My Mundane Muse’s Monday Mediocrities
"Leaves sway and rustle beyond my window. The fan's cool breeze washes through me. Beams of light shine on my face as I sleep through the hot summer day. My body is stuck against the mattress, and my dreams keep me in place. Dreaming of cats and daisies, dreaming that I'm on a boat; the cats look delighted to see me. I, too, am delighted to see them. Sailing through a wonderland, I sit, wearing a yellow dress and a cute yellow hat."
Here lies our dear protagonist, sleeping well on her bed—her face stuffed into her sheets.
Her name is Oratsu Mavvy, a 19-year-old college student lazing around on a summer’s afternoon. Right now, she’s dreaming of daisies and cats—and in fifteen seconds, she wakes up.
The boat she sails in will rock.
In five. Four. Three—
She mumbles groggily, “You’re noisy.”
I reply dramatically, “'Tis but my reason to—”
Her alarm rings out. Oratsu slowly brings her hand high—as she still lies in bed—and slams it onto her alarm clock. A terrifying display of strength.
“As Narra says,” Oratsu criticizes harshly.
And so, its deep slumber disturbed, the bear stretches and opens its eyes, for the first time in a very long time.
“Why am I a bear this time? Couldn't I be something cuter, like a cat maybe?” she says.
“It’s just simple evolution,” I rebut so flawlessly. (Absolutely not.)
And there Oratsu sits, clearly (allegedly) blown away by my amazing sentences.
“That’s terrible writing,” she chuckles.
I say, “Because someone’s being a bum and spent the whole day sleeping.”
“It’s summer break and I don’t have much to do. Can’t I just relax?” Our dear protagonist, Oratsu Clementine Mavvy, sighs and says, “You were much cuter—HEY WAIT, WHY THE FULL NAME DROP!?”
It appears that she is forgetting something.
She gets up from her bed and dresses up without taking a shower. Their hair is still damp with sweat. She stinks.
“Hey, where did my lines go?” She takes out a notebook from her pocket, hastily flipping through.
“Hey, wait, stop that, it tickles!” I giggle.
“You’ve been ignoring half of what I’ve been saying—and as I WAS saying, you were only cute in the first year. Now you’re just mean.”
Or so she says. (It’s true.) She rummages through her fridge: a single egg and half-eaten tuna. She checks her cabinets.
“As dry as the Sahara,” I comment.
She snaps, “Good for you, Narra! You’re a disembodied voice! You don’t have to eat!”
I hint her towards the bottom right drawer. “And she opens it.”
“What’s in there?” she asks.
I clear my throat, “And she opens it.”
Reluctantly, she follows—“I thought you were hungry, why aren’t you doing anything?” I sigh.
“If I see another swarm of roaches, I’m burning the notebook.”
Oratsu grips the notebook tightly, staring into it intensely. It starts to quiver. “I-I swear I’m not messing with you today!”
She sighs and reluctantly follows the narrator’s lead. Slowly, she opens the drawer, stopping for a moment to listen for skittering roaches.
“Oratsu is relieved!” she says, mocking me.
In the drawer, she finds three cans of corned beef. “A much better meal,” I grin.
After having her (below-average) meal, Oratsu checks the time on her phone and realizes that she is running late. “2:15,” it says.
“You're going to keep Ashe waiting again,” I say.
Oratsu opens her phone, revealing a conversation.
Oratsu: I'll be late, like 2ish Ashe: All good, I'm running late too :) Reacted with a 🪑 by Oratsu.
“Huh—” I sigh, “Quick, Sneaky~”
She smirks, “Not as omniscient as you'd like to be?”
I look away, “You still stink though.”
Oratsu sets the notebook down as she heads to the bathroom to take a shower. With nothing else to narrate...
…
Muffled sounds of cars through glass. And the annoying screech of Oratsu’s laughing. (She’s just giggling.)
I wake up in Ashe's hands, finding myself in a familiar cafe, Brass Garden.
Ashe’s eyes glisten, “Hey, what’s up! You were out like a light again!”
Oratsu smiles, “How bored did you get in the 10 minutes I wasn’t with you?”
I scoff, “I was simply tired.” I look around—checking for other people. It’s just the barista and an old guy in the corner. “This place again? The cafe theme is so over-the-top.”
Oratsu argues, “But the cake though!” She pauses, taking a sip of her tea. “The tea and the theme just tie it all together.”
Ashe smirks, “Like you’ve got money to buy cake.”
Oratsu says, “Isn’t that why you invited me out?”
Ashe looks at her and raises his eyebrow, “Dude! You invited me!”
“Who were you even trying to prove yourself to?” I snicker.
Oratsu pauses, unable to wriggle out—she cuts in, “You're quite rude today.”
How could I not be? She spent so much time sleeping. I frown, “I spent so much time trying to wake you up. I remember recalling you saying that we were to leave at 10?”
She laughs sheepishly, “But the bed just felt good, you know?!”
Ashe brings up an idea, “How about you make it up to Narra by listening to one of his stories?”
