Room 667: Roojin and Mollie's room

[Jung Roojin]

Roo's dorm room was very plain-- she had no decorations on the walls aside from the thin red curtains draped across her window frame. no posters or pictures, few items on the bookshelf.  Her short stack of sketchbooks, a shoebox of art supplies, two or three art-heavy comics borrowed from the job at AU Comics she had started just weeks before.  She had yet to buy blankets for her bed; the ones that came with room and board were plain and off-white and served their purpose just fine.  

Roo lay curled in a ball, head and torso cocooned in the blankets with her bare legs exposed to the breeze that came in through the open window.  It was nearing four in the morning and Roo had just managed to fall asleep half an hour before.  

And now, she was dreaming.  In her mind, she was also curled up with her blanket, but she was on the floor of her old bedroom, huddled against the door, shivering and listening to the heavy, uneven footsteps of her father as he lumbered up the stairs.

"Roojin-ah," he growled.  There was a quiet splashing sound, the half-empty beer bottle in his hand tipping and spilling as he gripped the banister for support.  "Roojin-ah, why the fuck are all the lights off?"

In her dream, Roo whimpered and buried her face in the fabric of her comforter.

"Jung Roojin, get your ass out here."

[Abaddon Talbot]

Abaddon had been dream searching that night, bouncing between different unconscious slumberers. He was looking for anything interesting, it had been a while since he'd seen anything new. He was so bored of the regular flying and poor freshman students forgetting to wear their pants on an important school day dreams.

"-why the fuck are all the lights off?"

Well that might do it. Abaddon allowed himself to seep into the dream that called or rather yelled out to him. He opened his eyes and saw a younger girl curled against a door wrapped in her bedding while an imposing male force made from old memories banged from the other side of the wooden barrier. Abaddon moved into a shadow in the corner of the room he found himself in and watched intently, curious as to what would happen next.

He looked at her face for a moment and a smile curled across his dark lips as he recognized her from before. The collection that his father's relative lost to the man in the dark clothes. "Found you," he crooned darkly. He had seen her dreams before and had been watching enough to know that the man she was dreaming about was made from the remains of memories.

I wonder what would happen if I pushed things a little bit?

He looked out of the window in the room, summoning a storm to rumble in the girl's dark dream sky. He made the man bang heavily on the door causing it to shake under the force of his fist. Abaddon's eyes fixed on the girl, waiting for her reaction.

[Jung Roojin]

Thunder crashed in Roo's dream, timed perfectly to echo with her father's fists hammering against the door. Roo sobbed and hugged her knees, nails digging into her forearms as she whimpered for someone, anyone, to make it stop.

"Please don't. Please go away--"

"Roojin-ah open this goddamn door I fucking swear--"

Lightning flashed outside. The windowpanes shattered and Roo squealed as she was showered with bits of glass and hard pellets of rain.

[Abaddon Talbot]

Abaddon's eyes lit up and his smirk twisted into a toothy smile. Wooooow! This girl would run with anything he gave her! This was great! He wondered how far he could push her; could he make her new nightmare so bad that she would wake up?

He bit his lower lip and thought for a moment. . . just a little bit more. He would push her just a bit more.

He made the door unlock and come ajar so the girl's assailant could enter the room. It was up to her now. What would she allow his changes to do? Abaddon's full attention on the girl, his newest plaything.

[Jung Roojin]

Roo's father paused as the door clicked open. Roo gasped and scrambled away from the door, crying out loud as she grazed her palms and knees across the pieces of glass in the carpet. (Real Roo also cried out loud, fingers and toes curling reflexively against the pain in her dream.) She crawled until she hit the opposite wall and cowered, gripping the leg of her bedframe for support.

"I thought you were sleeping, appa, I'm sorry--"

Her father no longer spoke. He glared at her, jaw set in a grimace, hand tensing around the neck of the now-empty beer bottle. He took a single step forward, boots crunching on the glass in the carpet. His free hand balled into a fist.

