Alice in Underland~A Semi-Advanced Role-play discussion

The masked city is one of the most festive city’s in Underland, there is a party every night full of lively music and dancing, every Netherling wears a mask covering there inter face, most masks are artfully painted to look beautiful and happy but behind those masks are horrifying creatures, the masks are also worn so that they don’t know if the other netherlings serve the white or red Queen. Most Netherling come to the city because they are trying to escape something. This town is also one of the most populated city’s in Underland.

Evli leans against the wall of one of the buildings, the shadows swamping her, and protecting her from the eyes of others. Her face is concealed by a black and white mask that covers only the top half of her face. It's beautiful, with intricate designs on it in a dark grey. The color is split vertically down the center, with black on the right side, and white on the left. She's also wearing a dark cloak, the hood up. Twirling a silver pocket watch, she studies the crowd, noting various strengths and weaknesses of every person her lilac eyes land on.

Mirana slipped into the crowd, wearing a pure white cloak embroidered with gold designs, and a gold mask covered with white roses. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and ducked her head, weaving through the groups of Netherlings.

She'd slipped through the gates at the White Castle and fled to the Masked City to escape from her life, if only for a little while. She knew she'd have to go back eventually. But sometimes, Mirana felt like she was suffocating under the pressure of being the White Queen.

Evli spots the female in the white cloak. It seemed as if she were trying to stay hidden, but if she had really wanted that, she probably shouldn't been wearing a bright white cloak and mask. Her clothing nearly glows in the sea of greys, blacks, and browns. Deciding to follow, Ev moves quickly behind the female, sticking to the dark patches of the dimly lit streets.

ZoeKate [We're just two ghosts] wrote: "Mirana slipped into the crowd, wearing a pure white cloak embroidered with gold designs, and a gold mask covered with white roses. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and ducked her head..."

(yassss that’s totally her! XD)

REDQUEEN {SEEKER OF LOVE} wrote: "(yassss that's totally her! XD)"

(Oh yayayyay thank you :D)

Looking around at the crowd, Miran noticed that everyone else was wearing dark colors. The cursed under her breath and started walking faster, annoyed with her own stupidity. How could I have been so stupid? she wondered, pulling her hood up higher.

She glanced around warily, her light blue eyes scanning the crowd. The hair on the back of her neck stood straight up, and Mirana just barely avoided looking behind her, getting the feeling that someone was trailing her. With a half-second pause, Mirana sent an illusion of her walking in the other direction and quickly ducked down a dark alley while her illusion continued making its way through the crowd.

Shifting into a black, long haired cat, Evli follows the illusion, unaware that the real thing was moving in the other direction. Her rosy-bronze eyes scan the crowd, pupils dilating to take in as much light as possible. She moves silently through the streets, unnoticed, attempting to make sure that the female in the white cloak is safe. She looks as if she would have a lot of money, and Ev wouldn't put it past some netherlings that like to hang around this area to try to steal from her.

((I have to go, sorry. I'll try to hop back online at sometime today, but might not be able to.))

(You're fine, if you can't get back on today don't worry about it :) )

Mirana leaned against the wall of the alley, watching her illusion walk away and wondering if the person who'd been following her was now trailing her illusion. Hoping she had enough strength and energy to maintain her illusion from a long distance, Mirana watched her illusion dissapear around the corner, then relaxed, pulling down her hood. She started to take off her mask, then hesistated, deciding to leave it on so no one would reconize her, however uncomfortable it might be.

(can i join?)

(I'm fine with it, but you might want to ask JazzKatt when she comes back online just in case)

(ok)

(I'm alright with it. I haven't gotten the chance to look at your character yet, but it's an Eevee who was unable to evolve, correct?)

Evli paused when she realized that the false image was wavering a bit, fading in and out of focus. Her eyes narrow, flashing a dark golden brown, and she spins, attempting to relocate the real person. The Masked City can be dangerous, and the female is obviously unprepared to deal with any netherlings who might attempt to give her trouble.
Ev catches the flowery scent of the female, nose twitching. She allows herself a small chuckle, and shifts back to her humanoid shape. The small gems embedded in her skin under her eyes are a bright golden-yellow, signaling her amusement. She smells like a royal. The unidentified female definitely stands out in this drunk, party city, and her smell stands out just as well, leading Evli back around the corner in the opposite direction. She's wearing the same outfit as before. The clothing seems to disappear into her fur when she shifts, and then remains on her person when she returns to her humanoid shape.

