Leon had been out of bed for roughly 2 hours now, not that he had ever really gone to bed. He had started to try and sleep but it had not payed off and just made him uncomfortable and annoyed, so he had quietly gotten dressed and sneaked out of his room. Taking care not to wake up his roommate when he left, once out of his room he had wandered around for a bit until settling in the living room. 

He checked the clock just to be sure that he had the right time, not that he had anywhere to be but he did like to keep a rough track of time. Sure enough the clock read 2 AM roughly the time Leon had guessed it was. He had repeated this process of not sleeping for a few nights now but this was the first time he had left the room. He had mainly done it out of pure boredom but partly because he was really thirsty.

Normally he would just sit back in the room and try to think his way through the night, or do something quietly to pass the time. Like organize his tiny amount of possessions, or check that non of his cigarette stashes had been found. He currently had some behind his pillow, under his mattress and various other places around the room. But tonight was different tonight he had been bored of staying in the room counting cigarettes and organizing shirts.

On his way around the mansion he had been past the kitchen and from their he had found that which was amazing and beautiful. He had found tea. So he had found a teapot and brought it with him into the living room where he was now enjoying a nice cup of tea alone to his thoughts.

Serena had been battling for several hours. She had lay down in her bed, and tried to ward off sleep, for so so long. Every time her eyes felt heavy she shocked her self awake, jumping up slightly, then tiredness would overcome her again and she would end up nodding off again.

She ended up succumbing. The young blonde writhed around in bed for a while, the nightmares, plaguing her mind.

Deaths, blame, tears. All rolling into one.

As by the normal routine, she awoke, nearly screaming. Barely catching herself. Skin as white as a ghost, sweat clinging to her body. She hastily got up and got some clothing on, throwing a shirt over her bra and underwear.

She quickly downed what was left of the water on her night stand and got out of her room. Walking down the quiet, dark hallway. The heat was mildly pleasant, meaning that she wasn't cold AND lonely.

As Serena wandered through into the lounge she noticed someone sitting there... Was that? Yes, she thought as much. It was Leon. She hadn't spoken to him for a little while, she decided to see how he was finding the mansion.

"Hiya, Leon!" Serena said warmly, a weak smile on her face, unaware of just how pale and drained she actually looked after experiencing her nightmare.

The sudden voice startled him slightly as he was not expecting any company. "Oh hi Serena, didn't expect you to be up so late." He said trying to make himself sound more happy than he was, after all it was hard to keep your spirits up when you haven't slept in quite a few days. It had been quite a while since he had last spoken to Serena thinking on it, it must have been the first day he got here that he last spoke to her.

He wasn't going to turn her away though as she was fairly nice and it was to late for an argument, anyway she might help to lift some of the boredom. "please sit if you want, So what brings you here at this late hour?" He said with what he wanted to be a normal voice, but it came out much more tired than he had hoped. That would soon pass though as the caffeine in the tea would start to do its work.

If he was going to stay up late and have some company he may as well make an effort to strike up some conversation, thinking on this he decided to push himself up in the chair and sit up a little straighter, taking care not to spill his tea in the process. 

Serena smiled and nodded at Leon before practically collapsing on the seat opposite him. She smiled some more at him as she slumped on the chair. "Hey Leon. And not much, couldn't sleep." she murmured.

She wondered what he was also doing up, was he having trouble adjusting to the mansion? She had no idea, because she had managed to fit in rather rapidly, but then again she had always been a bit of a social butterfly and had made friends pretty quickly.

It was just the nightmares that plagued her mind.

She looked up at him "So, what about you? Couldn't sleep either?" she asked, a hint of curiosity shining through her voice.

As she took the seat opposite he was relived that he would have some company. Her question didn't come unexpectedly after all he asked her the same one, "Yeah couldn't sleep, still adjusting and all..." He trailed of into mumbling that he doubted anyone could understand, he felt it better to say that he was adjusting rather than explain the real reason behind him staying up so late. 

He took another sip of his tea and rested backwards against the chair, the drink was doing wonders to lift up his spirits and make him seem more alert. Which normally would be a bad thing but he really didn't care seeing as the alternative was sleeping. 

