Who: Chris, Hayate & Ralph
When: Night
Where: Hayate's place
What: Going to hell in a handbasket of bad deeds and bad choices
Warnings: Mature sexual content w/three people (eventually) and one is a teenager, jsyk.

Ralph crossed his arms over his chest. He was trying to lock warmth inside his coat. The days were easy to bear, but the nights were freezing. He walked steadily on a dirt road. Ralph counted his steps. He was on two hundred and seventy-three when the menial task bored him. He stopped counting. Ralph thought on the reason why he was out tonight. The path led to the address on the slip of paper in his pocket. Paper given to him by Hayate last night.

What had he agreed to? Ralph never did anything like this before. Just thinking about it was bizarre. He said yes though. Turning back on his word now wasn’t right. How is this right? Ralph thought. He frowned. It wasn’t wrong if everyone agreed. Morally ambiguous. Ralph liked to look at it that way.

Was what he tried to do last night right? It wasn’t any different. Ralph had moral lines. He did. The problem was figuring out where they began, and where they ended.

He noticed the lights of the cottage. Ralph walked up to Hayate’s home. His hair had fallen into his face so he raked it back using his hand. He knocked and held his breath. Morally ambiguous. He could do this.

Who: Logan, Chris and Charlie
When: Afternoon
Where: Their cottage
What: Fending for themselves while Mitsuko is away

Logan was up in his room studying. While he had not begun his lessons with Sascha yet, he had been given several books to read in preparation.

This was easier said than done, at least at the moment. Logan was preoccupied. He knew about the escape of Dante Donovan. About how he'd taken two girls-- Adrienne, Mitsuko seemed to believe. Then Mitsuko had gone out to find her friend.

Dante had been the one who killed Kaiya. That was what the rumour was. For months, he'd thought it'd been Hayate, but now... And he had Adrienne. Mitsuko and Zach were out trying to find her.

Logan had wanted to go with. He wanted to help. Wanted to make sure his friends were okay. Mitsuko refused to let him go. Said he had to stay at home. That she would get into trouble by the Council if she let him come and they could take him, Chris and Charlie away.

Logan felt he was an adult. He was very nearly eighteen. But the idea that Charlie and Chris could be taken away stopped him. Now that they were there, he didn't want them leaving.

After nearly an hour of pretending to read the book in his hands, Logan tossed it aside. He went down the two flights of stairs to the living room, to see if there was any news. Maybe Mitsuko had returned while he was trying to study. The person he found in the living room was very blonde and definitely not his sister.

Logan sighed deeply. "Mitsuko hasn't come back," He ruffled his hair with his hand. "Maybe they found Adrienne and she went to Irei's. She does do that sometimes." He'd not talked to Charlie and Chris about Mitsuko's relationship with the necromancer, but they surely knew she hadn't spent every night at their cottage since they'd moved in.

Who: Chris and Hayate
When: Evening
Where: Hayate's Cottage
What: Reuniting feels really good
Warning: Sexual situations between a young teen and adult/vampire

It had been hours since Chris left the water bungalow she shared with Riley and Charlie. How could she even think about going back when the truth she had tried so hard to hide was thrown in her face? Charlie was disappointed in her, and considering how close she was to her brother any sort of negative emotion from him weighed down on her like a tons of bricks. Chris couldn't shake the tight feeling she had in her chest, or the extreme need to just cry every five minutes. There was only one place she felt like being, and that was in the very house of the man that had taken her innocence.

Chris entered the vampire's cottage, and made her way to the bedroom on the second level. Her footsteps were heavy like her emotions, and all she wanted to do was cuddle up in Hayate's bed. She lied there in the dimly lit room with the last rays of sunshine filtering through the curtains. The light danced on the walls, and Chris was drawn into her own mind. She had worked so hard to keep herself in a safe, and warm bubble. She didn't want to face the reality of any situation she had been in, and she pushed those events to the back of her mind and warped them into something happy and bright.

( The young girl couldn't do it anymore... )

Who: Chris and Charlie [Narrative]
When: Afternoon
Where: Their room at Riley's bungalow
What: Charlie finds out about what Chris has been doing with Hayate

Charlie wouldn't have believed the words on the page if they weren't written in Chris's own hand, but they were. He might have thought she was writing some sort of story if it wasn't written in her diary. Charlie knew he shouldn't have been reading his sister's diary, but she had left it unlocked (probably on accident), and on her bed. It was too much of a temptation for the teenager to overlook entirely. An unlocked diary was like free candy, and what person could resist that?

