Another Lewis Carroll moment...

[deadwesley1.livejournal.com]

~So where is the bottle labeled "Drink me"? he ponders silently. He remains silent to his companions. He remembers back to when he was a puny child wishing he could grow like Alice and look down on all his enemies- childish enemies like brutish class mates, overbearring fathers; certainly not demons, not then.

He's been quiet since they met and joiined up with the boy and the princess. He doesn't want to admit it, but he likes Hal. He seems locked in a simpler, more innnocent, more polite time; Wesley wonders when the poor boy died. It doesn't seem he belongs in Hell and it pains Wesley that the boy is here.

Then there's Beauty. She certainly appears to be just what she claims: she's royally dressed in medieval attire (12th century, French, maybe?) and her poise and bearing are certainly majestic. She's very young and sweet and, worse than Hal, it tears his heart to see her here, because if she can be trapped in this hideous realm than...

He has to drive the image away by thrusting his fist into one of the swamp trees, the pain momentarily splintering all thought of Fred into unrecognizable shards. But then he catches Lilah staring at him- he's been avoiding those eyes since they came to their senses, post- caveman. He knows he's hurting her, but the shock of her in this place with him overwhelmed him. He'd hoped better for her, God knows why, but she had come to him, hadn't she, when she could have run off and saved herself? He's always wanted to think there was SOMETHING worth saving in her damned soul. He snows he can't help her anymore now than he helped her then, and in his opinion, she might do better tagging along after someone else. He knows he's going to have to speak to her sooner or later...

Instead, he opts to speak to the entire group;~ Snape and I are headed to the demon city Dis. It's a goal, if nothing else. We have our reasons, and you're welcome to come with us.

~He winces, presumably at the tearing pain they're all experiencing, but in truth it's something far worse to his mind: the hollowness of returning to the living world without Fred. But he owes it to the rest of them, doesn't he? If any of the others survived...? He hardens his features and moves on.~

Comments

[noshoesinhell8.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've seen THIS movie before. Whatever it was is gonna pick us off, one by one, and you are the moron who's gonna walk right into it. Look, we've lost Wes the demon expert; doncha' think we should try to stick close so we don't lose the other valuable people?

[beautysleep4.livejournal.com]

There is a certain amount of safety in keeping together. *Beauty is trying to stay close to Hal without hampering his investigations. She seems tensed as though she expects something to materialize at any moment and she keeps clutching at the slime draped trees as they walk by for support. The taller she becomes the more the slightest breeze seems to affect her. Willowy by nature at her normal height, now she seems to sway like a sapling who has shot up beyond reason.*

You assume the worst. Perhaps he saw something and went ahead to make certain it was safe for the rest of the party. That is the charge of a champion.

[halleyscomet1.livejournal.com]

*He makes sure that Beauty is always in the corner of his eye; he'd probably die of guilt if she was hurt when his back was turned.*

It... doesn't seem like him to just disappear. *He sounds doubtful, aware that he hardly knows the man. But he likes to think that he's a good judge of character.*

*His height and abused limbs make movement clumsy and awkward, not to mention painful, but he's starting to get used to being in a constant state of harm. He can grit his teeth and bare it, so long as nothing unspeakably awful is going on.*

[severus-snape1.livejournal.com]

*Snape looks back at Lilah.*

Perhaps we're not walking right into it; what if it's circling around to pick up the straggler?

*He turns back to Hal.*

You're right; it's not like him. He would have let us known, with a caution to stay where we were, no doubt, so that he'd know we were waiting for him to come back. So now the question becomes, "Do we assume he went through the trees and go after him, or do we wait here?"

[noshoesinhell8.livejournal.com]

Decisive lot, aren't you?

*Lilah, with apparent need to prove she's not intimidated, or perhaps just the need to move forward, brushes past the others and takes a step into the slimy, dripping bracken and branches. She has to stoop, because she's grown too tall not to, and she stifles a cry at her body's wrenching protestations.*

See, no monsters, *she bites off, peering anxiously ahead. Where IS Wesley? He's not one to abandon her for his own needs, maybe for Angel's, but Angel's not here...*

[halleyscomet1.livejournal.com]

*Hal keeps breezy despite the slight blows to his masculinity that Lilah keeps inflicting upon him.*

It's good to see that someone's brave enough to go in there. Can you see anything?

*He wants follows after her, to push on ahead, but he feels that his duty now lies in making sure Beauty is kept safe. He lags back to stay with her.*

[severus-snape1.livejournal.com]

*It is Snape, then, who goes after Lilah. Ever since they reverted to normal after their cavemen experience, he has felt a little bad for her. She isn't exactly amiable company, but he suspects part of that is Wesley's own reaction to her.*

This is really the only place he could have gone, but I can't imagine he would have gone too far ahead without us.

[noshoesinhell8.livejournal.com]

*Lilah is creeping as much as someone her current size is able. It is obvious she is unnerved and a little disgusted by the surroundings, but then, who could blame her?*

I don't see him. I can't see much of anything, actually. It's really dark.

[severus-snape1.livejournal.com]

*Snape follows, committed to providing her protection, though if something was powerful enough to take out Wesley without a sound, he has very little hope of defending either of them against it, and he knows it. As he gathers his courage, he thinks, well, he's died before....*

Here, take my hand; let's not get separated as he did.

[beautysleep4.livejournal.com]

Perhaps we should follow. If we are separated now we might never find each other again.

*She looks to Hal, it is obvious to him that his opinion will carry weight with her-perhaps even make up her mind. She seems anxious but restless and it is impossible for Hal to tell if this is due to her growing unease over Wesley's dissapearance or simply the discomfort that her ever growing bones are causing as the stretching puts more strain on them.*

What does your champion's heart tell you then...Hal?

*She uses the name hesitantly the lack of comfort with its informality is obvious but so is the gesture to show her trust in him as well as a fondness.*