"Okay..." - Said Lucas as she walked around the forest with the general - "So. Four quadrants, one themed after each season And... Oh... Now there's a nice surprise. Fancy meeting you here, girls!"
Lilly and Stacy had appeared out of seemingly nowhere.
"Lucas! Did you..." - Lilly began.
"I think I know where he might be, but I was sidetracked. I'm sure he's fine, though, I'll see to it... Girls, this is General Makepeace. It's obviously a codename." - Said Lucas. She then turned to the general.
"General." - She proceeded, amicably - "This is Lilly Gordon and this is Stacy Gordon. Remarkable girl, Lilly. First of her class in pretty much everything, has discovered quite a few things as well, likes mandeln, which is this German sweet treat, saved the world a couple times, all-around a sweet girl. Nice, innit?" - She said. Left unsaid: And you were planning on harming her.
The general, clearly uncomfortable - especially due to knowing fully well what Lucas intended to do by making it personal - answered.
"Pleased to meet you." - He said.
"Nice to meet you too..." - Said Lilly - "So, er... Where are we?"
"It's basically a land of archetypes... But it's more or less safe." - Said Lucas - "Plus you're with me." - She discreetly shot the general a glare that said and don't you forget it. to him.
The general sighed. This was gonna be a long assignment.
"Anyways. I hear it's been five years..." - Said Lucas - "How are things going in Lakeside?"
"Well..." - Lilly blushed - "Er... They have a cult to Selene and you're one of its central figures."
"Wh... Bu... Ma... Er... Mas que... Er... I, I mean... Sorry... Slipped into Portuguese there... Wh... How... But... WHUH???" - Asked Lucas, rather incoherently.
Stacy giggled.
"Told you she'd react like that."
"What the... I'm not a saint..." - Said Lucas.
"You're telling me..." - muttered the general, to himself.
"And... Julian is a devil-like figure..." - Said Lilly.
"That... Sounds about right." - Said Lucas, shrugging - "Okay... look, a boatload of things came up. I will help you, of course..."
"It's fine. We'll find a way too." - Said Lilly, smiling - "You don't need to save me everytime, you know..."
Lucas looked at Lilly.
Will. - She thought - The element of Will. In a way, much like mine own. In another, even more powerful. Where there's a will, there's a way...
"Okay. General, I assume your cell phone has the tech to work by itself in places like this? Mine does..." - Said Lucas.
"It does." - Said Makepeace, curtly - "Do you want to borrow it?"
"Yes, please, so she can call me if she needs." - Said Lucas, smiling politely.
The general sighed and handed Lilly his cell phone.
"Anything else you'd like me to do before we go out to look for my men?" - Asked the general.
"That will be all for now." - Said Lucas, politely, as she gave Lilly a map through her cell phone - "Good luck, Lilly."
"Thanks! You too!" - Said Lilly, as she left with Stacy.
"So, guess Lucas is a bit more open to working with the military?" - Asked Stacy as the two made their way. - "And wouldn't we be safer with them?"
Lilly shook her head.
"I know Lucas more or less well, Stacy. You don't have to worry about her when she's cracking jokes or acting weird. No. You have to worry about her when she's making an effort to be polite, Stacy, not to hurt something, not to hurt someone. She was hiding something and I'm pretty sure she hates that general with a passion."
"She was polite to our family." - Said Stacy.
"Yes, but it's a different kind of polite... With our family, she was not making an effort. With the general..." - Lilly shuddered - "I know what the Water element does. And it seems to me, Stacy, as if Lucas was doing her best not to unleash it on the general. Not to unleash a little thing... That would become a huge thing... Trust me, Stacy. We are safer without them."
In this strange place, Jon looked at the boards. One was circular and looked like the Earth. Another had a disk with four colors. A third one was circular and had a planet with strange clockwork patterns. Yet another resembled an old Earth.
She looked at each, trying to think of what her next move would be in a game for which she did not even know the rules...
