House of Anubis: Triad of Memphis

House of Sympathy/House of Ideas

Rachel met with William later on once he was back in his room. Rachel glanced over at Tyler until he got the message that she wished to be alone with William. Tyler complied and made a discreet exit past Rachel so that she could shut the door once he was out.

"So..." she trailed.

"Hi..." William greeted in response.

"That date?...When did you plan on it happening?"

"Oh...whenever, really," William replied truthfully.

"Wh-whenever?" Rachel repeated. "As in you haven't been planning it?"

"How much setting up is really necessary?"

Rachel glanced down with the impression that William didn't really care.

"I-I'm sorry," William apologized quickly. "I'm new to this whole dating-thing. Honestly, I was just hoping we could hang out. Get to know more about eachother?"

Rachel raised her eyebrows.

"It doesn't sound very romantic, I know. But with dim lighting and soft music, we can make it work."

Rachel chuckled a bit.

"Not enough?"

"How did I not know you sooner, William?" Rachel asked with a smile as she approached him and sat next to him on his bed.

~~~~~
"We just have to be subtle about it," Sarah whispered to Jonah.

The two of them stood outside of Niamh's door, hesitating before they knocked and entered to confront her. The two of them glanced at eachother and finally nodded, and Sarah lifted her fist to knock on the door.

Just then, Lucille came out of her room, and Sarah and Jonah directed their attention to her.

"Lucille! You're out of bed," Sarah expressed excitedly.

"I'm just going to freshen up," Lucille sighed in a depressing manner, and the other two watched as she trudged off to the bathroom.

Niamh suddenly opened her door and stared at them oddly.

"May I help you?" she asked.

"Uh..." Sarah trailed off as her eyes glanced back and forth between Niamh and Jonah.

"If not then excuse you, please." Niamh parted her way between the two of them to head off.

"W-we were wondering if you knew anyone by the name of Rusk?" Jonah asked before she could go too far. He added in a muttered tone, "Could be a pseudonym as well, though."

Niamh hesitated. She looked back at them and responded, "No. No, I've never heard that name."

She left hastily. Jonah and Sarah watched her as she shoved her way through the door.

"Either she's just being Niamh or she was lying," Sarah figured.

"What are the odds?" Jonah asked rhetorically in response.

~~~~~
Just as Niamh had come to the bottom of the stairs, Jared was leaving his room to find her. She froze at the sight of him and gave a sympathetic look, for once so that he could see.

"I hope that offer still stands," Jared requested softly. "I think I need someone."

Niamh nodded her head for Jared to follow her. She went into the living room and he did the same. The two of them sat on the same couch and Niamh turned to face Jared.

"Go," she nodded.

"I don't get why Lucille hurts me this much," Jared began after a long breath. "But I also don't know why I expected Jucille to even last as long as it did...She was just so incredibly different...So incredibly different from me for one, but also so different from anyone else. And I don't know how it happened, but for the longest I just loved that it did. And now I kind of regret that."

"Because she broke your heart?" Niamh inquired.

"Because I broke her heart and she couldn't take it," Jared corrected. "I knew I was bound to mess up. I always mess up."

"Hey...Hey, you didn't mess up. Okay, you didn't cheat on her. You didn't flirt with anyone. Don't blame yourself for this one."

"Then who do I blame?"

"Well you-" Niamh hesitated a moment before outright telling him to blame Lucille as that might've sent him on a tangent about how he could never blame Lucille. But she went on and said it anyway. "You blame Lucille."

"I could nev-"

"-I don't care how much you want to deny it; she broke up with you because she can't take you hanging out with any other girl that isn't her...Everyone heard."

Jared shrugged. "I wish she would've trusted me not to fall for you or anything...Because I wouldn't. I mean, I can't."

Niamh inhaled sharply. "Y-yeah. Yeah, and how could I ever develop feelings for you?" She laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah." Jared chuckled just a bit as he stared down at his knees.

"Hey, you laughed," Niamh remarked, playfully punching Jared on the arm. "It's an improvement."

"Yeah. From soaking my pillow with my tears all day, I think anything's an improvement," Jared admitted.

Niamh shrugged her eyebrows.

~~~~~
After the failed attempt at confrontation with Niamh, Jonah and Sarah decided to spend time in the attic. They spent some time on the riddle but not too much, assuming the pieces to Nefertum's staff were also in those bags Mr. Rainier had taken down to the cellar. Afterwards, they just sat in the serenity.

"So I was thinking..." Jonah lead on. "Why would the society have those artifacts which build the staffs if they aren't trying to awaken these gods as well?"

"Then why aren't they solving tasks in the tunnels or anything?" Sarah asked. "They could construct the staffs just as well as us."

"Maybe they have another way of doing it," Jonah suggested. "Maybe they don't even know the tasks of the tunnels."

"Maybe."

They fell into deep silence once again.

Jonah finally decided to change the subject. "So...I was thinking-"

"-we get Jared and Lucille back together again?" Sarah suddenly stated, mentioning what occupied her mind.

"Well, um-"

"-because I was thinking we should try it," Sarah continued in ignorance of him. "I even have this idea. Well, kind of an idea. And it sort of involves you."

"Me?" Jonah pointed toward himself.

"Yes, you," Sarah confirmed. "You know how you and Jared are like, identical?"

"No!" Jonah immediately dismissed. He stood up to his feet and backed away. "No, no, no, no, no. No."

Sarah stood to her feet as well. "Yes."

~~~~~
Well, I'm trying to still get these out soon enough for you guys. So, I just missed yesterday, but I've been typing this one bit by bit since Sunday evening, so anyway, it's here. Also, since I don't have much time, I'll just skip out on the discussion questions for a while (which I actually forgot to mention in the Author's Note). So don't freak out if they're not there for a while. If you comment on the chapter, I'll still be reading those, so yeah. Cool. Right. Well anyway, until next time Aristocrats.