Evermor Castle

Tallulah heard another maid call after them inquiring about Rokon the maid sounded nice but even then Tallulah felt to sheepish to say hello and to scared they would notice the gills. So she kept walking until she came to the large open castle doors. Tallulah blinked as she entered the castle it was very rich, clean, and very...Dark or to her it was...Maybe it was because the windows were lacking. Tallulah stared in confusion at the maids that were there lined up and waiting. She knew the maids in this castle lived here and were meant to look somewhat the same but Tallulah was freaked out because these maids looked completely identical. Down to there eyes, nose, tans, outfits, hair, lips, everything even height and probably weight. Tallulah nodded in hello to them and immediately as if on Q they all said "Welcome Evermor Castle your rooms are upstairs." Tallulah blinked somewhat frightened of the strangely identical maids but took two room keys from the head maid's hand and headed upstairs her gut telling her to be a tad wary.

The upstairs was nice the red carpets and high ceilings made it not so frighting but it felt oddly cold once again a lack of windows. She looked down at the set of keys and use'd the one labeled Room A-1 to open the corresponding door. The room was large once again red carpet, there was a large bed the room was painted oddly enough the princes favorite color. She set down the princes bags and put his key on the small dress table near the door. "How... Cozy???" It sorta felt cozy but it still felt oddly out of place. Tallulah looked at her own key it was labeled C-1 Tallulah blinked that was nearly all the way across the mansion. Which shocked Tallulah who thought that she might only be right across the hall. "Prince I apologize but my room is two hall ways down..." She bowed and set off with her small bag going up the hall way passing all the A rooms turned passed all the B rooms and finally reached a duplicate hall of the Princes where the doors were labeled with C. She found her door and went inside her room right as the 1 hour to dinner bell rang. Tallulah knew though it would take some time before everyone arrived.

"Please, let me. You have much more important things to think about, Princess." Vivan almost groaned at Albion, being here to find a suitor was going to be impossible. Already, just from the few people she's seen she felt like it'd be too much work. She followed behide Albion carefully as they approached the gate. As they past the large gate, Vivan couldn't help but have a chill up her spine as she suddenly let out a whimper.

"I don't like it here Albion..." Vivan whispered, catching up to him as her yellow dress with black trim ended up dragging against the floor. Vivan put a hand ot her head with a slight headace as it begin clear to her something was off. It was a normal sense now a days, though normally they were false alarms. Already, Vivan could tell this would be an intresting stay at Evermor Castle.

"Huh? Oh! This is Rokon! He is a Kitsune. Neither fox nor cat nor dog. One of the most interesting creatures I believe that walk the earth and he is my best friend! Show her what sets you apart Rokon!"
"Please don't let this be the one you are being arranged to marry. She talks much to much and it gives me a headache. Besides being friendly, if Rokon was one thing, he was sarcastically assholish.
"Oh shut up and show her! She will see it eventually, and foxes descended from your kind. You're to clever to get headaches!
"If anything I am too clever to be hanging around with you Kolar!" of course to the girl and man walking behind her the conversation was nothing more than growls and noises but nonetheless Rokon stood up straight and took a deep breath in- all eight of his tails coming into full view and seeming to bloom- and upon releasing his breath he exhaled tiny tounges of flame and embers, as he tried to impress rather than fight.
Kolar saw Tallulah running off through the corner of his eye and thought quickly he had to follow her and keep up. "It was nice meeting you too! I have to go but I will see you at dinner!"
"Yes... 'Nice'..."

After he followed Tallulah to his room he walked in and offered for her to stay a while and relax but when he turned she had already gone. He laid down on the bed as Rokon crawled on his chest and fixed himself into a little ball and the two friends fall asleep.

"I don't like it here Albion..." Albion simply rolled his eyes and said, "Well, you'll probably get used to it."

Soon they both entered the castle, flanked by an army of servants. After a synchronized, "Welcome!" one of the identically faced servants handed me our keys: B-1 and B-2. They slowly walked up the tall stairs to their rooms, which nicely happened to be right across from each other. By the time Albion finished climbing the stairs and getting to their rooms, the 1 hour to dinner bell sounded. He knew this girl would probably never even leave her room the entire time if he didn't do anything about it, so he made a suggestion. "Here, how about I'll get the rooms set up while you mingle with the other guests. Oh, and which room would you like?"

