The new Neighbors-Princessgumdrop/moon

[FoxWriter]

It was a brand new day in the little town, an exciting day actually. In a small little neighborhood, one house had never been lived in. at least, as far as anyone could remember, even the old timers remembered daring each other to go up to the 'haunted house' ring the doorbell and flee. No one knew who had owned the house, no one knew who owned it now, but whatever the case, it had been bought now, and everyone was whispering about who could have been so 'stupid' as to have actually bought the house that everyone knew was haunted. The house had somehow undergone a slight transformation without anyone noticing. Almost overnight the broken porch lights had been replaced, the broken steps repaired, and the far overgrown lawn had been chopped down. The house looked as creepy as ever but at least the workers could get in and out of the house now.

Yes, workers. There where three moving vans out in front of the house and two workers for each van where moving boxes, furniture, and appliances into the old dilapidated house. They clearly weren't from around there, because anyone local would never have dared to step foot in that run down, haunted, old house. Yet there they where, six men unloading the vans and walking in and out of the house as if it was normal! And then the owners appeared in a rather fancy car. The clean, shiny car looked brand new, and as the first man stepped out, everyone could see that these people where filthy stinking rich... had to be to afford a house so run down it almost needed to be torn down and built from scratch. They had a lot of renovating to do, and from the look of their expensive suits, they where all too happy to do it... even if they did look... weird.

The first one, the older one had messy black hair that fell to his knees. He didn't even bother keeping it held back, he just let it hang free. He had gorgeous ice blue eyes though, and he was very handsome if the people watching from their windows had to admit. He had to be foreign for hair that long though, no American man would keep their hair that long. The other one had hair that was almost the color of blood, but it was cropped short save for a single small ponytail at the very back. It was a very 'hip' hairdo. He too had gorgeous eyes of ice blue that made people want to stare into them forever. They both stood side by side, watching the movers move things into the house and studying said house as well. They where talking in soft voices and with very graceful hand movements, kept indicating the house, no doubt discussing the best way to making it look presentable again. It WAS a eight bedroom, five and two half baths house after all. Three floors and a basement it was the biggest house in the neighborhood. It was going to take a lot, a LOT, a lot of work. Well, if anyone could do it, filthy rich, beautiful men with expensive cars and suits could do it!

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Akira had lived on the 'haunted house' street all of his life. He, like everyone else in the town, had never thought anyone would buy the house. Even as a child Akira avoided it at all costs, going so far as to cross the street before going to school. Today was no different, even though he lived right next to the 'haunted house.' He was with his other neighbors across the street watching the movers and then the two men that showed up in the fancy car. The two men caught his eye, he felt drawn to them for a few seconds before he looked away, talking to a neighbor for a little bit about how they must be nuts. Yeah, that was right they had to be nuts.

Akira was a slender male, his eyes were a very dark brown and his hair a dyed light blue. He worked at a local bakery making desserts in the back. He usually didn't gossip with his neighbors, but this time was clearly different. Today the neighbors were not like the others, so he talked. He talked about all the theories about these rich men. Someone murmured that they were brothers other's whispered that they were nut jobs that had gotten loose from some psych-ward. No one really knew, and Akira figured that no one would really ever know because he knew that no one would actually go over and talk to the poor sucker that moved into that house.

He stayed out there for another hour, before finally moving across the street and into his home, taking one last look at the neighbors. He bit his lip and started to move over toward the house before stopping himself and shaking his head. He turned and went back into his home. All night he kept looking out his window, he had heard noises coming from next door and he was sure the rest of the neighborhood could hear them too. He bit his lip and shut the blinds to his window and tried to go back to sleep. Perhaps his neighbor from across the street was right, the people that moved in were insane.

 

[FoxWriter]

the two men clearly knew that they where being watched, because they looked very amused as they cast their glances around at all the half open curtains where people where watching them. they where even more amused by Akira and the other few neighbors who ogled them openly, standing in their yards and whispering about the people who where stupid enough to buy the haunted house. the neighbors didn't know it, but the two men could hear every word and the rumors where just ridiculous. "they're exorcists here to cleans the house." "they're demons come to steal our souls." "they're Incubi here to rape us all!" well at least that rumor sounded fun. the rumors spread from them being inhuman, to being insane, to being undercover cops, to being various secrete agent government spies. one crazy five year old even commented on them being aliens. it was simply ridiculous. funny too, yes the Brothers where very amused.

the lights stayed on all night, and in the morning the suits where gone and they where wearing normal clothes... or rather, wearing a lack of clothes. while they where both wearing jeans, neither of them was wearing a shirt, revealing very nice bodies as they worked on tearing the siding off the house. they really WHERE insane! renovating by themselves! it would be impossible! particularly since only one was ripping off the siding. the other was working on mowing the lawn to more livable levels. while the 'forest' that had been there had been chopped down, it was still a lot of grass, and the poor man was having a hell of a time with the push mower clogging up every few feet. the neighbors where watching again, whispering their shock as they realized the young men hadn't been eaten, or chased off by the ghosts that supposedly lived there. still, the men where very nice to look at as they worked, and the red haired one had finally given up on the lawn mower and was going after the lawn with a traditional Haying scythe, scowling as he did so, making the elder black haired one laugh at the misfortune of his little brothers lawnmower issues.

it didn't take long before they where both working on the lawn, one with the scythe, the other with a rake, making sure the lawn was manageable enough that they could actually go over it with a lawn mower. they where giving equally disgusted looks to the massively overgrown hedges and bushes that would have to be trimmed down and the red haired one finally spoke. "Faylin? why the hell didn't we get a contractor to do this shit?" "because your a cheep ass who enjoys yard work, remember? don't bitch at me because you told me no Dresen!" Faylin complained, wiping sweat off his forehead with a towel. "besides, it's GOOD for you. your the one who wanted to buy a crappy old house and make it pretty again. 'it's my dream!' bah! next time dream about going to Hawaii and sunning naked on the beach!" that only made Dresen laugh and shake his head. "alright alright! no need to snap my head off!" he complained with a grin as he looked at the slight progress he had made. "so what do you think is up with the locals? they act as if we've got the plague." "bah. who cares? let's just finish chopping this grass out so we can mow."