( Nothing stays hidden forever. )

Who: Chris and Scarlet
When: 3 PM
Where: Town Hall Archives
What: Chris comes in for questioning

...you must be questioned in regards to what you know about Hayate...

It all sounded so foreboding to Chris, but despite that she found herself agreeing to Scarlet's request. The young girl had never been officially questioned before, but she assumed that it would be no different from when her parents questioned her about something she and Charlie did when they got into trouble. Those times weren't that bad, though they did make her tummy twist up in knots.

Chris felt those knots forming once again as she climbed the steps into the building. She took a deep breath, and calmed her nerves. There was no reason to be nervous, or scared since she wasn't in trouble. No, the only person in trouble here was Hayate, and he was completely innocent! It was enough to make her grind her teeth, but she thought that maybe this meeting with Scarlet would be able to help clear Hayate's name.

The front desk gave her directions to the archive room, and Chris made her way to the library-like area. She knocked softly, and then pushed open the door. "Hello?" Her voice echoed a little, but not enough to make it scary. "Ms. Scarlet? It's Chris Jung. Are you here?" She stepped into the archive room, and looked around for any sign of another person.

Who: Chris, Charlie, and Riley
When: Evening
Where: Their bungalow
What: Fixing up Chris's injuries

"Ow!"

Chris's voice echoed through the bungalow even though they were in their room. "You've got to put that stuff on gently," she said with emphasis. "Not beat it into my skin, you dork." Chris was wincing in preparation for Charlie to apply more balm to her back. It was still bruised from her collision with the wall, but her injuries were not severe enough to warrant the use of a healer. Instead they gave her some salve to apply twice a day to her bruised muscles, and she'd be healed in no time. Her head, however, was another story entirely.

She had to get stitches for the laceration on her scalp. Stitches meant clearing the particular area of hair, and that meant that Chris currently had a "bald" spot. It made the girl terribly self-conscious, and she made sure that she never left the house without a hat on her head. At least the people at the pavilion were nice enough to give her a potion to help her hair grow faster. Hopefully it would work as quickly as they claimed it would otherwise Chris's self-image would suffer the consequences.

"Charlie," she squealed.

"If you stopped squirming it would be easier!" Charlie was trying to be as gentle as he could, and he thought he was gentle, but apparently his sister was just extra sensitive. "Okay, I'm going to rub it in again... ready?"

Chris squinted her eyes, and braced herself. This was going to be a long night.

Who: Chris and Hayate
When: Afternoon
Where: Town Hall Dungeon
What: Chris is out of the pavilion, and goes to visit her favorite vampire

Chris couldn't stand being cooped up in the Medical Pavilion. She practically dashed out of the building the moment she was released with Charlie running behind her to catch up. And he always caught up with her; that was never a problem. Chris had stopped trying to outrun her brother a long time ago. They parted ways in the middle of town with Charlie headed home to the bungalow, and Chris making a bee line toward Town Hall. She was headed to see Hayate in the dungeons even though it was the very place where she had been injured.

That didn't matter to Chris, though. As long as that other mean guy wasn't there she wasn't going to worry. She doubted he would be since Charlie had reported the incident to Mr. Dylan, and if there was anyone who would deal with a situation like that it was Mr. Dylan. He was the twins' favorite council member by far because he was always so nice to them. Chris smiled smugly when she thought of all the trouble that mean vine guy had gotten into; that should teach him to never throw girls into walls ever again.

The dungeon guards let Chris pass without any trouble, and the young girl ran down the corridor to Hayate's cell. "Hayate!" Her voice echoed against the old, stone walls as did the sounds of her running feet. Her knitted purse swung back and forth against her body as she ran toward the vampire, stopping finally when she reached him. Her fingers wrapped around the bars, and she leaned as close as she could get.

"Hi..." she said softly with a bright smile on her face. She had missed him so much, and it made her happy to be able to see him again.

Who: Chris, Charlie, Hayate, and Adam
When: Afternoon
Where: Town Hall Dungeon
What: Flaring tempers have a tendency to burn innocent bystanders

Chris's days had been spent in the dungeons as of late. A cold, and dank place that smelled musty, and was not at all pleasant. It wasn't where the girl would have normally spent her time, but it was where Hayate was being held. Being held unfairly, if anyone asked Chris, which no one did but she gave her opinion to them anyway. She'd told anyone she encountered, and often gave nasty looks to the guards that were watching Hayate. In the beginning they had tried to stop her from getting too close to the "criminal", but she had thrown such a fit that they all eventually learned to let her pass. The girl was crazy, they would whisper, but Chris didn't care. She just wanted to be near Hayate.

