RolePlayGateway™

The large taxi slowed as it reached the gates of the extensive grounds of Brimstone House. A high, white stone wall ran around the perimeter, and although they had seen glimpses of the house as they drew nearer, now the trees around the driveway obscured it, so they could only see a dim and shaded road through the black, decorative iron of the front gate. As the car ground to a halt, Alaizabel jumped out of the car, fumbling in her shoulder bag for the rusted bunch of keys. The early autumn sun was shining brightly, and cracked, brown leaves tumbled across the drive into the cradles of tree trunks, or rested on the lush green grass. The gate opened smoothly, and she secured them open by pushing little bolts into specially made holes in the ground, getting back in the taxi shortly after.

It took almost a minute to get to the house. The drive cut through thick swathes of trees, interspersed with man made clearings featuring ponds, benches or statues. One clearing held a charming swing set, another empty, yet well preserved bird cages. Upon reaching the house, the drive curled around a fountain that acted as a roundabout. Large, broad steps led up to impressive front doors, whilst ten or so windows looked out down the drive behind them. Turrets and towers clustered around the edges of the house, at odds with the plain, yet majestic front and flat roof. Everything was made out of subtle grey stone, each block quite large. The banisters on the stairs were black painted iron, not a spot of rust to be seen.

The group filed out of the taxi, the driver of which was generously unloading the five or so bags squashed up in the boot. Aliazabel looked up at the grand house, feeling all at once giddy and nervous, like a child facing a lion at a zoo. The windows of the house seemed black in the strong sunshine, or reflected the blue sky. But from no angle could you properly see inside, though no curtains were drawn. At the foot of the steps the drive melted into pebble gravel that crunched satisfyingly beneath the feet. The house had ten bedrooms easily, and a whole host of reception and games rooms, one tower was devoted entirely to the library, and there was a basement too. The kitchen was at the back, and led out into the garden through the pantry. There was a gardener and a caretaker, though they were off until next Friday. The house was in the middle of nowhere. Alaizabel grinned suddenly. You could have music on full blast and no one would hear.

Breaking out of her reverie, she crunched across the gravel to the others, shouldering her own heavy rucksack. Her dress was a light brown colour, her cardigan a pale cream. Brown boots with pale fur showing at the tops covered her feet, with tights the same colour as the fur protecting her knees from the worst of the occasional autumnal gusts that seemed to sweep away the sunshine before letting it slide back like honey. A small clip covered with brown feathers held most of her hair back from her face. She listened to the others as they ooed and aahed at the house, and knew without a doubt this would be the best holiday ever...

Morana climbed out of the car and looked around, her knee length black skirt swirling around her as she turned in a circle to take in her surroundings, the chains and kegrings attached to her belt clinking together as she did so. The place was beautiful and so secluded. Like she'd stepped out of the normal world and into the land of the fey. She smiled, her dark eyes bright with excitment at the idea of staying here. She trailed her hand over the edge of the fountain, the dark cuff of her sweater and edge of her fingerless net gloves getting damp as she did so. She smiled and picked her bag off the gravel and thanked the driver for getting it out for her. And turned back to the others, flicking her near white hair out of her face. She couldn't wait till they'd unpacked and she could run through the gardens and explore, being here would rid her of the recent writers block she'd been having but being here was sure to inspire her.

Aine charged out of the car, an insane grin on her face. She gazed up at the mansion, looking like an excited child.

In her faded, frayed black boot-cut jeans, dragged along the ground beside her clunky black combat boots, and her black wife beater tank top, there was an air of darkness and anger that seemed to cloud around the girl.

Running a hand through her choppy black hair, her grey-green eyes wide, she stood still for a few seconds (an accomplishment for her, actually) before grabbing her tattered grey messenger bag and slinging it across her shoulder.

Aine was surprisingly intelligent and philisophical- but only when she had to be. Most of the time, she acted impulsively, getting into fights or into messes that, more often than not, left her screwed.

She grinned again, half-expecting Titania to come striding through the trees.

Maybe, here, she could find the peace that she normally kept at arm's length.

John stepped out, slightly cramped from the drive. He stretched, and loosened all his muscles. He turned to the driver, thanked him, and picked up his rather large duffle bag. He never went any were with out it, and usaly he could fit anything in it. Once he had fit a rather skinny lass in his bag, at her request of course. She never thought that it could, and he disproved her. But any ways that is far from relevant.

