Past Midnight [Salvia+Owen]

[Salvia extended her hand, aiming the remote at the radio room's personal radio and turning up the volume of the music that was playing. Their evening broadcast ended a few hours ago and everyone had retired to their dorms for the night. But tonight, work wasn't done for Salvia, no. It was her turn to tidy up the room, another biweekly routine for the radio. Some would have argued that this was supposed to be the housekeepers' job, but due to the history of past hosts with alternate monikers (Salvia wasn't the first to use an alias), it was best decided that all secrets ought to remain in the radio room. Or the Chamber of Secrets, as some nerds have called it. By the careful efforts of the news folks, nothing had been ever leaked during Salvia's time, and it's been the tradition that way. Anyway, it was cleaning duty for Salvia tonight.]

[Surprisingly, Salvia had zero problem with this.]

[The Apprentice skipped a few songs ahead while sauntering her way to fetch the broom, wiping past freshly cleaned tables with a wet cloth in the other hand. With the rising melody of the music, he chucked the remote viciously across a table and flung the wet cloth into the bucket. Then he grabbed the broom and spun it ungracefully in his hands before proceeding to sweep the floor with gusto. A time of temporary solitude was a good time for Tolo.]

[Whether from the loud music or his utter oblivious stupidity, Tolo hadn't detected danger from the outside. Instead he swept the floor with improvised finesse and sang his happy heart out.]

"--The sighs of the gloomy skies rained down and merged with my tears
"And these lips pull back with a cheeky clack, and they lash you with a sunny jeer
"Babe, I don't care
"Babe, I don't care
"Babe, I don't care"

[He sharply flipped the broom to which the dustier end pointed up like a head of spiky hair. He swung it around, singing into it like a microphone stand, and then dipped it as if it were a sultry dancer.]

"Don't feel bad if you fall asleep hearing this and you feel the chill
"It's because every night, when I'm seeing you, I get the greatest thrill"

[Tolo leapt onto a table and wasted his effort of having cleaned the surface by spinning and dancing with gusto upon its surface, still swinging the broom like a lover. Surya, Maxwell, and Sisi would've been proud of him in so many ways.]

"Oh-ohhh, Babe
"There's never enough reasons to make yourself smile
"If you're waiting out there, somewhere,
"Could you make it as though you never needed one?"

"Oh-ohhh, Babe
"The meaning of all your joys will be uncertain for a while
"Just tell me something I need to hear, my dear
"What are these feelings that I'm missing now?"

---
(ooc: Song roughly being referenced: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsavQ6ly9wU )

"Oh-ohhh, Babe
"I've always wanted to meet you when you smile like you should
"But if that can't be, that's fine with me, at least give me something to make the moment last--"

[Tolo twirled on the spot and lifted his head in tune to the rising end of the chorus. And he stared directly at the pale ghost that seemed to be watching him with intent eyes.]

[Oh f*ck. He's been seen.]

[Tolo felt all his hairs tense up and sirens buzzing in his head. This is not good. This is not good at all. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. Thoughts like jumping out the window or knocking out the intruder with the pretend mic stand seemed ingenius to him, but he was paralyzed with deadly fear of the witness. When the f*ck did he come in? Is this room haunted? Do ghosts actually exist? Silence now sang from his gaping mouth and shock became the new swing. All the while, the music carried on the show without him.]

[Here stood the discovered radio host, still holding the broom in dramatic suspense and staring dumbfounded as if he'd been startled awake from a grand dream.]

[Actually, he really, really hoped this was still a "grand" dream.]

[It took several moments for Tolo to recognize the boy--goddammit what was his name--the one he'd donated most of his old clothes to. Was he walking around naked in a blanket or something? Not that it was weird to him, he's seen worse with Maxwell. Anyone could've been worse. But Creepy Blanket Kid? It's always the silent ones. Always.]

[The boy spoke rather innocently with gentle reassurance. This only made Tolo panic more and his face grew redder with embarrassment by the second. He fumbled with normalizing his stance and flipped the broom back to its original state.] "I--! Look, you . . . I--" [Salvia cleared her throat loudly as though dropping the deeper pitch got rid of the evidence.] "I--y-you . . . when did you get here."

[Salvia gaped cartoonishly and sharply raised an index finger as if about to make a point. Wait, what point. Wait, THAT POINT, yes.] "I-I-I-I--I AM NOT TOLO." [Her voice cracked in one too many.] "I--YOU HAVE NO PROOF. PROBABLY. NO. I am . . . I am NOT. NO." [Flustered beyond repair, she fumbled her words majestically. Even Sienna's stuttering would've made more sense. Hell, it had been the timid but observant Sienna who first found her out. Goddamn these quiet people. They knew, they just always knew!]

[The music continuing in the background wasn't helping at all, so Salvia hurriedly scrambled down the desk to find the remote she flung somewhere. Goddammit, where was it.] "I! Was not. Doing! Any of that! You're--you're sleepwalking, yes. These are dreams. Go back to bed. Don'tmakemepunchyoutosleep."

"Bad? No, it's no--I just said I'm NOT Tolo! F-final word!" [Despite all denial, Salvia felt her persuasion slipping away faster like it already was before. Nothing is phasing this kid. It's really kind of creepy. She needs to compromise with him, pronto.]

[She clawed at the remote when she finally found it and immediately beeped the volume down. No, she turned it completely off out of embarrassment.] "Huh? Couldn't sleep?" [Shit. Had the music been too loud? No, the dormitories were a far distance off from here.]

"Me? Well, I, uh . . . I sleep whenever I want. However I want. Uhh. Uhhhhh. Not the . . . best choice you made, I don't think." [Salvia's voice trailed into a mutter to herself in the last sentence. She refused to look in the boy's direction, still humiliated. She wiped the table furiously, mostly at herself. What can she do now? What can Tolo do? She couldn't let the incident slip by while it was still fresh. From the looks of it, she was certain the boy had a keen memory.]

"Look. Kid." [She still wasn't looking at him.] "Just. Forget what you saw. I . . . I'm no one, alright? Don't tell anyone. ...please. Or I'll . . ." [She thought about a potential threat, and she couldn't. He mentioned he worked with the birds, right? Whatever she threatens him with, he could probably say 'fly, my pretties' and send them her way to poop on all her things. She had to be careful with this one. She only slightly looked up, but she shot him a half-glare, half-nervous glance.] "Keep this a secret between you and I, got it?"