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| A Secret | |
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| Topic Started: Jul 15 2008, 04:00 AM (112 Views) | |
| Dexter Murphy | Jul 15 2008, 04:00 AM Post #1 |
 
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Dexter had been disappointed to have to let the queen go, but he knew he could not keep her attention all to himself for the entire night. He was amused by people and by behavior. He liked to see different ones; people who didn't stick to tradition it only helped prove that sentient creatures (all of them) were worthy of consideration and not to be dismissed. However he also needed to find this Belle Copeland. Her words had been vague regarding the girl. It was with that, initially, that he slipped away from the party. However, after finding himself in front of the castle he was left marveling at the beautiful night. The clear sky was crisp and the air had just the right breeze on it. Gretel was blessed with good weather for her ball. Dexter himself considered it a very good omen for what relationship could build between the two kingdoms. With a huge sigh of contentment he went to moseying aimlessly about the outer perimeter of the castle. It was only then that he found the gardens. Once more sucked into the sheer natural draw Dexter got lost within the greenery. He'd completely forgotten that there was a ball going on inside the walls of the grand castle behind him. In fact he'd forgotten the castle existed all together. As he moved through the variety of flowers and plants growing with reckless abandon that he heard another soul. He peeked around the nearest shrub when he spotted her. The second his eyes fell on her he remembered what he'd left the ball for in the first place. "Well look a the chance of fate; someone is surely looking out for me. I was distracted though I happened on my first mission by change. I've learned your name is Belle Copeland. I'm Dexter Murphy and you are the exact thing I've been looking for. Mind if I join you?" It took a moment for her dress and dirtied hands to actually come to his attention. |
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| Belle Copeland | Jul 15 2008, 04:21 AM Post #2 |
 
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Once upon a time the very well that Belle now sat at had played host to an amazing story. A princess, regal and arrogant, had been playing with a golden ball. Her favorite golden ball, in fact. She would throw it high up in the air and then dance around as she caught it, laughing and smiling. But one day when she threw up the ball, it slipped from her fingers as it landed falling deep within the well's depthes. For hours she cried, devastated at the loss of her favorite toy until a small frog appeared beside her. With the promise of a kiss, the frog had dove down into the well and retrieved the princess's ball. The story branched out from there, the real ending lost in the world of stories. Some say she kissed him and he turned into a handsome prince. Others believed that she threw the frog against the wall. Still others still claim that he was happy just sleeping on her pillow every night. Of course, that had happened a long ways from here, the well moved to this location as the first Queen Gretel buiit her castle. Another secret lost to time as no one was sure why it was so important to her to go through the work of moving it all the way here. But Belle was glad because it gave her a place to sit, a place to contemplate. She wondered if this was where the princess herself sat as she waited for the frog to return with his ball. She heard the footsteps first, her attention pulled from the well and to the form that moved there in the darkness. Having been out here for awhile, her eyes were well adjusted and she recognized the Elf Duke instantly as she hurried from her relaxed sitting position to a standing one. "Of course, your magesty." Belle agreed as she curtsied low to the ground, raising back slowly to standing. She was confused - very confused - as to why he would want to see her. Much less be actively looking for her. Jasella would not have sent a member of another court to fetch her if she was needed. "Are you enjoying the ball?" She asked politely as she waited for some type of explanation to his entrance. |
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| Dexter Murphy | Jul 15 2008, 04:47 AM Post #3 |
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Dexter was a little surprised at first; her leaping to her feet and the sudden proper verbiage had his head spinning a little faster than he was prepared for. He smiled at her kindly none-the-less. "No, no - there's no need for that. We're just people right now Miss Copeland. You can call me Dexter - or Dex if you prefer. None of that sire or majesty stuff; it makes me uneasy." He told her. "I'm made of flesh just like you." He swept over to her and lifted her hand. He took it carefully and pressed it to his chest. "Feel that? Your heart does the same thing - we both bleed." He nodded. "There's no one here to be offended by lack of titles being flung around. Please sit." He said gesturing back to the well after releasing her hand. "Hundreds of them. I can't count the number that I've attending. Each is the same, though I must admit your queen is quite a lady." He sat along the edge of the well. "Do you like it here? By this well - alone?" He glanced over to her. "Perhaps not all of those things together but pieces maybe?" He smiled a little wider at her. His initial words rang true as he opted not to mention her station that was now blatantly obvious. "I've come to thank you. Thought our debts are even, as you made me aware, I still thought you deserved my personal gratitude. I much prefer to be alive than the other option." He grinned a little looking down into the well. "You have a beautiful land. For how many generations have you lived here?" Belle had returned the favor of saving his life in the battle - however in the heat of battle her long hair had betrayed her and Dexter was able to note the small points to her ears. She had elf blood in her line. He also noted how she took to hiding it, now he reasoned, intentionally. |
