Fantasy Howl's Flying Castle (Finished! ---Whoo! (*＾▽＾)／)

[Katsuya]

Serena could tell that her friends were worried about the oldest Pendragon sibling, Renee mostly. The girls never saw James or that much of Johnny, oddly enough. Echo normally would see him first, but he was busy with something that it confused the fawn but she respected his wishes. Renee only saw James once when she visited Seifer's body with his soul, but it was only a glance as he returned to his room before she could say anything to him.

The blonde didn't voice her opinion on the matter as she knew it was just her anger that's influencing her words. There's an established schedule she kept: wake up, eat breakfast, go to training, don't break another soldier's teeth in, break, wander around for an hour or so before going back to training, and then bed. Repeat the next day.

Or at least, that's what she wanted to do. Early that morning, Serena woke up, feeling very disturbed and anxious. She wants to play her violin badly, but she couldn't. No way. If she did, there's a huge chance that she'll put the whole ship on fire and she wants to avoid that at all costs. It's why she asked Lydia to hold onto it; to prevent her from ever using it while feeling this disturbed.

Oh how she wished she could play though...to just let the music take over her body as she followed it's flow...

To be free from her pain...

"Bloody trolls...maybe some tea would help?" Serena muttered, getting off from her bed and walked out of her room to go to the kitchen, not seeing someone turn around the corner and bumped into her. That's when she looked up from the floor, holding herself up by leaning against the wall. Her pink rope slipped off a bit from her shoulder.

"Sumimasen! Watashi wa....e-eh?..."

Oh no...she wasn't ready to face him yet-! Why is James out of his room!? Why isn't he sleeping, that bloody bookworm?!

Her blue eyes darkened as hurt and anger has shown clearly, no matter how apathetic her face looked. "...Morning..." She didn't notice how she started to twiddle with her shaking fingers.

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Hallways "​

James froze for a moment, clutching his spilled tea. "Morning." he said tentatively. Word of Serena burning a room as if a wildfire had rampaged inside, and about punching a soldier's teeth must have not escape his notice because he looked apprehensive.

There was an awkward silence.

"You . . . want to talk?" asked James solemnly.

Katsuya

OOC || Characters || Interest Check
​

 

[Katsuya]

Serena stared at him, keeping her guard up around him when they stayed quiet for a moment. As he asked that, she narrowed her eyes. What is he up to? She's pretty sure based on the guards' reaction around her that people heard of her wrath, so why?

After contemplating if she should hit him or not right now, the blonde jerked her head in a swift nod, not uttering a word. Her shaking fingers twiddled with each other as she waited for James, really wary of his actions.

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -​

" . . . I'll wait for you here until you get your violin? Or I can go with you and then we can talk in the training room . . . that got burned?" his tone and expression had changed from apprehensive to meekness.

His eyes showed that he recognized Serena was hurting and seemed to be very careful in proceeding so as not to hurt her some more.

Katsuya

 

[Roleplay Skittle]

-Master Warship, Atelier-
​

Lydia had primarily been spending her time in the atelier, only leaving before meals were set out for everyone to fetch a sandwich or two before returning to the room and her work. It was just easier to work and easier to just focus on work without running into anyone. She had managed to smooth things over with Serena but to her, the relationship still felt tenuous and that alone frustrated her.

When Sasha tapped at the door and she let her in, she greeted her joyfully, not just because she was James' summon, but because she really did think the little owl was cute and it was nice to have some companionship while she worked and that had been a little hard to come by of late. Even when she was at home, she did have companionship, granted Empress was a bit of a bully, snobby, and expected Lydia to work around her, she was still there for Lydia to exclaim at and Sasha was much smarter in any case.

Lydia had nodded to James' instruction and continued about her work, she'd glance to Sasha every now and then and even went and fished some decorative blue stones that she had noticed in the koi pond when she and James had visited there days prior, after she had noticed that Sasha liked the color blue.