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

The next day Akira was getting for work and noticed that the men were outside working the house. He eyed them for a bit before crossing the street like always and heading to work. Even at work his neighbors were the talk of business, everyone knew that he lived next door to the haunted house. So, of course, he was the go to person when it came to asking question about the neighbors. "No, Mrs. Peterson...I haven't talked to them." he mumbled as he handed over the cookies he had just finished.

The woman arched her eyebrow "Really?" she asked, "Huh, it's probably best you stay away anyway. I mean, who knows what kind of crazy things they do in that house."

"I don't know Mrs. Peterson, I mean...other than being unbelievably handsome, they look normal." he said, "Like this morning, they were just fixing the house up."

"That's weird in itself. What kind of rich people do their own work?"

Akira chuckled "I suppose that's true." he said ad waved goodbye to her. This was repeated for the rest of the day but with different people, him repeating that he hadn't talked to the neighbors yet, but every last person saying that was a good thing. After his day was done he came back only to see the two males he glanced at his home and then theirs before crossing the street. He was about to go into his house before he bit his lip and sighed "God, Akira...you are going to get so much crap for this." he murmured and headed into his home coming back out with some lemonade and heading over to the house. He paused by the edge of the lawn.

This was the closest he had ever been to the haunted house. He glanced back to the house and stepped forward "Um...hi, I'm um, I'm your neighbor Akira Nakamura, welcome to our neighborhood." he said and held the glasses forward "I thought you could use something to drink, it looks like you've been working all day."

 

[FoxWriter]

the two men had indeed worked all day, and they had tried to hire a few of the kids to do some of the more menial tasks, like raking, and mowing, but every time they tried the kids ran away screaming from them and the house, making them blink in shock. when the other got home they where still out there, sweaty and miserable, but they had gotten the yard mowed, and while one worked on the bushes, the other was digging up a chunk of the back yard for a garden. the siding had all been torn down, leaving only the plywood sides. clearly they had not yet decided what kind of siding to put up. they both paused as they saw Akira standing there with the Lemonade and the red head set down his shears while the black haired one set down his shovel and they both beamed at Akira.

"Someone who dares to speak to us!" the black haired one stated with a grin. "thanks very much for the Lemonade. i'm Faylin. that's my brother Dresen. i know, strange names. our mother was... odd." he admitted with a small chuckle as Dresen gulped down the Lemonade eagerly. "man, this is good Lemonade! thanks so much!" Dresen chirped with a bright smile. "so maybe you can answer a question?" he asked hopefully, indicating the neighborhood. "why is it that every time we try to talk to someone, they run away screaming? are strangers that uncommon or are we just that strange?" he asked with a slightly baffled look, Faylin shaking his head. "seriously. we gave up trying to pay the kids in the neighborhood to do the more boring chores when that one pissed himself... that was... really weird." "poor kid... i mean, i know we're intimidating but i didn't realize that we where THAT bad..." "oh! hey, you wanna make fifty bucks!?" Faylin asked Akira hopefully. "i'll give you fifty bucks an hour to help me with those god forsaken shrubs!" he assured the other, looking hopeful. "i thought renovating an ancient house was going to be fun, but this is HARD!"

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Akira blinked, almost shocked by the brothers' reaction. "You...don't....know?" he asked, looking confused. He almost busted out laughing, he couldn't believe it, they honestly didn't know. "It's haunted. Your house." he said and chuckled, "I guess some of them were right, you are pretty weird. How do you not know that the house you bought is haunted?" he shook his head. "No one comes near it. Even I cross the street before passing in front of it." he said, biting his lip. "I know I'm going to get questions by the rest of the neighborhood...I'm kind of doing something un-heard of right now." he said and glanced at the house as if he was expecting it to open up and eat them all at any moment. "There are a lot of rumors about you guys."

Akira glanced over his shoulder and winced, seeing his neighbors starting to stare through the windows. "Oh boy...um..." he glanced at the shrubs, "I-I don't know about that." he said, almost agreeing with every kid that screamed no. He eyed the shrubs again "It does look like you need help though." he looked back to the guys. "It's kind of obvious you don't do this very often." he sighed, blast his good nature. "Yeah alright." he said, "I'll help...do you want it now, I have the day off of work tomorrow, so I can help all day tomorrow." he explained. He could do the shrubs, that's not too bad, at least he didn't have to go into the actual house, just roam about the outside.

