Valentine's Day...a day of love. Bah...

For Ty, it was the day his entire world came crashing down. And it was he who pulled the trigger. He just....he couldn't take it. The roller coaster just proved to be too much for the young, redhead, pickpocket.

So much so that after the fact, he went for a long walk, until sunset. Anger and resentment burning inside of him, though a small part of him was starting to regret his actions. Maybe it was best this way...maybe he could be happy. Or maybe it would just drive him off the deep end.

Hours later, evidence pointed towards the latter as Ty finally made his way back to Sanctuary, a backpack on his back and a blood-splattered paper bag under one arm. He quietly trudged up to his room, setting the bag on his bedside table and putting the backpack in the corner. Then, he pulled out the six pack of beer he'd killed for.

What had he been reduced to? Killing just for alcohol...not that he'd ever had a drop in his life. But Ty didn't care. Nothing mattered anymore. Not even the pained, surprised face of the man he'd killed, just for his booze. In cold blood. But it didn't matter.

As he cracked open the first bottle, he turned the radio up as loud as he could. Who cared if it was the middle of the night? Ty sure didn't.

As he took the first sip, the music blared out of his open door.

Facing all my demons
Leaving all behind
I see now you're the reason
I don't wanna be here,
So I will move on I'll be the last one
Standing and die
Tasting your tears,
Now you're drowning your sorrows
And I'll just disappear...

Allison was not happy.

She had been earlier; it was Valentine's Day, after all. Or had been; she was pretty sure the clocks at least were on the fifteenth. Anyway, Aura had been around for most of the day; that was plenty to distract Allison from the back of her memory and make her cheerful. But Aura had to leave--some small, easy thing, that nonetheless demanded to be taken care of right now, no matter what Allison thought. And she had quite a few thoughts on the matter, too; Allison knew perfectly well what would happen if she was left alone with her mind. But Aura had to leave, and Allison was alone, and books and tattoos and forging practice weren't halfway enough to keep her distracted.

(What'd it been, two weeks? Three? The days had gotten kind of glazed. She wanted to know, but didn't want to think about it.)

Allison would have been proud of the tattoos she'd created; they were delicate, complicated, and in nearly every color she had, without being too chaotic. She would have been out, wandering alleys to see if she could find anyone who deserved to be beaten, if only she could stop feeling a laughing shadow behind her from the last time. (She would go out again, Allison promised herself. She would. She'd get over it, and go back to her life, and forget all about the entire mess. Just... not tonight.)

Instead, she was laying in her bed, rolling over and detangling sheets and curling around herself, willing sleep to happen, now, or else (there was nothing she could do, but or else anyway). She got close to sleep, several times; every time, something woke her up. Mostly, sound; a burst of squirrel chitter, laughter, wind... every time it was something new.

By the time a burst of music occurred (and louder than the other noises that had kept her awake, too), Allison was entirely out of patience. She glared at the darkness, waited five seconds, and when the music hadn't stopped, threw the blankets off her bed, stormed out and down the hall to the door the music seemed to be coming from, and banged on it. She'd probably hurt her hand with that hit, but she was too frustrated to notice or care. "Hey emo kid! It's two AM, shut up!"

Allison was not typically an intimidating person, and less so when wearing messy hair and not-entirely-straight tank top and shorts. She didn't particularly care. Her glare would make that clear, if emo kid got around to opening their door.

The fear of the unknown is man's greatest fear. It seeps into their very being and eats at their soul. The unknown causes one to relive the worst possible imaginable fear over and over until an even greater fear replaces that one. Even the fear of death is only fear of the unknown. If mankind knew for certain what was awaiting them after death's cold fingers snatch their last breath from their lungs, no one would fear death. And it was this fear of the unknown that Shade thrived on.

Ever since that incident in the recreation room of the Sanctuary, the shadow mutant had been watching that crafty, little tattoo artist. He might not have followed her constantly, but he sure made sure she felt like it. Sometimes, he would stalk her silently, whispering evil thoughts in the darkness; sometimes, he would reveal himself entirely, only to keep his eyes hidden beneath his veal of darkness, just so she think that he was always watching her. Darkness was his ally and her enemy. Night was torturous. It was almost comical to see her squirm as she approached a shadow or a dark room, as if Shade would spring from the depths and snatch her up, before swallowing her in darkness.

Her only sanctuary was Aura. Shade made sure to stay well away from the pink kinetic wielding mutant. Her offensive power could be deadly to Shade even in darkness. So as long as the couple remained in close proximity, the young tattoo artist was safe. However, Aura was not here tonight, was she? The shadow mutant had seen her leaving the Sanctuary, just an hour or so before, leaving on some unspoken mission for the Order. Taking this opportunity to torture Allison some more, Shade had disappeared into the darkness of the Sanctuary.

