Only the Beginning of the Adventure (Lucy)

[Tumnus]

((Ooc: Okay Diffles, it looks like we're all ready to start the plot! Yay!! Let me know if this post is okay.))

Tumnus was walking along in the woods, struggling to hold all of his numerous packages. There were lovingly wrapped packages tied with string, colorful glass bottles strung together, and of course his familiar white umbrella to hold. He had to get home soon, or else he feared he would drop everything into the unforgiving white snow that never seemed to end. Oh, curse this wretched, endless winter! He stumbled along in the deep snow. All this talk of prophecies was tiring and pointless. Goodness knows as much as he had read about Humans, one was never going to come to Narnia. Why would one want to? It was just a frozen, barren land.

He shivered as he passed by the lamp-post that marked his usual path back to his humble dwelling. Its story was all too familiar. Jadis' tyranny had been known in the land for quite some time, and it had been felt by all just as surely. It was hard to believe that it would ever end, especially as done by only a child (well, four of them, so it was said). He had been tempted to believe in the rumors, simply because of what they might bring, but Tumnus was a practical Faun. Sighing, he moved on.

[Lucy Pevensie]

Lucy Pevensie let out a gasp as her hands touched against something cold and prickely. That's not a fur coat! she thought to hersel in near panic. Her blue eyes widened. What is going on? Slowly, very slowly she turned around. Her heart rate doubled at what she saw. Lucy Pevensie was no longer in the wardrobe.

There were trees everywhere. Everywhere! And snow. There was cold icey snow covering everything. Layers and layers and feet of it! Lucy stepped foreward tentativly. She was in awe of where she was, and had to pinch herself to make sure she hadn't fallen asleep and was dreaming. "Where am I?" she whispered softly, her blue eyes glancing around the wood. She looked back at the wardrobe and could seethe light of the spare room just beyond a few snowy trees. I can explore for a bit an't i? Peter wouldn't come up here anyways... she thought to herself, agreeing silently.

Lucy stepped foreward a little bit more when a light up ahead caught her eye. "What can that be I wonder?" she wondered aloud. Obviously no one was here. She looked around, from side to side as she continued walking towards the light. She started to shiver a little bit. It sure was cold here. But it must look simply lovely in in the summer though, everything green. Even covered in snow it looked beautiful. As she drew closer to the light.

She gasped in suprise. It was a lampost! What is a lamppost doing here in the middle of a wood? she wondered. Her heart rate nearly stopped when she heard a twig snap. She gripped the lamppost with on hand and turned around. What was making that noise?

[Tumnus]

Tumnus stepped on a twig and flinched visibly at the resounding snap that resulted. He should have known to be more careful! Heaven knew what keen hearing the Witch's wolves had. What would be the cost of my carelessness? he wondered nervously. Who knew what strange and dangerous creatures were about in the forest! Stepping more cautiously now, he danced forward in the direction of his house. If he could get there unseen, he would be safe (for now); but leading the creature (whatever it was) to where he lived seemed unwise.

Oh! There was a crunching sound from the noise. And was... was that a voice? His breath hitched in fear of what was about to be happen. He was sure to be attacked at any moment. There was no point in trying to hide, he supposed, but he would not go to face his death willingly. It was not as I'd he had been expecting to evade death for so long, but still, the fear he felt at its coming was nonetheless very great. He looked towards the lamp-post, curious.

What he saw there was not what he expected at all. It was not a wolf (or a Wolf) - no, indeed - but rather something which looked rather like a Dwarf but much less stocky and more brightly dressed. He couldn't make out what it was for they were both surprised at the sight of each other and she hid behind the lamp-post. Tumnus, for his part, let out a scream to be matched by the other creature. He had never known something to be a killer who was so fearful. Tentatively, he moved out of hiding. What was the something who he had met this day?

[Lucy Pevensie]

L

[/color]ucy spun around her heart rate quickening. Her hands stayed glued to the strange looking lamppost. She heard the snow crunching coming closer and it quickened. Just then a strange looking man came out of the bushes with hairy egs and a bare chest. A loud high-pitched scream escaped her lips as she therew her body behind the skinny black pole supporting the glowing light. She noticed the other...thing...do the same. Lucy breathed hard but she soon peeked her head out and looked around.

She stepped out as the other thing did. She glanced at it trying not to stare as it started picking up the parcels and packages he had dropped when he'd hid behind a tree at the site of her. She picked one up and stretched her arm out to hand it to him without getting to close.

"Excuse me, but were you scared of me?" she asked, trying not to giggle. [/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Tumnus]

Tumnus peeped out from behind the tree, meanwhile keeping an eye on the creature just in case it tried to do something funny. He was missing a package and looked up warily at the little creature, who was holding it out to him. As if trying to determine its intentions, Tumnus gazed at the creature for a moment from behind the tree and made a few awkward noises of fearful disapproval before walking forth reaching out with trembling fingers to take the package.

