The Magic Room *Permission Only*

Aisha

KILLTATHIELKILLTATHIELKILLTATHIEL.

Because of course I wasn't going to let him make me go to my caravan. I'd stayed, if only to punch his pretty little face. And now my instincts were only being restrained by years of experience. Didn't keep me from being so, so, so infuriated. Red sparks in my eyes, fire rushing into my veins. I already had my hand gripped around my staff, my igniter engraving patterns in my skin.

"You moron! Te voy a matar! Yo juro que te mato! I swear, I swear, I swear! Your heart is coal! Juro tu corazón es el carbón! Filthy beast! BEAST! Do you think that's what girls want? Voy a dar una patada en la mañana, tonto!" I was mixing Swarian in my rage, not caring a shred that I'd never taught him. Let him wonder. I was starting to see red. He didn't even have the decency to respond.

That was when I started at him, vision blazing and heart racing. Kill Tathiel. Kill the jerk. Kill the arrogance, kill the greed, kill the hard heart.

Kill it all.

**I've been out of commission... What's going on? Where are Alba and Damon?**

Alba? Well she's walking with Blake, Aisha and...um..that's about it. (I'm guessing Aisha heard that scream? O.o)
The prince might be stalking the twins as they're being escorted down the halls.

Bring in my horsie-boy!!

Um, Ninjy? What the hell is with your post? Did Aisha hear Lav scream and follow Aarin in or something? I'm confused... So, could you explain? And guys, please read the previous posts... Updating people on where they're characters are is kinda tiring...

Anyways. I will post when Isha does, cause we kinda had a plan for Lav, Tath and Aarin. (Isha, feel free to kick my but if I said anything wrong >.>)

Something along those lines. Ai hears a scream, runs in (was gonna follow Tathy anyway) and witnesses the scene. I'm so silly. I skip parts sometimes. -.-

I see... Well, Isha and I had more planned. I think Ish was going to tell you once Chups posts.

Alba~

Alba sighed as she walked through the halls, with Rustic the only living thing at her side. She was used to this. This... loneliness. She should let it get to her head, but it was so hard no to. Ever since she was a little girl the only people who had taken intrest in her where the older folk. Even with her friends there wasn't an exception. She had never been able to make friends with kids her age. Ah, oh well... It didn't matter. Rustic suddenly shot his gaze up, Alba following him as her eyes caught a shadow hurrying down the hall. A palace guard.

Alba's hand instinctively shot to her dagger on her thigh and slowly followed him. And then... the scream. It was Laverna's. Only a Melnarian would have a deafening scream like that. Alba, without thinking, unsheathed her dagger and ran the rest of the way down the hall before turning into the room. Before surveying the scene she allowed her barefoot to slam into the guard's back, sending him to the ground. It wasn't until he was out of her way that she realized that Tathiel had been the cause of everything.

Her throat was burning as she looked at the state everyone was in. Her other hand grabbed her second dagger, brow furrowed. "What are you doing Tath?" She hissed. Who cared if he gave her her share of the money or not. If this is what they planned to do with the slaves rather that what Tathiel said they were really going to do then Alba wanted no part of it.



Prince Damen~

Damen followed Princess Anzeila and her brother out into the corridors as they followed a maid and two guards. Damen was too far back, and to call out for any of them would look bad on his part. It wouldn't be very... prince-like. Taking three large bounds foreward, he reached out and grabbed the sash around Anzeila, accidently ripping it off. She yelped and whipped around, her hand instinctively flailing out and making contact with Damen's cheek.

Time seemed to stand still after the hit. His cheek throbbed once, twice, three times before the two guards had her pinned to the ground. "Hey!" Damen boomed, coming back to reality. "Hey! Get off of her! Come on, it was an accident! Cease this!" He shouted, sounding like his father once in his life. At that, the guards dispersed swiftly, leaving her lying there, defeated.

Despite Baron's burning gaze, Damen squated on the ground and offered his hand to Anzeila. Although she was his new slave, it was alrigh to be nice, was it not? "All you alright?" Damen asked as his cheek throbbed from the hard slap he had received.

Okay, I'm going to bring Selen and Flip in, or at least try. Next time though, PLEASE PM somebody if you want to be brought in? Somebody who's character isn't already doing something else? Putting it in the SB like that ruins the flow entirely. This will be a very, very long post by the way. I suggest everybody reads the whole thing anyways.

