#Project Alice

[missin-you-already]

Milla Jovovich || Resident Evil

[chronicallyonlinesworld]

This genre of women >

[chrisitsraining]

[orchidblack]

She has some iconic looks throughout the franchise, but we don't talk enough about Milla's Resident Evil: Extinction outfit.

[hansmannette]

maybe restarting baldurs gate immediately was a mistake but i wanna know what a dark urge playthrough is like soooo its dark urge time!! yay!

[allegra-j-joann]

The trip through the forest was far more pleasant than the first one the day before, for one singular, major reason, Elinor had been allowed to walk on her own two feet this time. She guessed they believed she wouldn’t run off now, she still had Theodore and Alec flanking her, the rabbit leading the way and the mouse following behind with the most monstrously sharp blade Elinor had ever seen slung across her hip. In the mid morning sunlight that managed to seep through the heavy tree tops, the bluish-purple of the forest seemed ever more surreal, but at the very least they still smelled and acted like normal plants, in that they didn’t move or react to them passing through, and the birds still sounded like birds. She took careful mental notes of the route they took, trying to commit some of the more oddly shaped trees to her memory with the hopes of finding them again on her own later “how long is this walk anyway?” she called forward to their snowy haired guide “We have to have been walking for almost an hour now, are we getting close?”

Theodore paused his conversation with Auryn, who drifted along and didn’t have to tire himself climbing over roots, and looked back at the humans as if he’d forgotten they were there “oh right…it should be about another half hour, the trip used to be much shorter, but we have to enter the village from the far side these days, the cards have moved into the local lord’s manor and treat it like a fortress” he looked at Imogen and then at Claudia, the youngest of the group who was huffing and puffing along, her silky black hair swept back into a haphazard ponytail at some point “do we…should we take a short break do you think?” rather than actually answer him, Claudia took the question as an invitation and plopped herself down on a raised root with a heavy groan, Elinor knelt down beside her, her legs only truly starting to ache once she settled into the cool grass and relaxed them.

Imogen knew better than them and stayed standing, leaning instead against the trunk of the next tree over, rolling up her shirt sleeves to ward of the warmth that would come with the approaching midday, Alec lingered beside her “so how much of the Orracularum did you end up getting put on your arm? That thing is crazy long” she examined the crisp black lines of the tattoo “does it work like the real deal?”

Imogen chuckled “ it goes all the way up, I’ll show you later, i wanted it straight up my arm but they had to wrap it to make it all fit in” she put a hand up onto her shoulder to indicate where it ended “It never did anything up topside, but Theo did say a copy of the Oracularum becomes an Oracularum, so who knows, it might work” she mused, imagining the tattoos shifting and squirming across her skin, if it worked, would she feel it? She had to stop her mind running off with curiosity, she looked back at Alec “what about you? Any new scars to show off or still just that big one right across your-”

“Ey! There’s a kid here!” Alec shushed her quickly “no, I don’t have any new ones, at least no significant ones, most of our scuffles have been pretty small, we haven’t been able to make bigger moves until now” as she spoke she was watching Theo, who was already growing visibly restless “Have you all caught your breath now?” she looked mostly to Claudia for her answer “we can’t stay still long, and we’re almost there now”.

They saw the village well before they entered it, as Theodore had said, they were going to enter from the far side of town to avoid the grand house that loomed on the outskirts by the treeline, instead they picked their way along the forest edge until the trees thinned into shrubbery and then into small local farms lined with vegetable patches, the village was quiet, and almost fairytale like from the outside, but as they got closer Elinor started to see the cracks, literally, in the walls, both from age and whether but also seemingly some sections of the wall had been struck by something, and the houses they past all seemed to have at least a few broken windows, patched over with old weekly newspapers or sections of heavy cloth “was there a fight here?” Imogen looked up the road towards the main section of the village “Can’t imagine this place is terribly strategic, and aside from the gate there’s really nothing here between Deighton and Clesas”

“Especially since Clesas doesn’t exist anymore” Auryn chuckled stiffly “that place burned to the ground, every last building, took their bloody queen with them” he drew a finger across his neck “there's hardly any spades left these days” he turned in the air to look back at Imogen “as for the attacks, It’s those Card bastards from the red queen's army looking for us, they seem to have caught on that we’re in the area, or at least think we might be, they’ve been boosting their presence lately, and aren’t particularly well behaved, that's actually why we realized it was time to summon you all, Theo was real hesitant to even consider it” he drawled, as if it was all the most mundane topic in the world “well anyway, It won’t make much of a difference in the long run, we’ll mind our tails until the heat dies off, maybe point their bloodhounds in another direction if we really need to” he flicked his plush tail emphatically.