The object Takuto held cause a misstep in Tsuki's walk. "Can you please carry it? And whatever you do don't unwrap it...please..." Her voice held a tone never shown to anyone one. It was almost begging. As she progressed down several hallways she went straight to the A hall. "Your room should be A-4 or A-3" Tsuki said emotionlessly and zipped to towards A-4. She placed one bag down and somehow managed to roughly unlock the door, and stacked the bags neatly in the corner. "Takuto, I will be going now so..." She quickly yanked the object out of his hands. "I'm sorry..." Tsuki was practically sweating in nervousness, and the new feeling caused her to turn a bit sharply down the corner and cause the object to gouge a mark in the wall and make a metallic clang of a sword. Causing Tsukiko to break into a quick walk, she quickly lost sight of what she was doing and practically ran into the door of room C-1. "Well that hurt..."

Tallulah sat in her room quietly unpacking thing when she heard something hit her door. She opened it and looked at another young maid. "oh my are you alright??? Do you need any help???" Her voice was thick with concern and quickly forgetting her awkwardness she grabbed the young maid and looked at her head where a red spot was forming and frowned. "Do...Do you need maybe some cold water you have a large red mark forming...I hope your ok..." She placed her hand which was naturally cool being a Mer-Folk on the girl's head where the red was forming.

"I'm okay..." Tsukiko was pretty much seeing stars and doubles. "ah...you hand feels nice..." She said sounding a bit tipsy, and she quicky shook it off. "Thank you for you concern..." Tsuki said bowing. "My name is Tsukiko Hoshimura and a maid to Prince Takuto.." She said formally and still in a bow. "May I please know you name Miss Mermaid.." She said as politely as she could, Tsuki knew being respectful to Mer-Folk was important. She had seen a whole city destroyed to a single Mermaid whose lake was polluted with garbage.

Takuto was not very happy about this trip anymore. "You'll fall in love there. Once married you can rule. BAH! what does that old man know anyway." He started to rant as he went through his clothing to grab his training gear. He put it all on and knew he wanted to be outside away from things. He stormed out of the room and down the hall towards where he thought was the exit. As he left the room he saw a gouge in the wall from something, but thought nothing of it and continued. Takuto didn't know why he was mad he just was. 'She can be so dense' he thought as he turned a corner. He saw Tsukiko and some other girl standing in a door way. He walked up to them and took a look at Tsukiko . "What happened?" he asked trying not to sound to upset about anything that was bothering him.

Tallulah's eyes went wide and she covered her gills her cheeks flushing and her eyes casting downward. She knew she should be proud of her heritage but despite everything the years of mockery had come to make her ashamed. "My name is Tallulah...I don't have a last name...I never knew it because my parents were killed...Tallulah is the name given to me by the royals I am honored to served...I serve prince Kolar." She bowed in respect as a man whom Tallulah assumed was a prince came over. "No need to worry Tsukiko bumped into my door is all...I think shes fine I can tell already she is a very kind person." Tallulah smiled and took her hand slowly away from her neck her gills were closed for the moment but they were still noticeable.

"Very nice to meet you Tallulah" Tsukiko said with a soft smile and gently patted the fellow maid's shoulder. Tsukiko however tensed and turned around quickly at footsteps...to see Takuto.
"What happened? Takuto had asked and Tallulah answered. Tsuki however only nodded at Tallulah's praise and scanned around for her sword. She saw it embedded in the wall, still wrapped in red silk, and gouge marks showing the trail it sliced before embedding in the wall. "Damn...." Tsukiko said coldly and rushed to retrieve it. "Prince..should you head to dinner?" She said slightly edged and turned with a bright smile to both. "I'm sure socializing is the best.." Tsukiko's voice said a bit more calmer.

Takuto raised an eyebrow at what she had said. He stared at her for a little bit and held up his sword. "I'm going to have a quick training first. I don't see the problem since you even brought your own." He turned obviously upset about how things were play out. He felt like maybe being alone for a little while might cure things. It Tsukiko came along it would help be he felt like something else was going to happen. He started to walk down the hallway without say as much as a few words to those who passed him. 'Does she think im stupid or something.' he thought as he finally reached a large set of double doors that he hoped lead outside.

"Thank you for the help Tallulah..." Tsukiko said absentmindedly. She quickly followed behind him, not uttering a word. Just over a sword she got edgy....but in past the sword had always done that to her. A few brief memories flashed in her mind. The dark night of the hunt, fire raged in the castle, and capture....but now because of not want these to be seen she was getting angry at Takuto. A few happier memories popped up of the time serving him. As they reached the double doors at the end of the hall, Tsukiko had tears slowly trailing down her face. As she moved to open the doors, Tsuki briefly touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry..."She said with a voice barely audible and as she opened the doors, out flew a knife, which she caught promptly. "I think you went to the enchanted training room...." A sound like a sob and a laugh mixed together escaped from her. "If your going to train best hurry up" Tsuki walked into the room holding the door open. "I hope you don't mind if I join you?"

