Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Thu Aug 26, 2021 10:34 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Shiloh blinked slowly as Charise took her comment as the signal to go to town on the bucket, to which Dala quickly intervened. The deity then raised her eyebrows slightly, not bothered by the mistake. As Dala was fussing over her dragon, Shiloh motioned to show that she didn't mind. "Don't worry, that's fine. The bucket isn't magical, so I can fix it. Setting things on fire is just what comes naturally to a dragon." One of her daughter-in-laws had a small dragon too which was used as a literal torch for smithing, so she was used to it. She gave a nod as whatever effects the book had on them were now wearing off, assumed food consumption included. "Right, you go on ahead. I'm heading back to the Machinarium to lie down…I need my ferrets." After all that stress, passing out with her four-legged bandits was what she needed to wash away the bad memories.

She was too tired to feel hungry, and didn't feel like moving–so she began to open up a portal underneath herself. "I'll keep you posted if I find out anything, and before I go investigating too." As grateful as she was to being bailed out, her lack of caution could have ended very badly. If Mrs. Bartleby had been sucked in instead of Dala, things could have only gotten worse… Shiloh dropped through the portal, falling into Antikythera and leaving Dala and her dragon behind to finally get some real food. When her staff came by to check in on her, they found her body slumped over on the floor of Serenitas, surrounded by four ferrets sleeping in creative positions. 

Author: Dala, Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 10:36 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Soon the flames took hold of the strange object and swiftly burned every piece of it away. Relief flooded through Dala's mind as she realized their hell was finally over. This was reality, in all its imperfections and messiness. Unfortunately, the news of more of these books did not rest easy on her mind. If there was one, then it was a possibility more people were trapped in these books. In a way, the both of them were very lucky it was a romance book and thus had little access to what either of them wanted. If she had been put into an adventure novel, she would've been in trouble. Shiloh mentioned how she would keep an ear to the ground for any other strange occurrances. She also gave credit to Dala for helping both of them escape, which Dala had only just realized.

"Oh heck yeah! I totally saved you both!" She said with a smile, "I guess that's cause I'm so awesome!"

Dala threw her fist in her air as she realized her own accomplishment. Her golden dragon snorted with a shake of its head. The dragon then saw Shiloh put the bucket down and say something like it was all yours. Assuming it was meant to be smoked, it let out a massive breath of fire and hit the bucket. Dala gasped then picked up her mini dragon with a frown.

"No Charise!" She said with a sigh, "That was not a torch it sign!"

Dala placed her golden dragon on her shoulders and looked to Shiloh.

"Sorry! Still teaching her." She explained, "Well I'd better go get some food. I'm starving! Oh and Shiloh, if you get a sign of another book thing or just a lot of missing people,  just give me a heads up and I'll be right over! You don't need to go in alone all the time."

With that, Dala went back into the bakery to see if she could buy some bread for cheap from the bakers.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:04 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

"Perfect. Magical fire is much more effective than a non-magical one." Disposing of enchanted objects was not something to be taken lightly. If it wasn't handled properly, the item wouldn't be completely destroyed, or worse–the rampant energies released would cause other problems. She'd have to collect the ashes and conduct a few tests to ensure it was dismantled for good. Taking a seat on the floor, she waited for Dala's draconic blow torch to arrive as the two girls talked. It would appear Dala was never chosen as a target due to her desires being completely incompatible with the book's capabilities. Tax records and military strategies weren't exactly what most people would consider 'romantic'. Once they had fully recovered from their ordeal, Dala and Shiloh would notice their clothes were back to normal, their belongings had returned, and more importantly–no bloodstains. That was one less thing they needed to explain to the family when they had their reunion. Shiloh weakly waved a hand as Lizzy ran off to her parents.

When the dragon was present, she grabbed a metal bucket and doused the book with a bottle of sanctified oil. Then, she dumped it out into the bonfire. The oil was one of the few things she had on hand when dealing with cursed objects. In this case, it was lighter fuel. As they watched the flames consume the accursed thing, a sense of calm washed over Shiloh. The sight of a malicious enchanted object being reduced to dust was always a welcome sight for sore eyes. She could sleep better knowing the world had one less artifact that would wreak havoc on people's lives. She gave a nod in agreement when Dala said she was glad it was gone. When she asked if there were more of them around, Shiloh let out a sigh.

"I'm sure of it. Though to be fair, the disguise as a romance novel is new. I'm going to take the ashes to analyze once all the magic is gone. The problem with cursed items like these is that they don't have a known history to retrace. Cursed objects with plenty of rumors are much easier to deal with due to the large body of information available compiled from eyewitnesses and records of past victims. It's easier to build a case profile." Putting on a pair of gloves before handling the smoldering embers with a small shovel, she continued. "It's always good to assume there are more of these books out there. I'll keep an ear to the ground for any missing persons reports and other unusual phenomena in Parvpora. I didn't get a good look at the cover before it pulled me in, and it's impossible for me to reverse the state it's in. Good thing you showed up when you did, or else who knows how long Lizzy and I would be trapped in there." She gave a small smile to Dala.
"It's all yours." She said to the dragon, putting the bucket with its oil-soaked contents down.

Author: Dala, Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 7:30 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Once the connection between Lizzy and the book snapped, the illusion or false reality around them began to unravel. Shiloh finally had enough and finally began taking her revenge against the book by slaying the edgelord. The magic ran wild and Dala grabbed onto Lizzy's hand to keep them from getting separated. The body of the edgelord vanished but the four love interests were still after them. Dala dragged Lizzy with her as they ran towards an area with solid ground. Suddenly, the red-hed had grabbed Shiloh's shoulder and was saying something about time spent together? Both Dala and Shiloh had a blank look. 

"What." Dala said. 

Were they trying to target Shiloh now? Seriously?! She knew the book was desperate but even so it couldn't be THAT desperate. Dala showed little concern as the book began to target Shiloh. Unlike Lizzy, Shiloh was a grown adult with her head on straight who could see through the bullshit these men threw her way. But she did enjoy the show as Shiloh made the man shake in terror and criticize his secondary love interest status before hitting him like a baseball. Finally Shiloh dropped the ball and told them about her husband and children, which was the final straw for the book. After a bright flash of light everything went dark. Dala was thrown into the room and slammed against the floor. She jumped to her feet but Shiloh had already grabbed the novel and tore it in half. Now they needed to burn the book. 

"My dragon should still be around here somewhere. We can have a bonfire!" Dala said with an eager smile. 

"Wait! If it went after me and her, why didn't it go after you too?" Lizzy asked Dala. 

"Look if its not economic records or sweet battle tactics, I'm not interested." She stated simply. 

Dala quickly ran to the window and gave a sharp whistle. The sound of wings flapping filled the air as her dragon flew to the building. Her golden dragon had made itself smaller to fit in the streets of Iria but its firepower would still be as strong. 

"Lets do this outside so we don't accidentally burn down the bakery." Dala stated before turning to Lizzy, "And you've got to go see your family." 

Lizzy smiled and ran off to go find her family while Dala jumped out the window to the streets below. It was faster than the stairs and she wanted to avoid getting in the middle of a heartfelt, and probably teary, family reunion. Dala gathered a pile of sticks and rocks together for a small bonfire and had her dragon start it. The fire was blazing powerfully and ready for the magic book. 

"Good riddance." Dala stated, "I don't suppose that's the only cursed book around?" 

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 8:44 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Shiloh was the last to enter the tunnel as she needed to make sure they weren't chased. As she guarded the rear, she sensed a spike in magic that made her want to hurl. The thing that stepped out of the shadows doubled that sensation. By now her tolerance for madness was at its absolute limit. There was only so much she could handle before she couldn't keep up the facade of courtesy forever. She was tired, nauseous, and frustrated. She hated this world, she hated this book, she hated everything. Dala gave Lizzy one last push and at last the girl was freed. No matter how enticing it was, a fantasy couldn't hold a candle to something real. There was a shudder as a massive shift occurred as everything started to go haywire. Without a source to feed on, the book wouldn't be able to maintain this realm. For a passive predator, losing their prey was their worst nightmare.

