nobody's home but you.

[candlejack]

you are back home! yay!

Comments

fave: emilia • least: roma

[typeright]

( Everything's been wrong since she woke up and the other side of the bed was cold. The book Em was reading isn't on the bedside, nor are her morning vitamins that need to be taken a certain length of time before eating. Jules knows all about them, because she got them, spent a stupidly long time deliberating the right brand for Em. They aren't there, and the bed is cold, and when Jules rushed through the apartment, she couldn't find anything of hers, or hear her cooking.

So she's curled up on the coach, with a bottle of vodka, sobbing. Everything is wrong. She hates everything. )

[lamandibula]

[ You know what could make her hate things even more? A tall, brooding figure in a dark corner of her house, smile on his face, a smile that stretches too much skin. ]

[typeright]

( She doesn't notice him. Not at first, because she's taking a swig of the vodka, face contorting a little at the taste, because Vijay has apparently tried to infuse it with something. Normally hilarious, but today it's another stupid thing that she's hating.

Finally, her head drops back on the couch, eyes pressed shut for a moment before she opens them. ) Fuck!

( Yep. She spots him, and is immediately pulling herself back up on the couch. )

[lamandibula]

[ Dressed in black, it almost as if he mends with the shadows of the place, that somehow appear to be even thicker around him. But when she spots him, Romazvhir just stares at her with his disturbingly wide smile, hands in his pockets. ]

My, my, I am flattered to be invited. [ He isn't, because he couldn't give a shit about humans feelings regarding him unless it's all about the fear.

So he walks forward, making sure he never leaves her eyes, making sure she is so terrified she isn't going to move from her spot. He sits down on the couch next to her and leans closer, a hand reaching for her face and gently brushing her hand away. ]

Why are you crying like someone broke your heart? [ His tone suggests his worried, concerned about her feelings, even interested, but he isn't. He just wants to know because he loves seeing humans like that, all broken inside. ]

[typeright]

( She knows how this goes. He's calm, talks smoothly and with some twisted air of sophistication, she writhes and screams and fears for her life. There's pain, adrenaline that makes her heart try to beat a way out of her chest, threats about how she'll be broken apart in various fashions. It's not fair - it never is, and it's like taking a mixture of salt and lemon juice, and pouring it into an open wound.

Jules stays in a little ball on the couch, arms holding the vodka bottle to her chest. Defiantly - desperately, recklessly: ) You don't care.

( She's screwed. She's miserable. Her shoulder shake with renewed misery, because now it's almost certain that things just can't get worse, with the potential horrors this monster can unleash on her. )

[lamandibula]

[ The hand on her hair stops for a moment. He could lash out right then, at the moment of defiance, but then the anxiety, the fear, the panic within her wouldn't build up, like he likes to do it. So instead, he smiles, a little less than the macabre grin he sometimes has, pulling his hand back. ]

Of course I don't. [ He laughs quietly and his hand is back on her head again, lowering it to her cheek, then just his fingers against her lips, dragging down to her neck, scratching lightly, down to the collarbone and pressing there. ]

But you're going to tell me anyway, aren't you? [ His eyes never blink, like they don't need to, a bit open - not much, but enough to be noticeable. ]

[typeright]

( Reflexively, she tries to pull away from his hand against her cheek, but she feels caught by his stare, those terrifying traps masquerading as eyes. She finally manages to turn her head away once he's scratching down to her collarbone, breathing heavy and haphazard from her own fear and the rapidly escalating anxiety.

She's terrified, and useless. ) I'm alone.

( Which was close enough. No Em, no twins. ) They're all gone. That's all.

[lamandibula]

[ To see her breathing like that, like she's terrified and disgusted, it makes him grin, a quiet sort of smile, perverse, really fucking evil.

He hums, as if interested. Which is not entirely a lie; he is interested, just not in what she has to say. He wants to know why because then it's easier to hurt her, to make fun of her, to torture her heart.

