staring intently as mateo went to go check the window, noelle half expected something to leap out from it, and grab his face, and devour him. that possibly came from the scary moves she'd been watching with chancelor as of late, but...that could still happen! leaning closer as the window opened, the fact that nothing happened did make her feel a bit disappointed.

"you're probably right," she said with a little grumble as he made sense of the odd noise. rolling her eyes slightly at his challenge, she smirked. "and if i win, you have to promise to treat me to some!....or wait, wait no, a kiss! can i change my answer? i'm changing it!" she blushed as she gave an excited grin. just as she picked back up her controller to start the next round though, the tv abruptly shut off, followed by the lights flickering. with a 'bzt', everything simply...turned off. had they forgotten to pay the light bill or something?

now pitch black, there was a distinct, almost sinister feeling in the air, and she could've sworn she heard the sound of something...scratching the walls? a faint, rather ominous wind had settled in a gentle, cruel breeze within their now dark home, making he female shudder as she frowned.

her typically acute senses were going all out of whack, sensitive to the abrupt change in presence. it felt almost evil, she hated it. "mateo?" she called out for him, squinting in the darkness as a hand reached out for him. "this isn't some dumb prank, right? this...isn't funny."

there was a distinct hint of slight panic within her tone. 

Noelle stayed put, taking out her phone to possibly shoot Chance a text and tell him to 'knock it off'. Except, the message wouldn't send, as though something were blocking the signal. "What..." She breathed out with a tilt of her head and scrunch of her brows. the moment the high-pitched shriek happened, she jumped, muscles tensing as she tried to pinpoint where it came from, but, it was impossible. Creepily enough though, it definitely came from inside the house. "It's inside," she stated with a frown and grimace. whatever 'it' was.

abruptly, in the hallway, there was the sound of something scraping against the floor, like nails on a chalk board, an ominous violet and green emerging, as though something lie just around the corner. it felt harder to breath, as though an intense pressure had taken control of the area. it was as though something were lying just around the corner.

the cringe worthy, ear-bleeding noise made her yelp, and jump in the air like a startled cat. with that, she clung onto mateo in a bear-tight hold, hiding her face in his chest. "Mateo, hold me! protect me!"

was she scared? a bit. but, this was honestly just an excuse to get close to him. a sort of 'take advantage of the opportunity' thing.

Whining loudly as she was pushed at, her grip was finally pried off, leaving the woman pouting. seriously, just this one time he couldn't show her a tiny bit of- what the hell was that? a vase had whirled past them, nearly hitting mateo had he not ducked. but, the most 'impressive' thing by far was the appearance of the young girl. naive as could be, noelle, at first, took a step forward. it didn't click just yet that this was obviously not some poor little kid who needed help. seeing as bugs of all sorts wriggled and crawled from out her gaping mouth in a horrific manner.

oh.

oh.

she didn't protest at nearly being dragged about, instead following behind mateo and trying to resist the urge to look back and figure out what the actual hell was happening. finally though, they were free. panting slightly as they collapsed onto the ground, she opened her mouth, about to ask the man a million questions per second, all some form of 'what and why'. until he was snatched up with little effort, a clawed hand grasping firmly onto him, yanking and pulling him back into the pooling darkness.

"Mateo!" The girl let out a cry, reaching forward to grab his hands. She held onto him, trying to pull him back, with near tears in her eyes. "Don't let go, don't let go-" But, it was too late. The darkness had swallowed him up with a single, forceful yank, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

for a moment, noelle gaped, breath heavy and near the verge of panicking. what should she do? what should she do? call kyle? get bryony? plead for chancellor to help out his rival? no, there wasn't anytime for that...she balled her hands into fist, gritting her teeth together for a moment. forcing her body to stop trembling in a bout of terror and shock, she took a leap of faith into the darkness.

it felt...heavy. thick. hard to move in. suffocating. the walls were pitch black, it felt like the house was breathing. but, she didn't look back as she kept searching through the darkness. by her side, she had released dragonair, who kept a safeguard up, as well as offered a beam of light from her mystical blue orb.

"mateo? mateo!? mateo you dummy idiot, say something!" she bit her lip, trying not to start tearing up again, "you stupid dragon boy, say something!"

Twitching slightly at the stupid nickname, Noelle followed the noise of Mateo's voice. And it wasn't long before she came across him, being eaten alive by a...Haunter? Seriously? All of this was one little haunter? Even her dragonair looked a bit annoyed by the situation. Noelle though? She snickered at the sight of the obviously irritated man. Before long, she was nearly on the ground, holding her sides and in tears. "You...you look ridiculous! And to think, you were scared of this!" True, she'd been scared too but...details!

Kneeling by his head, she smirked, not exactly 'saving' him just yet, if just to continue to poke a bit of fun at him. "Seriously, when- if I save you, I want a kiss, okay? It doesn't even have to be on the lips! But, I'm serious, okay?" Pleased with herself and her terms, she gave his head a little pat before giving the giggling haunter a glower. "Sorry, but, you gotta go! Odessa?" The dragonair let out a heavy sigh before approaching the haunter. A sole Dragon Tail was what sent it flying, and otherwise out of their lives.

All at once, the shadowy mess it had created was gone. The haunted house their home had turned into was gone, leaving the mateo laying on the floor as though nothing had happened. kneeling by his side and staring down at him, noelle smiled. "you're welcome!"