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Ever since he was young Joseph never needed and alarm to wake up on time. Somehow, he always woke up by sunrise, every day without fail. Today was no exception. The morning light filtered through his blue curtains to fall on his bed and face. He lifted and arm to shield his eyes as he sat up slowly. He looked outside and sighed at the scenery. Daytime at Oletus Manor always seemed dreary and dull. The skies always looked grey and cloudy. The photographer didn’t mind of course, but he sometimes wished to take pictures with a different sort of aesthetic.
He got up and took his time to make his bed and get ready for the day. While brushing his incredibly long hair in the mirror, he could hear footsteps in the corridor. The click of heels sounded sharp in the quiet of the early morning. Probably Jack, going to get breakfast. Other than Joseph, Jack and Michiko were the only ones who woke up early. Bane and Joker never got up earlier than noon, if they could help it. Most of the hunters didn’t wake up early, but the survivors were a whole different story. They sleep early and wake up early, like good children. Joseph’s parents used to make him and his brother sleep early as well, but they always stayed up secretly to talk or play. Once, their father caught them when they were too loud and they were scolded for it. Joseph smiled at the old memory.
When the Photographer finally left his room for the dining hall, his assumptions were proven correct as Jack and Michiko were the only ones at the long table. “Good morning Jack, Michiko.” The Geisha smiled back in greeting. Jack replied with a very muffled “good morning Joseph” around a mouthful of food. As Joseph took his usual seat next to Jack at the end of the table, his plate filled with pancakes and fruits. Joseph had always wondered how the food was made and where it came from, but even Jack could not answer his question. Jack was considered the oldest hunter, since he was the first to arrive at Oletus Manor. The owner of the manor also thought Jack was the most mature, so he always sat at the head of the dining table. In all honesty though, Joseph didn’t think Jack was very mature. He had seen him do some very questionable things.
The table was quiet for a while. Both Joseph and Michiko weren’t very talkative people, and Jack was too busy stuffing his face with pancakes to make any sort of conversation. Soon, Wu Chang entered the dining hall. “Hello!” White greeted cheerfully. He was pulling a very grumpy Black behind him. The Black Guard wasn’t a morning person, really. Once, White didn’t wake him for breakfast and he slept until evening. The Guards sat opposite Joseph, Black nearly falling over when he walked into the back of his chair. Jack laughed, causing Black to scowl and attempt to hit him with his umbrella. White pulled him back and pushed him into his seat, where Black continued to sulk. Joseph watched them with a sad smile. The Guards’ brotherly interaction reminded him of his own brother.
Bane was next to come to the dining hall shortly after Wu Chang, which came as a surprise for the hunters at the table. Leo followed him closely. “Bane, Leo, g’morning.” Jack was finally done eating to greet them properly. Both men grunted in response, taking their usual seats at the opposite end of the dining table. Joseph hadn’t noticed Michiko leave the table, but she came back from the kitchen with a cup of tea. “Bane, you’re up earlier than usual,” she commented. Bane grunted again, “I have the first match today.” He sighed and shook his head vigorously, antlers nearly hitting Leo as he did so. Joseph was glad that he didn’t have any matches today, since he played thrice yesterday and four times the day before.
While Joseph thought about what he should do since he was free, Yidhra and Violetta entered the dining hall, laughing as they came in. They greeted the hunters cheerfully, still giggling. The greetings were returned, though with much less enthusiasm. Both sat next to Black, who had fallen asleep on the table. White was shaking his shoulder and poking his ears with his fork. The table was starting to become more lively with more hunters coming to get breakfast, but at this point Joseph wasn’t paying attention to anyone anymore. He looked up when Hastur came in, but otherwise had no reaction. The Feaster sat on Joseph’s left and began to poke at the Photographer for a reaction, but soon tired after realising that he clearly wasn’t getting any attention. He instead turned to Bane for some conversation.