As they got past the smaller farms and into the town properly, Claudia perked up next to Elinor “I hear music!” she declared, her dark eyes shining “do you think there’s some kind of festival going on?” and truly, there were some notes carrying between the sturdy buildings, somewhat resembling the sounds an accordion would make.

“More likely a funeral, If this place has just been attacked” the blonde sighed, shaking her head.

“Thats such an Else-sider way of thinking” Theodore snorted derisively in response “you lot are always really fixated on death”

“Says the guy who brought us in to fight a war for you, and What is an Else-Sider?” she bristled a bit at yet another weird title seemingly being foisted on them, though at least it was better than an Alice

Alec rolled her eyes and poked her head over from next to Imogen “Else Side is just the common name for your world, relax. It literally just means you’re from the other side of the gate, He’s trying not to call you an A-”

“Alright i get it” Elinor nodded quickly, cutting her off from saying it again “ I appreciate the effort” she shrank down a little, she felt kind of foolish for snapping at him.

The tension made Claudia squirm and she quickly piped up again “the music sounds pretty happy, I don’t think its a funeral, it could be really fun to see, lets go!” she pleaded, tugging on the wrists of the other two ‘Else-Siders’ on either side of her, Imogen smiled slightly and started leading the younger girl along the road towards the sound, they were in town to scout after all, so if something significant was happening, well, really it was their duty to go and investigate it, right?

A few streets closer now, the accordion was joined by twinkling chimes, they rounded a corner, and there amongst the debris of the attack and the scuffed up market stalls was a small carousel, faded paints and worn leather strip harnesses clutched in the hands of a half dozen small children, even at a distance they could see that several of the villagers watching were bruised or wrapped in bandages, many looked tired, but not a single one seemed upset listening to that festive tune.

Alec caught up to the group first, Theodore and Auryn hung back in the shadows to avoid being recognised “what…exactly are we seeing here?” Elinor looked at the mousy woman beside them “This mood is…” she shrugged, unable to find the word

Alec nodded “this is how Alfeans handle things, negative feelings aren’t something that we’re great at processing so generally folks will just pick something better to focus on instead.” she shrugged “that carousel was built by another Al- Else-sider decades ago, the story goes that it was based on something from their town that was precious and they wanted to share, of course not everyone is on board with else-sider things just being scattered around, so you don’t see many of these anymore” she explained quietly, watching Claudia dart away from them to go play on the carousel with the other kids “It’s even powered by the same kind of magic you use on your side”

“electricity?” Elinor tilted her head, she supposed that in the right context electricity could be considered a kind of magic

Alec recoiled a little and raised an eyebrow “elec-what? no, I mean commands, that Alice commanded the carousel so that it would be able to run any time they wanted” she saw the scrunched confusion on Elinors face and frowned a little “You don’t know about commands?”

Elinor shook her head and opened her mouth to ask about them, and instead she stumbled over her words trying to warn about the red-clad soldiers that had entered the far side of the square, glaring down the crowd around the carousel, each of them wore leather armor stained a deep cherry color and embossed with curlique hearts and roses, she could tell at a glance that it wasn't armor that saw battle, they were here to intimidate. Alec looked over her shoulder in time to see the soldiers wrench Claudia and several other children off the carousel, tossing them haphazardly into the crowd of parents "I told you folks to keep off this thing!" Barked one that Elinor assumed was the leader "you've ignored our warnings too often, if you won't disassemble this heathen contraption, we'll do it for you!"

"Case and Point" Alec grumbled, pushing her sleeves up her forearms and slipping into the crowd under the shouts of protest, a moment later Elinor saw one of the soldiers at the edge of the group suddenly disappear below the view of the crowd, and then it all became a flurry, rippling out from the center the villagers began to shout louder and charge forward.

A short distance away Theo gave a cheery whoop and Elinor caught sight of an ax being drawn from his coat, and all the blonde could do was grab Claudia and a few of the other kids and try to retreat from the brawl. She spotted Imogen after a moment and tried to pull her free from the chaos, only for the young woman to shake her off wordlessly and throw a punch, Elinor wasn't quite sure who she was aiming for, she couldn't really keep track of any individual person for more than a few seconds.

