Hero's Crossing

[princess.looking.for.frog]

my work! I havent been absorbed in writing in so long, i loved that! and thank you anyone who takes the time to read it.

btw its about lovers and a damsel in distress who saves herself, not rescuing needed!

Spoiler: Untamed Lianas

The rustle of the woods down the stream soothed Liana’s ears as she melodically tended to her meadow flowers. Each petal was a burst of blues, yellows, and purples. She loved her calming way of life, with little responsibility besides growing the flowers in the meadow. But sometimes she wished for the life where what she did changed how everyone lived for the better. Quite like what Raine, an unknowing love of hers, did for all his life; protecting the village of Dinialias. She saw her dream-self fighting alongside Raine against the Darkness surrounding the village.

The swish of the woods was typical background noise for Liana, she was so used to the repetitive sounds even a loose bunny straying out the edges of the woods perked Liana’s freckled ears. One warm, sunny spring day, a rustle outside the woods alerted Liana. It did not sound like a bunny. Her eyes widened and body froze as a large, looming shadow threw Liana into darkness. Her hands grasped the shrub she was pruning into her fist, squeezing the life right out of it. A cold breath tickled her neck and blew a few loose strands of her bangs into her eyes. She slowly turned. Pitch-black filled her view. The Darkness.

Her scream echoed through the meadow and into the village. The warriors recognised the absolute terror of the call to be accredited to the Darkness. Raine recognised the call to be Liana, who he admired from the safe distance over a stream. He was the quickest to throw his chest plate on, unsheathe his sword and bolt through the door. As fast as rain. His feet took him over the rolling hills and across the stream parting the land of the meadow and village. The Darkness was easy to spot, but unlike it, Liana could not be seen in its shadow, as the Darkness’ shadow cannot be penetrated even by light.

“Liana! Liana!” Raine desperately cried out as he stumbled over to the Darkness, tripping over his own otherwise agile feet. “You need to follow it into the world of the Dark!” He screamed as his voiced broke into pieces, and tears fell from his eyes. He knew he was likely to never see Liana again, as everyone that has ever fallen into the Darkness’ shadow never came back to the world of the mortals. In the last attempt of helping Liana, he threw his enchanted sword into the shadow, hopefully assisting Liana in the only way he can. “Find my sword! It might help you! You can slay the Darkness forever!” Raine wailed, after which he fell to his knees and broke into a hopeless puddle of tears. Why didn’t I tell her of my love?

The unexpected bawls from Raine made their ways to Liana’s ears, and a sudden wave of butterflies overcame her. Despite the terrifying situation, her adoration of Raine seemed to pierce through even the worst situation. Oh Liana, get your heads out of the clouds! You are about to die! The severity of the situation hit her again like a wall, and she glanced up at the Darkness.

“Get away from me!” escaped from her lips “I want to get back to my world, to Raine!” She cried, realising if she survived, she wouldn’t only get back to the life she loved, but also the promise of Raine by her side. Raine’s last words flashed through her mind, and her hands flew across the grass around her, feeling for a cold sword. A pinprick on her finger shocked her, but then she realised it was the thing she was looking for. Grasping the sword, she flew onto her feet. Warmth from Raine’s hand still lingered on the handle. Now she was ready, long dress and apron aside.

She rose to her feet as the Darkness engulfed her into the world of shadows. Now, she needed to make her way through a world she knew almost nothing about, just that the horrors that loitered there could look at her in a certain way and she would fall from the pressure. Now this is terrific. Liana thought. Don’t look at them for too long, keep your eyes ahead and keep going. As each step led her further and further, she also knew these were possibly steps towards the exit of this world.

Her feet were just starting to hurt as a rumble emerged from a pit besides her heels. She dodged the crumbling rocks and her eyes diluted to absorb the sight of the shadow extracting from the cracks of the path and pit. Her grip on the sword tightened and dots of sweat escaped from her palms. I can do this. The last of the shadow emerged. At this point Liana was struck with fear, how am I meant to kill this thing?

The sword glimmered in the peculiar almost-glow of the shadow. Liana stood her ground and was about to slay the shadow with the sharp edge of her sword, just as a thundering boom shook Liana. A blast of blinding light sliced through the shadow, ripping it into pieces. They fell away into the pit, and Liana gawked. The sword regained its subtle shine and Liana regained her composure. Now that was a surprise, the sword rips the shadows! I must keep going! She thought as she shook the dust and shadow pieces off her flowy dress.

With the first victory in her pocket, she held a grown spark of hope. Her trust in Raine’s sword now held her future together. An unexplainable urge pushed her forward, and her stumble towards the darkest spot of the space left her running swiftly across the terrain. She made plenty of advance, and she knew the Darkness waited for her at the end, where she would throw herself out of this universe. Her energy only increased with every meter, closer and closer and closer. Though, her strength faded as fast as it grew. The appearance of yet another shadow. But this one was different to the last. It glimmered a pale yellow, with electric bolts zapping out of the crevasses of its mass. Her throat suddenly stung, and she was met again with a battle. She decided to waste no time, jumping towards it. Her flailing sword just grazed the body of the shadow. Another blow sliced it slightly deeper. She reached for another attack, as she was struck down. It looked at me, and it pushed me with its stare. She briefly wondered, before successfully slicing again. I need to block its vision! She concentrated her gaze into its eyes before diving straight into them sword-first. Again, a blazing explosion came out of the weapon, ripping the shadow by the previously cut places. It fell apart, this time floating upwards. And Liana took to her feet instantly. She flew across the ground even faster than before, making meter after meter. Abruptly a force pushed her onto the air, flying her through the world. She looked down with surprised eyes to see a shadow under her. “What are you going to me?” Liana mumbled as she investigated the shadow’s mass. Then she realised just what it was doing. You are taking me to the end? She decided to trust this slither of hope and held on tight to the cloud-like figure that was the shadow.

A few minutes pasted until when she arrived at the darkest spot. The Darkness was waiting, floating in a cave space. With no hesitation, she jumped into the Darkness, sword first. A whirlwind of the shadow that brought her went into the Darkness also, as an ally to Liana. The sword shown in its enchanted powers. The force of the shadow’s stare into the Darkness set it back slightly. The swords pulse changed the Darkness’ atmosphere from unstoppable to weary. It knew of its power. Liana fell into the mass, and as she continued to fall through, she sliced and sliced and sliced away. More and more cuts to the inside of the Darkness sent trembles through it. As soon as she fell through to the other side, the friendly shadow caught her and brought her to the front of the Darkness but blocked her from its direct eye-line. It couldn’t knock her. Suddenly, a warmth buzzed from the sword and Liana knew what she needed to do. Even though this was Raine’s own sword, she knew its sacrifice for her life was a fair deal. She prepared to attack a final time, just as a pounding force pushed the shadow protecting her down, soon followed by Liana. She sword flung onto the cliff face, falling onto a small platform on it. She saw the sword as she fell, straight onto the top of the cliff. She braced herself before jumping off. She hoped the platform was right where she remembered it was. Buckling knees signified the landing on it, and a metallic banging was the sword wobbling slightly. She reached, grabbed, and threw. All the energy inside of her shot out as she sling-shotted the powerful weapon into the Darkness. A light, brighter than before, blinded her, covering her with a fine glowing blue powder. She sunk to her knees to watch the Darkness float away, this time dissipating into nothing.

Then the world around began to dissolve. The sky broke away and the ground flowed suit. The land of the earth showed through the cracks, showing more and more. All at once, all the remaining shards of the Dark world disappeared. She was once again in a meadow. Her meadow. Happiness filled her lungs at she breathed a gush of fresh air. But she was struck down instantly when she spotted Raine, collapsed. His body shook softly in time to cries. Liana picked herself up and made her way to him, a blush clouding her cheeks. When she reached him, she crouched in front of his tilted head. I survived Raine. Because of you. She smiled warmly. “Raine...” She gently mumbled, stroking his tufted hair. His head slowly rose. “Do you think Liana will make it? I love her and now I want her to know my admiration for her.” He stifled, a lone tear rolling down his cheek. The sadness in him prevented him to even look at someone else. It overflowed into the grass around him, yellowing it. Before seeing who exactly was stroking him, he said once more, “Liana was beautiful,”

And he finally lifted his eyes. A shift of his face was indescribable. From the deep, immense sadness boiling from him, came a bubbling stream of inexpressible burst of relief and joy.

“Liana!” He cried with a cracking voice. “Liana, you made it out!” He laughed with joy, mixed with happy tears. He held onto her so tightly on the ground, alongside tall meadow grass. He cried audibly. He looked at her face again, his face overflowing with emotion, and hers with a gleam of love. “You heard it all Liana. I love you, I love you,” He whispered, hugging her, his face right under her chin. “Raine, you saved me, even if you didn’t know it. And, yes, I love you too.” She said with a smiling voice, and a stronger blush flooding her cheeks, ears, and neck. Raine gazed at her, “No, you saved yourself. You did it Liana.” He reassured, still with a broken voice. “You didn’t need rescue.” He beamed. “You can become a protector with me, you deserve it.” Liana laughed, “No need for protectors, the Darkness is gone and the world with it. We live in peace now.” Raine expressed a feeling of shock.

“All the Dark is gone? The whole world?”

“Yes Raine, all of it.”

“I love you, Liana.”

“I love you Raine.”

They embraced until the whole village came to find Liana and Raine

Liana and Raine lived out their quiet and gentle lives together in the meadow, right where they fell in love.