Then, suddenly, unexpectedly, it spoke! Tumnus nearly jumped and dropped all of his packages again, but thankfully, did not. He looked at her questioningly, his mouth working like that of a pavender washed up on shore with no water, in an effort to come up with something to say. But he was nearly speechless in shock. Circling her and watching her carefully, he stooped and picked up his remaining packages, keeping what he thought a safe distance away from the creature. In answer to her question, he stammered out, "No, I-I-I... I just... I didn't want to scare you." He pursed his lips and took a deep breath.

[Lucy Pevensie]

L

[/color]ucy nodded and tried not to smile. She didn't beleive this...creature. But she didnt want to be rude adn tell him. She coudl tell he was slightly still scared and skittish around her, and he kept his distance as he grabbed the parcel from her small childish hand as well as picking up the other ones. She decided she would have to take teh first step. Not that Lucy was normally shy, but she'd never seen a place like this or seen anyone like the thing in front of her now.

"My names Lucy...Lucy Pevensie."[/color] she swallowed, sticking out her hand to shake his. She tried not to stare at him, at his hairy legs and his bare chest. Her brain was absolutly lost as to what this could be. Perhaps a man with very very hairy legs. She noted his red scarf. But why wouldn't he dress up warmer in this horriblyt cold weather. She tried not to shiver at the sight of her breath. Why, it was summer in Finchley so why was it winter here? She got up her courage again. "If you dont mind me asking...what exactly are you?"[/color][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Tumnus]

Lucypevensie. Loo-see-peh-vin-see. Tumnus sounded it out in his racing mind. What a peculiar name. He'd never heard anything of the sort. It didn't sound at all Dwarf-ish, not that he made a point of going about finding out the sort of names that Dwarfs had. Who was this little creature who he had stumbled upon? In response to her - its? - question, he pursed his lips into a slight frown, narrowing his eyes in consternation. "Well, I... I'm a Faun," he said, as though it were quite obvious. And it should have been, to any Narnian. Was this creature Narnian?

Whatever it was, it didn't seem very familiar to Narnia. For the first thing, it didn't know what a Faun was (what kind of Narnian didn't know what a Faun was?). It also was dressed very strangely - certainly not warmly enough for the winter, which seemed to have grown only colder and crueller with each passing year. Tumnus had nearly stopped counting how many years had gone by, for each was filled with the same dreary snow and barren-ness that had come to characterize Narnia. And it also had little hair, unlike a Dwarf. But the only thing it resembled in Narnia was a Dwarf. Even though it didn't seem to be one. "And what about you? You must be some kind of... beardless Dwarf?"

[Lucy Pevensie]

Lucy watched the creature intently as it finished picking up it's parcel's. She tried not to look awkward as he stared at her. Her mind clouded at the tone if his voice as he mentioned he was a...faun? Why did he expect her to just know what that was? "Well...I've never heard of fauns. They don't exist where I come from..." she trailed off as he stared at her again.

Lucy shivered in the cold, looking back to where the wardroeb was. She couldn't see the light coming fgorm it anymore, in fact, she couldn't see it at all. She tried not to panic or look nervous in front of the faun. She laughed childishly at his next comment or was it a question? "A dwarf? I'm not a dwarf Im a girl[/]" she empasized the word girl. Who wouldn't know what she was? A dwarf? Really now they didn't even exist.

[Tumnus]

So, Fauns didn't exist where she had come from? That made it quite certain that she was not from Narnia, because the creatures were all over. She certainly couldn't be from Archenland or Calormen; they had been separated for a hundred years by the wall of ice and tyranny that Jadis had so skillfully set up. At her words about being a girl, his eyes darkened in solemnity at the possible gravity of her words. She was... No, she couldn't be...

Tumnus raised a trembling hand, as if begging the - the girl for something. And perhaps he was. He was, in a way, begging her to save him. If she spoke the truth, Narnia would be freed, and the prophecy he had long ago stopped believing in would be finally fulfilled. It had long been foretold that a girl would enter Narnia with her three siblings and they would rule at Cair Paravel, after defeating Jadis and ending the winter and bringing Aslan back to Narnia. But it was too good to be true. There had been too much tragedy and danger for something so wonderful to be real. "You mean to say that you're a Daughter of Eve?" He moved closer to her, his blue gray eyes locking with hers and searching hers intently for the answer he needed to hear. This could be the moment that changed the rest of his life. That of every Narnian, and their children and grandchildren. He leaned in, his lips parted in the most daring of hopes. "You are, in fact... Human?"

[Lucy Pevensie]

Lucy watched the fauns reaction with interest. As an unfarmiliar term came to her ears, she tilted her head slightly and her blue eyes became confused. [bcolor=purple]"Whats a daughter of Eve--?"

