Nyx “The House Master” // Witch //
♦︎ // location: Mansion // tags: Bryce, a gargoyle (Gregory), Silver
The enchantress smiled as she listened to her guest. This vampire made for a good conversationist, and though she felt that she had meaningful conversations with all the residents, she found that a few were rather uncomfortable around her. That boy Nikolav, for example, was quick to dismiss any of her offers of help or advice, or even a chat. There was another who, though polite, had some bad history with witches as well (though Nyx didn’t sense much animosity toward her, from what she could recall). She wouldn’t blame anyone without having been in their shoes, of course, but it was fun to enjoy such a meeting as this.
Bryce seemed to present himself almost as a persona, Nyx guessed based on her current impression of them. It was not a criticism, and in fact if it had been then it would make her a bit of a hypocrite. The woman watched the other with an entertained glow in her eye as she contemplated his explanation.
“How interesting...” Nyx responded, bringing a hand to her chin thoughtfully. “I commend your view of your immortal life; there are too many with stubborn biases. I have also seen what you spoke of first-hand. I was the lead architect for the repairs of this house, and we had to implement a number of protective charms to keep this place under the radar. It was troublesome, really, but I suppose it does the job.” She trained her eye back on Bryce as she finished, just in time to catch the look he was giving the cat on her shoulder. “Indeed I do have my secrets. Although I assure you that it is not quiet as fun as you might imagine it- Those unseen by the public eye have a duty to look out for each other, I believe.” Though Nyx’s speaking style had been pretty casual at first, her final sentence had heavier implications. Noticing how serious the conversation had turned, though she added on a quick, “ah, and you can pet the cat, when you see him. He likes being scratched by his ears.”
With nearly perfect timing, something large and heavy landed in the fireplace. The fire had been snuffed out, and in Nyx’s silence, the sound of stone rubbing against stone could be heard. “...Gregory.” The witch greeted, the warmth in her voice gone. The granite statue turned its jeweled, red eyes on Bryce briefly before moving its wings and ears in a series of strange patterns, producing the noise that had been made before. Evidently Nyx could understand the meaning of this, since her expression hardened. “Are you positive? Then... keep an eye on them. Spider, if you would.” The short interaction ended with the gargoyle climbing back up the chimney and the green-eyed cat to jump down and dash off, leaving Nyx to shoot Bryce an apologetic look. “Terribly sorry. I had planned to give you a bit of a tour since it’s your first night here, but it appears I’ll have to take care of a bit of housekeeping first. Do join if you’re interested, I suppose. Maybe you’ll meet some of your neighbors.” She seemed to glide down the stairs as she spoke, making it to the front door in record time to unlock and open it. It was then that she heard the playing of a violin, though she doubted it had much to do with the circumstances she had been warned about.
Hearing another set of footsteps on the opposite spiral staircase that she had gone down, the witch looked up briefly to see the presence of another one of her house’s tenants. “Good evening, Silver! We might be taking care of an issue here in just a second.” She called up a greeting and warning, then stuck her head out the door.
———
Audrey // Human //
♦︎ // location: woods outside the mansion // tags: human group, Nikolav
Audrey was quick to ask “What happened?!” just as a very tall animal emerged from the edge of the path. “What the- a BEAR?!” She spoke loudly, the hand holding Kori’s tightening its grip while her other clutched the still-recording phone. The teenager had come here to be scared by ghosts, not a freaking BEAR. Still, she felt like her heart was about to burst from her chest and, with a little more observation of the dazed creature, she was quite sure that it was instead a bipedal wolf. “Why did you guys have to mention WEREWOLVES! We just jinxed it!” The brunette cried, her voice raising a few octaves. She subconsciously started stepping back and tried to tug Kori along with her before realizing that he was frozen in place. Audrey also noticed the ring of bells around the beast’s neck- was it trying to look like one of Santa’s reindeer or something? Or maybe it was just someone’s escaped pet dog that was really really big and looked like a werewolf. The girl threw these ideas out of a mental window just as quickly as she thought them.
