The Decrepit Mansion (Open)

Jericho stands up, forming the darkness around him into a blade. "What do you mean by that?" He says sternly, forgetting about the melody he was playing earlier

Arianne tilts her head as Jericho plays, suddenly curious. "How do you...? she questions.

As the two boys size one another up she steps between them, her soul resonating through the floor to form a cluster of blades that springs up before either one of them. "The two of you will not be fighting in our home." She says sternly. She turns her head to Mania, "Besides, he might just be fun." She says to the boy.

She turns her attention back to Jericho, and while she speaks some of the spiders skitter near him, almost as if they are curious as well. "My mother played that song for me when I was a child. Before the war... before Death and what became his precious DWMA took her away from me." There is that twinge of madness again, wrapped in rage and stained with regret.

Mania carefully regards the blades, then licks it and giggles "metal tastes funny!" He stands up and falls over again." The floor still hurts."

Jericho eyes Mania briefly, then kneels down, watching the spiders. "I'm sorry for your loss..." He says softly, feeling comforted by the spiders. "I'm honestly not sure where I know that lulliby from... I remember hearing it as a child, but that's all..." He said quietly, looking down at the floorboards.

"Why do you have such hard floor? The white room was soft all over!" He says inquisitively "and my jacket made me hug myself! It was soft too....." His eyes glaze over listlessly "soft......"

Jericho looks up at Mania, remembering where he was. "Why did you leave your soft white room Mania?", Jericho asks, slightly intrigued in the lunitic's history.

"I wanted to see if the doctor would burn, to burn, he was concerned to learn, to learn that he would burn!" He rhymed "but the jacket did rip, the room did to, then the metal beneath it blew, it blew!!!" He giggled. "I wonder if you would burn?"

Jericho looks back to the girl, ignoring the the pyrotechnic's question. "How is my childhood connected to your mother?", he asks her softly.

The tension in the room at least diffused away from boiling, Arianne stems the tide of her soul, letting the blades sink back onto the ground.

Her eyes narrow, intrigued."Strange, no weapon has ever been sorry for my loss before. Not with who my mother is... was." She turns over her shoulder to Mania, "I'm sure I could find you a padded room somewhere. There is the room with the old mattresses. You could lay them out on the floor."

Seeking to distract Mania with that, she turns her attention back to Jericho. "I haven't the foggiest brother. Though my are my brother in name only, no soldier of Death is really a brother of mine." She tilts her head a little, "But my mother's other children seem to like you. Intriguing."

Mania shakes his head violently "no no no, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, padded rooms burn burn burn." He stands up and dusts himself off, his facial expression is almost sane for a moment before degenerating back into its previous state.

Something clicked in Jericho's head. "I'm not one of Death's soilder, simply a student. I only wish to learn and become stronger. I remeber the wars between your mother and Death, only from stories I heard though.... Your mother, could she have known my parents? I remember the luliby from before, before my parents abandoned me..." Jericho watched her 'siblings', bring reminded of another distant memory, one he could not recover. He created his own spider, one from the darkness, and sent it to scatter across the floor with the others. He watched and thought, wondering what his connection was to the strange girl.

Arianne regards Mania carefully, nodding at his reply. "As you wish, little brother." She turns her attention back to Jericho.

She watches the black spider he has made, watching how the others regard it. The sight brings a smile to her face. "I see... so you have no particular loyalty to Death." The wheels start to turn in her head, "I doubt you are as old as I... but there is every chance your parents knew my mother in her more recent revival." Something in her tone suggests that she does not think that was Arachnne's last revival, denial... or perhaps a plan.

"You're a creature of the dark just like me..." She says, "Why depend in the Shinigami to teach you? I can teach you to be strong, stronger than any of his Death Scythes." She extends her hand to him, "I don't know what happened to any of the people involved in Arachnaphobia, but I want to find out. Come with me and we can find answers together, brother of mine."

He looks at her hand, weighing his options. "I... I have loyalties to no one. Yet. But I would love to learn from you as well as Lord Death. So I can know both sides. That is if you'll trust me." He looks again at his spider, causing it to grow larger until it splits into two smaller ones.

Mania regards the two of them shaking hands with a, once again, oddly sane expression. His pupils have shrunk down to a normal size rather than their usual dilated state. A mischievous grin splits his face and he adds his own hand to the others "and me!"

Jericho looks down at Mania's hand, slightly suprised, but then grabs it firmly and shakes, looking at the crazy fire addict.

Arianne looks hesitant for a slight moment, but then a smile comes over her face. "Yes, why not know both sides. It will make you stronger in the end." she says, perhaps more to herself than to Jericho.

"It is good to have a family again... after so much time alone." She says, looking between the two men.

"What now?" he asks her, wondering what was next on the agenda, now watching his dark spider's multiple.

Arianne smiles, the beginnings of an idea in her mind. "Well we find a way for the two of us to communicate. It's slightly easier for witches to do this sort of thing. She tilts her head to the side, muttering to herself, "Hmm... If I could get a soul protect charm I could spend some time in Death City. Otherwise I wouldn't go unnoticed long."

She smirks, "I mean as much as I enjoy fighting shibushen it really isn't conducive to getting much work done. Or taking the time and attention required to teach my dear little brother how to use that darkness to its full potential."

As she speaks there is a slight rotation of her foot against the rotting wood floor. A shadowy spiderweb begins to grow out from beneath Jericho's spider.

"Actually, I suppose I would need two soul protects." She says lifting hand to ruffle Mania's hair. "That is if my new littlest brother wants to come with me?"

Manias only response is a slight chuckle. He attempts to bite her hand and growls as she moves her hand out of reach. "I've been to death city before, they didn't even seem to notice. "

Jericho looks down at the spiderweb forming below his, contemplating. "Carrier spiders..." he said softly, sliding his under one of the actual spiders. He picks it up gently, examaning it. "We could attach letters or something to the spiders, and send them back and forth. We could always meet outside of town, but we could arrange the meetings with the spiders." he says softly, trying to find all the flaws with his plan.

"I already know a witch!" Mania shouts "witch of you has a problem with it! " he says, collapsing into a fit of giggles. "I don't really like him though...he smells like serious."

Arianne considers for a moment. "Carrier spiders, I like that idea." She muses. Then she gives a short nod, "It sounds perfect to me actually."

She glances towards Mania, "If you don't like him then I'd rather not get him involved. I imagine Death City is much larger than it used to be perhaps I can find a place to stay and go unnoticed, so long as I keep my head down. If I am discovered, getting out should not be much of a problem.

"You could stay at the carnival!" Mania exclaims, practically dancing with joy "we are outside the city and we do what we want! The only rules are that there are no rules! There's dead stuff and fights and rides and candy!!!"

"The carnival isn't a bad idea, but it's still risky." Jericho says, the sits down, staring at the floor.

Arianne pauses a moment to consider the carnival... "I do usually prefer finer accommodations. But in the interest of practicality, the carnival does sound like a good idea." Her spider siblings seem to like the idea too, if the chittering is any indication.

"It seems we have the beginnings of a plan then, my brothers. Is there more to be said?"