forum The Night Is Rising // O/O // Closed

Started March 21, 2020 by @MarDeColores this is not it kids

tune

"Heroes?" Ana asked, looking confused, and more than a little rattled. "Should we follow the line?"

"Um… probably?" Laurel slumped back into the seat. "She seemed to know what she was talking about. But what would we need weapons for? You already have plenty of weapons."

"I don't know," Ana said with a frown. "I don't trust her. This is getting weird." She sighed. "It couldn't hurt. It's the wrong way from my brother's house, though, so we'll have to be careful." She started the jeep and started following the gold line, driving quickly.

"It's probably a good idea not to trust her. I mean, she didn't look human." Laurel shivered, remembering the queen. Queen of what? "But yeah, I agree. Getting some answers wouldn't hurt at all." She looked out the window, half expecting Alina to be hovering outside again. But it was empty of both queens and monsters, thankfully.

"I sure hope this isn't a trap," Ana said. After a bit of silence, she sighed. "We need noise. I wish I could turn on music, but we don't know if there are any monsters around." She shook her head. "I hate this."

"Me too." Laurel nodded. If it was a trap, they would probably be done for. "Heh, I'm with you there." She laughed softly. Having music would be good. It could distract her from all the thoughts spinning around and around in her head. Let her relax a little. But Ana was right. The monsters might hear it and come after them. Laurel hummed to herself instead, watching the gold line disappear under the Jeep.

"So… Laurel, huh," Ana said after a pause. "What do you do for fun?" She was trying to break the silence. It made her feel safer, not that she'd like to admit that she wasn't feeling in control.

"Uh… I like to read. And I paint sometimes," Laurel said slowly, slightly confused as to what brought on this sudden ice-breaker session. "I love fantasy. And horror, sometimes," She added as an afterthought. "What about you?"

"How do you like horror?" Ana asked, sounding amazed. "I've never been able to stand anything to do with ghosts and death and stuff like that. Too spooky." She shrugged. "Then again, I'm a bit of a coward." She turned to a new part in the road, following the gold line into a forest. "I don't do anything interesting. Research, exercise, boring things like that. Studying, too."

"I mean, there's something terribly exciting about horror. Though I like it better when it's contained in pages. Horror movies are defiantly not for me." Laurel grimaced at the thought, then listened to Ana. "You don't seem like that much of a coward to me," she offered, keeping the 'but then again I've only known you for a little while' part silent. "What are you researching? Nothing exciting, I'm guessing?"

"Not really," Ana said, smiling slightly. "I want to get a degree in Psychology, but there aren't many good colleges around here, so I study at home. Psychology is really fascinating to me, for some reason. Criminal psychology, especially."

"Oh, psychology?" Laurel asked, grinning. "That sounds cool. Too bad there wasn't a good college you could go to, but good job on making it work anyways." She thought it was wonderful that at least one of them knew what they wanted to do with their life. Looking out the front windshield, Laurel could suddenly make out something that looked suspiciously like a castle. Before she could really make sure what she was seeing was, in fact, a castle, the structure disappeared behind some trees. But the road seemed to be taking them right towards the supposed castle. "Did you see that? It looked like… some sort of structure, up ahead. You think we're getting close to our destination?"

Ana had not seen it,, as she had been glancing behind her to see if anyone was following them. She hadn't seen anyone on the dirt road, but she was still wary. "No, I didn't. I hope we're getting close, it feels like someone is watching us."

"Well, let's hope it was where we were going." Laurel kept her eyes on where she'd seen the structure, but it did not emerge from the trees again. "Oh, gods. Let's hope it's Alina or some birds. I don't even want to think about the alternative," Laurel said softly, looking at the road behind them as well.

"I agree," Ana said grimly. "Although, how do we know that Alina is friendly?" It was a question that had been bothering her for some time.

"I guess… we don't. But she hasn't tried to attack us yet, and she looked pretty insubstantial as well. So… I guess we just hope she doesn't turn on us." Laurel bit her lip. She was concerned about Alina's levels of friendliness as well, and there was something about her appearance and those two holes in her forehead that bothered her a lot. Hopefully, the place they were going to would have some answers.

"I hope she doesn't." Ana shook her head in confusion. "Why is this happening, anyway?" She turned onto a gravel road, through some trees. There, the golden line stopped.

