New York City, the place to find psychos

Ian lay stretched across his unkempt bed, staring at the ceiling above him listlessly. He didn’t want to get up from his warm, loving bed, although, another part of him urged his body to get out of bed and go bother one of the souls who aren’t in control of the body today. His lips stretched across his face in a wide grin. Tomorrow was going to be the most amazingly awesome day. He planned on finding a demon and to pester them until they told him everything there is to know about one. Of course, the challenge was to identify what a demon looks like to be exact, they never seem to be out in the day. The lack of light during the night made it hard to distinguish a potential mugger from an everyday demon; he rolled out of his bed. Falling onto the plush ground, a soft groan of pain emitted from the mass on the dully colored carpet.

Lying on the ground, Ian whined at an unnatural pitch not wanting to move but was too uncomfortable to simply stay in that position. He rolled onto his back and let out a sigh, officially comfortable. His thoughts raced at a speed of five times faster than a normal person talking. He felt a pang in his stomach, automatically knowing it was asking for something to digest even though Ian didn’t necessarily need to eat anything. He sighed, wishing he had his own body for the umpteenth time…then he can eat whenever his stomach dictated, follow the people he wanted to annoy whenever he wanted to, or even get new books to read. But, most of all, Ian enjoyed feeling the rush of adrenaline that he normally can only feel when in control of the body.

He didn’t move from his location on the ground for what it seemed like an eternity until he found the will to stand up. The shred of responsibility in him had convinced him that there were people out in the world that needed his “amazing” charm to make their day. He ran his long fingers through the unruly mane of hair in a half-hearted attempt to pull out the knots. Ian so endearingly shoved it up into the headband of the day. Today, it was a bright red headband with a white-lined dragon that seemed to have been drawn across the cloth.

He glanced down at the attire Ian woke up in and scrunched his nose, finding out that he had no shirt on, only wearing a pair of pajama pants that was in the act of falling off. He debated whether or not it was enough clothing for him to go annoy the others. The more logical side, and sensible, argued that his pants were going to fall off at any moment and would embarrass those around him. But the more carefree and what the logical side calls “evil” side argued that the other souls wouldn’t be surprised he didn’t something stupid like that and should act accordingly. He decided to do the unusual, for him at least, and act like a normal person who changes clothing when they wake up.

His bright green eye cast a glance around the room first to see if there was anything clean that he could wear lying on the ground. Unfortunately, all the clothing was meant to be cleaned. Ian being the lazy ass he was, whined to himself before bending down to gather all the stray, dirty clothing. Once they were all in the basket that the lovely soul, Azalea, provided him with. Ian went over to the ugly, brown dresser. He named it Meany for having such a temperamental personality, only letting him open it half the time. It seemed that today was going to be a good day because the drawer opened so smoothly there were no squeaks. Ian smiled at that tiny, seemingly unimportant detail before grabbing a pale blue T-shirt that would accompany a pair of black skinny jeans.

Quickly changing, he looked around his room, a mess with stacks of books and a random array of items; he was looking for his beloved leather jacket. Ian found it in a thrift store when he was in control of the body, the moment he rested the eyes on it….the strings in his very heart felt a pang. Now he owned it both in the outside world and in this place, whatever this place is. He had some theories on it, like how this place could be a completely different realm that normal people with only one soul never notice…or maybe this place is simply a hallucination and they aren’t actually real. Perhaps he is in coma and his subconscious created this place, if that was true, his mind is amazing. He grinned at that thought before finding his beloved. The leather jacket. Shrugging it on, he walked out of his little haven.

She was in control of the body today. Mara was excited, two days before her sixteenth birthday, and she was in control. Hopping out of bed she went over to her dresser. Well technically, it wasn't really hers, just as this wasn't all her room. It was a mix of all the souls personalities, and while Mara didn't actually mind, she really wished that she could have something that was all hers, outside of the mini other dimension, that she didn't have to share.

Looking around she tried to find things that matched her. Random pieces of clothing that the other souls liked were lying around, like Ian's leather jacket. Mara didn't really understand his thing for that leather jacket, but then again, she didn't have to. On the corner of the dresser there was a bucket full of her small accessories. She picked it up and looked through it, trying to decide what she should use. Floral hair clip? Bejeweled bobby pins? Wing necklace? So many to choose from. Finally, Mara picked up a pink flower clip for her hair, and a necklace that hung just above her dresses neckline. She slipped into a knee length white dress with black vine embroidery, braided her hair, and put on her accessories.

Ready for the day she looked around the room, she had to find everything she would need for the day, the other souls weren't very good about making things easy for the others in the morning. Mara knew that Ian would most definitely have some prank set up that wasn't yet tripped. He was so frustrating, and Mara felt to lazy to deal with anything he had set up. Sighing she set about looking through the messy room for school work and making sure to avoid anything suspicious looking. Her school bag by the closet had past work in it, but even after looking through the room, she didn't find anything else from anybody else. Mara began to wonder if any of the other souls even took her body to school. Azalea's and Crimson's stuff was impossible to find, and Mara believed that Ian probably booby trapped his stuff, so even if she found it, she wouldn't touch it. She knew that if the room was clean, everything would be so much easier to find, but she never wanted to clean, and neither did the others.

With most everything ready for the day, and with about a forty-five minutes to spare, Mara walked over to the bed and pulled her drawing kit out from underneath it. She moved some stuff on the floor around so she had a clear work space and sat down. Her mind began to work, words and pictures were flowing through her head, and the charcoal was rushing over the paper. Sketches, poems, random words and pictures were being poured out onto the paper. It was hard for her to follow everything, so she didn't try. Letting go of an actual stream of conscious she just let her mind flow out onto the paper through the medium of charcoal.

Before she knew it, it was time to actually get up and go. Her sketches and random writings were looking alright, and at least one of her sketches looked like something decent to continue for a finished product. The mini poem circling around the sketches was kind of morbid, but the pictures offset the morbidity nicely with a strange feel that was calming yet kind of disturbing at the same time. Then again, that's what happens when the poem is morbid and about human sacrifice and the picture has some kind of special entity offering a human something hidden within a box. The forest sketched out as the background had a tranquil feel but it was the strange entity offering something hidden that gave it that mysterious disturbing feel. Mara stared at her sketch a little longer, trying to figure out ways she could make it into a more finished piece but she was being called rather loudly downstairs, she was running late. Mara picked up her bags and ran down the stairs to the outside world. It was just about time to go on another adventure.

When Azalea woke up that morning, she had two things on her mind: Ian and flowers. The truth is, those are the only two things that she ever had on her mind. She quickly got up and found a lovely dress with shell pink and lavender roses on it. She had to smile as she brushed her hair back and tied it into a loose bun because she knew that today would be the day that Ian would return her feelings. She told herself this everyday, but she was certain that today would be different. Today the orchids would be in bloom and Azalea was going to bring some to Ian. She knew flowers were not exactly his thing but who could resist the pure beauty of a flawless orchid. With this in mind Azalea set out to the field holding her oversized white basket that had tiny pink roses all over it.

It was a sunny day today which mad Azalea joyous beyond belief. In the meadow outside there were so many gorgeous flowers of all different kinds and colors. Color. It meant that everything was going to be okay. It meant that she could breathe. Azalea loved the day. There was light and color and the flowers would grow and be beautiful and sometimes Ian would be awake and then she could win him over. Plus, Mara was in charge of the body today which in Azalea's book was a good thing. Azalea did not like being in charge of the body because power scared her and she thought that everyone always did a better job than she did.

As the beams of light hit her pale skin, Azalea danced in the meadow among all of the colors. She spun and leaped, laughing the whole time. This is why she lived, Azalea thought: for this and for Ian. After a good half an hour of dancing and running around the meadow, Azalea fell onto her back and laid there in the light green grass surrounded by her only comfort in life. Azalea loved Ian but even he did not provide her with this feeling. She wasn't sure that he ever could but refused to believe that he was a lost cause. Somewhere deep inside the shell that he built around himself that there was emotion that he could give to her.

Getting up and not bothering to dust herself off, Azalea walked over to where the orchids lay. She bent over to breathe in that perfectly sweet smell and allowed herself to take her time so that she could soak up every ounce of beauty into her memory so that she can use this moment anytime it was dark. She carefully dug the orchid out and planted it into her basket. Now it was time to find Ian. Azalea smiled at the thought of him. She knew that he wouldn't be too hard to find due to his lack of knowlege on how to get ready in the mornings.

