charlie--grey

[charlie--grey]

Charlie just shifted her weight around from one foot to the other, her arms crossed still. She didn't really know how to deal with this conversation. Never having friends or peers or been part of any social situation, she'd never been confronted by the prospect of drugs, or alcohol. She just stared. "Riiight," she said, keeping any emotion from her voice. Charlie had no idea what he was talking about on some level, she had no knowledge of the saying 'a party's a party.' "Yeah.. I've seen Nikolay.. he looks different. And the CD would just blow your brains out." She realised she'd made it sound menacing. "In a good way," she added. "There's no fun for me here. I'd like to leave." 

Officially in a Nightmare: Valentine's Masquerade

{ ☩ }    ||               Blake couldn’t help but laugh a little at her comment, though he wasn’t sure if she was truly joking or not it wasn’t as if he was ever a person to deny his emotional impulses and this one told him to laugh. “You should burn me a CD sometime.” He responded, taking his sword back from Charlie and putting it back in his sash. “I’ve never seen Rent but I’ve heard it’s cool, I’ve seen some pretty insane costumes so far…have you seen Nikolay yet? He looks fuckin’ insane, it’s funny as fuck. I guess he had to be Danny from Grease or somethin’…I dunno it, but it’s fuckin’ funny. No one’s known who I am yet, but I don’t give a shit cause at the end of the day I’m still gettin’ to be a fuckin’ pirate.” Closing one eye the Wrath let out a loud ‘yarr' and holing up his hand, index finger curled to resemble a hook. After giving a small chuckle, the small boy dropped his arm back down before letting out a drawn out sigh.                         “Midnight I think, there’s that big reveal dance an’ everythin’.” he mused out, screwing his face up in thought slightly. “I mean, we ain’t suposta leave till then, but I ain’t plannin’ on goin’ anywhere. I mean, I already know I’m dancin’ with Regan an’ I brought my own little assurance for havin’ fun.” Reaching into his pocket, the wrath produced a small vile of white powder and shaking it slightly before stuffing it back. “I mean…a party’s a party right?”

[charlie--grey]

Charlie smiled slightly at his turn of phrase. "The person who dressed me in this certainly deserves to be punished..." She shrugged and looked away. She wasn't enjoying the party; all the people, and the need to make conversation. "I've never been to one before. So they aren't really my thing either. My parents had one once, but I snuck out. My sister lapped it up, little bitch." Her eyes darting around, she took in the low lights, the happy atmosphere. "I want to leave." She also noticed that Nikolay still had his eyes averted, but felt that it would be too awkward to bring it up; how would she herself formulate the words to permit someone to look at her?

Officially in a Nightmare: Valentine's Masquerade

[charlie--grey]

The corners of Charlie's lips turned up as Grace stumbled through her words. "Well it was compulsory.. I may be a full grown adult but I don't need anyone talking to my parents, because then that means they'll try and talk to me." With hesitation, Charlie winced slightly. "I think you should keep the jacket." She wanted to say because she didn't want her to feel uncomfortable but that would be showing a strange amount of kindness towards another human being.

"It's part of your costume after all."

Officially in a Nightmare: Valentine's Masquerade

"Mhm, its me. Are you okay?" Grace saw that quite a few of the girls around them were dressed just as skimpy- but there were also outfits that covered much more skin. She wished that Charlie could have been given one of those outfits so that she would be at least a little more comfortable. With a quick move, Grace shrugged out of the leather jacket that came with her outfit and held it out for Charlie to take. "Here. This might help… a little. I think if I had been given that outfit I… Well I’m not sure I would have had the courage to leave my room. You look nice though- I mean- Not that I was looking or anything- but… I’m going to stop talking now." Grace had just started to earn Charlie’s trust and she wasn’t eager to lose it by being awkward about things. "Yeah, I’ve seen it once or twice. I’m Sandy from Grease. And I like some of this party, just not all of it." Grace looked down at the form fitting outfit with wide eyes. "Oh… I didn’t think of that. This thing is skin tight. That’s… Odd."

