Name: Lyric

Age: 13

Pronouns: she/her

Personality: I’m introverted and shy, empathetic, and see the good side of everyone. I will make sacrifices for other people I care about and try to help whenever I can! I will seldom leave a job half-done. However, if I’m in a big crowd of strangers, I’ll be withdrawn, fidget, and avoid everyone’s gaze.  

Appearance: Sort of skinny, black hair that is sleek and long, brown-pink glasses, dark brown eyes, various solid color T-shirts, and jeans. 

Are you dangerous?: I’ve never had to be, so I have no idea. Maybe I could be if I tried? 

Flight or Fight?: If I (or somebody) am in mortal peril, I would fight in however way I can. Or maybe I’ll run and get help. If it’s a big spider, definitely flight. 

Favorite century: I’m going to go with medieval and renaissance times and of course I forgot what century that is in.

Other: Thank you!

"this is an outrage!".good ol nightly

Thanks for your forms, Lyric and Midnight Phantom! You'll be appearing for the first time within the next few parts.

Day 5, Part 2

Reuby Moonnight stirred. Strong sunlight was pouring through her closed eyelids. Birds were singing. The air felt warm - it must be late morning.

She turned over, feeling stiff, and opened her eyes. The sky, a few white clouds sailing in it, met her gaze. Yes, it was late. A skylark flew across the clear blueness, singing and twittering. The air was full of the scent of herbs, and the sun felt warm on Reuby's skin. She yawned and sat up.

Now that she could see the garden by daylight, she realized that it was beautiful. A stone wall, covered in moon-colored morning glories, ran around it. Square plots full of herbs filled most of the garden, but there was a little grass-covered space where Reuby had slept. Wiccan was nosing among the flowering herbs, his black coat glistening in the sun.

Just then, the garden door opened. Reuby spun around. 

Two figures emerged into the garden - Lady Elaine and the minstrel Peter. 

"So that's where she's been!" Lady Elaine gasped, looking straight at Reuby. She glanced at the minstrel. "Peter - what if-"

The minstrel shook his head and stepped forward to greet Reuby with a pleasant smile.

"Good morning, my lady Reuby," he said. "Didst thou sleep out here in the garden?"

"Yes," replied Reuby. "I didn't feel like being with the others, and it was nice out here. I like the outdoors. Did the others worry about where I was?"

"The others," said Peter, "are gone. Marcus hath taken them out to the tournament today, and now they've vanished."

"And Silver Crystal, poor lass, was attacked last night," added Lady Elaine.

Attacked? But by whom? Reuby couldn't restrain a tiny gasp. "Is she all right?" 

"Aye, by the Lord's mercy," said Lady Elaine, not quite meeting Reuby's eyes.

All at once Reuby understood. "You don't think I attacked her, do you?" she asked in a quick burst of indignation. "I didn't! I went straight out of the room where we all were, and then straight dow n the hall. I didn't see anyone come out after me. You don't believe I would do a thing like that - do you?"

Lady Elaine bent and looked calmly, directly, into Reuby's eyes. Reuby returned her look levelly. Then Lady Elaine smiled and put a hand on Reuby's shoulder.

"No, I don't," she said with decision. "It all appeareth as if thou hadst done it, but thou'rt not the lass to hurt another person. At least, so it seemeth; and I'm not often mistaken about others. But come. We canst not stand here gabbling all day, like the cocks and hens that strut but do naught else; we must hurry after the Time Travel Inn. Jeff Kiss may be trying to outwit us, but that he shall not do." She lifted her head proudly.

"You know about the Inn?" Reuby gasped.

"Aye, bless you, I hath known about it since I was a young girl, and so hath Peter. Dost know where the Inn was going next?"

"The medieval period, I think."

"Look thou, Elaine," Peter broke in, "Jeff Kiss wilt most likely know we art after him, and wilt direct the Inn to some other place."

"Aye," Lady Elaine agreed. "Perhaps we hadst best follow it to the Renaissance." She glanced at Reuby. "Art thou ready?"

Reuby glanced around at the calm, ancient, herbal garden, and felt a pang at the thought of leaving. But leave she must. All her worst fears were confirmed. How well she knew the danger that the CBers might be in at this very moment! She whistled to Wiccan, who trotted up loyally, and laid a hand on his thick, rough fur.

"I'm ready."

"Good." And Lady Elaine murmured something softly under her breath, looking up into the sky and half-smiling as if she were only reciting a poem. 

But then the sounds of the garden vanished. Reuby looked around. She was enveloped in a familiar white haze - the haze she had so often seen outside the windows of the Inn. They were off.

"Renaissance, here we come!" she whispered.

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Sorry this is later than usual~

Day 5, Part 3

Silver Crystal scrambled to her feet. "What's just happened?" she gasped. One moment she had been watching the tournament - the next she had been whisked away to the hotel. The other CBers looked equally confused - all except Eclipse.

