ＷＨＩＴＥＲＡＢＢＩＴ ¨ˢᵉᵐᶤ⁻ᴬᵈᵛᵃᶰᶜᵉᵈ ᴿᴾ¨ discussion

William sat back on the couches in one of the darker corners of the room, the slightly shadier section of the room relieving his sensitive eyes slightly. He crossed one ankle over his left knee, making a better surface to rest his sketchpad on, and absently tapped his pencil against the crisp white paper while his mind wondered what he should draw. I could draw the room... but I did that day before yesterday.

As Devon strode in, she was already chattering cheerfully to someone beside her. Now, sure friendliness wasn't completely weird, though it was a bit odd in a place like this. Still, even that wouldn't have been too notable, except for the fact that whoever she was talking to as animatedly as she was wasn't actually there. Of course she saw someone with her insanity, but to anyone else it was just empty air. She laughed suddenly, running her hands through her long blonde hair, or at least trying to. It was far too tangled for that so she sank down onto a couch and focussed on trying to untangle it, waving to her 'friend' as she 'saw' him wander off.

William tilted his head slightly, his attention caught by the girl who had just walked in. Wow... she's one of the more cheerful people here...! His head tilted further as he noticed that she wasn't talking to herself, though... she appeared to be talking to the thin air beside her.
Either the scientists managed to make someone go invisible, or she's got an imaginary friend... And I don't think that they'd do something like turn someone invisible. William smiled, impressed that someone her age had managed to hold onto her childhood so well, before beginning to sketch the girl out on his paper. He grimaced slightly at all her visible tattoos, the teen always having had a hard time drawing them, before shrugging and continuing on with his rough sketch. I need the practice anyway.

Once Devon's hair was mostly untangled she started braiding it, though it wasn't quite the same since half of her head was shaved. She hummed softly to herself, nodding slightly in time to whatever song it was that she heard playing. All of the sudden she jumped and twitched her head as if hearing something sudden and unpleasant, cringing back. Her humming stopped, and her expression turned uneasy, almost anxious. She was just starting to calm down again, starting her faint humming, when one of the subjects- or maybe a human worker, she didn't know- walked by wearing a cross. She yelped as if in pain and her hands went over her ears as she curled up at one corner of the couch almost frantically.

William had gotten the rough sketch finished, darting glances up at the girl, and was beginning to smooth the picture out and give it more depth when he noticed that she had begun to look unnerved. He paused drawing, considering going over and asking her what was wrong, but resumed once she appeared to get over whatever happened.
William shifted slightly, flinching and wincing as a bright beam of light suddenly glinted into his sensitive eyes, his watering eyes seeing stars. The unpleasant sensation quickly faded, the teen seeing that the light had been reflected off of a cross that a passerby was wearing. Ow.... He rubbed his eyes, sighing, before jumping in alarm as the girl suddenly cried out. William started to his feet, letting his papers and pencil fall to the ground, as he hurried over to the other sofa.
"Are you alright?" I'd say... no. Besides, you apparently haven't seen the hands over her ears, genius... Cain, no matter how much you yatter, she can't hear you. Moron. William bit his lip, his thoughts not helping his anxiety for the girl, and he awkwardly knelt in front of her... tapping her knee lightly.

When Devon felt him tap her knee she looked over at him, biting her lip slightly. She might be completely and utterly insane, but she wasn't stupid. She assumed he was asking if she was ok, and correctly. Her green eyes, already wide, widened even further as she stared at him. "I'm not hurt, not hurt, definitely not injured, it caused no injuries." She nodded, though it was halfway to convince herself, running her hands through her hair to yank out the braid, hardly flinching at the pulling. "Devon Jinx." She introduced herself with a nod, uncurling from her odd position to sit almost normally on the corner of the couch, tilting her head to study him. "You were concerned." She noted, nodding. "It's appreciated, not many people here are." She pointed out, sounding almost sane.

William relaxed as the girl assured him that she was fine, getting used to the girl's unusual manner of speaking. His face lit up with a cheerful grin as she introduced herself, the teen giving her a half-bow as he returned the courtesy. "William... or Cain, either way."
He nodded earnestly when she stated he was concerned, agreeing completely. William's agreeing expression turned quizzical when she told him that not many people were concerned. "That can't be true..."
Maybe she's just not been here long; that would explain why she thinks that. Reassured, William's smile reasserted itself on his face. "The scientists want to help make us better people, and I'm sure that they'd have been just as worried about you as I was... Not to mention the humans here are really sweet; most of them are only here to help in some way or the other... And the other subjects mean well..."
His gaze was drawn to her hair, the teen getting completely sidetracked by something that he'd been curious about since he'd started drawing her. "Why is your hair long on only one side? Did you cut it like that, or did half of your hair just not want to grow? Does it put you off balance when you walk around?"

Devon studied him intently, tilting her head. "I'm human." She said simply, blinking slowly. "Scientists consider me..." She stopped, struggling to think of the worth. "Beneath. Lower class. Inferior. Worse." She summarized, nodding as she glanced around, almost but not quite nervous. "No ones liked me before, no reason for change." She said simply, though it didn't seem to bother her. She just smiled slightly and stopped to listen to him, considering what he said. She paused to gather her thoughts, her gaze straying to someone walking by, once again someone only she could see. She tracked them with her gaze, completely silent until the man walked to the other room. Then she blinked and turned to William to answer. "Well, my parents told me that if I was good, God would make me pregnant like Mary. So I tried to not be his type. And then I tried to not be their type." She explained simply, her gaze open and honest. There was no reason for her to lie or come up with stuff, so she was completely honest almost 99% of the time, unless told specifically to lie by someone. "I shaved it and liked it so tattoos and liked it so more."