She found him walking out of his room wearing his leather jacket. He was perfect. However, of course he wasn't paying any attention and did not even seem to notice her. Today, she wasn't going to let him walk away from her again. She was going to stay by his side all day showing him that he should love her. With a deep breath, Azalea looked at the orchid and went to spend the day with her love.

Crimson sat beneath a full forest green tree. Her combat boot footed feet were crossed at her ankles, since that's all her tight black skinny jeans allowed her to do. She was engulfed in Mary Shelly's Dracula, devouring each and every page. The sun has rose just about an hour before. She enjoyed the warmth tickling her skin. it was the only reason she forced herself out of bed in the morning. All tough, she didn't mind staying at home. The clothes that scattered the floor, and the random bodies scattered around the room gave her a homey,comfortable, not so alone feeling.

Like everyday, she sported black skinny jeans, her favorite pair due to the safety pins and holes scattered on them, a band tee shirt, today it was an Asking Alexandria one, and her buckle up boots...or shit kickers, as she tended to call them. Her auburn hair fell around her shoulders delicately. The bloody velvet red seemed to shine and brought out the paleness of her skin. In some cases that would be good, but not with her snowy coloring.

Crimson glanced down at her crappy, yet, pleasing cracked phone and examined the bright silverish-white numbers displayed on the outside screen. 7:40, the clock read. School started at eight, so she decided it was time to get going. She dog-eared her book, stood, and collected her belongings into her simple canvas black messenger bag. She started down the hill, which lead to a small,yet full flowered meadow. She picked a small exotic purple wild flower on her way down and slipped it behind her ear, a simple hair accessory. She spotted Azalea entering the home to many souls. She smirked and shook her head looking down. Azalea and her attempts at getting Ian to feel the same towards her was often fun to watch. Not in a mean way, but in a "Wow. She just wont give it up...good for her" kind of way. She sat down on the old rickety porch steps waiting for someone to retreat from the house, on their way to hell, which was deadly high school. She'd walk with them.

She was in a good mood today, she actually WANTED to associate and hang out with people. Was she sick or something?? She always chose quiet serenity over quote on quote fun with friends

Ian yawned lazily, shaking his head trying to clear it in order to deal with the rest of the day of annoying the other souls and reading a sweet new book that was on his New York Bestseller list. He was determined to get through that list at least once in his lifetime, today he was going to read A Universe From Nothing, a cosmologist's view on how the universe was created. He snickered to himself, if the cosmologist knew about souls, their views would be knocked out of the wind, but it was still interesting to read what other people think about this lovely, seemingly boundless universe they lived in.

His bright green eye lit up when he saw one of his favorite people, Azalea; she was, of course, smiling as if there was nothing to worry about in the world. Her positive attitude towards everything really inspired him to be as happy as she was. Ian admired how she could be so positive even in the worst of situations, also how it seemed impossible for her to abhor anything no matter what. Her fascination for flowers was also entertaining; Ian noticed that she was carrying a reed woven basket that most likely held a flower that she had deemed worthy of digging up. His lips rose into a wide grin, letting his long legs take him over to the small female.

“How’s my lovely flower today~?” he asked in a flirtatious tone of voice, Ian knew that any attempts to annoy the doll-like girl would fail but he simply couldn’t give up. His goal to annoy his close friend always seemed to fail because of her absolute happy nature. He bent down and peered down at her basket, seeing that it was a purple orchid. One of her favorites if he remembered correctly, then again, it was hard to tell which flower was Azalea’s favorite. He had read dozens of books on how flowers are grown, the different types of flowers, what their uses were for, and many other random fact about them in order to be able to understand what exactly she was talking about.

Breathing in the fragrance of the purple flower, he straightened his posture, standing at his full height he towered over the pale, petite girl. His almond shaped eye looked around his settings; they seemed to have changed again. It never has one solid shape, always being changed by how the souls want it to look like. How? He didn’t have the slightest of idea. It confused the shit out of him, but that’s what he loved about this place. Most of it was an unknown that was meant to be pocked, prodded, and examined.

Today, it seemed that it had taken the shape of intense nature; the only man-made thing at the moment seemed to be his room. The sun glowed brightly while the grass grew at a lazy pace. There was a light breeze that tousled his wild mane. The tall trees created a cooling shade and the flowers bloomed, their beauty simply captivating those who can admire them.

It was peaceful, too peaceful. Every fiber in his being wanted to disrupt the calmness, set up a prank to cause annoyance and shouts. Make the souls feel emotion, be it irritation or anger, just something other than that goddamned calmness. People weren’t meant to be calm; if they were they wouldn’t have a shitload of emotions. Why spend the time on this world being calm and relaxed when there is a chance to live every single moment of it. He was slightly hypocritical for thinking such a thing, but humans are hypocrites. Its a known and repeated fact.

Ayumi Mikai

The songs of waking birds filtered through the broken windows of an abandoned building. In the darkest corner of the building, a small figure stirred from underneath a faded blanket. The blob of blanket stretched and rolled until a messy haired girl emerged. Her tired eyes were rimmed with dark circles from many days of restless sleep. Her sky-blue hair was knotted and wild. Yawning, she squinted her aqua colored eyes through the shadows and scanned her surroundings.

The concrete walls of her lovely bedroom were cracked from years of decay. The dirty floors were also made of concrete, which got really cold during the winter months. A few metal shelves were scattered though out the shadow dapped room and a couple of old cardboard boxes sat against the wall in silence. A shorter opened box in the middle of the room served as a bed for the girl. A filthy pillow rested at the bottom of the box to act as a mattress while a rabbit-printed blanket was added for extra warmth. The little girl’s bedroom used to be a storage area for the building, which used to be a thrift store. She liked the room because it was the darkest during the day. Since the blue-haired child was a demon, she was petrified of sunlight. In order to stay safe from the blazing light, she sleeps during the day and wanders around at night.

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, the demon child slowly stood and walked toward the door of her makeshift bedroom. Wrapping her stubby fingers around the door handle, she turned it and opened the heavy wooden door. After a split-second glance through the crack of the open door, it was quickly shut again. In a flash, the blue-haired girl was shivering quietly under her tattered blanket. The horrid sun was shining again and every demon knew to stay far away from its burning rays. A few moments past and then the girl poked her head out from under the safety of her blanket. Sighing in relief, the girl then settled herself back in her cardboard bed.

She needed to stay indoors until the sun disappeared from its throne in the sky. She would have to be patient while she waited. Soon she will be able to walk around outside and see her best friend; a medium sized dog that she called Kojo. He was a mutt but there was evidence that he was part border collie. His coat was soft with tan and white patches which made his dark chocolate-brown eyes stand out. Kojo was a sweet dog that always gave you a warm welcome of kisses whenever he would see you. Since he was very energetic he would always be found chasing some of the other animals (usually cats). Although he was a very animated mutt, he has a softer more protective side. If you were ever in trouble he would be right there for you.

Just thinking about meeting her special friend made the small girl bounce with excitement. She sighed impatiently. How was she supposed to go back to bed now?

Outside was bright, brighter than Mara expected. She slipped her sunglasses on and ran down the street. The whole time all she could think about was her regret of not being able to admire everything that her neighbor had been doing to his garden. It was gorgeous and it deserved to be admired, but today that wasn't a possibility. Mara wanted to actually be on time today, and as she approached the end of her street, coming up on the turn to go to her school, she knew she wasn't going to be. This was a regular occurrence, and as much as being in a rush annoyed her, it was a lot more amusing than walking around the hallways having nothing to do. Of course, she had to look at everything she missed while she wasn't in control, but there was always time to catch up.

Turning the corner Mara saw students flooding into the school. Maybe she wasn't so late after all, but she wasn't willing to bet on it. She slowed down and started to walk towards the school, after all, if people were walking into it now, she had time. Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and Mara jumped. Turning around, Mara saw her friend, she looked inquisitive and Mara knew why. Smiling, Mara waved excitedly and hugged her friend, then linked their arms and began to practically drag her friend down the street to the school with her.

"Wow, isn't it nice out today? I wonder just how late we're going to be, since the school is all the way at the end, and we're not even at the middle yet! How are you?" Mara was overly excited, the amount of time between her days in control was too long, and she got bored hanging around with the same four people all the time.

Mara's friend stuttered a bit, shocked at the fact that Mara was talking to her today, and that she was so excited. "I'm alright, and I'm sure we're going to be, at the very least, three minutes late. It just depends on whether you want to rush or take your time."

