"Follow me." Sasha flung open the door to the armoury and ran for the servants passage. They were the most direct routes to nearly anywhere in the castle so that there would be no excuse for servants to keep anyone waiting. As they neared the hall that lead to the ballroom however, smoke filled the hall, mixed with screaming and the tang of blood. "My prince, we can't keep going, we need to get you to safety." Whatever was happening in there it sounded like the castle guards were not winning, and if that was the case, neither would the prince. She had to keep him alive.
Oh God's above what was he doing? She should report this to the king but her feet were rooted just inside the door as she watched him take the sword out and swing it around. Her mouth was dry as he asked for her name. "uh.. Um Sasha.. Y-your majesty." it was the first time she really stumbled over her words, but she was caught so off guard by the entire thing. There was no way she would speak her mind however, she couldn't, she shouldn't. She felt like she was caught in a rather uncomfortable spot. Before Harry could push however, there was an explosion large enough to shake the castle followed by shouting in the halls.
No it wasn't impossible, but Sasha knew better than to continue arguing with the Prince. Making herself a little smaller she just nodded in submission. "I apologize your majesty. You know I am not worthy of such a task." With that they emerged in the hallway. A few guards milled about and the armoury could be seen at the end of the hall. She didn't understand why they were here still, but she gracefully made her way to the door, stopping and bowing to Harry right beside the thresholds.
She knew that she shouldn't talk, knew it was inappropriate, but still the words slipped from her lips as they walked,her eyes still averted from the prince however. "What happens when the warrior king dies a hero protecting his kingdom with no heir in sight?" She questioned quietly, her shoulders tucking in ever so slightly out of fear of getting in trouble for her words. They were approaching the exit to the servants passage, just up the hall from the armoury. If he were to yell at her she would rather have it over with here than in the hall where anyone could be passing through.
What the prince spoke bordered on blasphemy. Speaking of becoming a warrior and taking the throne, it made Sasha worried what he might do in order to get the throne. It wasn't her place to chide the prince for such talk, but could she really keep quiet? "Perhaps if you married your His Grace would be more inclined to retire and hand the throne over." Harry was of marriageable age after all, actually several years past if you asked many of the nobles. Being the Crown Prince some believed that he should have been looking for a bride since he was eighteen. And as long as Harry remained unmarried there was no chance of having a legitimate heir for the throne, and she knew that the king wouldn't be happy if their family line ended with his son.
Onyx took another long drink of his whiskey before pulling out his phone. "You can bring her up." He said before waiting a moment. "Instead of trying to explain, why don't I show you." He offered in the awkward silence before the elevator dinged and the door opened to reveal Glynda and a young girl, standing with her looking very nervous and shy as Glynda lead her out of the elevator. "Ospin, this is Auburn... Recently her family.... Well grimm attacked... I managed to save her and..." He hesitated for a moment before figuring out how to say everything. "I adopted her." He finally admitted before looking over at Auburn beckoning her over. "I thought that I could both work and raise her, but we work a dangerous job and I realized that I could not risk anything happening to me and leaving her without a family again." He looked in earnest towards Ospin. "If I am ever really needed, you are always allowed to call me friend, but I don't think I should do usual rounds anymore." It was hard he realized. Harder than he expected to give up his life, something he worked hard at and became one of the best, but for the child before him, he could do it.
"I got it!" Aislinn responded as she turned to the battle ship, the only one injured out of the three that were fighting. Looking towards the people that were left scrambling, mostly safe now that the heartless numbers were dwindling and the remaining were focused on them. There was some comfort being back fighting in her old uniform in order to protect the people, but at the same time as that comfort there was also some pain, a longing to return home. Gripping her keyblade tighter she stared down the remaining heartless. "Don't worry Sarah, I have not forgotten about you." Aislinn whispered her promised before she whipped around, knocking one of the battle ships back and out of her way, that one was not her target. Looking over at the injured heartless that she said that she would get, Aislinn made sure that would go down this time. There was no more letting the other heartless distract her. Spinning her keyblade around she launched it forward at the battle ship, knocking it off balance before turning back and hitting the thing again. This time the ship fell to the ground and Aislinn managed to get herself in position to finish it off before it could get back up. Glancing over at the other two, Aislinn knew what they had to do. "So lets make this fast now. We are almost there." The encouragement they could hopefully use in order to get them out of this and finish the heartless off so they could properly check on Kocoum and the Chief of this town, and Pocahontas, the most important of all. She just hoped that John Smith and Nanaki were to be trusted. There was no reason not to trust them, but when dealing with such important people, it was a fickle thing that they needed to be cautious of. Heartless Defeated: Jim the Battleship Sr: Heartless Injured: Jim the Battleship Jr: 147/200 Heartless Remaining: 2 Battleships - 200 BP Words Written: 310 EXP Gained: 31 EXP Total: 183
Taking the cloak from him, Sasha bowed her head in obedience. "As you wish your majesty." She replied, curious about his request and worried about keeping him away from his party for too long. He would certainly be noticed when he didn't return and she feared getting in trouble for keeping him away. That being said, this was also a direct order from a royal, so she should not question it. Moving into the laundry area, there was a couple woman working in there, but Sasha opted to clean his cloak herself. It wasn't that the other servants were unable to, but she had to wait until it was cleaned anyways, she had to do something to keep herself busy. Collecting some basic cleaning supplies, Sasha quietly worked on cleaning the cloak without getting it too wet. If she fully cleaned it then he wouldn't be able to wear it again that night, so she had to be careful. There was a faint humming that escaped her lips as she worked. It was about twenty minutes before she was satisfied with her cleaning job. "There you are your majesty." She offered his cloak back before weaving through more halls towards the closest servants exit to the armoury, which didn't take them directly there since servants had little to do there.
