Dancing Underneath the Trees

Alright, so I came up with an idea for a fantasy kinda RP,and with LOTS of input and help from Fleur, and Chels, we built on it and have got a good storyline down.
I am gonna let Fleur kick this off, seeing as I can't start stories worth shit, so take it away and all that jazz!

Oh, and this is like WVG, in that you can essentially "put words" into other character's mouths, and the boys each have a set personality, but Fleur will get into that I believe.


edit per Fleur:

(Character colors in Story NOT framing device)
Order of appearance


Torn (Blonde Gee) =Yellow

Luna =Dodgerblue

Flora the Forest Guardian =lime

Prince Michael =rosybrown

Bryar the Red Eye =red

The Great Oak (Bob) =dark red

The Spirit of Fyre( yes I meant to spell it that way...Ray) =orangered

Storm a Merman of the Order: WeatherMaker (Dark Hair Gee)=darkblue

Turtle a Merman of the Order: OceanRacer=springgreen

Rose Wallace Goldaline, a seamstress =gold

Cordula, a mermaid=royalblue

Okay there's our start... other names and colors to be added as needed... and Down we go!

"Mama? Will you tell me a story?" the small boy asked with Big round eyes. "But it has to be a REAL story...with Real people and real things that happened.."His father smiled at him even as his mother tried to decide what she should tell him.

"Well you know Son...just because something isn't real in this world doesn't mean it isn't in another one.."

"I Know Papa..I just want a good story and you said real ones are the best..."

"That I did my boy...that I did..."

"I know just the tale then..."

(kay Imma try this again..I lost a WHOLE post this afternoon over an hours work!)

Torn tried to stand up as tall as he could as he watcheed the evil man approach. Luna dropped into a low curtsey.

"AH...Still drawn to the sea I see?"

"No your Your Grace WE simply were enjoying the night air... This wall walk, the breezes here are the freshest in the kingdom." He held his arm out to Luna she was white with anger and Torn did not want the Prince to notice it. "We will depart if you wish.."

"NO...infact I came to find the both of you...As you know the most magnificent festival of the year is about to begin. At sunrise the FestiVal of The LAND and Great Harvest will commence...AND I want everything prepared for it. Both for it AND after wards."

"Afterwards My Leige?" Torn squeezed Luna's hand..He could hear the edge in her voice..Luna didn't often loose her temper, but when she DID...her furious indignation made her say and do things she shouldn't living as they were.

Torn did not want to see her say something that the prince took offence to...the prince enjoyed inflicting pain FAR too much.

"I suspect the SEA Creatures will try to ruin my celebration! MY kindom has dominion over the sea! Even this very sea wall is a testament to OUR superiority over it! I have stopped the sea from stealing my land little by little..MY kingdom STILL stands..Despites the sea's will and it storms and gales that has tried to destroy us with...WE will PREVAIL!"

Luna bit her tongue. She KNEW the sea could not be stopped. Delayed a little but not stopped. The sea and indeed all of nature had existed before this Vain Prince. And it would still LONG after he was no more than a handful of dust and a forgotten memory.

"I want you to 'keep' any 'special' guests that might appear in the next few days Luna...They like Torn may require 'discreet' care."

"You mean you want me to nurse then and care for them even as you tortrure and torment that is that what you mean MY Liege?" the sourness in her tone was Unmistakeable.

He raised his had to slap her but a flash of lightning over the water stopped him. Michael stepped back.

He would not admit this to ANYONE but...these two...they frightened him.

Luna because of her fierce sense of right and wrong and her apparrenet fearlessness for her own harm.

And Torn because despite Michael's hold over him, he somehow seemed calm...too calm. Like the sky right before a storm.

The unnerved the Prince. "SEE to it that you have everything prepared..other wise perhaps your brother and Torn will be my 'special' guests instead."

Luna gasped, and it drew a self satisfied smirk from the evil man.
Torn tried to intervene. "I will see to it myself.."
"YOU will do no such thing...the Sea Creatures would find you FAR too beautiful...they would try to enchant you..." Torn's stomach turned at the tone in the prince's voice.

"Yes Prince..then..how would you have me serve?" He bowed his head and squeezed Luna's hand wishing with all his heart that she would say nothing further to anger the evil Land loving Two Leg.

"YOU will watch over her brother..as long as she does as I wish..you and HE will be safe...otherwise..." he let the threat hang in the air, knowing their own worst fears would do a far better job of frightening them and keeping them in line then any threat he might voice out loud.

"Do you both UNDERSTAND your duties?"