[charlie--grey]

Charlie's eyes darted around. "Good." She stood still. She didn't want to talk; she didn't want to make small talk. "That suits me well." While she thought over the situation. She surveyed him. No, she hadn't ever met him before, or seen him around. She wasn't in the business of something as mundane or out of character as asking him questions, plus she wanted to be civilised to some degree, although she wasn't ashamed to speak her mind. "The costume you are wearing is kinda crappy, but not as crappy as mine."

Officially in a Nightmare: Valentine's Masquerade

Strange as it was, Casper was much more at ease in the company of his mysterious partner than anyone else. With her, he didn’t have to pretend he was enjoying this and that made him feel a little more comfortable. She didn’t seem very comfortable and the tiny part of him that paid attention to social graces knew that he ought to try to put her at ease. However, that voice was very small and seeing as he wasn’t really enjoying this, he didn’t particularly care if she was either. “I’m not really thirsty.”

"Look," he added, dropping his tone in case anyone was around to overhear. "I don’t really want to be here and obviously you don’t either. But I don’t think that they’re going to look very kindly on us just skipping out either." Not that he cared much what happened to them anyway, but it would make his life easier if he wasn’t on the bad side of the administration. "Just relax because I certainly don’t want to dance with you anymore than I have to. It sounds like the last dance was mandatory though. So we can find out who our partners are." Heaving a sigh that made it clear what he thought of that, Casper shrugged. “So we’re stuck with each other but that doesn’t mean we need to talk or dance or any of that nonsense.”

[charlie--grey]

[charlie--grey]

Charlie was beginning to feel ever more uncomfortable. Now that this person had found her, her partner, she'd be obligated to stay and dance at the end. Her skin began to crawl at the thought; there was no way she would be able to dance with this person, or anyone. Being honest about it probably wouldn't amount to anything, she'd a feeling he would be quite pissed and she didn't want to make a scene of being rude towards him or having an argument in front of everyone. 

"No," Charlie replied coolly, as if she was not battling an inner turmoil. "But you're more than welcome to get yourself one." She narrowed her eyes. Hoping that he'd want to get a drink, he'd have to leave to go and get one, and Charlie would attempt to make her escape. If that didn't work, she'd have to hope excusing herself for the ladies room would. As much as she wanted to just run off, it wouldn't be ideal, it was too crowded and there was no way she'd be able to run in these shoes...

Officially in a Nightmare: Valentine's Masquerade

Although there was a moment of silence before his partner finally answered and Casper started to get irritated, she finally spoke up. Letting out a relieved sigh, he let his lips curl up into a small smile - not really pleased at anything, just glad he didn’t have to hunt anymore. “I’m fairly certain you are, judging by the costume.” Though he was careful not to look, he’d caught a glimpse of a lot of skin on the way over. “I’m not familiar with it either,” he said, noting her bored tone. It suited him just as well, since he didn’t particularly care to get acquainted with her after tonight. He let the silence grow before asking, “Would you like a drink or something?” It wasn’t the most polite of inquiries, but social niceties weren’t high on his priority list and he thought he was doing well just to remember that it was polite to ask one’s partner something like that.

[charlie--grey]

"They probably can impregnate humans. And when they contact me about their arrival on Planet Earth I'll be sure to point them in your direction - a willing host for the first of their new race. They might even be able to look like humans. They might be here already and I might be their queen." She shrugged. She was kind of enjoying this conversation, if such a thing could be done, but she didn't want to show that. It would be a weakness - her first instinct was to scare a person off and it wasn't happening here, Charlie was glad that someone was going along with what she had to say rather than running off. The people here seemed to be of a different calibre than she had ever experienced before. 

"Who says I can’t control my lust? If aliens are taking over and making hybrids, I’m fucking volunteering. Just as long as they don’t have some kind of way to impregnate me, cause then they’d probably keep me in some weird alien space crate and have me repeatedly birth out their freaky half-alien young and that shit just sounds messy." He nodded very seriously, as if what he said was full of obvious logic. He could see Charlie did not have the easiest shell to crack, but he was very capable of being patient, especially when he was enjoying the strange conversation they’d found themselves in. "If aliens see me fit to help them start a new race though, murdering me after or not, really how could I complain?"