William blinked, momentarily surprised that Devon was a human, before tilting his head at her words. "Well, the scientists are just a little stuck in their ways. Since they've grown up being basically perfect, they just assume that that's normal... and so end up being a tad bit frustrated when others don't live up to their standards." He smiled and leaned back, flopping into a loose sit on the floor from his kneeling position, pulling one knee up to rest his chin on as he looked up at the girl on the couch. "In their eyes, just about everyone is..." William paused for a moment before continuing, recalling what Devon had just said. "Beneath. Lower class. Inferior. Worse. It's not really anything personal, it's just the way that their minds have been set. Once a mind is set, it's almost impossible to un-set it. For instance, if everyone in the world came up to you and told you flat out that the sky was yellow, no matter how often you reminded yourself that the sky was yellow, not blue, you'd still deep down know that the sky was blue. In their minds, perfection is essential, just the same way that we know the sky is blue!" William frowned slightly, thinking of something. "Unless you're colorblind, I guess. Huh..."
His eyes widened when she told him that no one had ever liked her before, the teen's mouth dropping open in shock. "Why not?"
I didn't know that was possible... There's always someone to like you... a family member, a friend, a pet... right? I know I wasn't liked by anyone but Leo (a stray Australian Shepherd that William had managed to tame and keep secret from his family) growing up, but I also know that I was hated, not disliked. But even then, I still had Leo... William's brow furrowed slightly, the teen giving Devon a wary look. "Do you go around giving everyone noogies? Those aren't fun... Or do you crash cymbals around sleeping babies? Or do you have a secret stash of glitter that you throw at people?"
He only half noticed her silence, still trying to wrap his head around how someone as frankly nice as Devon was could not be liked by anyone before.
William's attention was caught again once she began speaking, though, the teen's jaw dropping again. Once she'd finished, the boy had paled... which was rather an eerie spectacle from an albino. "Wh-what?!" He began to hyperventilate, thinking about all the women on the island. "That's... scary...!" William stumbled to his feet, running his fingers through his short white hair as he panicked. "What should we do? Should we go to the scientists? They'd know what to do... Maybe everyone should have their hair cut... Unless they want kids, but everyone here is way too young, right? Th-this is bad..."

"I'm different. People notice that. They're uncomfortable around me." Devon explained simply, folding her hands together and resting them on her lap neatly. By her tone and everything it didn't seems to bother her, it was only the fact that her bright green gaze dropped down unhappily that betrayed how much it actually bothered her. She swallowed and kept talking though, wanting him to understand.
"Parents thought I was a demon. Lots of exorcisms." She nodded as if to herself, shivering slightly and pulling her knees up into the couch in front of her. "For them I was blue and they tried to make me yellow. No choice. Yellow only way." She nodded once again, swallowing hard. She ran her hands through her hair, a nervous habit. "Didn't work. Always blue. Nothing but blue. Tried so hard for yellow but no, nothing but blue blue blue blue so much blue no have to be yellow." She was agitated, that much was obvious. Her head fell into her hands and she was shaking suddenly, almost whimpering.
Then all at once she stopped, her head snapping up sharply and her face cleared, dropping the sharp fear that had been rising. "No no no. Don't now. Knew I was blue, used the blue since yellow didn't like." She bit her lip, wrapping her arms around her legs and knees. Once again she nodded, taking a deep breath. "No, no no no. Done. Done, no more. Stopped. Can't hurt more. Can't hurt more? No, no more hurting from them." She spoke as if assuring herself, swallowing hard.
"God Mary? Not real. Don't worry, story not real. Anyway, no one is perfect. No worries." Devon smiled and tilted her head as she looked up at him, giggling. "Sit, all alright. Won't hurt you." She promised him, then stared at him intently. "Hurt me?" She asked him worriedly, blinking.

William gave the girl a sad look when he heard about what her parents had done, knowing all too well how traumatizing something like that could be. While he'd never been called a demon, he'd been called a specter, vampire, shade and monstrous freak more times than he could count. "I'm sorry..."
He paled (more or less) again as Devon began to shake, her speech deteriorating into almost unintelligible mutters, wanting to go over and give her a comforting hug... but he'd learned through repetition that most people didn't appreciate being hugged by someone they'd just met. Instead, he ran his fingers through his hair harder and harder in distress until he winced as his fingernails scratched into his scalp.
A few seconds later, the girl abruptly calmed down, William's heart still pounding with worry as he noticed that her speaking was still unusually... childish? That wasn't the right word, but William's mind was too frazzled to deliver the correct word.
He finally began to calm down as she smiled at him, the teen automatically flashing a smile back at her, William decoding what she had said. The story's not real... I guess that means that what her parents told her wasn't true. He sagged slightly in utter relief, since he considered everyone on the island to be good, tilting his head at Devon's sudden good spirits.
A brightly amused smile caught and held as she assured him that she wouldn't hurt him, William sitting down on the other end of the couch, the expression snapping into hurt as she asked him if he was going to hurt her. "No, of course not!"
William bit his lip hard, his eyes unable to meet hers as he fought against the depressing memories that her worried query had brought out.
"For all we know, you'll drain our real children's blood while they sleep, you little monster... Get in the basement! GO!

"If you even think about laying one of your freaky fingers on me, ghost-boy..."

William's fingers tapped out a steady SOS pattern on his thigh, the teen coping with his stress by soothing and ignoring it.

{Sorry, meant to write more... but I've got to go. I'll be back on tomorrow, though. Bye!}

Having not had very many people actually like her, Devon was kind of desperate for people to. In school she'd taken to skankiness, and getting close to people of her own choice was just a step down from that. So she shifted over to sit nearer to him on the couch, tipping sideways to rest her head in his lap. Obviously she wasn't exactly shy.
But she was still anxious and still talking, and she curled up sideways on the couch, pulling her legs up slightly. With a sigh she closed her eyes, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. "Don't sorry. Not your fault." She assured him, smiling faintly. But she shifted slightly against him, almost nestling in and relaxing slightly. She let out a long, soft sigh as she relaxed against him, letting her hair go as she actually calmed down for the first time in a while.
She carefully reached around and found his hand, the right one since she was sitting on his right side. With a faint smile she pulled it down so she was holding his hand, consequentially wrapping it around herself in the process. It was pretty obvious that it wasn't a sexual thing, she just liked human contact when it was in a positive way. Which for her, was sadly exceedingly uncommon.
Though Devon was a sweetheart, as she studied him it was evident that she wasn't going to take his promise at face value. Most of the time, well.... "People always hurt." She said softly, staring down at her hands. "Hate what's different, take it out on the different. Doesn't make us not different. Only makes them hate more, so hurt more." She pointed out, clever despite being insane. This was also the first sign that she even acknowledged that she noticed he was different too, with her saying the "us". But it was obvious that it didn't bother her in the least.

