In The Dark Of The Night (Open for reactions)

[NPC]

Late at night the gardens are quiet, or at least they're supposed to be, students are all tucked up in their beds and the rules say they should be fast asleep. Occasionally that quiet is disturbed by a student unsuccessfully sneaking back from a particularly merry night at one of the bars in the village, but most of the time they know to stay silent as they move across.

Somebody apparently didn't get the memo, because there are two figures making their way across the gardens and past the two dorm buildings, and though one of them is moving on silent feet and making haste, the other is bumbling behind them. The other is large, and apparently not used to moving lightly because the keep stumbling, occasionally over the hem of the cloak wrapped around them, occasionally over the unsteady terrain, and every time they trip they mutter a curse or an exclamation of pain.

"Be quiet, they'll catch us," the other figure hisses in low tones, only just detectable if anybody is further from their bed than they should be, or for anybody on the ground floor with their windows open. It's hard to tell at such low tones if the speaker is male or female, but a listener may lean towards female.

The larger figure, somewhat more loudly, mutters apologies, earning a frustrated noise from the smaller. There's some quiet muttering and - for those who can sense these things - a brief feeling of magic in the air. Suddenly, there's no more sound from the two, though if anybody is still watching the larger doesn't seem to be being any less quiet, it's like you just can't hear them anymore.

The two move quickly across the garden, they're only present for a few minutes at most, before disappearing into the darkened school beyond. The only evidence of their passing is a few disturbed pebbles and a couple of flattened flowers where the larger figure stumbled.

[Azalea]

Azalea sat on the window ledge and stared at the sky. She loved this time of night. It was so peaceful. Silence covered the grounds like a blanket and the stars shone bright enough for her to count them. She knew every constellation and loved the rare occasion when a meteor shower would light up the night. It was childish, sure, but she still made wishes on the first star she saw most nights. It reminded her of home. Same stars, different orientation.

The gardens were usually still at this time, bedtime having past long ago. Occasionally a lone figure or two would sneak in silently past curfew. Tonight however, Azalea’s attention was drawn to two figures crossing the gardens, past the dorms. It struck her as unusual, because even when the older students had spent too much time in one of the bars, they could normally still find *one* of the dorms. It seemed that one of them was not much used to sneaking either. They wore cloaks too. That was odd. She didn't know many of the students who wore cloaks very often.

Sitting very still at her window, she watched the smaller figure seem to berate the larger one for their clumsiness. That’s what it looked like anyway, she couldn't hear much more than a mumble from her vantage point. And then she could hear nothing at all. Like they moved out of range without moving at all.
Azalea’s senses tingled; there was something wrong here. Her suspicions were confirmed when she watched them disappear into the school. Azalea left the window open slightly, then crossed to the door and silently slipped into the hall. She wasn't sure what she was going to do yet, but she knew there was something strange happening, and she had to know what it was.

[James Florian]

While the sultana was star gazing, James was also awake, but he was doing a far less enjoyable activity. Homework. You would think being a prince would give him a free pass when it came to the torturous labor, especially when it was on something as boring as how to properly break the sleeping death curse. He already knew what it took, true love's first kiss. After all that's how his dad woke his mother over two decades ago. Yet the essay was requiring an explanation of at least five hundred words. How on earth was he going to manage that? After hours of just staring at a blank sheet of paper he had finally decided to write about his parent's story, but make it seem like an essay. Hopefully he could pull five hundred words from that. 

So that's why the light in room seven in the Avalon dormitories was still shining brightly, or at least the desk lamp on the left side of the room was. There was the light's out policy and the fact that his roommate Briar, who appeared to be asleep in his bed, did not have a similar essay to write that had to be taken into consideration of course. The room's window was cracked open a bit, since the cold air helped the raven haired lad concentrate. However it was about to prove to be a distraction when the sound of someone stumbling out in the gardens and some rather foul words managed to waft in through the window and disturb his train of thought. Annoyed, James glanced at the window with a small scowl on his face. Didn't those drunk fools realize that there was people trying to sleep/write last minute essays. 