[charlie--grey]

Charlie kept her face blank and took the sword that was held out to her. "That's a shame," she said coolly. She ran her fingers down the plastic sword edge absent-mindedly. "Would have been fun if it was real, kinda." She then frowned. "Don't apologise anyway."

"I'm from Rent apparently. I haven't seen it either. In fact I haven't seen ANY musicals, not really my thing I'm guessing.. so I don't know who anyone is supposed to be. Not really bothered though."

Charlie shrugged, handed the sword back to him and crossed her arms again. "How long is it before we can leave?"

Officially in a Nightmare: Valentine's Masquerade

{ ☩ }    ||              ”Naw.” Blake sighed out sadly, pulling his sword from his sash “It’s plastic…though…” taking a small step back, the wrath pointed it towards Charlie before letting out a small laugh and holding it out to her “still cool….wanna try it?”                                  “It’s from Pirates of Penzance…I’m actually pretty lucky to have gotten it…I watched the video in the orphanage all the time. It’s basically a comedy about this dude who’s parents died an’ his nanny misheard the guys last wish an’ took his son to be an apprentice pirate instead of an apprentice pilot an’ when the guy is on his last few days of apprenticeship he falls for this really nice an’ pretty girl who’s dad is this major general guy an’ it’s just a bunch of jokes and mixups basically. Sorry…we only had like…seven tapes at the orphanage so I’ve seen it like a billion times…though….I ain’t ever seen what you’re from. Honestly, what are you from Charlie?”

[charlie--grey]

Charlie was taken-back. She was sure that she'd never met this male standing in front of her before. After declaring himself as Roger, she realised she had seen the costume online when she was provided the information about hers. His eyes were fixed on hers and she held her famous stare right back at him but she felt nervous for some reason and she feared her stare had lost its menacing edge. "Yes." She declared. "I think that's who I'm supposed to be, as much as it pains me for multiple reasons." She took all interest out of her voice as if she couldn't feel any more bored if she tried. "I haven't seen this play and I don't know anything about this play or these characters and no I'm not enjoying this and I look like a fucking..." Tailing off, she tugged at the bottom part of her costume. She'd said quite a lot, she realised. Talkative was not something she wanted to be. 

Officially in a Nightmare: Valentine's Masquerade

Casper spent most of the time at the masquerade in a quiet spot looking for his partner. He just wanted to get this over with, really, and be back in the library. Unfortunately, he didn’t see a costume even remotely resembling what he was looking for. The longer it took, the more frustrated he grew with everything about this event. He didn’t like talking to anyone, much less a stranger that he’d been forcibly partnered with against his will. It was a toss-up as to what would be more uncomfortable - if his partner had thrown herself wholeheartedly into this, or if she were taciturn and irritated. His eyes fell on the only person dressed similarly to what he’d seen during his research so he made his way towards her, raking his eyes over the exposed skin on his way. 

Her first words weren’t entirely unexpected and he immediately assumed she was one of the virtue students. Although he appreciated the female form, it was no difficulty to keep his eyes fixed on her mask. “Whatever you say. Please tell me you’re supposed to be Mimi. I’m Roger.” He didn’t bother holding out his hand after her greeting, because it seemed like she was on the irritated end of the spectrum and social niceties weren’t very high on Casper’s  radar. “Apparently you aren’t enjoying this either?”

[charlie--grey]

Charlie watched Nikolay blush after seeing her and introducing himself. So it was as bad as she thought. It was good of him to avert his eyes, a decision she respected him for, as much as she'd hate to admit it. When she'd first met him, she'd felt disdained towards him for his patience and kindness, but she'd turned out not to feel so violent towards him after all, which was breaking new ground for her. Especially now, Charlie had a decision to make, eyeing him holding out his jacket and biting her lip. She didn't want to take it from him, she didn't ever want to feel in debt to someone, the idea of asking for or accepting a favour made her flustered. 

