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 Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 8:30 am
"White?" the pig said, cowering back from the doorway just far enough that they could now see it was, indeed, a pig. "You serve the Winter Witch? W-without shackles?"
Purple, apparently, meant nothing to the small creature. "M-my loyalty is obvious. Show me some sign that you're of the faith."
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 9:01 am
When it came to lies, less was more. "She does." Her grip on Lyra tightened warningly, suggesting without word that if the knowledge frightened the pig it was best to leave him with that impression. "Here is my sign," she said, spilling the contents of the pouch into her hand, to show him. She wondered, briefly, whether it would just be best to show him the moons, but it was too late for that now. Either this gamble would work, or they were boned. They might well be boned, but she had to hope that they weren't. They had gotten so far now, found the third pig and everything.
If only she had some way of knowing what they needed to do to get to safety. She absolutely refused to give ground. She'd shown the pig a sign, and now he needed to make good, and let them in. They were still in danger from the trees, though she supposed it was possible that by walking linked as they were they'd be able to leave the forest unharmed. That was the hope, if this went south.
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 9:14 am
She hated lying.
It was a good thing that the pig could not see the senshis face- because if he could the little pig would have known instantly that she knew nothing of this 'white witch'. Though she had to admit, the prospect of her princess being compared to a witch made her stomach churn. She was about to say something when she felt the grip on her arm- she shut up immediately. She did not like this oh no. Chloe always taught her to be truthful, honest. This was in no way truthful OR honest. Yes she wore white, but she served no witch.
All the same, she could apologize to the pig later. Right now... they needed to get inside. She chose it best to keep her mouth shut and let Ametrine to the talking. If Lyra opened her mouth, she would likely tell the truth.
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 10:15 am
Ametrine and Lyra couldn't quite tell if the pig was pleased or not to see their sign, but regardless, after a moment, the short brick door swung wide to admit them. "The firelord watch and keep you," the little pig said. It was clearly some sort of benediction.
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 10:25 am
"And you," Ametrine responded, deciding that, once again, the simplest response was the best one. Crawling into the door was going to be... fun. But better the door and the brick house than the trees behind them. She got down so that she could make her way through the door, wishing that she had some way of knowing if they were doing the right thing. Well, the right thing to keep them alive, anyway. Before she forgot, she put the charms away so that they wouldn't get lost. It seemed that they might prove useful in the future, and she wasn't willing to lose them now.
Aware that her movements were all but dragging Lyra in with her, she still went through the door, giving her companion as much leeway as possible. It wouldn't do for the trees to get them now, after all that had happened. After this point, they were going to have to be very quick on their feet. Still, she released the senshi, hoping that the young woman would have the foresight to keep an eye on things. What if he wanted more answers than they'd already given? Ah well. At least she had some practice with that kind of thing.
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 10:36 am
She quirked a eyebrow as she heard the door rattle open- the pig had let them in? Fire lord? Winter witch? The winter witch part admittedly reminded her of a certain lion, witch, and wardrobe book she read as a child. She hoped this... witch was not the very same. Would suck if that was the case but from the pigs hesitation- she could tell that the witch was either a: powerful b: scary or c: all of the above.
She waited for Ame to go inside the door before she herself quickly whirled around and crawled inside. She did not want to waste any time in case those tree's were still after them. For once in her life, Lyra was glad for her height ( 5 ft ) and her small hips. She fit in the door just fine.
She nodded in greeting at the small pig- before blinking to take in her surroundings. She still did not dare open her mouth.
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 1:14 pm
The room they were in was large and mostly barren. It was a single enclosure, built of mostly evenly-stacked and mortared red bricks. It was nearly full dark in the room, but for a small oil lamp burning in one corner. Along the same wall was a locked trunk, no doubt where the pig stored all its earthly possessions, with a worn piece of red cloth thrown over it and a low stool pulled up alongside it: a makeshift table and chairs. Two other stools were stacked off to the left of the table, as though they'd been put away after going unused for a few days.
In the center of the room, dominating the space, Lyra and Ametrine could see the stump of what must have once been a very large tree. Into the cross-section of what remained of the tree trunk, something had been carved -- though it was hard to make out in the weak lighting without making a closer inspection.
Something was clumped along the ground, too; it seemed to be excrement, at first, until they realized the room didn't have any of the smell of animal refuse.
There was a second door on the far side of the room, presumably leading to the other side of the path.
"It's been some time since I've seen any other people," the pink piglet said with nervous, forced friendliness.
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 6:34 pm
Once crawling into the house she soon now understood why the other houses were so tiny... the pigs themselves were SO tiny. Now that she can finally actually look at the one she talked to- she kept her eyes on him for a moment. Her face showed no sort of resentment nor hostility to him- her eyes shown with warmth. He seemed to be civilized enough. Though she still felt bad for lying to him.
After some time her eyes wandered off the pig and onto the house. Simple, but enough to live with. Her eyebrows pulled to the center as she saw the clumped things, but who was she to judge how someone lived? He was opening his home to them. She crawled around the room and settled herself seated and hunched over near the tree trunk. She eyed the marking that was carved curiously- she hadn't noticed it until she sat next to it.
"They probably never made it past those killer trees." Lyra said lifting her gaze back to the pig. "We barely got past them ourselves."
She fidgeted, eyes lowering from the pig guiltily she squeezed them together. "I can not live by a lie." She eyed Ametrine- pretty sure she was going to hate her for this. She got them in the house and.. Lyra might get them kicked out. The senshi tucked her legs in and eyed the pig. She was going to speak in a singular fashion- It was Ame's choice if she wanted to come clean or not.
