Spell of Awakening

Subject: Spell of Awakening Thu 14 Jun 2012 - 9:52

The trip to Tom's Lake house had always been an exciting trip. Warm days, cool nights, an amazing landscape, and an even better time with close friends. When the letter came in for this years trip though, the trip was less than exciting... That year Tom had passed away, drowning in the lake he'd lived next to for many years, saving his close friend Mateus. It was a heart wrenching feeling for all involved, and it made it worse that he was being buried on his property, adding this terrible experience to the number of memories this house held.

When everyone arrived they would see Tom's property once more. The first thing everyone always saw was the massive lake surrounded on all sides by towering mountains. The way the evening sun hit the mountains always sent a cascade of deep colors across the sky. While they were normally gazed upon in happiness and awe, they now just mimicked the dark feeling everyone felt... They would park once more by the house, which was built by Tom himself. It was a two story tall oak house with everything Tom had ever wanted. It had 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a master kitchen with dining room, den, and a massive living room / recreation room with a built in bar.

When they were finally parked and set, they noticed that there were only three other guests. The pastor, his mother, and his boss.It was only now that they would notice that Tom never really talked about anyone else in his life... The ceremony was rather simple, as the pastor only gave a few words before his mother gave a short, tear filled speech. Tom's boss however wouldn't give a speech, and just stayed in his chair. It was only after everyone else gave their speeches that Tom's casket was lowered into the ground, and more tears were shed. Even Tom's boss, who up to this point kept his composure, teared up a little.

With Tom buried and the ceremony over his Mother and Boss made their way home. The only thing left was to open the will, to which his mother would not accept anything from if mentioned. If asked though she would not say why. Right now it was just passing eight o' clock, and the last thing everyone would see is Tom's mother driving off down the dirt path.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Thu 14 Jun 2012 - 18:37

"I still will not believe Tom is gone forever...A good man like him, just doesn't deserve a death like this." Sung quietly sobbed, rubbing his eyes until he felt like he wiped all of his tears away. He continued to remember the good times he had with Tom even though his visits were often short. However, Sung cherished all of those moments and felt they were all flawed and unacceptable. Flawed as if he could have done better towards Tom. "I wish this could all be reversed...I wish all of this to never have happened!" Sung flinched angrily and gave out a sudden kick to the dirt below his feet.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Fri 15 Jun 2012 - 1:07

_________________________________________
"They say Devil's eyes sing the Devil's Lies;
____Now tell me your tales, and we'll see."____
M A T T__A C E R A

A long drive was decisively longer when given a set of circumstances like these. Matt drove a '96 Chevrolet Corsica with a bummed transmission, shotty CV Joints, a jammed trunk lock, no radio or air conditioning, and a dent in the driver's side door about the size of a manhole cover. The distance, over three hundred miles away, was excruciating. Matt was a dedicated, and well-off, self-made student. He had a bank account, and easily enough in savings to pay for just about any vehicle he could need. So why did he still drive a piece of junk, nearly fifteen years old? Because it was the first car he'd ever bought, well second but that was a tale for another time; it was his first car and it still ran. A list of defects a mile long couldn't overshadow the fact that the V6 engine was still pristine and preforming like a soldier. The old girl hadn't let him down, and he wasn't going to let her down by discarding her before her time.

Still, an old car was only one contributor to the seemingly endless duration of the journey, and it paled in comparison to the weight his purpose carried. A trip to Tom's Lake House was typically one of anticipation, just as it was now, but it had never before had it carried such a light. His anticipation wasn't for excitement and joy as it should have, but rather was for the grief in his heart, and guilt he used to put that grief on a pedestal; It should have been him. -- What took him the most, however, was the fear, or rather expectation, of blame he would receive. From Tom's family, from his friends; an accident spurned from an act of carelessness had robbed the lives of many of a truly genuine individual.

