Original Coffee Shop discussion
Character Kingdom
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Character Castle 1.0
Kilied slumped hard against the wall. If anyone saw him like this, weak, he would never forgive himself. Suddenly, Ryenna appeared from around the corner.
Kilied gasped and stood straighter, fighting the pale color he knew splotched his face.
"Are you sick?" Ryenna asked, her eyes wide and her bright smile gone. She reached for something, didn't find it, and grimaced.
Kilied shook his head.
"Is there any way I can help?" Ryenna asked.
No. Just go away. But something about the way she looked at him, without pity or sympathy, just dutiful loyalty, reminded him so much of Kirielle that he couldn't bring himself to say the words out loud.
"I'm... um..." he trailed off, glancing at Balorico.
His dragon looked back at him, eyes communicating the reality. You need help. You should ask for it.
"Er..." he trailed off. He hated it when he stammered.
He pushed himself off the wall and placed a hand on his sword hilt, running his other hand through his dark hair.
"Look. Obviously I need help. I um... don't know if you can do anything, though," he said quietly.
Shock zinged through his spine that he'd actually admitted to needing help.
Balorico!
His dragon just chuckled.
Veronica sat and thought. "I don't know Teddy. I don't think any of us really know."
Teddy looked over at Veronica, his eyes were tired but he didn't want to sleep, not after the nightmares. His body ached from the fight with the werewolf. At this point, he didn't even care about his appearance, which was probably dreadful. He noticed Ian, that something seemed to make him uncomfortable. Something made him uneasy. He wondered what it was.
"Well, I want to leave if there's no purpose to us being here." Teddy said bluntly.
"I do too" Veronica whispered. "But we can't leave remember? The doors won't open."
Teddy grunted in disappointment, "Right. Well this is just wonderful," he said sarcastically. Teddy wasn't very good at handling anger. Like, at all. He lashed out at people, usually hurting those he loved most. He tried his best, but his anger was building up inside of him. He was angry that Bethany wasn't here with him. He was angry that he'd been hurt. He was angry that the silver hurt Veronica. He was angry that Tyler had been hurt. He was angry at the castle.
The castle he thought. It must be haunted
He turned to Veronica, "I think this place is haunted or cursed."
Veronica raised her eyebrows. "Well, I guess it could be possible. If werewolves are real than I guess castles can be haunted, but why and how? And by what?"
Teddy was glad that she didn't reply with a remark saying that it was to far fetched or unrealistic, he'd gotten those types of remarks too many times from people. Well, one person to be exact.He looked over at Veronica, then around the room they were in, "Well, I mean, I don't have any hard proof of anything. But it's got a weird vibe if you ask me. Something just isn't right about this place. It seems to make people.....uncomfortable," he glanced towards Ian, "Almost as if bringing something back to mind."
Teddy attempted to stand, although it was painful, he did. He walked over to the opposite wall and ran his hand across it, "This place is old, probably has secrets, and, let's face it, it's creepy. This is no ordinary castle."
Penelope walked back down with Inara and bumped into Teddy and Veronica.
*Inara looked at the two. They didn’t look very good. In fact, it looked as if they were wounded.**she helped Penelope set down the dead girl, and then walked over to the two.*
“What’s going on? What happened?”
Penelope’s looks at Inara with worry in her eyes. She placed the body down, with Inara’s help. As soon as she had finished she rushed over to both of them, “You guys look terrible. Has something happened?”
Teddy looked over at Penelope and Inara, his eyes full of shock to see them, with a dead body."We just got a little beat up, that's all. I think I should be asking you two that question," Teddy replied as he gestured towards the body, "What happened?"
*looks at Penelope. Giving her a nod to tell them.*
“Um..well…I killed her. We went into a trapdoor and she pulled me and tried to kill me. It took me awhile, but I finally killed her. Apparently, she’s an elf.” she looked at Inara.
“She’s an Elf. She’s wearing the clothes of my tribe, Linith. I don’t know what or why she’s here, but how she acted wasn’t right. It’s not how we act. I don’t really know what to do about it. I don’t recognize her.”*looks from Teddy to Veronica.*
“So what happened here?”
Teddy's face was frozen with an expression of shock. Someone died?
He tried to shove it in the back of his mind for now and answered them, "Well, we killed the werewolves, but I managed to get a nasty scratch and Veronica almost became a werewolf."
He paused to study their faces, which were full of surprise. "So, uh, yeah. Now we think that this castle is haunted."
Penelope shuddered, “I’m sorry. Are you both alright. I have a first aid kit if you need anything.”
“You think the castle is haunted!!!??? Why?”
Teddy appreciated Penelope's offer, "Thanks, but Ryenna already helped us out. I'm okay now." Then Teddy turned to Inara, "Yes, I personally think the castle is haunted, but I don't know if anyone else does."
“Hmm. Maybe we should explore more?”
Teddy looked at Inara with an expression showing that he wanted to do anything but that. "I don't think that's such a good idea. I mean, it's a dangerous place, people are already hurt, and, well, to tell you the truth, I'm a little scared." Teddy said.
He hated that he sounded so wimpy, but it was the truth, he was scared. More than he had been in a while. He was just a kid. Teddy looked at each person in the room, each looking tough and defiant against fear. That wasn't him, he wasn't tough, or at least not now.