Relenting to the fact that her costume probably made her feel worse than accepting a kind gesture, she uncrossed her arms that were crossed across her midriff in an attempt to feel less exposed and reached out and closed her hand around the black leather jacket that was offered to her. She dropped her eyes and shrugged the jacket on; it was still warm and was big enough to cover a lot of her, now only a strip of skin showing between where the jacket ended and where the leather boots began. With her eyes still averted, she tried to find the new words in her personal vocabulary that she needed to say. "T-thank you." Charlie whispered. "I... I owe you something in return sometime." She really was grateful, but admitting that was a bitter pill to swallow. 

Officially in a Nightmare: Valentine's Masquerade

[charlie--grey]

While the male in front of her had his eyes covered, Charlie surveyed him. It was probably rude but she wasn't sure who she was talking to at all. Perhaps the tone of his voice was familiar but the accent was not something she'd come across before and she wanted to be on a firm footing while having to 'converse' with someone. She thought that actually, his costume was pretty nice compared to some of the others even if she didn't know who he was supposed to be. 

"Yes, you should be," Charlie replied in a deadpan voice. "Although not as sorry as the person who put me in this terrible costume." She didn't say any more as she stood in front of him. For a moment she thought that she'd make a run for it while he had his eyes closed since she didn't really know who it was and she didn't feel comfortable being in front of a person, being assessed in close detail wearing barely anything. Instead, she just waited to see what he would say next, while the room carried on around them. 

Officially in a Nightmare: Valentine's Masquerade

[charlie--grey]

Charlie knew who 'Frederic' was pretty much straight away. While Blake had his eyes shut, she smiled slightly. She liked that he was smart enough to close his eyes when she'd asked. Perhaps people listened and knew her a little better than she'd thought. And of course she was pleased that she'd come across dangerous and intimidating enough. She then tried to wipe away her smile, before speaking. "Yes. I suppose you can open them." 

"Well it goes without saying that I have no idea what musical you're from, but whatever," she said, while furrowing her brows slightly and looking at his pirate attire. "Tell me that's a real sword."

Officially in a Nightmare: Valentine's Masquerade

{ ☩ }    ||              After taking care of his nosebleed, Blake had made his way back to the makeshift ballroom wiping his hands on his pants as he did so. While he heard her, he wasn’t exactly listening so when his eyes panned up over the girl in front of him the Wrath’s eyes had immediately snapped shut.  He might have been dumb, but he wasn’t stupid.                                       “Well hello miss.” Blake slightly slurred out, giving her an award bow as he did so “I am Frederic the Pirate Kings Apprentice, an’ I’m kinda drunk an’ you sound kinda upset.” Taking a deep breath, the pale boy slightly opened one eye. “An’ can I please open my eyes.”

[charlie--grey]

Charlie felt that the way Grace spoke, she had an interesting story to her life, and for the first time, Charlie felt maybe she'd like to know about someone. "Well, I can't really help it. When I people watch, people get freaked out by me." She turned away then, not going any further into it. "I guess I used to do that. The park sounds.. a nice idea anyway." She gave Grace a small smile.

"Well then we’ll go to the park sometime. Oh, its nothing. I just help out because other people have helped me in the same way. I just like giving back." Grace smiled and tried to formulate a plan. "Do you like to people watch, then? Sometimes I like to go out and pick a random person passing by and make up a story about who they are and what they’re doing."

[charlie--grey]

"Grace?" Grace looked different but she sounded the same. Charlie relaxed a little, feeling relieved that it was her for a reason she couldn't yet explain. A string of empathy struck her as she felt like Grace was wearing something really out of character for her too, and probably felt a bit like Charlie. Then she averted her eyes, realising she'd been rude and didn't want to look at her and make her uncomfortable either, not after the rather vicious greeting she'd started off with. She straightened up. "I literally have no idea who you're talking about outside the fact that I'm supposed to be her and that's the musical and I have no idea who you are. Have you seen it?" Charlie then sighed, her eyes darting around the room nervously. "I don't like it here much." Pretty polite for Charlie. She tugged her costume about. "What I want to know is how they knew these costumes were going to fit everyone like they do. This school is so creepy, did they take our measurements in our damn sleep?!"

