Since he had disappeared for work for the past two weeks, it was nice to be back in Asteria. There was a lot happening in his life, but the Spring Break party was a nice break from all of that. Someone else who helped him temporarily forget about all of his troubles was a girl that he had met at a bar. His bartender, Verity, had been a breath of fresh air for him. Spending a night drinking with her was exactly what he had needed. Now that he was back in town, he thought that she might be a fun person to spend time with.
“Okay, I got us these pretzel bites from that food truck over there.” Jake said as he walked over to the blonde who had saved them a bench on the pier. “I was told that we should also hit up the fried chicken food truck. Apparently their chicken sandwich has been so good that people are jumping off the pier in excitement.”
It did not take long for her to look about the exterior castle area, since there did not seem to be many places to hide... Except above, of course, but in a siege, that area would get taken up. Still curious, she proceeded towards the middle of the opened area. The artificial sun shined down upon her, and Verity could not help but have her spirits brightened. She poked in and out of buildings, learning more about the area... Was it so bad that she was enjoying this part? One of the most fun parts of games, in Verity's opinion, was the exploration part. There was not anything to loot here, but she simply enjoyed the visuality of it all.
She wandered now towards the church, and was interrupted by a ghostly wail. "Straighten your posture~" the ghost moaned.
Verity furrowed her brow, and turned her head so she could address the ghostly voice. "Yes, hello. My posture... It's fine."
"No it is not! You walk not with the stride of a true hero!"
"But I'm a woman," Verity replied, hugging her arms around herself. Somebody passing her by shot her a look, so Verity lowered her voice. "Heroine."
"You're not much of a woman if you're just a girl," the voice chided, prodding at her back to encourage some better stance. "No heroine yet."
Feeling the strange ghostly touch, Verity's posture jerked her upwards. Squeaking, she fumbled for her weapon. "Leave me alone!"
"But your posture is improving, dear," the voice said, more affectionately now.
"I- I- what?"
"Do you not know who you speak to so rudely?" the ghost asked.
"Uh... No. No, I don't..." Verity said distractedly, aware of how she needed to stand.
"I am one of the Legendary Warriors... Or I was. Everyone's time must end one day... But new heroes will rise."
"What? And you think that I-" Verity ventured to say.
The ghost laughed, but not meanly. "No, no. Not just yet. But you do have potential, if only you'll maintain some confidence... Follow my voice."
Verity did, walking along as the ghost rambled on about chivalry and appearing so gallant. She had to keep correcting the ghost, who kept forgetting that Verity was, in fact, a woman. Of all of the strange defensive ghost-isms, the one that struck Verity dumb was, "Of course I know that you're a woman, but we can not allow chivalry to die! Win over your maiden!"
Flushing pink, she did not argue with the ghost as they paraded through the grounds, maintaining some form of poise. Eventually, the ghost seemed to get distracted by a particularly exciting coat of arms, and shooed off his protege so he could complain about the horrible polishing job to somebody who did care.
She walked out of the castle, and lasted approximately five minutes before her shoulders fell again. Never could she be a hero... not alone. The Legendary Warriors were a team. The legends did not celebrate their individual glories... Verity sighed, and moved on with her day.
Verity stopped, and held up the sketch of the wildflower the NPC had given her. Hm... Well, there were quite a few flowers, but none of them looked like this one just yet. Sighing, she kept on, walking less quickly so she could hopefully catch onto her surroundings should the flower pass her by... Oh! No wait, there it was! Grinning in relief, she jogged over to the little bunch of them. Awesome. Verity was leaning down to pick one, but heard some footsteps.
Ever the cautious one, Verity straightened her pose and drew her bow. Adrenaline going, she pivoted about one foot, searching for the cause of the sound.
"So d'you know how to use that thing?" A sly voice asked.
Verity said nothing, but narrowed her eyes as she pointed directly towards the direction she had heard the voice.
The voice said now, "Really, now. I'm just trying to be friendly..." A woman slipped out from behind a tree. Observing Verity tense up, the woman held up her hands, revealing no weapons in hand. Verity could spot some wicked looking daggers sheathed behind, and those were most certainly grabable should she shoot...
"Okay? But you don't have to sneak up on me like that," Verity said cautiously, lowering her weapon just a little.
"I must apologize then," said the strange woman, stepping closer. "I'm Clandestine. What's your name? How much have you heard about... factions?"
Verity gulped. Something about this woman just rubbed her the wrong way. Not willing to volunteer her own information, she just asked, "Do you mean like guilds?"
"No, no, no..." Clandestine said, pulling out one of her daggers and playing with the edge. "Surely you've heard of Chronos."
