The HABIT's House

(Who is this?)
"My name's Vaermina." she answered simply. "And you are?" Vaermina asked, drawing herself out from under the dresser.

"I'm--I...." he hesitated, then sighed, and finally ended up not caring. "Vinny...Vinny Everyman" he said quietly, stepping out of the corner and cautiously approaching 'Vaermina'.

"Oh! I've heard about you. A nice room you have here. How have you been?" she asked, like it was a casual everyday conversation with an old friend.

"I've....well I'm NOT very good" Vinny blatantly stated, shaking out. His eyes were glazed, his fur knotted and rumpled and he had bite marks up and down his arms from trying to release his stress. His eyes were constantly wide, pupils dilated.

"Yeah, you look pretty rough." she stated, observing the tom's coat. "Anyway, what's your story?" Vaermina asked, sitting down in a more comfortable position.

"Well I'm.... man it's a long story...I'll cut it short for you, as short as possible. When we were human, me, Jeff, Evan, and everyone else, we started a thing called a fitness blog. It was fine for a while, but some troll dressed up as slenderman and messed with us in one of our videos. Mind you, he was fake, never have we imagined that there was a real one...." He trailed off for a moment, as if falling into a dream and recalling all of the events. "A-Anyway, we joked and stuff, until the real thing appeared, stuff happened, creepy messages and all of that bullshit. It wasn't soon after that Jeff fell into this bubble. He had a girlfriend, Jessa for short, who went missing. He started looking up creepy sites, talked about things that didn't make sense--well, didn't make sense to us back then. Everything....went downhill after that occurrence..... We looked everywhere, searched high and low and couldn't find her. All the while his brother was being daily attacked by a creature called 'Rake'. Just when we thought nothing could get worse, Evan started acting....weird. He would mumble curses under his breath, he would grow cold suddenly, even the time he completely mauled a deer thinking it was Slenderman. He grew a sick enjoyment for blades, machetes in general. He began a sick sense of humor, Jeff cut his finger bad once and Evan he just...he just laughed with that creepy fucking grin and.... The Seven Trials of HABIT began. We were the first ones, our buddy joining it first after receiving weird messages and weird demands for his blood. We participated, but opted out after it got fucking weird. Our buddy died, dragged out of his car and torn apart after asking us for help. Soon later, Evan completely lost his shit, and disappeared along with Jeff. We didn't understand, until a video was posted with Jeff and Evan. But, I instantly knew that fucker wasn't Evan. Evan would torture his best friend--BURN ALIVE a person he's known since they were like 3. More stuff happened, we learned about HABIT, and it was only me and Evan left. Everyone, dead" as he spoke, he expressed his great distress throughout the story, looking down with the last sentence and staring at his paws.

Vaermina had to force the straight face that she was currently wearing. She'd finally found someone more clueless than she was. After suppressing grins and snickers, she realized exactly how important it was to keep this guy as much in the dark as possible, as well as how fun it would be to watch him blunder around in that darkness. "Sounds terrible.. I wish that I could help, but I'm afraid I know about as much as you do about this whole damned situation." she said in a sincere voice, hanging her head to add more effect.

"Well, me and Evan summoned HABIT, trying to get information... How stupid as fuck were we.... But, HABIT, instead killing me, made a deal. I would do everything he asks in exchange for me..well...not getting 'my arms and legs broken, then will I be disemboweled, and I'll bleed to death'" he said matter of factly. "I disobeyed him, though. Fuck no. I'm not bringing him more people to kill, innocent people like Shaun. Oh god...Poor Shaun..." He shook his head, trying to blur away the screams. "I guess I'm whining, you haven't heard Evan's story... He has it worse than I do. I already know I'm a monster, bringing those innocent souls here just to stay alive. He's been forced through all of this. Constantly tortured even though he's already dead inside. He had a family, you know. A little girl, he was going to marry Steph. All of that--ripped away" he said with a hopeless shrug. "They just won't let him go--correction, they won't let any of us go"

"What you guys did, however stupid, was still brave. I doubt that anything that you could've done would have stopped HABIT, but even when Evan got all stabby you guys didn't abandon him. You and the others were some real friends, and I bet that he's glad that he still has you on his side." she said, smiling sweetly. She mostly ignored the part about Even, mostly because she had already head enough bits and pieces about his story to put most of what Vinny had said together already.

