Yeo-reum Ahn's Story

Yeo-reum stares in amazement as the taxi got closer to the address on the letter she had received. "It's so big!" she whispers aloud.
"Excuse me?" the driver says
"Oh, sorry. I was talking about the house." Yeo-reum replies blushing
"Yeah. It is big." he says nodding.
The conversation shouldn't have that effect on her, but he's been looking at her strange the whole ride from the bus station. She's convinced he is thinking bad things about her, so she's tried to be as quiet as possible. When the car stops, the man offers to help her get her things out of the car and the trunk, "No thanks." Yeo-reum says politely. "I can manage." She gets her suitcase, backpack and duffle bag from the car and pays the man. She stands watching him drive away, then she stares at the house.
"Wow!" she says in awe. "What a big place." Yeo-reum has never lived in any place so big, not even close. She's always lived alone, except for her cats and a few friends, so she's never needed a place bigger than a four bedroom apartment or a traditional house. "There must be many people living here." she says to herself. Yeo-reum reaches into her book bag and pulls out a white, fluffy, teddy bear, "What do you think?" she asks the bear as if it could actually answer. Yeo-reum is 117 years old, but her maturity has always been about fourteen or fifteen years old, in many ways younger. She likes stuffed animals, kittens, pretty colors. She likes to collect cheap pieces of colorful glass, colored paper swans, watch cartoons and cosplay where she dreseses in gothic clothes, uniforms, wear colored wigs and other things. But she is also very smart; she reads history books, economics, she's good at science, likes to chart stars and planets and other things. Her divergent interests make some people she's met very nervous because she seems so strange.

She places her bear back in the back and checks the address on the letter to make sure she's got the right place. This is Yeo-reum's first trip out of Korea and she's very nervous. "Rich people often have bad tempers" she broods, "And if I have the wrong address they might have her arrested, or worse..." she worries, "They might shoot me." That would be bad for many reasons, mostly because they couldn't kill her and she'd be forced to hurt them. "The address is the same." she whispers. "This is the place." she swallows.
Yeo-reum looks around to make sure no one is watching collects her bags and begins walking toward the house. It's a big place, with beautiful trees and well kept lawns and bushes. "It's nice." she thinks to herself. "This could be a good thing." she says softly, "I didn't realize there were others out there." she says walking, the bags feeling heavier as she carries them.

The water felt divine against her skin. It was just so cool and soothing. Actually, Aquamarine could sit here all day talking about water and how nice it was. Except that she can't talk underwater and she would eventually need to come up for air. Bubbles came out of her mouth as she sighed and swam to the surface of the water. Taking a fairly large gulp of air, she saw someone sitting at the edge of the lake shore.

The golden-eyed girl automactically thought they were a fellow birthstone and swam as fast as she could toward the person. At last! They were finally here! Well, she couldn't exactly say 'they', but one person was enough for her to be happy. When the dark-haired woman arrived to the shore, she got out of the water and sat almost next to the person who had been sitting there. "Hi there Mi--Sir!" Aquamarine quickly corrected herself. "You must be a birthstone like myself. I'm Aquamarine, and you are?" Barely, just barely, the girl heard voices that weren't normally heard at the front of her estate. She gasped lightly. "Those must be the other birthstones! Follow me!" Aquamarine called out to the boy as she got up and ran towards the front of the estate. She was still dripping wet but that was of the least of her problems. Once she was at the front of the estate, she saw five other people standing at the front door. Finished catching her breath, she decided to announce herself. "Hello hello everyone! I'm Aquamarine and welcome to La Maison des Joyuax! French for 'The House of the Jewels', which is ironic because this place looks everything but French."

Realizing she was still soaking from her dive earlier, she did a fluid-like motion with her hand and all of the water that was currently on her, hovered and formed into a orb in her hand.

SEETHRA

Seethra sighed blissfully and she soaked in the night air with a glass of red wine. The stars were truly gleaming tonight; they adorned the sky like diamonds. It was a cool night in India. She was here in pursuit of blood stones and the souls they contained. She was on a mission now a days to release all the souls trapped within her gems so they could move on to their final places of rest. Seethra lay on a handmade Indian cloth with intricate designs and colors as she thought of her current goals when a white bird of an unfamiliar species landed on her knee, seemingly out of nowhere. Seethra didn’t flinch but smiled crookedly at the odd thing. It was a strange looking, overly feathered bird. It seemed to be made entirely of fluff. I had in its beak a very fancy envelope baring the seal of the birthstone Aquarium.

