The Banquet (Open)

[Grantus]

The night was quiet compared to various previous banquets. Today was the year "anniversary" of her apparent death if it can even be called that. Many people were not speaking much, much less to her. Some of her older relatives have completely given up on her, and are looking into another relative for an heir, or perhaps another child from her parents. Rumors circulated around her change, for while it was subtle, those close to her knew that she seemed...different than what she used to be; not to even mention she cannot even "be" right now. It as a sobering idea, to be breathing, moving, and having been attacked, and yet still realize you don't exist. You can just feel it within yourself, which would be the only feeling that Lia Staatsrat could feel at any time. She was wearing one of her own dresses that she had made for herself after she was turned. Some habits just can't go away so easily.

She took a sip of her third glass of sweetwine, before placing it down on the table. She sat in the middle, so she was not hard to spot by anyone, but even despite that, no one seemed to bother her save for the servers who would refill her glass if she were to ask her. Her parents looked to her; her mother placing her hand over Lia's with a perplexed expression. She was a middle-aged woman, in her forties. She was fairly healthy as far as Queens went, so there was still life in her to go.

"Sweetling. Are you well? You haven't touched your meal," she said. Lia looked up to her, and gave her that same soft smile she remembered her old self gave her before she became what she was. "Of course Mother. I am just not feeling so well, I will try and eat," she said. She grabbed her small fork, and took a bite of the chopped carrots she was given. She remembered the taste too well. She didn't exactly do what she did to appease her mother, so maybe what she did was out of old reflexes? In any event, she ate her meal albeit slowly. Her father, the King, mostly spoke to other older men about random politics that she couldn't understand. Every now and again however, subject would fall to her, which made her turn to the ceiling to avoid attention. If she looked to her mother then Father would notice. If she looked to Father, then the other old men would try to speak to her. She didn't know what to do exactly. As the bard's music near the other end of the table continued, she slowly stood up, drawing the eyes of everyone who sat next to her, and grabbed at a golden coin that was near Father, took it, and threw it across the table, letting it hit the middle and roll off clumsily towards the bard and his other two assistants and falling at their feet before sitting back down with a sort of smile on her face. Her Father was utterly shocked, while the older men grew a face of dismay and exasperation. What was to be done with Lia?

[Laiya]

The Enchanted Dominion. A beautiful place if you went to the lighter side of the world, the sheer amount of life and nature contrasting the dark side of the world quite well. Alyx herself was leaning beside her Gummi Ship, having decided to take a small detour before heading back home. Her decision rested on one of the Ever After worlds, the world known as the Enchanted Dominion. It was a place that made the Mayor of Traverse Town think of knights and magic, more so than what you would think the universe held currently…for this just felt…like the fantasy was actually supposed to be here.

The woman personally felt that the world rivaled Traverse Town in its beauty, and far surpassed The Castle of Dreams, which she had visited not only hours before. So here she was, chewing on an apple while she looked down on the land. It wasn’t long after that she decided to explore the world in its entirety, only to find it quiet the further she went in. Curious, the out lander went in, catching a few curious glances due to her outlandish appearance- a ragged t-shirt and slightly ripped blue jeans. She didn’t mind too terribly much, though. She understood there were still people who didn’t know that outsiders existed, and would look at her like that occasionally.

Mingling in with society for a few more minutes, she found a source of a rumor- a banquet was being held for a member of the family recently ‘passed’; yet from what the woman heard from the rumors, it was naught more than a change. Curious, she personally wondered if it was a coincidence- this was a place with wildly different technology, but even magic would have been able to help with identifying. Of course, that is what the Mayor believed, anyway. She hadn’t begun traveling until later in her election, despite having a Gummi Ship. Things needed to be done on the world for it to get better, after all, so she couldn’t travel.

She soon reached the banquet, where there were a great many people mingling…but most were quiet. It was a rather somber sight, a place so beautiful but stuck in a state of subtle mourning. It reminded her of the Massacre in the Castle of Dreams she had just left; but less horror and more silence. She would try and wander around a bit, to get a feel for the place while trying to fit in as best she could- her goal most of all in this little exploration was to meet the so called dead princess.