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 Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 7:25 pm
The Page of Earth was sitting at the base of a tree near the park. It was still early in the afternoon, and he told himself not to come out and power up when it was still light, but he couldn't help himself. There was so much he wanted to explore and discover, about himself and the world he was now privy to.
He wanted to do it all at once, and found there were not enough hours in the day to do it. Between work and that stupid thing called sleep, he wasn't sure how he was ever going to figure it all out in a timely manner, then get to being the useful source of protection he wanted to be for those he cared most about.
So, despite his misgivings about being seen in the daylight, he was taking his break in the park. Powered up. Playing with the shield he assumed was his weapon. It had protected him, true enough, but it was made of wood and had not survived the first fight well. Now, as he looked at it, it seemed to have healed itself.
He was still getting used to his outfit. A knight! A true knight, right out of his books. He wasn't aware of the terms for them just yet, but he knew he was Camelot, and he was duty bound to protect. That last one came more from the life he knew than the instincts only recently awakened in him.
A bush nearby rustled, but it went unnoticed by the distracted Page.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 11:24 am
Lately Ainsley had been more than happy to get out of school. Perhaps it was the dwindling days until summer vacation when she could go to the library and spend an entire day in the towers of books, or the fact youma and a woman with a bow and arrow attacked her school -- attacked her, attacked Cora, attacked everyone! Her face shifted in worry, would they come back? What if no one found out this time? She had been barely useful in her attempts to protect everyone. A princess should stay in her tower and let a knight do the protecting, right? That's what fairytales said.
She shook her head, arguing with herself. What kind of princess would she be if she did that? Gwenliana couldn't be proud of that! Oh, Gwenliana. The child's face saddened thinking about her dear friend who she could no longer see. She couldn't even see her in the snow now that summer was approaching. She'd have to go look in the freezer when she got home. Perhaps Gwenliana was sleeping there.
Ah, the park! Ainsley's face brightened up a little as an idea crept into her mind. She could get home much faster if she cut across the park! She wouldn't rush though, not though the park; there were too many things to look at. There were lots of trees spreading out with a lush green foliage, bushes, flower beds and even a knight! Wait. Ainsley stopped as she spotted a man under a tree dressed in unusual clothing. He looked like he was grabbed straight out of one her fairytale books! A short stop wouldn't cut into her time when she was already taking a shortcut, right?
The child skipped over to the knight under the tree until she was stopped in front of him.
"Hello," she announced to him, leaning forward to examine him more. Her hair fell forward, and there was an immediate smile on her face. She was absolutely beaming. She may not have met a prince but maybe it was her chance to meet a knight! "You look like a knight out of one of my books!"
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 1:03 pm
Camelot looked up from his thoughts when he heard someone approaching him. He had thought he was a bit further off the beaten path than he was, and he tensed. They weren't really supposed to be seen randomly, right? The whole terrorist thing. He certainly didn't want to...
He recognized the girl that was stopped in front of him, though, and a smile lit his face. He couldn't help himself. Ainsley! She was always in the library, reading fairy tales and petting Dogby. She was a sweet girl, and he was always glad to see her.
Mostly because he worried about her, in this city. It was dangerous.
Laughing at her comments, he nodded his head, moving to stand so she could get a look at his out fit. Proper chain mail, the leather bindings and pads, the tunic. Everything seemed to fit with the idea of a knight. It was strange, how fitting this new occupation of his seemed to be, in so many ways. Not everything had to be all business, after all.
"Do I now? That's good, because I am," he said, watching her to see what her reaction might be. He had no qualms about letting her think he was a real knight, as he would have to be more careful about sitting around powered up anyway. It could do no harm.
The bushes rustled again, and this time he was aware of it. He grew tense, hearing a strange growl. It didn't sound like any animal he knew, which meant it had to be a youma.
"Ainsley," he said, though he forgot he wasn't supposed to know her name, "it might be best to get away from..." he couldn't finish his sentence, though, as a creature crawled from the brush. It was long and a deep, blood red color. Covered in scales and sporting long, wing like limbs on its back, it raised its long neck and regarded them with a dangerous, toothy face.
