forum || A Fatal Mistake | private rp with gracehustle | stalkers might be concerned ||

Started March 11, 2021 by @PrettyLittlePyro

tune

@gracehustle, here's another roleplay to drown your notifications!

Four years before…

There wasn't a nice way to say this. But even if there was, Lilliana Carroway probably wouldn't have said it. She wasn't known for being the nicest… or the most subtle.

Which could be a problem, as a Carroway.

"Your face looks like a pig's butt, slathered in Grae's hair grease. You smell bad, you're too short and fat, you can't do anything cool, and you're not talented at all. You can't even hold a sword! And you call yourself a nobleman." She put her hands on her hips, staring directly at the man in front of her. "And you're at least twice my age. I don't want to marry an old, unintelligent, girly pig-butt."

Okay, so maybe that wasn't the smoothest way to put it, but the thirteen-year-old girl was tired. She had stayed up the night before, coloring her older brother Kahn's hair purple while he slept, and shifting everything in his room three feet to the left, so that when he woke up, he would be majorly confused. She hadn't slept more than three hours, and this guy, standing in front of her, was barring her way, stopping her from returning to her house to see his reaction.

The man, Lord Maverick Limar, looked like he had been slapped. It was quite unfortunate that he had chosen to try and woo the Carroway Devil. "But my lady-"

Lilliana simply pushed him aside. "Move over, asshole. I'm late." She started to walk, skirt fluttering around her ankles. Lord Limar tried to follow her, hand outstretched to grab her. His fingers touched her arm, and then suddenly he had been flung against the wall. Not hard enough to break anything, mind you, but hard enough to hurt.

She turned to him with a look of complete and utter disgust on her face. "Don't touch me," she said. Her eyes were black as midnight, and despite himself, the lord shivered.

She flounced away, but didn't get far, turning a corner in the palace halls and running smack into a familiar face, tumbling to the floor.

Ollie had never been one to get up early, which explained the exhaustion in the boy as he walked through the palace halls. His hair stuck up in weird ways, his clothes were wrinkled, and there were dark circles under his eyes, all signs of his lack of sleep the night before. And yet, he still was up, shuffling through the halls, books as thick as his arms stacked precariously in his hands.

He knew it was very likely he was going to inevitably meet someone in the halls, as everyone else was already up and moving at this time of the morning. Still, he hoped he would be spared the embarrassment of talking on his path to the library to return his books.

A slight frown crossed his face at the idea of talking to people, and it stayed as he rounded a corner on autopilot and smacked into one of his closest friends.

The impact was enough to throw his mind into the present, but it wasn't enough to keep him from dropping his books as he stumbled backward, falling on his butt moments later.

He blinked in surprise as the situation unfolded, realizing now that his books were scattered everywhere. "I'm sorry," Ollie quickly said, recognizing Lilliana as his brain finally snapped into motion.

Lilliana rolled to her feet, a fiery glare on her face, ready to give a scolding to whoever was standing in her path, when she realized who it was. Her face instantly broke into a grin, like a sun coming out from behind clouds, and gave a deep curtsy that was mostly play.

"Hey, Ollie," she said, holding out her hand to help him stand. "I mean, Prince Oliver. Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going." She sent a nasty look behind her.

She started to help him gather up his books. "How do you even read all these?" She asked in amazement, looking at the title of a thick one, with small print. "I would go insane if I ever tried to sit down and let my eyes melt off."

Ollie was frozen, a relieved smile washing over his face as he looked up at Lilliana. He took her hand without question, standing as he spoke. "It's alright, I wasn't looking either." He quickly laughed at her next words, feeling the blanket of sleep disappear as he spoke to his closest friend.

It was an instant mood lift, and he shrugged, picking up a few of the other books. "I don't see how you don't read all of them. Reading passes the time better than talking to royals does."

The books were all various sizes, some were old, and some were small, but all were thick as bricks, and probably as heavy as bricks as well.

"Should I ask who you're running from though? It's not every day I run into you being followed instead of chasing someone around."