Despite the few soldiers, and even fewer people in her own group that seemed to be fueling this fight, rather than die down is seemed to swell out of control, overtaking the entire cobbled square with flailing limbs and shouts, All Elinor could do was gather her little assemblage of children and retreat into the side streets, she didn’t know where any of them lived or who she could return them to since it seemed most of the town had been gathered there, but she led them away all the same, Claudia nudged her arm as they walked “that was kinda wild huh? I wonder if Alfea is like that everywhere?”

“I would hope not” the Blonde scoffed “anyway, lets hurry up, we can probably make it back to the gate before these lunatics finish their brawl” she glanced over her shoulder “quick, we don’t want to draw their attention too much”

Claudia let go of Elinor’s arm and stopped moving “even if we could leave right now, why would we? this place is so cool” she shook her head "besides, we need the Bringer, we need Theo, to go through the gate" she pointed out. She must have recognised the confusion in Elinors blank stare "he didn't tell you, did he? The gate isn't always open, otherwise Anyone could come and go, it needs to be opened"

"So We're trapped here, then"

"Well…yes, but it's really not as bad as all that" the girl offered quickly, raising her hands to ward off Elinors temper "Alfea is really cool, so it's not the worst place to be stuck, and Theo promised that if we help, he'll take us back home, we'll sort it out, no problem!" She offered.

Elinor huffed and looked away, but if the gate was closed it wasn't like she had a better option right now "fine".

@the-ellia-west (idk who else to tag, if y'all wanna be tagged for stories, lmk)

[nyancities]

ALICIA ONLINE 2.0 FILES

These have been archived for a while, but I decided to upload them to Internet Archive and I wanted to share them here.

Information on how to unpack these and import them into Blender can be found on my website.

[hamartia-grander]

slow burn/fake date/enemies to lovers with Alice, Ada, and Jill

DAMN you that's hard.

I'm gonna steal your answer and say enemies to lovers with Ada because I also want her to hold a gun to my head or knife to my neck. And because she'd probably find me SO annoying at first and want to get rid of me.

I could never have a slowburn with Alice because she was ready to kiss every girl within like 5 minutes of knowing them in literally every movie. I would be the idiot taking too long but she'd be shooting her shot within an hour. I would just follow her around and do everything she says and she'd like propose to me by the end of the movie. so yeah, I'll fake date Alice, maybe we're hiding from Umbrella or something.

Slowburn with Jill because she's too traumatised to ever acknowledge her feelings LMFAO

[spinaart]

"when i'm stressed i draw marisa and alice in funky little outfits"

"but sir... you always draw marisa and alice in funky little outfits"

[missin-you-already]

Milla Jovovich as Alice || Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

[szkapa]

me when its tmagp episode three already and theres still no 140k words gwen bouchard x alice dyer slowburn hurt/comfort trying to murder each other falling in love instead: 🤯

[chrisitsraining]

i think if alice residentevil snapped my neck with her thighs like she did to that zombie during the tunnel scene in the 1st movie that would really fix me <3

[hooy-jaymay]

Do you guys like my Marisa and Alice designs

[penpaperandpain]

been a very long time since I made use of this blog but I finally have time to be writing again, I have started the next, and hopefully last, rewrite of Project Alice so I thought I'd share chapter one and get some feedback

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I'm not Alice, and I never will be. It could well enough be the catchphrase of her life, Alice, her sister, the Liddell's perfect oldest daughter who seemed to have the sun itself shine out of her smile, every thought that streamed passed was branded with her, her voice tore passed in snippets, her laugh, they came like heavy waves and it was all the girl could to to keep facing forward towards whatever lay at the bottom of this fall, hands over her ears and eyes shut to try and shut out the images of Alice. The smell of the soft, damp grass was the first thing she noted before the air had even stopped rushing past, it was cool beneath her cheek, though the sun and breeze warmed her back, she was reminded of a spring day in the schoolyard, only thinking of the colouring sheet to be done after lunch break, it was quiet, it was calm, but it wasn’t right.

