[Mason Warner]

Slumber Party

Mason felt disheartened as Claire’s wide, panicked eyes fixed on his and she asked her shaky, heart-breaking question. He could fake positivity for his own benefit – he’d been doing it on and off his whole life – but apparently he was unable to drag Claire along for the ride. He could understand her confusion and subsequent terror. This was like something out of a movie that Mason would usually really enjoy.

In a way, he was enjoying this moment, deep down past his own shock and concern for Claire. He wondered if this was what it was like to witness a miracle. For all that it was scary and irregular, it was also kinda… magical.

“Not wrong, Claire,” he began, his voice as soothing as he could possibly manage. “We’ll figure this out, I-”

Then Alice burst in, and Claire’s hopes of keeping all this from Alice were shattered. Mason still had the key held aloft, clutched between finger and thumb, and Alice took it from him before he could even begin to protest. Not that he really wanted to. Her ensuing enthusiasm confirmed his optimism regarding her reaction, if only briefly.

Claire’s face was still frozen in a mask of horror and Alice wasn’t stupid. She picked up instantly that this was far, far more than a (pretty impressive) party trick.

“There’s nothing wrong...” Mason reiterated, casting a look at Claire. “We’ve just made a little discovery. It’s easier if Claire just, uh, demonstrates. If that’s okay.” He paused.

“Claire?”

It was up to her. She could back out, call it a fluke. Alice would be disappointed, maybe even upset, but she’d probably see that Claire was keeping something private for a reason. On the other hand, she could embrace this, take the first step towards accepting it, and they’d probably be that much closer to understanding just what the hell was actually going on.

He cast a wistful glance at the pancakes. Claire was the priority right now, of course, but damn, they looked good.

ψ

[Deleted]

WORDS: 399

TAGS: Alice Morrow , Mason Warner

“Not wrong, Claire,” her face scrunched slightly and she leaned forward, her tone insistent.
"How can you say that?" 
“We’ll figure this out, I-”
“What’s going on?”

Claire turned to stone and stared at Alice like she was a ghost that caused her to freeze there in fear. A pancake-holding, innocent, blue-headed ghost. It wasn't just that she thought Alice would be better off not knowing because it might only unsettle the girl more than she was, but it was also that Claire was afraid.. afraid of what was wrong, afraid that it might make Alice scared of her.

Just like that, the key was yanked from Mason's grip for the girl to admire like some gem. “Oh my God! How did you do that?” Do? It wasn't like it'd been on purpose. Why was everyone here excited about it but her? Didn't they see how horrifyingly screwed up this was? “So is this like a party trick or something?”

Her face became unbelieving, looking to Mason, then back to Alice at her next question after it'd apparently been all fun and games for the both of them. It wasn't fair to think that, of course, she just had no other current way of coping.

"What? What’s wrong?"
"There’s nothing wrong..." 

Yes there was!!! Her hopelessly confused and look of fear went back to him as if to silently search him for answers on how to explain that statement. “We’ve just made a little discovery. It’s easier if Claire just, uh, demonstrates. If that’s okay."  Was it?... Now that she was here, now that she'd seen.. how did Claire back out of it? It was either be dishonest or freak her out - a rock and a hard place. There was no other choice.

"Claire?”

Brought back to reality, she realized she'd just been staring at the coffee table in front of them and looked up to Alice's expecting expression. With an eventual swallow, she leaned forward to a fork that Alice had set down next to a plate and handed it to Mason before setting her hand flat on the coffee table. Her eyes stared hard at it, not at him, and felt a swell of panicking determination. "Stab me." There was no wavering in her voice, though it was tense and held-back. Clearly she was nervous.. but desperate for something to puncture, something to break it.

