Hansel and Lethel

[drinkandforget]

The twists and turns of the forest are long, secretive, and closed. But in this one small clearing, there is a house made entirely of sweets. Gingerbread forms the walls, adorned with enormous pieces of candy. The pillars and lampposts outside are peppermint, while the bushes grow marshmallows and slices of pie and cake. Even the paving stones of the pathway are rock candy. A river of pure dark chocolate flows lazily alongside the house, hot enough to be molten.

It's clearly a haven for children. In fact, a girl with pink hair and wearing a soft dress sits comfortably amid the wafer candy grass and nibbles at a handful. She looks up and smiles at the newcomer. Something about the smile is a bit too cold for her greeting, but with so much candy nearby, there's plenty to distract from the expression.

"Come over and try some," she invites. "You can eat enough to have a full stomach." This is a rare and precious thing, in a poor kingdom like this one. "Don't worry, I live here with my sister."

(ooc: story can be looked up here. Lethe is working for the witch to lure travelers in return for herself and Mnemosyne not being eaten.)

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[drinkandforget]

Lethe knew it, but needed to know more. "I wish I could be more help," she lied, the veneer of the helpful stranger still in place.

"Can you tell me anything else that could help?"

[theycallhersunshine]

"The last one went missing just two days ago." Alice told her, recalling all of the facts that she had gathered earlier. "A little girl, only ten years old. Her name was Cassie. She would have passed by this way sometimes yesterday afternoon."

[drinkandforget]

Lethe remembered it. Cassie hadn't lasted long, one in a vast line of sacrifices to the witch's appetite for fear and horror.

She needed this girl to forget it, an easy enough feat with her powers as she began to ask questions.

"What did she look like? Was she tall or short?" Somehow, the questions had the effect of pointing out the details were quite possibly starting to slip through Alice's grasp by now.

[theycallhersunshine]

"She..." Alice froze as her memory of the girl began to grow hazy. She had spent the better part of a day talking with Cassie's mother, every detail should be crisp in her mind but it was slipping. What color was her hair again...?

Frowning worriedly, Alice pulled out the small parchment she had taken from her home before visiting the local townspeople, and upon which she had taken thin, spidering notes about each of the missing children. Now to find the girl in question on there, what was her name? Something with a C... "Ah." Alice said triumphantly as she located the girl on her list.

"Cassie is probably no taller than my waist, and she has dark brown hair." She told the other girl.

[drinkandforget]

"Cassie, then. Is she your friend, perhaps? A kinswoman?" The question was entirely reasonable, of course; and while the fact the answer was no might make it easier to recall with certainty, she was leading somewhere with it.

[theycallhersunshine]

"What?" Alice startled. "No, I don't know her, she's just a lost little girl who's parents I am trying to help find her."

[drinkandforget]

"If she's just a girl, isn't it really nothing you need to worry about? Eventually, she'll get into trouble of her own, and you'll only be upsetting yourself by becoming involved."

These are the words of someone who ran away, once.