He ran his hand through his hair to brush his bangs off his forehead, and he walked to the door. He looked the building once over, and something just didn't feel right to him. It could have been anything, so he just brushed it off. He headed up to his room, and unpacked his clothes and pulled out a laptop. He didn't think there would have been a wireless connection, but he brought it either way. He stowed it on the table for now, he wanted to explore a bit first.

Delia got off the car, her charm making a tinkling sound and her auburn hair giving a slight bounce, she smiled to herself as her eyes greeted the Brimstone house…Not bad, not bad at all…she thought but then again her posh summer house in Southern France, was thrice the size of this beauty.
A withered leaf fell from above her and settled onto her dark coat which made a lovely contrast against the orange hue of the fallen leaf. Delia loved autumn, it was her second favorite season after the rains, her eyes looked up to Morana…So very happy…always….Delia sighed lightly. She looked up once again to the house but then she sensed it, something was wrong about the house, she was sure of it just as she had been sure of something being wrong with Mr. Gables’ hair and it had turned out that he had donned a wig. Delia sighed again, this time deeply, she turned and picked up her luggage and then with one of her free hands she put one strand of hair, which was hiding her dark blue eyes, on the back of her ear.
She started walking(more like skipping) towards the house, pulling Morana along by her hand, “Come on Morana, lets go!”

Morana laughed as Delia grabbed her hand and skipped toward the house. This was the happiest she'd been in years, despite her city upbringing she was happiest in places like this, old houses and wide open spaces and it was for this reason she wasn't suprised her and her mother had never got on. After a moment of stumbling behind Delia she found her feet again and fell into rythm with Delia's skipping. Her eyes bright, the house gave her a weird vibe but she put it down to pure excitment.

As Delia entered the house, a strong gust of wind from behind landed her locks all over her face, she giggled lightly and all her past worries seemed to fade away.
"Mora, where's Alaizabel? Tell her to come quickly, this is going to be a wondrous vacation, I can feel it in my guts..."Delia lied but of course in her un-mistaking truthful tone."Mora, so how’s your mum? Does she still bake those delicious cookies? And, and how’s your new writing coming on?"
Delia liked Mora because of her unpredictability and also cause she was the most cheerful one among her always-so-grumpy friends who always seemed to be selfishly caught up in themselves like John who had walked off without waiting for anyone, Alaizabel was more friendly but then again she seemed horribly full of herself but then again Delia liked her company, the only person Delia wasn’t too fond of and who Delia didn’t act her usual sweet self was with Aine. Delia despised the sarcasm Aine and also how she hid her emotions.

Morana shrugged."My mum's ok, doesn't bake much though. Too busy with her new boyfriend,"She rolled her eyes, her mother had been dating her current boyfriend for only a month or two and the creep had already moved in to their house. This had been one of the reasons she'd jumped at the chance to come here with her friends. She smiled at the mention of her writing,"It's going ok. I had writers block recently though but being here should fix it." She looked around, running her hand over the old flur-di-lis wallpaper. It was pretty inside aswell as outside, a large chandilier hung from the ceiling. It amazed Morana how much work must of gone into building this house and she wondered just how rich the family who had built it had been, what they might of looked like, who they might have been. She smiled, her mind all ready working on how she could fit this into her currentl writing project.

"Well, fine then, just leave me behind," snapped Aine, rolling her eyes and charging into the house, scowling slightly. "Make me feel all unloved and crap."

Then she glanced around, the scowl fading into a faint smile. "It's kind of pretty, isn't it?....I mean, I can't believe you guys talked me into this. I could be at home, training for that kick-boxing martial arts thing my cousin wanted me to enter.....But nooooo, I get dragged to the ass-end of the Victorian Age and then ignored."

She said all of this very quickly, and then immediately started fawning over the ancient piano in the corner.

Alaizabel gave a gentle snort of laughter as several people entered the house, John, Delia and Morana, followed by a grumpy Aine. The front entrance led into a wide open plan reception room that led off into other rooms on both sides, and to the back of the house via a door behind the stairway, a grand sweeping thing that sat opposite the front door. Placing the keys in the dish on the small stand by the door, she drifted over to Aine.

