[ic] Oh yay...supernatural encounters...so..not fun.
When Hector had returned home earlier Lacroix had been busy cleaning up the dining room; because no matter how clean the rest of the apartment was kept it was freaking impossible to keep dust off those skeleton chairs.
There were a few choice words involved while he attacked each chair trying to round up the fuzzy bits of dust and banish them, with Grim sneaking between his legs now and then to casually bat at a few stray pieces that floated down to the floor.
Being so busy at the time, he had only offered a hello while Hector had slunk past the doorway, carrying something Lacroix just barely caught sight of in passing as a hint of black and ivory contrasted color that was too difficult to make out, and then disappeared down the hallway.
The air in the apartment had been heavy for several days, Hector's mood was terrible, down and weary, and Lacroix just wasn't certain how to deal with it. His desire to help had been a disaster time and time again; Hector didn't want help, he wanted to be left alone.
And that was no easy task for Lacroix; he was the sort of person that desperately wanted to make certain the people around him didn't suffer needlessly.
Suffering in silence was needless, in his opinion.
Rather than even approach the conversation again though he left Hector to his peace and quiet, as difficult as it was to accept Lacroix was trying to give the an some space and approach the conversation very carefully, later.
So he finished cleaning up the dining room and ushered Grim back into his bedroom to make certain the kitten wasn't underfoot while he ventured into the kitchen to work on dinner as it seemed like Hector was not going to be in the mood to go out that evening.
At least he could do that much, hopefully, to cheer the man up; since most of his other efforts had fallen vastly short.
Midway through pulling down pans and heating the stove a vicious yowl broke his concentration and Lacroix ducked out of the kitchen towards the source of the sound; finding nothing but his bedroom wall greeting him. Grim was carrying on madly on the other side so he pressed the panel to slide the wall back, blinking when a furry streak darted past him and retreated to the kitchen.
"What's gotten into you?" Lacroix muttered, baffled, as he had never seen the feline move faster than a slow creep across the floor or a lazy sprawl over someone's lap.
Maybe the weird mood in the apartment was catching; that was probably about the only explanation that made sense given Grim's usual mellow nature.
Finding the feline was easy, Grim was situated in the open cabinet above the stove, stuck between a stack of plates and a tower of bowls with an expression on his spotted face that bordered neurotic. Reaching up and pulling the kitten free, Lacroix frowned and tucked the small creature against his chest. Rubbing two fingers between Grim's perked ears, he studied the cat for a long moment until the tense body finally relaxed with a disgruntle mewl.
"Crazy cat," with a shake of his head Lacroix sat the kitten back down and turned his attention back to the task at hand, stretching up to retrieve a box from one of the shelves over the sink after he had paused to wash his hands. "Everything around here has gone mental."
A shift of motion, he barely caught it out of the corner of his eye, and gave it little thought as Grim was lurking in the kitchen. He was midway through prying the top of the box open when a low growl sounded to his other side and he spotted Grim stalking back and forth across the counter.
Odd...the kitten had been near the microwave only a few seconds before.
Turning the stove back on and up, pushing the pot of water back over the eye to start it boiling, Lacroix wandered over to the drawer near the sink and fished out a spoon, knocking it back shut with his side when he turned back to walk over to the water.
When he turned back to pick up the box he spotted the drawer open, puzzled, he pushed it back closed once more and eyed Grim.
"What's up with you today?" He couldn't imagine what the kitten wanted in that drawer, or why the little fluffy creature might have been attempting to distract him so much.
Maybe it was some plea for attention, as if the cat didn't already get plenty of that as it was. "I'm busy right now fuzzball, after dinner we'll play; you're being such a pest today."
He laughed though, softly, more teasing than annoyed, it was just too difficult for Lacroix to get annoyed over any small issue.
"Go on, get out of here and let me finish," he gave the kitten a verbal nudge and swung back around to the sound of the pot on the stove starting to boil over. "Urgh," the sound was brief, Lacroix stretched over the stove to turn down the heat before he ended up with hot water all over the place and more to clean; brow furrowed at how bad his luck was that evening.
A soft clatter next to him made him sigh, "Grim, stop playing with things in here before you get hurt."
He glanced to the side, expecting to find the kitten toying with a stray spoon or the like, but instead came roughly face to...what amounted to a face; one with glossy red eyes staring back empty at him and bright-as-bone white atop black fabric.
