Application: Road Kamelot, D.Gray-man

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

One moment Road was frolicing in the Kamelot Manor garden, and then she was somewhere completely different. The apparent little girl looked around with a puzzled frown - she had not gone through one of her doors, the ones that acted as portals to wherever she desired, and she had not been anywhere near Noah's Ark, so how...?

"Papa?" she called. "Tyki? Anyone?"

Her frown deepened when there was no reply. She reached out with her mind, attempting to summon one of her doors, but the connection was not there. She was trapped.

She examined her surroundings more closely, and noticed for the first time the desk with the parchment, quill and inkwell atop it. She walked over to take a look. A questionnaire, huh? Normally she wasn't one for things like homework - who would be when they could make their family do it for them? - but she didn't exactly have anything else to do. She reached for the quill, but it sprung up before she laid a finger on it, dipped itself into the inkwell, and hovered over the parchment in readiness for her dictation.

"Handy," she commented, and the quill transcribed the word onto the parchment.



State your full name.

"Road Kamelot."

1. What is your favorite cheese? Why is it your favorite?

She tilted her head thoughtfully.

"Does cheesecake count? If it doesn't... I prefer sweet cheeses."

She may not have been as much of a sweet tooth as Skin, but that didn't mean that she never seriously considered living soley on candy and the like.

2. Who would you kill first, Barney or Carrottop?

Her eyes almost seemed to flash gold for a moment as the hint of a wicked smile flittered briefly across her face, but then her eyes were wide and innocent and most assuredly not gold, and she was certainly not smiling.

"I'm just a little girl," she said. "Why would I kill anyone?"

She knew nothing about this place or its inhabitants, and until she did she would keep up the innocent facade she was well-accustomed to.

3. What time is it where you are?

She pursed her lips a little and cocked an eyebrow at the parchment.

"How could I know that when I don't even know where I am?"

She didn't really expect an answer, and just as expected none was given.

4. If you were Albus Dumbledore returned from the dead, which member of the Order of the Phoenix would you sexually harass? How would you harass them? If you are Albus Dumbledore, please answer as if you were Sirius Black.

"What's the Order of the Phoenix, and who are Albus Dumbledore and Sirius Black?"

She wondered if Allen Walker was a part of the Order of the Phoenix. She didn't think he was, but she knew what her answer would be if he was. She preferred more romantic terms than 'sexually harass' to describe her advances towards Allen, but... Whatever works...

5. If you are pushing to be in:

A. Slytherin - please state the clever, witty name of the bar in which you bartend, in the dark.

"I don't bartend. But if I did, it'd be called, um, Obscured Dreams." She smiled a little as she said the name. People sometimes came to bars to forget, to obscure memories and dreams, and she, Noah's Dreams, would be obscured by the darkness as she bartended.

B. Gryffindor – Debate whether Harry should ultimately end up married to Fred or George. Use examples from a variety of world mythologies to bolster your argument.

"I don't know any of those people or their circumstances."

C. Ravenclaw – You guys are supposed to be smart. Explain why my desk is inundated with paperwork at all times, even though I’m constantly disposing of it.

She rolled her eyes discreetly. "It's probably because of your job. Maybe you should get a new secretary."

D. Hufflepuff – Prove you are not useless.

Her eyes narrowed a little before she leaned over the desk with a giggle. "I'm good at coming up with new games, fun ones," she said. "I can show you if you agree to be my... playmate." Her smile appeared sweet for the most part, but if one looked closely they may have seen something almost sinister under the surface.

6. Offer a bribe to the members of this community so that they will not squib you. Items used in bribery do not necessarily have to belong to the person offering the bribe. Do not threaten us rather than offering a bribe. A threat indicates you either don't really want to be here, or don't have enough sense to answer the question properly. The hat will automatically squib you, regardless of other votes, if you do.

She reached slowly up to her neck and untied the red ribbon there. She didn't know what squibbing was, but... "You can have this ribbon, and, um, hang on..." She pulled out a handful of candy, and then slipped half of it back into her pocket. "You can have this candy too, I suppose."

"I have read the hogwarts_hocus faq, and understand it is a crazy, cracktastic sorting community and RPG. RK.
I have read the hogwarts_hocus rules and agree to abide by each and every one of them. RK.
I agree to be a good sport and not get my knickers in a bunch. RK.
One day, marmalade will rule the world. RK."

Comments

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"It's a real hat, but it's alive. It decides whether people can stay, and what House they should be in if they do. And you can't eat the popcorn because it used to be people, sort of." Coraline was not at all sure how the popcorn worked, and said that partly to test whether Road would find eating once-human popcorn a problem. She suspected not.

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

Road smiled a little as Coraline described the Hat. She very much doubted it would measure up to Lero, the Millennium Earl's talking and flying umbrella, but still...

She tilted her head at the popcorn explanation. "But if people go back home and leave popcorn behind, how is the popcorn former people? And how do you know the people who disappear are really sent back anyway?"

