And there is Dean, lounging on that couch like nobody's business. Only in his Jack Skellington night pants and a t-shirt, he abhors socks by the way. Remote in his hand as he flips the channels. Bored expression on his face, pillows stacked under his head, feet up on the couch, if Russ saw him, he'd be smacked.

"Boring.." He murmurs. "Boring." Another flip of the channel and he shakes his head. "What do these guys watch anyway." He mutters, not one for TV really, usually he's busy with Daniel, recording, or spending time with Rhyannon. But today's he's on his own, Daniel on a play date with the other little ones, no recording since all the rest of the band are still sleeping, the bums, and Rhyannon, well he hasn't called her yet to see what she's doing.

"Boring. Agh.." He shakes his head and turns the TV off. The urge to call Rhy hits him and he is just about to slide off the couch when the door is kicked in. "What the hell?" He stands up and walks over to see Tristen and not to mention hears him. Wait, Tristen?

"Tristen!" He laughs and walks over, shaking his head. "About time you came home, how's it going bro?" He chuckles and reaches to help bring in Tristen's things. "Your room is still just as before, man. Nobody touched it, well unless Julian did something in there." His face scrunches up a bit. "But I think it's alright." He chuckles softly.

Grabbing up a few of the bags he walks on ahead of Tristen a bit, on down the hallway. He hadn't tried to grab that guitar case, he doesn't want to lose a limb. And he knows how that goes, he feels the same about his baby as well. "Missed you? Man I was only a shell of my former self without you!" He grins and shakes his head, jesting of course.

The change to Tristen is very much noted, and Dean laughs softly. "You sure grew up while you were gone." He mutters a bit, but it's all in good fun. And for sure there's a huge change on Dean, as his back is turned, I don't know... the huge Jack Skellington tattoo on his back perhaps, just one of the new things really.

"I'm sure nobody touched it." He laughs. On towards the other side of the large main house, where most of the elders stay, without the loudness of the younger brothers, he sets Tristen's stuff down on the floor as he opens the door.

"Well, I'm engaged to a very hot girl named Rhyannon, Daniel my son is a year old now, you missed his birthday but I have pictures." He chuckles. "Planning on getting married on my birthday, I'm sure you will attend and be a best man." He smiles and picks up Tristen's things and brings them into his room.

"I can't tell you who is dating who anymore, that all changes so frequently. Russ is married and has twin boys now, Cole, Gage, Dirk and Jessie, even now a new brother named Luke are all together. Same drama as always. Jaden of all people has settled down and is to get married to a nice girl named Eddie." He gives Tristen that knowing look and shakes his head, as he puts Tristen's bags down near the wall.

"You have a lot of catching up to do, bro." He nods with a smile.

"More ink is always needed." Dean grins and turns watching Tristen. A shake of his own head. "Do you even have any more room for some?" Course look who is talking. "I'm thinking about getting these tribals updated and re-inked." As he looks down at his own covered arms.

However the room gets a face from Dean, and the panties, causes Dean to have a bit of a coughing fit. "She left without them? What did you do, man?" He laughs and moves a foot up to push the covers to cover up those panties. "Cleaning is your friend, bro. How many times do I need to tell you? Or I could get you a hot little maid up in here, help you out?" Dean laughs and examines the room once more before looking back to Tristen.

"Thanks man. Rhyannon's a great girl and you better believe there will be alcohol. I might not drink, but I sure as hell won't stop my brothers from having a fantastic and sloshed time. Fun to watch you all act stupid." He grins and leans back against Tristen's wall. "As for strippers? No clue. I don't mind it, but I'll probably laugh more then anything, all of you drooling and chasing after them. Just have to be careful of Russ and them, they might trick us and have male strippers." He shudders. "I told them no pranks."

"Russ is happy, her name is Ana." He nods. "They are all doing very good. As for Jaden, well he's not married yet, but he might as well be with how they are. Two little lovey dovey birds, I swear. About as bad as Rhy and me." He grins.

"You? Settle down?" Dark brow arches and he leans back, unbelieving. "You feeling sick or something?" Dean however smirks and bites on his lip ring before pushing off the wall. "Well I can leave you to your cleaning, bro. Wouldn't want to bug you." He chuckles, more like be talked into helping clean, that's where Dean didn't want to go. God only knows what's under Tristen's bed, Dean doesn't want to find out! Question is, can he retreat before being enlisted?

"Just wait till everyone knows you are here, well when they all wake up anyway, the lazy bums." He laughs.

Hazel eyes glance down to the small amount of yet to be inked flesh of Tristen's arm with a arched dark brow and he laughs. "Yeah, you need to get that filled up alright. And if you want to keep up with me, hop to it. I believe you can talk to a sweet girl named Lyren, she's thinking about opening up a shop, actually. I'm even thinking about asking her to do a tat for me, maybe she can refresh these tribals too. She's a cool rock chick." He nods and takes one more glance around the room. "What a mess." He "tsks" and shakes his head.