“Aquarium?” Seethra said curiously “What does she want with me?” The bird looked directly back at Seethra and made a very abrupt and odd sort of gobbling, screeching noise. It was obvious that with bird was demanding she open the envelope. Seethra did so. “A party…” she said softly. “How interesting” Seethra continued with a devious smile. “This could be fun… I’ve never thought of associating with the others.. I wonder how human they are, if they are anything like me? Hah! God help us all if they are” Seethra smiled to herself as she considered the possibilities. Quickly she stood, the blood stones would have to wait, there are parties to attend.

Sometime later Seethra made her way to the estate. She stood a distance away as to not yet be seen. She really wasn’t sure how to go about this. This very well could be a trap, gather all the stones and trap them so one could use their power for their own means. In fact, why had she not thought of it before? Seethra grinned as she saw a woman holding water in midair. Very Impressive. Seethra liked to bluff, she likely would not harm other stones. However saying so was fun.

There was a flustered black hair girl, the water woman, a man with an identifying turquoise fedora, a girl who looked too old to be with her teddy bear, a boy with a blue rose, a sunshine looking girl and a man who might first be mistaken for a woman. They seemed to be interacting. Seethra scanned the landscape. It was beautiful, and just as importantly, very expensive looking. Aquarium does well. Seethra made her way toward them, standing a bit outside the group. She usually liked to jump right in the social scene and party it up but this was different. These people were not just humans. They are gems. They could make powerful friends, or very entertaining enemies. Either way, caution seemed the best course of action at this particular time.

“Thank you for the invitation Aquarium” Seethra said rather politely “Your home is beautiful” she said with curiosity. She wondered about the story behind these other gems.

"Hello Aqua, I'm Garnet." He had introduced himself upon her arrival, despite seeing it as somewhat redundant to him. He had noticed the momentary confusion regarding his gender, but said nothing about it. Quickly following her to the front of the estate, though he did lag behind a bit as he couldn't keep up, he saw the group of people gathered there. Garnet beamed at the sight of them all, he knew who they all were. He remembered them all, to some extent, from before.

"Yeo-reum, April, Ada, Saph, Devan, BQ! You're all here!" The birthstone of January exclaimed brightly. It hadn't yet occurred to him that, since they were only aware of events that had already transpired, they probably wouldn't know him yet. Existing outside of the normal flow of time for what was both an eternity and no time at all had done quite a number on his cause and effect reasoning. Garnet did pay attention to Aqua's explanation of the estate in spite of the fact that he already knew most of it. He was rather impressed at her trick with the water though, and he wondered what degree of control the others possessed over their abilities.

AQUAMARINE

Aquamarine looked at the group of people in front of her. There was red-headed lady, an awfully shy looking girl, a guy holding a blue rose, a regal looking guy, a chick with a teddy bear, and a girl who looked happy. Everyone looked nice enough. As she counted the number of people in her head, she frowned. She'd sent out thirteen invitations total, but only seven people were here. The golden-eyed girl looked up as the sound of a car driving off was heard. A dude who had apparently forgot his luggage started walking towards to group. Now there were eight people. I shouldn't even be worrying, the others are probably still on their way here.

The red-headed woman had started talking to Aquamarine. "Anytime Miss," The brunette laughed a bit as she replied to the thank you. "But my name isn't Aquarium, it's Aquamarine, and I couldn't agree more with you on that, once I saw this place I just had to buy it(Okay everyone, let's just pretend Aquamarine has money coming out of the ass. Now, back to your regularly programmed show.). The guy who lost his luggage had finally reached the group. He announced his name and said something about finding a nice room before they were all gone. "Well I hate to break it to you Amethyst dear, but you won't be finding any nice rooms until I open the door." The golden-eyed girl said walking towards the door. She felt around for the small key in her pocket and successfully found it. Aqua stuck the key into the keyhole, turned, and opened the door. She stepped aside and looked at everyone with a smile on her face. "Do come in."

Yeo-reum stands in a big group of people, a woman calling herself Aquamarine addressing the group. It's strange to be standing around so many people who share abilities. Her thoughts are broken when a rather loud and annoying man pulls up in taxi. She listens as the man whines to the driver about being picked up in two days, "God, he sounds like a jerk." shesays to herself, rolling her eyes. "Like he's anything special."
"Charlie. Amethyst, yatta yatta, pleasure to meet you all. Don't bother with the names, I won't remember half of your names. I'll figure them out eventually, now if you will excuse me. But I'ma go find a nice room before they all get taken." The man says pushing his way through the group, nearly knocking her down in the process.

