[To Washington D.C. and beyond] *on-going*

[Adelle Haynsworth]

Adelle parked the small sedan on the street and looked back at the kids in the back seat. "Home sweet home," she said with a small sigh. It had been a long drive, and all she wanted to do was fall into bed, not unpack. "Okay, guys, let's start carrying stuff upstairs. It's already furnished, so let's get the stuff out of the trunk and get moving."

She paused, looking at the tired faces around her. "I say we unpack a little tonight, then finish the rest as the week goes on. You kids have school in the morning, and you need your rest."

||Kinda lame, but ah well. And sorry for the slight power playing, but I figured they were all going to be tired after being crammed into a tiny car for however long.||

[Rebecca Swenson]

Becky opened one eye a slit, looked around, then closed it again and pretended to be asleep. She had no idea what time it was and really didn't care. It was dark, it was late, the street was dark and freaky looking, and she was really REALLY tired. For a second she played with the idea of refusing to get up, but upon realizing the probable consequences, she groaned and sat up.

"Which house?" she murmurred sleepily, frowning as her brain tried to make sense of things. She rooted around under the seat until she found her bag and then climbed out of the car. Her feet were asleep and she stumbled a few feet before coming to kneel on the grass. "Did I ever mention how much I hate getting up in the middle of the night?" she grouched.

[Jasmine Doyle]

Jasmine sat up and quickly wiped a puddle of drool off of Elijah's shoulder, "Sorry dude," she muttered as she pulled her earphones out of her ears and stuffed them into her pocket, "Why do we have to go to school in the morning," she groaned, "I don't think we've had sufficient briefings yet." she yawned, "Eli, can you bring mu duffle?" she asked, not waiting for an answer. She stumbled up the front steps of the house and rattled the doorknob, "Ade--Mom, it's locked." she said, trying to keep her eyes open long enough to take in her surroundings.

Turning around to shout for Adelle she ran into Rebecca, "Ompf." she grunted as she fell backwards onto the front steps, "Sorry there." she mumbled, "I feel like a drunk person...Not that I would know what it feels like to be drunk." she added, looking over towards Adelle.

[Elijah Channing]

Elijah looked down at the drool on his shirt and just shrugged. He was too tired and preoccupied to care. Besides, with Jasmine as his best friend, he was pretty much used to things like that. He envied the others for being able to fall asleep. He'd stared out the window the entire time, headphones blaring so loud that Adelle had to tell him twice to turn his music down. Every time he'd started to drift off, he'd have the image of someone beating the crap out of him fly into his brain and he'd jerk back awake.

He sighed as he slid out of the car. Before them stood a street filled with condos. "So much for having my own room," he muttered as he grabbed both his and Jasmine's duffel bags. He sighed as he stared at her, sprawled out on the sidewalk. "What did you pack in here, anyway? Bricks?" His voice was tired, perhaps even a little annoyed, but the corners of his lips were turned up ever so slightly. Honestly, it was rather funny to see Jasmine being so clumsy. "You okay?"

He dumped the bags on the front step and looked back at Adelle. "Hey, Mom, you got a key or what?" Adelle tossed him the keys without a word, and he suddenly wondered if she was angry or just didn't figure there was anything to say. He turned toward the door and fumbled for the key for a moment before unlocking it and stepping aside so the girls could go in first.

[Rebecca Swenson]

Blinking herself awake, Becky got to her feet again and walked towards the door where the others were waiting. She flashed a sleepy smile when Jasmine bumped into her. "S'alright," she said through a yawn and made her way up onto the small porch. Two columns supported an overhang and she leaned sleepily against one of these while she waited for Adelle to open the door.

At her feet was Jasmine's enormous bag, with Eli's medium sized duffle beside. Becky stared at the large bag for a second, feeling the lightness of her own pack, then snuck a quick look at Elijah before heaving the bag onto her own shoulder. For a second her eyes bugged in surprise at the weigh, but she quickly sturdied herself and shifted it to a more comfortable position. Not too bad...if Adelle hurried.

[Jasmine Doyle]

Jasmine grunted at Elijah, "Yeah, yeah, whatever." she snapped, not in the mood for any humour, "I'm fine, Eli. Stop mothering me." she groaned, leaning against the other column, "Mom, I'm hungry." she said, narrowing her eyes and staring at Adelle's back. She yawned again and made a face at Eli, "Did you bring any of your health bar things?" she asked, eyeing his duffle bag.

