Nameless

[visualspice]

Draven felt relieved when his sister appeared.
"Fiona.." he began, stepping towards her when he paused, noting the dead flowers withering away within her arms. He raised his head, face twisting in confusion as he looked to her, then his eyes went to Laighean and narrowed.

"I suppose this is your method of handling things?" Draven chided with a scrutinizing tilt of his head.
"Laighean, when you rushed after your sister, I thought you meant to protect her from danger, not lead her into it."

He was careful when he approached his sister, his face softening into a smile as he held out his hand for her.
"Fiona, why don't you come with me? I bet there is a lot for you to see in the Courtyard."

Though his gaze continued to fall upon the flowers when he finally asked, "Where did you get those any?" Had he seen them with color? Or were his eyes deceiving him. It was hard to tell in this wretched place. Perhaps it was only natural he was going crazy.

[Ivory]

Fiona frowned at him, clutching the flowers closer to her chest.  "Laighean came to protect me, Draven.  You can't be mean to him for that!"  Indignantly, she added, "No flowers for you!"

It was then that she looked down at the flowers in her arms...and her face fell.  Already, all that was left was practically colorless, like a sheaf of dried grasses.  When her arms tightened around the bouquet, petals and dead leaves drifted down to the ground.  They fell around her in a small arc, and she stared at these as hard as she had stared at the bouquet a minute ago.

"I don't understand," she whispered mournfully, gently caressing the dead husk of a daisy with her fingertips.  Even under her gentle attention, the withered flower released the last of its petals.  They had been whole a moment ago -- whole and beautiful...

And she had had such plans for them...

[Paradox]

As they passed through one plane of relaity to the other, Laighean could see his brother waiting on the other side. "Looking grumpy as usual I see?" The young man greeted , chuckling with amusement.

"I suppose this is your method of handling things?" Draven chided with a scrutinizing tilt of his head.

Laighean took a step back. He didn't care all that much for his brother's attitude. What in the Guardian's name was his problem?

"Laighean, when you rushed after your sister, I thought you meant to protect her from danger, not lead her into it."

The usual joviality that could be found in his eyes were immediately extinguish, replaced by a look that was as icy and hard as this world they existed in. And where were you? He thought bitterly, fighting the urge to become nasty with his brother. He didn't wish to dampen his sister's spirits with petty bickering.

Fortunately, he need not say anything. Fiona stood up for him. A good thing too because the words he'd prepared himself to say weren't very kind.

Fiona frowned at him, clutching the flowers closer to her chest.  "Laighean came to protect me, Draven.  You can't be mean to him for that!"  Indignantly, she added, "No flowers for you!"


"I'm sorry, little sis," Laighean told her gently, placing a hand on her shoulder lightly. He was also at somewhat of a loss. The curse obviously had something to do with it and he pondered what he'd felt on the other side. It had felt so good, but deep in his soul it felt like something was trying to pull him apart. Was that what his sister had been referring to when she mentioned him becoming 'unraveled'?

"Draven, I think Fiona found a way out of here. We passed though a barrier of sorts and on the other side...the world is alive.  " Part of him grew excited by this prospect but the other part of him was filled with trepidation. What if the Guardian knew? What if she was angry? He didn't like to think about what would happen to them if they invoked her wrath a second time.

[visualspice]

Draven didn't like being stern with his brother, but kept his hard face, even when his younger sister tried to reprimand him. He had to tell himself she knew not what she was doing. Poor thing, she was becoming lost to this place more and more every day.

However, at what Laighean proposed, Draven's face fell, before he furrowed his brow.
"What? What do you mean? You think you've actually found some way, some connection to the outside world?" If so, it would explain what had become of the two, or...
at worst..
Meant now his brother was starting to become as crazy as their sister.
"Can you explain? It's hard for me to understand what you're getting at. We've spent so many countless years here praying for such a thing to exist.."
Could there really have been a clue, an opening.. a way out, somewhere locked inside the decaying castle this entire time?

[Paradox]

"I don't think, brother, I know. " A very bold claim,but he was determined to believe in them. "There's a tear in the magical veil that allows the physical to transition from one plane to another. " But what did that mean? Surely, the Guardian's influence wasn't weakening , was it? But if it wasn't then why was there a tear ? Was she not aware? Or had she intended for them to find it?

"She works in mysterious ways, " Laighean murmured to himself and shook his head. He tucked a few long strands of his wavy red locks behind his ear. Then , more loudly he said , " I know you think that we sound mad, but this is something you'd have to experience for yourself. Words don't do it justice. "

[visualspice]

Draven set his jaw and brow in a furrow, keeping Laighean under a sharp eye though as he pressed the issue, he couldn't help but shake his head.
"If that's all true, and the barrier, sealing us within this wretched place is weakening... I don't know what it would mean, but by the God's, it could mean our salvation..." he moved his jaw as he thought. "... or damnation.  If the barrier is weakening, what can that mean for the Guardian and the world outside these grey, foggy walls? And if what you say is true, and I only partially doubt the eye sight of any one of us, lest we forget we are all falling prey to the nameless presence here that is gobbling our sense and memories, then we have to figure out this thing out- to see if it is truly some pathway to get us the hell out of here."
He studied Laighean.
"Maybe the Guardian wants to give us a second chance?"  He could only hope so, but his heart was full of doubt.  He kept Laighean under his gaze. "Are you able to show this to me.. this.. potential tear?"
It was definitely worth checking out.