It was...cute, in a way, or would have been; the adorable face of the plush toy with the white skeleton face and the bone accents on its' fabric body, if not for the fact that it was...sitting...on the counter.
Not only sitting there but only a few inches from his nose, that blank expression looked almost too vivid, too real, and too...vicious.
Lacroix was tempted to lift his hand and poke the plush body of the macabre toy, but the gleam off those wicked glass eyes left him with such a sudden and stark feeling of wariness that Lacroix's hand paused midway in the effort and go motionless until he realize he was just being paranoid over...what? A toy?
Yeah, he had seriously been letting Hector's paranoia rub off on him way too much.
Somebody was seriously screwing around with him; and he had no idea how Hector was doing it right then...or why, usually odd jokes weren't Hector's sort of amusement.
"Very funny," rolling his eyes and snatching the toy up with one hand, Lacroix turned to toss it out of the way near the sink when a sudden sting lashed across his hand and his eyes jerked open wide. Dropping the plush toy once more, Lacroix recoiled sharply and stared at the wide line of crimson that oozed up across the top of his hand.
Instantly, reflexive, he wrapped his other hand across the wound to slow the bleeding and jerked his gaze back towards the counter where that toy had fallen, upright and in the same position as earlier, the thin blade of a small paring knife lying so innocently on the tile in front of the ghastly plush creature.
At first it just didn't register; of all the things that Lacroix had seen or heard in his time living in Castle Styles that one was more than a bit beyond reasonable belief, but when a flicker almost like a twitch caused the toy to just barely move Lacroix stumbled back even further and nearly tripped over his own sneakers in the process.
He did the most logical thing really, though later he was bound to insist that it wasn't as loud as was the truth to save his dignity a bit of grief; he cried out in surprise.
Okay, technically he mostly screamed in terror but come on...it was still a fair reasonable response given the situation.
Plan B was to make a very swift bolt out of the kitchen but there was something...it was called a wall actually, that kept him from managing that; when his shoulders hit it lightly and he jumped in surprised he did actually trip, landing none too gracefully, sitting, just barely able to see the edge of the counter from the floor and expecting at any second to see that disturbing fabric visage peering down at him.
There was no way he could have been awake right then, it had to be some messed-up nightmare; he just...couldn't seem to wake up yet, yeah, that's what it had to be.
There were a few choice words involved while he attacked each chair trying to round up the fuzzy bits of dust and banish them, with Grim sneaking between his legs now and then to casually bat at a few stray pieces that floated down to the floor.
Being so busy at the time, he had only offered a hello while Hector had slunk past the doorway, carrying something Lacroix just barely caught sight of in passing as a hint of black and ivory contrasted color that was too difficult to make out, and then disappeared down the hallway.
The air in the apartment had been heavy for several days, Hector's mood was terrible, down and weary, and Lacroix just wasn't certain how to deal with it. His desire to help had been a disaster time and time again; Hector didn't want help, he wanted to be left alone.
And that was no easy task for Lacroix; he was the sort of person that desperately wanted to make certain the people around him didn't suffer needlessly.
Suffering in silence was needless, in his opinion.
Rather than even approach the conversation again though he left Hector to his peace and quiet, as difficult as it was to accept Lacroix was trying to give the an some space and approach the conversation very carefully, later.
So he finished cleaning up the dining room and ushered Grim back into his bedroom to make certain the kitten wasn't underfoot while he ventured into the kitchen to work on dinner as it seemed like Hector was not going to be in the mood to go out that evening.
At least he could do that much, hopefully, to cheer the man up; since most of his other efforts had fallen vastly short.
Midway through pulling down pans and heating the stove a vicious yowl broke his concentration and Lacroix ducked out of the kitchen towards the source of the sound; finding nothing but his bedroom wall greeting him. Grim was carrying on madly on the other side so he pressed the panel to slide the wall back, blinking when a furry streak darted past him and retreated to the kitchen.
"What's gotten into you?" Lacroix muttered, baffled, as he had never seen the feline move faster than a slow creep across the floor or a lazy sprawl over someone's lap.
Maybe the weird mood in the apartment was catching; that was probably about the only explanation that made sense given Grim's usual mellow nature.
