Lost Storyteller is Lost

Lynette held Annie close to her as she ran as quickly as she could through the woods towards... well, towards anything really. She had to get under cover before the storm broke overhead that was sending rumblings of thunder through the darkened skies above her.

For her part, Annie was shivering badly and trying her best to crawl *into* her Momma. She didn't like storms. She didn't like them At All. Not that her Momma could blame her. Annie was a small dog and there's no telling what horrors awaited a small dog swept off in a rainstorm. For all she knew, that was how Annie lost her first family and Lyn wasn't going to let the poor baby lose her Momma that way.

Lyn wasn't really paying all that much attention to where she was, to be honest. The pathway that had led her through who the heck knows what dropped her off just outside of the woods after some confusion at what might have been a roundabout of sorts. Certainly there had been a number of paths leading from that final platform, but the one she'd taken had led here... wherever "here" was. She'd heard the peal of thunder and looked up at cloud-choked skies and took off in the direction of the first roof she'd seen.

It took her several minutes to realize that the roof was part of a castle, with a bridge over a chasm and everything.

She made it to the doors and pushed them open, though it almost took more than she could give to manage it. She wasn't in the best of shape to start with and she knew how out of shape she was. Once inside, she was able to set Annie down long enough to close the door behind her even as the little dog reached up to paw at her knee. As much as Annie wanted to explore, the thunder outside was scaring the hell out of her.

With the door closed again, Lyn was able to take a deep breath and lift Annie up into her arms again as she looked around at her new environment, realizing how awkward this could be if the castle, since that's what it seemed to be, was in fact inhabited.

"Hello? Is anyone here? I'm afraid I'm lost and with the storm outside..." A sharp crack of thunder broke the skies above them with the flickering light of an electric bolt as the clouds suddenly burst open and began dropping rain onto the land in sheets. Lyn sighed deeply before continuing, Annie trembling harder in her arms, "As I was saying, I was just trying to get under a roof before the storm broke, which it just did."

She paused for a moment, waiting for an answer. "Hello?" She began walking further into the castle curiously.

T'was a dark and stormy night. The soon-to-be King had some introductions to make.

The Castle of Dreams was... far from isolated. That wasn't to call it a busy world by any means, but it had contact with other sovereigns if only to a limited degree. Unlike other Kingdoms such as Radiant Garden or Disney Town, The Castle of Dreams focused on itself a lot more than its neighbors. This was primarily due to latent development. The Castle of Dreams hadn't expressed ill will towards it's neighbors but over the recent decades its diplomatic influence was waning. The nobility had started to ignore the rest of the worlds- they didn't really have much the world could want or need, save for bodies for parties and no matter how infrequent the visits were, the invitations were always sent to other worlds on time for balls.

That was when the strange things began to occur. Not strange around the Castle, but strange for other nobles. The balls and parties they threw in the Castle of Dreams got smaller and smaller, until one day the danger of the Blades made is way to them. Then the outside world was at their doorstep, and no door they closed or sword they raised could save them. They had no allies or warning, and no way to warn. In an hour it was over.

Alexander had been tasked- by his adviser, no less- to venture to one of their former worlds with utmost case and introduce himself as the new (or rather soon to be) Prince of Dreams. Alexander questioned why he was being sent to a foriegn power on a diplomatic mission without any experience, guards, or his adviser who merely assured him that it wasn't a big deal- just an informal visit to seal a friendship. Alexander once thought himself well-versed in the game of nobility, but apparently it had dimensions that he'd never known.

Still, he had dressed in his finest attire to tend to the matter, and was determined to do his best to leave a good impression. Though, that first became a little more difficult because it was raining. Alexander was reluctant to leave his gummi-ship at first, looking out from the cockpit of the high-wind model with a hand to the glass as rain pounded against the thick gummi-glass. He sighed tentatively. "I didn't think it'd be raining..." The young lord-to-be had forgotten an umbrella.

