A SEMI-PLOTRED STARTER FOR @soulmissed
"there once was a princess called andie," is how andie starts the story. yes the princess is her. shut up. "and... a fighter named august." he sits next to her where she's got her legs stretched out in front of her on the bed and is resting upright against the headboard. her hands are in her lap and she gazes off in the middle distance a bit, thinking up a world in her head. "they live in a city called aranea, famous for its beautiful silks." a pause as she thinks. "or, at least, princess andie lives there. because it's one day going to be her kingdom. but the adventurer august is visiting—for a very special reason..." she stops here for a moment, to glance down and check if august seems engaged at all by her tale.
the kingdom is built vertically, stone towers stacked high and houses nestled close atop the crowded plateau. the close quarters are warm, both in temperature and in atmosphere, as aranean citizens open up their market stalls for the day with bright smiles and gleeful waves to one another.
"ser august," says andie the princess. it's the proper way of addressing a capable adventurer and fighter in aranea, though the princess's smile is broad and informal in a kind way that is quite typical for this particular princess, in this particular city. it's a city of kind, generous folk dressed in flowing and colorful garments mostly of their own making. their stalls advertise shining glass beads to be sewn into garments or—more rarely here—tied together into jewelry, and bolts of rich fabrics, flowing dresses, sewing needles, and beautifully embroidered pillows with threads that glint under the sun. this is the matter that concerns the princess. "i have a quest with which i would like to request your help..."
"she leaves the question to the young adventurer's choice—will he agree to help her?" andie poses to august, back in the room on the bed. it's his turn to direct the story, and hers to see where his imagination will take them.