Playing House

Who: Nate and OPEN
Where: Kitchen
When: Day 12; early evening

( The day passed slowly. )

Who: Camber and open
When: early afternoon
Where: Kitchen to start

Cam was TWITCHY. Figuring out that she hadn't misplaced her cigarettes or left them in a jacket, that she wasn't going crazy, that they were gone -- along with everything else not only in her room, but apparently in the entire house -- had done nothing but make this entire situation worse. She'd spent nearly 15 minutes having a very quiet panic attack, pacing frustratedly around her room and taking her clothes on and off before she found something comfortable.

( That word 'need' pissed her off but it wasn't exactly untrue. )

Who: Bryce, Emily, Delaney, and Spencer
Where: Table Number 1!
When: 8:15pm

( Bryce, Emily, Delaney, and Spencer oh my! )

Who: Trix and Chris with a dash of Delaney later on
Where: The sitting room
When: Mid-afternoon

Trix loved this house. It was a surprisingly welcome change from the hustle and bustle of her London life and she found herself relaxing more and more, feeling perfectly content with just ambling about the house. Today's activity, she had decided, would be listening to some music - yes, her life had become so easy and simple that simply blessing the ears with some pleasant tunes was a goal - and so eventually she ambled down to the sitting room, iPod and weed in hand, because listening to music without some form of psycho active substance was pointless.

Once she reached the room, she settled upon the largest sofa she could find, perching on it while she lit her spliff before swinging her legs over the arm and lying down. After a bit of fidgeting with her clothes, making sure that she wasn't flashing anyone too badly, she popped in her earbuds and sighed, letting her body sink into the soft cushioning of the couch. Yeah, Trix could definitely get used to this. She began to play a couple tracks (something soothing and ballady because she and her drugs were in that kind of mood) and closed her eyes, letting her senses be consumed. She sighed happily. Yep. This place was fucking fantastic.

Who: Girls girls girls!
When: 11:30ish
Where: First floor sitting room

Daphne really couldn't have been happier with the day's events. The slumber party had been a random idea to attempt to get to know a few of the girls better, and endear herself to a chunk of people. The fact that issues with Camber had arisen from it was really just the cherry on top. If there was any way at all for Daphne to work things to make everyone hate Camber and pity Daphne as the sweet-hearted victim? That... that was just Christmas. Only here a day and already things were just falling in her lap.

Emily had helped her set up as promised, and Daphne was of a mind to bring Emily under her wing. The girl struck Daphne as being kind-hearted, but altogether naive and easily manipulated. Daphne was pretty sure she could make the girl think they were best friends forever without even breaking a sweat. After introductions went around, Daphne had insisted on those who brought extra breaking out their dresses and seeing what looks they could create. Daphne had just urged an expensive Alexander McQueen silk-chiffon minidress on an extremely uncomfortable-looking Lark, who kept trying to insist it was far too nice and she'd never feel right. Daphne waved off her objections and shooed her to the corner to try it on. "Hush, hush. It's part of the fun, dear! You don't have to wear it tomorrow if you don't want to." She'd never be able to pull it off the way Daphne could, anyway. "Ladies, what would you all say to a game of truth or dare? Liven things up a bit between trying things on."

Who: Emily and Open to All
Where: the kitchen
When: early evening, around 5pm

( For Emily, the evening and dinnertime just couldn't come fast enough. )

Who: Delaney and Emily
Where: Game Room B
When: around 11 a.m.

( don't rock the jukebox )

Who: Delaney and Miles
Where: the billiards room
When: evening

( that wasn't supposed to happen )

Who: Delaney and Lark
When: midday
Where: the foyer to start

( a mellow song )

Who: Delaney and Chris
Where: Movie Theater
When:Six PM

( Every time I see your face, I think of things unpure, unchaste )

Who: Rupert and Delaney
Where: Outside on the snowy grounds surrounding the compound.
When: Late morning

He had taken two ice cold showers, rubbed himself with and eaten ice and prayed to all deities he could think of. He had also almost emptied the aspirin bottle Lark had given him. And his breakfast had been ice-cream.

Nothing could cool Rupert off; in fact, he seemed to be actually burning once in a while, and about to burst into flames the rest of the time. It took him another trip downstairs to the kitchen for some more ice-cream for Rupert to look outside at the vast plains of snow. It had to be freezing out there. Positively arctic. He had changed out of two pajamas - once when he finally gave up on sleep and went for a shower instead and the second time when he went into the shower wearing the first pajamas - what was one more? If what he was wearing could be called pajamas, which his mother wouldn't; loose striped boxer-shorts and a t-shirt weren't things a 'proper boy' should wear to bed, in her opinion. But his mother could stuff it right now, this was much better than the winter ones he'd been wearing before. Or even the summer ones he'd brought in case the weather got better.

Opening the door in the kitchen that gave access outdoors, Rupert ran across the snow barefoot until he fell forward and decided to remain lying there on his stomach until his temperature went back to normal. Or until he died. He didn't much care which at this point.