[Paradox]

"It could have been her intention for us to find a way out or it could mean that there is something wrong. Either way, we remain ignorant if we don't investigate the matter. " Laighean looked at Fiona," I cannot. However, she can."


ooc: Short, but to the point!

[Ivory]

Fiona gave no indication that she had heard any of their conversation at all.  She had sank to her knees and, with the bundle of dead flowers set down beside her, was working to repair them in the only way her shattered mind knew how.  With determination and gentle fingers, she gently picked up each fallen leaf and petal.  And when they crumbled beneath her fingers, she only bowed her head and bent to her work with even more determination.

All in all, she was doing little but fracturing the pieces of dried floral into smaller and smaller pieces and collecting all that she could in the palm of her hand.

And as she worked so diligently, she quietly hummed a melody to herself.  Once again, she was lost in her own little world...

[visualspice]

Draven frowned. The idea all of this sudden build of hope was coming from only Fiona, their sister, who was the first of the three to show signs of her mind going and now... now what of it?


Draven moved away from Laighean and approached her silently, remaining at her side and watched as she tried to tend to the dead bouquet of flowers.
He crouched down beside her, still silently studying before he turned to look at her face.
"I bet you made this bouquet all by yourself," he said, smirking a little towards her. "Perhaps I can help you next time you want to pick some flowers in that field?" He paused, staring at her hands as they worked and listening to her melody, then looked back towards her face.
"It has been sometime since you and I got a chance to play in the fields." He smiled at her, finding the memories almost fading.
"I think there was a time I was carrying a huge bunch of flowers, than Laighean.." his eyes wavered. "I remember him scaring me and I dropped them all."
But the vision ended at the echo of memories.
He looked to the dead flowers, fearing the worst for them all.

No, he got them into this mess. He'd find a way to get them all.
"Do you think we could just pick some more flowers?" he inquired, staring off into the court yard.

[Ivory]

Fiona worked with an unending patience, allowing Draven to speak beside her and making no indication she heard a single word.

Long after Draven's questions had faded away, she finally turned towards him to give him a puzzled look.  "There are no more flowers, Draven.  Everybody knows that."

Rather than return to her work and dead bouquet, she stood.  The collected dead leaves and petals fluttered once more to her feet, and she stepped over them as she made her way towards the front door, as though she meant to go inside.

Instead, she paused on the steps and turned back towards them.  Her expression was sober, and her voice -- usually spattered with childlike inflections or a sing-songiness -- sounded soft and forbidding as it carried across the yard.  "The door is never in the same place, in our world nor in theirs.  And if you do find it, there is no telling how long it will remain there.  If you lose the door on their side, you will die.  Do you understand?"

[Paradox]

"Well, that sounds like it could be fun," Laighean said , amused, " so we'd have to be aware of our surroundings in case we fall through the earth and end up in someone's wardrobe. Hopefully a lady's. " He imagined it, " A real beauty with nice long legs and shapely hips, "He was practically drooling over the imaginary women in his head.



ooc: I HAD to post it. It amuses me!  x3

[visualspice]

Draven could only stare at his baby sister, confused.
"I'm afraid I don't understand," he told her bluntly, though he felt sorry that he did not. What did she mean by it? Or was it just more nonsensical ramblings as always.  Yet.. why did he feel compelled to want to believe her, or try to decipher what she spoke, as if it were a code?
"Perhaps someday you could it explain it to me. Or just show me," he said with a dry laugh and approached, touching her shoulder warmly.

It was then Laighean spoke and Draven's brows furrowed. Really, did he have to talk about this like it were some type of game?
"Really, Laighean," he scolded.  "Thinking of women at  time like this?" he shook his head, but could't help but smile a little.

"Come on, Fiona. Let's get out of this place before Laighean drools on us." He offered his arm to his sister as an escort. He was, after all, a prince and gentlemen first and fore most!

[Ivory]

Fiona stared at Laighean, her expression unreadable.  That same, empty expression shifted to Draven when he offered her his arm.

"I cannot explain it to you," she said sadly.  "You cannot see what I see, and, I think, if you could, your mind might snap like a twig underfoot.  You -- both of you -- are proud, but even you must bear the weight of the yoke if the Goddess commands it."

She pointed at the empty lawn immediately to her left.

"There is your doorway.  Go through it if you must, but do not linger there, or you will not return."  She cast a speculative look towards the palace door.  "And that would break Mother's heart."

Her eyes returned to Draven, regarding him with her chin held high and her eyes flashing with righteousness.  "Go on.  It stands open beneath that tree.  Laighean will show you."

With that speech made, she turned on her heel so swiftly that her hair swung out behind her in a red wave -- and then, without a word further, she was gone.