NOTES: Please work.
WEARING: Here

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Claire Elliot + Mason Warner

“Wait what?” Alice looked from the fork in Mason’s hand, to Claire’s flat palm, to Claire’s face, back to the fork. “Wow, you mean..? The key?” She looked at the key once more, had Mason done it by trying to stab Claire? That certainly seemed to be what was now being suggested. Did that mean she had somehow gotten tougher? First a miraculous recovery and now bulletproof skin? Mason lifted his hand, the fork now aimed downwards towards the hand laid flat on the coffee table, Alice winced in sympathy and half turned away, not quite able to watch. At the same time though, she couldn’t herself to look away, and so she was caught in some sort of half-horrified, half-amazed trance. Until it happened, there was a metallic twang, and Mason was raising a fork that was no longer the shape it was supposed to be. The tines had split different ways, and the metal of the fork up to Mason’s hand had crumpled as though it was made of tin foil, not stainless steel. Alice stared at it in amazement, so now Claire could apparently shrug off assaults from cutlery as well as basic keychains. “That… is so fucking awesome…” Alice was getting more excited, “has this happened to you as well Mason?” She turned to look at him, “oh my god, what if that healing has made us all indestructible?” She began to pace, unable to sit down from the excitement. “Think about it, that doctor spent a few minutes with each of us, and now you’re bulletproof.” She turned to them “oooh, what if it was like some sort of secret military super soldier program, and that’s why she disappeared, she wasn’t supposed to use it on us!”

© seadra of gs

[Mason Warner]

Slumber Party

It had been a huge internal fight to even raise the fork into position. Claire seemed desperate for him to do it, if just to prove what had just happened before their very eyes wrong. If only she could calm down, take a breath and appreciate that this was not some terrible symptom. He wasn’t expecting the same level of excitement that Alice was exhibiting – as adorable as her child-like enthusiasm was – but a little shaky acceptance that this was a part of her now would be nice.

The fork collapsed in his hands and this time he watched it happen.

It was almost unbelievable, but after everything that had happened over the last few days Mason was feeling a little more open-minded. Even Alice’s wild super soldier theory was vaguely convincing.

“I can’t say I’ve tested it…” he said hesitantly, surveying the twisted metal in his hands. His heart raced a little at the idea of having developed superpowers.

“Why would a rogue doctor use test some military junk on us and then just let us leave without, I dunno, testing us or something?”

Maybe he should just try it.

Mason the Metal Man… How cool would that be?

He plucked another key from the coffee table and exchanged looks with Claire and Alice. He wasn’t entirely sure which outcome he was actually hoping for here. Maybe there were horrible side effects associated with the treatment that hadn’t kicked in yet (he decided not to voice this theory, for Claire’s sake). Or maybe this was his destiny, and Mason was going to be the bulletproof super soldier of every young boy’s dreams.

Tracing the pointed edges of the key against his skin didn’t do much.

He prodded a bit. Gently. His skin didn’t break, but neither did the key. Slowly, Mason committed himself to begin scraping the key along… and instantly retracted the key in pain. There was a small but clearly visible line etched into the surface of his skin, instantly bursting his faintly developed dreams of heroism.

“Well, it didn’t work on me,” he said softly. “Whatever magic that doctor worked on me, it didn’t give me super strength. But Alice is onto something, that doctor definitely could have had a hand in this somehow. If only we knew who she was...”

ψ

[Deleted]

WORDS: 388

TAGS: Alice Morrow , Mason Warner

'Bleed. Bleed. Please, bleed,' her thoughts repeated in her mind and she held her breath when the fork lifted into the air. She'd expected him to have some sort of warning to tell her beforehand or a 'let's think about this', but was going to remain silent in her thankfulness that he'd just accepted her request. Her eyes kept on it as it stabbed down and she mentally willed it to go through her hand and into the table beneath it. But it didn't. It bent horribly with a loud 'twang' and.. she felt nothing. Well, not nothing. The impact gave pressure but no pain or discomfort. A small pink area appeared where he'd hit it.

She just stared at it while Alice (thankfully) had nothing but praise and excitement to express. Awesome? "Not the word I'd use.." she swallowed, pulling her hand slowly back to herself and hiding it in her lap. Though she remained silent, she had lifted her head to actively listen to the other two. "Like guinea pigs?" she asked and made a tiny face. "That sounds like movie stuff.." And it was the only thing that could possibly make sense. Since when did the impossible point to logic? "I don't.. feel like anything super," a shoulder shrugged and then she looked to Mason who, apparently, had the same hesitation she did.

