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Tweak says, "poke"

Eragon: Last of the Free Riders (saphiras_rider) wrote in labyrinth_rpg,
@ 2009-04-13 16:27:00

Entry tags:

bella swan, complete, day six, eragon and saphira

Who: Eragon, Saphira, and Bella
What: Arriving in the Illusion City
When: Day 6
Where: The edges of the city
Rating: TBD
Status: All done!

In the rush to get back to the Varden from Ellesmera, Eragon almost didn't notice the swirl of light in front of them. Saphira? he said, gently touching the dragon's conscious. What is that?

But it was too late to turn around. The winds that had pushed against them on the way to Du Weldenvarden were pushing them forwards, and before Saphira could even get her wings under her, the wind pushed them forwards to the light. The landscape around them changed almost instantly. What had once been desert was now lush and colorful, and yet somehow faded. Moving into Saphia's mind, Eragon noticed the colors were dull and bland even through her eyes. What is this place? he asked, as much to himself as to her.

I don't know, she replied, glancing around to get her bearings. It's strange. It doesn't feel like home. Or anywhere near there, honestly. I don't like the look of it.

"Me either," he replied out loud, and with a nudge of his knee, he urged her downwards. "Come on, let's check it out."

This isn't a good idea, Little One, she scolded. We have places to be, in case you've forgotten. Nasuada?

Eragon felt a twinge of guilt, but shook his head. If it's not the Empire, then we've nothing to worry about, do we? Come on, I want to know what's going on.

Though he could feel her discomfort at the idea, Saphira relented and ducked under a gust of wind. It's colder here, she commented, but landed with a gentle 'thump'. Eragon climbed off of her back, jumping to the ground with still newly discovered grace. Puzzled, he glanced around, taking in the tents and sounds that looked like some sort of Faire. A poor one, but a Faire just the same. Carvahall had very few in his time, and this certainly couldn't complete with an elven celebration, but it was happening just the same.

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_bella
2009-04-13 10:56 pm UTC (link)

There was laughter somewhere nearby, and it forced Bella's mind to release her from her fixed position. She turned her too wide eyes to the source of the sound, and took in the boy that found some humor in her shock. It was as if her mind was working in slow motion and collecting hyper sharp details as she took him in. He was obviously not from Forks, or whatever world Forks existed in. His hand touched what could only be the hilt of a sword, and he was standing so close to the huge mythical creature that he was obviously not afraid of the beast. It felt like ages to process this all, to come to the logical conclusions, but really, it was only a brief few seconds of staring before she swallowed her fear and tried to process his second comment. He was asking where he was. He must be new, just like she'd been the day before.

Unfrozen Bella took a step back unconsciously, as she began to answer his question, "You're..." She managed before her already unsteady feet caught on the flat ground, a task she had perfected, and she found her balance tipped. She went backward, landing flat on her butt on the squishy wet ground, leaning back as she fell and tipping her hood back exposing her thick brown hair to the rain. She flushed red with embarrassment and scrambled to push herself up before he could laugh, or offer to help. "You're not wherever you were five minutes ago." She said, her tone considerably less fearful now, laced with agitation at herself, as she got to her feet and steadied herself. She looked at her wet palms, with little bits of mud and grass sticking to them and frowned, wiping them on her damp jeans before turning back to the boy. "I mean..." She gave a wary look to the dragon again before trying to be more articulate, "If you're anything like me, from what I've gathered, you've been taken from your world, and brought here." Her frown deepened, causing the crease between her brows to reappear. "There should be a little creature thing here to explain it better." She added, looking around for the journal-totting animal that had chased her roughly 24 hours ago.

She spotted the creature and pointed, giving an apologetic look to the boy, and then another weary glance at the dragon. "We're all from somewhere else." She added a little softer, her voice holding more kindness and a trace of sadness, feeling horrible for her momentary slip.

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saphiras_rider
2009-04-13 11:27 pm UTC (link)

Eragon blinked when a creature that mildly resembled a damaged dwarf. Orik would bristle at the comparison, but it was the closest thing Eragon could think of. What it was, he had no idea. It shoved a leather bound book in his hand, and a tiny golden key. Eragon narrowed his eyes, shooting an annoyed look back at the dragon as Saphira merely laughed again. Be nice, he warned her, and he accepted the 'gifts', allowing his hand to slip from the sword. If the clumsy girl in front of him was any sort of threat, he was relatively sure his instincts would be faster than hers.

He let her words absorb, noticing that for once, Saphira chose to be annoyingly silent. The one time he could use her advice and she kept quiet. Brat. They were all from somewhere else. Someone had chosen for them to be there. Nothing was adding up, or making any sense. Galbatorix? He asked Saphira. Could this be a ploy of his? When she didn't answer, he looked up at her and noted a note of amusement flickering in her eyes. Eragon rolled his eyes and turned back to the girl.