"So how you been, It feels like ages since we last talked." He said taking care not to let himself mumble, which was easier now that the tea was waking him up more fully. But he was still drowsy and likely to miss some conversations especially if they are long. 

>>"Yeah couldn't sleep, still adjusting and all..."

The word 'Adjusting' Drew Serena back to her recent conversation with Evelyn, where Evelyn managed to piece together what Serena was hiding, or rather simply not confronting about adjusting to living alone after her brothers murder.

She would NOT fall to tears in front of Leon like she did with Evelyn... Nope, she would certainly not be doing that.

She smiled at Leon. "Well, if you ever need help with anything, just let me know, after all I've just barely finished adjusting to life here myself, so I can be sympathetic to it. As for me, I have been rather well thank you. I have recently finished some Exams which I was rather nervous about and have been working like crazy towards, but that has been my life for the last few months, so Alas, I am at a loss for what to do with myself..."

Serena kept her wonderfully charming smile on the whole way through the conversation, she was always grateful for company on nights when she was unable to sleep, and Leon seemed rather pleasant after all. "My apologies, I'm rambling. So, how are you finding life at the mansion?"

The lie made him feel slightly bad about himself, but it was better than the truth at least he thought it was. "Its alright, the building and people here are nice and its not much different to a boarding school." He said truthfully, the people where nice and friendly, the building had all the needs and functions he required so he really couldn't complain about it. 

"To be honest I've spent allot of my time mulling around the city." He said kindly, which again was true as he spent allot of time wandering around, sometimes looking for something to vent anger, and sometimes those things just found him. But sometimes it was just a normal stroll through the city. "No problem its late, Id would be amazed if you didn't ramble a bit." He said kindly. 

Taking another sip of his tea he leaned back in his chair slightly to get more comfortable.

A Smile spread across Serena's lips. He had been fitting in alright, good. She had truly been worried that Leon would have trouble fitting in, he seemed like he had a bit of a temper, and he was very sarcastic, or so Serena thought from the limited interaction she had with him so far.

She nodded to him. "That's good to hear, I too like to get out and about sometimes though, like I was the day I met you, honestly I sometimes feel far too cooped up being stuck around the mansion, I mean there is quite a lot to do, and there are some lovely people, like my roommate, but honestly sometimes I just think you need somewhere to go and vent some of that bottled up energy and emotions."

Serena smiled to the man some more. Wondering what he liked to do in the city, he wasn't exactly very athletic looking, but then again, neither was she.

She noted that he had been drinking his tea consistently, and his cup wasn't very big therefore he was probably running on empty... She could really go for a cup of tea herself. "Hey Leon? You're tea must be running out, and I could really go for a cup myself, want to come to the kitchen and make some with me?" she said, with a gentle and inviting smile on her face.

Oh venting emotions he could relate to that, although the issue is picking when and where to vent said emotions. "Yeah I can relate to letting out some unwanted emotions, and yeah I'm almost out so why not." He said with a smile, it was nice to have someone who could share this late time with, it was far more preferable to being stuck in the room trying and failing to sleep. 

He drained the last few bits of his tea from the bottom of his cup, then stood up and stretched his back out.  it felt good to get out of the chair, but at the same time it felt weird as he was used to the comfort of a bed or this very chair. So suddenly supporting his own weight again was not very desirable. "Well shall we?" He asked motioning with his head to the kitchen. Wanting to get moving quickly before he gives up and slumps back down. 

Serena smiled and nodded to Leon in response and quickly stood, slowly feeling more and more awake and less drained, which the caffeine in the tea would most certainly help with.

She was looking much more perked up. "So, lets go!"

A minute or so later, the both of them were inside of the kitchen, she took his cup and walked over to the cupboard with the mugs and cups and grabbed herself a tea cup along the way. "Grab a blend of some sort from that cupboard over there would you? I'll let you pick the blend."

She pointed over to the cupboard at the far side of the room, and then completely fluidly flicked the switch on the hob and planted the kettle on, grabbing a tea pot so that they could use multiple servings without having to come back into the kitchen and brew more.

