Playing House

Who: Lark and open
When: Evening
Where: Second floor all outside Lark's room

While Lark knew the majority of her housemates were hurting from one withdrawal or another, it really wasn't as bad for Lark as it could have been. Sure, she missed caffeine and sugar, but she wasn't as dependent upon either of them as most seemed to be. It was a bummer, sure, but she'd never really been able to afford a lot of junk food, and she'd never really had much coffee until she'd started living at the homeless shelter. She did find it slightly amusing that the homeless shelter had offered free coffee, but they couldn't get it here.

She had decided it was a good day to keep her head down and stay out of peoples way, just in case. She had spent the majority of the day in the library, at first trying to find some sort of remedy for a caffeine headache. She'd gotten distracted by other things, and eventually had ended her day finding a diabetic cookbook. She'd actually managed to make something edible for dinner, and when she headed up to her room after eating she felt kind of triumphant. Until she saw that her door was open.

Lark slowly pushed her door the rest of the way open, her jaw falling open at the sight that awaited her. She felt a little bit like she'd just been kicked in the stomach. "Are you kidding me?"

Who: Abel, Lark, Mack, Nate
When: Day 9; half past 8pm
Where: The Ballroom

( Whatever happened that night, Nate had already labeled it a success. His tastebuds were too happy not to. )

Who: Abel and Lark, possibly anyone else who hears the commotion and wants an easy laugh
When: Either really late at night or really early in the morning, depending on your perspective
Where: Second floor

Of all the stuff this house had in abundance, Lark was of the opinion that it really needed more bathrooms. There was one public bathroom on the first floor, conveniently located next to the room they'd taken over for the slumber party... but someone had been in there, and she needed to go now. Where was there another public bathroom? She couldn't remember. Did she really have to run all the way back up to her room? Lark debated this for a moment, and finally took off at a run for the stairs. Screw caution. She'd spent hours playing a life-size Barbie and hadn't particularly enjoyed the experience, so she was in no mood to dance the potty dance and wait around.

She hurried up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Was there a bathroom in the library? There had to be one somewhere on the second floor. The hallways were dark, and Lark was pretty focused on her bathroom needs, so perhaps she wasn't paying as much attention to her surroundings as she should have. She reached the top of the stairs and rounded the corner -- only to slam right into somebody. Or something. Her arms flailed out as she tried to catch her balance and not fall down the stairs, and as she caught herself on the banister she looked up to see what - or who - she'd run into. In the shadows, she saw what her hurried mind could interpret only as the face of death. Lark screamed bloody murder.

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: Lark and Nate
When: Day 8; around 8pm
Where: Game Room B

( He'd spent a large majority of his time back in his room watching the camera feeds and journals - both of the things he'd been complaining about for a whole week when he'd been confined to the fourth floor. )

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 Lark
When: midday
Where: the foyer to start

( a mellow song )

Who: Ben and Lark
When: Late night
Where: Living room, mainly

( Her luck had finally run out. )

Who: Rupert and Open
Where: The hallway/open area outside his room, third floor
When: At around 11am

( I'm gonna take my clothes off )

Who: Connor and Lark
When: Late evening
Where: Lark’s room (third floor)

It had taken Lark an entire twenty-four hours to figure out why the locking doors had disturbed her so much. Rationally, she had always been able to look at the situation and see clearly that the scientists meant no harm by it – it was simply a means to an ends, and no one had gotten hurt. Still, something about it all hadn’t settled well within her. Today she had finally figured it out. Having someone else determine when she could and could not leave her room reminded her way too much of the homeless shelter – a place that represented the most miserable times of her life. She had come here for a better life, and she just couldn’t deal with this place reminding her of the shelter. So, despite the fact that Lark hated to take help from anyone, she had taken a complete stranger up on his offer. Which was quite possibly something he’d only suggested to be nice.

She’d spent a portion of the day trying to remember if she had met Connor at the party, but she was certain she hadn’t. That added slightly to her nerves. Still, she didn’t call it off. He’d put the idea in her head, and she found herself rather stuck on it. Removing her door might be jumping from one extreme to the next, but it didn’t have to be permanent . If he could show her how to do it, she could just take her door off when she went to bed, barricade herself in for safety, and put things back to rights in the morning. Once she adjusted here, she wouldn’t need to do it anymore. It was silly, but it would make her feel better. That wasn’t so bad. Right?

Nope, no matter how she tried to spin it, she still felt pretty stupid. Sighing in annoyance with herself, Lark grabbed her notebook and plopped back on her bed. Brooke and Bennie had given her several blank notebooks and made her promise to write every day. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t send the letters, they said, they’d read when she got back. Even if she didn’t have a lot to talk about yet, she found the act soothing. Even if they wouldn’t read it for a year, any way to connect to her far away siblings was a good thing.

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: Kai and OPEN
WHEN: late afternoon, Day 2
WHERE: the library

( time enough at last )