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[Easton Knight]

Thankfully the night air in Tulsa was cool and crisp and the leaves had started to gather on the sidewalk below Easton’s feet. He listened the sound of his own stride and the crunch of the fallen leaves, sticks and such. It was almost soothing. The rhythmic sounds had begun to calm the bubbling nerves that where causing his stomach to churn and leap in his torso. He had plenty of reasons to be full of nerves. It had taken him what seemed like forever to decide weather or not to come back to the House of Night in Tulsa.

He left. It was simple as that. Hardly packed a full backpack and headed out the front gaits in the middle of the night. There wasn’t a thought process involved. After a bone chilling text from none other then his brother, telling him exactly where his father was and that he was going to find him, there was only one thought. Stop Connor. He had only grabbed one set of clothes and a few other items. It was crazy how back then he really thought it would only take a few days to track down his brother and put a stop to his brother’s life long dream of ending their father’s life. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but little did he know that he couldn’t have been more wrong.

A chill ran a rapid course right up Easton’s spine. It caused his whole body to shudder. He closed his eyes and turned on his heels. Going back was a bad idea. It had been too long…the days had turned into months and before he knew it, it was almost a year since he had left…give or take a little. Easton had become very bad and keeping track of time…minutes, hours, days…they all ran together. He probably couldn’t even tell you with certainty exactly what day it was, let alone give you a date too.

Everything would be different, hell he was different. His normally shaggy blond hair had been cut a lot shorter and in a desperate attempt to lose himself had been dyed a dark brown almost black. His style of clothes didn’t really change much, maybe a little more mature, if anything. He didn’t recognize the man that looked back at him when he looked in the mirror. Deep down he had always had the fear that he would turn back into the person that he was when he was in the depot. Red. Hateful. Murderous. Not Again

Easton’s retreat from his original direction didn’t last long. If he was anything he was definitely stubborn. He slid a hand out of his jacket pocket and let his fingers slide across the rough surface of the outer wall of the House of Night. Should he just waltz in the front gates? No. He had no flair for theatrics like his brother. She might see him. His feet stopped, as did his heart. Oh Goddess How could he be worried about anything other then her? In the bottom of his pack was a stack of letters…countless in number tied together with a black ribbon. All of them were addressed to Raine, but not a single one did he manage to send. Coward He knew it. He had promised never to hurt her…and he failed. The familiar ache returned to his chest as he leaned against the cool rough stone wall. Deep breaths.

A gentle breeze shook a few leaves from the branches of the oak tree and they drifted down and grazed his upturned face. He had made it to the East wall at least. Easton opened his eyes, only then realizing that he had closed them at all. The wall. With out another moment lost, he turned and skillfully scaled the wall. He slung his legs over the edge and paused. He was almost hidden by the branches of the grand tree. It was slightly comforting. He pulled a few more deep breaths of the cool night air into his lungs. Maybe he’d just sit there a while…and watch…and truthfully try and gather the courage to risk going back to his room. If it was even still his to call his own. He rubbed his face with his hands.

Words: 716
Muse: Not sure where my muse came from…just happy to have at least one of my boys back
Outfit : ~*~ Outfit ~*~
Notes: all the fancy mancy stuffs i'll add later...just happy to be posting! Outfit and pic added. i feel better now. :-)

[Raine Ashera]

Raine had been feeling a little bit out of it lately. Which was not like Raine in the slightest but it did happen from time to time. And who could blame her? There had been a lot happening in her life lately, enough for her to warrant a little bit of wallowing. Which was not like Raine in the slightest, she was usually a bouncy little thing that never let anything upsetting get to her for very long. She focused on laughing, not crying. It was the only way for her to keep moving forward anymore.

She had to deal with her father eventually, and his demand that she return home or give back all of her mother’s things because she would be disowned. With that thought Raine hugged her mother’s leather jacket closer around her small frame, and not just because the air was a little nippy out. She would never give up her jacket or her locket. It was hers, and she had taken it. Her father just wanted to be…well…horrible! Raine paused her walking and frowned. She never thought of her Daddy that way. No matter how rotten he had been. He was still her daddy.

She shook her head. Maybe it was just all the stress. Her best friend had been an upset mess lately. Which worried her so much. Seph was missing Seth, not that either of them would ever admit to that and she didn’t think Seph was ready for her to start helping Seth make the right gestures to get her back. Which she would do, that wasn’t an option. She wanted her best friend happy and they still loved each other, she knew that without a second thought. It was as plain as day to her, even if they were being stupid about it.

Speaking of love.

Oh…

She paused again in her walking and sighed a little bit. Raine never sighed, she had been doing too much of that lately. She fiddled absently with her headphones and her iPod, changing the song and walking again. She missed Easton a whole ton, more than she could even think. She just wanted to know that he was okay, and not hurt somewhere. She was so worried about him. Raine didn’t appreciate the lack of notice to him just disappearing of course, but it was more that she was worried than anything else.

And there was also the other thing.

