[b]Evelynn Joshi
~2:40 pm[/b]

The day progressed beautifully. Jonas had left Evelynn close to noon, and though she had thought she might get bored out by herself, the lake and its scenery proved otherwise. She couldn't help but take some pictures with her mobile phone, useless now without a network connection but still able to pull through in a pinch. She sat with her knees brought up to her chest and used her lap as a mock-table for the sketchpad she was working on. Lazy sunlight fell in patches through the shade of the leaves and made the white of her paper and the white of her dress glow in a warm manner that just screamed ‘summer’. She was drawing the trees on the far side of the lake, and always went back to add another branch, add another detail to a leaf, so remained fully engrossed and growing enchanted with the scenery, and admittedly her own work, too. It was coming together wonderfully. Adding some finishing details on one corner of the page, she looked up, swallowing up the atmosphere and a deep breath of air with a content sigh, before noticing something out of the corner of her eye. It was a small kind of movement, but sure enough, it piqued her curiosity and she turned her head to make out what it was.

Two figures that were just silhouettes at first were approaching, and Lynn grinned. Although she was finishing off, company at any time would be appreciated. She was even more delighted to make out one of the figures as her most recent neighbour, Marceline. Though as they came closer, she realised she hadn't once spoken to the older gentleman with her, with the brilliant white beard. Her eyebrows knit as she tried to remember his name. All she knew was that he was the last person to step into the waiting room at the airport, and though his name was said at least a couple of times over during the past two days, she could not for the life of her remember it. Marci's name was no problem, and it came to Lynn instantaneously as she blurted it out cheerily, when they were a sufficient distance from her, “Oh, hey! Hey, Marci!”

Lynn noticed her and the older gentleman were chatting, and she was curious as to just what it was about. The party last night? The Wolfs? Their lives before coming here? Any of those could have been plausible, but Lynn never would know, as it the conversation cut when Marci noticed Lynn. Though, she wasn't displeased. 

“Ah! Hey Lynn, what's going on?” the other woman called with an unmistakable smile, and even waving with a similar unmistakable energy. Lynn waved back, though a little more subtly and a little less swingy, even if only for the moment, since she found herself quite curious about the man with Marci. As they finally neared where Lynn was sitting, Marci, never missing a beat, motioned to the gentleman and explained, “Oh, uh, Lynn, this is Gray Birch. I guess you two haven't properly met yet?”
In response, the gentleman lifted his hand in a casual two finger salute greeting, his manner laid back and polite all the same. Lynn was just about to get up to shake his hand and supply the traditional ‘Nice to meet you’, especially since he was much older, and so Lynn was taught in the typical Indian household to thoroughly respect your elders, when he spoke, “Ah, there's no need for such formalities anymore. After all this insanity I suppose we're all in this together now.”

Letting out a sigh in relief that she hadn't just offended anyone by being too formal, she returned the two-finger salute with a little laugh. “We haven't met properly, no.” she smirked at Marci, “But he's quite right. You can call me Lynn, Mr-” She caught herself just in time, lips curving into an embarrassed smile, “...Gray. Gray is good. Whoops, hah.” 

There was a warm, comforting, if refined, aura about this man, Evelynn had decided. Despite his age and wisdom, he really was just as lost as they were in this hellish place, and that reassured Lynn, even if just slightly. He smiled warmly as he placed the object he'd been carrying on the ground at last, and Lynn's eyes lit up at noticing it was a picnic basket. A very big picnic basket. As Gray spread out a picnic blanket he retrieved from the basket, Lynn only just heard him mention to himself, or probably Marci, “[i]That young man sure does think of everything.[/i]” before he took a seat on the blanket, motioning for anyone to join him there.

Lynn gladly moved over to the blanket after just a second of pondering, dusting herself off and sending a little sprinkle of grass back onto the ground, before she sat herself down on the edge, legs to one side and the sketchpad shut - with the pencil stuck in as a bookmark for now - and shoved back into her canvas bag, which she's put on the blanket just next to her. “A whole picnic out? Ooh, my... But I'm curious, hm. This young man you were referring to. Would that be Félix?"
She visibly bit her bottom lip here with a sheepish smile, slight colour rising to the tan of her cheeks slowly but surely. The events of this morning lingered in her mind, and she decided she most definitely would be ringing Félix up for ‘breakfast in bed’ in the near future. Changing the topic before things got any more flustering for her, she continued, "What brings you two out here? A coincidence I'd see you here! Jonas was here with me earlier."

