A Rose Arose Alongside A Purple Dusk - OTA

[thinking_about_it]

Open/locked?:Open
Who: Cassidy, Grey, and whomever they encounter
What: Arrival!
Warnings: Given their series, pretty much anything has potential, but other than violence mentions these two are pretty safe.


Cassidy groaned and pushed herself up off the ground. Her head hurt. Had she passed out in the herb garden again? Tulips, Grey was going to go hissy cat on her for that. Except... she hadn't been draining anything into the land. It had still been locked under too much snow.

It was still cold here, but this wasn't the garden at the Queen's Residence at all. It was some sort of lawn. And there was a.... Wow. she stared at the large school, building. It was almost as large as the Hall, though not as intimidating. And not as Dark.

Hearing a groan, Cassidy looked behind herself, then gasped and dropped back to her knees. "Grey!" she called, reaching out a trembling hand to touch him carefully. When he just groaned again, she took a breath and snapped some steel into her spine. And her voice. Sitting back on her heels, she spoke in a firm and even voice. "Prince Jared Blaed, attend."

That did it. Like someone having a bucket of cold water thrown on him, he was at once awake and alert. Though with less sputtering and anger. He sat up, his green eyes locking on her hazel ones. "What's wrong?" he asked, the words almost a demand.

"That's what I'd like to know," she said, leaning back on her heels now that he was sitting up. She got to her feet and offered him a hand, which he took. Once they were both standing, she reached up to take off her hat, but at a glare from him, her hand dropped and she played with the end of her red braid instead.

They were an odd looking couple, based on where they came from. He had the look of Shalador and Dena Nehele - athletic, fit, golden skin, angular features, dark hair, green eyes. She, on the other hand inherited all her looks from her mother Derva, which meant that she was gawky, too tall, with pale skin, freckles that she hated, hazel eyes, and red hair that she was coming to hate less this past year.

But at the same time they looked perfect as a couple together. But that was because of how they stood, ready to face any trouble together. They even circled with their backs to each other as they looked around the new place.

"Is it concerning or a relief that I haven't spotted Vae?" she mumbled.

His temper sharpened and he reached back to give her hand a warning squeeze. "Company," he said, seeing someone notice them...

Comments

[thinking_about_it]

"Well, if there is a Dark Alter, maybe the priestess will be able to help," Cassidy said. "Or a messenger station. I have a friend in Kaleer who could help, I'm sure."

[queen_butterfly]

"A what? I'm afraid there almost certainly isn't; this isn't the world you're from, any more than it's the world I'm from."

[thinking_about_it]

"World...." Grey repeated. "Not realm?"

[queen_butterfly]

"Yes. World." So very matter-of-fact about it, shrugging. "Were we in my world, things would make far more sense." Said her.

[thinking_about_it]

"Well they certainly don't here and now," he muttered.

[queen_butterfly]

In a similar tone right back, "Would that I could disagree with you."

She went quiet again, but didn't let it last: "Things don't work here, as they do in my world... others' magic functions differently than what I've known my whole life. But mine works as I'm used to here, all the same. So perhaps that may at least be of some comfort to you, that should you see the impossible, rest assured that it's probably due to being of someone else's world, brought with them, or... something to that effect. It isn't you losing your grip on reality, it's them being from another."

[thinking_about_it]

"So not so much wondering if we're trapped in a Web," Cassidy mused, "as being in a realm full of Jaenelles."

Grey paled and looked a bit weak at that thought. "Mother night," he whispered.

"And may the darkness have mercy," she agreed, nodding. Then back to Mallia. "None of this helps us get home though, does it?"

[queen_butterfly]

"Likely not, but it does mean that between all of us, we've at least a few skills that are rather unique to their wielders. One of mine, for example, is that I can create things, within certain limits."

To illustrate, she lifted her hand, and a wisp of darkness solidified into a round wine glass that held a bit of something rather blackish, a liquid that swirled around prettily with a shine of silvery-purple, almost glowing in ways and angles that couldn't be credited to the light. It wasn't as obviously and dramatically brimming with energy as the bottle of water she'd tucked away as they met, but it was interesting to look at, all the same. See? Conjuration, just like with the bowls of fruit she'd given them a short while ago....