He then looked back at Inara, feeling bad for shutting her down so quickly, "Okay, maybe in a little while, when I'm feeling better, we'll explore some more." And he tried his best to smile.
Teddy watched Ryenna as she spoke, she was so kind and caring, but yet, so strong and fierce. Teddy turned to Kiled, "She did a great job with this screwed up back of mine. I'm sure she can help you too," he said, trying to be as kind as possible.
He smiled at Ryenna, then turned to Ian, "Would you want to come with me if I go back through the castle to explore?" he asked hopefully.
((oh okay, whoops, i must've missed that part. if you don't mind i'd love to have ian back so he and teddy can explore))
Veronica stared in shock at the dead girl. She didn't do well around dead bodies. Veronica tried to remember how to breathe as she half listened to Penelope, Inara, and Teddy talk. Someone wss actually dead.
Veronica swallowed hard. She had seen plenty of the dead. Dead werewolves and dead animals were common where she was, but other people? She didn't like funerals. Every hunter killed was a friend lost. She shuddered.
Veronica looked up at Penelope. "I'm-I'm..." she didn't get to finish. She jumped as soon as Penelope had announced there was a pulse. "How is she still alive?"
Penelope sat down and took a deep breath. She did not like this at all. Everything was just a bit off. She yanked off her band-aid and replaced it with a fresh one. She looked back at the body and looked away quickly. How could she have done such a thing?
Penelope shook her head, “I have no clue.” Her voice was shaky
"What do we do now? Do we get Ryenna or leave her?"
Penelope looked confused, “Ryenna? Who’s Ryenna? Why would we leave anyone?”
"Ryenna is the healer who also showed up here with her friend Ian. I was wondering if we should take the girl to her or leave her."
Teddy was worried, "So are we trying to bring her back to life or what? I'm confused."
"She's apparently still alive. Penelope felt a louder."
*Pulse
Teddy must've zoned out in that conversation, he was thinking about the castle. "Oh okay, well that's good. We should get her to Ryenna as soon as possible."
((should we stall for now until Carsie reappears?))
((good idea!))
"Ryenna left to talk to Kilied, this girl isn't actually dead, and lots of things happened. Oh, and Teddy thinks the castle is haunted."
Veronica eyes widened. "The corridors are changing? But, if they change completely then we could lose track of the others, and get lost here in the castle!"
((LOL I love how I said absolutely nothing about the floor plan changing and yet that's what always happens in the castle I started out in... XD))As soon as the words were out of Kilied's mouth, he regretted them.
And yet, he also didn't.
Ryenna's eyebrows raised high up on her forehead, almost like she was shocked. Then she smiled. Almost like she was about to laugh.
Kilied told himself he should be offended. Deeply.
But he wasn't.
Instead he, too, almost laughed. But he forced himself not to.
She shrugged after a second. "Well, I can't promise that I'll actually be able to change anything, but I'll do whatever I can. What is it?"
What is it?
The question Kirielle had asked the very second Kilied had awoken from that coma.
Pain stabbed his chest at the memory.
You wouldn't understand.
And yet, even as he thought this, he couldn't help feeling like she would understand. It was the weirdest feeling he'd ever had.
He knew that Kirielle wouldn't understand. That's why he always talked to Insleca instead. She was grave, quiet. Serious. Even if she didn't understand, she respected.
That was what Kilied needed. Someone that would respect him even though he was a traitor. A...a murderer.
"Um..."
Ryenna looked at him expectantly, waiting. Still. Ready for whatever it was.
Almost desperate, like she was praying he would trust her and be open with her.
She was so similar to Kirielle, and yet so very different.
Kilied sighed.
"Have you ever... betrayed someone you loved because you wanted to save someone else? Or... or killed someone you loved to keep someone else safe? Have you ever torn open the sky and killed half a town because... because something happened that you... can't remember?"
Kilied's heart pounded. No. Of course she hadn't. Ryenna was so innocent compared to him. It was painful.
And yet... somehow she also wasn't.
"Have you ever been a slave to darkness because if you turn to the Light, they'll take everything from you? Everything?"
Kilied slumped. He couldn't do this anymore.
As long as Ryenna didn't walk away now, maybe he'd get through this without hating himself anymore than he already did.
((oh I'm forming some great ideas about the haunted castle angle))Veronica was trying not to panic. There were few things in this life that she was truly afraid of.
1. Losing her family
2. Losing her friends
3. Change.
Veronica didn't like change. It meant different outcomes of hunting missions. It meant the possibility of losing everyone she loved. It meant that she would one day be a very different person. She felt light headed so she stuck her head between her knees and focused on breathing.
((Fyi I might start in on this awesome thing known as Lord Castle. Realize that the Castle is kind of a... malevolent sentient being.... He's playing with them right now lol. Let them think the castle is haunted....))
((hmmmm))
((LOL if you don't want us to do that, that's fine. That's just how I did it in the old castle.))
((oh I said hmmmm because I didn't know hoe to respond. I think its a great idea!))
((Lol gotcha! Cool. I'll just have Lord Castle appear at some point and torment the characters, how about that?))
((yes! that should work. Our poor characters. We authors are always making them suffer.))
“Do you want help?”