"God what a jerk!" she mutters. "You'd think he was God's gift." she stops at that thought and looks again, "He is cute." she stops at that thought and shakes her head, "Oh, no Yeo-reum don't even go there." she tells herself.

"Do come in." the woman calling herself Aquamarine says.
Yeo-reum walks up and bows, "Hello. My name is Yeo-reum Ahn. My name means Summer. I'm June." she stops for a second thinking, then giggles. "I'm Pearl. Thank you so much for inviting us." she looks around, "Well... at least me. You have a beautiful home." Yeo-reum looks down and realizes she's holding her bear in her hands, "Oh.." she says laughing, "This is my bear. I thought... I thought I put him back in the bag. I guess not." she says sounding a little absent minded. "But, thank you again."

Yeo-reum smiles and bows again. She walks over and grabs her backpack putting it over her shoulders, then her dufflebag over that, then she grabs her book bag and then her suitcase, "Oh. Heavy. Where do I put my things?" she asks huffing. "Hopefully it's not that far..." she looks up, "...or that high."

April smiles, clicks her tongue, and Kitten flies outside. She makes a note to open the window to her room. "April, again. Month: April. Gem diamond" She smiled. "Yep. I'm dreadful tired, I have never been on a plane ride that long before at once" she laughed and turned the suitcase around, pushing the handle down and sitting on it quickly. "Cute bear. I had a black one like it, but Kitten thought the stuffing was bird feed and it didn't go well. I tried to buy another one, but it wasn't the same" She was a little bit immature, too, but that didn't bother her. She smiled and leaned down, fixing one of her heel straps. They were uncomfortable, but worth it. She straightened up and fixed her headband, looking over the people "So... nice to finally meet the other jewls" then she looked over to the guy who had rudely tried to get in earlier "though some of us are not exactly jewls"

"Oh, hello there..." the man with purple hair in a turquoise suit and fedora she was talking to responded to her, and coughed slightly. Was it because of her being dusty? Sapphire made a mental note to take a shower as soon as she got into a room. She was glad though, that she was heard.

"If you mean what I mean.... Then, yeah... I'm onyx... and you?" he answered her question.

"Ni-nice to meet you On-Onyx. I'm Sapphire." she stammered, hoping she hadn't screwed up her greetings, then she heard Onyx tell her that someone was behind her before stepping back. "Hey, do you know that guy? He's talking to you..."

Sure enough, there was a male with black hair and blue eyes staring closely at her. "Madam, are you alright ?"

"I-I'm fine!" she managed out, he was staring at her too much and she felt a little uncomfortable with it. Thankfully an owl landed on the guy's shoulder, which must've been his pet or something, it caused him to stop staring at her too much. Was he a birthstone too? "I'm the birthstone Sapp-"

"Kitten!" she heard a girl call out and turned just in time to see a small white dove fly into a girl with blonde hair. "Hello," the girl said lightly, "Name's April"

Sapphire might have nodded and smiled a little too enthusiastically, but she was happy that people were introducing themselves.

"So, nice to meet you all" April nodded. "The name fits the place, don't you think? Well, I mean, it's a good name for a place where a Gemstone lives"

A young looking girl with a teddy bear and what Sapphire could clearly identify had enormously heavy bags and a red haired girl arrived.

As soon as she said that, a new soaked girl with golden eyes dragged a...gir-no...a guy a long, seemingly out of breathe and announced herself. "Hello hello everyone! I'm Aquamarine and welcome to La Maison des Joyuax! French for 'The House of the Jewels', which is ironic because this place looks everything but French."

Aquamarine then did a fluid-like motion with her hand and all of the water that was currently on her, hovered and formed into a orb in her hand. Sapphire watched in awe. That was so cool. So this was the Aquamarine who had invited the birthstones to stay here. Sapphire had a feeling they might get along pretty well.

"Yeo-reum, April, Ada, Saph, Devan, BQ! You're all here!" the brown haired male greeted them. He knew all their names...

“Thank you for the invitation Aquarium.” the red haired one said rather politely, however she got Aquamarine's name wrong. “Your home is beautiful”

As Sapphire had expected from the generous Aquamarine, she smiled and corrected the red haired girl, as well as adding in about how she loved the place and had to buy it right away.

An incredibly rude male pushed through everyone, announcing his name as if he didn't really care about them, which might've been the truth. He was really just aiming for the nicest room there was in there. Sapphire didn't really like the guy. Amethyst...pfft. She could tell the others didn't really like him either.

