The Darkest Day

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Abigail woke up early that morning with a stretch and a yawn. She was wearing some pajamas she had gotten from Bea on their first stop (in Radiant Garden, she believed). She flailed softly in the bed, enjoying the silken sheets before slipping out of the large queen-sized affair. She then walked over to the large window and threw the curtains open to greet the day! She smiled as light cascaded into the room, and brightened everything there. Opening up the windows, she giggled and inhaled the fresh air and enjoyed the sight of being several stories up and overlooking the grand forest surrounding the castle.

"Hello, world!" she said gleefully, spinning around as she made her way back to the center of the room. "Good morning!" she said to everyone and everything, which was usually what she did when she felt happy upon waking up. She made her way to the attatched bathroom and cleaned herself up, making sure she was at least presentable. It was 6:30ish now, so she had some time before the banquet. No need to get into dress or really scrub up just yet. For now, she'd brush her teeth and stay in her PJ's before making her way downstairs.

There, she went to the dining hall to get a very light breakfast. Fruit and juice, mostly. She shared a hot cup of coffee with Mrs. Potts before going to the stables to spend some time brushing out Boco's feathers and making sure he was clean and ready for the banquet. When he was done, she'd polish the armor to a mirror shine and set it aside to be put on the large bird later. She asked a nearby servant by the name of Coggsworth for the time, which he replied with 8:25am.

Abigail smiled, and nodded. From here, she returned to her room to soak in the tub, get her makeup ready, and slip into her dress. The entire affair would take about an hour, as she intended to look her best, and she took special are of the details today (really getting behind the ears, using bath oils that made her smell lightly of vanilla and lavender, stuff like that). Plus, she had to do her hair which was time-consuming as well.

It would be 9:30am on the dot when she made her way downstairs to meet her fellow Sisters, looking nothing short of a royal princess. She practically glew with that innocent beauty of hers, even if she had concealed her bag of holding by strapping it to her leg under the dress. No reason not to be prepared, right?

She turned, looking around eagerly for the other two, wondering if they were excited as she was! She hopped a little in place with a wide smile on her face.

"Best. Day. Ever!" she whispered enthusiastically!

[Agrias Oaks]

"Ouch! Bullocks!" squinted the knight, having pricked her finger with a sewing needle. Agrias had stayed awake last night, making some last details with the dress, turning it into something much better presented. She needed to stay busy since waking, to keep her mind out of that dreadful feeling. Once the little details were done to her Socialite Dress, it was ready for wearing, but first she needed to freshen up.

Earlier she had prepared a boiling water bath, which over time had gotten ice cold-- it is how she liked it, after all. She took off her armor, and rested her blade and such on the side of the bed before she would proceed to remove her vest, pants, and battle boots whom seemed untarnished by the many wars she had been on (She tends to fix any aloof suture she finds, wanting to look her best before facing the enemy.) It was then when she would get into the icy tub to relax.

She looked through the doorway from the restroom to gaze upon the clock which starred at her: 8:20 am. "Bullocks!" she flailed, rushing out of the bathtub and nearly slipping out to grab the towel. She dashed through to her bedroom again, the icy wind hitting against her skin, nearly slipping every now and then, "B-bullocks!"

She dried as quickly as she could before getting into her dress, which fitted her nicely. She then wore her socialite sandals that were perfect for the altered wear. She sat down and looked at all the brushes, and combs-- wondering which was for what... why couldn't there just be ONE of each??

"..... Bullocks." she grumbled, holding a medium sized brush and used it on her silky, blond hair. She found a few pins to wear on her long bangs at the side of her head, a white rose with black leafs. She glanced up at the clock: 9:10 am.

Agrias sighed, standing up and walking to the door... only to trip on the high-heeled sandals she wore... NEVER having worn them before!

"BULL--" --Kathunk!!-- she went, hitting the floor hands first, followed by her body, "-OW! Why can't I just leave this to the princesses, God-Bloody-Damn It All!" Wow, how foul-mouthed the knight was when she was on her own, "Ok...Ok.."

The girl sat up, and growled a little, looking at the high heel ends in anger-- she could NEVER learn how to walk on them in time for the big event. She sighed, looking at her sword... and getting a cunning idea. She reached for her blade, and sliced at the high heels, until they were a manageable size to walk in, and tried it again. Sure, after polishing it and all, it was wearable, AND comfortable!

