~*~Madison~*~

[Nicholette]

**Present Day**

"Remember to lock up when you're done...and for heaven's sake don't touch anything in my office..." Mr. Clayton reminded her as he headed for the front doors of the museum. Madison nodded, "Yes, sir..." She watched him walk out the doors before she locked up behind him and picked up her bottle of windex. She set about cleaning all of the glass in the exhibits, as she did every night. The rule was, all of the night cleaning staff had to be out before 6AM, but seeing as how it was just now 11 she had a long night ahead of her. Madison had been working night shifts for the past year so that she could go to medical school during the day. Not that the tiny salary she got from this job helped to pay for anything... But she still liked the job. History had always interested her, and with the exception of her total lack of sleep she didn't mind the night shift.

With all of the glass cleaned, she began sweeping the floors and finally moved on to the offices to dump the trashes. She wasn't allowed to have a set of keys so the doors were all left unlocked for her to clean and she was supposed to lock them on her way out. She enjoyed cleaning Mr. Clayton's office, sometimes whenever the museum acquired new artifacts he would keep them in his office for a few days to catalog them and she would get to see them before anyone else did... It didn't look like he had anything interesting tonight however. After dusting all of his shelves, exhaustion began to set in and she took a seat in the plush leather chair behind the desk, intending to rest for a few moments...

Madison was startled by the sounds of voices outside the door. She jumped up out of the chair and looked to the clock on the wall, realizing with dismay that it was already past seven in the morning. As the door began to open, she dropped down under the desk to hide. Two men hurried into the room and she recognized one of the voices as Mr. Clayton's. "Just set it on my desk, Howard..." More shuffling, then a loud thud as something heavy was placed on the desk. "I'll open it..." "No, no...we wait until the professor arrives, he'll know more about that enscription on the top..." "Come on...why not just open it?" The two argued for a few more moments, "Look, I know enough to realize that the enscription is some sort of curse...we can't be too careful. He'll be here within the hour, until then we wait..." Madison continued to hold her breath until the two men left the room, then slowly she crept out from under the desk. She looked down at the chest, beautifully decorated with something written on the lid in a language she didn't understand. She knew she shouldn't, but the urge to have a little peek before the professor returned was just too overwhelming. She reached for the little clasp on the chest and to her surprise it popped open, revealing a little glass bottle filled with irridescent liquid. The bottle was sitting on a pillow of silky fabric and before she realized what she was doing, she reached for the bottle and picked it up. Holding it up to the light, the bottle's contents seemed to swirl and glow beautifully... Then suddenly she was falling...falling into darkness... She couldn't catch herself, she couldn't see or breathe...

**Medieval London**

Madison slowly opened her eyes and rolled onto her side, groaning. Her head was aching and her vision had yet to clear. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, opening them slowly. What she saw made her lose her breath all over again. This was deffinitely not Mr. Clayton's office... She was sitting on the ground in the middle of what appeared to be somesort of town square. There were dozens of men and women hurrying all around her. And they dressed so strangely! Wearing medieval style attire. Some were dressed in beautiful gowns while others were barely clothed and barefoot. There were horses and carriages and she realized that many of them had stopped to stare at her... She got to her feet and staggered, bumping into a man who happened to be passing by. What was going on? Where was she? Surely...she must be dreaming. Perhaps she had fallen and hit her head and she was actually lying unconscious on Mr. Clayton's floor.... Maybe? Hopefully.. She turned in a circle, trying to get a good look at all of the shops when one in particular caught her attention. In the distance, the fog parted to reveal a towering castle.. "Oh my god..." she whispered. Though her attention was quickly drawn away from the castle when a tall man gripped her arm painfully tight, "You there...what is the meaning of this? Where did you get these strange clothes?" She glanced down at her blue denim jeans, black tank top and black shoes... She did stand out compared to everyone else around. "I..." she began, but the man was no longer listening...he was dragging her toward one of the shops, one that she hadn't noticed until now. A slave shop...

"Let go of me! You can't do this, let me go!" she cried, but they'd stopped listening to her hours ago and her voice was nearly gone now. After being dragged into the shop, the owner had gladly taken possession of her and shackled her to a wall, all while she was kicking and screaming and demanding to be released. "You don't understand..." she sighed. They hadn't found the little silver bottle that she'd shoved in her pocket and she hadn't bothered to tell them about it either. It was her only link back home... She had given up hope that this was some sort of nightmare. The pain she had felt when they forced her down and shackled her wrists was all too real. The bruises she had acquired while fighting them were still too painful to be imagined. But that could only mean one thing...that somehow she had been sent back in time. And she didn't know if that was something she was prepared to cope with right now...

[GBE]

((BTW - This is a private roleplay between Nicholette and I, unless otherwise stated...))

Walking into the shop was a rotund man, who appeared to have eaten enough hot dinners to starv a nation. Bringing a chubby hand up towards his well groomed mustache, he makes sure that the end is curled properly as he looks along the lines of the slaves. The slave master eyes him wearily, as if he were afraid of this short and fat man.

He seemed to be wearing the very finest clothing the town could offer, a mixture of sensible cut trousers, made from suede, along with a smart cotton shirt, and atop of that, a fine red coat, making him look almost a little absurd. He walks up to the shop keeper, and points to Madison, and in a hearty voice, "Where did you find that one. She's above your usual standards. Aye, a rare beauty. Those clothes are not local are they? She foreign, or does she have an English tongue? WELL SPEAK MAN!" He becomes a little flustered and red about the cheeks as he asked his questions...

[Nicholette]

The aging shop keeper looked up at the man with a frown, not appreciating his tone in the slightest. However, he knew when to hold his tongue, especially if it meant making a sale. Grinning greedily, he gestured toward Madison, "Rare indeed.. Aye she speaks english.." She'd spent the last few hours shouting enough of it at him for him to know that she deffinitely spoke english.. "She was captured wearing those clothes, I've no idea where she got them from.." He stepped around the chubby gentleman and walked toward Madison, who was seated on the ground against the wall, watching them both warily. When he approached her, Madison narrowed her eyes angrily. The shop keeper reached down and grabbed hold of her jaw, tilting her face up forcefully so that the man could get a better look at her. Madison slapped at his hand and jerked her head back, "Don't touch me you pig.." she glared up at the fat man, "I am not a slave.." her voice was hoarse from having yelled all morning, but she was clearly not happy with her situation. "Are you all deaf? No one will listen to me!" The shopkeeper frowned and glanced sheepishly toward the other man. "As you can see, she is rather lively.." he tried to play this off as a good trait. Besides, many men enjoyed breaking their slaves. "She is clean and in good health...well spoken. A good catch...of course, she probably won't be here long. I've already had a few people who were interested in her today..." Madison pulled herself up to her feet and lunged toward the shop keeper, but her chains prevented her from getting very far, "I'm not going with anyone, do you hear me! You're all insane!"

[GBE]

The chubby businessman stares at the shop-owner. "Is she delerious or something, or have you drugged her. She speaks violently and without the pleasance of a lady. I will purchse this one, but I'll offer you nothing more than three silver coins. More than I would pay elsewhere, but, she is in good health. You'll not get another penny more..." He trails off the sentance, as if to leave a threat standing in the space between them.

He walks towards Madison, and, firmly taking ahold of hr jaw, he checks her over up close, his sweaty, meaty little hands keeping a firm hold. "Whats your name wench?" He lets go and steps back away from her...