Adalrod

House of Leaves [Modern / Lovecraftian Horror]

September 5th, 2015: 4:22 AM

Linus scratches his chin curiously. He opens his mouth before closing it again, eyes glancing at each person in the room in turn. Nicki, who appeared incredible irritable What else is new..., Adrian, who appeared ready to take on whatever laid beyond, Allan, who looked wary but eager at the same time. And then there was Max, who looked as if the very house would swallow them up.

House... That word bit back at Linus as if it was a shark. Linus knew exactly where he stood. "L-l-lets not...." he mutters, before swallowing and speaking louder. "L-l-let's n-n-not open i-i-it... a-as l-l-long as i-it stays sh-shut, we are s-safe." To accentuate his point, Linus stands next to Max, looking at the group defiantly.

And yet...

Even bookish Linus had to admit that he was curious of what lay behind the door. Could it be a Narnia? Maybe a portal to another world? Or simply a door to the neighboring house... Again, as that word came up, Linus shook the thoughts aside. He knew where he stood, but it was up to the others. Just in case, he moves to grab his satchel with the load of medical supplies inside. Funny, I always thought this would be for paper cuts or burns, not a random door...

House of Leaves [Modern / Lovecraftian Horror]

September 5th, 2015: 4:22 AM

At the sound of a monstrous roar Linus spasms and falls out of his bed, body clenched in fear. Wake up, wake up! This dream needs to stop! Yet, when Linus opened his eyes, the sound still continued, beating against his eardrums with a violent intensity. Linus clasped his hands to his ears to block out the sound, sitting up, but to no avail; it just got louder and louder. Then, just as tears of pain started to develop in his eyes, the sound stopped.

Now completely and utterly awake, Linus blinks and wipes his eyes hurriedly. Linus quickly and feebly rebuttons his shirt before dashing out of bed, sliding across the floor in his socks as he goes to the nearest room: Adrian's. Linus grips onto the doorway as he slides, steadying himself. His stutter is far more intense in this moment of panic.

"D-d-d-d-d-d-did y-y-y-you... hhhhhear t-t-t-that?" Linus' eyes are wide and filled his fear. His body is shaking his face is pale as a sheet as he takes a feeble step into the room.

House of Leaves [Modern / Lovecraftian Horror]

September 4th, 2015 5:30

Reclining against the door was Linus, with his book open in one hand and the end of his pen pressed lightly to his lip. That same phrase from before kept coming to mind and, using his pen, Linus jot some thoughts down into the text.

"Insanity: Reversible and voluntary or involuntary and permanent?"

The pen reverts back to its original placement on his lip as he continues reading through the book as Max began to bring up the subject of the camera. His eyes stopped, fixing on one point on the page as he listened to Nicki's translation and with Max's jests. When he looked up at the camera his eyes were bright. Closing his book and setting it aside Linus tucked his pen into his shirt pocket and moved closer to the group, reaching for the camera.

"L-l-let mmm-e see." Linus looked through the pictures curiously, noting less of the words and more of the writing style and pattern. He speaks again. "A-are y-y-ou sure t-t-t-this isn'-t a j-j-j-oke, Max?" He continues looking down at the pictures, humming quietly as his thoughts raced.

Seems to be written feverishly and messily, and not simply because of the handwriting. The words overlapping could be a sign of... "Insan-ity" Linus murmurs out loud, before continuing his thoughts. Whoever wrote this was in a hurry, maybe his thoughts were muddled or... something. He brings up his left hand, scratching the side of his face thoughtfully. Of course, it could just be a silly game that some teenagers had a part in...

Linus powers off the camera before looking at the card itself for any details or writing, turning it over with critical eyes.

House of Leaves [Modern / Lovecraftian Horror]

September 4th, 8:35 a.m.

As the door slowly opens, the high-pitched squeal of Nicki pierces the air. Linus stops in his tracks, the door not moving an inch further.

If I go in there, then I will have to be in the middle of one of Nicki's blowouts, I would have to guess. I remember seeing one of her mannequins set up in the living room, so she is probably working on one of those "Big Ideas" that she has. Looking down at his flannel and pants which are covered with dirt and wet patches, Linus sighs slightly, slumping his shoulders a small amount. And she would go ballistic on my clothes if she saw me like this. Maybe I should just...

Linus' hand sneaks through the crack in the door, moving the grab his satchel that hangs on the rack next to the entryway. His fingers shake as they get close to the rack, and his tongue sticks out of the corner of his mouth in silent concentration. Finally, Linus' hand closes around the bag and unhooks it, quickly drawing it through the crack in the door as he closes it quietly. A cold gust of wind entering the room being the only major testament that the door was opened.

Turning his back to the door, Linus slings his satchel over his shoulder diagonally across his chest and whistles as he walks away, fetching his book from the bench and heading towards the town as he reopens his page and becomes engulfed in his book.

September 4th, 3 P.M.

The air in the afternoon was not warmer, by any stretch of the imagination. Still, that didn't appear to bother Linus as he walked down the street. In fact, he appeared unaffected by what was going on around him as he pressed his nose to the book.

“There are times when the mind is dealt such a blow it hides itself in insanity. While this may not seem beneficial, it is. There are times when reality is nothing but pain, and to escape that pain the mind must leave reality behind.”