He was right. That didn't make any sense for them to have been somehow altered and then just be left alone to their lives. The government was anything but allowing when it came to medical or military secrets... Hell, no governments were. She stopped talking again when Mason readied his breath calmly enough to be able to focus a key against his own skin. One.. nothing. Two.. nothing. Maybe they really were the same. When he set it harder to his skin, she got half of "Does it hu-?" out before he winced and pulled it away. "Careful," she worried, reaching out to push the key a little away.

Silence again. But she was quick to take her hand back into her own lap to think. "Do you think they're still at the hospital? The other three? We could call and ask.. maybe they've figured something out," Claire suggested and looked up to the younger girl. "You feel okay, right? Nothing weird?"

NOTES: Let's just think.
WEARING: Here

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Claire Elliot + Mason Warner

Alice looked even more disappointed than Mason after his experiment proved a failure. She’d been sort of hoping that it would have meant they all had some sort of dramatic change thanks to their miraculous recovery. Apparently fate had conspired to disagree. She shrugged, trying to hide her disappointment. “OK, so maybe we’re not going to be superheroes…” Alice examined the backs of her hands, particularly the knuckles, as though hoping she would suddenly sprout wolverine like claws. Vicious adamantium blades completely failed to appear, and she dropped them to her sides with a frown. She looked at the other two. “Well we could try giving Dom a call, he gave me his number…” She patted her pockets, producing a business card from it. It was slick and professional, the very essence of bare minimalism, with little more than his companies name and a phone number on it in embossed silver. “I don’t have anyone else, but Dom might have got their numbers, we could give him a call?” Alice shrugged, “I mean, I honestly feel better than I ever remember feeling… like… ever… maybe I just got like, super healthiness or something?” She looked to Mason for confirmation, then remembered what she had spent the last fifteen minutes doing. “Anyway… I did make pancakes…” The pancakes were pretty good. Although to call them simply pretty good would be an insult to great American Pancakes everywhere. Alice had added some of the syrup she’d found in the kitchen to the mix, and they were moist and sweet, still steaming slightly. Small red shapes were dotted within the pancakes themselves, and further examination would reveal them to be chunks of sliced strawberries baked into the mix. Alice looked a little nervous, “I hope they’re ok…”

© seadra of gs

[Mason Warner]

Slumber Party

Mason was amused by the fact that Alice had also been harbouring hopes of donning tights and fighting crime. He figured they’d be having a whole separate issue if she’d been the one to develop superhuman levels of toughness – they’d probably be holding her back from rushing out and tackling the first petty thief or drunken wannabe-combatant she came across. Mason liked to think that his reaction would have been a happy medium.

He smiled at Claire, pleased to see her having reached a point where she no longer needed to cling to him. It had been nice to be a source of comfort but it was even nicer to see her beginning to calm. Nothing close to the calm nature she seemed to usually exhibit, but much less hysterical now. On her way back to whatever normality was left available to her.

“You never know, Dom might have the same thing. He’s quite the showman, surely superpowers would come naturally to him if they could,” Mason grinned, only half kidding. “We all seem to have experienced a boost in our health. I’m afraid that one’s not exclusive to you, kiddo.”

He stood immediately at the mention of pancakes, taking Alice’s words as an open invitation to dig in.

The first mouthful was heavenly. They were inexplicably light for something entirely laced with syrup and Mason savoured the pancakes for approximately two seconds before his viciously ravenous appetite kicked in. He blinked and the pancake before him seemed to have been eaten. He cast suspicious glances at each of his companions before letting out a quiet burp.

Oh. It appeared that the culprit was in fact himself.

“You could say they’re okay,” he teased, rubbing his stomach contentedly. “Whaddya say, C-Laire?”

ψ

[Deleted]

WORDS: 479

TAGS: Alice Morrow , Mason Warner

“OK, so maybe we’re not going to be superheroes…”  Mason wasn't the only one that showed a tiny bit of amusement. It was.. inspiring to see Alice's optimism in her youth. Claire smirked at her briefly even as her head then faced forward and a bit down again to hang comfortably on her shoulders from her leaned-over posture - forearms resting over her knees. Her eyes drifted over the top of her hand and she flexed her fingers slightly to get a better look at the small, red mark. It then lifted to comb the top of her hair forward again, something simply habitual for her, and looked back up to the girl when she continued to speak.

