maybe tonight we'll start all over.

All Sophie's life she knew one thing for sure, she was to stay away from spindle's because they were all cursed. Apparently, at her first appearance in front of the kingdom as a mere baby, she was gifted by the three fairies of the land. One gave her the gift of eternal beauty, another gave her the gift of intelligence, and she's not sure what the third fairies gift was supposed to be because before she could give her gift an evil witch of the land had stormed in and cursed her to prick her finger on a spindle by midnight on her 21st birthday, and so the third fairy used her gift to weaken the curse. Now rather than dying if she pricked her finger she along with all the citizens of the kingdom would fall into a deep sleep, the kingdom would become obscured from sight by a large piece of wood that would be unnoticed by the rest of the world, and they would fall off maps and be erased from people's memories until the day that the kingdom would be rediscovered and she would be kissed by her true love. Now it never made sense to Sophie how that curse made any sense. But everyone in the kingdom took it very seriously and so spent most of her life under such a strong watch that by the time her 21st birthday came she couldn't have been happier to get everything done and over with.

She'd spend most of her life at that point wishing she could live a normal life, wishing that she could be allowed to just leave the kingdom, even just once, to explore other places. She wanted to feel the way that other girls felt, she wanted to know what it was like to be around other people her own age, she wanted to meet a nice prince and get married, she wanted to eventually have what her parents had. However, she didn't even know how to properly act outside the walls of her kingdom because she'd never been allowed, she didn't even know how to properly interact with others because Sophie hadn't even been allowed to have friends really, which had meant a long and lonely 21 years.

Of course, she still wouldn't get a chance to live a life that she wanted, she wouldn't get to fall in love, or even leave the kingdom, at least not for another 200 years. Because as promised by the curse, Sophie found herself lured away by the allure of being free from what she'd come to find a prison rather than a warm and loving home, she'd ended up tricked by a witch who wanted her and her family to suffer and pricked her finger only to realize what was happening to late. And as she fell off the bench she'd been sitting on before it happened she found herself wishing she would've just listened to every instinct telling her not to come into this stupid room. But it was like she hadn't been able to control her own body and now she was going to sleep for who knew how long. Hopefully, someone would find them soon.

@ Kol.

Markus and his college roommate Peter had decided to head into the woods near their campus with a few beers to celebrate Markus's 21st birthday, and were quite tipsy when they stumbled upon the unfamiliar hiking trail. Around thirty minutes of stumbling around in the dark later, they came across an old, crumbling medieval castle, something strait out of a fantasy world. They were obviously very confused, especially when they started seeing all of the people dressed like they were at a Renaissance fair sound asleep everywhere. Eventually they wandered into the castle and into a room where the princess slept. Upon seeing her they began to discuss what they should do, whether they should leave or if they should try to do something. They remembered the local legend about the medieval kingdom and the princess that had been cursed to sleep forever, but they had always assumed that the few other college students they'd talked to that had said they'd found the kingdom were just drunk or high when it had happened and that they'd imagined it. But now, standing there, they were sure that they were really in a castle, and that the princess from the fairy tale was right there.

They racked their brains to try to figure out what to do, recalling something about breaking the curse with a kiss, but they still weren't sure about it. Eventually they decided to try breaking the curse, and Markus was the one who lost their quick game of rock paper scissors to decide which one would kiss the sleeping woman first. He reluctantly and cautiously walked over to where the princess lay sleeping, and after looking back over at his roommate for encouragement he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her lips, quickly pulling back and turning to Peter.

"Ok, I did it, your go, and then we can get out of here." He said quickly, not expecting his kiss to have done anything.

Sophie groaned before her eyes fluttered open and she rested her hand on her forehead. "What's happening?" she said sounding a little groggy, but given she wasn't sure how long she'd been 'asleep' she felt it made sense. Suddenly it dawned on her that she'd been asleep because of the curse and if she was awake now that meant someone had found her kingdom and kissed her which broke the curse and according to the legend that made him her true love. So she slowly sat up and turned to get off the uncomfortable slab she'd pretty much spent who knew how long on and took in the two boys standing near the edge of the room. Sophie cocked an eyebrow at them both finding their attire very strange and wondering what year it even was because that would let her know how long she'd been asleep.