[visualspice]

Draven only laughed, but in a kind manner, towards his poor sister.
"Fiona, I am sorry but I do not.." though something did catch his eye, as he found himself staring at something..
and it started as a sparkle, a flickering of light...
then he swore he saw color.

He couldn't look away, nor could he move as he merely stared at it.

"I think I've gone mad..."

Yes, for before them a faded image of colors- but nothing really defined, moving like ripples of water.

"Laighean..." he breathed his brother's name. "Do you see what I"m seeing?" ANd just before his eyes, the image melted into view..
and he saw the beautiful image of the cascading waters of a fountain.

[Paradox]

Laighean merely shrugged. What was there to say, really? He'd always been a skirtchaser! And why not dream a little, jest to the lighten the mood? They'd had centuries to be depressed and serious! Now that there was genuine hope for finding something more than this dismal existence, he couldn't help but feel giddy. He was already imagining all the things he'd experience if he escaped again and one of those things would have to be a woman! Or maybe more than one! A whole room full! And...

He forced himself to stop fantasizing , half hearing Fiona say something and then his brother calling his name. He walked over to where the man was and peered down through the tear, peering at the pristine , flowing waters."I'm not sure, " Laighean said slowly in a very solemn tone, "I think we should find out!" With a mischievous laugh, he shoved Draven forward and followed him shortly after.

[visualspice]

He could have killed Laighean had he not been suddenly emersed into a world he had nearly forgotten.  Colors, both vibrant and dull tickled his senses. And noises, some, once long muted, were reclaimed to his senses like water to a dry man's throat.  He took it all in with awe and wonder.


And it seemed like forever Draven would stand there, staring at the lapping sounds of the fountain, the happy giggles of the children at play, and the tall, sweeping arms of a wind mill creaking as it turned.  It was all so regular, but all so magical to him as he took a step forward to catch himself from falling to his knees.

[Paradox]

Laighean wasn't quite as stunned the second time as he had been the first. He was surprised , however , to find that their newest place of emergence was nowhere near the ruins that appeared to look remarkably a lot like this castle. He walked around the fountain, admiring the foreign architecture.

The sounds of playing children drew his attention away from where his brother marveled. He watched the two boys chase one another around the fountain, laughing and seeming oblivious to his sudden appearance. Further on there were more people, strangely dressed foreigners whose language was similar but their dialect not quite as harsh.Laighean listened and observed . Few people gave him odd looks, but one small girl stared at him as though she'd seen a ghost. When he smiled at her, she gasped and ran off to tell her mother than she'd just seen two men appear out thin air! Like magic!

Shaking his head, Laighean made his way back to his brother, "We shouldn't linger. Remember what Fiona told us. We'll be stuck here if we don't go back."

[visualspice]

Draven was still in awe, but at his brother's words he released a nose through his nose.
"Yes, you are right." he turned to his brother, a smile raising on his lips, a rare one he hadn't shown in ages, the same with the sparkle in his eyes. It almost appeared as if he were sad or about to cry.

"We... we should go back and find Fiona.."
though when he turned around, he was surprised to see a fragment of the world waver.  Blinking, he approached it tentatively and reached out...

"Do you suppose this is the gate in which we entered and that in which we could return?"
He turned back to Laighean curiously, then back at the world, a look of longing tugging at his face.

[Paradox]

Laighean folded his arms over his chest, "Don't get all sentimental on me,  brother. It's not like you. " He grinned and then shook his head. "We can come back another time. Maybe not to this particular spot so if you're really attached to that fountain , I'm afraid there's little I can do about that."


He nodded and approached the distortion in reality, grazing his fingertips across the 'surface' of the 'gate'. "Yep. Same spot . This should be the way back. We should...probably tell mother about this," though he wondered what help the Queen would be. She hadn't spoken much since...he couldn't remember. It had been too long since they'd heard her voice. All she seemed to do was smile or frown.She was usually quiet. Maybe a bit of good news might illicit some change in her. Laighean hoped so!

"I'll go first this time, " Laighean announced, "don't push me!" He dove forward into the distortion , leaving behind the world of light to emerge into darkness once more. "We're back!" Laighean announced dramatically to a listless audience of roaming specters of castle townsfolk. "Try not to get too excited. We were only gone for about two minutes!"


ooc: lulz

[visualspice]

Draven couldn't help but smile as he shook his head at his younger brother.
"Laighean..." but he let it go, turning his attentions back to the world before him.
"If anything,t his is cruel. To think.. we can only stare at it for but a moment.." he reached out, as if to capture some of it, before turning back to watch Laighean, and smirking at his comment about the push.

"I am more civil than some," he jested, then moved forward, glancing back once over his shoulder before following his brother through..
The dim world before them set a chill to his bone, and a frown upon his face as he stared over at Laighean who seemed to be bowing to a crowd that wasn't there.

"Laighean... we need to figure out what this is, and if this is a sign or some sort of clue, part of the puzzle we need to unlock to get out of here." Sighing, he looked for their sister. "Perhaps we should see if Fiona has anything else to say."