xp_logs | Stoker and Stalkers: The View from Inside

And, later that night Jono has an unnerving encounter...

Kitty's footfalls were light, but they were definitely there, the soft sound audible in the silent halls. It was a little odd, given the door she'd just come through was still closed. Normally, if she was in enough of a hurry to phase through the doors, she would just keep phased out and take the shortest route available.

Of course, the other odd thing was that her eyes were closed and she was clearly still asleep.

The mansion had cultivated quite the group of insomniacs and otherwise sleep dysfunctional people, so it wasn't much a surprise that Jono was sitting in the rec room, trying to beat San Andreas in peace because he'd missed it while otherwise... preoccupied. He'd turned the volume down out of courtesy, but it still took a moment to recognize the sounds of someone walking outside the rec room.

The game went on pause and he got up, peering into the dark, having a strange flash of regret that he couldn't act as a lightsource anymore. He blinked when he saw Kitty. "Hey."

Kitty didn't react or respond to Jono's greeting, simply continuing down the hall. Her mind was strangely blank - Jono might have expected a sleepwalker to be caught up in some gripping dream, but there didn't seem to be any of that in her head.

A moment's hesitation and a glance to his game was all it took, and Jono followed Kitty, out of curiosity and mild apprehension. He'd only encountered blankness like that in people who knew how to shield themselves properly, or were possibly comatose. After a few steps he reached out and grasped Kitty's shoulder, trying to yank her out of her sleep.

The contact did exactly that, and Kitty started to wakefulness in an instant. She blinked, uncertain for a moment where she was, then turned. "Jono?" she asked, cocking her head slightly. "I was... I was doing it again, wasn't I?"

Jono let his hand fall immediately, nodding, wondering why he still felt weirded out when things like this happened around the mansion. "Sleepwalking people are just really fucking creepy," he replied. "And you ignore closed doors so it's even more..." He shuddered.

Tugging the edges of her nightshirt sleeves down over her hands, Kitty blushed and looked down at the carpet. "I'm sorry. I didn't meant to... I don't... I should probably go back to bed," she said, turning and heading down the hall.