However a glance at the clock made it clear to the prince that these were most likely not last minute stragglers from Pride Rock or the Black Dragon. The bars would've closed quite a while ago kicking out all students at that time. So with his curiosity peaking, James stood up and walked over to the window where he saw two figures clothed entirely in black sneaking through the gardens by the aid of the moon and starlight reflecting off the white snow. It was an odd sight even for this strange school, they were out at an ungodly hour, they wore cloaks, and he had not even the faintest clue as to who they could be. From the third floor window, James had a good vantage point for sight, but awful for hearing. Even opening the window a little more did nothing to help. Although he could see the smaller figure reprimanding the larger one, yet he could barely hear apologies due to the soundless night, and then nothing. Not even the movement of the cobblestones or the rustling of the plants whenever he saw the larger one trip. Now from previous experience in his childhood he knew those noises were loud in a quiet night such as this. What exactly was going on here?

When they moved off away from the dormitories and toward the school, James knew it was time to investigate. Something was fishy here and as a prince it was his job to get to the bottom of it. So after lowering the window a bit so Briar wouldn't freeze to death while he was gone, James turned off the desk lamp and quietly left the dorm room. Now he knew what he was doing would land him in very hot water if he was caught given the fact he already had a disciplinary record here, but then again wouldn't this be a great chance to prove to everyone that he wasn't some shiny object that should be kept away from danger. What if there was troubling brewing and he was single handily able to stop it? The idea just about made the Prince giddy with excitement. Now he would never have to deal with people dogging his footsteps everywhere he went. However he needed to find out what was going on first. So he carefully made his way to the stairwell and descended to the first floor keeping a careful eye out for any security guards all the meanwhile. It was really no different than him sneaking out for a midnight ride in the forest back home.

Luckily for him, James realized that when he made it to the lounge area he found the guard was snoring on one of the many plush couches in the room. He realized it was the same fat one who had tranq'ed him after the fight and James was tempted to mess with him somehow for payback, but he had bigger fish to fry than a grudge. Besides the mere sight of seeing the jerk drooling and snoring as loud as a lion was enough for the naive seventeen year old to snicker slightly. What a fool. Now knowing he was free to move about the dormitories without the fear of being caught, he didn't make as large of an attempt to be silent. Granted he still kept a sharp eye out, but he didn't try to muffle the sounds of his shoes falling onto the tiles with each step. He had made it past the stairwell to the Tintagel hall when he heard a heavy door closing somewhere on the upper floors of the girl's side of the large building. Suddenly realizing that maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to go find out what was going on alone, he turned and ascended up the staircase, his heavy shoes making his presence known with each step. Now he knew that by entering the girl's dorms he had broken not only some of the schools largest rules, but the unspoken Princely moral code as well. However it would be smarter for him to find out just exactly what was going on here, and besides maybe whoever else was awake at such an ungodly hour might know something he didn't. So more pros than cons to this whole escapade made him continue to climb until he found his answer on the second floor. 

Standing in the hallway was another royal like him also curious as to why there were people roaming the gardens after dark, but no doubt she had more questions now as to why a Prince was in the girl's dormitories at such an hour. So before she could ask he hastily provided the answer, "Sounds carry in an empty building. Did you see that as well?" He asked clearly making reference to the events that just occurred in the gardens. He tried to remember what this girl's name was. James knew it started with an 'A' though. Aurelia? Amelia? Azalea? Azalea! That's it. She was Azalea the Arabian princess if he remembered correctly.

Regardless James did know one thing for sure, the Prince and Princess were about to be tossed into one huge mystery. 

[Azalea]

Azalea had just reached the top of the staircase when she met someone else out of bed at this late hour. A boy. A boy in the girls dorm. Clearly there was a good reason for him to break so many rules in one go. But just as she opened her mouth to ask, he answered her thoughts.

