The daily life of a ghost in Oletus manor

Chapter 13

To be completely honest, Claude was a little disappointed after stepping foot for the first time into the enormous hall that was connecting the survivors' place with the waiting lobby and the hunters' side. Because yes, for some unknown reason, there was a large, old wooden door between the two factions' respective halls. What was even more surprising was the fact that this certain door wasn't even locked!

Did the owner of the manor want some accidents to happen? Were they insane? What if a hunter decided to stop playing nice and tried to hurt a survivor in their sleep or something? Or it could even happen the other way around! What if, for example, the Coordinator would get a funny idea, deciding to kill a hunter just out of spite? What if she would hurt his brother?

Well. That wouldn't be that easy, though. Their private chambers were usually locked by them for the night. He actually saw his brother -more than once- locking his room after he said goodbye to the others. So he was pretty sure it was the same with everyone else. And if the hunters could retire safely for the night, why couldn't the survivors do that too? Well. He would find out soon enough, anyway.

The place otherwise wasn't as different from the hunter's side of the manor as one would think it is. Every survivor had their own little room, just like the hunters did, though as there were more survivors than hunters it was impossible to have their rooms on only one floor.

Every survivor had their own room. They didn't have to share them with anyone.

It was a good thing, though. People like Aesop needed their own personal spaces, undisturbed, where they could be all alone when they needed to be.

Aside from the personal chambers, there was an enormous kitchen, a dining room, and a big living room, or as Claude liked to refer to it: the common place. This was the place most of the survivors spent their time when they weren't inside their own little sanctuaries. The furnishing was almost exactly the same as the hunters' one was, though everything was slightly smaller. It made sense, considering that the survivors weren't as tall as their tormentors were.

Aesop's room was up on the second floor, right beside the Seer's and the Painter's room. It was a relatively big space. There was a bed laying near the wall on the left side, a wardrobe that was containing all his costumes and his everyday clothing, a pretty big table for his makeup kit and the dolls he practiced on, a coffin that stood right beside his nightstand and an old oil lamp and a few candles.

'Sooo... This is your room?'

"Y-yeah."

'It's really nice. Cozy. I like it.'

"Uhm. I am... glad?"

Aesop sounded somewhat lost. Like he didn't know how to react, how to deal with people complimenting him, or even having them in his room. He kept his gaze on the floor, looking anywhere but Claude, his body twitching nervously as he was slowly walking to the table, placing his makeup kit down onto it. He seemed to be uncomfortable, not liking the way Claude invaded his little sanctuary.

'Do you... want me to leave?'

"N-no. P-please, stay."

'Oh! Okay! I am glad!' Claude let out a forced, nervous laugh. He should be more considerate of his little friend, really. But it's so hard! He has never had friends like Aesop, who was so anxious and nervous all the time! He was really embarrassed with himself, though. What kind of person would ignore their friend's special needs? Not a very good one, that's for sure.

Letting out a soft sigh, he floated a little further from the boy, hopping into an armchair beside the table.

And that wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do, he had to concentrate really hard to not pass through it the way he would have normally. It actually took him a few tries before he could finally manage it, falling to the floor at least three times, which of course made the ghost quite frustrated. Though, his failures seemed to amuse Aesop, as his form dropped its obvious tension, making Claude slightly proud of himself.