Kalliope giggled. Oh, this was very good. She'd even managed to make him stop calling her Princess. Why hadn't she thought of that before? "No, I can carry them all, but if you insist, you might as well." As long as he wasn't carrying her bags, it would be alright. Her bags were filled with things that shouldn't be touched by other people. More likely he'd confiscate them, since she was planning on making trouble.
She pressed her lips together and looked up for a minute. The rooms, where were their rooms, in particular? She couldn't remember. "Hey, Prince, d'you remember where our rooms are? I just plain forgot."
Hearing him ask if they were about to start talking to the others she shook her head, her white braid whipping from side to side. "No, course not! I want to unpack, then go exploring for a while." Kalliope would have crossed her fingers if she were able. She did want to go exploring, but she was going to go around causing trouble so she could go home without being married. As if she'd want to be married.

"Sir what is this place for? I was just wondering because I like just started and they sent me with you and it doesn't make sense do you know why they choose me? Is it because I need training or is it because I'm good company? I've been told that I make good company even when I'm alone cause I talk a lot and people say that they don't even need to talk back and I'll just keep going and going and going. But I don't think that's right I mean if I didn't stop talking then I wouldn't know anything or anyone. People tell me that if I keep talking then soon no one will even bothering listing to me anymore. But you're nice and you'll listen to me even when I talk about random stuff right?"
Kenneth winced. He knew he should have expected the question...but then as Sadie got sidetracked, he wondered if he should answer the question. No. He'd just wait until it came up randomly and hope Sadie didn't make a scene. As for why she'd been picked...she was the only maid who wasn't scared of him. He couldn't help it if he customarily had a slight frown on his face. And he wasn't about to make an effort at smiling.
He watched her get sidetracked and shook his head slightly before following her in.

"Well, you'll probably get used to it." Vivan's checks began to puff out at Albion's response. Get used to it? Hardly. Vivan was surprised as a large group of servents all came to great her and Albion, wondering how much larger could they even get? As she followed Albion up the stairs to the rooms that were right across from each other. As she let out a sigh, she jumped a little at Albion's voice. "Here, how about I'll get the rooms set up while you mingle with the other guests. Oh, and which room would you like?" Vivan had a feeling she'd better of objecting to Albion, but couldn't. He was being so kind to her after all.

"Alright, only for you though since you've been able to put up for a brat like me.. And any room is fine, thank you." Vivan said with a small smile on her face as she looked around for a moment. There seemed to be a bit of a crowed near the room C-1. "Perhaps I'll wonder a bit before dinner... I'll see you then Albion, right?" Vivan mumbled to her knight, her hair being swept back with a gentle bursh of her hand.

Takuto was confused by his own maid. 'What is up with her.' he thought as he passed her to enter the room. "I don't mind at all." Takuto then promptly pulled her inot the room and shut the doors behind them. He noticed the tears on her cheeks. He wiped them away and looked at her. "You know the reason I brought you with me was so that you did not have to deal with my father and the rest of my family. I don't like the way they treat you. I requested that you be my maid so that you could be yourself in my presents and not someone who was defeated." He paused a moment and thought for a few more seconds. "I'm sorry what they did to you, when I am king I AM going to fix it to the best of my abilities. I promise, and you should know I never break those." He smiled at her and then looked around the room. "So where do we start?"

"Perhaps I'll wander a bit before dinner... I'll see you then Albion, right?" Albion looked back with a relieved smile and said, "Of course, I'll see you at dinner. Oh, and your room will be B-1 then. Have fun."

After the Princess left he went to work and began unpacking all their things. He ended up finishing quite quickly, and decided to explore the castle a bit before dinner. He walked back down the stairs down into the foyer where a few more groups made there way inside. Albion decided to talk around a little too, considering one of these royals could be the Princess' suitor. There was one group that seemed quite deep into conversation, well, at least his maid was. So he silently passed them, only giving a small nod as a greeting. When he got outside he saw another group, looking slightly lost, and not nearly as troublesome, at least that's what he thought...

"Hello, would you like some help?"

