Fantasy Howl's Flying Castle (Finished! ---Whoo! (*＾▽＾)／)

[Katsuya]

After a long and quiet moment, Lydia would hear Renee move around, her clothes rustled as her footsteps went closer to the tiny witch until a pair of purple bird scaley hands gently held her own soft pale peach ones. If she looked, she would see a pained but understanding expression on Renee's face, paired up with a small and hesitant grin. Her wings were down and limp.

"Wanna see my soul room, Lydia?" Was her mumble of a request to the tiny but mighty witch. In her sunset colored eyes is a tiny plea to let her explain in there where only she can hear.

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

When Renee's hands touched hers, she jumped slightly, her face quickly turning from the window towards Renee, her large green eyes wide in mild surprise. As she noted Renee's expression, the surprise in her eyes slowly faded and the size of her eyes diminished before she faintly nodded her head, "...o-okay..."

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

​

"...Thank you..."

Renee conjured up her spell in a tender whisper and after a shimmering hand over her chest, Lydia would feel that familiar sucking sensation of coming into people's soul rooms.

When she opens her eyes again, she'll see that she's in the Pendragon's home; with Calcifer on the fireplace, Heen is sleeping under the table, and members of the family were either reading books on the table in the open, creating an invention, cooking, or creating potions. Outside the window of the home is a field full of cherry blossom trees with petals dancing around in the air and the sunlight felt warm and happy but it felt like it's not coming from Renee.

Talking about said Pendragon sibling, Renee is waiting for her by the bottom of the staircase with that same hesitant grin on her face. A blue bookmark ribbon wrapped around her wrist while an anklet with an owl, a heart, a rod, a frying pan, and a paint brush as beads wrapped around her bare ankle. Her simple white summer dress billowed around her knees as she waved hand for her to come over and follow her. Her wings fluttered happily for a moment as a half of clockwork heart laid on top of her somewhat scarred chest.

​

"Hi Lydia, welcome to my soul room. Come on...I want to show you something that's deeper within." She said calmly as she went up the stairs to her bedroom, the red ribbon around her other wrist glowed red as it lead her to the green part of her duo colored dial. "Before you ask, yes; the green dial leads to Seifer's soul room." Renee explained warmly before switching her dial to orange and opened the door, revealing a river that flowed through a forest at night with yellow glowing fireflies dotting around. The Pendragon teen gave Lydia an amused smile before going in and walked on the water, rippling under her feet as she lead the tiny witch to another part. There was moonlight peeking through the forest trees', making it easier to see through the dark.

The witch will notice how her clothes are starting to billow as well as if they were under water and once she spotted a large tree with roots growing under a ruin of sorts, Lydia will see flying whales of different sizes floating around in a peaceful manner. Ferrets of shades of brown, black, and white scurried away with a gear of sorts back to where they just left from.

Renee pause in front of a large stone tablet with writings on it to check if Lydia was following. Once she made sure, she waved her hand again as she hid behind the tablet and she revealed another door that lead into a shack, built with sticks and leaves. Outside of the window hole is a beautiful view of a cliff and sunlight peeked through the leaves; shining on the floating glass bubbles with multiply colors. The ones Lydia would be attracted to would be the black and white striped bubbles and the midnight blue ones. If she touched them, she'll hear herself talking about how she felt like she was the weirdest of her family; a talk from back when they first stayed in Kenren's warship. The midnight blue one was James talking about how he loved the fish bookmark Lydia gave him back in Chinpo.

"Those...those are precious quotes from the ones I care for the most." Renee said as she took a deep breathe, smelling the comforting scent of rain in the forest. There were many floating around in different colors. If she touched the other different colored ones, she would hear everyone in the group, including Chenglei, Kenren, and Hisaya telling something about themselves or something sweet or heart-wrenching. The silver ones with cherry blossom petals floating is Seifer's, saying something about finally able to break the arranged marriage his father made for his company's benefit and he was going to join Renee in the war to fight. A black as night blue with twinkling stars was the voice of the baby dragon, saying 'Momma' for the first time and how he wanted to eat crystal chin monster meat.

"...I never forgot about anybody...nor did I stop caring." Renee muttered calmly; the sun dimmed, the skies are getting cloudy as her shoulders slumped. Her wings wilted down and limp. She stood by the other side of the shack, waiting for Lydia to finish hearing the closest bubbles before continuing on into the dark parts of the shack. At the end of the dark hall is another gate, glowing a bright blue light as it highlighted the tall and thin tree bark around it. The Pendragon brought out a silver key with small shards of stained glass from nowhere and put it in the key hole. She didn't open the door yet.