 

[FoxWriter]

the brothers blinked at him, their heads cocked to the side, Faylin still holding his half empty glass of lemonade. "haunted? well of course it's haunted. what's the fun of renovating if you don't have to battle with annoyed spirits once and a while? in any case the ghosts can't hurt you, their a bit frightening if you don't know what your doing but they're easy enough to ignore." Faylin stated with a wave of his hand. "and how do you know it's not everyone else who is weird, and we're the ones who are normal?" he asked with a sly little smirk, clearly making a joke. "honestly though, nothing in this old house will hurt anyone." Dresen admitted with a small chuckle. "honestly, i'm a little surprised that even fully grown adults are caught up in the haunted thing. but i suppose it has been abandoned since the first owners." he mused. "anyone would be afraid if even your parents where wary of it." he mused before they both grinned. "yes we heard. my personal favorite is that we're soul sucking demons, here to take over the world." Dresen admitted with a snicker. Faylin laughed. "i like the one where we're Incubi, here to steal the virginity of everyone we come across."

they both chuckled at his reluctance. "you don't have to help. it's pretty obvious your as nervous about this house as everyone else is." Dresen admitted as he handed his empty glass to Akira. "you must be a pretty brave fellow to be over here despite growing up knowing this place is stuffed full of ghosts." he admitted with a nod. "if we have to, we'll hire a landscaper from out of town. they'll do all the boring crap instead." "your just lazy... i'm actually starting to enjoy myself." "that's because your insane. who ENJOYS this crap?" "your the one who wanted to do it yourself." "oh don't start that again!" they squabbled, like all normal brothers did. "anyway, come over anytime you want to test your bravery, maybe you'll even make it inside one day." Dresen teased with a wink before he went off to continue the pruning, Faylin snickering again as he drained the last of his lemonade. "thanks for the Lemonade Akira! it was great talking to you, but we need to get back to work. we want to get as far as we can before the sun goes down. can't do yard work in the dark after all, and most of the outside lights are still busted up." he admitted with a sigh. "going to have to get an electrician in here once we're done gutting the house..." he grumbled as he looked up at the windows. "oh! look Akira!" he pointed up at the attick window where the sheets where fluttering. "we're being watched!" "FAYLIN!" Fay winced. "Don't scare the locals! you know that's just Timtim!" Dresen scowled. "Timtim is our cat. he loves to play in the curtains. oh! Pizza's here!" Dresen cried in delight as a Pizza delivery man appeared, a local too because he set the Pizza's on the curb and yelled that it was no charge so long as they didn't eat him, and sped away. Faylin outright laughed at that. really, it was pathetic. Dresen was pinching the bridge of his nose and he sighed. "...pain in the ass... this house is a pain in the ass... i never should have agreed to this..." "your the one who." "shut up Faylin!"

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Akira blinked and glanced at the house, stepping back a bit when Faylin said that the house was actually haunted. "We grew up like that. No one knows how long it's been haunted. Even the elderly avoid this place, they don't even remember, but they know that their parents were scared." he explained. Akira laughed at the rumors that they liked "Yeah, well, you have to admit with us being so scared, you are at least insane for moving in." he glanced at the house. He had to admit, when the two men said it like that, it was the neighbors that sounded crazy. "Perhaps you aren't that crazy." he smiled, and took the empty glass.

"I do." he spoke up after a little while "I like gardening." he said and pointed towards his yard. "It's an enjoyable past time to me." he glanced up at the window and shivered. It was freaky for him, but he had come this far right, and it did look like they needed the help. The pizza guy refusing to come any closer only reinforced how much help they needed. "Oh...oh wow..." he said and glanced over to his house, "I guess it's really different when you're on the inside." he fidgeted and glanced at their house. "So, um, I'll see you tomorrow. Oh...and if you happen to start getting food at the curb showing up...they aren't welcome gifts, they're offerings." he said and winced "They'll be tasty, that's for sure. But, you might want to be careful how you accept them." he shrugged. "I'll see you tomorrow." he repeated and turned away, taking one last look at the brothers and then the house before going into his home.

 

[FoxWriter]

they nodded a little. "well, from what the real estate agent said, this place was abandoned before there was even a real town here." Faylin admitted calmly. "so there would be rumors about it, i just wasn't expecting everyone to be so afraid of a silly house." he admitted with a small chuckle. "oh, we're definitely crazy." Faylin admitted, making a face. "deciding to take on this task! ugh. definitely crazy." he grumbled a little as he looked at the decrepit old house. they glanced over at his yard, which was nice and even and perfect. they both laughed a little as they nodded. "it really is different once you actually go inside the house." Dresen admitted with a small smile as he picked up the pizza boxes and opened it. "you want a slice?" he asked, offering Akira the three cheese vegetarian pizza. Faylin had picked up the other and inside was Canadian bacon with sausage. they both held the boxes open to Akira, offering him some. the Large pizza's where still nice and warm. "we'll have to drive down and pay for these since the guy raced off like that."

they stared at him for a long moment and then they started to snicker again. "offerings? really? oh my god... it's like we've stepped into the Twilight zone.." Dresen complained, laughing a little as he shook his head. "ah well... free food is free food. maybe we'll start making food and leaving it on their curbs too." he mused, Faylin laughing. "they'd never eat it. they'll think it's cursed, or poisoned or something. people will start to calm down after we've been here a few weeks... or a few months. one or the other." they waved him good by, offered him some more pizza, thanked him for the Lemonade and then sat right there in the grass and ate their own dinner. in the morning they where right back to work again, as soon as the sun came up they where working again, trimming hedges and clearing away the grass clippings and tearing down the siding. at some point during the night, the new siding had been brought in, a beautiful redwood color that would make the house look natural, as well as warm and cheerful. of course Faylin was cursing up a storm by the time Akira had shown up, because he's smacked his thumb with the hammer trying to put up the new siding. Dresen was laughing at his brothers misfortune and ignoring his own. he looked like he'd fallen face first into the massive pile of grass in the corner, because he had it everywhere. at least they where wearing shirts today. and there where indeed plates of food on the curb, but the brothers seamed to be ignoring it.

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Akira shook his head and declined the pizza before he had headed into the home. He had watched the home even after he met the men, he had to admit, they seemed nice enough, not as creepy as he thought they would be after talking to neighbors. The fact that the brothers seemed nice enough helped him a bit in not watching their house nearly as much. He still looked over at night, worried about them and the house. Even if they came out and did work, he still had that inner-fear that something was off about them and the house. "Stupid neighbors...got you thinking that strangers are creepy." he mumbled to himself and then went to sleep.

