Late Night Misadventure (Open)

[Cybele Renard]

The sounds of the night surrounded Cybele. To her left a cricket; further away the wind was rusting some vines. To her right, a fountain bubbled. Cybele focused on the sound and imagined the water running down the ornate designs, filling the cracks, over flowing, and finally splashing into the pool at the bottom. It was too quiet. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked around. A cursory glance told her all she needed to know about her situation.

“Merde! Combien de temps ai-je dormir?” Cybele mentally swore again. “English, Cybele.” She closed her eyes and rubbed them gently. “Too long and no dream. Quick nap…right”

Cybele rolled out from under a marble bench. She stood and gave herself a quick once over. The nice, soft patch of dirt she had been sleeping on had turned to mud thanks to the dew. While not ruined, her white blouse and blue dress would need to be thoroughly cleaned. The back of her vest was a little damp but mud free.

“At least it is a warm night…” Cybele rolled her eyes and walked up to the fountain. She took off her blouse and removed a pen, pad of paper, and her harmonica from the pockets. She carefully placed them on the edge of the fountain. Cybele leaned over the fountain, letting the water soak the blouse.

“It must be around midnight and I am doing laundry in a fountain…” Moments like this, Cybele wished she could laugh out loud. Her mind began to wander as she attempted to work the mud out of her clothing. She let sounds of the fountain overcome her again. A small burst of wind interrupted the flow and Cybele’s mind followed it away from the fountain and into the rest of the courtyard.

[Connor Ashling]

It was midnight and Connor was up to absolutely no good.

He couldn't help it really. His roommate snored like a walrus, driving him farther and farther away from sleep with each snort. Damnit, he wanted to sleep, for once! He wanted to see what all this dream stuff was about for godsakes. Until he actually saw it for himself, he was never going to get rid of this sinking feeling that everyone in the place was participating in some kind of mass psychosis.

Connor let go of his window ledge and landed with a soft oomph outside. Not a bad escape, if he said so himself. The rest of the operation was just a long leisurely walk. After all, he had to scope out the place before he got up to any really good mischief. He'd be a horrible social deviant if he didn't supply himself with the proper information.

With a happy spring to his step he walked past the entrance to the Inner Courtyard, almost missing the girl entirely. Almost. Connor skittered back, confusion written over his entire face before he collected himself.

What on earth was she doing?

He was hooked by his curiosity, and before he could stop himself, he was pulled over to where the admittedly pretty girl sat... scrubbing her laundry in a decorative fountain.

He tripped over his tongue, trying to find adequate words, and failing. Instead, he said this, "Ah, do they not have washing machines here? Cause if they don't, I think I'm just going to leave now."

[Cybele Renard]

Cybele was completely oblivious to the world now. After the wind died down, she focused on the fountain again, watching the reflection of the stars and the moon ripple. A voice shocked her back to reality. She spun to face the person, knocking her belongings into the fountain in the process.

Cybele gave the boy a quick glance before turning back to the fountain and pulling her things out. The pad was soaked and useless. The harmonica had seen worse. The pen was sealed, so at least the ink was dry. Ringing out her blouse, Cybele turned back to the boy.

In response to his question, she pointed to the mud under the bench, then to the mud on her dress and blouse. She tapped her head a couple times in what she hoped would translate to something like “Yeah, I wasn’t really thinking when I fell asleep there.”

She smiled at him, nodded her head towards the, now wet items, and shrugged. Without thinking about it, she signed a gesture for laughter. Knowing probably nothing would come from it, Cybele signed “Hello” in LSF, then paused and repeated the gesture in BSL. She cast her eyes around, looking for something to write on. Not readily seeing anything, she opened her pen and wrote “Hi” on her arm. Smiling again, she held her arm out to the boy.

[Connor Ashling]

Well, Connor had to admit that he was completely out of his depth here. He didn't know whether to be annoyed that, once again, his skills were lacking... or perhaps excited that he was being kept on his toes. After a minute's deliberation and reminding himself that he was staring like a fool, a bright smile popped onto his face.

He tried to trace her hand motions to piece together what she was saying, and it was obvious she was dumbing it down for him. He knew a total of five hand signals and three of them weren't polite. At the blank look on his face, the girl switched to a different tactic.

'Hi', he read, after stepping close enough to.

