your N O B L E steed // Axel

[semper]

The hems on my jacket are perfect. Which is good because out in the woods I have nothing to cut the random strings that just suddenly appear. I don’t like it when they fray – they become incomplete and the hem isn’t as strong as it could potentially be.

[/color] Instead, a stray string could be pulled and then the whole hem is destroyed and that thought is just appalling. My – no, Jake’s eyes[/color] – scan each and every one of the stitchings on my jacket. Perfect.[/color] No stray ends, no little threads, it’s perfect.[/color]

As I walk through the woods I’m sure to keep my distance from the briar underbrush. Those little pointy things have snagged on my clothes before and torn them all to pieces and as you can probably imagine the seams weren’t so perfect after that. Thorns are painful anyway, so it’s best just to avoid them anyway; they’ll get caught in your skin and it hurts to pull them out, and sometimes they’ll even end up underneath your nail and that’s even more painful. So I dance around the briar bushes as if the jagged thorns are poisonous – like dragon’s teeth![/color] Dragons have poisonous teeth, right? They do in all the stories. The only thing their poison doesn’t work on is a noble steed’s leg and I don’t have a steed. I need a steed, don’t I?[/color] What are steeds normally – aren’t they horses? Big white horses?

I need a horse then![/color]

I pick up my feet with a sort of elegance prancing manner, taking my strides slower and kicking my knees up. That’s what the horses in the Capitol do when they pull the chariots.[/color] They curl in their legs tightly and move in a bouncing fashion, almost like they’re hopping on air. I lift each foot as if it’s a hoof and I even nicker once or twice, though it sounds more like a sneeze trying to escape my nose but in my head it sounds like a mighty stallion’s nicker.[/color] That’s what I am: a mighty stallion ready to go off and swoop some damsel in distress off her feet and gallop off to safety.

Prancing through the woods – pick up that hoof![/color] – I eventually come upon a fence which strikes me as odd. I knew I was outside of Eight, but what was this fence for? I carefully put my ear near the chain links and listen for a hum but it’s dead silent. Just for proper measure I quickly tap a finger against the fence, expecting a shock to rock me but nothing happens. It’s clear.

I give a light clicking noise with my tongue and begin to prance along again, holding a hand up as if I’m holding the reins to the mighty white horse. Sticking near the fence, I look out for the fabled damsel. Aren’t they usually locked up in towers?[/color] All around me the trees stand tall like sturdy stone towers so I lift my gaze up as I high step, and lo and behold there’s a figure spotted amongst the branches.

I pull back on the reins and my legs big white horse comes to a stop. This girl – damsel in distress?[/color] – is just up in her tree tower like nothing was wrong. There’s no dragon circling with fire brewing in its belly, ready to set me on fire for getting too close; there’s no troll ready to bludgeon me to death; there’s no wizard to turn me into something in order to chase me off. She just appears at ease up in her leafy tower.

”M’lady.” I bow as any knight should to a woman. ”You wouldn’t happen to be a damsel in distress, would you?”

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[Anna Banana]

Things were not going well at all for me today, school had been terrible and everything after that had been worse. It all started when I got to school in the morning, I was early like I usually was, and today of all days the school bully decided to show up early also. They proceeded to make my morning miserable, where I usually would sit in the class room drawing in one of my notebooks, I was instead the brunt of their insults and jokes. I tried to leave them and get some alone time but they followed me everywhere. It was just lucky that I always made sure that one of the teachers was around otherwise they would probably start beating on me also. Anyways it once school actually started it didn't get any better for me, they made sure they had seats behind me and pulled on my hair, flicked my ears and generally made my life miserable. When the bell rang signalling the end of the school day it didn't get any better for me. I ran out of school and to my home hoping to find solice in my parents, but they were in as foul a mood as the bullies at my school.

I tried to tell them about how my day was going and that I wanted someone or something to help me at school, but they wouldn't listen. My dad was drunk in the kitchen and mom was screaching about something in the bedroom. What a family life am I right, wouldn't you want to live with me? Dad slapped me across the face when I tried to talk to him and mom just cursed at me, so I left them to wallow in their misery. I needed to get away, I needed to go where I knew I could find happiness...into my fantasy world. Yes, it's true, I have an imaginary world I go to when the real world is beating down on me, and yes, I'm very childish, I don't want to grow up. In any event I began to wander through the fields that made up most of District 11 pretending I was a warrior princess hunting for those who would threaten my lands.