"Are you alright?" he questioned, noting her fall. "You should be grateful for the mud, it shielded you a fair bit, I'd think."

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_bella
2009-04-13 11:54 pm UTC (link)

Bella watched the alarming little creature repeat its task the same way it had the day before, and watched as the boy took the situation in. He kept glancing at the dragon, giving it meaningful looks, and Bella couldn't help but shudder at the sight of it. She wrapped her arms around her small frame to try to hold in some of the warm that escaped from her body into her coat. When he addressed her, commenting on her fortune, a wry smile began to pull at the corners of her lips. "Yeah, lucky me." She said with a reluctant chuckle. The truth was she was used to falling, and she preferred to land on dry ground and feel a little more pain than wet ground and be wet. "I'm fine." She finished with a sigh. She looked around, glancing one last time at the dragon and then gave a nod as she took a careful step forward, keeping distance between her and the dragon but stepping closer to the boy. When she was as close as her thundering heart dared get to the giant creature, she stopped. Her breathing was quicker than before and she tried to steady it as she began speaking to him once more. "I'm sorry." She said, trying to look sympathetic rather than scared. "I'm Bella. I was leaving my house for school yesterday, and when I walked out my front door, I was here." She said, trying to explain. She wasn't good with words, and wasn't comfortable being so verbose, but she fought through the insecurity. "The journal," She said gesturing to the book in his hand, "It's..."She tried to find the right word, "Well, it's magic I guess. You can write in it and everyone with a journal like that can see it and comment to it, and you can see theirs too." She tucked back a strand of wet hair, eyes glancing up at the sky, feeling the cold rain hit her face for a moment before looking back down at him. "The key is a room key. You're assigned a place to stay while you're stuck here. There's no way out, and no use trying…that's what I've gathered anyway." She shrugged, her heart physically aching as she relayed the last nugget of information.

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saphiras_rider
2009-04-14 12:17 am UTC (link)

She's afraid of me, Saphira commented, her eyes lighting up playfully. I sort of like that idea. Should I roar or something equally threatening? Eragon shot her a dirty look, though a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. Stop, she's being helpful.

Turning back to Bella, he offered her a gentle smile. "A journal filled with magic? Curious." Carefully, his fingers ran over the cover. A place to fill with his thoughts, fears, and emotions? It certainly sounded like it could be the Empire keeping watch on him. Composing the spell in the Ancient Language in his head, he closed his eyes and focused on the book. Aside from some basic magic used to connect it to the other journals in the area, he couldn't detect anything particularly sinister. There was something somewhat disturbing about them, but nothing exactly evil. "Huh. Well, I suppose I could try it. And a room, you say?" He glanced up at Saphira, knowing he'd be just as happy curled up under her wing.

"Right, sorry," he added a beat later, realizing just how rude he was being. "I'm Eragon, son of Brom." The last bit was added with just a hint of pride. It was still so new to him, but he was grateful to be able to say it. "This is Saphira, and she is, as you pointed out, a dragon. She's friendly, unless you've plans of attacking her." She doesn't have any magic, Saphira pointed out. But I still can't reach her. I don't understand it. "And she's a bit put out that she can't seem to talk to you." Which might sound crazy to anyone without a dragon talking to them constantly, but Eragon didn't really know any better. By that point, his mind and Saphira's were so closely linked that he didn't think much of it.

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_bella
2009-04-14 03:10 pm UTC (link)

Bella stood watching silently as he looked over the journal he'd just been presented with. She knew that under any other circumstances, informing him that he was holding a magic journal would have earned her a contemptuous look questioning her sanity, but with a creature straight out of Dragonheart standing not more than 10 feet away, it didn't seem that farfetched. Overall, he seemed to be taking the news rather well, and she wondered if she had explained it right—the seriousness of the situation. Thus far, no one really seemed that shocked or terrified by the circumstances. Bella, on the other hand, was still having a hard time with this new world. It had only been a day—she was still feeling dazed, confused, and scared. She was muscling through those emotions, of course, but she was pretty sure she'd be living with them for a while. Under normal circumstances, she was good at blocking out painful, unnecessary things from her memory, but this seemed too big even for her. Then again, only time would tell.

