((Please read this post for a message on introductions. Remember, your character has the option of having moved in the morning, will move in soon, or will move in later. If your character is moving in now, they'll have to pick up their room key from the office. You don't actually have to write about it. It's perfectly OK to just reference it.))

Ah, yes... Paraíso. It was the city of... well... no one was really sure. Although it had a certain reputation for having an ideal location, and a difficult to pronounce name, there really hadn't been anything notable about it. Calling it Paraíso, the City of Paradise, also seemed just a tad redundant. Not long after its last big boom of growth, however, the place started to become a hub for all sorts of strange happenings and peculiar characters. No one knew why, but the abnormal flocked to it as if it was their last bastion. It seemed like the slogan would soon become, "Welcome to Paraíso, City of the Weirdness!" A bit unflattering, to be sure, but it did allow for amazing things. Naturally (or rather unnaturally), when so many amazing things come together in one place, amazing things are bound to happen. It can only get even more amazing when it gets all concentrated into a very tiny, yet similarly amazing, point: a tiny point, mundanely called "Redstone Park Apartments". Pull up a chair, my friend, and listen to these memoirs from Paraíso...

Day 1: Move-In Day
Current Date: September 7, 2010, Tuesday

Current Time: 11:00 AM

Alastair let out a loud yawn as he rested his face against his fist. Currently, he was in the main office of the apartments, patiently waiting behind his big oak desk for some living creatures to break his monotony. Any living creature. He checked the clock that hung on a nearby wall. At last, the time had come for Redstone Park to see it's first batch of new tenants. Well, to be specific, people were allowed to move in since around 9. However, he noticed that not everyone who was supposed to move in, had yet. As a result, here he was, manning the office until everyone did. Well, he was supposed to be here regardless if there was to be new tenants or not, but at least then he could leave without kicking up much of a fuss. There was a nice bright side to all this though... he'd be able to meet a multitude of interesting people, and get an idea of what kind of memories they'd be bringing to the complex. That was certainly a plus.

_________________

"A pistol is a tool to save people. It's not a weapon for murder." "Then save me by killing them!" "That's kinda contradictory..."
My Characters' Endings

Frank strolled into the main office, with a satchel and a suitcase. "Yo, Frank Delsi's the name. I believe I contacted you 'bout a suite here in your fine establishment?" He said, taking off his fedora and running his hand through his hair to straighten it out and put the fedora back on his head.

_________________

The bus stopped infront of the buidling. As the doors opened, a man with long white and black hair stepped out, running a hand through it. The eye on his hand was cold and unblinking. As Jin got off the bus, the bus driver looked relived, but scared as he stared at Jin.

"Thanks for the lift."

The bus driver just numbly nodded as the doors closed. Jin looked at the building, and grabbed the crystal necklace around his neck. Lightly kissing it, he let the trapped scorpion fall back against the skin. He entered the building, to the main office. It was moving day for him. He went to the front desk, and placed his hands on it.

"My name is Jin Mizuine. I signed a lease for a room here. I woudl like it as soon as possible.

"Jin talked with no emotion in his voice, his eyes unblinking, resembling the eyes tattoed on his hands.

_________________


Back from the dead.

- Around the complex -

"La la la la...la la la..laaa..."

Mishka was walking -rather jumping, or maybe hopping- down one of the three main corridors of the complex, broom in hand, and making small and fast movements, making the few dust that had time to gather since the last time she cleaned the floor -one day before-. She barely seemed to be conscious about her work, her eyes darting towards the place that was most likely to be crossed by the new tenants. She was excited, and happy, but mostly excited; it had been a while since she had had the chance to look upon some interesting people without getting to far from Al. Now that her thoughts drifted towards him, she couldn't help but smile. How many hours he had been waiting for them to arrive? She should go and give him something to eat sooner, or the newcomes may start running away.

_________________

{Devider Raider}

_2 months prior, July 7, 2010, Las Vega, Nevada, 11:08 pm_

Walking down the steps inside the lobby of the hotel & casino called "The Golden Gal", Devider smirks and reaches for a pack of cigarettes in his pant pocket. He avoids making eye contract with the other guests by using his dark gray baseball cap that sits on top of his reddish brown wavy hair. A Blue and black stripped scarf is around his neck with a long sleeve shirt to match. He also had on a pair of black pants, shoes, and gloves with golden spikes on the knuckles.

" Excuse me, sir, we don't allow smoking in the lobby." A member of the hotel staff said. Devider turned to the staff member using the bill of his cap to hide his eyes and replied "Huh? Oh, yeah I'll light it outside. Don't worry about it." He shows his lighter and the pack of cigarettes while he was still walking over to the door. Before opening the door to make his exit, Devider leaves the staff worker with a mysterious message " Hey, I heard there is some openings in the hotel next door, you better look into it tomorrow."

The doors shuts and Devider opens his pack of cigarettes. Inside there was a white metal business card and three cigarettes. He tosses the card that has an orange smiley face in the center and the word MANIAC to the ground and takes a cigarette from the pack. As soon as Devider lights the cigarette with his lighter, the penthouse sweet of the "Golden Gal" explodes. He looks up at the fiery explosion and comments " Tsk..Did you honestly expect everything will be all forgiven."

A jet black motorcycle with a side car and fine black chrome finish and no rider pulls up in front of the "Golden Gal". On the side car and side of the motorcycle reads "The Beast" in red and in italic font. Holding the cigarette tightly in his teeth, Devider gets on the motorcycle and drives.


Somewhere on the road, a flute plays inside Devider's head causing him to spit out his cigarette and swear. "Fuck, whatever, I'll be there in a week." Devider said talking to himself "City of Paradise? Like hell that exists in this world."