As the migraine lifted, Shiloh threw a boomerang at the edgelord, sending him flying backward. Her face was deadpan and she was eerily calm. "That's it, I'm done." Sometimes in life…violence was the only answer. As her weapon came back, she took out seven more and started throwing them at the downed man. Ever since she had gotten trapped in this cursed book, her sanity had been hanging by a thread. The appearance of this sad excuse of a romantic love interest was the last straw. Punting the edgelord like a ragdoll, the tunnel's ceiling opened up as the world around them started to become unstable. Magic was wildly fluctuating as the cursed artifact was attempting something, but she didn't know what. When she looked back the body of the edgelord disappeared, but the four previous love interests were still approaching on horseback. Shiloh hit Amir with a boomerang, which ricocheted off him to hit Duke Aster, sending both off their horses into the endless abyss. That left the red-head and the prince.

Any time now, this entire dimension would collapse. "Hurry, run!" She shouted over the noise to Lizzy and Dala, pushing them towards an area that still had solid ground. Putting away most of her boomerangs, she was getting ready to run when something grabbed her shoulder. It was the flirtatious red-head, his eyes wide and in a panic. "Wait–don't leave! What about the time we spent together?? Don't tell me they meant nothing to you?!" She stared at his face blankly with the eyes of a dead fish. "What?" 

The man fell to his knees, grasping her hand. "I'm sorry, I was wrong! I'm sorry for not thinking about your feelings! I should've taken you seriously when you said you weren't comfortable with being in the spotl–urk!" Shiloh's boot slammed into his chest, pinning him down as she glowered at him. "So that's how it's going be, huh? If you can't have her, you're going to try to latch onto me?" She pulled out a sword and stabbed the ground next to the man's terrified face. "NOW LISTEN HERE YOU SHODDY PIECE OF FICTION–YOU'RE A SECONDARY LOVE INTEREST WITH A THIRD-RATE BACKSTORY!!" As he stammered, she smacked him with the flat end of the blade like a baseball bat–causing him to vaporize into mist. As the surges in magical energy intensified, the final remaining male lead made a last-ditch effort to sway her.

"Wait, please–you don't have to do this!" Percival begged, his hands held up in surrender. "We can still work things out! If-if we try together–" Enough was enough. It was time to end this farce.

"I have a husband." "That doesn't–WAIT WHAT?!" Percival was stumbling over his words, not expecting this sudden turn in events. "I have two grown children," Shiloh added. The prince was reeling. "No…no…" This was completely out of his expectations! Before he could speak, Shiloh dealt the final blow. "–And they're married with kids!" The prince collapsed, and with the book's final attempt a failure–the illusory realm it had crafted couldn't hold any longer. There was a bright flash of light that was steadily enveloping everything as she made the mad dash to catch up with Dala and Lizzy… Then everything went dark. 

Back in Lizzy's room, the pink leather-bound book shook as it flew open. The three of them were thrown out onto the floor, and Shiloh quickly grabbed the cursed novel and ripped it in half down its spine. She made sure to hold the pages away from her face, and then stomped on it a few times for good measure. "We did it! We're alive! Alright, now somebody start a fire–we've got a book to burn."

Author: Dala, Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 2:36 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

While Shiloh bombarded Lizzy with sappy words about her parents, Dala focused on keeping an eye on the love interests. To her surprise, they were duller than she had been expecting. If they were going to get a girl's heart desire, couldn't they be a little more creative about it? Then again this was a third-rated romance novel even if it was cursed. Suddenly Shiloh pulled out a salt flat mirror and showed Lizzy the image of her parents. Lizzy broke down into tears as the voices of the love interests grew louder. The book was desperate now, trying to turn this into a heroic rescue. Dala picked up Lizzy again and began running towards the tunnel. She lifted up the floor and shoved Lizzy in then looked back to Shiloh. 

"You coming?" She asked. 

Eventually Dala jumped into the hidden passage way herself and began pulling Lizzy who was still trying to understand the situation around her. Then stepping from the shadows was the final love interest. The bad boy. The one who was only sweet to the heroine but a jackass to everybody else. Dala was able to identify his type right away from the overuse of black and piercings in his design. Still, she had no idea who the heck he was or his name, so she decided he would be known as edgelord. 

"HEY EDGELORD! BEAT IT!" Dala shouted. 

The man had a confident smirk and held out his hand for Lizzy in a dramatic way. 

"Hey darling. I'm here to bring you home." The edgelord said. 

Dala quickly turned Lizzy around and pushed her back the way they came. Lizzy was a young woman with raging hormones and probably a poor taste in men. This book was bringing out all its aces now. But the man used some black magic and teleported in front of them again. Great, the edgelord had magic. 

"Only you can save me from the darkness inside." He said to Lizzy. 

Dear Conclave please let this stop. Dala quickly turned to Lizzy with a determined look. 

"You remember your mother, right?" Dala asked. 

"My mom?" Lizzy asked with confusion, "Yeah and she's waiting for me…" 

"Your mom has been there for you, through thick and thin. So has your dad. Remember when they finally were able to get you that book. They all looked so happy to finally give you the one thing you've always wanted. Those boys out there will never care about you in the way your parents do with you. They'll give you sweet words and gifts but they won't have the warm hugs or the good advice for when your in a bad situation. When you need somebody's support it'll be your parents who you look for." 

Lizzy's eyes teared up and she fell to the ground. The edgelord offered her a hand but she swatted it away. 

"I want my mom! I want my dad!" The girl cried. 

The book's entire city felt a rumble and a crack as Lizzy's truest desires changed. 

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:21 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

After watching Dala's conversation with Lizzy, Shiloh realized what they had to do. They had to sever Lizzy's attachments to this fictional world and motivate her to go home. "Lizzy, your parents have been worried sick about you. Your mother's been crying her eyes out and your father's even closed up the shop. Your brother Marcus has even asked his coworkers to put up missing posters and organize search parties to find you. They thought you were kidnapped." There was no time to lose. Now that Dala had jogged a bit of her memory, they had to bombard her until her resolve wavered. For self-contained realms designed to prey on one's desires, they would always cater to what the victims wished for. But if the realm couldn't give what the victim wanted, then the spell would fall apart. That was half of the formula for resisting the enchantment. You can't be tempted by what you don't want. When Lizzy realized she wanted her real life in the outside world, that would mean the magic no longer worked.

"They put up reward money hoping someone would be interested in it to find you. If this goes on long enough, they might have to close the bakery down for good." Shiloh began putting more pressure, pushing harder. Making direct eye contact with Lizzy, she took out a Salt Flat Mirror and looked into it. The image of Mrs. Bartleby appeared, crying and dabbing her face with her handkerchief. She showed it to the girl, letting her see what her mother was going through outside. "This isn't an illusion Lizzy–it's real. That's what your mother is doing at this very moment." Lizzy's eyes stared at it, her lips trembling. "I…" As much as she didn't want to do this, Shiloh quietly sent a telepathic message directly to Lizzy's mind–imitating the girl's voice mentally. 'I miss my mom… I miss my brother, my dad, the bakery…' Tears began to well up in Lizzy's eyes. "I–I want to go home…"

The voices of the color-coded love interests came from outside, but Shiloh wasn't going to let them take back the ground she had worked so hard to reclaim. Lizzy turned her head to the door, putting her hands to her mouth when she recognized the voices. "Amir! Could it be true?? Prince Percival, Duke Aster, and Master Louis?!" 

"Elizabeth–we're here to rescue you! Show yourselves at once! How dare you kidnap an innocent woman?!" Channeling the sass of the Goddess of Life and Love, Shiloh's eyes rolled as she peered through the gaps in the woodwork. "Well look who it is–didn't I puncture your lungs with an arrow through the gaps in your plating?" Mister Blue-Eyes was 'Duke Aster', not that she cared. Looking back she said to Dala: "There's a hidden tunnel that'll lead us back to the city. It's in the pantry, lift up the floor." The book was trying to reassert its influence again, and she wasn't having any of that. "Oh no you don't. Not in my house." She muttered aloud as she pulled out a skyshard boomerang. 

Author: Dala, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 7:02 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

The world was going crazy as suddenly a wolf, bear, and then a carriage all tried to stop them. Lizzy awoke then began pounding her fists on Dala's back, which hurt a lot more than she was expecting. Then she remembered that this girl was a baker's daughter. Even if she loved books, she would have developed some muscles after helping her parents. They finally made it to the abandoned cabin and Dala quickly set the girl down, who just watched as Dala began to help Shiloh stacking up the barriers. Now they understood who the protagonist was and how this book truly worked. It also explained why they were both side characters if the protagonist spot had been filled by the first victim. Dala noticed Lizzy making a move for the door and quickly pushed her down and held her tightly to stop her from escaping.

