Midsummer NiGHTopia [open, and still accepting characters, humans now avalible]

"Alright!" Eva replied happily as she followed Puc's choice with relief. Truthfully though, it was a little difficult for Eva to just abandon the mysterious downstairs and all the wonderous things that might be lurking down there...but the choice has been made to go left, to go up, and Eva is going to follow that choice with no regrets.....forget that nuisance downstairs!
"I wonder what may be residing up here..." Eva thought to herself through a murmur, looking around as they accended the staircase. Honestly...what other puzzels could there be placed around?

"It seems so SPiTE, what can't be accomplished, Master will simply remake, that is the life of a nightmaren." Reala answered, "We follow this law with no knowledge of when our 'use' is no longer needed..." Reala clutched his fist, even knowing the truth, he still had the undeniable pleasure of proving himself above all other nightmaren, as the best. He had given up on trying to be different, this is who he was....and he would prove it.
"Liar...." SPiTE mumbled under his breath, he would not believe such mutiny....he would never be replaced....he is the best Wizeman has....and yet.....he couldn't prove it to that prototype.....

Puc traveled up the staircase with Eva, each step led them closer to the next room, their next puzzle. Reaching the top of the stairway, they entered through a marble arch
entrance, and into a room, similar to the previous floor, same floor design, the only difference now was only one staircase on the other side, ascending to the next floor. Puc didn't remember this puzzle at first, until taking the first stop on the black tile, and falling right through the floor, grabbing onto the edge of the entrance with little time to spare, Puc felt his heart jump, fear has struck.

Before Eva could figure out what had happened, Puc suddenly vanished from her side, dissapearing in sync with some unnerving sound of something giving way. Her eyes darted to the source of the comotion on instinct...and to see Puc hanging for his own saftey off the edge of the platform....Eva felt something in her heart click. It wasn't a good click...it felt...terrible...very terrible..
"Puc-!" Eva breathed instantly, dropping to her knees as she grabbed hold of his arms, leaning herself backwards as she attempted to help pull Puc back up, "I thought puzzles and..flat out..traps..were two..completly..diffrent..things-!"
It did seem a little impressive that a visitor metally complex enough to divise a dreamworld of puzzels also set up traps around the place...but just seeing that they would subconciously add traps...how messed up was this visitor??

Puc breathed heavy, he tried to use his feet to find something to climb up, a wall or something...nothing, his feet dangled like snagged fish hook, but nothing was around. Puc didn't want to fall....not again....to be sent back to the beginning...to lose the chance to continue.......and leave Eva alone.....he couldn't.....no....this puzzle house had got him once.....not again.
Puc felt himself rise from the darkness, Eva was using all her strength to pull him up, all he could do was give her hope, that is all the strength he could give...

This didn't make sense at all to Eva. She knew Puc couldn't weigh any more then she does, yet pulling with heels dug into the floor, back leaned back as far as it could go, and arms stretched outward proved almost fruitless in her effort to help him. She couldn't understand it...this couldn't be the castle's doing could it? Pulling him away into some dark void for tresspassing on its grounds.....no, the castle can forget about that happening, if that was its plan! Eva could feel Puc slowly inching his way back up to her...she can get him back up here...she would not let him lose his freedom again.
Taking a deep breath, Eva gave it all one last tug, pulling Puc back with all she could muster. Soon enough, Puc's arms came back into the light...soon followed by his shoulders...then the waist..and as Eva gave her last pull Puc make his way back up..and suprising fast at that, as Eva soon found herself falling backwards, pulling Puc down right along with her, as the two landed with a thump back on the safety of the entrance, one squished beneath the other.

Reala heard SPiTE's discontent to the truth, but would have to ignore it, trying to calm him would make things more tense, and ending up in another fight wouldn't get them anywhere. Reala focused once again on the boy's horns, who's fear has calmed since their arrival. Those horns....they had yet to mature.....meaning....the boy was brought here by the nightmaren in him.....fight the nightmaren back...the boy is back in his world, and they have their escape.

Puc shut his eyes, he trusted Eva....believed in her.....and hoped not to be defeated again by this puzzle....but was it enough.....this hope....is it enough for Eva to have the strength? He had to believe....there was no other way.........Puc opened his eyes again, first looking at the hallway floor, feeling stable, he looked up....his eyes widen to view Eva underneath him, blushing bright red.......replying quickly, "Thank you...."