--------------------------------------------------

{Hector}


_Present Today, September 7, 2010, Paraíso City, California, 11:00 am, somewhere in the apartment building_

A tall man with a bronze tan and a flat top hair cut was sweeping the floor with a mop while humming a tune. His name was Hector and he was the janitor of the building, working hard to make sure the building was perfect for "Moving Day" for his friends the Conroys. " Bo-la, Bo-la, Bo-LAAAAA! Wan-Wan-Wan." He wore a dark gray jumpsuit with his name stitched on the right breast with gloves and steel boots on. He also had a white mask hanging around his neck.

_________________
"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

Akeno was riding the crowded train over to the Paraiso Train Station where he would head over to the apartment building his school sent him to as they add an addition to their dormitories. The clothes he had on was a grey long sleeve shit with two solid black horizontal strips wrapping around the shirt. He also had on a pair of jeans and his favorite sneakers. There was no indication as to when that would be finished thus he had no idea how long he would be staying in this apartment building. Staring outside the window he saw many buildings pass by. Thoughts about what his new life would be like filled his mind, it was going to be the first time he would be living on his own. A feeling of excitement and anticipation mixed with fear and wonder was how he would describe how he felt on the train. While he was sitting inside the train, his partner, the wolf Tsukuyomi was lying down on top of the train as it sped on by. He couldn’t go on the train and ever destined to follow Akeno riding on top of the train was the only option. After some time had passed they finally disembarked from the train.

Disembarking from the train Akeno carried his school backpack on his back and was lugging around a large suitcase with wheels attached to the bottom. He went to a secluded ally nearby where his wolf was waiting from him. Petting the wolf for being so well behaved and enduring the trip on top of the train, he then took out a map and directions to the apartment building, Redstone Park Apartments. After walking about five blocks he finally found the place. His heart started to beat faster; he hoped this was a friendly place. With slight hesitation he headed toward the main office with Tsukuyomi right behind him. He opened the door, the wolf stayed outside guarding his luggage and waiting patiently for Akeno to come back out. He walked up at the desk looked up at the landlord and asked with slight hesitation, “H-H-Hello S-Sir, My name is Akeno Hiizumi. I am here to pick up my room key please.”

_________________

-On the Road: Downtown Paraiso-
It was morning, Bad Company was on the radio of his hulk of a 67 Chevy and Marshal needed cigarettes. God did he need cigarettes. There would be a lot of work ahead of him even if all of it wasn’t the kind he’d been hired to do. The building was still new, but people would inevitably start breaking shit. That’s where he came in. Somebody had to keep the place running. That’s where he came in. Of course if weird shit started going down… He would come in there to. Then again ten years of investigating odd newspaper reports, counting nipples, and sticking people with his standard issue pin had turned up nothing. One had to remain ever vigilant however. It wasn’t like the enemy to show themselves openly. “I sniff out some of those rat bastards yet.” He sneered as the paid the man at the convenience store counter for the cigs and when on his way, listening to the sweet sounds of Cliff Richards' Devil Woman the whole way back. Time to get to work.

-Redstone Apartments-
Marshal stepped out of his car and immediately lit up one of his cigarettes taking a long draw, and blowing the smoke into the air. “Ah,” he chuckled feeling a little better. Damn things were the only thing keeping him sane all these years. He slammed the door shut and walked on down to the main office. “Morning.” He shouted to Mr. Conroy as he stepped through the door, enthusiasm was notably lacking in his tone. He stepped past the arriving tenants ignoring them, not really even noticing them. He took another puff of his cigarette. “Make sure you direct the tenants to me should they need anything that needs doing, yal’right.” The man probably already knew to do that, heck he may have already done it already done it. Better to make sure, saves face time later.

| Main Office |

When the door to the office suddenly opened, Alastair sat back straight up. It had to be the tenants he had been waiting for. It was time to look professional again! If he was suppose to be some sort of authority figure, he had to put on the right impression! ...Never mind that he met some of these people before when they signed their lease. He smiled cordially at Frank as he walked in, as well as Akeno who trailed behind him soon after. "Mr. Hiizumi and Mr. Delsi, eh? One key for each, comin' right up!" he answered them jovially. He noticed Akeno nervousness, and thus did his best to keep smiling to lighten the atmosphere. Of course, eventually it would start to come off as creepy.

Alastair reached over to a desk drawer next to him, and then pulled out a rather large ring of keys. It was much like the ones someone would expect a janitor to have... and not a landlord, who should've been keeping the keys order in a far more organized fashion. He stare at the keys and rubbed his chin a bit, as if trying to conceive a simpler way of tackling the daunting task before him. He apparently gave up rather quickly, as it only took a few seconds before he started cycling through the keys one by one. Absorbed in his task, he didn't even move his head to look up at Marshal when he came in. "Of course, of course. By the way, I think I broke the coffee maker again. I swear, you hit something a few times, an- oh hey!" he began to reply, before he suddenly shouted midsentence. It looked like he had found what he was looking for. He took the two keys off the ring, which were somehow close to each other.

"Number 210 for Mr. Hiizumi, and number 303 for Mr. Delsi," he remarked, handing them off to each of the two. "Hope you like your places! Come to me anytime if you have any troubles! he told them, before suddenly getting up out of his chair. Before either of them could react, he suddenly reached over his desk and hugged them in a tight man-hug. Luckily for them, he was quick to release. Luckily for Marshal, he was isn't in the hug zone. Then, as if nothing had happened, he sat back down in his chair and began fiddling with the keys again.

_________________

"A pistol is a tool to save people. It's not a weapon for murder." "Then save me by killing them!" "That's kinda contradictory..."
My Characters' Endings

-Arrival in Paraíso-

A young woman's face peered out from inside a taxi window, gazing out as the airport and large city slowly began to shrink from view. Despite being assisted by a pair of sunglasses, she still had to squint at the midday sun unhindered by clouds. It certainly was a nice day, but also one of rising heat. Anneka Schaffer cursed under her breath at choosing to wear a black t-shirt today, but she'd have to get used to it, as it was 90% of her wardrobe. She had been mentally prepared for the nine hour backward time shift from Holland, but it always was a bit of a surreal feeling, as if one had traveled back in time to earlier in the day even though she had traveled between America and Holland before. At least now she might get to sleep at a decent time, rather than being up until 6am as usual.