"...I don't let anybody come in this room unless they have the key and there's only five people who do. After Valdanr made a mess in here, I had to...protect my most precious items...so..." Renee turned her head with a surprising vulnerable look, almost scared to let the brunette enter her innermost room as she pleaded quietly. "So...please handle them carefully...I trust you but...yea." Then she opened her door and the first thing Lydia will smell is a mix of roasted apples, cherry blossoms, and rain in the forest.



Roleplay Skittle

 

[Zer0]

- Tower -
" Paroosia "​

"So you were her private violinist." said Seth. Then he looked like he remembered something. "By the way, Serena, how's your master doing? I heard that after we got captured, the others followed us and then got the prisoners out together with some goblins Echo talked into coming over to our side."

Katsuya
OOC | Characters | Moments in Time
​

 

[Katsuya]

Serena perked up at the topic with a relieved smile. "I know. Polorius told me. He wrote me letters back at Dalaran, saying that he''s...he's entertaining a large white dragon with his piano. Heheh." She giggled at the thought of her mentor playing for Mizutsume. "He wishes you luck too, Seth. Did you get letters from your classmates?"

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- Tower -
" Paroosia "​

Seth shook his head. "I told the officers to keep my location secret. After all I've been through and hearing James get shot by a sniper, I don't want the enemy to know where I am at all." he took a swig of butter beer. "I heard from Chenglei that the prisoners were taken to Dalaran where they met their families, I don't know if they stayed or left. I hope they left, I heard giants have started besieging Dalaran too. They better keep Luthien safe, Minnie lost an arm for her."

For a while the twin seemed to reminisced that time. That was theworse thing he's ever seen during this war, seeing Minnie all hurt like that. Second would be remembering what he was forced to do to Serena, though that would be his number one regret.

"Hey, about . . . what that deathknight made me do to you . . . are you really okay, Serena?"

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Serena nodded, understanding why he wanted to keep his position secret after all that has happened. Then she looked at Seth for a moment when he mentioned the deathknight before looking at her notes with a frown.Then she closed her eyes shut as if to hide something.

"That-!" She growled, stopping herself to calm down her fierce temper. After taking a deep breathe and letting it go, the blonde violinist kept her eyes closed and flinched involuntary. "...No, I'm not really okay...but I'm not....I'm not going to let th-that bloody monster rule over me either." She looked over at Seth with intense blue eyes wide open, revealing the dragon slits for pupils instead of the usual human round ones; showing that she's absolutely frustrated and held a promise of a violently furious anger like a wildfire in a large dry forest. "I know you more then that monster. I know you wouldn't do that to me on purpose...I mean...it made me watch you hurt me first...it wanted me to be scared of you even after it loses it's control over us..."

She gritted her teeth for a moment. "I...I just hope you're ready to see what my temper can really do if that monster ever spots us inside...or if it ever tries to attack us..." Serena growled low as she pillowed her arms and laid her head on top as she stares out in the distance, narrowing her eyes a bit as she tries to relax.

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- Tower -
" Paroosia "​

Seth flinched at the sight of her fury, for one thing he didn't have adequate fire protection. He made a mental note to ask James to teach him that flamme garde spell in the future. "I'll prepare myself." nodded the twin. "Also, can I take a picture of it?"

He showed her a camera. A familiar looking camera she might have seen on a certain oriental blonde's person since Chingpo.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Serena looked over at Seth again only to blink away the dragon slits in surprise from seeing the camera. Then...the corner of her lips quirked up into an amused smile as she nodded her head. "Sure." She giggled, feeling better from Seth's question. Her anger is still there but it's muted by the randomness Seth provided.

"When did you get that? I thought Chenglei wouldn't let anyone in his room?" Since he always locked the door to his own private quarters.

Zer0

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

Lydia's mouth quirked into a slight smile for a moment before she closed her eyes and waited for Renee's spell to draw her into the Pendragon sister's soul room. She didn't know how it felt to others, but for her, coming into a soul room was almost like waking up in a dream and left her feeling a little weightless, so when she had that feeling she opened her eyes again and looked around to get a feeling for her surroundings. The mild strain that had been on Lydia's face softened as a warm smile made its way onto her lips at the familiar and welcoming sight of the Pendragon home, it made her miss the real castle.

Unlike she had done previously in James' soul room, Lydia did not alter her appearance in the slightest, she appeared just as she had been on the outside, wearing her black poncho with pants that puffed out around her legs slightly and were tucked into her knee high boots and her hair was up in a high ponytail though it was longer than it had been previously when she wore her hair like that and she didn't have bangs anymore. As she looked around, soon her eyes landed on Renee and she returned the hesitant grin with a smile of the same air after taking in her appearance somewhat curiously. It was interesting to see her friends in their soul rooms and all of the things that were different about them that couldn't be seen from the outside.

