Open - A Villager's Ambitions

Balmung found himself traveling deeper into the forest than he had anticipated he would. It was beginning to get late, the fading sun barely having the strength to cast its ambers rays through the dense forest canopy. He knew it would not be long before his desire to take a rest would overpower the one to keep moving. The silently flashing red bar of his energy gauge a telltale sign of his growing fatigue.

He had set off wanting to see where his feet would take him. He had crossed several low hills, one of them covered in prickly thistle weed that tugged at his pants with every step, and forded a river teeming with trout that gave him the occasional tickle as they swim past. The white-haired man had then found his way into the forest, but not before lying on a large, flat rock in a field to let his clothes dry.

All in all, it had been a pleasant journey thus far. He had taken in many of the local sights, and had even had a not successful encounter with one of the kybex that grazed the fields outside the forests of Brisshal. The antelope-like creature had grown wise to his presence, and when Balmung attempted to throw a crackling bolt of electricity at it, the beast reflexively ducked and then darted into the woods. He tried to give chase, managing to get one more shot off which did little but collide into a tree with a sizzling shower of sparks, before losing the thing to the thick growth of the forest.

In frustration, Balmung had drew his sword and smashed it into a tree, having to use all his might to pull it free from the timber. He had then resigned himself to quietly walking on, in hopes of perhaps discovering some other piece of beautiful scenery or breathtaking view. Sadly, no more had come to show themselves.

As the system began to slow his pace and make him feel true fatigue, Balmung was forced to use the trees as support to push himself farther. Even though he could feel his muscles aching, he wouldn't let himself stop yet. This partly due to being afraid of losing his way in a forest that was growing increasingly darker, but he would never admit. He'd keep pressing on until he reached a clearing, or a hunter's blind, or somewhere that would give him some sense of security.

Just as his energy meter was about to completely empty out, the flashing bar becoming a minute sliver of crimson, Balmung found his way to campfire. He allowed himself to fall onto his behind, hitting the ground with enough force to produce an audible thud and wiping the thick layer of sweat from his brow. He let loose a long sigh as the aching pain in his calves and thighs slowly began to alleviate. It was then that Balmung looked around and embarrassingly realized that he wasn't the only one sitting around the tenderly burning fire.

 

There were days when virtual reality failed to alleviate the pain of Comet's life on the outside. A restless gut twisted in a wholesome displeasure towards every pound of her tiny self. No matter what she may be up to, thoughts that grew worse by the second seemed to rid of any possible emotion other than utter disgust. Blue veins bulged from a pale skin stretched over bone: a sign of stress personal to her body, as if a warning. Though if a rapid heartbeat and constant shaking of icy hands indeed happened to be obvious warnings - along with those grossly thick, azure paths tracing her skin - to do anything to get rid of this anxiety Comet ignored it. Insecurity won its war over her to the point where the joys of exploration and the thrill of the hunt had no effect. In fact, a loss at this point would take a severe toll on a seemingly selective sensitive special only to her that no therapist had quite yet provided the cure for. Living this life of a perfectionist paved a growing path to both mental and physical pain. Staying skinny is much easier, she told herself with a shake of the head, if someone stays in the game and eats. Thus she scraped up what little food she could get or rather wanted to touch with a finicky tongue and unsettled stomach, headed away from civilization, and reveled in a pain unknown to most the best way she could: alone.

Her head turned upon picking up the sound of an incoming player nearby. The pink-haired woman pushed a few locks behind her ears, stared with dull eyes, and returned to her bubble of loneliness. Food had been pushed to the side in the meantime. She couldn't stand the sight of it nor bring herself to take in any amount. Fortunately Comet rarely thought much of her weight - these rare focus on specific thoughts deciding to serve as a guard from what truly bothered her. The warmth of the campfire sent a shiver down her spine. "You look... tired," she stated before tossing a log into the flames. She eyed the stranger for a weapon but shrugged off the search for danger with not much worry about facing death this particular night. Not even the beauty of an evening sky could serve as solace for her immense amount of crumbling inner-confidence or once-present ambition. A persistence to give up rather than to stand up and take down her problems as usual hid itself, afraid of losing control against a now raging insecurity. "Was it a long day? I know I haven't done anything at all." already she envied the person before her who'd most likely accomplished more. More than her. A sigh escaped her pursed lips that twitched into a present frown. "Just some advice. Don't go collapsing at any fire you feel like. I could be a serial killer for all you know."