“Well we could try giving Dom a call, he gave me his number…” That might be a good place to start. "The phone worked, right? The one in the kitchen?" the same hand dropped from her hair and reached out to grab the business card with the extent of her slender arm. She brought it in front of her face and tilted its angle slowly to see the silver letters. Of course this was his business card.. Actually, it was kind of cool. Minimalist with a flare. “I mean, I honestly feel better than I ever remember feeling… like… ever… maybe I just got like, super healthiness or something?”

"Honestly," she scrunched her mouth with a sheepish smile and looked to the both of them, "I feel great too. Weird.. since I haven't eaten anything. I should be shaking up a storm instead of walking around. Was going to test myself to see my levels but.. apparently metal isn't my biggest fan anymore," at least she found the dark humor in it now. It wouldn't do any good worrying about something she didn't understand or couldn't change. “Anyway… I did make pancakes… I hope they're ok.."

"Probably way better than everything I usually have on campus-," she stopped and blinked as Mason dug in, looking to Alice, then back to him, and showing an amused and abashed smirk. It was like watching an elementary kid on pizza day at school. Claire situated herself on the floor in front of the couch, usual for her, and crossed her legs by the coffee table to lean forward and take a few bites. By the time she was halfway done Mason had already finished in shock at himself.

C-Laire? Really? "Oh man.. is that my name now?" her eyes drifted to the empty plate in front of him. "That's a world record," she tried to joke. It was never her strong suit, but at least she was attempting. "Alice, they're awesome," she smiled to her. "I can clean the kitchen up.. Mason would you be comfortable with uh.. with calling him?" A silent 'I'm not great at the whole 'conversation' thing' hanging in the air.

NOTES: Moving forward.
WEARING: Here

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Claire Elliot + Mason Warner

Alice was both surprised, and flattered by the speed with which Mason devoured the pancakes. And devoured was certainly the world, it was more as if he’d inhaled the entire plate as opposed to wasting precious eating time on chewing. Alice herself was a healthy eater, but she was barely even close to finished before Mason. Admittedly he was significantly bigger than both her and Claire. Alice nodded, “yeah it worked, seemed ok anyway.” She picked up the empty plates to take them back to the kitchen, and returned a moment later with the small plastic flip phone in her hands. Realising that Claire didn’t want to call, she held it out to Mason. Then paused. “”I could call him? I don’t mind?” When Mason shrugged and nodded in confirmation, she opened the little device and tapped in the phone number. There was a brief dialling tone, but the phone only rang once before it was picked up. It was answered by a man, but a man who was definitely not Dominic. “Dominic Weaver’s office, how may I help you?” “Uh…” Alice in panic at Mason, mouthing secretary. “I’m ummm… ringing for Dominic…” The man’s voice was calm and collected, if a little amused. “That is frequently why people dial this number, may I ask who is calling?” Alice flushed, even though the voice at the other end of the phone couldn’t see her. “Sorry, it’s Alice… Morrow…” There was a moment of silence, and Alice sat down beside Mason on the couch, putting the small phone on speaker as she laid it down on the coffee table. They both stared at it. “Hello? Alice! Hey!” There was a faint fizzle in the background, as though Dominic were entering a tunnel, then it immediately cleared up. The PR agent’s voice was tiny from the tiny speakers, but understandable when he spoke again. “Shit… sorry… I got a little carried away… let me guess, you guys are absorbing electricity too?” “What? No… I mean… wait! Does that mean?” “What do you think? I just fried my computer, I had to answer the phone with my goddamned shoe. Now I just got to work out how to turn it off and on…” There was another loud crackle over the line, the whole connection whiting out in one massive blur of static, before he returned again. “OK… that might be it…” Alice jumped at the chance to get a word in edgeways. “We haven’t got any lightning, but Claire is fork-proof…” “Do you guys know what this me-“ Another fizzle “-s? Either they put us on some pretty strong shit in the hospital, or we’re… OK… where are you guys? I’ll come to you in the morning… I gotta ring the other two.” Claire filled in the details, and a moment later Dominic hung up. Left in silence now, the three of them stared at each other. “So what do we do now?”