"Whoa, Becky, you don't have to carry that." she exclaimed, jumping up and grabbing the bag off of Rebecca's shoulder, "Carrying my bag is even a hard task for the strongest Senior Agent." she smirked, "Right, Eli?" she asked, dropping the duffle back onto the steps. "So, judging by the size of this place we'll be sharing a room, Becks." she said, "And hopefully we won't be sharing a room with mom as well."

As soon as the door swung open she picked up her duffle and quickly slipped past Elijah, "Whoa, this place is a moldarific palace. Anyone have bad allergies or asthma?" she asked, "Maybe tomorrow we can get a cleaning job done." she said, looking over at Adelle, "While we're at school, perhaps." she hinted, hoping that she wouldn't be made to stay at home and clean the place.

"Yo, well, I say we set up camp and hit the hay." she said, feeling around the wall for a lightswitch, "Girls get the biggest room cause we...er, I have the most stuff." she called out, walking down the short hallway and peering into the few rooms. "Becks, I think we should have this room." she said, dropping her duffle bag in front of the door.

[Rebecca Swenson]

Rebecca's nose wrinkled at the smell of mold. Somehow she'd expected the Guardians to get them a really nice place...apparently she'd thought wrong.

Walking through the living room, she tentatively reached out and tested the sofa with one finger. It was old and more than a little tattered but it was better than she'd seen in some of the foster homes that she'd stayed in. She'd just make sure to keep her mouth away from the...

Her head jerked in the direction of the bedrooms as the subject of beds crossed her mind. Quickly she followed after Jasmine and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the room. It looked bearable. Throwing her bag into the the corner, she tossed aside the covers of the bed to see the state of the sheets and to make sure there weren't any unpleasant surprises waiting for her. "Worn, but I could sleep here," she said, then cringed when she sat on the bed and it gave a metallic screech. "Probably don't want to know what the mattress looks like though."

Kicking her shoes off, Becky wiggled under the covers with no mind paid to the concept of pajamas. "Night," she muttered and closed her eyes.

[Elijah Channing]

Eli wanted to tell Jasmine to shove off. Whether or not they were best friends, he was tired and grumpy, and she irritating him more than just a little. He shoved the feelings away instead and tossed her an energy bar. "Sleep well," he managed to mutter before walking into the other room. It was barely smaller and had two beds just like the girls' room.

"Right," he said to himself as he claimed the bed by the window. He closed the door before stripping off his t-shirt and jeans, then pulling on a pair of gym shorts. With a sigh, he crawled under the covers and tried not to think about the next day. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fall asleep, though, so he just waited for Noam to come up, thinking that if nothing else it might be a comfort not to be alone with his thoughts.

[Adelle Haynsworth]

Adelle followed the kids inside the house and locked the door behind them. "It's not so bad," she offered when she heard them observing the house's not exactly pleasant features. "We couldn't afford much, you know. What with the divorce and all." The tone in her voice made it clear that she was trying to put things in perspective for them. She must have known that it wasn't working, however, because she stopped trying.

She found the "master bedroom" which was basically identical to the other rooms, except that it had it's own bathroom and only one queen bed instead of two twins. "Well," she muttered to herself, "it's. . . cozy." Adelle shook her head and walked back out into the hallway.

"Alright everyone, listen up! You need to be at the bus stop by seven thirty, so I want everyone out the door by seven fifteen, just in case. I'm not kidding, guys. I won't hesitate to hand out punishments if you give me guff in the morning about getting up or leaving. Breakfast will be on the table at six forty-five." She headed back to her room, calling over her shoulder as she went, "Sleep well!"

[Jasmine Doyle]

Jasmine watched Rebecca climb into her bed, "Don't you want to get changed?" she asked, eyeing the girl curiously, "Or brush your teeth or your hair or wash your face?" she continued as she pulled her duffle bag into the room and let it sit at the foot of her bed. "Ack. I agree with you." She said, even though her roommate had not spoken a word, "All that beauty stuff is overrated, my teeth aren't going to fall out overnight or anything like that." She rummaged around in her duffle, pulling out a pair of sweatpants and a faded tank top; she glanced over at Rebecca before quickly changing. Switching off the light she crept into the musty smelling bed. Before long she was fast asleep, drooling all over her pillow.