"No!" Roo gathered her strength and barrelled forward, slamming bodily into her father's waist to knock him aside. She wasn't heavy enough to really tackle him, but she was sturdy and he was drunk, and he stumbled. Roo darted around him, and thought she had reached the safety of the hallway before her father's hand shot from the doorway and clutched her hair, curling at the crown of her scalp.

"Little bitch..."

Roo closed her eyes tight and felt a scream rising in her throat.

When she opened them, she was in her dorm room, that unvoiced scream making itself known as a sad little mewl. Roo hugged her arms to her middle and sniffled as she sat up. She blinked away the tears gathering in her eyes and eased off of her bed, her body remembering aches and pains that should no longer be there. She ambled over to her desk and switched on the lamp, then wiped her eyes on her sleeve and pulled one of her sketchbooks from the shelf.

She wouldn't be going back to sleep tonight.

[Abaddon Talbot]

Abbadon watched enthralled, taking it all in. Then it vanished. The room, the man. . . even the girl. He chuckled to himself at first and then realized that he wasn't sure if she would be back. He didn't know her exact location so he would just have to stumble across her dreams by chance again to find her.

"Damnit," he cursed aloud as he glared around the swirling blackness in frustration, as if it would relinquish unto him some kind of clue.

He sighed after a moment and reflected on what he had seen. Who was that man in her dream? Probably her father. He recalled her fear, her desperation. Abaddon began to feel something odd creep up his spine, an uneasiness.

Did he push too far?

What? He'd never thought that way before. The girl's scared tear stained face crossed through his memory again at the same time he felt a twinge in his chest. Odd.

Well, nothing he could do about it now. Maybe next time. . . if he could be so lucky.

[Mollie Geist]

Mollie was laying in her bed, cuddled up in a soft blanket from home. She was having fun amuzing herself. She had managed to attach her aura to two of her dolls, Boshaft (of course) and Boogie. Boogie was a baby doll. . . or at least was one at one point in time. Boogie wasn't quite as stiched up as Boshaft was but he was missing his head. She had gotten one of the Mother's at the Church to replace it with a ball of somekind and glued facial features onto it. Mollie was sure that Boogie didn't look very handsome but she loved him all the same. She smiled to herself as she hummed, moving her fingers slightly in tune as she made the dolls dance.

She looked over at Roo, who was also still awake. "I don't think they could have picked a better room mate for me, Roojin. I'm glad I'm not the only one that is still awake." She blinked a few times and squinted over at Roo's aura. "What are you doing?" Roo's aura could sometimes get bright especially when she was doing something she enjoyed, or became excited. . . mostly when Abaddon was around though.

[Jung Roojin]

"Hm?" Roo looked up from her sketchbook, eyes crinkling with a small smile. "I'm just gettin' some sketches done. Norton promised that if I could bring him some art from the comic I'm working on, he might let me sell it in the shop."

She watched the two dolls waltzing around the room and chuckled. "I'm happy you're my roommate too. Not a whole lot of people would tolerate me bein' up at all hours." She raked her hand through her hair and wrapped her blanket around her legs. Her smile turned into more of a smirk. "You also don't seem to mind when Abaddon is here."

[Mollie Geist]

Mollie leaned over slightly, moving onto her side to face her room mate. "I wish I could see them. I bet they are great." Mollie's eyes widened as she remembered the comic idea that her and Taibhse had. "Oh, is it possible to raise the lines that are drawn on a comic. . . sort of like Braile? That way I could feel the pictures."

"It kind of helps that I don't always know what time it is so I easily lose track of it." She giggled softly. "I don't mind Abaddon at all. He is nice, his colors make me nervous some times but that's not a big deal. He doesn't act the way that the colors portray that I've noicted so that is very good."

She let Boogie continue to dance but brought Boshaft back to her to cuddle against her chest. "H-hey, Roo. How do you know when you are in love? I've thought that I might be but I want to know how you can tell."