The next day after he had finished work, and dealt with his neighbors that had seen him over at the brothers house, he headed over to that very same house, smiling at the two brothers. "Hey." he called, still hesitating at the curb, looking down at the food and then back towards the house. He bit his lip and moved forward, the house still scared him, but he really did want to help the guys. "The outside is looking like it's coming together better." he said, nodding to the siding. He glanced towards the hedges and towards the tools that Dresen had out there. "Are...are you okay?" he asked, looking up to Faylin. Before motioning for him to come down before running off to his house and grabbing an ice pack. When he came back he held it out to Faylin and took the cloth that he fad and threw it at Dresen, "I take it neither of you have done much house work at all?" he asked, glancing at the lawn again and sighing. This was going to take some work.

 

[FoxWriter]

the two brothers grinned as they watched him come up tot he house an hesitate. it was kind of funny watching the people twitch around a harmless old house. "we looked it up on the internet, how to do stuff in a more manageable level." Dresen admitted. "thank all the gods for the Internet. we'd be so screwed right now without it." he admitted with a laugh as Faylin stuck his throbbing thumb into his mouth. they both blinked as he raced off and Faylin sighed in relief as he settled the ice on his thumb. "no, i mean we do some of the things. like, i know how to run a lawnmower, and we can do laundry and wash dishes but.... no... no we've enver done anything like this. we wanted to have a new experiance and this was it." Dresen admitted as he wiped the grass off of him. "we wanted to build our own house but when we saw this place, we just had to have it! all the history that's in here... we haven't decided what we're going to do with it once we finish. might turn it into a hotel or something... or live in it, who knows? it's a bit big for just two people, but it's in a very nice location." Faylin nodded at that.

"We could set up shop here instead of in that stinky city." he pointed out. "this would make a great headquarters!" he admitted, examining the house as Dresen paused. "i never thought of that! good idea Fay." he muttered examining the house under a new light. "still, it would probobly make more money as a Hotel. you know how people love staying in haunted hotels." "oh please, this place isn't the least bit haunted. now that house down in Oxford? THAT was haunted. beautiful house but there's no WAY i was stepping in there." Faylin admitted as he set the ice down now that his thumb didn't hurt anymore and picked the hammer back up and tried again. "HA!" and succeeded. "you don't have to help if you don't want to Akira." Dresen stated suddenly, his head tilted at the other as he heard the sigh. "we'd appreciate it of course, but i'm sure your a busy fellow." he admitted, blinking as Faylin started to curse. he'd caught his knuckle this time. "...Fay? maybe we'd better trade." "maybe your right... i almost broke myself that time." Faylin admitted, shaking his hand out as Dresen snickered. Dresen took the hammer and nails away from his brother and sent him to work on the hedges. luckily Dresen seamed to have handled a Hammer and nails before, because he didn't smack himself.

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Akira looked very confused by what they were talking about but nodded anyway. It wasn't until Dresen addressed him that he spoke up "No, really. It's okay. I don't mind it at all, well...not really...on the helping level." he explained and gave an awkward laugh. "I'm not that busy, perhaps..um...I could make you two a home cooked meal," he said, glancing over to the food on the curb, "One not covered in ants." he said and picked up some clippers and started working on the hedges. "it's all I really do anyway, cook and take care of my house." he laughed "I work for a local bakery, you should come, the boss is pretty relaxed. Is in favor that you are pod-people, but he figures that makes you pretty cool." he shrugged. "What do you guys work for anyway?" he asked, "You mentioned a headquarters..."

He moved down the hedges, having an eye for detail, when he got hot and sweaty enough he moved and pulled off his shirt, blushing just a tad bit. His body was not like the brothers, it was more slender and looked like the only workout he got was when he was working his yard. His skin was pale, like even if he was in the sun, he would never tan, maybe burn, but not tan. His hair stuck to his body, until he finally pulled a hair tie from his pocket and put his hair up. He pretty much got lost in his work, only looking up every now and then, checking to see where the brothers were. Occasionally he looked up to the house, before quickly looking back to his work. "So...um, are you planning on making a garden?" he asked, remembering that he had seen an area cleared for what he thought was a garden, it could have been anything he was sure "You have any experience?" he asked, and continued on with the hedges.

 

[FoxWriter]

they smiled at him and nodded before they paused. "you cook?" they asked, looking delighted. "Great! you can tell us how to make the stove work!" Faylin squealed happily before pausing. "Bakery!?" he demanded his eyes shining and Dresen snickered. "now you've done it. Faylin has a massive sweet tooth. he'll go in and clean out your store if you don't watch him." he warned with a grin. "pod people? really? that's even worse than us being the reanimated dead, possessed by spirits of the underworld." Faylin laughed at that and they both grinned at him. "we own businesses." Dresen explained as he tapped another nail into place. "we're investors mostly, but it leads to a lot of paperwork that we have to keep up with." he admitted. "our secretaries are actually handling all of that, while our financial adviser goes through the accounts to make sure the numbers are right and no ones stealing from us. so this is kind of like a vacation where we don't have to worry about numbers and shit." "Some vacation." Faylin complained as he examined his bruised hand and the blisters forming on his palm. "still, i have to admit... this is kind of relaxing and fun." he admitted patting the lines if the bush that Akira had made utterly perfect.