The hunters all stopped talking when a bell sounded. The bell was the indication that the match would start soon. Bane stretched and began to make his way to the main lobby, where he and the survivors would wait for the match to begin. The main lobby had another long table where the survivors would sit and a long curtain separated the table from the Hunter’s Chair. Large stairs on either side of the lobby led to a second floor where hunters and survivors could spend time together. The lobby was exactly in the middle of Oletus Manor, and the right and left sides of the manor were the Survivors’ and Hunters’ wings respectively. Survivors were not allowed in the Hunters’ wing and vice versa. Survivors and hunters were not allowed to talk to their opponents during a match, but there was no rule for outside matches, so many hunters and survivors would spend time together in the garden or the second floor of the lobby.
Jack was already at the second floor of the lobby when Joseph got there. He was talking to some of the survivors there. Joseph hadn’t made friends with any survivors yet. Of course, they exchanged brief greetings and he knew their names and faces well, but he had yet to engage in a proper conversation with any of them. He did notice that Jack was spending increasing amounts of time with the Seer, Eli Clark, and the Mercenary, Naib Subedar.
Yidhra and Violetta were with the Priestess, Fiona Gilman, and the Perfumer, Vera Nair. Joseph didn’t like the Perfumer. He had played against her a few times before and after the first time, already decided that he strongly disliked the smell of all her perfumes. He still had no idea what the perfumes did for her, but he couldn’t stand the smell of them. She had sprayed one directly in his face once when he was chasing her. It stunned him so much that he had to stop a few seconds to recover. By the time he came back to his senses, the Perfumer had already run off, so he was mildly annoyed at letting a survivor get away.
There were no other hunters on the second floor, so Joseph thought of looking for Wu Chang. He leaned over the bannister of the corridor, craning his neck to try to spot the Black and White Guards on the first floor.
“Looking for someone?” Joseph jumped at the voice next to his ear. Turning quickly, he saw that it was the Doctor and Gardener, watching him with their button eyes. All the survivors had button eyes. Most people may have found it weird, but living with people like Hastur with his tentacles and Violetta with her spider-like body, Joseph hardly ever found anything weird anymore. Though, Joseph did wonder how the survivors could see with button eyes. Maybe they had-
“Mr, Desaulniers?” Joseph blinked. Had he spaced out again? The Doctor was watching him curiously. “I’m not really looking, but have you seen Wu Chang?” The Doctor, Emily Dyer, nodded and pointed to the manor’s main entrance.
“Helena was talking to the Black Guard outside a while ago.” Helena Adams, nicknamed the Mind’s Eye. She was blind, but for a reason Joseph could not comprehend, she always wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses. Joseph was somewhat surprised; Black wasn’t a very sociable person, especially in the mornings. He quickly thanked Emily and made his way to the garden surrounding the manor.
The garden of Oletus Manor was fairly nice. The Gardener took care of it in her spare time. Joseph often saw her pruning flowers or sweeping up fallen leaves. There were crows gathering in the trees when Joseph stepped outside. Crows were a common sight around the manor. The only other bird Joseph had ever seen at the manor was the Seer’s owl. The black crows squaked at him as he passed under a tree. He glanced at them, frowning, and swung his sword in a wide arc above his head towards the tree. The crows flew away in a hurry, still cawing noisily. The Photographer continued to walk aimlessly through the garden until he reached a fountain. He watched his reflection waver in the rippling water for a while before sitting on a bench nearby. Staring at the grey sky, he started to think that Oletus Manor really did get lonely sometimes.
-
Joseph must have fallen asleep because when he woke up, Jack was carrying him through the garden, back to the manor. Jack soon noticed that Joseph was awake and said, ”G’morning, I was looking for you you know? It's dinner time now.” Joseph glanced over Jack’s shoulder at the sky. Even though the sun couldn’t be seen, the clouds were painted with the colours of twilight. “You could’ve woken me.” Joseph mumbled into Jack’s shoulder. The crows were gathering overhead again, and cawed loudly when Joseph looked at them. Maybe crows didn’t like him or something. He raised an arm to shoo them away, but his fingers were too far away to be threatening. Joseph sighed. Even while being carried by Jack who was at least a head taller than him, he was still too short. Jack glanced at him. “You were sleeping,” was his only reply to Joseph’s earlier comment. Joseph didn’t feel like arguing.