"Who are you?" She asked them as she tried to make herself seem more presentable in front of them, after all, she did owe one of them her life in a way given that he had woken her from an eternity of sleeping while the world around her continued to move on. "What year is it? And where are we currently?" she asked expecting someone to answer her and give her a little peace of mind. "And how did you find this place?" She added wondering how if the curse were true about the kingdom being lost to the world someone had found them.

Sophie stepped closer to the boys and curtsied to them both, "I'm Princess Sophie and whichever one of you just kissed me broke the curse that had fallen upon my kingdom. And I am very thankful for that, so I hope I am not being too forward with my questions, but well I have been asleep for I'm assuming some time now and so I am slightly disoriented,"

@ Kol.

Markus stood frozen with his back to Sophie, his feet having turned to cement blocks as soon as he'd heard the girl behind him groan. He stared at his friend Peter, who was staring past him at the girl with wide eyes and his mouth gaping. When she began to ask them about who they were and what year it was and how they'd found her, Markus slowly turned around to look at her, his alcohol addled brain struggling to figure out whether or not she was a hallucination or not. But Peter seemed to see her too, so it was more than likely that she really was standing there, and that Markus had been the one to wake her up.

Because Markus seemed like he wasn't going to speak, Peter finally cleared his throat to answer the princess. "Um... Well... Markus here was the one who woke you up, and as for your other questions, it's 2019, and we're in the woods near Calchester.. We were out celebrating Markus's birthday and found this trail, and we followed it and then ended up here... Where do you think is here? Also say something, man, stop freaking out." Peter addressed the last part to Markus, punching his arm to try to get him to say something.

The punch only caused Markus to sigh, the poor young man running his hand through his hair as he tried to wrap his head around what was going on, opening his mouth a few times to try to say something, although when he finally did he couldn't say much. "I... We... Fuck, man, I'm never drinking again, this is too much."

Princess Sophie tucked her hair behind her ears and looked between the two boys trying herself to make sense of everything. "Markus do you know what this means in regard to you?" she asked him softly wondering if he even knew that the fact that she was awake right now had to mean they were destined to be together and he was her true love. After all, nothing else could've broken the curse. "Wait I've been here for 200 years? I never thought it would take that long," she said mostly to herself once it hit her that the curse had kept her alive, sleeping, and unaged for that long.

"I wish to leave this place," she said more firmly, "I am quite sure that you stumbled upon the trail that led you here because it was destiny for Markus to awake his true love on his 21st birthday. You know that's the same age I am. Well, I suppose I would be a bit older but that's the age I was when I pricked my finger and the curse was activated. Either way, it has been broken like the fairy predicted and now I wish to leave. I've been trapped in these castle walls longer than a person should ever be trapped somewhere and I think it's well past time that I get to explore something that isn't here," she said to the boys.

Sophie rested her soft hand on Markus' cheek as she got closer to him and smiled at him. "Thank you for waking me up," she said softly before she placed a kiss on his cheek. "I'm aware that this is probably a lot for you to wrap your mind around, but we are destined for each other by a prophecy if you want to call it that, so my hope is that where ever you go you'll take me with you," she told him clearly very unaware of how the world in 2019 worked compared to what she was used to.

@ Kol.

Markus frowned as she began to speak of some prophecy about the both of them and wanting to leave with them, unable to come up with a reply as he turns to look over at Peter for help once he realized that he couldn't come up with anything to say. Peter gave him a look that said he should say something and so Markus sighed as he turned back to Sophie, taking a nervous step back as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"I'm not sure about prophecies and all that shit, but I guess you can come with us.. Our third roommate just moved out, so I suppose you could stay with us for a few days, but this place will probably disappear once we leave, soooo.... Are you sure you want to leave?" He asked hesitantly, wanting to make sure she really wanted to go, because as far as he knew they wouldn't be able to find this place ever again. He wanted to help her see the world if he could, or at least get her used to the modern world until she was comfortable enough to go out on her own or come back here, but as far as he was concerned, he wasn't going to be spending the rest of his life with her. He was 21, had gone on a few dates with a girl in his chem lab, and he wasn't quite ready to be told who his true love was.