Finally, the smaller city of Paraíso came into sight. The whole area seemed quite amiable. So far, she had only seen the pictures online where she filled out the rental application, and she had assumed they had been fancied up a bit to make them look nicer, but as the cab pulled into the lot, Anneka was rather surprised to see it looked as nice as advertised. She didn't hesitate to step out of the vehicle and remove her sunglasses in order to a better look. Her dark, brown eyes widened in appreciation before hearing a slight cough from the cab driver attempting to get her attention. Quickly, she rushed around to the trunk to gather her suitcases, one in particular giving her quite an epic struggle.

"Ga, vervloek het weg!!" She strained, finally lugging the oversize case from the back. Afterwards, she dug into the pocket of her faded blue jeans and handed the driver his payment.

"Dank voor uw geduld ..er thanks for your patience." She corrected herself, though even her English carried a bit of a Dutch accent. It had faded over time, especially since she had lived in America more than Holland, but it likely would never fade completely, especially when her band would eventually need to tour there again. As Anneka glanced around the C-shaped complex, her raven hair wavered slightly in the mild breeze, her cherry-colored lock on the right side of her bangs seeming brighter in the gaze of the sun. Slipping her sunglasses back on, she noticed the main building in the center and figured it to be the most likely place to start and grab the key.

As she approached, a rather odd sight caught Anneka's eye. There appeared to be a... white wolf guarding another set of luggage. She paused momentarily, scratching her head before placing her luggage on the other side of the door. "Um.. watch mine too, 'kay?" She chuckled lightly, not really quite sure what to make of that situation and going inside regardless. Upon entering, she made her way to what she assumed to be the main office and noticed a few people already inside, along with whom she could only assume to be the Landlord, Mr. uh..

'Crap, I already forgot his name...' Anneka frowned, thinking to herself. She took this moment to notice the other people inside. A young guy in a fedora who didn't look older than 20, an older, heavier man, and a brown haired kid. Much to her surprise, the Landlord was handing the two younger ones different keys. Was that kid just getting the key for his parents? There was no way he was here on his own. Rather unexpectedly, the dark haired man soon gathered the two keyholders in a big hug, causing Anneka to raise an eyebrow. Incredibly friendly or incredibly creepy, it was tough to decide. Eventually she cleared her throat in order to signify she was waiting.

"Uh.. heey! Sorry to um, interrupt, but I'm here to check in... Does that still apply? Check in? I know it ain't a hotel or anything but it's kinda a similar deal... well uh, yeah anyways. I'm Anneka Schaffer." She stumbled a bit in a fairly cheerful and accented tone, flipping the red lock of hair out of her eyes casually. The flight had been long and draining, but moving into a new place was actually rather exciting. If the people were friendly, she was sure she'd make some friends. Maybe she'd even go completely unrecognized! She liked being appreciated for her band's work, but it was nice to be treated like a normal person... That's what everyone here would be, right? Just.. normal people!

[Downtown Paraíso: On his way to Redstone Apartments]

Dexter was walking down an alleyway with an old wrinkled newspaper in hand, the newspaper's title was Paraíso Times. On the newspaper's front page was an article about the opening of the Redstone Apartments along with an interview with the landlord. Aparently it had been abandoned for some time and the landlord along with his companion had finally decided to open it up. The newspaper stated that the landlord would take in anyone, no matter how strange they looked, as long as they payed the rent. What Dexter didn't understand was, why? As he walked down the alleyway, some human passerbys would steal a quick look at him and then looked away when they noticed he was staring at them, whistling innocently. Dexter knew they were afraid of him, who wouldn't be afraid of a Grey alien with large, black teardrop eyes and smooth grey skin that was oozing green slime around the back of his neck. The green slime was mostly due to the hot weather since Dexter dehydrated easily, one of the things he hated about living on Earth. They were also staring at his lack of a nose and ears, as well as his long limbs. He could almost hear them say, "It's a bit too early for Halloween, eh buddy?" In fact, one of the passerbys actually said this to him. Dexter ignored him, partly due o the fact he didn't know what "Halloween" was and didn't really care. He was pulling a busted up read wagon with a bunch of his personal finds as well as lab supplies piled on top of eachother. Keeping everything inside the red wagon was a hard job, but Dexter managed to keep them stationed with his telekenetic abilities.


[Redstone Apartments]

Turning the corner, Dexter found himself in front of a red, C-shaped building displaying a sign that stated, "Redstone Apartments - We take in anybody!" It was a simple message, but it seemed to do the trick as a group of humans were already gathered in front of the main office. It was a fairly old building, built entire out of bricks with concrete edges and window sills. There was a mini-park full of little shrubs of flowers and bushes grown in a stylish way but with a simple design. In the center of it all was a large fountain with water protruding from four sources. The water was fairly clear, and birds were swimming in the pool that the fountain had created. Four concrete pathways led to the fountain, circling it with a couple of benches on the sides. So the landlord actually cared about his planet unlike all of the other people that lived in this city. It gave him more of a reason to stay in this apartment complex. Dexter walked toward the main office still pulling away at the red wagon, he hoped the other humans had the same kind of respect as the landlord, if not...well, they will still aide him in his research.

He had just gotten released from FBI imprisonment a couple days ago, so he wasn't ready to start conversing with humans just yet. The only thing that drove him to stay on Earth was his determination to study and understand human emotions. The one emotion he focused on the most was "love", and since this apartment complex was founded based on a human companionship and their so-called "love", Dexter believed this would be the best place to start. The FBI was nice enough to supply him with a ball-point pen and some paper as well as a few lab supplies (he didn't actually tell them what he needed them for though), as well as let him keep his Sonic Disrupter. The Sonic Disrupter was a tool used on his abduction missions before being captured by the FBI, if there wasn't so many FBI agents he'd probably stun them long enough to escape, but that wasn't a case. Now he was in front of the landlord, asking for a room.