When he finally turned back to her, introducing himself, she offered a small smile in return. She was still recovering from the dragon panic attack, but her heart was almost at a normal pace now, and the adrenaline was fading, and as a result, the small gesture was earnest and brightened her face ever so slightly. She opened her mouth to offer her assistance with his room when Eragon began introducing his dragon. She looked at the creature then, her heart picking up it's pace again, but the smile she gave Saphira wasn't masking fear, and only faded when Eragon informed her that Saphira couldn't speak with her. Confusion returned then, "She can't talk to me?" She parroted, making it a question. "I..." She began, only to find she didn't know what to say to that. "I'm sorry, I don't understand." She confessed looking sheepish again. Her eyes returned to the dragon, "I'm sorry." She apologized, feeling guilty for the unintentional slight that she wasn't even sure how she was committing. She wondered if it was just that she hadn't been addressing her personally or if it was something more than that.

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saphiras_rider
2009-04-14 05:20 pm UTC (link)

He offered her a reassuring smile, remembering only a moment later that she was from a completely different world. Her style of dress was unlike anything he'd ever seen, the materials loose and soft-looking. She wore pants, like Arya, but hers weren't of the same material in any sense. But what he noticed most of all was how very scared she seemed. And shy. Definitely shy. This Bella actually reminded him a bit of Katrina, Roran's new wife. Quiet, but she had an air to her that seemed she could be passionate about what she chose to.

He would've dwelled on that for a while had Saphira not nudged his shoulder with her nose. Get on with it, then! I want to know why she's all blocked off. It's not normal, I tell you. Eragon grinned up at her, shaking his head. "Impatient, aren't you?" he questioned, then turned back to Bella with another smile. "Saphira can communicate, just as you and I do. Only she uses her mind instead of words. It's not often she actually wants to, consider yourself lucky, but... Well, it seems yours is a bit blocked off. That's...well, not something we usually run into."

Was it the change of location? The new world they'd apparently stumbled into? Did she have a form of magic he'd never experienced? Or was it something darker? If she was so evil, she'd have killed them both and been done with it, catching them off guard the way they'd been. What was she?

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_bella
2009-04-15 12:14 am UTC (link)

Bella's hand moved up to her head as he explained what the problem was, and she rubbed her forehead as if that would fix things. "I..." She began, stopping and trying to compose her thoughts on the matter. She didn't think people could even read minds, but she couldn't exactly doubt the plausibility of his statement; not when everything about this place was so impossible. Finally she shrugged. "I'm sorry." She said again, apologizing to Saphira before her eyes moved back to Eragon. "I'm not doing anything to stop her... not to my knowledge." She rubbed idly at her temple, turning her eyes back to look at Saphira. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, feeling silly, but trying to start the telepathic conversation. "Um...hello." She thought, hoping she just needed to start the conversation. "I'm not really sure how this works." She added, wincing a little. She felt foolish trying to have a conversation with someone using only her mind, and so when she didn't hear anything in return she bit her lip, eyes falling to the ground in a distinctly guilty expression. "I'm not sure what's wrong." She admitted, "I've never had anyone try to read my mind before..." She looked back up, her head still ducked ever so slightly, "I wish I could be of more help." Another shrug followed and she seemed to be out of any sort of answers.

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saphiras_rider
2009-04-15 12:26 am UTC (link)

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing," Eragon confirmed, though he wasn't entirely sure about that. What was wrong with this place that Saphira couldn't touch on this girl's conscious? Is it just her? he asked the dragon silently.

Maybe? Saphira answered, and he could feel her taking in their surroundings. Couldn't get anything from that creature that handed you the book, either. But others... I can feel plenty of them. A quick dive into his own mind and Eragon realized she was right. They were surrounded by people of varying emotions and thoughts. But he couldn't pick anything up from this girl, either. "Don't worry about it," he told Bella, smiling a bit, though it was a little more hesitant now. "I can always relay important messages. Did you... Did I hear you mention no leaving?" Surely she was wrong about that. Maybe you just couldn't walk out. But why shouldn't Saphira be able to fly? And they'd rescue anyone who was trapped there and get back to the Varden before it was too late and Nasuada skinned him alive.

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_bella
2009-04-15 12:54 am UTC (link)