Matt arrived on time for the funeral procession but couldn't bring himself to speak to anybody. What could he say? What if reminiscing to ease everyone's mind made him seem insensitive of the anguish everyone felt? What if openly taking the blame would only serve to seed anger in his friends? He wasn't sure what to say. He'd exchanged solemn greetings with everyone before the eulogy, but kept to himself through the wake and burial. He was a little shocked to see Tom's Boss, and especially, his mother leave before reading of Tom's will; in fact, Matt was perhaps even more curious as to why Tom had a living will at all. Hands shoved in his pockets, he watched along side the others as her car made down the dirt path away from Tom's fresh burial plot. He retained his silent cloak, but made a noticeable flinch, before averting his gaze, as Sung spoke, kicking the ground in his lamentation.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Fri 15 Jun 2012 - 23:39

Yrinai had flewn in earlier that morning to make sure she didn't miss her opportunity to see Tom's funeral. After all, why miss out on something so horrible that she'd cry her eyes out, right? Wrong. She wanted to pound him out of the casket, scream at him for dying on her and his family, cowerkers, and everyone else who meant at least something to him if nothing at all.

She just stood over the site where he was buried, refusing to curse his name for making everyone, including the scenery around, miserable. Her hair swayed a bit on the light gust of winds. Her eyes shifted from Tom's grave, to his mother's driving away, to everyone else who had left before her and who appeared to be strange individuals just standing around.

"I'm Yrinai Shou Mituno" She mumbled to all of them besides Shun, for she knew of him already. It wasn't much of a greeting, but more-so a suggestion that if they didn't introduce themselves, she'd kick them all away from her friend's grave.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sat 16 Jun 2012 - 14:06

Felicia had always been a calm individual, and everything about her did not scream, but it talked, it whispered softly the need for a getaway. She had gotten her getaway when she left her family behind in another country; miles away, with no indication that she would ever be coming back. With events like these, she felt once more the need to deliver herself from what would no doubt be a suffocating weight on her life if she would stay. Friends were nice; dead friends, not very much.

Felicia had an ordinary silver car, ordinary monochrome clothes. She was white, she spoke English, she had a college education and she had money. If anything, she was out of place with her ordinariness around these vastly different individuals.

The only actual signs of her wealth were shining diamond earrings. She liked diamonds. They were colorless, transparent, common; and everybody wanted them. With the arrival of people she knew only by looks--from having seen them at Tom's house very few times during her sporadic visits--she also spotted Matt. Mateus had to be the person she had spent the most time talking with, second to Tom. And the ironic news couldn't help but bring a sardonic smirk to her face.

"My name is Felicia Lowenstein," she said with her crystalline voice. Those were the first words she had spoken since showing up to the funeral.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sat 16 Jun 2012 - 17:40

Yrinai, making contact with Felicia's voice closed her eyes and sighed. "Its nice to meet you."

Compared to that woman, Yrinai seemed like a peasant. She didn't wear jewelry, she practically walked the rest of the way to the funeral due to the taxi dropping her off a few blocks away. She just wore a usual black funeral outfit; which for her consisted of a black suit a gray spaghetti string shirt underneath the jacket. She shifted her weight to lean towards her left, folding her arms as she reopened her eyes and glanced at Felicia's earings, raising her right eyebrow ever so slightly.

"Wow...talk about bling."

"So how did you know Tom?" She finally asked.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sat 16 Jun 2012 - 19:34

"Matt brought me over and Tom and I became friends," Felicia explained. "We used to go to the same university."

The young woman passed a hand through her hair and then looked somewhere in the distance; the disdain towards eye contact was also something that boosted the emptiness of her overall personality, she admitted to herself. "How about you, Yrinai?"

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sat 16 Jun 2012 - 19:53

Yrinai straightened her pose, taking in a soft breath. "I see." She began, ignoring Felicia's manner.

"Well, Sung introduced me to Tom one day when he invited me to visit him before he moved again. Ever since that day, I'd become more acquainted with Tom than I had with Sung, only because it was harder to catch up with Sung rather Tom. After all, Tom was always in the same spot."