"My...pleasure..." Eva replied quietly, squeezing her eyes tightly before letting them opening, smiling at the sight of Puc's sweet face safe and sound yet again, just as it always should be. Thank goodness everything's alright now. After a predicament like that, Eva didn't think she could handle and encore performance...and hopefully, she won't have to...but when are the odds of being that lucky ever on her side?
"I'm just happy that you are safe.." Eva began with her smile, picking her head up and moving close to Puc, giving him a kiss on his cheek.
"..It just wouldn't be an adventure worth remembering if you weren't here."

"right...." It was all Puc could say, putting himself through danger again just worries Eva.....he didn't want to have her worry again......not again....."maybe.......I'm not sure." Puc sat up, his hand on his forehead....warm, his heart still pounded....."maybe this wasn't a good idea.....if you want, we can leave here......I don't want to be separated from you again, Eva..."

Eva pushed herself upright as she listened to Puc sharing his new outlooks, completely supprised at the sudden dramatic changes in his personality. What had that fall done to him...? He seemed so..doubtful now...nothing at all like the confident Nightmaren she had walked in here with. "Puc.." Eva beagn softly, placing a hand lightly on his back, "sweetheart....tell me...is all this because of what happened back at the fountain? True..even if we couldn't hear each other's voices, or see each other's faces...I still don't think we were ever truely apart that night.." Eva trailed off and looked at the floor, a little hint of pink faintly glowing from her cheeks as she began to twidle her thumbs before continuing. "I mean...I've always kind of thought that...even if I wasn't with you by..physical means...you were still kind of with me...in my....in my, um.." Eva continued to play with her fingers as she struggled to finish the last of her words, her pink blush on her face slowly growing brighter.
With a clumsy hand, Eva lifted one of her hands up, gradually taking one of her fingers and placing in on her heart, keeping her gaze low as she cleared her throat a little. "In...here...."

"Alright then kid, there's only one way out for you." Reala told the boy as he stood between him and the angered SPiTE. Pounding his fists to the ground, Reala used his strength to separate the sand beneath causing a a large hole in the ground, sand, slowly pouring in from the hills above to cover the hole, Reala made his own quicksand trap. "You have to wake up or drawn in your own world." Reala said with a wicked grin, the boy's fear rising, "Which is it?"

"No, it's because......" Puc wanted to tell Eva that he had fallen for this trap before....but how would she react. Nothing out of the ordinary of course, but thoughts rolled in his mind if he was judged. "Yes....it is because of the fountain....I was separate from you......and because of that...." Puc's breath heavy, he focused his eyes on Eva with his guilt blurting out, "the only way I would be cured......is if I kissed Vaye...."

As gently as it had lifted up, Eva's finger slowly drooped away from her heart, collapsing along with the rest of her hand back into her lap, limp, and lifeless.
"Wh-" Eva breathed, lifting her stare from the floor to Puc, dropping the pink color in her cheeks. "I thoug-....you said..Chive gave you an antidote.........that was a lie?" Eva didn't know what to say....what is there to say in response to such a thing...but suddenly..Eva felt it again. That click in her heart, she felt it again...though strangely, this time....this one was diffrent. This click felt colder..harsher..made Eva grip her chest in hope that it might cease, but somehow, she knew it wouldn't give her peace. Pain without physical injury...Eva didn't understand how someone could feel something like that..
....she felt one of her eyes burn a little.

"I was afraid to tell you......it was wrong for me to keep secrets from you........" Puc felt his guilt sink him to the ground like high gravity, "I never meant for it to happen, but it was the only way I could be myself again....at first, I thought it would be safer to just say Chive got the antidote.......You must be angry about this.......I understand......" Puc made a terrible mistake, but then again, better he say it then Chive or even Vaye tell her......perhaps it would have just been easier to fall through the floor....then upset Eva....