 

[rosetti]

​

Spoiler: loser

There it was. Impeccably perched on the bark of the furthest palm tree, lounging in the warmth of the sunset, its golden shell glittering in the gentle breeze. I was already relishing in the satisfaction of capturing it, concocted with nerves, sweat and maybe a bit of B.O. – I was more than primed. I grasped my net without hesitation. Gliding myself across the sands, I only had to shuffle a few yards, dodging Gulliver plastered at the water’s edge and ignoring Norma passive-aggressively bellowing ‘CHICKPEA!!’ behind me, this was about to be the most important achievement of my entire life, or so I thought.

I was just a couple of steps away, my heart bouncing off my lungs, sweat soaring down my face, hands securely gripped, feet anchored.

I swung.

In my perfect pivot, for just a second, everything was pure bliss. I briefly basked in the silence of glory, bug encyclopedia completed, golden stag finally caught.

My ‘success’ soon bombed into illusionary non-existent fiction, as a final roaring ‘CHICKPEA!!!’ shot me back into reality where my own failure slapped me in the face as the untouchable golden stag flew away inches from my face, completely unbothered in a very graceful manner. Atrociously embarrassed, the instant Norma took another breath to call me Chickpea again, I hit her. Right in the rostrum. My net bounced back to reveal her poor face and the wave of guilt engulfed me - I ran away in shame, speechless and shocked at what I had just senselessly done. I never saw Norma the cow after that affair on the beach.


*:･ﾟ‧₊˚ 彡☆


A few days later, I did hear from her through a letter. It explained something about how she had been itching to make a change so moved to another island and that it was ‘her calling’. Only weeks before, we had some philosophical discussions about fulfilling our potential, if we were just imaginary characters in a video game, and needing to move on in order to grow – all that motivational positivity bull that is much easier to say rather than do. I can’t help but feel that her choice was ultimately my fault, I never imagined her actually leaving here even after what happened.

She included a present in her letter, a carefully wrapped tatty reindeer hat. It smelt a bit funny, it definitely had a previous life, and it wasn’t exactly weather appropriate but I have worn it everyday since. Yes, it has actually been on my head years. At first, it was purely out of degradation, like I deserved to wear it after what I had done to her but over time, I grew rather fond of it. It’s cute.


*:･ﾟ‧₊˚ 彡☆


For the rest of that summer, I dedicated my meaningless little life to catching a bug. The breath-taking golden stag. I refused to let my sweaty desperate energy go to waste, I had been so close so many times, the fulfilment has been at the verge of my fingertips for weeks. However, that sweet feeling-to-be was starting to fade into anxiety, time was running out. Golden stags are only in season for two months a year, July to August, from around 5pm to 8am, palm trees exclusively, plenty of time. Unless - you’re a clammy fool aimlessly wandering around with a reindeer hat on that assaults cows without hesitation and lacks a sense of purpose, hopelessly relying on the completion of digital encyclopedia’s to feel any kind of accomplishment.

48 hours from midnight of August the 31st, I had to do this. I was not going to wait another year for my chance. Luckily, that was the day I met Kapp’n, it was as if my wretchedness serenaded that beautiful creature and he came calling to my misery. Little did I know, it would soon be Kapp’n serenading me.

“OoH! So ye wee durbiev harby fancee a cheeky gander roond’ the wifhiofen? Mayhaps I be gettin’ a qiodf sense o’ barg madness?? Ya got tha’ qoidhef twinkl’ in yer poopil!! Somthin’s playin’ on yar lil fhepw noggin’.. gar whaddya say? Let whe take ‘er oot!”

Amazed; I stood there, in shock at whatever the hell just came out of that turtles’ mouth.

“….…y-yes.”

“YARRR! Gan on the’ yer wee ofnole scagglyarfrggle! First’s free, hold woento tha’ thing on yer dafty heed.”

Before I knew what I had just agreed to, I found myself in the middle of the ocean on a scraggy tiny boat that was barely big enough to fit the two of us. At the time, I thought this was a voyage to my death sentence. Undeniably I had no idea what was going on, yet I managed to mask my pure panic with a peaceful poise, imitating Kapp’n. Then, he began to sing… but I’ll spare you that part.


*:･ﾟ‧₊˚ 彡☆


39 hours left, we arrived. Admittedly, I may have dozed off from the exhaustion of calmly containing my manic thoughts of imagining every possible scenario our journey could have developed into, all whilst the impending pressure of capturing that bewitching beast loomed over me. We were welcomed by a convenient wooden jetty, followed by a luscious illuminating isle – I had never seen anything like it. Weeds were radiating, vines crawling over every surface, moss glowing around every corner, I was raring to go after my impromptu snooze.

In absolute awe, I drifted into the greenery, Kapp’n was murmuring something behind me but I was too infatuated to listen to anymore sea shanty drivel. Maybe this was the perfect place to finally capture it and achieve my magnum opus. I had this exact thought for the next 14 islands. At the time, we had just about explored every kind of archipelago within reasonable distance. I was tired, fed up, and deaf from inaudible turtle chants.

With 6 hours to go, I slumped into the warm sands of whatever island we were on. I may have had worse moments than the one where I spent a few hours with a deranged kappa on that day, but if so, I can’t remember them. Apart from attacking Norma with my net. And maybe that time I bullied Beardo off of the island and he found out it was me who got everyone to hate him and he cried then Isabelle had to have a very stern word with me. I had never seen her angry until that conversation happened… anyway, I digress.

I took a moment to evaluate my situation, gazing into the sunset filled sky that just so happened to be so similar to that time with Norma. My already self-doubting brain decided to add the shame and emotion from then as I relived the memory. I accepted that I had just wasted my summer and ruined a friendship for nothing, having been awake for the last 33 hours, my weary self melted into woeful tears, grasping on to my reindeer hat for comfort.

As I was accepting my fate and preparing to get back on that boat, wiping away my weeping, there was a bright twinkle. I looked up, for all the possible timings this creature could have chosen, that cretin decides to grace me with its presence NOW. My sorrows swiftly turned into wrath, it was right in front of me, flaunting its ethereal wings like a carrot on a stick. I wanted to not care, but I did. More than anything.

I was ravenous for that satisfaction.

Just like my last chance, I swung my net as if my life and depended on it. The world stopped for a minuet second which felt like a generation in my dewy eyes; breath held and limbs concrete.


*:･ﾟ‧₊˚ 彡☆


“I caught a golden stag!!! Does this mean I can retire?”

It was all over, just like that. I did it. That bozo was sitting snug in my pocket, caught with hours to spare. But, it didn’t feel like how I imagined.

I made my way back to Kapp’n and told him I wanted to go home. I don’t really remember much about the journey, other than his usual chorus comforted me for the first time. We eventually ended up back on the home beach. I managed to walk far enough away from Kapp’n so that his audacious vessel looked like a tiny mark on the horizon. I finally accepted the realisation that I was unsatisfied. This wasn’t worth it.


*:･ﾟ‧₊˚ 彡☆


“Close the software you are currently using?”

I was met with darkness. I lay there in my gentle blanket crevis, embracing the moment to myself, I had not been completely alone with my just my thoughts in so long. Thumbs aching, posture demolished, I reflected. And eventually fell asleep.

I’m sorry Norma.

​

​

 

[daringred_]

just double-checked the prohibited content, and it lists violence. my characters are about to kill a monster, and i don't know how to write that... not violently. like, i'm not going to mention blood or even explicitly say the thing's dead, but. i should probably ask if that's going to be problematic before i sink another few hours into this piece.

 

[Pyoopi]

just double-checked the prohibited content, and it lists violence. my characters are about to kill a monster, and i don't know how to write that... not violently. like, i'm not going to mention blood or even explicitly say the thing's dead, but. i should probably ask if that's going to be problematic before i sink another few hours into this piece.

As long as the violence in your story isn't explicit or super gorey. Blood is okay, death is okay and exploding monsters are okay. Just nothing graphic. Don't go down the Saw film route, lol.

If you're still worried you can message Nefarious or I with an excerpt of your story.

 

[daringred_]

As long as the violence in your story isn't explicit or super gorey. Blood is okay, death is okay and exploding monsters are okay. Just nothing graphic. Don't go down the Saw film route, lol.

If you're still worried you can message Nefarious or I with an excerpt of your story.

good to hear !! might still keep the grenade launcher in then
and don't worry, i could never go down the saw route asdfghjkl

 

[SinnerTheCat]

I'm not gonna lie, writing is not my strongest suit, but I tried my best here!!
If anyone reads this, thank you so much

Spoiler: Through the Fairy Circle

„I don’t think I’m going to take it,” a sour look appeared on her face. „I mean, I’m not really ready to face people actually dying in front of me, you know?”

Mia was a high school student, but not an ordinary one – well, no one was really ‘ordinary’ in human standards in that high school anyways. High School of the Gifted Ones - a school for teenagers that exhibited any sort of supernatural powers, recruited from all over the country. One of the most rare powers – soul manipulation – was very difficult to master and almost no one was able to teach it. With one exception – the Grim Reaper, who accepted one apprentice at the time on a condition that the student will become the next personification of death to mark the end of people’s lives. Quite an unfortunate trade, isn’t it?

„But Grim Reaper said that you have great potential!” A voice exclaimed from Mia’s phone. „And look, you wouldn’t ever have to look for a job, have you even seen how low the minimum wage is?” Emily, Mia’s best friend, said jokingly and giggled. It was a school night and yet, they were just talking away, Mia sitting on a bench in front of a local corner store with Emily on the phone. The full moon was shining brightly, illuminating all of the sharp edges of her face. It was peaceful, but no matter what Mia just couldn’t cheer up. She was offered to be an apprentice of the Grim Reaper, but, as anyone would be in that situation, she was scared of the consequences.