"oh yes! actually we're planning on making three separate types of Gardens." he admitted with a grin. "One for Herbs, one for Vegetables, and one for Fruits." he admitted. "of course, we plan on planting tons of flowers too, we just haven't decided what kind or where yet." he admitted. "certainly we need flowers along the edges of the house so that it looks friendlier. and maybe along the sidewalks too. something fresh and nice. we want to put in a large Japanese Koi pond too, right in the front yard there... but i'm not sure we can do that on our own." Dresen admitted as he tapped another nail into place. "We do have experience gardening. Faylin and i have a lot of allergies to certain things that people put on their fresh produce. like insecticides and other such things, so we always have to grow our own or buy organic." Dresen admitted with a shake of his head. "Faylin ended up in the hospital once when he tasted a grape at the supermarket." Faylin grimaced at the memory. "i was sick for weeks... and the worst part about it was, that i knew better. but i'd never had a grape before. you can't buy them organic. i never did have much self control." "indeed. we usually raise our own meat too, but the stuff in meat doesn't affect us as much as the stuff on the vegetables and fruits." Dresen admitted with a shrug. "we're mostly vegetarian anyway, so we don't mind the lack of meat so much."

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Akira chuckled at their excitement. "That's alright, my boss will just love that. As long as you pay of course." he said, "It would be nice to have the place pick up a bit..." he shrugged and listened to what they did for work. He nodded, "that sounds....interesting?" he tried, he wasn't really sure at all what exactly they did, but they seemed like they were having fun with it. He looked at Faylin patting the bushes that he did and chuckled a bit "I've always found it nice." he explained and moved over to a dirt bed, working the dirt a bit, "Do you have any water...you aren't going to get anything to grow in this with it being this dry." he said, "I'd get some mulch too, and fertilizer, it would help." he whispered. He couldn't help it he loved to garden and work with his hands.

He nodded "I'm sorry to hear that," he said, "I probably shouldn't have you over yet then. I only buy some organic stuff, most of it isn't." he said and smiled, "I can make you a dinner some other time." he shrugged. "You've...never had a grape before? Like, even when you were little?" he asked, looking a little confused, he had never heard of someone that had never had a grape before, even if it was only once. "You...raise your own meat..." he said and glanced across the street, "I'd be careful about that here." he chuckled, "The rumor of your being demons or vampires will stick." he said and chuckled, "that or the one about you two being psychopaths...bent on killing this entire town." he rolled his eyes, clearly not thinking that one was true. He thought they were just odd at this point. "They're already starting to think that you are hypnotizing me or blackmailing me or something like that. I had one customer today, who thinks I'm a pod person now too, and that you took me during the night." he chuckled.

 

[FoxWriter]

they both chuckled and nodded. "we';; come clean the place out then." they promised with a short chuckle. "all it is, is buying businesses. or investing in them. it's mostly a lot of numbers." Faylin explained. "for example. we could 'buy' your little bakery, but leave everything the way it is, with the manager and the owner fully in charge. we supply new advertising, better ingredients, and then get a portion of the profits." Dresen explained. "then, the more money your Bakery makes, the more profit we get. we also help people start their own businesses by loaning them money, and then getting a share of the profits in return. it's extremely lucrative if you know what your doing." he admitted before grinning a little. "oh, that's just the original ground breaking. we intend to mix that dirt with some potting soil and some dung." he admitted. "we're going to get some 'natural' fertilizer from the local farm." he admitted, winking at Akira. Cow poop, some of the best fertilizer there was aside from chicken.

"it's alright, we have a ton of stuff inside. we'll go in and grab anything you need and you can make whatever you want." they offered with a grin. "we can cook fairly well ourselves but we've never used an electric stove before... i think Faylin broke it." "i did not!" Fayling protested violently, nearly snipping his own finger off. "woops... gotta be more careful with these things." "your so clumsy! maybe you'd better stick to the shovel?" "shut up! i can do this just fine!" he complained. "and i didn't break the Stove! OR the microwave!" "you SO did! the little lights don't even turn on anymore!" they both blinked at him. "nope, no grapes. or kiwi, or pineapple. if it comes from too far away we can't eat it because you can't buy them without insecticides on them. we've had these allergies since we where babies. our mother was so terrified when we kept getting violently sick. it took them almost two years to figure out what was wrong." Dresen admitted with a shake of his head. "besides, we mostly just have chickens. they eat the bugs off the plants and they lay really nice eggs." Faylin admitted with a grin. "we already ordered about twenty of them. they'll stay in the yard once we get the fencing up." he admitted. "then we can give the neighbors some fresh eggs too. fresh always tastes a lot better than what the stores sell. because the eggs are usually already a month or so old by the time they get tot eh stores. Eggs can stay good for three, sometimes even four months refrigerated properly but they never taste as good as the fresh stuff."

they both laughed at the thought of them being psychopaths. "well, we're not demons." "and Blood makes me feel faint so there's no possible way i'm a vampire." Faylin admitted with a laugh. "well, you could always tell them we're bribing you." they teased with a grin. "we ARE offering you fresh produce after all. Faylin watch your fingers!" "i AM! jeez... your so bossy! your the YOUNGER brother you know! you're supposed to do what I say." "i'll do what you say when you start acting your age." "never!" that started more laughter and the brothers continued working. "so, what in the world is a Pod person anyway? like an Alien or what?"

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Akira chuckled "Then bring over some tomatoes...and garlic..and um...well spices in general if you have them." he said, thinking about it "You aren't allergic to anything in noodles are you?" he asked, "I'll make a vegetarian lasagna. So if you are allergic to anything in cheese...I suggest bringing that too." He watched the two men squabble over who broke what and shook his head "Okay...so neither of you can use appliances. Geez, how did you cook?" he asked, "If you aren't using electrical appliances" Akira found these two to be very strange, more and more he started to become curious about where they lived or were born or what was going on. "Chickens..." he started, "Oh dear." he mumbled, "Well, again, I would just be careful. I assume killing chickens is no easy matter, then again I've never killed anything before." he explained.

