Aravis was still quietly, carefully not thinking about the letter she'd addressed to Seely and mailed moments prior as she saddled Trenor, affixing her small satchel of food and gifts before easily swinging up into the saddle herself and adjusting her cloak. It had been the right thing to do, she was sure, and she was positive that if there was anything she'd have in abundance whilst on her break in Archenland, it would be time to reflect.

As she gently urged Trenor into a trot towards the woods, she wished she had thought to pack more chocolate just for herself, rather than to bring to the men of the court. At this rate she'd be through her stash by the time she was halfway through the woods.

[establishyyyyyyyyy.]

Given that she was still a small cat thing, and given how irritated she was with the whole situation in every way, Aravis had taken to attempting to sleep away the days and thus deal less with how annoying it all was.

Plus, for some reason, she felt compelled to sleep about twenty hours a day anyway. She wasn't sure why.

As a result, she was curled up in Seely's bed -- under the blanket, with her head on the pillow, far more like a girl than a cat -- and out cold.

[for he whose alcove this be.]

The night prior had been very nice. And given how that night had gone, it wasn't really any surprise that Seely and Aravis had worn themselves out, and fallen asleep tangled up together.

Which was likely much more convenient when they were humans, since now, things were...well, a bit different. Aravis hadn't really registered it, though, when she stirred enough to start to wake. "Mm. Morning."

Aravis was somewhat aware that not all was right when she stirred, but she wasn't awake enough to notice.

Instead, she just snuggled closer to the warm form in the bed with her.

[for he who is in the bed with 'her']

Aravis was beyond exhausted when she returned to Seely's room, half-hoping he'd beat her back somehow.

When she saw he hadn't, she simply retrieved Ata, tugged off the veils she'd been wearing for most of the past few days, kicked off her shoes, and curled up in bed.

She hadn't actually meant to fall asleep while waiting, but it had happened nonetheless.

[for he who belongs to the room.]

Having spent the week worried sick and desperately trying not to show it, Aravis was deeply relieved by the note she'd gotten in the mail that morning.

Not so relieved that she hadn't gone down to the weapons locker and gotten her scimitar as well as the knife she'd been given for Christmas, of course. Not better.

She'd taken the blades back to her room, and was carefully polishing them. It'd been awhile since she'd done so, and if she had any say in the price those so-called angelic creatures would pay, her sword would need to be so shiny they'd see the reflections of their own destruction.

Aravis was perhaps a bit ambitious.

[for the roomie.]

Aravis sincerely hoped that maybe the mask she was wearing would ensure that they actually made it to the dance at all tonight, given how confident she was feeling about her dress. She was pleased with the color and the cut, and had even taken the time to dress her hair for once before sliding the mask on.

And with any luck, Seely'd like it too, but they'd actually make it out the door. It always seemed to be a challenge with them.

[up early because of time zones and my own worry about possibly being AFK for a small chunk of the afternoon/evening. for the boyfriend, or the roomie or any visitors before him.]

After she'd checked in on Trenor and taken Ata out, Aravis curled up on her bed with a book. She didn't much like the quiet, even if she did know where Karal was.

She kept looking up at the door over the top of her book, though, like she was expecting someone. No reason.

[for the boy.]

When Serafina woke, it was in a place she did not know, with an unfamiliar body in bed beside her.

After a quick, cursory glance around, she managed to surmise a few things:

1. He was naked.

2. So was she.

2a. Her clothing was on the floor beside the bed, along with her bow hooray the handwavey magic of Fandom

3. Kaisa was dozing next to the bed.

4. So was a dog.

...stranger things had happened. The biggest problem would be getting out before the boy or his daemon woke.

[yep, Aravis is Serafina Pekkala from The Golden Compass. For the perfectly normal boy, and his girlfriend's perfectly normal dog. ETA: I should note a few things about Serafina: she can fly, she has a bow and a sling of arrows (but she won't use them unless Seely keeps feeling her up, and a goose named Kaisa. In HDM-verse, humans are accompanied by the animal manifestations of their spirit. Serafina's is a goose named Kaisa.]

On their last full day in Archenland, Aravis decided that cold be damned, she wanted to show Seely the stables. For many reasons, of course, but not enough innocent ones that she wanted it widely known where they were going. So she quietly asked the cook for a few carrots and cut up one of the apples they had left before loudly announcing they were going for a walk and leading Seely out.

When they'd reached the stables and she was fairly certain no one was following them, she quickly moved inside the warmer, red-bricked building. "Still scared of horses?"

It was not Christmas in Archenland, as Aravis had predicted. It was several months later here, in the flat-out dead of winter. Snow blanketed the ground outside, icicles hung from the castle's eaves, and Aravis had begged, borrowed and pled to ensure that she and Seely both had more than enough blankets on their respective beds, not to mention working fireplaces in their rooms.

Because yes, of course he had been shown to separate quarters, which Aravis had insisted upon inspecting. That was the last time she had been in his room, though she'd devised a few plans to amend that, in between checking in on his Christmas gift.

Now, however, she was asleep, and thoroughly oblivious to the date it would be, were they in Fandom.