The waggle of brows makes Dean laugh even louder. Tristen could always do that eyebrow waggle and crack Dean up. "She left you a gift alright." His nose wrinkles up. "But they are how old now? Gross, bro. Toss em, you have plenty of time to get more. And as much as I'd love to get you a cute little French maid, I think we are freshly out. Though I hear Rhy and Jade came here dressed up like that once. I missed it." He shakes his head. "But Rhy did dress up..." And he stops there. "Um, yeah, no maids." He clears his throat.

"Oh you mean when you.." Dean chuckles and of course doesn't continue. No brawling when Tristen just got home, there's plenty of time for that later. He grins and steps around all the clothes on the floor and to the buzzer near the door. One push of that will send the most annoying buzzing throughout the pledges wing and surely wake them up. Something Dean has done a few times and blamed on Russ.

"Wake them all up, bro. Welcome home."

"Pathetic indeed." Dean smirks and was about to stick his tongue out of his brother but thought better of it. Once again, a brawl this early? And he's only in his pants and would be pantsed for sure. No way is he walking around like that.

"Lyren, she's something alright. Cool girl." He nods. "All the girls at the sorority are great. Jade and them." He nods. "All very sweet. Haven't met one yet that has gotten on my nerves and that's saying something." He laughs and leans against the wall once more. And the waggle of the brows again makes Dean laugh that much more. "Bro, cut it out. I like to breathe." He chuckles and shakes his head. "I haven't seen any of her work yet, or if she has done any, but fresh artist with passion for it? Yeah, I'm betting she's great."

He watches as the panties go out the window and his nose wrinkles a bit. "Yuck. Have to get some of the pledges to pick those up and toss 'em too. If there were maids I'd have them for you, you know that." He chuckles.

Even more of a chuckle at the finger waved at him. "You are just looking for a thumb war. You know I can beat you, I always do." He grins and moves out of the way so that Tristen can get to the buzzer better.

"Yeah we had it installed for all the elders, every single elder has the buzzer in their rooms and it links back to the pledge wing. We can buzz them anytime we want, or just to annoy the hell out of them." He nods, he steps out the door though. Laughing as Tristen hits that buzzer.

"I'm sure everyone else is going to love that you are home too, bro." He laughs loudly and makes his way down the hall, let those pledges clean Tristen's room, Dean was off scott-free.

It was early morning and Tyler had just flopped into his bed. He cuddled his pillow to his chest and was just drifting off when there came a loud BUZZ! from the intercom. His face scrunched up into a scowl and he reached over the side of the bed and grabbed his shoe. Throwing the shoe across the room he grumbles. "Not now, please, not now..."

But the buzzing persists and then there's a strange voice he'd never heard before. "God, one day I'll be an elder and I can get the pledges. Yes, revenge will be mine." He rubs his hand over his face and attempts to fall back asleep. But that buzzing just won't stop.

"Somebody fix that blasted thing!" he yells out and finally rolls out of bed and onto the floor. Landing with a thud, he curls his arms around one of his boots and rests his head on it. "Just two more minutes, ma!" He groans and keeps his eyes sealed shut. But the buzzing and the yelling continue.

"Alright, alright alright." He growls and finally gets to his hands and knees. "If I ever find the guy that invented those stupid things, I'm going to castrate him." Tyler is not a morning person, at all. Climbing onto the bed, he starts to get dressed. "I'm coming!"

Pulling on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, he was prepared for anything. Usually early morning calls like this one were reserved for kitchen duty if one of Cook's assistants were out. Or even some toilet cleaning when Julian or some of the other pledges puke in the bathrooms and miss the toilets. Yes, he knew he was in for some kind of work.

He put on his boots and then rises from the bed. Grabbing a black bandana, he ties it around his head and heads on out of his bedroom. "I'm coming!" He yells out as he can still hear the buzzing of the intercom.

He meets up with Brandon in the hall. Giving him an upnod he grins wryly. "So what's this all about?" Brandon, fully dressed similarly to Ty just shrugs and says, "You're guess is as good as mine. But with the way they were buzzing, it must be something pretty important."

Tyler agreed and the duo walked in silence the rest of the way towards the elders wing. As they did they picked up a couple of muffins from Cook. And the house became more plush and ornate as they ambled through. "Some day.." Brandon grinned at Tyler. "Someday we'll be in this wing."

They were both grinning to that when they saw Dean walk in the opposite direction from them down the hall. Approaching the open door, they both look in curiously. "You rang." They both said in unison and started to laugh.

