paixaorpg | Stepping Out Of The Castle [Complete]

Entry tags:

Stepping Out Of The Castle [Complete]

Character(s): Beast, anyone who's around (Gabranth?)
Content: Beast's entry to the city
Setting: Vanaheim Gate
Time: Mid-day
Warnings: none expected

Beast had no idea where he was, or what had happened. All he knew was that he was asleep in his room, and Cogsworth had just awoken him, informing him that breakfast was ready. Beast had walked over to the rose, as he did whenever he was in his bedchambers, and placed his hands on the case...and was suddenly...here. The rose was still in his paws, now floating above a new bottom made from the glass. It sparkled and shone just like always.

He looked around him, swiveling his massive head from side to side. It was all the same out here, one way nothing but strange, fake-looking vegetation and ruined buildings, and the other a large gate with two fake trees. It was the entrance to a massive, enclosed structure. Beast growled, unwilling to come to terms with his new location. It wasn't his castle. He'd never left his castle. "THIS MUST BE SOME KIND OF TRICK!" he shouted, the guttural roar echoing off the walls of the domed edifice that stood before him, imposing, yet not intimidating.

A crowd of people looked his direction, faces of shock, horror, awe, and admiration mixed among them. Some cowered into each other, others ignored him. Some cheered, some mocked. Beast couldn't stand it. "QUIET!" he screamed, this time feeling the vibration through his body as it rebounded from the dome. It worked. The line of people at the gate was quite suddenly silent, each one trying on their own to forget that Beast was ever there.

Beast went down on all fours, and leaped out toward the ruins surrounding the area. He covered his face with his massive paws, clutching the rose tight to his chest. His breath was heavy, his heart was pounding. He hadn't left his castle. This couldn't be real. But even if it was a dream, there wasn't anything out here. Nothing but broken stones, remains of something long forgotten. He stood back up, and walked again toward the gate.

A few of the people looked back at him, but most were more focused on getting inside--to what purpose, Beast could not tell. He didn't venture to ask anyone. Once he was through the line, a person at the booth asked for his name. Beast leered over the person, holding hte rose in his paws like a vice and snarling. Unintimidated, the person asked for a name again. Beast pulled back, standing with his shoulders low, a look of defeat pulling his face down with them. "...Beast..." he said quietly.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

After so long in the blank white cages of the Organization it was almost a relief to see the skies of the city once again. He couldn't help but shake the feeling he was missing... something, but it couldn't possibly have been terribly important.

Besides, he had his armor and his swords and his duty. He was Judge Magister. Law of Archades.

And yet, for some odd reason he couldn't manage to find it in himself to put on the helm that was his. Judge Magister of the Ninth Bureau, and the helm to match. And so he settled for simply tucking it under his arm for the time. Perhaps later it turn to again.

A small booklet were bright colors and words on it was shoved into Beast's paws, and he was pushed the rest of the way through the gate. He slowly walked inside, eyes darting nervously across the scenery under the soaring dome, the crowds making him tense. The architecture was unfamiliar, the trees were unnatural. The buildings were nothing like the ones he remembered from the village so long ago...not that he had seen them in years.

His lips curled into a scowl, not directed at anyone, but as a silent attempt to ward off contact with him. It was accompanied by a low growl, probably interpreted to passersby as threatening--though that was not the reason he was making the sound. Fear was starting to grip him, and he held the rose tighter, as if afraid it would disappear just as suddenly as he'd been taken from his castle. This place was too foreign to him.

But one single thing stood out to Beast. There was a man in shining silver armor, holding his helm at his side. The man looked confident, and the armor looked very nice. Beast took a step toward him, but was suddenly too anxious to move further. Even if this man could aid him, what use would it be?

I'm a monster...he would never give me any help... Beast thought to himself, rubbing at the ruff of his collar as his shoulders drooped. He lowered his eyes to the floor, letting out a rumbling moan in his distress.

It was the growl that first caught Gabranth's attention. Monsters were hardly uncommon in Ivalice, although this was hardly Ivalice. So it became a matter of what to make of this one; the city was strange and monsters walked in the forms of men. And thus it became less a matter of looks and more a matter of what to do.

It had never been the job of the Judges to deal with monsters, be the Magister or no. Not that they couldn't, should they see fit. It was merely that they largely didn't bother - a path that Gabranth was all too willing to take.

Or at least, until the rumbling... was that a moan? Perhaps there was something he could do after all.

"Is something amiss?"

Beast's head shot up, his eyes going wide and everything tensing again. He hadn't been expecting that very man to ask him anything. "N-no. I'm fine," he lied, gazing down at the cobblestone pavement beneath his feet so he wouldn't have to make eye contact. However, Beast's voice didn't mask his forlorn thoughts.

Beast was silent for a moment, but soon found curiosity overcoming his tightly-wound nerves. "What..." he began slowly, quietly. He looked back at the blond man standing before him, still not making eye contact but at least not "What is this place...?" It felt strange to be acting so submissive, instead of barking out orders. But this man was no servant...for all Beast knew, he was another prince. One who hadn't been ruined by an enchantress...

Had Gabranth known about Beast's assumption that he was a prince he would have laughed. He was no prince. He was merely a man who had lost his home, and now, the thing he was supposed to have been protecting.

