Serena was sitting in a chair near a window in a dark room, just enough light for her to comfortably read. She did like how quiet the mansion got late at night, probably because of it's sheer size.

She was wearing a sleeveless top and jeans. She had been reading under the dim light near the window for a few hours now, she wasn't sure quite what the time was.

Midnight maybe? Later? She didn't particularly care, it was a weekend, and she was enjoying her book. More importantly, she didn't want to go to sleep and be kept up anyway by vicious nightmares.

She turned the page, sitting in the dark alone. Well, with a little light. Serena was mulling over things that had happened recently, using her power for more than just protecting herself or even scaring herself. Maybe, just maybe, she could find a cause that would allow her to use it for the good of others.

She was awake. Again.

Gina exhaled, her unfocused eyes pointed towards the ceiling.

“Damn it,” she breathed. She was trying to adhere to a more normative sleeping schedule—trying to force her circadian rhythm to be a diurnal one, and it wasn’t working. She was always tired during the day, and was dozing-off in her classes, only to wake-up at midnight or so, wide-awake and ready to face the world. It was getting kind-of ridiculous. Gina rolled off of her bed, grumbling to herself as she went.

These migraines and this insomnia… it really needed to stop.

Gina sauntered into the hall, estimating about where she was rather than her usual trail-her-hand-along-the-wall tactic. She was getting a better feel for navigating the halls, now, and was moreso reliant on her intuition than actual physical cues.

Gina stalked into the living room, the faint light flaring-up in her vision, like a stage light pointed towards her eyes. There was a figure there, but in the light, Gina couldn’t discern who it was.

She sucked air in through her teeth, wincing at the light, and walked into the dark kitchenette.

“Ah, a fellow night owl,” Gina greeted lightly, “What’cha up to?”

Whether she knew them or not was irrelevant. Gina was generally spoke this familiarly to everyone.

Serena heard a voice. She jumped slightly and then instantly caught herself. It wasn't really that usual a thing around the mansion for people to be up late at night.

After all, how many people had she met at this sort of hour? Drew, Sophia, Victoria, Emerald. The list went on.

She turned to see a shadowy figure standing just out of the light, she had spoken in an extremely friendly tone. Made a nice change from Sophia. She smiled and replied. "Just some light reading, You? Oh! I'm Serena by the way."

“Couldn’t sleep,” Gina said, a light but exasperated tone coloring her words, “Decided to get some water.”

She didn’t miss a beat when she realized that she didn’t know the speaker. It was another girl, and she introduced herself as Serena.

“I’m Gina,” the gargoyle replied, smiling, “Nice to meet you.”

Serena smiled to the fellow night lurking female. "Pleasure to meet you. Gina is a pretty name. She gave a light giggle. She wondered why this person couldn't sleep, was it anxiety, nightmares? Mutation?

If Serena was honest with herself, it could be anything. Most of the mansion's residents that she had encountered weren't exactly perfectly functioning individuals. She certainly wasn't one.

Serena had her fair share of problems, both with sleeping and bottling things up and facing reality. But, she soldiered on, staying up late at night, reading her book, making new friends who also couldn't sleep.

Serena had a light mental giggle at the fact that she made quite a few friends at night. It seemed to be quite a habit of which she had recently picked up. "I just haven't gone to bed yet. Bad dreams seem to stick to me like glue of late."

Gina smiled and gave a faint chuckle at the compliment, “Thanks.”

Gina had come with her name—it wasn’t one that her adoptive mother had chosen. Over the years, the gargoyle had occasionally wondered why Pamela had kept the name that Gina’s biological mother had mentioned in the letter… after all, Gina hardly considered her biological mother to be her real mother. Goodness knew why Pamela paid her such a kindness.

“Ah, see, all I’ve got to blame is insomnia,” Gina murmured. She also had occasional bad dreams, but those only came when she had managed to fall asleep—which, lately, only happened in classes, when sleepless night finally managed to catch up with her. Those also oriented around the recent encounter with the police, which was something slightly more personal than what the gargoyle was willing to discuss with someone she’d just met.

Serena smiled sympathetically to the woman who had joined her at this ungodly our. Insomnia was never a nice thing to experience. Often leaving the person completely drained of all energy.

She too had battled with it, when school had stressed her to that point in the past. However her older brother had just teased her about it, saying she was probably worrying about what all of the boys at the school thought about her appearance.

Another wave of momentary sadness. Serena was beginning to wonder if the void would ever close.

However, luckily for Serena the woman who she had encountered was a perfect distraction from such feelings, and she also seemed to be relatively nice. Which was always a good thing.

She smiled some more to the woman, after the momentary look of sadness. "So... do you take classes her at the mansion, Gina?" she said, her eyes sparkling in the dim light.