poly_chromatic | (the years that never were)

Oh no... if the knights or the council find out I got out of the castle...

[Estelle frantically looks around her room. It's not the castle. Just where is she? Why is she wearing such casual clothing and not her princess' garb?

Running through the house, she just wishes to find anyone that could help her. She runs outside, realizing very quickly, she's not even in Zaphias. Or maybe she is and this is the outskirts, but the castle can't even be seen. From what she knew, it was raised so that everyone in the city, Lower Quarter and Public Quarter, could see it easily.

Running into the City, she just wants help, but she's scared. She's never been outside of the castle on her own before! Of course, she's thought about it, and has attempted, only to be returned soon thereafter.]

Excuse me, can you please tell me where I am, and how I can return to the castle?

[She asks all the passersby the same question, hoping for any help she could get. While she's dreamed of escaping the castle, now that she was out... quite frankly, she was scared...]

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[What the ever-loving fuck. Carla frowns as that streak of pink approaches. The girl almost gets past her before her hand shoots out and snatches her arm.]

There's no castle.

Wait, what are you saying? Am... am I not even in Zaphias anymore?

[Wait, was she kidnapped then? Then... she still needs to find out how to get back!]

Which way is to Zaphias? Ah, perhaps if this is a city under the Empire, then there are some knights on duty here! They can escort me back!

Shut up.

[She snaps at the girls babbling quickly, giving her an annoyed look.]

There's no castle, there's no going back.

No! THere has to be a way back!

[She doesn't even want to think of the trouble she'll get in for not going back. She pulls on the woman's grip, trying to get her to let go, trying not to go completely frantic on her.]

[Goddamn hysterical curse-addled twit. Carla gives her a sharp yank.]

You've been here for months. You don't have to go back to the castle.

{She is not very good at comforting other people, she really just doesn't have the empathy or the patience for it, but having her Bunny in cage is an incredibly irritating thought to entertain.]

Have... I really been out for that long?

[She doesn't remember it at all, though. Perhaps amnesia? Just what would cause amnesia? Unless she was so shocked by the incident that she decided to block it all out! Yes, that must be it.

And with that, she believes the woman, because no one would ever lie, right? Why would someone ever lie?

And with that, she calms down.]

Yes.

[When Carla decides to be honest she prefers to be listened to. Having her honesty questioned when she's being earnest has gotten a few people punched in the mouth.]

You were here before I was.

I was?

[Yes, it must be amnesia, then. Why else would she have been here before this lady? This lady whom she has never met in her life?]

If that's the case, then do you know who perhaps kidnapped me?

The same ones who kidnapped everyone else.

[She motions around them at the city at large impatiently.]

All of us.

Estelle?

[ looks like Estelle, sounds earnest like Estelle, but god knows, maybe it's her newly-arrived twin!

her twin who dresses exactly the way she does in the City. ]

Uh—that's gonna be kiiinda complicated.

Es....telle?

[She cocks her head when she hears that name, almost waiting for the -lise at the end of her name, but perhaps she missed it in her panic. There's nothing wrong with that though.]

Am... am I no where near the capital?

[She's really been kidnapped, hasn't she?]

... sort of yeah and kinda no! Look, this is gonna sound kinda weird, but you remember—this girl with short brown hair or a Knight-Commandant or anything?

A... Knight-Commandant? Are you taking about Commandant Alexei?

... nah, that's not it. You are Estelle, right?

[He catches her lightly as she nearly crashes across his path. Of course, there's not castle here, only a palace, and while Chase isn't sure of the current occupants, he doesn't think she's one of them. So he should ask what, exactly, she means.

But he doesn't.]

Follow the yellow brick road.

The yellow brick road?

[She looks around frantically, believing his words as she tries to find this yellow brick road.]

Can you point me in the direction of it, please?

[Will she still believe them when they're sung to her? Because that's what's happening now. His face doesn't look quite as invested as his ability to hold a tune would suggest.]

Follow the yellow brick road.
Follow the yellow brick road.
Follow follow follow follow,
Follow the yellow brick road!
We're off to see the Wizard,
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!

But I don't wish to meet a Wizard named Oz...

[She then gasps, wondering if...]

Perhaps I'm in another kingdom that the Empire has yet to find?

[There is one uncharted land in her world, and maybe this place is it!]

No, your Empire isn't-

[Sigh. He's quietly very thankful that only a pink haired princess is getting to hear this particular song selection.]

There is a castle on a cloud,
I like to go there in my sleep.
Aren't any floors for me to sweep,
Not in my castle on a cloud.

[She tilts her head, obviously rather confused right now, but she does look up to the sky in response, pointing to it.]

So my castle is up there?

[How odd.]

The songs I know about castles put them up there.

[Finally, a break.]

There isn't one in the City, that I know of. [In other words, there isn't one. It's not that big of a place.] You're lost?

(the years that never were) - action

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