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: Ralph & Hayate
When: Evening
Where: The wine bar
What: A meeting of like minds

Boredom was what brought him here. Thankfully it wasn't like a club. Ralph hated those things. Enough flashing lights to induce a seizure and music loud enough to invoke a migraine wasn't his idea of a good time. Nice, quiet places attracted Ralph. The empty nook of a library or the calmness of a café were among his prized places to visit. Read a book and sip your coffee in peace. To Ralph, that was the real treat.

The bar bordered on vacant tonight. Any other packed night would've driven him away because crowds panicked Ralph. He walked to the bar and ordered a drink. Ralph paid no attention to the bartender while he asked for a rum and coke. Time away from home was on his agenda this night. It was simple. For now.

He waited for his order and looked at the few visitors in the room. One caught his eye. It was a slight frame blonde. Ralph looked away. His drink came and he sipped it in quiet, but his thoughts nagged him. He looked back.

Ralph never initiated conversation at random. It wasn't normal behavior from him. He always had a reason. Always. Tonight he didn't have a reason. He just had a rum and coke.

He crossed the distance, sat down beside the stranger. Nervously his legs twitched, tapping away at the floor.

"Hello," he said. Usually people looked at who they talked to but Ralph stared down at his rum and coke. Tap tap tap. "Nice night."

Who: Irei and Ralph
When: Midday
Where: near the Mausoleum
What: Two necromancers meet

Irei needed to get out of his bungalow. He was starting to feel the effects of cabin fever, but it was still pretty cold outside. Winter was one of the rare times that he missed his tropical island home. He bundled up in a thick coat and let his hair remain around his face in an effort to keep the warmth from leaving his body to quickly. He also had a scarf wrapped around his neck. Winter was always a long season to Irei, but this winter seemed especially long.

At least it wasn't snowing anymore, he thought as he picked his way through the forest away from the bungalows, and away from the town. He had no desire to have go through the hustle around town or in the marketplace today. An unlit cigarette dangled from his lips, as he walked toward the mausoleum.

Normally he avoided places where the dead lay, just because the rip he had created between his world and spirit's world tended to attract them, and it would basically just cause him to have a big headache. But today it seemed like a good place to get away from most of the living for a while.

He looked up at the three statues that surrounded the domed building in a triangle as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat searching for his lighter. He wondered what they were praying for exactly. Irei choose not to wonder about the life after death and where the soul goes, he just called them back or sent them there.

He pulled the lighter out and lit the tip of the cigarette.