Luckily, Ellis appeared as a voice of reason. Audrey really did have to comment on their mind of steel after this-
if they got out alive. “Way ahead of you..!” The girl whisper-yelled, trying again to pull Kori with her as she threw her whole arm around his torso. Had she been thinking more reasonably, maybe she could’ve put her phone away. “Maybe throw a stick or something?” She hissed, using her phone-hand to frantically wave over the rest of the group. I was then that her eyes, which had been glued to Nikolav, pried themselves away and landed on a similar-looking creature that stood where one of the later group members had been. “what!!! Maria???” Audrey almost sobbed, her phone-hand returning to cover her mouth. Tears were threatening to spill down the high schooler’s cheeks, although she didn’t know if she was about to cry from fright or confusion.
———
Eventide (Vin) //
Dragon //
♦︎ // location: woods outside the mansion // tags: human group, Nikolav, Cecil
Eventide had been about to ask Ellis about what kind of art they did after their offer, but his attention was drawn elsewhere once this animal showed up. It was hard not to be a bit freaked out when the creature in front of them looked to be the textbook definition of the word ‘werewolf’, and yet the person they had been about to talk to snapped out of it at a surprising speed. “Y-yeah!” The lavender-haired student agreed, stepping back and reaching a hand towards the person next to them to bring them back as well- only to have their palm met with a large mass of fur. “EH?” They yelped in surprise. Vin only made the connection that the wolf standing there was Maria after the girl at the beginning of the line called her name. Sure enough, after looking back, the fur seemed to be the same hue as the girl from before’s hair, and the wolf looked to be experiencing pain what with the writhing on the ground. “Maria??” Eventide fell to his knees at the canine’s side his hands hovering over her as he didn’t know what to do. As a last resort, the human dragon snapped his head up to fix Nikolav with a frown and a stare.
’Calm down, you mongrel.’ He hissed telepathically, having no clue if it would actually work. Usually this ability would work just fine on any other intelligent species, but werewolves weren’t really known in fiction to be in the right mind to negotiate.
Still keeping eye contact with the creature standing in front of them, Vin raised his voice so the rest of the group could hear them. “Don’t run, but try to get to the house. Some shelter is better than none.” Just as he finished, his eyes moved to where Leslie was holding what he was pretty sure was pepper spray. Vin looked back to the already transformed werewolf again, wondering how this would play out.
Although Eventide was quite sure there was another dragon in close proximity, he didn’t have time to spend on looking for it. So long as it didn’t present another threat, he could take his time finding it afterwards.
———
Nikolav //
Werewolf //
♦︎ // location: woods outside the mansion // tags: Cecil, human group
Nikolav... had had Quite the night, and it had only just started. Now, as he stood in front of these smaller creatures that smelled so familiar to him, the werewolf lifted a gigantic claw to paw at his nose. He gave a low growl as he turned his head back to the other werewolf transforming on the ground. Ordinarily, the wolf would have tried to attack another werewolf in his territory- but these circumstances were way too... strange? Why was this one only turning now, after the moon had been in the sky long before? And was this their pack?
The white and red-furred beast gave an aggressive snap in Ellis’ direction, returning to all fours and flinching away when both they and a girl lifted an arm. Frankly, the only reason that Nikolav wasn’t making a feast of the small crowd was that his hunger was mostly sated from the hunting he had done before, but it wouldn’t be long before it returned. Niko’s fur continued to bristle as his muzzle contorted in hostility, a rumble coming from his throat. The creature angled himself so that his flank was facing these other creatures while he considered his moves. The safe option would be to simply get rid of everyone standing there, the wolf reasoned to himself- which is exactly what he tried to do.
The canine’s ears pinned themselves back and Nikolav rushed forward toward the biggest threat-Maria. Before he could do anything though he heard a voice that was clear as day in his head- one that gave him a command which unfortunately worked against its user, since rampaging werewolves didn’t
take commands. Nikolav’s eyes burned with fury as he bared his teeth to the group; and then lunged towards Leslie and Ellis with an open mouth.