Giggling Mara tugged her friend along, picking up speed, "well we might as well get there earlier than normal. This way I can ensure everyone knows exactly what happens very soon!"

Her other motive for wanting to get there sooner had everything to do with her condition ‚her skin was beginning to hurt from it's exposure to the sun. Mara never tanned‚ however her skin could pick up a bright red hue because of the sun. Her choices were deathly pale or lobster red‚ neither was exactly pleasant‚ but her paleness could look downright amazing if she dressed just right. Lobster red was unmanageable‚ and it hurt terribly. Thus Mara was trying to get into the building a little faster just to avoid getting any nasty red spots.

Once in the building‚ she looked around just to get a sense of how late her and her friend were. With no one in the halls‚ the lady at the front desk‚ and the clock reading four minutes after her first class started‚ there was nothing to say‚ except she was late‚ as usual. Her and her friend got passes and walked to the art room‚ as least there she would be able to sit down and think‚ not to mention work on her newest favorite project.

"How's my lovely flower today~?" Ian said with a grin on his face. It was a beatiful grin fit him even if he didn't like to do it often. He looked down at the basket where Azalea had put the orchid and took in the uncannily sweet scent of the freshly picked flower.

"I am so fantasticly amazingly awesome! You know that I tell you that almost everyday because everyday is better than the last! That rule works you know because today is better than yesterday because the orchids are in perfect bloom today and then later this week I'm going to find lilies in the pond and then after that I am going to get roses of every color! Oh wow, the list goes on and on! I love it! Life is lovely, you know? And today is even more fantastic because I can spend it with you! I don't know what your plans are for today but I don't care because I am coming!" Azalea paused her breathless narration to check Ian's expression but he showed nothing so she continued, "Oh wow have you noticed how everything seems to revolve around nature today! I love it! It is so beautiful! It's calm but not all at the same time because look at all of the different plants in here! It's perfect and I love it and I know I already said that but I do I really do Ian... Just like I love you."

Azalea looked at Ian as he continued to stare blankly. Through her long lashes she looked at the orchid that was still in the basket that she had in her hands. "Oh wow Ian. I brought you this orchid today to remind you of that because I can't just give one this perfect away to just anyone." Azalea knew that she had to get off of this topic before Ian said anything because he would turn it into something that didn't make any sense to her and she needed this day to go well if she wanted him to return her feelings. She hadn't planned on saying anything until later when Ian had seen how amazing they were together but it slipped out like thing often did because she was so preocupied with the beauties in the world that she couldn't catch herself in time.

"Did you know that different color roses all have different meanings and you give them to people based on their meanings and what the person means to you? I am going to arrange a bouque of them for everyone! You, Mara, Azryel and Crimson! I am so exited! And yours is going to have red, white, lavender and orange. It means that I fell in love with you at first site and we will be happy because I am worthy of you..." Uh oh. She had done it again. Ian stood there not giving off any signs of what he was thinking. Azalea knew that her dream of Ian saying that he loved her today might have just been ruined. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Fate

I, Fate, am everywhere you are. I’ve created everything around you in some way. Every creature is my child~ In some form at the least. I love my children, I hate them also. They disgust me…. scare me…. make me proud….Every emotion a creature has felt, I’ve felt.

To my creatures, that would be an information overload and they would break down oh so quickly, but I am not them. Although, they are mirrors of how I am at times. They are all weaker forms of me. It makes me laugh everything they so ignorantly do, makes me wish to directly interact with them. Instead I have to settle with just manipulating their dreams and putting in certain ideas or thoughts. Oh well, like any mother I want them to succeed in their life-spans, but when I’m feeling particularly grumpy I put in idea’s like the witch hunt and that horrifying atomic bomb that frightened me so much and made me feel so sick that I had helped in the creation of that monstrous object.

I feel boredom quite frequently, it has become my muse like I am the creatures’, it is my most hated enemy, my lover, and many other things. Even if it doesn’t have a face or thought process it has become something every important to me. Even though it causes me to do such scary things like create the demons of souls that should have simply disappeared. I am selfish for not wanting my children to simply disappear. I want them all to keep me feeling emotions unlike how I was before I created them. It was a horrible, grotesque experience to simply not feel anything. To not feel relaxation, remorse, sorrow, joy, or the many other wondrous emotions my children have given me.

I sighed, my human form should be enough to entertain me. For however long I live in the real world. My whole being in this plane giggled a cheerful tone, sending a wave of happiness toward the world for a brief moment.

Unmei

Unmei jumped out of bed, already knowing that school had already started for AT LEAST ten minutes. Her pale lips drew into a wide smile, knowing that today was going to be the day where she becomes best of friends with the human with five-souls. Although, Unmei keeps forgetting what the human looks like other than the human is her age and to her knowledge is a female. Her pale, electric blue eyes looked down at her body, seeing that she was abnormally thin today and wasn’t to her normal athlete ability. This tugged a small pout out of her; she brushed back soft, candy pink bangs that were falling into her wide, innocent eyes.

She cast a glance around her small room filled with random boxes that Unmei never bothered to unpack. What should I wear today~? She went toward a big box that had DRESSES written on the top in a big black marker, quickly opening the slightly worn box. In the box was a pile of neatly folded dresses of various sizes and all sorts of different styles causing her to smile happily. It was difficult to find something that would fit her ever changing body shape and still show her current personality, luckily for her, Unmei was in her light-hearted, naïve mask that was easy to dress.

Rummaging through the pile, she came across a wildly bright orange dress, which would fit her small frame. The baggy pajama pant she was wearing was threating to fall off her skinny butt at any moment, so she changed with an almost inhuman speed that would amaze the others. Unmei sighed slightly uncertain; she had just moved in with this foster family and still didn’t know how they will act toward her. Last night, the woman had showed a genuine caring and didn’t seem to harbor any ill feelings aimed toward Unmei, yet at least. Just wait until the lady finds out about my other personalities~ Then she’ll wanna get rid of me like at the other! She shook her head, trying to rid herself of those mean thoughts. It’s best to just go through the day with a happy attitude.

Looking into the mirror on that was on the farthest wall from her unmade bed she noted that her pink hair was twice as long as since yesterday. Unmei pouted, knowing that she would absolutely have to put it up in some fashion or else it would get in her way.

Weaving her way through the box filled room to her big canvas bag that was lying obediently against the plain white door. She grabbed the olive green bag and dug through the contents, finding her wooden brush and a plain old hair tie. Yanking the brush through her hair in a hurried fashion, she successfully got rid of all the annoying knots then proceeded to braid the pink mass into a mess, long braid.

She giggled, slinging the canvas bag over her shoulder and dropping the brush back into the bag that was filled with various other items that would be needed later on in the day. Skipping into the equally cramp kitchen where her foster mother was sitting, eating a bowl of gross-looking cereal. “Hi~” Unmei said in a cheerful tone of voice, startling the black-haired woman.

The middle aged women, whose name was Rachel if she remembered correctly, looked slightly confused by her different appearance. Surely she knows of my disease! Unmei started to panic slight before Rachel’s expression turned into understanding. “Oh, hey there sweetie. Do you want anything to eat?” she asked in a pleasant voice. Fate’s human form nodded eagerly, the thought of food always made her happy.

“Can I have ice cream?!?” she asked bouncing on the balls of her bare feet, pale eyes shining with excitement. The woman laughed before reluctantly nodding. Unmei raced to the off-white refrigerator, her feet hit the cold tile causing her to squeak in surprise. Rachel watched this spectacle before her knowing that the pinkette was going to be a hand full, an enjoyable one though. Unmei successfully got a jug of mint chocolate chip ice cream and then processed to going on an adventure to find a suitable utensil to eat the cold heaven with. After finishing off the tub of ice cream, much to the disbelief of her foster mom. She had already missed half of her first period class on her first day in school.

Rachel, being the sweet human she was decided to pity her and walk her to the high school and explain to the administrative desk people how it was her fault and not Unmei. Wow...Rachel is awesome! I love her~ She's gonna be a great friend! Yay~ These happy thoughts ran through the pink-haired human as she skipped to the class Unmei had to take, she glanced at the map to make sure she was going in the right direction before skipping again. Her orange dress ruffled from her movement gently around her knees. She stopped in front of a classroom door the would lead into the world of art, Unmei smiled brightly, knowing that the art teacher would quickly hate her because of her lack of an art ability. It wasn't her fault! It was....They just didn't understand abstract art like she did!