From behind him, came a low grunt. He looked over his shoulder curious, before a large smile spread across his face. It was a large, bear-like creature with a circus hat and colorful patterns in its fur that stood easily a foot taller than him, light brown body complimenting the neon-colored swaths on it's ribs that covered it's arms entirely. Positioned upon it's head: a single party hat, thin and tall, but exceptionally small given the size of the thing. It tilted its head towards Alexander and grunted again, and the young boy nodded.

"Yeah, that'll work."

So, a neon-splotched bear was lumbering through the rain, acting as a giant umbrella for a young noble with red eyes as he approached a castle on a dark and stormy night. Just another day in the life.

It was raining.

Zyv stopped walking when it started to pour. She held out her hands, letting droplets accumulate in her open palms. She liked the rain. She like the dark. It seemed like it could be a great night for her. Ideally, that is. As much as she liked the rain, it didn't necessarily like her. She dropped her hands to her side and sighed, looking up at the dark and cloudy sky. There suddenly a strike of lightning and the deafening sound of thunder that briefly illuminated Zyv's face.

She pulled her hood over her head, though that wouldn't be enough to fend off this storm. She would have to find shelter for the night, though she was in the middle of the woods. She wasn't sure where she was, exactly. She was lost, though she was used to the feeling. Ever since she was young, she had felt lost. It didn't bother anymore. It almost seemed comforting at times.

There was another flash of lightning and Zyv spotted the silhouette of a castle in the distance. She nodded. That would have to suffice for now. She always got sick whenever she stayed out too long in the rain. She'd get a fever and a runny nose. She would feel miserable the next day. So she had to find shelter. She hated the feeling of being less than what she was.

As she pushed past branches and furthered her journey to the castle, she thought how funny this all was. How something that is so comforting to you can also be the exact opposite. How the result of something can prevent you from enjoying it at all. She wondered about the worth of an action and how much it had to have for it to justify the consequences. For her and rain, it wasn't enough.

Zyv found herself on a man-made path. She looked to her left. She assumed it would lead to the castle. If not, it would lead somewhere inhabited by people. She then looked to her right and was surprised by what she saw.

There was a bear, which she supposed wasn't all that odd to see in the forest. Woodland creatures were to be expected. However, this bear was dressed up in bright colors that were rather visible through the rainfall. Beneath the bear was a man in clothes as well, though not as eccentric. His clothes seemed more...relaxed in color.

For whatever reason, Zyv wasn't particularly worried or fearful of this odd sight. She didn't really feel like she could take on a funnily-dressed bear if it decided to attack. She never fought a bear before and she was sure she'd probably lose. Rather, she felt just curiosity. Who exactly was this man and why was he being accompanied by a bear? So she stood there, just watching him with curious eyes.

Lyn wandered through a few rooms in the castle, finding no one present, which unnerved her to say the least. "What in the hell is a castle in this level of repair doing completely empty?"

That was the kicker. The castle looked as if someone should be living here. There were woven carpets on the floors, chairs in various places with fully intact fabric cushions. Someone, or something, was keeping the premises repaired and habitable.

But no one was here.

Annie still shivered in her arms as a loud crack of thunder burst overhead and Lyn comforted her, until she was startled nearly out of her skin by the sudden sound of... barking?

The sound of something scampering along the carpeted floor rushed towards them and Lyn found herself looking at a... footstool. It barked, and shook itself like a dog greeting a new person, but it looked exactly like a footstool of some sort.

Annie started barking back at the footstool because she wasn't going to let anyone hurt her Momma and Lyn sighed deeply and knelt down to do her best to introduce the little dog to the doggy... footstool. It took several minutes for the two to decide that they wanted to be friends and not enemies and when Lyn looked up she realized that she was being watched by a mantleclock and a candlestick?

Lyn simply closed her eyes for a moment and sighed deeply. Damnit all to the deepest hells, so THAT was where she'd ended up? But where was their lord and master? Or was *he* yet to make his presence known.

She nodded to the two, putting a friendly smile on her face. "Hello, I didn't mean to impose, but with the storm outside I had to get myself and Annie here under a roof. I trust that... that your lord will not mind?"

