.in the moonlight you look just like an angel in disguise.

Casper Andreadis Words: 458 Note: He is not a vampire haha, read his bio here

~we stopped checking for monsters~ ~under our bed when we realized they~ ~were inside of us~ Casper didn't know if he was glad or apprehensive that he'd found the graveyard.  He hadn't known where he was going this morning.  He just knew he had to get out.  And since he couldn't get off the island without help, getting off school grounds was going to have to do.  He doubted Hades, Erebus, or Nyx would come to his aid in escaping somewhere they wanted him to be.  Sometimes it felt like he was just a pawn in their game, like being free of his tormentors was really no different than being under their control. Then again, maybe none of the deities were watching him.  Maybe they only intervened when something attracted their attention and said, Hey, you should probably help out the descendant of the mortal you gifted!   He had a feeling he would never really find out. It was as if some gravitational force had pulled him toward the cemetery. Without thinking, he'd ended up among the snow-covered tombstones.  Some of the richer families had elaborate statues and headstones of marble depicting the deceased person.  There was one statue of a young girl in a long dress that looked startling familiar.  Upon closer inspection, Casper realized that she had the same slightly curved nose, the same high browbones and cheekbones as he and the rest of his family did.  Curiosity piqued, he brushed away the snow covering the small gold plaque with an ungloved hand.  On the plaque, the only words were a name and two years. Katerine Drakos, 1870-1883. He shivered, although he was dressed warmly enough to ward off the winter chill.  Unless he was mistaken, that girl was part of his family tree, the ancestor his dead sister had been named after. His eyes stung, holding in tears.  He was barely aware that he was clutching the statue's outstretched hand as he stared at her face.  She had died at the same age as Katerina, and had an eerie resemblance to her.   With a shock, he noticed a silver knife clutched in the statue's other hand that was digging into her marble wrist.  The moonlight glinted off the weapon, which for some reason had been made of a different material.  That was morbid, even for a family linked to the gods of death.  He lifted a finger to the edge of the blade, hissing and retracting his finger quickly when he realized it was sharp.  Why was there a real knife wrapped in the eternal hold of the motionless statue?  A drop of blood fell to the ground, staining it scarlet.  His mouth began to water, and he clamped his teeth on his lower lip, hating his craving for the crimson liquid.

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Pandora sat on the cold ground, leaning against a grave. Light was fading, yet there was still plenty of time to make it back to Foresta before night. She was completely at ease in this graveyard she had stumbled upon, having always found the quiet of graveyards oddly comforting. Turning, she traced the rough stone of the tome stone under her hand, and wondered what story this person had held. She twisted into a more comfortable position, and let her eyes shut her a moment, wondering about all of the souls in the graveyard. She would return to Pandora in a minute, she just wanted to think for a bit...

Eyes fluttering open, she realized it was dark. No way. She had...fallen asleep? Eyes widening, Pandora looked around. Would she get into trouble for being out from school late? What if she got expelled? She had no idea how strict this school was on such matters. Although...tilting her head to the side groggily, she decided that might not be such a bad thing, for then she could go back home to find her brother.

Standing up slowly, Pandora stretched her arms, and felt a familiar itch in her legs. Cold or not, she knew her body ached to go running, and decided to find the school's gym. Gazing at the graveyard, bathed in moonlight, Pandora felt a thrill at being here run through her. It was such a haunting beauty, and she felt both exhilarated and calmed at the scene.

Walking around the graves, Pandora thought she heard a sound. Similar to a footstep? Eyes widening, she ducked behind a large statue. Was she imagining the sound of footsteps? It wouldn't be the first time, but just to be sure...poking her head out from around the tomb, she retracted it instantly when she saw tall, dark figure. It looked like a man. What should she do? Biting her lip, Pandora decided she should be OK with her force fields. Curiosity getting the better of her, she looked around the statue again. The boy was staring at another statue. Of a girl? Did he know that person buried there? Sad at the thought, she saw a drop of blood fall to the ground. Was he hurt? Instinctively, she moved forward to help, before realizing she should stay hidden- this person may be dangerous. Too late. The snow had crunched rather loudly under her foot, and Pandora hoped she hadn't been heard, as she hid behind the statue once more, glad that she was small. Heart pounding, she hoped he wouldn't find her, or at least, that he wasn't dangerous.