"I knew this was going to happen," she murmured, but only Silver Crystal was close enough to hear her. She glanced at the others, who were collecting themselves. "Come on, let's go upstairs."

"Everything is perfectly all right," Marcus assured them as they went up the stairs. "It was for your own safety that we left." But Silver Crystal didn't quite believe him. What with Sterling's murder, and her own attack, she didn't feel too safe.

Eclipse led them into her room, locked the door, and closed the curtains. "Sit down," she said.. "I think I'd better tell you everything." And she did. Silver Crystal thought at first that she must be making it up. But as she saw Darkvine and Amethyst nodding and agreeing and adding bits of information, she realized that this was true. A shiver ran over her.

"So," Eclipse finished, "I think that's why we were whisked away so suddenly. Something must have alarmed Marcus, and he just wanted to get away before any of his plans were foiled."

"What can we do about it?" asked pangolin.

"Maybe first we should try to find out who the murderer is," suggested Silver Crystal.

"Who could it be?" said Darkvine.

"No idea."

"I hope it's not Reuby Moonnight..." said Artemis dubiously. "Remember the wolf print next to Sterling?"

"I am completely and utterly sure it's not Reuby," said Eclipse decidedly. "Even if she has disappeared, she just doesn't seem like the kind of girl to do something like that. And now to the next part of our discussion. How are we going to protect ourselves?"

A excited clamor started. Darkling and Darkvine thought it would be best to be armed with something - "sticks at least," said Darkling - while Flamarestii wanted to desert the hotel completely once they got to the Renaissance. 

"Oh, heavens!" grumbled Nightly. "There's a solution right here. What about Luna Silvermoon's magic?"

pangolin glanced up quickly, pushing back her copper-colored hair. "Would it work, Luna?" She forgot her usual shyness in her anxiety to know.

Luna Silvermoon frowned. "Maybe. I don't really have that much magic, not enough to withstand something like this. But I could try. It can't hurt."

And with that, they all parted to their own rooms for the night.

But Hex couldn't sleep. She felt worry churning in her stomach until she was almost queasy. Being about to be killed, or abandoned in another century, was nerve-racking. 

"Why'd I have to be taken on this journey, anyway?" she muttered to herself, trying to calm her quick breathing.  "I didn't even know the Nile Corporation existed. I bet if it had let me alone, I would have left it alone."

She sat up. This would never do. She had never been able to stand lying restlessly in bed. Getting up, she crept across the wooden floor to the window.

The inn had just arrived in the Italian countryside at the time of the Renaissance. The trees were great, ruffled, sleepy shapes that stirred in the soft
night breeze. An owl called quietly from the forest. Moonlight made
everything twice as beautiful. Soft, sweet air wafted in through the window, and Hex breathed in a deep, cooling breath of it.

Then she heard a voice, and glanced down. There, right under her window, stood Marcus - with another man who was speaking. His lined face and hooked nose had a strange expression in that marble-colored light. Maybe it was just imagination, but the face was somehow like a sorcerer's.

"Was it a good idea, then, Mr. Kiss?" asked Marcus.

"Yes, rescuing Eclipse from Julius Caesar was a good move," the dry, queerly dispassionate voice - rather like dry leaves rattling in a November wind - said. "She'll be invaluable to us if we can only get her to work with us instead of against us. And failing that, we have Lyric and Midnight Phantom. They know nothing at all of what's going on. They'll be sure to side with us. I wish you could have left Amethyst and Darkvine in Rome, but of course there was no way to rescue Eclipse without rescuing them."

"And what do we do about Elaine and Peter, if they follow us?" Marcus ventured. 

"They won't." For a moment Jeff's blue eyes were uncommonly hard, even for him. "But if they do - they know what's waiting for them."

"At least we got rid of Reuby Moonnight for sure," said Marcus. "She made that easy for us, just sneaking off to those gardens and staying there until we left."

"It's a shame," muttered Jeff Kiss. "She should have stayed with us. She was a clever worker. Oh well. Get to bed, Marcus - you need your sleep."

Hex crept back to bed too and lay there, all her tension draining away. She had an idea now. She smiled as she turned it over in her mind, perfecting every detail. It would work - it would work perfectly. 

'Watch out, Jeff Kiss," she thought before she went to sleep. "You're going to find that this time, you've bitten off more than you can chew."

@Reuby, don't worry! You're not gone from the story altogether...

Day 6, Part 1

"Well, I do think," complained Midnight Phantom, "that this is absolutely unfair."

Lyric had to agree. She had been asked to come on a time travel trip, which had sounded wonderful, and she had filled out the form she had received, a day or two after she received it. And a few days later, a polite note had come in the mail, informing her that she was too late in sending in her form to reserve a spot.

She had made up her mind to resign herself, and her family's imminent journey to Niagara Falls had helped her. But this morning, as she was strolling in the woods near her family's home, a piece of paper fluttered into her hands.