It was a youma, no doubt, a lizard of some kind.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 4:42 pm
Shortcuts never seemed to follow the path, so it was no surprise Ainsley had ended up where she did. She certainly didn't regret it though, after all, she had found a knight of her own! He even told her straight out that he was and that meant he was. The strange part was when he called her name. She didn't have time to think about and quickly came to the assumption that he was definitely her knight, he even knew her name!
It was destiny, much like the fact that before the knight could even finish his sentence that a lizard crawled out from the bush. It was huge! Not like a house or anything but that certainly wasn't an iguana! The child stepped back, covering her mouth from a scream when the giant lizard looked at them with a rather sharp, toothy grin. It took her a moment until she was able to mutter something at all.
"D-dragon!"
Dragons were notoriously known for getting princesses into trouble and becoming perpetually engaged in war against knights. At least, that's what all the fairytales said. They were strong, and very scary! Only a knight with a pure heart could stand a chance to slay a dragon and rescue the princess. Was it going to get her? She didn't want a dragon to get her! She hadn't found her prince yet, a dragon couldn't get her! That's not how stories went at all!
She tried to think what to do but all she could do was try and figure out just why everything always seemed to want to eat her! Even if it crossed her mind to attack it, or run away, it wasn't like she could just power up. There was no where to hide, and no where to run without it following her. Her eyes fell all around her until she finally looked to the knight. What was she thinking! There was a knight here all along. She had automatically found her way closer to him and worriedly tugged on his cloth as she pressed against the tree.
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Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 8:37 pm
Camelot looked at Ainsley, then back at the lizard youma. She was right, now that he was thinking about it in context. It did look like a dragon. Something fitting for a knight to kill, maybe, but he didn't have a sword.
And swords were usually pretty important for slaying Dragons.
At least it wasn't a full size one, bigger than he was like in the books. If it stood up it was about to his shoulder, its body thin but its claws and teeth wicked looking enough to keep him from getting too close. It was taller than Ainsley, certainly.
He put himself in front of her, between the two.
"Stay behind me," he told her, feeling her clinging to his clothes. The youma moved closer, slithering quickly up to them and raising up. It lunged to bite and Camelot caught it with his shield, it sinking its teeth into the wood and getting stuck there. "Ah ha! Run for cover, Ainsley! I'll get rid of this thing!"
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 2:29 am
"Be careful," she whined, worrying about her newfound knight.
She stayed behind him, her eyes never leaving the dragon that surely wanted to kidnap her to some far away tower, or worse: cave. She couldn't let that happen! Her knight wouldn't let that happen, right? She was sure of it. He was protecting her! He wouldn't let the scary dragon get her! Although he had a shield to defend himself, he didn't have a sword! It didn't stop her from listening to him to run when he told her, although she promptly came back with a large stick for him. It wasn't much, but maybe it would be of use!
"Use this!" She told him, carefully putting it against the tree beside him so he could grab it at his leisure before she scurried off and ducked into a nearby bush. Someplace dragonproof! It wasn't a very big bush though, and anyone who looked could see the child's bows peeking out of the greenery and her blue eyes that cautiously peered over the bush to see how her knight was fairing.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 10:33 am
Camelot nodded his head when he heard her tell him to be careful. Inwardly, his resolve both hardened and quavered for different reasons. He was scared, certainly, but he was not going to let Ainsley be hurt by a dragon, of all things. He wouldn't let anything harm her, let alone something straight out of the story books she so loved.
For some reason, the idea of her innocent wonder and her imagination when it came to these stories was as important to defend as her physical well being. He did not want something he knew was important to her, made her happy, being destroyed if she witnessed her knight getting felled by a dragon.
He couldn't let that happen.
When she returned with the stick he looked at her in surprise, then reached for it and smiled his appreciation. It was a quick moment, then he motioned for her to run back to safety as the dragon reared and made to lunge for them.
He would get the stick in a moment, for now he had to stop the monster for reaching her. It was targeting the smaller, easier prey. Camelot leaped at it, tackling it in the middle of its lunge at Ainsley's heels. He pinned it to the floor with his own body, wrestling with it as it thrashed its long neck, gnashed its teeth, flailed its clawed limbs and its strange wings.
