Name: Lanceline DuLac

Age (13-17 please!): 16

Role: Knight. She was knighted after her mentor fell in battle and she took up his sword to fight for his honor. She's actually not that young for a knight (considering mortality rates and the fact that she's probably been training since she was VERY young).

Gender: Female, but has been disguising herself as male.

Appearance: Cropped blonde hair, blue eyes. Looks relatively "handsome". The subject of a lot of female attention (what with the male disguise).

Personality: Very polite to the King, but a bit arrogant. A little traumatized from the loss of her mentor. Loyal above all else to Arthur and his court. Very clever, great warrior.

Fears/Weaknesses: Losing the King. She considers him to be a figurative "mentor" for the country. Losing him would break her. She's also hiding trauma from losing her first mentor.

Strengths: Well, she's physically fit (more agile than strong) and clever, too. 

Master (for apprentice or knight in training, your teacher, for servant who you serve): He's dead.

Other: Can she be shipped with someone? Anyone??

ALSO: Lanceline is going by the name "Lancelot", because she is disguised as a man.

YES, I WENT THERE. I'm sorry. Please let me keep my charrie. 

This is Brookeira, requesting permission to start.

Also, @Leafpool: Lanceline is jealous of your charrie because she's openly female and could potentially be with Lionel. Lanceline, disguised as a man, has no chance. 

Rose~

I paced the small room in Merik's suite in the castle- all wizards were given one- and tried to make the inkwell dance. After failing once again, I collapsed on the straw mattress in the center of the room.

"Why isn't it working?" I moaned to myself. I'd only been Merik's apprentice for a month and a half, but I thought I'd be able to do something by now. Well, something other than mess up. I mean, that dagger was supposed to cut the meat, not the curtains! I decided to walk around the castle, like I usually do when I need to think. Going into the hallway, I nearly bumped into Lancelot, a knight. None of the other girls I talked to noticed, for most of them were too busy swooning, but there was something odd about him. Nothing I could pinpoint, so I usually just dismissed it, but just then as he looked at me, I saw a flicker of... was it fear? No, I was imagining things. When I looked again, it was gone.

"Good morning." I said quietly. He nodded in return, and we went our separate ways. It was chilly in the halls, and the windows did nothing to keep out the cold of winter. Even the torches provided only a feeble amount of warmth. I rubbed my arms and pulled open a small wooden door, like a closet. Instead of leading to rusty swords and extra helmets, there was a narrow, winding staircase leading up. I sprinted up it, imagining I was fighting with a defender as I went. Staircases in the castle were built spiraling up and to the right so an attacker would have to step out fully to use their sword arm, whereas a defender would have to only present their arm, so less of a target. I had just nicked my "enemy's" arm when I reached the top. I took a moment to catch my breath, then opened the door. It was a small tower, with a little attic room at the top. it wasn't used for anything, but it had a window that provided a perfect view of the knight's training ground. I liked to come up and watch them practice. I walked in, but quickly darted out again. There was a girl in the room, with her back to me, with red hair and a servant's blue dress. I smiled inwardly. Apparantly, I wasn't the only one who liked watching the knights. I smiled to myself a bit too long, because as I turned to head down the stairs, that time playing the part of the defender, I came face to face with the girl. She took a breath to say something, but she was interrupted by a loud noise that made my heart skip a beat with fear- the warning bell.

@Brookeira:

We could ship them, but the only problem is that Lionel would be unaware that Lanceline was a woman, and therefore would have no idea that she were trying to impress him or that she liked him.  This also means that Lionel wouldn't be able to impress Lanceline back because he has no knowledge of this, and there wouldn't be any relationship there.  Also, it would kind of look suspicious to Lionel and the other knights (maybe blowing her cover),...do you know what I mean? Do you have any suggestions on what we could do to make this better? 

Lanceline gripped her sword tighter and blocked a strike as she and Lionel sparred. She turned to wink at a few dallying noblewomen, blocking Lionel's blows with nonchalance. "Is that all you can do, Squire?" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Hardly, you Gallic-!" Lionel grunted and whirled, parrying all of her attacks. She was about to get under his defenses, noting that he left his right side unguarded every six strikes, when the warning bell started.

Both knights froze, turning like frozen idols to stare up at the belfry.

The noblewomen chittered in alarm. Lanceline put a hand to her mouth, covered in artificial stubble. "It can't be..."

Lionel stood, coming to stand next to her. "Where do we go from here? I've never..."

"Stay here, Squire," she said, taking a moment to breathe in his scent: hay and elderberries.  

Lanceline stalked away, twirling her ancestral sword in her hand. She prayed that whatever had caused the bell to be rung was of this world, and killable. Dark things lurked beyond Camelot's borders.

"I'm coming with you."

Lanceline turner and raised and eyebrow, trying to hide her fear. "You're no match for the beasts beyond our fair kingdom, Lionel. Stay."