Casper Andreadis Words: 338 we stopped checking for monsters under our bed when we realized they were inside of us

The dark-haired boy inhaled deeply to try and clear his mind, but too late he realized it would only allow the scent of blood to further fill his sinuses.  The blood dripping from his fingertip was like liquid rubies, sparkling when they hit the white snow. He was almost tempted to lick the blood off, but he resisted the urge and was beyond glad he had tested his willpower when he heard the crunch of snow under a foot.   Since he hadn't moved, he knew it wasn't him and immediately whipped around, cobalt eyes flashing.  His unzipped jacket followed his movements, the drawstrings blown to the side by his momentum and a sudden wind.   The light was faint, and it took him a moment to scan the graveyard for the other person.  His heart was racing like a cheetah--he'd thought he was alone, but obviously he wasn't.  Then again, maybe his isolation had driven him insane and he was hallucinating.  It seemed possible, given that there was no one to be seen.   But if he held his breath for a moment, cutting off the flow of mist coming from his mouth as his warm breath mixed with the cold air, he could hear another noise--the breathing of someone or something else.   Casper had the sudden paranoid thought that maybe the scientists were coming after him again.  But wasn't the island supposed to be a safe place?  On edge, he said, "Whoever's there, come out.  I won't hurt you, but if you don't come out, I'll make you."  He was debating whether or not to use his power and create a shadow-being to drag whatever it was from wherever it was.  After all, it was a little bit safer than hunting down the person or creature that was hiding in the graveyard.   He decided to give 'it' five seconds before he acted.  "Five.." he began to count down, voice steady despite his heartbeat, which felt like it was trying to burst out of his chest.  "Four.." "Three..." "Two.." "One."

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Pandora's breath caught; she had been heard. Now that boy, man, person, was aware of her. He sounded confident, and so Pandora focused, ready to make a force field, just in case. He began to count down steadily, and just as he was reaching one, Pandora called out, her Australian accent stronger than ever because of her nerves. "Wait!" It wasn't very loud, as she was rarely loud, but she was sure that if the boy had heard her footsteps, he would hear her call. Biting her lip, curiosity burning, Pandora slowly peeked her head out from behind the statue, observing the boy who was now facing her, then stepped out slowly, so that her whole figure was visible. "I'm sorry, I just wasn't sure...you might be a mongrel..." As soon as she said that, she realized she probably shouldn't have voiced her suspicions of him being a mongrel, or bad person, out loud, and simply hoped that he didn't know the Australian slang.

Looking at the boy, she realized he couldn't have been too much older than she was, and was rather good looking. Tilting her head to the side, she wondered what someone like him was doing in a graveyard at this time of night. Dreamily, she looked around the yard, before realizing she wasn't focused on the boy- still a potential threat- in front of her, and turned her attention back to him quickly. Seeing that he was still bleeding from somewhere, she cautiously took a step closer to him. "Are ya alright?" She asked softly, staring into his eyes. She could see a lot of emotions there, and it reminded her of herself, always hiding the bad emotions so no one else would know when she was in pain.

Reaching slowly into her pocket, still not breaking eye contact, she didn't find anything that could help with his wound and instead took her scarf off to use as a makeshift bandage. It was a thin one, but might just do the trick. "Where are you hurt?" She continued to look into the boys eyes and began to feel herself getting lost in them, so her own eyes quickly widened and she hid them behind her fringe.

Casper Andreadis Words: 303 we stopped checking for monsters under our bed when we realized they were inside of us

Just as he was about to move toward the sound to investigate, a timid voice called out for him to wait.  It was a soft, delicate, feminine sound.  At first, he felt a little more relaxed, and his muscles unwound, but a moment later his mind went on paranoid mode and he thought, What if it's a trap? However, when a small figure emerged from behind the statue, he forced himself to take a deep breath and calm down. Foresta was a safe haven; he was guaranteed safety here, right?  The girl spoke, voicing her concern that he might be a 'mongrel'.  He might have been offended if he hadn't been startled at the usage of the word; he'd never heard anyone use 'mongrel' in everyday conversation.  From that, as well as her accent (which sounded Australian), it was clear she wasn't American. He shifted backwards very slightly when she moved forwards, still unaccustomed to being close both physically and emotionally to anyone.  When she gazed into his eyes, asking if he was alright, Casper shifted his sapphire gaze away.   "I'm fine," he muttered, looking back at her and curling his fingers into a fist to hide the superficial cut.  The pressure was squeezing blood out, making it seem worse than it really was.  The girl began to unwind her scarf as if she wanted to bandage his hand with it. Hurriedly, he said, "Really, keep your scarf.  You need it more than I do" as he shuffled fresh snow over the blood-stained bit.   Wanting to divert the attention away from himself, he asked, unintentionally a little rough in tone, "What are you doing in the cemetery?"

