Chase Corvin | Male | 24 | Hydrokinesis | M: Riku Azalea (dir) Everyone in the Manor (ind)

He'd love to say that he woke up to sunlight hitting his face in the morning, like a normal person might. Sadly, or not so sadly because he did enjoy it to a certain point, it didn't work that way for Chase.

It was around 11:50pm by the time he woke up and he only knew that because the first thing he did was turn over onto his side and check his phone. The screen was bright and hurt his eyes, he had forgotten to turn the brightness down but oh well.

He put his phone down onto his bedside table and flopped back to his bed. He spent what felt like forever just laying there, and it felt very calm. Peaceful.

When he checked his phone again the screen told him it had only been a few minutes since the last time he checked it.

“I guess I do have to get up at some point..” Chase groaned. He sat himself upright and propped a couple pillows behind him as a way to keep him getting up because he knew as soon as he laid down one more time, he would just sleep again.

He pulled his laptop off the bedside table, turned it on and typed in his password. He was getting distracted again, checking various different websites he liked to browse, some were actual games and some were sites you could browse art.

Finally, once he was done doing all of that, he managed to rip himself away from it all and step out of bed. He got himself dressed in his usual white hoodie, black sweatpants and debated putting his hair up today but decided against it.

Grabbing his phone and some other small things he didn't really need but took with him anyway, Chase made his way down the first floor hallway and straight to the front door. Yes, his bedroom is on the first floor of the house. He finds it the most comfortable place for him, don't judge.

He slipped on his boots and headed out. The weather was warm enough that even a small vest wouldn't be needed but it wasn't warm enough that he couldn't wear his hoodie.

He didn't have to walk very far, he was going to his best friend and neighbour's house. He took out a second set of keys from his left side pocket, slid the key into the lock and in a split second he had the door open.

He didn't steal these keys, Riku had given them to Chase because Chase very rarely stayed at his own house any more so it seemed like his thought process was to just give a set of keys to Chase.

He took his boots off since he didn't want to get his friends floors dirty, putting them neatly away.

He went to the kitchen first, breakfast always came first. Food was for always. He took out a frying pan, setting it on the stove and unfortunately there was a loud bang from it hitting other pans. ‘Shit..’

Chase winced at the loud noise, hoping nobody else heard it. He went about the kitchen and made himself a breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon and toast. Unfortunately throughout the process he hit more things and many more loud bangs and thumps happened. Each time, he winced and hoped nobody noticed.

Chase placed everything beautifully on a plate he took from a cupboard, yes it also made a loud noise. ‘Seems like all the objects in this house are against me today.’

He sat himself down in the dining room, scrolling on his phone while he ate. Everything may be against him today, but at least the food was better than ever.

He wasn't paying attention to anything, he didn't hear the footsteps coming up behind him until it was too late.

Chase set a glare on Riku when his head was touched, “I do get sleep. Plenty of it. They're just never the right hours.”

He watched his friend leave and in the meantime Chase cleaned up. He wasn't going to leave it all dirty after he made a mess.

Again, Chase woke up at the weirdest time. 2:37PM flashed on his phone's screen. He had been there when Riku came back with the letter and they had both read it together. Chase almost regretted telling Riku it was a good idea to go.

He went through his regular routine again; using his phone and laptop, getting dressed and heading out to Riku's.

There was something off about his mailbox when he passed though, even when nothing seemed wrong. He just had a feeling that he should check it, and so he did.

He pulled out the letter and opened it right there. As he read through it, the letter seemed to be the same one Riku had received but for Chase instead.

Since Riku had already left.. the hydrokinesis user decided to follow his friends footsteps. Surely his friend hadn't left too long ago so it was perfectly reasonable if Chase went there… now?

And so he did, and when he arrived, Chase found Mr. Walker. He went through everything Riku had.

He got his bags from Mr. Walker after thanking him for everything and confidently walked into Scarlet Manor. Well, it looked like he was confident. He was actually having a bad bit of anxiety hit him.

He looked around when he arrived, eyes landing on many different people. Some seemed happy to be there and others were chatting, some were hanging around in quieter places. His eyes landed on his friend and immediately his legs took him to sit beside Riku Azalea.

“Hey man!” Chase grinned happily at his friend.

Mila Monova || 22 || Mycokenesis || Mentions: [Ind.] Everyone inside

From the moment Mila had returned to her apartment to find the envelope on the windowsill - just to the left of her front door - she had been on high alert. Or on higher alert than usual, with the last week spent more often than not interrupting her usually well-focused work to stare aggressively back behind her or around an obscured corner. It was bad enough that she was starting to get in trouble with the customers and then her bosses, but even worse when even they could recognize her discomfort as it finally started to show itself in the furrowed brows on her face. It wasn't often that she'd let herself be paranoid like this, least of all outwardly, but the strange letter felt a little too convenient in timing with its large stash of money and plane ticket. Not to mention the highly unusual circumstances of its very appearance inside her run-down flat.