"Sounds carry in an empty building. Did you see that as well?"

"I did." She answered, even her hushed tones sounding loud in the silence of the old building,"I've never experienced that before, they went silent without moving further away. Even when one of them was less than graceful"

She regarded the young prince before her with curiosity. James. She had seen him around but barely knew him. She supposed that was about to change.

Azalea started down the stairs, shooting the prince a smile over her shoulder.

"What are you waiting for?"

[James Florian]

James knew that maybe Grove was right about him needing to think his plans out more clearly before jumping into action straight away when Azalea regarded him with a shocked, yet confused, expression when she caught him in the Tintagel hall stairwell. (Though did she really catch him red handed at all? Since he did explain himself before she could even ask the reason as to why he was there in the first place and he didn't exactly sneak up the steps either when he knew the main guard was snoozing in the lounge.)  However it did remind him of the expression he heard some of the other students use before, a deer in the headlights. Granted he may not know exactly what headlights were, or why a deer would be in them to begin with, but he did know it was to describe someone so startled that they just froze where they were. That certainly described how Azalea appeared when she first laid her eyes on James. He also didn't blame her either, after all that's how he would've reacted if it was him leaving his dorm room to find a girl standing in the corridor of Avalon Hall. At least she wasn't the type of person who screamed or even fainted when this type of situation occurred. James didn't need to land in any more trouble while he was here at Seacombe. His parents were still seething over the whole Rose Library incident, no need to further intensify their fires. 

However he was set off guard by what Azalea said after confirming that she too was roaming around after curfew because of the figures in the garden. James had thought that they had fallen silent because he was out of earshot, being on the third floor and all that, but now it sounded more like the one thing that was feared above all other evils. Witchcraft. After all what else could explain why they made no noise whatsoever? Nothing logical that's for sure. James' right hand immediately reached for the dull blade he kept sheathed at his side at all times. Except when he was sleeping of course, that would be rather uncomfortable. "Magic users, no doubt. Most likely they're Dark ones , good ones have no reason to sneak around like that as well." He whispered into the otherwise silent corridor, which for some reason seemed to rebound off the walls and cry out as loud as a war chant. Maybe it was the gravity of how serious the consequences would be, for James particularly, if they were caught. This school was definitely changing him from the obedient little prince to an experienced rule breaker. Fist fights, sneaking into the girl's dorms, what was next? In truth even James didn't want to know. 

Realizing that maybe the sight of an intruder griping a weapon may not be the most reassuring thing to see, James forced himself to relax and he removed his hand from the blade. Witchcraft was not well received in the Prince's mind given not only the standard society views on the practice he had grown up with, but his own family history. Witchcraft was always a bad thing, it was used to take advantage of people, but it had very nearly killed his mother too. The devil's practice must be eradicated, and there was no way James was going to let this school be touched by it's evil effects. After all it was his destiny to be a protector. He had to ensure that there wasn't going to be a curse placed on the academy or something like that. He would hate to admit that the curse breaking class would be of some actual use after all.

While he was trapped in his bitter thoughts, he didn't notice that Azalea had already started down the stair case and was only pulled from his mind when she spoke to him. After he stood there for a moment, regaining his senses James said with a curt bow and a smile as well, "Although I may be breaking a thousand rules by just standing here, I still follow the rules of etiquette madam. Ladies first as always." It may have been a small little lie, but regardless if he had been paying attention or not, James still would've insisted that Azalea go first down the stairwell. Though that was the case for long, in almost no time at all, he was able to slip past her and lead the way keeping an eye out for both security and dark magic users alike. When he reached the bottom step with no threats, James offered her his hand to help her down from the last step to the ground. Not that she needed help, but his society's etiquette standards dictated that he had to offer it anyway. If she blew it off, he would be a little shocked since after all not all societies functioned the same way, despite what all the Royals tended to believe. Especially Medieval Europe and Ancient Arabia. 