Sophie raised her eyebrow again unsure what he meant by the place disappearing but she was sure she wanted to leave. "Markus I assure you I would like to leave. I've been trapped in this castle for 221 years. I've never been outside these walls and I want to explore. I want to experience whatever it is that normal 21-year-olds experience. I would like to make friends, see new places, eat new foods, live my life. And I can't do those things if I stay here," she told him sighing softly. Sophie truly just wanted to go out into the world and live for once without a care in the world, with the fear of a curse looming over her head.

"This place very well may disappear once you leave, but let me explain something," she said tucking her hair behind her ear. "When I was born there was a witch who practiced magic that my family frowned upon and so she wasn't invited to the Christening I suppose it what it was called. And she didn't like that very much, so she crashed the whole thing and put a curse on us. Her curse said that before midnight on my 21st birthday I would prick my finger on a spinning wheel and die. Well, I'm a princess and of course, my parents weren't going to let someone threaten their newborn daughter. Anyway, there were 3 fairies who lived on the kingdom's ground who were there to bring gifts. One of them gave me the gift of eternal beauty, one the gift of intelligence, and the third tweaked the curse so I wouldn't die. Rather I would fall into a deep sleep along with everyone else in the kingdom, the kingdom would become hidden amongst the trees, and fade off of all maps and out of everyone's memories until the day that my true love stumbled upon our kingdom and kissed me to break it," she said biting her lip. "And that's what you did, you broke the curse,"

@ Kol.

Markus frowned as she told him about the prophecy and her life up until when the curse went into affect, shrugging slightly as he turned to head out the door. "It all sounds crazy to me, but whatever.. Lets get out of here, this place is starting to creep me out." He huffed, desperately wanting to go to bed and hope that when he woke up she would be long gone. He and Peter led Sophie out of the castle and back to their dorm room, Peter immediately heading off to bed, leaving Markus to get Sophie set for bed.

Markus showed her around their small apartment, showing her where the kitchen and bathroom were in case she was hungry or needed to use the restroom before showing her the room that she would be staying in. They're third roommate had transferred partway through the semester, and the vacancy hadn't been filled yet, so they were using it as a spare bedroom and storage space at the moment. But luckily they kept it pretty clean, and there were fresh sheets on the bed for her. "Well... Here it is. Peter's in the room over there, and I'm in the room over there, if you need anything." He pointed out the rooms he was talking about as he spoke, looking at her a bit awkwardly. "Do you need anything before I head to sleep? I.. I need to head to bed."

Sophie looked around amazed at everything she was seeing for the very first time once they'd left the castle. Her parents had seemed a little upset with the entire situation, not so much her wanting to leave and explore but more with the fact that she'd touched the spindle some 200 years ago and put them all under the curse, which she didn't understand how that was really her fault but whatever. She'd taken quite a few of the jewels her family owned figuring she could make somewhat of a life off of them once she left considering they were worth a lot and then she'd followed Peter and Markus out of the forest and into the world. She felt like she was on top of the world honestly, finally being outside the walls of a castle that had always felt more like a prison than a home.

"Thank you," she told him with a smile as she walked into the room and looked around. "Have a good nights sleep. I don't really think I'm going to sleep any time soon. I've kind of been doing that for well 200 years," she joked before she took a seat on the bed then stood up and decided to examine it. As this was much softer than anything she'd ever slept on in her life. Really if anything Sophie figured that while everyone else around her slept given they hadn't been sleeping for 200 years she could take some time to explore this new home she'd be staying in and maybe find something to read and entertain herself.

@ Kol.

Markus nodded a little as she said she'd stay up, taking a step back from her door. "Alright. There's food in the fridge if you get hungry, if you want to try to figure out how to use the microwave, go ahead, just don't put anything metal in there, and don't try to use the stove, the last thing I want is you burning the building down.." He said as he stifled a yawn, trying to think of what else she should know before he went to bed. "I don't think there's anything else.. If you get hurt, or something bad happens, wake one of us up, ok?" Even though he didn't really want to be, he felt responsible for her, especially considering he was the one who had woken her up in the first place.

With a little sigh and a wave he headed off to his room, shutting the door behind him so he could change into his pajamas and climb into bed, exhausted from not only a long day of classes but also the events of the past few hours. It definitely wasn't the way he'd wanted to spend his twenty first birthday. Soon enough he was asleep though, and he was just glad that tomorrow was Saturday, and that he didn't have to wake up early.