Eventually she had finished the sketch for the spell circle that would remove the soul fragment from the Libris Mortem and rolled it up before giving it to Sasha to take to James. She always preferred to get his input as while she enjoyed making the spell circles, she really didn't use them regularly, well except for recently, and since James had used them for summons previously, she thought of him as more expert than her.

When the spell circle was finally finished, Lydia vacated the atelier, seeing Sasha off to James, and returned to her own quarters for some much needed rest. She'd need to be rested if she were to help James conquer the most difficult portion of their returning souls to their bodies mission, getting Seifer back.

Zer0 Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

"..." Serena flinched away from James as though his words hurt and she looked away from him, her blonde hair veiling her face. "..I gave my violin to Lydia..." She mumbled quietly, swallowing down her urge to grab the instrument right now as her reason to being up this early is because not playing it for so long.

"...don't want to burn the ship..." was her reason, though she was hesitant to being honest.

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Hallways "​

'She gave it to Lydia? Are they friends?' thought James. He felt relieved, at least Lydia's friendship with Serena was alright.

"Can you talk without your violin, Serena? You can express yourself as much as you want, the ship won't burn." he tucked his bag of cake to his side and showed her his wand. "It's okay."

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Serena looked at James' wand, wondering what he meant by that...until her eyes widened and quickly looked up at the oldest Pendragon, her heart pounded hard.

"I...I'll go get my violin then..." The blonde really did want to play as much as she wanted. Her whole body started to shake as the idea of finally playing made her so excited and happy. "...see you at the training room...that's burnt." With that, she practically ran to Lydia's room. She silently peeked in and tip-toed to grab her beloved instrument, muttering to the sleeping Lydia, "It seems...that I might need this more now than ever...I'll bring it back though."

As she walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind her, and walked to where she promised to meet up with James. Serena looked apprehensive as if she wasn't too sure about the idea even when she already agreed to it.

"...J-James?" The blonde meekly whispered.

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Burned Training Room "​

"I'm here!" said James from a far corner in the training room. He had been carefully casting flamme garde all over the place. Making sure to add four more protective layers over everything, including himself, his cake and his tea.

He felt a bit more at ease when he saw that Serena didn't look as angry as before and sat down in front of her. "I'm ready when you are. Let's talk."

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Nodding, Serena tuned her violin a bit, checking if the strings needed to be tightened or not and took her stance. She was hesitant before taking a deep breathe and played a long beginning on a single string. It felt like the dam of her emotions flooded as she started to play on how she felt: the song sounded like relief for a moment, light and airy as she finally found her missing part of herself. Then it sounded down to being confused and pained as she remembered yesterday..

"Okay...I'm ready..." Serena muttered, closing her eyes as she let her music talk. "Why, James? I...I thought...you liked me..."

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Burned Training Room "​

James heart twinge with pain. Her music sounded so hurt. "I saw you hugging Seth alone in the bedroom back in Holt. I thought you liked him." he said, sounding a little annoyed. "When I thought he died, I let you go, because I didn't want to hate my brother. And because . . . I felt hurt seeing you and him together like that. I thought you were playing with me and I was so angry . . ."

He looked up at her. "You're my friend, when I thought you died I didn't want to hate you, because I know you care about me even though I thought you liked Seth. When your soul was returned, I thought I'll just let you and my brother be happy, I thought you didn't like me until yesterday."

"Hurting you wasn't my intention, Serena."

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Serena's eyebrows furrowed as she listened to James, recognizing the tones in his voice as her song sounded a bit sad and annoyed. "...I s-see...so that explains why you wouldn't look at me during your running time with Echo...Seth wanted to tell me that he was sorry about my violin after bringing back the ashes..."

She pondered as her tune stayed sad, but then when he mentioned yesterday and how she got hurt, that's when her music went loud and frantic. Her violin bow glowed as she started to play her fireflies song. "James, I've always like you, but when I saw you together with Lydia, I just-!"