"Yes, but talking with nobles is fun, because you can subtly leak gossip about them, just to see their little faces pale." Lilliana was a Carroway, and so therefore she could say what she wanted without getting in trouble… in front of all nobles except for the royals, of course.

She tossed her head, the books in her arms heavy as she started to walk with him to the library, where she assumed he would get even more of these dull things. Her hair had fallen from its hairstyle long ago, falling loose over her shoulders, and she didn't care at all. "Oh, one of the many creepy old men who want to be my suitor," she said, voice thick with disdain. "I'm thirteen. That's not a good age for marriage. Besides," she sniffed, "my brothers will marry for me. I'm gonna stay at home and become a crabby old lady who bothers everyone and gets away with it."

There was no doubt that the youngest Carroway was entitled. She may not have thought that the world revolved around her, but she certainly expected the attention and admiration she so often got, from her beauty and talent and family and wealth. Sometimes her personality, too, because there were several creeps who wanted to try and tame the Carroway Devil.

Ollie frowned and shook his head, unsurprised that Lilliana was running from a suitor. "Thirteen is pretty young," He replied, "But you realize that you can't run from them forever Lilly…" He trailed off, a tiny smile on his face, "Though if you decide to become a crabby old lady, I'll become your neighbor and we can be crabby together."

His arms were stacked with books as well as they walked to the library. He was sure he could've walked the path blindfolded if it came to it, he was so familiar with the turns of his home. But for the safety of everyone, he kept his eyes open. The last thing they needed was him running into someone because he decided to walk around with his eyes closed.

After a moment of silence, Ollie spoke again, shrugging despite the books in his arms, "You could always talk to your father about younger suitors, or ask him to let you off for another few years." A teasing grin pulled onto his face, accompanied by a look very suited for a young teenage boy like himself, "Then you could marry me, and become Princess Lillian." His words were ever sarcastic, marriage was the last thing on his mind after all. With his older sister in line for the throne, there was no need for him to even think about spending his life with anything or anyone other than his books.

"Oh yes," Lilliana responded, her voice equally sarcastic. "I could become a part of the royal family. Just what every young lady wants. A prince in shining armor to come and sweep them off their feet." She looked the prince up and down, a sparkle in her eyes. "But could you even stand to wear armor?" Her voice was light, teasing, and she was grinning. A grin only people close to her could get.

She rolled her shoulders, the loose sleeves of her white gown rippling at the movement. She remembered the happy twinge that Ollie's words had caused her, only moments before. The fact that he considered her as close of a friend as as he did made her feel proud and happy… not that she'd ever admit it.

He made a face at her words, rolling his eyes and puffing his chest out dramatically, "I'll have you know, I could stand to wear armor…I just…don't want to." Ollie nodded to the books in his arms, "I clearly have the muscle to sweep you off your feet at least. A suit of armor can' be that much more weight added for me to carry."

It took less than a second for his grin to come back to his face as he turned to look at her, "Enough trips to the library with books, and I'll work up the muscle to carry you under one arm and more books under the other."

Ollie led the way around the last corner before the large vaulting doors to the library came into view, ornately carved doors inlaid with the royal family's seal and lines of gold. The doors were closed at the moment, and a guard relaxed against the wall next to them, his head dipped down, indicating that the young man was probably fast asleep.

"Oh, yes, I can't wait for that to happen. My prince will come and save me from irritating parties, sweep me off my feet, and read a book while he's running away with me." She sighed dreamily. "Just what every girl wants." She laughed and nudged him in the side with her elbow, where she knew a particularly tender spot was.

They arrived at the library, with the guard sound asleep. Immediately, Lilliana's mischievous mind started to dart through all the things that she could do to this man, to make him confused, so that she could have a good laugh. She sent her best friend a sidelong glance. Would it make him laugh if she tripped the guy, or pretended to seduce him? Probably not, but…

"Your guards as so lax," she mumbled to him.

"I figured, it makes all the girls swoon," He replied with a grin, "Especially if I read the book to you while we make our getaway." Ollie chuckled before he got an elbow to his side, jumping at the tender feeling before he quickly bumped her hip with his, just to get her back.