Lionel crossed his arms. "I am but one year younger and you treat me like a Page, Lancelot!" 

"That's "Sir" Lancelot to you, Squire," Lanceline said, "go back, now."

Lionel squinted and spun on his heel, walking back to the palace. Lanceline ran toward the edge of the walls and saw a dark shape standing over the body of another knight.

With a roar, she leapt and blocked the attacker's blade. "RUN!" she told the other knight. He coughed up a bit of blood and stumbled off as Lanceline locked weapons with the dark warrior. 

"Ill met, Camelot scum," the thing said, violet liquid oozing from its cracked and blistered mouth. Lanceline smiled mockingly.

"I am Lancelot DuLac of France. Prepare to taste a second death."

The thing hissed. She smirked and slashed, and the thing looked shocked as her blade nearly caught it.

"You're quicker than I thought, knightling. How did you become a knight so young? Fought for.. A dead loved one?"

Lanceline's chest shuddered.

"Fought for him, did you? Took up that sword, ripped through-"

With a snarl, she lifted the sword and brought it down with all the pain in her body. 

To her shock, a burst of light slammed out of her sword and onto the beast. It screamed as lightning ripped through its flesh.

Lanceline stood in shock, staring at its ashes.

"I didn't know I could do that," she said, before collapsing. 

@Brookeira: That sounds fine.    

Lionel's knuckles turned white from clutching his sword.  As Lionel continued to spar, Lancelot continued to block his blows. Lionel even noticed that Lancelot was able to wink at some fair noblewomen while fighting!

" Is that all you can do, Squire?" he asked. with a smirk.

"Hardly, you Gallic-," Lionel grunted, blocking the blows Lancelot gave him.

Lionel noticed he kept his right side unguarded after every few strikes.  Seeing Lancelot about to make an ofensive parry, he shifted his sword to his right side for extra coverage.  Although it was a good block, he doubted he could leave the left side uncovered for too long either.  

To distract Lancelot from his uncovered sides, he started to strike faster.  He saw Lancelot about to go strike on his left side, but instead Lancelot and Lionel dropped their swords midway.

The warning bell rang, echoing throughout the kingdom. 

Instantly, Lionel grabbed both their swords, and distributed them.

"What do we do?  Where is that room they always made us go to for all of the drills?" Lionel thought, asking Lancelot.

Lancelot took a pause to breathe in deeply.  

"Stay here, Squire." 

It was most likely a creature living beyond the kingdom.  Lionel knew all about the dark beasts.  He had once went on an expedition to kill a beast of great power, acompanied by Lancelot, Teacher Kerald, and other knights.  It was an eye-opening experience, and Lancelot now knew that those creatures were very dangerous.

"I'm coming with you," Lancelot cried.

"You're no match for the beasts beyond our fair kingdom.  Stay," he replied, calmly.

Lionel became angry with fustration.  He yelled, "You cannot go alone!  Those creatures are very dangerous.  I am but one year younger and you treat me like a page, Lancelot!" 

"That's "Sir" Lancelot to you, Squire."

With that, he raced away. 

Lionel spun away, and ran back to the castle.  Then, he turned back.

Lionel followed him cautiously through the castle.  He hardly heard his own footsteps, and he indeed had good practice from taking food from the castle kitchens.  His mouth watered, and he wished he could be somewhere else at the moment.  He bravely continued.

He stopped in horror as he saw a great beast on top of a fellow knight.  Lancelot helped him up, and pushed him away.  He stumbled over, and I hid from him.  This knight would be able to get to a hospital, but would Lancelot be able to walk after?

He stared at the hideous beast, while Lancelot and it exchanged conversation.  My sword was ready anytime Lancelot was ready to strike.  I had his back, and I had the advantage.  The beast, so far, couldn't see me.

The next thing he knew, Lancelot had the sword in the beast.  A great big show of light appeared as the beast croaked, and Lancelot fell to the floor.

Before Lionel knew what he was doing, he ran up to Lancelot and picked him up.  He was about to carry him to the nurses, but something was poking at his arm.  It was his knight hat.  He took it off, only to reveal beautiful, golden locks of hair.  And then, he realized something.

Lancelot is a girl.  

He couldn't go to the nurse now, not when he couldn't get her hair back into her hat, so instead he ran to his room.  He placed her on his bed, cleaned her wounds, and bandaged them.  He tried getting all of her hair into the hat, but it looked pretty bad.  How did she do it?  And then, the surprise Lionel had caught up to him, and he sat in silence and looked at her.

She woke up in pain, not only from her wounds, but also from the fact that Lionel followed her.

Lionel cried, "I saved your life!  If not for me, you would still be lying on the floor, most likely dead!"

Lionel saved his surprise for later.  They would talk later.  Everything would happen later.

Later. 

Btw, Lanceline actually has short hair... maybe the fake stubble she wears started to come off, and that's how Lionel knew? Idk.. it wouldn't make sense for her not to cut her hair anyway.