Both Brandon and Ty stepped into the room, careful not to step on any of the clothes that littered the floor. As they listened to what Tristen had to say, the larger their eyes got and the the more their mouths fell agape. Neither of them spoke a word in protest though. They knew that taking care of the elders was a part of being a pledge. They both grimaced when they were warned of vermin.

Once Tristen left the room, they looked at each other and wondered just what they had gotten themselves into. Brandon waded into the room and found an empty basket to start picking up the mountain of laundry that needed to be done. "Man, this stuff stinks! It hasn't been washed in years!" He holds up a pair of boxers and waves them, dust flying, causing him to cough.

Ty, on the other hand opted to clean the bathroom. He laughs at Brandon and walks into the bathroom then lets out a small scream and comes running out. "Some thing's in there!" he shouts as he goes to hide behind Brandon.

"Man you're nuts." Brandon shakes his head and drops more clothes into the hamper. Then he walks into the bathroom and flips the light on. Something small scurried past his feet and he jumps with a yelp. "What the hell was that?" Then Brandon kneels down and gets a closer look. "Sniffles!" he laughs and reaches out to pick up the small hamster. "I was wondering where you went off to." He laughs and stands up. Looking at Ty, he shows him the hamster. "I'll be right back. Need to go put Sniffles back into his cage. And if he didn't come back for a good hour, Ty wouldn't miss him at all, would he?

Ty simply looks on in disgust. "Yeah, whatever man. Take your pet and go." He shakes his head and puts his hand on his hip. Once Brandon whizzes past him, Ty walks into the bathroom. "Man, this crap is caked on." He runs his finger along the back of the faucet in the sink. With another shake to his head, he digs out the cleaning supplies that accompany each bathroom and he sets to work.

A good hour goes by and finally Ty has the bathroom sparkling clean. He hadn't realized that Brandon hadn't come back yet until that very moment. "That douche." he growls and goes to start cleaning the windows.

Brandon walks in when Ty is about finished. "Wow!" He laughs and walks up to Ty, patting him on the back. "Seems like you've got this pretty much covered. I've got a date with Emma. You don't mind finishing up, do you?"

"Oh no, don't mind at all." Tyler sneers and shakes his head. "Get the laundry done man. He'll be back anytime and if at least some of that's not done, he'll have our heads!" Ty drops the paper towel he's holding in his hands into the trash can that was now filled with dirty paper towels. "Come on, I'll help you."

Brandon sighs and simply nods. "Oh ok.' And he picks up a pair of pants. "God, these things can stand on their own. I don't think he's ever cleaned a thing in his life!"

And so it went. Ty and Brandon sorted the clothes by color and one by one each load went into the washer. All except the whites, which were washed by hand, as requested. When the clothes were finally done and hung up, it was time to tackle the bed. Neither of them really wanted to go under neath it, not with the warning they'd received. Of course the bed had been stripped of the sheets and comforter to be washed, so making the bed wasn't the problem.

"You ready?" Brandon's dark blues look over at Ty.

"I guess?" Ty looks back at Brandon and nibbles his lip nervously.

"Then let's get to it. You get that side of the bed and I'll take this side. Any money we find, we split. Deal?"

"Deal." Grins Ty as he goes to his knees.

They had already split up a good deal of silver coins from the laundry, and this last task could prove to be a treasure trove. Ty lay on his stomach on one side of the bed and swept his arm under it, to clear out anything that he could reach. Brandon did the same. At about the same time, both of them run their fingers across something rubbery. "Eww..." Was said in unison as they both started to pull whatever it was out.

It was a tug of war and Brandon won. Of course, it was deflated now, but there was no mistaking the blow up doll as it came flying out of the bed and landing on Brandon's chest. "Ew ew ew ew! Get it off of me!" He screams and scrambles away from the doll. Ty looks over the bed and bursts out laughing, falling onto the bed and just laughing.

"Dude, that was so not funny." Brandon grumbled as he sat up, glaring at the laughing Tyler. And as Tristen walked into the room, Tyler's smile faded and he pushed off of the bed to get to his feet. Brandon was watching Ty, and turned to see what had sobered him up so quickly.

With the doll being ripped from his hands, and he was more than happy to be rid of it, he laughs and mouths, "Susan?" to Tyler who was barely able to contain the laughter. Then both sets of eyes turn to Tristen as he talks to the doll. Brandon just grimaces at the mental images and Ty holds his stomach, trying so hard not to laugh.

When Tristen walked into the bathroom, Brandon got up and rushed over to Tyler to punch him in the arm. "Shut up man!" He whispered loudly. "You want to get us both in trouble?" Ty just rubbed his own arm where the punch had landed. "Chill out, Branman." With a shake of his head.

"I'll go get the carpet cleaner." Brandon offered at the mention of the crispy carpet and he took off out of the room. Tyler simply watched him go, then smiles back at Tristen. "Yes sir, nobody touches the guitar." He nods and then breathes a sigh of relief when Tristen walks out of the room.