Oratsu thinks about it for a second. “I suppose it's only fair,” she says.
And so, I clear my (nonexistent) throat. “O’ descendant of Leisure! Heed these words of an Oracle!”
Ashe straightens his back and gently sets me down. “Of course, Narra,” he says in a soft voice.
Oratsu rolls her eyes, “There they go again.”
I say, “The book of your ancestor shall regale you with another tale from a time long gone.”
I quickly flip through pages upon pages seemingly without end, impossible for any notebook of this world; however, I am much more. The pages stop. “Entry #727.”
Oratsu comments, “Your stories are always so depressing. Can this one have something good in it?”
Ashe replies, “All but one way to find out—Listen.”
Oratsu looks at me, then goes back to sipping her tea. The title appears as a faint glow on the notebook’s pages: “When you see it.”
“A time closer to the beginning as it is to now—” I recount, “A time of abundant mana. There once was a king who was suffering from a grave illness, and no one could find a cure. A true craftsman he was. Even through his deteriorating health, he’d work for the kingdom, and he’d work on a secret hidden from even his closest attendants. His two sons bickered for the throne; his wives would worry for them.”
Oratsu comments, “What was the secret?”
I sigh, “I'm getting there, you see? There’s so much text that I have to sort through to give you two a shorter version.”
She stops talking and goes back to sipping her tea.
“On the eve of his final breath,” I recount, my pages fluttering as my voice drops to a solemn whisper. “The king did not summon his sons to his deathbed. He summoned the kingdom to the courtyard.”
Ashe leans over the cafe table, completely entranced. Even Oratsu stops mid-sip.
“By royal decree, the guards smothered the torches. The hearths were killed. The kingdom was plunged into pitch black, bathed only by the pale, cold moonlight. The sons stood on the balcony, embarrassed by the sight of their frail, decaying father standing before the masses, clutching a gem of mana and a simple wood trinket."
I pause, letting the silence hang in the air.
"He did not chant. He drew no chaotic sparks. He simply spoke to the crowd before him: ‘A true symbol of our kingdom! When you see it, it is proof that we stand!’ Then, he puts the gem in, and turns a valve. And there, underneath the moonlight, the king shone his own. A steady, brilliant light that did not flicker in the wind. A lamp.”
I proclaim before slamming myself shut, “The crowds cheered and sat in awe. The king’s invention brought about a new age of technology.”
Skeptically, Oratsu asks me, “And you said there were two bickering sons? Did the lamp solve it?”
I shout, “You said you wanted something good!” I sigh, “It’s a perfectly happy ending.”
“What Narra said—” Ashe interjects, “—It’s a grand ending to a king’s sacrifice.”
Ashe picks me up and presses me to his ear. I whisper, “The king died shortly after, and his two sons fought over the rights of the lamp.”
Oratsu can only sigh, “Don’t you have a single wholesome story in you?”
A long silence hangs in the air.
“The king brought upon the people a new era of technological advancements!” I insist.
Oratsu was the one to ask for something ‘wholesome’. You shouldn't ask so—She sighs, “Fine, I won't. That said, though, isn't this the story of… I know it starts with an ‘M’…”
Ashe snaps his fingers, “King Mammani! The artisan king known for his early-stage paintings, but a lamp was never mentioned?”
I flip through a few pages. "History remembers the invention. Not always the cost.
Oratsu snickers, “Pretty sure history forgot the invention too. ”
Ashe furrows his brow. "The cost?"
"What do you know about mana sickness?"
"Overuse. Repeated exposure without proper cleansing. Usually among mages." He pauses.
Oratsu tilts her head. "Wait."
Ashe looks back at the notebook.
"The king spent years working on it..."
"Go on," I urge.
Ashe's eyes widen.
Ashe pauses, “The king was dying of mana sickness because of the lamp?!”
“Precisely!” I exclaim, “Excellent deduction, Ashe! A truly wondrous story it is.”
Oratsu asks, “Was there anything special about the lamp aside from being a lamp, or was it just… a lamp?”
I point towards the light bulb, “That.”
Confused, she repeats after me, “That??”
I chuckle, “I apologize, it was a bit too vague. Simply put, the king had made circuitry. The mana stone that he held was of exceptional quality, often used by warriors and mages of his time as a source of power. But there was one thing: Mages used them as amplifiers for their spells, channeling raw destruction! But King Mammani did the unthinkable: he didn't use it as a weapon. He used it as a battery,” I exclaim.
Ashe squints at the bulb above us. “But we don't use mana stones for power today.”
I smirk. “You don't need to. However, Mana and electricity are apples of the same tree. King Mammani wrote the blueprint that your entire modern world is built upon.”
It truly breaks my heart that he is no more than a foolish craftsman in this era.
Ashe taps on me lightly, “Hey, Narra? I was wondering, how old are you truly? The story of King Mammani was never told like how you just did. Were you actually there?”
…
I was.
The cafe falls silent.
Oratsu sets her cup down. "You have so many more stories in you." She smiles. "We have all the time to listen."
Thanks for reading through!