"I didn't know you could play the piano," she said, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "I'm making tea in a few hours if you want to help ok? I'm gonna go pick a room now if you want to come with...".

She could hear the babbles of voices from upstairs, so jogged up the staircase, admiring the wrought iron banister and white washed wooden stairs that creaked satisfyingly. Halfway up the stairs branched left and right. A balcony overlooked the room below, whilst several doors were dotted along the curved wall. Reaching the first floor, she cast around for the others. Seeing no one, she skitted along to the end of the balcony, which was only as long as the reception room. A door at the end led into a wide corridor, rooms on the left and right this time. At the end a tiny bit of staircase was visible. She ran down, pushing doors open as she went, seeing glimpses of offices, washrooms, storerooms, a bathroom, display room, until she grabbed the banister to swing herself onto the second flight of stairs. She expected the corridor to continue through the middle of the house, but it led to the back, then sharply right, so that windows were on the left looking over the back garden as you walked down it. The wallpaper was a deep green, small lights set into the walls between the windows, small wooden stands with pottery or ornaments at intervals. The doors were painted white, and a few small chandeliers glittered in the sun. There were no light switches, which was odd, since the bulbs were electric.

This time she didn't push open doors, but went straight to the other end. There was a door at the end of this corridor, right at the edge of the house, leading into one of the towers that were on each corner. She looked behind her. She hadn't seen a door at the top of the stairs leading to a tower. How did you get in? Maybe there was a door downstairs. This door was a dark oak with a black iron latch. She rested her hand on it, then drew back suddenly. It was hot. Blinking, she tested it again. The cool metal met her skin innocently. "Weird..." she thought, stepping back and opening an ordinary white door.

There was no sloping roof in this house, the top floor really was the top floor. Sunlight from a skylight flooded the room with a clean glow. The walls were a soft blue, the bed made of wrought iron and oak. Skirting boards and doors were painted white, but the furniture was plain oak. The bed lay nestled in the far left corner, white and blue covers neat and clean-looking. A chair sat in the far right corner. To her immediate left was a plain wardrobe, to her immediate right a dressing table. The centre of the room was bare, the off-white carpet reflecting the sunlight to make the room even brighter. She had an urge to take off her shoes, and did so, leaving them next to the wardrobe. She walked over to the bed and laid her bag on it, then sat down. Noises and doorslams told her others were also on this floor, claiming similar bedrooms. A squeal of pleasure from the floor below suggested a room with a view of the beautiful back garden had been discovered. The skylight was clear glass, a squat pyramid affording what would prove to be a wonderful view of the night sky. But no electric lights. Aliazabel frowned again, decided to unpack later, and went out to see the other people's rooms, leaving the door open.

"Hello?" she called, wondering who else was on this floor... She wanted everyone to explore as a group once bedrooms had been decided. They only had an hour or so before it would be time to make tea.

Aine had smiled briefly at Aliazabel's words, then had drifed upstairs after her, entering a room done in soft purple and pale blues, the furniture solid oak.

There was a double bed, a quilt folded at the foot of it, a writing desk, and a wardrobe, all looking old-fashioned, and Aine let out another soft smile at the sight of the large window.

Crossing the room to pull the curtains open, flooding the room with brilliant sunlight and a magnificent view.

"Damn," she murmured, then shaking her head abrubtly. It wasn't like her to care about any of this, but it felt like stepping into another world, one she was glad to be a part of.

Delia wasn’t very interested with the house’s furnishings; her own apartment had better furnishings. The bag she carried was unusually heavy, perhaps it had something to do with her shoes-Gucci's high heel lace-up, Gucci Sevigny High Heel Sandal, Chanel animal-print stiletto party pump and that extremely beautiful pair of Giorgio Armani Prive boots. Except for the sturdy boots, Delia was never going to wear the other shoes out of the house but then again she had decided that if she got too bored here, she would fend some illness and catch a direct flight in her private jet to The Bream’s which was situated just west of Plymoth.
Delia entered her room, it was well…inhabitable to an extent, she kept her luggage down and swept her eyes over the room- a small bed complete with a lilac bed sheet and one fluffy pillow, the room’s walls were of a light mauve and there was a large window over one sideof the room which caught Delia’s interest and she went over to the window, separated the curtains to allow her eyes to get a view through it and then she took in the fresh air and released it slowly and weirdly she felt a uncanny sense of tranquility.