Right. You get easily distracted by shiny things. And he’s shiny. That had been Seph’s response when she had gone in that night, freaking out because she had cheated. Oh Goddess above. She did get easily distracted, and it had been her birthday, and she had felt so very alone, and then he had showed up and had been so sweet and one thing had led to the other and then… Well then she had satisfied an itch that hadn’t been scratched for a little while.

Thinking about her track record with guys, she should probably be more amazed that she had lasted that long since Easton had goen missing. But that was no excuse. And he had disappeared with no warning… But that was still no excuse! She scolded herself with a little frown. Or was it? No…no it wasn’t. She shook her head. She couldn’t give herself a way out. She would just have to tell him. Right, because how was she going to go about doing that? She thought with a little sigh. She could just tell him if he ever showed back up. No. No, when he showed back up.

She sighed again. She really did miss him a lot, despite what she had done. She had been good since then, not that that was much of an excuse. Raine was really easily distracted, this was entirely true. And she had never managed to keep a boyfriend or even have one before because of this fact of how she was. But she didn’t really have an excuse for it all the time. She kept telling herself that because otherwise she knew she’d whole up in her room with Seph and worry herself to death about what she had done.

And at least one of them needed to be out and about.

She nodded definitely. That was all that came down to. She had gone out that night to her Dance lessons, the first time she had gone in some time actually. She had started to a few times but then she would get distracted. She’d worry about Seph, or Easton, her the thing with her father and she’d get distracted from her destination, wandering off somewhere else instead. But it had felt good to get back to her dancing, even if she felt horribly out of practice.

She whirled as she walked now, feeling the pavement scrape on her bare feet because she was bare foot as she walked back to the House from her lesson, her shoes in her hands. She was fine though. It was chilly but her jacket kept out most of the chill and so did her leggings that she wore to practice, they were special to keep out the cold and all that. That felt a bit better, to dance and to be able to move a bit.

She made her way into the house though the main entrance but decided not to head right to her dorm. She wasn’t sure she was ready for that yet. As much as she loved her roommate, it hurt to see her so upset as she was. So instead she started to head for the East Wall, where she was going to relax for a little while. She made it there fairly quickly too, she had been too in her own thoughts to be paying much attention and blinked when she got there, surprised about how quickly she made t there.

She plopped down to sit on the grass at the base of the tree, leaning back against its rough bark with a soft breath as she tossed her shoes beside her and closed her eyes. She pulled up her knees to rest against her body and took a deep breath before opening them again. Maybe she’d just sit here for a little while before she went back to her room.

If she had known who was just above her, just out of sight, she probably would have been a lot less calm. Heck she would probably be squealing happily, all thoughts of everything else far from her head.

Words: 1117
Muse: Okayyyyy
Comments: Sorry it's been a while since she was out to play ><

[Easton Knight]

He risked so much leaving. His life and his relationship with Raine being the biggest risks. He continued to rub his eyes while he rehashed what happened while he was gone…for what felt like the millionth time. It felt like he had been gone for ages...honestly he had been very lucky to find a house of night in the vicinity of his father's location. The dumb bastard wasn't as far away as he could have been...or really should have been. It wasn't easy finding shelter from the day time sun, while he waited to convince a vampire that he needed shelter...other houses of night were not used to black fledglings yet. It took time...Easton had known for years where his father was. It was a secret that he kept from Connor on purpose because there was no doubt in his mind that Connor would try and kill their father if he could find him. Connor had way too much of the feral side of the red in him then Easton did.

Easton found out that keeping a close eye on Connor nightly was an exhausting chore. His brother stalked their father for quite a long time. A few times Easton confronted Connor, but it always ended badly and caused him to lose track of Connor for days at a time. The physical fights between them always left Easton with just more frustration and a few battle wounds. Recouping was a pain physically and mentally...but as long as he could keep an eye on their father, he could keep him safe. Goddess he had no idea how much he would learn just by doing that. There was so much more than he ever imagined...Hell it took longer than he ever imagined...and it became something much more complicated as the time went on.

Easton rubbed his face a little harder before opening his eyes, trying to being himself back to the present. He could hear the soft sound of barefoot steps approaching. He forced his eyes to blink a few times to bring back their sharp focus. Just as his gaze fell upon the delicate frame, his body immediately sucked in a sharp breath. It felt as if his chest would split in two. Oh goddess. He pulled himself quietly back into the shadows. The goddess sure felt like punishing him tonight...or at least it seemed like it. Raine looked so sad and it killed him to know that he was the source of the pain that she carried on her delicate shoulders.

The internal struggle began. Should he make himself known to her? Or sit like a coward in the shadows? Honestly he prayed the goddess would just strike him dead at that very moment for all the awful things he had ever done. The silent moments passed and he sat there hardly even breathing. Ok...well it wasn't the goddess' plan for him to die...well die again...either way he didn't want to be sitting up there debating his mortality. He slid his cell out of his pocket. His fingers navigated the touch screen silently and found her number in the address book.

