GREYBURN - INTO THE LABYRINTH

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Aubrey-
"A foreigner then? How have you not been run from town?"
 
Anselm-
"New-- new families! I am vone, do you know Vicier? He is 'odher!
Vee join a Circle vith you! It's nice! I make friend vith Inka!
Es ist eine gute Zeit für alle!"


Aubrey-
"Whaaaat? Replacements?! Why did no one
confer with me?!"

Anselm-
"Eh-- it's very new! Just-- um, you know?
I vanted to meet you-- confer now? Yes?"


Aubrey-
"Am I to be replaced next!?"

[DKender]

Babette-
"No! No! Nobody is replaced! Especially not you. We just - we are all allied against Theodore. The enemy of our enemy is our friend. I swear!"

She wondered if Aubrey knew about the recent casualties. Probably not a good time to bring them up.


Babette-
"After the war ends, I'm sure there will be a formal 'run the foreigners out of town' ceremony, as is custom."

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Aubrey-
"Oh my dearest Babette, you do not understand
these machinations of men-- war and political affairs.
Do not trouble yourself with these ghastly transpirings."
 
Anselm-
"No trouble! Perhaps I vill go home and tell my people
of your bravery and um, ztrong national pride?"


Aubrey-
"You feign innocence?! You do not climb down
from your filthy hillocks to return so quickly."
 
Anselm-
"I am sightseeing! Zo many sights, ah yes, I am very much vith education!"


Aubrey-
"See no more sights, mountain dweller!
How do I find you here with my love, Babette?!"

[DKender]

Babette-
"!"


Babette-
"Eeeeeeh ..."


Babette-
"Well, he certainly wasn't seeing any of my sights! Noooone of that. Aren't you looking for Ellen, Prinz Anselm? I'm certain that's what he said. He said, 'Babette, where is Ellen? She's the only woman for me.' I may be paraphrasing here."

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

  
Aubrey-
"You ask for the hand of my daughter?"

Anselm-
"If you... like it... that... is exactly... vhat I do."

         
Aubrey-
"Interesting..."
 
Anselm-
"Yes, vhat a vay to establish friendship between countries!"
    
Aubrey-
"Hm, I suppose. I was thinking I could
be rid of the wretch at last."

Anselm-
"Riiight..."

Aubrey-
"Give me time to consider it. Come now Babette, where were we?
Ah yes, to kiss, perchance to... hm, kiss."

He reached for Babette's hand, stepping back into the silvery lake!

 
Anselm-
"Ahhh no! If you-- if you kiss Babette, dummy gets jealous and sets a fire!"

   
Aubrey-
"Whaaaaaaaaaat?!  A fire?! Who told you of this?!"

[DKender]

((I'm sorry, Ellen! XO ))


Babette took the freakout opportunity to leeeean as far back from the water as possible. There were some instances-like this one-when kisses were icky.

He seemed unusually upset by the news, though. Did Aubrey have some kind of blood rivalry with Billy the imagination mannequin? That guy's mind was a tangled web INDEED.

Babette-
"Billy ... he's ... a spirit from the books! He's delusional and thinks I love him, when I really don't. So, yes, he may start a fire or do all sorts of vengeful things!"

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

The moon unscrewed and fell into the water with a giant PLONK-splish!
An owl tumbled out of it, corkscrewing through the sky until it crashed into
the grass like an overgrown cracked-out moth. Ellen immediately stood up.

  Ellen-
"Dad, hey, I was... See, Tomasz requested the presence of these
 two at a ... meeting... as dignitaries, you understand? Wouldn't
    want to upset your good friend, and it's running late..."

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

  
Aubrey-
"Aren't you to be married?
Why are you still here?
What? I-- I--- can't bear this!"

Aubrey-
"I would to be rid of you, but I cannot allow my name
traded off to these god-forsaken foreigners..."

Anselm-
"But um, aren't 'dhe other progens foreign--"


Aubrey-
"No more! You are all unworthy of God's love!"

KRAK! The lake hardened into an icy sheet-- the surface of a mirror.

[DKender]

Babette-
"Oh!"

She hoped this didn't mean that somewhere, in another lake, Quinn was frozen solid.

Babette scooooted closer to Ellen.

Babette-
"We should ... go now? I need to reflect on my many sins against God."

Sins? She had a few. But no regrets, at least.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Aubrey-
"Away from me! Leave me to my lonely torment!"

He stomped a foot into the mirrored surface, shattering it into blade-like shards that sliced through the air.

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

            
                Ellen-
          "Come here, you naughty mice!"

Ellen put her hands on Anselm and Babette's heads and became
super gigantic!  Wait, no, Babette and Anselm were turned into
mice in her hands.

   

With a mouspire in each hand, she sprang into the sky with
much more grace than her owl form.  She landed on a flying
shard of mirror the size of a man and leapt off of that, landing
on another.  She kept ascending the flying shards, mice in her
grip, until she reached the hole in the sky and tumbled inside.

They bounced end over end in a dirty rusty pipe, utterly
disoriented but still firmly in her grip, until they spilled out
of a mirror into a dusty parlor of black and white tiles.

They were in a loose scattering of mirror shards, and Ellen
dropped the mice at either of her sides.  Babette grew again
into a woman, Anselm a man, but she was standing, and he
was laying like a disused marionette on the tiles.

[DKender]

Babette wobbled a bit on her feet - she clasped her face, pinching herself.
Babette-
"Wow. How'd you do that? Darling, we were mice!"

She looked down at Anselm.



Babette-
"Oh no! Are you okay?"

Babette knelt at his side, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking adamantly.


Babette-
"Please say something! We're finally free!"


Babette-
"By the way, Ellen ... technically, Aubrey found us."

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

                Ellen-
          "Excuses later.  Take care of that guy.
  I'm going to make sure Aubrey doesn't catch up."

       She leapt back into the wall, through an empty frame
               with seemingly nothing but bricks behind it.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Anselm lay limp on the floor, eyes closed peacefully.

He seemed unharmed, but Babette could smell the tiniest trace of his blood.

[DKender]

Babette carefully rolled Anselm onto his side, checking him for injuries. "Ice" shards had been flying everywhere - she wouldn't be surprised if one lodged in his back. At least he hadn't lost any limbs. If he survived the fight with Theodore, he could survive this!

Granted, Theodore wasn't as old and powerful as Greyburn.