When Jack got closer to the entrance of the manor with Joseph, they heard a familiar voice call out to them. “Hello Jack, Joseph!” White’s smooth voice sounded louder in the quiet evening. Joseph turned to look at him. “I was looking for you.” The White Guard laughed, about to tell him that he just spent the full day napping in the garden, clearly not looking for anybody.
“You were, were you?” he asked instead. He walked closer to Jack while waiting for Joseph to reply. He raised a hand to Joseph’s head. Joseph said nothing, but hummed when White pet his hair slowly. He heard the door of the manor open loudly, but he didn’t bother looking who it was. He heard a snicker and a tug on his ponytail, and suddenly his hair fell loose into his face. He shifted and Black was standing behind him, holding his yellow ribbon. The Black Guard grinned widely and pranced away. Joseph wanted to give chase, but there was no way he could catch the Black Guard anyways. Curse Black and his long legs. Instead, he climbed out of Jack’s arms, and followed White back to the manor through the door that was still open. The survivors had already gone back to the Survivors’ Wing, except the Priestess who sat in a chair in the main lobby to let Violetta braid her hair.
Michiko was the first to notice the three hunters as they walked into the dining hall. The dining hall was surprisingly empty; only Michiko, Robbie and Joker were present at the table. “You look nice, Joseph. You should let your hair down more often.” Joseph was about to thank the Geisha for the compliment but Joker cut in.
“No, he just looks like a girl like this.”
“Yes, but he looks good.”
“Yeah! Don’t be mean to Joseph!” Joseph was reminded of how childish Robbie seemed still, even though he is almost 17. Its cute, in a way.
“I didn’t mean he looks bad, I jus-”
Joseph kept quiet to let them argue about his hair. In all honesty, he thought he looked drop-dead gorgeous, however his hair was done. He didn’t feel like having dinner, so he moved away from the dining hall in search of the other hunters. He wasn’t worried about getting hungry later, either. Hunters didn’t need to eat. Eating and sleeping was not a necessity for hunters, and most of them saw sleeping as a way to pass time. This was one of the many differences between hunters and survivors. Survivors were very fragile and very, very much human. None of the hunters were considered human. Joseph was the most human-like of all the hunters, but the survivors didn’t consider him human, with his inky black blood and cracks in his left eye.
Joseph found the other hunters in the hunters’ common room, where they were all seated around a large table. They were playing cards, he realised. A small hand slipped into his own. Robbie had followed him to the common room. Luchino turned to them. “Want to play? We’re playing Blackjack. With betting.” Joseph didn’t like betting, so he declined. Robbie, however, was very enthusiastic. “Yes! Yes! I wanna play!” He tried to run to the table, but Joseph pulled his hood back.
“You are underage,” he reminded. Robbie pouted, and the Photographer laughed. Joseph watched the game for a while, but soon decided to retreat to his room. There was a crow sitting at the open window of his room. It flew away when he came closer, and there was an envelope in its place. Every hunter received an envelope at night to inform them of any matches they had the next day. Joseph opened his letter, turns out he was free the next day too. Maybe the owner of the manor got tired of watching him play. The owner of Oletus manor watched every match. Michiko had told Joseph once that if the owner caught hunters intentionally letting the survivors win, they would be punished. Joseph had then wondered whether the owner only watched some matches, so he decided to test his theory. At random matches that he played, he would intentionally let the survivors win. He was caught every time, and punished every time. Punishment is different for every hunter, was what the owner had told him once. Joseph had wondered what the different punishments were, but was wise not to ask, lest he receive additional punishment.
He looked at his sword leaning against the wall by his bed, suddenly feeling like playing a match. Free days were always nice, but there wasn’t always much to do in the manor. Joseph had no survivor friends, and the older hunters were usually gambling or drinking. He sighed again.
Well, maybe someday he’d be less bored all the time. Maybe he’d make some survivor friends tomorrow.