"Well hello," He responded, flashing her a grin, "Sorry about your uh--stuff there. Didn't mean to startle you. I'm a naturally sneaky guy, unfortunately." He clamped his mouth shut. Filling the void with useless talk wasn't going to do either of them any good.

"Uhm, Hi, right," He repeated uselessly, "Oh, the name's Connor, I'm new here, and I swear I don't make a habit of sneaking up on half dressed girls in the middle of the night. Only really interesting ones."

He clamped his mouth shut again. What the heck was with him?

[Cybele Renard]

Cybele blinked and signed laughter again. Cybele curtsied to Connor then wrote “Cybele, also new” on her arm. She held it out again and pointed to herself.

Now Cybele was presented with a problem. Her arms weren’t that long and she was going to run out of room to write on soon. “Hopefully the ink washes off…” She cocked her head to the side and gave Connor a strange smile as she wrote another message on her arm.

“If you sneak up on girls, they may as well be half dressed, no?”

Cybele gave Connor a moment to read the message then turned back to the fountain. She dunked her arm into the pool and rubbed away at the ink. There was a little smearing, but for the most part, the ink washed off. Turning back to Connor, Cybele held up her blouse and nodded to the fountain, hoping to convey something along the lines of “Well, I am obviously out in the middle of a courtyard at midnight doing my laundry. I am more crazy than interesting by the way.”

Writing smaller this time, Cybele held out her arm to Connor again. “Why sneaking around? Good night for it at least”

[Connor Ashling]

Connor almost laughed at her curtsy and instead responded in kind with an overly dramatic bow. Cybele, was it? He was beginning to like this girl. The more he calmed down about the whole semi-one sided conversation issue, the more he was able to understand her intent.

For a mute girl, she was wonderfully talkative. Connor read each message with obvious amusement, raising a finger to keep his own mouth shut as she wrote.

'Why sneaking around? Good night for it at least.' He snorted at the question and responded on instinct.

"Come now, every night is a good night to sneak around. Aside from that, if I stayed in my room any longer I was going to try to suffocate my roommate. I needed to case the place anyway."

Connor shrugged unapologetically, slightly surprised at himself. Usually he'd make at least an attempt to lie.

[Cybele Renard]

Cybele wrote, “Suffocate?” and gave Connor a slightly puzzled look. The words “Messy” and “Poison is cleaner” quickly joined the others on her arm. Cybele gave Connor her best smile and pointed to Poison.

“Case the place? The phrase puzzled Cybele for a moment. She suspected he meant exploring. She mentally sighed “Oh just ask him.”

“Case = explore?” pause “May I join?” Cybele held her arm out a little more timidly than before. She attempted to cover it by smiling again and writing, “My arm will be black soon” followed by her laughter sign.

After pausing to let Connor read the messages, Cybele washed her arm off again. She dried it quickly on her vest, ignoring the small ink stain. Laundry was going to be very fun this week.

[Connor Ashling]

Connor briefly thought about the pros and cons of poison versus suffocation, the thoughts almost rising to his lips before he realize that... oh yeah, that would make him sound crazier than he was willing to admit. Besides, the meanest poisoning he'd ever attempted was puting hot sauce in his ex-roommate's toothpaste. The thought made him chuckle all the more.

'May I join?' He stuttered on the thought while she wrote her next message. Usually the answer was a very insistent no, but his mouth had already answered,

"Of course," He said, a sly look taking over, "As for writing materials... I believe I owe you a new notebook. Let's see if I can't do something about that..."

Connor squinted around at the surrounding buildings and looked back towards the boys dorms. He stepped towards them, crooking at finger at Cybele for her to follow. The dorm was only a short walk away and he stopped under a row of windows, knowing the exact one he was looking for.

Poor Freddie Redford hadn't made exactly a good impression on him as of earlier, and had thus been the first room Connor had figured out for future knowledge. He hadn't expected to use that knowledge so soon, but it went for a good cause.

He turned back to Cybele, stopping her a bit away from the window and whispered a quick, "Wait here." before hooking his fingers onto the ledge and pulling himself up. A quick flick of his pocket knife popped the latch open on the inside and he was in, quiet as a mouse.

Luckily, the two occupants were sound asleep, probably enjoying the Dream World's many supposed wonders. He passed the red head and fished around in his desk, pulling out a clean notepad.

He allowed himself a silent chuckle before turning back towards the window. Another perfect operation.