---
She awoke the next morning to the sound of a jackhammer, "Why do those stupid construction people insist on doing their work so early in the morning? I wish we could have lived in the richer part of town." she moaned, pushing her covers back and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Glancing at her cell phone she saw that it was only 6 o'clock. Deciding that she might as well get up, she ran her fingers through her hair, finding that her black locks were dreadfully tangled, "I knew there was a reason I always brush my hair before I go to bed." She muttered, walking over to her duffle bag and dumping all the contents out onto the floor, "Hey, Becks," she called out to the lump across the room, "You can wear any of my stuff, okay?" She pawed through the gigantic pile of clothes, trying to find something that looked preppy enough to suit her fancy. She finally decided on a pair of jeans and a pink baby doll top that had a wide satin ribbon that tied around her upper waist. She grabbed her makeup kit and a white bolero from the top of the pile and headed to the bathroom. To top her outfit off she added numerous gold bangle bracelets to her wrists and a pink scarf around her hair, tied like a hair band. After thirty long minutes of grooming, she went back to her room, pounded on Rebecca a few times and headed to the kitchen.

[Rebecca Swenson]

Becky glared at Jasmine's back as the other girl disappeared down the stairs. Heaving a sleepy groan, she seized the alarm clock and turned it to see the time. "6:30...15 more minutes before the alarm goes off," she said with distaste as she pulled herself out of bed.

Wandering around the room, Becky rooted through both her own and Jasmine's clothes. She picked a few pieces from each pile before heading to the bathroom to change. Two minutes later she reappeared wearing jeans and a navy blue t-shirt. She tossed her other clothes on the bed, found her shoes, and brushed her hair out. Makeup? Pff, whatever.

Downstairs she wandered around a bit until she found the kitchen, then plopped down in one of the creaky chairs. "Cold cereal, I take it?" she asked, resting her head on the table.

[Elijah Channing]

Eli had woken to the sound of construction as well and had just stared at the ceiling for a while before finally getting out of bed. He grabbed a polo--the nerdiest shirt he had--and a pair of khaki pants, then wandered out of his room, still wearing no shirt. He noticed Becky coming out of the bathroom and quickly ducked back into his and Noam's room until she went downstairs. He hurried to the bathroom, took a five-minute, freezing cold shower because the warm water wouldn't turn on, then changed and headed into the kitchen where the others were.

[Adelle Haynsworth]

Adelle looked up as Jasmine, then Becky walked into the kitchen. "Actually," she said, "I was going to make breakfast. If you want cereal, though, feel free. There's some in the cabinet over there on the right, and there's milk in the fridge." She looked up as Eli walked in as well. "We're going to have to do something about your appearance, boy." She frowned at him, thinking. "Tuck in your shirt, first off, and go get a belt to hold up your pants. We don't want them falling right off, do we?" She ignored the angry look he gave her and opened the fridge. "Who wants an omelet?"

[Noam Levin]

||OOC: I think condos are usually a single floor, unless it's a really ritzy one. If I am wrong feel free to correct me.||

Noam sat up in bed. Someone's alarm was going off. He looked at his clock, the time read 6:45. He was thankful for the wake-up call, even though it was unrequited, since he had forgotten to set his own alarm. Wouldn't do to be late for the first day of school, then no one would notice when he ditched half the second day.
He rolled out of bed and tried not to land flat on the ground. Whoever invented getting up early should go back to bed. Noam thought, realizing that this made very little sense. He walked to the bathroom to and saw Elijah heading to the kitchen as he went. "Shower time."
Noam took only a few minutes to shower, figuring the girls may need it. Once you learned to shower quickly in basic, there was no going back to luxurious showers, at least for him. Noam threw his black jacket over his red shirt and slapped a dark bandanna on his head before heading to the kitchen.
The smell of omelets wafted toward him beckoning him forward. Another chance to enjoy my role in this family. Noam thought. "Hey, good looking." He smirked at Adelle. "Makin' me some breakfast?"

[Rebecca Swenson]

Rebecca cocked an eyebrow at Noam. "Dude, that's my mom you're flirting with," she said, lifting her head from the table. Then, she turned to Adelle and nodded, "I'll take an omelet over cereal any day."

While the omelettes were cooking, Rebecca got up and began to set the table. Plates, cups, silverware, napkins -she laid them all out before going to the fridge in search of milk and juice. Something occured to her as she opened the door. "Um, where'd all the food come from?" she asked, looking at the packed shelves.