The guard didn't even move as the two neared him, not even when Ollie rolled his eyes and shrugged, "He's guarding the library, I don't expect him to stay awake. Plus, it's early still, and if you haven't figured out the guard's rotations yet, it's almost the end of his shift."

Just from the new look in Lillian's eyes, he could tell she was wishing she could prank the poor guard, it was a look he saw often when she was causing trouble after all.

Leaning in as they passed him, he whispered in her ear, "A dozen fresh cookies if you can take off his hat without waking him up."

"Oh yeah. All the ladies love nerds who don't pay them any attention." The Carroway girl flinched at the touch, squeaking slightly at the ticklish sensation.

Her eyes sparkled at his words, and a smile that very people got to see came out; a smile of mischief and pure, animalistic joy and excitement. "Deal." He really knew her too well. How unfortunate.

She sauntered toward the guard, dress swishing around her ankles at every step. Her footsteps were absolutely silent, slippers and carpet muffling the sound with ease. She stepped straight up to the poor man, slipping a dagger from one of the sheathes on his thigh, and, holding the blade by the tip of her fingers, reached up, knocked the hat gently off his head, and then placed the knife back in the sheath. She also stole his boots and medals pinned to his jacket, and walked back to Ollie.

"Here," she said, stifling a giggle, handing him the boots. "Put these on." She herself put the hat on, and pinned the medals to her dress, in a circle around the waist, so it was like a belt.

Ollie smiled in return, purely because of the smile on his best friend's face. He watched as she started making trouble, leaning against the door of the library to watch.

"I shouldn't praise you for tormenting the poor guards, but that was impressive," He spoke, barely containing a grin when she gave him the boots. They were several sizes too big, but he put them on anyway, lacing them and tying them tightly to keep them from falling off, "Now lets get going, before he wakes up and we get in trouble for taking his things."

"I know. I am pretty impressive, aren't I?" Lilliana tossed her head, and held out her hand to Ollie, as if she were the gentleman in this case. "We should indeed. Come, let's go drop off your burden before you get a guilty conscience and tell the poor man all about what I did."

She flounced into the library, the Prince close behind. When they got in and shut the door, she grinned so widely she felt as though her face would split. She loved causing mayhem.

And then she remembered why she had come to the palace in the first place, and her smile fell. "Oh yeah. I need to tell you something."

Ollie rolled his eyes when she held out her hand, but he took it anyway, balancing his books in his other hand as he followed her into the library. "If I told him, I'd blame it all on you," He teased, matching her grin when the door was closed, leaving them in relative privacy. Being early in the morning, the usual book worms weren't yet in the library, and he was almost happy about it.

He walked off to one of the closest shelves after a moment, knowing Lilliana would follow him. "You always have something to tell me, Lill," Ollie replied, picking up the top book on his stack and going through the titles until he found it's proper place, putting it away before he turned to look at her, "Did you put frogs in your brothers bed? Or replace all of the clothes in his closet with dresses?" All kinds of mischievous ideas flowed through his head. That was, until he saw that she wasn't smiling. And almost instantly, his own smile dropped. "What do you need to tell me?"

For a brief moment, a smile flashed on the Carroway girl's face, so bright that it was almost blinding. It was her mischief smile, her devil smile, and only her older brother Masin and her best friend, the very young man in front of her, ever saw it. "I did move all of the furniture in Kahn's room a foot to the left, so that he gets really confused, but that's not the thing."

She took a deep breath, clasping her hands behind her back in a way that she only did when she was nervous. "I- my dad wants to send me away." Her words came out in a tumble, so that if he hadn't known her, the Prince would have had no idea what Lilli was saying.

Ollie felt Lilli's mischievous smile when she boasted about her newest prank, and he in turn smiled. He wouldn't deny that he loved when Lilli had her signature smile on her face. It made her seem even brighter than she already was.
Lost in his efforts to make her smile stick around forever, he barely heard her next sentence. Ollie blinked when she spoke, instantly assuming a more somber, confused expression, "Wait. What? Why?" He asked, seeming distraught at her words, "Send you away where? When did he decide this?"