"Oh. Him," Verity said, keeping her tone even. "I have, yes. What of it?"
"Well, of course you want to be on the winning side of things, don't you girly?" Clandestine said, starting to circle Verity.
"I do, yes," she mumbled, raising her bow slightly.
"So you will join us in our rise to power?"
Verity started to back away slowly. She could play the diplomat when she wanted to. "I'm not so sure I'm convinced," she said in a low voice, trying not to sound like a liar. "What's in it for me?"
"Oh, so much. I mean, it's hell if you betray anybody. You know, death penalty and all, but everyone is so loyal to the cause... You'll love it. What was your name again?"
"I didn't say my name," Verity said quietly, pointing her bow straight at Clandestine. "I don't want to join. I think you should leave me alone."
"That's not how it works, dear," Clandestine said, gripping at her knife.
"You should leave," Verity repeated.
"I think not," said Clandestine, throwing one of her knives swiftly.
Verity dodged, and shot an arrow, going for another one before she could think. Talk was cheap, and she had gotten the sort of idea of how these followers of Chronos could talk.
---
She ended up with a dagger in her leg, but she must not have gotten hit anywhere particularly vital. The blood on her hands made her feel dirty all over, but she just wanted to get out of here, and she'd already taken Clandestine's meager amount of money... Apparently, she had been a higher level than the swagger-talking older woman than she had thought. Piercing Bullet had worked just fine, and it had been kind of a cinch... Fretting about, Verity looked to one side. There was her flower... Still feeling horribly unclean about this whole killing thing, she collected her flower, and ran away from that place.
Once more, nighttime approached. And all over again, Verity had to make camp on her own. This worried her, actually, as everybody knew (or should have known) that humans are most vulnerable in their sleep. Once she reached level 20, she was determined to start a guild of her own to ease her anxieties (note: the ridiculously small fire to avoid noticee). If she made this partying thing official, then she need not worry about getting staked in the middle of the night. Nobody had extended an invitation to her thus far, and she had to wonder if anybody would unless she started the thing herself. It sucked, sometimes, being a lower level. Well, they would want in her guild if it was the only guild around, right? She was not really that many levels away from being eligible...
She sighed, and flopped backwards. The stars looked realistic, but something just did not feel right about that sky. And then a shooting star flashed across, and Verity wondered why she had never seen one of those in real life. The child inside her urged her to make her wish. Just her one little wish, and maybe everything could be perfect... "I wish for- for safety. I wish we were safe." It was a stupid wish, of course, but there were no take-backs, right? That's what Charlotte always told her, and her parents would probably concur... Hallie and Kelly, though. They would shout out their wishes, she imagined, and burst into laughter afterwards. But they weren't here now, were they?
Verity snuffed out her fire in frustration, and scrambled into a tree. After securing herself, she was satisfied that she would not fall off of the branch and into the still-heated ashes of her killed fire... It was going to be a long, frustrating night, wasn't it?
Desperately, she wanted to go back home. So, so badly. A phone call with her sisters. One of her sisters. A text message to the wrong number from her dad. Even an uncomfortable email from Charlotte... Anything was better than this loneliness. All of these interesting people with their hard to pronounce usernames weren't enough just yet. She hoped to get attached to them, but it wasn't like her old D&D group. Aaron, Shelly, Aki, Ethan, Jack... She missed them all so badly. Even if they really only spent Saturdays together, those were some epic team-building Saturdays. She missed all of them, and wished they were in the game with her.
If she could think of a happy memory that she wanted to go back to, it might be to those days. In the Moonrise Kingdom, wherever it was, she thought maybe a moment of happiness would drive her further to ascend the level tiers. So, yes, that was what she needed to do. To the very center of a forest she headed, having marked the midpoints to figure everything out. The forest was no perfect circle, but she was as close as she could be to the center. Anyway.
Midnight still had fifteen minutes until its arrival. Verity shot at a passing rabid-looking animal, but did not move to retrieve her arrows. Just as long as nobody saw her up here, tied up in a tree, all would be well... And then it came...
Charlotte hovers over her, keeping Beth's arms pulled above her head. "I heard girls used to just do this as 'practice.' I'm so glad we know better now."
"Char," Beth whines, shifting around because she's stuck. "This isn't fun anymore." They're both thirteen years old, just after Charlotte finally figuring out that Beth's had a huge crush on her since they were eleven. She doesn't like this, and thought it would be different.
"Hush," Charlotte advises, pressing a surprisingly gentle kiss to Beth's forehead. "We're not going to do anything much. That's for next time."