@Balmung

 

Balmung eyed the pink-haired girl with the tired eyes of a man who had traveled too far for his own good. He noticed the way she handled the log as she tossed it onto the fire. A gentle touch. One that was precise and controlled, grabbing the log the exact place that it had meant to and only making the perfect amount of movement to add it to the flames. It was the telltale sign of someone who was either very particular, or very used to the motion. He chalked it up to not knowing and let it be, not wanting to read too much into it.

He did all he could to position his tired body in such a way that it could soak up as much warmth that emanated from the fire as possible. It had grown cold as what had been a rather ideal autumnal day had drew near a close, and the white-haired man could think of no better way than to spend the night huddled around a cozy campfire. He should have anticipated company, but his tired mind had somehow managed to forget that it takes a person to make a campfire.

It took him a minute to register what the girl had said to him. His exhausted body just wanted to rest, and any desire to hold a conversation was quickly becoming increasingly scarce. Not that Balmung hardly ever made it a priority to have much of a talk with anyone, really. At least not after the people whom he considered friends had decided to abandon him in the game shortly after he started.

After taking what might have been too long of a moment to think over the words that the pink-haired girl had spoken to him, Balmung managed to piece together enough words to qualify as what he considered an adequate reply.

Balmung

"Yeah, tired. Long walk today... Didn't think anyone to be here."

After speaking, he closed his eyes for a long moment before opening them. He waited for her reply, not really sure if his brief response to her would prompt one or not. For now, all he wished was to be allowed to rest. His aching body was screaming at him, threatening to give out if he decided to push himself so hard again.

 

"Are you... hungry?" she seemed to continue expressing the part of her - in which she consistently worked extremely hard to hide - through words. Questions ended with a wavering, uneasy tone and a pale hand lifted to stop herself from speaking but failed. Despite a dry throat ever-present words found themselves filling her mouth and pushing past pursed lips. It seemed her thick skin cracked and the truth seeped out of the small area. Anxiety filled her stomach and heart with a feeling as if she were drowning in a self-made pool of bitter emotion. A defensive nature broken down to its barest form: the very sight and definition of a pathetic person undeserving of any pity other than their own. Eyeing the fresh, uneaten food able to send her nerves into a state of panic with just a look, she pushed it towards the stranger with a sense of relief to get it as far away as possible. Yet, she found herself scooting closer. Skeptical as per usual? Strangely enough, no. Comet sensed the player felt similar to her. Tired on the outside, at least. Whether or not this feeling diffused into the inside - where it stung the most - was something she couldn't find out even through a thorough observation of blue hue boring into the stranger's figure.

"What's your name?" a demanded sociable nature wouldn't be able to leave her so soon, she realized. No matter how much the pink-haired woman wanted to be able to survive without being surrounded by a minimum of someone here and there, she couldn't. Being alone wasn't bad. However, long-term loneliness hardly suited even the most determined of Rogues and Hunters in Terrasphere. She continued to stare without noticing her own faults. Or rather she knew but decided to "ignore" her savage perfectionism. A war her soul fought with bravery ensued deep within. "I think restoring your energy would be smart right now. Sleep, eat, drink; do whatever but do it soon. It'd be far away but I could probably scout a place nearby for you," she offered without thinking too much of it. Continuing to build bridges would be smart and even though her greediness wouldn't be satisfied, assisting the stranger would provide a temporary escape from thoughts; something she would be willing to accept if it meant getting away from herself. "Unless you'd prefer a more natural option." her hand softly gestured towards the wilderness thriving around them able to be utilized in any way imaginable to a single person.

 

"Is this a public fire? Perfect."

Grand Witch Majolica approached the campfire from the darkness dragging a log through the dirt. On top of the log, Majolica had placed a hand basket filled with mushrooms. With a decent amount of effort and some substantial grunting, Majolica managed to pull the log to the fire.