"Nice to see you Ospin." Onyx started to pace towards a small table against one of the walls in Ospin's office, pouring a drink for himself and his friend. "I need to talk to you about something." Onyx took a long sip from him whiskey before leaning against the desk and looking over to Ospin. "I think... I need to take a break from being a huntsman for a while... and I am not talking about like a year or two." He finally put it out there, searching Ospin's face for the reaction that the older man might have to this news.
Her face burned brighter with shame as Harry made his comments about what his father said. "Well he isn't wrong. Such dark small passages are not one for the high born to take. It is just meant to get the servants around the castle while going unseen." A skill she had gotten particularly good at over the years. It wasn't hard to blend into the background, often dressing in dark simple clothes so if she was serving at an event like this, she could blend in the shadows. It was easy enough to do for her, and her soft voice helped even more, even as she gave orders and ran around, rarely was she heard unless she wanted to, it was what made her so good at her job.
Sasha blushed slightly as Harry freaked out. She had not expected such a reaction from the prince to taking one of the servants passages, hadn't thought that he might not have been down one before. "My apologies your majesty. I thought it would be quicker and draw less attention if we took a servants passage instead of walking out through the front doors. I did not wish to startle you." She gave him a small bow of apology and hoped that her explanation cleared things up enough that he would trust her to keep taking him to get his cloak laundered. Already she wondered who had noticed them leave at the same time and what people were thinking. She had grown up with the prince and sometimes people insinuated rather inappropriate things about them, but it was all untrue. Sasha knew her place in the world and she was not worthy of even being friends with the prince, much less anything else.
It wasn't too long before Tinarah managed to make up some toast and hot chocolate for herself, her brother and for Take. She knew that it was kind of a sad meal and that she could make better, but Tinarah had a sneaking suspicion that they wouldn't care. Taking out the first set, she brought it over to Take, noticing Chrono was in the middle of a conversation. "Here I thought you might be hungry." She offered him both a couple pieces of toast with honey on them and the hot chocolate. Her stomach started to make noises again and that was enough for Tinarah to back off. "I will should keep handing food out." She excused herself before she returned to the kitchen to fetch another set of toast and hot chocolate to bring to her brother. Approaching Chrono she handed him the food and hot chocolate before looking to Boreas. "Sorry, I didn't think to make you anything. Do you want some. You can have mine and I will just make more." Tinarah offered to be nice, though she didn't really want to give up her food and wait to eat, her stomach hurt. That being said she was making an effort to have better relations with Boreas and Torrin, and this was one nice thing that she could do for him. Although if she really wanted to try she should have offered something a little more than toast, but until she was a little healthier and she could look at herself in a mirror without cringing, it was the best she had to offer.
Sasha knew better than to argue with a member of the royal family, but at the same time she knew it wasn't appropriate for Harry to be leaving. Chewing o her lower lip a bit, a nervous habit of hers, Sasha tried to decide what to do. "Very well your majesty, this way." Taking the path of least resistance ended with Sasha leading Harry to one of the many servants passages out of the ballroom and towards the laundry room where she could clean his cloak. She was just thankful that it had been champagne and not red wine, or else there was no way he would have the cloak back that night. Dropping her tray off on a small table near the wall, Sasha entered the alcove and started down a narrow dark hallway, glancing back to see if Harry was still following.
"Prank? What sort of prank? I don't know if I would be good at it, but I could try." Tellia offered, not having really been one for playing pranks before, she didn't know how to handle it now, but if Iridia lead the way, perhaps it could be fun. "What do you want me to do?" Tellia asked with a mischievous grin.