Down the hill from where she lay was a lanky pale man, dressed well in a waistcoat and shirt, checking a pocket watch every few moments and complaining to the empty air in words that she couldn’t quite make out as she sat up stiffly, she now noted with deep confusion that the grass that she’d first thought should be green appeared to be more akin to an ashy dark blue, she had to wonder how hard she’d hit her head. As she sat up, pushing her tangled blonde hair out of her face, wishing she’d braided it, she drew the attention of the pale man, his long ears twitching in her direction before he turned his head to follow, eyes darting away from her every now and then as he fidgeted “a rabbit” the thought passed through her mind and out before she could think to close her mouth and the man looked a little taken aback, and apologetic? Why would he - oh “you!” she snapped, near tripping on the hem of her skirt as she jumped up “you’re that bloody fat rabbit who chased me down the hole!”

“Well, yes but I had a good reason for it” he raised his hands a little, moving to soothe the clearly agitated girl, but as he got near she swatted him away

“You tried to bite my ankles! And headbutted me! Look at the bruises on my shins!” she stuck her foot out in front of her gruffly, the pale skin marked with yellowy green and brown bruises all down the front.

“You were being very stubborn about following where I needed you, and I didn’t wish to startle you by speaking” he reached towards her again, and again got knocked back, wringing his hands, hushing the empty air beside him, glancing back for a moment before straightening up “never mind all of that though, this is not the best place for us to speak, we should head back to the cottage, we can give you a full rundown of the plan and get on our way quickly, the whole thing can be over quick as you like.”

She recoiled at that, scoffing “and what makes you think I, or anyone in their right mind would even consider following a random weirdo that all but abducted them into, I don’t even know what that whole situation was!”

“We don’t have time for this, little Alice” a new voice joined them, seemingly coming from all around her at once, distorted and echoing, she hardly had time to think about it before a firm pressure took up under her arms, pulling her properly to her feet and then off them, she dangled like a marionette for a moment, boots skimming the grass before she was lifted clear into unseen arms, pinning her arms by her side, all she could do was wiggle and kick at the empty air “stop it, or I’ll drop you in the mud” the echo warned, pinching her and making her yelp, but she didn't stop, her efforts didn’t seem to matter much, the invisible captor carrying her down the grassy hill at an easy drifting pace, seemingly deaf to her as she yelled for help, the Rabbit man seemed more bothered, tugging on his ears to try and drown out her shouts, before drawing a coil of rope from under his fine green coat “shall I gag her? Just for the trip?”.

“I doubt that will be necessary Theodore,” three sets of eyes turned to the nearby treeline, a girl, about her own age with thick curly hair only barely darker than her skin sat on a raised root, tapping her foot and watching them, “I thought you knew better than manhandling visitors, put her down” immediately she was obeyed, the blonde's feet barely hitting the ground before her knees did, sending a jolt through her whole body that made her head throb. The girl in front of her was clearly human, she wasn’t sure how she knew but she undeniably did “just how many people have you kidnapped?” she swung around to face the rabbit as a second grinning face appeared on his shoulders.

“We’ve kidnapped no one, it’s more like borrowing” Theodore shook his head, glancing away towards the distant skyline and pulling out a watch to compare “we shouldn’t have this discussion out in the open, the next patrol is due soon, stop being stubborn Alice” he turned his cold gaze on her.

“That’s not my name, don’t call me that” she crossed her arms and planted herself firmly right where she was, the invisible boy and the second human hadn’t exactly increased her enthusiasm towards the idea of following them, but once again she was given very little say in the matter, this time tossed over an unseen shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

“What is your name then, Not-Alice” the other girl stood, joining the uncomfortable little procession “or are you too stubborn to say even that?”

“If I answer your questions, will you answer mine?”

“Don’t see why not,”

“Elinor”

"Cute, I’m Imogen, first time, I assume?” it surprised Elinor how calm the conversation was, but she wasn’t exactly in a position to do much else

“Where are we?” she wheezed, trying to shift at all

“Well, currently you're on the shoulder of a sort of fae in the middle of the Ingress Woods, but more generally, you’re in a country and slash or world called Alfea” Imogen rattled off, stepping over a fallen branch easily as she did so

“Am I going to die here?”

