Tale

Grimhilde's long skirts swished across the ground as she walked slowly and gracefully in a manner which befit her status as Queen. She wished to inquire a thing or two from the witch, Maud Skeleton, and the chambers of the aforementioned women were directly where Grimhilde was heading. A small girl trailed behind the Queen, holding in her arms a tray filled various spice-filled bottles. The girl took careful steps, trying her best not to falter too far behind the Queen, lest she get a whipping. The little girl did not want to be there, but she was too young to understand exactly what was awaiting her.

Grimhilde held up her mirror as she walked and smiled coyly at her own face reflected back at her. The mirror knew that she preferred to see herself rather than speak to it and refrained from making its own face appear until the Queen actually asked it something. She admired the smooth curve of her own jaw-line and the way her skin shone, smooth and flawless. The Queen smiled and lowered her mirror, satisfied for the moment by her own perfection. She was perfect. Her looks were perfect. She was beautiful and utterly flawless and if anyone dared to disagree...that would be a most unpleasant topic to dwell on. In her mind the Queen was the fairest of them all. Woe be to the one who said otherwise. Woe and much pain.

Grimhilde came to a halt in front of the witch's door and gave it two sharp knocks. "Maud? 'Tis I. I wish to speak with you." And then she opened the door, as she was the Queen and she went wherever she damned well pleased.

"I've brought you a lovely morsel," Grimhilde said, gesturing at the young girl who held the tray, "I knew not if you wished some spices with the dear, so I brought many a sample for you to partake in at your leisure." Grimhilde glanced over her shoulder at the young girl and smiled warmly, beckoning the child over to Maud in a fake-motherly gesture.

The trembling child inched closer. "She's a plump little thing and has been fed well, think you not so?" Grimhilde reached out a hand and patted the girl on the top of her small head.

[edit: crap! Meant to put this into 'The Palace' section. My bad!]

Lykos walked the hall of the castle in his favorite form. A noble young man, but with of course, ears and a tail.
He favored this guise because it closley resembled his old body. His tail wagged back and forth, looking for something to do.
He had grown quite bored, for not much news had come ine about the Resistance.

Fools., he thought. No one can stop the Queen.
The Queen. A topic the Wolf felt quite strongly about. She earned his respect, for the simple fact the she was the only being that scared him.
Sometime, Lykos felt that she would be able to turn a man to ice with her glare.

His ears twitched as he heard the clicking of hooves and heels.
Quickly, the wolf walked over to see Little Miss Lox with her newest servant, a nervous old goat.

Lykos walked up to them, grinning slightly and showing his sharp teeth. His tail wagged as he saw the goat's eyes widen with panic.
"Good mourning, Miss Lox."

The goat bleated nervously, shuffling away from the razor-sharp grin of Mr Lykos, causing it to bump agains Goldie's leg, and drop one of her bags.
Miss Lox shot the caprine servant a rather dangerous look that made the creature flinch, before turning her attention to greeting those who had addressed her.
"Good morning Miss Lottie, Mr Lykos. I'm well thank you. Here on business." she explained.
"Her majesty needed some more servants, the trolls keep on eating them. How are you both?"

She glanced over at the Wolf. She was not too keen on talking animals, so at least he had the decency to put on a more presntable appearance when around the place.


----

Red grasped hold of the hair rope and nimbly swung scrambled up. She was an agile creature, and had no trouble scaling the high walls regualrly. She sprang up onto the window lege and slid inside, adjusting her hood a little as some measure to obscure the large amount of scarring.
-"Is anyone else here yet? " she asked, looking over at Rapunzel.
Red was never relaly one for pleasantries or small talk.

Lykos's eyes darted between Lottie, Goldie, and the Goat. "I'm doing well, thank you for asking." He glanced over at Lottie again and then the goat who had just dropped his master's bag. Lykos chuckled.

His ears twitched again as he heard wood against the floor. He turned, acting like the noble he was born as.
"Hello Karen." He greeted. "Would you come join us?"

Red stepped over to the window, looking down at the new arrival skeptically. She grasped hold of her axe.
"Give me a moment to look." she stated.

The young woman swung herself over the windowledge and half-slid half sprang down the wall, landing rather hard, but on her feet at the bottom. It was a good thing her enhanchted boots acted in some manner as shock absorbers of she would have probably broken her knees on the way down.

She grapped her axe tightly in her hands and hurried over to Aurora, her expression taking on a slightly unnerving look to it.
"Show me your teeth." she commanded, a slightly homocidal glint in her eye.



