Accession || Ongoing ||

Six: Shut Your Trap Before I Shut It For You

"Home sweet home," Farron remarked with a smile as the motley crew looked at the tiny, sparsely decorated room that they would have to share.

The three of them shuffled in one by one; Alyxia tried to take a deep breath but ended up sneezing from the copious amount of dust in the room. Reiley analysed the broom closet of a guest room with her usual poker face, and Farron flopped straight onto the bed, sending up a huge dust cloud which made Alyxia sneeze even more.

"Man, I missed this place," Farron said as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Doesn't seem like there's much to miss," Alyxia quipped, mentally shuddering from the complete lack of ambiance. Even then, she couldn't help but notice that for once, Farron seemed completely and truly relaxed. Even though he did pretend to act cool, Alyxia could tell that he was constantly on edge. She put it down to his time in prison. She focused on the curve of his eyelashes as he closed them in relaxation.

Reiley's voice brought her out of her dreamworld. "No windows. I've checked the bathroom too. No bugs either."

Alyxia breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great. If I see a bug, I'll go crazy."

At that exact moment, a cockroach decided to crawl out from a crack in the floor to greet the new guests.

With a piercing shriek, Alyxia clambered onto the chair near the rickety desk to get away from the creepy crawly. Rolling her eyes, Reiley took her shoe off, hit it and swiped it into the crack where it had come from.

"When I meant there were no bugs, I meant there were no mics or cameras," Reiley sighed as Alyxia got down from the chair. "I never said anything about insects."

"Please try not to speak in technical language next time," Alyxia whined, placing a hand to her heart. "I almost got a heart attack."

"Yeah sure," Reiley muttered. "Right now, we have more important things to work out than insects. We've got a safe house for now, thanks to Sylvie-"

A loud cough rang out from the general direction of where Farron was lying down. "Forgetting someone, Reils?"

"Don't call me Reils."

Farron sat up on the bed with an expectant grin on his face. "Don't I get a thank you for finding this place? Because if it weren't for me, we could have easily been left on the streets in the town, being perfect targets for the patrols, Reils."

A moment of silence. Then:

"Shut your trap before I shut it for you."

"I'm taking that as a thanks," Farron stated, his grin widening. Satisfied, he flopped back onto the bed. Shaking her head in disappointment, Reiley returned to her strategising mode.

"As I was saying-" She glared in Farron's direction- "we've got a safe house now, but it doesn't mean anything if we don't have a proper plan moving forward. We need to look at the short term first. Farron, how secure is this place?"

Farron sat up. "Quite secure. Practically nobody knows this place exists. Those who've seen the alley dare not come here."

"Why's that?" Alyxia queried, her interest piqued. 

"Because of Sylvie," He replied, and his expression turned dark. "Since society couldn't stomach what happened to her, she was essentially forced to live in this abandoned house. Over the years, a sort of folktale developed around this. People around town say that this is a ghost house, haunted by a two-faced demon and her child whom she murdered. So naturally people would stay away."