Isaiah "Grey" Gris
Grey squeaked as Absolem picked him up, he hadn't been expecting it and the position he was left in was a little embarassing, but he knew now wasn't the time to worry about whether he looked like a blushing bride or not. As Absolem began to run, levitating Rhia as he went, a pain began to grow in the back of Grey's mind.
"Is this what he's feeling?" thought Grey, "Surely it's not that bad."
Suddenly, the pain surged forward in a blinding burst before returning to its previous ache. It was then that he knew that he was only feeling a fraction of what Absolem was feeling, he could share Absolem's pain at a toned down level yet still know how bad it was for him.
"He'll kill himself if he has to do this for too long," he thought in a panic.
He knew that he'd be devastated if that happened, despite only having known the man for a short while, he felt that he had bonded with him, if the truth was told, Absolem was the closest thing he had to a friend. He was relieved when Absolem finally came to a stop.
"Absolem...I..." he said, voice shaking.
Silently he walked up to the man, taking his hands down from his head and holding them for a few moments before wrapping the man in a tight hug and clinging to him like a child, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. He didn't care what Rhia thought, she could never understand what Absolem had done so they could get away, the man had definitely earned his trust now.
"I can't believe you were willing to go through so much pain for us to get away," said Grey, stepping away from the man, hoping he hadn't embarassed him, "Are you going to be ok to walk? Like you said, we need to keep moving."
In the distance he could still hear the din from whatever it was that had run out of the wood. He hoped that Cheshire was alright.
Duchess Sophie
"My word child," said the Duchess, shocked, "Have you never played croquet? This is a croquet mallet."
Sometimes the girl seemed so intelligent but then she couldn't even identify something as simple as a croquet mallet.
"Well now, not too bad," said the Duchess glided out of the way of the first slash, "Of course there's always room for..."
She broke of the sentence as she was forced to block the second of Belca's attacks with her mallet, it appeared the girl was a little faster than she anticipated. So the girl was fast and judging by the sound of the impact from the sword, she was reasonably strong too.
"Overall, rather decent on the offensive," thought the Duchess, "But lets see how well she defends."
Without a word she dashed towards the girl, twisting gracefully to the side at the last moment before jumping into the air and spinning around behind the girl.
"Behind you," cried the Duchess in a singsong voice, bringing the mallet down.
Destra/Tweedle Dum
"Well, there are others like you that have been brought here," explained Destra, "And as unpleasant as it sounds, you must eliminate them to win, it's the only chance you have for survival."
Destra wondered how the girl would react to this news, he wasn't sure if she would approve of the concept behind the game, but then again, she had no choice but to play, just like everyone else.
"I know it's a grim prospect but don't worry, you don't actually have to kill anyone," he said, hoping this would make it sound better, "And you get to have someone help you or perhaps protect might be a better word, all you need to do is enter a contract."
This was the moment, if she agreed to join him in a contract then he'd be in the game with a shot at winning.
"I know we've only just met but I was wondering if you might consider me," he said, shyly, taking off his cap and looking away bashfully, "If you contract with me, it'd be in both our best interests."
With luck the nervously cute display would have won her over, after that it'd be game on.
Sinistra/Tweedle Dee
He watched on in disgust as his brother began to act all shy and bashful, if that was how he was going to do things then two could play at that game.
"Co-contrarywise," he stuttered, shuffling his feet nervously, "It'd be in both our best interests if you contract with me."
He was sure that the girl would overdose on cuteness any time soon, who could resist two insecure guys that were too scared to talk to a girl, he always thought this act was brilliant when trying to win someone over, the only thing that seemed to work better was the brotherly love routine that he had used to pull with Destra long ago. In any case, he was sure that he'd be the one she picked, he naturally had the warmer personality.
"Or n-n-not," he mumbled, purposefully stuttering again, "I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you or anythng."
He was satisfied that he had milked the act for all it was worth, soon she'd make a decision and then it would all begin.