"Yes My Liege..WE do." Torn answered for both of them KNOWING the Prince would take for granted the female would listen to him. Even though she was technically his jailer. "WE will do as you say. Your will will be given the utmost attention."

"I should say so!" he turned with a flurish and left them standing there.

Torn watched him go and then turned and grabbed Luna by her upper arms. "You cannot speak to him so!...Think of Sandy! Of yourself! Of me!..He would not think twice of slitting any of our throats and tossing us over this wall as shark bait!"

Luna sighed. "I promised you I would get you back to the sea one day and I will! For your sake AND Sandy's! YOU promised him a new life if I can give you back your old one! I will get you back your fin! Some how..."

"NOT by angering the prince you won't! Luna...I may never be able to return to the sea..you have to get that through your head.."

"Goldaline will be pleased about that.." she said with a smirk.

"You don't understand Luna..you and Sandy are almost..you two are what I thought ALL Land walkers were like..and Goldaline too...I may HAVE to make a life here...I don't want to think about what that would be like with out Her or Sandy or you.." he finally admitted out loud what he'd been dreading all along. "You and Sandy KNOW my secret...you two are my last link to the sea..If the prince harmed you...I WOULD forget who I REALLY am...Goldie...she has NO idea who or WHAT I really am."

Luna hung her head. "I..I will do nothing to anger him further..I will not risk Sandy's or your lives..you two are all the family I have left."

A young maiden sat by her cottage's window, gazing outside into the thick forest. Rose Wallace Goldaline was often distracted by the outside world, tempted to abandon her day's work and weave within the trees, breathe in the sweet scent of the flowers. On some days she would give in to her craving for the sweet air and take a walk through the woods, often only stopping to try and catch the sounds of the rolling waves at the sea. Today, however, she knew she had to keep sewing, for the festival was to begin VERY soon. It was the perfect opportunity to sell little things she had created here and there to the travelers that came to the kingdom for Michael's grand event. It was one of the only times during the year that she traveled within the city, finding her simple cottage to be MUCH more appealing than anything the kingdom could provide. Besides, Michael was a nasty beast, someone Goldaline would rather have nothing at all to do with.

But this was a time to sell her items, and it wasn't as if she could do without the money her things brought her. She could simply not turn down the opportunity.

Goldie's thoughts, as she returned back to her work, slowly began to drift off to Torn. She happily sighed, smiling to herself. 'Such a beautiful soul,' she mused. 'Thank whatever holiness delivered him into my heart..into my arms.' Goldaline's eyes flew back up to the window, wishing to see he and Luna. Their times departed seemed long to her, the days without human connection lingering on. She feared it unhealthy at times, when before she could live long weeks in isolation from human kind if need be.

She held her work in front of her, examining it. It would do. Goldaline shook her head as she placed the item down next to her. "Well, the man may drive me mad with his unexpected presence for as long as he pleases. I'd rather my mind spoiled beyond repair than have him disappear!"

Bryar's ear twitched a bit as she listened to their small group talk. She was slightly annoyed with them, though she knew that they had good hearts. They hung around with men (no matter how kind they appeared), they quarrled about the silliest things (like lettus), worst part was them calling her a rabbit. Just the thought of the derogatory name made her ears twitch a bit with her anger. She knew they did not know better, the tribe was new here, but it still made her mad. She would make it a point to correct them later, after all that was no way to speak to a Lapin High Priestess.
Suddenly in the trees her ears detected a familiar russling from further in the trees than most anyone could hear.
"Pardon me," she said with a small bow, her ears brushing against the long grass.
"Be safe," the young man said softly. There was something odd about him, the smell of him made her nose twitch.
Quietly Bryar walked through the trees, her feet landing softly on the ground without a sound. Before long she had reached a clearing. She allowed a small smile to cross her face and she crossed into the moonlit clearing. She looked around and a frown quickly replaced the smile.
"I thought for sure..."
Bryar allowed her words to hang, hoping for a responce. She was not disappointed.
"Miss Lapin...I am so glad you came..."

( The following post was inspired by an IM with Eyeliner last night. I hope she approves..But this was how I dreamt it last night.)

As the small group broke up Torn stood and bowed slightly to them all.
"Mistress Fairie, Master Oak.., Senor Fyre, I bid you all a pleasant evening."
"Good night friends...be safe.." Luna added as the council broke up. Luna turned toward her cottage with Torn's hand on the small of her back. He walked her to the door.

"Will you be all right with Sandy? I shall not be gone long."

"I can take care of his needs, that are not much any more..I must find away to return you to the sea...Your return is his ONLY chance at happiness that I see left."