"Lizzy! Think of that blue and green rag doll!" Dala exclaimed as the girl sobbed and flailed.

"The what- Oh you mean Polly?" Lizzy asked with a confused face, "How did you know about her?"

"She isn't in this world. So why do you remember a doll named Polly?" Dala asked.

Lizzy opened her mouth to answer but no words came out. Confusion and panic ran across her face as she remembered vividly that little doll she used to play with, but it was never in the manor. While she was sitting, feeling confused, Dala looked at Shiloh.

"The book probably doesn't want the prey to fight against it. I'm guessing it's holding her important memories back. But a little doll named Polly probably wasn't the most concerning memory to take away." Dala explained.

A subconscious memory of childhood wasn't as pressing of an issue as making her forget about her parents or her hometown. Before Dala could prod at that memory further, she heard the sound of hoofs outside of the cabin. The book had gathered the red-head, blondy prince, foreign prince, and the black-haired duck to the cabin for a daring rescue. Dala peaked out of a small hole near the floor and spotted their shining horses and realized that the treasure she had stolen was now back on the foreign prince. It was like an infinite treasure loop! She had to focus.

"I don't suppose we have a backdoor?" Dala asked Shiloh.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 6:37 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

It was like an explosion happened inside her head, and not the good kind. She knew that they were on the right track the moment she felt like she was closer to death. "I think we found the protagonist." She said looking at an unconscious Lizzy. "And I think I figured out what the centerpiece of the book is…" Having looted the protagonist's love interest, they started to make a break for it with Lizzy in tow. Predators didn't like it when you stole their food. Especially right out of their stomach. "Gogogogogogo–" Shiloh whispered loudly as they hustled to their hideout. The world was warping as random encounters started being thrown at them: first a wolf, then a bear, and then a carriage that nearly ran them over. Lizzy had woken up and was crying, pounding her fists on Dala's back. "YOU KILLED HIM! HE WAS THE FOURTH PRINCE OF HIS COUNTRY!!" The girl wailed. 

"He was the fourth prince of his country. Also he's not real." Shiloh answered. "Lizzy, you know that–don't you?" As she sniffled and struggled in vain, they finally made it to the abandoned cabin. Shiloh let Dala and Lizzy inside while closing the door and bolting it shut. "Ok, so I think we're going to be very busy from now on. Mister Blue-Eyes and his blue-haired fiancee won't be dead forever." The poor girl was horrified as Shiloh began stacking boxes in front of the front door and windows. "We were going at it all wrong from the start. No wonder we couldn't find you until now." It all made sense. If the protagonist was the most important part of the story, then it was natural the book would protect her at all costs. And now that they found her, it would do anything it could to get her back. 

Lizzy was still trying to get out, crying over the man with the low-cut shirt. Shiloh's headache was improving, and she could finally focus on a single thought for more than three seconds. By the way their client was acting, she still believed she was part of the story. She was emotionally invested, and wasn't interested in going back home. This wouldn't do. They had to bring her back to reality, even if it was by force.  

Author: Dala, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 6:24 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Dala could tell they were on the right track, judging by how nauseated Shiloh looked. The two were eventually alone and the foreign prince had brought out a sparkling blue pendant. He explained it had been a gift of his mother's but now he was going to hand it to Lizzy. Just as he was about to hand it over, Dala gave Shiloh a thumbs up and they both shot out of the pushes. Dala quickly pulled Lizzy away as Prince Amir was snatched. Once Lizzy was a safe distance away, Dala began plucking the jewelry off of the prince like she was plucking a turkey. Soon she had a pile of gold and jewels with a very happy smile. The prince was tossed into the bushes and the both of them turned their attentions to a terrified Lizzy who was currently sitting on the ground looking up at them in horror. Shiloh then pointed out that the jewelry wasn't real.

"Shut up!" Dala said with a huff, "Just let me have this."

She opened her mouth to scream but Dala gave her a quick wack on the back of the head and knocked her out before she could make any proper noise. Dala stashed away the rest of the jewels into her pockets and buried some around the forest for safekeeping. Then she looked at Lizzy and tossed her over her shoulder like she was a bag of potatoes.

"Yeah, we'd better get out of here!" Dala agreed, "The books not gonna like this one bit!"

The both of them ran through the forest, heading in the general direction of the cabin and as far from the hunt as possible. The entire camp would likely be looking for Lizzy, considering she was their very reason for existence and all. From now on they would have to treat this like they were the kingdom's most wanted, even though they technically just stole one girl. And a few murders.

Maybe they were the kingdom's most wanted for a reason.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 6:21 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

The closer they got to the lovers' secret hideaway, the more pale Shiloh's face got. With the way she looked, death would be a mercy at this point. "We're getting closer…I can feel it." Forcing herself not to gag, she waited until the two were unguarded and unprepared. She then looked at Dala, as if asking her if it was time to strike. When her partner in crime agreed, they went into action. First things first–separate their client from the distraction. Prince Amir from the kingdom of Khuraya was robbed, stabbed, and possibly bamboozled–though not in that order. Shiloh put the man in a sleeper hold leaving poor Lizzy in shock while Dala had free rein to loot his soon-to-be corpse. Once he stopped moving, Shiloh tossed him into the bushes and took a deep breath. "Lizzy, we're here to rescue you. Come with us–there's no time to explain!" 

If she started screaming, which probably would happen, then they would need to knock her out too. She was not in the mood for a fight, especially since the migraines were back. "Dala, you know the jewelry isn't real right?" She said as the girl was busy stashing away the valuables she lifted off the foreign prince's person. This was probably the worst first impression they could give to their intended client. She started to feel a sharp pain in her head and vertigo as time went on, and was looking around nervously. "Uh, I think we'd better hurry. I think we might've done something big this time."

Author: Dala, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 5:54 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

"I think I ended up killing one of the rivals for that dark-haired dude. She was blue." Dala explained remembering only that about her, " Damn. I was hoping that would have worked."

Suddenly Shiloh pointed over to a direction, at a girl in a blue dress with freckles and brown hair. THAT was Lizzy. She was too average for the rest of the crowd and looked exactly like her parents. Lizzy had a panicked look on her face and she was being escorted by some strangers like she was the queen herself. Hell, she was receiving better security than the rest of the women there. As they took a moment to observe the strangers, they spotted a man with pale hair and tanned skin along with fancy jewelry covering him from head to toe. All that jewelry. The gold, the treasures, everything!

"Shit it's a foreign prince." She said.

Every bone in her body was screaming to steal everything on him so they could buy better weapons. If only she could take all that wealth and transport it to the real world. Shaking her head, she made herself focus. She quickly cleaned off as much blood as she could with an extra napkin she stole from one of the picnics then looked to Shiloh with a nod.

"That's her alright. We need to follow them and see where they go. If we try to rescue her now, we'll be overrun by guards." Dala pointed out.

Normally she would just have them both attack now but since Shiloh's magic was limited and Dala didn't have her dragon friend by her side, attacking during the chaos would be a bad idea. They would need to wait until the group was further away from the camp. Lizzy's hand was taken and the prince led her towards the forest, away from the chaos and potential murders. Apparently, a love scene would happen regardless of the chaos. Conclaves above these npcs were stupid!

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 5:49 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Acting as nonchalant as possible, she made her way to Dala and she smelled blood. It wasn't Dala's blood judging by the girl acting normal, and they shared information. "It was hard in the last round, but I nicked one with dark hair and blue eyes. Almost fell for a curve ball there thinking the prince would be the winner. I don't think the book is resetting, so maybe he is just a secondary romance option?" To be fair, did it really matter which man the protagonist ended up with if they were going to just throw a bunch at her in the first place? She was looking at the chaos of two murders, putting her hands on her hips as if expecting something. Then…she froze. "Hey, hey! Dala is that…? I think I see Lizzy!" She jabbed her finger in one direction, pointing at a girl in a blue dress running in the crowd with a panicked look on her face. She didn't have her hair in braids anymore, but the freckles were there.  