© seadra of gs

[Mason Warner]

Slumber Party

Mason’s mind was reeling. In one short phone-call, the childish hopes he’d so carefully tidied away were running out to play once more. Dom had freaking lightning? Or, okay, absorbing electricity or whatever… Mason was quite jealous. He figured that as a former electrician, he should have first dibs on the electricity powers. He indulged himself by imagining a heroic future Mason with similar powers, maybe fire – something big and impressive. It was quite exciting now that the possibility seemed just a little more real.

He joined the others in silent contemplation once the phone went silent, but was glad for Alice breaking the silence even if it wasn’t to brainstorm potential magical abilities.

“What now?” Mason echoed, leaning back lazily on the sofa and grabbing his beer. “Not much we can do now, Al. We’ll wait for Dom to show up in the morning, see if he’s got any wise ideas or information for us. For now, that means we can relax, watch some more TV – sorry, Netflix – and uh… yeah…” He drummed his fingers against the cushions, feeling a little awkward. If Alice had been looking for a more proactive answer from him, she wasn’t getting one. Mason hadn’t the faintest clue what was going on, but was quite content to wait and find out.

“Isn’t that good news, C…?”

C-Laire hadn’t gotten the best reception. Mason was going to have to just keep experimenting until something stuck.

He laughed at himself and continued. “It must be from the doctor if Dom has suddenly got powers too, which somewhat solves the mystery. And hey, at least with your ability you won’t be sizzling all your favourite electronics. You might wanna steer clear of getting any flu jabs though…

“Where are we gonna sleep? I’m happy crashing on this couch but the floor is cool too if we’re short on space. Don’t want either of you two ladies missing out your beauty sleep on my account!”

ψ

[Deleted]

WORDS: 484

TAGS: Alice Morrow , Mason Warner

Everyone was horribly casual with how insane this situation was. Dominic was.. absorbing electricity? What? This wasn't happening, was it? For as much shock as her body had just had minutes ago when discovering her 'side effect', she couldn't come up with the energy for any more. So she sat there, looking blankly at the phone with her legs crossed on the floor, and only showed a responsive expression when Alice mentioned 'fork-proof', "Hey-.." Well, she wasn't wrong.

Dom had asked for her address to come over, hopefully to try and clear things up. If anyone could it'd be him, right? He seemed the leader-ly and important type. With how much static there was in his voice she had to snap back to the conversation for a moment in mid-thought to remember she was being asked a question. "Um, 18th and Grove. Small brick apartment building, 2B." After all was said and done, they'd come to the sleeping arrangements of Alice being comfortable on the short couch, Claire in her bed, and Mason on her floor covered in pillows and blankets.

But she wasn't sleeping. She couldn't. In fact, she'd been dreading a call that needed made because she had no idea how to start it. Claire got up as quietly as she could, stepped out of her bedroom and silently closed the door behind her to keep from waking Mason up on her way out, and then headed into the bathroom of the hallway. She kept the light off and used the screen of the old phone to find her way into the bathtub - sitting inside it and dialing a number that hadn't changed in years.

"Dad? Hey. I know.. I know, I'm sorry. My phone broke." After her hushed intro there was a long period of silence before she strained out an answer, "Yes.. My car um.. My car's gone, with the phone. I'm sorry I didn't call you sooner," how did she say this without killing him with worry? "I just got released.." The voice on the other end grew louder, more intense, and she had to hold it from her ear a little.

"I'm okay dad, I promise. They let me go home. I'm sorry about the plane ticket.. Maybe we can convince them to refund it." But his next words, the sound of a grown man trembling with tears in his voice, had her sniffing with some of her own. "You did?.. How is she? You left a flower for me right?"

The conversation lasted a little longer until he instructed her to get some rest after Claire told him she had to get a few more 'checkups'.. which wasn't entirely untrue. She stood, put the phone in her pocket, and turned the sink on for a brief moment to wash her face in the darkness before opening the bathroom door with the intent to head back to bed.