Mirana swore softly as her hold on the illusion slipped and it vanished all together, knowing it had disspapeared even though it was out of view. Shifting from foot to foot with indecision, Mirana took off her cloak and kicked it away, wincing and already planning an apology to her seamstress.

The dress she was wearing underneath was a darker color, but it stood out in its quality, perfect in every way, while the dresses of the people in the city were not as clean and nice. Mirana was about to venture into the crowd again, then realized her gold mask would stand out like a full moon on a starless night. She turned away from the crowd and pulled off her mask, throwing it into the alley's dark corners. By chance, a dented, silver mask was lying in the dirt, and Mirana put it on, gagging at the smell of old, stale beer.

With no other option, Mirana adjusted the mask and joined with the crowd, keeping her head low, regreting her decision to come to the Masked City and hoping to get back to the castle in one piece.

Following the female, Evli makes the decision to step out into the open, and approach her. "Come with me." She snarls in a deep voice, pretending to be some drunk guy. It was safer for the both of them if everyone around them thought they were just doing business the only way most netherlings know how to. Through force. No one here would bat an eye at a female being kidnapped off the streets, but they sure would if Ev asked nicely if the pretty lady would go with her.

She turns the female around, just slightly, enough that she could see her face. Then she lifted her black and white mask just enough that she could see the warning look Evli was giving her. Ev wrenches both of the female's arms behind her back, muttering apologies as she does so, barely audible.

Ev pulls her through the streets in the same direction as the female had seemed to be going, then turns into an alleyway off to the right. It's dark, the shadows making them almost invisible. She then pulls the female behind a crate, and into a small room. She pushes the crate back into place, then releases the female, turning to lean against the wall, arms crossed, as she studies her.

Lifting a hand, Evli pulls her mask from her face, revealing the pale, scarred skin beneath, and drops her cloak to the ground, kicking it off to the side as the female in front of her had done with her brightly colored, high quality cloak. This reveals her dress, black in color, with all sorts of straps, buckles, and zippers. She raises an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation, but unwilling to speak.

((Sorry, that was a bit weird, but the way this was going, they would never really interact more than a scare in the streets. xD))

((No you're fine XD))

Mirana let out a small, very undignified squeak of fear at the sound of a rough snarl. Turning on her heel, she tried to slip into the crowd, hoping to lose whoever was following her among the people.

But before she could take a step, the person talking to her lowered their mask, showing the warning expression underneath. Frozen for a moment in confusion, Mirana let herself be dragged away for a few seconds before coming to her senses. She struggled in the other peson's grip as the went through the streets and down an alleyway.

In seconds, they were in a small room, hidden from the rest of the square. Putting as much distance between her and the other person, though there wasn't much, Mirana shoved herself against the opposite wall, blue eyes wary and possibly a bit scared.

She watched as the other person pulled the mask off their face, showing pale skin covered in scars. Now realizing it was a woman, Mirana's shoulders relaxed a fraction of an inch before straighting again. The woman had taken of her cloak as well, revealing a black dress in a similar style to most other dresses in Underland. Mirana looked the other woman up and down, then pulled off her own mask and put on her most regal expression. Mentaly scolding herself for pulling the 'I'm the queen' card, Mirana spoke. "That's no way to treat your queen, now is it?"

Evli's eyebrow inches higher, and her pupils narrow, making her eyes temporarily appear catlike. She cracks a smile, then a rasping, low chuckle escapes from her. She shakes her head in disbelief. "Actually, that's exactly the way to treat a queen in this city, sweetheart." She frowns, serious again.

"The fact of the matter is that I saw at least eight netherlings approach you while I was tailing you. There could have been more. They were planning to steal from you." A grin forms on her scarred face, but she clearly feels no amusement. "At least, until they got a knife mysteriously lodged in their shoulders." She shrugs. "If I hadn't brought you here, there's a good chance that one might have eventually gotten past me."

She studies the female royal in her current home, and tilts her head, her eyes going feline again. She's curious as to what would bring her to the Masked City, but also fully aware that the stuck up female wouldn't tell her.

"I sure hope that you were at least on your way back to your pretty little castle. That's what a smart person would have done." She looks the queen up and down, obviously in the opinion that if the female was that smart, she wouldn't have been in the City in the first place.

Mirana raised her eyebrows at Evli's laughter. Yes, she'd expected the more raggedy part of Underland to be like this, but she hadn't expected its inhabitants to be this disrespectful. Then she noticed the black curling marks under her eyes. Not allied with me, not allied with Iracebeth either, she thought.