He had to agree though that fresh did always taste better than store bought, he tried his best to get things fresh, but it was hard when you didn't have a garden in the back of your place. He chuckled "Well, I suppose you are bribing me." he shrugged "Not a huge deal though, you two are pretty fun to hang out with." he explained. When they asked what a pod person was he blinked "Like....from the movie...I..." he shook his head "They're fiction characters from a movie, aliens from another world that took humans and put them into pods, like...leaf like pods, to take home to their plant. You know..Pod people." he said and looked at the two men funny, "You two sure don't know a lot about normal things, where are you from again?" he asked, looking a little confused and curious about the two brothers.

 

[FoxWriter]

they nodded. "Lasagna sounds great!" Faylin chirped in delight. "and they do't put poison in cheese so it's fine." he promised with a small chuckle. "and noodles are fine too, the flour they use to make it is always well cleaned of insecticides and other chemicals before they grind it, and then they pasteurize it, which cleans off anything that's left." he admitted with a small shrug. "we lived in a really old house actually. while we where based in the city, we had a very nice cabin in the woods where we grew up. we had a fire stove. food always tastes better cooked over a natural flame... made baking a bitch though. fire too hot or too cold and it ruins the whole thing... mother was paranoid, she didn't like electronics in the house, so we didn't have them." Faylin admitted with a shrug. "which is probobly why we're so... weird, i suppose..." "we're weird? huh. i thought it was everyone else." the brothers laughed at that before they blinked at the other. "it's not so hard to kill a chicken. just whack the head off and hold it down. they fight for about ten minutes after they die, nerves and whatnot." "he really didn't need to know that."

they grinned at him. "in any case, we're not really bribing you, we're just... exchanging goods." Dresen decided. "we give you food, and you help us... it's.. er, a good trade?" he mused at that. "well no it's not really... well i did promise you fifty an hour." he teased Akira with a grin. they looked delighted that they where 'fun'. "ah, TV. we don't watch much of that. we do watch America's Funniest Video's... and a few of the crime scene shows." they admitted. "we watched Battleship the other day! it was amazing!" Faylin admitted, his eyes bright with delight. "we're usually too busy to watch TV though." he admitted with a small chuckle. "we're originally from Ireland... old Ireland." Dresen explained. "so TV there was rare as it was. and with mother as paranoid... we just didn't grow up addicted to these things like American children. i prefer to read." Dresen admitted calmly. "and Faylin likes to carve things, in the little bit of free time that we have anyway."

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Akira nodded "Then Lasagna it is." he smiled. As the other explained their weirdness he just nodded and listened. He supposed that made sense. He couldn't really find an argument for it all. However, when they explained how to kill a chicken he winced and fidgeted, "O-Oh." he said, looking back at what he was working on. He worked through it until one of them reminded him that they were supposed to be paying him "Oh. No, it's alright really, the food is enough." he smiled "I don't need money from you guys." he said as he went back to work around the bushes and grass. "Man, I can't imagine growing up with out tv." he said, "I can't say I'm addicted to it, but it's something that was a large part of people's lives. It's a huge part of the American culture." he shrugged.

"Old...Ireland?" he looked a little confused "Sorry, I'm not very familiar with anything outside of this town. Where is old Ireland?" he asked, "I'm assuming Ireland." he chuckled and moved, sitting back a bit and taking a rest for a little bit. "What was it like living there?" he asked, curious about his new neighbors. "I've always dreamed up getting out of this town and traveling a little bit, but it just comes to the point where I don't have enough money or time." he explained before waving that thought away. "Have you been anywhere else?" he asked, "like another country other than Ireland and America?" he asked, tilting his head.

 

[FoxWriter]

they chuckled a little. "well we have to pay you something at least? this is too much work to just pay you in food." Faylin protested with a shake of his head. "i'd like to tell you it was a lot less boring than living with a TV... but i can't tell you for sure because i wouldn't know." Faylin admitted with an impish grin. "Old Ireland is an affectionate term for 'boondocks'. we lived way out in the farmlands. our nearest neighbor was two hours away by car. and we still used horses and carriages and shit like that to get to where we needed to go for the most part. it was really great living there though, because even though there wasn't anyone for miles, you had all the animal freinds you could ever want! we had pet wolves, foxes, racoons, birds, everything and anything! and you could lay in the grass at night and see so many stars that you could never ever count all of them." they grinned, reminiscing. "you could learn to make wild calls, and have the wild answer. and you could run naked through the woods and no one would care... well aside from our Mam... she didn't like it much when we did that." the two laughed and then nodded.

"oh we've been all over. France, Russia, Egypt, Korea, Japan, China. we have a little bit of money invested in all kinds of countries. maybe we'll hire you as a secretary and take you with us?" Dresen teased, winking at Akira. "you'd look adorable in a little secretary skirt." "oi! quite flirting with the neighbor! you're gonna scare him off, and then whose going to make the bushes all straight lined and pretty?" "...professionals?" "....good point. ok flirt with the neighbor. he's certainly pretty enough for it." the two brothers grinned at Akira before getting back to work. well Dresen got back to work, Faylin went inside to get them all something to drink. fresh iced lemonade, they where like smoothies, only Lemonade. "it's frozen lemonade ice cubes, put in the blender with fresh lemonade!" Faylin chirped, looking ever so pleased with himself. "still not as good as Mams... but it's almost as good as the stuff you brought us yesterday!... almost.. i just can't seam to get the lemon to water to sugar ratio right..."

