Melanie smiled at the thought of how her brother was only frustrated by the loss of a screw. Of course he would lose something if he just left it on the bed. But his name seemed to be... foreboding. Icarus. Why would a family name their son Icarus? Did they not know what Icarus stood for?
She disregarded the thought as her father asked about her status.
"Father, I am glad to see you're fine. I'm ok-" she hid her slightly bleeding elbow. It was only a scratch, after all.
The statue was broken. Such a shame, but at least nothing else was broken.

Then, something caught her eye. While father turned towards the boy, she snuck into the study, trying to make out what was slithering about in the room that smelled of Vellum and ink.

Not much had been in dissaray at the house, yeah a few books in her father's room were now on the floor having been knocked off of their perch on the selves, and a few screws fell on the floor in her brother's but all in all there were few things that had been askew.

Mel slipped away though as her father and brother were occupied creeping down to the study. The seat of the desk had been knocked over and there was a small puddle of ink on the floor from the jar that was knocked over in the quake while vellum had been scattered about the floor.

There was an opened window here and she thought she detected movement near it, the tail end of something exiting the chamber by it. But on the floor she noticed one of the pages on the floor had a header on it. The Codex of Madness by Eramus Vlar

The first thought that entered Melanie's mind was that of dread- her father would need the ink she kept on failing to retrieve. She gently picked it up, trying to keep as much of the ink inside the bottle as she could. It obviously wasn't much. She decided to tidy up the place, a bit, when her eyes fell upon the name Vlar. Wait, wasn't Vlar the merchant who sold the ink for her father's study? Was he also a scholar, like her father? She picked up the page, about to read it. Then, she saw movement. Lithely, and careful to avoid any of the papers, Melanie stuck her head out the window, looking for the... thing that was once in the room with her father. What had it been? Melanie found nothing out of the ordinary though.

Vlar, was it a common name? Was it that the merchant had the same first name as he had for a last one? Was - the movement caught her eye as she moved towards the window but seeing that she did not rush straight there she didn't expect to see much.

But the thing was rather slow moving and she saw something when sticking her head out the window. Nothing to her right but at the left slithering to the side of the house was a ... thing.

It was tall, easily over 7' in height, wore a maroon robe and was purple. She didn't get a good look at it though what did catch her attention was it's legs or rather lack thereof as a mass of tentacles made up that region.

It disappeared from sight around the corner of the building giving her only the faintest glimpse of it. It was bald, whatever it was it certainly wasn't a man ...

Melanie was never particularly known for her patience. And her morbid curiousity often got the better of her. Carefully placing the sheet of paper on the table below her, Melanie eased herself of the window. She slid quite easily through with her "trim" figure. She quickly jumped out, and began to run after the tentacled beast, peering around the corner to see what it really was. It was purple- that was what struck her first. It was a purple creature... about seven feet tall. What was it doing in her father's study? Was this was what he father had been writing about?

Or was her imagination building this creature up?

Luckily it was slow-moving, so she would probably be able to follow it, wherever it went.

Rounding the side of the building she could see the back of this thing. A tall monstrosity that was slithering slowly away from the building while keeping to the shadow of the building. It stopped, seemingly sensing her. Looking behind itself she could see it's white eyes staring out in her direction.

A ring of four tentacles quivered near it's mouth and despite it being the middle of the day it began to turn around. It was squinting due to the light and it's sensitive eyes. [color]Sweet, sweet, Melaine, couldn't leave well enough alone ...[/color] It spoke directly into her mind via telepathy.

Melanie stood stock-still. A certain uneasiness took hold of her as the creature's pupil-less eyes bared directly upon her. How was Melanie supposed to know that the creature could sense her? And despite herself she kept staring at the thing. Was she asking for her own destruction? Why was she fearing this creature so much, anyways?

And then its voice echoed throughout her brain.
"Wh-What-" What are you?

He could sense her brainwaves and gauge how close she was to him. That was how he became aware of her since he neither saw nor heard her. He could sense her fear and confusion as well as he slithered a little bit closer to her.

All the while he was staring at her as he came though he remained a good distance away from her, stopping at a respectable distance from her as one might approach a stray dog. Alien eyes gazed at her, studied her, and for a second, a brief second he debated.

What I am is not important ...

Tentacles whipped up at her, stretching like rubber bands. His elastic nature meant that he did not have to get too close as if this would put her at ease before he struck out at her, a pair of tentacles seeking her ankles, and if successful he intended to jerk her off of her feet and reel her in closer ...

"St-Stay away from me!" Melanie stammered, stepping back as the creature stepped closer. But he did not come any closer. Melanie tensed regardless. She had no idea what this thing was, or what it could do. And every single one of her senses was screaming for her to be on her guard. The dream was quickly degenerating into a nightmare.