Opening the door into the art realm, Unmei glided into the big room, walking toward the man she thinks would be the teacher and gave him the slip of paper. It turned out that he was in fact the art teacher. "Hello, are you the new student?" the slightly bedraggled man asked, taking in her bright and wild appearance. Her appearance often fooled people into thinking she was one of those starry-eyed artists who saw the world in a unique way. Although, she was starry-eyed. She definitely wasn't an artist.

"Yes~ I'm Unmei Kanjō, what's your name~?" she asked sweetly, the man handed back her slip with all the classes and also handed her some sheets of paper, that seemed to explain a project of sorts. Oh look, the first assignment I'm going to fail she thought happily before taking a seat in a random table.

SQUUEEEEEK! ... Squeeek, squeek, SLAM!

Mara snapped out of her drawing trance and paused her music. She looked up from her drawings and glanced towards the door area, there was a girl with pink hair talking to the art teacher. Having never seen this girl before Mara studied her, intrigued. The long pink braid looked natural, not dyed. It was unusual for hair to be that color, of course, it was unnatural to have pink eyes, so Mara didn't judge. Instead Mara watched the girl talk to the teacher for a minute and then went back to her drawings, wondering about the girl.

Turning her music back on, she put the other headphone in and started back on her drawings. Nothing she was working on was turning out quite the way Mara was envisioning. It was frustrating. Then, as the trance was pulling her back in the table shook slightly. The school really needed new doors and tables, actually, it needed new everything. This made Mara more frustrated. Already she couldn't get her drawings where she wanted them, and now there was a worry about needing new things, and the slight shaking made her draw a short, but dark line across the entity she had already been trying to fix.

Mara pursed her lips and clenched her hand around her pencil. Looking up she saw the pink haired girl. Of course this would happen to her, the new girl would sit at her table, and disturb her drawing. Aside from Viola, her friend she'd walked, well more ran the rest the way to school with, no one really sat at this table. It was better that way, less likely to be distracted, and less likely to draw dark lines in the wrong area. However, the girl didn't look like she actually meant to shake the table, after all she most definitely didn't know about how little it took for the tables to shake before she say down. Realizing this, Mara let go of her little anger and smiled at the girl, releasing her pencil from a death grip.

Taking out her headphones, Mara took a once over of the girl sitting before her, she was happy looking, and she had long braided hair in a strange color for most people, just like Mara. Unlike Mara, this girl kind of wild in her appearance, and the orange dress she had on was very eye catching. Blindingly eye catching. The way it offset the girls pink hair was astounding, and it made the girl look strange, even compared to Mara. However, even the strangeness of the girls appearance couldn't hide the fact that girl was actually rather nice looking. Her overall appearance was actually rather nice, despite the clash between her colors.

"Hello, I'm Mara. Who're you? Also, why sit at my table?"

Ian

"I am so fantasticly amazingly awesome! You know that I tell you that almost everyday because everyday is better than the last! That rule works you know because today is better than yesterday because the orchids are in perfect bloom today and then later this week I'm going to find lilies in the pond and then after that I am going to get roses of every color! Oh wow, the list goes on and on! I love it! Life is lovely, you know? And today is even more fantastic because I can spend it with you! I don't know what your plans are for today but I don't care because I am coming!" Azalea chattered away happily, Ian grinned his easily drawn grin. Leave it to her to ramble on about flowers. Her obsession with them never ceased to amazing him.

He opened his mouth about to reply, planning to tell her all about his adventure he was going to take tomorrow when Ian had control, when she continued on saying, “Oh wow have you noticed how everything seems to revolve around nature today! I love it! It is so beautiful! It's calm but not all at the same time because look at all of the different plants in here! It's perfect and I love it and I know I already said that but I do I really do Ian... Just like I love you."

This caused him to laugh, her openness with emotions are just amazing and the intensity she puts into their friendship is astounding. “I love ya too, m’lady. You’re like the sister I wish I had!” Ian said while decided on what tactics he shall take in order to annoy the hell out of her, even though it is almost impossible for him to annoy that ever-happy girl.

"Oh wow Ian. I brought you this orchid today to remind you of that because I can't just give one this perfect away to just anyone." Azalea said while simultaneously looking at the purple orchid that he had admired while it was lying in her basket. It was odd, normally the man is the one giving the woman flowers or gifts, but then again they weren’t dating or anything. Ian chuckled at that thought, It would be about as awkward as dating my sister, if I had one.

“Why thank you for this beautiful flower, it’s almost as beautiful as you are,” he said in a flirtatious tone while, at the same time, winking his only eye. Which made it look like it was only blinking. He failed at winking, it was such a sad aspect of his life in this place, he cried on the inside. Well, no, not really. That would be odd for him to cry over something as insignificant as his inability to wink. Ian wasn’t necessarily ashamed of his deformed right eye, but he also didn’t want to burden people with seeing the ugliness of it.

Azalea’s voice disrupted his thoughts and he jerked up his head to look at her. She was a fragile, pretty girl who looked younger than her actual age. It was funny how similar she truly was to a flower, her delicate hair a lot like flower petals and how easy it would be to break her. It could be captivating if people bothered to see, extremely similar to how flowers are captivating. Ian realized he was lost in thought again and that she was still chatter away, “….You, Mara, Azryel and Crimson! I am so exited! And yours is going to have red, white, lavender and orange. It means that I fell in love with you at first site and we will be happy because I am worthy of you..."

His luminous green eye shone with a startled surprise and his mouth tugged down into a frown. What did she mean by that? Well, then again, she said things like that all the time. Maybe it was a prank to try and get me back, at that thought Ian grinned in understanding. He reached his big hand and ruffled her dark hair. “You’ll have to do better than that to trick me, I mean you are talkin ta the master,” he says in a playful tone, completely taking it the wrong way. He really is an idiot when it comes to things like these.

Ian rubbed the back of his stiff neck, trying to loosen the muscles up, he needed to run or do something physically vigorous. Something, anything to give him that wonderful adrenaline coursing through his veins. Coming up with a brilliant idea, he picked up the light Azalea and spun her around a few times before setting her down gently; slightly afraid she was going to break. His face was grinning so brightly it was blinding.

“Why don’t we go for a run since the sun shines so brightly~?!?” he exclaimed in a loud voice. Ian got excited over the littlest of things that people normally wouldn’t even care about. Well, they could go sob in a corner for all he cared because excitement was like a lesser form of his lovely adrenaline rush. People would call him an adrenaline junkie, but to him it’s life.

He glanced at the now standing Azalea and remember that she was an already frail person and maybe running a few miles wouldn’t be the best idea for her. If she didn’t want to come with him, Ian wouldn’t mind. But it is always more entertaining to be with a friend when doing stuff. Being alone is stupid and can easily depress people, and depressing people were annoying people. Which really says something. If someone could annoy Ian instead of him annoying them, then that is a true accomplishment and they could be rewarded with a trophy of some sort.

The pain was unbearable. The beatings, the stabbings, the one time being thrown down that stairs. And then that split second before the bullet went right through her head. Every moment of happiness, sorrow and grief in an entire lifetime. And then it was gone. Minoru's eyes flew open as the final surge of memory went through his head. This time had been the worst one in a while. The memories of that woman were a bitter pill to swallow and for him, the worst of them filtered out at the very end of the absorption. Realizing his eyes were wet, he lifted up one arm and quickly dried them with his sleeve as the memories settled in the back of his skull. He knew that the next few days would be trying to go on with his excuse for life like nothing happened while the odd memory drifted inside his head. He didn't know if it was just him or if every demon felt this. A question like that would be rather touchy when asked to most other demons.

As he let his arm fall back to his side, he pushes himself up and began taking in the surroundings he had managed to stumble to while only half aware. It looked like the old remains of some sort of shop. He felt his heart nearly break through his ribs as he stumbles backwards, slamming into the wall behind him to clear the distance between him and the crack of light bleeding through one of the boarded windows. The contents of his backpack shoves up against his back and he quickly felt a sharp soreness as he pulled away from the wall. It's just a speck he thought as he began to move around the beam. It's not like I have nowhere to go.