Though he had it pinned, he couldn't reach the stick to use as a weapon against it, and it was much stronger than he thought when he tried to reach with one hand while using his shield to keep its head pressed into the dirt. He bucked and threw him, then scrambled toward Ainsley. He charged after it, catching it by the tail and stopping it just short of leaping into her hiding place.
"Ainsley! Run!"
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 4:19 pm
Everything seemed to change in a second. Ainsley's heart began to race like a horse running in the fields as she felt her impending doom approach her. The dragon had gotten away from her knight and it was now charging at her. For a moment, everything seemed like slow motion as it moved towards it. In the distance though, behind the focus of the dragon, there was hope shining like the stars. No, more like a knight in armour. The knight came from behind and grabbed the tail of the dragon before it was able to leap at her.
Her world slowly came back to normal when she heard her name being yelled. It was her knight, and he was telling her to run. She was at a crossroads at what to do. Her feet began to back away, and her arms raised to her chest as her hands folded into each other into a fist. The knight would always overcome the dragon, that's how it worked! There was no way her knight would fail her and would only be a burden if he had to keep watching his back to make sure he was okay. She trusted in him, she knew he could do it. There was no thought he might fail.
"I believe in you!" She called to him as she turned her heel against the grass and ran as fast as her legs could take her in the direction away from them until she was out of sight of the two of them. She had no idea where she was at this point though. Was the park always this big? She'd never really gone off the path before, not having lived in Destiny City all that long. The child began to look around, feeling like the trees were getting thicker than before. Where was the blue sky she could see earlier? She couldn't even remember which way she had ran from at this point and slowly she slid to the ground, sitting on a boulder below her, unsure of what to do.
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 12:10 am
Camelot heard Ainsley tell him she believed in him and nodded his head. He was not going to let her down, not now, not ever. He was her knight, after all. And she was just a little girl with a sweet imagination, who didn't deserve to be chased around by real monsters.
He pulled the youma back by its tail and it whirled on him once it was sure it could not get the tasty, smaller looking girl that was running away from it. It wasn't happy about losing its meal, and it leaped at Camelot like a cornered snake.
The page of Earth let out a yelp of surprise when strong jaws met his side, but the youma couldn't puncture the chain mail that the knight was wearing. That worked out in his favor, and he wrestled with the thing until he could pin it once more, slamming his shield into its face. He was glad Ainsley had run, because he didn't want her to see the thing getting killed. It was just not something he felt was appropriate for her to witness.
He fought it tooth and nail, getting some scuffs and scratches, dirtying his clothes, but he managed to reduce the dragon to dust after shattering his shield against it and then resorting to using a rock to finish the job. He was out of breath and sore, but not too worse for wear. All the damage to his clothes, and his shield, would be repaired. He took a ragged breath before getting to his feet, then looked around to find Ainsley.
He hoped she had run some place safe, though now he wouldn't stop worrying until he found her again, just to be sure.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 3:39 am
Quite a bit of time had passed and Ainsley couldn't help but wonder just what happened. Had her knight defeated the dragon unharmed? She hoped with all her might that he had as she finally stood up from her place on the rock and looked around. Perhaps it was time to worry about herself. She hadn't any idea where she had run off to when she ran away. She had to stay calm, right? Thinking about it made the child's heart beat faster though.
"Oh, what have I gotten myself into?" She asked, before almost immediately replying to herself, "Trees, it seems."
She was cautious, peeking around the corner of the tree in all directions before she made a move around it, heading into whatever direction seemed her feet would lead her. Surely if she walked far enough into one direction she'd meet the path again, right? She had seemed to be making progress too when she suddenly jumped and hid behind a nearby push. She wasn't very good at high, her bows and top of her head once again peering over it as she looked to investigate the sound she heard.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:58 am
Camelot was walking along, trying to find Ainsley. he would give up and go home only if he was sure she had managed to find her way home, but since there was no ready proof of that, and it was unlikely that he would find such proof just walking around the trees, he wasn't going to be giving up any time soon.
Eventually he heard some rustling and looked around, smiling with relief in his eyes as he spotted the bows sticking up from behind a bush.
"Ainsley," he said softly, moving over to check on her. "Are you alright? You weren't hurt, were you?"