Agrias grinned, starring at herself in the mirror, and standing up to fully look at her self, "Yes!" she chuckled, having conquered the evil heels. She hopped three times, and idly wrapped her sheath around her waist with a matching white and black ribbon, feeling that Save The Queen should participate in the banquet as well... she wouldn't of gone this far without the aid of her blade.


She saw the clock again: 9:31 am!

"Bullocks!" she gasped, checking herself one more time before rushing out of her room to meet the other two. She made her way down the stairs, and stopped mid-way when she caught glimpse of Abigail. Her amber hues round as she starred at Abby, "Lady ...Abigail..?" she whispered, slowly making her way down to have a good look at her, "..Thoust-- look so stunning, Mi'Lady!"

Agrias couldn't help but bow to Abigail the way a knight bows to a royal, "Simply Stunning! Ah, hath Lady Beatrix graced us with her presence? Wait until she casts her eyes upon thee!" she gave her a wide grin, looking around a moment before looking back to the beautiful mage.

[nexus]

Nexus yawned and stretched his hands up toward the sky. He blinked a couple times, cleaning sleep's crust from his eyes, and looked at the sky. A low grumble was felt beneath his back when he shifted.

He had found himself wondering last night till he himself was feeling tired, having now one come tell him if the girl was found or not. Nexus joined Airinose out on the north tower for some sleep the night before.

"Sorry Airinose i didn't mean to wake you." he said as he returned to looking at the sky, which was covered with dark clouds. "Might want to find some place dry soon Airinose, it looks like there's a storm coming." he said as the dragon shifted he head to look at the sky. Airinose let out a puff of smoke before laying her head and neck a crossed Nexus's legs, closing her eyes. "Yeah i guess your right, no real urgency for us to get up, huh? " He said as he gently stroked the back of her neck and nestled back against her slowly falling back to sleep

[General Beatrix]

[glow=red,2,300]As the first hazy streaks of the crooked sunlight graced the decorated general with its presence her eye was pried open by mere adrenaline rousing her. She sat up, completely skyclad, and looked about her chambers. Silence.

She scratched her head and ran her fingers through her misshapen bed-hair before taking in a long, deep breath. Exhaling she stepped out of bed, her golden sheets wrapped around her body, and moved over to a large wardrobe nearest the balcony doors. She opened the twin doors and her eye was met with one of her most favorite of all sights.

Hanging out in the center, standing before all her other clothes, was a rose-red dress, stretching down to an inch past her feet, which meant that it would drag should the support strings clung to the back hem were not attached. The garment had only one shoulder strap, and it was decoraed with a large, plumed rose, from which sprouted at its center a large cut diamond with a ruby encrusted at its center. Carved into the ruby was the royal crest of Alexandria, poured in with gold.

She removed the dress and collected a pair of high-heeled sandal shoes, both green with visible thorns protruding from them. Each lace began at the base of her platform and would wind up to her knees.

Dropping her sheet she quickly fitted herself into this grand dress and worked on a black corsette she'd picked from the closet, a red rose, outlined like a shadow on the plant's right in purple. She quickly did up her sandal laces and moved over to a tall standing mirror and carried over a stool; she sat in a chair and worked to put on her makeup.

When she was all ready she moved to a chest at the foot of her bed and removed a disc-like container; within it contained food rations, which she quickly ate before exiting her room. And when she was ready to meet with the others she first cleared her throat, stood up straight, took Save the Queen, as well as its belt, and left, attaching it on the way and accessorizing her eye patch.

The general met the two figures of the Sisters of Light in the foyer; she stood tall on the second floor, at the center of the balcony between the two staircases, her hands folded together and resting before her stomach; laced on her arms were elbow-long red sleeves, trimmed at the end in green; on her fingers were several gold, silver and crystaline rings.

All in all, General Beatrix looked fantastic, and she would make it known. She added the final piece of her wardrobe by plucking a rose from the table before her and embedding it behind her left ear.

Clearing her throat again and giving the two below a single glare, she put on a cheerful expression when they turned.

