[center][h3][color=00a99d]『𝔼𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕥』 [/color][/h3][/center]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FJt85Te.png[/img][/center]
[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3R5vYYi.png?2[/img][/center][hr][center][color=00a99d]𝕄: 𝕊𝕖𝕡𝕥. 𝟙𝟜, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘   / /   𝕎𝕚𝕤𝕗𝕠𝕣𝕕, 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕪𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕   / /   𝕋𝕠𝕨𝕟   / /  ~𝟙𝟠𝟛𝟘[/color][/center][hr]
[hider=The one where Ernie doesn't give a shit about privacy.]
Ernie followed silently, mentally cussing out Emma with every step he took. She was right about everything, of course, but that did nothing to abate the searing rage in him. But it all stopped when he saw Marcus.

All of a sudden, the familiar shame smothered everything he was feeling. He couldn't look the scarred boy in the eye and opted to take a seat further down from him and Emma. The Aberration found himself clenching his fist at the idle chatter Emma, that conniving faker bitch, could somehow still manage. A tired hand ran through his damp hair and, though it didn't come back out with any traces of red, it did nothing to set his anxious, obsessed mind at ease. 

[i]Filthy, red worms burrowing into dirt.[/i]

He turned to another distraction instead, keeping an eye on David's prone form as the temporary ride rumbled forward.

As they were filed out of Dean's APC and onto the truck they had arrived on, Ernie spied a familiar pair of phone and cheap earphones on a seat towards the end of the chamber. He rushed to claim that seat immediately and picked up the phone, vaguely recognising the blue, starry decal on the back. Callan's. The reminder of the girl's need to be in the emergency truck with the other casualties panged his heart. He sat and fiddled absently with the phone in his hand instead, finding himself wishing that the basketballer was next to him. 

Hazel, Sander, Emma... after being attacked by these people, physically and verbally, he just really wanted a friend to remind him that he wasn't completely hated here. But instead he was alone, listening to the bitch that had just ended him chat with her boyfriend, like she was completely unaffected by what she had done just before. His insides felt murky between the resent and loneliness churning within, and Ernie wanted nothing more than to escape by throwing himself into the depths of sleep. 

He plugged his earphones in and leaned back onto the unforgiving, hard wall of the truck, feeling a chilly emptiness on his shoulder where a warm head of aquamarine should have been. Ah, who was he kidding? He wouldn't have been able to face anyone properly after everything he'd done, let alone someone like Cal.

With that last pang of sadness, Ernie threw his pitiful thoughts away in favor of the soft tunes in his ears, trying but failing to fall asleep all the way to their destination.

[hr][center][color=00a99d]𝕄: 𝕊𝕖𝕡𝕥. 𝟙𝟜, 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟘   / /   𝕃𝕒 ℙ𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕒, 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕪𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕   / /   𝕋𝕠𝕨𝕟   / /  ~𝟙𝟡𝟙𝟘[/color][/center][hr]
[color=00a99d]"Jesus, fuck!"[/color]

Ernie jumped and almost bashed his head as the shower's piping hot water turned into something he'd dump onto a hapless Carlton at four in the morning. Urgh, he should've known how fucking unreliable motel services could be. Looked like he'd have to use the Rope Method again.

A heated phone call with room service followed and ten minutes later a quick knock at his door caught his attention. Outside his room sat a large mound of towels, a basket almost overflowing with generic hotel sanitary products, two bath brushes, and six kettles. The maid who had made the delivery was nowhere to be seen. Good. He didn't want to answer any nosy questions.

Ernie worked quickly, using the numerous kettles to keep boiling bath water in rotation. Bottles upon bottles were emptied as the clean freak scrubbed himself down, properly and more harshly this time. The boiling water was searing but not harmful, thanks to his magic. He would soon feel clean again, or at least, the top part of him would feel that way. He still needed to wait for the wishalloy to fall off to clean his legs and torso.

So he waited. Dried off for now and hopped over to his bag to find something to do in the meanwhile. His gaze immediately drifted to the blue phone sitting on top of the pile, and he pursed his lips as he picked it up. Two quick taps of the home button revealed the lack of a passcode.

[color=00a99d]"Girl needs to take better care of her things,"[/color] he smirked fondly.

He paused. Ernie knew it was probably a bad idea to snoop. But... well, if this opportunity was here then he should make the most of it. It wasn't like he was looking to harm anyone with it, for the moment anyway. And, hell, if she was really so fussed about people snooping then she would have put a passcode on, right? Ernie immediately went to her music library and scrolled to K for 'Keys', hoping to jot down some songs to listen to later. Maybe he'd even find out what 'chillstep' was through this.