„I guess you’re right, but as I said it’s just not for me and-" Mia suddenly cut off. She looked to the right and noticed something shining in the distant bushes. Almost feeling like it was softly singing to her. „Wait, what is that..?”
„What?” Emily replied in confusion.
„Hold on.” Mia stood up, not looking away from the bushes even for a second, and started going towards it „I think the alcohol is getting to me.”
„Girl, you drank a Capri-sun.” her friend laughed with a slight worry. „But wait, don’t go there, what if you get like mugged or something?”
„No, no, it’s..” the girl was truly hypnotized by the little shining light in the bushes, slowly walking towards it. She didn’t even reply to Emily’s worried words through the phone before dropping it on the ground and looking over the massive bush. Slowly digging through the leaves, she found a small circle made of minature mushrooms. She brushed her black bangs from her eyes and while trying to reach for the circle, the mushrooms suddenly started strongly glowing one by one, blinding Mia. She instinctively tried to block the light with her hands and lost her balance, falling into the bush and loosing consciousness.



„..Do you think she’s awake? I think she needs one more smack.” a high-pitch voice resonated within Mia’s ears, she felt like something was tugging at her silver necklace. She started opening her eyes slowly, but the sun was so bright that she needed to blink a few times to adjust. „Wait, look, she’s opening her eyes, isn’t she?” she heard another voice, definitely lower, but with the same accent that the other one had.

„Huh?” now with fully open eyes, she saw a tiny humanoid and feminine creature with wings, excitedly flapping and staring right at her, holding Mia’s body up by the necklace. Another mini creature appeared in Mia’s field of vision, now a masculine one, approaching her too close for comfort. She just now noticed that they were wearing clothes made out of flowers and leaves.

„So,” he coughed and flashed a flitry smirk, „Hey, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”
„ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?! She’s from the human world, you prick!” the girl’s high voice screamed. „WELL, I don’t know, what else am I supposed to do?!” the male voice replied.
Mia squinted at both of them. She was very clearly not waking up, which meant that it wasn't a fever dream and she was transported to another world through.. what exactly was she doing before she woke up? Her memory was very blurry and the constant shouting was not helping at all. „Could you guys shut up for like a 5 minutes, please?”

The two of them immediately went quiet and looked at her. The feminine one gasped. „So you can actually talk!! Why didn’t you say anything sooner?!” she said excitedly. „My name is Maple and that is Hazel, but don’t even look at him, he’s dumb and still wears rosemary leaves belts, which are SO out of season right now-”
„Hey!! Don’t say that, they look cool..” Hazel cut her off in an almost offended tone. Mia sat up and extended her hands towards them to make a little platform, he looked over at her, landed on her hands and bowed towards her with a small wink at the end. „Hazel, at your service, pretty miss.”
Mia rolled her eyes at the comment, but smiled a bit. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Literal fairies right in front of her. „..My name is Mia and..” she paused, Maple landed on her hands and brushed a bit of pollen off her flower skirt, „..where exactly are we right now and why am I here?”

„Right!” Maple said, „Mia, we need you. Ah, where do I even begin..” she drifted off and frowned. „So, it all started when we I found.. Wait, no..” she started pacing back and forth and rambling. „It all started when Hazel fell off.. No, that’s also not right.. When we were little..” Hazel rolled his eyes and stepped in front of Mia’s face. „Basically, our grandpa was interested a little too much in some dark magical stuff which was kind of illegal, so he had to live far away in the dark woods, but one day he just.. disappeared. Cut to like a week after and a lot of strange stuff started happening, really creepy stuff. So, we started researching within his books and we were able to piece together what kind of experiment he was doing and well..” he paused. „His body disappeared, but his soul was left, to put it simply.”
„And then we found out about the Grim Reaper from your world!” Maple added. „And when we traveled to you guys through a fairy circle, we heard you talking about soul collecting!”
„Yeah, so we brought you here.” Hazel ended the story. „Will you be able to help us?”

Mia was listening to them with her eyes wide open and her brows furrowed. „Wait, wait, wait, hold your horses.” she sighed and heard Maple whispering to Hazel ‘what horses?’. „So, you want me to collect your occult grandpa’s soul ghost busters style because he messed up a spell and now he's haunting you?” They both nodded quickly and Mia closed her eyes in annoyance, cursing in her mind.
„I guess I can’t run from Miss Fate, she gets me even when I’m not in school.” Mia opened her eyes and smiled softly at the two. „Trust me, I’d know, she was teaching me in first grade and it was terrifying.”
The fairies’ faces lighted up. „Thank you, thank you so much!” Maple was smiling brightly at Mia with slight tears in her eyes. „It’s such a relief..”

The way to the fairies’ house was quite quick, but long enough for the two of them to talk Mia’s ear off with seemingly never-ending stories of their grandpa. She was softly smiling and listening to them talk, thinking how much they must have loved the old man.
Soon enough, they were standing right in front of a minature house carved into a tree.

„So now..” the little man looked very serious at the moment, almost.. sad. He seemed like he was trying to find words, but in a quick moment he looked Mia right in the eyes and with furrowed brows just blurted out „I’m not good at this, so just be careful, okay?”
„And, and!” Maple made Mia look at her and gave her a slightly sad smile. „Tell grandpa that he was the best.” Mia nodded and faced the tiny door, getting really close to it to turn the little wooden doorknob.

Slowly opening the door, she felt cold sweat of fear building up on the back of her neck and shivered from the sensation. Inside of the house looked fairly normal, just everything built from leaves, nuts and other different gifts of the forest. She carefully traveled with her eyes over every single piece of furniture after suddenly meeting with a sight of a slowly deforming chair. The girl squinted, but then gasped and shot herself away from the door, closing her eyes and blocking her face with her arms. A dark entity appeared right in front of her, looming over with its bright eyes and breathing loudly right in her face.

„I-I’m here to help you!” Mia shouted, slowly lowering her arms and squinting at it, she could feel it’s freezing breath. „Please, Maple and Hazel, your grandchildren want me to help you!”
„Maple.. Hazel..” the entity started repeating in a deformed voice, while slowly becoming softer and smaller, taking form of an old man with wings. „My granchildren sent you? They.. remember me?” he asked in a shaky, tired voice.
Mia extended her hands to let the grandpa rest since he seemed like he was barely holding on. „Yes, they remember you. Quite.. fondly actually.” The old man looked at the girl with slight shock in his eyes, shivering and resting on her hands. „They were.. such good kids..” he added with a smile and followed with a cough. „Even though.. they brought mud into the house so often.. and..” the grandpa continued, his voice weakening with every word and slowly laying down on Mia’s palms.

„It’s your time.” Mia finally said with the most peaceful voice she could muster.
„It’s my time?” the man repeated. „But.. how will I know that my grandchildren are happy if.. I’m not here?” he continued, with his eyelids now half closed.
„You will.” Mia moved her hands closer to her face. „They love you.”

The old fairy closed his eyes fully and smiled softly, feeling a soft breeze of Mia’s breath on him and then the freedom of travelling with the wind in the warm rays of sunshine.



„Mia!” Emily shouted and sniffed loudly. „Mia wake up, I don’t like this, Mia!” she clapped her friend’s cheeks in great panic. Mia made a sour face and blinked a few times before opening her eyes fully and looking at Emily’s tearful face. „Mia, oh my god, I thought you died or something, I’m not letting you drink a Capri-sun ever again-"
„Emily,” Mia started.
„Yeah?”
„Do you think the Grim Reaper gets weekends off?”

 

[KittenNoir]

Spoiler: Cindy of Varder

In the quaint little village of Varder there lived a sweet young girl named Cindy. Cindy
was only sixteen but she had to grow up quickly. Her parents had died when she was
younger and she was left an orphan. Cindy lived with her elderly grandparents,
Grandpa Lu and Grandma Lia; who owned the only flower shop in the village. Cindy
spent her days in the shop helping her grandparents and by preparing beautiful floral
bouquets. Best of all, Cindy loved to create bright floral bouquets for any upcoming
village weddings. She mixed colours, fragrances and stems to create the best floral
bouquets.

On one particular morning Cindy left her cottage early to start on a new bouquet order
but when she arrived at the flower shop, she discovered no flowers had been delivered
that day so she spent her day tidying up instead. On the following day she arrived at
the shop and again, there were no flowers delivered. Cindy was becoming worried as
not only did her grandparents and she need the money to survive, but the weddings
were almost upon them. Grandpa Lu and Grandma Lia told her not to worry and that
they would go to the markets to find out why no flowers had been delivered. Cindy
agreed to stay behind to work on designing a magnificent bouquet for her future
marriage. She took out some paint brushes, feathers, ribbons and paper and started
working on her designs.

Cindy was so engrossed in her designs that she had not even realized her grandparents
had been gone for most of the day. When they finally returned, Cindy noticed they were
upset and angry. Cindy asked them what had happened and they told her there would
be no flower deliveries until further notice. They told her about the lone dragon who
lived in the mountains. Her name was Viola and all of the villagers were afraid of her as
she could wipe out the whole village with one single breath of fire. In fact, Viola was the
one who killed Cindy’s parents when she burned down their house while Cindy was at
the Fair. No one had seen Viola the dragon since that fateful day as she had fled into
the caves way up into the mountains of Varder. Cindy’s grandparents explained to her
it was Viola the dragon who had banished the workers at the flower market not to sell
any flowers to anyone and she commanded that all flowers were to be destroyed.

Grandpa Lu and Grandma Lia were beside themselves. How could they keep their
flower shop open and put food on the table now? They asked Cindy if she would be
brave enough to make the journey up into the mountains to confront the evil dragon.
Cindy was brave, but not brave enough to fight a dragon and especially not one who
took her parents away from her, so she told her grandparents she could not do it; for not
only was it dangerous, but she might not even make it back home if she tried. The meal
and conversation was scarce at the dinner table that night. Cindy went to bed hungry
and with a heavy heart.

