[u]Clifford Blake[/u] Turning the handle of the cool water tap, he held the kettle carefully with his other hand, collecting the water inside of it. Setting it on the hot stove, he turned his attentions to finishing up the preparations of the food. A light, honeyed cake with fluffy cream spread evenly atop it, freshly washed and prepared garden grown fruits, all sliced up neatly in a separate plate. Bread pudding baked neatly in a cup, with a light caramel drizzle. Triangle cut sandwiches with different combinations of light bits of lettuce, cheese, tomato, and roast beef slices… With the kettle letting out a steady stream of steam, he poured the hot water into the teapot, and then hung the sterling silver tea ball into it. Letting that steep, for the moment, he made some small finishing touch ups before setting each plate and platter onto a trolley…then the tea, teacup sets on their matching plates, a little pot of sugar, and a small plate of neatly cut lemon wedges. Pushing the tea trolley quietly down the hall, taking only a moment to admire the darkening evening sky, he made his way to the guest room. Knocking twice, to let the girl know he was out in front of the door, he opened it and pushing the trolley in. Clifford closed the door behind him. The guest room was quite roomy, with it’s own separate seating and tea table…moving the trolley over, he began to set the tea goods onto the table, with the plates and platters set down least. “Sorry for the wait, miss Hakuran. This evening’s tea is a sweet, hibiscus tea.” Standing by, in good posture, he waited for her to say something…or else, he’d begin with his own commentary and questions. ----- [u]Vesper Evens-Star[/u] Cocooning and uncocooning himself in the blankets of the bed, Vesper didn’t know what was wrong….why he felt so uncomfortable… “Daddy…?” No immediate answer. Panic setting in. “Daddyyyyy? Dad…!” Getting up, with blankets draped along his shoulder, he ran around the place…finding no daddy! Running to the front door, and kicking it down, he ran out onto the sidewalks. With the blanket now draped over his head and shoulders, he nervously wandered, occasionally stopping a nice looking lady here or there to ask if they’ve seen his daddy. It was getting dark and frightening…but despite this, Vesper Evens-Star worried about his daddy more. ----- [u]Scaevola (In Possession of Nathan)[/u] Sitting on the ledge of the large window, his back to the open air of the alleyway between these two abandoned buildings. His seat was a second floor window, and leaving the building was as simple as hoping out of it…even for the man he currently possessed, though once possessed, the leg wasn’t in it’s usual bad state. Staying still, he kept his rather cliché hood up…and listened. There was a certain ‘click-clack, click-clack’ of familiar heels, a woman who often took to walking briskly through this particular alley as a short cut home. As easy as it was to lean back, hook, line, and sinker, pull the lady up in through his window…he let these regulars go. They’d reinforce the normality of this area and situations, people have likely seen or heard of them passing through here, killing a regular would raise suspicion. Instead, he stayed still and remained unnoticed due to his motionlessness, and waited. The sounds of the hurried ‘click-clacking’ became distant, before disappearing entirely. This wasn’t his preferred hunting method, but this night was slow in this particular area, and…he had a bad feeling creeping up his spine. It was a low-profile sort of night. With the alleyway’s form of silent, the occasional cat yowling, and a piece of paper or two fluttering in the wind…the distant tandem of new footsteps was music to his ears. Waiting, still, waiting, waiting…when the footsteps peaked in volume, he leaned back, extended his hands back, and looped the long metal wire around the man’s neck…tightly. The man tried to let out a sound in his pain and shock, but the wire tight around his neck allowed for none of this, especially as he was being pulled up by this wire. Hands, fingers scrambled and tried to get a hold of this wire, and his legs and feet scrambled and kicked against the small bit of solids wall…but to no effect, nobody was passing by, the kicking against the solid brick was nearly nothing. His airway was cut off painfully, this victim just about lost consciousness as Scaevola hauled him through the window ledge. Taking the wire that had previously been looped tightly around the man’s neck; he returned it to its original form…a long hair from this marionette of his. Letting this fly into the light breeze entering the alleyway, he shut the window behind him…then the blinds, then the curtains. Slow night, he could probably just take his time on this.