((No problem, this one's short too :P))

William flinched in surprise when Devon used his lap as a pillow, the teen's SOS turning into a steady tap-tap-tap against his jeans, but he quickly got over his initial surprise. "Still... it shouldn't have happened."
He smiled as he felt her relax, happy that she was able to do so. William was surprised again when she nabbed his hand, the teen's violet eyes widening as the girl basically contradicted everything he'd learned about meeting people.
He wasn't exactly uncomfortable - as a matter of fact, William was best at communicating through touches; hugs, pats on the shoulder, teasing prods, so on - but he wasn't particularly used to people warming up to him so quickly. Generally, William had to let them get used to his pale complexion, eyes and hair before they were even really comfortable being around him, let alone being friendly enough to be comfortable with him being that close. No matter how nice the people here were, he was extremely unusual; a faded, bleached figure among the other almost overly bright beings. William still hadn't figured out why the scientists had picked him, but he was very grateful for it.
He squeezed Devon in a gentle one-armed hug as she started speaking again, giving her a bright smile once she'd finished. "People don't particularly hate what's different; they fear what they don't understand. Nobody likes being afraid, so their fear is either turned into anger... or they cover their fear with bluff anger. Then they lash out at whatever scared them. However, if people understand what makes someone or something else different, then they're able to be less afraid... and consequently are able to be curious about the different person or thing instead of being scared of them."

Devon smiled faintly, tilting her head to look up at him and opening her eyes back up. "Still not your fault." She insisted, squeezing his hand tightly in her grip. "They should be sorry, not you. Not your place to apologize for what they've done." Her smile trembled slightly, and she pulled her knees up farther so she was almost curled up, half beside and half on him.
"But what happens when even you don't know what's wrong with you?" She whispered, swallowing hard. "When you see what no one else can, when you hear things. When you've been through the things they wince at in horror movies but you know there's no point in bringing it up because no no no no no it hurts so much and they don't know and they wouldn't care." She released his hand to cover her face with her hands, though she pushed back against him so it was obvious she didn't want him to let her go or anything.
"Too different, too blue can't be blue have to stop being blue they always hurt you when you're blue. But how blue? Different kinds of blue, all blue wrong some more wrong." She pulled at her hair by the roots, making some sound that was almost whimpering. "But what blue am I? You know that your blue is your white but I have a blue but what is the blue. The blue changes how the yellows act and knowing blue will help show what to not be to be yellow, have to be yellow, blue gets hurt."
Breathing a bit spend up and panicky, she reached for his hand again, gripping it tightly. She had lots of physical contact in the past, but none of it was very nice. So it certainly wasn't anything tame and almost sweet as hand-holding. Though she rarely positive contact, most of what she did had an almost negative connotation, although she ignored it and made just it didn't bother her. But she didn't have to worry about the hand holding.

William smiled crookedly, giving her a slightly sad wink. "I still think it's a good thing to be told every now and then... and I could be wrong, but it doesn't sound like you get apologized to very often."
He returned the hand squeeze, giving her another slightly awkward hug as she spoke again, until she released his hand. William winced as she began tugging at her hair, detaching her fingers as gently as he could. With Devon using his color example so often, it took him a minute to puzzle out that she was speaking literally about his paleness.
He gave her a hooked smile as she took hold of his hand again, his optimism flickering under her overwhelming pessimistic past before it solidified once more.
"In my personal opinion, just be the best person that you can be. That way, it doesn't matter if you're blue, or yellow, or white, or even violet or green or pink or orange. Both blues and yellows respond the same to good or bad; good is, well... it's good. Bad isn't." William shrugged, aware that he was stating the obvious. "We're getting along... which is thanks to the fact that we're both being nice. If either of us were being mean, the other would probably leave."
{I've got to go, bye}

"I'm too blue for people to apologize to. It's ok though. They just don't think they have to because I'm so blue, and I'm so blue that yellow doesn't believe me when I say what other yellows did because I'm so blue." Devon said almost cheerfully, looking up at him. "Normal for yellows. I'm used to it." She smiled slightly, her grip on his hand relaxing to a more normal pressure.
"But other people care about color. They think it's bad. It doesn't matter how they think, but what they think about it changes how they act to the different. And-" She started to continue, but cut herself off. Sometimes she could catch herself before she started off, though rarely. Taking deep breaths she started humming something to herself, keeping it up until she was more steady and calm. Songs were basically the only thing that had ever worked to help keep her relaxed. Since she was little, before her schizophrenia started showing, one of the few friends she had had pointed out how her initials had spelled out DJ, and ever since then she'd been somewhat obsessed with songs. Not writing her own or anything creative like that, but she'd always had an iPod to listen to that generally kept her steady, or at least as steady and sane as she could be.
"I'm not the best person though. I try to be and I want to be but I hurt people. But other people asked me to do it to help them so maybe it wasn't wrong? But hurting people is wrong and I don't want to do it but others asked and how do you decide what's the right thing?" She pleaded, once again off on one of her rambling tangents. It was evident she was just as confused and concerned, but luckily this time it was without the agitation of before.

William blinked, his head beginning to hurt from the overload of color metaphors it was receiving. He noticed that Devon's speaking was getting back into the 'yellow' range again; it was getting back to what he considered normal. With longer sentences also came the slow but steady realization Devon had had a much harder childhood than he had... which William had already guessed, but still.
When she started humming, William thought about talking some more... but decided to just harmonize with Devon instead. He picked a note that was a third below hers, and began humming along.
He stopped when she did, half wishing she hadn't... both because William's stomach was beginning to twist at the thought of all that Devon had had to go through, and because it was frankly fun harmonizing.
William's stomach went ahead and completely dropped out when Devon spoke again, his heart dropping with it. I hate- no, hate is a strong word. I dislike trying to figure out moral dilemmas like that... His expression became thoughtful, the teen's mind working hard to fix the pessimistic intruder that had just wriggled in. But I guess there isn't really any dilemma... She was just obeying other people... William's eyes brightened once more as his brain finished rewriting what he'd thought. She's obviously not happy... which means that she didn't like what she did; and wouldn't have done it if someone hadn't made her.
"It's alright..." William soothed, honestly believing his words. "It's alright..."
He thought for a moment, then began to sing softly.
"Black bird singing in the dead of night;
Take these broken wings and learn to fly;
All your life..
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
Black bird singing in the dead of night;
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see;
All your life...
You were only waiting for this moment to be free;
Black bird fly,
Black bird fly,
Into the light of a dark black night..."
He hummed through the music, head swaying in time with the beat.
"Black bird fly,
Black bird fly,
Into the light of a dark black night..."
William paused singing or humming, his head still swaying to an inaudible beat.
"Black bird singing in the dead of night;
Take these broken wings and learn to fly;
All your life...
You were only waiting for this moment to arise...
You were only waiting for this moment to arise...
You were only waiting for this moment to arise..."
As he finished, William gave Devon's hand another squeeze, his crooked smile quickly turning into a full-fledged smile.