She then turned her gazed away from Felicia, for a funeral was not a place to began a quarrel.

'Tch. People these days.'

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sat 16 Jun 2012 - 20:38

"My fa-...My father introduced me to Tom when I was a little boy." Sung interrupted. He clenched his fists as the volume of his voice raised slightly. His vision locked on the dirt he kicked to subdue his anger. "Both of them were the best of friends as they worked out business together. My father continued funding and making his life better in exchange of the same deeds done to a young me. Which worked out well, seeing what Tom had accomplished in this place. Tom simply was a good man, a good man that I never had the chance to say any final goodbyes to." Sung sighed as he began to glare at Yrinai, a sign of relief brought a smirk back to Sung. "I am...glad that you are here, old friend. It's been a while since I last saw you...Are you doing alright?"

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sat 16 Jun 2012 - 23:27

Yrinai returned a serene smile. "It's been a while indeed" She began, shifting her body to face Sung completely as she began walking towards him. "I've been alright, still working at the hospital, dealing with patients all the time, the usual stuff. Nothing much has changed. How about yourself?"

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sat 16 Jun 2012 - 23:31

Alice stood by herself quietly as she watched everyone else interact. Her left hand fiddled with the half-empty pack of cigarettes in her pocket as she itched for a smoke. She decided to wait until later.

When she had heard of Tom's death, Alice could only hang her head in sorrow as she mourned the loss of yet another friend. It seemed that Death was going to follow her wherever she went. The loss of her parents seemed to foreshadow her never-ending relationship with the black-cloaked fiend. She let out a sigh at the thought.

That was partly the reason why she isolated herself from everyone else in the group. She knew of them all, but did not want to get involved any more than she had to.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sat 16 Jun 2012 - 23:42

Sung reassured himself, straightening himself and neutralizing his emotions before casually responding back to his former colleague. "I feel no different, not much has happened even after we went separate paths. I still mourn for my father, I still live alone, and I still wander for a reason and purpose to continue being here..in America. I'm still looking for something that will make me forget about the past." Sung sighed, looking back his delicate yet powerful memories.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sat 16 Jun 2012 - 23:50

Yrinai always wondered what happened to Sung, he'd always spoken in a way whereas he wanted someone to figure out what went on in his past that made him wish for such a purpose. She didn't want to pry into his business again, especially not now.

She looked at the isolated woman, for a brief second, wondering if she was someone special to Tom that no one knew about, that wished to say her piece when no one else was around. She shrugged at the very thought and laid her right hand upon Sung's left shoulder in reassurance. "I'm glad you're doing well. I..." She stopped and returned her gaze to the ground where they had buried Tom.

'Now isn't the time for this Yri...'

"I'm sure you will find the answer..." She finally said, averting from what she wanted to say before.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sun 17 Jun 2012 - 20:10

Forget conventions and forget fears, she told herself.

Something inside Felicia, at that moment, sparked a feeling of compassion that had remained dormant for quite some time. It had been ages since she had felt even remotely attached to a stranger. She made her way in front of the man called Sung, but for some reason the words wouldn't come out.

She blinked twice and then nodded her head lightly, as if the woman had finally found what she had been looking for.

"I want to hear your life story," Felicia said, out of the blue.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sun 17 Jun 2012 - 22:13

Sung averted his gaze from the ground as he looked up towards Felicia with a deathly expression. He moved slightly away from Yrinai, removing her hand from his shoulder. His smirk faded away after hearing such words out of a girl he had never met before. "Let's just go into the house. I've had enough for one day, and the day isn't even over yet." Sung said. He gave a quick glare at everyone in his vicinity before turning himself towards the direction of the house.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sun 17 Jun 2012 - 22:52

Yrinai flinched for a moment, sighing at the what appeared to be ignorance of Felicia.

'What the hell Felicia...'

She glanced at everyone, then waved her hand as a gesture for all to follow if they wished.