He seemed lonely behind the bars, and Chris wished so hard that she could give him a hug, or something. The most she could manage was to interlace her fingers, her arms the only thing that spanned the distance between them.

"Are you hungry yet? I'm gonna go to the blood bank, kay? Bring you some 'A negative'? Or do you feel like something different today?" Chris smiled a little mischievously at the vampire. It was her attempt at a joke to try to cheer him up since she couldn't do anything else.

( Being behind bars doesn't necessarily mean you're safe. )

Who: Chris and Riley
When: A short time after this
Where: Chris, Charlie, and Riley's bungalow
What: Chris goes home after the incident, and needs some comfort

Chris never felt as helpless as she did in those moments that Hayate was being taken away. If she had a power she'd be able to fight back, do something. Instead, all she could do was cry, and tell on those mean Elven guards to one of the Head Council members. Hopefully they would get into trouble for being huge jerks!

She had headed towards home in a full out run, but ended up slowing to a walk when she was still a mile away. Chris dragged her feet the rest of the way, kicking small rocks from her path while feeling absolutely disgusted with herself. She was still crying, too, and everything looked blurry through her tears.

"You'll bump into something if you can't see," her dad used to say when she ran off crying. He'd pull out his handkerchief then, and use a corner to dry her eyes. Her mom would tell her that crying was cathartic, but too much crying would give her a headache. She always found a way to make Chris smile. The young girl wished that her parents were there now, and the thought only made her even more upset.

She opened the door to the bungalow, and barely closed it behind her as she walked inside. Her eyes were cast to the ground so she didn't even notice Riley standing in front of her. She bumped into the therianthrope, and looked up with forlorn eyes before she threw her arms around the woman's waist. There were a few things that the young girl needed in her life, and at that moment she needed a hug more than anything else.

Who: Chris, Hayate, and eventually Elven guards
When: Late Morning
Where: Hayate's cottage
What: Time to pay the piper

"Hayate?" Chris's voice was clear in the quiet air of Hayate's cottage. She looked up at the vampire from her position on his lap. She had laid her head on his leg while she flipped through one of her old manga. For all intents and purposes it was an innocent scene between the girl and the vampire. "What's this say?" She held the book high above her, and pointed to an advertisement inside of the front cover. It was in Japanese, and the young girl still didn't know how to read the language.

"Maybe you can teach me sometime," Chris suggested once Hayate gave her the translation. "If you have the time," she said as she looked up at him. Her book was closed, and lying on her tummy now. "If you do I can teach you German." There was a silly grin on her face as she tried to imagine Hayate speaking German. "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" She asked with a small laugh. "That means 'do you speak German?'."

There were times when she felt more at home with Hayate than she did at the water bungalow with Riley. Not that Riley wasn't nice! She really was, and Charlie liked her a lot, but Chris spent more time with Hayate than anyone else. It was probably detrimental to the girl seeing as she was at an impressionable age, but she was blinded by her feelings for the man. She knew of the evils he could commit, and she had little doubt that he had done so over and over again in the past. He had even shown her the darkness of his character once, and still she forgave him.

She was perfectly happy with him, and she didn't want to be anywhere else than lying on his lap for the rest of the day.

Who: Zane, Hayate, and Chris
When: Late morning, a few hours after this
Where: Medical Pavilion
What: Hayate is treated for his near-death experience

Zane was beginning to wonder just what sort of people were living in Elysium. This was the second time he had been confronted with a poisoning. The first had been Malcolm with a substance that mimicked a heart attack. This time, a vampire was given blood thinners. It wasn't a "traditional" form of poisoning, but for a vampire blood thinners were deadly. Zane had a hard time believing that it had been accidental especially since the blood bank in the pavilion took every precaution with the blood they gave the vampire population. It had gotten into this man's blood supply, and someone had put it there.

( The plot thickens, unlike Hayate's blood unfortunately... )

WHO: Hayate and Chris
WHEN: Nighttime, around 8:00 or 9:00 PM.
WHERE: The Wine Bar
WHAT: The vampire and human go out dancing.

Careless—it was a word becoming more and more intrinsically intertwined into Hayate’s choices. Everyday he was making more careless decisions, giving less and less of a damn about the consequences of his actions. Each time the mythical figures of old let their image of themselves get to their heads, an inevitable downfall loomed on the horizon. His hubris was not going to last him much longer when it came to keeping him upright on his own two feet. Somewhere along the way he was going to make a foolish mistake, and he was going to get caught for it. Tonight might have very well been the night to set him down on that very path.