"Just when I think it's all over, though....here I am again....." He muttered. Hearing what she said, he smiled and with a chuckle, admitted "Yeah, I guess you're right. I had a girlfriend, she didn't last very long though. I guess, it's safe to say, anyone we care about has to stay as far away as possible. As HABIT said, 'take your friends where you can't find them'."

"Ah, well everyone needs a friend in this screwed up world. By the way, I keep hearing strange words around here. What's a pizza? I assume it's some weird food item." she asked, her whiskers twitching as she did so.

Vinny exploded in laughter. "DONT EAT HABIT PIZZA!!" He said in urgent laughter. "JUST DONT!" He said with a shudder, before taking a breath. "It's a food, a good one that is. The one thing about this transformation is that I really miss human junk food. Cookies and chips and shit like that" he sighed

Vaermina decided to keep it to one food today, she'd find out what cookies and chips were later. "Great advice, but I suppose I can't really sympathize with you there. I'm just a normal ol' cat, stuck in the middle of this craziness."

"I guess...I have something special about me but...only when I'm dead" he said precariously.

Vaermina just let out a small, "Hm.." then looked around the room a bit. The hook for her machete was empty, she was pretty sure that she had left it downstairs. It was probably for the best, it would be hard to convince Vinny that she was a friend if he knew that she was more or less voluntarily in the house. The black and white cat yawned, remembering what she had entered the room for in the first place. "I don't know about you, but I'm tired. So you do your thing, I'll do mine, but don't leave the room. We're not supposed to leave the room." she said, adding a hint of anxiety into the last part. She, of course, would only be half asleep,so she could ensure that Vinny did in fact stay in the room. She hopped up onto the bed and curled up in the middle, eyes barely open as she watched. It would be nearly impossible to tell if she was not inspected closely.

He found it funny that she complimented him on the room, when in fact, this room had a completely different owner only a couple years ago. This whole house, stolen. He sat for a moment, before he realized something... He ran to the closet, climbing through the discarded human clothing. He reached the back, scraping his paws along the walls. "No...No it was right here...!" he murmured as he searched, before his paws finally went from solid space to emptiness and he fell forward into a small crawlspace. "Yes!" he breathed, and began to creep forward slowly in the pitch black space. He slowly made his was through, his whiskers brushed the sides of the walls, but something was wrong, he couldn't feel air  blowing from the other side before....
SLAM! "AHH!" a small voice squeaked and pushed him forward. They squirmed in a bundle of tails and paws backwards until the two forms both bursted out into the middle of the room again. A small little white kit, flopped over the large brown tom. "What the--?? Why are there kits in this god-awful place?" he gasped in confusion and hopped up, Asher flopping on the ground and opening his bi-colored eyes. "Not to mention he looks like a little Evan"

Vaermina watched as Vinny disappeared into the closet, deciding to give him 30 seconds before she went after him. She was just getting ready to stand up when he busted back into the room, a smaller, whiter tom with him this time. She laughed, "Asher? What are you doing in here? I thought that Jessalynn was watching you!" Like a brick had hit her face, the realization of how much Vinny could accidentally screw up. How had Asher gotten into the crawlspace anyway? She didn't have time to think about that right now, she had to find a way to either get the kit out of the room or shut up Vinny. "Any ideas?" she asked under her breath, hoping that HABIT had heard.

"AHH! MOMMY ITS A BAD CAT!" Asher squeaked and ran over to her. "Mommy? Weird, he looks so much like Evan...." He murmured and slowly approached the kit, who hissed and flailed his claws forward. "No, no it's ok, little one!" Vinny still approached. "I'll protect you, mommy!" Asher claimed, before leaping out and jumping, tackling Vinny's paw.

Vaermina let out a giggle and reached forward, grabbing the kit by the scruff and sitting him back beside her. "It's okay, Asher. Vinny isn't a bad cat, he lives here too." she looked around, "How did you get in that crawlspace, little one?"

"I followed it from Jessalynn's room!" Asher said in a proud voice. "Jessalynn?" Vinny cocked his head. "Oh, she had a room here? That sucks... She must have been here for a while before--" "Had? Silly, it's still her room!" Asher scratched his ear with his hind leg. "What? I think you made a mistake, she's dead, we saw her dead, torn apa--" "ASHER!" He was interrupted by a feminine voice calling from the hole, followed by shuffling and scuffling before a blonde head popped out of the hole, eyes hazel and bright.

