Earth

Lyra didn't thank Kamui for his assistance. Instead, she grabbed the red ruffled dress and with her hand holding up the ugly blue one, she shuffled behind the changing screne. His smug comment made her grit her teeth and the iced blood in her veins begin to simmer. "Change of heart?" she growled in disgust. "There has been no change of heart. I need his assistance to get my revenge and I'll get that whether I like it or not. He knew Friedrich better than anyone despite their awful relationship." Perhaps she could know more about her late fiance. But the idea of shuffling through his love letters and journals that he'd placed in her care made her skin crawl. I saved them from the flames, she thought with a dark guilt in her stomach. I saved them instead of my family. They burned. They all burned.

"Anyway, I need for Soren to like me. Even that cold-hearted fool has some taste in him and even if I have to seduce it out of him, I'll get it." The redhead strode out from behind the screen, one hand holding the front of her dress, and turned her back to Kamui to tug at the laces of the corsetted top. This dress was much more elegant and attractive than the ugly blue one. The slice in the side of the skirts displayed her legs nicely and the v-necked front deleted the modest side of her immediately. But Lyra didn't like the dress because it showed off her body. On the contrary, it was exceptionally comfortably as it gave her more mobility to move her legs and arms. She gave herself a mental sigh as she awaited Kamui's responce.

James kept his bow until Soren had vanished down the hall. Then he gave a soft chuckle and went to collect the wine. It wasn't difficult to find; it was at the front of the wine-cellar. Clearly, Soren had not spent much time down here.
Not nearly as much time as James had.
He didn't like alcohol. It had no affect on him, whatsoever, so why should he?
It was just a dark, quiet place to think.
And those were rare in the human world.

'Funny.' Kamui thought at Lyra's need for Soren's favor. True. It would make fulfilling his contract with the boy easier but... --

Kamui took the blue dress from Lyra, placing it on the bed for the moment so he could tighten the corset. Tight, but not suffocating. Loose, yet secure. "Of course, Young Mistress." He replied. He stepped back from Lyra, picking up the blue dress again. He bowed slightly, expression having returned to its normal unreadable expression.

"Will you being dining outside or in the dining room?" The demon asked as he straightened up, folding the most likely never-to-be-worn-again article of clothing over his arm.

Soren stared out the window of the carriage silently, contemplating exactly how he was going to deal with Lyra once he got there. I could always tell James to just steal the letters for me, but something tells me that won't work out so well... Then again, he had everything to gain and nothing to lose if he just came out and told Lyra everything, including the truth about Kafka. After all, there was no way she could use any of that information to hurt him, and it would prompt her to be more open in giving him information as well.

"Damnit, is it raining?" he muttered, as light drops began to patter against the window. What the hell? There wasn't even a cloud in sight this morning. Maybe calamity and misfortune just followed Soren around wherever he went. It wouldn't be the first time. Let's just hope it doesn't turn into a thunderstorm...God, I hate those.

"Would you like me to make it stop, Master?" James asked, lip twitching up in mocking. As though he could control the weather.
This was the side of him that he showed only to Soren. He would never act like this, in the presence of a guest. Or even in the presence of another demon.
Even in battle, James was more polite, more refined, than he was with Soren.
But then, the boy was his master. They were bonded by the boy's soul, and James belonged utterly to Soren, until Soren died and came into his possession.
If Soren was going to contract one side of James, he was going to get all of them.

"Yes, James, make the rain stop, and sew your lips together while you're at it," Soren said, acid dripping from his voice. "God, I hate you." He crossed his arms and leaned against the window. Thunderstorms affected Soren much like they did animals- he didn't start whimpering and hiding behind people's legs, obviously. But they did make him twice as irritable. If that was even possible.

"Are we there yet? Damnit, did you forget an umbrella?" Soren demanded as there wasn't one in sight. "Don't tell me you forgot the umbrella."

Lyra gave Kamui one hard stare. She knew he was probably thinking that what she was saying was complete bull and she hated the fact that he even dared to think it. "Outside," she replied after a moment of hard pondering. "It'll be nice to eat under the stars. Night seems to be drawing closer to dinner time these days." She examined herself once more in the tall mirror before strutting across the room and into the master bath. The little redhead sifted through the contents of the medicane cabinate before plucking out a yellow bottle and examining the tiny print. Since she'd suffered from pains in her back - from burns and other such wounds - from the destruction of the first San'Drelon mansion, she'd been perscribed the vile pills to help with the strain. "God I feel like a fucking druggy," she muttered almost inaudibly before popping off the lid and looking at herself in the mirror.