He also stated when they entered the common ground between the two dormitories, "Security was asleep in the lounge when I passed by the room so as long as we don't wake him up, we won't get caught." At least hopefully this would be the case. Anything could've happened in the few minutes since he passed by Mr. Snoozing-on-the-Job. Luckily though the pair of royals didn't run into trouble as they slipped outside in the cold night. (James held the door for Azalea of course.) Now safely away from the threat of being caught and sent to detention he asked her without whispering, "So did you see which way they went? I didn't have a good vantage point from my window." He knew it was in the general direction of the academic buildings, but they could've ducked into any of them. They didn't have time to search each building one by one. Plus it wouldn't be that wise easier. So they had to get it right on the first shot. Otherwise who knew where the two of them would end up at the end of this adventure. The all too familiar detention room or the dreaded infirmary? 

[Azalea]

When she saw James reach for the sheath at his side, Azalea raised her eyebrows. She saw it for what it was, a defensive reaction, and from what she knew of his family storyline, it was well earned. When she noticed his change in posture to relax, Azalea headed for the stairs.
"Although I may be breaking a thousand rules by just standing here, I still follow the rules of etiquette madam. Ladies first as always."
She gave a small laugh at this and continued on, waiting for him to pass her on the stairs. She knew that the prince still had a loyalty to the etiquette taught to him, so when he offered his hand to her for the last step, she accepted with only a raised eyebrow and a smile. The princes seemed to enjoy the protector role and it did her no harm to let them have their rituals. The cracked window of her dorm room was her true protection however. She wouldn’t tell him that though.
"Security was asleep in the lounge when I passed by the room so as long as we don't wake him up, we won't get caught."
Well that was good. She would hate to be sent back to bed at this point. Then they’d never find out what was going on! Azalea shivered almost imperceptibly in the cold night air, but she ignored it. She might be a Princess but it would be a mistake for anyone to consider her weak, so when James asked her if she knew where they should go, she answered with confidence.
“I didn’t see clearly either, but we should start by looking for anything that looks disturbed. I doubt they’ll have left any real trace, but the larger one is likely to have caused some damage, even just superficially.”
She set off across the gardens, trying to move quietly, not to alert the intruders to their position, or worse teachers.

[James Florian]

James was a little relieved when Azalea didn't dismiss the customs and laws of behavior that had been drilled into his head ever since he was a little boy. He already knew a couple of the princesses here had decided that the old ways of running things were too outdated for them. (Though only a few of them really put up a fuss whenever one of the medieval princes offered to carry their books, help them down from a horse, or whatever chivalrous action the situation called for.) It wasn't exactly James' fault he was so damn helpful all the time. He grew up with that kind of behavior encouraged and selfish actions were chastised by everyone.  That was the real downside to having a pretty crown sitting delicately upon his head back home, there was always eyes on you and any little misstep was under scrutiny twenty four hours a day. Far too much pressure for one boy too handle, maybe that's why he was acting out here. Though if it were because of the homesickness or the desperate need to have those eyes on him once again, to feel as if nothing really changed, James didn't know. However he did know that by letting him act like the chivalrous prince he was instead of just giving him with a scowl, Azalea made him feel almost normal if that made sense. He wasn't James the trouble-magnet or that Naive kid, but instead he was just the James he missed since coming here. Confident and well behaved. Not the prince who kept his head down when he wasn't around Eli or Grove, and definitely not that monster he had become in the Rose library. It was liberating. 

When he saw Azalea shiver in the night air, he was tempted to offer her his jacket, until he realized he didn't have one! Earlier in the dorm room he had been so preoccupied with what was going happening in the gardens that he had forgotten to grab something to keep himself warm and now that Azalea was thrown into the mix, who was raised in a place where rain was a rare occurrence and snow an impossibility, the two of them would not be able to stay outside for long. He wasn't surprised though when Azalea gave forth a solid plan and he nodded in agreement. Although he may have a moral code that put women on a protected pedestal, he wasn't a jerk like Gigi's father Gaston. If someone came up with an idea, he wasn't going to shut it out because the person who suggested it wore a dress instead of breeches. Not to mention he was sure Azalea would tear him in two if he tried to change it anyway. Women could more dangerous than any sword after all.