<Excuse me, I presume you are in charge of this establishment. I would like to request a room for my studies if you would be so kind. I have come a long way, and I believe it's time for me to...as you say, 'settle in'.>, Dexter "said" this through a method of telepathy, he had directed this request in the form of words toward the landlord's mind. The landlord would be able to hear his request, but no one else, that is unless anybody nearby had psychic powers. The alien voice that sounded withen the landlord's subconcious was almost unemotional, with a bit of agression hinted. As if it was more of a demand then a request. The voice sounded human enough, but the lack of emotion would no doubt startle the landlord a bit. After projecting the request to the landlord's mind, Dexter immediately pulled back his mind, afraid that he would run into some of the landlord's emotions if he stayed withen his mind for too long. Dexter stood there for a while, waiting for the landlord to answer him, he would've liked to move into his apartment immediately so he could set up his lab-space.

-----------------------------------

Note: <text>---This usually just means that Dex is talking to someone via telepathy as he has no voice box.

_________________

Musicmac: "Sam4Books: Always ready to cheer things up with awesome art. Terms and Conditions apply."

A man who looks about 17, wearing a black trench coat, without expression, and carrying a big backpack walks into the Building takes a quick look around and walks towards the front desk taking a look around then he puts his hand on the table and says "My Room Key please, I believe signed a lease" He keeps expressionless and says "If you need to Identification my name its Roy Coval" he takes another look around and keeps silent. Roy then looks at the Ceiling.

_________________

"I am a devilishly talented butler"

[5 years ago; Paris, France]

With a thud, Vivi was dropped off at some random alleyway in a place the inhabitants of Earth called Paris. From what she could remember from her history lessons, the place used to be called something else. But that was really irrelevant now. Very.

As she watched her drop-off ship fly away, Vivi wished that she could have had more time to develop back at her home planet. But, the rule was that if any member of the race did not develop fast enough, they'd have to be dropped off at Earth. Something about being away from their natural home world which caused their race to slowly devolve, or something. Some people were lucky enough to not be one of those few Cyclopians who were immediately part of the devolving generation; Vivi wasn't one of those few.

Vivi was versed in the ways of Earthly customs a few weeks before she left her planet and during the trip to Earth and was garbed in the appropriate wear for the area, which was modified for her to wear without burning it on her skin (a large sweater and a pair of pants 1 size to large for her to wear; she had to use a belt to keep it on). She didn't have to worry about learning any outdated information, since all she had to do to learn was absorb the information from a broadcast signal her planet had captured using their advanced satellite technology. It was mostly about rubbish, like 'celebrities' getting divorced and married (it seemed that the term 'celebrity' was given to very well-known people), things that should be bought, and shows with confusing stories. There were other pieces of information that were actually quite important, but compared to the rest, it was only a minority.

As she stepped out of the alleyway, Vivi had to squint her eyes at the amount of sunlight shining down on her; the drop-off ship's interior was quite dark, and there was barely any light back at the alley. As she walked forward, she stumbled into someone. Vivi heard a swear (in the 'French' language, which was being used in the area) and felt the collar of her shirt being pulled. Panicking, Vivi pulled away and started to run away as far as she could. It was very far.

When she finally stopped, Vivi looked around to see if she was being pursued; she was not. Sighing with relief, Vivi stood up to brush herself when she noticed something which had somehow lodged itself in the folds of her sweater. She took it out and saw that it was some kind of hat. Putting the information together, Vivi assumed that the hat must have gotten caught in her sweater somehow when she bumped into that person from earlier, and she was thought to have stolen it. Using that as a basis, Vivi assumed that it would be best to get out of the country, or at least the city she was in; she ran away under the suspicion of being a thief. She'd obviously be seen as one because of that.

Sighing once again, Vivi wore the hat and began trekking down the road she was on. Hopefully she'd fine somewhere to settle soon. Well, at least until 10 years later. Then she'd be able to get back home.

[Current Day; Paraíso City]

Vivi finally found somewhere she could settle after 5 years. She had to leave the earlier country for it.

After stowing away on various ships, hitch hiking rides down long roads, living off synthesized food, and begging for money in Retirement Centers (she wasn't really old enough to do any work at the time until she was 18 year olds, but she despised any menial labor and didn't have any credentials for any better jobs; so Vivi made her living through begging), Vivi finally made enough money to get a home for at least a year. Well, her new home was more of an apartment, but it was still a place to live in. It was better than sleeping at cross way sections.

Remarkably, Vivi's clothes and health were in perfect condition. The radiant energy she emitted from her core kept away decomposers and germs. That was quite handy for Vivi, since she couldn't afford to buy new clothes and she often ate with her hands.

The apartment she was heading to was a place called Redstone Park, and she had contacted it a few weeks ago after reading about it in a newspaper she found floating around a street. She reserved a room for herself over the phone and had began traveling towards the place immediately; she was calling all the way from Mexico at the time. It was quite a hassle to get over the border, but her powers made it easier.

Vivi got off the bus she had been riding and found herself in front of the apartment block and began examining the layout. "The architecture is simple, but it's elegant in a way as well." Vivi commented to herself as she entered into the lobby. She looked around for the main office and found it immediately; it was the place where the most amount of people seemed to be gathered. Natural, seeing at today seemed to be the apartment's opening day. After a few people cleared out, Vivi moved over to the counter and tapped it to get the attention of the person who was manning it; Vivi was quite short, so she had to do that for a person to notice her. "Excuse me!" Vivi called out to the man. "My name is Vivi Rocity. I reserved a room here about a week ago?" Vivi pulled out the receipt for the room she requested to be faxed to her (she had it done in a shop); she didn't have anything which could prove her identity, so having a receipt was the only way to prove her identity. "I'd like to move in immediately." she said.

