Let's Play!

ashleigh laughed and easily produced a trash bag and handed it to him as he went to put the first core in his shirt, taking his shirt from him and folding it as she walked off with it.

Darryn looked down at his bare chest as she walked off with the goods. He then tried to follow her, leaving the greenhouse and entering the unforgiving castle again.



"I'm glad you don't live in a tundra or anything. I might get cold."

Laughing, Ashleigh looked at him, looking him over and tossing the shirt back to him.



" Fine, you look better without it, but fine."

"Well in that case..." Darryn looked down at the shirt with mock disgust before laughing and pulling it on. There was a huge wet puddle on it of sticky leftover fruit juice. Suddenly the mock turned to real.

Ashleigh merely laughed and wondered off, smiling.

Darryn peeled off the shirt to find that the woman was gone when he finished. He looked around, and then walked around, trying to figure out what to do. It couldn't have been more than five minutes when he felt the ground fall out from beneath him. The shirt fell away to the side as he fell down into a huge hole. The man grappled at the side, slowing so that when he hit the spikes at the bottom it was mostly just uncomfortable. You have to be joking.

Hearing the trap, ashleigh jumped down to the previous hall and darted towards the spot where the one near him had been located, soon sliding down it to land beside the bed of spikes, looking at him, shaking her head.



" Nice."

"My life seems to be one perpetual catastrophe." Darryn was now sitting down in the pit, just staring at her as he toyed with one of the holes poked in his pants.

" I told you about the traps..."



She replied softly, shaking her head as she moved to drop them.

Darryn just sighed.



"Well it's not like I was going to die down here." He flicked the spikes.



"Besides, you said that it was safe up here."

" No, I never said it was safe here, I said the main hall was safe."

Darryn just shrugged.



"Eh. No harm, no foul." He flicked the spikes again, absently trying to figure out if they were hollow.



"It would really stink if a new human owner came and fell in one of these. At least for them, anyhow."

" It's the risk of inhabiting a castle."

"Then why pick a castle? Why not a nice little bungalow on the beach or something? That way the worst that can happen is some sand in your eye." Darryn finally stood up, eyeballing the edge.

" well, because of the title and status a castle can earn you, to mortals, I suppose. I simply like it because no one ever bothers or suspects me in here."

Darryn gestured offhandedly.



"Pfft. Who needs titles? Put your bungalow in hurricane alley and no one will bother you there either." It really seemed like he meant it too.

" Not a fan of hurricanes thoguh.... or bungalows..."

Darryn gave a crooked grin.



"How about tsunamis and shanties? Those would work just as well."

" I think your missing the fact.. All I worry about here is being snowed in. There I worry about my entire house being destroyed."

Darryn smiled lightly.



"Yeah, but that sort of house only costs like... five bucks to build."

" Kind of like my pricey, secluded, safe, house."

Darryn just stared at her for a minute.



"Well... Whatever makes you happy, I guess Ashy-lou." The man was now trying to detach the closest spike from its position on the floor.

Ashleigh laughed, moving and ripped him from the pile.



" Now that your feet, let's get back to the real floors."

Darryn cast an almost mournful glance at the now cockeyed spike.



"But...but... I almost had a souvenir. I was going to have it put on a chain and hung around my neck to remind me of my near-death experience."

" Might be better off making a little figure of a wolf and hanging it off a chain about your neck."

Darryn nodded as though conceding some small victory in a debate.



"Alas, I am no good and woodworking. Hate splinters."

" Sorry to hear it."



ashleigh replied honestly, looking up at the stars, through the chance sky light, moving to climb up through the hole.

Darryn followed after her.



"I did a little pottery back in the day. I never did anything that was perfectly symmetrical, though. How about you?"

" Nothing I'm proud of learning."



ashleigh replied slowly, looking back to him.

Darryn actually laughed at this one.



"You think I like to boast about lopsided cookie jars?"

" I was more referring to the fact of, agressive tactics, hunting and killing upon sight, you know, the darker side to the race."

Darryn just kind of shrugged, which caused him to almost knock over a little column.



"Eh. Bummer. Happens to the best of the kind."

" Little choice when your suppose to be the leader ot the convent."



Ashleigh muttered under her breath, wondering on.

Darryn's back snapped a tiny bit straighter and the hairs on the back of his neck rose up.



"Hey, I'll leave as soon as I can. I want to make it absolutely clear, right here and now, Ashleigh. Just because you pulled me out of the snow doesn't in any way put an obligation on me to be inducted. And as to your Alpha, don't be mistaken. I will tell him the exact same thing." It was a bit unorthodox for a reaction, but... well, that was Darryn for you.

Ashleigh looked back, eyes flashing, but not with anger, perhaps something else? either way, Ashleigh shook her head.



" Remember, escaping."

Darryn didn't quite understand what she was implying, but he did catch on to the fact that he was apparently mistaken about something. What that something was, he had no idea, but something none the less.



"Oh." Chirp.

ashleigh sighed, ignoring his ignorance, settling int a decent pace, now simply heading to the utmost level to see if they were buried completely or not.

"So... where are we going now?" Darryn looked around as they climbed a staircase.



"A secret chamber where the previous owner stashed their sweets?"

" That's down two levels."



Ashleigh replied honestly.



" I'm merely seeing if we are buried."

Darryn's eyebrows shot up as he took a few quickened steps so that he caught up with her.



"Really? Or are you just pulling my leg?" He reached out to prod her, but then remembered what she had said and thought better of it.