“I mean, maybe? Eventually? Depends how long you stay and how stupid you are, usually, but to address what I suspect is your primary concern, no, these two fools aren’t going to actively try to kill you” she shrugged and Elinor noticed thin curling ink on her bronze skin, though she couldn't make out what the tattoo was, Imogen didn’t seem to notice her staring “I know they haven’t exactly created the best first impression, but these two,” she gestured to Theodore and Auryn “really do mean the best, Alfea is caught up in more trouble than I could easily summarize on this walk, It’s absolutely crazy, It took me ages to come to terms with as well, but once we get back to the hideout I’ll grab the book and explain it to you properly” she reached over to pat Elinor’s shoulder, the blonde just stared at her blankly, trying to process the information, it didn’t really make much of a difference if she agreed to either way since she wasn’t the one walking.

Theodore looked across at them quietly, wrinkling his nose when it was referred to the hideout but he bit his tongue, the explanations were being handled so he would just wait, for now, they were getting close now anyway, she could already smell the rose garden before it came into view, thorny trellises all but engulfing the cottage, bright white roses the size of his head dotted all over, if you didn’t know to look closer it was easy to miss the little house tucked away in the heart of the forest, and that was exactly the way he liked it, Elinor twisted against Auryn’s hold to get a better look as they approached “you should plant more rose bushes” she looked it over, there wasn’t much left to be seen between the roses and the smell was cloying. She tensed as they got closer “are they-”

“Humming yes, they’re singing roses, they make good cover” Theodore beamed “they’re a little tricky to into shape, but they’re native to the area and nothing can smell us through the perfume and the singing covers the sounds of us being here” he fished an old looking brass key out of the pocket of his fine, but admittedly worn coat

“There's no such thing! Flowers don’t sing”

Imogen sighed “maybe not where you’re from, but take a look around, Elinor. What do you see?"

She looked around obediently "forest, grass, I dunno" she frowned, of course, there was more than that, but at least they still seemed right.

"A floating cat boy, a bunny boy, a portal with no other side to it but from which I came. Does this seem like the kind of place you can apply your logic to?" She rested her hands on her hips “you seem a sensible girl, you already know Alfea isn’t the same world, so save yourself and us the headache of explaining it all, you’ll need to accept some strangeness” Theodore smiled to himself at that, looking away, seeming to place himself apart from this. It was amusing to see it unfurl again. He remembered the last time someone had had denial like that. The thought brought a melancholy twinge to his expression that lingered as he reached for the heavy wooden door that had seemingly once been painted bright blue, though only chips and traces were left in the grain now. From here Elinor could tell that the roses had once been an actual garden, all neatly in a row with the remnants of a stone path, and hidden in the small space between the treeline and the wall of roses she spotted a picnic table set with cracked and dirty cups, worn with time, moss crawling up the legs and overtaking the benches. She wondered briefly if a party was meant to occur, expecting guests much earlier than they had arrived. Theodore smiled. "Welcome to my home! Sorry, I didn't have a chance to fix it up as much as I would have liked before your arrival, Alice" he beamed, guiding them inside as Auryn finally set her back on her own feet, she recoiled from his words like she’d been slapped, but she held her tongue, the look on his face said he wouldn’t listen to her anyway.

[hansmannette]

i love having astarion and gale in my team 😍🥰

[allegra-j-joann]

“Teach me to fight” Elinor demanded, Making Theodore look up from his tea, he was still nursing a fresh black eye “If that little outing is going to be how you want us to behave, then teach me to fight”

"I didn't expect you'd want to learn" Theo smiled a little, setting his teacup down delicately "it won't be easy"

"I don't want to do any of this, but I don't get to go back until you get what you want right?" She scoffed at his little flicker of surprise "you have to be the one to open the gate, and you won't until I help you end this, so teach me to fight and let's hurry up and end this" she crossed her arms, staring at him coldly.

"I'd hoped for some enthusiasm, but the determination will do I suppose." He hummed quietly, looking at Auryn "we'll want to begin immediately, cat, get the swords from my room, would you?".

Saying the training wouldn't be easy had been one of the rabbits most egregious lies so far, it was more appropriate to say he was seeking an easy outlet than seeking to train them. Elinor reeled as the flat wooden blade struck her across her already bruising back, her arms and legs were covered in welts where he'd struck her "raise your guard" he barked "no enemy will give you time to catch your breath, and they won't be half as gentle as I am!" He brought the blade down to strike her again, Elinor had dropped her own wooden sword almost two minutes ago and he'd been pushing her further and further away from it, she wasn't sure how he expected her to guard without it. 

Crack.