Yrinai watched Sung from the corner of her eye for a just a moment before she proceeded to walk to Tom's now vacant home.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Sun 17 Jun 2012 - 23:08

Alice noticed the gesture of the woman, Yrinai, but decided to ignore it for now. She would walk in when she was ready.

In the mean time, it was about ready to have a quick smoke. She needed it to calm her nerves anyway. She quickly pulled one from her pocket, flipped open the small lighter she kept in her other pocket, and took a long drag. She puffed it out in a ring as she watched three of the people leave into the house.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Mon 18 Jun 2012 - 1:14

As some of the people made their way towards the house, it was not hard to notice the light rumble of thunder off in the distance. The clouds were certainly dark and gloomy, but from the mountains they seemed far off. Even so, there was going to be rain tonight. A fitting end to a fitting day...

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Mon 18 Jun 2012 - 12:11

_________________________________________
"They say Devil's eyes sing the Devil's Lies;
____Now tell me your tales, and we'll see."____
M A T T__A C E R A

The sky rumbled, and Matt stood before Tom's grave reading the dates over and over again with an obsessive intensity in his stare. He'd found it easier to simply peer at the marker than to join the others in trying to spark up conversation. Of Tom's many friends (that actually attended the ceremony), he knew only of two: former class-mate, Felicia Lowenstein, and mutual childhood friend of both Tom and Matt, Sung Yun Cha; and neither of them could really be considered close. It was a distance issue more than anything. Matt didn't know what became of Felicia after their scholastic paths took them in different directions, and the boyhood summertime romps at Tom's place became increasing more sparse and less united as the whims of three boys grew into the aspirations of three men. Tom might still be alive, if all three of them hadn't grown so far apart.

His preoccupation aside, Matt kept a tuned ear on what he heard around him. As was usually the case in group settings, many questions could be answered with simple patience, and the initiative of others. A woman, with long hair of a stark subdued indigo tone, and eyes that seemed to glow like blood-red blooms. From conversations that ensued, Matt learned she knew Sung, and that her name was Yrinai; a name he was having trouble discerning any sort of entomology. She seemed more the boisterous type, and it made her easier to read in that regard, but the last unknown element of this impromptu reception, another woman, standing alone, remained an enigma despite his attempts to gauge his peers through benign eavesdropping; she hadn't said a word. She had dark, straight hair of medium length, that fell along heavy burdened eyes; eyes that spoke too well of her past. Matt could feel the horror emanating from her.

...Still, the sky rumbled, and it was prompting a retreat inside, ice-breakers would have to be put on hold for the business at hand; it seemed even nature herself wanted this darkest of days to be finished. Sung didn't hesitate, and Yrinai was quick to follow. Matt released a sigh before approaching Felicia. "Don't mind Sung. He's always had a certain way about him.", he offered, making sure she saw him before speaking; he an uncanny way of inadvertently sneaking up on people that often proved counterproductive. "It's going to rain; lets just get inside.", he added, fully intent on doing so before before glancing back, watching the unknown woman light a cigarette in the distance. "Actually, go ahead without me. I'll see you inside."

Matt turned back around and waiting until the she went inside before walking out to where the other woman was smoking. He caught the subtle reminiscent wisps of a smoke ring dissipating in swirls, as he neared. He offered a cautious, "Hey.", before stopping a few feet away from her, clear of the the occasional puff of smoke. "Could I bother you for one?; I left mine back at the hotel.", he asked in clear reference to a cigarette.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Mon 18 Jun 2012 - 12:54

Felicia nodded and gave a distracted glance towards Sung and Yirinai. While it was understood that she was to come with them, she found it a bit discouraging that she had her demand postponed in such a way. She really wasn't used to being denied.

As a result, she barely paid any attention to Matt and where he was going. She made a mental note that she had to catch up with him later.