It was Aravis's birthday, and it had been a quiet one (aside from the very early morning, anyway).

However, Seely'd remembered, and as such Aravis was knocking on his door that evening.

Normally she'd just barge in, but he might be planning something.

[the room has an owner and the post is for him.]

It was her fifth month with Seely, and Aravis had actually remembered. Which had entailed another trip to the mainland, and this time, she'd found a costume shop. Apparently there was some holiday involving dress-up that she didn't know about. It didn't much matter, though, as her curiosity had given way and she'd found an appropriate costume. There were several that looked like they belonged in that stupid magazine, but she preferred to go with the more realistic approach.

And concentrate on what was under it. And yes, it had taken her a bit of time to get into it all, but when she was done, she lit some candles, adjusted her...head thing, and sat on his bed.

Quite demurely, she thought, aside from the fact that her skirt was casually arranged to expose her stockinged leg. It's Seely. She couldn't rely on him to imagine the whole thing by himself.

[latter two links are a little NWS -- as the post will be shortly. for the boy, and nfb to save Aravis's dignity omg.]

Aravis was in a great mood. There were reasons, of course, (reasons in this case chiefly being the hilarity of boys stuck to a wall in their underwear, and the rather nice build of one who she possibly stared at just a touch inappropriately) but the best reason of all was found on her pillow when she took Ata off his leash upon returning.

When she opened the letter (a hastily-scribbled 'Aravis' on the outside in a hand she knew), she found the seal of Archeland, and her face broke into a beatific grin. "All three of them!" she told Ata gleefully.

He ran in a circle, excited that she was excited.

[open for I am le bored.]

With Karal home and Aravis worried about him (not that she'd be particularly willing to admit that -- he didn't need the extra worry of her worrying about him), she'd done her best to find ways to occupy her time.

Granted, that had meant not sleeping much, walking around a great deal, working with her scimitar, and tending to Trenor and Ata to an almost ridiculous degree.

The end result was that when Wednesday evening rolled around, Aravis's door was open, and to the casual passer-by, it may have looked as though she was reading. In reality, she'd fallen asleep with a book on her face, and Ata curled up on her feet.

She'd deny it if she was discovered and woken up, though.

[open, if you want to bother the totally sleeping girl. except not because now it's nws in the comments.]

Aravis had spent an hour or so in the shower after meeting Angel, and flirting, and she felt so embarrassed now.

Plus his hair had really looked awful.

Her own hair still curling in wet ringlets, she was now tucked up on her bed, pretending to read but really thinking and fretting and feeling stupid.

[for anyone who's dating Aravis or lives in the same room or feels like visiting for some reason. and sp, since I am crashing like an exhausted thing.]

Aravis, stubborn brat that she was, had decided that since she had managed a few hours of dreamless sleep the night prior, she would be just fine in her own bed, by herself.

And really, for a bit, she was. It wasn't until the wee hours of the morning that she bolted awake with a sharp gasp, shaking and breathing hard and thoroughly convinced that they'd come back for her.

It wasn't for a long moment that she realized that there was no one in the room -- including Karal, who she was grateful to not have woken, but at the same time, she was struck with a sudden, severe need for human contact, if only to assure her that the dream hadn't been real.

She scooped up Ata and scurried out of the room and down to room 418, where she quickly let herself in with her shiny new key. She didn't want to make Seely get up if she didn't have to. She set Ata down, shutting the door behind her. "Seely? Are you awake?" she hissed.

Aravis, surprisingly, hadn't slept nearly as much as she should have. She'd let herself be steered into Seely's bed after their walk through the Woods Between Worlds and immediately fallen into an exhausted sleep.

But sometime before dawn, she'd startled awake, and had stared at the ceiling, trying to get back to sleep for the better part of the morning. It hadn't helped that she was trying to maintain a small distance between herself and Seely, which felt odd but at the same time she thought that if she curled up against him as normal, she might not be able to handle so much contact at once.

[for the other occupant of the room.]

The hilly, lush greenness of Archenland was a stark contrast to the burning gold of the desert they had just crossed, but the reprieve was nonetheless welcome.

They'd been greeted at Castle Anvard by King Lune and his other son, a very distressed Corin who thought he should have gotten to go as well, and Aravis was immediately tended to by a nurse and sentenced to bed rest until her wounds healed up.

Bree and Hwin departed for Narnia, their families likely worried about a routine visit to their friends turning into a week-long venture.

The other guests were left to their own devices for the most part. The castle, grounds, and city were theirs to entertain themselves.

[for the rescue crew duh, and still NFB. OCD coming up!]

Aravis waited until the timing seemed right, then tried to catch the eyes of her friends. She leaned forward to murmur a quick warning to Hwin, then gave a sharp whistle and drew her scimitar as they turned on the guards trailing them.

( A change of plan )

[Part two of this post. THIS IS THE LAST PREPLAY OMG I PROMISE I AM DONE SPAMMING YOUR FLIST until I put up the actually-live-played post tonight. Freaking Narniaverse time, condensing a week to two days! As with all the others, NFB, NFI, OOC = woo.]