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"Because sometimes they come back here again. I don't know how it works," Coraline said, irritably. She was frustrated with herself for letting Road divert the conversation, and talking about popcorn reminded her of Rika, who had popped months ago and shown no signs of returning.

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

Road smirked a little at Coraline's tone. "You seem irritated Cor~a~line."

Although something about that tone made her wonder if Coraline knew someone who had become popcorn. Her eyes gleamed.

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"You remind me of someone I knew," Coraline told her, "who liked playing with dolls. She didn't treat them very well once she'd finished with them."

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

This piqued Road's interest. After all, that description summed up perfectly the way she liked to play too.

"Oh? How exactly do you mean?"

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"I mean, they weren't toys." Time to stop pretending any of this was a game. "They were real. And she stole their lives, and kept them in the dark."

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

Road put on a fake-puzzled expression with a hint of mocking she didn't think Coraline would miss. "But all toys are real, aren't they, or do you like playing with dreams and illusions?" Dreams and illusions played a large part in many of Road's games, but that wasn't the point.

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"Real people," Coraline said, flatly. "Not real toys. But she liked playing with illusions. That's what she used to trap us."

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

"Oh, how horrible," said Road in a voice that might have been mocking and might have been genuine. "Will you tell me more?"

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"You mean, how I saved my parents from her?" Coraline asked. "And got back the souls of the children she'd taken before, and locked her away for ever?"

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

The look in Road's eyes sharpened, and she smiled. "Yes. I'd rather like to hear this story."

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

Coraline was suddenly not sure she wanted to tell after all. But she'd started now, and perhaps Road would be impressed enough to take her seriously. Even just a little.

"She was called the other mother. She made her own world, behind a door in my house that shouldn't have gone anywhere, to lure people in and keep them."

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

Road shifted so that she was a little closer to Coraline. "What did she do with them once she had them?"

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"Sewed black buttons into their eyes, to make them like hers," Coraline said, taking a very small step back. "And drained away their lives, and left them in the dark. I wouldn't let her, so she kidnapped my parents to force me to come back."

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

Road took a very small step forward, once again closing the distance between her and Coraline. "And did you step back into her web?"

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

Coraline didn't move, this time. "I had to," she said, looking Road in the eyes. "They're my parents. I wasn't going to leave them."

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

Road smiled, and for a moment the look in her eyes was one of genuine approval. "Family is important," she agreed. "What happened next?"

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

Coraline frowned, thinking she would rather have not had Road's approval. "We made a deal," she said. "If I could find my parents, and the souls of the other children, she'd have to let us all go. And if I couldn't, I'd stay with her."

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

Road laughed softly without bothering to hide it, and gave Coraline a look that challenged her to comment. "Tell me about how you beat her."

Road thought that she might like to meet the Other Mother. That woman sounded like she knew how to play~

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

"...if I do," Coraline said, cautiously, "you have to tell me a story too. It's only fair." At least she could learn something.

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

"Agreed."

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

Coraline took a long breath. "The ghost children helped me, and the cat who lives in our garden and knows things about the other world. I had my stone with a hole in it, that Miss Spink and Miss Forcible from downstairs gave me, so I could see the souls when I looked through it. But I had to find them all myself. One was in my - in the bedroom she gave me. The next one was downstairs with the other Miss Spink and Miss Forcible. Their terriers chased after me when I took it, but I got away from them."

She left out the bit about finding the other father falling to pieces in the basement. It wasn't a part of the story Road would miss, and Coraline didn't want to share it.

"The third one was upstairs," she went on. "With the other Mister Bobo. But he wasn't even a copy of the real Mister Bobo any more, he was just rats. Thousands of them, hiding inside his coat. The biggest one was holding the soul, and I chased it down, out of the house, to where Cat was. And then he caught it, and broke its neck." She thought a silent apology to the cat for making it sound as though that had been her idea. It wouldn't have gone well to admit that she'd tripped, and been lucky. He'd understand that if he was actually listening, surely.

"And I'd worked out where my parents really were, by then," she continued. "The snowglobe on the mantelpiece. There wasn't one in our house. But she wouldn't have let me go, even if I won the game. So I told her they were hidden in the corridor between my world and hers, and when she opened the door to show me I was wrong, I grabbed them and ran. And the cat fought her until I'd got to the door, to give me time." There, she'd leave out the fact that she'd thrown him at the other mother's face. That could make up for what she'd said earlier. He was a heroic cat, regardless of details.

"It wasn't easy, locking her in and getting back home. The corridor was long, and dark, and it knew we were there. But we all escaped. Everyone."

[sadistdream.livejournal.com]

Road listened intently to Coraline's story, and applauded when it was finished. "Aww, nicely done. You're a clever girl, aren't you Coraline~?"

[braveexplorer.livejournal.com]

Coraline didn't smile. "Your turn. Tell me a story about you. A true one."