She followed in the steps of Sung towards the lake house, vacantly staring forward.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Mon 18 Jun 2012 - 19:22

Alice glanced up as she heard a soft, "Hey," from someone, Matt, she believed. Her eyes travelled up and down his figure as she made mental notes of his appearance: dark hair, dark eyes, a strong jaw, plain clothes. Nothing stood out to her. She stared at him for a moment before she pulled out her pack and offered him one.

"Do you need a lighter?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Mon 18 Jun 2012 - 20:28

Once the thunder had passed, Yrinai took her gaze upon the dark sky. Her hand was holding on to the inside doorknob of Tom's home, leaving the door halfway cracked for the other guests to enter.

"Oh don't mind if you do just stand around and get wet" She spat at each of them as she averted her eyes towards the mountains. She didn't need to look at the others for peripheral vision was more than enough to see them trying to converse outside.

'If you guys want alone time to be better acquainted then get a damn room.'

She rolled her eyes and nonchalantly tilted her body weight onto the door, causing it to open up the rest of the way while she studied the sky intently.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Mon 18 Jun 2012 - 20:44

The doors to the lake house were carved of the same wood as the home, with many elegant shapes in it while still keeping a simple pattern. Inside though was completely different. The doors opened up to the living room, the smell of aged oak familiar to everyone. For as large as the room was, it was kept simple and comfortable. On the right was the bar with the drinks neat and tidy as they always were, surrounded by the old leather bar stools.

Across from the door was a large TV hanging over a grand fireplace, a large semi circle couch in front of it. It was large enough to seat everyone, and very often did so as they watched movies in front of the fire. On the walls beside the TV and on the fireplace were a few paintings, and a couple framed pictures. However, none of them seemed to have anyone but Tom's mother, or pictures of everyone else enjoying themselves.

Lastly on the left was the doors leading to the dining room and kitchen, but namely the Pool and Poker table sat over here, once again seemingly ancient. Tom had this place the same for a long time, so almost everything could be considered old by this point. On the Poker table sat a letter that everyone would instantly recognize, as it was a letter that Tom's mother had left. The letter containing Tom's living will that was found only days after his death. It still remained unopened.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Tue 19 Jun 2012 - 3:16

_________________________________________
"They say Devil's eyes sing the Devil's Lies;
____Now tell me your tales, and we'll see."____
M A T T__A C E R A

Matt smiled as the woman offered him a cigarette. He gave the circumstances due credit, but he wouldn't have expected such random generosity toward a practical stranger from most people. "Thanks.", he said, lightly taking hold of the tan butt protruding just an inch or so out of the pack. He casually raised it to his mouth, and let the unlit cigarette hang weakly from his lips as she asked if he needed a lighter. He took the cigarette in hand, pressed lightly between his index finger and thumb, open end facing downward. "No, that's alright. I have one.", he offered, letting his hand, still holding the unlit cigarette, fall casually to his side. "I'm Matt, by the way; Mateus Acera, if you prefer my more, archaic moniker.", he added, taking a step and leaning forward, offering her a polite handshake with his free hand before retreating back to where he started.

Matt let a moment pass before turning his head towards the foreboding skyscape. He released a soft sigh. "How did you know Tom?", he asked, without turning his gaze from the sky. The swirling arrays of contrasting light from the moon beyond clouds gave the air an eerie sense of dread as his words cut the silence. The wind picked up and swirled about their feet, sending a distinct cool to the air around them, the blustery calm before the twilight storm.

Subject: Re: Spell of Awakening Tue 19 Jun 2012 - 21:36

Sung admired Yrinai's courtesy as he observed the sky along with her. He then turned towards the interior of the house, seeing what he expected of what Tom's house would look like. "So this is what Tom's house is like, I think I might like this." He slowly walked forward, taking his surroundings in as if they were foreign to him. Sung turned his stern face back towards Yrinai and Felicia, blinked and waited a few seconds before saying something. "I'm going to just stay here in the living room. I'll see you two if you want me to." His final words before walking to the large couch and starting his rest.

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