~Beaugro~ |Elemental Role Play| Semi-Lit

[Redsparrow]

Ren's attention fell to Anita. Her voice seemed tense at moments while she spoke to him, almost like she blamed him personally for the events that unfolded here. "Why would I not care for the suffering of another's people? Especially for an event that was caused by my Kingdome."

Eight years of slavery bands, Ren thought. Eight years of suffering all for a choice he made all those years ago. All for what? Ren bearded his teeth for a moment before relaxing again. "What would you have me do?" Ren said, it was a strange thing to blurt out, perhaps it was the heaves of the dyeing slavery band that clung to his leg, or a chance at making things better with Anita. Either way he was honest in wanting to know her thoughts.

[Manx]

Shahar:
{Unable to question Anita further with their close proximity to the others, Shahar allowed the topic to go unaddressed as her sister slipped into the restroom to change her own clothes. Paying heed to Gale's words, she took a step forward to scrutinize his reflection in the mirror, studying the glimmering flakes of gold that touched his eyes. Unfortunately, it seemed as though he was right; they would be hard to miss amongst the villagers.

"We are likely not the first elemental travellers to wander these parts," Shahar said, to her alarm nearly tripping over the word 'we'. One would think that after so many years, she would be used to the fact she was no longer of the feline tribe.

"No matter how hard you try, you simply cannot prevent cultural contact between two such civilizations. Just keep your head down and your words humble, and perhaps we can at least stay here temporarily without stirring up too much unease," Shahar continued, emphasizing her point with a hard glare at Ray.

Stepping away from the mirror to attend to her own clothing, she slipped behind an opaque room divider in the corner to change into the dress Anita had chosen for her. It took only a moment, and before stepping from behind the divider she took a moment to inspect the material. With their similar physique, it fit well enough, and Shahar was thankful that her sister had, at the very least, chosen a dress that fell nearly to the floor, ending just around her ankles. The fabric itself was a deep green colour, and aside from subtle embroidery, was quite plain. It lacked the embellishments often seen in clothing from the royal wardrobe, a fact that suited her just fine. Even so, Shahar considered it a more pretentious outfit than what she would have chosen for herself.

Sighing lightly as she stepped out from behind the divider, laying her old clothing across her arm while gripping her two sheathed daggers in her hand. Coming to a halt in silence, she awaited whatever plans Anita had in mind.

[1.21 gigawatts]

Anita Belle Gunthner
Looking down at Ren, Anita gently closed her eyes before giving a soft sigh. "I do not blame you for what has come upon my tribe, Ren," she spoke as she opened her eyes. "My only desire is that you show me the prince you have become. In all my hopes I wish you are not the one people have told me about. But only you can decide that."

Anita bit her bottom lip as she stood up from the side of her bed. "Grab your belongings, everyone. We must keep moving if we are to make it to our destination." Walking over to her night stand, Anita grabbed her daggers and strapped them to her thighs before covering them with her dress. Without another word, she walked right out of the bedroom.

Once outside the room, Anita turned a corner and leaned up against the wall. A lump formed in her throat. A response to all that had happened to her. Now that she was alone, her feelings bubbled up inside of her, wanting to escape. She kept them at bay, not wanting to put on a show.

First she runs into her old friend, Ren, then she finds out her sister is not only alive but working with the elementals. Finding out Ren was the prince was a slap to the face as well. Then forming feelings for the prince and bringing three elementals and her dead sister into the tribe to send them towards some weapons that could potentially destroy the entire existence of the shifters. It was a lot to handle for one girl. Not to mention how the others would react to it. Especially Emmet.

[Manx]

Shahar:
{Eyes scrutinizing Anita as she spoke briefly to Ren, Shahar took note of her sister's pain as she took her leave from the room. They may not have been close to one another for more than five years, yet she still understood the woman well enough to know she was not doing well in their current situation. Closing her eyes briefly as she prepared to deal with it herself, Shahar then turned to addressed the others.

"If you are all ready now, we should be on our way," she reiterated curtly, hitching her dress slightly as she leaned down to secure one of the daggers along her calf. The other she fastened around her waist as she straightened, turning to make her way to the door. "It would not be wise to stay around this castle too long. A group of elementals being escorted by the queen is hardly likely to escape attention; hardly what we need right now."

Slamming the door open more forcefully than was absolutely necessary, providing Anita a moment of warning to their approach, Shahar rounded the corner to join her. Coming to halt to wait until the others reached them, Shahar addressed Anita once they appeared.

"While we are here we might as well replenish our supplies. I am assuming you can arrange that," Shahar said, giving a nod towards her sister. "We would also do well to find out any information possible about the ruins, seeing as our map is currently... Inaccessible. I, for one, would prefer not to have to wander through hostile territory until we manage to stumble across the ruins," she finished dryly.