Beth frowns. "You're joking, right?"
Her friend pauses, releasing her grasp those arms. After a beat: "Of course I am, Beth."
"G-good," says Beth, daringly putting her hands on Charlotte's shoulders. "I'd like it if you asked me about these things. First. Before you do them."
"Okay," said Charlotte, looking confused. This was not how her best friend acted... ever. It was always Charlotte coming up with the idea and Beth going along because her ideas were fucking awesome.
"Also I'd like... I'd like it if you were my girlfriend. Because it's like you said: 'We were meant for each other, and that's why we found one another when we were four.'"
Charlotte purses her lips together. "I don't know if that's the best idea."
Beth's ideas are never the best ideas. "Why not?"
"We'd ruin what we'd have if we labeled it. We already know where we stand."
Beth inhales sharply. She wants to say no. She wants to tell Charlotte so, so badly that she doesn't want to go into this like the experiment that is supposed to be the opposite of one. Because, oh, god, she really cares for Charlotte and wants to make this work.
So instead, she says nothing, and lets Charlotte kiss her.
Verity touchds at her wrists, making sure she she had herself back. She hatesd being trapped like that. Hated it, hated it, hated it...
It was 12:01 AM, apparently, and Verity wanted nothing more than to slap both Charlotte and her younger self across the face. She felt so angry, and needed to vent her frustration somehow. There are no books or movies here to play with, so she hopped furiously out of the tree. After retrieving the arrows she loosed earlier, Verity headed off to kill whatever AI beast the game sent near her.
Something about the forest appeals to Verity. It's lush, green, full of life... and dangerous. Of course it's dangerous. Everything about this world is dangerous. Wild animals tread about, and you need to kill them. It's not like a tabletop game when you're playing from at a distance, and the figures just topple over when they're killed. You feel like you've taken life, like a real hunter or something. But this was life, and she couldn't escape it now. Marveling at how natural everything felt and sounded, Verity trekked on through, plunging deeper and deeper.
A brook? No... Verity knew better than that. Maybe the mouth to a really big river? Verity pondered if perhaps she was coming to an entry way to a larger body of water. A crazy flash of inspiration (that wasn't even very inspirational) came to mind: escape. If she just took the water out, she might get back to civilization, but that did not make any sense whatsoever. They were trapped in this crazy hell for god knows how long. Maybe this was hell. This sounded like they could be in hell, one of those concept purgatories. Something a sixteen year old might think of as cute.
Verity went towards the sound... No, that wasn't an ocean, but she knew that was not a silly wimpy little brook. As she came up to it, she saw that clearly was a waterfall. Smiling gently, she stepped up to the shore. Going in unarmed... Yeah, she could hide. Carefully, she hid her gear under a nice looking bush. Perfect. Stripping to her undergarments, she surveyed the water. Diving in felt a little cold, but she would survive. Feeling free in spite of everything, she swam up and under the waterfall. Whoa. That sort of hurt, actually.
She felt serene under the flow of water... like she could do just about anything. Verity sat on the ledge she found there, and breathed in the flow of the water. Now, she was surrounded, but freer than she ever had been in life. Breathing in rhythmically- yoga breathing- she sighed.
Charlotte would laugh at Verity, seeing her like this. But she had not been Verity back then, really. She was Beth, the perpetual doormat. Charlotte had pulled her into all sorts of schemes since they were four, and it had only felt natural to be with her once they figured out what parts were for. They had been together, on and off, throughout high school. But then Beth had gotten into good schools, and Charlotte had not even bothered applying to any.
"I won't get in, so what's the point?"
What was the point? Charlotte did not know how to plan more than a week in advance, and pulled her best friend-slash-maybe-kind-of-girlfriend into whatever shit she wanted. Even when they weren't together. Even when Beth-Verity-her went off to school. Even when she needed to take a week out of school to be with Kelly at the hospital.
Everything.
Verity did not miss Charlotte much, but she would give up a lot to get out. Did that make sense?
It did, actually... Charlotte had held her back all along, hadn't she? If she hadn't gone off to school, then she would have been completely been stuck under that girl's thumb...
But her sisters. Her little sisters needed her. Spoiled little rich girls? What was this, Mad Men? When parents actually went to the other side of the house to visit their children. Sometimes Verity just wanted to take Kelly and Hallie, and... she hadn't thought that far.
She missed her life. She missed her sisters. She missed going to school.
But she did not miss Charlotte. No... she did not.
....She opened her eyes. When Verity got out of this game, she wanted to block Charlotte from her life, and she was going to make everything right.