Reaching down into her boot, Mirana pulled out a dagger. "I can take care of my self, thank you very much. I would have been fine." The dagger, which was mostly for show, had an ornate silver hilt, and the blade was made of metal so shiny it looked like glass. Mirana shoved the dagger back into her boot, trying not to wince as it nicked her ankle.

"The castle is the last place I want to be. And it may be pretty, but it's a gilded cage." Mirana said, crossing her arms. She knew that, despite being the queen, her advisors would be angry with her for sneaking out. "And I actually was going back."

Ev rolls her eyes. "Sure you can." She says, her tone as if she were talking to a child. "And that's why I was able to drag you here." She pulls out a dagger from a sheathe at her forearm. It's similar in size and style to the queen's, but much simpler.

Keeping her eyes locked on the queen's, she tosses the dagger at the crate in front of the doorway, hitting it close to dead center. "This is what a lot of netherlings here can do, if they wanted to." She pulls another, and chucks it at the crate again, this time hitting it directly in the center. "This is what some can do, most of the time." She pulls a third, and tosses it, sticking it directly in the hilt of the second. "And this is what a few can do. Trust me, princess, if anyone's in this city of masked parties, it's for a reason, and we're dangerous."

Finished with her display, Ev turns towards the door, removes her knives, and shoves the crate. She turns to look back at the royal, eyes narrowed. "You can stay here for as long as you'd like. In the crate is a spare mask and cloak, some that are less conspicuous than your own. When you leave, roll in the dirt, or something. You reek like a royal."

With a dark scowl, she exits, and moves to wait off to the side, intending to follow the brat home anyways, just to be safe. She pulls on her cloak, and places her mask over her face. She had grabbed it on the way out.

((Feel free to take Evli down a notch. xD She's a bit... biased, as far as her views on the royals go. I have to go, but I'll try to hop on again later.))

(Ok that's fine, talk to you later :) )

Mirana bit her tongue, trying to keep her anger in check. But the way the other woman spoke to her was as if she was talking to a child, and Mirana was anything but a little girl. She watched in silence as Evli threw her knives, one after the other, at the crate. She didn't say word, not giving away that she really was impressed by the woman's skills.

After Evil stalked out of the small room, Mirana went over to the crate and looked through the contents, finding a silver mask much like the one she'd found in the street, but in better condition. A ragged cloak, full of holes, was folded at the bottom, and Mirana put it around her shoulders, pulling up the hood before leaving. She put the crate back to hide the entrance, then looked toward the square, still full of people.

She was just about to walk away when she felt eyes on her yet again. Reaching out, she grabbed Evli and pushed her into the opposite wall, pressing a knife- only an illusion, but very realistic all the same - to her throat. "I can do this myself. Go run back to the hole you came from." Mirana hissed, then realsed her, turned away, and vanished into the crowd.

"Oh, girly." Evli laughs, and crosses her arms. "You messed with the wrong person tonight." Pupils dilating, Ev launches herself forward, staying hidden until the moment she's within reach of the royal pain. Then she throws four knives, in rapid fire succession, and lands the very real blades a hair's width from the brat's delicate skin.

The blades pierce the female's clothing, one at each shoulder, and one at each ankle, holding her captive against the side of one of the abandoned buildings. The knives are impaled so deep in the wall that they would have to be cut out in order for them to be removed.

Then, with a wink and a smirk, Evli sinks back into the shadows. Her message clearly delivered, she spins on her heel to head back home.

Letting out a quiet yelp of shock, Mirana winced as she was shoved into the side of an abandoned building, flinching at every thud of the knife as it pierced the wall, only milimeters from her skin.

She tugged at her clothes, trying to get free, but the blades were lodged deep into the wall, and no amount of pulling would get them free. Mirana reached down towards her boot to get her dagger, but her fingers only brushed the top. Instead, she broke a piece of glass off of the frame of a broken window and started to saw at the fabric around the knife above her left shoulder.

Mirana's vision turned red with anger as Evli walked away. Forgeting she had glass in her hands, she balled her fingers into fists, only to feel warm blood trickle over her palm. She cursed so loud they probably heard it up at the White Castle, then continued cutting at her clothing

Ev stands off to the side, in the shadows and watches the pretty little queen struggle with the pretty little blades. A smirk spreads across the portion of her face that isn't hidden by the mask. "Careful, sweetheart." She calls mockingly. "Don't injure yourself."