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Akira shook his head "It's okay, really. I don't mind helping out. And if the neighbors weren't terrified of this place....neither would they." he said, "That sounds rather nice." he said, when the boys explained what Old Ireland was like. A little shocked by the best that they had, and the fact that they admitted to running around naked in the woods. Yeah, these boys were weird alright, but Akira found that he was enjoying his time with them more and more, even though he had only hung out with them for a short amount of time. "It sounds like a nice place to live and just not have any worries what so ever." he said, looking at the weeds he was pulling. "It would be nice to visit some time." he said, still working on the weeds, tugging on some of them until Dresen mentioned that they could possibly hire him as a secretary.

"That sounds like a-" he trailed off, just catching what Dresen said. He bushed and stared at the weeds, tugging on them a bit more. His blush only getting brighter when Faylin said he was pretty enough to flirt with. Akira suddenly became very interested in the weeds he was pulling. He glanced towards Faylin when he came out and got up, taking one of the glasses and sipping at the lemonade. "it's the ice cubes." he whispered, "put a bit less water in it next time...and it should be fine." he glanced and without really thinking sat on the steps of the house, drinking the glass of lemonade before he saw a couple of kids staring at him. He looked up and then glanced to where he was before standing up quickly "Oh my god...oh god..." he shivered and stood back from the house.

 

[FoxWriter]

they chuckled a little. "yes well, the neighbors will come around eventually i'm sure." Faylin admitted with a chuckle. "it was pretty nice." Dresen admitted. "it was peaceful, the only thing you had to worry about was having enough food to last through the winter." he admitted with a grin. "we solved that problem with a greenhouse though." he admitted with a nod. Dresen had given up on the siding, having done half a wall... well, where he could reach anyway, and was now working on digging up plots for the flowers in front of the house. Faylin was still pruning the bushes. they grinned as he started to blush and decided to stop teasing him, for now anyway. Faylin blinked at that and then looked at the glass in his hand. "oh!... that sounds like a good idea.." he admitted with a grin. "oh, do you like iced tea?" Faylin asked curiously. "it's easier to make so i usually stick with that, but i wasn't sure if you liked it or not." he admitted, his head tilted as he blinked at the other. "Akira? what's wrong... oh for goodness sakes! it's just a house!" Dresen complained, looking highly amused at Akira as he shook his head. "Look! see!" he ordered as he stood up and swung the door open and stepped inside, and then stepped outside. "see? nothing is wrong... oh crap! Tim Tim! get back here!"

a tiny black and white cat darted out the door with a mewl and Dresen chased after it. "Tim Tim! your not going back to Ireland now get your furry bum back here!" but the cat seamed to want to play 'catch me if you can' because it would dart away, pause, wait for Dresen to get close, and then dart away again. Faylin was laughing as he watched his brother chase their wayward kitten, which was utterly adorable really. in a final mockery of Dresen, Tim Tim leaped into Akira's arms and rubbed against his chin, purring loudly in delight at being outside and in the arms of someone who wasn't annoyed with him. "Blasted traitor cat!" Dresen complained, slumping onto the steps to gasp for air. Faylin snickered as Tim Tim leaped out of Akira's arms and strutted around, clearly pleased with itself as it sniffed around the house, pausing to pounce at anything that moved. like the grass, or the leaves, or the trimmings, or Akira's shoelaces. "Anyway. as i was saying, it's only a house!... would you like to come inside and see for yourself?" Dresen asked, his head cocked to the side. "it's kind of filthy in there. but it's really just a house." he promised with a smug little smirk. "in fact. maybe we aught to start inviting people over. we almost have the living and dining room area clean, we could host a party or something."

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Akira glanced at Dresen and towards the open door, to him it was like a black hole to the unknown. He understood what Dresen was saying, but it didn't matter to him. He had grown up learning to fear the house, and he was perfectly fine staying like that. A the cat ran past him and the others, he watched for a bit and then laughed when Tim Tim jumped into his arms, "Hey kitty.." he said and pet him for a little while "Are those mean brothers trying to chase you back into that nasty house?" he asked, and continued to pet the cat until he jumped out of his arms again. He watched the cat for a little while before glancing at the open door again. He bit his lip "I..." he looked back, the children having gone to get their parents to tell them what they had seen.

He looked over to them as one of the men stood a little bit closer to the curb "Akira! What on earth are you doing?! Are you insane?" he called, "Get back here!" he said and pointed to the side of the curb he was on. Akira glanced back to the house and then back to the brothers. He bit his lip, "Are you sure it's not haunted?" he asked, glancing to the door. He turned his back on the door and hurried over to the small audience that was forming "I'm going in." he stated simply. "They're pretty nice...I can't imagine they would be sending me into a house that is harmful." he said, the man shaking his head "They got to you, Akira, you are one of them now. I just know it."

"I'm one of what?" Akira asked, "Their perfectly human! Jesus, Tyler."

"You're insane!"

"I am not!" he said and turned his back to the rest of the neighbors before heading over to the house. He took a deep breath and touched the railing before going up and slowly going into the home. Once inside he rubbed his arms, looking around the entrance and stepped a little farther forward, turning into another room and looking around a bit more. He had to admit it did just look like a normal home, even if he felt like there was something else to all of this.