As she waited for the man's reply, she looked over to her left side to find what seemed to be an alien, or a man dressed as one, standing right beside her. From the information she had received about 5 years ago, the alien, or man was dressing as, was what the humans called a grey aliens who were known for probing the people they abducted. Strange people, but Vivi could understand their want of gathering knowledge. "Uuummm.....isn't it a bit early for Halloween, sir?" Vivi asked the alien or man. Whichever it was.

[Redstone Apartments: Main Office]

Dexter stared at the girl next to him, was this going to be a reoccurring thing for people in this city? This girl however, was not like the other humans, that much was obvious from the parallel lines running down her face, two of them curving around the cheeks. Her hands were occupied with what looked like black holes, and her eyes had the appearance of a dark void, as if he was looking at the galaxy from afar. Dexter tried not to look at the girl's eyes and instead directed his attention at the girl's hair which was a pinkish color. How quant, it's either this girl was born with different DNA coding from common humans, or she wasn't human at all. Dexter guessed that it was probably the second one, however if this girl was indeed not human, she didn't have to insult him with such human celebrations. Honestly, what was the point of a..."holiday" anyways. It wasn't even worth the time and effort. It was probably part of humanity's emotional instinct, to celebrate life while they still have it, it was sort of pathetic in a way. Why would this girl choose to take part of such pitiful festivities? Dexter narrowed his eyes, <I don't know exactly what this 'Halloween' is, but I assure you I do not partake in such festivities.>, with that Dexter turned back to the landlord, waiting for his room assignment.

_________________

Musicmac: "Sam4Books: Always ready to cheer things up with awesome art. Terms and Conditions apply."

Frank returned the owner's man-hug with a great smile. "I think we're gonna be great friends." He said happily. He grabbed his satchel and suitcase and walked out of the lobby. He spotted the wolf as he was walking out of the lobby. "Hey wolfie, wanna treat?" He reached into his satchel and pulled out a pepperoni stick, opened the packaging and ripped off a bit, putting it in front of the wolf before moving on.

"Man... I sure hope Jones and Paulie get here with the truck soon." He said out loud as he walked over to the stairs to check out his room. When he got in he closed the door behind him. He looked around before setting down his stuff. "Wow, the Don sure picked out a nice place for me to live. I wonder if I'd be able to convince the nice owner to let me buy out the apartment beside me and knock out the wall between the two." He pondered curiously as he took a quick tour around his apartment.

_________________

- Main Office -

Just as Frank left, the pretty landlady stopped in front of the door with a large silver tray that had several drinks and sandwichs on it. "One for the doggy," said as she tossed one to the wolf with a smile, before opening the door. "Hello everyone!! Drinks? Food? I promise I won't be charging you for these!" She stopped for a moment in front of everyone in the room, offering them her incredibly tasty lemonade and awesome looking sandwichs for them to get refreshed after their respective journeys. Then, Mishka moved next to Alastair and left a sandwich and a lemonade next to him. "You want to change places hon? I can deal with the tenants for a while."

Now that she was quiet, the tenants could take a better look at the pretty and obviously happy landlady, her golden hair falling around her face, her orange eyes smiling out of pure pleasure. "Did he hug someone? You know you can just tell him to keep that stuff for himself, heh."

_________________

| Main Office |

"We will sure get along famously!" Alastair replied to Frank beaming, just before the man walked out of the office. Ah yes, that one was a good one. He turned his eyes to the door again, noticing that there were even more people trickling in. Yes! This was what he was waiting for! Gone, was his monotony of the day! "Ah! Good evening to you, miss!" he told Aneka with a friendly smile. Or was it creepy? Hmmm. "Ms. Schaffer, correct? No, you don't need to check in at all. Ya just need to stop in here and nab your key, which I got on my ring of mine here. Now, let's see... 206.... 206... 206... here!" he said to her, beginning to cycle through the keys when he indicated the ring. In a shorter amount of time than before, he extricated the girl's key and handed it to her. Since he felt a hug to a female was a tad inappropriate, Alastair just clasped both his hands onto one of her much smaller ones. "I hope you love our place!"

The landlord then released the girl's hand and brought his attention to two other arrivals: what seemed like a French girl, and an alien. In spite of the odd appearance of the latter, the man apparently didn't seem to think there was anything odd about Dex. Unfortunately, he did seem to think that the grey had a staring problem, because unbeknown to the tenant, this landlord couldn't "hear" telepathy. Alastair seemed to catch on what he was trying to do though. "Ah! Are you a telepath? Sorry lad! You probably traveled through all the stars and never met someone like me! I'm a Power Canceler, so I'm afraid you'll have to find some other way to talk to me. I think I remember you, though. Dexter, right? I recall you wanted a room far apart from everyone else," he remarked, fiddling with the keys and pulling #319 from it. He handed this key to Dex.

Alastair then turned to Vivi. "Ah yes! Miss Rocity! I think I wife was the one who spoke to you. I will now use my mass mental powers to find out what suite you had!" he told her with a smile, before suddenly putting his hand to his forehead and looking very deep in thought. He even hummed a bit, to add to the effect. "Ahah! #203. I got it right here," he said at last, pulling the key from the ring and handing it to the girl.

Just as he passed off that final key, Mishka made her presence known. Like always, Alastair felt his day brighten up considerably. Sure, he just saw her this morning, but he was just sappy enough to be happier every time he saw her. Once she got closer, he pulled her in a little closer to kiss her on the cheek. "Thanks beautiful. You can take over then, if you'd like. I can use a bit of this time to eat your awesome sandwiches!" he remarked after releasing her. He then nabbed the food and moved away from the main desk and placed the ring of keys atop it, allowing his wife to take his place for now.