Eva sat quietly for a moment, her half closed eyes gazing laxly at her lap. Eva knew that if it was what Puc had to do then...he had to have done what he did...his life might have depended on it, and if that was the only way...Eva...Eva would accept that. She trusted Puc..and she believed that he only didn't tell her this because of what she may react like...but even so...despite accepting and letting go of what Puc did...something in her didn't want to accept. She didn't know what it was, she wanted to just ignore it and let it die off...but it just wouldn't leave here alone....that click.
"...I am not angry, Puc..." Eva finally began in a faint voice, holding her hands in her lap, one hand hiding its balled up brother tightly underneath it, "...Just..please...you do not need to refrain from informing me of anything in the future...I..I did not intend to be someone for you to fear.."

The boy had to make a choice, wake up from this horrid nightmare, or remain in the world of sand as the three are being pulled into under layer. Fear brought hesitation, the boy wanted to escape, for get all this, no of this happening....he closed his eyes, fear still lingering he focused away.....the world became black....the boy went towards a light....while the nightmarens, teleported to a gate.

"understood....." Puc said softly, he still felt fault in this situation....he still wasn't sure.... "I remember to let you know everything, hide nothing from you......" Puc thought coldly for a moment, as a nightmaren....secrets are few and valuable....it is what makes ideya so enjoyable to find......and yet.....thinking on past instincts, there was no reason to hide anything from anyone.....

"Thank you.." Eva replied camly, resting her head in her palm as she let her eyes come to a close. Well, guess it's safe to say Eva can go ahead and add this place to the list of places Vaye has ruined for her. First the city, then Puc's beach...and now this castle...even when she's nowhere in sight.
"..Would you rather we return to the chambers, or attempt continuing on?" Eva asked quietly, keeping her face covered in her gloved palm, clueless as to what to think anymore. Whether they stay or go doen't make any diffrence to Eva anymore....the place is already on the list.

"paraloop us back....." Puc said with regret, he didn't want to give up on this puzzle, but the emotion was too much for either of them......it's best if they just went back, rested, and forget this entire trip...."to the chambers please...." He'll let Eva choose where they go next time.....

Getting herself back to her feet, Eva gave the area around once last glance, heaving one more small sigh as she drifted back in the line she always follows, opening a portal back to her quarters..the place that never seems to change. Drifting back into her white walled world didn't bring much relief to Eva, suprising enough to her. Yes, she was happy to be back in her element, a place she felt safe in...but any joy she might feel didn't really matter to her now...all she wanted now was to just get over everything she had heard, and get rid of this stupid, stupid click.
Waiting for Puc to follow along through her portal, Eva went ahead and began to unbutton her coat, feeling the collar and sleeves droop away as she pulled each button from its hole. ....was she really seen as someone that couldn't be given horrible infomation without overreacting..?
...She never thought of herself as that way before...

vision came back to Reala and SPiTE clearly, a calm cool wind breezed past them as tree leaves rustled and trickling fountain water played a familiar tune. The two arrived back to the Dream Gate unharmed, Reala was pleased with their escape, while for SPiTE, the grudge would not end, as he went surprise attack........Reala was more then happy to end this once and for all.....teamwork didn't matter now....their egos back to what they once were.

Puc stepped through the portal back to Eva's blank room, feeling safe once again....but yet....he also felt, assured.... "If you don't mind...." Puc spoke quietly...his body shaking...."I'll sleep in my room tonight...." Puc kissed Eva on the cheek.....and left her room, still feeling regret.....

Eva watched quietly with sad eyes half closed as Puc left her room....two nights in a row...wonderful work, Eva.
"..Good night.." Eva mumbled to herself, fingers already grazing her cheek, as they lightly danced around Eva's kiss, soon ending up pressed against Eva's lips. It seems whenever they try to leave this home somethings always out there awaiting to get them...is it true that the only place they can truely be alone is here, in these chambers? Eva didn't know...but she hoped that one day that their luck may change...
Slunking into her bed with folded coat already placed akwardly in its home, Eva burried her face deep in her pillow, flicking the lights off with a quick snap of the fingers, all white now turned to gray.
Good night, Puc....let tomorow bring a better day for you.

Puc walked through the narrow hallway, a long road back to his quarters to be in touch with his thoughts....felt difficult with every step.....but he had to think positive....things didn't go planned....but that was no reason to keep sulking....a good night sleep and a moment of calming his mind would help.....then tomorrow will be anew...