The fireflies started to fly around the pair radically. "It hurt-! I see Seth as a little brother. I see you as you someone who I can hope to place my trust in just like I hope to be the person you can trust in too!"

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Burned Training Room " ​

James didn't speak. For a long time he sat, very deep in thought. Finally, he looked up at Serena steadily as the flames seared his arcane shields. "I like someone else."

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Serena's violin stopped, the fireflies disappeared as she stood there frozen. Her hair veiled her eyes but she smiled at him as she took a step back.

"...I see..." Her tone of voice was void, but as she looked at him, tears gathered at the corner of her eyes.

"Well...I hope you and Lydia stay happy them. Thank you...for letting me know."

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Burned Training Room " ​

James gritted his teeth. He didn't answer, just looked at Serena solemnly and was neither happy nor sad that she was sad. It was like he was firmly keeping his distance.

This was worse than seeing Serena angry. It was like she was broken. But he'd rather end it and hurt her now than string her along and hurt her worse in the long run when she sees that he still likes Lydia. It took all his self control not to betray how much he wanted to comfort her. He must not show it, because it'll only make her hope, and that hope will only hurt her. He didn't show any kindness, only solemn respect and a firm distance away from her heart.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Sniffing, the blonde wiped the tears away, taking a deep breathe as she tries to collect herself. The oldest Pendragon was able to brave out her anger and was respectable enough to let her calm down. She owes him to not start crying while he's still around. It's fair...

Sure, it hurt to hear it, but...he's honest and she appreciated it.

After a while, Serena thought for a moment and offers a hand towards James. The depressed smile she had before was gone and replaced by a tiny smile that she usually has for friends. "Here...Let me help you up." She understands and only wanted to show that respect back by behaving how she usually would with Renee and Echo and Lydia.

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Burned Training Room " ​

Surprised, amazed, and relieved at how well Serena was taking this, James took her hand and let her help him up. This was probably the first time they held hands.

He fought down the urge to squeeze her hand in comfort and just let his hand fall away. Her hands were calloused and felt strong. This woman will be okay.

"Do you want to be left alone?" asked James very gently, bending a little so that they were at eye level.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

When James asked her that, Serena tilted her head up as she raised an eyebrow before snorting in amusement. Then she did what Johnny and James does whenever they have a guy moment and punched James' arm. Hard. "I'm gonna be fine. I'm just glad that you told me the truth." The blonde replied, her smile widened as she placed her fists on her hips.

"You know...you and Renee have a lot in common. You guys care about your friends and are very honest." Serena commented then she remembered something and whacked James' arm with her violin bow. "That's for assuming that I was playing with you and your disappearing act today...yesterday...yea, whatever. You know what I mean-!"

"Renee was worried about you, she even thought it was her fault that you're avoiding her too. Did you know that?" Serena mentioned.

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Burned Training Room " ​

"Ow." chuckled James, rubbing his arm. Serena really does hit hard. "You're welcome --- ow!" he held a hand up to protect himself. "No, I didn't. My sister's like that. Sensitive. I should probably annoy her while she's sleeping." he chuckled again.

"Sorry for thinking you were playing with me." he muttered, "I sometimes get confused with how you act, like when you rubbed my lip with your thumb --- remember that time? I thought you liked me. Did you like me at that time or was that just a friend thing?"

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Serena giggled along with James. "Yea, you should pop right in tonight or tomorrow...Something has been bugging her ever since Chenglei appeared and I don't mean his silly and obnoxious compliments either." She commented, amused by the fact that he held his hand up. Like that's gonna save him from her bow. "You should go have a talk with her...I think she needs someone level-headed to keep her grounded."

Then she blinked a bit and her smile turned a little embarrassed. "Well...I was starting to. We only met officially after that night when I played my violin for you after all. Not gonna lie: you sort of reminded me of my mentor and it was just...automatic, I guess." Serena shrugged her shoulders.

"All I do know for sure is that I cared about you enough to do that. I don't do that for anybody, just with people who I'm comfortable with."