---

Goldie looked over at Karen, repression a tut of distaste at the woman. She always found it rather questionable as to why Her Majesty saw fit to keep a dangerous lunatic like that around the place...then again there weren't many of the Queen's allies that had squeaky clean backgrounds. Goldie had been made the public face of the council for a reason. Mainly becuase she was the one most people were least likely to be terrified of. Oh yes, everyone felt so sorry for poor little Goldilocks being attacked by those awful bears.

She self-conscious ran her hand over the make-up covering the scars, rather anxious that she didn't show those off. Of course most of the palace knew she had them anyway, most below her rank just pretended they didn't to avoid her wrath. It was one surefire way to antagonize Miss Lox, mentioning the scars...or bears in general. She still knew that one of them was out there..

Karen froze when she heard the voice.
She turned to look at the group, her eyes staring intently at the three of them, the dark green emphasised by the thick dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep.
Would you come join us?
Lykos had been polite, but then again that was just how he was most of the time. She didn't have a problem with him.
"I think not Lykos, I would not wish to intrude." She responded softly to the wolf.
Even before she saw the disgusted look in her eyes, Karen knew that Lox did not like having her here. For some reason she had always taken the worst reaction to her. Then again, the feeling was mutual. Dear pretty little miss Goldie Lox wasn't exactly Karen's favourite person. After all she had it alright, she was pretty and lively... she could laugh and have fun... she could dance...
Tap t-tap tap!
Karen's eyes flicked upwards briefly, swearing she could hear the tapping of those shoes even from down here, almost as if they were calling to her...
Her gaze turned to Lottie in surprise when the girl said she had been looking for her. That was unusual in itself, no one ever wanted to find Karen... some of them were just unfortunate to come across her.
"Well here I am." She murmured, watching the girl carefully. "Is there a particular reason why you wished to find me?"

"She's not a wolf!" Red called up. To whom, Aurora had no clue.
Aurora watched with relief as Red pulled away, nodding a little, as if she had just confirmed something.
"I guess we can let her in...for now." Red growled, spinning around a pinning Aurora with a gaze that made her widen her eyes.
When Red turned back, Aurora noticed a handsome tabby sitting just a few meters away. It seemed to be watching her with and air of slight curiosity.
Aurora couldn't help grin a little; she loved animals. As she began to take a few steps towards the cat, a deep voice behind her spoke.
"Please don't pay Miss Red's behavior too much mind ma'am."
Startled, Aurora turned around only to herself in the presence of a large bear.
"I'm not paranoid." Red said, sounding irritated. "If I didn't do these checks, He could walk right into the tower and tear you all apart."
Aurora briefly pondered who Red was talking about. But as she looked at the huge bear she offered a small smile at his kindness.
I wonder what his story is.
"Thank you." Aurora replied to the bear, itching to pet him. Then she swivelled back to the cat, delighted that he was still where she first saw him.
Suddenly, what looked a long black rope came hurling from the high tower. It was only when Aurora got closer did she realize it was hair.

(The Palace. Pardon I forgot to switch the places tab 0_0)

Gambrill watched servants putter past his stable as the time past, listening to the idle chatter of others. He was familiar with most of the nameless faces around the castle ground from just passing the countless hours alone in his small stall watching. Flopping down on the ground, he heated up the fire in his belly to conjure smoke in his mouth and blow rings in the air, entertaining himself. The smoke leaked through the cracks in the wood and out into the open air that he yearned to be in. The only time he was usually allowed from this place was to be sent on an attack, to kill but at this point if it meant stretching his wings then he hoped an order would come soon. In the very least that someone would come speak a word to him to break the silence of his now smokey hutch.

When Puss was placed on Aurora's right shoulder, his tail swayed from side to side as he continued to purr. He noticed a tiny fairy settle down on her opposite shoulder and he gazed at her wings and thought she might have been some sort of bug. He swung his paw to try and pat her with it, a harmless swing without the use of his claws.

[#The Tower]

"Oh hello, I'm Aurora." The girl's lips formed a kind smile as she introduced herself, "Are you here for the meeting as well?"
"Yes." Thumbelina chimed, but her cheery expression was replaced with one of fright as the cat swung a paw her way. Realizing that he wasn't trying to harm her, she fluttered towards the cat's face. She smiled and patted his forehead gently.
"Alright, hold on you both." Aurora spoke as she took hold of the long rope that turned out to be hair. Thumbelina returned to her place on the blond's shoulder and grasped the cloth of her dress for support. She could only imagine how much strength was needed in order to haul a human body up the tower. Then, her crystal blue eyes peered upwards at the source of the almost endless chain of hair. There was a girl at the top of the tower which Red had already successfully climbed up.

