I'm holding on your rope. (EMILY)

It had taken her weeks, but she was finally here. Mystery was finally at the place that was said to welcome anyone and everyone. Oh how she hoped that she would be okay here. Her mind nagged at her though, saying that there was nowhere for her to hide and that she would just have to be put down the rest of her life… Mystery sighed and looked down at her arms, poking at the flab she carefully pulled her sleeves down over the scars that were near her wrists.

Having developed a hunch as she was coming here, Mystery wrapped herself up in a black cloak and draped the hood over her face so no one would look at her. They’d just be curious, that’s all- and her body didn’t really react to mild curiosity anyways. Hugging her possessions tightly, as Mystery made her way toward the door someone accidentally ran into her and ended up knocking her back onto her rear end.

“Excuse me I’m-,” the boy who was going to help her up, his face twisted uncertainly as he saw what she looked like. With that simple emotion, Mystery felt some wrinkles appear on her face. Desperately putting her hood back up, Mystery began to gather up all the photos that had fallen out of one of the binders she had been holding. She ended up gathering them all up, except for one that was blown away by the wind. “Ah!” Mystery gasped and followed after it as quickly as she could.

Art was already fairly familiar with Foresta, even before David forced him to enroll as a student- as though he could actually learn something at this point. Ignoring the horrible screaming- which had actually died down a bit since he's moved so far away from his old home but never quite went away completely- Art was wearing an old T-Shirt and some even older jeans. Art didn't realize his clothes were old or ratty looking, but he wouldn't have cared even if he did know. With only a backpack with basically a handful of underwear and some extra jeans- Art basically had nothing to his name and the only way he could possibly get anything here was through David who actually offered to pay for Art to buy new stuff.

Well Art didn't want to think about that anymore, the idea of shopping for new things seemed exhausting to him so when Art opened the door out of David's "room"- otherwise known as the Janitors Closet- and noticed a strange scuffle on the other side of the Court Yard Art was intrigued. Really he just wanted a distraction- that might be enough to get rid of the low rumbling wails of the trees, they were nothing like they could be but he didn't trust that it would stay like that without a proper distraction. All he saw were the emotions, neither were good. The most obvious one to him was strong embarrassment, he could tell from even far away that she was a girl- it was really a hunch more than anything else because he couldn't really see her the way he should be able to.

Approaching the two of them, he stared at the guy who he realized must have started the scuffle. He didn't seem to have done anything, perhaps he scared her. Ignoring him- honestly Art was bored by the other boy- he turned to Mystery and though he seemed to be giving her a critical glare he was only sending her warm feelings. Art didn't really know what he was doing, but he was fascinated by the fact that he was right- she is a girl.
After a few seconds of staring at the girl, inwardly praising himself for having a random moment of awesomeness and then praising whatever god there is that is keeping the trees from wailing so pitifully in his mind temporarily, he shrugged.

In the next instant he had every inclination to walk away when he realized that this whole time he had a photo...stuck to his shoe. Suddenly he felt bad and wiped it off his shoe in one graceful movement. "Sorry," he said immediately wiping off the dirt he had smeared on it by accident, "Really, I didn't see it...I don't know why." He said trying to snap himself out of it, this all seemed ridiculous- especially with his cousin so close. Maybe ridiculous wasn't right, he thought, as he looked at the photograph more closely, just too strange. He didn't comment on the photograph but instead stared at it for an extra few seconds. He felt saying something about a photograph he just ruined simply seemed wrong. "I'm really sorry," He said looking kind of heartbroken over it, "Do you still have the negative?" he asked after a few seconds of staring at the photo looking like a kicked puppy.

Mystery stopped as her photo was suddenly in the hands of another. She didn’t look at him directly at first, but instead watched his hand which held the photo. Mystery opened her mouth for a second, getting ready to respond but as she actually raised her eyes to his face she quickly shut her mouth. His depression over thinking that he had ruined her photo only made her think the worse, and after a moment of chewing on her tongue Mystery finally spoke “You keep it,” she said- her voice barely audible over everything else. Turning on her heel and feeling a little anxious, she began to walk away from him. Why was he talking to her? Oh, she still had her hood up… that was probably why she hadn’t seen him cringe.

Arthur, with his face still looking glassy, grabbed onto Mystery's arm. Though his face held no emotion, he was sort of amused by the whole situation. It was so strange, at one moment he expected something amazing to happen. "I can't take something like this from you," Art said shrugging at once, he was talking in a slight monotone though he didn't really notice. "I don't know you," He added after a few contemplative seconds. He let go of her arm and for another few seconds he paused as if unsure of what to do. In some strange way Arthur really didn't know how to compose himself- sometimes he forgets how people are supposed introduce themselves. Awkwardly he stuck his hand out, despite the fact that he looked uncomfortable Arthur..really wasn't. "I guess I'm Arthur," he said expecting her to fill in the rest.