The next morning Cindy’s grandparents sat down on the bed beside her. They told her
the story of how her parents were always brave and that before they died in the house
fire, they had slain a dragon called Saul who was threatening to breathe fire on Cindy
while she was playing in the creek. Cindy had been placing flower petals in the creek
and watching them ripple away in the water stream. Cindy’s parents had quickly drawn
their swords and killed Saul beside the creek. The villagers later found out that the love
of Viola’s life was Saul. Grandpa Lu and Grandma Lia asked Cindy again if she could
be brave enough to go and visit Viola the dragon to put a stop to her demands of no
flowers. By this time, Cindy was furious and she was ready to be brave. Her parents
had been brave enough so she could be too. Her grandparents were relieved although
a little wary but they spent the day training Cindy by guiding her with their elderly
wisdom and knowledge and taught her how to fight the dragon with her own golden
sword.

Cindy set off with her sword and a backpack filled with Grandma Lia’s delicious rock
cakes, some freshly squeezed berry juice, Grandpa Lu’s famous dried figs and her
notebook of floral designs, in case she got bored on her journey; although she knew it
would never be boring. She hugged her grandparents and waved to the villagers as
she made her way out of the pretty village of Varder and up towards the dark
mountains.

It wasn’t long before she left the bright colours of the village behind as she entered a
dark new world. Cindy felt uncomfortable of what was ahead but she knew there was
no turning back now. The grass was no longer lush and green and scattered with pretty
flowers but the ground was now dry and dark in colour as if the ground had been burnt
by fire. As Cindy began crossing an old stony bridge, a scaly lizard jumped out at her.
Cindy took out her sword and began her attack. The lizard lunged at her and Cindy fell
to the ground with a thud. The lizard saw an opportunity to throw itself at her and
opened its mouth to bite her. It was at that very moment that Cindy noticed the lizard
had a tooth missing. She grabbed her bottle of berry juice and offered it to the lizard.
The lizard halted, snatched the bottle and took a sip. It seemed to calm down as if the
juice had soothed the pain. The lizard took off under the bridge with the juice and left a
shaken but relieved Cindy to continue on her journey to find Viola.

The sun was setting as Cindy made her way further up to the mountain top. Soon
Cindy found what seemed to be an abandoned cave and she took refuge inside for the
night. She thought about her grandparents back in the village and the flower shop with
no flowers as she tried to eat some rock cakes and dried figs before falling asleep.
Suddenly she was awoken by a roaring sound and she looked outside to see a dragon
standing before her. He tried to breathe fire but alas he could not as his flame had been
smouldered since his lady dragon Glenda had recently died from famine. Although Cindy
was afraid of the dragon she offered him a rock cake and he told her his name was Vin.
She left Vin behind and continued to find Viola.

A weary Cindy walked day and night without stopping. Finally she reached the highest
part of the mountain and found herself starring at the entrance of Viola’s cave. Cindy
was fearful but she knew she must confront Viola and stop her from banning flowers in
the markets. Viola walked out of her cave with fire spurting towards Cindy. They
battled each other with Cindy’s sword and Viola’s tail and fire breathing. With all her
courage Cindy yelled out,

“Stop, why are you so angry Viola?”

Viola stopped fighting abruptly and told Cindy she was sad that Saul, the love of her life
was killed and since she could never marry, no one else should either and no floral
bouquets would be required for weddings. After further talks Cindy apologized on behalf
of her parents for killing Saul and in turn Viola also apologized for killing her parents.
They were both hungry so Cindy offered Viola the remainder of her rock cakes and
while eating, Viola noticed Cindy’s notebook with the floral bouquet designs. She
wished Cindy could create a floral bouquet for her. Suddenly Cindy had a brilliant plan.
She told Viola there was another lonely dragon further down the mountain called Vin.
Perhaps she could go and meet Vin and one day they could get married. She showed
the design she had planned for her own wedding and promised Viola if she agreed to
stop the ban of flowers, she would give the bouquet to her for her wedding to Vin. Viola
agreed and so Cindy began her decline down the mountain once more.

Cindy returned to the village of Varder and explained everything to her grandparents
and villagers. They were apprehensive to believe a deal had been made and for many
months they lived in fear of Viola returning. Viola had kept her promise and flowers
were delivered daily. After many months had passed and excitement was in the air with
the upcoming weddings, Sally and her grandparents were met outside the flower shop
one morning by two very calm and happy dragons. Cindy’s grandparents retreated but
Cindy was brave and recognized who the dragons were. They were in fact, Viola and
Vin; who had found each other as predicted and wanted Cindy to create a floral bouquet
for their wedding. Because of her courage and bravery no one in the village were
scared of the dragons now and Viola and Vin even had their wedding in the village
before returning to the mountain to live a happy life. Did Cindy create a fantastic floral
bouquet for their wedding? Of course she did!

 

[Valzed]

I tried to keep this as short as possible but it still ended up being a bit over 2000 words. I'm not really used to writing so I was a bit nervous. After reading the other stories I'm really glad I'll at least earn the Participation tickets.

This story was inspired by me feeling a bit burnt out while playing ACNH and my needing to take a break. Thank you to anyone who reads my entry!

Spoiler: Lost and Found

On the island of Amity, Resident Rep Brody was starting her day. Brody sighed as she thought, “Another day of clearing weeds, digging up fossils and clearing out any wayward flowers.” Brody loved Amity and its residents but she missed the island’s early days. She missed vaulting over the rivers and climbing up to unknown heights. She missed learning new and wondrous things about Amity. She knew the residents of Amity were counting on her. She dearly loved all of her friends so she gathered her tools and set off to do her daily rounds.

As Brody left her home she noticed a strange fog covering the island. They had experienced fog before but somehow this seemed thicker. As Brody crossed the bridge into the heart of Amity she was met with an eerie quiet. She quickly realized that none of her resident friends were out & about. No one watering flowers, no one running “zoomies”, no one to be seen or heard at all. Brody decided to go see if Timmy & Tommy had seen any residents about. When she arrived at the Nooklings shop she was stunned to find the doors locked! Brody then went to the Able Sisters Tailor Shop. Again she was met with a locked door. What was going on?

Brody went to Resident Services. Surely Mr. Nook & Isabelle would know where everyone was. Brody was relieved to find the doors were unlocked. “Mr. Nook, Isabelle? Something strange is…” Brody’s words caught in her throat. Mr. Nook & Isabelle weren’t at their desks! Brody couldn’t believe her eyes. Where were her friends? What was happening?

Brody dashed to the homes of the residents. She knocked and then entered each one only to find all ten homes empty. Brody ran along the beaches then up to the highest heights. She ran all around Amity but found hide nor hair of any of her friends. Brody went back to the center of the island and realized she hadn’t checked the Museum yet.

Running into the Museum, Brody was delighted to see Blathers napping at the entrance. “Blathers! Blathers, wake up! Something’s wrong!”

“HOOT! WHOT?! Is there an infestation?! Has the Bug-ageddon finally happened?” Blathers awoke with a start. “Oh, Brody! It’s just you. Phew. What were you thinking – scaring me like that?”

“Blathers, something is wrong on Amity. The Nooklings, the Able sisters, Mr. Nook, Isabelle, all the residents – they’re missing! I’ve looked everywhere. They’re gone!” Brody told Blathers about searching Amity from top to bottom. She also explained about the strange, dense fog.

Blathers was quiet for a moment. Then he spoke softly, “I thought it was a just a myth. If I had had any idea that it was true I would have warned everyone.” Blathers looked up and stared at Brody. She had never seen him look so intense and so worried. He started to tell her about an old legend Celeste and he had heard when they still had their pin feathers. A legend about a strange dense fog that would envelope a place full of life and laughter. It was said that if one in their midst ever grew weary of their way of life the fog would come in to set things back to a time before the area was settled. When the fog rolled in the residents would begin to feel a heaviness and dreariness. They would leave their homes to try to find each other but the fog would shift and swirl so that the residents would get lost and confused. Then the fog would wrap itself around them like a cocoon. When the fog would finally lift, the area would be deserted and no one would settle there again. Blathers told Brody he never believed the tale… until today.

Blathers continued, “Celeste spent many years researching these tales. She found many stories of once thriving places suddenly being void of life. However, she also found one story that said that one village had been able to be saved but at a great cost. The one who had grown weary had to offer themselves to the fog in exchange for the return of the others.”

Brody started shaking her head. “No way. There’s no way any of us would have wished for this fog. We all love Amity and being neighbors. There’s no way any of us are offering ourselves up to a bunch of water vapor. I’m going to go check on Brewster then check on Wilbur & Orville. Then I’m going to search every square inch of this island to find our friends.” Brody ran upstairs to The Roost. No sign of Brewster. Brody ran back down and told Blathers Brewster was missing as well. She then ran out of the Museum. Blathers stared after her in saddened silence.

Brody ran to the airport. Inside she found Orville at the gate. She was so happy to see him. “Where’s Wilbur?”

Orville looked at her. “I don’t know. I… I keep calling him on the radio. But, but he doesn’t answer. The last I heard from him he was heading out to Resident Services to tell Mr. Nook that all flights were grounded today due to this fog.” Brody told Orville she’d find Wilbur and everyone else. As Brody ran back outside she could her Orville behind her. “Dodo One, this is Tower. Wilbur, you copy?”

Brody fell down on the grass outside of the Plaza. She wasn’t going to believe some… some vapor… had taken her friends from her. They were just gathered somewhere – lost due to the fog. She got back up and started searching Amity inch by inch. She checked behind trees, behind buildings and on her own little private beach. She checked the orchard, the Monster Mash area and the Gnome Home. Brody checked everywhere but she didn’t find a trace of her friends.