He swiped through quickly, taking note of the songs and artists with the most interesting names. After some minutes of browsing, satisfied for the moment and not wanting to invade a friend's privacy more than he already had, Ernie flicked through his own phone, checking on his usual groupchats and websites including Death and Taxes. The news of an apparent attack on the school piqued his interest but just as quickly lost it when all the panic died down. The users seemed more intent on talking about weird, floaty dreams than figuring out who was behind the whole thing. And there was still ages to go before the wishalloy fell off. Ernie groaned and flopped onto his bed, before his gaze flickered towards Cal's phone again. Boredom and curiosity made a devilish combination.

Eh, just a bit more. Then he'd stop. Definitely.

He was expecting to see silly selfies when he entered the photo gallery. He was expecting to laugh at group photo with her roommates or nod appreciatively at pictures of tasty food. Usual teenager stuff. He wasn't expecting to have his blood run cold.

An article reporting on the death of a varsity basketball player from a freak monster attack. A house broken beyond repair, too far demolished to not have been the work of something supernatural.

[quote][i]The neighbors' houses had been completely untouched. How unfair was that?

Even months later, Ernest couldn't get that image of his collapsed home unbranded from his mind. Late at night, on that dirty mattress surrounded by the gut-inverting stench of cleaning chemicals, he couldn't help but think back to that day, despite the tears he always had to keep silent lest Liam heard and yelled at him again.

Why him? Why that house out of the dozens of others on that street? Did they die quickly at least? Painlessly? What kind of monster was it? How exactly had it gotten past the city's defenses?

Tens of hundreds of questions swirling around in his head whenever the dark-haired boy got too much time to think, countless theories running their courses. But there was one question that he always refused to pursue.

He knew who he could ask. He knew that he would get answers if he did. He knew that they could kill him on the spot if he got too close to the truth he feared. About his house. About the true monsters he was currently living with, the monsters that called this city their home and broke what they pleased.

So he stopped thinking about it in the end. It wasn't worth it. What's done was done, and he couldn't let the past ruin what little future he still had.

But despite the fear blocking the desperate need for answers, despite all the other shit that occupied his mind these days, it lingered at the back of his mind. He'd revisit it on the rarest of occasions, then promptly shut it away behind walls of denial. That one question.

[color=00a99d]Was it really a monster attack?[/color]
[/i][/quote]
The Aberration felt his breath hitch dangerously as his mind raced to connect the dots between what he saw on the phone and what he'd learnt from their conversation during the day.

[quote][i][color=00a99d]"Wow... why would they do that? Did they really hate you or something?"[/color]

"[color=a2d9ce]Heh. Who knows...?[/color]"[/i][/quote]
Liar.

[quote][i][color=00a99d]"You don't even know why... what made them do that?"[/color]

"[color=a2d9ce]Yeah... I guess they're pretty bad parents. Or I'm a pretty bad kid. I really... don't know....[/color]"[/i][/quote]
[color=00a99d]"Liar,"[/color] Ernie hissed, his hand gripping the phone tightly.

He had long since conditioned himself to see only the worst in people if they gave him enough reason to. It kept him on his toes, alert around those who would likely harm him. This...seemed like pretty good incentive to do that for Cal. But even so, what he actually knew about the girl severely contradicted what this secret article implied.

Maybe there were family problems involved. That sort of explained why her parents had gone to such ridiculous lengths to fake their daughter's death. The article had mentioned injured personnel. Resisting arrest? That didn't really explain why the damage was so severe. Hell, maybe there really was a monster in the house and she had been trying to fight it off! 

Ernie groaned. He hated it but the most likely conclusion was the one he feared the most. Cal, despite being a Stigma-less Arbiter, had lost complete control of herself and her powers. Whether it was an moment of uncontrollable rage or a side-effect of her power, he wasn't sure. But it had happened. And he didn't know if it would again.

She had killed an officer in her fervor. She had raged enough to completely collapse her own home. Her parents, seeing their child for the monster she truly was, had wisely done everything they could to cut ties with her. This bleak theory covered the current facts to a revolting extent.

With a defeated sigh, the Aberration swiped through the phone's app history, removing the photo gallery to leave the music player as the most recently opened app.

He'd only really gotten to know Callan a few hours ago. Could he say he knew her at all? Either way, she was still a friend and someone he wanted to spend more time with. He would have to tiptoe his way around this topic. Work through it slowly. Because if it meant keeping himself out of danger, Ernie would definitely get to the bottom of this.
[/hider]