Peaking his head out silently through his door with an annoyed look already spread across his face, Exo peered around his door, watching Puc until he dissapeared out of sight. Why......just why.
Whenever those two come home from Wizeman knows where all day, they always bring some stupid feeling in the air with them. Granted, this aura of depression and lonelyness felt so much better than that suffocating other one...but honestly, if he wanted to be sensing weird signals all the time, he'd be out in some unbearable frilly Nightopia, not in his home when he's trying to get some sleep!
Floating silently to his Eva's door with eyes already narrow, Exo felt free to open up her door and let himself inside...but seeing that the old bag is already asleep....what more could Exo do but to wait it out...teriffic.
Fine. If he can't say it face to face, he'll say it print to paper as Exo disappeared back into his quarters for only a moment, before returning back to Eva's room, casually tossing a silky balck envelope next to Eva's sleeping face.
"Enjoy it, old bag." Exo thought with a huff as he left back for his quarters with a swift swoop, leaving Eva's door wide open as always.
He's getting an expliantion from her for all of this.
He is.

Calm noises and surroundings were cut short by the sounds of battle between two egotistical nightmarens commenced. Reala accept this fight to show his pride still existed in him, and SPiTE fought back to prove to Reala he was wrong, he refused to believe Master Wizeman would no longer need him.....they both highly believed one was better then the other, while a lone audience viewer, watched with smirking grin, having her own predictions on how this fight would end.

With a soft yawn and lenghty stretch, Eva found her way back into conciousness, once again allowing new day's gentle call to stir her awake....even with her heart sleeping in a diffrent room. With a light moan, Eva rolled onto her back, not able to hold back from giving a glimpse around her room to see if she had been graced a secret visitor in her sleep again...but seeing that she was actually alone for the first time in days...it was a little hard for Eva to take in.
"Oh, Puc..." Eva moaned quietly, letting her head limply roll to the side, shutting her eyes, "...if only things hadn't gone as they did yesterda-...........oh, what is this??" She supposed she should feel joy....she had indeed been given a visitor in her sleep. A stupid, silky-black envelope. ...What did Chive want from her now? Had she not made herself perfect clear before? Eva didn't think it would be that complicated to understand something that had been explaned so thoroughly in such detail....yet here it is, sitting right infront of her eyes....a stupid, silky-black envelope.
Taking the letter in her hands with an annoyed grab, Eva tore her way open, letting the cover slip from her grasp as she pushed herself up and began to read...and upon leaping from her bed, eyes widened in fear, and blasting out of her room as she shot towards Exo's door, the letter lightly drifted right into the hallway, one neat, boldly written sentence on its surface.
"..Don't think I haven't noticed what's going on around here."

Puc spent his night half-asleep, too focused on settling his thoughts, to be sure everything is in order and there would be no more continuing problems....Puc thought about yesterday....no more would he lie to Eva.....he would be honest, collective, and be able to protect her at all costs.....and yet, it did feel great......to be a companion to Eva.....more then just the servant Wizeman had given up.

Exo sat in his white walled quarters with a pleasent mood about him, humming a little tune to himself as he sat and polished his prized guns, completely oblivious to the rapidly approaching threat on the other side of his door. To be honest, Exo knew leaving that note might provoke a little conflict....but hey, that's why he left that darn thing in there! He wanted some answers, and by gosh, he's going to get them!
And just as Exo placed his polished guns back into his belt....a rapid series of knocks came pounding on his door.....huh, it's finally show time...for floating right outside Exo's banging door....a fiestly little red horned hag.

Watching with anxious eyes as the door opened up, no two seconds later after Exo's face showed through, he was pushed right back inside, followed right along by his older sibling and a slam of his door on her way in. "..I take it you recieved my note." Exo started casually, throwing a cocky expression to his sister as she drifted over to him. "What do you know?" She asked flatly, staring with flickering eyes down at her brother, who just rolled his eyes in response. "I said-!" Eva quickly boasted, bending over as she got up in his face, "WHAT. DO. YOU. KNOW?!"
"I know what I know." Exo replied slyly, staring into his siblings face. Oooooooh....he can tell she was worried about this. "You listen to me, you pompus little idiot..." Eva began coldly, glaring into her brother's eyes, as he remained unimpressed, "You are going to tell me what you know, how you got to know it, and why you even care. Understand me?"
"...Fine." Exo replied cooly, rasing that non-present eyebrow one more time, "......I know about you and Piglet...don't think you two are so sneaky.."