 

[FoxWriter]

Dresen snorted at the cat, who was strutting around happily, mewing as it hunted things. the two brothers stared at the crowd that was gathering with mirth. they clearly thought all of this was funny as hell. "it's not haunted!" Dresen complained, rolling his eyes. "we'd have noticed something by now if it was! jeeze..." he complained before beaming at Akira as he decided to go in. Tim Tim happily followed Akira, rubbing against his ankles and purring up a storm. "actually, i think that Akira is the only one of you lot that IS sane." Faylin commented, leaning against the fence, snickering as anyone near that Area quickly fled to hide behind the bigger, stronger people on the other side of the sidewalk. they watched Akira head inside, Tim Tim following and they smiled when he finally stepped inside. everyone could still see him, and they all watched and waited with held breath for something, anything to happen. once inside it was clear that the brothers had been working their asses off. the inner hallway was clean, though it needed a lot of work. the floor and walls warped from age. the living room looked amazing though. granted entire sections of the floors and walls where missing, but the cherry oak flooring and the rosewood wood paneling that was going up, made the half destroyed room look warm and cheerful.

the kitchen was all torn up too, but the white and black pattern tile, and the new tile walls made everything look fresh and clean. the brand new electric appliances where, as the brothers had said, broken. save the Coffee maker. it was still half full of coffee. the Dining room was an elegant room, that was almost completed. the floor was gorgeous, dark wood of some kind and the walls where painted a soft blue with a white ceiling. there was a table big enough to host twelve people, and enough chairs too. clearly the brothers intended on entertaining, or holding meetings there or something. the other rooms where disgusting. there was an inch or more of dust and grime on everything, the furniture was half rotted, and the floors clearly weren't safe to even walk on. the stairs where rotted as well, you couldn't even get up to the upper levels, though the first floor bathroom was fully complete. a massive white porcelain tub and a standing shower with a three person sink and a perfectly placed toilette proved that it had been the first room in the house to be taken care of. it really was just a normal, every day, old house that was being brought back to it's former glory.

 

[PrincessGumdrop]

Akira glanced up the stairs to the house as he finished his little tour and stepped on the first stair, when he heard the creek he stepped off of the stairs and headed back outside, he walked down the stairs and smiled at both Dresen and Faylin. "I suppose I believe you." he said quietly, "You've done a pretty good job with it." he said, "Why...um, why don't we take a break and I'll cook you two some dinner." he said, "You grab what you want and I'll go get ready at my place...I don't think that anything in your kitchen is going to work minus that coffee maker." he shook his head and smiled. He glanced over to the neighbors and bit his lip. They clearly looked like they were going to start avoiding him as well, "Is that job offer still open?" he asked, looking over to Dresen, "I might need one." he said and headed over to the crowd.

He was going to try one more time and get them to understand that clearly there was nothing wrong with it. Some of the children ran, the adults just looked at him horrified. "Oh come on, it's not like none of you didn't break in and stayed for the night under a stupid dare!" he called. "They're perfectly fine." he said, "The house...well...the house isn't haunted either, just...a bit disgusting on the inside." he tried to explain, not mentioning that weird feeling he still got. The same man shook his head and glared at Akira "Then go be with your captors. I'm telling you there is something wrong with them and now you." he said and turned the other way. Akira glanced at the crowd as they slowly started to turn their backs on him. He shook his head and headed back to the brothers "Well, I guess it's just you guys and me." he said, trying to smile a bit.

 

[FoxWriter]

the brothers both grinned at that and nodded. "it took an entire day to scrape the dust off of everything. most of... well everything in the house has to be tossed out and redone. thankfully, this was built BEFORE asbestos. so we don't have to deal with anything nasty like that. just a lot of rotting wood." they both grimaced at the mention of the electronic appliances. "they wouldn't be broken if Faylin hadn't been playing with them." "i was NOT! i was TRYING to use them! you know, to feed you!? why you can't learn to cook for yourself is beyond me!" "because i have loyal little slaves like you to do it for me. and you where TOO playing with them." "i was not you..." and now he dissolved into another language and the brothers started bickering back and forth, waving arms and probobly a few curses thrown in. they both paused at the mention of the job offer and blinked at Akira, their heads cocked to the side. they watched Akira try to talk to the crowd and Faylin's eyes narrowed as they all turned their backs on Akira.

"Why those no good, back stabbing, yellow bellied sapsuckers!" he hissed, voice filled with rage. it had been amusing until now. now though, Akira was being hurt by this as well. "Akira. if you don't want to hang out here anymore, we'll completely understand." Dresen promised, setting his hand on Akira's shoulder. "i don't want you loosing your freinds just because of us..." he admitted softly before pausing as Faylin shook his head. "i'll make you some of my famous hot cocoa!" he promised the other before heading inside to gather the foods they needed to make Lasagna and cocoa. they followed Akira over to his house and helped him make dinner, Faylin mixing together an enormous pot of steaming delicious cocoa. it was apparently Faylin's specialty, as he could only make a few things. lemonade, coffee, hot cocoa, pancakes, steak, and omelets being the vast majority of his very short list. Dresen was even worse. he could make toast, tea, and cold cereal. they both helped him wash the dishes and that's when they heard the noise. a glance out a window told them all they eeded to know. the local teenagers where attempting to drive the brothers out of town.

the group of six where really a bunch of bullies. and they where throwing the biggest stones they'd been able to find at the house, breaking windows and leaving dents in the brand new siding. Faylin didn't even pause, he just raced out the door and started yelling at the kids to knock it off. they did stop throwing the stones at the house, but only because they started throwing the stones at Faylin instead. "Fay!" Dresen shrieked as a large stone struck Faylin in the head, knocking him to the ground. "YOU LITTLE FUCKERS!" Dresen roared, grabbing a broom from Akira's house he attacked the boy's with vengeance. Fay was trying to sit up, blood pouring down the side of his face as Dresen gave each boy a firm three wallops across the ass with the broom he'd stolen from Akira's house. things where getting very serious, very quickly. the stone throwing teens fled, but no one was coming out to help Faylin, who looked incredibly dazed. "You've probobly got a concussion..." Dresen muttered to Faylin, who nodded stupidly. he probobly hadn't even understood what his brother was saying. "i have to get you to the hospital... and file a damn report to the police. i am NOT letting those little shits get away with this!"