Brody went back into the Museum. Blathers looked at her hopefully but knew the truth when he saw her face. Brody collapsed on the tile sobbing. “It was me, Blathers. Me. The past few days I was thinking about how Amity was when I first arrived. There was so much to see and do. I was missing the newness each day brought as compared to the way the days seem routine today. It was me, Blathers. I called the fog here. I lost all of our friends and everything I held dear about Amity.”

Blathers tried to comfort Brody by telling her she had no clue this would happen. He told her he knew she would never have purposely done anything to their friends. Blathers cooed softly has he held Brody while she sobbed.

After a few moments Brody wiped her eyes, gave Blathers a good hug and then stood up. She looked Blathers in the eyes. “I know what I have to do, Blathers. I’m not going to let our friends get taken by this fog. When you’re all together again, please tell them how dear they all are to me. Also tell them to never take what we have here on Amity for granted. Amity, as you know, means friendship.”

Brody ran out of the Museum before Blathers could stop her. She ran to the highest spot on the island. There she straightened her spine, steeled her nerves and planted her feet firmly. Taking a deep breath she called out, “I’m the one you’re here for. I’m the one who longed for a past that wasn’t worth losing their present for. Release my friends and take me instead. Wrap me up and take me with you.”

As the last words left Brody’s mouth the fog around her grew even thicker and darker. She could feel it wrapping itself around her. She could feel its coldness seeping into her. She never knew fog could feel so heavy, so constricting. After a few seconds she felt herself being lifted. She looked down to see her feet were no longer touching the ground. The swirls of fog parted and she could see the heart of the
island. There in a huddled mass were all her friends: Molly, Ankha, Muffy, Raymond, Cyd, Roscoe, Ione, Dom, Ken, Shino, Timmy, Tommy, Mr. Nook, Isabelle, the Able sisters, Brewster and Wilbur. She could see Blathers quickly leaving the Museum & Orville running to Wilbur. Seeing everyone she loved together warmed her heart in spite of the fog’s cold grip. “I’m ready, fog. Let’s go.”

The opening in the fog sealed shut and Brody closed her eyes as she sank into the fog’s tight grip. The fog began drifting over the center of Amity. Suddenly, Brody’s body jerked to a stop. Brody felt something warm wrap around her legs. Struggling to open her eyes Brody looked down and thought she saw something black, white and brown wrapped around her ankles. The fog wrapped more tightly around her and she sank into its cold, dark embrace.

“I’ve got her! Everyone, pull! Pull!”

Brody slowly started to stir. She wondered how she could feel so warm and cozy wrapped up in the fog. As she woke up a bit more she thought she could hear voices talking softly. They weren’t just any voices. She thought she heard Blathers and Isabelle. “I must be dreaming”, she thought. She wasn’t sure she wanted to wake up. Then she thought she heard more voices. All familiar and getting louder. Finally Brody opened her eyes.

Standing around her were all her friends! She wasn’t dreaming & she wasn’t wrapped up in the fog! Brody realized she was in her own bed in her own home. She couldn’t believe her eyes. There were all her friends, crammed shoulder to shoulder in her room.

“How? The fog? I don’t understand.” Brody gasped out.

Shino ran to hug Brody. “Hey, my fabulous bestie!” One by one the others came forward to give Brody hugs. Tom Nook cleared his throat and said, “We couldn’t let some nasty fog take our Resident Representative, now could we? Blathers’ brilliant idea worked perfectly, yes, yes.” Just then the friends parted and Blathers made his way through, blushing slightly.

“It was truly a team effort. It only worked because we all worked together. When I saw your feet I knew I could fly up and reach them but I wasn’t sure I could pull you down on my own. I had everyone grab onto each other and we made a chain with Cyd & Dom at the end to pull us back to the ground. We were all determined not to let the fog take you from us. Once I had your legs, everyone pulled and the fog released you. What a great group effort, wot!”

Isabelle came forward. She explained that after the fog released Brody it vanished almost instantly and the sun shown down on them all. A few seconds later a rainbow lit up the skies over Amity. Blathers then told everyone about the fog and what Brody had done for them. Roscoe & Ken carried Brody home. Muffy, Ankha, Shino & Ione took turns watching over Brody while she recovered. Molly read to Brody every day. Mable & Sable brought freshly made paw stitched thick, warm blankets over. Everyone else took turns cooking food for the group so that no one had to leave. Everyone wanted to be there when Brody woke up. Isabelle told Brody that it had been a full week since the fog had left.

“I’m so, so sorry, everyone.” Brody said. “I brought the fog to Amity and I put you all in danger. I should have just been grateful for what I had instead of pining over the past. I promise I’ll never take the precious days we share here on Amity for granted again.”

“Well, that’s good to hear, kiddo.” Cyd chuckled as he stretched. “I’m not sure these old bones are up to tangling with that fog again.”

Brody smiled as she watched her friends laugh together. She was so happy to have such dear friends and couldn’t wait to spend each and every day with them.

 

[BetsySundrop]

Ok, not the best writer, but here's my entry.

Spoiler: Dealing with Dragons

The door of the old wooden hut slammed open. In strode her cousin, bringing with him a frigid burst of wind and snow.

"Oy! Freezing! Shut it!" Evie shouted. "And off with the boots!"

"Shouting unnecessary. Door shut. Boots coming off, and Tim got eaten," he replied.

"Big Tim or Quick Tim?" asked Evie.

"Big Tim, hauling logs in from the forest and not quick enough to hide when the dragon swooped in."

Although not very neighborly or charitable, Evie felt a twinge of disappointment that it wasn't Quick Tim. "Well, with Big Tim gone, we've got to figure out how to haul the wood. Smaller logs we can handle, but it means more trips, and more chances to be a dragon's dinner."

"Evie..." he began, "what if the witch was telling the truth...."

"No," she interrupted flatly. "I'll not hear it. If there were mysterious means to deal with the dragons, someone already would have tried it. The dragons are still here, so either it doesn't exist or it didn't work."

Ever hopeful, her cousin pressed on, "But Evie, if she knows...."

"No Matthew, she's just a crazy old witch."

More cynical by nature, Evie doubted anything would ever change, and she certainly didn't believe any witch could alter their lot in life. Dragons just were. They always had been and always would be, and folks just needed to do what they always did - work hard and strive for practical ways to manage living with dragons. Like the spikes on the roof and around her garden that kept the dragons away from her hut and main food source. Genius idea that, and very effective. Too bad people couldn't carry around large enough spikes on their persons to deter the dragons. But yes, practicality and hard work were the answer. Life wasn't supposed to be easy.

One week later, Evie froze, praying that the flapping noise and rush of wind wasn't a dragon. This was definitely Big Tim's fault. If he hadn't gotten himself eaten, she wouldn't be out here in the forest, trying to devise a way to transport logs quickly from the forest to her hut.

There! Just above the trees a very short distance from Evie...Of course. A dragon. Heart pounding, trying to avoid attracting attention, she ever so slowly lowered herself to the ground and wedged most of her body beneath the sled.

Spotting its prey, the dragon gave a great roar. Please don't eat me, please not me.... Evie repeated the mantra, resisting the urge to give in to panic and run.

The wings of the dragon whipped the wind, throwing dirt and leaves onto Evie as it passed right above her. A short shriek, cut off rather quickly, and she knew she was safe. Someone else had been the target. This time. As the dragon carried off its dinner, she shakily rose to her feet, brushing off the dirt and leaves.

"You know, life does not have to be like this."

Startled, Evie spun around, only to find herself facing the witch. "Where did you come from?" She demanded. With her long black hair and slightly uptilted amber eyes, the witch was beautiful and mysterious, but oh so annoying...

The witch ignored her question and went on, "You must listen! To be free of the dragons, you must journey to another world. There you will find your answer."

"And how will I find this other world?" Evie asked, eyebrows raised. "I suppose I give you money? Gold? What's in it for you?"

The witch snapped, "My safety in this world is what's in it for me! And if this world is not to be destroyed by dragons, you must undertake this journey and bring back help."

In that moment, thinking of the bitter existence she faced every day, and remembering her cousin's hopefulness, Evie's hardscrabble perserverence finally broke. It was too much. If the witch was wrong, fine, nothing changed and she was no worse off. But if the witch was telling it true....

"Fine. I'll do it."

The witch's amber eyes popped, "Really?!"

"Yes, yes," Evie snapped. "Just tell me what to do."

If I ever get back, I'm going to kill the witch. After packing a knapsack for her trip and arranging for her cousin to watch over her home, Evie followed the witch's instructions. And that was how she ended up here, in the middle of god knows what ocean, on a boat of questionable construction, suffering seasickness, and battling the urge to strangle the serenading man who was steering the boat.

Must he sing? Apparently yes, he must.

"Must you sing?" Oops, that was out loud. "Not to be rude..." she hedged.

"Oh, no! I'm ever so sorry. Didn't realize my singing was bothering you," the odd man replied.

Well now she felt bad. "Oh it's not a bother, really..."

"No, no, no...I'll not sing anymore, especially if it's not appreciated. In any case, we've arrived at our destination." After docking the 'boat' and assisting Evie, he said "Off you go, then. Good luck, and when you're ready to return I'll be here waiting."

After thanking him, Evie stretched her legs and quickly walked into what looked to be a small town, following the path and keeping her eyes peeled for dragons in the sky.

There were people ambling about, some tending gardens, some fishing in a little pond, some just sunning on the beach... could it be that this place had no dragons? Impossible! But these people certainly weren't afraid of being snatched up into the sky...

With no idea where to even begin finding answers, Evie decided to knock on the door of the first home she saw. The door opened.

Evie let out a blood curdling screech and fainted dead away.

Slowly awakening, Evie heard soft mumblings, "If you're sure she's ok..." "Call us if you need help..." "Poor thing, maybe she saw a spider..." and then a deep voice grumbled, "I'm sure she's fine, I'll let you know if we need anything." And then the door clicking shut.