"Good morning," she intoned darkly.[/glow]

[Agrias Oaks]

Agrias turned in place, and her heart skipped when she saw Beatrix. The blush on her cheeks was making a bright contrast against the white fabric she wore. Her eyes would glow a soft gold when she looked the woman up and down and gave her a polite bow. "Lovely." she was able to speak, straightening to look to Beatrix with a grin, looking at the two afterwards, "Look at you two... "

The knight reached up to rub a little at her head, her golden hair flowing freely without a braid, " You look... well, marvelous, the both of you! I feel I am in the presence of two lovely princesses. I jest naught." she rested a hand on the hilt of her blade, "The Soldiers will love to see you. A nice surprise! "

[Lilith]

lilith turned a corner and stepped into the foyer carrying a piece of toast in her mouth, her eyes were instantly drawn to the three figures in outstanding (to say the least) dresses.

the vampire looked back to where she had just come from making sure she hadn't somehow switched castles in her sleep.
look turned back to the girls and took a final bite out of her toast before throwing it into a nearby bin.

Lilith strode over to the girls intently, she looked the girls up and down inspecting every detail of the dresses.
"no one told me we were supposed to be getting dressed up."
Lilith put a finger to her lip before continuing.
"I almost feel left out..."
she shook her head, dismissing the statement.
"you three look amazing"

[Shantotto]

[glow=teal,2,300]A small glimpse of dark purple light enveloped down the hall just shy of where Lilith had just left. Stepping from this warp rift Shantotto stretched her tarutaru limbs, she had a very curious and determined expression. She began looking in hopes to find something to play with.

Shortly after stepping through the rift, Shantotto heard the voices of a few woman coming from the corridor from which she had arrived. "O~ohoh so it seems company has arrived, then my presence from them I shall deprive." As she spoke she had encased her presence with invisibility as to not be noticed while in her search.

She began to walk down the hallway, in her tarutaru waddle. Not that it would be seen. She would look room to room as she walked, merely out of curiosity. Eventually coming to an open foyer and seeing a dark and pale girl standing there seemingly unaware of what to be doing. Shantotto walked around this girl poking and tugging on her cloths whispered "You adventurers are all alike, try as you might your still tools to my plight." Shantotto no sooner walked off whispering one last thing to Lilith, "You are ill suited for the darkness. O~ohohoho"[/glow]

[Lilith]

Lilith's nostrils and ears twitched, this new smell and some of the softest footsteps she had ever heard appeared out of nowhere.
her head twitched from side to side in time with her nose.

suddenly she struck into what looked like the air and grabbed this new person by the neck.
the vampire left no time in gloating about the newcomers mistake.
"would you look what I caught, your little invisible..." she sniffed again "spell... is it? would have worked is I were a mere human but to your downfall I am not..."
the vampires trademark grin crawled onto her face as she pulled out 'faith' and placed it against her prisoners head.
"so who are you? and why are you here?"

[Shantotto]

[glow=teal,2,300]Obviously this Lilith wasn't a normal undead however interfering with the Shantotto's plans ....

Shantotto seeing this girl attempt to touch such a prestigious mage was not something she would take lightly, in fact it was an action that would taunt her to turn whoever it was asunder for their ignorance. "My my, what have we here, trying to make me feel fear?! Foolish girl!" No sooner had Shantotto spoke, she had shouted "Stun!" This would free the tarutaru from Lilith's grasp and leaving Shantotto in a very irritated mood.

Shantotto ran into the foyer just enough to stay out of Lilith's reach, the tarutaru would turn to give her an evil stare. "Try as you may you'll never succeed, try all day, my ego you'll feed! O~ohohohoh" No sooner she finished, she had shouted two more spells in secession. "I believe your time has just run out, Stopga!" to freeze time for the three others in the room as to not have her presence noticed. She then shouted "O~ohohoh Bind!" to hold Lilith in her place. She began to walk over near the young one.