"Are you sure it's alright though? Because of me those people are gone and done and I hurt them, how could I do that? I don't want to hurt them, they didn't deserve it, probably, I mean I didn't know them so I don't know. Maybe they did? I don't know, I hope they did, hurting people that didn't do anything is even worse than just hurting people in general." Devon stressed, though her voice remained even.
Because of her near obsession with music from a young age, singing was something she was good at. It grounded her, in a way, gave her something that she knew about to focus and relax on and get a chance to catch her thoughts. So she knew a ton of different songs, and this was no exception. It was by the Beatles, a classic. Almost instantly she cut herself off from what she was going to say in favor of singing with him, pitching hers just slightly above his to accommodate for her naturally higher, feminine tones.
"Blackbird, The Beatles, 1968, album The Beatles, or The White Album. Thought by some to be one of the top ten most recorded songs of all time, solo effort by Paul McCartney." She listed off easily, shifting slightly to look up at him better. "My turn!" She grinned excitedly, pausing to consider what song to choose. "Mr. Brightside, The Killers, 2003 and rereleased in 2004 with the album Hot Fuss, one of the top 15 most downloaded rock songs ever in the UK." She explained cheerfully, grinning. She moved even more so she was more sitting beside him, leaning against his shoulder. She kissed his cheek, raising an eyebrow. "Ready? Good." She grinned, enjoying the variety their vastly different song choices gave her before she began to sing.

"Coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his chest now
He takes off her dress now
Let me go

I just can't look its killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
Cause I'm Mr Brightside

I'm coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss..."
Here she paused with a slight smirk to kiss his cheek again before continuing,
"...Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his chest
Now, he takes off her dress
Now, let me go

'Cause I just can't look its killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibi
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr Brightside
I never...I never...I never...I never."
She grinned at him, looking both excited and rather pleased with herself and she squeezed his hand, contented.

((A+ song choice btw lol))

{{bows and grins} Why, thank you...}

A frown flashed across William's face as he realized what Devon was meaning... She killed people... But... how? How could someone so nice do something so... bad? He winced slightly as a nasty headache began to tear through his head. Maybe they were going to hurt her... but she just said she didn't know if they deserved it or not... This doesn't make any sense! William's headache increased drastically in a matter of seconds, until suddenly it just vanished... along with the memory of Devon's confession.
He smiled as Devon sang along with him, closing his eyes to fully appreciate the sound of their combined voices. When they were finished, William tilted his head, slightly surprised by Devon's quickly listed song facts. He was about to interject when when she chose another song, one that he'd never heard of. William blinked in utter befuddlement as Devon kissed his cheek, still slightly stunned as she began singing.
It took until she got to the first chorus for him to be able to hum along (since he didn't know the words), guessing fairly well what the next notes were going to be, both because that he was still trying to figure out why she had just done that... and because Devon's song didn't really have much of a tune up until then. It didn't help when she kissed his cheek again in the middle of the song, either.
Once she'd finished the song, William turned his quizzical gaze on his companion. "Why'd you kiss me? And why doesn't your song have more of a melody? How would you choke on an alibi? Do you have an eidetic memory? Did you know that Sarah McLachlan sang 'Blackbird' as well?" He ran his free hand through his hair, ignoring the fact that his short white locks were now standing on end... giving him the appearance of having been shocked.

"Because why not?" She smiled, though she started looking concerned. "If it bothered you I won't but I'm used to physical contact and oooohhh." She looked frustrated for a moment, almost pouting. But she sighed, closing her eyes for a moment to take a deep breath, humming softly to gather her thoughts before she spoke again. "Touch was normal. Casual, way to communicate. Used to it. Normal." She explained. Though her sentences were a bit short and stunted, her point still got across well. "If it bothers you I won't but for me it feels casual and normal." She explained almost sadly, though perked up quickly.
"It has one, it's just a different type of song. Most of the sound is from the guitar and drums that are played in the song. And alibis are an excuse for where you were, and you can choke on your words. I don't have an eidetic memory, no." She laughed sweetly. "I'm just really good at music stuff in general. Since my initials are DJ for a while I wanted to be one before I got worse, so I studied and stuff. I got really good at it, though only with songs I know in the first place, and ones I really like or really dislike that I actually felt enough about to look up. So I did know, but The Beatles are basically music gods so they're the ones that really mattered. No offense to Sarah, but she can't compete with them." She listed off the answers to his questions, raising an eyebrow.