"I promise to you again kind Luna..IF I ever return I WILL tell the elders of his sacrifice, I am SURE they would reward him."

She smiled a wistful smile. "Do you journey to see the seamstress again? You distract her far too much you know? We land females find it VERY hard to resist your kind." She said gently.

"I cannot stay away, although I KNOW I should.. and I note you found me resistable." he teased back.

"You were hurt and vunerable. My maternal insticnts came forward..Had I seen you in your natural state, or for that matter first seen you as you are now as Goldie did...I dare say she may have some competition."
Her tone turned serious, "Are you falling in love with her?"

"I am not sure...all I know is, Goldaline is a free spirit, I remember what it felt like to swim in the open sea when I am near her. She has that kind of..energy about her. And despite her not knowing what I am, I beieve if I could ever tell her, she would NOT be repulsed by it."

His face glowed as he spoke about her. Luna realised, even if he didn't know it, he WAS falling for her neighbor.

"And she, like you, is very much in sync with the nature around her. How is it that you and she could have ever been raised in that kingdom that hates my kind and indeed most of the rest of nature so?"

"I have known her since we were children. Even then she could never imagine living her WHOLE life within the city walls. She and I would steal into the woods or down onto the beach before the accident...perhaps that is why we both chose to live outside the city's walls."

"You've known her far longer than I have..Tell me, everything you know of her..,please?"

Luna sighed thinking, the poor soul in front of her was smitten. Luna was just a tiny bit jealous. She wanted someone to care for her as he did for her friend Goldie.
Not Torn himself, but someone.

Luna thought out loud, "Well she becomes attached to other's quickly, which is her largest downfall, and is almost too trusting at times."
Torn nodded but he listened attentivly drinking in all she had too say.
"Mind you, she has a fiery temper when she or her ideas are challenged, and is not afraid to fight back. IF you intend to have a life with her someday..you had better be prepared for that..But I know if she feels for you as you do for her, she would fight like a lioness to protect you."

"Luna, other than you and Sandy she is the ONLY other lander that I was right about." Luna laughed. "What do you find so funny?"
"You. When you said Two Leg today..I nearly choaked."

Torn blushed a bit. His head tucked to his chin and he looked at Luna bashfully.
"Well that's what MOST of them are."

"Yet look at you now 'Sea Man' YOU are standing on two legs as am I."
She teased him knowing full well exactly what he meant.
And who he was speaking of.

His blush deepened. "You KNOW what I meant."

"I do..go ..see her before it gets too late. I will not wait up."

He leaned over and kissed her on her cheek.
"Thank you Luna. And don't worry. Some day there will be a soul that will love you as you deserve. In-fact if you had a fin I'd know exactly who I'd bet it would be."

Luna watched him walk down to the stream and start following it. He turned and waived as his pace quickened heading just a bit father down stream to Goldie's cottage.

Underneath the surface of the waves, Cordula was utterly bored. She had searched far and wide for something to occupy her, maybe a landwalker to 'play' with, but found nothing of her interest. She flicked her indigo tail, giggling to herself as it shimmered beautifully in the moonlight. She found it hard not to be vain with a name that meant "jewel of the sea".

The mermaid had made up her mind to bathe in the moon's rays, loving the night more than any other time, when she noticed two familiar fins a short distance ahead. 'Ah, Stormy and Turtle..Searching for Thunder, no doubt.' It wasn't out of the ordinary to see Storm staring out at the dry land nowadays. She quickened her pace and swam to the surface, her head popping up in front of the two.

"Oh Stormy, it really is a shame that you must waste you're time searching for your dear brother, when there are so many other things you COULD be doing. Cordula combed back a piece of her dark hair, making sure it was in place. "You're such a pretty thing, if only your brains compared! Do you not remember what beast has taken Thunder? It would not surprise me in the least if he were dead and gone!" It was not as if Cordula was happy Thunder had been caught by Michael, not in the least. She had always been fond of the two brothers, more so than most of the mermen she had encountered in the sea. Besides, she was not without a heart, although at times that seemed to be the case.

Cordula sighed. "You are doing yourself no good!"