"Well I hate to break it to you Amethyst dear, but you won't be finding any nice rooms until I open the door." Aquamarine told him, before opening the doors and inviting them inside.

The girl with the teddy introduced herself to Aquamarine, Sapphire caught her name. "Hello. My name is Yeo-reum Ahn. My name means Summer. I'm June." she stopped for a second thinking, then giggled. "I'm Pearl. Thank you so much for inviting us."

"Oh.." Pearl said, laughing, "This is my bear. I thought... I thought I put him back in the bag. I guess not." she was sounded so absent-minded and cute. "But, thank you again."

Sapphire watched as the girl stacked heavy bags over her shoulders. "Oh. Heavy. Where do I put my things?" she asks huffing. "Hopefully it's not that far..." she looks up, "...or that high."

Sapphire knew exactly what to do with Pearl. She approached the girl carefully, not wanting to trip and accidentally hurt her or anything. Sapphire felt a little comfortable around Pearl, since she wasn't as intimidating or big as the others were. She placed her fingertips on Pearl's shoulder.

"Hey...Pearl, right? I-I'm Sapphire. Let's help with the heaviness...alright?" Sapphire managed to sound really gentle and mellow instead of scared. With her touch, she lessened the gravity of the bags, making them weight a lot lesser, almost as if they were just a regular backpack. Sapphire smiled rather sweetly at the girl, her dark wavy hair seemed to splay around elegantly from her gravitation. "There, light enough for you?"

Sapphire felt good. So far she hadn't messed up and had managed to end up helping someone for once. She turned to Aquamarine to bow, but instead, she hit her forehead into her luggage bag's extended handle, emitting a loud whack and a cloud of dust from the impact. She wailed for a short while before rubbing her forehead with both hands to ease the pain.

"I-I'm Sapphire, thanks for inviting me. I was to arrive three days ago...b-but I got lost. I'm a little clumsy and absent-minded sometimes, but I'll try to be on my best behavior." she said meekly with tears in her eyes and a rather red forehead. "I'm sorry if I appear filthy...I'll go freshen up as soon as I get into my room. "

Yeo-reum struggles with her bags trying to everything together. "This was so much easier when I was dragging them." she thinks.
As she struggles with the bags, she hears a voice from next to her"Hey...Pearl, right? I-I'm Sapphire. Let's help with the heaviness...alright?" Before Yeo-reum can say anything back to her, the girl touches her arm. When she does, her hair seems to almost float and as it does, her bags also feel lighter, "There, light enough for you?"

Yeo-reum is amazed, but not frightened. She figured if everyone was like her, then they too would have some special power. "Thank...thank you." Yeo-reum stammers watching as the girl turns her attention to their hostess. When she finishes Yeo-reum steps up and begins walking with the girl, "Thank you. This is much better." Yeo-reum says politely. She's pretty sure she's not annoying the girl because the girl seems so friendly and helpful.
"So, Sapphire, right?" pretty name. "I'm Yeo-reum. It means summer. I think I got that name because my birthday is on the first day of summer June 21st. You called me Pearl, which is okay, too. I don't really care which you use." Yeo-reum stops walking and stares at the inside of the mansion, "Wow! It's really big. It's like a museum." she looks around at the people walking upstairs to their rooms and begins snickering as she releases her bags, "I am so stupid!" she says laughing, "I forgot where my room is." she stands and thinks, "Oh yes. I remember now. Second floor... or was it third. No matter. It's the door at the end of the hall on the left. So if someone is there on the second floor I'll be on the third."

She nods, proud of her logic and picks up her bags, "So Sapphire tell me about yourself. Sapphire is a pretty name. It fits you perfectly."

Charlie

Really? Charlie was stunned by this golden-eyed woman... so she left the door locked, but still met them outside? How in the hell did she get out.. wait, no, he didn't want to know. "I am no ones bambi." Charile said with a shrug, the dear comment was just strange. Was she trying to be some high-bred English matron well past her youth? If so, he was not going to be the one that got stuck dealing with her menopause. He didn't notice, which was because he did not care, the people he bumped into as they were much like wallpaper.. odd wallpaper with teddy-bears and large 'I am weird and shy!' tags stamped on their heads.