William tilted his head, listening to her explanation. "Either way works, I guess. I'm just not used to it." He shrugged and smiled, his focus trained on Devon as she continued to answer his questions. "Ah... Alright, that makes sense. It's a shame you don't have an eidetic memory, though." William smile widened, his expression brightening. "I've always thought that not being able to forget anything would make schoolwork a lot easier... plus you'd get the advantage of remembering not just the bad times, but also the good ones that always seem to slip through the cracks."
His smile softened as she laughed. "You've got a beautiful laugh... I hope I get to hear it more." William tilted his head, impressed. "Wow... How many song facts do you have memorized? What's your favorite song fact? What's your least favorite song? Are you not wanting to be DJ anymore?" He mock-pouted at Devon, his violet eyes doing a pretty good imitation of a sad puppy's eyes. "Aw... I actually prefer it when she sings 'Blackbird', personally... but I guess I can see your point. Hmm... it's my turn now, isn't it?"
William grinned, coming up with a song. "Let's go with another tune with not much of a sung melody, shall we?" His smile faltered momentarily, before brightening again. "Or at least, it doesn't until the second part."
He tapped his foot on the ground twice, then slapped the arm of the chair, repeating the pattern seven more times before beginning to sing, though he continued the pattern.
"Buddy you're a boy make a big noise;
Playing in the street gonna be a big man some day,
You got mud on your face...
You big disgrace...
Kicking your can all over the place.
Singing;
We will, we will, rock you...
We will, we will, rock you...
Buddy you're a young man hard man;
Shouting in the street gonna take on the world some day;
You got blood on your face,
You big disgrace,
Wavin' your Banner all over the place...
We will, we will, rock you...
Singing,
We will, we will, rock you...
Buddy you're an old man poor man;
Pleading with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day;
You got mud on your face,
Big disgrace,
Somebody better put you back into your place,
We will, we will, rock you...
We will, we will, rock you...
singing,
We will, we will, rock you...
We will, we will, rock you...
everybody,
We will, we will, rock you...
We will, we will, rock you..."
William paused, finger tapping out the beat, then continued, his velvety baritone gentler now.
"I've paid my dues,
Time after time...
I've done my sentence,
But committed no crime...
And bad mistakes,
I've made a few...
I've had my share of sand;
Kicked in my face,
But I've come through...
And we mean to go on and on and on and on;
We are the champions - my friends,
And we'll keep on fighting,
Till the end...
We are the champions,
We are the champions,
No time for losers;
Cause we are the champions of the World...
I've taken my bows,
And my curtain calls...
You brought me fame and fortune;
And everything that goes with it,
I thank you all...
But it's been no bed of roses,
No pleasure cruise,
I consider it a challenge before;
The whole human race,
And I ain't gonna lose...
And we mean to go on and on and on and on;
We are the champions - my friends,
And we'll keep on fighting;
Till the end...
We are the champions,
We are the champions,
No time for losers;
Cause we are the champions of the World,
We are the champions - my friends...
And we'll keep on fighting;
Till the end,
We are the champions,
We are the champions,
No time for losers...
Cause we are the champions..."
William frowned, never having been satisfied with the way that that song finished, and softly added, "-Of the world..."

"My school experience wasn't exactly devoted to schoolwork. And I don't have a lot of good memories from it to deal with." Devon shrugged indifferently, raising an eyebrow slightly as she studied him. It was yet another thing that she was just completely indifferent to. After a certain amount of time she got neutral to almost everything, assuming it was a normal occurrence. It was all she knew, there was no reason for her to think there was another way. So she never made a big deal about it.
Devon smiled brightly, though she shifted her weight seeming almost embarrassed and her cheeks heated up to a slight pink. "Well, if you want to hear it you'll have to step up your joke telling skills." She teased, nudging him with her shoulder. "I mean, you haven't told me any yet, so...." Once again she laughed, though it was definitely in response to her own teasing.
"I don't know exactly how many facts, and I definitely couldn't pick out a single favorite. My least favorite song is anything by Justin Beiber because he's a horrible person, though I'm honestly not a huge fan of country music either, but I don't like despise it. I can tolerate it to a certain extent. I can't be a DJ anymore. My parents didn't let me when I was back home, and now I'm here." She chuckled slightly, raising an eyebrow as she listed off the answers to her questions. "And I doubt I'll be getting back to a place where I could any time soon so there goes that one."
Looking over at him she smiled, and appeared to start saying something else before she stopped as he started his song. Where he tapped his foot she snapped her fingers, and clapped when he did. Her higher voice wasn't exactly suited for this song, but she did well for what she had to work with. "Queen, 1977. News of the World. Often paired with We Will Rock You" She summarized briefly.

William grimaced slightly, unable to keep the corners of his mouth from twitching up as Devon teased him. "Ngh... I'm horrible at telling jokes... I generally either forget the punchline, forget the beginning or middle, or I put the emphasis in the wrong spot."
He tilted his head, confused. "Why do you think that Justin Beiber is a horrible person? There aren't many horrible people, there are just usually horrible actions by misguided people with decent goals." William's eyes widened, another song popping into his head. "Do you like 'Marie Lavou'? I think that's one of my favorite country songs..."
He suddenly grinned, excited. "I'll bet if you asked, one of the scientists could probably set up a station for the island... Maybe Demeter? I'm pretty sure she's the scientist in charge of the electronics..."
Once they finished singing, William smiled and chuckled as Devon correctly named the two songs. "Drat... I thought I was going to catch you on that one; most people that I've asked thought that those were one song... not two separate songs."

"Well you have to step up your joke game, come on." Devon teased him, nudging his shoulder. "Just look them up online if you have to. Also, puns. Really bad puns are fantastic. And double entendres are amusing when done properly." She coached him, smiling.
Then her demeanor changed, and she raised an eyebrow. "Beiber? There are many reasons he's a horrible person. He went to Disney at a nice steak restaurant, demanded he have the place to himself, so they had to rearrange reservations that had been lined up for months. Then he arrived in pajamas and stayed for like five minutes. He said rape happens for a reason - that's enough of a reason right there I promise- he has literally spit on his fans, he peed in a restaurant bucket for no reason, he stole a car and took it on a drunk joyride... He also adopted a monkey, left it in a separate country, and asked how long he could avoid filling out paperwork before they'd euthanize it. Then got another monkey and proceeded to lose it. I see your point but at this point he's done so many bad things that it's impossible to excuse it anymore. I don't see why people tried in the first place." She said dismissively, her distaste bordering on hatred blatantly obvious.
"Come on, I'm better than that. Of course I knew. Queen is gods among men, just like the Beatles. Poor Freddie." For a moment she paused, looking sad. "Wouldn't been great to go to a concert if he hadn't had the audacity to die on us." She made a tsking sound, shaking her head. But she shifted her position so she was resting her head on his lap once more, though this time she was on her back looking up at him.

