Echoes [PRIVATE/Chiraisu]

Hmm mmm, mmhmm~ hm hm hm~~

The sound of a wonderful humming could be heard about the palace. This place, home to two and more, was a far-cry of the grandeur of the main palace here in London. Still, despite it all, it was wonderful. Spacious and historic, it was a building just off of the main Palace that was home to Mana, a small veer to the right on the pathway here. It was both modest yet regal, empty yet full of life. Many of the second circle of shadow fall's organization would come and go here in their travels about the land.

However today, the only one who was here was non other than the little human of shadow fall, Ceal. Her beaming face scurrying about the massive foundation, dusting this, sweeping that, brushing those. She just couldn't explain it, today she was just feeling so... so energetic, she couldn't rest at all! And of course she didn't mind cleaning, after all she loved her dear Mistress Ari and made sure she had a clean place to come home to.

All the way from the main entrance hallway, a room big enough for small ball, all the way to each of the three wings that split off left, center, and right. Just about the only place she hadn't ventured to on this rainy midday, was the basement. That was for good reason though, it was wet and creepy for sure! She was scared of what might lie in those dark corners, she'd have to leave that to another cleaner or something. They did have maids of course, but she insisted that they take the day off, she was feeling froggy after all!

What's more, even the voices that incessantly haunted her seemed like they were going to give it a break today, too, just letting her do her thing. That much was greatly appreciated. She was definitely unsure of how much of this she could take. They've been increasing in frequency as well as harshness, their thoughts, their harrying becoming more and more dark, persistent, ...evil.

Now that all of the wiping, dusting, and sweeping was all taken care of, the only thing really big that was left was dishes! Looking at the daunting double sink full, she groaned briefly before rolling up the sleeves of her black turtle neck sweater. It clung to her body, showing off much of her form from the torso up. Still, the girl wouldn't let such matters stop her! Oh no, not today. This was gonna happen, she was gonna do it, nothing was gonna stop her, today was the day! No stone left unturned! No man left behind! Every man for himself!

Wait--

Nearly just as Ceal stuck her hands into the piping hot soap water a knock came from the front door, followed by a push of the house ringer. ”What, a visitor? We never get visitors! Whoooooo~ could it be?! This is a most interesting development, a plot twist! A romeo and cinderella! Wait no.. that's no- OH Sorry sorry! I'm uhhh, I'm coming! Hold on please!” She spoke out, shouting down to the door. Practically sliding out of the kitchen on the smooth marble floor in only her socks, she looked through the peeper hole and saw a....

-HENREX?!-

What in the WORLD was he doing here?! Just as Ceal thought to open the door, she felt an oddity on her head, remembering something uh.. off, yeah off. Quickly, Ceal dove into the coat closet just next to the door and found a rather large magus gray hood cape that she draped over her head. It was loose enough that it wasn't really able to tell, at least Ceal thought so, but they were easily pointing upward. She didn't have a mirror to check, obviously.

Still, without any knowing the wiser for her, she opened the door to greet Henrex.

”Why.. hello there, H-Henrex. Wh-what brings you here on this lovely rainy day? Did I ever tell you that I love the rain? It's so nice on your skin. It must really suck for people who wear glasses though I can only imagine that. Can you imagine that? It'd be so miserable, yeah miserable. Haha! For sure, for sure. Uhh... so, yeah! This is the palace for us second circlers from shadow fall, Ari owns it of course. She's not here though, were you looking for her? I could probably relay the message to her.”

She said, all while having the door only about a 45 degree angle cracked, enough to poke her head and part of her upper body out from her hiding place to ramble her nervous jargon at him. Honestly she needed to really just shut up when she got nervous like this.

Regardless, she smiled warmly at Henrex with an almost cat-like grin while two near triangular points were poking up like tents from the admittedly suspicious hood she was wearing. One of them even twitched! She wasn't aware of that either.

Coding By: [THEFROST]

Waiting was most likely one of the most patience-trying things that the universe could have ever created. Along with standing still, that was annoying too. Henrex was patient, yes, but when it came to things like this, he couldn't sit still. He knew that the palace was big, and it only hosted two, but it still got to him...somehow. He needed to distract himself. His foot softly tapped against the ground, his head turning from the ground, before to the sky. It wasn't long after he knocked and rang, that there was a voice that called out to him, notifying him that they were on their way, before hearing a large amount of thudding against the ground, likely the sound of near-bare feet against the ground.

Henrex breathed in sharply at this, slightly worried for the safety of who was there. Taking the time to shake some of the remaining rain droplets off of the head of the umbrella, before closing it, and pulling out the Container. What Henrex did next was essentially 'digitize' the object, which caused the item to break down into data, before storing that same data within the Container, causing Henrex to have a lot more availability when it came to the items he carried on him, outside of his usual weaponry. This was something that was rather difficult with the simple grey kimono that he had on at the moment, so everything was currently in the Container.

Hearing the clattering of items being moved, feet slamming against the ground, and a large amount of shuffling from clothing. Soon after, he heard the sound of a doorknob being turned, and the creak of the door -- signifying it's opening. Before he could say a single thing, Ceal talked like there was no tomorrow, raising a bit of humor in the Covert Operations Lieutenant, as a smile bloomed on his face. All the while, the corner of his vision caught something...off, about the Human girl. His eyes shot up to where he had seen the momentary twitching, seeing two triangle shapes on the top of her head. Having seen something similar on Mirja, Henrex's first guess was some sort of anthropomorphic ears, which would also prove the movements of said shapes beforehand.

After Ceal had finishing blurting out everything on her mind, causing a small laugh to come from the Hybrid, before nodding his head softly, his hands twitching lightly from the situation currently presented to him. It was quite the large bit of silence before Henrex began to speak.

"Y-Yeah, the rain is really nice. It feels amazing when the temperature is low, and the rain is cold instead of warm. Water in general is just...amazing." He said, one of his hands softly grabbing at the other.

Henrex let out a shaky chuckle, before taking a deep breath, and slowly stepping up to the entrance-way of the door.

"I'm not here for Arianda, actually. I'm er...here to see..." He trailed off, stumbling on his words. Something was wrong. This wasn't like him. He never stumbled on his words nowadays. There were very few instances that he ever did, and he rarely found himself in those kinds of situations. Why now, of all times, did he feel so unsure and so reclusive with speaking? Words rarely were this elusive towards the Raven -- but, nevertheless, he managed to wrap his head around what he was wanting to say.

"...W-well, you."