_________________

"A pistol is a tool to save people. It's not a weapon for murder." "Then save me by killing them!" "That's kinda contradictory..."
My Characters' Endings

[ 2nd Floor ]

Allen had, since long before he could remember, always been referred to as a ‘creepy early bird’ by his sister, who was of the type to prefer her Saturdays when they were spent for the most part in bed. His internal clockwork was ceaselessly rigid in its workings, adhering to a healthy rotor of sleeping and waking hours. It was as though his self-made tenet of seizing the day was something dyed right into his magus bones, and perhaps a little out of Allen’s conscious control. As such, he had been among the first creatures to arrive at Redstone Park, as if emerging from the crack of dawn. He had already paid the landlord a visit, who had come off as pleasant, to say the least. The most overwhelming impression he got from the man was one of excitement – at the memories people would soon be bringing to this old place, and the ones they’d eventually be taking away from it. That had made Allen smile. He, of all people, understood the value of memory.

He sagged down into the ruins of an emptied box, crushing one of its corners into an impromptu seat for the tired mover. Most of his… stuff – and there really was quite a lot of it – had at the very least been shovelled out of the corridor and into his new home, but there was still a small fortress of cardboard blocks cramping up the place, filled with all sorts of the delicate gadgetry essential to his craft. Books (more like tomes), old etchings, various measuring devices of inscrutable functionality, random objects ranging from jigsaws to pale-faced manikins… there was even a set of artificial brains that Allen had made sure to be discreet with as possible. The collection might as well have been endless, and promised to occupy a good chunk of his floor space.

So, in light of the crushing workload ahead of him, he was having a smoke. Fishing for his lighter, he flicked a reddish slither of wayward hair from his face – one which happened to be heavily fettered with beads and all manner of tiny fixtures – and brought the cigarette to his lips, eventually blessed with the privilege of drawing in a stream of chemical nastiness. He breathed out a long, contented, and very smoky sigh.

Man, this was a hassle.

_________________

~Main Office~

His first impression of the landlord was that he nice guy but his smile started to get creepy after a while. Akeno accepted the key that the landlord had given him, but he did not see what was going to happen next. The landlord reached over and hugged him, something which he wasn’t physically and emotionally ready for. This can only be described as a torturous moment in Akeno’s life. The pain felt was tough on his small body and he heard some cracking sounds in his arms. When he was released he felt that he lost consciousness for a second but he snapped out of it. He never felt a hug like that before so it took him a minute for him to get the feeling back in his arms. “Great I just got here and I am already scarred for life.” In a daze, he wandered around trying to regain his composure. He noticed that a couple new people had entered the office, one of them being a young woman who seemed to be moving in also. Looking around some more he noticed a grey faced alien which made him do a double take since he could not believe what he was seeing. Akeno decided to ignore the freakish oddity and maybe it wouldn’t bother him. Another man entered with a black trench coat, which looked like a dangerous person who would do bad things to children or pretty much anyone. Taking note to try an avoid him; the last new person he saw was a young girl who looked like she was a bit older than he was. Akeno was surprised to find someone close to his own age. His stomach growled a little, he hadn’t eaten since getting on the train so he decided to eat some of the food the landlady just brought in. Walking over to the food tray he grabbed one of the sandwiches, took a bite, smiled and said, “This is really good. Thank you for the food miss!” and proceeded to keep eating it. As he was eating he was deep in thought as to what he should do next after dropping off his belongings in his room.

~Outside of the Office~

Meanwhile outside of the office, Tsukuyomi was greeted by some, and ignored by others, but it didn’t bother him at all. Someone tried to feed him some food but he ignored it. His master was the one who fed him and without his master’s permission he wouldn’t eat it, not like he was hungry. He continued to sit next to his master’s luggage, waiting for him to leave.

_________________

Hannah walked along the sidewalk back towards her new apartment, lugging a few shopping bags behind her and glancing at all the other buildings around her, making sure she was on the right path home. A few car passed her, one had a large amount of equipment piled in the back that looked like it may topple out at any minute. This caused Hannah to move further away from the road, it would just be her luck that something would fly off the back and hit her; she had managed to get through the morning without anything going wrong, making her more nervous as the day progressed.
“We’ll little one, this isn’t a bad neighbourhood. A few things could do with some cleaning, but the people sure are nice enough!” The Raven said as it perched on a chain linked fence surrounding a small, dehydrated park. “Are you going for anything big this afternoon?”
“No, I’m not in the mood for in this. Go away please!” Answered Hannah. If anyone had passed her then they would have been under the mistaken impression that she had been talking to them, but her college years had taught her to only talk to the bird when no one else was around. However, she forgot this rule a lot and was greeted with some strange looks from passes by.

The Raven didn’t leave. It followed her for a while before Hannah lost patience and talked to it, anything was better than silence. “Anyway, I tried to paint my room when I got in and nothing happened. I didn’t even burn the place down so…” she looked ahead of her as the bird appeared on a stop sign, waiting to cross the traffic with her. “…what happened to you this morning? You were all talk on the ride over and as soon as we got to the apartments you vanished! Not that I’m complaing, but…”
The cars ground to a halt as the lights changed and Hannah found herself momentarily alone as the Raven flew overhead to it’s next perch. A feeling of happiness swept over her a she strolled to the other side, unannounced and for no reason. She hadn’t burnt the house down, maybe she was starting to control her powers after all!
A car horn blurted, causing Hannah to jump out of her skin a dash for the sidewalk. She had been completely stopped by the happy thought, blocking the traffic and undoubtable causing some irritation amongst the drivers.

