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 Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:12 am
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((That's okay! ^-^))
Eris turned and smiled at her husband-to-be.
"Of course, my Lord." She said sweetly and let go of Alessa who was running down the stairs to try and find Nana. Eris looked at her king, and then to the guard.
"Anything you wish." She murmured, giving the guard a glare that could freeze flames. The guard ducked away and walk quickly out of the room with a bow to each of them. Eris batted her eyelashes at her king.
-----------------------------------
Alessa flew down the stairs, her blonde hair blown out behind her.
"s**t, s**t, s**t!" She cursed in her native tongue, snapping her fingers again as she slid to a stop. A redheaded girl and a young brunette boy appeared.
"Mary, Jo, go find the girl." Alessa stuck out her hand, which would smell like Nana. The two sniffed it and ran, hot on her trail.
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 12:13 pm
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((lol, that is pretty epic-- I wish I could track people from their scent. I'd be like a bird-dog! Whee~))
The frown on Dum's face deepened. "You are playing a game with me," he said slowly, his tone not so much accusatory as observational. He wondered vaguely if she had really meant what she said when they were in his brother's room.
~~~
"I know, darling," Alice said, biting her lip. She wasn't sure what she could say that would comfort the poor girl. Just as the silence was on the point of becoming uncomfortable, Clairice shuffled over from where she had been sitting with the rabbits and her dolls and gave Indya a big comforting hug. "He'll be okay," she said, her little voice full of firm assurance. "He's real clever and quick besides. He knows what to do."
~~~
Nana ran through the forest until she broke the treeline and found herself staring into a meadow. This was incredibly inconvenient; she could be spotted from practically anywhere. She decided to double back and try a different route; she had gone far enough that, were she leaving footprints or any sort of trail, whoever was pursuing her might run down the wrong path long enough to get some distance between them.
On a new path of the forest, she circled around the meadow in a zigzagging pattern and came to the outskirts of Wonderland's metropolis-- now a center for rampant crime and the low-life population. There was a substantial crowd here, albeit an unsavory one, but large enough that she might be able to lose her trackers.
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Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 6:23 pm
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 6:13 am
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Text to go before each message
((LOL!! biggrin ))
Eris looked at Dum in alarm.
"Why would you think that!?" She demanded in shock. She had though of it, of course, but she had found she'd grown strangely attached to this man. Perhaps it was because he reminded her of her father. Or perhaps it was simply because he had understood. He could understand the pain that being a ruler brought.
Now, the only problem was how to get rid of that other girl. The one he'd loved before.
Eris wasn't good at sharing.
------------------------------------------
Alessa followed Jo and Mary, keeping up with them easily. They ran to a meadow and Alessa screamed in rage. She'd fooled them.
"Oh, you idiot...She'll have your head for this!" Alessa muttered angrily. The two demons she'd enlisted ran around the field insanely, and Alessa rolled her eyes.
Finally, the two straightened out and started down another path. They broke free of the dense brush at the edge of a city.
"Oh, that little b***h!" Alessa said, more to herself than anyone else. Nana was smart, but Alessa was smarter.
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Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:28 pm
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((Blerr... sorry, I'm really really tired and out of ideas at the moment, so I'm only posting for Dum.... sorreeeeeee ): I just worked all morning and am doing so again all afternoon and evening....))
Dum smiled and shook his head. "You flutter your eyelashes at me," he said, "and your actions are so strict-- more so, I believe, than is required even in your world."
Before she could make a reply, he sat down in a deep armchair and offered her the seat opposite. "The serving girl of yours-- the golden-haired one? She means quite a bit to you, doesn't she?" He put up his hands and added quickly, "Don't be concerned-- I'm not one to act on jealousy. But you and she walk very close together... I don't mean to intrude, but I believe you have been much closer than that." Then he laughed. "Pardon my mouth. I often speak before I think-- this far from my place to be questioning your history."
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 3:19 pm
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Eris looked away as she sat.
"No, you're my husband. Or, will be. My history is yours. It could disgrace you." She took a deep breath and looked at her feet.
"Alessa is my...what do you say in your world? Where I come from they would call her my familiar. She's my everything. We've always been close. She was an oracle to my mother when I was just a child, and upon her death she became my...baby sitter of sorts. But now, I'm far older than her, and..."
Eris looked Dum in the eye.
"I've had many a lover in my time, I won't lie. But I love--no, loved Alessa. She was my world, and I hers. But she knows we cannot be. We broke it off at my father command. In fact, only a few days after you were born." She laughed, though it was mirthless, and shook her head.
"For me and my people, that time is tiny, and could be compared to a week of your time." She hung her head.
"Forgive me my trespasses." She said quietly.
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Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:54 pm
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((Okay, I think I'm back on track for now. Although I have a LOT of tests this week. Mehhhh))
Dum shook his head. "I do not mean to bring you shame," he said. "There is no shame in love, much less in love that was ignited long before my existence. She is-- was... is far more than a courtesan to you; she is a companion. Your father is no longer in power, Eris; you are. You've got the right to bring Alessa back into your life, beyond friendship, without worrying about what I am going to say about it."
With regards to her last statement, a faint smile played upon his lips as he vaguely recalled a book from the Otherworld that had said something similar. "Your trespasses are forgiven," he said gently, "so long as you forgive those who have trespassed against you." He leaned forward in his chair, hands clasped before him. "I'm talking about Nana, Eris. Let it go-- let her go. If not forever, then at least until she proves directly harmful to us."