Charlie had a goal, and he was going to do it. Given the layout, he assumed the bedrooms would be on the upper floor with the bottom floor being reserved for the kitchen, dining hall, and other useless rooms that rich people always seemed to deem nessecary. He wasted no time in flinging himself up the stairs climbing them two at a time in his rush to find a good room, but he dearly hoped that the outside of the old manor did not match the inside. Charlie felt the smile slide across his face as he guessed right. He was sure there may be bedrooms elsewhere, but he had found a hallway with some, and it was a nice start. Each bedroom door he opened was followed by a quick, "No." It continued until he was at the end of the hall, and the sinking feeling entered the pit of his stomach. There were no T.Vs... dear god, what was he going to do now? He wanted to be that asshole uncle who just sat in his room watching T.V, so he wouldn't have to listen to their stories.. The hell was he supposed to do now?

"Aw.. god dammit." Charlie cursed, so he retraced his steps back to the bedroom on the second floor, third door down the hallway. He wanted it for two reasons, it had its own very large bathroom and a very large bed. The floor was a hardwood floor with a large ornate circle rug underneath the bed, probably so people would not freeze their feet when they woke up and stepped out of bed. The bed itself was a large king size bed with four large wooden post that shot out to the roof, probably so someone can add a curtain to the top for privacy.

Sapphire

"Thank...thank you." the girl stammers. "Thank you. This is much better." The dear girl was really polite! Sapphire was already starting to like her.

"So, Sapphire, right?" Sapphire nodded with a smile. "I'm Yeo-reum. It means summer. I think I got that name because my birthday is on the first day of summer June 21st. You called me Pearl, which is okay, too. I don't really care which you use." Sapphire laughed and nodded again. She watched as the girl stopped walking and stared around. "Wow! It's really big. It's like a museum." Sapphire couldn't agree more. Perhaps it WAS a museum...for Birthstones. It was a rather intriguing thought. She was snapped from her little thoughts when she heard Pearl laugh. "I am so stupid!" she said, "I forgot where my room is." she stood and seemed to be in thought, "Oh yes. I remember now. Second floor... or was it third. No matter. It's the door at the end of the hall on the left. So if someone is there on the second floor I'll be on the third."

Sapphire watched the girl as she nodded, picked up her bags, "So Sapphire tell me about yourself. Sapphire is a pretty name. It fits you perfectly."

"Well..." Sapphire was comfortable talking with Pearl and was no longer stuttering. She shifted her backpack before rubbing her forehead one final time and followed Pearl, dragging her luggage bag along. She smiled at the name compliment. "Thanks for the compliment."

"I guess it would suit me. I'm the birthstone of September, Sapphire. You can just call me Saf if you want. " she said, then thought for a little...and tripped when she was walking up the stairs. Instinctively, her ability activated and she seemed to be suspended in the air, before she flipped slowly and touched her feet light three steps above, almost elegantly. She sighed.

"Ah...I'm clumsy as well. So if I ever hurt you, please understand it's by accident." she muttered sadly to Pearl, afraid she would one day inevitably hurt her.

Yeo-reum nods as the girl begins talking about herself. Normally Yeo-reum doesn't make friends this quickly, if at all, but she feels close to Sapphire, that they have a certain something that will allow them to be friends. Yeo-reum gasps as Sapphire trips afraid she might fall down the stairs and the stares in awe as the girl floats up three steps.
"Ah...I'm clumsy as well. So if I ever hurt you, please understand it's by accident." Sapphire explains sounding ashamed.
"It's okay." Yeo-reum says smiling relieved that Sapphire is okay. "I'm sure everyone here has something about them that is special." Yeo-reum begins climbing the stairs again, "You may not believe this, but I have a really short attention span and I get distracted easily. So, if I forget what you told me, don't be upset, because it's not that I don't care." When she reaches the top step she sets her bags down, "I mean, you may be a little clumsy physically, but that's better than being socially clumsy like someone who shall go nameless." Yeo-reum laughs harder, then makes a fake cough, "Charlie." she coughs covering her mouth.

"I'm gonna leave them here. Which floor are you on anyway. Maybe we'll get lucky and be near one another. You wanna sit next to each other at dinner?" she says walking down towards the far room on the left.

Seethra

The grin of victory spread across Seethra’s face as Charlie gave in. She had successfully stolen the bed room that was obviously not hers. Then there was the bit about the creepy lady. “Hah, been called a lot worse” She thought with amusement as she waved him goodbye from the bed in a boastful manor. His words before escaping out of the door made Seethra nearly hysterical. The moment the door shut Seethra burst into laughter that she attempted to muffle with a good deal of success. “Oh what fun, he is going to be fun” she said as she contemplated her plans for him.