As he grabbed her arm, Mystery mentally winced and closed her eyes tightly thinking the worst. As he let go though, she continued to stare at the ground and not at him. “I don’t mind,” she said “Feel free to take anything you want,” the response was only habitual- she was used to giving away her possessions nowadays. The next thing she knew, this person was actually introducing themselves to her. Seeming quite amazed at this she paused and stared at his hand for quite awhile, his simple minded attention playing havoc in her head. Her frail and wrinkly hand rose a little and was just about to grip his as hesitation came and instead of shaking his hand she just pulled her hood farther over her face. “I’m…,” would it really matter if she told him her name? Her mind desperately tried to come up with excuses not to tell him anything but finally unable to delay it any longer she spoke “I’m Mystery.”

"I don't want to take it," Arthur said with conviction, he didn't want to take it if was being offered as just another thing for him to take. "I'm not victimizing you," Art elaborated suddenly bothered by her. He didn't know why, but she shoved his buttons in the wrong way just then, not commenting anymore he stared at her for a few more seconds expecting her to leave if he didn't say something and quickly. He shrugged, as a matter of habit. Art never really knew what to do with himself, and shrugging was something that was easy and usually acceptable while it means little in conversation if used out of context. "I'm sorry I ruined your picture, but don't make me take it when you don't really want me to take it." Art said, his feathers ruffled. He didn't want to admit that he felt bad, he knew that he said the wrong thing to the wrong person. "I'm sorry," Art said again stopping himself. "Now tell me your real name and let me repay you for this picture." Art said, for once he was actually looking straight at her. For some reason he could almost make out some of her facial features- she's obviously a pretty girl even if his view was hazy to say the least. He wasn't sure why the boy earlier didn't act on his instincts himself.

Mystery paused at Arthur's sudden emotion, her body shrunk and her hands twisted awkwardly. She took the picture back quietally, uncertaintly and the backed up a few steps. "I-It's Mystery," she said while still looking at anything besides him. Her features were haggard, wrinkly and just old womanish. Taking a chance Mystery started to walk away, hoping that that would just be the end of it. The alarm she felt when he spoke was- truthfully put unlike anything she had felt before. Other times when people had done or said something she was just used to it, but now for some reason Mystery got the strang feeling that those repeating sorries actually meant something.

"I didn't mean that," Arthur said suddenly, he always knew that he often did things that contradicted what he said but it was never drawn to his attention like this in such a real way. Inwardly slapping himself, he reached out to grab her hand. He didn't really notice that her hand was noticeably contorted when he tugged her toward him. "Really, I say things I don't mean." Arthur said, despite how insincere his voice sounded he actually was telling he truth. "I just hate to see someone sounding as defeated as you sound." He tried to rationalize, Arthur wasn't entirely sure why he was so bothered by her a second ago- he didn't even know why he suddenly cared. "Let me make this all up to you, we can be friends." He said approaching her side and, just like his mom used to do when he was feeling ill, pushed into her side as if to serve as a physical reminder that she is no longer alone.

"I'm not going anywhere Mystery Girl," Arthur nearly breathed, it was barely above a whisper but it held a certain endearment and conviction- a combination that Art doesn't always deploy.

It was at that moment that Mystery decided that this guy must be a little insane.

She still couldn't figure out if he had looked at her face or not, but she guessed not. As he held onto her hand Mystery desperately tried to figure out if she should pull away or not, and as he leaned into her though Mystery stood statue still so frozen with surprise that she was also speechless too. For a few minutes atleast. "Why are you being nice to me?" she suddenly said feeling a little brave for the moment "Have you even looked at my face?" it was said quietly but sounded a little like she was scolding him.

"You didn't strike me as that kind of girl," Art said set back. He could only see her essence, and that wasn't bad looking at all. To him it was more likely that she was talking about her good looks making people be nice to her than her bad looks making people generally be mean to her. "I can see your face," Art said as he stepped in front of her and stared at her. He didn't really see the robe so much, "Usually I can't though," he said, he was making a general statement about all people. Usually he can't see faces or individual attributes on people- it makes it hard for him to remember people because everyone tends to look quite similar. "I'm not being nice to you because you're attractive," Art said, shrugging off the idea. "I don't know who you think I am, but I'm not like that at all." Arthur said, his thoughts- which were previously well distracted- suddenly turned to chaos as he heard something of a thus and a particularly vicious wail. Art barely kept himself from flinching.

What was wrong with this guy? He found overweight, wrinkly, ugly people attractive? She had obviously met a nut case. Taking a deep shaky breath she moved away from him, as far as she could. "Attractive?" she finally said seeming sort of surprised and still horrified at the same moment. "Are you sure you're not blind?" she said suddenly sounding a little concerned "You wouldn't be saying that if you could really see me," she then said to him placing a hand on her face feeling the various wrinkles and moles. The longer she stayed the stranger and stranger this conversation seemed to become.