The knight kneeled, offering her a reassuring smile. It had to have been scary, running away from that monster and watching as a knight fought a dragon. Fun in theory and in books, but in real life, as Camelot had well learned before, it was not as fantastic as the stories made it seemed. Thrilling, yes, but in a bone chilling, sudden piercing fear of mortality kind of way.
"I'm glad I found you. How about I walk you home? There shouldn't be any more dragons around. And if there are, I'll protect you from them." He smiled, offering her his hand.
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Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 6:28 pm
There was a squeak from the bush and the child jumped a little. It was certain a dragon didn't know her name, which left just one person. It was her knight! Her eyes peaked over the bush until she stood up in it, giving herself a quick look over. She seemed okay, minus some scratches here and there from running through some bushes. She still had her limbs, and her heart so she smiled at Camelot.
"I seem to be fine!" She said, holding up both arms. "Still there!"
At least she had good humour about it all, despite the fact that it seemed every time she went anywhere something wanted to eat her. Icicles, giant birds, cracks in the ground, geysers, youma dogs and now dragons. Most importantly, she still didn't find that prince who was supposed to come to her aid and protect her from all of these things! She had however found a knight, a knight she decided was hers. He knew her name without her telling her like destiny and even saved her from a dragon. Who was going to argue with that logic? Certainly not Ainsley.
She carefully placed her hand softly on top of Camelot's as she stepped out of the bush and replied to his question. "I would be honoured to accept your invitation. Would you honour my request? You know my name, but I do not know yours. I would very much like to know the name of my knight."
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:53 am
Camelot hadn't meant to startle her, and looked apologetic as she turned to face him. He looked her over as she was for herself, just to be sure she was unharmed. The little scratches could be cleaned up at home, and hopefully they didn't hurt her at all.
"Well, good. You do need your arms, so that was my first concern. Making sure they were still attached. And everything else seems to be, too. Also good."
He was still kneeling, since he was tall anyway and he wanted to be on more level ground with her. At her carefully worded request, which made him smile because the effort she put in to being courtly was adorable, he decided kneeling was probably best anyway.
The knight bowed his head, still holding her hand.
"My name is Camelot. Page of..." He didn't think she really needed to know the real details. She was just a little girl, and the less she knew about things the better. He could get her in trouble, if she came out looking for him. "Knight of Destiny City. Come on, I'll take you home. You have to promise me, little princess, that you'll stay safe and not come out and try to find me. I will protect you, but you still must take care of yourself."
He got up and let her lead, walking her home to make sure they weren't attacked by any more dragons.
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:19 pm
"Camelot!" She acknowledged happily, even repeating his name a few times so she wouldn't forget it. There was no way she would allow herself to forget the name of her knight. It sounded awfully familiar though, and the child could have sworn she'd heard the name before. It must have been because he was her knight and it seemed like a good logic so the child went with it. She couldn't help but frown as he continued though. She couldn't go look for him? She'd never see him again? This didn't seem fair at all! What if she was in trouble and couldn't protect herself?
She was sad, but it was more likely that if she ran into the knight again it wouldn't be because she was looking for him but that her feet merely guided her to him. She didn't understand though. She didn't understand why she couldn't seek out her knight. It should be the safest with him, shouldn't it? If she couldn't protect herself, being with him would be the best thing, yes? She tried to understand, but she couldn't bring herself to make such a promise. It seemed too cruel!
Needless to say, having an already lost child lead the way wasn't the knight's best decision and soon she was already looking around helplessly. Was she going around in circles? Since she couldn't lead the way properly, she stopped amongst the trees and looked back to the knight.
"Why?" She asked in the most open way ever.
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Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 6:16 pm
Camelot frowned, realizing that Ainsley was not as familiar with this part of the park as he had given her credit. He would have to get them back to the main path and playground: she would know her way home from there, certainly.
He smiled.
"Because if you come to find me, you might get yourself hurt. If I'm fighting a monster, or if one is waiting for you, it could see you and go after you. But I won't abandon you, I'll make sure you're safe. Always. You might not see me all the time, but I'll be there for you, whenever you need me most."
He guided them from the less familiar part of the park, back to the paths and then back to the playground as he had hoped. He looked around, not seeing too many people who would give him strange looks. This would be a very questionable scene, really. He looked down at Ainsley.
"Can you find your way now?"
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