Dear Lyric. We at the Time Travel Inn are pleased to notify you that you have been accepted into the trip after all. We hope you will enjoy yourself. -Jeff Kiss, CEO

Before Lyric had had time to say or do anything, the world seemed to merge into a white blur. Even the ground under Lyric's feet disappeared. She had the feeling she was moving, the same way as when she sat in a car. But that was all.

Then, abruptly, the real world closed in on her again. Only - she was standing in a cloistered walkway,  with a green sunlit garden beyond. The air was warm. Arching over the garden was an azure blue sky, full of brilliant sunlight that somehow looked different from the light Lyric was used to. As she moved forward into the strong sun, she noticed that there was a scent of freshly baked bread in the air, and the sound of arguing and hammering coming from behind one of the stone walls of the garden. It sounded as if some carpenters - or stonemasons, perhaps - were having an argument. 

Lyric looked down. She was wearing a long, silken blue dress, with long sleeves and embroidery around the bottom. What had happened? Where was she?

A second later she saw that another person was standing beside her. It was Midnight Phantom, a girl she knew from school.

"Midnight Phantom!" she gasped. "How did you get here?"

"Well, how did you get here?" asked Midnight Phantom. "Did you just find yourself whisked here? I did. I thought I wasn't going to be able to come because I filled out my form too late, but then - I just arrived, all of a sudden."

"That's what happened to me too," Lyric agreed.

"Well, why don't we have a look around?" Midnight Phantom suggested. "This seems like a nice place. Do you have any idea what era this is?"

"I think it's the Renaissance," said Lyric shyly. "The clothes we're wearing look sort of like that." She was privately very happy about this - she loved the Renaissance period, with its art, and architecture, and elegance.

As the two girls went through the palace, it began to look as if they were in the countryside home of an Italian or Spanish noble. The rooms were heavily furnished with stools, desks, chairs, and curtains. Windows looked out onto green olive groves and dark cypress trees pointing straight up against the sky. 

In one room, they came upon a man who was just setting out books and musical instruments on a finely carved table.

"Ah, good morning," he said as the girls entered. "I regret to say that I am not quite ready for your lessons yet."

He must be our private tutor, Lyric thought.

"But it is just as well," he went on, "because the artist has arrived to paint your portraits. Remember, though, you must come straight back after he is done. Your studies cannot be neglected, especially as your marriage -" he nodded at Midnight Phantom - "is so soon."

"My marriage??" Midnight Phantom gasped. "But I'm only thirteen!"

The tutor looked annoyed. "Exactly. No silly jokes, please, they are not seemly for young ladies of your age. Now run along."

"B-but!" Midnight Phantom sputtered as they went along the hall. "How can that even be thought of?"

"Good thing we didn't arrive here when you were already married," Lyric said practically. "Or on your wedding day."

That idea struck both girls as being so funny that they started laughing, and were still giggling when they pushed open the door that the tutor had pointed them to.

They stepped into a sunlit, more sparsely furnished room, where a young man was standing behind an easel. Another man stood behind him.

"Should I position the girls just in front of the window?" the younger man asked, not noticing "the girls" in the doorway.

"Do as you think best, Claudio. You've been my apprentice long enough."

"No one can ever be apprenticed 'long enough' to Leonardo da Vinci," replied Claudio.

Leonardo smiled. "No, no, Claudio, you are quite wrong. And now, I must take my leave." He started out the door, and the girls sat down where Claudio told them, which was, indeed, just in front of the window.

Just then a woman hurried in. She had golden hair and a firm expression, and she was accompanied by a brown-haired man with a harp slung over his shoulder.

"Oh, sir," she said to the artist, "will you excuse the girls for one moment? I need to speak to them urgently."

"Of course, your ladyship."

"Come along, girls," said the woman quickly. "Let's go into the next room."

Lyric, who liked the look of the woman and the man, stood up to go with her. But at that moment, a shadow fel across the floor. Lyric didn't know why she suddenly felt cold and antagonistic. She raised her gaze to the stranger's face. It was a man, clothed in Renaissance clothing that couldn't hide his very modern posture and expression. Lyric met his gaze steadily.

Although she couldn't know it, the man was Jeff Kiss.

Oh my gosh! THIS SKI LODGE IS AMAZING!!! Can I PLEASE join? Please?

Name: Rora

Age: 11

Pronouns: she/her

Personality: Extrovert and very social, and I makie friends by just talking to them

Appearance: Image reference below

Are you dangerous?: Hmmm. I wouldn't say yes. But I wouldn't say no. So maybe a little bit?

Flight or Fight?: Flight, most likely.

Favorite century: Uhhh...Actually, I have no idea. Whatever century is going on right now in the story, I guess.

Other: If I can't join, it's okay. I'll still get to watch the parts come out.