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Pandora blinked at the boy's hand dubiously; it looked like it was bleeding quite a lot. When he told her to keep her scarf, she paused. "No really, it's fine! I'm not that cold anyway..." As she said that, Pandora couldn't suppress the shiver that ran through her from the cold wintry air, but hoped he hadn't seen. Even if he hadn't, he might have heard it in her voice; Pandora couldn't lie to save her life.

Attention successfully diverted at  his question, she tilted her head to the side and looked around the graveyard. What was she doing here? "I...fell asleep here..."  It sort of made her sound stupid, but it was the truth, and she looked up at the boy in front of her. "What about you? This isn't really your normal teenage hangout..." Smiling softly in amusement, her face lost its smile as an image flashed through her mind; lucky it wasn't a normal teenage hangout, otherwise there was no doubt that these graves would be disrespected. Frowning softly at the thought, Pandora looked around at the graves sadly. They seemed so...lonely, and she vowed to return to that place more often.

Looking past the boy, she noted the statue of a girl behind him. Walking closer to the statue to get a better look, she didn't even realize that in doing so, she was brought right next to the odd, graveyard dwelling boy. The boy had been staring at this statue before. Nodding towards it, she turned to the tall boy. "Someone you knew?" Then, she had the sense to read the name and dates of life. Too long ago for him to have known this girl personally, although it looked like he held some connection with this statue. Perhaps he was a descendant of her? "Oh, my mistake, sorry." 

Looking around the graveyard once again, Pandora realized she could see her breath. The misty white kind of reminded her of a ghost. Ghosts..."It's funny, ya know? My parents could be in here, right in front of me, yet even if their names were lit up like Australian sun, I wouldn't recognize them. Even River's name could be in here...My whole family, at rest in a far, strange land." Oops. She had said too much. As the thought of her brother being dead crept into her mind, Pandora found herself blinking back sudden tears. No, that sort of thinking was bad. River was not dead. And even if he somehow was (though Pandora refused to believe it), he wouldn't be here, so far from home. The same could be said of her parents. She never knew them, but why would they be all the way here? It didn't make sense. Breathing out slowly and shoving her negative emotions down, hopefully out of sight of the stranger in front of her, Pandora turned away from the boy slightly, so she could further compose herself.

"You...have similar features to her. Is she an ancestor?" Pandora asked quietly, referring to the statue.

Casper Andreadis Words: 352 Note: I'M SO SORRY OHMYGOD

Casper shook his head once more with finality, refusing the proffered scarf.  He'd be fine without it; he'd dealt with much worse before.  "Thanks anyways," he said, suddenly remembering his manners.   So she'd fallen asleep here, huh?  In a cemetery?  It was an odd place to take a nap.  And cold, at that.  Before he could say anything, she posed her own question about his motives for hanging around here. He certainly had to agree with the opinion that it wasn't a place you would find most normal teenagers. "Mm.." he made a sound of agreement. "I was just.. uh, wandering around, and I happened upon this place.  Probably not coincidence."  The last part was a quiet murmur of sardonic amusement to himself.  Returning the attention to her explanation for her presence, he questioned, "You weren't worried about hypothermia or anything of the sort?", a single eyebrow raised in slight disbelief.   Her next words caught his attention. "Did you grow up with foster parents?" He couldn't imagine growing up with no  knowledge of how to use his powers and no one to guide him in the world of magic.  Growing up in a family gifted by the gods had made his abilities seem quite commonplace, although he knew he and his family were special.  Seeing her tilt her face away from him for a moment, he regretted his words, as it seemed he had caused her distress.  "Oh.. you don't have to answer that if you don't want to."  Casper fidgeted slightly, not wanting to be responsible for someone else's pain. The girl asked about the statue they were standing beside.  He saw no harm in telling her the truth, so he answered with more information than he'd originally planned on giving.  "Yeah.  I think she was the ancestor my sister is named after.  Was," he corrected himself.  How had he forgotten that Katerina was dead?  His throat began to feel tight. "What's your name?" he asked abruptly, trying to shift the subject away from dead family members.

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