She almost jumped out of her skin. A tall, dark figured and shadow-masked man reflected and appeared to be standing just behind her. Lyra wipped around and to her dismay, nobody was there. Skin crawling with discomfort, she quickly swallowed the pills and hurried back out into the room with Kamui. Her face was once more impassive and unreadable. What he didn't know wouldn't cause trouble. The fowl taste of the medication on her tongue made her eyebrows knit and her lips tighten. "Bleh..." The redhead paused and looked over her shoulder at the dark butler. "What do souls taste like, Kamui?" she asked, turning her back to him and rubbing a kink in her neck.

James chuckled softly.
"No, Master. I did not forget the umbrella." He shook his head slowly, flaming eyes laughing.
What sort of butler would he have been if he had forgotten the umbrella.
Well... a human one, if anything.
"We're only about half way there, Master," James murmured, glancing out the window, "As inconvenient as it is, a horse and buggy can only travel so fast without the horse killing itself."
Another useless mode of human transport.

"Well, at least you're not entirely useless," Soren quipped. At least I don't have to get all wet. And how can he even see through all this rain? That's just creepy... It was pouring hard now, and Soren could barely see anything through the thick sheets of rain. Even worse, he could hear distant rumbles of thunder, probably less than a mile off.

Getting home is going to be such a pain in the arse.

After what seemed like an eternity, the carriage stopped. Soren didn't hesitate to jump out- after James had readied the umbrella, of course- and run up the steps of the San'Drelon mansion, trying not to wring the brass knocker with too much enthusiasm. The sweeping winds and rain were too much for the umbrella, and his hair was dripping water with or without it. Open up, you stupid girl, if you don't want us to be struck by lightning...

James stood calmly behind his master, holding the umbrella, useless though it may be. He was blocking more rain and wind with his own body than with the silly little thing. Waterproof cloth and a metal frame. Delicate. Useless.
The long hair which fell to the middle of his back, behind his neck, was nearly black with water. His uniform was dripping, the rest of his hair plastered against his head.
But he was keeping his Master dryer than himself. That was all that mattered.

Kamui nodded, taking note of the way the girl had said and laughing inwardly. "It's getting closer to winter after all, My lady." He replied as he waited for Lyra to return form taking her medication. He folded the blue dress as he waited. 'It really isn't that bad of a dress..' He thought once it was neatly folded and ready to be tossed into the wash. He gave a small smile at the faint murmur from the redhead about being a druggy. Well... it did interfere with the scent of her soul but... not as much as it did to that lymand boy. At least it was bearable when it came to the young mistress. He watched as Lyra came out of the room several seconds later than her normal 30 seconds, her expression that same as always. Kamui decided not to think about it afterall, he'd always have an eye on her. Kamui looked down at the girl, choosing to let her rub out the kink herself until she asked for assistance.

"What do souls taste like, Kamui?"

Kamui's expression flickered toward amusement at the question. "Why do you ask, my lady?" He inquired, walking over to the curtains and parting them slightly to see the Lymand boy's carriage arrive in the pouring rain. A rumble of thunder could be heard throughout the house as he looked over his shoulder at his mistress. "It would seem that your request has come true, young mistress. The Lymand boy has arrived." He said as he heard the boy knock on the door obnoxiously. The San'Drelon butler resisted the urge to scowl as he caught sight of the boy's butler protecting his master from the rain.

Where was that maid when you needed her? He thought, not wanting to be the one to greet their Lymand family guests.

"I just wanted to know," Lyra snapped, clearly irritated. The shock of the man in the bathroom was making her uneasy, though her deathly cold behaviour didn't have any troubles covering it up. She turned to Kamui about to command for him to tell her the answer, but her train of thought wrecked as he opened the curtains. The Lymand carriage really was sitting before her mansion. Part of her hadn't expected him to come. No, scratch that, she hadn't expected him to come at all. He must want something from me, she thought immediately. [i]Perhaps he's changed his mind. No, he's come for the documents - I'm sure of it.[i] She'd been waiting for him to bring up Friedrich's belongings for days now. THey were an important clue in his searches. But it wasn't like she was about to give them to him. "Go answer the door, Kamui. I need some time to think."