Opening her eyes, she took in her surroundings, the gorgeous red walls, rich dark wood furniture and gold accents. A more beautiful home she could not imagine. Had she fainted? I don't faint! I have never fainted- not even when dragons ate...

Her memory finally kicked in, and she was sucking in a breath to scream when the deep voice interrupted..."I do hope you aren't planning to just shriek and faint all day."

Shock held her speechless for all of three seconds..."You're a dragon!"

"Well, not quite, but close enough! You may call me Drago."

"But," she sputtered, "You're a dragon!"

"Again, not quite, but if you insist, you may indeed refer to me as a dragon. You may have missed my name - Drago, that is. And what is your name, if I may ask?"

"Evie." This had to be the most surreal moment of her entire life. Imagine, talking to a dragon! But perhaps he could help...

"I was sent here to try to find help for my world."

"What sort of help did you need?" the dragon asked.

"Well...." hmm, how to be honest without offending..."In my land, dragons are terrorizing the towns. They ate all the livestock and now are eating people. You just never know when a dragon will swoop in and snatch a neighbor, a relative...so I need to find a way to get rid of the dragons."

Drago sat mute, a horrified expression on his face. Well, at least he didn't faint...

"Sooo, do you think you can help me?"

Giving himself a shake, Drago thought to himself, What a nightmare world that must be. I seriously doubt I can help this poor girl, but as long as she's here, at least she's safe from people-eating dragons...

"Of course I'll help!" Drago replied. "I'm not sure how to get rid of your dragons, but perhaps if you stay here a while you can find what you need."

"Thank you so much," Evie exclaimed with relief. At least now she had a place to start.

After a good night's sleep, Evie was ready to learn all about dragons. Drago was a bit of a late riser, but more than happy to tackle the problem at a late brunch.

"I was thinking all night," he began, "I thought how gross humans would taste, especially with all the clothing, and wondered if perhaps your dragons might prefer something else, more along the lines of what I like to eat."

"What sorts of things would that be?" Evie asked.

"Well, things like apple pie, fish pie, or cherry jam on toast... those sorts of things."

"I've never tried those things. We eat from our gardens mostly, beans, corn, and potatoes. I don't know that we even have any fruit trees in our forest. And journeying outside the forest isn't really safe..."

"You've never tried pie?! Or jam?! Well, that will be remedied this very day."

Hours later, an exhausted Evie sat at Drago's kitchen table, ready to try her first taste of apple pie, Drago watching her expectantly.

"Oh my god," she groaned at the first bite. "This is unbelievably amazing. I've never tasted anything like it." It was well worth the hours of work they'd put in that day, picking apples, grinding flour...

Drago smiled. "I thought you'd like it. Works with any fruit. You can take some fruit back to your land, to grow some close to your house. Put those spikes around it. You'll need to plant sugarcane and wheat, too."

"I'd love that." Evie smiled.

Over the next week, Evie had fun learning to fish, even falling into the pond, just relishing time outdoors, under the sun. She studied all about cooking the foods dragons would love eating - hopefully more than eating people. She worked diligently on compiling a large collection of recipes, and learned how to grow and tend all of the crops she would be taking back with her. When she finally finished copying the last recipe, Drago suggested a walk, which Evie gladly accepted.

While strolling through the town, Evie began to think that her old way of life was actually no way to live at all. But this - this peaceful, friendly, and fun way of life...this was what she wanted to bring back.

Her mind full of ideas for what she wanted to accomplish, Evie didn't notice immediately when Drago fell behind. Hearing a strangled, choking sound, she turned back and saw Drago bent over struggling to breathe.

"What happened?! Tell me how to help you!"

"I can't go any farther," he wheezed, walking back the way they came. "Don't you smell that? How can you stand it?"

Admittedly, the aroma permeating the area was fairly funky. But not enough to choke a person. A dragon, on the other hand....

"Wait, Drago, just how bad is this smell to you?"

"Are you having a laugh? It's hideous! Horrific! I can actually feel my throat closing up, my eyes blinded by tears from the fumes.. ugh! Dragons don't do well at all with these fumes."

Evie smiled.

It's one thing to figure out the solution, quite another to obtain said solution....

Covered head to toe in protective gear, including helmet with air filtering apparatus, Drago used a tree branch to poke at the offensive plant. The bloom was enormous, a dark red, pulsating thing that gave off waves of acrid vapors. When the bloom twitched, flies took to the air, circling around and eventually landing back on the bloom.

"My god, I have never seen such a thing," declared Evie. "But this could be exactly what the witch sent me here to find. This could repel the dragons. Imagine if I could plant these all around the perimeter of my town..."

" Good god, let's NOT imagine that, please....I do want to eat sometime today."

Laughing, Evie asked the most important question. "How do I grow this in my land?"

Drago responded, "I think it likes disgusting living conditions. So, weeds, trash, who knows....I do know if you clean up the area around it, it will die, but it does produce a seed pod."

Evie smiled.

An entire week. That's how long it took her to clear the area of weeds, junk, and trash. Every day filled with back-breaking, repetitive, revolting exercise. Her hair and clothing became infused with the stench, and Drago introduced her to "sleeping under the stars" which was quite pleasant, with no risk of being eaten by a dragon at any moment. He, of course, slept in the house, far from Evie and her newly acquired foul odor.

Eventually, the job was done. The dreadful flower began to wilt, the putrid odor gradually dissipated, and a seed pod finally appeared. Evie harvested the pod, wrapping it in multiple layers of packaging.

And now it was time. Time for Evie to gather up all of the things she'd collected and head back home. Drago did his best, but he couldn't help a bit of mistiness creeping in to blur his vision as he gave Evie a brave smile. "When you get the dragon situation under control, and I have complete faith you will, perhaps you can come for a visit."

"Of course," she said, blinking through tears of her own. "I must come back at least twice a year, if only to clear out any of the unmentionable flower that might crop up here." They both snickered.

Evie leaned in to hug Drago, "Truly," she said, "I will miss you. I never thought to have a dragon for a friend."

Drago held Evie close and whispered, "Well, not quite a dragon, but close enough..."

After a long return journey, with strange ship captain singing, wicked waves nearly swamping the boat of questionable construction, a plague of seasickness, and then a long perilous dragon-dodging trek through the forest, Evie finally made it home.

The first person she saw was her cousin, "Oy! Raining! Shut the door! And boots off!" he shouted as she flung open the door.

"Door is shut. Boots coming off. And I bring with me the answer to our dragon problem!"

"Evie!" Matthew shouted, grabbing her into a bear hug. "I was so worried. I thought I'd told you to listen to the witch only to have her send you off to your doom."

"No, cousin," she laughed. "I did listen to the witch, and you were right. I think I've found what we need to deal with the dragons."

It took some time to convince the townfolk to go along with her plans, but eventually they caved. Anything had to be better than their plight with the dragons. And Evie's plans were simple enough: plant the seeds from the fetid plant around the perimeter of the town, where plenty of weeds and brambles grew. Then plant the fruit and other crops within the perimeter, with strategic placing of spikes to protect the young plants.

As the flowers bloomed, the dragons were repelled, the new crops grew, and life became much better for the town. Evie realized that this, this peaceful prosperity, was how a happy life was truly lived.

One year later....

"So will you finally come visit me?"

Drago sipped his tea, gently rocking in the porch swing. "Are you sure there is absolutely no smell anywhere in the town?"

"I'm one hundred percent sure! The new design is just perfect! The dragons don't come inside the perimeter, but there's no smell in the center of the town. We may not need those funky flowers much longer anyways." Evie stated.

"Then how will you continue to keep the dragons out?"

"That's just it. I told everyone how you were so friendly and helpful, and they're wondering if they can change our dragons. They've been making all those recipes, and some have taken to setting out food just beyond the perimeter for the dragons. I believe the dragons prefer that to humans!" She exclaimed.

"Well of course," Drago responded. "Those are some of my best recipes."

And sitting in the sun, sipping their tea, the dragon (not quite, but close enough) and his friend smiled and laughed.

 

[Milleram]

I tried to keep this as short as possible, but it was difficult. XD

Spoiler: Friendship Doesn't Grow on Trees

There once was a girl, named Amy, who lived on an island inhabited by animals. Although the island was home to many permanent animal residents, it also received visitors on a regular basis. Many of these visitors were merchants, and they visited the island to sell their wares.

One of these merchants was a sloth, named Leif. He was a kind and gentle creature, and he sold plants and seeds to residents with an interest in gardening. It was due to Amy’s deep interest in gardening that she had become a regular customer of Leif’s, as well as a good friend.

Leif always brought a wide variety of different plants and seeds with him on his visits. This impressed Amy, and she couldn’t help but comment on it one day.

“Wow, Leif! Your stock is amazing! Just looking at it makes it obvious what a plant expert you are. I’ll bet you’ve seen at least one of each type of plant!”

Instead of smiling bashfully, like Amy had expected, Leif looked quite depressed. He sighed and said, “Although it’s true that I’ve seen each type of flower and shrub, I can’t honestly say that I’ve seen each type of fruit tree. Amy, you’ve explored this entire island, right? What did you notice about the trees here?”

Amy tilted her head thoughtfully and replied, “Hmm… Let’s see… I’ve seen coniferous trees, palm trees, and plenty of other deciduous trees. Thinking back on it, though, aside from coconuts, the only other fruit I’ve ever seen growing on our trees is cherries. Now that you mention it, that’s incredibly strange!”

Leif glumly nodded. “It’s strange and sad. Wouldn’t you like to see an apple, orange, peach or pear tree with your own eyes? Wouldn’t you like to try growing some of those fruit trees on this island? Alas, exotic fruit can only be found very rarely on faraway islands. I doubt even the Dodo brothers have come across them during their flights.”