[Jung Roojin]

Roo hummed thoughtfully as she slowly closed her sketchbook. "If the images were simple enough, I'm sure that could be done," she manged slowly. "It would have to be, like, bristol board pages or somethin', so it could probably only be published chapter by chapter. But yeah, it could be done."

Roo tipped her head, curious at the comment about Abaddon's colors. "How do his colors make you nervous? Is there something wrong with them?" She wanted to ask what exactly they might portray, but wasn't quite sure if she wanted to know the answer.

Roo leaned against the wall behind her bed. She took a moment to peel off her hoodie and then nestled down into her blankets. "It's... I mean..." She chewed on her lip slightly. "When you're with the person, and you don't think anything bad could happen when you're with them because you're with them. And... And y' get butterflies in your stomach, and your hands n' feet get all tingly, and you feel a little stupid when they're around because your brain gets all fluffy and warm."

She grumbled and pulled the blankets up around her chin. "So. Who is it?"

[Mollie Geist]

Mollie smiled and nodded. "One of my friends brought up that idea and I wasn't sure if it was actually an option. Though I don't mind people reading and describing things to me." She smiled softly and hummed. "It's nice."

She averted her eyes down and brought Boogie back to her bed. "Well... The colors aren't bad. . .I could just be interpreting them wrong." She sighed and looked back over at Roo. "Sometimes colors identify with particular character traights and Abs just shares a color that often goes with people who would bully me at the orphanage. It could just be his playful nature evolved past that over time but he has a mischevious side to him that is not nice. . . if the color isn't wrong. I'm sure he used to be that way and he's not that way any more. He hasn't done anything that has proved his color right anyway." She smiled softly. "So don't worry about it, okay?"

Mollie blushed and squeezed Boshaft a bit closer to her chest, nibbling softly on the stuffed animal's ear. "Your hands and feet get tingly?" she asked, slightly muffled. "I do not think I get stupid. . ." Her face flushed bright red and she rubbed her cheeks with her hands as if doing that would make the color go away. "Well, it's just. . . well. I get the feeling stupid thing around Taebryn but I. . . I really like Taibhse. . ." She looked down and smiled. "I just feel so comfortable around him and I can trust him. I love just being in the same room as him and he makes me so happy."

[Jung Roojin]

Roo watched Mollie speak and felt a twinge in her chest. "Abs isn't a bully," she mumbled.

Her eyebrows rose as she listened, and couldn't bite back a chuckle. "Most girls get a little stupid around Tebryn. That's part of how his magic works." She settled onto her side and smiled to see the color rising in Mollie's face. "Taibhse, huh? He's a good guy, Molls. And a good friend. And if he makes you that happy, I think he's an awesome choice for you." She hummed and flicked her bangs out of her face. "D'you think he likes you back?"

[Mollie Geist]

Mollie heard Roo's mumble but thought best to just nod and to not defend her point. Abs had not done anything to prove that he was a bully. Maybe she was just reading colors wrong for a change.

"Tebryn hasn't explained to me how his powers worked. So I just thought it was me. . . but his colors are very. . ." She grumbled trying to find the right words. "I can't. . .I guess the only word I can come up with is 'aluring' but it's stronger than that."

"It's hard to say with me and Tiabhse." She looked down and slightly mumbled. "He had feelings for someone that doesn't feel the same way for him so he's trying to decide what to do about that." She sighed and nibbled on her lip. "He's said that he likes me and we've been spending quite a bit of time together. . . He and I cuddled in the student lounge a week or so ago and it was very nice. But I don't know how he really feels." She looked over at Roo and smiled a hit of sadness behind it. "Emotions are rough, huh?"

[Jung Roojin]

Roo's lips curled into a smirk. "D'you know what Tebryn-oppa is, Molls? I'd imagine that has a lot to do with his colors."

Another happy hum. The mental image of giant Taibhse and little Mollie curled up together in the student lounge was adorable. "The only way to figure out how he feels is t' talk with him, right?"

[Mollie Geist]

She blinked a few times and shook her head. "No. He never told me. Every time we talk about it he seems to change the subject."

