the position of Designee of the Legacy. "Now what do you want? We have cereal, cereal, cereal, ramen, or...hey look at that, it's actual food." She let her finger trace the rim of the wicker bowl sitting on the counter before plucking a shiny green apple from it and taking a bite into it. "Hope Jacob gets here soon...I don't know where the second refrigerator is." It was also a well known fact that Antha became insufferable unless she got her full carton of milk before noon. Unfortunately for her, the cartons stashed in the main fridge had all been emptied in the previous night. "Curse those horribly small cartons!" she hissed in irritance before taking another bite of the apple.

 

[Average Doe]

Volusia stomped viciously on the porch, trying to dislodge the snow hiding in, on, and around every part of her body. Being completely drenched in freezing, she knew that hypothermia would set in soon, and she'd be damned if she let herself get sick when the weather was getting nice again. Even without the snow, the weather lately had been nice and cool. Volusia thrived in it, to a certian point. She threw the door open, almost breaking the glass. Apart from dripping on the floor, she was aware of how much air she was letting in and how terrible she must look. Her hair and clothes were all wet and half frozen, she was shivering, her lips were an unnatural shade of purple, and worst of all her package still hadn't arrived. "Damn postal service... I'll show them dodgey!." She muttered to herself, unaware thet there were people in the kitchen.

 

[+.+Your.Dark.Eternal+.+]

Ezekiel picked an apple up from the basket on the counter, smiling slightly as he took a bite. Clearly, Antha had yet to have her milk for the day. He looked up as he heard Volusia in the hallway, not surprised to her soaking wet and nearly frozen. "You shouldn't spend so much time outside in this weather," he remarked, taking another bite of the apple. "You're going to get yourself sick. What's wrong with the postal service?" he asked, frowning slightly at her strange remark.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Antha smirked slightly at watching her cousin enter the room. "You upset oncle Julien," she said in her most mockingly sympathetic voice as she hopped up onto the counter, her legs crossed so that the hem of her shirt slid back an inch or so. "He was afraid his books got wet."
As Antha spoke, Malakai trod lethargically into the room, stopping for a moment to stare at Ezekiel as if he were something completely foreign. "...morning..." Yawning, he dragged himself into the pantry and emerged again with a fresh carton of milk clasped in his hand as he rubbed his eyes.
His sister only stared, her jaw dropping with shock. "Give me that!" she hissed as she swiped at it, her hands grasping the edge of the counter as if she would jump down and attack at any moment.
"You want this?" he asked as he came to stand parallel to her. "Then gimme my shirt back." Antha only glared, tugging on the collar of the shirt. "Or at least put some shorts on."
The girl laughed and returned to her poise posture. "Hand over the milk and I'll tell you where Nicolae hid your journal at." Malakai's eye twitched somewhat before he tossed the carton over his shoulder where Antha caught it and immediately tore into it. "3rd panel of the mural in the dining room to the left. If you can pry it open, it's hidden behind there." Finally she popped the carton open and set to the work of draining it as her brother dashed from the kitchen and towards the dining room.

 

[+.+Your.Dark.Eternal+.+]

"You know," Ezekiel said to Antha as Malakai left the room, "sometimes I think you tease too much." She just has to have her milk, he thought to himself, smiling slightly at the strange aftertaste of Malakai's irritation, as well the bittersweet sensation of Antha's teasing. There were interesting emotions in the manor today, and they would keep him entertained for a while, he hoped.

He took a final bite of the apple, then walked to the garbage where he threw out the core. He sighed, leaning against the counter and placing his hands behind his head. Hopefully, the manor would stay warm today. Otherwise it would be Hell trying to get to sleep later in the night.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

She grinned and wiped a drop of milk from the corner of her lips only to lick it right back off of her finger. "In all honesty, to me there's no such thing," she said simply before returning the diamond shaped opening in the container back to her lips and taking in another good half of the contents. "Besides..." she hopped down from the counter, smoothing out the material of her shirt in a paranoid fashion before discarding the empty carton in the trash and picking the half-eaten apple back up from the table, "You know you wouldn't love me if I were any other way." Giving him a little teasing smile, she returned to her place up on the counter. "Would you now?"