William grinned, a flash of evil briefly in the expression before it turned into simple mischief. "Oh, bad puns are good, hm? Well... You're going to regret that, I'll bet."
His grin faded, the teen solidly convinced that no one in the world was horrible in themselves, no matter what they did. There's always a reason, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, for everything that people do. William got the sense that Devon wouldn't agree with him, however, and so decided to drop the subject, instead chuckling at her next comment. As he heard her last sentence, however, William's expression grew hesitantly pained. "I don't really think he had a choice in it... I doubt he wanted to die..."
Violet eyes moved from her face to the couch below it, William's expression mournful. He gathered himself together and tried for a slightly unsuccessful smile, trying to change the subject. "Knock knock..."
{My apologies for how short this is... I've got to go. Be back on tomorrow}

"I've done a lot of worse things in my life than tell you I like bad jokes. Promise." Devon chuckled as she looked up at him, raising an eyebrow at the brief wickedness in his expression. But it didn't shock her. Everyone had a quote on quote 'dark side' in one way or another, why shouldn't his be related to jokes?
"Of course he didn't want to. Few people do. And he had AIDs, so. But luckily that is preventable, though he didn't prevent it. I mean, I'm not saying it was his fault. It's not like he did it on purpose. And I'm certainly not going to judge him for promiscuity, I definitely am not in a position to judge someone on that. But his actions did indirectly bring about his own death." She described, tilting her head as she considered.
Then she brightened up and grinned at him, raising an eyebrow. "Who's there?"

((Im sorry this is even shorter but my cat is trying to take over my keyboard so it's a struggle))

{{grins} Your cat laying on the keyboard, or whacking at the keys?}

William chuckled, fingers tapping out a rhythm on the arm of the divan. "I'm just saying that the few jokes that I know are really, really bad... And that I doubt you'll still think that bad jokes are good after I've finished telling them."
He blinked, not certain what to do with this new information. "I... did not know that..." William actually didn't know much about any of the artists that he liked... other than the fact that he liked their songs. He had a bit of a short attention span; while William might get curious about an artist or band after listening to their music, he generally got distracted by someone or something else before he could sate his curiosity... and by the time that he had gotten to a point where he could possibly have found out what he had been curious about, William had forgotten all about it. "How do you remember all of this?" He glanced down at Devon, awe evident on his face.
William grimaced playfully, amusement flickering on in his eyes. "Banana..."

((She's definitely a lay on the keyboard type. Or the paper. Or the book. Or the phone. Whatever I'm doing at the time she wants to be right there xD I'm fighting her now too. She's laying on my arm as I try to type.))

"Whatever jokes you say, I promise I've heard worse." Devon assured him with a nod. "So really what I'm saying is, bring it on, tough guy. Hit me. I'm ready. Let's hear the worst you've got for me." She taunted with a wicked grin, raising an eyebrow at him.
Then she grew more sober and shrugged, blushing slightly. "It's easy for me. I wasn't good at school, so I focused on unimportant things that I actually liked, like music. I started liking it before school and kept liking. At that point it was just a distraction. Early high school age was where it was more obvious I was... Blue. Yellow didn't like blue, blue knew." She shrugged one shoulder, biting her lip so she wouldn't get as worked up as she felt herself getting. "So, thought about music."
"Banana who?" She grinned, shaking stray hair from her face as she looked up at him playfully.

{{chuckles} Fun times...}

William winked mischievously, amused at the song that popped into his mind at her comment. "Hit me with your best shot... Why don't you hit me with your best shot? Hit me with your best shot... Fire away...!" He chuckled and shook his head at both of them; her for being willing to listen to bad jokes, and him for going along with it.
William's eyes widened at one of her following comments, the teen shocked. "Music isn't unimportant! It's one of the few things that can always manipulate emotions; make you happier when you're sad, strengthen your will, make you laugh, make you cry, so on, so forth... Music's probably been around longer than speech has... and it's definitely been around longer than Math, or English, or History or most anything you learn in school... You will never, ever find someone in the world that doesn't like some kind of music..."
He tilted his head as he finished his small lecture, going back to his first bad joke. "Knock knock."

"Pat Benatar, Hit Me With Your Best Shot, album Crimes of Passion." Devon said briefly, grinning cheerfully. She studied him, tilting her head slightly. Shifting her weight slightly she yawned widely, her teeth clicking back together sharply. She stretched out her long legs across the couch, resting her feet on a pillow on the other end. Then she paused and lifted her feet, using her toes of the opposite foot to pull off her shoes. That task done she pulled here feet back onto the couch, the brightly colored, mismatched socks on her feet obvious against the pillow.
"More important to some than others. Distraction. Safe thoughts." She shrugged and sighed, closing her eyes. "Life line. Think about that instead of everything else." She started humming, her breathing picking up to almost panicky. But she swallowed hard, keeping her eyes tightly shut as she hummed and forced herself to take a deep breath, slowly easing it out as her humming faded and stopped, now that she had it together. "Music safe. Yellows can't take it from blue. Pattern. Easy to understand."
She let out a slow breath, opening her eyes so look back up at him with a small grin. "Who's there?"

William grinned, the girl right again. "Yup... I wonder if I'll be able to stump you..." He began thinking through some of the songs he knew, only absently noticing Devon removing her shoes. "Did you know that your socks are two different colors?" William's mouth acted on its own, the teen's mind still mainly focused on trying to find a hard to identify group of lyrics.
He grinned and shrugged as she continued, his grin fading as he glanced down at his companion. "At least you have the good sense to know what's important..." William's grin faded away completely as he noticed that her breathing was off again, the teen's expression falling. "More or less." He automatically returned Devon's grin with a smile, his teeth flashing momentarily in the light. "Banana."

"Well, all the songs you've said are the same general type of song. I know that type well. Expand your type." Devon advised, nodding firmly. Country she knew she sucked at, and rap, but she already gave him some help and she wasn't going to screw herself by just giving him the answer of how to beat her.
"I know. I liked the bright pink ones and the neon green, so I didn't see why I had to choose only one. So I didn't. Makes me happy." She nodded once again, obviously seeing zero problems with mismatched socks. It wasn't like this was the first time she'd done it, or even the second. Unmatched socks were at least a weekly occurrence for her. "Important depends. If you need it it's important to you no matter what it is. No one should tell you different." She told him, pointing a finger at him firmly to be sure he knew how serious the insane girl was.
She sighed slightly, scrunching her nose up as she stared up at him. Lowering her hand, she laced her fingers together across her stomach. "Banana who?"