She gave a slightly awkward wave as Renee greeted her, and nodded slightly, taking a few steps closer to her then following after she started to move. Once they reached her room and she gave the explanation of the dials, she shook her head in slight confusion, she hadn't even planned on asking about the difference in the dials, Renee hadn't even been to the inner most places of her soul when she had visited, no one had. She just sort of guessed that some things should remain private and only really known to the person whose soul they were in, unless of course the person who those things were private to decided to share them but Lydia wouldn't have pried.

Again Lydia returned Renee's smile when it was given with a brief smile of her own, her gaze drifting around in slight awe as Renee lead her through the door and onto the water. Her first step was somewhat hesitant, watching Renee for a moment before she set her foot down, her eyes widening slightly as the ripples formed beneath her foot and once she felt steady on the water and started to follow her friend, her gaze drifted around at all the little lights floating about. Lydia didn't pause in her footsteps, taking in her surroundings as she walked. She didn't touch any of the bubbles that floated around inside the shack that Renee lead her into, after her previous experiences in other soul rooms, she had made the decision never to touch things in another person's soul room because she didn't know what effects it may have on herself or the person that the objects belonged to so she looked to Renee as she began to describe what the different colored floating orbs actually were. She nodded slightly before she looked back to them, following them with her eyes as they went about their different paths.

Her gaze turned back to Renee after a moment and her brow furrowed, her lips parting as though she were going to say something, but instead she just shook her head and closed her mouth again, following after Renee once more as she began to move further into the shack. When she paused again in front of a door and prepared to open it but hesitated, Lydia looked to the door then back to her, a concerned expression on her face. She then nodded in understanding as Renee gave an explanation and smiled slightly, she hadn't touched anything yet and she didn't plan to suddenly start.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Inside is a fancy but humbling bedroom room, making it feel homey with all the succulent plants scattered all over and the warm sun setting light coming through the windows. One wall is a large mirror, another wall is actually a huge bookshelf that had many books and tomes. "You can look in the books. Don't worry...I'm allowing it so it won't hurt." Renee said as she let Lydia pass her so she can close the door behind them. "...and your items too..."

If she looked into an old scrapbook with a duck on it, Lydia will realize it's Renee's memory of a little boy with silver hair and chinky grey eyes teaching her how to knock an arrow. Next to that wall is a large and comfy looking bed that will fit five grown people and still have space with many pillows and a warm comforter. There was a smaller shelf space within the wall beside the bed where there were more succulent plants surrounding a wooden treasure chest. Like it’s the most sacred item of the whole room.

On the opposite side of the bed are many windows; it was patterned to have one stain glass window then a regular window. Outside the regular windows are golden shower trees and white orchids decorating the garden. Each stain glass window had a familiar member of the group in a pose of sorts; there is one of Lydia sitting in a field of wild flowers and a book on her lap. The next stain glass window had James with his wand out and using magic with a book under his arm and a cup of tea in his other hand. There's one for her parents, Rhea, the twins, Minnie, Serena, Johnny, Echo, Kenren, Chenglei, Seifer, and Sirius, the baby dragon. With the sunlight shining through, the colors of each person brightened up the dull redwood floor boards. Underneath the windows is a long bench filled with random things.

If she looked closer, Lydia will realize that each of the items underneath is something that the person would get or do and is somehow interconnected to everybody else here. Renee's parents had gems, cleaning products, a plush of Calcifer, the Witch of the Waste, Heen, and Markl sitting on the bench, with bacon, eggs and toast on a plate with Rhea's crayons rolling next to it. The little girl's drawings are either hanged or standing on it's own with frames and her teddy bear, Mr. Duck, sits next to James' books with an arm over them. The books are scattered with notes of his research. His summons are also plush dolls that sit on top or at the bottom of the bench. A bunch of a familiar fish bookmark held the pages within the books and a large plate of sashimi laid next to it with a striped high thigh sock underneath.

Lydia's glasses are on top of the many striped sock and next to the granny boots, runes covered the place with books she would be interested to reading scattered around the bench but still orderly somehow. There was sandwiches of all kinds including one with sashimi in it. Echo's potted plants shaded the sashimi sandwich from the sun with antlers decorating them. On the potted plants are fluffy fluffy mini sheep grazing on the grass ones with a large beer cup that's filled with sweet liquor and bandages loosely wrapped around it.