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| Belle Copeland | Jul 16 2008, 11:31 PM Post #4 |
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She wasn't sure what to make of the duke, uneasy at the idea of just forgetting about titles. Besides Jasella, she had lived by the strict code of decorum set up for her and she really wasn't sure she knew how to do what he was asking of her. Granted, Belle had seen enough to tell that the Duke was nothing like most any other members of the nobility that she knew and, as she much she hated it, had to commend him on it and the way he treated people in general. Once pointed in her direction, though, she wasn't quite sure how to react. But it was that same code that he spoke against that had her standing stil as he grabbed her hand and placed it against his chest, doing so out of respect for the fact that he had a position and she had nothing. "Queen Gretel is an amazing woman." She agreed, both out of service and respect. Despite trying to be comfortable, trying to pretend they really were simply two people talking, there was still a stiffness. One that she rarely let go of, only when solely in Jasella's company. Outside of her, though, she had little interaction with people and she wondered if it showed. If the fact that she was quietly contemplating just how she should sit and what she should say showed upon her face. Of course, it wouldn't, having trained it from birth not to but she was still paranoid. "Yes, actually. To all three together and separately as well. Though that does not mean I would deny company." She added with a small nod as she finally took her spot on the well. "I only do what is called of me on the field. You never leave an ally to the enemy." She told him, her words so monotone from years of being drilled in that she might as well have been reading them or quoting some source. As she continued though, it was evident that the words came straight from her. "But you are welcome. I suppose I should thank you as well. Without you, I would have an arrow through my head as we speak and this would be a much different conversation." She quipped with the smallest hint of a smile. "For as long as we can trace." Belle answered, sitting a little taller as she said so. Your heritage, where you came from, was a great source of pride within Gretel's kingdom. Where your mother's line originated and how it brought you here was something most everyone knew. That was where your name came from and where the important lineage was seen. "My family has served the Alcott's since my mother's mother in the time of the first Queen Gretel and we have lived in this area for centuries before than as well." She told him proudly. There were other things in her past but the way she was saw it, it was of little importance in the grand scheme. |
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| Dexter Murphy | Jul 24 2008, 08:10 PM Post #5 |
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"Well I thank you for the acceptance of company then." He said pulling up a spot opposite her on the well. It didn't phase him in the least that he might not have needed an invitation. To Dexter he did need that invitation and when she offered the agreement of company he took the opportunity to seize it. "I don't mind if I do." He did give her a demeanor a passing moment's thought; as if it might be in such a way that she was uncomfortable with him or that she didn't want him there. Had she not wanted him there he accepted wholeheartedly that she would have told him if he were not welcome. "Ah - that's all details. We owe each other our lives, I suppose that allows us some connection we might understand - or perhaps we'll never see it through to fruition. As it stands I'm simply thankful to be alive and breathing. I'm equally as happy that you're here so we can even be having this conversation. Therefore the point might be moot. Either way, I thank you - you thank me and we both appreciate it. I think it's fair to say that's where we stand." He smiled at her as he leaned over and looked down the dark well. His head popped back up to her as she went on - speaking of her lineage. He gave her a small nod. "I understand. A noble line and profession to be sure." He nodded looking back down into the dark depth below. He was sincere in his meaning however he went on in a curious voice while still looking below. "I couldn't help but notice that you have a heritage that you hide. That's the only reason I ask. I thought perhaps I over looked your family Ms. Copeland - as you share, at least partially, my race." Slowly his head turned back up to her and he issued her a typical mischievous grin. He leaned over a little and innocently touched her hair near her ears. "Physical appearances don't lie." He rocked back on the well and looked skyward. "I hold you in the highest regard, understand that. I wouldn't misjudge you based on anything as trivial as bloodlines. I'm simply not that person. Beyond that, proof further, the fact remains that you still saved my life. This is a noble land and your people here are braver than almost anyone I know. Yourself included." |
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