When the two of them went over to the garden in order to find any clues as to where the pair could've gone, James unsheathed his sword this time since it was clear that they were dealing with people who were able to mess with magic. They would be stupid to not have some sort of protection with them. Even it came in the form of a single half sword. They then spread out a bit to cover more ground in their search, but still remained in both eyesight and whispering distance from each other. It didn't take them long to find the flattened plants that led them in the general direction of the school, a little trick James picked up from both his uncles' and Grove, where it would become a bit more difficult to pick up clues as to where they would've gone to do. He strained his ears to see if he could hear anything, but as Azalea described earlier, he heard nothing. Just a faint whisper of the winter breeze that chilling the both of them to the bone. His teeth were chattering slightly and he had no idea how cold Azalea was. This was starting to look like a fool's mission. Who were they to think that they could stop magic users with just the two of them and a single weapon. It took all of his seven uncles, a menagerie of wild animals, and a cliff for goodness sake to get rid of his step-grandmother. For Azalea her parents needed a genie to help trick a giant cobra/man/thing into enslaving himself if he remembered correctly. With just the two of them they wouldn't be able to stop it, they would need some help and it would do no good if the two of them got cursed or killed before they could even figure out what was going on. However they couldn't just give up and call it quits just yet, "We should do a quick search of the courtyard and around the buildings before heading back. It's too cold out here for us to keep up at this much longer Azalea." He half whispered half chattered to the princess. Tomorrow morning they could talk about to Isla, Eli, Briar, and Grove. No doubt all of thinking on this together could come up with a brilliant plan of action. One that didn't have the minor plot hole of forgetting to grab a jacket.

[Azalea]

Standing over the crushed flowers, Azalea began to doubt the efficiency of their plan. The school grounds were more than expansive and there were only two of them. They couldn't cover everywhere before morning. And what would they do if they even found anyone? Talk them out of it? Whatever they were doing, she doubted that they could be reasoned with by two students.

It seemed that James was thinking the same "We should do a quick search of the courtyard and around the buildings before heading back. It's too cold out here for us to keep up at this much longer Azalea."

She nodded in agreement. It was definitely cold and she still had some trouble getting used to the cold. She had forgotten to pick up even a shawl in her rush. They would do much better with help, a plan and probably a good nights sleep.

[James Florian]

With Azalea's nod of agreement, the two royals pushed on to see if anything could be found as a clue to where the strange pair had disappeared to. Though it became blatantly clear that the Son of Snow White and Aladdin's daughter were not going to find anything. However sticking true to their stubborn personalities, they forged on with their plan, checking around all the academic buildings and a quick search of the courtyard which of course yielded nothing. Not only did they seem to vanish into thin air, but the larger one seemed to get control of his feet as well. So they then threw in the towel and headed back to the dorm, relieved to be back in the warm dormitory building. 

Being a gentleman, James escorted Azalea back to her dorm, but knowing that her family was a bit more ah rebellious towards traditional royal values, he instead started a conversation that could only be continued if James followed her up the Tintagel staircase. "Well that was an interesting adventure. It's a shame we couldn't find anything though." He said with a genuinely disappointed tone of voice, this could have been a grand chance for the Prince to prove that everyone was wrong to believe that he couldn't be trusted to not land himself in a heap of trouble everywhere he went. At least now he could point out to Grove that he had broken nearly a dozen rules that night and hadn't been caught, cursed, or killed like the events the redhead had predicted to happen if he strayed off the strict path from the dorms, the school buildings, and possibly the stables if he had time after class. However James had no doubts over what Grove would do to make sure tonight's trip didn't happen again. He would either camp out on the couch in room number seven, or use the welcome mat as a pillow. So maybe James wouldn't be so quick to reveal the night's events after all. 