Finding the feline was easy, Grim was situated in the open cabinet above the stove, stuck between a stack of plates and a tower of bowls with an expression on his spotted face that bordered neurotic. Reaching up and pulling the kitten free, Lacroix frowned and tucked the small creature against his chest. Rubbing two fingers between Grim's perked ears, he studied the cat for a long moment until the tense body finally relaxed with a disgruntle mewl.
"Crazy cat," with a shake of his head Lacroix sat the kitten back down and turned his attention back to the task at hand, stretching up to retrieve a box from one of the shelves over the sink after he had paused to wash his hands. "Everything around here has gone mental."
A shift of motion, he barely caught it out of the corner of his eye, and gave it little thought as Grim was lurking in the kitchen. He was midway through prying the top of the box open when a low growl sounded to his other side and he spotted Grim stalking back and forth across the counter.
Odd...the kitten had been near the microwave only a few seconds before.
Turning the stove back on and up, pushing the pot of water back over the eye to start it boiling, Lacroix wandered over to the drawer near the sink and fished out a spoon, knocking it back shut with his side when he turned back to walk over to the water.
When he turned back to pick up the box he spotted the drawer open, puzzled, he pushed it back closed once more and eyed Grim.
"What's up with you today?" He couldn't imagine what the kitten wanted in that drawer, or why the little fluffy creature might have been attempting to distract him so much.
Maybe it was some plea for attention, as if the cat didn't already get plenty of that as it was. "I'm busy right now fuzzball, after dinner we'll play; you're being such a pest today."
He laughed though, softly, more teasing than annoyed, it was just too difficult for Lacroix to get annoyed over any small issue.
"Go on, get out of here and let me finish," he gave the kitten a verbal nudge and swung back around to the sound of the pot on the stove starting to boil over. "Urgh," the sound was brief, Lacroix stretched over the stove to turn down the heat before he ended up with hot water all over the place and more to clean; brow furrowed at how bad his luck was that evening.
A soft clatter next to him made him sigh, "Grim, stop playing with things in here before you get hurt."
He glanced to the side, expecting to find the kitten toying with a stray spoon or the like, but instead came roughly face to...what amounted to a face; one with glossy red eyes staring back empty at him and bright-as-bone white atop black fabric.
It was...cute, in a way, or would have been; the adorable face of the plush toy with the white skeleton face and the bone accents on its' fabric body, if not for the fact that it was...sitting...on the counter.
Not only sitting there but only a few inches from his nose, that blank expression looked almost too vivid, too real, and too...vicious.
Lacroix was tempted to lift his hand and poke the plush body of the macabre toy, but the gleam off those wicked glass eyes left him with such a sudden and stark feeling of wariness that Lacroix's hand paused midway in the effort and go motionless until he realize he was just being paranoid over...what? A toy?
Yeah, he had seriously been letting Hector's paranoia rub off on him way too much.
Somebody was seriously screwing around with him; and he had no idea how Hector was doing it right then...or why, usually odd jokes weren't Hector's sort of amusement.
"Very funny," rolling his eyes and snatching the toy up with one hand, Lacroix turned to toss it out of the way near the sink when a sudden sting lashed across his hand and his eyes jerked open wide. Dropping the plush toy once more, Lacroix recoiled sharply and stared at the wide line of crimson that oozed up across the top of his hand.
Instantly, reflexive, he wrapped his other hand across the wound to slow the bleeding and jerked his gaze back towards the counter where that toy had fallen, upright and in the same position as earlier, the thin blade of a small paring knife lying so innocently on the tile in front of the ghastly plush creature.
At first it just didn't register; of all the things that Lacroix had seen or heard in his time living in Castle Styles that one was more than a bit beyond reasonable belief, but when a flicker almost like a twitch caused the toy to just barely move Lacroix stumbled back even further and nearly tripped over his own sneakers in the process.
He did the most logical thing really, though later he was bound to insist that it wasn't as loud as was the truth to save his dignity a bit of grief; he cried out in surprise.
Okay, technically he mostly screamed in terror but come on...it was still a fair reasonable response given the situation.
Plan B was to make a very swift bolt out of the kitchen but there was something...it was called a wall actually, that kept him from managing that; when his shoulders hit it lightly and he jumped in surprised he did actually trip, landing none too gracefully, sitting, just barely able to see the edge of the counter from the floor and expecting at any second to see that disturbing fabric visage peering down at him.
There was no way he could have been awake right then, it had to be some messed-up nightmare; he just...couldn't seem to wake up yet, yeah, that's what it had to be.