As he moved through the old building, he happened across a tall mirror. Blinking at his own image, he tried to imagine the last time he'd seen himself. Surely he hadn't looked this bad then. His hair that popped up from under his cap were stuck out in clumps and there were two dark spots under his eyes. His jacket was falling apart, only zipping up half way and his sneakers were falling apart at the seams. And then there was the blood on his shirt and hat. Another speck on his cheek. Even if the girl's memories were settled, his own were fresh in his mind. A few months prior, he'd come across a man mugging a woman. He'd been able to sneak up on him, grab the gun and unload two rounds into his chest. He'd been able to perform a few clean kills for the sake of his victims. However, he'd fired all but one bullet and after that, he'd have to start thinking things through.

Minoru was snapped back to reality by the sound of a door slamming somewhere in the building. He quickly ducked behind a dirty old cardboard box and looked around. The sound had come from a room over but he couldn't think if a single reason why anyone would be in a place like this. Besides himself, of course. Scooting between dusty debris and avoiding the odd ray of light, he was able to spot a door on the other end of the room. There was quiet a bit of light streaming between it and him and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know who else was here. As he took his first step, he slipped on an old article of clothing, catching himself on a clothing rack. While he managed to recover, the rack fell over and shattered into half a dozen pieces and caused a considerably loud bang. Reacting as quick as he could, Minoru pressed his back to the wall and held his breathe, waiting for something terrible and sudden to occur.

Azryel

He lay there... Staring at the ceiling.

Mornings.
How he hated mornings.
He wasn't quite sure when exactly he had started hating mornings.. perhaps he had loathed them all along… The dreaded light streaming in from the window above his head.. Azryel's eyes slitted in annoyance.

"... Why is it so... quiet?" The hushed whisper left his lips slowly, breaking though the thick tranquility that weighed down upon his chest like a heavy blanket. He winced at his own voice. Such... a dismal existance. He did not move, save for blinking- another annoying necessity. Shall I stir?... Why... When there is no reason to.. He was not in control of the body today... no. That was Mara's freedom.

Slowly, the boy raised his shoulders off the ground, lifting himself into a sitting position. He stared at his hands, his stomach churning again at the slip of his discretion. He wasn't as cautious as usual... Something was off. Normally he'd have the foresight not to glance down at the Empty palms... No creases, no lines... nothing. Blank slates of fortune-less destiny. What destiny? Hah. Fate.

There was no fate. Not written in these hands... No, she had not branded him with a future.

He was nothing more than "another soul." The last one to be exact... Azryel stood slowly, shaking on unsteady legs. How long had he "rested" there? Unmoving... waiting for that birdsong. A birdsong that would never come. They did not sing at his window... But they sang for her.

Quiet, quiet, quiet... He dressed, pulling on his usual attire, butting up his vest. Azryel made his way slowly to their kitchen, putting a pot of hot water on. Water... hot. How ingenious. Something outside the window caught his attention. Something was off... There was the old oak tree, and the trees beyond.. The grass and flowers that swayed lazily in the sunlight. Purple flowers... Red against a field of purple. Striking. That does not belong there... A faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he reached up, pulling two teabags from the top shelf.

----


"Crimson." His voice was hushed, soft... Soft as it was when he spoke to her. ~Carefully carefully, broken china doll...~ She had entered the house, Azryel had waited, listening as her boots clumped into the foyer, and had turned around the door way himself- stepping into her path. Hazel eyes roamed her face. Had he surprised her? Was she angry? Crimson did get awfully angry... "Crimson." Refrain from repeating Azryel. It's annoying. "Would you... Like some tea?" A sudden smile cracked on his lips as he offered her one of the two mugs he held. The smile faded however, as he took in her stance. Her eyes. The scowl that played so mischievously on the edges of her mouth... as if to tempt them ever downwards. "Would you..." REPEATING. "Like to sit with me as well? ..Sit and talk?" He looked down and away, bringing the cup of tea to his lips and taking a sip. It was hot water. It burnt his tongue. Azryel didn't flinch or pull the mug back. He did not give anything away. Never gave anything away. Instead, he paused... swallowing slowly, the cursed liquid burning it's vengeful path down his throat.

I hate mornings.

Fate

Fate was only slightly entertained with knowing all that was going on, demons hiding from the bright, dangerous sun, humans buzzing around, going about their day as if it was the most important thing, even her wonderful souls were up and about. They always kept her quite entertained with their annoyances towards sharing a body. The souls had to deal with each other almost every single day, even though, they technically aren’t related. They would have never met each other had she not forced them into the same body. They were one of her favorites, having to be trapped in the same dimension as her for most of their life. The souls were lucky enough to have someone to talk to at least, the only time Fate could do that was through Unmei and even then, Unmei wasn’t completely Fate. If she was completely Fate, the body would have burned out almost instantly without letting Fate experience life as a human.

Sure her human form didn’t live the average life a human lead. But, then again every human’s life is different from another’s, which is what makes things so interesting about them. They all go through things differently, come up with new ideas from old ones that no one else had thought of. They are such innovative creatures always trying to change the world for a supposed utopia.

Fate watched as her creations get up and go through some semblance of a routine, she watched Azalea’s doomed love smother the oblivious Ian, watched her own human body unwittingly meet the five-souled human. She contemplated on whether or not Fate should present that information to her body. It would be interesting to see how soon Unmei would figure it out, but the reaction she would feel would be entertaining.

Fate often didn’t feel emotions such as surprise or embarrassment, when she did no one was around to see what image she would become. She, herself, doesn’t know what her true form looked like. It was ironic how Fate could see everything, make anything, but can’t do the simplest of things like scrutinizing her appearance or interacting with other living beings of her same species. Fate didn’t even have a species. Fate was Fate.

There was no wonder why she creates squalid, horrifying things to occur for the human race. Fate was jealous of them. They are so closely designed like Fate, but they had everything she didn’t. Physical bodies, the ability to live in that dimension, interact with those around them, have a family, know how old they are, have a single set of personality traits, they are even able to go back to their original form, Chaos. While Fate knew absolutely nothing about herself, she knew everything about her creations.

At least the five souls understood what it was like to live the way Fate does, even if they are still complete humans.

Unmei

Unmei dropped her canvas bag next to her red shoe clad feet, her pale eyes swept around the room taking in the various scenes she was lucky enough to witness. Students were joking around, having a good time with each other while others were focused on the little world they had created through their drawings. The teacher was walking around, talking to the more diligent students and seemed to be instructing them in ways to improve their skill. If only she had the skills, Unmei tried so hard to draw her own world, but she couldn’t. It always turned into a wild mesh of vivid colors that made no sense to her. It saddened her that every normal thing she tried to draw turned out to look like crap.

A pleasant enough voice broke her from the daydream she was in the middle of experiencing, saying, “Hello, I’m Mara. Who are you? Also, why sit at my table?”

She looked at the girl who had spoken to her, Unmei’s lips turned into a smile, ecstatic to the fact that someone had spoken to her. She studied the girl’s appearance for a moment, taking in the snowy, white hair that draped around the girl’s body, Mara. Her pale skin and ruby eyes lead her to the conclusion that Mara was an albino, but it seemed to fit her presence like she was meant to be one. Remembering that Unmei hadn’t answered she quickly said in a rushed tone “Hiya! I’m Unmei; it’s nice to meet you, Mara. Uh…” the last question stumped her, there was no real reason she chose to sit at that table. It was random chance.

“Well, I have no reason why I’m sitting at this amazing table~” she finally said while grinning brightly similar to the intensity of the sun. Unmei looked down at the paper she was still clutching her left hand and set them on the creaky table. She looked over the papers that gave a brief explanation over the project those around her were supposed to be working on. Unmei would have to draw an abstract noun that was very dear to her.

Her pale lips tugged into a sweet smile, this was something she could actually do. She would, of course, draw a picture that she felt represented fate. Hopefully, the art instructor would actually understand abstract art, unlike most of the other art teachers. It was the only form of art that Unmei was mediocre at. No matter how hard she tried, or how much she practiced. The only form of art that developed was abstract. Bending down, she pulled out a box of well-used pastels and a sketchbook with most of its pages gone.

Setting the tools on the table, she opened the sketchbook and glared at the blank page slightly. Silently commanding it to draw itself, of course the starch paper didn’t listen to her. She closed her wide eyes, trying to imagine what she would draw…or what she would like to draw.

Ayumi Mikai

As Ayumi sat in her cardboard box of a bed, she thought about all the fun games she and Kojo would play. Tag, hide-and-seek, fetch, chase the cat; all were wonderful games. Kojo especially liked chase the cat. The demon girl’s only guess why the border collie was obsessed with cats was that he probably was jealous of their feline grace. An image of a prancing Kojo came to the blue-haired child’s mind and she giggled at how silly it looked. Boy doggies shouldn’t act like princesses~.