Every time she seemed about to fall asleep, the shadow mutant would cause a little noise, like fluttering the curtains, knocking against the wall, ruffling her sheets, whispering hatred into her ear, or outright chuckling softly. However, as much fun as the shadow mutant was having at the stroke of 2 AM came a sound that easily drowned out Shade's torture. It was music, loud music. And after Shade's torment, Allison did not look like in the mood for compromise. So as the redhead threw off the covers, Shade quickly 'jumped' out of her room before she could reach a light. Sneaking around the corner, the shadow stalker watched from his vantage point, waiting for the chance to return to his torment of Allison.

The music pounded in Ty's head, practically shaking the floor under him as he took another sip of beer. Which...was just as awful as the first god-forsaken swallow. The young thief couldn't believe that somebody actually gave up their life for this crap. Then again, Ty himself did things he didn't understand, now that he thought about it. And the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to forget. Which, hopefully was what the rank-tasting beer was for. That was his intention anyway.

What wasn't his intention was the pounding on the door, and the yelling he managed to hear over his music. Okay, so all he heard was emo-kid, and something about 2 AM....and...shutting up? Whatever.

Sighing, he turned off the CD player, making his way to the door and opening it with the beer bottle still in his left hand. What he saw standing there would have amused him, normally. But...for one, this wasn't a normal day. And second, he noticed real quick that if looks could kill, he'd likely be dead right now, regardless of how this girl looked at the moment.

"Oh...it's that late? I thought it was only midnight. I guess I'll keep it quiet," he replied, his voice still pained where there usually would've been a smart-ass remark.

Allison was somewhat satisfied when the music cut abruptly off, or would have been if the silence hadn't left her ears ringing. How had the emo kid even found speakers that loud? She shook her hand--which did indeed feel bruised--out as the door opened.

Emo kid... turned out to actually be a kid. Shame, there went one insult. Allison didn't bother to keep glaring quite as lethally, though she was certainly still glaring. "People sleep at midnight too, idiot. Besides, it's the night after Valentine's Day, you don't want to disturb the couples." Allison sure knew she didn't want an angry, interrupted Isabel at her door. Though, with as easily as Isabel got embarrassed.... Either way, Allison wasn't quite sure whether the warning was genuine, sarcastic, or bitter, relieved humor that she wasn't (at the moment) one of those couples.

Allison folded her arms, straightening slightly into a less murderous posture as she eyed the boy, and her eyes landed on the bottle in his hand. She snorted. "No way in hell are you old enough for that." Not that Allison particularly cared, either; she certainly hadn't been older than the boy when she'd originally started drinking. But anything she could criticize the boy for at this point would be noted, even if it was hypocritical.

"Maybe I do," Ty said, quite coldly as he looked at her. "What do I care, after all? Not like I'm one of 'em anymore." When she mentioned him not being old enough to drink, he glared back, taking another swallow just to spite her. "Get over yourself. I will be in two months. Figured maybe that was close enough." He made a face; okay, so if beer really did taste better the more you had, it might take awhile.

If Alli were to look into the room behind the heartbroken young redhead, she'd see the bloodstained paper bag on his nightstand. Ty sighed, tossing the bottle into the trash-can just out of her field of vision beside his door. "Maybe I just want to forget Valentine's day, okay? ...Beer tastes like s*** anyway..." His emotions were reeling, from one bad feeling to another one.

He leaned against the doorway, his face looking like someone had punched him in the stomach. It was starting to dawn on him that he'd messed up, bigtime. "I'll find some other way to cope, I guess..."

“Well if you want to die that badly, I can do that for you.” Not that Allison would; the kid was annoying, but not to her knowledge a monster. He probably didn’t actually want to die, though; most people who did were politer. Unless they knew the person they were talking to could kill them, and not many people knew that about her, nor would many guess. Keeping that particular skill mostly secret was valuable, even if it was annoying when brats like this wouldn’t shut up.

She smirked at his next order. “And yet, for some bizarre reason, the law doesn’t include ‘close enough.’” Which, also, didn’t matter a bit; even if by some bizarre chance police did end up in Sanctuary, they’d have far bigger interests than a drunk kid. Like the aforementioned angry, interrupted Isabel. But, again, the kid probably didn’t know that. “If you don’t like beer, get something else.” Maybe not as easily said as done, but however he’d gotten one type of alcohol, it probably wasn’t much harder to get another type.

Allison did not sigh at his mention of coping. At least, not out loud. “Alright, cope with what?” Sarcastic tone, check. Apathetic expression, check. Way too empathetic mind, also check. Sarcasm and apathy unsustainable… probably also check.