For the first time since this exercise started one of his strikes didn't make contact with her, he'd backed her all the way to the treeline and when she'd tried to duck he'd struck the tree instead, it's purplish back splintering and spraying down on her head, he grumbled and stepped back "that'll do for the moment, Claudia, your turn, collect your sword from Al- Elinor" he corrected himself, then paused when the little girl fished the sword out of the overgrown grass "oh? How did it get over there?"

"Shouldn't we be doing basics and strength training first?" Elinor groaned, easing herself into a sitting position, Imogen crouched beside her  and offered a glass of water.

"If we had the time, yes" Imogen nodded "but starting at the basics would mean months of training before you'd be ready to fight, but you're an Alice-" she paused as Elinor shot her a harsh glare "you have power, you don't need to be good at fighting, you just need to know enough to not die, so this will do"

"This will be why I die!" Elinor retorted, watching Claudia stumble as she clashed against Theo's blade "I won't have to worry about their enemies killing me since the rabbit seems intent to do it himself"

"I won't let him kill you" Imogen assured "just think of it this way, you won't have to worry about panicking in your first real fight, you'll already know what you're in for" another loud crack as Claudia braced with her full weight and was still pushed back "I admit, he is going a little hard though, Dia's only a kid"

"We're all kids!" Elinor pointed out, exasperated as her everything burned and stung "Claudia's fourteen, I'm just short of seventeen, and you're what, eighteen? We're kids!"

"I'm…twenty three?" Imogen added helpfully, pausing to count on her fingers "maybe twenty four? I dunno"

"Not my point" Elinor sulked "we're way too young for this"

"Show me someone who isn't" Imogen sighed, sitting beside her properly now "my point is, Blue, we're here and this is happening, and it sucks but whining won't change that, save the energy for your next match"

The wooden sword was tossed unceremoniously at their feet, signaling the end of Claudia's match, the girl flopped into the teal grass beside them and pushed her fraying black hair out of her eyes "that was...a workout ...and a bit…" she puffed

"You're lucky kiddo" Imogen chuckled, gladly taking the change of subject "Theo's going soft on you, back when he taught me to fight he still had most of his wits about him, it was brutal"

"That…isn't something to be proud of" Elinor shook her head “and you're all mad if you think this is okay" she gestured to the bruises they were both now covered in "this isn't training, he's just taking out his issues on us, I've had enough of that already" she looked at Claudia "you can stay if you want, but I'm going somewhere safer until he settles his head" she scooted up from her seating position, wincing in pain as she did so.

Claudia frowned slightly and looked at Imogen then back at her "where will you go?"

"Dunno, away from here, there’s gotta be a way out somehow” she shrugged, turned and headed to the treeline.

"Wait, A--... Elinor." Theo called after her, saying the name slowly, as if it were somehow physically difficult  "You shouldn't go alone. You don't know this place at all, you'll get lost..." she flinched away when Theo suddenly popped up beside her, but brushed him off quickly.

"I'll be fine, have fun with your training, Rabbit" she stepped back from him  then paused, considering for a moment "I won't go too far".

Despite her promise to stay close Elinor ended up walking deep into the forest, focused on the roots that tried to trip her feet from under her and grumbling about the events for the past days, right up until-

Crack

She looked up just in time to see the eye level branch the second before she collided with it, it's dark teal bark was like dragging her face against sandpaper, and the spindly leaves revealed themselves to have tiny barbs on the edges, and of course there were the raised roots that caught her as she stumbled from the impact. She landed on her back in the roots and leaf litter, her grumbling turned into a frustrated yell “I hate this tree! Screw this whole damn forest! Screw all this bullshit!”.

Her complaints were punctuated by a low chuckle, a far deeper voice than either of her so-called hosts, she snapped her mouth shut and looked around quickly “go ahead and tell us your real opinion, fairy” the man from the first morning was standing beside the tree, looking down at her, His hair was dark, long enough to fall into sharp eyes but style up to avoid it. He was wearing a loose uniform that seemed hastily or half-heartedly put on, but he still had his badges, buckles, and belts in place and a sword at his hip “are you alright?”

“Physically? Fine, yeah, it's just some scrapes and bruises” she brushed it off, getting quickly to her feet, looking around quickly, for the moment it seemed to just be the two of them “were you there for that whole outburst?” 