"To be honest, I have no idea where we are. I do not serve any White Witch, nor anyone from this world. I have no idea what this world is or even why i am here. We were walking down a pathway because we heard creaking, and thought it might be a door and someone whom could give answers. Turned out to be some mutant killer tree's that we barely escaped from." She bit her lip next- wondering if she should continue. Should she mention the pigs they found?
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Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 7:40 pm
"..."
Oh Ametrine was going to kill Lyra. What happened to sticking with the plan? What happened to letting her talk them through the situation? Her eyelid twitched, the irritated tic appearing as she tried to decide what to do with this. Okay. So, the pig wouldn't believe them now. The pig might be mad that they'd deceived him. Or it. Whichever.
"Truth is," Ametrine said, carefully schooling her features and her voice to be calm. "Truth is, we were cornered while looking for this house. We encountered bodies along the way, and have been trying to locate someone who might know who they were. They were like you," she said, gesturing to indicate him.
"And one of them carried this. We barely got to the door alive, with the trees following us as they did. I should have told you to begin with, but I didn't want to take my chances with the woods." Who would have, really? What was worse than having to tell the truth was that she had no way of knowing whether the trees were on his side or not.
They might well be. "Truth be told, you're the first person we've encountered along our way. The first live person, at least." Calling the pig a person was really stretching her view of the word, but that was all right. Lyra had revealed them, and that was that. She wasn't stupid. She wasn't going to contradict Lyra's story... even though Lyra had contradicted hers.
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Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 9:51 am
The carved symbol on the top of the tree-stump, which Lyra had been looking at, seemed to show a crescent moon high over a tree, all of this encircled within the etched shape of the sun.
The pig was looking at them with big, dark eyes. After a few seconds, there was a glimmer on its face, and they realized it was crying.
"You shouldn't be here," the pig snuffled, after a moment. "I can't have strangers here. You, you should go." It hopped up off its stool.
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Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 10:47 am
Somewhere in Ametrine's stoic face, there was a trace of some emotion. Perhaps... sympathy? Pity? It seemed logical that with the way the pig was responding that it was the third little pig. Which meant that the dead pigs were its siblings. "I am sorry for your loss," she said, her tone profoundly serious. She held the pouch up. "Perhaps we should return this to you. It seems to carry a significance that neither of us quite grasp."
Well, that wasn't true. Ametrine understood that it was the symbols, the charms, that had given them passage. "I hope you understand that we have to be here, at least for now. We don't know our way, and if we leave, we may very well be taken by the trees." That was not acceptable. "Unless you happen to know a way... out of the woods?" It was worth asking, even if the pig might decide not to tell them on principle.
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Posted: Wed May 26, 2010 11:20 am
Lyra blinked a few times- unsure what the symbol she was looking at meant. She couldn't help but run her finger over the carved symbols. The moon and the tree were within the sun... was the forest governed by the night, and the trees?
Looking up next she saw the look of total hate that Ametrine was giving her. Lyra winced. Though the wince was nothing compared to the look of sympathy that she gave the pig. She understood, she understood more than she wished she did. She had after all... just found her own mother murdered not even a month ago herself. "Im also sorry for your loss..." She looked around for tissues initially, but upon finding none her eyebrows furrowed together. Looking down she slipped off and offered the pig one of her white gloves. "Its not much but..." She thought it might help him wipe away his tears.
"You make it sound like someone is forcing you to not talk to others. Is someone threatening you?"
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Posted: Thu May 27, 2010 12:25 pm
"No," the pig answered Lyra, "no one. You mustn't touch that!" Its eyes widened as it regarded the carved tree stump.
"No, you must go," it said again. "Take the firelord's signs with you -- they'll protect you from the King's men, if you hold them out before you. They're no use to my brothers-in-law now."
It shuffled, on its two hind legs, over to the rear door. "The King keeps the way -- but you'll get no help from him. You can't be here," it stammered again. "But take some food with you before you go. You seem decent folk."
It pointed at the clumps on the ground.
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Posted: Fri May 28, 2010 11:42 am
Lyra quickly pulled her finger away from the tree stump as the pig called out the order, as if she touched something that burned. "Oops sorry!" She said- she clearly had a lot to learn about the rules of this...weird place.
"We should go." She nodded towards Ametrine as she slipped her glove back on- hopeful that ame felt the same way. Lifting herself up, as best she could, the senshi crawled around the house and tried her best to keep her enormous butt bow from knocking anything over.
"Before we go...mind if i ask just two simple questions?" Green eyes looked towards the piglet. " Firstly... are all the little signs in the bag the firelords signs? Secondly... mind giving us a name of where we are, so we at least know what to call this place?" Lyra found that the more she was in this place, the more she was using her brain. Maybe she was related to Z, whom Lyra always regarded as the brains of the family. She just felt uncomfortable knowing nothing about this strange land they were in. The more they were in this world... the more it seemed less and less like a dream, and that idea scared her.
Lyra head tilted at the 'food' on the ground as the pig pointed- but out of courtesy she scoops up some of the clumps. "Thank you for everything." She said before exiting out the back door of the very tiny brick home.
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Posted: Sun May 30, 2010 4:11 pm
The clumps that Lyra gathered up, in the light of the setting sun, turned out to be truffles, velvety and black.
"Those are the signs of the Red God, yes," the pig told her.
"They called this place the Moonwood, once. I remember those days. Nowadays, the loyal adherents of the firelord know it as the Thieves' Forest -- but among the King's men, it's known simply as the Green."
Lyra was out the door, and Ametrine was being shuffled out after her.
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