Looking back to apologise to the angry drivers, Hannah found that she was no longer on the same cross walk and was instead looking at her new apartments, with a few more cars and a lot of luggage waiting to be dropped in new rooms.
“I thought you weren’t going to do any magic today?” Chuckled the Raven as it swooped on top of her shopping which had apparently had a very rough ride and now lay spooled over the floor. “You really need to keep a control of that one”
Hannah grabbed up her fallen shopping and made for the stairs that would take her to her new room. Shouting back at the bird as it lingered on the outskirts of the complex, she rushed past a wolf that growled at her feet, nearly colliding with the suitcases it was protecting. “Sorry. Sorry!” she said as she slowed down and headed for her room.
Glancing over her shoulder she could see that the Raven had disappeared and that made her both smile and a little nervous at the same time. The Raven had never really left her before, so whatever was stopping it had to be very powerful and defiantly something to avoid.
Reaching her door, Hannah fumbled for her keys that had somehow displaced themselves from her bag to her sock and dropped them as she attempted to negotiate holding her shopping and opening a door. Suddenly she felt eyes on her and looked up to see a young man smoking a cigarette on her floor. She blushed hard and dived for her keys as fast as she could.

_________________
Warning: this girl comes with her own weapons

-Main Office-

The place was getting a bit crowded, that was for sure. While awaiting for the friendly Landlord to hand over the key, Anneka turned to inspect the new entries and found herself nearly yelping at the sight of a grey alien. A young pink-haired girl had voiced Anneka's own thoughts on the subject by suggesting he was dressing preemptively for the upcoming holiday. The raven haired girl removed her sunglasses to get a better look, and determined that if it was a costume, it was quite a good one. The alien didn't say a word in response, which made it all the more odd. Anneka wasn't ignorant. She had heard of extraterrestrial life being discovered, but for one to just... walk in to the apartment complex?

She soon decided to just ignore it for now, as Mr. Conroy had located her key and handed it to her with gusto. His mannerisms continued to be overenthusiastic, but at least he seemed nice. "206.. Okay, thank you!" She smiled a bit wearily as she grasped the key and held it up in confirmation. Before Anneka could turn to leave, the arrival of what appeared to be the Landlady providing refreshments caught her attention. Though her attention was focused more on the woman herself, rather than the food she was offering. The woman was beautiful to say the least, and it took a lot for Anneka to stop staring. The surreal nature of the time change between Holland and California was now so insignificant to the surreal nature of this room. Not only was the super friendly attitude unusual for America, but the woman didn't look any older than Anneka herself, and Mr. Conroy was at least somewhere in his 30's.

Between this, and the strange alien and child tenants, Redstone Park Apartments was already appearing to be some sort of nexus of the Universe, or something out of the Twilight Zone. As she thought this, she glanced at the silent alien in particular. The brown eyed girl shook herself out of the trance and looked back over to the Landlady. "I might take you up on some of that after I get my stuff into my room. Pretty eager to get that out of the way, ya know?" She chuckled a bit, backing up toward the door as if she didn't want to look away from all this yet, especially the woman. It was a relief to see some other females around, since Anneka was so used to the cramped recording studio with the rest of her bandmates who happened to be all male. Not like men bothered her, and she actually got along with them better most of the time, but it was nice to not be restricted to such.

Finally, Anneka left the office and headed back to her luggage. She took notice that the wolf was still sitting patiently, which was fairly remarkable. She wondered which one of them it belonged to. Nonetheless, she wheeled her luggage to the staircase and cursed under her breath as she tried to figure out how she would get the oversized bags up them. Nonetheless, she carried the smaller one up first and went back down and proceeded to lug the larger up, step by step. About a third of the way up she was realizing that asking for help might have been wise. Anneka didn't really want to seem like just another frail girl, and she was much stronger than she looked, but she was hardly superhuman. When dropping the first bag at the top of the staircase, she thought she had seen a couple people in front of their rooms on the second floor, so she finally decided that her dignity was less important than her arms.

"Heeey, anyone.. that can give me.. a hand here..?" She strained, occasionally flipping the hair out of her face. She was thinking that she should have left more stuff to be shipped over later, rather than trying to pack so much in suitcases, but there were quite a few things she couldn't imagine living without...

[Redstone Apartments: Main Office]

Dexter nodded at the landlord, and rummaged through the mess that was piled upon his red wagon until he found a medium sized notebook. The notebook was covered with plastic wrappings and had an envolope attached to it. Dex threw the envelope back into the red wagon, and started to remove the wrappings with a bit of difficulty. When he finally got rid of the wrappings, Dex opened the notebook and grabbed his pen, preparing to write something. The notebook was full of graph paper, perfect for observation notes, but Dexter only intended to use the first page to write out his thanks. Dex grabbed one of the pen-like objects in his shirt pocket, the real pen, and clicked the top once. Positioning the pen over the notebook, Dex started writing. He wasn't that fluent in writing in the English language, since he was only on Earth for a month with no access to any form of human literature. Besides, he often wrote notes in his native language. However, since the landlord claimed he was a Power Canceler, Dexter thought it would be best to write out his responses when trying to converse with him. After a few minutes, Dexter displayed his writing for the landlord to see. His handwriting was sloppy, and sort of boxy. His letters were all capitallized, and his sentences were incomplete and awfully simple. Still, it puts the point across, the writing is as follows;

"THANK YOU SIR. I WILL KEEP THAT IN MIND."

Just as Dexter was about to head towards his apartment, a young girl had asked for help, he turned toward the girl to see that she was attempting to carry her luggage up the stairway. From what the girl said she apparently lived on the second floor. Dexter shook his head, he might as well help the human, it might prove to be an excellent source for his research. Dexter walked toward the girl with the luggage without a word, and used his telekinetic powers to lift the girls luggage up the stairs. It wasn't that simple, the luggage was very heavy and it caused strain on Dex's part. However, it wasn't heavy enough to cause harm to Dex's brain, only stall his abilities abit. Dexter slowly marched the luggage up the stairway, concentrating on his destination. It took him about three minutes to finally reach the top. Once he reached the top he slowly set the luggage down upon the floor and turned to the girl. <Don't expect me to help you with your heavy lifting again human.>

_________________

Musicmac: "Sam4Books: Always ready to cheer things up with awesome art. Terms and Conditions apply."