“That may be so, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be found.” Amy leaned in towards Leif, with a determined expression on her face. “You know what, Leif? Because you’re my friend, I’m going to go find those fruit trees for you. I’m going to bring those fruits back, and I’m going to grow some exotic fruit trees of my very own. Of course, you’ll be the first person I call when they’ve finished growing.”

Leif’s depressed expression quickly changed to one of glee. “Wow, you’d really do that for me? Gosh, Amy, you have no idea how happy you’ve made me!”

Amy gave Leif a confident nod. “Of course, Leif. Anything for a friend.” She didn’t know exactly how her journey would go, or even whether or not she’d be able to find the fruit Leif was seeking. In that moment, however, none of that really mattered. Her offer had made Leif positively giddy, and she knew that she had to at least try to make his dream come true.

The next day, just before sunrise, Amy made her way down to the dock. The area was completely deserted, except for a lone kappa asleep in his boat.

This kappa went simply by the name Kapp’n and, aside from the Dodo brothers, he was the only animal on the island who transported travellers to other destinations. His voyages were at times very long and tiring, so it was no surprise that he had happened to fall asleep in the bottom of his boat.

As bad as Amy felt about waking him, she was desperate to help her friend, Leif. She began to call out to him.

“Kapp’n! Kapp’n! Wake up!”

Kapp’n snorted and woke with a fright. He blinked wearily a few times, clearly still half-asleep, and then gave Amy a sheepish grin.

“Ahoy there, lass. I was just restin’ me eyes for a few minutes, and I didn’t notice ye there. What can I be helpin’ ye with?”

Amy took a deep breath and mustered up her courage before replying, “Kapp’n! I need to borrow your boat! It’s very important! Please!”

Kapp’n looked at Amy quizzically, surprised by her sudden request. “I mean, I don’t mind, lass, but whatever could ye be needin’ it for?”

Amy quickly explained the situation to Kapp’n, hoping her story would move him. Although the kappa looked doubtful as he listened to her plan, he, to Amy’s surprise and delight, ended up agreeing to her request.

“Oh, Kapp’n! Thank you! You’ve made me so happy, and I know this will end up making Leif happy, too.”

Kapp’n looked away bashfully and scratched his cheek. “Aye, well, I couldn’t refuse someone as earnest, and cute, as ye. Now then, let me be givin’ ye a few pointers before ye set out.”

Kapp’n quickly went over the basic operations of the boat, as well as some safety precautions. Amy, having sailed with Kapp’n many times before and having watched him in action, was fairly confident that she would be able to manage on her own.

After loading her supplies onto the boat and bidding farewell to Kapp’n, Amy set off on her journey.

Amy had no trouble reaching the first few islands she encountered. The water surrounding her point of origin was calm, making the start of her journey a breeze. That being said, these islands did not have the fruit trees Amy sought. Just like the fruit trees on her island, the fruit trees on these islands only bore cherries.

Amy knew she would have to venture farther out if she wanted to be of any help to Leif. She continued on in her boat, travelling greater distances than ever before, and she couldn’t help but notice the water becoming choppier and choppier. Despite her nervousness, Amy refused to turn back, her determination to help her friend driving her forward.

At the twelfth island Amy visited, she finally came across one type of the desired fruit trees: apple trees. She plucked half a dozen of the gleaming fruit from the branches of the trees, and headed back to the boat. Feeling encouraged by her lucky find, she set off once again.

The next few islands Amy visited were also home to apple trees. This discovery made her wonder if islands within close proximity of one another all contained the same type of fruit tree. She supposed she would just have to keep going if she wanted any chance of finding the rest of the fruit trees.

Amy continued on her journey in much the same way. Every twelve or so islands, the fruit trees would change, and she managed to gather two more types of fruit without incident. As she approached what would be the forty-eighth island, she realised she only had a pear left to collect, and she had a feeling that she would be able to find a pear tree on this island.

As Amy got out of the boat and looked around, she noticed her feeling had been correct. There were, indeed, pear trees growing on this island. That being the case, these pear trees appeared to only be growing high up on ledges, meaning they were currently out of Amy’s reach. Dismayed by this fact, Amy sat back down in her boat, pondering what to do. Could she construct a ladder of some sort? That would be possible. She had brought some tools with her. All she would need to do would be to gather some supplies.

As she was putting together a plan in her head, Amy suddenly noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye. She slowly turned her head, afraid of what she might see. Her fears were justified, as three large, hairy tarantulas were approaching the boat.

Amy ducked down into the boat as much as possible, hoping she was out of sight. She held her head with her hands, wondering how she could possibly get out of this mess. She glanced around the boat, hoping for some inspiration. Her eyes landed on a bag containing the fruit she had collected from the other islands. Could she use the fruit as a distraction? Did tarantulas even like fruit? She wasn’t sure, but she figured it was worth a try.

Refusing to give up all the fruit she had worked so hard to collect, Amy reached into the bag and removed just one of each type of fruit. By doing so, she would have one to throw at each tarantula, and she would still have enough to bring home and plant on her island. She picked up the first fruit, the apple, stretched her arm back, and then hurled it as hard as she could at one of the tarantulas. She proceeded to do the same with the orange and the peach. The tarantulas each pounced on the landed fruit, then proceeded to hoist them onto their backs in a bizarre fashion. They then scurried off into some nearby foliage, leaving Amy alone in the bottom of the boat.

Amy waited several minutes to see if the hairy arachnids would return. When she felt enough time had passed, she slowly emerged from the boat, and began gathering lumber from which to construct a ladder. She knew she had to work quickly, in the event that the tarantulas decided to return.

Once she had constructed a satisfactory ladder, she was able to reach the nearby ledges with ease. Feeling victorious, she grabbed a juicy pear from the first tree she came upon, and stuffed it into her bag.

Fortunately, Amy did not encounter the tarantulas again on her way back to the boat. As she set off for her own island, she felt simultaneously relieved and ecstatic. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Leif’s face. She knew how happy he would be to hear of her success.

It was a long journey back, but Amy somehow managed to return to her island safely. Kapp’n was overjoyed to see that she and his boat were in one piece, and Leif was happy to have his friend back.

Once Amy and Leif planted the new fruit trees together, it took quite a while for them to mature. They waited and waited, and then one day, at long last, they were able to harvest fruit from the trees for the very first time.

“Amy, I can’t tell you how happy you’ve made me. I can now proudly say that I have seen each type of fruit tree, in person.” Leif picked two shiny apples from a nearby tree. He handed one to Amy, and he took a bite out of the other. When he was done chewing, he smiled and said, “I’m so happy to be able to enjoy this delicious fruit with a friend like you.”

Amy returned Leif’s smile, and replied, “Me, too, buddy. Me, too.” She knew her journey had been worthwhile.

 

[daringred_]

finally finished this thing. it ended up longer than i anticipated (3.6k ) but it could've been worse.
anyway, here's some wlw wizards. thanks a tonne to anyone who actually reads <3

Spoiler: brookebell hill

The trees along the river rustled quietly in the breeze as Claire gradually made her way back to where she lived just outside of town. After deciding to take a short late morning walk, she was ready to treat herself to a bowl of fresh strawberries and an afternoon nap; a peaceful contrast to the way most of her days were spent, although she had no idea that was about to change.

“Hey, Claire!”

Claire immediately turned at the sound of her name and was faintly surprised to see her friend, Lisa, hurrying towards her. She slowed to a stop just a foot away, brushing her hair back behind one ear as if she hadn’t just run halfway across town. “Sorry,” she breathed, flashing her a faint smile. “I was actually just on my way to yours, but if you’re busy-” She trailed off awkwardly, running the edge of a slightly crumpled piece of paper between her nails.

“I'm not,” Claire revealed; she would’ve changed any hypothetical plans for her anyway if needed. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing,” Lisa clarified quickly. “I was just wondering if you’d like to take this request with me.” She held out the piece of paper. “It’s been hanging on the board for weeks now.” Claire curiously took the job request from her, scanning the details. She thought she’d cleared out all of the unpopular ones a little while ago, but it seemed she’d accidentally missed this one: giant monster, terrorized village, meager reward.

“Why not?” Claire said, handing the page back. She’d intended to take a break for a few days before accepting another of her usual difficult, higher-tier jobs, but this seemed simple enough that she couldn’t see it disrupting her downtime. She turned, continuing her original walk down the path out of town, and Lisa followed after a brief moment of uncertainty. “Let me just grab some things, and we can head off.”

-​

They were on the train less than thirty minutes later, travelling lightly and sat opposite each other in the final carriage. Lisa had her feet up on the vacant seat beside Claire as she stared out of the window, and Claire herself alternated between doing the same and occasionally watching Lisa fidget with the gold ring on her forefinger, recognizing it as the one she herself had welded for her just a month prior. Claire hadn’t even known she’d kept it. It was the first thing she’d created with her fire, which so often destroyed instead, molding gold into the shape of a star and fusing it to a band she’d worried was too small. She was touched to see Lisa actually wearing it.

They spent the entire three-hour journey in comfortable silence, with Lisa taking what Claire affectionately referred to as one of her ‘bat naps’ somewhere in the middle. It was a relief, then, when they finally reached the small station at the base of Brookebell Hill and disembarked, Lisa stretching her stiff arms above her head.

“So, what do you think this ‘giant monster’ is?” she asked as they began the walk up to the village of Brookebell itself, built on the crown of the hill it shared its name with. The request hadn’t given any specifics, and she wasn’t sure what to expect.

Claire shrugged. “Could be anything, I suppose,” she said unhelpfully. She’d run into her fair share of ‘giant’ creatures across her jobs, some more troublesome than others. “Manticore, hydra, chimera, yeti.”