Officially in a Nightmare: Valentine's Masquerade

Grace was wandering around the edge of the room and watching the festivities around her with a small smile. She still felt uncomfortable in her outfit, but everyone around her seemed to be having fun and that alone made her feel better about the evening. She was just about to step outside for a bit of air when a very familiar voice filled her ears. The sight of Charlie made Grace blink rapidly for a second, making sure to keep her eyes on Charlie’s so as not to make her feel even worse. “I won’t, don’t worry.” She rubbed at her elbow. “Mimi, from Rent? I really wonder who picked out these outfits…”

[charlie--grey]

Charlie was taken aback and her eyes widened. A direct question that wasn't 'what the hell is wrong with you?!' was foreign and surprising, and very unusual. "Uh.. I don't know, it's interesting, how things react. Chemistry is everywhere. And people aren't involved in general, not if you don't want them to be. At school the labs were always quiet because it's seen as.. uh, geeky thing to do I guess, but that just added to its appeal." She then lost her clarity of speech and thought after she realised she was having something like a normal conversation, becoming lost in her explanation of one of the only things she felt good about in life. "If you get what I mean." She muttered.

Nikolay tilted his head slightly to the side and glanced up towards the ceiling in thought. “Possibly? Some people say I can be otherworldly, maybe that includes being martian are well.” He chuckled, taking it as a compliment in his own strange way. “Might I inquire?” He paused, looking at Charlie with genuine interest. “How did you come to love chemistry?” 

[charlie--grey]

Charlie smirked at his sense of humour. "I'm pretty sure if we were invaded, an alien would probably kill you after it had everything it needed from you to procreate and produce a human-alien hybrid. So I guess your open-mindedness or inability to control your lust would probably kill you. Though I'm glad you agree on the terribleness of humans. Perhaps then it might make you feel better about sacrificing yourself to create a new race." Charlie then stopped smirking and the wall went back up; she didn't want to appear as if she was welcoming friendly conversation too readily. "Don't ask me how I know that. Just take it as a warning."

He laughed, probably more amused than he should have been by Charlie’s hostility. “Oh of course not, wouldn’t ever dream of special treatment.” Her question surprised him; no one had ever really asked him anything like that. When hearing the word lust, much as with any other sin, one tended to make immediate assumptions. Damien didn’t particularly mind it. He didn’t outwardly wear his label the way others he knew did, but it was a part of him, and he knew people would think what they wanted to. It surprised him that Charlie would ask such a question though, not only for its content, but because he found it odd that someone who seemed so closed off would be so open-minded in a way he wasn’t used to. ”Uh, do you mean lusts in general or me specifically? I couldn’t tell you for other lusts, but I’m sure it’s different with everyone. Me specifically, yeah I suppose it’s humans. I haven’t yet found anything else with the exact combination I require, so even though I agree humans are terrible, the body needs what it needs.” He paused for a moment and then shrugged. “I can’t say I’d be opposed to alien sex when we’re inevitably invaded though. Or robot sex when they take over the world. Whichever comes first.”

[charlie--grey]

"Well it's not the souls you have to worry about. It's people like me who have no souls that might consider hurting you." She fixed him with her stare. "I'm not going to tell you anything about me. You don't deserve to know. Let's just pretend I never had the misfortune to meet you in the first place."

|| ✤ ||   ::         “Har har har, very funny lass. Well all know there ain’t a soul in this school ‘ere tha’ would lay a finger on me…hell…e’eryone loves me too much ta ever think’a doin’ tha. I dunno…should I be worried? I mean…I knew people wanted to be me but enough ta ‘urt me?” Cale stated, an exaggerated worry dripping from his voice. In truth he hadn’t been listening to her much, as was common with the Pride’s ways. Negative comments rarely fully made their way past his ears. “OH yer a virtue aye? My apologies lass, from yer tone I thought ya ta be one. So what kinda virtue are ya? I’m guessin’ ya ain’t a kindness.”