Lizzy was alive! But for some reason she was being escorted by some strangers while calming down once they were here. "Who are those people, and where are they taking her?" Shiloh tried to get a better look at their faces as she tried to see where they were headed. "She doesn't look scared at all. What's going on here?" As her eyes followed their movements, she saw a man in exotic clothing with pale colored hair and tanned skin approach her. "Oh no." She didn't like the direction this was going. The man was decked out in fancy jewelry and patterned fabric, and for some reason he was wearing robes that covered most of his body but had a dangerously low neckline. "What in the Conclave's name is that?!" 

Author: Dala, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 5:03 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

While Shiloh got the fun of hunting nobility, she had to listen to the dull gossip for any hints of who her target was. She kept an eye on women of high status and low, though only keeping an eye out for drop-dead gorgeous women or anyone who might resemble Lizzy. Unfortunately, it was harder for her to tell since she rarely practiced magical awareness. So instead she kept a careful eye on all of the ladies and any approaching noblemen. A few ladies gave a few hunters their handkerchiefs but none of them had a particularly romantic moment. It wasn't until she found a beautiful blue-haired woman having a private moment with the dark-haired man. She gave him a small humble ribbon then they stared into each other's eyes for over a minute.

Don't these people blink?!

Then the black-haired man went off to the hunt and the blue-haired woman went back to her tent with her maid. Dala picked up a piece of luggage and carefully trailed the woman from a distance then placed the luggage behind the tent. Now she needed an opportunity to strike. The girl pulled a bandana that she borrowed from Shiloh over her face. With her hair covered by a hat and the rest of her in a servant's outfit, it would be difficult to identify her. The problem was the maid. Then Dala remembered that the people here were stupid. So she picked up a rock and threw it against one of the stacks of shields nearby, causing the entire pile to fall over in a loud clatter.

"Maid, go investigate that strange noise." The blue-haired woman ordered.

The maid left the tent to investigate and Dala quickly slipped in. The blue-haired woman's back was turned to her as she was holding a beautiful white rose and sitting around like some sort of prop waiting to be used. Unsheathing her knife, Dala clapped her hand over the woman's mouth and stabbed her in the chest. For a moment, Dala felt a surge of panic run through her mind.

They aren't real. They aren't real. They aren't real.

She repeated this over and over in her mind as she covered the body in a blanket then stole one of the cloaks to hide her bloodstained outfit. Dala ran out of the tent and quietly slipped through the barrage of tents until she made it to the edge of the forest. As she ran off, she could hear the scream of the maid. She found herself in the forest in the meeting place that Shiloh and she had agreed on. When Shiloh approached, she stood up and walked towards her.

"How did it go?" She asked.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 4:49 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Their plans went by without a hitch; luckily they had each other to cover for the other. When she noticed Dala entered the palace kitchens, she quickly had to drag her out before the cooks entered. And when they passed by certain areas she called 'cursed zones', Dala helped pull her out of sight when she was about to keel over. Watching the hunt getting organized brought back old memories…mostly bad ones. But today the tables would be turned; instead of being hunted–today they would be doing the hunting. Slipping into the hunt was easy after knocking out some people and leaving them tied up somewhere. There were crests from noble families as far as the eye could see, also a rainbow of clothes and hair colors too. She had to squint to not go blind from the color palette disaster. 

Shiloh herself was a stable hand, meaning she had access to the horses. She knew who was riding which horse and could tamper with the riding equipment easily. Under the saddles of the most eligible bachelors from the three big noble houses, she placed sharp burrs that would make the horse go berserk as soon as they sat down on the saddle. Their hunting equipment was also tampered with as well. She lifted a few arrows and some spare equipment for the real hunt, and would check in on how Dala was doing on her end. Soon they would have to handle their own sides of the front. The time was finally here. Hopefully they could find Lizzy before this was over.

It was a lovely day in the royal forest, and she was a horrible shipwrecker. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting victims, the only god they would meet would be misfortune. 

The hunting horn sounded, announcing the start of the competition. Men in their blazing armor and capes were seated, assisted by their squires. And they were off! With the slap of the reins, at least three men instead were sent flying backward by their poor horses, tormented by a handful of hooked pricklers on their backs. There were gasps and grimaces of embarrassment as they quickly were helped back up and their equipment changed out. The mood was slightly damaged, but they carried on with bruised dignity and grace. Shiloh identified the main suspects once they passed the entry into the woodland. There was a blond, one with black hair, and a redhead. The blond was the prince as he was on a white horse, the one with black hair had cold blue eyes and a fur trim, and the redhead made Shiloh imagine Auron's face for a second. She slapped herself and corrected her vision, noting his eyes were green not golden.

The groups of men bounded on their steeds through the bottleneck of pitfalls, eliminating themselves by half. Anybody with plot significance managed to survive unscathed, as expected of the book. She was sure it would do everything in its power to keep their statuses as the most eligible bachelors in the kingdom untarnished. Notching an arrow to the bow, Shiloh used Gestalt to make the dark-haired man's horse stumble so she could get a clear shot of its foreleg. "Initiating Test Trial #1." The arrow flew and left a bad cut on the horse. Blue-Eyes started to fall behind, with Red-Head and Prince Blond-Hair still neck and neck. It was almost like they were color coded for convenience.

She caused minor accidents and near-misses, all while monitoring their progress. The prince and the red-head were tied for a long time in hunting. Their animal counts were even. Then–a great elk appeared! Now, for the moment of truth. The two men duked it out with their hunting weapons, trying to see who could bag the big game animal first. Shiloh was running after them with an arrow shaft between her teeth since her hands were busy grabbing onto branches to swing from. The red-head fired an arrow first at the elk and hit–but then the prince sent one straight through its heart. They were arguing over whose kill it was as the horn blew again, signalling for all competitors to return with their winnings. 

As the last surviving hunters were coming out of the woods, Shiloh was ready to pick off the prince when the dark-haired man she had tripped up earlier came with a huge monster-sized boar in tow. "Huh, well that's a surprise. Now eat dirt!" An arrow hit him between the gaps in his armor, causing the man to fall to the ground. There was panic, hysteria, and lots of people running around. Quickly blending in with the chaos, she went to find Dala while keeping an eye out for any sudden changes. Even with her lack of skill in archery, that shot should have been a hit.

Author: Dala, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 3:51 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Despite the lackluster security, they both decided it would be best to play it safe. Although the characters were dumb, the cursed book was not. If they were to ever get out of here they would have to treat the novel like it was the real opponent. For the next week or so, they would have to stock up on information and disguises along with any weapons they could get their hands on. Shiloh then mentioned how that family she had been staying with would likely be looking for their lady. Although their security was even worse than the palace security, they would make an attempt to find their lost lady.

"I can handle that. Years of being alone in Vilpamolan taught me a thing or two about hiding." Dala said, "I probably will just go around from house to house and steal whatever shit I can find."

After living in Vilpamolan, this place would be a cakewalk as long as she avoided any of the main characters or triggering an event. Once they sorted out their plan, both of them went straight to work. The delivery of the letter wasn't too difficult, though Shiloh had to pull Dala away from the kitchens else she would have eaten everything and ruin their entire plan. Once the letter was delivered, the prince practically leaped at the hunting idea and ordered for it to be put together immediately. In a matter of days, the hunt was put together and everybody who was anybody was invited. Hundreds of tents sprawled across the open fields surrounding the private royal forests. Horses were prepared, hunting dogs were ready, and almost nobleman was eager to begin. The noble ladies were all having a little picnic as they gossiped about who would win. The sun was shining, the sky was clear and all the flowers were in bloom. It was sickening to Dala.

She had taken up a position as a servant boy taking care of the women's luggage. Dala wanted to be a maid so at least she could sneak in some of the food but Shiloh had pointed out how risky such a move would be considering that noble family was still looking for her. The benefit to this was that nobody ever looked her way or even bothered with her since all their eyes were drawn to the male love interests. She was able to go in and out and wherever she pleased as long as she didn't bother the ladies. Dala was assigned with targeting the women while Shiloh would go after the hunters. The winner would be killed while she would look for any lady who had significant romantic moments with handsome men that were over a minute long.