Vaermina waved her tail at Jessalynn, "I've got him." she then turned her head back to Vinny. "No, pretty sure she's alright."

Jessalynn froze, hearing and seeing Vinny. Her eyes met his, locking, and wouldn't move as if in that moment she was frozen solid. He, doing the same, was shocked. After a moment, he spoke. "J...Jessalynn.....?" he finally whispered out. After a moment, of them both exchanging baffled looks, he starts to come up with a sharp realization. Sharp, because he felt as if it was a punch to the gut. "Wh...Why are you here...? You're supposed to be dead we SAW--You were-- Jeff was--...." he trailed off, his voice breaking. "No...Dont tell me that..." he took a step back. Jessalynn, eyes filling with tears, stepped back too. "Jeff loved you... And... And you were going behind our backs like that...?" Vine whispered, slowly getting angrier. "You were working with him the whole...FUCKING....TIME..." his whisper turned to a hiss. A tear slipped down the side of Jessalynn's cheek. "I know..I know im.. Im so sorry--" "We trusted-- Jeff trusted you..! He died because of you, if he knew you were alive he would've kept fighting, we wouldn't have given up--" "Vinny I'm..Im not alive... I... I died... Because HABIT said I had to" Jess whispered, looking down at her paws. "That doesn't mean ANYTHING! You're still here, and Jeff is in the ground you...--" he was getting angrier every moment, his paws shaking. "....you...BITCH...."

HABIT, naturally, knew of everything going on upstairs, and still sat beside his daughter, a grin forming.

"You could at least come get your son.." She grumbled as the conversation began turning into something a bit less than kit friendly. She suddenly cleared her throat and spoke, "Hold up, one second." She picked up Asher and padded over to the hole, jumping and hanging on with just her claws as she set Asher in the little passage with great difficulty. "Go find your father and see if he needs you to do anything." She stated before slipping from the edge and landing delicately on her feet. "Okay, you two can rip each others throats out now for all I care. I came here for a nap." She shrugged and jumped back on the bed, whispering, "You should be more cautious about what that kit hears, HABIT. If there's a cat in here screaming that you're a phycopaths that murders his friends, he might get some questions."

HABIT laughed and rolled his eyes, snickering "Ever heard of 'ignorance is bliss'? He won't question a thing, he thinks me and you are the world's greatest thing"

Vinny took a few steps towards Jess, who reacted by calling "Wait! Vinny, don't make me do this, come on you know you won't win!" She pleaded and stepped back. She didn't want to kill Vinny! It wasn't fair, HABIT put her in this moment on purpose. Why? What was this all for? She couldn't exactly die and if she could, one of them was coming out alive and it was most defiantly not going to be Vinny. She knew Vinny. He was no fighter. He knew everything about it, but had never put his skills to the test. She watched as he unsheathed his claws and stepped forward till she was backed against the wall and he stood over her. "Vinny, please, I know you're betrayed and, I loved Jeff so much, but you have to believe me when I say this: you won't win this fight. I don't want to hurt you, much less kill you! I already feel bad about what I did to you, it was so wrong. HABIT never killed Ryan, I did, he only helped. You always say you want the truth, but what's the point Vinny if you're going to react like this? Leave and find a place to start new, the only reason you're here is because you started digging into this mess again. Evan is gone. Jeff is gone. Alex, Steph, Ryan.......me.....we're all gone, Vinny. You need to move on.." She pressed, her claws unsheathing. "Move on? Move on? You make it sound so fucking easy. You only say that because you don't have choice but to move on. I'm not the one whose in shackles like a puppet"
"Or are you?"
Vinny flung around to see the door open, and a dreading my familiar white figure standing there. "You fucking say that, but really, I don't recall you wanting to be here, nor do I recall you being able to leave without my consent. You're shackled alright, and I can make you do whatever I want you to. I mean, look at Jessalynn here as an example. This whole thing is an example. Jess was a strong, independent individual. Look at her now.... She was willing to do anything, just because I ordered it, even deceive her own friends and send her lover to torture..." He had padded in, obviously suddenly ticked off by something Vinny said by the twitch in his eye. Vinny shrunk down, backing up when HABIT got closer

Vaermina just shrugged again, "I don't like to take chances." she whispered back to him before curling up and watching the show. She smiled slightly as HABIT walked in, comfortable enough now to just close her eyes and listen.