Then his voice echoed again in her head. She immediately knew that this thing was out to harm her, but damn if she was going to be an easy target. The creature raised two of its tentacles, though Melanie doubted they would reach her. There was no way, physically, that the creature could get her from that distance.

But wait, she was in a dream. Physics didn't apply. Nightmares responded to her fear, and her fear of this creature would certainly give it the power to do whatever she feared it could. In other words-

The tentacles lashed out, but Melanie was no scared doe. She dodged to the side, hiding behind the wall again as the tentacles snatched as the air. Before the creature could pull one of the tentacles back, Melanie stomped forcefully on the member, using her weight to pin the member to the ground.

"I'll ask again," though she doubted she would get an answer, "Wh-Who are you?"

Well played ...

One of his tentacles stuck beneath her foot as she slammed down on it and while he could have easily wrenched it free he did not, not yet given that he was simply toying with her. He could feel the fight within her though, unlike the usual that grew petrified once they saw the unknown.

The contact on his tentacle was a dull pain that was quickly subsiding due to his great metabolism. There were many things he could select from, knock her off balance by wrenching his tentacle out from her, not to mention anyone of his telepathic or telekinetic powers he could employ but he did neither just yet as he gazed at her.

He slithered a little closer, ignoring her demand. His mouth tendrils quivering as he came - then it happened - the ground quaked again more fiercely than before knocking her off balance and to the ground but it had not taken advantage of this, recoiling it's tentacle at once, eyes going wide akin to fear.

They're near! He spun around slithering away as fast as his slow moving form could manage, the trembling of the ground stopping a mere moment after his departure from the scene.

"W-wait!" Melanie shouted as she struggled to her feet. How convenient that whoever it was could cause those tremors. But she wanted to know now. The creature could have easily beaten her- she could think of a number of ways. Her move wasn't well-played at all- she had left herself completely open for any of his other tentacles. But even this fearsome creature was afraid of something.

She looked forlornly towards the house, and shook her head. The tremors were coming to a stop, and creature was slipping away. They would be fine- the tremor was small compared to the last one- and she now had her lead. She ran straight towards the area the creature had slunk off to. Chasing after it, she found herself lost. Now, where exactly was... it?

She chased after it, an after shock hitting though it did little more than slow her up as she had to keep her footing though that did not last that long. The creature was slow moving and though she got lost rather quickly she managed to retrace some of her steps and see movement heading into an alley not far from where she had encountered it.

Following and peering down the alley she could see a large shape, speedily (for it anyway) hurrying away. It stopped, as if annoyed with her persistence the creature whirled around again, glaring at her with it's white eyes.

I don't have time for this now! A pity, gingers are my favorite. He pressed this into her mind then he was gone as if he were not there ... did he daze her? Go invisible? Hide from her senses? It was hard to say, one second he was there, the next he was simply gone ...

Melanie gritted her teeth as it used some... power over her. Time for what? she thought as she fought against whatever trick he used. She ran down the alleyway, seeking the creature, or some sign of him. But he seemed to be gone. Melanie could not, would not accept that explanation. That monster was the only inexplicable phenomenon in this entire dream, and she refused to let him escape. First off, she knew that the alley had only one way in and one way out.

She quickly glanced over her shoulder, to ensure that monster was not escaping behind her. Who knew what he could have done? If he was invisible, then he could easily climb over her with the tentacles. Deciding that he did not leap or climb over her, Melanie took the only other option- she ran straight forward to the end of the alleyway, and out onto the street at the other end.

With no sign of the creature she ran down the alley emerging out into the street. She could see people recovering from the recent quake, speaking about it, gathering up wares that fell from the stalls of vendors and the like.

There was no sign of it though. She did not see it or hear it at all. It was just ... gone. With that in mind she had to decide her next move. The creature, whatever it was did not fit in but thus far a few things hadn't already. Icarus? The location ...

If this was a dream then Atlantis was easy to attribute given that she had just read the book on it. Was it possible that she attributed a Greek sounding name to her brother? There were many questions here and probably questions the thing could answer had it not taken off so quickly. There near ...

Melanie was so confused, she considered pinching herself awake. But judging from her scraped arm, she had a feeling pain would not awaken her. The street bustled about in chaos, but Melanie was lost in her thoughts. She walked about, helping where she could. She could not longer detect the creature, though an uneasy fluttering in her heart indicated that, if he were still near, he could easily win their next fight. Where was she...?

Then it struck her- the tremors had caused copious amounts of damage. Perhaps it would not be so unreasonable to feign amnesia. "Excuse me," she shyly asked the vendor she was helping out, [color=cyan]"Could you tell me where I am? I am very confused." Melanie couldn't but feel she was still being watched.