~~~
"When he needs your help, he will make it known," the Caterpillar said wisely from the perch atop his mushroom. He lazily blew a ring of smoke into the air. "Speaking of which, here he comes."
In truth it was another five minutes or so before Mimicry and Jasper came into view across the field of giant mushrooms, but the Caterpillar was known to be slightly ahead of the game in most matters.
~~~
Nana's pace eased into a brisk walk, one suited for such a terrain and such company. She slipped into a bar-- dark, dank, and full of smoke-- and ignored a whistle or two as she made her way toward the back. There were dozens of places like this from which Alessa might choose, but she would get here eventually. So Nana decided to wait in relative comfort. Selecting a less-hazy area of the building, she slid into a semicircular seat and requested two drinks from the boy who approached. Might as well be polite, she reasoned to herself. Hopefully Alessa might stay to talk instead of tugging on Nana's hand like a child and bringing her home to her dearest queen.
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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 3:55 pm
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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 4:49 pm
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Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 6:58 pm
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Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 2:20 pm
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Eris looked at Dum in alarm.
"But...I can't." She said, clearly dumbfounded.
"I'm yours. I...I belong to you. I can't ever be Alessa's again. That's simply not how it works. You, well you can take any lover you wish. Men are judged far differently than my kind. But, I will be promised to you. I can belong to no other."
Eris took a deep, slow breath. She didn't want to forgive Nana. But, her husband wanted her too. He was her superior. She had to.
"I will let Nana go." She said simply, lowering her eyes to the ground.
------------------------
It was clear to Alessa that Nana had no idea just how deep the pile of s**t she was in really was. The longer she evaded capture, the worse her death would be. If she had given herself up right away, she may have even be allowed to live, if Alessa had put in a good word.
Mary and Jo where confused by the sudden assault of scents and where running back and forth in confused patterns. Alessa snapped and they hurried to her side, taking another whiff of her palm and setting off.
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Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:16 pm
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Dum visibly relaxed at Eris' final, resigned statement. "Thank you.... You are stubborn and strong-willed," he said, "and I don't like to see you overpowered, especially not at my hands. But I really do believe that letting the Guardian free is the right thing to do." He realized that referring to her as Nana was far too personal, and betrayed his lingering bitterness about the entire situation.
He leaned forward and took Eris' hands, ever so gently turning them over and idly playing with her fingers. "I need to discuss something else with you," he said after some time of silence. "I feel you are the only one with whom I can speak freely on the matter. The other prisoner-- my brother, Dee.... I haven't decided what ought to become of him. It is clear that in his aggressive state he is not fit for any position of power... but the people are expecting a coronation tomorrow. What can we give them?"
~~~
Mimicry smiled and nodded as they sat down to eat, but the smile faded as he looked over his shoulder at Jasper. The young man had gone some distance off and was sitting with knees drawn to his chest, back to the stalk of a mushroom, crimson locks obscuring his face.
Turning back to Indya, Mimicry ran a hand through his white hair and said quietly, "Nana escaped, but she wouldn't come back with us. She said that they would find her, and she didn't want to put us all at risk."
~~~
Nana sipped her drink one minuscule taste at a time, leaving the other mug where it sat before the empty space on her left, watching the ancient clock behind the bar tick away the seconds. She recalled the first time Alessa had tracked her down; she had followed her directly from the castle and caught her-- alone-- in a forest.... She'd also had several servants at her command, and as chances were, that part of the hunt was not any different. She just hoped that they had all gone off in separate directions, and that Alessa would find her first.
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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 3:10 pm
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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 3:24 pm
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Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2009 6:00 pm
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"Jasper's taking it pretty hard," Mimicry confided to Indya. "What happened-- at Rosalie's ball? --he thinks Nana's going to go missing again, maybe forever this time." He sighed and picked apart a little round tea cake; although he was truly ravenous, he somehow just didn't feel like eating. "It's difficult, I know. We all know. I suppose that's sort of why we're all here, isn't it?"
~~~
Tweedle Dum surprised even himself by smiling at the idea. "Perhaps," he said, "you are right. After all, if I'm not mistaken, the people were promised a wedding as well-- it oughtn't matter if one couple has been replaced with another." On the note of brides and grooms, he frowned and said with a light sigh, "I wonder what has become of Dee's queenly little thing. I hope she isn't still here." He said this only partly in jest; although she had seen the layout of the castle, and no doubt gathered a secret or two in her time, he didn't see how she could pose any immediate threat to their security. They could spare her yet.
~~~
Nana looked up at Alessa, her crimson eyes as wide and innocent as a doe's, and smiled, tugging her pale arm out of the woman's grasp. "It didn't seem fit for me to remain behind you and your queen during your conversation." By 'conversation' it was clear that she meant something entirely different; she continued, "It seemed a bit... voyeuristic. Anyway, I beg your pardon. Would you like to sit? I bought you a drink." She offered the empty space beside her.
"I've been tortured before," she added with a shrug. "It's bloody awful. The only thing more painful than torture, for me anyway, is not knowing whether the people I care about most are going to be all right." She studied Alessa carefully. "I don't suppose you know what that feels like, since your lover is immortal. It's not a good feeling, Alessa. It really isn't."
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