“And the magnificent spill that inspired it, I'd thought a fairy would be more graceful around trees”

“First of all, I'm not a fairy, second of all, that's not a tree, it's a tower made of needles and spite”

“Sounds like a tree to me” 

“I hate this whole forest so damn much”

He offered her a hand to help her over the roots and to a clearer area that could serve as something resembling a walkable path “so, riddle me this, Blue, if you're not a fairy, and you hate this forest too much to be out for a nice stroll, what's your story?” He watched as she quickly pulled away from him, picking the spiked leaves from her skirt and hair and trying to get the worst of the dirt off, she hardly looked better off than when he'd encountered her in the old cottage, hair twisted into a mess, dark shadows under her shockingly blue eyes, and, he noted with distaste, dark blue-grey bruises all up her arms and legs that were far too straight and neat to have been caused by her walk in the woods “you look like you've been in a fight”

“You're not so far off,” she sighed, following his gaze down to the bruises, she'd hadn't realized how quickly they'd developed  “I seem to have caught some locals in a foul mood” she considered what kind of story she could give him, she doubted it would be a good idea to tell him the truth, he wore the same uniform as the guards from the village and she doubted he'd entirely believe her anyway “I don't have much of a story really, just a nobody having a bad day” she eventually offered, hoping it would be enough to assuage him and boring enough he wouldn't press further.

“Well now, there's no solution for a bad day quite like talking it out, and our base isn't far, I'd like to have our doctor take a look at those bruises too” he inclined his head slightly and she looked, there was the vague shape of something that could be a building through the trees.

“That's really not necessary, I heal pretty quickly so they'll clear up in a few days, I appreciate the offer though” and then his firm hand was around her shoulders, his grip wasn't tight but it was forceful and when he pushed, she couldn't help but start walking.

“I insist, don't worry, it won't take long, and I can arrange to have you sent where you're going with an escort, I wouldn't feel right leaving an injured young lady wandering the woods alone, there are unsavory sorts in these parts, rebels and the like” his tone was light and friendly but when he cast a sideways glance down at her, the look in his deep green eyes sent a chill up her spine.

The building he led her towards was much larger than she'd initially thought, the closer they got and the fewer trees blocked her view, the more she could see that the rough, ivy strewn walls went on and on, how was there something so large out here in the middle of the woods, then as he turned them towards where she presumed the entrance was she caught sight of something else through the trees, houses. “I didn't realize the village was so nearby” she commented, but her previously cheerful companion had grown quiet now, eyes fixed forward as he guided her along, she began to wonder how much trouble she was walking herself into.

The gates to the grand building were a little ways from the edge of the village itself, a handful of guards stood by it, in the middle of a duty change as they arrived, Immediately Elinor was shrinking under the weight of eight sets of distrustful eyes, she could feel them staring even when she lowered her own gaze to the ground, they were sizing her up, one of the larger men spoke up first “Captain, who is that? You said civilians couldn't come and go as they pleased”

She glanced up a little, waiting for the response, she wasn't sure if she should cringe or laugh at what she heard “she's a fairy, I caught her causing mischief, so I intend to question her” the man beside her, the captain, sounded completely different from earlier, his tone was sharp and commanding and he stood straight as a board, staring straight back at the other guards, who exchanged looks of confusion, or perhaps disbelief, before letting them pass.

Inside the walls she could finally see the house properly, two story honey coloured stone with dark weathered wood accents and a high roof, it had ivy and moss all over, it looked like it was halfway to being reclaimed by the forest behind it, but not in the same way the cottage was, the plants here were not swallowing the building so much as wrapping around it, he led her up the short path to the heavy looking double doors, past more guards, the hall inside confirmed her thoughts that this had once been a home, a once plush red carpet now trodden flat by the soldiers’ heavy boots curled from the doorway away up the staircase and off to either side large, sunlit rooms now acted as work spaces. 

Her admiration of the house was stopped abruptly by a sharp whistle right in her ear and an older woman scurried down the stairs, seemingly summoned from nowhere, the captain pushed Elinor towards her “help her get cleaned up and have the doctor look at her bruises, then bring her up to my office immediately,” he glanced at her quickly “do you take tea or coffee?”

She blinked a moment before realizing he'd been asking her “oh, er, tea. So long as it isn't Earl Grey, it tastes like socks” she added quickly, nose wrinkling as she imagined it.

He gave a dry chuckle “well, we can agree on that, we'll speak again later” and then just like that he turned and marched off and Elinor wasn't quite sure what to think.

@the-ellia-west