Down the Rabbithole & Back again [Open]

Raina was going to have a jog this morning. She was determined to fit more exercise into her daily routine. But the summer had been fading fast. Usually September was so warm but the nip of frost was in the air this day. The leaves were starting to change as well.

She was just stretching her legs when she saw Shin pull up into the driveway. She waved but he didn't see her so she went to say hello but stopped when she saw him approach a young woman. She remained silent and peered for a moment. Was this a friend of Shins? It didn't look like a mansion... she stared longer. Could that be Luna? She hadn't seen Luna til they figured out she'd gone to live somewhere else without telling anyone. Raina could feel the instinctive lurch in her stomach from remembering the few days they thought she was missing. She wanted to run over there and let Luna know what she'd put them through but she held back and watched how the young woman interacted with Shin.

Probably the reason Luna hadn't noticed Katrina was because she was invisible. She was sitting on the wall, watching people come and go both inside and outside. And she was hiding. She didn't feel like talking to anyone. At this time of year every conversation was the same. “What classes are you taking”, “Oh, I'm in your third period”, “See you there!”, then both parties promptly forgot the other person's schedule again. It was incredibly pointless.

She used to be so good at all the pointless small talk. She wasn't sure if it was because she used to care about the other person's answers or if it was because she had cared about what the other people thought of her. She didn't worry so much about making a good impression on people she hardly knew, these days. She had had a bad experience with a stranger who had not been at all as he was trying to appear. All the pleasantries and small talk, it was all a lie. Anyone could hide under the mask of polite conversation: demons, devils, torturers, murderers, monsters, anyone.

People entered the lives of others quite easily with their pleasantries and most of the time they slipped away again just as easily.

Katrina's interest was piqued by a green head of hair that came in through the mansion gates. It seemed that sometimes those that flowed out of your life sometimes flowed back in again. If she was not mistaken, that girl down below was Luna, a former mansion student who had gone to live elsewhere. There had been a bit of a panic when she had disappeared, but that was not uncommon. The mansion staff had an incredibly difficult time keeping track of their students as they flowed in and out. The building functioned almost more like a homeless shelter that offered a couple of classes on the side than it did like a school. It was nearly impossible to tell if the people in your classes would still be there by the end of the term. Another reason it was so pointless to compare schedules: someone might tell you they will sit next to you in art class then disappear without a trace the next day. The mansion staff would do their digging and figure out that the kid had moved back in with his mother in California, or whatever the story was.

Luna, though. Luna was her age. She deserved at least a hello. A lazy one, before she disappeared again. She closed her eyes and focused only on the image of Luna standing below.

Hello Luna, welcome back. Her voice whispered in Luna's ear so only she could hear it.

She opened her eyes again. She'd lost her invisibility to the world by focusing only on Luna for that little illusion. Damn. She'd have to see if she could iron out that little kink. Ah well, she was laying on top of the brick wall. They probably wouldn't see her anyway.

Raina decided now might be a good time to speak up. "I think you should all come in and get out of the cold!" she yelled with a wave from the front door step. She hopped off it and shoved her hands into her front pockets as she scurried down the walk to where everyone was.. she heard Shin say Katrina but glancing around Raina didn't see her anywhere.

Katrina was a nice enough kid... but to be honest her powers freaked Raina out a bit.

"Shin." she said with a nod then turned her eyes to Luna as she arrived. 'Ah, I recognize that green hair." Luna wasn't a child anymore. There before her stood a very young woman. "hello Luna. it's nice to see you again." said Raina with a forced calm smile. It wasn't that she didn't feel sincerely happy to see Luna... it was that she felt sincerely relieved and it was hard at this point to keep her upper lip from twitching...

Heh, the sillies thought it was cold out. To Katrina it had ceased being cold about thirty minutes ago. The weather just took some getting used to; an hour or so lying on the top of the stone cold wall and you wouldn't even notice that you couldn't feel your fingers and toes anymore. Numb, that's what she was, inside and outside numb all over.

The one thing she did feel was a small bit of satisfaction when Luna sharply turned her head in response to the illusive whisper she had created. It wasn't that she wanted to startle the girl, she was just glad to see her illusion work the way it was supposed to; only Luna was supposed to hear it and only Luna had. The part she had to fix was that she had a hard time keeping a regular illusion going at the same time as one of the personal ones, which is how Shin spotted her.

Ah well, it was probably time to come down anyway, before she became a permanent fixture frozen on top of the wall. This school had enough gargoyles running around it didn't need a decorative fourteen year old girl sculpture as well.

The little illusionist sat up, rubbed her arms and legs to put some feeling back into them, decided that it was probably about time to put away the summer dresses and take out the drabber, more boring, but warmer winter clothes. Should have done it a week ago. Where had the summer gone?

When she was certain her limbs were in good working order (an important task to complete when one is about to walk along the top of an eight foot tall balance beam) she stood and made her way to th tree that served as her ladder up the wall. Within a matter of moments she had scampered down the familiar branch staircase and found herself next to Shin and Luna.

"Well, let's go." She wasn't cold, and those weren't goosebumps on her bare arms and legs. She was just worried about the two shivering popsicles next to her that seemed so anxious to get inside and sit by the fire that was undoubtedly blazing in the library fire place or find a cup of hot chocolate that was undoubtedly brewing in the kitchen. Or snuggle up under a blanket with a big furry personal furnace with a wet black nose. Naw, she wasn't cold. It was all them.