Certainly this man had been through a lot, he had endured a good deal. The spirit woman who followed him had told her the story. Seethra however had lived long enough and seen enough to begin to not care much about other people’s pain. She had seen so much over the years that none of it seemed that bad. So did she feel bad or sorry for him despite his tragic past? The answer was a definite no. However that didn’t make her completely nonhuman, but her empathy was nonexistent.

“I will give him a little bit of recovery time before I continue” Seethra thought to herself dully. She did not enjoy waiting. Plus, there were other gems to play with… Seethra looked at her bags tediously, she always debated upon unpacking but never really did. She just lived out of the bags. She got up softly and opened her door. “Did you miss me? I know it was only a moment but I am sure you did. It’s okay though, I will speak to you later. We have so much to discuss. For now I am off to socialize, be good and place nice with the other children.” She said to Charlie as she passed. As fun as acquiring her room had been, there was no entertainment to be had by simply sitting in it all day.

Seethra roamed the building, examining it and learning its paths. The place was huge and had a lot of spare expensive items laying around… As she was in the middle of not stealing items Seethra’s stomach began to groan with hunger. “Hmm, Dinner time” she said to herself as she walked down the halls. She decided it was going to be dinner time. As she walked down she saw two girls, the one that had held a teddy bear and one with black hair. “Hey you two! Dinner! Lets go!” She said to them as she continued toward the dinning room. On her way she saw the pretty blonde girl in heels talking with the boy with the turquoise fedora. “Hey love birds, dinner time!” she teased continuing her walk. She soon reached the dinning room, all set and ready for dinner. Aquamarine had obviously been very prepared because the food was out but covered to keep warm. Seethra sat at the seat to the right of the head seat of the table, awaiting the others. They had to be hungry as it was getting rather late by now.

"It's okay." Pearl was smiling at her. "I'm sure everyone here has something about them that is special." The girl climbed the stairs again and Sapphire joined her, "You may not believe this, but I have a really short attention span and I get distracted easily. So, if I forget what you told me, don't be upset, because it's not that I don't care." When they reached the top of the flight, Pearl set her bags down, "I mean, you may be a little clumsy physically, but that's better than being socially clumsy like someone who shall go nameless." Pearl laughed harder, then made a fake cough. Sapphire looked a little lost at who she was talking about. "Charlie."

And at this, Sapphire bit her lip with a disapproving look, thinking about the rude bastard. Amethyst... Pfft. Then she smiled at Pearl. This girl had humor.

"I guess." she agreed, then, "Having a short attention span? I won't get upset. We're even."

"I'm gonna leave them here. Which floor are you on anyway. Maybe we'll get lucky and be near one another. You wanna sit next to each other at dinner?" Pearl said before walking down towards the far room on the left.

"I'll see you at dinner then!" she called back.

“Hey you two! Dinner! Lets go!” she heard the red haired girl say to both of them...Seethra Bloodstone was it?

"I'll be there after I take a shower." she replied.

Sapphire chose the closest room to the flight of stairs and dumped her gear to call it her own. She was satisfied with the room, it seemed smaller in comparison to the rooms that were further from the flight of stairs, maybe it was just to accommodate for stairs that were right outside. But she liked it. It was still pretty spacious and looked incredibly comfy. She looked at the windows and saw the outside, fields, grasslands and a small lake nearby.

"Wow... it's beautiful." she marveled at the sight before looking at herself in the mirror. She looked hideous... well, as hideous as a girl could be in her case. There was a small black stain on her face and she was totally caked in road dust as well as sand. Her hair was a little less soft than normal. She sighed before pulling out a few new clothes and a plastic bag containing her toiletries.

She slipped a little, and for once, fell. She got up and sighed at her bad luck, trying to massage the growing bruise on her right hip. It was off to the bathroom, and eventually, the sound of hot, gushing water was heard...as well as the occasional sound of someone slipping in the bathroom.



A cleaned up girl with silky brushed black hair was walking down the flight of stairs, dressed in a short sleeved, light-blue dress that reached her knees, with dark-blue trimmings. She was wearing simple black slippers that fitted into her small, delicate feet. Almost totally different from the dirty, dark clothed girl a while ago.

"U-uhm...dinner?" she asked uncertainly, hoping someone would hear her. She had no idea where the kitchen was. "And...P-Pearl?"

Yeo-reum walks to the end of the hall and knocked meekly. She doesn't want to disturb anyone, but her friend is ahead of her and she wants to sit next to her at dinner. It may sound childish to some, but she needs to hurry, she also needs a shower.
Yeo-reum knocks and gets no answer. She opens the door and is surprised at how small it is; compared to the other rooms she's peers in, it could almost be a closet. It's more than big enough for her, she had just hoped that it would be extra large since it was at the end of the hall.