Bella was glad when he switched topics. It kept her from dwelling too long on whether or not something was wrong with her. If the pair really could read minds, then why couldn't they read hers? Was there something wrong with her? Did her brain get damaged when she was brought over to this strange place? She would dwell on those questions when she was alone in her room again. Until then she was glad of the distraction. "It's one of the rules." She explain. Among the many things she had learned that morning, this was one of them. "Once you're here you're stuck here until you're released." She explained, trying to keep from sounding too resigned. "You're not supposed to try to leave, but even if you do..." She trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought. "There's a Labyrinth," She pointed toward the large wall at the edge of the city, "I think something happens if you can find your way through it. There's food here though, and a faire... I think." She said, pointing in the direction she'd originally been heading. "Dorms are over there." She gestured behind her.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, biting her lip again as she watched the pair. They'd flown in, she'd seen them land, and so in all likelihood they could probably just try to fly back out. It made sense, and yet, nothing there seemed to make sense. "You shouldn't try to go anywhere." She said, not sure why she was warning him, concern filling her tone and features. "I don't know the rule that well, I'm new too," She explained, "But... so far...nothing here makes all that much sense...and...I don't think it's safe." She had a hard time articulating her thoughts properly. Aside from the initial shock, Eragon and Sephira seemed very nice. He seemed kind, and Saphira hadn't tried to eat her, which was good enough for Bella. She didn't want to see anything happen to the pair. She didn't have a solid reason for her warning, but she felt it was necessary none the less.

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saphiras_rider
2009-04-15 09:13 am UTC (link)

Rules? They'd gone and landed in a place with rules? Eragon shook his head, a sudden pit of worry devloping in his stomach. Surely she didn't mean it? But she sounded pretty unsure of everything else here, anyway. "That's...not good news," he commented, nervousness flickering over his features. "Saphira?"

I'm on it, the brilliant blue dragon replied, lifting off with a huge push of her legs and a burst of her wings. Eragon was grateful their magic still worked, as he had the feeling there were plenty of things that would be wrong in this strange and peculiar world. He watched for a moment, focused more on his close friend than the girl they'd just met. His mind was completely linked with hers, and he felt her dismay at hitting the edges of the city where they'd just come from and being repelled. Something was keeping her from breaking a barrier, some sort of field that trapped her inside. She flew back to them, politely landing a few feet away and walking over so as to not give Bella quite so much of a start.

"I've never seen anything like it," he murmured, looking in the direction Saphira had just come from. "Then again, there's been plenty of things in the last year that I haven't seen before." Shaking his head again, this time in disbelief, he turned back to Bella, his smile quite a bit more hesitant. "Saphira and I...well, we're used to things that aren't exactly safe. I just don't know...how."

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_bella
2009-04-15 10:05 am UTC (link)

Bella watched, completely fascinated this time, as Saphira lifted off and flew away. It was like something out of a movie only 10 times more beautiful, and absolutely real. The dragon was immense, but it moved quickly and gracefully, and it was an awe-inspiring sight. It even distracted her from the fact that her hair was now soaked through, and the cold rain occasionally hit with a slight stinging speed.

When Saphira returned, Bella watched the emotions play out on Eragon's face, and wondered if the two were talking again. She gave him a brighter smile this time when he turned his attention to her, trying to be more encouraging—reassuring at the very least. She knew how it felt, and she sympathized with the pair. "There's a lot about this place that doesn't make sense." She said again, her tone soft, expressing that she understood how he felt. "If it helps though, nothing has seemed outright dangerous." She pursed her lips then, holding back her next comment: it was more like they were being kidnapped with no ransom and no intentions of return. She wasn't sure there was an actual danger present. It was just that they were abducted. She wished now that she'd watched the x-files growing up. Maybe there would have been some helpful tips for her.

"If you want, I can show you where the dorms are?" She offered, trying to be helpful after her total lack of information. "Your room comes with clothes and some belongings...mine did anyway." She shrugged, pausing. Her heart went out to the pair who were now in the same awful position she had found herself in the day before. "I'm really sorry about all this." She said again. She didn't know why she was apologizing, she had nothing to do with what was going on, but it seemed like the right thing to say. She was sorry they were here and couldn't go home. She felt horrible for everyone who found themselves stuck. It was a terrible feeling.

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saphiras_rider
2009-04-15 02:16 pm UTC (link)

With an offer like that, how could he refuse? It would've just been rude, after all. And perhaps exploring these dorms would give him an idea of what, exactly, was going on. Mostly, how to get out. And he wanted to explore the little book a bit more. It reeked of magic, but nothing he himself knew how to work. He wished desperately Oromis was there, but that obviously wouldn't be happening.

"Thank you," he replied, giving a small bow as was courtesy. She didn't get the traditional gesture of the elves, but he did want to at least treat her with respect. After all, she'd been nothing but kind to the both of them, and Eragon had the feeling that would be necessary in this place. "I take it the number on the key is the number of the room?" He glanced up at Saphira, with concern. I doubt they acommodated for you, you know.

With a huff, she cocked her head as if annoyed. Probably not. They will before long, or they'll find that entire Labyrinth burnt to a crisp. "You can walk with us," Eragon added, shooting her a smile. "If, that is, Bella doesn't mind." He turned to their new companion with a grin. Already he could feel Saphira's annoyance at being put second, but he reassured her with an image of the two of them spending plenty of time together later.

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