"Bloody hell, open the damn door already, how long does it fucking take for a couple of bloody servants to do a simple job?" Soren kicked the ornate wooden door in frustration. He was beginning to shiver uncontrollably; James and his umbrella were really no match for a thunderstorm. Any longer and I'm going to catch a cold. As if I didn't have enough problems.

He noticed Lyra and Kamui looking out at them through the open curtains, and several rude gestures immediately came to mind. Soren settled for picking up a rock and hurling it at the glass window. It didn't break anything, but it at least got their attention, just in case they hadn't noticed him knocking for the past five minutes. "Hurry up!" he mouthed. "We're freezing to death out here." Real nice, Lyra. I'm risking my life to come out here and warn you about the people who just killed Kafka, and you're trying to bloody assassinate me through bloody pneumonia while playing dress-up in your bedroom.

James couldn't help the mild, sadistic laugh which touched his throat. Wordlessly, he swung his jacket off, placing it over his Master's shoulders. It was remarkably dry, for the weather. And warm from his own body heat.
"Be patient, Master," He murmured, "Not all servants can match me for efficiency."
Of course, he would lecture Soren on -atience. He was the master of patience. He could sit for three weeks waiting for one toad to hop, if he felt like it.
It took patience such as that to wait for a soul to be ripe for the picking.

The thunk against the window immediately set Lyra's short fused temper aflame. "He just threw a rock at my window! He's a deadman if he isn't grave by the time I'm down there." Annoyed that Delilah hadn't taken care of the door while Kamui was speaking to her, the redhead turned sharply on her heal and stomped out of her room. A clatter arose as she made her way from the end of the upstairs left hallway and down the stairs. Even as she walked, her flaming aggrevation grew. A fucking rock. He threw a fucking rock at my window.

Her hand grabbed the doorknob and she wretched the door open in a burst of fury. "This is my fucking house, dipshit. Maybe it didn't come across your mind, but I don't want it to have even one scratch on it. I don't want to see my house in such a condition again!" Lyra stiffened suddenly. Her eyes flickered and widened slightly as memories of flames dripped before her vision. The room had suddenly grown increasingly hot and her head was splitting. "What--" she breathed out between clenched teeth. A hand lifted up to her head and gripped it tightly - the hand on the doorknob was white with its suffocating grip.

Images of her family flashed back into her field of vision. Instead of seeing Soren or the downpour outside she found herself staring at them once more, watching them scream and writhe amongst the hungry flames. "They're burning," she choked aloud, voice almost inaudible in extreme fear. Appearing to be staring off into space, the redhead released the doorknob so her hand could join the other at her head. She sank to knees, back curled and breathing suddenly harshening. "They're burning, they're burning, they're burning," she repeated, voice growing steadily harsh and loud. In every one of her visions, someone was holding her back. She strained to pull away from him, but his grasp was tight. "Let go, let me go!" she cried, now completely oblivious to anything but escaping his grasp to help her family. It's the same guy, she found herself thinking, though her thoughts were nothing to her at that point. The same guy in the bathroom mirror. It's him. He's making them burn. They're burning. They're burning...!

Kamui threw a vicious glare at the boy and then to James. "Do come in..." He said, meaning something entirely different.
Control you master and keep away from my mistress.

Kamui called out to Lyra, knowing that it would reach her through the memory. "My lady." He said, a harsh undertone to his voice.

First she gives me pneumonia, next the little wench is insulting me. Infuriated, Soren snapped out a reply through chattering teeth, saved from hypothermia only by James's cloak. "In case you haven't realized it yet, we're about to get married, so it's going to be my bloody house, because that's the way marriages work in Lon-hey, are you-?" He broke off abruptly as Lyra sank to her knees, collapsing into the fetal-esque position he had been in only a few hours ago. What's wrong with her- burning? It's bloody raining, I don't understand why-

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He hastily stepped into the mansion at Kamui's words, glancing back quickly to make sure James had followed, and closed the door against the tornado-like winds, something which took quite a lot of effort. Agghh, I'm freezing... And Lyra was burning, from the sounds of it. It seemed a lot like she was having the same sort of hallucination he'd been having all day, which was confusing, since Soren was pretty sure Lyra despised drugs.