Yeo-reum glides back and grabs her bags. She carefully places her bear on the bed against the pillows and covers it up with a blanket. She smiles at her work and then rushes for the shower. The warm water feels really good running through her hair. Her hair is so long that it takes quite a while for her to fully clean it. Once washed it's towel dry, then blow dry, then fifty strokes with a hair brush to keep it from tangling. She grabs a pair of jeans, a white blouse top, red and white striped socks and her indoor sandals and rushes downstairs to catch get dinner, and more importantly catch her friend.

"And...P-Pearl?" she hears Sapphire calling.

"Hey," she says smiling, catching her breath. "Timing is everything right?" she laughs. "Beautiful dress. You look... look so pretty." she marvels. Then she looks down at her clothes, "I feel so... so under dressed." Yeo-reum blushes as she looks at her clothes, "I... I don't eat out at places like this often. I'm more of a fast food, gimbap, sandwich shop place myself." Yeo-reum looks around, "Soooo... where doe we eat/"

Charlie

Dear god that woman was creepy. The same thought turned over and over again in his mind. While she was beautiful, he never found the insane and creepy to be attractive, and there were a few beautiful wallpapers here, who, hopefully, weren't as creepy. He nearly jumped out of his skin when the door opened up and she stepped out of the room so quickly. Did she miss her, No. She would have to be gone for that to ever happen... and have six feet of dirt on top of her.

"Yea, you have fun with that." Charlie said with a roll of his eyes. Now that the best bedroom had been taken, he lost his motivation for searching for one as his brained switched over to his, 'whatever to hell with it' mode. Play good with people? That was uncalled for, Charlie considered himself to be an amazing people person. He loved people. They just didn't like him back.. Which was fine. Kept him from having to talk about his and their, heaven forbid, feelings. He decided he would simply ignore and repress what she said about having to talk later. Yea. No.

Still the thought of food was enough to prompt him to follow the accursed women down stairs, and it was not long before someone yelled directions. He passed more wallpaper barely noticing they were they as he entered the dining room. On the way he passed the small woman who had the teddy bear, "Yo teddy." Charlie called with a two finger wave. It was more of a subconscious hello, and he didn't know her name, or maybe he did and just didn't remember, and so he decided he would call her teddy. Saved him time and memory space. He ignored the other girl wearing the red dress as he didn't know or care who she was.

Charlie stopped when he saw the long table full of food, but felt his heart sink a little at the person sitting at the end. The self-proclaimed, 'Queen of the Rag'. No matter, he didn't intend to eat in here anyways. He wasn't in the mood for a Brady Bunch breakfast. Scooping up a plate, he walked around the long table stabbing into things with his fork saying the name of the food as he added it to his plate, "Steak. Steak. Steak. Pork Chop. Ribs. Chicken breast. Turkey.." Then he stopped, "Probably need a vegetable.." He said, and then saw it! He scoped up a good sized portion of mashed potatoes and set them on the small amount of room he had on his plate before dripping brown gravy over the potatoes and all the meat. "Well, not a veggie, more of a root. Still counts."

With his prize in hand, Charlie gave a exuberant bow insulting all the 'gentlemenly' men here who all just seemed to want to get laid, "I shall be eating outside if anyone needs me." He stood straight again and gave his large smile, "Don't need me."

Charlie spotted one of those very same men talking to the 'Queen of the Rag' on his way out. Dear? What is with these people and saying that? Charlie shook his head, it sounded like he was stuck in some terrible drama and romance show, but if the guy wanted to seduce the bitch queen, by all means, he wished him the best of luck and even gave him a thumbs up, "Have at her big guy. She shall be your bambi."

If it kept queen bitch off his tail, then by all means, good job wallpaper. It was now your problem. He wasted no time in fleeing the dining hall before 'Queen of the Rag' got up and gave him a piece of her mind, or the 'gentlemanly' dear fellow challenged him to a 'right and proper duel after a nice spot o' tea.'

The doorway, he found had three people in it, and he let out a sigh. Two of them caught his attention, one of them was a really dirty blond, and not dirty blond as in hair color. She was just.. dirty. Charlie decided he really didn't want to know why she was that dirty, maybe it had something to do with the shoe-less man in a dress? Probably.