Marci gestured to Gray, and used the same hand to push her hair back behind her ears, before she spoke, “He invited me to check the lake out - figured it was a nice day and my hangover is finally in retreat, so why not? How long have you been out here?” As she spoke, she put her journal down on the blanket too, not too far from Lynn, and then removed her hoodie and placed it beside the notebook. Lynn noticed she wore what appeared to be a swimsuit under the hoodie, and reminded herself internally to see if she brought one. She probably hadn't, thinking this was a trip for work related purposes after all, and didn't expect to go swimming. If she did, it'd have to be in the nude...something that made her shudder at the thought of, since she never imagined she'd be doing [i]that [/i] of all things at a place like this.

“The one and only.” Lynn had almost missed the last bit Marci left before she, all too hurriedly, moved forward with her camera and began snapping pictures of the landscape. Something seemed definitely off about the way Marci reacted to his name, and though Lynn wanted to press it, she had to satisfy herself with a ‘what happened’ sort of glance at Gray, who conveniently missed the entire exchange and probably looked really puzzled. She sighed defeated, “Huh...I see. That's nice of him...”
She decided to drop the topic for the moment, subconsciously curling up just a little at the bad feeling she had about what happened with Félix. “Been out here for a while...ever since breakfast, I think. That was at…um.” instinctively she threw out her right hand and, finding no watch, moved to dig in her canvas-bag to fetch it, checking the time with a little gasp. “God, it’s been hours now. I was out of the house - err, manor - before noon!”

She spoke to Marci primarily, since she noticed one Gray Birch was quite lost in his own world, staring off at the lake. Lynn mentally slapped herself at the notion that he was old and his hearing deteriorating, so he probably hadn't heard her, but nervously laughed to herself with a tiny inward shrug, when he mused fondly, “What a wonderful view! I can hardly wait to get in the water… But first, we can’t let this fine plate go to waste.” and at that moment, as if right out of a clip from a grand, tropical holiday movie, he pulled out a silver platter - Lynn wondered if silver platters were all they had at the Manor - containing more cured meats and cheeses than Lynn could even place! She'd be lying if she'd said she wasn't salivating at that very moment. It only got better when Gray, or ‘the magical food-bringer’ Lynn had internally dubbed him, pulled out a small, round basket with a napkin over it. He pulled it off to uncover a pile of sliced French bread, and Lynn's stomach growled insistently as the older man fished out a bottle of red and a corkscrew, and began opening it up.

Marci happened to be taking pictures all throughout the ceremonious uncovering, and when it was all done, finally sat herself down on the blanket, and as if welcoming her, Gray finally popped the cork off. Lynn shot her an ‘Oh, I’m dying to see’ sort of smirk when she finally put the camera down, and the photos that poured out of the slit kept coming and being arranged by Marci on the grass. Her smirk turned curious when Marci gave her a sort of expectant look Lynn couldn’t place alongside the question she asked, “So, seen anything creepy out here yet, Lynn?”

The brunette’s eyebrows knit as she thought, trying to remember just what it was the bearded man had said to her. “Personally, when I was out with Jonas earlier, he said some things that I thought were...spooky, but I dunno. The lake seems pretty nice. It’s really calm, and really pretty out here.”
Here she paused briefly, and changing the topic quickly, her eyes found Gray’s. “Goodness, look at this spread! Seems you really did get everything for a perfect picnic.”
Well, it would have been perfect. The one failing factor was the fact that there only happened to be two glasses, something for which Lynn looked a little disappointed, but only for a split second. Of course she hadn’t expected them to bring another glass! Why would they, after all, when they had made plans for a picnic among themselves?!
Being reminded of her own thirst by the red wine swirling and glittering in the bottle, Evelynn fished out a half-full water bottle from her canvas bag, laying limp and piling up against her body, and once she had spun open the cap, brought her lips to the rim and sipped idly. Her dark eyes swept gently over the landscape to the lake again, “...aah, I’m sure the water’s lovely. I might just dip my feet in, too.”

“Well, Kim told me what Jonas told her, but…” Marci began, though as if an indication from the heavens themselves, she happened to notice how Lynn brushed it off as if it was no more than the wind. Picking up on the left cue, she changed gears, “I’m sure everything’s fine, yeah?”

Unfortunately, for all the girls’ efforts, or mostly Lynn’s, to divert the conversation, it came back to bite her indirectly. It seemed Gray was aware of it too, and he asked Marci if Jonas had told her a “chilling” story, too. As he waited for her answer, he had taken to gently, with the skill of a refined wine-drinker and the grace of his sturdy hand, pouring the wine into the two glasses before he stopped mid-way and seemed a little thrown off. “Oh dear! Now this is just absolutely terrible, we should have asked for more glasses, in case something just like this were to happen. But now we don’t have enough!”
Before Lynn even had a chance to complain, the glasses were thrust into both her and Marci’s hands, and they couldn’t have given them back because Gray, even for his age, got to his feet ridiculously quickly. Lynn, yet again for the umpteenth time this afternoon, mentally smacked herself.
She didn’t know if he had read her mind, or if he was just excited, but he was smiling when he added,“I’m going to get in the water now, and by the time I’m out, we can just switch off.”