"How dare you touch me you ignorant child, do you know not to whom you were belligerent?! It is I Domina Shantotto and if you once again interrupt my plight, you shall see my intellectual might! O~ohohohoh" Shantotto would walk about while speaking, poking Lilith with her staff in a rude gesture adding insult to injury to her being bound. "Just who do you think you are trying to interrupt my plans?"[/glow]

[Abigail Crescentlight]

Abigail looked up to see Beatrix arrive. She smiled brightly, happy to see the other sister and genuinely amazed at her attire. She didn't get to see this dress when they were trying on outfits, so the new look was genuinely amazing even to her! She let out an audible gasp of delight, then clapped her hands together once happily. "Wow, Bea! What a dress!" she said, then giggled a bit at Agrias' reaction. She was kind of giggly about going out looking their best!

Just then, she heard Lilith, and couldn't suppress a giggle at her reaction. But when the vampire suddenly grabbed something unseen, and a voice came from nowhere, her eyes widened and her smile faded. "That's her!!" she called out, holding out a finger and pointing in the general direction the voice had come from.

"That's the teddy-" was all she managed to get out, before a stop spell froze the three sisters in place...

[Agrias Oaks]

The knight could not help but stare at Beatrix through most of the conversations, taken aback to this rare side of her, like herself, in a ball gown. She was also impressed on how the three of them were more Sisterly with each other than ever. Perhaps all Beatrix needed was a good night's rest to ease her mind?

Agrias was looking from one to the other, until something had gotten Abigail's attention.

"Wh--" She turned to see what it was, but not quick enough- she was also frozen in time.

[nexus]

Nexus was smiling being caught in a good dream , till he was rudely awaken by being nudged. "Uhhhhh what is is Airinose? i was having a good dream." he said while pushing the dragons head away. Airinose puffed a large cloud of smoke right in Nexus's face. "Cough cough cough. ok ok ok i get it, i get it wha.." he was going to finish, but he heard yelling from an area below.

Nexus sat up and leaned to the edge of the balcony. "Wind come to me. whisper to me what falls upon your graces." he said while cupping his ear.

"Stopga, Bind" he heard, making him stand at attention and look in the way of the front foyer. "That doesn't sound good Airinose, you stay here, I'll go check it out." he said as he leaped over the wall, "Wind i ask you to ease my fall" he spoke, as air began to surround him and slow his descent toward the ground, outside the doors to the foyer.

After landing with a quite hush, he hurriedly crept the the side of the doors and peeked in watching what was unfolding. Nexus raised his eyebrows as he saw the four women standing in place, not moving. he couldn't see anyone else , but he could he the monologue of some one else in the room. for now he decided to wait and see what would happen.

[Lilith]

Lilith kept the grin on her face even when she was frozen in place, her cockiness still persisted.
"so the little bitch has a few more little spells"

Lilith began to laugh... a much darker laugh than usual.
"your lucky you get a head start"
her grin grew wider slightly.
"you'll need it to escape me, this time I wont ask questions!"

[Shantotto]

[glow=teal,2,300]Shantotto merely laughed hysterically at the comments of this mere girl. "O~ohohohoohohoh, fear is what you deliver and you expect me to shiver!? Such an ignorant twit, this tarutaru you shall never hit!" As she spoke an Elemental Seal surrounded Shantotto, this was to increase the spells magic potency, "Sleep II" was shouted followed by her trade laugh. "O~ohohohoho"

The tarutaru turned to the balcony that was just across the foyer. "O~ohoho what have we here, another adventurer yet to fear!?" Glancing through the glass Shantotto could see yet another guest, to her this was a very curious sight. She began walking to the ledge with a smirk on her face. "You behind the glass, show yourself! You are in the presence of Domina Shantotto. Heed my words young dragoon of lore, you may bear the skills of Elvans before. My plight you shall not reprieve or my might you shall receive. So sound the horns and beat the drums! The everlasting Shantotto Empire is yet to come! O~ohohohohoho!!!"

With these final words a purplish light began to glow in the foyer. Shantotto glanced at Abigail, whom still held the magicite Shantotto gave to her, and only smirked. She bid the young dragoon farewell, and stepped through her rift. This would cancel what spells were cast leaving the area as it was.[/glow]

[Lilith]

Lilith realised how fruitless it was to aggravate the newcomer, they were both as headstrong as each other, she giggled a little before her eyelids began to sweep over her pupils, the light of her crimson eyes was extinguished and her tongue was felled by the incoming wave of sleep.

as the titular mage left the vampire fell to the floor, the only sound from her oversized pistol clashing against the floor.