Tathiel

My cheek was burning. The girl hits hard! I was seething, blood-boiling, body tensing--I was angry. My slave had just slapped me for the love of God! And some freak with a badge was behind me, telling me how to treat her. You know, like it was him who owned her and not me...the group. Whatever.

I raised my hand to return the slap, almost making contact with her cheek when another hand wrapped around my wrist. Whatever guard had just walked in on us had apparently taken it upon himself to keep the little slave safe.

"Don't. You. Dare."

My jaw locked. Then came the screaming, profanities shouted in Swarian. I caught about two words that I could understand. Aisha, the spit-fire herself. Great. So, apparently I was going to die today. Death by fire or death by sword. Quite possibly both.

I pulled free of the guard's grasp just as the girl charged, an attack that I narrowly avoided. Aisha was seething more than I had been. Pure rage. What did it even matter to her?!

Alba ran in, smacking into the guard, who stumbled forwards. Laverna stepped back quickly, just as his foot would have fallen ontop of hers. Wouldn't have been pretty with her bare feet and the man's monsterous boots.

"What are you doing Tath?" Alba demanded, practically snarling. Her dagger came out.

Aisha attempted another lunge, and was pulled back by Blake. When had he gotten here? Ah well, it didn't matter. I was dead anyways.

"What on earth is going on in here?!" Blake asked, eyes darting to each person in the room.

Aisha shook away from his grasp and glared at me, eyes to filled with hatered it made me cringe. "I. Don't. Know. Tath, enlighten us."

It took me a moment to think of what to say next. There was absolutely nobody in this room on my side... kill me now. Before they had a chance to. "Alba, put the dagger away," I muttered. The thing was as big a threat as Aisha's fire staff. She didn't. "Before anybody slices off my head," I continued, not prying my eyes from the dagger. I wasn't quite sure of what I was supposed to say next.

"You all helped me do this, remember?" I shut my mouth. That would only make them madder. It was true, but it wouldn't help me. "Nevermind. If you want to kill me, just do it. I give up." Did I actually give up? Well...we'd see. For now I think I'd end up having to give it a rest.

I sunk into the nearest sofa and closed my eyes, fully expecting a blade to the jagular or the chest...or maybe flames eating away at my flesh. Didn't matter. Either way I was dead.

Anzeila

I gritted my teeth, taking the hand hesitantly. He had saved me this time, but what would happen in the next ten minutes? "I-I'm fine," I muttered, though my voice shook. For a moment, I was wondering if he would even be able to understand my accent. I hadn't realized how different they were...Lazzan and Aggarian.

The prince pulled me to my feet and I hid a wince. My back was probably bruised. With any luck, it would throw men off. I shuddered and glanced at Barron, who was drilling the side of the prince's head with a glare. I hadn't realized that I was trembling. From head to toe, the might Lazzan warrior-princess was tremling. In fear, too.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Barron asked softly, in Lazzan so the prince couldn't understand.

I stole a glance at Prince Damen, who was frowning at my brother. "I'll have a nice bruise on my back and sore shoulder for a week, but I'll be fine," I muttered back, also in Lazzan. It's the one thing Barron and I had, that language. Nobody else here knew it, as I doubted anybody who wasn't Lazzan did. We could say anything we wanted...assuming we didn't get beaten for it.

Barron nodded slowly, those his eyes were still concerned. I turned back to Damen, eyeing first the sash Firepit had given me, then the prince's reddened cheek. Had it actually been an accident? Well, I hadn't known who was behind me. It could have been the king himself and he would have gotten a hard smack. Not really an accident, no, but I would keep that to myself.

I was still quivering, though I tried to hide it as well as I could. I remained silent, having nothing to say. No thanks, no apologies. Nobody in this confounded castle would be getting either for a good, long time.

Terron

Slaves. Two more of them. Young ones, at that; Lazzan twins. Royal Lazzan twins. I shook my head sadly, allowing myself to frown as I entered the stables. I shouldn't be here right now, but I was. I had needed to get away from all of the commotion and gossip.

Get away from hearing the guards laugh and talk about what they were going to do to the Lazzan princess, and how they would watch her brother suffer.

I allowed myself a shudder and looked up to see the Flip boy, mucking out a stall. Judging by how jerky his body movements were, and by the redness of his face, I would have to say the boy was absolutely furious. Rumour had it he knew the Melnarian girl, the one the group of fortune seekers had used as bait.

Smart of them, but absolutely terrible.