She snickers at the enraged expression that flashes across the female's face, and moves slightly forwards, just enough that the dim light exposes the side of her face. The white side of the mask gleams in the faint, flickering light from the streetlamps, the black side blending in perfectly with the shadows. She cracks a grin, showing a tiny fang.

"I'll cut you out, princess, but you'll have to ask really nicely." She offers, cloak sweeping around her nearly invisible form. "You use words with edges, and I figured it might be nice to turn the tables." She tilts her head, the expression of mirth frozen on her features, her eyes dead.

((Do I smell a rivalry? :P))

((Yes ohmygosh yessssss :DDDDD)

The only person I'll be injuring tonight is you, Mirana thought angrily, continuing to cut at the fabric. The last few threads snapped and the fabric fell to the ground, but the dagger remained, stabbed deep into the wall.

Mirana cast a disgusted glance at Evli as the woman stepped forward, showing only the side of her face in the dim, fading light. It was clear she was enjoying Mirana's struggle. The queen started cutting at the fabric pinned by the knife above her right shoulder, ignoring the blood that dripped onto her dress and onto the pavement.

Mirana tried to hold her tongue, but couldn't. "I don't accept help from low-lifes like you." She spat, regretting the words almost as soon as they came out of her mouth.

((Oh, no, I have to go again. ;.;))

(( ;-; That's ok))

Evli's eyes narrow. She opens her mouth to speak, then closes it, fire in her eyes. When she opens it again, words like fire come out in a hiss. "Low-lifes?" She demands, stalking forwards. "I'm sorry, some of us didn't grow up in a 'gilded cage'. Some of us were beaten, and starved, and told that we were little more than animals. I guess some of that stuck, now didn't it?"

Her voice is low, deadly. The scars around her throat cause her voice to rasp, her rosy-bronze eyes flash. "I suppose since I'm a low-life, a worthless creature, I should start acting like it. A low-life would leave you here, to be mobbed by the people who are waiting, just out of sight. Or I could rob you myself, then leave you for dead in the streets."

She moves smoothly forward, stopping an inch away from the queen's face. She pulls a knife from a sheathe on her hip, and studies it. "I know ways to hurt people you would never even dream of, princess." She whispers. "Want to know why? Because they were used on me, and I had to work to be better than the people hurting me. That way they could never hurt me, or anyone else, again."

Ev smiles softly, but there's no humor in her expression, in her cold, lifeless eyes. "And do you know what I discovered when I finally found my way back home?" She whispers, her voice a light rasp. "My father had searched for me until he died, and no one was willing to help him, especially not the royals in their fancy clothes, and their pretty little 'cage'."

She spits on the ground, then cuts the female free with her dagger. She looks at her, shadows dancing in her eyes, and says, "You aren't worth my time, or the loss of my knives."

Even though the royal in front of her probably hadn't been alive when Evli was lost, the whole experience had soured Ev's opinion of the royals, and the little brat wasn't helping matters.

((Rawr?))

((Sorry sorry sorry I was going to respond on Sunday but then I ran out of time and wasn't on at all yesterday))

"And you think I wasn't beaten?" Mirana hissed, glaring daggers at Evli while trying not to relive her painful memories at the same time. "My mother was cruel and did everything she could to make my life miserable. The life of a princess isn't all silk and parties. There are power-hungry monsters and people hiding who they really are behind masks of kindness. I learned that the hard way."

"I don't have anything worth stealing. And I'm not helpless." Mirana snapped. "Keep in mind that if you do anything to me, I can have you hunted down and thrown in my dungeons." Mirana said, her ice blue eyes flashing with anger

A low, rough chuckle escaped her, and her shoulders shook with surpressed laughter. "Oh, I've hurt plenty of people, believe me. I've done things you couldn't imagine. I-" She trailed off as if realizing what she'd been about to say. "My point is, I'm not as innocent as you make me out to be."

Her expressioned softened for half a second when Evli mentioned her father searching for her, then turned into a cold, hard mask again. "Be grateful you had a father who cared." She said, her eyes betraying the pain she felt over thinking about her childhood, where her sister had always been their father's favorite.

Mirana instantly moved a step away from Evli when she was cut loose, then droppped the shard of glass to the pavement, examining her sliced palm, which was dripping blood. She wrapped her cloak around it, ignoring the stinging pain.