The hunt was about to begin.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 3:19 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

"The security in the palace is a joke. I've broken into houses with better defenses than that. But just to be safe, I'll need at least a day or two to make sure our target receives it and it doesn't go missing." After the 'princess assassination' fiasco, Shiloh wasn't going to take any chances on letting the cursed book 'fix' anything she did. Fortunately there were loopholes they could abuse, and as long as they avoided triggering scenarios that were flagged as important, they could get away with just about anything. "Hunts would typically take place in a privately owned section of a forest, if the book is actually following reality for once." She mulled. "Since we have a foot in the door, any gossip about high society should be easy to get a hold of. I can get some more clothes if we need extra disguises. Since nobody pays attention to anybody who isn't a noble, I can scout around while doing odd jobs in the city." 

"I also can pick up some more supplies, like materials for traps and weapons." Another man's trash was another man's treasure–in this case, anything nobody would miss could be used. "The family that you fell into is probably going to be looking for you though, and there were a lot of witnesses back at the tea party." Not one of her best moments, but it was the best idea at the time. "I'll be observing on the side too to see if I can learn more about who or what the core element to this self-contained world might be."

There were a few things she had to go off on. Normally if a cursed item had a reputation, then that was due to people discovering its victims. Those types were either too dangerous to leave unprotected or only dangerous enough to be an outright menace. Objects that were more subtle and less aggressive in their effects could slip by unnoticed for years, even centuries. Just like how mass killings drew the attention of the local law enforcement more than something that looked like an accident. Both her and Dala had gotten trapped by it after all. Since there wasn't as much information out about what this cursed book did, there was greater danger as they didn't know exactly what they were dealing with. 

Author: Dala, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 3:04 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Thankfully Shiloh took up the letter-writing duty while Dala began looking for some actual clothes that she could borrow. The sooner she could get out of that puffy dress, the better. Something else she noticed about this world was its strange fashion. Its almost if somebody purposefully dressed all the women in ridiculous fashions so that the protagonist would stand out in comparison. She found an outfit and slightly modified it to make it fit her better. Then she went back to Shiloh to review the letter. The letter itself seemed fine to her, though she wasn't an expert on anything romantic.

"Looks good. Now, all we have to do is sneak this into the palace." She stated, "You've slipped in and out of there enough times. What's the security like?"

Even if this was a crappy romance novel, it must have better security for the prince than what she experienced at the manor. This would be the first time she sneaked into a palace, then again she probably wouldn't take any tips. Even if security was better, the npc's were pretty stupid. Doing anything like this in the real world would lead to ultimate disaster.

"Then it sounds like we have a plan. Once the hunt is announced we can scout out for the best spots to use while looking for our targets. But first we need to get that letter thing handled." Dala stated.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2021 2:00 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

"I think it's safe to assume the prince is important. Marrying a prince or an equivalent man with wealth and high social status is a typical teenage fantasy for young women." There was a reason why the concept was used so much. It was practically a staple of romance novels. It would appear they would need to create the situation themselves to see who would come, and that meant one thing… "I should probably be the last person to ask for writing a love letter, however I do know how to imitate another person's handwriting." She said, looking to the side. Once you went through another person's private letters enough times, it was easy to pick up on their writing habits and use of written speech. She had used this skill many times when infiltrating households to cement herself in a position where she could observe her targets. Posing as a member of the hired help was too easy. Nobody bothered to pay attention to whoever was cleaning the stables or sweeping the floors.

Fortunately she still remembered how she criticized one of her staff members when he was trying to write an invitation of his own to one of Angela's sisters. A small smile came on her face as she remembered putting him in a choke hold until he admitted it needed revising. "I know just how to do it." Auron's handwriting would work just fine here. It was flowery and sappy enough. With some ink and expensive stationery, she cracked her knuckles and went to work. Writing as someone else wasn't as hard as it looked–you just needed to imagine how they would think. After a painstaking half hour, she was done. "It's vague enough to make someone jump to conclusions but specific enough to make them act according to the plan." She let Dala read it over to see if it needed revising. 

Author: Dala, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 10:30 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Dala didn't even think about the moral implications of killing an npc since this world was fake and made up. Hell, even if they were real her attitude was always in favor of survival. Shiloh seemed to approve of the plan so the next step was figuring out how to make the event happen. Her status in the court was too small to influence such a huge event. The only person who could really get the ball rolling on the hunt was the protagonist of the story. That led them into a circle where they always ended up needing the help of the protagonist. Unless..

"So we know for sure the prince is an important character?" She asked, "Normally I wouldn't suggest this but since we're working on the rules of a romance novel, we could try creating an anonymous letter to the prince. It would ask for him to present a hunt where the secret admirer would reveal their love. I know it makes no sense to us but from the love interest's eyes, this would be enough of an inciting incident to get the event rolling."

The trick was getting some half-decent writing in the letter. If it looked like a legit love confession or at least a request from a lover, then it would work. Problem was, Dala had no idea how to write such a thing and she lacked the charisma to back it up. Her eyes looked to Shiloh.

"I don't know much about lovey-dovey stuff. How's your handwriting?" Dala asked.

She hated the idea of writing a love letter and every word would be irritating.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 10:18 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Yes, out of desperation to get out Shiloh had done things she never would have tried in the real world. The madness of this world was wearing her down in more ways than one. Anything or anyone that stood out enough to be significant was in her strike zone, and yes she had attempted to 'assassinate' Princess Amelia. When she did though, the world completely reset to the point in time where she first was sucked in. While that did derail the story, it wasn't enough to completely destroy it beyond repair. Apparently the prince wasn't supposed to go the angst route. Dala took what she had learned through various experiments and came up with a suggestion to make things more streamlined. If she wasn't being plagued with nausea and a constant headache every moment, Shiloh would have been able to make a more coherent plan outside of a systematic stabbing spree. Thankfully Dala was here to handle that.

The suggestion of the competition was rather clever, and it had many purposes. The hunting competition would be used to see if this was specifically a male-centered romance fantasy, where the story revolved around a leading male character's relationships. Even though this was a romance fantasy novel, it was important to know what angle they were coming from. "If they're important to the story, they'll definitely come–male or female." Finding Lizzy was also a bonus too. "Let's do it. It's our best shot so far. Question is, do we set this competition up ourselves or do we wait for it to happen? I didn't really have time to learn much about the customs and holidays of this kingdom before I began my 'process of elimination'." Even if the guards were incompetent, she technically was a wanted criminal now for attempted assault on a dozen noble houses. 

Author: Dala, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 9:58 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Dala quietly listened to Shiloh's explanation of what she has discovered or theorized so far. If it wasn't for the fact that Dala came from the real world and knew about the strangeness of their reality, her thoughts would have sounded like mad ramblings. Even now she was still trying to wrap her head around the entire situation. Then poor Shiloh went and puked in a bucket. Suddenly Dala felt relieved to have little access to her own magic, else she might be just as pukey as Shiloh. Dala took a moment to look at their surroundings, finally noting the suspicious nature of the cabin. If this…well it WAS a romance novel so it must have been part of the plot at some point. Perhaps that's something else Shiloh changed?

"Got it. So that's why you went after one of the nobles. You were trying to figure out who was an important plot person." Dala deduced, "Have you tried killing the pink princess yet? I'm not certain but she may be plot-relevant."

Apparently, the pink princess was not the main character or important enough to throw the story off, which was somewhat a relief to Dala since it could have been THAT kind of story. She slumped down on the floor and began thinking about what their next move should be. Even if they killed off an important character, it wouldn't be enough. They needed to destroy a plot point or kill a character who was so relevant, the story couldn't ignore it. That meant love interests and protagonists. They couldn't keep going one by one, they would need a proper plan.

"We need to lure the love interests and protagonists out." Dala stated, "If we keep going one by one, we'll never get anywhere."

She paused for a moment and began thinking up a plan. This was one of the few times she was actually thankful of all the trope talks, book conventions, and scoutings that Simone dragged her through.

"Let's try a hunting competition first." She suggested, "It shouldn't be too hard to get them to do it, considering it'll go with the theme of the book and all the side characters are daft. The one who wins the competition could be our male lead. And if any women talk to an extremely handsome man for more than five minutes, there's a chance that she could be a protagonist as well. Plus it'll guarantee everybody will be there so we may find Lizzy. What do you think?"