The main thing that had caught her eye in reading the actual letter was – of course – the fact it had her full name scrawled out in an elegant handwritten font. Dear Mila Svilena Monova, it was written, in limited detail describing something that sounded far too good to even be plausible. Such a place for Enhanced such as herself to freely practice their extraordinary abilities was not what she doubted the possibility of however – that she could imagine; while rare, she didn’t doubt it could exist if given the right circumstances. No, the legitimacy she was doubting was the writer’s desire for her to enter this sanctuary. She had no idea how she’d been discovered by them, let alone tracked to her secluded apartment. Nor was she sure how they’d even gained access to it, for her security systems seemed to be working fine otherwise. She knew she hadn’t used her powers outside of her apartment for years now, and certainly hadn’t discussed anything to do with her secret abilities with anyone, so they should not have found her or even been aware of her enhancements... Mila couldn’t recall anything that would have put herself at risk which was terrifying, to put it lightly. She had spent the latter half of the week staring at the letter and around her tiny apartment, uneasily balancing the pros and cons of following its instructions in her mind.

Firstly, with that kind of money, she’d wager she could pack up and disappear into the wilds like she’d always wanted to – with just enough to get by if she gathered her belongings and favors up fast enough. But there was a shadow of doubt clouding that idea: if the mysterious letter-writer already had enough information on her to both identify her as an Enhanced and find her name and address, could this turn out to some strange ploy to lure her out of the city and into a more desolate area so that they could get her? Or was that simply too complicated for the Catchers? ... How long exactly had they known she was here? How did they find- cool it Monova. If they wanted to get her so badly, why the hell would they waste so much on a plane ticket? Knowing exactly where she was, they could’ve got her any time before without her having any idea of their presence. With that, Mila had managed to calm herself soon enough but the lingering uneasiness had kept her wide awake for the last couple of days. But despite those sickening feelings of uncertainty, there were potential positives too.

For one thing, there was her piqued curiosity. Many things stood out to her, catching her interest, but most of all was the individual only identifying themselves as G. Morrigan. She could only wonder what kind of person they’d be, and what kind of host. Even if they turned out not to be some kind of Catcher with a twisted obsession with mind games - perhaps an Enhanced themselves - she wasn’t sure how welcoming they’d turn out to be. Handwritten refined words was one thing, actions by far another. There was, on the opposite side of this, the quiet potential for them to turn out to be just as kind and generous and they had portrayed themselves as in the long elegant script. Plus there was also their promise of other enhanced, which both excited and worried her. She hadn’t met another Enhanced before - unable to find another to relate to and share the burden of their powers with, due the danger of being caught – but she knew they existed. The possibility of meeting others who had perhaps experienced similar difficulties in life as her was a comforting idea, however unrealistic.

And then there were more cons. She recognized there was probably no better, private way of contacting her in order to share the required resources and information to get her to this ‘Scarlet Manor.' but she felt as if she couldn’t trust this unknown person purely because of that fact. Catchers were known to be more devious these days, and she hated the idea of falling into some insane twisted trap because they’d outsmarted her. It seemed, Mila reflected as she sat half-asleep in a cramped plane seat, as if the worst case scenario would be her entrapment with other Enhanced and whatever consequences that would come with that. She’d be alongside others who could, despite their differences, understand her... Fuck, that whole idea felt foolish even in her head. And, while scolding the selfish begging of her heart for affection as she tried to rest, she felt anger rising in her chest over her final thoughts from the evening prior to travelling. Against all her piled logic reasoning not to go, she had finally decided she would leave her stupid apartment for the promise of the luxurious manor. She had decided she would rather risk her life and her freedom for the tiny chance of ending up in a place she could find allies in - or even genuine friends – instead of running off again and hiding herself like any idiot with brains would do.

Her curiosity had won over logic this time. She could only hope it wasn’t about to put her in harm’s way.

･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

And so here she was, sitting with one leg overtop the other in the back of the limousine with the handwritten note in her gloved hands. This one was just as ambiguous as the first had been, but at least it offered a glimpse of an identity of the chauffeur – or butler – naming him as Mr Walker. With nothing else to do aside from rummage through her bags for the millionth time, Mila began to speculate about this curious gentleman. It was weird, for the more she glared at him – trying to catch his eyes in the rear-view mirror without any luck – the more she felt unsure on what his temperament or history could be. He had been very courteous since picking her up from the airport, in a sort of well-mannered but ‘this is my job’ kind of way and while Mila hadn’t found any reason to dislike him so far, she still felt a baseline level of mistrust. She could only imagine what his personal life must entail, outside of rounding up various Enhanced in order to deliver them to the Scarlet Manor, which only aggravated her uncertainty over him. Neither of them saying a word, a sense of uneasiness developed across the large car.