The boy looked up, frowning. "Do you need anything?" he asked, leaning on one of the stall doors.

"No, I don't," I answered, turning to pat one of the horses. "I would be beaten if they found me down here right now, but I can't stand being in the palace right now. If you would be so kind as to keep this a secret..." I was asking too much of him now. He had every right to report me if he saw it fit. I closed my mouth tightly, frowning at footsteps outside.

Flip glanced at the stable doors and motioned for me to duck into the closest stall. I did so without hesitation.

The door opened slowly before closing again. "Supper," came a quiet, feminine voice I recognized only as Selene.

I stood, knees cracking, to see the servant girl staring at me. She didn't seem happy about this, either. Our earlier run-in with the queen hadn't gone that smoothly, though a few quick words got us both out of any real danger. "Quite the day, isn't it?" I asked quietly, stifilng an exhausted yawn. Quite the day indeed.

Aarin Basir:

I watched them. Tath seemed to be the Blond the king wanted me to follow. A good thing I had followed him, or the Melnarian would be in a rather awkward situation right now. I sighed, stepping back. Now that I was out of the way and, hopefully, not much of a threat, maybe he'd leave the princess alone.

The princess had retreated to a corner, eyes on the blond. She looked wary. And very, very angry. I didn't blame her; Blondie was a bit of a sadist. Harsh, probably a little uncaring. And he obviously didn't care about slaves and how you should treat them.

Eyes narrowed, I waited for something to happen. I was wondering if I should go...or stay. Which would be better? Leave the group to whatever they're doing....or stay and make it awkward. I stayed. So what if it was awkward, so what if I was a Palace Guard. I was going to stay.

Because I did not trust any of these people with the Melnarian Princess. At all. Especially Blondie.

Aisha

I'd combust. I swear to god, I'd combust. I was still shaking, and I could hardly see through the film of crimson. With another quiet scream, I shoved Blake far away, and then I was running towards Tathiel like there were vipers on my trail. Killkillkill. That was exactly what I intended to do. I swung my staff around once, twice, WHAM.

"Idiot-jerk-beast-coal hearted-fool-"

I broke each word off with a harsh slam against his body. Arm, shoulder, chest, stomach. Soot and ash staining his clothes -the ones that were always better than ours- and, by my vision, bruises dappling under them. I flung the staff off to one side, grabbing my igniter instead.

"AISHA! Aisha, quit it! Drop it!"

I snarled and took another step, not caring that the flame was flipping over to my thumb. Like I've mentioned, there was virtually fire retardants in my freaking blood by now. I'd be fine.

"Oh, I'll drop it." I whispered, raising it above his head. Tathiel's eyes widened and he jumped to one side just as I let it fall. I could barely swoop under and catch it in time. Eyes flashing, I lunged after him again. I grabbed onto his shoulders and jumped onto them, twisting my legs around his neck and throwing my upper body back. Success. I managed to flip him. Granted, I was slightly crushed in the effort, but still. I rolled around, pouring a capful of fuel in my mouth. I lit one end of my staff... stood... pursed my lips... and sprayed.

Just like it'd done a hundred times, the fine mist of fuel caught in the fire, shooting a plume directly into Tathiel's general vicinity. Just millimeters from his face. Millimeters. I spat the rest of fuel out of my mouth, twirling the staff quickly so that the rush of air would snuff it.

No pause. Just one look around me- still within a palace, for god's sake, with strangers and slaves around me -and I had to run. Away from the idiotic blonde who didn't know the definition of 'limits'. Away from the guards and royalty that would rather see me and people like me dead than watch us dance. Away from -god blast it- girls that deserved the attention more than I did, who didn't know that I was trying to help, who didn't think there was anything good to come of being with us.

Blast it, I was weird. I run, then I fight, then I run again. Too late to go back, anyway. I was already halfway to the caravans.

Laverna:

I was startled... Had the firepit really just done that? Had I really seen her give Tath a beating? And then I started laughing, doubled over with my hands over my mouth. I couldn't see because of the tears in my eyes. But I could still hear.

Tath was on the ground, grunting and swearing at me under his breath. He was also curing Aisha. Still laughing, I straightened up and looked around. Blake and Alba were staring at Tath...and then there was the guard. He was staring at Tath too.

Then I frowned. Why was I laughing when only moments before I was scared out of my skin? Yes, you heard it right. The Melnarian Warrior Princess had been scared. Movement caught my eyes and I turned to see the guard leaving. What the?

