Princess Winnifred (whinny_fred) wrote in into_the_woods, @ 2008-10-02 14:48:00 |
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Entry tags: | xgingerbread man, xprincess and the pea - princess |
No One Is Alone (Open)
Well this was… not right. That wasn’t the first phrase that had come to mind, but those words were not the sort a princess was supposed to say so it was better to not even think them. So Winnifred had hastily amended what she had been thinking, but the sentiment was still the same. This was not right.
She stopped, standing dead still in the middle of the path and turned in a slow circle. No, this was not right at all. She should have reached the fork to take her to the left to that village that had the interesting marketplace. It wasn’t every market that had a vendor with boxes full of interesting metal bits and sprockets. Fred had only stumbled across such a helpful find once, by accident, but she had very carefully made note of where it was so that she could return.
Apparently not carefully enough, because she was pretty sure that she was lost. This was a section of the woods she was not overly familiar with. Alright, not familiar at all. But it should have worked! She’d looked on the map, this path went straight to the village even if it was a little out of the way. But that was the whole point. She’d rather her mother-in-law didn’t know she was going anywhere and suddenly find some function or duty that she absolutely needed to attend that would keep her from escaping the castle for a few hours. Really, there were only so many sets of china patterns that she could look at before her eyes started to cross, even if it was absolutely essential (according to the beast-in-law) that they pick out the just the right combination of colors and pattern to set the right standard and avoid offending anybody. Fred rather thought that might be taking things a bit far. She couldn’t recall her mother ever being quite that obsessive, and her mother was a very good, very loved queen.
Besides, sometimes she just really needed a break.
Of course, if she couldn’t figure out where she was, that break might become longer than she’d originally intended. Her fingers reached into the pocket hidden in her skirt, seeking the compass she’d used when she made her trip to seek a husband. Except it wasn’t there. Why wasn’t it there? She almost always had it when she was in the woods, it was far too easy to get turned around. Obviously. Oh, wait. She’d used it last week in a new contraption, intending to leave it there temporarily, except it got blown up. Well, that was no good.
What was she going to do now? If she’d been behaving as a princess should, she’d have a whole phalanx of servants with her right now and at least one of them would have a compass. Then again, if she’d been behaving as a princess should, she wouldn’t have snuck out of the castle to avoid both her mother-in-law and her husband. Oh, she really hated it when the queen was right. It rankled.
So Fred wasn’t going to let her be right. No. She would just figure out a way to figure out where she was. Wasn’t there some saying about moss or something? Did it grow on the south side? No, the west side. Wait. Was the village west? Alright, so it might take a little while, but she was going to figure this out. She would--
Winnifred froze as a sound reached her ears. The crackle of brush, loud enough to indicate that whatever was coming was bigger than a squirrel. Fortunately, it was also bigger than a skunk. Unless it was a really big skunk. Oh, she hoped it wasn’t a skunk. Clearing her throat, she tentatively called out, “Hello? Is somebody there?”