[#The tower]

When Aurora finally made her way up and into the tower, she took the time to take in her surroundings. The tower was unexpectedly spacious and homey-looking. As Thumbelina flew off the shoulder, Aurora's cerulean eyes trailed after her in curiosity. The little fairy landed on a pile of papers Red had splayed out on the table. The orange tabby jumped gracefully off Aurora other shoulder, but not before purring once against her neck. She laughed, petting it affectionately.

Aurora continued to scan the tower, finally placing the owner of the extravagantly long raven hair. She was small and quite cute-looking, yet the expression in her eyes told a different story. There was an inexplainable darkness that sifted through them and Aurora felt a deep pang in her chest.
Will I look like that in a couple years? Months? Days?
Aurora couldn't help but sigh for the poor girl. Hopefully the Resistance would change those eyes.

"We have a mission." Red announced in a commanding voice, snapping Aurora back to the present.
All eyes turned towards their hooded leader.

Lykos smiled at the women all together.
He knew Goldie and Karen were not fond of each other.
He took a breath in. They all smelled delicious. Goldie smelled of expensive perfumes, Lottie had a natural good smell, and Karen smelled like rotting corpses. His eyes darted towards the goat again.
"Well, ladies, I shall take my leave and let you talk of perfumes, hair, and ways to distroy the Resistance." he bowed and looked at the goat.
"And I can't wait till you find a way to mess up this job." he licked his lips and left the group.

Along the halls he heard several servants whispering about the Witch being out. Well, they were talking about that until the Wolf came walking by.
"Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf,
Big Bad Wolf, Big Bad Wolf,
Tra la la la la." he sang in a sing song voice. Out of boredom, he switched his form to a blue haired girl.
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e51/c ... Collan.jpg
She was still wearing men's clothing as she walked down the hall, her tail swishing from side to side.

“Oh, her,” a rather loud voice ground out. It belonged to the youth named Gretel, who had also joined Rapunzel and Bear on the journey through the secret passage. She had a look of disgust etched onto her face as she glowered at the beaming young woman in the poster. “Even with all she does, she still tries to act all innocent,” the young girl spat out, her green eyes narrowing slightly

Her hatred for Miss Goldie Lox was great, but she had a different target in mind for reasons far more personal than the distaste she held for the Queen’s propaganda asset. However, Miss Lox still earned a high rank in Gretel’s list of hate. Despite the evil young woman being several years older than her, Gretel couldn’t help but be disgusted the first time she saw Goldie Lox in person. Telling such blatant lies with teary eyes, still trying to act all innocent despite that, it near drove the young amber-haired girl mad.

She couldn’t wait to tell Hansel who the first target would be – however something stopped Gretel’s thoughts short. She saw the strangest expression on the talking bear’s face. ’It looks like he has a more personal problem with Goldie Lox than me,’ she thought. Then once again remembering her own reason for joining the rebellion, drew her knees to her chest and gave Red all her quiet attention instead.

Hansel broke himself from his thoughts, realizing that he was late for the meeting.

As he walked, he repeated to himself multiple plans. He paused, stopping to write something in his book. He crossed out a part, rather irritably. After a bit, he reached the others. "Sorry I'm late," Hansel said with a smile. "What'd I miss?"

(sorry for the late and short post. I have been so swamped with work, I faked sick to catch up. I'm almost there, but thought I'd give this rp a reply.)

Gretel perked a little at hearing the familiar voice. She quickly darted to the window and looked down. "Hansel? You're late, you idiot!" she shouted down the tower at the tiny figure that was her older brother.

Rapunzel made a move to assist the girl, but Gretel just waved her off. Sweeping a strand of her chin-length amber hair behind her ear, she lifted the hem of her pale green skirt. It was fine - she had shorts of a darker green and sturdier material on underneath the light-clothed skirt. Where there was meant to be a belt, the fourteen-year-old girl had coils of thin but sturdy rope coiled and looped through.

Taking end of it, she tied it with a complex knot to the hook that jutted out of the window-frame before tossing the rest down to her brother. 'After that incident, I know how to be prepared,' Gretel thought darkly.

Suddenly beside her, was Rapunzel, her distant blue eyes looking down at the boy named Hansel. "How do you know he is not the wolf?" she murmured.