( He left the house on a high of pure, potent youth’s blood, having taken plenty from Chris before they had even gotten ready to leave . . .  )

Who: Hayate and Chris
When: Late Night
Where: Hayate’s Cottage
What: There are other ways to exert control.
WARNINGS: Mature sexual content between an adult and young teen.

Often she would lose herself in a book upon the cushions of his sofa, quietly reading the pages as her eyes roamed over text before her. Her hair would fall into her face, and her fingers would idly reach up and tuck it behind her ear without leaving the book in front of her eyes. She would read steadily, breathing in a mild manner, absorbed in the text like it was another world and she was already in it. Her eyes spoke of her belief in it. In them he saw devotion and a glimmer of hope, a spark come alive and burn for an hour or however long she continued to be immersed in her fantasy world.

A book could never give to him what he received from simply watching her. She was his only fantasy, and a book would never measure up to what he could have here, now. Chris enjoyed reading, though, and he liked to see her happy. He refused to ask her to do things for him on most occasions; instead, he would ask her what she wanted to do, and they would do that. If Chris felt like reading, then she would read and he would watch her read in silence, mulling over his thoughts and finding ways to easily occupy them.

Hayate watched her as he sat across from her, wondering how they could remain silent for such long periods of time as they did nothing in particular; her, reading — and him, watching her read. A strange arrangement, of course, but they both liked it. Hayate needed no other reason or excuse to justify their choices in pastimes; he needed no excuses for anything, lacking a proper conscience to require them in the first place.

( It might have been the reason for his next idea as well . . .  )

Who: Chris and Charlie
When: Morning
Where: Market place, on the way to the bakery
What: The green-eyed monster attacks Chris

"Hurry up, Charlie," Chris yelled back to her brother as they walked down the path from the café. Her brother was carrying two hot chocolates, one for himself and one for her. He rolled his eyes at his sister as he hurried toward her.

"You know," he said when he reached her side. "You could've waited for me outside the café liked I asked."

Chris scoffed as she took the hot chocolate from him. "You know how long it takes me to pick stuff out at the bakery," she said. "I wanted to get a head start so we wouldn't be in there forever."

( Charlie laughed... )

Who: Chris and Charlie
When: Late afternoon
Where: Riley's cottage / their new home
What: Reflecting on their recent move

Things were always changing. It was the way life worked, and sometimes there was nothing anyone could do about it. Chris and Charlie had figured that out long ago, probably a lot sooner than they would have if the virus and the war didn't happen. Moving was just another change, and it wasn't that big of a deal anyway. Echo had decided to break up with Charlie, and Charlie decided that it was too weird living in a house with your ex-girlfriend. Chris would never leave her brother's side, and so when he expressed interest in moving, she agreed.

( I like it here. )

Who: Chris and Hayate
When: Afternoon
Where: The Market Place
What: The perks of being obsessed over!

The young girl walked hand-in-hand with the vampire, their arms swinging in between their bodies. It wasn't the type of hand-holding that suggested otherwise, and anyone who saw them would think they were two friends spending time together. "I can't believe the harpies attacked the town yesterday!" Chris said in a very surprised voice. "Those things are nothing but trouble!" She exclaimed. "I'm glad lots of them got killed," she said, her eyes glancing around at the remaining feathers on the ground. They were still in the middle of cleaning up, but by the looks of it they were very nearly done. "At least you got my necklace back for me before they came here." Chris beamed at the vampire and hugged herself around his arm. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

They continued to walk through the market place, with Chris speaking randomly. "So like, Charlie met a centaur the other day named Zosimus, and I think he said he wanted me to meet him. He said he was really nice, and that they ran through the fields together and - oh! That looks good!" She said suddenly in the middle of her sentence. She had stopped in front of the candy shop, her eyes fixed on a lollipop in the window. Though everything in the sweets shop looked good, Chris had her eye on that particular piece of candy, though she didn't say so out loud.

( Hayate had grown used to Chris's hand-holding whenever they walked somewhere together. )

Who: Hayate and Chris
When: Early morning
Where: Hayate's Cottage
What: Hayate wakes Chris to show her what he brought back from the harpy nest.