"Woo, there we go. Hehehe nice and warm!"

Paying little attention to the people already sitting by the fire, Majolica happily broke off a twig from the log. Humming a tune, she reached into her bag and impaled some forest mushrooms onto the stick. She then held the stick over the fire grilling the mushrooms while stretching out her legs comfortably. Looking up, she remembered there were other people here. With an annoyed sigh, she dug her stick into the dirt so the mushrooms would keep grilling. Digging into her bag she pulled out two small mushrooms. Standing up, she walked towards @Comet first and handed her a single mushroom. She then walked to @Balmung and handed him one as well.

"There, we're even now. Evil witches don't usually offer payment, so be grateful. I didn't poison the mushrooms or anything... or did I? hehehe.... no, I didn't. "

Majolica picked up her mushroom skewer and went back to minding her own business.

 

The oddly dressed female that approached the campfire hardly had Comet moving from her spot. The food from earlier was wasting away, her "companion" remained quiet, and she felt sick to her stomach over far too many things to possibly begin to think straight. However, the mass of pink hair intrigued her. Possibly even brought a small, small smile to the pink-haired woman's distressed face. Her freezing hands lifted so she could confine herself in them - as if escaping the rest of the world. But a mushroom shoved before her resulted in a failure to hide. The sloppy, makeshift fire lit and and warmed what could possibly be reached past Comet's tough exterior. Perhaps even the evil witch she should be oh-so grateful for opened new gates so that the fire achieved touching her heart. With a heavy sigh she shook her head and tossed the mushroom back to @Grand Witch Majolica. Food disgusted her to no ends, especially tonight. She'd regret taking one bite for the rest of her life. For a split second of a moment the archer believed a poisoned mushroom may not be such a bad idea. It'd give her a reason to stay out of the game for a while. To get used to real life again and adjust to this tormenting stress.

"Wouldn't an evil witch poison them, though? And enjoy watching people starve while she eats? Maybe even blow out the fire and walk away... Say, I might be more evil than you," Comet teased, flashing a smirk and playful glint of the eye - as much as possible when feeling so very low on the inside - in the witch's direction. "If you gave me your name, would I recognize you? I've never seen that kind of equipment around but I'll give you props. It's unique."

 

Why won't anyone eat the mushrooms that I offer them?

"Witches don't poison mushrooms, they poison fruit! Things like apples, pears, bananas, and all of that. Why would I curse delicious mushrooms? That would be a total waste! It's like cursing candy!? What kind of idiot would curse candy!? And, why would you want to watch someone starve? It's just gross. A real evil witch doesn't kick someone while they're down! You're supposed to defeat them at full strength! Like when the hero makes his way to your lair and he's all glowy and then BOOM! He gets blasted and turned into a frog! Then someone tells a story about how the idiot hero messed up, and now they're bewitched by the witch and forced to serve her! That's the way these things go! Then later the world's going to end or something and the heroes have to ask the witch for help and the witch agrees under certain conditions and there's a truce. Like that, that's the way it is for us witches. And since I'm GRAND WITCH MAJOLICA, I, of course, am the witchiest witch of them all! Hehehe...! Anyone who just poisons things or kills people for no reason is just an idiot and just need to be locked away!"

Majolica huffed out explanation on what made a witch a witch, then sat back and swallowed one of her mushrooms.

"Why are you even out here anyway? It's cold."

 

”You sound the exact opposite of some witches I know…” she shrugged without much thought towards the subject. It wasn’t important to it, and she wasn’t passionate like Majolica. Magic hardly interested her. Knowing about the forces behind such power - sure, if that would bring advantage when out in the field, she’d pick up a book or two - in the long-run hardly interested the physically capable Huntress who valued players more like her class most. “At least you’re better than her,” Comet thought of Vivian with both a heavy and cold heart, a chill running down her spine. She wasn’t necessarily frightened of the purple-haired vixen but just speaking the name seemed a universal sin. It never sat comfortably within her instinctive gut, really. “And seem a lot more dedicated to these rules,” she paused to ponder the question.