Aarin Basir:

I stared. The firedancer had given the Blond a beating and then fled, shouting in a mixture of Swarian and Aggarian. I couldn't understand even half of it. Something about Blondie being a beast and a jerk and coal hearted. I stopped listening. She wasn't making any sense now...

And then she was gone, out the door and down the hall. I frowned, staring at the Blond again. He was on the ground, groaning and cursing. I studied him, watching how he held onto his ribs and muttered curses under his breath. Then I heard laughing and glanced towards the Melnarian. She was laughing....why was she laughing?

Shaking my head, I turned and slipped out the door while no one was watching, sparing a glance for the princess: enough to see that she had noticed me slip out. Once out in the hall, I closed the door behind me and strode off in the direction of the throne room. Well, the king was going to be interested in what I have to tell him.

Tathiel

I tried to move, so I could pull myself onto the couch. For a second I swore I was going to die, that's how bad my ribs hurt. Breathing was a painful matter as it was, what made me think I could move? I muttered another curse, wondering why I hadn't bothered on fighting back.

I just couldn't hurt her, not physically anyways. Apparently I was doing my fair share of enducing emotional conflict. So I was a jerk, that much was obvious even to me. They say that you can change your attitude easily, focus on something different and willingly change your lifestyle.

Unfortunately, it's apparently not that simple. And trust me, I had tried. Ending up doubled over on the floor with what I was guessing to be a couple of broken ribs isn't exactly fun.

I looked up at Blake and Alba, completely ignoring Laverna's presence. "I know you probably both think I'm sludge, but can one of you help me up? And somebody go after Aisha before she gets herself into trouble," I asked, trying to sound sincere.

Blake and Alba exchanged glances before Alba set off to hunt down Aisha. Blake was stuck with me. "Just help me up," I muttered, trying to take a deep breath. Pain shot through my chest and I gasped, which only made things hurt worse. The girl did a good job. I should have fought back...

Blake managed to help me to my feet and I walked, haunched over to the couch, squeezing my eyes shut. "I think karma's finally catching up to me," I grumbled, mostly to myself.

Aisha

Well, I knew one thing I could do. It was broad daylight now, which meant, oh heavens, I could sleep peacefully. And I wouldn't combust, like that... that... beast always said I would. I couldn't sleep at night, remember? Papa Mushi thought it was some trauma effect because of Mama's disappearance, but I've always been an insomniac.

I ran to my caravan, locked peacefully inside the farthest wall in the courtyard, and climbed in... well, for god's sake not happily, but with relief. Unless Tathiel had picked up the art of lockpicking (I doubted he had the patience for it), I was safe and alone in here.

I climbed in the bottom bunk and pulled the quilt up over my shoulders, tucking it under my chin. I'd forgotten how comfy my bed was with all the recent action, and god, was I realizing it now. I closed my eyes and smiled, so slightly. Now my exhaustion was catching up to me, and I had never been happier to be tired.

Tathiel could grill me out later. I wanted sleep, and he had some problems of his own to manage first.

I yawned widely. Why didn't I sleep more often? I liked sleep. Sleep was good.

See, that's what happens when I get exhaustion-loopy. I start rambling.

And with that bleary thought, I fell dead asleep.

Flip

I looked the old man straight in the eye. "I'll probably have to find a better way to hide you. I have things I wouldn't want people to know either. If I hadn't been ordered back here, I'd probably be in hiding with Lav - the Melnarian princess." An embarrassed cough escaped my lips. That wasn't supposed to be out loud. Fury had been deluding my thoughts for the entire time I hadn't been able to help Laverna. Hopefully this man - Terron, if I remembered correctly - would provide some distraction.

The servant girl shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. "Hey, thanks for dinner, but you can keep it for yourself. I don't want to eat right now," I tell her. It's true, I really simply can't eat right now. I'm too upset about the whole Laverna thing. Though I'm sure she wasn't having any of it.

Smiling softly, I admit a bit evilly to myself that I was hoping she would kill that man, or at least make him sorry he ever kidnapped her. He deserved to die.

What am I thinking? I shook the thoughts from my head. Looking up, I spot something near the edge of the forest, trotting more or less in my direction. "Anya!" I cried, running towards her like this is some sappy, cheesy movie. I took a handful of her mane, leading her back to her stall. Seeing Anya reminded me of a more pressing topic, though. I had stolen the Queen's horse and lost her. What I needed, and soon, was an excuse.