Shaking himself out of these thoughts, James thought for a second before adding, "We're going to have to tell the others about what we saw if we want to figure out what the were doing out there. Isla and Eli need to know for sure, maybe also Grove, Briar, and maybe Admiral too. Safety in numbers, though not too many people should know. It may just be an elaborate prank set up by Ari or Louis after all." He said with a small shrug. It was possible the villains had concocted this idea to mess with the good guy's heads. However it also seemed a little outlandish as well. It irked the prince that they didn't have answers, but once the others knew then maybe they all could come up with some theory. Hopefully.

It didn't take too long for them to reach Azalea's floor, and like at the bottom of the stairs James extended his hand to her as he said, "So do you want to have everyone meet at Pride Rock so we can tell them tomorrow? Or do you suggest a better locale to discuss this mystery with our friends?" Pride Rock was a obvious choice for the 'good guys' to discuss what happened this night since villains, and their sidekicks, weren't able to get in. However it might be a little tricky getting everyone down there, but surely the two of them could do it. They were both very stubborn royals after all. 

[Azalea]

She took James' offered hand and considered the idea as they walked back to her door. Isla would probably be up soon anyway. Azalea stifled a yawn before she replied.

"I think you're right, we need everyone we can get. Only those we trust though, it's possible that we're over reacting. No need for the whole school to be involved in a wild goose chase."

She thought a moment before continuing. It would be tricky to get everyone there in noticed but Pride Rock would be the safest place for that discussion. Even the "bad guys" that were not totally evil would be likely to make their lives difficult if they overheard.
"Pride Rock is a good idea. I think we should arrive singly or in twos. It should be less noticable. Will you tell the boys?"

[James Florian]

James nodded at the mention of only bringing in people they trusted, but still have a more than just a tiny handful of comrades to figure out just why there was people casting spells in the garden at such an ungodly hour. "Yeah it would be disastrous if it turns out that their actions weren't as sinister as we believed it to be." He too tried to hold back a yawn, but he wasn't as successful as Azalea had been. Last minute essays, breaking a thousand rules, and running around in the dark was beginning to take it's toll on the Prince. Hopefully he'll be able to get away with falling asleep in his ethics and morals class. Basically all he got from that class was be a just ruler, a perfect gentlemen, and no circumstances do anything immoral. He already had that stuff memorized by the time he was three. 

He also agreed with the idea of them arriving in small groups instead of a mad rush into Pride Rock. "Yeah, I'll also make sure we can get the VIP section for an hour or so." Sure he'll have to part with some of this week's allowance in order to make sure that only their friends could have the top floor to discuss this mess. James nodded in understanding when Azalea gave him the task of convincing the guys to come, which might be a tad bit difficult since two of them are socially awkward giants. However he was best friends with one and the other was his roommate so maybe it wouldn't be as hard as it appeared to be. "Alright, but make sure Isla and whoever else you believe should be in on this be there as well." He said although it was already pretty clear without being said, James just wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings later.

So with a plan laid out, James sensed that maybe he was pushing his luck by standing here in the girl's dormitory, so he then said, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow then, we'll have everyone meet about twenty minutes or so after class?" However before Azalea could answer James heard footsteps from the upper floor. Oh great Mr. Tranq-Happy was now awake and doing his job. With slightly wide eyes, he pointed towards the ceiling, mouthed the word security, and decided it was now time to go. So with a small bow and hushed goodbye, James made his way over to the stairs double time and rushed back to his own dorm where once he slipped in quietly, went straight over to the bed, and collapsed almost instantly. The few hours had left him exhausted and James needed to refill his batteries before trudging along the path to his classes tomorrow.  


{{I felt like that was a good point to sort of wrap this up, however if you want to keep going here I'll get rid of the last paragraph.}}

[Azalea]

{I think that's a good point to wrap it up. Time to rally the troops!}