The harsh reality wouldn’t escape delicate lips or treat such young ears kindly or be able to be acknowledged at all in the first place. “I’m always cold so this isn’t much to me. Why are you here? Shouldn’t Grand Witches have better places to be?” Comet spoke softly instead of annoyed like most, frankly, would be. She had a calming and comforting patience with others birthed from formally dealing with people since learning how to speak. Trained words, thoughts, actions; not much would give away inner turmoil of such a thin, seemingly hollow, beautiful woman resonating perfection.

@Grand Witch Majolica

 

"Hehehe, there are other witches? Hehehe, well they're fake! Do they have brooms like me? Just because they have a hat and call themselves a witch, hehe, doesn't mean they're a real witch! Hehehe! Dumb old fake witches."

Majolica took another bite of her mushroom meal, doing a a little happy dance as she ate. She hadn't expected to be able to roast her mushrooms like this after all.

"As Grand Witch, its my job to be everywhere! Hehehe, so I explore here and there. I hunt mushrooms for fun, hehehe, and learn things like new spells, and stuff about the area! Eventually, I'm going to rule the whole world so I need to know what it looks like! Hehehe."

Majolica stopped eating for a moment to look up and making a point.

"Hehehe, Oh, but I won't take over doing evil things. If you do that, everyone's just going to get mad and there will be a hero that tries to take you down with a holy sword or something! Hehehe, I don't want to deal with that, so it's easier if everyone loves you! Hehehe, then they'll be happy when you take over, and you can make the world a better place!"

Apparently, she was very serious about the right way to conquer a world. Majolica took another bite and continued.

"Unlike the dummy king and all of his dummy nobles! What do they do? They don't help anyone! Hehehe, they just sit in their ivory towers and look down on everything. Well, not Grand Witch Majolica! Hehehe, when I come to power no monsters or enemies would even come close to my territory because I would blast them! Hehehe. Soldiers wouldn't need to get hurt, because I would be so powerful that they would be unnecessary! Hehehe, people could live in peace and we could have a Majolica day where everyone praises me! Hehehe, also HALLOWEEN 2! Hehehe! It would be like Halloween, but themed after me! And with mushrooms and extra candy! Hehehe!"

On a roll, Majolica stood up and began a speech.

"See! Hehe, that's what people don't get! In this world you can be anything! Hehehe, you can do anything! So you should do it! Hehehe, we can make the world a fun place for everyone! That way, all of these NPCs can just live out their happy lives and everyone can have fun! Hehehehe, as future ruler and current Grand Witch, I'll make that a reality when I come to power!"

Majolica sat back down.

"Hehehe, if you're always cold, you should buy a coat! Hehehe, you can still have a mushroom if you want."


@Comet @Balmung

 

Reluctantly, Comet reached out her hand and expected a mushroom to be plopped into it. She wasn't one to eat but felt a tad impolite for rejecting Majolica the first time. She seemed innocent. A dreamer. Pathetically so, but that wasn't exactly a flaw. Her judgmental side burned within. For Majolica had that childishness she'd always wanted. It wasn't fair. That others could live so carefree. Comet had to watch every step, plan every reaction to-

Majolica's words sunk deep into her soul. She twitched uncomfortably.

Why wasn't Comet doing what she wanted? Her mind wandered to a deep, dark place. Her true self would never escape the thick shell she'd built. That's why.

"I'm pretty sure the dummy King is why there's a player nation. And why the evil Theo trying to take over was defeated. And the Queen is quite powerful. I've seen her in battle. You should respect the authorities more, Majolica. Even if you have an entire army to back you up? Without respect you won't get anywhere. Trust me," she shuddered, imagining the punishment she'd receive if the utmost esteem were not given where they were due. Her parents would be absolutely furious. Trained mannerisms and social customs and specific ways to interact with others were built into her mind. Like gears that shifted on or off. Comet's belief system warped into one where she saw Majolica both with a selfish admiration and in silly light.