NOTES: Loved ones.
WEARING: Here

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Mason Warner]

Slumber Party

Collaboration with Claire Elliot

Mason was very, very comfortable in his mass of pillows and blankets. It helped that he’d been over-heating somewhat and had to migrated to the very top of the pile, allowing for a particularly snuggly base. It was probably best that he had the floor as opposed to Alice as the couch wasn’t exactly the roomiest for a man of his size. This way Mason could stretch out, arms wide. When they initially headed to their respective sleeping spots, Mason was unsure about how quickly he’d get to sleep. However, once he’d achieved this optimum sleeping position above the blankets, he was out like a light.

The only reason he was awake now was because his bladder had decided that it was time to go and that it couldn’t wait until the morning. It was most inconvenient, but probably the result of one Blue Moon too many for it to handle. He had only himself to blame.

Blearily, Mason coaxed himself from the soft, warm pile and blindly guided himself towards the bedroom door, pulling it open as quietly as possible.

The bathroom door pushed open and Mason promptly had a small heart attack.

“Claire!” He barely managed to suppress his exclamation, worried about disturbing Alice’s slumber even in his sleep-dazed state. He took a double-take, frowning at the look on her dimly lit face. “You okay, C?”

She jumped when he bumped into her, practically flattening against the wall before putting a careful finger over her lips with a glance to the living room and couch. “Yeah… phone call,” she whispered. “What are you doing up?”

The hoarse whisper that Mason chose to effect was bizarrely theatrical, and he moved closer to try and reign it in. “I uh- sorry, I’m bad at whispering, I just needed to use the bathroom. Hope the phone call wasn’t anything too serious.” He frowned, unsure of whether she needed comforting or to be left alone.

Yes, yes he was bad at whispering. She gave a tired smirk and dipped her eyes down. “It’s okay. Was um… My dad. I’ll get out of your way here,” she scooted back from the bathroom door to give him space and left the bedroom door open for him on the way back - sitting on her bed with a tiny sketchpad and small book light to let her see.

Mason hovered in the doorway, frown still etched into his forehead. “Well… is your…” He watched as she sat herself down on the bed and pulled out the small sketchpad. Huh, he knew she was studying art, but it was interesting to see her actually doing it. Mason wasn’t really the creative sort.

“...Is your dad okay? Sorry, I’ll leave you to it, but just know that if you need to talk about it when I’m more awake then that’s, you know, totally cool.” He smiled warmly, trying his best not to intrude any further than he already had.

She looked up at him in the doorway from her pad when he returned to the room. “Yeah, yeah…” Her second was a bit quieter than the first, trying to reassure him. Or herself… It was hard to discern. “It uh… It was my parents’ anniversary today or-,” what time was it? “Yesterday, I guess now. I was on the way to the airport… He’s been worried. Will this keep you up? Does it bug you?” she lifted the book light slightly.

“I hope they did something special to celebrate!” He hushed himself, cheeks reddening. Hopefully Alice was a heavy sleeper… “And no, don’t you worry about me, I’m a state champ at sleeping on a busy mind. You don’t have to say any more, it’s okay.”

It wasn’t the time or place to make him feel awkward. Most times when people commented and didn’t know, she just let it happen. Another tired smirk lifted on her features. “Cool… Night, Mason. And thanks,” she offered and continued to sketch away.

Mason nodded silently, finally mastering the art of keeping quiet for that one moment, and left her to it. She didn’t have to thank him, he didn’t feel like he’d even helped… at all. But maybe he just had to get to know her more before he could sense such sensitive changes in her mood. The quiet ones were always the hardest to read. In any case, Mason could recognise a fellow enthusiast of hiding behind smiles.

One empty bladder and several giant yawns later, Mason collapsed back onto his pile of blankets, drifting immediately into a deep, weary sleep.

Somewhere upwards of 6am Claire finally nodded off on the pad with the pencil still in her hand.