Giggling softly while wrapped up in her raggedy blanket, Ayumi thought about how her best friend would look like in a tiara and a pink princess dress. While she painted more frilly details on the image in her mind, a loud crash erupted from the direction of the door. The startled blue-haired demon jumped a good foot in the air in response to the unexpected noise. As quick as a frightened cat, Ayumi sprinted to a large box in the corner of the storage room. The white dress she wore whipped around her in a flurry of frills. She jumped inside and swiftly closed the top with a soft swishing noise. The demon child sat in silence, too scared to breathe. Her small heart pounded franticly in her chest, threatening to escape from her tiny body.

Thoughts spun through Ayumi’s head at dizzying speeds. What could that noise have been? Did the wind come through the windows and blow down a rack? Well that couldn’t happen because the wind would have to have been strong to blow one down, and it couldn’t be that strong or else she would be able to hear it. Maybe an animal ran into a rack on accident. If that was the case, it would need help! A picture of a cat stuck under a heavy rack flashed through the child’s mind. At that thought, the demon child hopped out of her hiding place and went to the door. She was ready to open the door when she realized that whatever knocked over the rack had to be very big in order to make a steel rack fall over. Her hand froze on the dirty door handle as fear gripped her in its iron grasp. Could a human be in the store? The very idea made her bones rattle. How could there be humans here? No humans have stepped foot in the building in years. Could it be possible that the former owners have returned? Or maybe one just stumbled across the place and was exploring? Either way if it was a human Ayumi would have no choice but to run. She didn’t know what would happen to her if one of them found her living alone in a place like this. They might send her to one of those homes for children that she heard about or maybe something worse would happen, something that she could not control. Shaking her blue pigtails vigorously, she resurfaced from the pool of her imagination.

Its probably just Kojo-kun… He’s always getting into trouble. Nodding to herself, she prepared to open the door. Twisting the handle with extreme caution, she quietly pushed open the door. A small stream of light filtered through the crack in the door. With a sharp intake of breath, Ayumi keep her eyes on the horrid light and made sure it wouldn’t get close to her. When the door was opened enough to where she could walk through without touching the evil sunlight, she poked her head around the door. “…Kojo? Is that you?" The blue-haired child prayed that her best friend would answer her. She didn’t receive an answer of a dog-like manner. Scanning though the shadows, Ayumi spotted a figure pressed against the dirty concrete walls. Her aqua eyes widened in horror. The figure before her resembled a human. A human with blood splattered clothing.

The human-like figure was obviously a male. His white hair seemed eerie in the shadows, making him seem just even more frightening to the demon child. Baggy clothes covered him from head to toe; his jeans looked like they would fall off him any second, the jacket he wore was bulky and made it hard to determine what he actually looked like, even his shoes looked too big. He looked like the bad guys that the blue-haired girl had seen on T.V. before, although he did look a bit shorter than what they usually looked like. Ayumi was scared stiff. Her mind was too stunned to even think properly. She couldn’t even open her mouth to scream. All she could do was stare at the baggy-clothed stranger with wide, fear-stricken eyes.

It took the girl a little to respond, but that was alright. Mara just assumed that it was her appearance, it just seemed to have an unsettling effect on people. However, this girl didn’t seem all that unsettled, which was weird. Mara decided that she liked this girl already.


“Hiya! I’m Unmei; it’s nice to meet you, Mara. Uh…Well, I have no reason why I’m sitting at this amazing table.” Then the girl, Unmei, smiled. It wasn’t one of those ordinary smiles that most people do, it was a genuine and very truly bright smile that just made Mara want to match the smile in it’s intensity, but she knew she couldn’t.

Mara smiled back lightly, and watched the girl for a little bit longer. Unmei seemed to be focused, and Mara decided to not distract her any further. She looked back at her own work. Her personal project was currently beyond frustrating and she hadn’t even started on the actual art project yet. Abstract art was not her strong suit, she loved to study abstract art, but she wasn’t that great at doing it for real.

She pushed her drawing away from her, put her headphones back in, and pulled out some new sheets of paper and normal pencils. Abstract concept… Love? Time? Time was very abstract, especially if you thought about how it fit in with space, and all the ways that it could possibly be bent according to physics. Love was probably the most abstract concept there was, next to chance. Love and chance… They seemed like a good pair for illustrating together. All of these things meant something very special to her. Time and chance especially, but how would it look if she illustrated the precious time that ticked away, counting away until she was no longer in control? How it would look if she tried to illustrate the slim chance that brought five souls together in one body?

Love. It seemed like the least complex, and the most normal. It would be something everyone could understand, yet no one could quite grasp. What to use as a medium? How to illustrate it? A hint of a heart, the barest look at clasped hands. Is there a kiss? The ideas were forming in her head, and she couldn’t keep up with them to sketch them out. All she knew was that she wanted the illusion that there were wings on the paper coming out of all the rest of the hints and glances of typical love-like moments.

Mara began to sketch out “love” in the most abstract way she could, hoping that it would turn out alright, or at least somewhat the way she wanted it. With the way she was drawing today it probably wouldn’t. Why did everything have to be turning out badly today? It was supposed to be a good day, with her in control, and her birthday coming up, and the fact that there was another someone who stood out!

Being singular was a nuisance; it created unwanted comments and unwanted stares. Lately, more and more people have been keeping their mouths shut about her appearance, but there were a few that didn’t, there always were. It helped to have Crimson and Ian in control of her body, they were the main ones that didn’t take crap from anyone. While she didn’t like their methods of dealing with peoples comments, it was helpful.

All the thoughts running through her head about everything else was distracting her. Her artwork was a rough sketch blob of thoughts she’d just had, and it looked terrible, even for a rough sketch. Nothing like what she wanted to illustrate, and it made her look crazy. Mara tucked the sheet of paper behind the others and started over again. This time she had a determination to draw an illustration of love.

Her music was fast paced, her head was clear, and she put the pencil down on the paper and let her mind take her away to the illustration she wanted to do. Sincerely hoping that was what showed up.

What would be the best way to draw Fate....

Fate was a highly unstable creature, with no solid image. She was constantly changing, the change mirrors how the world changes. If she could capture that concept into her drawing, maybe Unmei wouldn't fail the assignment. Maybe she should convey Chaos, it was the force that causes Fate to be able to do everything. No...She would have to show how Chaos was the source of everything, it would be the center point of the picture. But it couldn't be the whole thing, without Fate nothing would have shaped Chaos into anything that would be solid.

Holding the stubby black pastel in her hand, it traveled across the now tainted paper. Leaving dark violent streaks in the middle of the sea of white, she shaded lightly around the streaks in an attempt to make it fade in the white. Her clear eyes stared at the simple design that was meant to show Chaos, it didn't seem right....Unmei sighed sadly. Her nose wrinkled in annoyance, she didn't know if Chaos was dark, light, or anything really. All she knew was that it was as tangled and wild as Fate.

The black mess seemed to be mocking her, telling her that she had failed at art once again. Her wide eyes narrowed into a glare at the stupid paper. To an outsider, they would think the paper had insulted Unmei in some way. She tried to relax her posture, sitting up straight, hands resting on the wobbly table. Staring at the paper with an intensity, she personally thought should be able to set it on fire, Unmei contemplated on how to represent Fate.

The emotions to fluttered around her, tugging her in every direction, all came into an agreement that the drawing should be bright and wild. Well, of course she was already planning on doing that. But the question is, how? Thin, nimble fingers picked up an orange pastel then proceeded to create bubble-like patterns littering the edges of her image, nowhere near the black mess.

The next thing she knew the paper was filled with all sorts of different colors with an assortment of styles that meshed and flowed together. A nonsensical order. Her hands were smudge with an array of colors still holding an electric green pastel. She blinked, studying the paper in wonder. How had time skipped to the end? Unmei's eyes blinked again, trying to make sense of what she had just done. It must of have one of those silly things that happen to her, like missing memories, seeing things that were supposed to only be in the other dimension, and various other strange things. It was what she got for being the human form of Fate, not that she really minded. The things that happened to her were always interesting and unique, she treasured most of the experiences.

Unmei glanced over at Mara, once again studying her image. It was quite striking, she could have easily been on of the victims of Fate's boredom. She wondered what her life story was, but didn't bother to ask seeing as to how much focus the girl was putting into her picture. Unmei admired that emotion. She looked away from the girl and back down to her picture.