Tallulah watched Tsukiko go following her prince and bowed silently. She slipped back into her room and change into something less plain and let her long blue hair down. Then she left her room and decided to explore the castle. Her exploring lead her mostly to many many locked door but after turning a few corners she managed to find her way down stairs again. She watched everyone move about but felt too shy to say hello instead she distracted herself by looking at the paintings on the wall, the one Tallulah found most captivating was of one depicting a grand lake where the crystal clear water showed the reflection of the bright sky. She smiled to herself though for no particular reason.

Sadie turned around and ran back to Kenneth "Well that was weird but did you see that thing it was all like Rawr!" She held her arms above her head and dropped the luggage. She picked it back up and continued walking. "I want a dog when I grow up they are loyal and nice and soft. And when I get the dog I'm gonna teach him tricks like speak and sit." She looked around "Where are our rooms? I mean I can walk around for a while but I want to unpack. Did I tell you I used to work on a farm. I would walk around the fields all day it was fun I didn't have a care in the world. It was just me my dad and some cows. No boys around me besides my dad told me boys were a bad thing and the only thing boys want was my money. We didn't have much money so I didn't understand why I couldn't date boys. But I don't mind any more he was just trying to protect me. Just like I wanna protect you." She smiled at Kenneth and turned around and started walking backwards. "Hey, Sir can I call you by your first name? Sir is just to formal for me."

Tsukiko just nodded in response to Takuto's kindness, but slightly flinched at his touch. She hated the feeling of being touched at all, considering she never liked hugs or an affection at all. "To start...?" She said faking confusion. "But I can't fight...." At that moment the room released a bunch of knives aimed at her, she scrambled to the side like a normal maid. "Kyaaaa~!" Tsukiko screamed, acting of course. "I think I'll just watch..." She said kneeling in the corner away from any knives, and she quickly scanned the room for more hidden weapons. Tsuki then relaxed and sat waiting for Takuto to start.

Takuto smiled as he knew she was full of it. "You a normal maid wouldn't have been able to catch that knife that came flying out of the room when we first entered here." He drew his sword and took a look at it and realized that it wasn't polished like it should have been. "Crap, I forgot to polish and oil this guy." He quickly looked around and found what he needed to oil his blade. "You know you don't have to act around me. I am not a thing like the others back home." he continued to oil his blade and once he was done he stood up and looked at it in the light. "Looks good to me, what do you think?" he asked her as he twisted it in the air. He ran his thumb along the blade and nicked himself a little. "Ouch, that kinda hurt." he said as he placed his thumb in his mouth. Takuto was a little upset that she couldn't be herself around him after a year.

"Ahh that's Lake Vulpin." Kolar appeared next to Tallulah who was looking at a painting. He couldn't sleep so decided to change and go wandering about the castle. He left Rokon asleep in the room but left the door open for him to come join them for dinner

"But I can't fight at all...only good at catching knives.." Tsukiko said lightly, it was the part truth, the cook often threw knives at her in his anger. However she was a fighter, a damn good one at that. She faintly remembered taking down two famous assassins in her kingdom..but returned to the matter at hand. "A blade's condition doesn't matter if the master is skilled enough." Tsukiko said as she calmly selected a wooden katana. 'Why am I saying old hunter sayings?' She thought. "Well feel like sparring?" She took up a stance, the blade in front of her held in one hand, and her eyes held a daring twinkle. Tsuki just decided the Prince should at least see her real self, she rather owed it. "Well..?" 'Hopefully no one becomes attracted to the sound of sword clashing" She prayed in her mind.

"Finally." he said as he sheathed his sword and grabbed a wooden one. He had a feeling that she had been training longer than he has. He has only been train for about ten years and he was only just as good the knights that served him but he was learning still and he was having fun. He swung the training sword a few times just to feel the weight of it. "No to heavy and not to light. I like it." he stated after a few more swings. "A swords condition tells much of its owner." he knew this saying so he always made his blade look in the best condition even though the thing was beaten to hell and back. He took the time to make it look the best. He smiled "Ready?" Takuto took the first swing full on ready to take a few hits but hopefully land at least one or two to prove he is worth something.

Tsukiko didn't like the idea of sparring at all though as she caught the smashing blow of Takuto on the butt of the hilt, the wood splinting and loud thud echoed. "Guard..." She plainly said and her eyes misted with focus. She released the clashing sword from the hilt and unleashed a flurry of disarming blows. "Then the condition of my sword will disappoint you then..." Tsuki said softly and gazed shortly at her sword in the corner still wrapped up. The blade was never cleaned...it was still drenched with dried vampire blood, but not beaten to a pulp. Tsukiko then turned back to the sparring. "If you can follow the pattern you might see an opening or learn this skill for yourself..."