As far as Mirana could tell, Evli hated royals, and the queen was not about to try to sway her opinion. Honestly, sometimes she hated the royals, including herself. A glimmer of self-disgust showed in her eyes as she stared down at her cut hand, where blood was already starting to show through the cloth.

((It's totally fine. :P Happens to the best of us.))

Evli rolled her eyes. With a sigh, she began to cut her knives from the wall, using one of the other ones she had to chip away the wood and drywall. She tugged the last one free, then took the scraps of clothing that had been separated from the royal's outfit, and forcefully grabbed the queen's bleeding hand.

Holding her still, Ev wrapped the bits of cloth around her hand, tying them tightly around the wound, so that they would put pressure on it. That's what would cause the bleeding to stop, and the cut to begin to heal. Glaring heatedly at the queen, she made eye contact, and tugged the knot just the slightest bit tighter, just enough to hurt a bit. A gleam in her eye, she slowly released the queen's hand.

"Next time you go around poking sleeping dragons, stop and realize exactly what monsters you're awakening that would be better off dead." She warned. "Try to avoid people like me, and places like this. It can be dangerous to prod at strangers. Especially netherling strangers. If you want to fight with someone, be a good girl and find a human."

She looked her up and down with a look of disgust. "And maybe next time a little rat crosses my path, I'll just let the cats have it. Live and learn, I guess." She turned away with a snarl, heading in the direction of the palace. When the queen didn't follow, she looked over her shoulder, disdain evident.

"Well, are you coming?" She asked. "I'll walk with you the rest of the way, and no one will even bother with you." She grins wryly. "I'm like walking street rat repellent."

((Hello?))

((SORRY sorry sorry I meant to respond but then the holidays happened and I didn't get a chance ;-;))

Mirana watched as Evli cut the knives from the wall, her gaze following the small, tattered pieces of clothing as they fell to the ground, and wondering why Evli was taking the bigger pieces of cloth. She let out an involuntary yelp as Evli grabbed her hand, thinking the netherling was going to pin her to the wall with knives again, or drag her away.

"What do you think you're-" Mirana started, then paused as Evli started to wrap pieces of cloth around her cut hand, which was still dripping blood onto the ground. Mirana met Evli's eye, though without a glare, wincing a little when Evli tied the last knot. Once Evli had let go of Mirana's hand, she pulled it back and examined the pieces of cloth covering the cut. That cannot be sanitary, she thought, noting how the cloth was covered in dirt. ​

Lesson learned, Mirana thought with a small roll of her eyes. When she had first had the idea to come to the Masked City, she had only wanted to escape from the castle for a little, and hadn't thought about potentially dangerous netherlings. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion when Evli told her that if she wanted to fight she should find a human.

Mirana turned her expression into a cold mask of indiference, ignoring whatever else Evli said. She started off in the direction of the castle at a clipped pace, hoping —but not daring to ask— if Evli was going to walk with her the rest of the way back to the castle. She walked out of the alleyway and started through the crowd of masked netherling, not looking back.

((It's fine. :P We already talked about this. No need to apologize.))

Evli growled in frustration at the queen's habit of blocking out her advice. "Damned annoying royals." She muttered to herself, shaking her head. "Why do I have to feel sorry for her? I wouldn't be in this stupid situation if I could just ignore things like this as everyone else does."

This conversation with herself was too quiet for the queen to hear anything except muttering. Still, Evli decided to shut up and keep walking, dragging her thoughts back into a dark corner of her mind and trapping them there so they wouldn't escape through her mouth. She glared at a young pickpocket that seemed to be eyeing them, and the pipsqueak paled, and disappeared into the crowd.

Lovely. Soon, word was going to get around that she was becoming soft, and associating with a royal. That was going to bring trouble for sure. Ah, well. Evli thought to herself, I'll deal with it. Like everything else. She shook her head, turning her nearly poisonous glare on the person who had caused her so much inconvenience.

"When we reach the gates, you're going to get inside fast, and then we will never speak to each other again, you understand me?" Evli growled. "You'll stay in your pretty little cage, and not bother me with your presence."

((Hello?))

When the girl was safely inside her 'gilded cage', Evli washed her hands of the matter, disappearing into the shadows before anyone saw her. Keeping her head down, she made her way home, taking down anyone who thought they could try to make a claim for her territory.
She broke three arms, a nose, and a leg before anyone looking to expand their territory finally got the memo. With that dealt with, she swiped a new mask and cloak, and made her way to the entrance of her home. She shoved the mask and cloak into the crate in front of the door, and sat in the corner of her home.