"Hey." he typed... but in a moment of indecision he deleted it. Easton sat there silently cussing himself out. Coward. Then he typed it again. Easton's finger hovered over the send button for a second before deciding to press it. There. It was sent. No taking it back now. He kept the cell palmed in his hand and he quietly watched from above. He felt a bit like a stalker, but he technically was there first. Easton almost smiled. He felt lucky to just be able to look down upon her. Goddess knew he didn’t deserve it. Deep down Easton knew that he never really deserved her to begin with. He knew that the moment he laid eyes on her in the door way of his dorm.

He was nothing but a crow chasing a butterfly.

Words: 657(? Give or take)
Muse: Sorry it took so long. He was freaking and I had a hard time getting it all out. lol
Outfit : ~*~ Outfit ~*~
Notes: meh, not bad I guess…I’ve had the worst day possible and I NEEDED this. I miss this place so much.

[Raine Ashera]

It had been an…interesting few weeks. To say the least. Yeah…that was really putting it lightly, Raine thought with an easy tilt of her head that sent her blond curls sprawling over her shoulder. Interesting should probably be replaced with upsetting but this was Raine we were talking about here. She refused to ever admit that anything could possibly be depressing. That was just the way that she was. She preferred to think on the happier side of life, tune out the depressing stuff. Most people would probably tell the bubbly little blue that that wasn’t healthy. But she didn’t care.

She ignored the naysayers. Why shouldn’t she? It was better to laugh, show a happy face to the world. Why would it possibly be better to cry? She lived this life for her mother and sister who had died way too soon, she wasn’t going to let them down by being depressed, and she wasn’t going to dishonor the fact that they had been taken from this world too soon by not appreciating the fact that she had made it out of that crash alive. Right? Right. She was pretty set on that.

Like her father was pretty set on her coming home.

Raine frowned at that, an odd expression for her and it felt unnatural on her lips. Her Daddy was dying and wanted her to come home so she could learn how to take care of the business…blue fledgling or not she wasn’t allowed to turn him down apparently. But she didn’t want to go. She wanted to dance, she wanted to be free, she didn’t want ot learn how to take care of a company, that wasn’t in her future as far as she was concerned.

But if she didn’t go he was threatening to take back all of her mother’s things. Of course the then morbid thought that popped into her head was that he was dying and it would all get left ot her soon enough, soon as they noted that in her mother’s will it all went to her. Her mother hadn’t been too far of her Daddy in the end. But she didn’t want to think like that. She was Raine. She didn’t think like that. She was bubbly and she was happy but this had her all out of sorts. She wasn’t acting much like herself at all and that wasn’t even the half of it!

It was indeed very odd to see Raine unhappy. Which was probably why she was avoiding going near any of her friends—not that they weren’t busy falling apart and such—or to her room. She was always the bubbly one, always the happy one who worked to put a smile on everyone elses face. That was just what she did, what she felt like it was her job to do. And most of the time, she was genuinely just a happy nd bubbly little nut. But lately that wasn’t entirely so.

And she didn’t want to go back to her dormroom with her pouty face. Her roommate had enough to deal with without having to deal with Raine pouting. She would ignore her own issues to focus on Raine and cheering her up and Raine just didn’t think that was healthy. She would ignore that that was what she usually did. Now that made a giggle burst from her lips like a few hundred bubbles. And that made her grin slightly. Well that was better. She was supposed to be like that. That made her feel like she hadn’t entirely lost herself.

Just her boyfriend. And a good chunk of her friends. Now she was frowning again as she approached the East Wall and the lovely tree that sat there, which she soon sat against after dumping her shoes down next to her.

Usually if she didn’t feel like sleeping or going back to her room, she would go about dancing. Practicing in the studio. It had been so long since she had danced aftera ll because she was so out of it and upset lately that she probably should get to practicing, get her body back in shape and make herself a better dancer again. But right about now, she just felt like sitting for a little bit, relaxing against the tree and looking up at the stars. Most fledglings were still asleep now so it wasn’t like she would be disturbed.

Deep breath. In…and out.

And then her phone buzzed in her pocket. In a typical Raine reaction, for a moment she just blinked down at it. She wasn’t’ expecting anything from anyone. She hoped it wasn’t her father. But she wouldn’t know until she dug it out and checked now would she? A soft giggle—not as bubbly as always but still there—passed her lips at that thought.

Digging her phone out of her pocket, she blinked at it for a moment before unlocking it and going to the message. Now she ahdn’t been expecting that. She hadn’t gotten anything from him in so long not that she was complaining but she just plain was happy now. For a moment it was just a bright smile that lit up her face, not thinking about how long it had been, or about what she had done on her birthday, but just being happy for a moment, pure and simple.

Easton had texted her. That was what had brought a grin to her face.

And in true Raine fashion, something that had been hidden for a while, she replied the same way that she spoke: babbling and long. Normal people would just say hi and leave it at that. Raine would happily give a novel but she just couldn’t help herself! ”Hi! How are you? Are you okay? It’s been so long, I’ve been worried. I hope you’re okay.” she replied, knowing full well ti was babbling and not caring. She missed him. She hoped she would see him again soon, not realizing he was closer than she could have imagined.

Words:1055
Muse: Okay
Comments: SHe's a nut

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