[1.21 gigawatts]

Anita Belle Gunthner
Hearing the door to her room slam open, Anita shook her head and took a deep breath, hoping to clear her mind and throat. She straightened out her dress out of habit before Shahar came around the corner.

"Of course," Anita said after clearing her throat with a small cough. "I will ensure our supplies are taken care of. As for the information, I am sure we can find out something from someone. There must be one feline in this tribe who knows a little about their whereabouts." She gave a small smile to her sister after speaking.

Another door opened and Anita looked around the corner to see one of the workers, Phillis, leave one of the rooms. Phillis was the only worker Anita trusted to keep Rachel's room the way she left it. Dirt free and cleaned to perfection. Anita could never get herself to enter that room since her sister's "death".

"Phillis!" Anita called out to the woman.

[Why hello your majesty,] she responded in the feline tongue. [How are you this fine evening?]

[I am well, thank you. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind packing some supplies for our visitors? Food, clothing, the sorts. So I can see them safety off.]

[Of course.]

[Thank you.] Anita gave a smile to the woman as she returned it. Phillis looked over at Shahar for a moment and had a puzzled look on her face. She was frozen like that for a moment before shaking off whatever thought she had and walked away.

Anita turned to face Shahar. "We should probably keep moving."

[Redsparrow]

Ren's eyes were steady as she called him out for his behavior, it wasn't the first time someone had but Ren was starting to hope it was one of the last. With his mind and choices becoming his once more he saw little need for some of the childish behavior that had so plagued his reputation.

"We shall see." He said with a warm influx before following the group. He gawked at every new smell and sight, walking into many party members from time to time as they stopped, finding the new world positively distracting. "This place is like nothing of the stories of old."

Reza who followed quietly glanced at Ren. "Why would it be? Most of the stories we grew up on were about Snowden, the very ruins we are looking for, not of this city home."

"I do suppose most stories are of glory days for kingdoms not of, well more humble times."

[Oriel]

Gale answered Shahar's observation with a nod. His thoroughly average height, made near short by the rest of the company, detracted from the bright glint in his eyes until he could pass for just another elemental citizen. None of his rank insignia were still visible. Anyone who looked without knowing the face of Darius Keystone would see in his son not another powerful elemental but rather a weatherbeaten traveler in the company of feline royalty. Perhaps a guard or a hiresword rather than a commander.

"I'll try," he said, directing his glance to the floor and back upward again to test the way the flecks caught the light.

He thought idly that Shahar looked just as much a warrior in a dress as in her leggings and daggers. Only someone who could not read the ready attention in her bearing might see someone or something else. At worst he supposed the skirts might get in her way while fighting. Perhaps it was no worse than his longish sleeves and the ill-fit through the shoulders, but he hesitated to ask while Ray insisted on baiting both of them.

Any outcome that lead to fighting in the heart of feline territory would come as the last and worst result of other mistakes. Easy to cede control to Shahar and Anita in land that had been their home, if more difficult to grant them enough space and time to relearn each other's habits. Especially when the servants kept giving his third in command speculative glances.

[1.21 gigawatts]

Anita Belle Gunthner
Watching as everyone filed out of her room, Anita wasted no time to get the party moving once more.

"Come. We must keep moving." She addressed the group as she turned to walk down the stairs. With each step, thoughts of what might unfold with bringing elementals right into the heart of her territory flooded her mind. A voice brought her back to reality once they reached the bottom.

"[As you requested, your majesty.]" Phillis held out multiple travel sacs out to Anita, one for each person.

"[Thank you Phillis,]" she smiled at the woman. Anita then handed a sac to each person in their party. With Ren's, she tightened the strap and hung it on him so it wouldn't fall off or get in his way while travelling. "[As you were.]" Anita smiled at Phillis. The woman bowed her head before returning to her work. But not without giving a skeptical glance at the strange party.

Anita then continued on her way out of the castle, leading the group out into the village.

As they went further and further into the center of the village, more and more people welcomed their queen home and they saw kids playing about while their parents tended to chores. The sun shone down on them and the wind carried the calming scent of freshly fallen rain. It must have been from before they arrived but the smell remained.

Three children ran up to Anita. One boy had fur all around his upper torso, another had lynx ears resting on her head, and the third had a tail peeking out from under his long jacket. They danced around their queen before pulling her with them a couple feet.

Anita was gleeful at the precious sight but then realized where she had seen it once before. The exact situation was in the dream she had long ago. The kids dancing around her just before her entire kingdom erupted in flames and chaos. She cast a weary glance at Ren before remembering his powers were, lacking, to say the least.

Anita took a deep breath before following the kids a small distance and watching them show her a new toy the had created. The kids giggled and found interest in Gale, Ray and Ren. The girl with lynx ears found Ren and rolled around him in delight.