As Serena fluidly did all the tasks, moving from one task to the other, it became clear that she had wayyyy to much practice at this. This was practically her nightly routine. "Soooo, are you planning on starting up any classes here? Oh, actually I don't believe I know your age... So that was a silly question." She muttered to herself.

He wandered over to the cupboard that she mentioned, opening it to see a variety of different blends of tea and some coffee, he wasn't really in the mood to be shifting through all the designer teas. Different flavors like fruit and green tea just didn't appeal to him and he was pretty sure green tea is just dish water in a box, but finally he found the one he was looking for. Earl grey the good stuff.

Closing the cupboard after replacing all of the moved teas, he wandered over to Serena who had finished all of the other tasks involved in making tea, in quite a quick pace which he was rather impressed in. Placing the tea down on the counter he thought on the question that he had just been asked.

"Well I'm 17 actually, and as to classes I don't know like I know I should but honestly I probably won't just to take a break and let it all sink in." He said after a moment of thinking, to be truthful he had tried to avoid thinking about it as much as possible. Which was one of the reasons he spent allot of time in the city, to avoid seeing the school and thinking about life choices. 

Serena smiled and nodded, before looking down at the box of tea he had brought her. She noted it was Earl Grey, which was not quite as strong as some other blends, but had a very unique taste. She grinned. "Earl Grey, Great choice! Oh... If you hadn't realised, by the way, I am a bit of a tea addict." She said, very innocent, yet slightly mischievous in tone.

She then popped the tea bags into the tea pot and grabbed the kettle and added the boiling water to the tea pot, quickly stacking it onto a tray, while putting sugar cubes, milk and biscuits onto it.

She pulled her hair back out of her face, and traced it along her head, bringing it to rest just behind her ear. "I understand. I needed time to adjust after I came her too, infact the only class I've taken is self defense, which is alright, but still I haven't really done any academical classes since December." she murmured quietly.

She smiled some more. "Shall we go and sit and enjoy some tea?" A grin had now formed from the smile, Serena's natural charisma shining through at the late hour they found themselves awake at.

Leon slumped back into the nice comfortable chair once they reached the lounge. He felt much better now that he was back in the soft nice chair and not walking through corridors and rooms. Once he was comfortable he reached over and poured himself another cup of tea, the drink reminded him of home and his past life but more importantly it tasted very nice. 

"So I can tell your accent is British, but where exactly from England do you come?" He asked deciding that if they where going to be talking for a while then it would be best to try and talk about something meaningful. "Like take me, I'm from England as I'm sure you have gathered and more recently from Eton." He said after thinking that it would be better to go first. After all you cannot hope to receive without first giving them something. 

Serena sat up straight in the chair, now far more aware, with good posture. She poured herself a cup of tea, adding a single spoon of sugar and a little milk and began to sip from her cup.

She savored the taste. Earl Grey was so full of flavour, it was truly one of her most appreciated brands.

She smiled and rested her cup back down on her lap as Leon asked the question. "Well, I was born in London, lived there for a few years, moved around a bit, ended up in Scotland for a little while, then moved here, infact, it's amazing that I've still retained the accent as strongly as I have..."

Serena giggled lightly, and then took another sip of tea, the hot milky goodness soothing her. "So Leon, What have you thought of New York city so far? It's a tad... More lively than London, isn't it?" She said, a slightly sarcastic smile on her face.

It turned out she had moved around allot more than he had, that wasn't a problem or anything in his mind as the only real step he cared for was the last one, which was both of them ending up here in America. "Well you could say that, the people here are certainly different and more opinionated." He said with a little simile, having picked up on a hint of sarcasm.

It was true though the people in the city are more lively and loud than he was used to,  that certainly had not helped his anger issues seeing as he found it difficult to get any peace and quiet. But on the plus side there was no end of things to do that could vent that anger. "But really the city is great, its got enough to keep me going and having fun. In the end that's all I really need." He said keeping with the smile.

He took another sip of his tea and put his head back for a second. "So what bout you? How do you find the big city?" He asked after a moment of resting his head.