The wildness called to her, she suddenly felt a wave a nostalgia washing over all the other emotions, drowning them. Unmei wanted to be a part of Fate again. It was funny how she wanted to be in the other dimension, while Fate wanted to be in this. It was apart of life she guessed, always wanting what can't be had. Those pesky thoughts often created emotions that were best left unnoticed.

Looking around the spacious room once again, she observed the students around her. Taking in their actions, their expressions, it was beautiful. They lived their lives, each in a different way. The loner hide himself away in the darkest corner while the more social laughed and chattered with one another. Humans were both social and antisocial creatures, each thinking they were individual. In a sense, that was true. But everyone felt emotions, everyone had the same basic needs, everyone thinks, everyone has instincts. It was simply how to precised these things and how they did them that made them slightly different from everyone else.

But in all, they were all so similar that they blended in. In a nonsensical order.

Azalea's eyes were bright with excitment as she looked at Ian and started jumping up and down, "I would love to go running with you! Of course! You don't even have to ask!" Ian smiled and picked Azalea up again to spin her around.

"Great!" Ian said in his perfect voice. Azalea forgot how Ian had taken her affection as a joke just moments ago. It didn't matter because they were going to go running together and there were plenty of flowers to see on the way today. Azalea zoned out when she started to envision what was going to happen today. She and Ian would go running and Azalea would see all of the beauty that surrounded her and then they would stop in her favorite meadow and spend the day together. Then Ian would realize how perfect they are for each other and he would propose and then get married and Azalea would wear white and braid flowers in her hair...

Azalea suddenly snapped back to reality when she heard Ian saying her name sounding kind of concerned. "Sorry!" Azalea said with her cheeks turning a little rosy. Focus, She told herself if you want this to play out like it's supposed to you need to staty focused on Ian; then you can have your perfect fairytale! This made Azalea smile a wide pearly smile that was somehow in an impossible way more monumaental than normal. "I was just thinking about life!"

Ian laughed and said, "Let's go!" Without another word they were off. Azalea had to push herself to keep up with Ian as he did have more muscle and was almost a foot taller than her. She just picked a certain flower to try to get to and then another once that one had passed. After a long time of watching the world around her pass her by at such a rapid pace, Azalea finally reached her meadow and collapsed in the tall grass and flowers that were everywhere. Ian stopped too and looked long and hard at Azalea as if checking to see if she had somehow broken into a million pieces in her fall. Azalea just smiled and asked Ian, "Do you believe in love Ian?"

Mara looked at the clock on the wall, it was getting close to the end of class. Any minute now the bell would ring, and she would have to go to the constricting English room. While Mara loved to read, she hated the English room. The teacher was strict, the room was stuffy, everything was draining and she just felt like nothing mattered in there but the teachers viewpoint. Which in Mara's mind wasn't right, everyone had a right to their viewpoint, but the teacher there just shot everybody else's down. It was sad in the most pathetic way possible.

Looking back down at her drawing she began to notice everything she would need to fix later. Now was not the time. She stopped her music and put away her player. As she began to clear the table of her supplies she looked towards Unmei. Unmei seemed to be far away, lost in her thoughts. To Mara it was interesting to see someone else get as lost in their own thoughts as she herself did.

Mara tried to figure out what it was that Unmei what looking at. She looked all around the room, most of the students were beginning to pack up their stuff, some were still concentrated on their work, and a select few were goofing off. The teacher was doing his usual helping of students, he never bothered to try and have people pack up, it was useless, when most of these students didn't wish to leave, it was near impossible to make them. Mara chuckled to herself, she guessed the new student was just trying to get a feel of her surroundings, and the people she'd probably be around all day.

Looking up at the clock again, she marveled at the workings of it. Something so simple was so very complex once you looked underneath the surface. It reminded Mara of herself and the others she shared her body with. It also reminded her of art, where even the simplest piece could be complex. Everything was layered with interesting parts, boring parts, and together it made a whole thing that just seemed to be fraught with meaning.

Then came the unfortunate return to reality. Mara finished packing up her stuff and nudged Unmei to tell her that it was almost time to go.

When she felt Mara nudge her, Unmei broke out of the daze that had captivated her mind for who knows how long. The real world demands almost constant attention, so she often wasn't able to be left alone in the tangle of thoughts that constantly riddled from the other dimension into her own mind. She didn't mind the intrusion, in fact Unmei welcomed it. But it was quite distracting and tended to get her into unwanted trouble. She looked at Mara and noticed that she was all packed up and ready to continue on with the day, unlike Unmei.

A soft sigh slipped from its cage that held all sorts of comments, insults, and other random things she would love to say. Unmei quickly gathered up all of the drawing materials and place them inside her canvas bag. Digging through her bag, she found the slightly crumpled paper with all the classes listed on it, most of the classes world be a breeze for her, math was going to be a pain, but the other classes were going to be entertaining. Unmei looked down at the paper again and stored into her head that she had to go to Mandarin Chinese Year 3 next, a smile spread across her face with an intensity not common for normal people.

Everyone else were also packing up, abate more reluctantly than she had. Why were they so reluctant to leave? Was the rest of the school as bad as their expressions made it to be? Unmei frowned at the thought, she came to this dimension to have fun, but annoying teachers would not be fun...actually that is a lie. She would be able to have fun annoying them to the point they send her out of the class. That thought made her giggle lightly. She stood up and slung her canvas bag over her shoulder, it settled gently against her brilliantly orange dress.

Turning towards Mara, she said "What class do you have next? Oh! And~ What's you favorite noun in the world~? Why is everyone so reluctant to leave? Would you like to be my friend?" her voice held a sing-song tempo that would most like weird other people out. Unmei used that tone of voice to see how they would react to weirdness, Mara was an albino so she was probably used to weirdness. But you never know until you find out.

She shifted the strap on her shoulder slightly, not used to that much weight on her shoulder. Unmei silently cursed her doll-like body, wishing it was her normal athletic body that could easily carry twice as much on one shoulder. The shrill bell blared through the school speakers making her jump slightly. She turned back towards Mara in anticipation of her answer, not really worried about being late. She could just tell them that she got lost in this huge fortress known as high school. Maybe not in those exact words...but something close to it.

On the inside, Unmei buzzed in excitement at the thought that Mara could be her first friend at this school, she would really enjoy that. She would also enjoy making friends with many other people. But her main focus was Mara, she had an aura different to most humans, like she didn't seem to take advantage her body in this world unlike many others. It would be interesting to find out her thoughts on, well anything. Unmei loved knowing about people's emotions and feelings. It was just a wonderful thing to understand and analyze. She tried to keep herself from getting lost in her thoughts so she could listen to Mara's answers to the list of questions that seemed to have simply tumbled out of her mind into the real world.

Words are so pretty and fun to play around with. But they easily caused trouble. Words were everywhere on paper, on expressions, in the air to be carried to people's ears, in minds, and many other places that people sometimes don't even realize.

"What class do you have next? Oh! And~ What's your favorite noun in the world~? Why is everyone so reluctant to leave? Would you like to be my friend?"

Unmei sure did like asking questions, rapidly. Mara loved the way Unmei spoke in a sort of sing-sing way, it was rather wonderful sounding. It caught her off guard and she stood there for a moment, not really speaking. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts up.

Would she like to have a new friend? Yeah, it would be nice to have someone new around her, maybe this person would be able to get along with some of the others, and not get to freaked out over the fact that some days it's very likely that Mara's body would ignore Unmei completely. Favorite noun... Well that one was a bit hard... There are lots of nouns out there, but.... There was one that encompassed most everything she loved and it was it's own little idea too. Art... Loverly, now that her favorite noun was discovered... The next class and people being reluctant to leave was positively easy... Mara guessed it was time to answer Unmei's question

"I will be your friend, if you want me to be. Also, people are reluctant to leave because Mr. Meyers is the coolest teacher in the school and in this classroom you can basically do whatever you want, as long as it isn't illegal. If it weren't for the fact that my next teacher will put me in detention if I don't get there on time, I'd wait until last second to pack up too. The my English teacher, Mrs. Penoly is rather strict, and she doesn't really seem to like students, especially me. As for my favorite noun... I'd have to say it would be... Art. Because art is people, it is it's own object, it's a very singular, mixed up, screwy, original idea, and it's everywhere. What about you? What's your next class, favorite noun, and would you mind being my friend?"