Something caught the kids' attention and they ran towards it. Anita's gaze followed them and she turned to see a large lion with a big black mane approach them. The children laughed as they circled him and the lion acknowledged them before continuing on. The three kids then giggled once more before racing off to continue playing.

Anita squeezed her eyes shut momentarily before opening them again and peeking over at Shahar. She had hoped they would not run into that particular person in their trek through the tribe but she also knew it was inevitable.

As the lion padded his way towards them, he shifted into a tall man. His mane and tail remained but his facial features and muscular tone gave him a pretty handsome look. Although Anita knew better than to let his looks fool her.

"[Anita, it's good to know you're back,]" he said to her as he wrapped his arm around her torso and gave her a kiss on the forehead. With that flirtatious action, Anita cast a painful and regretful glance to Ren. She didn't know if he had feelings for her, but the feelings that she had for him (even if she wouldn't admit them) hated the man's gesture. Even without Ren in the picture, Anita wasn't very fond of Emmet becoming her husband, let alone the king.

"Emmanuel," she replied, trying to sound happy but there was a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"[Although I would have thought I would be the first to know of your return.]"

"Everyone, this is Emmanuel...My fiancée," she introduced him to the group. "Emmanuel, these are some travellers. They wished to see our kingdom and I agreed to show them around." Emmanuel nodded his head at the group, barely paying any attention to them.

"Did you retrieve the antidote?"

"No. Not yet. But I will not rest until it has cured every single soul in this tribe." Anita knew Ren had the flask of antidote but she ended to fulfill her end of the bargain before a single drop was given to them.

[Redsparrow]

Ren playfully nipped at and nuzzled the young girl as she played around him before skipping off with the others. His eyes bright as they watched the group play even from a distance. In the walls of the castle he rarely saw children, however half the charm of the marketplace and villages were the humble yet joyful lives of others.

Everything was going so well, he hardly wanted to leave and couldn't imagine what could possibly go wrong, that was when the lion's figure approached the group. As the man shifted Ren felt a distaste for him grow even before he reached the group. His affections towards Anita and apparent though of ownership ticked him off in a strange way.

Putting jealous rage aside he managed to kick up a half smile as a mischievous sparkle glinted in his eyes. His wolf form was going to make this to easy, with a grin he enacted his plan.

Stepping forward he strode affectingly between the coupled, causing them to step apart before wrapping himself around Anita's legs in to long slow passes as his circles around her grew smaller. To top if off he reared up and rubbed his back along her side and front of legs before dropping to face Emmett.

"Can't you see she is busy?"

His eyes ablaze as their elemental flakes caught the sun light, his challenge was clearly made.

[Manx]

Shahar:
{It was a force of will to prevent herself from shifting uncomfortably under the puzzled scrutiny of Phillis. The shift from adolescence to adulthood had not been a drastic one for her, and Shahar knew many of her features had remained the same. A few more scars, perhaps, but certainly not enough to sate the suspicious glances thrown her way. However, Shahar realized with a sense of unease, if already so many saw the resemblance between herself and the departed royal, there would be some from her past who would undoubtedly recognize her. The choice to enter the tribe's borders once again was appearing to be even more unwise with each passing moment.

Shahar fervently hoped that their odd group and the convincing death she had constructed years past would be capable of dispelling most of the suspicion; if only until they could make it outside the city without incident.

She dipped her own head in thanks as she passed the woman, but made no comment as she continued after Anita. Still, Shahar couldn't help her gaze flickering on last time over the gilded door she had once called her own. A room, it seemed, her sister continued to keep intact. Whether or not she would ever truly see its interior once again was beyond her, but, at the moment, that thought fell among the least of her worries.

Keeping her head down as they passed once more through the familiar weaving hallways, her growing sense of unease only began to lift as they strode from the castle and into the village itself. At least here, the chances of others seeing her as simply a weary traveller were greater.

While much had been rebuilt and expanded on since Shahar had last stepped foot within the village, there were still some areas engrained in her memory. Unbidden, recollections from the past floated forth in her mind's eye, associations stirred by the familiar setting. Warm summers and seemingly endless winters had been spent in those very same spots- the courtyard, the village, the surrounding fields. Times spent with some of those who she still missed dearly; no matter how much she wished to deny it.

Few seemed to be disturbed by their passing, and it was only the approach of black maned lion that brought Shahar completely back to attention. There were few that had such a distinguishable shifter form, and only a single one she knew. Snapping her head around to fix a hard glare on her sister, Shahar finally understood why Anita had been skirting around topics of much of her personal life the last few weeks. Her apparent fiancé was a less than friendly face from both their childhoods; hardly a suitor she would have expected her sister to be marrying. The fact he so blatantly ignored their group seemed only a testament to his arrogance, and more so, the lack of change time seemed to have brought him.