Okay, so that was a bit of a stretch. If they were still in their transformed shape that meant that he was likely still an intolerably angry and depressed presence, but she had to hope. And maybe this wasn't *exactly* like the story she'd watched.

A round teapot hopped forward. "He is... gone."

Lynette fell backwards from her kneeling position to sit hard on the floor. Oh, that wasn't something she expected to hear. Damnit, without that one, then how were they to break the curse? Without that one... what were they to *do*?

Tears started up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry." She didn't know what to say for a long moment, but then lifted her voice in a hesitant offer. "Would... it be alright with you if... if I stayed here then? I don't have anywhere else to go and a place like this should never be left just... empty. Me and Annie shouldn't be much trouble..."

The look of hope that suddenly lifted their expressions should have given her pause, but she just... she wanted to help people and sometimes helping people meant giving them someone *to* help.

She wasn't expecting, though, for the offer to be accepted with quite so much exhilaration, or for the mantel clock to cough with officious importance. "In that case, my Lady, you have guests just arriving at the front doors, if you would care to greet them?"

Ah Elar, what had she gotten herself into?

Alexander and his companion, shielding him from the rain, weren't too far off from the castle when they noted a silhouette on the road. It wore a hood to conceal it's face- that much was obvious. The rest of the silhouette wasn't so discernible in the dark of the storm. Alexander's walking came to a halt slowly as he assessed the person ahead of him. He was cautious of the hooded person. Not without reason, though. The rogue man in a mask and hood that had been terrorizing the worlds was still a real threat in Alexander's mind.

But the silhouette immediately seemed... far too short. Still, Alexander hadn't physically seen the man. He had heard that he was tall, but how tall seemed vague. This person before him only seemed like a young child might describe them as tall, while this individual seems just a little shorter than Alexander. It seemed that Alex had taken a moment too long in surveying the situation, as behind him he felt a gentle nudge. "Baroo?" He looked up as his Dream Eater friend, acknowledging it with a hesitant nod before they started to move towards the silhouette again. All in all, this would either go poorly or... not.

"Excuse me," the young noble's voice came as clear as possible against the onslaught of the storm, the colorful bear staring at her as they approached plainly. Ursa Circus had strange eyes already- black where the whites should be, while the iris was taking up most of the eye's space. It was a kind of yellow present those beings that had given themselves to the darkness entirely. That burning color that signaled despair, except... on a cartoon bear. It's cornea were also different- more oval in shape, giving it an almost sleepy appearance even with it's eyes wide open. "Are you going to the castle up ahead?"

Zyv blinked a few times in surprise when the man beneath the bear approached her. She hadn't realized she had been staring at him, in the open. Her intrigue got the better of her, it seemed. She would have to work on that. It might get her in trouble one day. The man, though, did not seem like he wanted to cause any, so Zyv wasn't too worried. He asked if she was headed to the castle she had seen.

Zyv nodded. "Yeah, I'm looking for shelter and the castle seems to be the closest," she said, as loudly and clearly as she could over the torrents of rain that surrounded them. "Yourself?"

So she was seeking shelter? It made sense- anybody caught in this storm would want to get out of it, and Alexander was tempted to ask why she was here. It was definitely a she, he could tell now. Even in the darkness he could recognize the pink coat and long hair. To match was her voice, and this close he could make out her feature.

Deciding that she was probably nice, Alexander gave her his simple and honest response. "I'm on a diplomatic mission, and I need to talk to the person in that castle." He pointed down the road, indicating a castle's silhouette in the distance.

A political figure, huh? That was quite the unexpected revelation from the stranger. She glanced towards the stone behemoth behind them, hidden by the darkness and the rainfall. Somebody important lived in that castle. Was it the king of this place or somebody less important? What business did this guy have with him? Zyv felt that if she stuck around him, she'd find out. While she felt she had no need to know or find out, she was slightly curious and, well, she had nothing else to do in the castle. Might as well learn some more about this place.

"We should probably hurry to the castle before one of us catches a cold," Zyv told him. She wanted to ask him a few more things, particularly the odd colored bear, but the middle of the storm was not the right place. She started to walk towards the castle and eventually reached the large gate that led to the courtyard. She walked through and stopped in front of the front doors. She stepped aside, turning to the man beneath the bear, letting him knock first. After all, he was the one who had business here.