"I know. I just don't want to rush him, especially since he's trying to get over someone." She blushed. "And I'm nervous to be in a relationship, honestly. I've never had a significant other before, what if I'm just not good at it." She nibbled on her lips. "I guess that's not something I should worry myself over though."

she smiled softly and layed her head down on her pillow. "Thank you, Roo. I haven't had anyone to talk to stuff like this to before. This is fun. You, Jaebi and Tabihse are my best friends and I'm so grateful."

[Jung Roojin]

"Tebryn's a succubus. His colors are alluring because allure is a huge portion of his magic."

"I think you'll do fine in a relationship. I've never been in a real one before, but everything with Abaddon is just so natural and easy. When things go right, they go very, very right. So no, y'don't need to worry about it."

Roo chuckled and nodded. "That's what'm here for, Molls. You're one of my best friends too, and friends take care of each other. The family you choose, and all that."

[Mollie Geist]

Mollie's cheeks flushed slightly and she mumbled. "Well, that makes a lot of sense."

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah. you two are very cute together. I like how you glow a bit brighter when he is around, and he gets a little shimmer to him. It's cute."

"Family you choose? I like that. I've never had an actual blood family so feeling like I haven't missed out on one." Her eyes squinted in her smile. "I'm glad I can be your best friend too. I want to stay here like this forever."

[Jung Roojin]

Roo felt herself blushing in response to this.  She nestled further into her bed so that only her eyes were visible.  "H-he shimmers when he's with me?"  She beamed and brought her fingertips up to her lips to nibble on them as a wave of happiness hit her.  

"The only blood family I ever had certainly didn't feel like family.  I didn't really know what it was to feel safe until Bolin brought me here.  You and I are the same in wanting to stay like this.  The castle feels more like home than Michigan ever did."

[Mollie Geist]

Mollie sat up a bit and giggled. "Yeah. that's the best way I can describe it. It like goes in waves that come from his heart. You two are very cute."

"I know the feeling. So, does that mean that you won't be going home over the holidays? My orphanage doesn't have the funds to send me back home so I'll be staying here until I have to go back."

[Jung Roojin]

Roo hugged her pillow tightly and nuzzled into it, muffling the happy little chirrup that escaped her. She took a moment to compose herself, and nodded again. "Ah, yeah. I don't plan on ever going back. I'd rather be trapped in Arcadia for the rest of my life than have t' spend another night in my dad's house."

She grinned. "Sounds like you an' me will have the run of the castle."

[Mollie Geist]

She giggled at the sound her roommate made and carefully scooted off her bed. She moved over to rest her head on Roo's bed. "Will they write about our adventures and how awesome we are?"

"Are you going to want to go to University here too?"

[Jung Roojin]

Roo laughed and untangled her lings from the pillow and blankets to reach out and ruffle her friend's hair. "Of course they will. And then they'll make a three-part video game series."

"I want to. See if I can take some design classes and any courses on publishing. And Psychology-- I really like Psychology. Are you stayin' for college too?"

[Mollie Geist]

Mollie leaned her head into the ruffle and smiled happily. "I would have to make Taibhse play the game and describe it to me. Would they convert it into an audio book too?"

"It would be cool if you could produce your own books." Her brow furrowed a bit, thinking. "I would like to stay here for school. I don't know what I could or should go into just yet."

[Jung Roojin]

"People don't usually convert comics into audio books, since so much of it is visuals." Roo sat up and patted the bed beside her, inviting her friend to join her. "You've got plenty of time to figure things out. We're just startin' out, after all."

[Mollie Geist]

Mollie smiled and carefully eased herself onto Roo's bed. "Yeah, I know we have time. I just prefer having a goal to work towards. I would like to think that I can use my sight for something good. . . I just haven't figured out what it is yet."

She traced her fingers along the stitching of Boshaft's mouth. "Are you not going to work on your stars tonight? What time is it, anyway?" she giggled. It was not uncommon for the two of them to accidentaly stay up most of the night anyway.

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