"Yo." Charlie said, his large plate of meat in his hands, "Quick! We are in a play, pretend I am Moses, and you are the red sea. Now action!" Plainly, he was telling them to move and stop blocking the door.

"Hey," Sapphire heard Pearl's voice and turned around just in time to see the girl panting. "Timing is everything right?" she laughed, causing Sapphire to smile. "Beautiful dress. You look... look so pretty." at this, Sapphire blushed. She was hoping to have dressed plainly...didn't work out as great as she intended. "I feel so... so under dressed." No! What was this girl talking about? She was dressed up very nicely! "I... I don't eat out at places like this often. I'm more of a fast food, gimbap, sandwich shop place myself." She wondered what this gimbap was, but looks like Pearl was a fellow sandwich lover. "Soooo... where do we eat?"

Sapphire remembered the directions being yelled by Aquamarine's voice, and motioned for Pearl to follow. Of course...not before seeing Mr. Ameanthyst walking out from the dining room with a huge platter of meat and what seemed to be mashed potatoes on top. Ignoring the man as he walked by, she focused on Pearl instead.

"I like sandwiches too." she revealed to Pearl, then curiously. "What's gimbap?"

"Gimbap? Well that's..." she starts to explain before she sees Charlie. She smiles and waves at him. For some reason Yeo-reum thinks he's kinda cute -- a jerk yes, but a cute jerk. Once past Charlie, she hesitates, "Oh, yeah. Gimbap. Sorry, brain freeze." she giggles. "Anyway, it's rice wrapped in seasoned seaweed with a long slice of radish in it. It looks like a tube and then they cut it up into several small circles, so you can eat it as a snack. It's really good. Some days, or weeks I practically live on it. That and kimchi."

Yeo-reum walks Sapphire to two chairs at the end of the table, "You site here." she says motioning to a chair and I'll sit here next to you. That way everyone knows were friends." Yeo-reum sits smiling at everything. "The food looks wonderful." she says looking at both Sapphire and the doorway to see if Charlie is still there. "Well, I see Charlie has disappeared again. He's gonna be a real... ahem... this week I think." she scoops some potatoes on her plate and hands the bowl to Sapphire, "Or maybe not. Maybe he's just not good when he first meets people." she pits some vegetables on her plate, "He is cute." she mutters.

"Huh...rice wrapped in seasoned seaweed with a long slice of radish in it?" Sapphire mused. It sounded tasty enough.

"You site here." Sapphire sat at where Pearl was pointing at. "-and I'll sit here next to you. That way everyone knows were friends."

Sapphire smiled at the gesture as Pearl sat next to her. Friends huh? She gazed upon the feast in front of her just as Pearl did. It looked amazing!

"The food looks wonderful." she heard Pearl mention, Sapphire couldn't agree more. It looked brilliant.

"Well, I see Charlie has disappeared again. He's gonna be a real... ahem... this week I think." Sapphire had to agree with Pearl again. That jerk...King of Jerks. She took the bowl of mashed potatoes from Pearl who offered them to her, she dumped some mashed potatoes into her bowl and set it down as carefully as she could so she wouldn't drop them and that other people could take them as well.

"Or maybe not. Maybe he's just not good when he first meets people." Huh...that was true...Maybe he was just afraid...But that was no reason to be mean... While watching Pearl put vegetables onto her plate, Sapphire managed to catch her muttering. "He is cute."

She smiled, added some gravy on top of her potatoes and looked at Pearl for permission with the spoon of gravy just hovering on top of Pearl's potatoes.

"Looks like someone has a crush. Gravy?" she asked.

Garnet

"Charlie won't always be this bad. He's actually a good person, once you get to know him." Garnet told the others from his spot at the table. "My name's Garnet, by the way. I failed to introduce myself earlier, for which I apologize." Once more he had to introduce himself to people he already knew. Well it wasn't that bad, it was probably even stranger for everybody else. Garnet then realized that he may have been interrupting their conversations. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interject. I tend to forget about these things. Please carry on."

After a minute or two of looking at all the food in front of him, it occurred to Garnet that this was the first time he had eaten anything. He wasn't even sure if he had any physical need to eat. Did any of them? Still since their host had gone to all the trouble of making the meal, he had to partake. Starting with something easy, Garnet poured himself some tea, adding two scoops of sugar.

Upon taking a sip, his eyes widened and he almost spilled the cup. This had to be the most wonderful substance in all of existence. The sweetness filled him with euphoria, and he quickly downed the remainder of the tea in the cup before pouring another with what could only be described as a truly inordinate amount of sugar. "Humans are geniuses."