She watched Unmei squirm, and then jump as the bell rang. It made her chuckle a little bit. The bell was a bit disturbing, and it kind of reminded her of the experiment Pavlov did with dogs. Most people in this school were like those dogs, trained to respond to a certain stimuli almost immediately. As Unmei jumped, even the most reluctant in the room gathered up their stuff and started into the hallways. They were definitely Pavlov's dogs, they just weren't drooling when a bell rang. It was hilarious to her that people could be trained so. Mara just stood there with Unmei, deciding that she really didn't care whether or not she went to detention today: It was almost her birthday after all.

Standing far above them on the roof of a sky-scraper Malice stared down on the humans far beneath her which looked like ants at the moment.
"...They look the same like always. Like idiots. Well,I already knew that. Must be hard to have such short lifes. Stupid of the humans to waste them on putting innocent people into jail." She said still being slightly offended and irritated because they arrested her and put her into jail. "Let's hope that the next meteor wipes out the human race instead of dinosaurs,shall we?" an evil grin appeared on her face while thinking about it.

Her stomach softley made a little bit sound. She hadn't eaten for six weeks already. It was time for her to find a suitable prey who fit her taste. Someone pure yet completlely corrupted. Those were her favorite souls. Unfortunately pure wasn't really popular these days which made it hard to find a suitable dinner. She also liked some foreplay so whoever she chose had to look at least a little bit of good. She didn't care about the gender though. She stepped over the edge of the building immediately feeling the wind rush through her hair as she was falling down knowing that no one could see her exept other demons. As soon as she hit the ground which didn't happen without a little schock going trough her legs she made herself become visible again. She walked out the alley with her blood red hair drifting on a slight wind which wasn't there. She looked at a boy who was around 16 years old having whatever she needed . A smile appeared on her white face. "Bon Appetite"

Azryel

Tick. Tock.
Tick tock.

Not.

Crimson walked past him without a word, refusing his offer of tea. How rude... It was so warm too.. Making his way back to the kitchen, he discarded her share of the scalding water into the flowerpot beside the window, sighing softly.

"Ah now. What to do.."
Azryel stared out at the purple field, taking another sip of his tea. Purple flowers. Pure. Purely purple. No spots of bright, gaudy, ruby russet rust.
No more crimson in their midst.
Simple. Natural. Flawless.
Unmingled.

"What.. to do... adieu, adieu.." Tapping thin fingers against the wall, he meandered slowly to sit in the chair beside the window. A prime spot. A vantage point. One from which he could watch the comings and goings of the bustling house.
So noisy, this "home".

So quiet.. quiet...

Another sip.
Azryel's brows furrowed in fury. In a flash, he threw the cup across the room -shattering the ceramic against the opposite wall.

Quite. Quiet.



Sighing, Azryel stood, licking his lips with a sore tongue. Hot water... How deceitful. Retrieving the dustpan dutifully, he swept up the ceramic shards with a slow precision, but left the water to dry itself. How annoying. He was annoyed often these days. Often enough...

Resuming his seat, Azryel sat in silence. Still. Listening for Crimson. Perhaps she had heard the noise.. Undoubtably she had. Would she come?
"Nien Nien. She does not jump to such trivial noises..." He hummed to himself, hazel eyes returning to the window as he folded and unfolded his hands. "~Dawning of a day.. Won't you come and play? ... Won't you come away... Come away... Away... away.."

The wind whipped around him as Ian speed across the unmarked path, he made sure not to trip over any stray rocks or roots sticking out of the ground. He marveled at the complexity of this place wondering how it had gotten so detailed from only the will of four souls. He mentally shrugged and focused on pumping his legs, making him feel as though Ian was flying instead of running. His feet barely touched the ground before he picked them up again

The adrenaline from running propelled through his veins giving him a high, which made it seem as though Ian could do anything. The scenery around him was a blur, everything was a blur, his sharp eye couldn't take in any of the beauty of this place, but Ian could do that whenever, right now he needed to run, to run as fast as he ever. He could feel the unforgiving wind whipping his vivid red hair in its cage-like bandanna. He took deep breaths, air rushing into his lungs, but Ian is still left breathless, wanting more, needing more.

To need, to want, it made up his whole life. But Ian takes no notice; he just keeps moving his legs at a brisk pace. His mind focused only on running. The familiar ache started to seep into his legs and lungs, he relished in that ache, and glad to know he was working his muscles so he could be stronger.

He blinked, or perhaps winked in his case, when Ian felt the familiar presence leave. Slightly worried, he stumbled to a stop in a marvelous meadow; he ended up tripping over his own feet and lay on his stomach, sprawled out on the grass. His long, lithe limbs in awkward positions, he grumbled into the moist grass inaudibly. The fall caused an aching feeling that spread across his temples. Pushing himself up off the ground, he disentangled himself and sat up to face Azalea.

His green eye stared at Azalea checking to see if she was alright, that she wasn’t harmed in any form. She seemed alright, she looked just the same way she always does. Her paleness always worried him slightly, but, then again, the body they all shared was unnaturally pale and the body was perfectly healthy.

He sighed when she smiled reassuringly and suddenly asked “Do you believe in love Ian?"

Ian blinked, well winked; it is difficult for him to be sure if he was blinking or winking or whatever the hell it is for people with only one eye that works properly. He pushed down the ugly emotions of resentment and disgust toward his deformed eye and tried to focus on her question.

Did he believe in love? No. Of course not. The thought of falling in love or being in it was simply foolish.

Love…

He mulled over the thought, Ian knew one could be completely devoted to a person, care deeply, and all sorts of other emotions…but to be in love? He didn’t know. Personally, he had never experienced it, but from what he has read it was the most wonderful experience in the world. But also the worst. There are so many books about fictional characters falling madly in love and that love being tested over and over, but in the end the two characters end up proving they have a strong love that no one can destroy. It sounded like a load of shit to him.

“I would like it to be true, but I don’t think it is,” Ian said quietly, his whole expression was thoughtful.

His thoughts turned into another direction, why had Azalea asked him? Was it because of that “love confession” she made before they ran? But that was a joke, so why had she asked? These irritating questions buzzed through his head so he asked, “Why do you ask?”

Unmei

"I will be your friend, if you want me to be. Also, people are reluctant to leave because Mr. Meyers is the coolest teacher in the school and in this classroom you can basically do whatever you want, as long as it isn't illegal. If it weren't for the fact that my next teacher will put me in detention if I don't get there on time, I'd wait until last second to pack up too. The my English teacher, Mrs. Penoly is rather strict, and she doesn't really seem to like students, especially me. As for my favorite noun... I'd have to say it would be... Art. Because art is people, it is it's own object, it's a very singular, mixed up, screwy, original idea, and it's everywhere. What about you? What's your next class, favorite noun, and would you mind being my friend?"

Unmei blinked at the mass of words that came at her all of a sudden, she giggled, glad that Mara wanted to be her friend. She mentally celebrated over her newest friend in this new place. She took in all the words Mara had just spilled analyzing everything she said while trying to figure out a way to respond to her. While she was thinking some of the students reluctantly started to get ready to leave even though the bell had rung a few minutes ago. Mr. Meyers must be that amazing.

Art, her favorite noun was art. Different from some of the other people's responses were, people normally said things like love or intelligence of something boring like that. Then again, people also rarely explained why they choose that noun unless she asked. Mara was going to be a fun friend to have!

She smiled brightly at Mara before answering her,"I already consider you my friend~! So you're stuck with me!" she laughed lightly before continuing, "I have Mandarin next, being taught by someone named..." she trailed off looking down at the schedule in her hand, "Mrs. Lǎoyīng. My favorite noun....hum...."

Unmei tapped her cheek thoughtfully. What was her favorite noun? It would probably be chaos or fate or maybe even unknown. They all related to her dearly, but which one did she like the best? Both chaos and fate related directly to her, but unknown had a certain allure to it.

She sighed softly, trying to figure out what her favorite noun was. Unmei never had to think of an answer before now. She opened her mouth and blurted out, “Well…I like the nouns unknown, fate, and chaos a whole lot and they each have something enticing about them…Ack! I never had to answer that question before; normally I’m just the one asking~ I’ll have to go with….um……fate! No…chaos! Yeah, don’t let me change my answer,” she finished speaking in a rush, smiling sheepishly.

Unmei glanced around and saw that only a few people were still there. Woops they sent to much time talking, she looked over at Mara and asked “Could you show me where Mandarin class is? Then you could get a pass and won’t have to get detention!”