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Burned Training Room "​

"Ohhhh, so you do like your mentor." teased James. "You know, I think Callie eats clothes because we were talking about pole dancing before I summoned her. So, do you also play alluring music for people you're comfortable with?" joked James, attempting to mimic pole dancing a little, but ended up looking like a squiggly sea weed.

He did put up his hands again in case Serena walloped him.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Serena blushed red as she laughed at James' attempt at dancing. "James, if you ever want to learn how to pole dance, I don't mind referring you to my mentor. I'm sure he would love to teach you his 'sweet moves.'" The blonde teased back before quickly side-stepping him and whacked behind his leg with her bow instead.

"Nice try, but you need to train first." Serena commented, smiling in mirth. She's really happy that they are still friends. "You should really come to training, it'll be a good break from studying so much."

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- James Pendragon -
" Burned Training Room "​

"Ow --- yeah, I will --- training that is, not pole dancing. Your mentor scares me more than Chenglei does, though don't tell that flowery guy that, Serena." said James. He smiled at her in a content way, seeming happy that she's all good and just whacking him.

"I'll see what's up my sister and help you guys with Echo's party too later. I'm glad we had this talk." he nodded at her respectfully, sighing in relief. Then he punched her shoulder and pointed. "That's for hugging Seth alone in a bedroom. Made me so mad."

It was the same playful banter as Serena's. James half-sulked, half-smiled at her, before telling her, "Good night, Serena. Or good day? Anyway, see you around." and he lightly punched her shoulder again.

Katsuya

 

[Katsuya]

Serena laughed again when James admitted that before crossing her heart. "Promise I won't...though no promises on not laughing at you." She said, her tone telling James that she really will laugh if anything happens between the two very different men. "Awesome!...and yea, me too. I'm open ears if you ever need to talk like this again, including your mushy feelings." She teased before blinking when he punched her shoulder and grinned.

Yea...she's really happy that they're friends now.

She snorted again. "Not my fault that he hugged me first, James, but alright. I'll accept the punch." She teased lightly. Serena punched back, but not as hard this time. "You too...See you around."

Zer0

 

[Zer0]

- Eve of Echo's Birthday! -
" Master Warship "​

James appeared for breakfast that morning looking cheerful and well-rested, and ate with everybody. As usual he consumed a pound of sashimi, and ruffled his sister's hair playfully as he pretended to pass by, then chomped on the food she was about to eat when she looked the other way and smirked at her.

Johnny wasn't around, though Echo would wake up to find a pink rose in a vase, a cup of hot tea, and a note that said,

"Dearest, Echo Mello

By the time you read this I will be gone. The well of eternity hath appeared to me in a dream bidding me to journey to the west for the nightmare king, Surt, hath resurfaced from the depths of Helheim and I have no choice but to obey it. I thought of waking you, but as I watched you sleep, I was struck with a revelation: you do not have a blanket.

Any moment longer in your presence and I would have forgone my quest to be your blanket, and so I left you to your slumber. But fret not, for I shall be back before dinner time.

P.S. If I do not return from my quest, I have left instructions with Mica. Take heed of the ferret's words. I also packed some bananas, a vegie burger, and a fresh cold drink in a bento box near the door for your training today. Remember to stretch properly and take a hot bath after training so that your muscles won't be so sore ~Mwa! I hope you have a brilliant day, my Echo Mello, as I hope to be victorious in my quest.

From the guy who's in love with you
XOXO"​

Beneath those words was a very poorly drawn drawing of a sheep man in warlock armor riding a majestic cloud with legs --- oh, no, that's a ram. Yes, it was definitely Butters.

Katsuya

****​

Before lunch time, James sent Sasha back to Lydia saying the spell was all good and that he'll be coming over after he had called the others so that they can finally begin setting up the magic circle and get the malicious soul out of the book.

He asked Renee, Serena, Echo, and Seth to come. They don't know what's going to happen once the malicious soul is out, so just in case something went wrong, they had people to back them up.

Roleplay Skittle