"Paixao," he answered simple. "A city little better than a cage."

"A cage?" Beast repeated with some doubt, his brow narrowing menacingly. He looked back at the gate, and noticed something he hadn't before. There wasn't anyone leaving through that same gate. He growled, and faced the much shorter human.

"So there's no way back out once you've come in?" His lips curled back into a sneer with each emphatic, showing his fangs in a very threatening fashion. He was standing straighter, feeling less nervous now, and more angry. He was not going to be held against his will anywhere!

"I do not know of any," Gabranth answered.

He had heard rumors that some had left, but they were merely that. Rumors. Nothing substantial enough to mention to anyone who'd just recently arrived. And as for the other option...

No, bad enough that he had to deal with the consequences of that way out, a sort of hollowness visible in his eyes for a brief moment. He wasn't going to wish that end on someone who'd only just arrived.

"What?!" Beast's response would probably be seen as completely irrational, in light of the question that was being answered. He started pacing on all fours, barefooted claws echoing on the paved street under his massive body.

He half-growled, half-huffed, effecting his distress. He ran a huge paw through the thick fur over his neck, the anger suddenly turning to worry. The back-and-forth across the pavement came to a halt. His words were rushed, demanding immediate answers. "What are we supposed to do here? Where do we sleep?"

"There are places to stay," Gabranth answered simply. Perhaps nothing like what Beast had been used to, but places to stay all the same.

"And whatever you wish." Live, die, try to get away from the city. It didn't really make much difference to Gabranth in the end. "Just be on your guard. This is not a safe place."

Beast turned away, making the same irritated noise again. His brow creased, pulling in close to the bridge of his nose and giving his face an even more bestial appearance than normal. "How do we find these places? And what makes it unsafe?" No less demanding, though perhaps a little more rational than a moment before.

"There are -" there was a pause, as Gabranth worked on finding the most appropriate explanation that didn't use the word 'monster "- men here who are all but unworthy of the term." It was a simple enough sentence, but one that spoke of pain at their hands, no surprise given the things they'd recently told him.

"There is a map in the journal."

Beast looked back toward the rose where he'd set it down to pace a moment ago, and the small...thing next to it. "Is that the journal?" He pointed to the object, which (though he didn't know it) was exactly like every other journal in the city. The thing had slipped his mind in his emotion. He picked it up, turning it over and examining each side as if it were some sort of food, or an object to be appraised for its value.

He was stumped.

"Aye," Gabranth answered with a nod. It was a strange thing to call a 'journal' if you asked him, but it was the common term for them and it worked well enough. Little need to cause confusion over it later, after all.

"It opens there," he added after a moment, pointing to the appropriate side. After all, he might as well help as best he was able. There wasn't really much else (and no he was not going to dwell on that) that he could do at the moment, after all.

"Oh." Beast's eyes moved to one side, giving him a sheepish expression that didn't well match his countenance. He opened where the man gestured, and found the inside even more foreign and confusing than the outside. "Magic?" he asked without thinking. "How does it work?" Little lights glowed, and the thing buzzed and whirred. Beast couldn't make heads or tails of it.

Magic? Not to Gabranth at least. It wasn't like anything he had seen on Ivalice, but he was generally familiar with the concept. He'd still used it only rarely but he understood the basics.

Hopefully the basics would be enough.

"The map is here," he answered, pointing out the button that would call up the journals map function.

"It's like the mirror," Beast muttered to himself as the map appeared. He couldn't read the words it showed any better than the pamphlet, though. A small blinking arrow was in one spot on the map. Beast gestured to it. "What is that flashing arrow?"

"I would assume it marks our position," Gabranth answered, moving to get a better look at the map. As for the comment about it being like 'the mirror' that he simply ignored. He had no idea of what it could possibly mean and no real interest in asking either.

Beast looked at the map a little longer, then gave up. He couldn't figure anything out from it. The roads were marked, but that didn't help. At least...he could tell streets from buildings.

He stood there, staring at the map. "Is there...any way to use this without having to read?"

That was a very good question, and unfortunately, not one that Gabranth knew the answer to. He'd not seen a reason to look into that - he had little reason, when it wasn't a particular concern of his. Nor had he taken much of an interest in finding out who (if anyone) was unable to read in the city.

"There may be," he answered slowly, "but I cannot say for sure."

Another growl of irritation echoed from the buildings around the two of them. "I guess...I'll have to look around." Beast closed his eyes and looked away from the man, and picked up the rose. It glimmered brightly in its case, casting a strange purple glow over Beast's brown fur. "Thank you," he said, remembering that people apparently liked to hear that word.

Beast was suddenly glad for all the servants in the castle. Thanks to them, he at least had some idea of how to make people be nice to him. It was all he could do not to burst out in a fit of a rage, but this man hadn't said anything. But he must have been thinking it. Thinking that Beast was nothing but a stupid monster who couldn't read.

Despite Beast's suspicions, that was the farthest thing from Gabranth's mind. He had no complaints about someone being able to read, and he was less willing than some would have been to term him 'monster'. He was hardly a hume, true, but Ivalice was home to others as well, even if they were something of a rarity in the Empire.

"You're welcome."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Stepping Out Of The Castle [Complete]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject