this chaos, this calamity

[rosestolilies]

Characters: The Queen of Hearts (rosestolilies) and any PCs who come after her.
Date: Starting Thursday, March 24th and continuing until Tuesday, March 29th.
Summary: The Queen is trapped in the Labyrinth, along with her promises of home. What's to be done but go and find her?
Warnings: Creepiness tailored to the characters.

Comments

utena and mahalia » open to misty, larry and kenshin

[ofnobility]

[Utena finds it difficult to adjust to the darkness, but the light in her hands guides her way as she navigates, slowly and surely, throughout the maze. This place makes her uneasy, but she is determined to find the Queen, to rescue her, not only because she wants to go home--needs to, to save Anthy, but because, to her, the Queen is not cruel. Confused and misguided, but not cruel, and certainly undeserving of such a punishment. So, after little thought about it, she decided to go into the Labyrinth. It was not in her nature to sit idly while someone could be in danger. She's not completely reckless, however, and has gone with Mahalia, after the latter's insistence.

Utena would rather not put her in any undue danger, but it only makes her resolve to do her very best to keep her safe.

She glances back and whispers:] Say, Mahalia, are you okay? Do you want to hold my hand?

[cascadetomboy]

[Misty is already kind of freaked out by the darkness, but the light in her hand shines on and leads her as she follows in the middle of the collected group. She just got here a little while ago, and if there's a chance she can get out, well, she's going to take it!

She's got her Pokémon where they're easily accessible if need be, and her backpack is on.]

Is this seriously where they locked the Queen up? It's so... creepy.

[mellifluently]

[Mahalia may not be bird-souled like her godfather, but there is something about walking willingly into such a dark, enclosed place that truly sets her on edge. She hadn't intended to go in, really, despite how badly she wanted to go home. She remembered what had happened with the caves, and the monsters they contained, and she knew her own weaknesses. But she simply couldn't let Utena go in on her own, and would just have to hope she would be more aid than hindrance.

The strange little flame in her hand is comforting, as is Utena's presence. She watches the floor carefully, worried about her bare feet, her long skirts, neither particularly suited to this. She looks up at Utena's offer.]

Ah, I... [An automatic response, to refuse. But she does want to hold her hand, and it would help with her walking. She only hesitates a moment longer before reaching out to take the other girl's hand with a small smile.] Thank you.

[She glances back at Misty's comment, can only agree with that assessment.]It seems to be a general prison. There was

[cascadetomboy]

[Well that answer made her freeze up a little on the inside, though she keeps on walking.]

Oh, so there's a murderer down here?... Is she still down here?

[ofnobility]

[Utena flashes Mahalia a confident smile back, trying not to let her own unease show.] You're welcome.

[She reaches out to tap at the natural walls of the maze, listening for anything hollow-sounding, and shakes her head at Misty's question.] No, I don't think she's down here anymore. Geez...they put their own Queen in a prison she made...it's terrible.

[Something about that seems familiar to Utena, but she shakes off the feeling.]

[gun_cata]

[ Larry follows behind them as they enter, with intentions like Utena - save the too-powerful-for-her-own-good ditz, and get home.

She's deathly quiet, her gun already in one hand as she holds onto the flame, wondering how to shoot with it in hand. ]

She's not my favorite person in the world or anything, but this is too much.

[heart0fsword]

[Perhaps it was a sign that Kenshin had been in the place for too long already with how quickly she had gathered that the flower petals would become light. She was somewhat tempted to forgo the light in favor of having her hands free--but even her eyes weren't that sharp in the darkness

[cascadetomboy]

[She guesses that answer makes her feel a little better, but that may mean she's still in the Gardens. It eases her mind of being down here, though, and keeps up the pace.]

Yeah, I don't think this is the right answer at all. She wanted to let us go home. Someone who works for the Queen told me it was stupid for her even to think about.

[Misty hears the faint footsteps of someone approaching them. That makes her pause.]

Did you hear that?

[mellifluently]

They're determined to keep us here, it seems.

[Still, it worries her that the Queen could even be trapped at all, if this was a place of her own creation. But she's distracted from that line of thought by the same distant sounds that Misty hears.]

Yes. It sounded like footsteps.

[Murmured quietly as she stops walking, squeezing Utena's hand slightly. She peers into the gloom, thinks she can maybe see another source of light, but it could just be a trick of her eyes. She feels the urge to call out, to ask if someone's there, but fear stops her. She doesn't like this darkness at all.]

[ofnobility]

They can't keep us here forever. It's not right.

[She tenses when she hears the footsteps, and moves to stand in front of Mahalia, as if to shield her from whoever--or whatever might be approaching. The hand not holding Mahalia's goes to rest on the sword strapped to her waist.] Who's there?

[gun_cata]

[ Larry moves to take up the rear, keeping a close eye out for even the barest hints of movement. Whatever they're dealing with up there, it's... hopefully nothing that anyone will need to run from. ]

You guys alright up there?

[heart0fsword]

[Kenshin paused, halting her movement as she noted the changes of tone in the voices, presumably from her presence. She had to fight the urge to squelch the light again. She wasn't running an assassination. She didn't need the curtain of shadow nor the element of surprise. There was a large part of her that wanted to turn back already. That unease she felt in the presence of other people was near suffocating--but this wasn't a casual stroll through the gardens and she steeled herself.]

[She made out a very clear "Who's there?" in the darkness, perhaps just around another corner and called back:]

I might ask the same thing.

[cascadetomboy]

[Misty has one hand on Politoed's Pokéball, and she hears that call from the source of the footsteps.]

We're here to look for the Queen! What about you?

[ofnobility]

[Utena's voice is hard and serious. It's rare, that she's so sharp, but this is certainly the time for it. She doesn't want to risk running into any surprises, not here.]

I asked first! Show yourself!

[heart0fsword]

[She couldn't stop herself from popping her sword loose from the sheath, ready to drop the flame and draw it at a moment's notice if this went badly. Everything told her that shouldn't be the case but under the circumstances she was too on edge to quell the reaction.]

The same.

[She called back to that first voice, moving forward, eyes trained on where she expected to find the group, her posture strained with clear unease. She still didn't give her name, even as she finally came into view, right hand holding her own flame, the left resting on her sword.]

[mellifluently]

[The dark brings fear, easily, but the other woman holds another light, and though the words that have been exchanged have be hard, distrustful (hands settled on weapons, Utena stepping in front of her), now she has shown her face (is no longer just a voice and the sound of footsteps in the dark) Mahalia sees no reason not to treat the strange woman exactly as she would have done, meeting at the labyrinth's entrance.]

Ah, are you on your own? Would you like to join us? It should be safer, as a group.