It seeemed the late night disturbance was caused by some love-lost teen. And since it was Valentine's Day, he was obviously feeling lonely and miserable. Shade had to silent his chuckles by laughing into the back of his jacket sleeve. It was rather funny. And pathetic.

However, girls were always vunerable to emotional problems like these and the redheaded tattoo artist was no different. She fell into the trap as she offered her services to help comfort the blabbering, half-drunk teenager. With things looking less and less likely to return to the norm for the night, the night stalker best to take his exit for the night. He did not want to risk getting caught, of course. However, he would leave Allison with something to remind him by.

Nearby, Shade caught sight of the switch controlling the overhead lights for the hallway. That would work for dropping the light down to Shade's acceptable level. Flipping the switch, the corridor went dark except for the light coming from Ty's room. As the lights went out, the night mutant disappeared from view, and Shade 'jumped' into the shadowy corridor next to Alli.

"Until tomorrow night." Shade whispered into Alli's ear before passing behind her. If Ty was not drunk enough to notice, he might just catch the glimpse of a shadowy figure as it passed through the light piercing out from his door.

"I never said die," Ty interjected. "Maybe I just wanna curl up and hide." He was too focused on the girl to notice the shadow, though he had to admit maybe she was right about finding another way to cope.

"I never really gave a **** about law. And I know you don't care," he snapped, getting short with her. He'd had maybe half a beer, but it was enough to at least cloud his mind a little, since he was a light-weight after all. "You don't care about me, what I went through, all you care about are your selfish wants..." he grumbled.

Allison turned as the lights went out, scowled at the dark hallway, and turned back. There must be some sort of new electric mutant in Sanctuary; the lights kept going out recently. She’d be much more annoyed, if she wasn’t fairly sure it was due to a loss of control; that was hard to be mad about. Her earlier bad mood was still lingering, though, so she had no hesitation in glaring at the darkness before turning back to the kid. “Doesn’t matter what you said, you’re going to if you keep pissing people off here. If even thought you were powerful enough to protect yourself, you would’ve at least tried to make me leave by now.”

…And bad mood returned. Uncheck that unsustainability on sarcasm, too, while you’re at it, though apathetic probably wasn’t the right word for Allison now. Crazy might be, derisive definitely was; she started laughing as soon as the kid finished his sentence, though for all the mockery in it, there wasn’t any humor. “Oh, yes, because whatever crush just rejected you is so much worse than what’s happened to me. Why, it’s worse than everyone’s entire lives! There’s no pain in the entire world that can compare to yours, of course not.” The laughter had turned into a smirk, equally mocking and malicious. It did feel good to mock him, though; it wasn’t funny, but after the last few weeks it was a relief to be able to admit she was screwed up. Even if it was indirect. And it was satisfying to be right, because really? Being dumped didn’t compare to Allison’s problems. It just didn’t.

The smirk only barely toned down as Allison considered the boy for a moment, then aimed a very deliberate backhand for the side of his face. “Next time you want a pity party, be careful who you talk to. Some of us actually have reality to deal with.”

Ty's face narrowed into a scowl. Yes, he finally noticed the lights in the hallway had gone out, but he was really too pissed off at this chick to care. "Pity party? I was minding my own damn business til you came pounding at my door. For the record, you don't know **** about me, what I've been through, and you're only making me wish my knife wasn't on my night-stand" he started, gloved hands clenching and unclenching. He was really and truly debating shoving what was left of his morals aside for a split second...just enough to punch a couple teeth by this chick's throat. But he didn't. Even after she hit him, he didn't.

"I have stolen cars, I have dodged police, I have murdered, I have stared death in the freaking face, hell, I once jumped off of a building, all for a relationship--yes, an ACTUAL relationship, where every attempt at a kiss was putting my life on the line. You wanna bitch and complain? Take it to the complaint department..." Suddenly, he picked up the little trashcan by his door and tossed it at her before slamming the door in her face. There wasn't anything in it but the half-empty beer bottle, but he didn't look to see if she dodged it, caught it, or whatever. The next sound she'd hear would be the sound of glass breaking against the now-closed door.

Ah, those first-impressions were something else, huh?

“Minding your own business doesn’t wake anyone else up at two in the morning.” Allison almost wished the kid had his knife too; she didn’t specifically want to kill him yet, but blinding him, or just scaring him enough to make it clear that she could….

Okay, so that was a little more serious than Allison expected from ‘boo hoo, my girlfriend dumped me and it’s Valentine’s Day now.’ It wasn’t enough to earn sympathy though, even if the trash can he threw at her hadn’t hit her arm hard enough to bruise when she blocked it. “Still doesn’t match mine.” He probably didn’t hear; glass was shattering on both sides of the door as she dumped the trash can outside of it. And if he happened not to look before he stepped outside tomorrow… well, that was his problem.