Huh. Maybe this'll be easier than I thought. Soren lifted his head. "James. Go search the mansion. I'm looking for journals, letters, anything of Friedrich's that could provide useful information," Soren ordered, jerking his thumb towards the stairs. "If you come across any servants...just take care of them- I can't believe I'm saying this, but you probably shouldn't kill anyone." He glared defiantly at Kamui, as if daring the demon to stop him. Like you will, seeing as your mistress is currently in pieces on the floor.

He considered carrying Lyra onto a couch; there was one five feet away, but decided she was too heavy. Well. In other words, he wasn't eager to test his less-than-testable arm muscles. So he settled for kneeling down in front of her. "Get away, you don't cure hallucinations like that," he snapped at Kamui. "And shut the curtains and make sure all the doors are locked, someone killed an ally of mine earlier today and they're probably trying to get at us now."

Grasping Lyra's face in both hands, he tilted her head upwards and stared directly into her eyes. "Lyra. Look at me. You're right here. Your mansion is fine. Come to your bloody senses so we can have some bloody dinner, you godawful excuse for a wife."

James bowed silently, turning and heading up the hall. He was well aware that the butler would probably try to stop him. Or perhaps the maid.
He didn't much care, either way. They were well matched. There would be no winner in a battle between them.
And that didn't matter in the slightest. The longer it took for his Master to get what he wanted, the more stretched his soul would become. The riper it would grow.
The tastier it would be when he finally acquired it.

((Let's wait a bit.... Akai's getting behind...))

[[works for me. I wrote up this post before I noticed your post, Mittens>_>]]

Kamui’s words rang from the flames and Lyra desperately struggled to respond. But the words felt like soap – getting a good grasp on them was almost impossible at this point. Tears of shock bundled up in the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill down her face. Everything was burning. They were burning. They were screaming. And she could do nothing. More words came from the flames as if their spitting cackles were forming them. The voice sounded familiar. He was mentioning something familiar. Friedrich...? She struggled to keep herself focused on what the voice was saying and not the screaming and writhing figures of her family.

Someone was touching her now, the redhead was sure of it. Someone’s hands were cupping her cheeks and forcing her to look in some significant direction, presumably where they were watching her from. However, whoever this person was seemed to be invisible to her. Only flames. Only bodies writhed. Only screams sang out. And that familiar voice returned again. Lyra. Was she Lyra? The mansion? The mansion was definitely not fine. How could he be speaking of dinner at a time like this? The word that caught her attention was wife. Something about it flipped a switch.

“You bloody shitface,” she managed between trembling lips. Lyra still couldn’t see him clearly, but she was now completely aware that something was horribly off. But what that something was, she couldn’t tell. What she did know was that what he’d said only moments before was really pissing her off. “Touch Friedrich’s belongings and I’ll personally slaughter you.” Her voice was dead, weak. She hated the sound of it. The tears that were blotching her distant eyes trickled down to run over Kamui’s fingers. “Don’t you dare take them away from me, dammit,” she whispered, voice strangled and out of breath. “They’re all I have left.” It wasn’t like they’d be able to find them anyway.

Another wave of shock hit her now, harder. Her tiny, ghostly pale form shuddered and her hands (which up to this point had still been digging through her hair to claw at her head) slammed to the floor. The redhead leaned forward awkwardly, breathing harsh and uneven. Her forehead rested on the cool granet although it didn’t bring any sense of relief to her. Lyra fought to keep herself under control. The almost unbearable want to sob wracked her body more than the visions did. “G-god dammit,” she hissed, hands clenching into fists. It was as if she herself was burning. Between the intensive heat and the screams, it was almost surprising that she didn’t black out from the initial shock. “Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit!” she yelled, beating a clenched fist against the floor repeatedly.