Lilli shook her head, fighting back tears. She was a Carroway. They didn't cry, not ever. They were strong and never cried. Crying was for the weak. Crying was for- She cleared her throat, totally not to try and push back the ache in her throat, and unclasped her hands, clasping them again behind her back.

"For several reasons, really," she said evenly, words measured, so that her voice didn't break. "I'm too much trouble, for one. Also, it's a family tradition. We need to learn valuable skills, whatever that means, which is why Haven has been gone for so long, and Grae and Kahn were for a while, too. I guess… I guess it's my turn now. I don't know where I'm going, or what I'm doing. But- I leave in three days."

Setting his remaining books down gently on the floor, Ollie listened to Lilli, praying that what she was saying was just a joke. But looking back at her, her eyes said everything, and he had to fight to keep his composure. What was he going to do without her around? Most of his days were spent goofing around with her, and frankly, she was the one that kept him from holing up in his room with his books forever. Without his best friend, he would have no one to bother.

Ollie looked away as she spoke, closing his eyes and wishing away the emotions that came with what she said. He wanted to ask more, maybe find a way to convince her father to let her stay, but every idea just made him realize that there was no way for her to stay.

"I'm going to miss you," He replied softly, "But we can't let your last three days around here be boring…There's so much more trouble to cause before you leave." Opening his eyes, he glanced at her, a halfhearted, wobbly smile on his face to hide his genuine sadness. "Where do we start?"

He doesn't hate me, Lilliana thought, relief filling her. He's not mad that I have to leave. Not that it made the fact much better, but still.

She smiled, a real, bright smile. "I know that there are several manors around the palace that are forbidden to explore. I think we should start there."

Present day

The seaside capital was more crowded than usual this autumn day. Not just because there were more ships that had just arrived in port - although that certainly did help - but because of a procession of strange beings who had arrived that morning.

Sitting high up on a black horse, Lilliana pulled her hood lower over her face. Her white hair was pinned up, so that it was hidden beneath the fabric. She couldn't have anyone recognize her, not this close to the capital.

Surrounded by hooded Dark Elves on black horses, they rode in silence, not even glancing at those who came out to stare. She ignored them too, focusing instead on staring straight ahead. The shadows whispered to her, a familiar softness that clanged through her head, and instead of pushing it to the back of her mind, she listened. It told her of a fire in the grate, of children sleeping quietly and of a woman stirring a pot of stew.

"Are you ready to go home?" The Matriarch, Asephnu, asked her.

Lilliana turned and smiled, shaking her head. "Not at all," She answered, in Asephnu's language. "If I could stay with you forever, I would."

The Matriarch let out a breath of laughter. "No. I think you're excited to return, no matter how you protest."

"Of course you do."

Ollie was going insane. He was sure of it. Banging his forehead on the desk infront of him, he pushed his book aside, more than frustrated with the lack of information it held. How was he supposed to come up with a solution to the insects eating crops in the north if there was no mention of them in any book he read.

Sighing in obvious frustration, he grabbed the book, and after piling it on the ever growing pile next to his desk, he stood. There was no point in reading further. If he couldn’t figure out a solution soon, his father would give him an easier task, and that was the last thing he wanted.

But instead of going to venture for more books like he usually would to figure out a solution, Ollie decided this time to take a walk around the capital. He was aware of how unhealthy his routine had become over the last few months. Holing himself up in his room for days on end without seeing anyone else, then spending the next few hours in the city, soaking in the commoner’s social interaction before hiding himself away again.

Not that he cared to change his habits. It worked, and as he slipped out of his room and trudged through the palace to the front gates, no one now questioned what he was doing. Everyone was used to it, and how little he spoke to anyone he wasn’t required to. He did grab the thick gray cloak the door-maid held out for him though, nodding at her warning of the cool autumn weather.

Lilliana and the elves stopped at an inn. They would stay the night, and then she would return to her home and the elves would continue on to Asavare, a seaside town several leagues down the road.