Master, the words clanged through her with a power that she had not expected. She could hear them again and again, Master, Master, Master. She was able to fulfill her promise. She was a master now, she would be able to follow in the footsteps of her friends and join them once again as their equal and rival. Shiro put a hand on her shoulder to congratulate her, but his words made her bristle more than it made her smile. "Don't use that name. How do you even know that name?" She asked before Arctus started to repeat it. Turning quickly she brought her keyblade back up to Arctus' throat. Something about that name put Karina on edge, that much was clear. "You better not speak that name again." She growled before removing her keyblade and stepping back, looking between the two men. "So what exactly does being a master entail?" She actually didn't know besides having a title that she could rub into her fathers face and show him that she was not worthless. At this point she couldn't give a damn about what Arctus may or may not be hiding. She just needed to prepare herself and then go back to her friends. "Also once we leave, who is going to lead this group. After all Lea left me in charge. and Lea is go too." Karina pointed out.
Sasha knew that it was not her fault that the champagne spilled but she also knew it would be more appropriate to take the blame then to blame the prince, especially on his birthday. "My apologies your majesty. I can take your cloak and get it cleaned up right away, it should only take half an hour or so." Sasha shifted the try in her hands so that she would be able to grab the cloak. She didn't really have the extra time to go and get his cloak cleaned, she did have a lot to do here, but that being said she would do anything to help the prince even if that meant leaving her primary post to do it. Glancing at the king she hoped that he wouldn't mind, or at least wouldn't notice with all the stuff going on today. She assumed that her presence would go unseen.
The ball was in full swing, all the royals and noble born were having a great time, and why wouldn't they be? They were celebrating their crown princes birthday after all. Music, cheer and merriment filled the halls, reaching as far as the servants passages, as Sasha retreated into one so that she could refill her try of drinks. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to be on that dance floor, joining in the festivities instead of serving for them, not that it wasn't an honour to serve. She was one of the hand picked servants to help at this ball, it was a position that she should be proud of, and she was, especially considering the magic that cursed her. When the king first had her marked with the sign of the storm, Sasha thought that she would never get the chance to go anywhere, do anything with her life. She thought it meant she wouldn't even belong among the other servant. Now however she was one of the best and enjoyed her life, even as she watched from the sidelines. Emerging from where she hid down one of the servants passages, Sasha found herself among the crowd of the ball once again, skillfully and nimbly dodging between various nobles, who didn't pay her a glance before stepping in her path, or nearly smacking her tray out of her hand with an exaggerated hand movement. Somehow however Sasha managed to make it through the crowd, handing out champagne without spilling a single drop.
I had a very last minute drop out. If you think you would have time to record something by Friday and get me a render that you would like to use to represent yourself then you can jump in and take over Lines labeled 1
"I would rather just take the thing out already. After all as fare as we are aware the robot thing, uncle something or other, had set off a trap, probably a tutorial battle that we were supposed to have further down the line. If we finish it off it prevents it from regenerating help if it could do such things. It won't just leave us alone." Raelyn suggested not too confident about the idea that sparing it would be a good idea. If they just left things as they were they might not get far, but Raelyn was a little bit more on the cautious side and rather would deal with things quickly then wait out and see how things would go. "We should get rid of this and then find out more about these traps and leave. I don't feel like sitting around in the prison just waiting for the guards to show up, I don't know about you guys but I don't like being arrested." Raelyn then pointed out as she turned towards the way the golems had come, her hair swishing behind her as she started forward a little bit.
"Don't worry Master Midarah, I will behave! Besides it will be fun, they like me!" She insisted as she looked around. It had been a long time since she had last stepped foot inside this building. She had been back a couple times since they gave her over to the Divine Rose Guild, to check up on her and such. They worried for the first year how things were going, and now they didn't seem to care as much. That being said they showed up that day at her mission and Thea wasn't sure if that had anything to do with her. She wished she had been awake for that, but at least she could figure things out now, and Master Midarah was there just in case she had done something wrong, and on the off chance they were mad at her. Everette gave a sad smile as he hugged Renza back. "We will visit I promise." But he wasn't so convinced that he wanted her to join the guild. While he enjoyed the guild life it could get dangerous and he didn't like the idea of young people joining unless they had to. He was one of the situations that didn't have a choice when joining young, like many of the people who were in the guild, but he wouldn't encourage it. After all Renza had a family here, people to take care of her, she had a life waiting for her here, why would he want that to be taken away from her to live a life of working on sometimes dangerous tasks because it offered the jewels needed to pay rent the following week. He wouldn't speak up against anyone however. "But in the meantime I think your help is needed here. People are still recovering and need someone strong to support them." He told her patting her head.