William pouted comically, giving Devon a teasing sad glance. "But... I like that type of song..." He bit his lip lightly, wiggling the tip of his canine into his bottom lip as he thought. "Let's try this one...
I, I love the colorful clothes she wears," He winked and pointedly looked over at her socks before grinning and continuing. "-and the way the sunlight plays upon her hair; I hear the sound of a gentle word, on the wind that lifts her perfume through the air..."
William stopped there, though it was hard. "I never got the appeal of pink, though..." He shrugged, shifting slightly so the bright colored irritant was barely visible in his peripheral vision, and raised one foot up until it was out straight so he could tug at the leg of his jeans to show the dark blue socks that he was wearing. "I prefer blue, myself. Bright colors hurt my eyes... which is ironic, if you think about it."
He chuckled quietly at the absurdity of his condition for a short moment, his smile growing as Devon lectured him on something he agreed with. That didn't happen often, since it seemed like people were more likely to save their lecturing energy for other people who weren't so convinced... "Exactly... well put."
William's expression returned to a completely calm mask, something he was absolutely horrible at. Even as he attempted to keep a straight face, William could feel his mouth twitching. "Knock knock."

When she caught his pointed look at her socks Devon grinned and wiggled her toes, lifting up her foot to show off the fluorescent colors better. "I think I have to forfeit this one. I don't know that song." She frowned, biting her lip in thought. It was obvious she wasn't overly pleased with not knowing it, and was still trying to think and see if she knew it. But at last she had to admit defeat to herself with a sigh, shaking her head slightly. At the news that bright colors hurt his eyes, she instantly shoved her neon feet under a pillow, pulling a blanket down from the back of the couch to throw on top of them so they wouldn't hurt his eyes.
"I like blue but that blue is too boring. If possible I show colors." She nodded simply, smiling slightly as she looked up at him. "It's more..... Me." she explained with a shrug and a small smile. "I have bright spotted ones too." She added cheerfully, shifting slightly on his lap as she looked up at him. "Pink is just another bright color. But every color has a meaning, and pink is stuff like love and romance. Squishy crap that everyone secretly wants no matter what they say. Even if they know they can't have it, like me." She said rather matter of factly. It didn't bother her really.
The girl sighed in resignation, raising an eyebrow. "Who's there?" She asked reluctantly, then pointed a finger at him sternly. "And if you say banana yet again I'm leaving." She promised, though she was starting to grin slightly so it wasn't a very convincing threat.

((Could we have her meet 'bad' William somehow? :3))

{Something bad will have to happen to Cain first...}
William grinned, triumphant. "'Good Vibrations', by the Beach Boys. It's the first bit right before they get to the chorus, 'I'm picking up good vibrations,' so on."
His grin softened into a smile, the teen touched at the kind gesture when Devon covered her socks. "Thanks... I'm more of a boring color man, myself; I like the rich, cold colors like blue, black, green, brown..."
William smile grew slightly at her next words. "I go more for representations with my colors instead of meaning... Brown for earth, black for night, gold for sun, green for grass or tree, red for flame, blue for water, gray for ice, orange for carrot, so on." His smile turned into a slight frown as her last words actually registered in his mind. "Love isn't squishy cr-" William cut himself off, looking vaguely surprised that he'd gotten that far in the light curse. "It's not trash... While people usually cram love in with romance, they always seem to forget that there is other love than mutual sexual desire." William wasn't a particularly big fan of most relationships other than friendship or family, though he didn't mention it often. "There's the love that family has for each other, the love that friends have, the love between animals and people, so on, so forth... It's just stupid to condition society into believing that only couples can experience love." He scowled, the expression turning darkly stormy before his natural good humor kicked in... forcing him back into a better mood. "I don't have anything spotted, though... except for a drawing of a Dalmatian."
William's reluctant smile smoothly shifted into a truly amused grin. "Sorry... Banana."

{Sorry, I've got to go... I'll be back on tomorrow, probably in the morning.}

Devon sat up, shifting so she was sitting on his lap. "What does pink represent then?" She asked curiously. "And why does orange only get carrot? There are many different things orange could be. Flowers can be orange. After a long day it's the color of the sunset over a beach with the colors on the water. When you have to get up early in the morning and you hate life and then you look out the window and the sky is just starting to turn orange from the sunrise..." She trailed off with a slow smile, turning to look back at him. "There are many different things for each color. You just have to think." She said simply, kissing his cheek lightly. "Like gray. Sure it's cold ice, but it's also warm smoke and the color of clouds right before it rains." She sighed softly, leaning against him slightly.
"I didn't get the family or friend love. Too blue." She shook her head sharply, starting to yank on her hair again. "No no no, it was all... Sexual but without the... Without the pink. No pink just red and no pink no they have to stop no, there's too much red." This time it was obvious she'd gone through agitation right to fear, staring at him plaintively as if waiting for him to help her. "Red, too much red, why can't it be pink pink is normal should be pink. Want to be yellow with pink but no, too blue too red so much red." She curled up against him, resting her forehead against his shoulder.
She was shaking slightly, biting her lip before she started to hum again almost desperately. She swallowed hard, taking a huge breath. "I have a kitty named Halen." She offered half heartedly, trembling slightly. "After the guitarist Van Halen."

((That's the problem lol))

William blinked, surprised again, as Devon moved up to sit on his lap. "Cotton candy." There was no hesitation in his reply, the teen grimacing slightly in disgust as he spoke. "It's one of the most sickly 'sweet' colors, in my opinion. And I relate orange with carrots because I don't like orange or carrots... My absolute least favorite colors get stuck with food relations instead of an element." He tilted his head, still getting used to his companion's overly affectionate mannerisms. "I know, but I pick the elements... or foods... that come to mind immediately when I see those colors. I guess stone or silver would be a better fit with gray if I really thought about it, but..." William shrugged, not delving too deeply into the maze-like mess that was the workings of his odd mind.
William bit the inside of his cheek hard as Devon's fingers tangled in her hair and began to tug, the teen quickly sliding his own fingers into hers to trap the pain-inflicting digits and bring them down to a safer distance from her head. He was beginning to feel sick, realizing what Devon was saying. How... how could anyone do that? William couldn't think of anything to say or do as she pressed against him other than give her a protective hug and whisper almost inaudibly into her hair, "I'll do what I can to keep that from happening again..." The promise was more to himself than for her ears, the boy rubbing Devon's back comfortingly as he felt her shake.
He relaxed slightly when Devon spoke again, though not much. "What kind of cat is he?" William wasn't so much curious about the cat as he was worriedly trying to distract her. "And are you sure you didn't name him after the drummer?"