She had, upon entering the deceptively large limo, considered stretching out on a row of seats and finally getting some sleep; she hadn’t managed to get any on the flight either, too stressed about the plane potentially being delayed or her bags somehow being stolen from the overhead compartments. But still not quite comfortable though, Mila decided to remain awake and instead had found her gaze constantly shifting over to the old man. The fact that she couldn’t relax or at least let her distrustful glare leave the direction of the driver’s seat was something that bothered her heavily, and she leant back on her seat with a low sigh of dismay. Forcing her eyes to shift away from Mr Walker, she looked around the limo again and the wine bottle in the ice bucket caught her attention.

Mila slowly reached forward to grab it, swirling it around for a few moments before she grimaced and put it back down. She wanted nothing more than to ease her anxieties or erase them entirely with some good (and damn this stuff was fancy lookin’) alcohol. She’d like more than anything to be oblivious to the potential death trap she was being driven towards, but cautiousness would be the best strategy for now, if she wanted to have any chance of making it through the evening even in the best case scenario. Frowning, she considered trying to speak to Mr Walker in an attempt to keep awake, but decided against it just as quickly as the initial idea popped into her mind. He hadn’t said a single word so far, so she doubted she would get much out of him even with some particularly persistent persuasion. There was something about him that felt a bit unusual, and she began to wander whether he too was an Enhanced – and if so, what his abilities could entail. Those ideas were whisked away from her as her attention flicked over to the large black gates they drove through, undoubtedly leading onto G. Morrigan’s property.

Her face, which had began to settle in something resembling a scowl relaxed as her gaze followed the hedges and large patterns of plants and flowers lining the gravel road. She subconsciously adjusted her gloves and leant closer to the window, her nonchalant facade slipping - impressed would be a good descriptor of what she was feeling right now. The fields spread out a decent range both sides, and Mila found herself practically drooling at the possibilities: with so much greenery and space, she would have more than enough privacy to explore the possibilities of her powers. She’d heavily considered running off to the countryside once she had vacated her parent’s house – longing for that freedom to be herself with no restrictions... but she couldn’t bring herself to separate her from people. Despite the fact she would rarely pay attention to their ever going ramblings, having grown up with many siblings Mila would never have been able to adjust to silence. Mental isolation she could do, but loneliness? That was a little more difficult. But here she could have both: companionship and privacy... hopefully.

She caught her reflection in the window and glared at her messy appearance – dark circles under her eyes and unkempt hair. That she was able to sort while the limousine cruised down the driveway, finally reaching a satisfactory state as it pulled up by the front of the manor with her hair in a neat half up ponytail. The sun began to lower, setting the Scarlet manor in a dusky glow and prompting Mila to shade her eyes with her hand as she looked out of the window at it. Something about it’s design was appealingly regal, and she made a note to herself to admire it properly later. If this didn't turn out to be some insane ruse.

Mr Walker beat her to the door, opening it with a polite nod. Mila offered a quiet “Thanks,” in response alongside a respectful nod of her own. Before he could act however, she hopped out and grabbed her bags of which she had insisted on keeping with her despite the man’s wordless protest. The last thing she was going to do was get separated from all her shit, even if she could potentially be dying soon. Luckily her bags were lightweight – albeit also raggedy looking - so she could keep them on her person without much hassle. They consisted of her stuffed backpack, a messenger bag and her drawstring bag of which she carried in one hand. Most their contents was crap she should’ve thrown out earlier in honesty, but she clung on to each bag with the same amount of determination.

Mila stretched her arms out at the foot of the stairs, slinging her bags over her shoulder and listening to the limo pull back out over the gravel. Mr Walker hadn't said a word upon leaving and Mila wondered if he was off to fetch the next curious Enhanced. On that note, would there already be some people inside? She pushed open the heavy wooden doors without a moment of discernible hesitation, silhouetted between the long boards of oak for a second before slipping through. For a moment she paused in the foyer, glancing around for about a minute with her eyesight resting on various people for about five seconds before she turned away and adjusted her coat. She easily settled herself in a corner, almost self-consciously brushing some missed earth off the beige flared trousers but regaining a self-assured composure as she glanced up at the ceiling. Somehow she’d missed it, and probably had embarrassed herself in front of the more... flamboyant looking people. Not that she cared though. There were a few others with even more scruffier clothing and belongings than herself – not that she was judging.

Her judgments, she was saving for later. Right now she wasn’t at her best, nor could she imagine anyone else would be. Mila would save her assessment of everyone until they had settled in... or at least got some rest and food in them. Plus the invite had been so vague with no inclination to a dress attire. Her own outfit of a honey-yellow turtleneck and her favourite long black-grey blazer wasn't by all means an informal choice of clothing, though it looked terrible in comparison to the outfits of some of the more... aristocratic looking of the group. There was a burning of curiosity to investigate these strangers but she decided against approaching any of them for now, instead content to pick at her sleeve and wait patiently for their host to show up and introduce them all.

Then she's get to interviewing.