Who: Chris, open to reactions from Delaney
Where: Delaney's door
When: Early morning

( I'm bigger and better than the Titanic, because only 200 women went down on it. )

Who: Delaney and Chris
When: mid-morning
Where: the pool

( meeting new people was one of the best things ever )

Who: Delaney and Rupert
Where: The library, where else?
When: Early evening

There was a book that, surprisingly, Rupert had always wanted to read but had never gotten round to, at least not with the required attention. After spending most of his day in his room - much like all his days before and likely after today - Rupert had ventured into the library, perusing the many shelves. The copy of One Thousand and One Nights jumped at him immediately, and he figured that he might as well get to reading it now. His mood improved by the place he was in, Rupert settled on an armchair with the book in hand, his mind immediately flowing to imagining the most impossibly beautiful princess Scheherazade he could.

All of the reviews he had read of this ages old book were right; somehow, the stories and their descriptions seemed to set his imagination much more alight than any other tale he had read before, and Rupert decided to blame that on the fact that this was as far from English literature as could be. They were Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales after all, and Rupert would be lying if he said he was familiarized with that particular literature.

He was so immersed into the stories Scheherazade unfolded as he was in awe of what a smart woman she was. And deep inside Rupert felt happy, because he was in his favorite place, accompanied by his favorite thing: A good book.

Who: Mick and OPEN
Where: the kitchen
When: early morning

( There's no such thing as going overboard when it comes to food. )

Who: Delaney and Charles
Where: the billiard room
When: a while after the mixer starts

Delaney was having an awesome time. She'd been having some drinks and talking with the people who'd shown up for the get-together in the billiard room, and actually she'd lost track of just how many drinks she'd had. Three, or was it four? She'd also eaten a couple of those insanely delicious cupcakes that Mack had made. That would soak up the alcohol, right? She'd had friends in high school who'd frantically eaten white bread after parties so they'd be less drunk when they got home, and she thought cupcakes were similar enough that it should work for her, too. She didn't want to get sloppy drunk right off, because she tended to make not-so-great choices when she did.

She was taking a bit of a break from the conversation, looking out one of the windows with her latest drink in hand. All that snow. What if they were in Iceland or somewhere like that? Except, wait... did they even have the same seasons as North America? Her geography knowledge was sadly lacking, and she shrugged her musings off as she turned and wandered back into the room. All this eye candy! There was Jai, the cutie behind the bar, and the super-tall man with the beard, the attractive Asian guy and the muscular man with the patch on the back of his shirt. He was Chris, she thought. She hadn't quite remembered names for all of them or matched them to what they'd posted on the journals, but she felt sure she would. She was a quick study when it came to people and socializing. More were coming in all the time, and someone else was walking in now. Her gaze turned in his direction and she smiled expectantly.

Who: Everyone and anyone! Mini-threads + spinoff scenes welcome.
Where: Billiard room
When: 7 and on

If one didn’t peer out the windows into the vast white nothing, it was entirely possible to feel like you were in an actual bar. Jai felt quite comfortable in the billiard room, actually. It looked, felt, and even smelled like a bar he’d frequented back home.

He’d showed up a little early, setting out snacks and familiarizing himself with the inventory behind the bar. Okay, technically he wasn’t supposed to mix alcohol with his meds, but he’d found that a beer here and there didn’t upset his system too badly. He was still proudly Irish, after all. He’d set himself a low limit, and could happily make drinks for other people and still have fun. He’d never been one of those guys who had to get drunk to enjoy himself, anyway.

By the time seven o’clock crept up, the room was prepared for a party. Granted, if the entire house turned up he knew they wouldn’t all fit, but he didn’t think that was a problem they were going to have to face. If they did, they’d just take things elsewhere. While he waited for people to begin trickling in, he got himself a beer and headed over to the jukebox. He’d always wanted one of these things in his place.

Who: Delaney and Rupert
When: 11:30 a.m.
Where: Rupert's room to start

Delaney had been highly irritated that she'd felt so unwell the day before, because she was here to meet people, and who'd want to meet someone who was as pale as death, barely able to keep her eyes open and fighting dry heaves on and off? No one she'd want to meet, because that would mean they had some kind of illness fetish. Plus, she didn't believe in meeting new people when she didn't look her best, and she simply hadn't felt well enough to shower and do her hair. It was disappointing, but there hadn't been much she could do about it. So she'd spent the day sleeping, drinking water and nibbling at pretzels from the little packet she'd gotten on one of her airline flights.

If it had been a bug or just overtiredness, she wasn't sure, but she'd felt better by the time she'd awakened at about ten o'clock on January 2nd. Curiosity had driven her to her door, which seemed to be locked from the outside. That was odd, and as she'd been trying to figure out what she should do, she'd seen the light on her computer flashing. She took care of making a journal post, which would unlock the door. Strange, but it was easy enough to shrug off. After spending about twenty minutes commenting on other journals, she'd flung herself into the shower, singing as she washed her hair and scrubbed her body. Nothing like Adele songs to bolster her for the day. That girl had some serious pipes!

Delaney couldn't wait to get out and about, because a whole house of new people to meet sounded like heaven to her, so she made quick work of drying her hair, putting on light makeup and dressing in a loose, colorful v-necked sweater that continually fell off one shoulder, which called for a tank top underneath, and her favorite jeans with embroidery on the back pockets. Everyone was wearing those, probably because they drew attention to the posterior region. She wasn't Kim Kardashian exactly, but she had a nice enough ass, she thought. Key in her pocket, one last check in the dresser mirror and a cheeky smile at her reflection and she left her room.

The door to her right was a sitting room, she saw when she peered inside. To her left was the door of another occupant, and that seemed a good enough place to start. She rapped on the door and bounced lightly on her toes as she waited for it to be answered.