"Traveling between worlds, alas, is not among my skills. ...Ought I assume that it isn't among yours either?"

[thinking_about_it]

"So that is different than this?" Grey asked, calling in a large ripe apple.

"Or this?" Cassidy asked, suddenly holding a pitcher of water. "And no, with help we can move between realms. But not worlds."

[queen_butterfly]

She blinked at the apple's appearance, then smiled, tilting her head a bit as she considered it, but kept walking. Perhaps it was the same? Perhaps it wasn't. She didn't know yet.

"'Realms'...? What do you mean?"

[thinking_about_it]

"The three Realms," Cassidy said. She and Grey vanished what they had called in, so they could hold hands as they walked. "Terreille, Kaeleer, and The Dark Realm." She frowned. "The Dark Realm." "What the Dark Realm?"

Grey frowned. "The Dark Realm?" Then he scowled. "Why can't we say The Dark Realm?" he asked, eyes narrowing.

[queen_butterfly]

She looked like she wanted to say something for a moment, but then simply shook her head and resumed leading down the hall. No, he wasn't about to get into that silly conversation with someone again, about not being able to say things they just said. Was this some sort of joke common between some worlds' peoples? Perhaps it had missed her own world....

"I've not heard of the first two," she said. "And this 'Auradon' place has none of the locations I'm used to. I've looked over a map, and it looks quite a bit different from any of mine, back home."

[thinking_about_it]

"Wait, so you're not the Queen of this territory?" Grey asked.

[queen_butterfly]

"I rather dislike politics," she said simply, still leading down the hallway... ah, there, the turn in it, to the main foyer; the stand wasn't that far now.

[thinking_about_it]

"Then who is? We should be speaking to her...."

Cassidy nodded. "No offense to you, of course."

[queen_butterfly]

She actually laughed at that. "I'm sure you will. Though if you expect formalities and hierarchies here, you'll be sorely disappointed." But she sounded about the opposite of disappointed herself, really....

[thinking_about_it]

"We try to keep things less formal at home as well," Cassidy assured her.

[queen_butterfly]

"So you've said," she agreed. "But I don't mean to say less formal. ...I suppose you'll simply have to see for yourself."

[thinking_about_it]

"I would like to," Cassie said. "Please bring us to her? Or someone from her Court if she's too busy to receive us herself."

[queen_butterfly]

"When we find her," she said, deciding against trying to clear anything up further for now. She shrugged, instead, leading around the last area to the big foyer, where the stand was set up... not her fault, if neither of these two newcomers seemed to quite understand what she was saying, was it?

She stepped toward it. "And here's the first thing we were seeking," she said, intending to go for one of the pamphlets Lea had written up.

[thinking_about_it]

"What are these?" Grey asked, leaning closer, pressing slightly into Cassie's back to look over her shoulder.

Cassidy also peered at the stand. "Some sort of....?" Nope, she had nothing. Except maybe "Like an entrance to an amusement?" Like the Spooky House for the Landens? She hadn't been, but she'd heard about it.

[queen_butterfly]

"Well, you wanted an explanation," she said, picking up one of the pamphlets in each hand, to offer them to the two with a smile. "Someone already wrote up more than I normally concern myself with about it all. And then there are... ah... those...." She eyed the phones, hesitating as she thought. Did she even have hers with her? Or did she leave it, once again, while she was refilling her bottles, in an effort not to kill it again? Hmm... she should probably find it again, if it wasn't with her. Or at least figure out somewhere to leave it where she wasn't going to keep losing it. "They're rather interesting little things, I admit."

[thinking_about_it]

The took the pamphlets. Grey started reading at once. Cassidy followed Mallia's gaze. "What are they?" she asked.

[queen_butterfly]

"I forget what they called it. But I'm assured it's technology, rather than magic." She picked one up, holding it out to her. Might as well play with it?

[thinking_about_it]

Cassidy took it, turned it around a few times. Probed it with her magic. Stumped she offered it to Grey who did the same, then shrugged. He vanished it and went back to looking over the pamphlet.

"Hopefully someone will be able to explain it all to us later," Cassie said.