Lydia can see Johnny's summons as toy plushes too with Mica sitting on top of Meatballs like he usually would with the friendly hound. Magic cards floated around them and vines grew around them protectively. Serena's notes are spread around in a mess but it was charming somehow, with her violin propped up on the bench, and fireflies fluttering around and dotting over Seth's poetry that's written on paper. His kunais darted all over the bench and pinned one of the musical notes along with Sen's blueprints on his inventions. Ideas for the Cool Beans' guild and pranks ready for their older brother pinned on the wall and bench, with their water-proof fireworks stacked on top of each other; one of them rolled over to Minnie's written stories. Bullet holes are apparent on the bench with rifles and prosthetic gears mixed over to Sen's side.

One of those gears leaned on the large pile of chrysanthemums that grew above and below the bench, keeping Kenren's sword hidden and the decorative string that connected to Chenglei's sword even more so. There were mini horse figurines and photos of the soldiers that traveled with them over the Storm wall. One of the photos held Chenglei teaching Seifer on how to sword fight.

On the other side of the grand piano that had Echo's lamp, a familiar grumpy white cat plush lying on the piano bench, and five opalite-framed photos on the top part is where Seifer and Sirius held their items. Hair cream, combs, brushes, a large phonograph that's on the floor and it's currently playing a jazz tune with record disks neatly stacked on the bench; there was a white fox mask with red markings leaning on books of certain activities, dance styles, hair items and grooming. Under the baby dragon's stain glass window is chunks of meat with blue and purple manna crystals, that Lydia will recognize is from the chin monster that she battled before, decorating the area. There were also jars filled with mud and glittering stars in them on the floor.

In one of the opalite framed photos had the whole group altogether, having fun in their own party at a garden filled with flowers and vegetables and fruits. The trees surrounding them were the same golden shower trees. They were having tea together, singing, dancing, jerking around, pranking. Even Kenren and Chenglei is in there and they were...cuddling together on a single stone bench while holding hands and smiling. Second photo had Lydia and James creating a new order of sorts, but there was a dog next to Lydia and a cat on James’ shoulder as they walked together and helping others out.The third photo held Johnny and Echo performing in a stage with Johnny’s summons behind them as they played an act together. The fourth photo showed Sen and Seth working hard on their guild duties with Minnie next to them and Serena, with a huge smile on her face, played in front of everyone there. The last photo held Renee and Seifer gardening together with a large home that had Sirius peeking out from behind with a teasing look on his face like he wanted to scare his parents. Mica was struggling on pulling a carrot out of the ground as Seifer is helping Renee stand back up with a full basket under one of his arms They are both cover in dirt but happy and smiling at each other; the Pendragon sister even had a little bump on her stomach for some reason.

"...You can take a seat anywhere..." Renee invited as she sat on the edge of the bed.

Once the witch made herself comfortable, the Pendragon sister started to explain. "You see...Seifer is not using me. He only asked me to stay overnight in the first two nights since he woke up. I chose to stay close to him because...because I wanted to watch over him closely...At first as a friend. I accepted that he doesn't like me by that time but...when his mother answered my letter and came by in Kenren's warship..." She sighed heavily as the windows outside showed a light rain showering down. "Lydia...she's a proud woman...but she's a loving mom first. She offered riches of all kinds with supplies just to get Seifer back to normal and it made me think of my parents. What they would do if my brothers, little sister, or I were ever in his place. So...I promised to watch over him as closely as I can without being too invasive on his private time."

"Him and I being in a relationship...that's a separate thing altogether but it did help with his recovery. I've noticed that as long he's not too afraid or too discouraged or prideful or lonely, Valdanr wouldn't devour his soul as quickly; in fact...the two weeks we went missing over the Storm Wall, I've noticed his soul was healing. I don't know if it's because our souls are connected, making it two vs. one or if it's because he was trying to lay a trap or something but...I was just happy to see that he was lasting longer then Hisaya did." Renee looked at the witch with a pained smile.

"I'm sorry for making you feel like I didn't care about anybody else and I don't blame you, not with my past actions and poor decisions; however I can clearly say that he's not using me like that at all. You don't have to believe me. It's not like I can prove it but...I do hope with this explanation, it can clear some fog of your concerns with him and me." Then she asked: "Anything you want to ask?"

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Zer0]

- Seth Pendragon -
" Tower, Paroosia "​

"I took it when he was in Kenren's room." grinned Seth mischievously. "I always have a hard time with those oriental locks, but he doesn't stay in his room often, so I had all the time to figure out unlocking it once I was in. Don't worry, I'll return it, Chenglei probably wouldn't notice it's missing, he hardly uses this."

He tucked the camera back in his backpack. He'd love to take a picture of him and Serena now, but the flash powder and smoke would give them away instantly, so next time . . . he'll definitely take their picture together.

