sound and fury, signifying nothing [complete/closed]

[of_underland]

Characters: Luxa, Mello
Setting: Entrance hall, probably moving
Time: Early in Day 19
Summary: Luxa falls into the Dollsyhouse. Suddenly, sunlight! Luxa Does Not Want and hides under a table. A wild Mello appears.
Warnings: "OW MY EYES." Also, fail description of being sun-blinded. Otherwise none?

Comments

[is_not_number1]

As far as Mello was concerned, there hadn't been a better day in this place so far. The house was still warm, and even though it was really starting to get slightly hotter than he would have preferred, he gladly accepted the change over the cold. He'd had more than enough of the winter. And the mud in the Greenhouse was finally gone as well; for the first time since he'd practically just arrived at the house, he was able to dress normally-- or, at least, normally for his style-- without having to worry at all about his pants getting ruined with mud or snow or whatever else. Finally. And, to top things off, he couldn't have been more relieved to be out of that ridiculous dress. If it hadn't been for the fact that he was still injured from his last run-in with the monsters, he could possibly have been in an almost decent mood. Though they seemed to be healing alright so far, his wounds were still quite painful; to add to it, he wasn't particularly thrilled that the vest he wore definitely didn't cover the bandages on his arm at

[of_underland]

At the sound of a voice, Luxa froze.

She hadn't seen anyone else in the room - well, of course not, being blinded as she was. She'd simply assumed that she was alone, and safe from attack. Reckless and foolish, she realized. Ah, a message that Solovet would have pounded into her head. Had this person been an enemy, she would surely be dead, and due only to her own carelessness

[is_not_number1]

The girl, Mello assumed was definitely a newcomer. For a start, she seemed to be fairly confused. He suspected, from the manner in which she was behaving, that she had no clue where she was. Something else was definitely wrong as well; the way she was hiding herself and shielding her eyes was in no way normal. Furthermore, something about her gaze was off; her eyes didn't look like they were focused at all, as if she were blind. She was acting like one might if they had just looked directly into the sun, and upon second glance, Mello supposed that probably wasn't very far from the truth. The girl literally looked as though she had never seen the sun before. There was no way she could have been here for very long at all. If she had, she would have been way more sunburnt than she already was. Whatever world she was from must have been very different than his own; it was probable that she lived in darkness, and if that was the case, arriving here must have been quite a big change for her, and likely not a pleasant one at that

[of_underland]

Even in the shade of the table, the simple action of looking hurt Luxa's eyes - not nearly as painful as that first direct glance, but uncomfortable nontheless. She blinked fiercely, willing the blindness to disperse, but at her eyes' stubborn refusal to see, she simply let out an inaudible sigh and closed them. There was no sense in enduring the light when she could see just as badly with her eyes closed.

Mello. Good. A name to attach to the voice. "I am Luxa," she responded curtly - her tone blatantly imitated his. "This place is new to me, yes. And the light

[is_not_number1]

Mello gave a brief nod in response, out of simple habit more than anything else, as there was no way Luxa could have seen any sort of body language. "I thought so," he commented on what she had confirmed, though he spoke more to himself than to the girl. "Luxa. Nice to meet you." Even though his words were polite enough, the tone of his voice had not changed much, and was still as sharp as ever.

If Luxa wanted to have any chance of knowing what was going on, she had to get out of the sun. Chances were, if the light blinded her, she hadn't even seen where she was yet. She was probably completely helpless during the day, although Mello wasn't much concerned with how well she would fare when the night came around. Assuming she knew how to use that sword, she would probably have a fair enough chance against the monsters. And if she didn't, to tell the truth, Mello didn't really care what happened to her when night came around. But as for now, he day had just only started; it would be about a week or so until the sun set again,

[of_underland]

Luxa exhaled a slightly derisive huff of breath; it was as nice to meet the Overlander as it was to be blind. At least she had lost nothing by admitting what the light had done to her eyes. And if what he said about the room was true, then -

"First, tell me where I am," she said shortly. Obviously she wasn't in the Underland, and the Overland was the only other place that there was. "Why am I here? Who brought me here? You do not own this house, do you?" Surely whoever was the owner of this place was the one who had taken Luxa out of the Underland; and should this Overlander be the one who had done so, she would happily kill him before following him anywhere.

And yet, if he had been the one to bring her here, then he would not have been offering to help her, would he? And still he had not even attempted - surely he could be trusted long enough to find a safer place

[is_not_number1]

"Fair enough," Mello admitted. The girl clearly didn't trust him, and she really had no reason to. She had even less of a clue where she was than he had when he'd first come here, and for all she knew, he could have been the mastermind behind this whole thing. It probably didn't help that she couldn't even see him, either. "You have a right to know."

He sighed again and ran a hand through his hair, not quite sure where to start. He didn't even know the answer to plenty of the questions she had asked. No one did. "I guess you can say you're in an incredibly... strange house. Or if you'd like to be a bit more realistic, you can say it's a prison of sorts. I can't tell you why you're here or who brought you, or even how you got here, because I honestly have no clue. I don't even know why I'm here. I definitely don't own this house, and as far as I know, no one knows who does. Just that you and I-- and just about everyone else you'll meet around here-- are prisoners in this place for some reason or another, although none of

[of_underland]

Preoccupied by the loss of her crown - and looking faintly ridiculous what with suddenly starting to feel around underneath the table - Luxa had only been half-listening until the word prison caught her attention.

"Strange? How is it strange?" Just strange could encompass anything from abnormally large to ruled by nibblers. "Why is it necessary to escape? Is there no door to open that will take you out?"

If there was, perhaps it was hidden... Yet if there was no door to leave through, wouldn't it make sense for there to be no door to enter through? Then how could she be here? And why was the Overlander here? This uncertainty - she hated it.

It didn't matter. She was here now, and if the Overlander was to be believed - and Luxa was beginning to think that perhaps he was - then she would be here for a very long time. Safer than her home, perhaps, but anything but pleasant if this experience was a sign of what was to come for her

[is_not_number1]

"Nothing here really makes much sense," Mello answered. "A lot of the rooms are just... odd, for example. You'll see what I mean later. Time moves really slow here, too. I'd say one day by the house's standards lasts at least a week by normal time, and the night lasts way longer than that. And after the sun goes down, I suppose you could say that the place is haunted. It's infested with ghosts and monsters, and most of them will try to kill you. Apart from that, the house does all sorts of other weird things to people; whoever runs this place seems to like to screw with our minds. The whole point of the house seems to be to drive its residents to kill themselves, because if you do, you'll become one of the monsters that haunts the place at night, and the house will completely own you and your free will. And there is no door that'll take you out of this place, or at least not that anyone's found. Whoever's got us here doesn't want us to get out, and that's why escaping is really the only chance anyone's got. Only thing is,

[of_underland]

The monsters Luxa could deal with; she'd faced gnawers and the serpents of the Labyrinth, after all, and if the night was long then she could at least defend herself with her sight intact... if her eyes healed. If her luck took a turn for the better then it would be no worse than looking into one of Gregor's flashlights, and the greeny-black would eventually fade from her vision.

But, the crown - ah, so it was here! "Yes, that is it." The thing might not have any meaning to anyone else in this inescapable house, but it was significant to her, and if those around her regarded it meaningless, then it might be safer. Eagerly, Luxa reached out a hand - the one on the arm not currently being held by the Overlander - to receive it.

Having a hand on her arm made it easier for her to determine just where the person she was talking to actually was, and so it was almost possible to believe that Luxa was really looking at Mello when she paused, frowning. Its... residents? Of course the Overlander had stated that there were others, and this