[Cybele Renard]

Cybele was about to wave off the offer of writing materials, but Connor had already begun walking away. Shrugging to herself and slipping on her slightly damp blouse, she picked up her harmonica and followed. When they reached the dorm, Cybele crouched down so that her head was under the window ledge.

She watched as Connor opened the window and disappeared inside. “Note, flimsy locks on window…” While she waited for him to return, it occurred to Cybele that Connor probably would have used the door if he was grabbing something from his own room. "He's not stealing something is he..." She debated poking her head into the window but decided against it.

Having someone steal something for you was flattering in an odd sort of way. On the other hand, there was always the possibility that Connor would get caught. The thought of having to run and hide from whatever school authorities the Academy used made Cybele smile. “Je devrais peut-être penser à une vie de crime ...”

[Connor Ashling]

Connor was just itching to use a large brush pen he'd found in the desk on his oblivious victims, but the girl outside was metaphorically calling to him. He turned back to the window but, at the last moment, turned around and snatched Freddrick's shiniest pen and exited the dorm room through the front door.

He took his sweet time, looping back around the dorms and exiting through his own window down the hall. He was eight parts stealth agent, two parts giggling schoolboy as he snuck up on the dark haired girl.

Calm as anything, he poked her in the back with the capped pen, "Ah, caught you sneaking a peek into the boys dormitories." He used his best dramatic authority figure voice and held out the pen and paper, "But, here at Somnium were all very likely to be certifiably insane, so we reward this behavior. Here, have some paper and a oddly girly pen I seem to have discovered in a boy's dorm."

[Cybele Renard]

Cybele was starting to get nervous. Connor had been gone for a while now. It didn’t sound like he had been caught, but…

Cybele scooted up to the window and peaked inside. Connor was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, something poked her in the back. Startled, Cybele jumped. "Ah, caught you sneaking a peek into the boys dormitories." Cybele raised her arms in an “I surrender” gesture. She smiled when she realized it was only Connor messing with her. Cybele turned and stuck her tongue out at him. She accepted the pen and notebook and flipped to a blank page.

“You caught me officer. I am guilty and accept your punishment reward. Take me away.” Cybele held the notebook out so Connor could read it. After a pause, she put her hands out like she was going to be handcuffed.

[Connor Ashling]

Connor's eyebrow ticked up in amusement at her offered wrists, still smudged with the remnants of their conversation. Had he been a less honorable type he most certainly would have taken advantage of the situation. Sadly, though, he had been taught better and made the motion of pardoning her of all her sins... of course that was when he heard grumbling coming from the still partially unlatched window.

"Whoops," He grabbed Cybele's hands before thinking too much about it and tugged her back over and into the gardens, pulling her behind an elaborate topiary and peered around to check if Freddie had caught on. He was getting sloppy. Talking under the window, that was a little stupid, wasn't it?

"So," He looked over at his partner in crime, "You've done your laundry in a fountain, become accomplice to petty theft, and nearly been caught for it... anything else on your to-do list tonight?"

[Cybele Renard]

Cybele’s peered around the shrub too, listening closely to the night. She didn’t reply to Connor immediately, letting her mind follow the various noises. When she was satisfied that the coast was clear, she wrote, “World domination?” and held the notebook out to Connor.

Cybele looked up at the topiary, attempting to discern what it was. She hadn’t explored this part of the grounds very much and was a little disoriented. The decorative shrubs and bushes seemed completely different at night: stranger, darker, almost chaotic. “Hatter would love this…" she couldn’t help thinking.

Cybele figured there must be at least an hour or so until sunrise. She wrote out, “I would still like to explore if you would. I Sleep when sun rises, need break from dreams.” Cybele had found, though trial and error, that if she went to sleep completely exhausted her chances of entering the dream world decreased dramatically.

[Connor Ashling]

Connor eyed the words in the notebook. World Domination? Before he even gave reality a spare thought, his mind was whirring into action, trying to figure out how one would exactly dominate the world... It all seemed very messy. He laughed at himself. Finding it funny that he would even give the idea space in his head.

Oh well, he decided, there was plenty of space in there lately and it'd keep his brain from knocking around like a rattle. He looked back at the paper... what was next? He grinned toothily at her and tugged his lock picks out of his boot.

"I saw a gate that was just begging to be unlocked over there." He pointed at a line of wrought iron fences, choked by unruly plants that were obviously in mid pruning. A rather formidable and equally shiny padlock looped around the handles, taunting him.