He thought awhile about what Serena said about being a problem child. That comment was often put on him and his brother what with all their pranking and turning people into marshmallows, but they never took it to heart. "Serena, you're okay the way you are. I think doing your best not to hurt people with your anger shows that you are a good person, because you know it's not good and you're willing and working to change to protect them. If you like, you can practice speaking to me whenever you feel like burning someone into a crisp and you can curse all you want too."

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Serena's grin widened as she listened to the how he got the camera. It's rather funny and somehow really sweet that Chenglei keeps going to Kenren's room nowadays. Though...she wondered if the twin ever questioned why he hasn't been going to his own private quarters that much. If he hadn't then she's not going to ask.

Though even if Chenglei noticed it was gone or something, she supposed he wouldn't get mad...since Seth will return it.

As she listened to Seth once more, her grin softened up to a warm smile, her cheeks flushed with red. Then she leaned in to give Seth a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, Seth. I...I would love to." She whispered into his ear before leaning back and grabbing her cup to sip in it, flustered that she actually kissed his cheek again and trying to hide it with her cup of butterbeer.

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- Seth Pendragon -
" Tower, Paroosia "​

"I'm starting to realize, Serena, that it's not my peacocking, but my words not directed to flirt with you are the things that are making you like me." said Seth, blinking at Serena, blushing yet pleased. He touched the cheek she kissed, smiling, and suddenly realized that his heart was pounding.

The girl he liked just kissed him.

And he leaned forward and kissed her cheek back. It felt soft. Seth pulled back, grinning happily at Serena.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Serena froze when she felt a pair of lips on her reddening cheek, her eyes wide as her heart pounded harder. With shaky fingers, she drew musical notes with hearts attached to them as she stuttered in gibberish.

"I- oh..He...hehahah...kish on mah...chesk hehahaheh..." Seth just kissed her cheek! Oh~! Serena would spin and twirl around if she wasn't on a life and death sneak mission. Then she remembered something...

"Se-seth, I remember...that you were going to tell me something when we meet up again." The violinist said questionly. "What were you going to tell me?"



Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- Seth Pendragon -
" Tower, Paroosia "​

"That I'd ask you out if the two of us didn't have anybody we loved." said Seth, loving her reaction, so he leaned forward and kissed her cheek again. He drew hearts inside and outside Serena's musical heart notes. "But you already asked me in advance, Serena." he chuckled. "I'm looking forward to it."

When it was time for them to go down and sneak in, Sen puffed a cheek asking for a good luck kiss.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

"O-oh! He-Hahah-he-!" Serena giggled a bit much as her face turned redder like a dark cherry, cupping the cheek he kissed again. A thin finger twirling and slightly tugged on a strand of her long golden hair shyly. "I-I'm...lo-louking fur it tuh...Heahaha..." Her smile grew when she saw him draw hearts inside and outside of her notes too, once again giggling.

When it was time to go down and sneak in, Serena looked over at Seth to see him puffing up his cheek and she giggled again. The blonde leaned in to peck his puffy cheek as good luck. She smiled like a goofy cat as she followed the twin down the steep, biting her pink bottom lip to keep quiet and get herself to be serious for the mission.

Zer0

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

Lydia took slow steps through the door into Renee's inner room, her gaze drifting around just as slowly as she took in everything in the room, a slight smile coming to her lips as she considered how like Renee everything she had seen so far had been, though in a way, it seemed a little more reserved than she had expected and that made her wonder about Renee's character a bit. She looked at Renee as she spoke and nodded in understanding and though she looked at the books with interest, she never picked any of them up and the area that she took the most interest in was the sort of real life collage that Renee had set up in one part of the room.

When she came to the picture that had everyone in it in a garden scene, she blinked a moment before leaning in to look more closely, her eyes squinting slightly before she stood upright and looked towards Renee, her eyes slightly wide as she pointed at the picture, "Chenglei... and.... Kenren?" Her eyes blinked a few more times, an obviously confused expression on her face, she obviously had no idea that they were that way together.

Her smile broadened as she came across the picture of herself and James and didn't diminish as she saw the images of their friends, it was interesting to see the hopes that Renee had for all of them, though the picture that drew the most of her attention was the picture of Renee, Seifer, and the baby dragon that she really had yet to have any sort of interaction with. She studied the picture for a long while, or maybe it wasn't so much studying it as looking at it while she thought, at least until Renee called her attention away by telling her she could sit anywhere. She found herself a chair and was soon seated upon it, her back was straight and her eyes were directed at her hands which lay on her lap and rubbed each other slightly while she listened to what Renee said.