"But pink is good too. It's cotton candy but I like cotton candy. Its sweet and sugary and reminds me of summer. It's also the colors of sunset and sunrise, it's the color of flowers and especially sweet smelling roses. Some peppermint is colored pink. Albino animals are rare and gorgeous and they have pink eyes." Devon grinned pointedly as she looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "Baby girls are associated with the color pink, and most people love babies. Coral reefs can be pink." She rambled off thoughtlessly, tilting her head slightly as she considered, then looked at him.
"Promise?" She started to ask plaintively, then stopped. "No, no no, you're blue too. Too blue you'll get hurt. No no, don't want you hurt. Can't be hurt." She shook her head, disentangling just one hand to touch his cheek gently. "Don't want you hurt. Too nice." She insisted, her hand sliding back down. "Have to stay safe." She sighed softly. Her hands sat in her lap now, laced together so tightly her knuckles were white. Though she knew his talk of cats was a distraction technique she clung to it, desperate to distract herself. She shrugged. "He's dark gray but when you part the fur it's white underneath, and he was kinda scruffy. Found him. Maybe it was after the band in general, never know." The girl smiled faintly. "Would have him out but Hera has a big dog and I like Halen in one piece."


((Sorry she's so melodramatic. I'm still trying to get a better grasp on her character and it's a struggle))

{{grins} Don't worry about it. I'm having the same problem with William... He's a tweaked version of one of my personal favorites of the characters that I've made, and I'm trying to work out the differences between them. So if I ever slip up and call William Cerberus, that's why...(Frankly, Cerberus pulled 'sweet' off better than William does... William's a bit more on the 'awkward' spectrum.)}

William grinned, both amused and flattered at Devon's compliment. He closed one eye and tapped his eyelid, opening up his eye again to give Devon a cheeky smile. "Not all albinos have pink eyes... some have normal colored eyes, and others have pale blue eyes. And a surprisingly rare few, myself included, have an unusual blend of red... or pink, whichever you prefer to call it... and blue; we have violet eyes."
When Devon stopped herself from asking him to promise, William gave her a soft smile... slightly surprised and embarrassed that she'd heard. "I promise to do what I can to protect you..." Not that that's worth much. I can't intentionally hurt others, no matter how much I might want to at times. Whenever I try, I either black out... which is bad for everyone involved... or I get extremely dizzy and my mind goes all muddled. The best I can do is act like a shield, but I'll do that as well as I can. I've gone though pain before, and I can live with it. It's painful, otherwise it wouldn't be called pain, but I deserve it more than Devon does.
His smile turned into a stubborn grin, the teen's voice showing his lack of concern. "So... you think I'm nice, so I shouldn't get hurt... and I think you're nice, so you shouldn't get hurt. Frankly, between the two, I think I know who is correct. And you don't need to worry about me; I'll be fine. Besides, strength in numbers, right? People are less likely to pick on two people than they are to pick on a loner."
William tilted his head. "What color are his eyes? What shape is his head? Does he catch mice, or does he prefer to have mice caught in mousetraps and then given to him? Does he even like mice at all? What shape is his face? How long is his tail? Where'd you find him? When'd you find him? Did you ask Hera if her dog likes cats?"

"I like purple." Devon announced. "There's a band Deep Purple. And purple is the color of violet flowers that little kids pick for their parents. It's the color of the sky in the morning even before the orange and pink of the sun arrive, and it's the last color to leave before the black arrives. Geodes are rocks with pretty purple sparklies inside." She smiled slowly as she studied him. "And it's the color of you. Purple and white but not a bad white. Not a washed out, hospital white. White like the fluffy clouds in the sky, like marshmallows before you toast them, or bird or angel wings. White is the color of light and purity and kindness. Purple is the color of royalty and wisdom and peace. You're both colors and blue, like me." She decided with a firm nod, kissing his cheek again.
"So you'll stick with me?" She asked him, cautiously hopeful. "You won't leave and you won't hurt?" Then she shook her head sharply. "No, no. Too nice to get hurt for me. I already hurt people, don't want someone like you hurt because of me." She stressed as she stared at him.
"He has yellow eyes with a normal head. I think he lived wild for a long time because he hunts and eats mice and squirrels and things. His tail is a bit longer than a normal cat's. I found him a few months ago in the streets and he's just recently gotten used to me. He hides from people and hisses when they get too close. I didn't ask. I don't think she likes me very much. Not because of blue, but because of human." She shrugged. "Plus I don't want to scare Halen with dogs." She finally finished rattling off the answers to his questions, her tone a bit affectionate as she thought of her cat. "Do you want to come and meet him?"

William hooked a smile, flattered and touched at Devon's words yet again. Well... it's nice of her to say, even if it isn't true. I'm not royal, I'm not pure, I'm not particularly wise, and because of whatever is wrong with my head, I'm not peaceful. I am light, though... "Thanks..." He wasn't exactly certain what to say back to the girl, and was glad when the subject changed.
"Sure, if that's what you want... I can probably go anywhere with you." William flinched slightly and flushed, the dark red staining his cheeks obvious. "Except for the bathroom. That's not a place I can go... I mean, I can't go into the girl's bathroom, not that I can't go in the bathroom..." His flush deepened, the teen beginning to wish he could sink into the couch.
William nodded, his blush slowly fading. That's the problem with being so pale; any color shows up startlingly clearly... "Yes, please..."

{sorry for the short post - struggling through homework at the same time}

((Same thing here))

Devon giggled slightly at him, tilting her head. "Of course. If you eat you have to go to the bathroom. The body isn't efficient enough to use every single part of what we ingest." She explained cheerfully. "So you'll go with me then? Yay!" With a grin she rolled over to look right up at him.
Excitedly, she sprung up from the couch, grabbing his hand and tugging lightly to get him to follow her. "Halen might run at first. He's scared of people. But there's not many places to hide so you'll at least see him. And he likes me now." She explained with a smile and a nod as she looked back at him, seeming thoughtful. "You're nice. He'll like you too." She said rather determinedly, as if it was already a given fact.

((Post at her room?))