He tossed her a quick grin before launching to his feet and crossing the garden to it. He plucked out his favorite pick and tension wrench, already examining the lock. As soon as he got close, he frowned.

"Joy," he said sarcastically and looked over at Cybele speculatively, "Hey, could you do me a quick favor? This is a rather nasty lock, six tumblers probably, I need a good ear. All you have to do is tell me when you hear the pins pop."

[Cybele Renard]

Cybele’s eyes widened a little at the sight of the lock picks. A smile crossed her face and a flurry of questions entered her mind. “Where did you get that? Where can I get them? Are they easy to use?” The questions could wait, though. Connor was already on the move and Cybele rushed to keep up with him.

She watched with eager anticipation as Connor flipped through the picks and various tools. She did her best to devote their look to memory so she could research them later. When Connor asked her to help, she beamed at him, glad to be of use.

Cybele scrawled, “Whenever you are ready, will signal.” and held it out. Cybele signed the letter ‘Y’ with one hand and tapped the word ‘signal’ with the other.

She knelt down next to the lock and cupped one hand around her ear. She closed her eyes, focusing her hearing. At first, there was the usual rush of ambient night sounds. Cybele filtered through them, tapping on the lock with her free hand. After a moment, she had completely focused her hearing on the position of the lock. She used her free hand to give Connor the thumbs up and concentrated.

[Connor Ashling]

Giddy at the prospect of letting someone into his little game of thievery, Connor almost bent his favorite pick in the hurry to open the thing. Fortunately, he recovered his wits in time to keep from knocking the thing into Cybele's face. Now that'd be a way to impress a girl, give her a nice bruise in the eye.

He coughed awkwardly to hid the mishap and reset the torque and pin, slowly working his way through to the barrel, trusting Cybele's ear. Really, it was possible for him to do this himself, but he wanted an excuse to include her. He grinned at her like a fool as she signaled the last lock, right in time, and the lock snapped open.

He made short work of the chain and pushed the wrought iron fence open on rusty hinges. He nudged it all the way open with a foot and bowed Cybele through.

"After you, of course..." He grinned and added an extra flourish.

[Cybele Renard]

Cybele was concentrating so hard, the sound of the lock snapping open surprised her. She jumped a little and almost lost her balance. She stood and pretended to brush herself off, giving Connor her best ‘I meant to do that…’ look. She was trying to remain composed and hide her excitement from him. Due to her upbringing, Cybele had never had reason to break into places or sneak around or otherwise be a normal juvenile delinquent. She was completely out of her element and loving it.

“Such a gentleman. Thank you.” Cybele nodded politely to Connor after entering the gate. She motioned ‘Thank you’ in BSL by placing her left hand slightly under her mouth then moving it forward and down. Cybele accompanied the gesture with a beaming smile. She repeated the gesture agian, tapping ‘Thank you’ with her right hand. She knew sign language wasn’t as interesting as lock picking or breaking and entering, but she wanted to at least attempt to share something with Connor too.

She scanned the new courtyard. The moon was behind a cloud at the moment, so the area was covered in shadows. Partially turning back to Connor she wrote, “Wonder why gate locked?” She paused, shrugging and looking around suspiciously, hoping to convey a sense of mystery. “Monsters perhaps?”

[Connor Ashling]

Connor hid a laugh behind a cough at Cybele's little tumble. He was never going to openly criticize someone being clumsy as he was a firm believer in klutz karma. Make fun of a trip and the next thing you know, you'll be walking into a glass door. In any event he was paid back by a grateful sign from Cy. You didn't have to know BSL to understand it , but it was interesting to know.

Connor tried the gesture experimentally and shrugged, wondering if he could pry out more choice signed words from her. He always ran into trouble by speaking his mind, perhaps being quiet about it could do him some good.

Cybele stepped through and paused. Connor peeked around her shoulder as she wrote.

"Damn," He sighed, "I was hoping for a time machine or some such. You think you'd be able to find one in a place like this." He eyed her paper, "Monsters, that would have been my second choice."

[Cybele Renard]

“Bet there is a time machine around here somewhere.” Cybele thought for a moment then wrote, “Nightmares perhaps. Not monsters.” She waited for Connor to read and continued to scan the courtyard. The moon peaked out from behind the clouds for a second. Cybele’s eyes fixed on an empty fountain near the middle of the courtyard.