She glanced up at Renee for a moment, a slight smile quirking her lips. She wondered if Mrs. Rathmore knew that even before Seifer had awoken, they had already been hard at work finding a way to save him. It brought to her mind that maybe she wasn't the only guilty party when it came to not spending time around others because most of the time she had her nose in a book working on something. Though she always felt the time restraints weighing down on her, unlike before she left home, she didn't really have the luxury of studying at her own pace and working on theories in her own time and so she had to spend a lot of her time working on those things, the very same things that she had worked on to help Seifer. She snorted softly, a small but wry laugh escaping her, "with all the stuff you never told us that you know about souls and soul rooms, you could write a book."

She felt a little hurt that Renee hadn't told them, though that wouldn't have been something she could have easily done when she and Seifer went off into the forest alone and became separated from everyone else. The memory of the event still made her feel a little sour because of how worried she had been and how inconsiderate she had found the occurrence being that they were in a new and unfamiliar land and any number of things could have happened to the couple when they vanished.

After a moment she sighed deeply and placed either of her hands on her knees, looking at the floor for a moment before she looked back to Renee, "okay. I believe you. You have spent more time around him than anyone else and if you believe that he is changed and won't just abandon you once everything is over, I'll believe that too," She raised one of her hands from her lap and extended her index finger, looking at Renee somewhat sternly, "but... that doesn't mean that you should let him stifle your growth as an individual and it also doesn't mean that if he isn't on his best behavior, I will be."

She lowered her hand and huffed slightly before shaking her head to Renee's question, "no... I don't think there's anything."

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Renee laughed when she heard Lydia's surprise over Kenren and Chenglei in the photo, her wings fluttering in her mirth. "Yea...Keep that a secret though! They haven't told anyone else and I'll let them know about you knowing too." She smiled wide. "I trust you with it."

When Lydia mentioned about not telling anyone her knowledge over soul rooms, that wide smile shrunk into a flat line and she sighed heavily. Guilt written on her face. "Ken-chan gave me a lesson to act like nothing is wrong even when something dire happens. To not bring yourself the enemies' attention...or the ones who's questionable." She started, frowning as her orange eyes looked up at Lydia.

"I couldn't tell anyone my findings. Especially with Bertrand there, in the warship and being around us up until we crossed the Storm wall. It...My anxiety got worse when I heard he went missing and then the deathknight followed you and James and Echo getting hurt. It overwhelmed me. To the point that I knew Valdanr was devouring my soul faster then Seifer's. I even believed his stupid whispers about James-!" It was horrible to believe any of his dubious whispers but her brother...her brother somehow soothed those doubts enough for her to not hear him anymore...for awhile...

"I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you but...I didn't want to catch anyone's attention." Renee apologized as she saw Lydia's hurt but she had her reasons for not telling.

As she listened to Lydia's stern words, the Pendragon teen's lips stretched into a wide smile again and giggling. Then she stood up to wrap her arms around the tiny witch, nuzzling her cheek on top of the brunette's head. Her wings flapped happily. "Don't worry, Lydia. If he really wanted to stifle me, Seifer would have tied me up and drag me to Dalaran instead of willingly coming to fight in the war." She leaned back a bit with a warm smile.

"That's fine but I'm gonna have to warn you; Seifer is curious about a lot of things and will ask them even if it's embarrassing to anybody."

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Zer0]

- Dragon's Den -​

Serena and Seth sneaked into the tower smoothly. The twin was on edge, focused and calm --- no way was he going to get caught again. With the desire to go on a date with Serena after all this is over added to rescuing Sen, their parents, Echo's father, and not messing up so that the violinist wouldn't be in danger, his courage to live was reigning in his fear.

There was a heaviness in the air that became more stifling the closer they went it. This heaviness wasn't here before, it felt like that warp in space and magic back at the Storm Wall where the Nameless One had been defeated.

And without thinking about it the two knew that the egg was hatching.

Peering ever so slowly from where they were hidden, it seemed it was true that the enemy knew of their plans and Seth regretted being caught. Arcane shields surrounded the manna lake and the evil egg inside was cracked. The evil within was writhing endlessly as though it couldn't wait to get out.

It was heavily guarded. The past six weeks since Serena saw it before her mind was imprisoned by the deathknight's spell, a barrier of metal and magic had been set up around it. As it is now, it's going to take force to reach the egg inside. But Rhea was there, entangled by the darkness at the heart of the monster. It was feeding on her, like it had been feeding on Sunny, using her to grow powerful enough to hatch.

It seems they were prepared, Lykon and Thomas had been petrified, and along with Howl and Sophie they were being used as shields by the monster. Positioned in such a way that if the barrier was destroyed they would be destroyed too.

The situation has become much more complicated than a simple hit and run. They were going to need time to get the petrified people out carefully. It looked like there was no way to get to Rhea without breaking through the barrier. And by the looks of things, they're going to need a lot of firepower.