"Miss Lapin...I am so glad you came..."
Bryar's smile fought its way onto her face again bringing a small blush with it. This was Mike, a sweet and curious young man from the city. She had run across him while watching over the first hunt with her lead hunters. She had broken off from the others when she heard the sound of something that did not belong in the woods. Something she had never heard before. At first he seemed every bit as confused as she was, having never seen any of her kind before, but that turned quickly into curiosity. He asked lots of questions, seeming intrigued that many of the forest dwellers did not consider the king as their ruler, like the trees, the sprites, and now the Lapins. He asked a lot about their ways of life and wanted to know how they thought of man. At first she did not care for his inquisitive nature, but now it had grown on her. He seemed to care for her a bit too, and she was a bit embarrassed to say that she liked him. She often had thought of taking him to meetings with the Council, but she had not yet mentioned it and she was sure that the others would not approve of a human other than Luna or Torn. Bryar liked those humans, but she had to admit that she was not use to talking with humans. She, and her people, were much more use to gardens and rabbits, for they were the watcher of Rabbits and Tinder of Gardens since the Great Sky King had created them in the time after the Great Creation.
"I am surprised you are out so late Mike," Bryar said softly as she knelt on the ground next to Mike in the soft lush grass.
"I was restless," he said easily, a smile on his face. "I was just thinking about the last things you were telling me...about the new person in the forest..."
Bryar's ear twitched a bit, "you mean Torn?"
"Yes...have you ever seen any others like him?"
Bryar shook her head, "no...but I'd like to...there is something off about him. His smell…and the way he moves. Its foreign to me."
Mike nodded, "I hope you do Bryar...I really do."
Bryar’s smile grew a bit brighter as she began picking at the grass with her slightly furry hands, her white ears (the sign of a Priestess since the Great Sky King created them) shining in the moonlight. Suddenly Mike’s soft smooth hand grasped her’s in the grass. She looked up with a start into his hazel eyes.
“You would tell me…would you not? If something bad was happening?”
Bryar’s brow creased, “I…well of course. I wouldn’t want you hurt. If anything happens I am sure that I could find somewhere for you to stay…perhaps with Luna. She is a kind heart, she would help me with you.”
Mike smiled, “thank you Miss Bryar…I knew you would help me if something went wrong.”
He then bent forward and kissed her cheek, leaving her a bit shocked, before standing from next to her on the ground and walking back through the trees. Bryar lingered there a bit longer, not knowing what to think of Mike’s last act, but finally she too left the clearing and headed home.

- - - - -
Michael smirked as he left the ‘Rabbit Girl’ behind in the clearing. She was young, much too young to be a Priestess of her whole tribe, and gullible. She thought of him as a young inquisitive boy, and he would let her think that. But before long she would know the truth about him. About the fact that he was using her to find out about everything going on in the woods, about the fact that he was the king that she was being told to dread, but worst of all (for her tender heart) was the fact that he cared nothing for her. Before long she would be in his dungeons, or worse, just like all the other traitors of the crown. It was only a matter of the correct timing, and he had all the time in the world.

After the council dissapated, Flora let out an annoyed sigh, staying back with Oak.

"Of course you gotta take herrrr side... She almost whined, a twinge of jealousy in her voice.

"Flora you know I take no side... I spoke of good points from each of you-"

"Yea yea, sure Oak, whatever you say..."

The Caretaker of the Forest fluttered her wings and rose gracefully to a protruding branch, perching herself among the leaves. "This festival worries me... My regular patrolling up around the kingdom has left me with a eerie vibe... Something wicked this way comes... I can feel it."

"Can you pinpoint what it is?"

"No no... just a gut feeling."

"Then there is nothing to be done or for you to do" Oak replied in his often neutral attitude.

Flora sighed again, this time sounding a bit hopeless. She stood on his branch and walked toward his trunk, "I suppose not... Would you mind if I rested in your trunk for a bit, Great Oak? Give shelter to a homeless squirrel perhaps?" Flora grinned with a small glint in her eye.

Oak actually chuckled "Of course. Shelter for homeless squirrel's remains my best purpose in life it seems."

"Oh, don't cut yourself short... I'm sure you have plenty of good qualities..." Flora's demeanor changed as she effortlessly morphed into a squirrel and scampered into the depths of the oak tree, finding a little nook to curl up in to rest before she went on her night patrol.

(short, pointless, but i dont care... iwanted to get in )

Goldaline could feel the goosebumps rising up on her flesh as Torn's lips moved in strange ways with hers as she slowly backed into her little cottage. It was hard to think with his body against her's, and it felt as if some strange fire was burning it's way through her body. Starting at her scalp and slowly burning it's way to the tips of her fingers and toes it engulfed her, and she could not complain.
Reluctantly, Goldie pulled away for air, and Torn stared at her face, an amused smile on his lips. "Well," he whispered, stroking her warm, blushing cheek with his thumb, "I seem to be doing my job." Goldaline rolled her eyes as she brought his beautiful face back to hers. She knew that the world wouldn't stop for the two of them, and she planned on making the most out of the time they did have.
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I'm falling asleep here, so I'll probably write more tomorrow.