"How powerful are you now, exactly? I'd like to see," she challenged the "Grand Witch" before wobbling to her feet. Surely, if Majolica did become a powerful ruler she'd have to be strong. Prove excellence with whatever masteries she had chosen. Or at least an understanding of them thus far. Anything to get her mind off of dreaded rules and the outside world... anything. And since Majolica appeared to play an interesting character then something could be created out in the wilderness for the two to escape reality. To go back to Terrasphere, in Comet's eyes, for she felt trapped within her own body in that moment.

"I've got a simple map for places around here," she pulled it from her inventory to show the witch a few scouted points of interest. Despite feeling so disgusted, depraved, and tired on the inside the pink-haired woman still managed to stick with her passion of cartography while traversing lands her feet hadn't touched yet. "How does infiltrating a bandit cave sound to you? That could definitely get a friend out of me, yknow."

@Grand Witch Majolica

 

"Hehehe, the Dummy King is only king because he was here before I was! Hehe, if I had been here at the beginning like him, I definitely would have been made the ruler! I'm a lot more fun, and I help people, and I'm a dark hero... hehehe... so I'm super cool! That old king is just a gross old man! Hehe, same with the other dumb nobles. I'm much better! So, no. Hehehe, I won't be giving this dummies any respect. The only people I respect are people that understand the greatness of Grand Witch Majolica! Hehehe, so if they don't acknowledge me, what's the point of acknowledging those dummies. They should be singing my graces and making art of me! Hehe, that's how awesome I am! And you should trust me, there's nothing I can't do! Hehehehe! I'm a Grand Witch after all! It's just natural that I would be a great leader!"

Majolica stopped for a moment.

"Hehehe, why? Do you have a crush on the king or something... hehehe..."

The Grand Witch eyed Comet teasingly.

"Or is it another one of the nobles? Hehehe, do you like the cool rich guy types? Hehehehe, boys are usually dumb and gross so you're better without them. Hehehe, unless they decide to be your followers, then it's okay. Hehe, but you seem to loooove nobles and the king. Hehehehe, always sticking up for the dummy stinkers. Hehe, are you friends with them or something?"

Majolica took another bite of mushroom swinging her legs a bit. It was nice talking to different people, and she was enjoying this conversation, even if this person did underestimate her abilities, and general likability.

"Hehehe, and how strong am I?! Hmmm.... how strong am I? Hehehe, there's only one person I've ever heard of that could rival me in black magic. Hehehehe, but black magic is only really good at destroying things, so it wouldn't be nice to destroy a swath of forest for no reason. Hmmm... Oh! how about I show you my broomstick?! That will be fun! Hehehehe!"

Majolica stood up and looked around.

"Okay, this should work, hehe! BROOMSTICK DOOMSTICK!"

Broom Control

Suddenly, with a small poof of purple smoke Majolica's broomstick appeared. The Grand Witch clapped happily.

"Hehehe, see?! It's fun isn't it?!"

Majolica clapped.

"Okay, Broomstick! Now do a little dance for me and the lady! Hehehe!"

Then broomstick bent as if nodding and then began to twirl around in the air gracefully like a ballerina.

"See?! It's very good at dancing! I can also imbue it with my magic to make it a good fighter too! Hehehe. But there's no reason to do that right now. Also, hehe, If I were to use my Avada Cadabra spell, hehehe, I could probably take out an army! Hehehehe, if I used one of my curses at maximum power, hehehe, I could probably bring ruin to a kingdom! But there's no reason to do that unless it's full of bad guys... hehehe!"

Majolica's eyes lit up as Comet mentioned bandits.

"Hehehe, bandits! Well, we'll just have to get rid of them! Dumb old bandits stealing from good, hardworking people! Hehehe, we'll teach them a lesson! Hehe, map? Did you make the map? Are you a map making lady? Hehehe, that seems very handy, but okay! Lead the way, hehehe, and we can go round up some bandits! Hehehehe!"

The Grand Witch quickly turned to her broomstick which was still twirling elegantly in the air.

"Broomstick! Hehe, stop playing around! Hehehe, we have work to do!"

With a nod, the broomstick stopped it's routine, and flew towards Majolica. Taking a seat on her broomstick. The magical broomstick lifted up a little as it readied itself to carry the Grand Witch in whichever way she needed.

"Let's go! Hehehe!"


@Comet