The inn was crowded and dark, but the appearance of the elves made everyone quiet down immediately. A few of the younger elves went to take care of the horses, while the others went to their rooms. Lilliana shared it with three others, none of whom seemed to want to talk. They had all been travelling for a while, and so while the elves went to sleep, Lilliana went to explore.

She stepped out of her room, cloak still over her, and onto the streets. She hadn't been in the capital for several years, ever since she left, in fact, and this was a new experience. Not much had changed about the city, but with the shadows whispering to her about everything they saw and heard, it was overwhelming. It hadn't been like this when she had left. Her power hadn't been this… chaotic.

Walking down the streets, she paused to look at the sights or to buy food to eat. She had missed human food, deeply, and so when she bought a hotcake from one of the stands, she was so focused on it that she didn't notice where she was going until she ran into someone.

Tugging on the cloak, Ollie wasted no time as he made his way into the city, keeping his head down and hood up. He looked enough like a commoner to blend in if he wanted to, but there was always people that recognized him as royalty, and he want to be alone to think.

Passing through the merchants district closest to the palace, he wove his way down the streets to the markets, breathing in deeply the comforting scent of street vendors selling unique and common food alike. Luckily, the streets were full enough that even with his hood down, he wasn’t going to be recognized. Everyone seemed to be out enjoying the cool air and treats that were shipped into the harbor.

Ollie wandered the streets as he looked over everything, glancing at the books some shops had set up, and even buying a worn leather satchel that was big enough to hold several books. Content with his purchase, he set his sights on food, surveying the options before stepping up to a bustling vendor with his sights set on a sandwich to boost his energy.

“Thank you,” He said to the vendor as they handed him his food, pressing several coins into their hand, enough to cover the sandwich and more. Happy to eat, he turned out of line, taking only a few steps before running right into someone, dropping his sandwich and stumbling back a few steps. “Oh! I’m sorry,” He quickly spoke as he regained his balance, unaware that his hood had fallen back so his face was visible.

Lilli stepped back slightly to keep on her feet, opening her mouth to apologize, or curse at the person, she hadn't decided what. Luckily, she had saved her hotcake, so she wasn't that angry. More annoyed with herself for not paying attention to her surroundings.

She looked up, and when she saw the face of the person she had collided with, her words died in her throat.

Ollie hadn't changed much in the four years it'd been since she'd last seen him. He looked older, yes, and more mature, but the circles under his eyes, and the messy hair, were all the same. He was still her best friend. He was still… but no. It had been years, maybe he didn't want to hang out with her anymore. Maybe… maybe he had forgotten about her.

Now that she looked closer, though, she did realize how tired he looked, how worn and pale, and how much more the mantle of leadership seemed to be upon him. He even held himself like a royal now, although he most likely didn't notice.

She bowed slightly and spoke. "It's fine. I wasn't looking where I was going." Her hood covered her face, and her voice had changed, so she didn't expect him to know who she was.

“Still, I apologize, I wasn’t paying attention,” He continued, taking a passing glance at his scattered sandwich, “Is there anything I can do to make up for running into you?”

Ollie had no clue that it was Lilli infront of him, but as the seconds passed, he finally noticed his hood had dropped. Instantly, his eyes widened and he reached back for his hood as calmly as he could, pulling it back up over his head. It was inevitable that whoever this was knew who he was, but his hood could still hide his identity from others. His messy hair, lanky build and tired eyes usually did a good enough job of hiding him, but he wanted to be extra cautious.

Lilliana's lips curled into a smile that was hidden under her hood. "Well…" she said, making up her mind. She reached up and pushed her hood back slightly, so that her features were just visible to the man in front of her. She grinned at him. "I think I'll let you decide that, Ollie."

She knew he would recognize her. After all, she had just grown older. Sure, her eyes were the color of onyx instead of sky blue, and she looked like she had aged well, she was still the same Lilli he knew.

Oliver, on the other hand, looked exhausted. He seemed to have gotten less sleep than he had before she left, and that was saying something. "You look terrible," she said bluntly.