𝔰 𝔱 𝔯 𝔦 𝔣 𝔢

“Exploring.” He answered simply, “What else would I be doing in the wood alone at night?” He was aware he could be doing plenty of other things but he didn’t care. “Do you own this place?” He could notice his rigidness but he wouldn’t comment on it… yet.

“Don’t know.” He shrugged. “Um no but it’s been abandoned for awhile so I use it from time to time.” A little honesty would hopefully be enough to get the guy to go away. At least he had come in when Markus was already in the process of cleaning up so there was very little to find but it still set his nerves on edge to have his space invaded.

Pia handed out the strange journal to the man, “You probably shouldn’t leave this thing around. Who knows what would happen if it fell on the wrong hands.” She warned him, slightly biting her lip. She knew how things in New Orleans worked, the people here… not so nice. “Why do you not seem familiar?”

“Probably bore them to death.” He took the journal back, pretending that it was nothing of real importance. “Do you know everyone in town?” He asked, furrowing his brows. Most of New Orleans was made up of the Mikaelson and Salvatore families but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t the odd loner like him in town. He wasn’t trying to hide that he was new to town but he was annoyed by the question even though his expression remained neutral.

“Whoa.” Pia said as her expression changed completely from tired to surprised. “Do you know who left this here?”

“I did.” Markus held out his hand, silently asking for his journal to be returned. It had strange markings on the cover but thankfully they wouldn’t be recognized by anyone in New Orleans.

“Is anyone here?” Reece said as he wondered into an empty house in the woods.

“I-- uh what are you doing here?” Markus had claimed the supposedly abandoned house to use as a base for his research since if any of this stuff was found in his apartment it would be very incriminating. Playing the part of a nervous idiot, he approached the male, standing in front of him to keep him from entering any further.

––– leah was currently walking down an empty street at nighttime, she would usually be confident of her strength but for some reason tonight she felt a little paranoid. feeling movement behind her she stopped walking. “is someone here?”

"up here.” markus called down to the woman after observing her for a moment from his perch up in the tree. high places were a comfort to him. he had just been star gazing, causing a rustle in the leaves every now and then when he moved but it seemed she was feeling uneasy tonight.

              She looked from him to the boy, stepping further out onto the porch. “Prank. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him before.” At least she hoped he was just there as a prank. “Not a very funny prank though,” she added, giving the kid a stern look. 

             With a short nod, he shoved him away and the kid was quick to scramble off, throwing a hasty apology behind his back. “I didn’t think kids still pulled pranks like that,” he commented as his gaze slid back to the girl.

“I think we both need this. If you reject it, then I’ll have to drink it all by myself.”

“So I do look as bad as I feel. Fine.”

               “Come on. This isn’t funny.” She paused for a few moments, anxious. “I know someone is out here. I didn’t imagine the doorbell ringing.”

              “Did you do something to piss this guy off or are you just the unlucky target of a horrible prankster?” Markus held a struggling kid, seeming to be barely out of his teens. Why he cared about some stupid ding dong ditch prank was beyond him but he supposed that he could use the good karma.