There was no sign of Sen. He was probably still working on the tower. The defenses looked like his designs what with clockwork towers and turrets defending the barrier, and something that looked like mechanical golems armed with his weaponry.

Katsuya

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

The expression on Lydia's face was somewhat aghast when Renee told her to keep the image of Chenglei and Kenren's relationship a secret, "of course! I hate gossip, causes too much trouble and it's their business!" Even knowing that their relationship was more than it appeared, Lydia wouldn't have any reason to say anything about it to anyone so she almost felt a little insulted that Renee felt the need to tell her to keep it a secret.

She gave a nod to Renee as she gave the explanation of why she kept the information she had on soul rooms a secret and sighed slightly, "... it's alright Renee, I understand," and she really did, Renee had acted the same way that Lydia acted about everything then, completely guarded, she didn't even talk about most of the information she had collected because she didn't want anyone to hear what that information was, it was also part of the reason why she basically hid herself away when she was researching.

Lydia's eyes widened as Renee came over to her, and her eye squinted shut on the side where Renee was rubbing her cheek, she raised a hand and patted Renee's arm slightly, smiling awkwardly, "that would be extreme... but you should tell him to challenge you rather than agree with you all the time, it'll help his growth too if he thinks more on things before he says anything," her smile was a little more relaxed as she looked at Renee when she leaned back a little, "he can ask all the awkward questions he wants, it doesn't mean I'll answer them."

She giggled slightly before adding, "and I'm sure both of you know that if he ever does anything incredibly stupid, he'll have more than one person to answer to."

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Serena grimaced when she saw the whole set up the evil egg has with the petrified loved ones, her lips tightened as she watched Rhea surrounded in darkness as the evil egg is...feeding on her? Yea, that's weird but either way very bad for several reasons. They have to buy sometime time to get them out of here as they get Rhea out too; the question is how fast can they actually grab Rhea and the statues? Hopefully everything will go according to plan.

The fact that Sen is no where to be found worries Serena, worse with all the mech-golems walking around. She knew those designs are the other twin's work, thanks to Minnie's arm. So she wondered if...if Lust is controlling Sen now...

She hopes not.

Zer0

***************************************

Renee giggled in humor. "He doesn't agree with me all the time. We talk about it first, I guess that's why you and everyone else don't see us fight or argue." She wondered out loud and she nodded. The Pendragon teen wouldn't let Seifer get away with things if he does something incredibly stupid; she'll call him out on it. Just like when he roughed up Inner Lydia's items, she reminded him of what he went through and that he should have known better then anyone on not messing with souls.

"Hey Lydia," She started as she smiled warmly. "Thank you for understanding." Then she turned around and stretched her arms up as her wings fluttered shyly. "Well I guess we better get going to bed. It's very late and we need to be ready for tomorrow."

Roleplay Skittle

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

Lydia nodded slightly, she supposed handling disagreements in private was how most people's relationships worked. She knew her mother and father only argued behind closed doors, her mother never went against her father's word in public. She wondered if Renee understood that Lydia had meant that if Seifer wronged her, he'd likely have to answer to Lydia and most definitely James because she knew that the two of them had been hesitant about Seifer and Renee's relationship from the start, but James had been being a good big brother and was trying his hardest to accept Seifer. The thought made Lydia smile warmly and think about her own brothers, knowing that they would likely both readily accept James, neither one more so than the other.

She gave another nod to Renee, her eyes squinting slightly with her smile, "thank you for taking the time to talk to me," she nodded in agreement and rose from her seat, "you're right... I want to make some last minute checks on the seals and rope."

Once Lydia was outside again, she gave Renee a hug before bidding her farewell and going about what she had intended. Once her business was concluded, she made her way to her room and immediately saw the note James had left for her, smiling warmly at it before she picked it up and read it. Soon Sasha was called upon and sent to wake James while Lydia washed and prepared for bed. Her heart was racing and her thoughts didn't move any slower as she thought about what would happen the next day, her hopes with those that had already left for Paroosia. By the time James came to her room, she was still in the bathroom, staring at the mirror absentmindedly as she brushed through her freshly washed hair.

Katsuya Zer0

 

[Katsuya]

Renee peeked over her shoulder with a grin of her own, looking a bit shy but happy. "Anytime! I really did miss talking with you." Tugging lightly on a strand of her hair, the Pendragon sister let's go of the spell, the both of them now outside; and she felt like she's free from that weird tension that was building up for quite sometime. She blinked in surprise when Lydia hugged her before smiling and hugged her back, squeezing her a bit before letting her go and waved goodnight.