It makes her laugh grimly on occasion that she is doing the opposite of what her user name would imply. But generally, yes. She is a truthful person. It's difficult to be anything but when you want so desperately for everyone else to come out of this alive.
But if that means telling a lie once in a while? A little white lie?
She lied, actually. She'd been to more than just Aantyl. But knowing a place, and really intimately knowing there were two very different ideas. So maybe she had not lied. But here she was in Ritone, just for this one day. If she got to know the watery little city even better, she could understand what Nix meant when showing her around. And besides, she liked to keep on her toes.
What else would she do? Turn an earnest person down? This quest might seem small tomatoes compared to fighting beasts and things, but Verity prides herself on generally being a woman of her word. It was like that in the real world too. Celeste is no player character, lovely and kind as she is... But Verity will help her in spite of those shortcomings. She has been programmed to feel emotion, probably, or at least express it. And Verity never was very good a turning down sad pretty faces like that...
This quest seemed not so hard, if it was even a real quest. Of course, she kept hold of the grocery list, and went around to the various shops around there to see what she could find there. Butter and milk, Verity ticked off her list rather quickly. After a bit of hunting, she managed to persuade a somewhat dotty shopkeeper to sell her some eggs.
Now that she had all of these items, Verity knew she had to be careful. The dairy items were mess-able and spill-able, and the eggs could break. Since she would rather not carry around breakables all throughout her questing, Verity returned these first three items to Celeste.
She hears her name.
No, she's Verity. That was her name here.
Then there's her name again. And then... "Help me."
Her head turns. "Hallie. What do you need?"
"I can't reach the- the shelf." And in fact, Hallie is much too short to reach the shelf. Like always. They might get a stepstool, but that would mean asking. The problem is that when she asks them, they usually say yes.
"But what's on the shelf that you want?"
Hallie clings to her side and pouts. "I need to make cookies."
She laughs now, and goes to the fridge. "We have easier cookies to make in the fridge, you know..."
"But I don't want those."
"Then we'll make some from scratch."
The hug that follows makes her heart melt, and she knows she's doing the fight thing. She hears her name again. "Thank you so much!"
Verity knew she needed to get a hold of her items. Hallie wasn't the only one who needed (or claimed to need) assistance in cooking. Feeling silly, she knocked on a strange NPC's door and asked for some sugar.
"Charlotte, I can't come now. Hallie wants me to make her cookies."
Laughingly, she hears, "Come and make me some cookies, then!"
"I can't, okay? Just... I promise I'll do something with you tomorrow."
"Bring me some cookies tomorrow, then. Please...?"
The whining on the other end of the phone line grates on her ears, but she can't help but say, "Sure. Of course." Because that's how it always is. Charlotte, or anybody, will want something and expect her to just comply. She doesn't like it. But that doesn't mean she says no. It's worth it for Hallie because the girl usually tries to do whatever it is alone before she has to step in.
Here, she couldn't just be everyone's doormat. After doing some household chores, Verity got her sugar, and managed to insist on some flour too. There. That would show the world. Even if these were just fake people, Verity had managed to get her hard work's worth out of this errand.
Now, hanging onto the powdered stuff, she headed a ways out of town. Verity could always buy the fruit, maybe get some apples or oranges... But just yesterday, she had come across this amazing cherry bush that she managed to resist picking from because she wanted to try being social sans dripping cherry juice. For this little quest, though, cherries would be perfect. A cake topped with cherries... Verity's mouth watered a little, but knew sweets were not the way to go in this world. A few snagged berries from the bunch were all she would allow herself. Gently, she plucked the fruits from the bush, and placed them in a container. Verity allowed herself three cherries before shutting the container's lid. These would be better for somebody else.
As she turned to return back to Celeste with her earned items, she came across a large coyote. It snarled at her, and her lip quivered in nervousness. Was this part of the quest? No, she needed to protect her spoils. Run. She needed to run. If that thing charged her, she would be toast... No, she shouldn't run. Holding up one hand, she waited for the creature to watch it curiously. Hastily, she plucked a cherry from her container, and tossed it as far away as she could. The coyote bolted after it slipping into the water, leaving Verity to escape. The creature was dead unless it could swim.
"Thank you, Verity!" The NPC gratefully accepts the final ingredients before Verity could run off and head back.
"Thank you, Bethy!" Hallie hugs her, mouth covered in what can only be melted chocolate chips. She hugs the younger girl back, and then insists on wiping her face off with a cloth.
...
"Wow, Beth. Just three cookies? What a chip off the old block you are." Charlotte laughs at her, and takes a bite. "They're good, though. Gotta give you that."
Beth... It was going to be a long time before anybody called her that again.