She nodded and moved to the fountain. It was an ornate, multi level fountain; a couple feet taller than the one Cybele had been doing her laundry in. Cybele examined it, running a hand along the dry bowl and up the designs around the neck. She stepped up onto the base and turned back to Connor.

She pointed up with her index finger, BSL for up, and gave him a grin. Cybele tossed the notebook into the bowl above her. She wrapped her fingers around the lip of the bowl and jumped / pushed. She managed to jump high enough to get her left foot onto the lip. Cybele paused, catching her balance, and then dropped into the bowl. She hung her feet over the edge and leaned back.

Cybele reached over the lip and held the notebook out. “Roomy up here. Nice view too.”

[Connor Ashling]

Connor watched in slight awe as Cy climbed the fountain like it was Everest, resisting the urge to jump under her to keep her from getting a little too familiar with the ornate base of the thing. He held his breath until she got to the top, making sure none of his worry was evident on his face. No need to baby the girl, she was perfectly capable, speech or no.

As soon as she was settled he walked up under her and knocked on the base, "Well, I believe they call this an exercise in extravagance, don't you think?" He looked up at her with a grin, "I had a... friend, I guess you could say, back home. He had something like this for his thirteenth birthday, except it was made of ice and filled with this really gross fruit punch."

He leaned against the base and made a pretense of looking innocent, "He thought he was clever, right? He started bossing around the ice carvers, saying things about their mother's occupation and family lineage. " A wicked smirk crawled across his face and he knocked on a part of the fountain a little farther up, "So I suggested they saw through a bit riiight about here, and just before they opened the presents... you can guess." He made a crashing motion with his hands and supplied appropriate sound effects.

He settled back, looking absolutely smug. He hadn't owned up to that to anyone as of yet, which was probably a good idea. Still, he felt like sharing, even if it was kind of petty. He looked up at Cy again and shrugged, "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

[Cybele Renard]

Cybele had a smirk on her face as she listened to Connor’s story. She suspected she knew how it would end and wasn’t disappointed. She nodded then sat back in the bowl to write.

“Poetic. I approve and applaud your methods.” Cybele hung the notebook over the lip again so Connor could read it. The smirk slowly turned into a contented half smile. She pulled her feet up and turned so that her entire body was in the bowl. She lay on her back and stared up at the sky, opening her senses.

Given the chance, Cybele could sit like that all day and just listen to the world around her. She was not accustomed to sharing moments like this with others, though. Given time, and the right company, Cybele figured she could get used to it. She would need to work on her story telling skills though.

Her mood was slightly dampened by the sky becoming a tad brighter and a yawn she just barely managed to stifle. She scribbled, “Sunrise” and sat up. Being careful not to fall, Cybele crouched then jumped from the bowl to the ground. She did a small hop upon landing to catch her balance and turned to Connor. She held up the notebook and stuck her tongue out to indicate her disappointment.

[Connor Ashling]

Connor eyed the last message on the paper and laughed, "Sunrise? Scared of a little light, are we?" He joked and looked up to find she was completely serious. He frowned, despite himself. For some reason it hadn't really occurred to him that he might have to go back to school at some point.

He hadn't had this much fun in... a long time, and he'd never really been this completely honest in a while either. It usually made for bad business.

"Ah, well," He shrugged, "Guess all good things must come to an end." He gently plucked the pad and pen from her grip and scribbled down his name and phone number before promptly giving it back.

"Just making sure you don't forget. Anytime you get the urge to break and/or enter, give me a call." He grinned and tucked his hands in his pockets.

[Cybele Renard]

Cybele gave Connor an apologetic smile and took the note book and pen back. She looked at what he had written and committed it to memory. Turning to a blank page, she wrote ”Vampire…” and ”mind is willing, but body is weak” holding the notebook so Connor could read.

In truth, Cybele wanted to stay out longer. She was having a great time and didn’t want it to end. Her body was telling her otherwise, though. The brief power nap she had taken earlier was not gong to be enough to hold her through the day. It also didn’t help that she was coming down off an adrenaline rush.

She raised the notebook and wrote, “Next time, you need to teach me how to pick locks. Thanks for the adventure.” Cybele scribbled ’Cy’ and put her phone number under it. She carefully tore the half page out of her notebook and folded it in half. She walked up to Connor and placed the paper into his hand. Standing on tiptoes, she lightly kissed his right cheek.

Cybele stepped back and signed “Goodbye” and “Good morning” before turning to leave the courtyard.