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 9:45 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

"I was just about the say the same thing! Good thing I ran into you, Dala. I was pretty sure I was on my last straw there." Shiloh had found a cabin in the woods that was unoccupied. At first when she entered she found some suspicious things, like a secret tunnel that led out to a spot near the capital city, some changes of clothes, and stocked up provisions. She had a slight pounding headache as she entered it, but as time went on that faded. She had taken out all the secret road markers that led to this place, and even got rid of the more questionable items. Strangely enough, that made her nausea and migraines disappear. With her working theory on the way this world functioned, this area must've had some sort of minor plot significance before she vandalized the nearby area. It was her hideout now.

"Looks like we're both trying to find her, yes. And this self-contained dimension seems to be isolated completely too. The main focus was romance, and I suppose the creator only had one thought on the brain." Good for them, as she didn't think she'd be able to handle more madness. Opening the door to the cabin, she let Dala in as she checked that no one else was around. Closing the door, she then lit a lantern and hung it up. "So I have a theory about this book. If this is a self-contained dimension, then there has to be something holding it together. Sort of like a machine–there are many working components, but if you remove the most important one, it falls apart and stops completely. Normally that would be the power source or something close to it, but I haven't found anything that matches so far."

 Rubbing her head, she added: "This entire 'world' is made of magic. Something has to be providing that magic, or at least giving it some sort of way to sustain itself. Unfortunately that means I feel like I'm dying on the inside thanks to all this dense concentrated magic in the air, but it's especially bad when I'm inside the city." She then went over to a bucket, and proceeded to empty the contents of her stomach. After a few minutes, she was better. "Ugh… Anyway, we're in the same boat more or less. I can use my magic but it's hard due to the strain on my focus. So long story short: we find the centerpiece of this book, we wreck it, it should destabilize enough to throw us and Lizzy out."   

Author: Dala, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 8:15 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Luckily for her, the masked person was also a person trapped in the book. That much was obvious from their reaction and exclamation over finding a real human being. Before she knew what was happening, she was lifted off of her feet and the both of them were fleeing far away from the capital city. She was almost impressed by the distance until she remembered that distance was strange in this world and so was time. When they were far enough away, Dala jumped to the ground and brushed herself off before turning to the masked person and holding out her hand to them to help pull them to their feet.

"The name's Dala. And please tell me you have a place to stay. I am NOT going back to that manor." She said with a shudder.

If she had to watch those creepy staring servants who had smiles every second, she would go insane. Everything about this world was wrong in every single way. The things that seemed normal and made the world seem real were missing while every important event was dramatized. Even the death of the green haired girl was in slow motion. Dala desperately wanted to get out of here. The masked figure finally revealed themself as Shiloh. Dala's jaw dropped and her eyes widened as she recognized her old teacher.

"Wait WHAT?!" She exclaimed, "I didn't think you read romance novels?!"

That was the most surprising thing of this entire situation. Shiloh explained her side of the story, how she arrived in the novel and what she had been doing ever since getting there as they both walked back to her home base.

"So we both are looking for Lizzy then? At least we know it's the same book and not some interconnected web." Dala commented, "So how do you think we can get the hell out of here? I still don't have access to any of my magic so if it needs that I'm afraid I won't be able to help much."

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 9:22 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

The moment Shiloh entered the novel, every waking moment had been torment. She didn't appear in a nobleman's house unlike Dala had, but the sheer amount of ambient magic in this 'world' made her physically ill. She should have known better than to touch a cursed artifact. She just didn't expect it to be disguised as a romance novel. Hours passed as her sense of time was scrambled with the pounding migraines and inability to find where Lizzy was. She had tried to find a way out of this world, to no avail. But in the time she spent here, she was able to test the boundaries of this self-contained dimension. First, the laws of common sense. There were none, absolutely none. The rule of aesthetics and blind lovey-dovey romance was the overarching law that governed this technicolor purgatory. Two, only things important to romance mattered. As long as she laid low and stayed away from certain areas, the agonizing pain and nausea would be far less. 

If she could find the cornerstone of this world, she might be able to try to destabilize it enough to spit her and Lizzy out. Without it, the magic of this place would completely fall apart. There was one small problem though…she didn't know what the novel was about. All she knew was it was some sappy love story, but she had no idea who or what was important. Trying to work backwards, she tried to single out that which might be considered critical to the novel's plot line. And so began a series of trial and error, which to the general public became known as the 'noble lady stabbings'. After trying to get help the normal way, Shiloh came to the conclusion that none of these people were actually real and just figments of the cursed book's creation. That was made clear after she stabbed a woman who was said to be engaged to a duke's son. The blood looked terribly realistic, to the point that Shiloh began to panic when nothing different was happening–but a day after she fled the scene and stayed hidden, news spread that the woman was fine.

That woman went about her business like nothing had happened at all. No trauma, no increased security, no manhunt for the attacker. That itself was terrifying.

And so, this was why Shiloh was able to mentally justify attacking people in broad daylight. As she was fleeing the scene, what caught her off guard was one of the ladies at the party catching up with her. Instead of spouting lines of justice or indignation, she said she wanted to come with her?! Shiloh stared in shock for a few seconds before it finally dawned on her. "OH THANK GOD!! Finally, an actual human being!" Throwing a look over her shoulder, she saw the guards were approaching. "Alright, come with me–let's get out of here." Quickly Shiloh grabbed Dala and continued to run, taking off into the nearby landscaping to throw the guards off their trail. It was all a blur until they were outside the capital city gates, Shiloh letting go of Dala then and crumpling onto the ground with a wheeze. The throbbing pain in her head was easing up, and she could actually hear herself think.  

Author: Dala, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 7:11 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Everything in the room felt like it was designed by a commoner who knew nothing of actual nobility. The clothes were garish and everywhere she looked there was some pop of color. The materials in the room were all extremely expensive to the point that even REAL nobility would have a hard time paying for it. The guards surrounding them had shiny armor, always an indication of unused armor. She wondered if any of them had ever been in an actual battle. Perhaps if one of them had a scar they at least would have been in one. Yet all of them had pretty clean faces, even the other ladies in the room.

Dala wondered if this was hell. Did she die at some point and was now being tortured for her misdeeds of the past? Even so, this was extreme for just a few morally grey decisions. The worst she had ever done was almost kill a nobleman. The gossip surrounding her went in one ear and out the other as she forced a smile and pretended to belong in the crowd of nobles. Luckily for her, Lady Melody seemed to be little more than a side character or some background npc. Her blonde hair and brown eyes hardly made her stand out in the crowd, much to her relief. If she was the protagonist, she would go insane. She noticed how stupid the Princess appeared with her laughing and unending smiles. Either she was extremely clever or extremely dumb to behaving in such a way while other people were getting stabbed.

Suddenly, a server threw off a wig and tore away their uniform to reveal armor. Their face was covered by a bandanna and they were far faster and more agile than any of the guards. A genuine smile crept on Dala's face as she realized that THIS was the person she needed to find. She also noticed how the musicians switched to tense music instead of trying to flee or actually being helpful. This was why she hated romance novels. Dala quickly grabbed her hidden knife from her dress and cut off the bottom part of her gown for more movement. She then raced after the masked stabber, running much faster and behaving more intelligently than the guards. Instead of running into walls or doors, she took a shortcut to reach the masked murderer quicker.

Soon she was by the masked person's side, running with them.

"Heeeeeey, I love what you're doing." She said quickly, "Please let me come with you. I can't stand being in this place for one more moment!"

Better to get stabbed by a masked murderer than deal with another tea party.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 7:11 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

It was a long and agonizing ride to the tea party, mostly because of the dress. There were other overdressed girls her age sitting at a table with pastries worth more than a man's monthly salary drinking tea from overpriced teacups. It was easy to see who was important here by the garishness, er–distinct coloring of their hair and eyes. The more normal looking they were, the less likely they were actually important to the plot. Speaking of which, what was the plot? There were many guards around as rumors of noble lady stabbings were hot news. This meant nothing to the actual culprit. Security had been doubled for the princess's birthday party, where people came and gave offerings to the second heir of royalty in hopes of establishing political and social relationships. 

It would appear as if everyone thought poor Princess Amelia was the next target. How wrong they were… The party started with musicians playing, rose garlands everywhere, servants at their beck and call. The gossip was boring and pointless for someone like Dala. Unfortunately Lizzy wasn't here either. The Bartlebys gave Dala a description of her before allowing her into their daughter's room. She had flaxen braids and freckles over her nose, with brown eyes. Nobody matched that description here. Even the guards were shiny with the fanciness of their uniforms. You could swear the swords were more of a decoration than for self-defense. When the time came, there was the obligatory presentation of gifts to Amelia. As the ladies of lesser noble houses approached to hand their wrapped boxes, Princess Pink Hair smiled and laughed like she didn't have a care in the world.