"Same," Laurel agreed, looking back at the road ahead of them. "I have no idea. I hope there's some explanation wherever we're going." She spotted the end of the line and looked up. A little ways past the golden line was a castle made of pale silver stone. It was a pretty small castle, but it was still a castle. "Whoa!" Laurel gasped, a small smile appearing on her face despite herself. "What is that doing here?"

"I-I've been this way before, and I've never seen a castle here before," Ana said, her voice amazed. "Then again, I haven't ever been along this road, but still… a castle." She shook her head and brushed her hair from her face. "Should we go in?" She asked Laurel. "Because if we do, I should hide the car."

"Yeah, we should go in!" Laurel exclaimed, clearly excited about the whole thing. "You should probably do that first, though. If that castle appeared out of nowhere, who knows what– or who– else did." As if on cue, a crashing sound came from the castle along with some shouting. Laurel couldn't make out what was being said, but it sounded angry.

"Um… this probably isn't a good idea." Ana backed the car into some bushes, unbuckling and hopping out to hide the car with branches. She grabbed a few knives and a handgun. "We should go check that out. Come on."

She pulled her hair into a ponytail and pulled her hood over her head, clenching her weapons in both hands, as if trying not to shake.

Laurel simply nodded, checking to make sure the knife she'd grabbed was with her. She helped Ana hid the car, then started towards the castle. The door was closed but unlocked, and opened soundlessly. Inside was a large entry hall, some doors on the sides. In the center of the hall was a short person with black hair, their back to the door. They were muttering angrily to themselves, hands waving around wildly.

(Sorry! I've been offline a lot.)

Ana clenched her gun tightly in her fists. Should she avoid the person in the entryway? Find another way into the castle? This could be a trap, she knew, and she needed to keep away from other people if she could help it. She glanced at Laurel, a question in her eyes. "What should we do?" She murmured quietly.

(Okay, you're fine!)
Laurel stared at the person, eyes wide. She had no idea what to do now that the castle had a person living inside of it. Or, at least a person standing in it. At Ana's words, she looked over at her, but a voice coming from the direction of the person caught her attention.
"What should we do?" Laurel looked back to see the person staring right at them. "Sorry, was that meant to be a personal question? I have very good ears." They took a few steps closer and Laurel could see it was a woman. There was something really weird about her, but Laurel couldn't place it.
"Um… I don't know," Laurel whispered at Ana, keeping her eyes on the strange woman. She looked much more alive than Alina had, but Laurel was still on edge.

(Thanks. I know I haven't been the best person to rp with lol)

"I think we should avoid them," Ana murmured, pulling a knife from her jacket and replacing the gun. She spun the knife in her fingers with the ease of a master, and frowned. "There's something that isn't right about her. She's… strange, like that one Alina person. Unless you'd rather see if they have any helpful commentary or warnings for the weapons?"

(Eh, that's to be debated. Your writing is pretty great! :)
"Yeah, agreed." Laurel nodded, glad she had Ana with her. If she was alone, and whoever that was attacked… she didn't like her chances.
"Did you say Alina?" The woman asked, her entire face lighting up. "I love Alina! I'm Endor, her… ex-bodyguard, current friend. If you know Alina, then she must have sent you here. Wherever here is." Endor narrowed her eyes and looked around suspiciously. "But, anyway! If she sent you here, it's because you need my help." Endor spread her arms wide, another wide smile on her face.

(Yours is better, though.)

"How do you know we can trust you?" Ana interrupted, her tone wary. Her eyes were hard, and she looked like she didn't believe a word of what the strange woman had said. "Or Alina, for that matter? What proof do we have that you're not evil, or that you want something out of us?"

(Really? Thank you! :)
"Well, you don't. But you should believe that you can." Endor frowned and tapped her lip. "Well, we're not evil because someone else already took that position. And we do want something from you: help." She shrugged, looking from Ana to Laurel. "And I have something for you, too, if you want to trust me enough to take it." Laurel frowned and glanced at Ana for a second. She was kind of freaked out about this 'Endor' person, but at the same time… she was offering them help. And Laurel, at least, was so ready for some help.

(It's true!)

"Why do you need help?" Ana asked, still wary. "You seem pretty powerful yourself. Why not do it alone?"

She knew that she was probably treading on dangerous ground, but she wasn't ready to do anything unless she had a valid explination. She met eyes with Laurel, eyes questioning.