#707 Kaleidoscope Apartments

[seishounohana]

Up at the 7th floor of the Kaleidoscope apartments, lives Sacricia Emily Lourdes Delos Santos - or what most people know as Emily, or Emi.

Here is a floor plan of Emily's living space:

A - All purpose room
Yes... all purpose, why? Well it's basically a kitchen, a Dining room, and a Living room all in one. Interesting eh? Stupid government had to give her a cheap flat, but Emily's thankful that she wouldn't have to live with foster families anymore.

B - Dining Area
Obviously, this is the place where she would eat or respond to letters from her Japanese friends. She also watches TV here, since the flat screen TV is placed right on the left wall.

C - Library
This is where Emily stores her reference book and Manga, or at least 50% of it. There are around over a hundred books in this room - its up to you to put two and two together and figure out how many books does Emily have right now. On the door of this room is a full-length Mirror.

D - Kitchen
Everyone needs to eat - even Emily! ... ok it's obvious really. But for the heck of explaining, this entire wall is dedicated to the 'kitchen'. She has a well-stocked refrigerator, stove and oven, and a sink. ... and yes, Emily CAN cook.

E - Emily's Bedroom
This is where she dresses and sleeps every night. Yeah. It's a rather homey area, and the bed is VERY comfortable - doesn't really help with her sleeping problem now does it?

F - 'Office'
Inside is her office, where she makes her Manga, Schoolwork and stuff. Emily keeps this place off-limits to a LOT of people - and locked most of the time if she isn't inside.

G - Bathroom
Where she bathes! HA!


So there you have it.

(Might update every once in a while)

[seishounohana]

It keeps coming back to me.
I remember this pain.
It spreads across my eyes.
Everything is dull.

Everyone's smiling, they're smiling!
It pushes me far oh, far away
I can't understand.
Everything is blue.

Came the song that had been repeatedly ringing on the 15 year old Mangaka's ears. Apparently, the Album that Emily had ordered had arrived - and she was particularly happy about it. She LOVED the anime where this song came from - It's name was NANA.

Can you hear me out there?

"Can you hear me out there?" She sang out loud to the song, enjoying the serene silence of her room.

Will you hold me now?
Hold me now, My frozen heart.
I'm gazing from the distance and I feel everything pass through me.
I can't be alone right now!
Will you hold me now? Hold me now. My frozen heart...
I'm lost in a deep winter sleep.
I can't seem to find my way out alone.
Can you wake me?

'Wake me?" She sang out loud, opening her eyes out to the world. Emily was now inspired to draw something of worth. Well, it had been a while since she had released a new set of manga. After releasing the last volume of the "Kana" series.

'You should make a sci-fi one then.'

'Sci-fi?'

'Yeah.'

'... Interesting.' Emily sat up from her bed, still on her pajamas and took off the earphones - closing her Mp3 player just as she did so. 'The news is always good to look at for ... dumb references?'

'You're weird.'

'Yup. Because I have YOU for an alter-ego.'

[seishounohana]

After the young woman closed the Television, she sighed and closed her eyes for a moment to think. Well, it had been a chaotic day and there had been intelligence again of a probable terrorist attack. Oh, the profanity of it all.

Then she heard... SNORING? ... that was particularly very familiar.

She opened her eyes and listened to the noise; checking her bedroom - there was none. She checked her cupboards on the kitchen, a silly thing really, but who knows? There was nothing there anyways but the few sets of cup ramen and some supplies. The snoring then, seemed to come from Emily's secret room.

'...'

She opened the room and twitched to find the door unlocked for some reason. Only ONE person in the entire world had the nerve to unlock her rooms...

"Oi..." She said a bit louder than normal, hoping to rouse the sleeping person, wherever he was hiding.

[Rem]

Rem awoke with a snort, shooting up into a sitting position. So, he'd been found out already? He was hoping to stay there for a bit longer. Sighing, he rolled off of the cot he'd purchased not too long before and landed on his hands and knees. The young man rose to his feet, at full height showing the vast difference in size between him and his sister. He was way shorter.
Rem yawned, stretching his arms outward and upward in an anti clockwise manner. Scratching his rear, he gave Emily a rather sleepy look through his one, half-opened eye. "You're lucky I was actually dressed when you came in. I like to sleep in the nude." His heavy Japanese accent slurred his words slightly, but they weren't totally undiscernable.

[seishounohana]

Emily would've smiled at this, but everything was just... very shocking! Damn! How did he find her?! How did her Brother... well... foster brother, find her?!

... damn him and his streaks of luck.

However, she looked at the futon he had been sleeping on and noticed several papers were scattered on the floor and were somewhat messed up. Her eyes fumed suddenly as her head sunk and her hands now went to a twitching fist.