Then…a masked cloaked figure attacked. 

Charging onto the scene, a maid was knocked over as a person who originally was one of the servers threw off a wig and tore away the servant uniform to reveal light armor. With their lower half of the face obscured by a bandanna, they leaped into the air avoiding the guards. They landed onto the grass amidst the cries of pandemonium, and the musicians were playing tense music instead of actually fleeing. The figure looked around before locking onto a target–a girl with light green hair and gold eyes. Lunging at her, there was a scream as she was stabbed from the front. As the girl fell down, the figure seemed to pause for a few moments before muttering in dissatisfaction: "Curses, not this one either." 

"SEIZE THEM! PROTECT THE PRINCESS!" The guards were closing in, and the masked stabber was giving the area one last look in case their real target was nearby. They did a double take when their eyes landed on Dala, before breaking into a sprint to run away. Whatever was happening, this definitely wasn't according to the story's plan.

Author: Dala, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 6:30 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

This place was a complete mess. The guards, the weird maid, and even the library all spelled out the truth in blinding lights. That strange novel that she opened must have had an illusion or hidden world inside of it. Perhaps a pocket dimension? Whatever it was, she needed to find some way to get out. Luckily the information she WAS able to find told her all about the important people of the novel. The king, queen, prince, and princess, and anybody else was in the books. She snatched a book with the most useful information for later then walked out of the library. There was sudden talk about stabbings in the court. THIS caught her attention. Dala disliked romance novels most of the time but what she did learn from Simone was that most romantic novels, unless they were extremely erotic, had little violence up until the end of the book. That meant whoever was causing the stabbings was changing the course of the book. And in order to find this mass stabber, she would have to go to a certain tea party.

"I hate everything." She gritted her teeth.

Dala walked back to the manor and managed to get to the gate. All of her servants were crying and worrying over her like a bunch of sappy old maids.

"Oh I am so dreadfully sorry!" She said in the sweetest voice she could manage while resisting the urge to bring out her hidden knife, "I had a hooooorible nightmare that made me think I was going to be killed. Could you ever forgive me?"

The excuse was lazy but so was the story of this book. Fortunately for her, everybody bought her little lie like it was the most obvious truth in the world. Somehow there was still time until the tea party and she was allowed to go. The maids acted like the morning's incident was completely forgotten and it likely was. Dala had acted outside of her character so it wasn't difficult to get these mindless npcs to forgive her for anything she did. Dala, or Lady Melody, was dressed in a frilly blue gown with white lace and had her hair curled. Now she had so much pity for those dressed-up cats that lived in the Adelunian noble houses. She suddenly understood their secret desire to kill everybody in the room while the world fawned and cooed over them. Luckily, she was able to stow away her kitchen knife in the pile of fabric called a dress. She left in the carriage to this tea party and couldn't wait to find this mass murderer. Perhaps they could team up at the very least.

Either way, she needed to be close to other nobles in order to find whoever this was.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 6:22 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

By now it was clear that the way this world worked was broken in a sense. Guards for a noble house were too incompetent to keep their own 'lady' from escaping, people being too easy to coerce, even a horse that didn't try to buck her off wildly as first instinct. The library was the last nail in the coffin. Information shouldn't be this limited or…useless. But it did give a small bit of background on her situation. This was the kingdom of Cyrese, and there were three great noble houses: Voutonne, D'or, and Cours. Their coat of emblems were drawn in great detail, also they named the current king and queen. History on the houses and the royals was laid out, along with tales of their exploits. Basically useless exposition. Since the carriage's crest at the mansion wasn't any in these books, Dala could make a guess that Melody wasn't from these families.

Papers on the street held the latest gossip about fashion trends, talk of international diplomacy, and the upcoming ball which would be held by the Cyresian royals. Somebody wrote a little too much about the first prince and princess, which meant they were important in this book. And by descriptions, they practically spelled out how they looked so you couldn't miss them if you saw them on the street. Prince Percival was a blonde with green eyes and his sister Amelia had pink hair and purple eyes. Apparently common sense wasn't the only thing that had been thrown out the window, as was genetics. There was mention of some other men and women of famous families, which really didn't matter at the moment. What did matter was how colorful this city was. It was like everything had been whitewashed in sparkles, as if to emphasize the romantic atmosphere. In a strange book fantasy world with no way of knowing where Lizzy was, what was Dala to do? 

"Hey, did you hear about the rumors recently? I heard the guards found the daughter of a count had been stabbed in broad daylight!" "What?! That's crazy! Did they catch the culprit?" "No, they didn't. That's the weird part, they didn't see who it was–they arrived after the screaming and found Miss Marianne covered in blood!" There was talk about a string of serial stabbings going on, but no one had been caught so far. And the strangest thing was only nobles were being targeted. 

Author: Dala, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 5:41 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

The young woman kept running as the shouts of maids and butlers barked off behind her like a pack of wild dogs. Up ahead was a fancy carriage in front of the main gate. She slid to a halt as she spotted the royal guards staring at their lady in a nightgown. After a desperate look around, she spotted a horses' stables and made a mad dash to the little building. The door broke down with a single kick and inside she found a series of perfectly combed and tamed horses. There was a single stableboy who was too shocked to actually do anything as Dala jumped onto the back of one of the horses and freed it from the stable. The guards, whoever they were, could have shot an arrow at her at any point. It was clear they would do nothing to harm her and the main gates were already open, just blocked by the guards and the carriage. With a wild smile, she urged the horse on and whispered in its ear.

"If you don't charge towards that gate, I'll kill you and eat you for fucking dinner." She said in a low voice.

The horse, terrified by her threat, ran towards the carriage and main gate at full speed ahead. The carriage and guards were just able to get out of the way as her horse made a mad dash into the city. The streets were oddly clean and the rest of the people were there but not really doing anything. The place should have been crowded with that many buildings and homes but there were only a handful of people wandering about. After weaving through several large alleyways and jumping around in the city, she managed to calm the horse down and climb from its back. Then she gave it a good wack and send it scampering off for home. If she got lucky, the weirdos at the manor would think she had died or something. It didn't matter.

What did matter was getting some actual clothes. The nightgown was inconvenient and would get her too many stares. So she ducked into the alleyway and waited for one of the townspeople with decent clothes to walk by. She found this young man around her size and yanked him into the alleyway. Pressing her knife against his throat, she demanded his clothes and everything in his pockets. Any money or any valuable item would be hers. Normally she would feel guilty but it was either her or them. In this situation, survival and avoiding tea parties were her highest priorities. The young man took off his clothes and gave her everything he had. He was a shriveling mess of tears and fear which surprised Dala, considering he was much taller than her. She pulled on the tunic and trousers along with the shoes. He also had a decent amount of cash, yet the money he had was not Revaliir money of any kind.

"What the actual hell." She said.

There wasn't any way she would find out more information here so she let the young man go and ran around the city until she found a library. The library was beautiful with elegant flowers and pretty green paint on the outside. Once she stepped in, she noted the thousands of books on the shelves. This would be the place for information. Or so she thought. When she went to the history section, all she could find was information on a single recent war. That was it. The rest of the books were empty or repeated the same information. Then she began searching through the rest of the books but could only find cheesy love poetry or the same story about one war that happened a while ago. Nothing of use.

"WHAT's WITH THIS STUPID LIBRARY?!" She shouted in frusteration.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 5:13 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

There was the sound of a maid screaming in panic as 'Lady Melody' went out the window, not that she was in any danger. Thankfully Dala's appearance was unchanged. Once she was out of the house, all hell broke loose as the hounds–er, servants were coming after her. They were shouting phrases of concern for her health, her sanity, and of course just wanting her to get dressed. The head butler heard the news that their dear lady had lost her marbles and was running in the gardens in her nightgown, which made him faint. How this poor man ever managed to not die an early death via aneurysm was anybody's guess. Servants on horses were coming after Dala, with maids in tow. There was a fancy carriage in front of the main gate, likely the ride they would have put her in once she was dressed up.