-Main Office-
“Coffeemaker right, I’ll grab it and see what I can do.” Marshal said taking one last puff of is cigarette and depositing it in a nearby ash tray before heading in back to grab the offending appliance. Luckily enough he was able to escape Mr. Conroy’s creepy as hell, tenant embracing, man hug. The guy checked out though, so whatever floats his boat as long as he had no part of it. “Shit,” He thought “first day on the job and I’ve got to fix the damn coffeemaker. Here I was thinking I was hired to do big shit, covered under the lease agreement shit, plumbing, heating, ventilation… Whatever screw it, as long as the boss is happy.” Wasting no time he took the machine in arm and made his way back to the lobby. Brand new apartment complex, old as dirt coffee machine. What a perfect way to start off the day.

Back in the lobby things were getting crowded as more tenants arrived, and so had sandwiches. Don’t mind if he did. He noted each of the new tenants as they went about their business, especially the, oh so obviously fake alien costume. God, was it Halloween already? Using the crowd as cover he slipped the steel pin from his pocket and gave a sharp jab to the boy who just happened to be the only one not either coming or going. Marshal’s victim would likely feel a sharp but pain the equivalent of a bee sting straight to the back, no skin would be broken however. As fast as the pin had appeared it disappeared back into his coat not to be seen or spoken of again until its next use. If he hit the coming seconds would yield the expected violent jerk, yelp of pain, or some combination of the two. Only the failure of either to occur would be cause for concern. Without a word he plucked a sandwich off the tray and took a big heaping bite. Marshal gave the boy a dirty look before saluting Mr. Conroy with the sandwich and stepping outside.

-Outside the Office-
Outside the new tenants were scurrying about trying to get their luggage squared away. Marshal couldn’t help but chuckle as they struggled, he was genuinely glad not to have had all that much crap to move into his own apartment. Then he spotted the wolf standing near a pile of luggage. “Well shit.” He said through a mouth full of food. He wasn’t sure at that moment if he should call animal control or something more drastic. Wild animals do not act like docile guard dogs. The Manuel had a few things to say about this kind of thing, most of which he would have to go back and reread. Regardless of all that when did this place become a sanctuary for exotic pets? Who ever owned this beast better be ready to clean up after it. Marshal wasn’t going to do it, and he didn’t think Hector would either.

-Redstone Park Apartments-
A teenager of sorts dragged three bags full of luggage and personal belongings into the Redstone Park Apartments, the only thing that was slightly strange was the fact that there were three plastic bags of provisions floating in a straight line behind the young man. It was eight o’clock in the morning when Kakei first arrived in Paraíso, the so-called City of Paradise. Kakei had mainly spent the trip in the plane, blankly staring out the window. Walking in an accelerated pace to the elevators and pausing only for a few seconds to check that he got the suite number right, the black-haired teen quickly made his way up the staircase, though the amount of luggage on his person slowed him down to the point where he was barely making any speed, not to mention the three bags that he had to keep levitated. The excitement of moving into a new apartment made the physical and mental exertion worthwhile, though there was something that continued to bother him, though what it was… Suddenly Kakei stopped in mid-stride. Oh shi- The keys! Ironically, in all the excitement of moving and relocation of items, Kakei’s busy little mind had forgotten the most basic instruction when moving: get the key from main office. And he was already on the third floor too. Sighing dejectedly, Kakei started his way down, taking two to three steps in a single bound with the trio of foodstuff-containing bags trailing behind him at a lower altitude. Looking around the main lobby, Kakei saw a collection of strange people and quickly dismissed them as ordinary. After all, a human psychic can’t really be called normal too, right? Approaching the landlady that seemed to be giving out the suite keys, Kakei inquired in a somewhat polite though rushed manner, “Y’ello, I’m Kakei Aragashe, the tenant for Room 315, I believe. Would you please hand over the suite key?”

{Hector}

_Somewhere in the apartment building_2nd Floor_

Hector stops humming his unique little tune for a moment as he heard someone nearby asking for help. He looks from side to side to see who they were and what kind of help they needed. What Hector spotted was a young woman with raven colored hair. She seemed like your typical college student to him with her cherry colored lock in her bangs, sunglasses, black t-shirt, and jeans.

So Hector simply picked up his mop and placed it in his bucket. Since Hector had already put up a caution when walking sign up he had no reason to worry about someone accidentally slipping on his newly mopped floor. However before putting on a smile, giving her a little wave, and saying "Howdy ma'am, what kind of help do you need?" Someone else beat him to her. The guy was certainly a strange one with wearing an alien mask and make-up, but Hector's saw pass that and looked like he was actually crying. He turned away from the two and muttered to himself "Awwww, Its always good to see others helping others."

He wiped away those tears of joy using his sleeves and coughed into his gloved hand to maintain some professional look to his character. "*Cough*Cough* Marshall should be here by now, I should check with him if he's still up for drinking after work tonight." Hector said out loud to no one particular. He then puts away his bucket and mop in a nearby supply closet and said "Excuse me." to the raven haired girl and the alien masked man to get by them so that he use the staircase.

_________________
"Fate smiles on the strange. So its a good thing, I'm the strangest of all." - William Livingstone, Cirque de la Nuit

A medium-sized moving van parked near Redstone Park Apartments. "Thanks, Mal. I'll be back in a bit after I have the key. Thanks for helping me," Mallory told her twin. She gave him a hug and got out of the van. Mallory put on her pointed hat and readjusted her hair. She started towards the main office just as a warm, Californian zephyr ruffled her long, curly red hair. She strode across the courtyard and to the office, taking note of the people with large amounts of luggage, the people with small amounts, the ones with apparent magic, and the ones that might have it. She was somewhat unsettled by the alien, and smiled inwardly at the wolf. Looks like Indigo will have a bit of competition, she thought.

_________________
I tried to write a
Japanese Haiku poem
But it was too hard.
ABRA CADAVER