Taking a stick from the ground I wave it around and than slip it into the rope that hung around my waist. This was my mighty sword, it would fell all of my opponents with a single sweep. Quickly I grew bored of this adventure though, there was nothing to slay out here, my kindgom was safe...for now. Maybe if I got a better view of the land I would find it easier to find what I was looking for. Scanning around me my eyes fell upon a large tree near the fence of the district, it might be just the thing I was looking for. The tallest turret of my castle, proudly daring all who challenged me to try and take it down. Running over to it I climbed it's branches with the skill and agility of one who was used to the outdoors, and came to rest on one of the branches. Tucking my skirt underneath me I hang one of my legs off the branch and just look out across the open fields. It truly was a beautiful site, the waves of wheat and grain moving in unison as a gentle breeze blew through, and in my mind it was my world.

Someone was near though, I could sense it, someone that didn't belong in my kingdom. Suddenly a voice startled me and I almost fell of the branch I was sitting on. Some knaive had the nerve to ask me if I was a damsel in distress, and while I was a very dainty and slight girl I like to think of myself as someone who can take care of themselves. In reality though...today...I was a damsel in distress, I was beaten, tired, and needed a friend. Maybe this knaive could be of use to me? "You are trespassing on my kingdom sir knight, don't you know the penalty for crossing into my land. By the royal decree of the warrior queen Bella, that's me, the penalty is death. You shall be spared today though, for my warrior spirit is extinguished, and I am no better than a damsel in distress. Perhaps you could save me from what is bothering me so sir knight? There are enemies to the kingdom who threaten me daily, and they are the most wicked trolls you'll ever see. Horrible wretches who deserve to be executed in the name of the crown."

[semper]

Oh. Oh. I hadn’t thought about the consequence for trespassing onto another person’s kingdom. Nothing like this ever really happened to any of the vagabond knights in my stories: they travel from kingdom to kingdom, doing the king or queen’s bidding without any repercussions and then they’re off once more. They never squirm under the threat of death for any reason and yet here I sit on my valiant steed, suddenly nervous about the penalty of death for trespassing. I stand still underneath the tree’s extended branches on the other side of the tall fence, looking up at the fair maiden as she continues to speak. Bella, her name is Bella.

[/color] I pull my hand and reins closer toward my torso as thoughts cross my mind.

I’m spared, that’s the good news, but she goes on to say how her spirit is down trodden. I tilt my head to the side curiously. Trolls belong underneath bridges, slopping around in murky water with mud clinging to their hairy legs and dead, decaying fish floating around their eating place.[/color] Those cretins are no match for the sword and a skilled knight so they should be easy to get rid of. I turn my gaze and spot a fallen branch on the ground – I nudge my horse to take a few steps forward and I bend to pick up the branch, breaking off the excess limbs until I’m left with just the thick main branch. My sword.[/color] With reins in one hand and my sword in the other, I turn back to the queen in the tree.

”My queen, trolls do not belong in such a fine kingdom that I see lays beyond the iron fence,” I call up to her. ”They belong in the stinking mud of a creek, not wandering the streets of a pristine realm. I will help you, m’lady; I will personally see to it that these heathens are executed and that their grossly large crown falls into a basket for you to use as you will.” In one story I read, the king had taken the heads of thieves and put them on stakes all around the kingdom so as to warn the other bandits that he would not take any of their dalliances; perhaps that what Queen Bella wanted to do? If that is the case then I should not wait any longer.

My eyes lower their gaze to the kingdom’s boundary. How do I get to the other side?[/color] I look down the length of one side of the wall, then the other, and see no way to get across to where the queen is. A quite ’hmm’ sounds from my throat as I think. I can’t exactly climb over because then where would my horse stay? But the longer I wait, Queen Bella may think that I’m not the good knight I had said I was. I guess I’ll just have to leave my trusty steed here.[/color] I swing my leg over and dismount the horse, tying his reins up on a branch and then I start to climb the fence, keeping my sword in my hand. The links are small but they’re big enough to provide a good foothold for my boot, so I’m able to quickly ascend to the top but then I get stuck. There’s a string of barbed wire that’s keeping me from moving forward and so I cling to the fence, looking back up at her and asking quietly, ”How do I get past your iron stakes?”

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