Delilah peered into the main hall, finishing the rest of her apple. Her uninterested eyes scanned over the commotion, as words fell from Lyra and Soren's lips. She raised an eyebrow, moving fluidly up behind James when he was ordered to search the rest of the mansion. Standing up on her tiptoes, she jabbed him in the back of the neck, before moving to stand in front of him. She raised an eyebrow.

"Going somewhere?" the maid asked, her golden gaze stony.

She had been contracted to protect Lyra while Kamui was away carrying out Lyra's revenge. And well, Kamui was busy - and she was supposed to protect Lyra. While in it, Delilah reasoned, she might just as well get two souls. There was something deliciously dark about Soren's soul - and besides, she was curious.

James seemed like an....interesting demon. Her scrutinizing gaze scraped over his uniform, twitching in disappointment when she spotted no imperfections. Demon butlers and their need for everything to be spotless, she scoffed inwardly.

James' flame colored eyes flicked to Delilah.
"I follow my orders, as do you." He answered levelly, lip twitching, "Should you wish this to be a battle, I would suggest we take it out of ear-shot of our Masters. The young Lady seems to be rather... distressed... at the moment."
Of course, the aura of distress only made the air tingle around James. He loved that feeling.

Kamui held Lyra's clenched fists gently but securely. "You'll hurt yourself if you keep doing that, Mistress." He sasid, voice level and expression unfazed. He was used to these moments by now. The butler didn't bother going around to check. He knew that all the curtains and doors were always closed and locked because of Lyra's desire for them to be so. "It isn't a hallucination, Lord Lymand..." He said. He knew enough of Lyra's past to know that it was the relieving of memories that haunted her.

Bloody shitface? Soren's lips quirked upwards in some weird form of a smile. "That's more like it. You're not pretty when you're all weak and hallucinate-y." Seeing as Kamui had Lyra covered, he stood up and ran his fingers through his sopping hair, which was starting to resemble an owl's nest. Shit, I got water on the floor...well, that's what the butler's for.

"Uh, do you know what a hallucination is?" he asked sarcastically, folding his arms across his chest. "It's the vision of something that isn't really there. Last time I checked, the mansion wasn't on fire." He patted the solid wall behind him and flashed Kamui an irritating smirk. "Let me know if that changes."

But damn, this is really annoying...and I'm hungry. Soren sighed and rummaged through his pocket, finally coming up with a small vial that contained a purplish liquid. He knelt down again next to Lyra and poured it into her mouth, wincing as his shaking fingers accidentally spilled some. Your fault for leaving me out in the rain. "It's not poison," he said quickly, in case Kamui got ideas. "It's what James uses every time I overdose. I'm guessing she didn't take too many pills, because her pupils haven't dilated too much...I think she'll be okay in a few minutes. In the meantime..." Soren took a seat on a nearby couch and crossed his legs, watching Lyra's antics with an amused smirk on his face. "Mind getting me something to drink?"

"Shut up, Kamui," Lyra grunted, beyond annoyance at this point. "Like you care." Though she'd always rather liked Kamui's presence, she was never sure if he only enjoyed her presence because of her soul. It was frustrating not to be able to read him. Others were like open books and extremely inadiquate for her beautiful game of life. But he and Delilah, both had respectable intelects and shocking abilities to impress those who doubted their abilities. And they were both masters of keeping their emotions bottled up and hidden away.

She flinched as cool glass pressed to her lips. It was best to keep her mouth closed in case it was something dangerous, but instinct opened her lips as the liquid met her lips. The fowl taste immediately made her recoil and curl into herself slightly. But almost instantly things began to grow clearer. Lyra squeezed her eyes shut as the visions attempted to engulf her once more. Whatever she'd been given seemed to be doing the fighting for her, however. Soon enough she found herself looking at the cold floor of her mansion. Beside her was Kamui and a few paces away, Soren sat. "Your smirk is pissing me off," she growled while rubbing angrily at her eyes. She turned her attention to the butler beside her.

"There was a man in the bathroom," she said quietly. "I saw his reflection in the mirror but when I turned around he was gone. He must have replaced my medication with some drugs or something." Irritated with herself and annoyed with the way Soren was looking at her, Lyra stood and locked her knees to keep herself from wobbling. "Mind getting your wet ass off my couch?" she replied darkly. "And call back your butler. If it's Friedrich's belongings your after you won't find them. They aren't here."