Alexander nodded with approval, agreeing with the mysterious girl. "Yeah," he confirmed. "Let's get out of the weather." The trio of travelers reached the gates of the castle fairly quickly after that point, remaining in silence to mutually ensure a non-awkward journey. They crossed the stone bridge as rain pattered against it, intensifying as a crack of thunder highlight the ravine beneath them.

The girl stood aside as Alexander and Ursa approached, looking at him expectantly. He understood this to mean she was waiting for him to do something- probably knock. How polite! He rapt his knuckle against the door, a dull series of thuds bouncing back into the rain. "Hmm," he pondered. "The door is too thick for them to hear us, I think."

"Baroo!" The Bear shouted loudly, pressing against the thick door and swinging it open. The large door creaked loudly on it's hinges as the weight lurched on the frame, swinging into the foyer and revealing it to the outside. The castle was dark except for a few lit candles flickering against the walls on top of mantles and windowsills, for a moment reinforced by a crack of lightning.

Alexander looked up as the bear shuffledd him inside, eager to get out of the rain. It swept him up in it's arm and carried him close it walked in, while Alexander squirmed in surprise for a moment. "Whoa- Ursa!" It continued walking, giving off a questioning grunt. "Put me down Ursa! I can walk!" It took a few more tentative steps forward before setting him down again. "Baroo?"

Alexander dusted himself from the bear's colorful fur, checking for damp spots along his clothing. "At least I'm not wet," he said flatly and with a sigh to follow. He turned his head just in time to see Ursa start to twitch, and his eyes went wide as he started to scramble behind a piece of a furniture. "Take cover!"

The bear's body began to ripple as it shook the water from it's fur, it's hair puffing out violently as it turned into a large ball of fluff and neon color. It sprayed water all over the foyer, but Alexander was safe and sound behind a couch. He poked his head up afterward, trying to conceal a smile by scolding the creature. "Ursa! Don't be such a beast!"

Zyv stifled a laugh at the sight of this man being swept up by his companion and him struggling to get free, like a child entrapped in the arms of his overbearing mother. She quickly walked in after the man. She was soaked to the bone. The water felt nice, though she didn't like how her clothes stuck to her body. One of the cons of being in the rain. The clothes never quite agreed with her.

Suddenly, the man shouted for them to take cover. Quickly, Zyv dived behind a large charge, barely avoiding a bear-themed spray of water droplets. She stuck her head up from the chair, sighing in relief that that's what the man meant. For a second, she was very confused and worried there was an actual danger present.

She looked at the man, who's head was visible from behind the couch. "I'm Zyv, by the way."

Lynette almost wasn't certain that her ears were working correctly, what with the spontaneous song and dance number going on. Guests?

The problem was that she didn't know if the proper expression of disbelief was that the were showing up now or that they were showing up *already*. Particularly since the castle's transmogrified inhabitants seemed to view her as their new leader.

Not that she was really complaining, per se. After all, it was a somewhat better circumstance than she had expected to find in this... environment. And since she couldn't be certain that there even was a way to break their curse without their former Lord and Master... well, she certainly didn't see herself as any form of a Beauty but she certainly wasn't a Beast by any stretch of the imagination.

Not as long as she kept the Nothing at bay.

She let the celebrating furniture and dishware escort her out to the entrance hall where her "guests", fellow escapees from the raging storm from what she could tell, were waiting... in a puddle of water that was obviously shaken from the poofy creature who looked rather surprised by the sequence of events.

It took more volume to her voice than she was used to using to be heard above the cacophanous singing around her. "Welcome. I'm afraid that I don't know what to call this place, but what hospitality I can offer to you, I do so. I'm Lynette, the new Lady of the premises."

"Zyv? My name is Alex."

"Be our guest! Be our guest!"