Marci was the first to speak between the two girls, having just finished spreading the last of the pictures on the grass and, to Lynn, she seemed just as surprised to have the glass of wine thrust right into her hands, "Oh, are you sure? I mean, I can do without it for now, and it was your idea, so-”
And here surprise turned into a tiny, awkward panic.

“I didn’t really think it was...real, I gotta admit.” Lynn bit her bottom lip embarrassedly, a little ashamed to admit she didn’t believe Jonas as much after all. She had wanted to believe him fully, she truly did, but especially after sitting out there in the heart of the sprawling lawns of the manor, surrounded by beauty and tranquility as far as the eye could see, it seemed way too unlikely.
“It all seemed too...dream-like. No, actually. Too [i]nightmarish[/i]. Like something out of a horror movie. I’m sure there’s honestly nothing like that here.” She had been sipping from the water-bottle when her hand now held the glass of wine, making her choke awkwardly between a surprised attempt to complain, and a surprised attempt to speak, “Really, I-I’m fine too! I shouldn’t! Not this early, at least, I…”
She trailed off, her eyes meeting Marci and her being minutely reassured that she wasn’t the only one considering the situation a little unfair, “Err...uh.”

“It may be too early for liquor, but wine is a special sort of thing. You drink it to accompany the finer things in life, not just to get drunk. Thankfully there are enough fine things around here to warrant a few bottles now and then.” The suave gentleman teased, making Lynn’s cheeks go hot. She never did receive attention like that positively, because it always threw her off guard and if she could help it, she’d perhaps not be a squealing, pleading mess more often than not. However, it seemed his word was final, and he left the wine in their care, stepping determinedly forward and kicking off his shoes with an excitement or a vigour Lynn couldn’t place.
And then he took off his shirt, and as if on cue, Lynn’s jaw dropped.

He was absolutely covered in tattoos.

Everything flowed into each other, from the clock-face on his right shoulder which blended into sands and the crescent, half and full moon down his arm. Similarly, his left arm was covered in tattoos but not so much sticking to the theme of time, with compasses and bizarre beasts that Lynn couldn’t even place. Fortunately, there were some animals even Lynn recognized: A cow, a lion and a big cat with rosettes. Lynn wasn’t sure exactly what it was in the split second her eyes fell upon it; there was just so much to take in. Her eyes finally settled on a circle tattooed onto Gray’s lower back, made of a snake eating its tail with the centre filled in to resemble roses. Though Lynn had no idea what snakes had to do with roses for, she didn’t have the ability to ask.
If she had, she would have noticed an inscription in the center of the roses which read, ‘Henry Calhoun Birch, 8/22/94 -- 10/17/14’

“Whoaaaaa.” Lynn barely even made out Marci from the corner of her eye quickly sitting her glass between her thighs and snapping a picture of the tattooed masterpiece that stood before them as he looked out into the water. Though she’d be much happier sitting there gawking forever at Gray, his body in an impeccable condition for his age and now in full view in the shorts-style speedo he wore, in a way that made her kind of jealous that she probably wouldn’t take care of her own body in that way so she’d be all saggy and wrinkly when she got to his age – she really didn’t even know how old he was, and on top of that she dared not ask, either – she was snapped out of the trance when only just managing to clink her glass against Marci’s incoming one as she declared, “Well, cheers, then.” with a grin.

“Let’s just hope the water is warm.” The older gentleman, formerly staring fondly at the lake, now made his way down to the edge, leaving the two girls alone.

“Whoa! Cheers indeed, hah!” Lynn gave Marci a bashful smile, a little apologetic for her previous distractedness, and so quietly bringing the glass to her lips as the girl next to her called out to Gray, “Let me know how it is!”

Lynn lazily focused her eyes on Gray as he made his way down, and her lips idly sipped from the swirling red drink. They were drawn away from the wine only when Lynn brought the glass back down, finally noticing the darling little collection in its entirety laying on the grass right next to Marci. Some of them were still drying, though a lot of them were dry already, and after all, Lynn [i]had[/i] been dying to see…

“Hm, Marci.” She shot her a side-glance. “May I…?” she asked in an almost awestruck tone of voice, glass held similarly to Marci’s earlier between her thighs and her hand gesturing out at the pictures. Her free hand moved to play with the edges of the sundress she wore, and simultaneously tug at it and straighten out the edges.
Fortunately, Marci was quite happy to share her work, after being snapped out of idly swirling the contents of her glass, she gave Lynn a green-light smile. “Oh. hah, yeah sure. Go ahead.”

“Thank you.” Lynn bowed her head in an exaggerated expression of gratitude, before her fingers moved to the photos and she busied herself with browsing through them, ever admiring the talented young woman’s work.