While Brandon was gone, Tyler started to move the furniture and clean out under neath it. Porn magazines, and there were quite a few of those, were put into a drawer in the nightstand. A box held other things such as car keys, rubber balls, an old box of condoms, a few packs of cards and other odds and ends. Everything got put onto the bed so that when Brandon came back with the carpet cleaner, the floor was ready to be cleaned.

Brandon lugged the carpet cleaner up from the servant's quarters. It was heavy as hell and must have been about a hundred years old. Sweating profusely and breathing heavily, he finally gets the contraption into the room. "Whew!" he blows out a breath and collapses into a chair. "How about you go get the stuff to stock his fridge while I get this thing put together?" Brandon's dark blue eyes landing on Ty.

Ty didn't have to be asked twice. He was also sweating and the light from the lamps was shining off of his golden skin. "Two cases of beer and chocolates. You want a drink too bro?"

Brandon nodded that he would and then Ty was out of the room. The machine wasn't too hard to set up and he filled the tank with warm water, then added the cleanser. Turning the machine on, Brandon wished he had ear plugs. The thing was louder than Julian on a Saturday night! But he persisted and by the time Ty got back with the stuff for the cooler, a good patch of carpet looked markedly brighter than the rest of the room.

Ty loaded the fridge up and then handed a bottle of Coke over to Brandon, and kept one for himself. "Looking good man." Ty pops open his bottle and takes a chug. "Real good."

Brandon shut down the machine and sat on it as he took a gulp or two of his own Coke. "Yeah, thanks." He smiles.

After their little break, Ty takes the trash out of the room and Brandon gets busy with the carpet cleaner. When Ty got back, they both moved the furniture around so Brandon could get under it. Finally, there was just one corner left and Brandon turned off the cleaner. "Ok, I'm going to change water, for the fifth time now." He looks over at Ty. "You think he'll notice if we move the guitar just long enough to clean under it?"

Tyler looked at him dubiously. "Man, you're not suppose to touch that." He shakes his head.

"But we've got just that one corner. And he'll never know." Brandon argued, walking back out of the bathroom with a clean tank of water and cleaner. He reassembles the cleaner then walks over to the guitar. "Don't you dare tell him I moved it." He looks at Ty with a growl. Picking up the case, he walks over to the bed and lays it down carefully.

"Man, You got a death wish." Tyler shakes his head and leans against a wall.

Brandon just grinned and turned the machine back on. "Well, we only live once, right?"

Both sets of eyes go wide as Tristen entered the room. Brandon dropped the wand mechanism from the machine, and water spurted everywhere. "Oh crap!" And he hurriedly picks the thing back up and turns off the machine.

Tyler's eyes got round as saucers and he looks at Brandon, who then looks back at him. And at the same time, both take a deep breath and point at each other.

"He did it!" In unison.

Brandon and Tyler both looked at each other, then at Tristen as he started to pull things from the pillow cases and under the bed. Nervous laughs and shuffling of feet from both of the pledges as more devices of torture were being presented.

"I did not." Ty hissed at Brandon.

Brandon just shrugged and looked back at Tristen. "Uh.." he looks at Tyler and then holds out his hands. "Let Ty go man. I'm the one that moved the case." He comes clean.

Tyler looked visibly relieved and took a step back to leave. "You two have fun." He smiles and waves then heads for the door.

Brandon's eyes were on Ty and then travel back to Tristen with a loud gulp and his hands start to shake.

When Tristen dropped the items onto the bed, Brandon sighed with relief. A brief hug back with a pat to Tristen's back, he smiles as he looks at him. "I'm glad. Duct tape hurts to take off." he laughs

He goes to pick up the carpet cleaner as he was pretty much finished except for putting the furniture back into place. "No thanks man. I've got to go meet up with Emma in a bit. Maybe a rain check or I'll catch you later?" Though pizza did sound good to him. All he had to eat was the muffin earlier.

He looks over at the guitar case, then back to Tristen. "Um, can you put the guitar somewhere where I can't disturb it before you go?"

"Will do, and thanks bro." He smiles and watches how Tristen meticulously puts the case into the drawer and slides it closed. A thought occured to him, that knowing where he hid his baby would be useful if the others ever wanted to pull a prank on Tristen. He nods and then his eyes go back to watching what Tristen's doing.

"I'm Brandon." He offers to shake his hand but Tristen had bounded out of the room by then. "Ah well." he laughs and starts setting the room to rights and even dusting off the furniture now that it was in place. He takes one last glance around the room and smiles with pride and satisfaction.

Then he looks down to his grime and sweat covered body. "God, I need a shower." He grimaces and then leaves the room to go to the guest house with Emma. No intercoms there!