Alexander had  attempted to relay more than his own name, and he found his voice swept away by the chorus springing from the walls. Except the noise wasn't from the walls- it was from the candles! From the furniture! The Ursa Circus baroo'd is a surprised manner as a couch ran out from behind it, sweeping it onto the cushions and parading the creature around. Only for a moment was Ursa taken aback, before he started to baroo to the rhythm and dance with the furniture.

Alexander was knocked over by a rogue chair and fell onto a table that began to buck him wildly, hanging onto the sides with an arm for but a moment before he was tossed into the sea of celebration and fanfare. Among the dancing stools and living mops Alexander found himself in a precarious position, face to face with a bucket that seemed to possess... a face. It was speaking, singing, and Alexander's eyes went wide as he realized what exactly was happening. The furniture was alive. The plates were alive. The castle was alive, it seemed. And Alexander had only one word for it.

"...Cool!" He immediately seized upon an object of comparable size. A coat rack, to be exact, and began to attempt a slightly improvised ballroom dance. He hadn't forgotten about Zyv completely, but the strangeness and subsequent excitement of what had just happened had overtaken his mind. During the song number, Alexander could swear he'd had heard somebody say something that wasn't a song- a female voice. Was it Zyv? Alexander couldn't tell, but it sounded like a mouthful. Ursa baroo'd as it danced with a rather large dresser, so maybe the dresser was flirting with the bear?

When the chair she was hiding behind suddenly started moving, she instinctively jumped back, her hand in her pocket, grasping the metal orb there. Her eyes flashed around the room and she realized that they were not under attack, but rather a witness to dancing furniture and other inanimate objects. At least, objects that were supposed to be inanimate. A strange sight, though not exactly out the realm of reality when magic existed abundantly.

It seemed as though Alex and his bear went along quite jovially with the sudden change in the furniture. He must be used to situations such as this one if he could adapt so easily and go with the flow. Or he was an idiot, though Zyv didn't assume that. She liked overestimating people more than underestimating them. It was always a better surprise to have overestimated an opponent rather than to have learned you underestimated them, she figured.

There was a voice among the ruckus. Female, or at least feminine. Zyv only heard the voice. The words had been drowned out by the noise. She looked for the source and saw a young woman among the dancing furniture. Zyv offered an awkward smile and equally awkward wave, not trusting her voice to be heard over everything else. She wasn't one to dance, anyways.

Lynette sighed deeply as her voice was lost to the cacophany that was a full orchestra musical number. At least one of her guests, a young man with a wide-eyed innocence that she envied deeply, decided to make the best of things.

She missed being that young and ignorant, not that she wanted to go back to not knowing how hemmed in and imprisoned she had been by those who should have helped her find freedom. What she missed, more than anything she guessed, was that sense of discovery. That sense that there was nothing she wasn't allowed to know.

Damn, she felt ancient these days.

She saw the young woman accompanying the boy and she smiled back at her reassuringly. Both younglings were of an age to have been her children, if she'd ever been able to have any, and the lack cut her deeply.

Although, all things considered given where she was currently standing, maybe not having teenagers to look after was a good thing.

She had to wait for the song-and-dance to come to its natural conclusion and then stepped forward, Annie still in her arms. "Sorry for the noise and confusion. I'm Lynette. What hospitality I can offer, I offer freely. May I ask how you would like me to call you?"

As the number came to a close, Alexander found himself begin spun towards Ursa, who embraced him with a mighty hug and twirled clumsily on its paws. As it whirled about it fell on it's back with an unnatural flop, Alexander bouncing on it's belly as he laughed wholeheartedly. He wore a grin a mile wide after that, his face still red with excitement and exertion as he rolled around on the bear's stomach to face the source of the voice from earlier. He didn't know there was another girl here, otherwise he might not have suspected it was Zyv.

He made eye contact with the young lady who stood a few steps inside the entrance of the foyer hall, and gave her a very short and gleeful, "Hi!" He looked around for Zyv and located her rather quickly still standing where she had been. Alexander very quickly put two and two together- the one holding the dog must have been the Lady of the castle, and he very abruptly rolled off of Ursa's body and hit the the floor, catching himself with his legs and immediately standing up straight at attention, a nervous expression starting to overcome his face.