Then she went to the shared room with Seifer to take a relaxing bath, washed off the hair color dye, and brushed her hair before going to bed. As she cuddles and nuzzles her face into Seifer's pillow, Renee breathed out a sigh; covering herself with the warm covers. She's going to leave her soul room door open in case he wanted to visit her while they dreamed again. If he was sleeping tonight, that is. If not, she won't bother him but she will let him know that she visited by leaving a potted succulent plant on the nightstand beside his round bed.

"Everyone, stay safe...mhpf..."Renee muttered before she slept that night, mumbling about her wacky dreams again. Tonight's dream is about multiple Lydias' yelling for James chocolate chips as they fall down in a cereal bowl with maple syrup...and Seth and Sen were grinning as they stirred the long spoon...Weird.

Zer0 Roleplay Skittle

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Lydia's Room "​

Hoot

A warm light weight fluttered on to James shoulder. "Hello, Sasha." he blinked sleepily at the little owl. Smiling, he carefully petted her head. "I miss you, it's been a while."

Hoot. Sasha hopped closer and nestled in between his cheek and the sleeping bag. "You miss me too? Haha, I knew you liked me."

The owl hooted resignedly. He liked to tease the little owl, and in return Sasha would get annoyed and pretend she didn't like him. James chuckled as he continued to pet her. "Have you eaten? Let's go to the kitchen together." At that Sasha flew out enthusiastically and he followed her to the door. "We have to be quick, Lydia's waiting for us, I'm not sure if she's listening? Lydia?"

Hoot

James took Sasha to the kitchen, asking the owl to let him carry her in his arms. She noticed the nostalgic tone in his voice and the way he hadn't stopped softly rubbing her feathers, so she hooted at him questioningly as she ate some porridge with strips of meat in his arms. They were walking back now, but James was walking slowly as he seemed to contemplate something.

"Sasha, I really love you and I'm going to miss you if ever I die." the owl just looked at him with her big eyes, very still. He laughed, "It's okay, I'm not planning on dying, I don't even know if that's going to happen, I sure as won't let it happen, but in case I can't tell you this, know that I've enjoyed having you around and I miss you."

Hoot . . . Sasha hopped on to James shoulder and nibbled his ear affectionately. "I'm okay," he said smiling, "I just got to thinking about regrets. Johnny almost died today, we talked about it and he met Echo's mom. He cried when he thought he was dead, because he thought he wasn't able to do what he wanted to do . . . so . . . "

Sasha was still unmoving, blinking up at him with misty eyes. James kissed the little owl's head and she finally fluttered her wings. "Let's do our best tomorrow." he said heartily, pulling her to his cheek.

Hoot . . . Sasha still seemed sad. But she ruffled her feathers determinedly. Hoot!

* * * *​

Minutes later . . .

Knock, knock

"Lydia, I'm coming in." The door opened and in strode James with an extra pillow and Sasha on his head. He smiled when he saw her, looking at her interestedly as she combed her hair. "You comb your hair while it's wet." he said, tossing his pillow on to the bed and stretching; Sasha hooted at Lydia and fluttered down to her usual perch on her shoulder, though after feeling the wetness of her hair, she hopped down on her lap and nestled there more contentedly.

James placed a small bowl of porridge by the window. Noticing the absent-ish look on Lydia's face, he took a feather from his pillow stuffing, stealthily approached her once she looked away from him and, ducking, trickled the edge of the feather on her foot from behind her stool to mimic the crawling of a bug.


Roleplay Skittle

- Next Day -
" Frontlines "​

Johnny woke to the sound of rain pattering on the window glass. It was still dark, and for a moment he wondered what had awoken him. There was . . . nothing, just the soft breathing of Echo nearby.

"Love?" he whispered in the dark, feeling the covers for her hand. Sleep was important for the battle she was going to face today, so Johnny didn't really try to wake her when he felt her hand at last and gently held it. Careful not to worsen his injuries, he budged closer to Echo and carefully placed her arm around him in a hug and snuggled into her warmth.

He breathed a sigh of content and nuzzled into her hair.

* * * *​

"Renee, Renee." Seifer was shaking her shoulder urgently. "You two, eat that cereal somewhere else." he was in her soul room and his voice suggested that all was not right.

"Wake up, hurry, it's already five in the morning, you have to change plans, the dragon den isn't the same as six weeks ago. You have to tell Chenglei, Kenren, and Lydia."

Seifer hadn't been able to sleep quickly that was why his news was late. He had to ask Minnie to knock him out so that he would dream and here he was. He told her of what Seth and Serena found, and of the layout of the area and the enemies they might face tomorrow inside the tower. "The egg is hatching, all our allies must mobilize at once!"

Katsuya