Gretel looked at the the long-braided girl strangely, an eyebrow raised as she leaned foward onto the stone windowsill. "What do you mean? Hansel is Hansel, my brother."

Blue eyes glanced back at Red before returning to the base of the tower. "The wolf can be anyone. If you're not careful, Red may kill your brother before she checks..."

Gretel drew back slightly, taking in the sight of the older girl. There wasn't a hint of humor, nor a hint of any emotion on Rapunzel's face. Gretel couldn't tell exactly what she meant, but it gave her an eerie feeling.

"Besides," the raven-haired young woman added, "I am the keeper of the tower."

Lykos heard the tapping of shoes against the stone floor when 'she' turned around.
"Good Mouring Maud." he said with a pleasant smile to the Witch. "Do you need me for something?" The animal in Lykos told him to flee, but his arrogance and pride won.
No one but the Queen has the power to hurt me.
He walked over to the Witch, swaying his hips like a real woman would. Impersonations were his specialty, something no one else in the Kingdom could do as good as him.To the untrained eye, he was born a woman.
He smiled, revealing his razor sharp teeth.

The tabby gazed at Red Hood as his tail flopped inquisitively upon the tower floor. So the Rebellion was going to try and assassinate Goldie Lox? He had a few friends that the mistress was slaving around that he wouldn't have mind freeing. He was curious though as to how they were planning to kill Lox. Were they planning to breach the Queen's castle? If so, that was suicide. We're they planning to lure her away from its protection with a ruse? Rolling onto his back, he glanced about the group, unsure if they had the intelligence to even perform what they declared. They lacked a strategist.

Lykos's smile fell at the mention of his curse. How did the witch know?
He ran his tounge over his teeth as he thought. She was a witch, she problebly knew all about curses, but no witch before had known.
"Well damn." he said outloud. "I guess there's no harm in it." but then again...
"unless your making a VooDoo Doll, or some kind of curse even worse than the one have I now." he caught a wiff of the Witch's last meal and smiled.
His shape warped once more.
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee22 ... imeboy.jpg

The Wolf smirked. "Temper Temper, Mrs Maud. Where is the fun in life without games?"
Lykos held out his small wrist to the Witch.
"Here you go. I won't start crying, don't worry."

As Maud walked away, the Wolf stuck his toungue out. That woman clearly had no sense of humor.
Lykos walked around the castle, waiting ofr someone to talk to him. No one dose, so he goes back to the group and smiles at Karen.
"So what are the shoes doing latley?"

Karen had been waiting patiently when Lycos suddenly returned.
So what are the shoes doing lately?
At the sound of those words, her gaze turned to him.
"Dancing." She replied softly, her dark green eyes glazed over with the tormenting madness as she spoke. "Always dancing, never stopping. I thought they should be tired... don't you think they should be tired? They dance so much without a single second of rest but surely they must hurt... those red shoes must surely feel pain..."
Karen was going on slightly, forgetting slightly that she was talking to Lycos at all. As the thoughts of the shoes filled her head, she began to get lost in her own insanity. No one could ever understand what it was like to be haunted by those shoes, still with her amputated feet encased in their red folds. To hear them dance throughout every day and night... to feel them tapping away... no one understood.
But they soon would.
Tap tap tap t-tap.
"Maybe that's how they became so red... they danced so much that they bled..."
Almost as soon as blood came into her mind, her focus returned to Lycos.
"You're bleeding." She commented, the scent of his blood hitting her now.
All those hours in the torture chamber had made her sensitive to that smell.

Goldie soon headed for the exit form the casstle, her job complete, and keen to get away from the place. She was never terribly impressed with the state of the palace, and was keen to get back to Index. She'd been allowed to call the shots in the town for the most part, and had it running perfectly as far as she was concerned. She stepped outside, approaching her carriage. It was pulled by some rather depressed looking unicorns, that soon began to move once she'd got inside. That was one advantage of talking livestock...they were pretty good at remembering routes.


"We need disguises for those posing as traders." Red stated.
"Preferably people who can manage to put up a decently beleivable trader persona. Troll guards aren't all that bright, but we need to be careful regardless."
She made her way over to the window, narrowing her eyes.

"Well, Gretel and I may be able to... just one question though... does the Witch ever show up to these things?" Hansel asked, glancing over at Gretel. He tried to pretend all of his concern was about her in this case. Hansel's smile seemed a little more forced than usual. His shift in body language was pretty subtle, but it was still clear he was uncomfortable.