John had made a round on this floor, but he decide it would be best to finish unpacking his things first. He turned a corner and bumped into Alaizabel. She tumbled to the floor while John reeled backwards. He steadied him self, and looked down to Alaizabel. "I'm sorry Alaizabel, are you okay?" he asked while he bent down and helped her up from the floor.

Alaizabel looked up from her decidedly inelegant sprawl on the floor, and rolled her eyes. Taking his hand, she said, "Yeah I'm ok, but if you carry on like that I'll end up putting those curved mirrors on corners so people can see if you're coming.".

She looked back up the stairs, then a thought occurred to her. "Have you been upstairs yet?" she asked him, realising there must be another corridor on the top floor or how else could you get to the top floor rooms that overlooked the driveway. Maybe there was another staircase on the second floor leading up, or that locked door next to her room led around to the others. 'If there's one thing about this house', she pondered, 'it's that it's very inconvenient. You can hardly get from one place to another in the way you expect. I wonder what's in the towers, and I haven't even seen any of the ground floor rooms other than the reception hall...'.

She broke out of her reverie as she realised someone was speaking to her.

"I know what your talking about, but to answer your question, no I haven't been up stairs yet," he said as he noticed her rather distracted look. He waited for her to respond, but he knew that look, it was one of contemplation and thought. Maybe she found something up stairs. "Did you find anything up-stairs?" he asked, taking a stab in the dark.

Aine stepped out of room as quietly as she could in her heavy boots, smirking in a friendly fashion at John and Alaizabel.

"Hello, my little chicka-dees," she said, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall, grinning at her friends. "Is this place great or what? Maybe this vacation I won't have to worry about spending the night in jail for punching somebody."

Shrugging her shoulders delicately, she tilted her head. "So, what're we up to?"

Alaizabel let out a burst of laughter at Aine's comment, then stopped herself. But the hilarious image of Aine hitting some unfortunate soul still languished in her mind.

"Well," she said, "the tower next to my room, so at the other side and back of the house,", here she pointed in the general direction, "is locked. I don't know if there's a staircase at the other side leading to the other rooms on the top floor, cos you can't get to them from this staircase. There's no entrance to the tower at the top of these stairs, so that's two towers we can't yet get into... if only we had a map or something. I wasn't given any keys other than the front door key, so if a door's locked it's locked I'm afraid.".

She checked her watch. 5pm. The sunlight was still fairly bright. "Let's go see if Delia and Morana want to come exploring too. And where is Alexander? He should be here by now.".

Darting past John and Aine, she ducked her head into the bedrooms as she went past. "Guuuys" she called, drawing out the word, "Let's go exploring, starting from the downstairs up, yeah?".

After a few rooms the corridor turned into the balcony that overlooked the reception hall. The front door was still wide open, letting in the breeze. Clattering down the main staircase she stood at the bottom waiting for the others.

the roar of Alexanders motor bike cut off as he set it to park looking at the house his usual smile broadened "this will be fun" he thought grabbing his army billy bag and swinging nit over his shoulder he warned up the path to the door picking up the sounds in side "whoops seems im late" he pushed the open the door and peeked inside then walked in and slammed it just that little bit harder to announce his arrival the door bounced open again letting the cool breeze in dropping his bag and gloves to one side he walked towards the sound of voices only to see Alaizabel bounce down the stairs "well hello beautiful you miss me?" he said as he removed his sunglasses never loosing that textbook big smile

"Hello, last loved one. Good to see you," Aine nodded at him imperiously, before dissolving back into giggles. "Sorry. I had a lot of sugar on the car ride here. Well, Alaizabel, you lead the way."

Shooting a smirk at Alexander, she played with the frayed hem of her tank top, letting her head fall back against the wall. "Hey, Alexander, you remember when I spent that night in jail over spring break? For breaking that guy's nose?"

the big smile got even bigger at hearing Aines voice and turned into a full grin "hmmmmm let me see would that be.... when we last went out? some date that was" Alexander said shooting a hungry look "but i gotta admit your always fun that's why we get on so well" he turned his attension to Alaizabel letting his look keep contact on Aine for as long as he could "hey Lizzy what do you think time to have some fun?"