In dreams you will lose your heartache...

[pas_de_ducks]

Characters: Duck and ANYBODY
Open? :D yes
Where: OUT ON THE TOWN
When: This afternoon
Warnings: your teeth might fall out



The crown she could deal with; the songbirds were sort of a nice surprise. The dress, however, had to go.

Of course she'd been surprised to see herself depicted in a book she'd never seen before--just before the dizziness hit, her heart had leaped at the thought that Princess Tutu might be in more stories--but waking up had been a total shock. The nice old man in the castle had called her "Princess Duck" and even kissed her hand very graciously. All she'd been able to manage in response had been "wha" and "buh" and the occasional "um?"; she was pretty sure she'd missed half of what he'd told her about this place and how things worked.

In a daze she stumbled out of bed, only to discover that her legs were all tangled up in about a million layers of lacy petticoat. Somehow she was in an enormous yellow dress with a huge skirt and puffy sleeves. Her own simple school uniform was nowhere to be found. The crown was tasteful enough when she looked at it in the mirror--gold and shiny, with jeweled ducks on it that managed to look dignified instead of ridiculous--but the dress was just too much. It itched and the skirt dragged and going through doorways was an ordeal.

The songbirds started to flock to her, in twos and threes, chirping little tunes of welcome and friendship at her as she made her way out of the castle. They, too, called her "Princess", even though she tried to tell them that she was just plain Duck.

After about half an hour of wandering around on the unfamiliar streets, with people pointing and whispering and the birds happily twittering at her, she decided she'd had about enough.

A woman hanging laundry out to dry found herself suddenly confronted with the sight of a rather red-faced princess leaning over her low front gate.

"Uh, excuse me, ma'am? Can I trade you this dress for some pants and a shirt or something?"

Comments

[loyalbeyonddeath]

"I meant by me!" Fakir said, his free hand on Valiant's collar as they hurried along. "And besides, Rue, it's never just the one danger. It's never that easy."

[pas_de_ducks]

Duck made a sheepish noise and leaned against Rue a little, not sure whether to be impressed or intimidated by how quickly Fakir had gone from happy to serious. "Well--if anything happens, at least we're together. And you've still got a sword, right?"

She peered over at the sword that hung from Fakir's hip. It was different from either of the swords she'd seen him wield (though, honestly, she would have been shocked to see him still sporting the light-sword his adopted father had given him back in the City).

"...that's not Lohengrin, is it?"

[schrien_die_raben]

"She's right, Fakir," Rue said in a loud voice, and a look that said he'd better stop worrying her. "We'll be fine, won't we?"

[loyalbeyonddeath]

Fakir sighed. "Yes, I'm sure," he said, resigned. "And no, Duck, it isn't. It's mine, though, but I can't be certain how I know that so well."

[pas_de_ducks]

"Well, you're a knight," she said thoughtfully. "And all knights have some kind of sword, don't they? So maybe this one just found you. Kind of like Valiant."

She paused for a moment before adding, "Does it have a name? Your sword, I mean."

[loyalbeyonddeath]

"Not as of yet, seeing as I just found it. Or it found me," Fakir said. Had she been reading his books, to get such an idea so spontaneously? "We'll see in time."

[pas_de_ducks]

"Oh, speaking of names. I, uh... I wasn't paying that much attention when I first got here, so... do either of you know what this place is called?"

[schrien_die_raben]

"No idea," Rue said shortly, though to be honest, she could barely recall the old man's speech to begin with. It had simply been so overwhelming that much of the details had been lost on her.