A tortured heart always tastes so good. ]

Is it the little woman that was with you? [ She probably tasted great. ]

[typeright]

( She meant to come up with something, be prepared for if she ever - and she'd hoped that she wouldn't - crossed paths with him again. It all falls apart, though, and in no small part because of all the things that could happen when she came home, Em isn't here, but this guy is. It seems so completely and utterly wrong.

Jules nods a bit, resting her forehead against the cool glass of the vodka bottle. Greg isn't here, or Vijay, and they should be because she needs to pour out her heart to them instead of this utter... there aren't words for him. ) Yes.

( Oh, screw everything. She unscrews the tops of the bottle, going to take another swig. )

[lamandibula]

That's too bad.

[ Not that she isn't here for Jules. No, he doesn't give a shit about that. It's only too bad because if she was here, he could also do the same to Em. Two for one, that kind of deal.

He pulls his hand away and smiles, holding his head up on his hand as he watches the pathetic little woman sip her vodka, enjoying the misery written all over her face. He pulls his cigarette pack from his pocket and taps it against his hand, pulling one. He likes the tar in these. ]

Shall we wait to see if she's coming back? [ And then I can rip her bit by bit before I do the same to you. ]

[typeright]

She won't be here. ( A little sniff, and she rubs her nose with her hand. ) She's from a different time.

( Assurance Em won't be here protects her, but it's heartbreaking in and of itself, the fact that they're separated by something so impossible to broach. Her voice actually strains a bit on time, like it's painful to say it.

Thank God Em isn't here while he is, though. She remembers everything he said last time, and the times before. ) You don't get to have her. ( And you never will is very much implied.

[lamandibula]

Ah, that's too bad. [ Really is. He was getting excited about doing wonderfully disturbing things to them both. He takes a long drag of the cigarette, looking thoughtful, then flicks the ashes to the floor uncaringly, leaning back and crossing his leg, ankle on his knee. ]

Maybe I'll visit her in her time. [ He can't do that, but Jules doesn't know that. ] But not right now. Maybe once I'm done with you. [ There's a pause and he looks at her, smiling. ] Or I could take you. Do you want to go visit her?

[typeright]

( Any small sense of victory is knocked out of her at Roma's words, which send her an unhealthily pale tone. ) Don't go there.

( Rushed out, said in a panic, as her hold on the bottle tightens with terror. She doesn't need the vodka - just something to cling on to. ) Please. ( Another gross injustice - his being able to travel, where she cannot. )

Please don't hurt her. She's-- ( And her head bows. ) Just don't hurt her, even. Please.

[lamandibula]

[ Aah, yes, there it is. Panic, fear, utter horror. Humans are so easy to toy with, really. That's the only thing they are useful, anyway. Food, skins to wear, hearts to torture, toys to play with - but never keep. ]

Hmm? [ He leans in, smoke escaping through his teeth, leaning his face close to her, his warm breath enough to make itself be felt against her face. ] You don't want to see her?

[typeright]

( Of course she does! She almost slaps him, because the only thing she wants right now is to see Em, get rid of this raw, painful feeling that seems to throb right through her body. )

I don't want you to see her. ( Closing her eyes against his breath, against the smoke, Jules is hunched over a little, sort of protective. She's taking back to someone that's repeatedly done terrible things, Em isn't here, the twins are gone. This really can't get much worse. )

[lamandibula]

[ Oh, but it can. It can get so much worse. Gosh, it's like you don't play Ellie. ]

That's too bad. I went to get her for you.

[ A lie? The truth? He looks nonchalant enough to be telling the truth, but Romazvhir is the prince of lies amongst his brother and sisters. However, most of them don't understand why he earned this title. Why someone would spread this about him and still make him such a successful liar.

Because liars know how to keep their mouth shut about their own secrets best.

So he's leaning back, smoking the rest of the cigarette before exhaling. The diminished thing burns slowly and he puts it out on the couch, before flicking it towards Jules. ]

Do you want to see her now?