ψ

[Alice Morrow]

Paladin Am I more than you bargained for yet? + Claire Elliot + Mason Warner

The apartment was quiet when Alice woke, second hand sunshine spilling in through the window to cast a splinter of light across her pillow. That silence didn’t last long, as an unearthly; earth rattling noise rang through the apartment. Alice fell off the couch, thinking for a moment that it was the beginning of the earthquake. When the floor beneath her failed to shake she realised that it couldn’t be a natural disaster, well, not that kind anyway. She clambered to her feet, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She was dressed in the t-shirt of a band she’d never heard of and a pair of grey sweats, both borrowed from Claire. Looking around the empty room, she realised that she must be the first one up, there was no sign of Mason or Claire, but the rumbling was definitely coming from beyond the door of Claire’s room. She padded sleepily over, opening the door quietly. The heaped blankets where Mason had been sleeping were empty, though clearly slept on. Alice frowned, glancing down the corridor towards the bathroom. The door was open though, perhaps he had left earlier, going to his job or heading back to his own apartment. In truth she was a little hurt that he had just left like that, without saying goodbye. She hadn’t known him long, but she was getting to like his gentle, warm character. Even so, if Mason was gone, that left the tattooed art student as the only possible culprit. The surprise and amusement was clear in Alice’s voice as she called out above the noise. “Claire! Claire!” She moved around the side of the bed to shake the other girl awake. Claire stirred, opening bleary eyes. “Do you always sn-“ The snoring continued…

© seadra of gs

[Deleted]

WORDS: 264

TAGS: Alice Morrow , Mason Warner

The conversation didn't go as planned, not that she even planned to have one at four in the morning anyway. Sketching always helped clear her head when she didn't want to think about anything. It was a different world.. so simple, so transparent. She got lost in strokes and lines and found herself nodding every so often towards her sketchpad. That was surprising.. she was sure that she wouldn't have been able to fall back asleep.

Around 7:30, Claire finally leaned over off to one side across the rest of her pillows by the headboard with the sketchpad still halfway in her lap. She fell asleep in the awkward position at the top of the bed and remained dreamless. A black, empty nothing. It was peaceful.. calming, even. Until a high-pitched voice practically shouted her name and her entire body shook away. She took a quick inhale and blinked rapidly, sitting up and rubbing an eye with the palm of her hand while looking at Alice with abrupt and sleepy confusion. "What? What's wrong?" 


"Do you always sn-"

"I never snore.." quiet as a church mouse actually. Hell, she hardly even moved when she fell asleep. But then the familiar noise erupted again - one that usually would've kept her up had she not been so deadbeat tired - and rolled her head downwards to itch at her eyes. "That's Mason.. been snoring all night.. Nudge him a bit to see if it'll stop," she suggested with a yawn. For sleeping on the floor at the foot of a bed, he sure seemed damn comfortable.

NOTES: Secret snoring.
WEARING: Here

＃ENY ADOXOGRAPHY

[Mason Warner]

Slumber Party

Mason was having very strange dreams. A whole bunch of them, each more abstract than the last. Honestly, by the fourth, Mason had reached a point of semi-lucidity and was questioning whether or not this slumber would be even remotely refreshing. The first dream was a fairly normal one – the office had been painted different colours and he’d been given the brand spanking new position of “Balloon Collector” – but as the minutes ticked by his dreams were beginning to lack any kind of coherent theme. His first thought as he started coming to was that wow, something must really be bothering him.

One loud snort had jerked him awake… must have been snoring again. Oops – sorry Claire. He stretched, blinking at the light creeping in through his eyelids before opening them slowly.

“There’s no one there.” That was Alice speaking, although he’d missed the beginning of the conversation. Mason sat up in a noisy rustle of blankets to grin good-naturedly at his fellow slumber party guests.

“Morning ladies!” Alice was looking at him a little funny – almost through him rather than meeting gaze – but Mason brushed it off as a side effect of still waking up. “No more magic powers developed overnight, then?”

He was excited to see Dominic. He wondered if any of the others would be coming over to share any more fantastic talents. It was definitely something that, having slept on it, Mason was more excited about that anything else. Hopefully Claire was feeling better now too, he’d have to make sure that things were all okay after the stress of her “fork-proof” skin discovery and that late night phone call.

Mason’s stomach rumbled. “Pancakes?

ψ