When he returned that night from the nest of the harpies, Hayate placed everything he had taken with him into its normal place within his home. The sword went back into the extra room in its case. His warm clothing went back into the closet. He walked over to the bathroom to take a shower. After all, his trip to the mountains left him disheveled and dirty. Once he was washed up, the vampire had changed into light clothes for wearing around the house, a loose white cotton shirt with matching pants, and headed into his bedroom. There, fast asleep upon his bed, was Chris. He stood in the doorway for a moment, watching her as she slept. The girl was breathing deeply, tummy down on the mattress, a sheet covering her up. Hayate's fingers idly tapped against the wooden door frame as he gazed across the room at her sleeping form.

Finally, he stepped into the room, retrieving the necklace from within his pocket. The clasp was broken, which was a foul of the harpies, but it was in one piece. He sat down on the bed next to Chris, reaching out with his free hand to gently brush the hair off of her forehead and out of her eyes. Silence pervaded the room as his fingers swept away the stray strands of blonde hair, and he brushed the back of his hand against her skin. "Chris," Hayate said softly. He repeated her name again and again, urging her to awaken.

( Several minutes passed before she realized that someone was brushing back her hair, and touching her skin. )

Who: Chris and Hayate
When: Evening
Where: Hayate's cottage
What: Chris tells Hayate about the harpies

As soon as Chris was done at the medical pavilion she marched all the way to Hayate's house. She didn't want to see anyone else, and she doubted that Emily would miss her right away anyway. Charlie knew where she was going, and as far as she was concerned he was the only one she needed to answer to. He was her big brother, after all, and they were all the other had left in the world.

She reached the vampire's house just as the sun was setting in the sky. Deep shades of yellow and purple painted the sky. There was just enough light left to illuminate the few surface scratches that decorated her face and neck. The harpies were not kind to the young girl earlier that day, and she might not even be standing there on Hayate's doorstep if it weren't for her brother and everyone who saved her.

She had been treated at the medical pavilion for her injuries, the most serious of which had been the small puncture wounds in each of her shoulders. The patterns of the wounds were that of claws, the one that belonged to the harpies that carried her into the air.

What upset Chris the most, though, was that the grotesque creatures had taken her mother's necklace. Chris was beginning to think she wasn't meant to keep the necklace at all considering how often it disappeared from her possession. She sniffled as she knocked on the door, and when the vampire finally opened it she threw herself into his arms.

"Hayate..." she sniffled into his chest. She wasn't yet crying, but she was very close to it. Chris looked up at him with watery blue eyes. She was pouting slightly. "I hate harpies!" She whined before she entered his house.

Who: Chris, Charlie, Leo, Shawn, and Max
When: Around 1 PM
Where: Northwest Mountains
What: A dangerous and unpleasant run in with harpies

Chris was beaming. Even Charlie could tell there was something different about his sister though he couldn't pinpoint what it was exactly. She seemed happier today, which was good and he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He figured that it was because she had found their mother's necklace behind her dresser; somehow it had fallen behind the large piece of furniture.

"Hurry up, Charlie!" She called to him as she and Wolverine plowed ahead on the trail through the mountains. "I think there's a path up here that leads to that cliff up there!" She pointed to a small cliff that overlooked the entire Northwest area of the forest. Chris thought that it would be a cool place to visit wit her brother and their dog. Wolverine barked at Charlie, too, to hurry him along.

( All right, all right... )

Who: Chris and Hayate
When: Before sunset
Where: Hayate's cottage
What: Not all things are a fairytale.
WARNING(S): Abusive situations, mostly verbal and some physical. Also, sexual scenes between a young teen and adult.

The day had started off well for Chris, but by the time the afternoon rolled around she was in a downright crabby mood. She couldn't find the necklace that her mother had given her a few days before she and Charlie were shipped off to Switzerland. She wanted to wear it today for some reason, and now that she had it was no where to be found. She practically tore apart her side of the room and all of her things looking for it only to come up empty handed.

She had asked Charlie about it when he came home later in the afternoon, but all her brother did was call her irresponsible and said that it served her right for losing their mother's necklace. She would have cried, if she wasn't so darned mad at him for what he said.

The young girl had practically stomped her way to Hayate's house in the evening. The sun setting in the horizon didn't help her mood either; it was like the setting sun was mocking her, too. Telling her that it was hopeless and that the necklace was gone forever. She could have cried, but she didn't want Hayate to see her tears. Not that her mood was any better when she got there, though. Her current attitude was a complete 180 from what she normally was, and despite the fact that she was with Hayate, she wasn't any happier.

Chris just didn't want to be happy today, and it showed in every little thing that she did.