Rain.. it's always raining

They walked together for quite a while in the rain, passing house after house, even going through a shopping district filled with people who all carried umbrellas. But the two run-a-ways found themselves in an abandoned part of town. Old factories looked worn and unused, some had the eyes of hungry homeless people peeking out of them, some merely looked abandoned. Rise made her way to one of the abandoned looking ones, one that looked half torn down.

"This place is so cool, though.. I guess you might not like to see it, we'll keep to the nice area unless you want to see the really gruesome stuff." She laughed and pushed open the door. It opened with a creek and they were on the first floor of what used to be an old storage house. Boxes of forgotten wares stood stacked everywhere, cob webs hung from the ceiling and there was the steady drip of water somewhere on the level they were on.

Rise motioned for him to follow her, and she led the way around the maze of boxes, wrapped in tape. "There's nothing of interest in most of these.. I kinda glanced through, but everything of value has been taken out.. or just isn't useful to a homeless person." She said with a sigh, shrugging as she found a trapdoor in the floor.

"Here it is.." She pulled it up and revealed a hole that had a single ladder in it. It didn't look very deep, as you could see the bottom, and a light heading down another corridor under the floor. "This isn't actually the building the place is under.. this is just how you get in." She said grinning. "I found it after like.. a week of looking.. I knew the area, but I didn't know how to get in.. got help from a little homeless boy.. he died sadly.. but that's besides the point." She said and went down the ladder quickly. Looking back up she shouted. "Drop down my case, it'll be fine!" She stepped back so that he had room to toss it.

"Gruesome stuff? What am I getting myself into?". Jimmy ignored the alarm bells for now, focusing solely on having a roof over his head.

"He died?? Okay...we really gotta start thinking here."

Shrugging it off once more, Jimmy lightly tossed Risé's case down the ladder, following it quickly. Jimmy could do nothing but obediently follow Risé to their new home, his need for shelter far outstripping his concerns about the decór. "Nothing some paint won't fix" he chuckled apprehensively, trying to shake off the ever nagging feeling that this was a bad idea.

Rise grabbed her luggage and went down a corridor. Doors branched off from either side, but she ignored those, heading straight to the one at the very end. Spinning around she faced Jimmy with a grin on her face. "Welcome to the place we'll be staying in for tonight at least.. a nice place that's cozy, warm, and isn't raining in.. a place.. well you'll see." She grinned and spun around, pushing the door open, she stepped inside the door.

Inside was a short corridor going off in both directions. A few doors were down the hall on the right hand side, as well as at least two on the left. Rise made a beeline for the right, and opened a door to a soft, flickering light inside. Like a candle had been lit. "I've already cleaned it out somewhat.. it hadn't been used in ages... but I made it work pretty well." She said and walked into what looked like an apartment. Dark, and shady, only a candle lit the place up. Whey they entered the candle floated up and lit the whole room, showing off a nice looking kitchen.

"Welcome.. to the lair of the infamous Felix Barker.. torturer, murderer, and man on the run.. he won't show back up here.. but it's pretty nice place if I do say so myself." She laughed happily and spun around the kitchen, pushing her trunk into a corner.

Behind her stood an archway into a living room, a sofa, and a tv sat in the room, as well as a bookcase with a multitude of books. "There are two bedrooms, this one, and another.. off to the side of this one.. The bathroom is around the corner.. I managed to get the water working, so we can actually use it.. I just had to tap into a supply line, we won't use enough water for them to notice, as well as the stove, which works. I'm pretty handy with household spells.. I guess I got used to it when.. erm.. nevermind." She went red and sat down at the circular wooden table in the center of the kitchen. "it's homey.. isn't it? I wouldn't have imagined him to live in a place like this.. but if you want to see the other rooms.. you'll figure out what kind of man he was quickly.."

Jimmy was taken aback by how...respectable the place looked. It was far from the run down, rusty death trap that he was expecting to see. Sinking into a nearby chair, Jimmy looked around his new surroundings with a dream-like grin on his face.

All Jimmy could do was smile and nod as Risé explained the layout of his new home. He wasn't even bothered by the fact that it was once owned by the notorious Felix Barker. "Huh..maybe that might make what I did seem not so bad...if I tell her that is."

As he sleepily sank further and further into his chair, Jimmy gazed up at Risé, an apologetic smile on his face. "Thank you" he whispered, as his eyes drooped shut. So relieved was Jimmy, that he didn't even realize he had left his things in a discreet alleyway back in the brick filled maze of London.

Rise grinned at him and smiled when he started to fall asleep. "We'll talk tomorrow.. we have time to rest tonight.. and gather our strength.. of course I don't have any food here... or else I'd have come here to eat it.. not been out on the streets.. but maybe we can summon some? I don't know.. but we can get food some way.." She nodded slowly and glanced around the room once more. It was looking very nice and clean, not unlike she had left it not very long ago. Some dust had gathered, but that was dust that had been kicked up by herself when she had left, and not been cleaned up completely.

"I'll show you to the nicer of the two bedrooms.. one of them was obviously made for a female.. I don't know who he was with.. but he must have liked her a lot.." She grinned and stood up, waiting for Jimmy to do the same, before she led him to the room that had once been occupied by Felix Barker, a very masculine room, with strong wood tones, and a dark bedspread. It was actually rather lovely. "I'll talk to you tomorrow okay? Get some sleep.." She said and pulled out her wand, making a candle appear for him, and she handed it to him. "Don't let it burn all night, I don't know how to extend the life of those like Hogwarts does." And with that, she shut her door and went to her own room.

Jimmy wearily followed her into the room, his eyes not yet registering how well suited it was to his tastes. He could only smile and nod as the candle was pushed into his hand. Jimmy's body collapsed onto the bed as soon as the door was shut, there barely being time to blow out the candle.

As Jimmy looked up towards the ceiling, his mind became swamped with thoughts and worries once more. They didn't have time to impact him though, as the darkness swept him off to sleep.

"We'll talk tomorrow.."

This one thought was strong enough and ominous enough to snap Jimmy back into consciousness hours later. "I guess I have no choice. I'm living with her now, after all." Jimmy said quietly to himself, resigning himself to potentially getting himself kicked out in the morning. Darkness came calling again, keeping better hold of Jimmy until the sun rose.

Rise slept well that night, she tossed and turned, but she slept, and for that she was grateful. She awoke in the morning, and found a pair of jeans in her trunk, and a sweatshirt, because it was cold in the dungeon house that they now called their home for a while. Leaving the bedroom, she emerged into the living room, yawning. Taking a few bleary steps forward, she walked into the kitchen and opened up the fridge without thinking. Nothing.. literally, nothing. Rise groaned and sat down at the table, covering her face with her hands.

This house hadn't been used in such a long time, when she had gotten here, the food had spoiled that had still been in the fridge, the house looked at though it had been raided and gone through, searched, and seized, anything of importance had been taken. The torture weapons, the valuables.. everything but the blood still left on the walls in some of the rooms, and the food in the kitchen. Barker had left in a hurry, and gone on the run from this place.. he wasn't about to come back to an empty house that might be watched.

Rise slowly looked up at the ceiling, thinking. The full moon was approaching, she could feel it, and she didn't have any way to keep herself from hurting someone. So.. she needed to discuss some things with Jimmy, see where they were going, if they were going to stay together or not.. if he stayed with her, it would be easier for her to stay.. killing free, if they went exasperated ways.. she'd have a harder time of it.. and she didn't want to kill anyone, no one at all.