"Forgive me," he said in what seemed to be his attempt at a calm, authoritative voice. It wasn't actually a bad try, but given that he had just spent a few moment dancing with cutlery and a cartoon bear he probably didn't come off as the most respectable individual. His stance was a little awkward too- overly stiff with his shoulder too far back to make his chest look puffed out and his knees locked. He actually could stand up straight normally, and his body did adjust to be in a more natural position, but only after this rather incredible display of sudden shock.

"I did not mean to lose composure, my lady." he replied in an earnest tone. "I am Prince Alexander of the Land of Dreams." He forgot to mention that he wasn't crowned just yet. He wasn't tryying to lie, per say, but the coronation was soon- well before the parties. The Castle wouldn't be caught dead without a monarch to host a ball. "I come bearing tidings from our Kingdom. We frequently have balls and parties, you see, and I am meant to travel from world to world so that I may invite the lords and ladies to attend."

Alexander was a prince of another place, known as the Land of Dreams. And the way he was treating the woman, she was the Lady of this world. The diplomatic mission of Alex was made more clear. He was visiting different worlds to invite different, important people to his own world, which indicated that Alex had just recently come into power. It made sense with his behavior and all, both formally and informally.

As for Lynette, it seemed like she was relatively new as well, or very withdrawn from her land. Was she perhaps trapped here? She seemed friendly enough, having just greeted two random teenagers who barged into her domain in a kind manner. This place, for the most part, seemed quite abandoned. Perhaps she was new, as well, though Zyv couldn't be sure.

"I'm Zyv, random bystander seeking shelter due to problematic storm," she said, having a much less impressive introduction than the Prince of Dreams. "I apologize for intruding."

Lyn smiled softly at Zyv with an oddly maternal look. "I think we're all lost in some way or another. After a while we realize that it's a feature not a bug."

She turned her attention to the young princeling with another maternal smile. "I appreciate your choosing to deliver invidations to such an important event in person. I'm not sure if I'll be prepared for the party, though, I just arrived here myself and neglected tobring appropriate baggage." She chuckled then, "not that people have baggage of other sorts to carry."

At that moment the wardobe decided to lunge towards Lynette. "Oh! A party? Let me help!" She had her doors open in an obvious gambit to pull the new Lady into her body.

Alexander looked to Zyv quizzically, almost responding to her but keeping his questions focused and to himself. he had to stay on task, but he was already contemplating inviting his new-found companion to the party as well. He smiled brightly as the Castle's Lady spouted something that Alexander thought sounded wise. He pondered the tidbit thoughtfully, letting it seep into his brain when she spoke to him directly and shook him from concentration.

"Oh," he said with only a slight tone shift. It wasn't an extreme amount of sadness or dejection, but just disappointment. Justified, of course- such a long trip and so wet! He recovered from the pitch adjustment and compensated with a smile and attempted to get some words out, when that Wardrobe from earlier excitedly sauntered up to the lady. It exclaimed that it wanted to help with the party, when suddenly it opened up and looked as though it would forcefully drag the young woman inside.

Alexander reacted faster than he thought he could. He rushed towards the lady of the castle, and shouted, "Look out!"He dove towards her, attempting to knock her out of the way and if successful would wind up directly in the path of the Wardrobe.

Ursa merely observed from its spot. "Baroo?"

"Um, okay," Zyv said lamely, unsure of how to react to what Lynette said. The way that she looked at Zyv made her feel uncomfortable, as well. Zyv was never much of a people person. She noticed that Alexander gave her a look of confusion and she wondered if what she had said was really that odd.

A wardrobe suddenly rushed towards Lynette, in what seemed to be an attempt to eat her or something like that. Alexander acted quickly, jumping in front of the wardrobe in an attempt to save Lynette. Zyv didn't make a move because she had come to the conclusion that every piece of furniture was more or less friendly. Plus, she was more prone to watching than doing. It was interesting for her to see how other people would react to certain types of situations. It was a good way to find out their personality more. And from what it seem, despite seeming naive, Alexander seemed quite valiant.