Estate guards turned their heads wondering what was the ruckus about. Dala was now faced with her first challenge: escape the mansion and avoid the guards. If she was caught, she'd be forced to attend the tea party full of people she didn't know or care about. Outside of the mansion estate where 'Lady Melody' lived, there were broad stone streets not unlike Adeluna's. The architecture wasn't the same though, so this was no Adeluna City. And of course, the streets were unnaturally clean. Between the main gate and the mansion was a series of rose hedges, because of course every noble's house had to have rose hedges. Fortunately they made an effective maze from the hired help since nobody thought to have a lookout from the second floor. 

There was the horses' stables a little ways off to the side from the main gate and the door was unlocked. Security was strangely lax despite this being a noble's house. But what the book failed in realism meant windows of opportunity for Dala, as nobody here seemed to operate on logic and common sense.

Author: Dala, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 5:00 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

The book itself seemed like a romance novel. Dala had seen more than enough of those from Simone's book fairs and events. But just as she opened the book, a bright light filled the room and everything went white. When she finally opened her eyes again, she first saw the fancy windows made of fine glass. Dala's eyes shot open in a panic as she sat up in the pile of expensive sheets. Her eyes went straight to the rest of the room with a look of confusion. Where the fucking hell was she? This wasn't Lizzy's room. Suddenly a maid with glasses ran into the room and shouted about some tea party or whatever. The pink book wasn't in sight and none of the room made any sense to her. Did she get teleported somewhere? The maid then talked about some person named Princess Whats her name and some birthday.

Dala pushed herself out of bed and walked over to the glass doors that lead to the balcony. She looked out at the landscape below. It was a vast garden filled with flowers and fresh green grass with a large fountain in the center of it all. Beyond that was a town filled to the brim with people. The maid was fussing about something but Dala chose to ignore her. A tea party wasn't important.

"Wait… what did you call me? Lady Mel something?" Dala asked with confusion.

The maid was a strange one. Like a fountain of exposition without an off switch. When Dala looked down at her clothes, she realized that they had been switched out with a nightgown instead of her usual trousers and tunic. The last thing she remembered was opening that book…. Well whatever was going on, she was determined to get the fuck out of here. Spotting a breakfast tray with a delicious meal, which included meat, she realized that the knife provided would be sharp enough. Dala dashed to the knife, snatched it, then cut one of the curtain cords down. It was extremely long and would provide well as a rope. Then she turned to the maid with a smirk.

"Nice to meet ya miss…. whatever your name is. But there's no way in hell you'll get me to a fucking tea party." She stated.

Dala tied the rope to one of the balcony rails, held the knife in her mouth, then climbed down the cord rope until she was able to jump the rest of the way. She landed on her feet with a huff then took her knife and ran off into the gardens. She needed to find out what the fuck was going on and put a stop to whatever bullshit was happening. First, she needed to figure out where in Revaliir she had been teleported to and why on earth that maid was calling her Lady Melody.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 4:42 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

At the end of their rope, the parents gladly let Dala have a look around. As Mrs Bartleby found it hard to look at their daughter's room, they left Dala on her own. As for potentially being robbed, that wasn't a concern since their precious daughter was already gone. The book's title read: 'A Rose by Another Name'. The way the book looked screamed 'romance novel', or something along the lines of it. There was a faint hint of magic from the book as it was picked up, but as soon as Dala opened it–a bright blinding light filled the room–and then everything went white. The book fell to the ground, landing with the title facing up. Dala however was nowhere to be seen.

You find yourself in a room. It is probably early afternoon or late morning, and strong sunlight is pouring in from the window. The room is decorated in fancy furnishings and the bed canopy has curtains of sheer silk. You don't know how you know this, but you're sure the price tag was very expensive. There are fluffy pillows on the bed and the blankets are absolutely amazing, like the kind where you'd want to sleep in forever. 

A woman dressed as a maid comes in and walks over in a rush, pushing up her glasses as she looks over your worriedly. "Oh thank heavens, you're finally awake Lady Melody! It's almost time for the tea party to start!"  A distinct feeling of déjà vu washes over you for some reason, but it only gets worse when you realized what she called you. Something is wrong here.

There was no sign of the pink book that she had opened earlier, and this definitely wasn't Lizzy's room. With how fancy even the maid's clothes looked, you'd think that this was some sort of fairy tale romance story where there were princes and princesses… "Now my lady, you need to pick out a dress. We mustn't keep Princess Amelia waiting. All the young ladies in the city will be there to congratulate her at her birthday party!" Speaking of which, the way this woman talked was very odd, almost like she was a walking mouthpiece of exposition.

Author: Dala, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 4:23 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

The mean streets. Streets where devils danced and angels feared to tread. Or something like that. Dala had been sitting on a bench of these streets, ready to dig into the sandwich she had been waiting all day for when she suddenly noticed a missing girl poster on the side of a bakery. Curiosity got the better of her as she put away her sandwich and stepped into the bakery, inquiring about the missing poster. Before she could ask further, a weeping Mrs. Bartleby began to blabber all of the details about Lizzy and her strange disappearance. The case was a difficult one, something beyond what the Irian guards could handle and there was only one person who could take up this case. Somebody who knew about magic! Hopefully, they would find somebody like that.

Dala was half tempted to head out and back out of this situation but she already had seen the desperation on the two's faces. She wasn't keen on raising their hopes but at the very least she would try to give it a shot. Dala asked a few more questions about Lizzy to see if her parents had any other details. Once they told her about her passion for reading, Dala began to wonder if Lizzy was lured off with promises of books or libraries. It would work on Dala.

"May I investigate her room for a moment? It might lead me to something." She said.

They agreed and led her up to Lizzy's bedroom. As expected, there wasn't much. The bedroom was simple and made for a family with humble beginnings. The bed was single and the room was tiny, with only a small window to overlook the streets. There was a dresser and an end table next to the bed with a book on it and a little handmade rag doll that Lizzy must have had since she was a child. The book looked normal. It was a rosy dark pink leatherbound book with gold lettering in cursive on the front and a bookmark attached at the top. Out of pure curiosity, Dala opened the book wondering what type of book Lizzy was reading. It would give her some insight into Lizzy's personality and be something interesting to pass the time.

Author: Shiloh Kyrie, Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2021 3:54 PM, Post Subject: Love and Libricide [P/R]

Somewhere in Iria, the city of books, there came a curious case of a missing girl from a lower middle-class household. The parents were shopkeepers, both busy during the day with their work. Their youngest, the missing girl in question, was the shy and delicate sort. She had an older brother who had a night shift as a guardsman, their relationship was fairly close. 

The brother filed a missing person's report with posters asking for anyone who was willing to help find Lizzy. Her parents were distraught, the family didn't know what to do. Lizzy disappeared one day without warning; her family returned home after work to find she was gone with no signs of a break in or forced entry. Her room was untouched, nothing was out of place. The only thing missing was Lizzy herself. The reward money for finding the family's daughter isn't much, but the circumstances surrounding her disappearance are troubling. About half a year ago a girl around her age went missing too, but since she didn't have family in the city no one really noticed until the landlady didn't receive rent as usual. People are becoming concerned that perhaps something terrible is afoot, and tensions are rising. There's only one way to solve this mystery: to find the truth.

"She was always a sweet girl." Mrs. Bartleby said, sniffing. The lady's eyes were red from crying, and her handkerchief was all bent out of shape. "Lizzy loved books, even as a child. While most girls her age wanted dolls and pretty dresses, she would always beg me or my husband to let her buy a big red-covered storybook full of nursery rhymes she saw in a window. Back then we'd just started our bakery, so money was scarce. We always told her maybe next year…" 

Mr. Bartleby was solemn, his thin face tired with a heavy heart. He comforted his wife as she dabbed her face, feeling just as confused and at a loss as her. "Once we had more regular customers, we'd give her a small allowance every month to buy what she wanted. New books aren't cheap, so she'd save up for months at a time once she had her eye on one. When she found a place that sold secondhand books, it was like she found buried treasure. With business booming, we didn't have a lot of time to spend with her or Marcus, so we were glad she liked reading." 

Then, a few weeks ago tragedy struck. Lizzy went missing without a trace, and nobody had seen hide nor hair of her. Where did she go? Who kidnapped her? Even her brother's attempts came with nothing.