[/color] she stuttered, wondering what kind of a place she had possibly entered. Once mroe she urged to run back to the wardrobe, but her curiousity made her stay glued to the spot.

Lucy gasped and let out a chortle of laughter at his next comment. "Of course I'm human!" she laughed, looking at him oddly. Yes this was an odd place. Odd...things called fauns where they said strange terms like daughter of eve and where they'd never heard of girls or humans!

"Whats your name?" she asked curiously.[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Tumnus]

Tumnus looked at the girl strangely. A girl? In Narnia? A girl in Narnia! It couldn't be. He had studied Humans all his life from his books, all of which claimed that they were only a myth. So of course he hadn't believed the prophecy that stated that a girl would come... The prophecy!

He glanced about nervously. If She knew what was happening... His eyes met the girl's once more. "What are you doing here?" he asked nervously. He shook his head in amazement. What was a Daughter of Eve?! He ignored that question, realizing how rude he was being. "I'm sorry. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tumnus."

[Lucy Pevensie]

Lucy Pevensie watched curiously as the faun seemed to grow nervous at the menton of her being a human girl. She was wondering why why he asked what she was doing here. She thought hard. Her british accent was thick as she spoke next. "Well, I was hiding in the wardrobe in the spare'oom from Peter, we were playing Hide and seek see and he was it--" some of her words slurred together as she explained hastily, not wanting to seem like she was intruding on someone's property or home. She shivered again.

She had stopped when the faun introduced himself. "Nice to meet you Mr. Tumnus!" she smiled gleefully, sticking out her hand for him to shake. SHe looked around for a minute at the cold snow covered trees that seemed to have icilces hanging from every single branch that was outstretched over them. They looked scary and dark, almost as if they were stretching out towards her...

"Excuse me, but if you dont mind me asking Mr. Tumnus, Where are we?" she asked.

ooc; Okay so we need to hurry it up coz lots has to happen before she goes back through the wardrobe. So ask her to tea in your next post please. THANKS.

[Tumnus]

" Spare Oom?" Tumnus repeated, confused. He didn't recall hearing of these places before. He supposed that perhaps he would have, if he'd studied harder. But geography was not interesting to him, not like history or literature. And so, like Lucy didn't seem to know of Narnia, he was not familiar with the same places that she was.

He frowned in surprise and then chuckled. "Why, my dear girl, you're in Narnia," he said, as though she ought to have known. "Everything from the lamp-post to castle Cair Paravel on the Eastern Ocean, every stick and stone you see - every icicle - is Narnia." He gestured, shivering, to the icy land around them. He realized suddenly that Lucy was probably cold as well for she, unlike him, hadn't even a scarf, much less a fur coat on her legs or anywhere else, to keep her warm.

Turning away to shake the snow out of his umbrella, he shuffled over next to her so that he could cover them both with the flimsy white thing. He offered her his arm, what little of it was not filled with parcels, and gave her a smile. "Well then, Lucy Pevensie, from the shining city of War Drobe in the wondrous land of Spare Oom, how would it be if you came and had tea with me?" he raised his eyebrows invitingly. He knew his orders. And he also didn't want to follow them. But he had to. If he didn't want this to be the last thing he ever did. The trees were watching them.

[Lucy Pevensie]

Lucy Pevensie listened with interest as he explained where they were. These places, the names, they seemed so very...strange if she might put it that way. Yes yes very...different. "Narnia? Really? Ive never heard of Narnia..." she trailed off. She glanced around at the snow covered trees and the snowwy hills, out over the trees were mountains. She shivered in the cold, wondering if she should get back. The others must be wondering where she had gotten off to.

She looked up at the faun, smiling. "Well...I really should be getting back. The others must be getting dreadfully worried. Ive been gone a long while." she explained. But then she stopped, lookign around at the cold, but beautiful place she was in. She might as well stay for a short visit and cup of tea to warm her up. Yes she wouldn't get lost. Just by the lamppost. "But I guess just one cup wouldn't hurt would it?" she giggled then took his arm.

[Tumnus]

Tumnus hid it surprisingly well, but he was, at this point, quite conflicted. One part of him panicked: if this girl - Lucy. Her name was Lucy. She had a name - got away, surely the White Witch would find out. But... But what if the prophecy was true? And Lucy would be the one who started it all?

But... What if Jadis was right, and she was the true queen and there was no Aslan? Even if she was evil that didn't mean she couldn't be queen. But she was evil. Oh, that, Tumnus knew, and had witnessed firsthand. It was for this reason that his fear got the best of him. Or, at least, that's what he told himself initially. But there was something in him that sparked when he saw Lucy; something drew him to her.

"It's only just around the corner," he wheedled. "There's tea. And a glorious fire, and maybe - just maybe - we'll open the sardines." He smiled a little and raised his eyebrows in a way that he hoped was convincing. Only, he wasn't sure why he wanted to persuade her so badly anymore.