Romance RP

(Thanks.  I'll definitely take a break soon.  I guess I'm suffering from emotional burnout?)

Ryan looked confused and replied, "That is strange.  It's like this kidnapping went off too well.  Surely, someone must have heard something."

He turned to Lisianthus and said, "This may be way out there idea but perhaps we could question everyone who saw them today?  See if anything was out of the ordinary?"

(I guess that could be the case. It wouldn't be unusual given all the stress and excitement recently. But I wouldn't worry about it too much. Relaxing and taking a break should do the trick, I think? ^^)

Lisianthus turned to Ryan and furrowing her eyebrows, she replied,

"What do you have in mind, Ryan? We could ask the others, I guess, although I doubt they'll add anything useful. Alex and Nerine usually spend time by themselves and all."

(Ok, and I wanted to say thanks again for the links.  I might try the iwriter one myself sometime.  ^^)

Ryan replied, "Well, maybe one of the maids might have seen Alex or Nerine behaving strangely earlier in the day?  It's a longshot but I figured it couldn't hurt to give it a try."

(No problem. Glad it could help a bit. ^^)

Lisianthus nodded and replied, "Ok, that sounds good."

The soldier asked, "Do I prepare for a questioning of the castle's maids, Your Majesty?"

Lisianthus nodded and replied, "Yes, do so right away. They should be gathering in their rooms for the night so it wouldn't be hard to question them now."

Ryan waited while Lisianthus gave new orders to the soldier to question the maids.  He hoped that one of them would be able to provide some sort of hint or clue as to what happened.

The soldier replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. Right away."

He bowed and left immediately to carry out the orders. After he left, Lisianthus was frustrated as she said,

"Something doesn't sound right about all of this. What kind if kidnapping goes so smoothly like that?"

(Ahh I'll have lunch now but I should be back in a bit. XD)

(Ahh ok.  XD)

Ryan nodded and replied, "I was thinking the same thing.  That shapeshifter isn't stupid but even a cleverly thought out plan isn't executed completely well.  Usually, the perpetrator makes some sort of mistake somewhere."

(Back now. XD)

Lisianthus nodded and replied, "And if that shapeshifter attacked Alex and Nerine in their room, and a fight broke out, why didn't any of them call for help? Alex can communicate telepathically so he could have reached out for any of us. I don't know about this; something really is pretty off."

(Welcome back.  XD)

Ryan nodded and replied, "Yeah.  I can't put my finger on what it is.  This is going to be hard if we don't have any sort of clue."

(Thanks. XD)

Lisianthus sighed sadly and replied, "Yeah. This is only getting worse."

Irene commented then, "Have you already tried contacting Alex or Nerine? They wouldn't be able to tell us where they are, I guess, but maybe any clue, or how the kidnapping happened exactly?"

Lisianthus replied, "Ryan has already tried but in vain. Alex wouldn't respond."

(Ahh random but I wonder if you know about Humble Bundle. It's a site that gets out game bundles every week for really cheap prices and all. You can catch pretty good deals there if you check it regularly and all. XD)

(Ahh yup, I know about it.  Folke checks it out frequently although Humble Bundle rarely has the games that I want.  Then again, my game preferences are pretty niche.  XD)

Ryan nodded and replied, "Yup, that's right.  I don't know if my telepathy was blocked somehow but I got no response from him.  I can only hope that he and Nerine are all right.  Well, they should be.  Harming them would only cause more trouble for the shapeshifter."

(Ahh I see. XD Yup, I feel the same way although I was able to pick a couple of good games recently and they come with steam keys too and all. XD)

Irene nodded and replied, "And Alex helped the shapeshifter before, right? Could it be that she kidnapped them again so she could have his help once more? Well, I don't mean that he would do so voluntarily but if she threatened him or anything of the sort."

(Ooohh nice.  XD)

Ryan furrowed his eyebrows and replied, "That is possible.  Pretty underhanded of the shapeshifter to do such a thing but I wouldn't put anything past her at this point."

Lisianthus frowned and replied, "Just as expected of her, right? She is only a selfish brat, forcing people to do her bidding. She is no worse than that captain."

Irene replied, "It is a possibility but I am not sure what to do now. If the maids can't support us with any information, our only luck would be depending on how things go in the humans' world, whether they find anything."

Ryan nodded and replied, "Yes, that's true.  We would need to rely on the king and queen there with their soldiers and yours, beautiful, to find out anything there.  But you know, in a kidnapping, wouldn't there normally be some sort of ransom?"

(Getting sleepy here so I'll get off for the night now and go to sleep.  I'll check back tomorrow and post again.  Nite, nite, Love.  ^^)

(Nite, nite, phoenix. ^^)

Lisianthus looked thoughtful and replied,

"Yeah, well, if this were a normal kidnapping. But I doubt the shapeshifter wants some sort of ransom. As it seems, she did this either to prevent Alex from spilling any information about her or as Irene suggested, force him to help her."

Ryan nodded and replied, "Yeah, I see."

He looked troubled, not sure what to make of the entire situation, and hoped that there would be some useful information coming their way soon.

Lisianthus and Irene fell silent as well, not sure what to say or do any longer, figuring that they could only wait for any report from the soldiers.

A while later, there was another knock on the door and as Lisianthus gave permission, the soldier had returned although this time, he had a young maid with him. Both of them bowed to the party and then the soldier said,

"Your Majesty, this maid has something to tell. We heard it from her but she will say it again here so Your Majesty can hear it and determine if it's of any value."

Ryan looked curious to hear what the maid had to say and waited for Lisianthus to give her acknowledgement.

Lisianthus nodded and interested to hear what the maid had to say, she said, "Go ahead, speak."

The maid looked a bit hesitant, but then she took a breath and tentatively said,

"I-I was passing by the sir's and lady's room, Your Majesty...when-when the door suddenly opened. I paused on instinct, expecting to see either of them but no one went out of the room and-and then the door closed on its own. At-at least I didn't see anyone come out or go in. I was a bit puzzled but I didn't think much of it. Umm until I heard about their kidnapping, Your Majesty. I don't know if this is of any value but I wanted to tell what I know."

Ryan looked puzzled, unsure of what to make of the maid's words.  He turned to Lisianthus and Irene and asked,

"What does this mean?"

Lisianthus and Irene both looked quite confused as well, as the maid's words didn't make any sense. The maid looked a bit scared as she witnessed their reactions, wondering if she shouldn't have said anything. Lisianthus turned to her and asked,

"When this happened, were you able to see the inside of the room? Was it the same or was it in a mess as we found it?"

The maid replied tentatively, "I-I wasn't able to see the inside of the room clearly, Your Majesty. I wasn't standing right in front of it, only a small distance away, but I can't recall this piece of information."

Seeing the maid's reaction, Ryan gently replied, "Thank you for this information, miss.  We appreciate it.  If there's anything else you remember, please let us know."

The maid nodded and replied, "So I may leave?"

Lisianthus sighed inwardly, as she had expected something more useful than this, but she replied, "Yes, you may leave. Thank you for telling us what you know."

The maid bowed to the party then took her leave. The soldier then bowed and left as well.

After the maid and soldier left, Ryan said,

"I think it's best that we turn in for the night.  It's getting late and we won't be productive if our minds and bodies don't get some rest.  We can start again first thing in the morning."