"BAKA!!!" She said, shaking her brother. "MESS! FIX! NOW!"

Well, Rem should've known that Emily was very ... touchy about this room, being her workplace.

[Rem]

"No 'hey! long time no see'?"Rem shrugged. "Chill, Kari-chan, there's no need to be this touchy this early in the morning..." He yawned again, still wary of his foster sister and her twitching fist of doom. "Alright, alright...I'll clean it...just...give me a few minutes..."

[seishounohana]

Emily twitched at the name, it had been a while since she had been called by her Japanese name instead of her Filipino one. "Put your stuff outside of this room afterwards, I'll make Dinner." She said in Japanese, pointing to the clock above the door and shrugging. Well, Rem would have to sleep on a futon on the all-purpose area. The other room was for HER and HER ALONE.

Emily then went to the kitchen and started making rice. Well, its all wash, drain, repeat until the water went clear and so ... she did and put it on the stove. Her brother was more talented in cooking, but that didn't mean Emily... or Kari rather, didn't know how to cook decently. Thank God for Cookbooks?

[Rem]

Still scratching himself he gestured towardthe room. "Didn't you hear what I just said, Kari-chan? I sleep in the nude. Do you realllllllllly want me to be out here naked when you've got friends over? Or when you're just doing stuff around the apartment?" Even as he said all these things he was doing as he was told. He WAS freeloading after all.

[seishounohana]

Emily eyed him harshly and obviously, despite the fact that Emily wasn't a good fighter as her brother... she was definitely not the easiest person to get into a fight with. She's been known to... drive people... insane.

"You will get your own place tomorrow, or you'll sleep outside - nude or not." Emily flared as she began chopping up some pork for Tonkatsu.

[Rem]

"But I just got here! And I used up all of our inheritance just to find you again! Would you really put your cute onii-san out on the street. You know how pretty I am? You think I'd last a day out there!?" Rem had to admit, his sister did have diplomacy issues.

[seishounohana]

Still in a bad fit, Emily took more than a bit of pepper and soy sauce and rubbed it onto the thick slices of meat. She looked as if she were taking out her annoyance on the food.

Emily was primarily angry because of his presence on her house. The government wanted to put her here ALONE. Her emotions were too unstable to have anyone here. Last time she became truly happy, Rem's parents got themselves killed.

Having all of her loved ones killed, and with all the streaks of bad luck made Emily think she was a Jinx. So she distanced herself from everything, and became a person of a few words.

Sometimes she wanted to learn how to become... normal, to be able to speak and be outgoing... but its the thought of seeing death and pain again that hurt her most.

"I'll ... give you money enough for a year's deposit on the apartment on the higher floor of this building," She told him, "You can spend the night here, but only for the night... I'm just living here under the terms that I live ALONE."

[Rem]

"Oh really? And why is that? Afraid you'll try to kill someone again?" His words came out in a low tone, his eyes narrowing as he stared her down. It was really odd to see him staring up at her with such authority. "Of course, I know about that incident. I had to do a lot of digging to track you down." He placed a hand on her arm, being a bit too short to reach her shoulder. "I'm going to stay here with you, despite what you say. If you freak out again, I'll stop you. I don't want it to be anyone else..."

[seishounohana]

Emily was going to try and answer back, but apparently she knew it was best to just ... calm down. Yes, calm down.

"... Fine, but you're sleeping in neither of these rooms until... I buy a double deck bed for us. Alright?"

Sure, compromise privacy for the sake of family - that's fun.

[Rem]

His eyebrows arched. "Double decker? What if I want to bring a girl home and...?" Rem sighed and shrugged, giving his sister a reassuring smile. "Don't worry~ there's no way your Jyuutekken no Kaze can match my Anime Style martial arts." He said it in a cocky tone, to make the mood a bit lighter. He was hoping to make her smile at the very least.

[seishounohana]

Unfortunately, smiling - or any form of emotion was particularly a very rare commodity to Kari/Emily. Being with Emily for 7 years and all, Rem should've known about that!

Emily just went silent, shrugging lightly to put the hand on her arm away as she now resumed cooking.

Couldn't match his Anime Style Martial arts. Suuuuuuuuure. Emily didn't really give whatever damn. She hated fights anyway, they were too troublesome and a waste of time. If she ever fought, it was when she goes on a emotional rampage.

Well, she could use a person to remind her to take her PRESCRIBED sedatives.

"No sex in my apartment. Get your own apartment if you want it so bad."

'What about when YOU get a boyfriend and ... yanno..."

'I'll kick him out of the room, happy?'

'Interesting how he'd probably pound at the door for each moan then.'

'Very."