Linus' eyes darted over that passage again and again. It opened up an entirely new doorway of thought. What events happen that harm the mind to this extreme? Is there a way to recover from it? Would people around that person realize that they are next to an insane person? Am I insane? Are we all insane?

The philosopher in him yearned for the answer and would not stop hunting for it, yet even now the biggest thing on his mind was that no answers were being found, only questions. Maybe if I just sit down for a little an-

Linus smashed into an object, knocking him flat on his back and knocking the air out of him. His hands do not go towards steadying his fall, and instead have a death-grip on his book. Once Linus stabilized on the ground he raised a hand to his head, dragging it down across his cheek in disbelief before opening his eyes.

"Oh, h-h-hello, Max!"

House of Leaves [Modern / Lovecraftian Horror]

The wet, cool air bit against Linus' bared cheeks as he sat outside the house, simply watching as the sleepy citizens walk by the snowy awing in front of the house over the top of his book. Linus sat calmly on a bright red bench, leaning back comfortably with his book held loosely in one hand with the other tucked in his pocket, occasionally withdrawing to turn a page.

Sighing with boredom, Linus slowly presses a Lord of the Rings bookmark between the pages and closes the book. I never expected things to be this... droll. Setting his book to the side the man stands and stretches with his hands pressed flat against his back. He then looks around, noticing a small white hare next to the bench. Linus grins, crouching down to the hare's level and inching closer as delicately as possible. Opening his mouth, Linus' soft tenor fills the air.

"H-h-h-hello, lit-little rabbit." The hare's ears twitch towards the sound and a slight motion of the neck brings a beady black eye to peer at Linus. Linus take a step closer, within an arm's length of the rabbit, as he once again speaks "H-h-hey, b-buddy."

As Linus takes one more step, the hare quickly dashes towards the nearby road that hums with traffic. Linus yelps and sprints towards the rabbit as quickly as his spindly legs can carry him. The hare quickly maneuvers to the right and Linus jumps towards it, sliding across the snow with his hands splayed in front of his speeding body. Feverish hands clasp the furry rabbit just as the hare hits the road. Linus closes his eyes as he crosses the sidewalk into the street. Unable to find a purchase on the road, Linus continues sliding across the street, narrowly missing a bright red car as it swerves by, and from its driver a loud "SON OF A BITCH" splits the morning air as the car rights itself and continues going towards its original direction.

Reaching the end of the road, Linus then curls into a tight ball around the rabbit in a tight, protective ball. Jesus, why do I always get myself into this stuff. Linus unfolds, splayed like a starfish, laying on his back with the rabbit on his chest. The rabbit vicious leaps away into the nearby woods, hopping off of Linus' head as it does so.

Resting for a moment, Linus groans as he lifts himself up. It might be better to walk across the street this time... Limping across the street stiffly, uninjured except for some small scratches, Linus reaches the front door of the house. His hand gropes for the handle, missing it slightly by a few millimeters. His hand corrects, raising, before opening the door.

Am I really so woozy that I missed the doorknob?

House of Leaves [Modern / Lovecraftian Horror]

Name: Linus Dahl

Age: 24

Degree: Bachelor of Medicine / Bachelor of Surgery

Short description of character's outwards appearance: Linus stands at about 5'6". Short dirty blond strands rebel against his painstakingly combed hair in varied heights. Linus' umber eyes peek out from between stray strands of hair. Very slight of stature, he would be described as "scrawny" by his peers.
Linus' wardrobe consists of flannel, flannel, and more flannel (That is never tucked in) as well as plain blue jeans. In his top left shirt pocket lies a pocket-protector with three pens, blue, red, and black protruding out. For shoes, Linus wears clean dress shoes for indoor adventures and combat boots (That are two sizes too big and could have been passed down by his father) for outdoor events.
A modern, brown satchel laden with stamps from different countries is always by Linus' side, or around his shoulder. In the bag lies his medical supplies, which include: Three meters of bandages, a bottle of Tylenol, Benadryl, and day/nyquil, a few stainless steel needles, a spool of thread, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a few band-aids, an epi-pen, and finally a brace for both a wrist and knee. Linus' wallet and phone are also in a separate pocket of the satchel.

Short description of character's personality (including any skills/weaknesses they have): Linus is similar to a small dog in terms of personality. He is overly trusting, diligent, and extremely non-confrontational. On the rare occasion that Linus does get angry, he lets his emotions get a hold of him to the point of speechlessness, which is an even larger consequence of his stutter. Linus' stutter has plagued him since he was a small child, and anyone who has spoken to him knows about it, with it often taking Linus several seconds to spit out the more tricky words.
Linus is extremely innocent when it comes to drugs. Or alcohol. or tobacco. Or parties. Or anything, for that matter. The only time that Linus has applied himself to something other than the more "core" subject was when he tried his hand in choir, which went well until his parents decided that the hobby was useless in the real world and quickly pushed him to focus more on his studies. Then it was back to school work, long nights studying, etcetera.

Anything else important: Linus is a huge science-fiction nerd, tending to favor the more classic books such as the Dune saga or the Ender series, often carrying those with him for enjoyment.

House of Leaves [Modern / Lovecraftian Horror]

Of course, you know that I am game.