Lisa frowned. “Hydra?” she echoed, familiar but not personally.

“That one I doubt,” Claire admitted. “They likely would have specified if it was.” She paused for a moment, adjusting the hood of her red cloak. “And offered a higher reward.” They wouldn’t attract anyone capable of felling a hydra with the one printed on the flyer. “Still, even if it is one, I have some experience.”

Lisa quirked an eyebrow, looking over at her. “You do?” She didn’t know much about most of the jobs Claire went on; only those that they occasionally took on together or with the other half of the Ultimate Four. Claire nodded.

“You have to be quick,” she explained as the path under their feet began to level out. “The heads are incredibly fast, though they don’t necessarily work together.” She smiled slightly, amused. “I tricked the one I fought into getting them tangled together.” It had been a tricky process with several close calls, but their reach had been greatly diminished afterwards, leaving her plenty of opportunity to finally attack.

“And then?” Lisa said curiously, watching as a set of houses began to grow larger on the horizon. They were almost there.

“I pierced its heart out through its body from the back,” Claire told her, nonchalant. “Since only the heads can regenerate, that’s what you want to remove. Unfortunately, there isn’t any time to do that while they’re still after you, which is what makes hydras so notoriously difficult to defeat alone. Even a team will struggle without adequate coordination.”

“Well... Let’s hope it’s not a hydra then,” Lisa said as they reached the edge of the village. It would be a lot more than she’d bargained for when ripping the crumpled flyer off of the request board.

“Let’s,” Claire agreed, glancing around as they made their way towards the heart of Brookebell. It was eerily quiet. If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought the place had been deserted. Everything was completely still. She eyed a collapsing house on the opposite side of the square as they approached it, one half of it in crumbled ruin; as though flattened. Her gaze flickered to a splintered wagon and its rotting, squashed produce, then an uprooted flowerbed, then-

She threw her arm out, stopping Lisa in her tracks. “Wait,” she warned, scanning the horizon. Lisa frowned across at her before she felt it too; the earth shifted under their feet. She looked up, searching the forest in the distance as the ground shook harder, the movement quickly accompanied by the sound of footfalls so heavy they almost reverberated in her chest. The pair braced themselves instinctively as the trees in the distance began to shake violently, and just a few short seconds later, the giant creature they were looking for burst into the open.

It wasn’t a beast Claire recognized, and she didn’t know where to even begin describing the thing. It was covered almost entirely in a layer of turquoise scales except for its head, where they gave way to a fine, white fur, and she would’ve suspected it was some type of dragon if said head hadn’t so closely resembled a wolf’s. It moved with the same fluidity of one too and was upon them both in seconds, lifting a clawed paw to crush them beneath. It was swift, but Claire was swifter, and its foot struck thin air several feet above them, gold shimmering out from where it made contact to reveal part of the force-field obstructing it.

The creature growled angrily, pushing down harder to no avail, and Claire was just about to throw it away from them when Lisa interrupted her. “Look out!” she shouted before abruptly crashing into Claire not a moment after and throwing them both to the ground. Lisa grunted in pain as she took the brunt of the landing, and Claire barely caught the creature’s thick tail swiping through the air where they’d just been standing.

“Damn it,” Lisa muttered, and Claire immediately turned back to her. She was gripping where the corner of a dislodged brick had torn through the upper arm of her jacket, drawing blood, and Claire quickly moved to help her sit up. Behind her, the creature pounced forward, jaws barred, unveiling rows of razor-sharp teeth, only to immediately collide with an invisible wall. Neither of them reacted to it.

“Are you okay?” Claire asked, trying to inject some of the concern she felt into her typically more flat voice. She refrained from wounding Lisa's pride any further by mentioning that the creature’s tail would’ve been blocked by her force-field. Lisa nodded, annoyed by her own fragility and current state of weakness. At least they didn’t have an audience to see her like this too, and she refused to wince as she let Claire help her to her feet.

“Hey! Hey, over here!”

They both turned with matching frowns at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, surprised when they spied a girl with short, choppy hair waving frantically at them from behind a house in the distance. “This way! Hurry!” she called, clearly expecting them to follow.

“Go,” Claire instructed, nudging Lisa coaxingly in the girl’s direction.

“But-”

“I'll catch up,” Claire promised before Lisa could object any further. “You’re injured; that makes you the priority for now. We’ll deal with this thing when you’re good to fight again.” Lisa stared back at her with a slight grimace, unsurprisingly against the sudden change in plan, before reluctantly hurrying towards the girl down the street without a word. In her absence, Claire turned back to the creature they’d been ignoring, still throwing itself uselessly at the force-field keeping her out of its clutches.

In one swift motion, she raised her hands as they were engulfed in flames before sharply aiming them downwards right as she jumped, launching herself dozens of feet into the air. She lifted her arms above her head as she drew level with the creature’s head, and a large ball of fire began to gather between her hands. It only took a few short seconds for it to be almost as big as her, at which point she promptly threw it towards the ground. It sped through the air at rocket speed before impacting violently, leaving a crater in the earth as it sent a cloud of ash and rubble upwards in its wake.

Claire landed cleanly back where she’d started just a moment later, and with the creature’s view obscured, she immediately turned on her heel to run after Lisa and the mysterious girl. They were waiting for her down the side of the house, and at her arrival, the girl wordlessly began leading them behind the building to a set of cellar doors. They made no sound when she opened them, consciously kept well-oiled, and quickly descended underground. Claire and Lisa shared a dubious look before following, the former bringing up the rear and carefully pulling the doors shut behind them.

-​

The girl’s name, they soon learned, was Robin, and the basement she’d brought them to was what her and her grandfather were currently forced to call home. “S’not safe up there anymore,” the old man had told them gruffly while Claire tended to Lisa's arm, and they’d listened as he’d recounted how the creature had slaughtered dozens of them when it had first appeared, crushing people under its feet as they’d tried to flee, and injured just as many. The village had become a ghost-town after that, the streets paved with blood until a storm had washed it away. Anyone who’d survived was hunkered down somewhere, but it hadn’t rained in days, and food was becoming scarce.

“We saw your request,” Lisa revealed, retrieving the crumpled flyer from her pocket and holding it out to Robin. Claire watched from the corner of her eye as the girl unfolded it, preoccupied with wrapping a bandage around Lisa's upper arm.

“I should probably tell you there isn’t actually a reward,” Robin admitted sheepishly. “I just put down something I thought the village could pull together, but...” She trailed off. Anything they could scrounge up wouldn’t come close now. “I made a bunch of these and took ‘em to the station when we were still here after a week; I almost didn’t make it back, but someone had to do it.” She paused, looking between the two mages. “Are you here to kill that thing?”

To her surprise, it was Claire that answered. “Yes,” she said firmly. “I have a plan.”

Lisa raised an eyebrow, looking across at her. “You do?” she asked curiously. Claire nodded.

“That creature has a raised crack at the base of its chest,” she explained. “It’s shaped like a six-point star. Small, but visible." It had been clear to see when the creature had one leg raised and they’d been directly under the area in question.

“A weak point,” Lisa surmised, folding her arms.

“Yes.”

“Not exactly great, having one of those marking where your heart is.”

“No, but I doubt it's been an issue for it until us,” Claire said. "Do you still have your Shockgun?”

Lisa smirked. “’Course.”

“Good.” Claire got to her feet, turning to face Robin, and Lisa followed, tying her jacket around her waist. “Stay here. We’re going to go and solve your monster problem.” Robin nodded obediently, watching wide-eyed with her grandfather as the two crossed the room and began ascending the stairs back up to the surface.

It wasn’t until they reached the cellar doors, and Claire carefully pushed them open, that the two spoke again.

“So, this plan,” Lisa started in a whisper as they stepped back out into daylight. “What are the specifics exactly?” She had an idea, given that Claire had asked about her Shockgun – as if she’d ever take that thing out of her arsenal –but she’d prefer to walk into this with more than that.

“When it begins to charge at us, I want you to fire your Shockgun at it,” Claire explained quietly as she lowered the cellar doors back into place. “I know it won’t be enough to fell something of that size, but it should give me time to line up a clear shot at its weak point.”

“And you’ll blow it wide open,” Lisa finished, nodding slightly as they slowly began making their way towards the open street.

“We hope,” Claire said, keeping close to the wall. She could hear movement in the distance, evidence that the creature was still skulking around where they’d left it. “Depending on the result, however, we might need a finishing shot from your Bazooka.”

“Could be messy,” Lisa warned, though the faint curve of her lips gave away the fact that she was excited, almost, by the possibility of getting to use it. Claire doubted the villagers would mind so long as it meant the end of their torment, and she came to a stop when she reached the corner of the building, glancing back at Lisa.

“Ready?” she asked under her breath.

Lisa nodded. “Always,” she said, and with her confirmation, Claire dashed out into the open. They and the creature spotted each other simultaneously as they raced in its direction, and Lisa skidded to a stop as it began charging towards them. With a flash of lavender light, a shotgun appeared in her hands, already at eye level, and it took her less than a second to have a lock on her target. The gun fired with a crack, the bullet flying over Claire's head just as she too came to a stop further down the street. The instant it struck the creature square in the chest, strings of electricity erupted from the bullet, crawling all over the beast’s body in the shape of a net.

It roared in pain, coming to a clumsy stop as it thrashed on the spot in a vain attempt to shake the crackling bolts away. Claire pulled her right hand back as flames engulfed it, growing larger until they formed a ball not much bigger than her head. She waited, eyes narrowed in the creature’s direction as she studied its movements closely, and then-

In the blink of an eye, she hurled the fireball at the creature right as it reared back on its hind legs. The flaming projectile made direct contact with the exposed six-point star-shaped crack she’d described earlier and exploded on impact. The beast bellowed, lashing its tail angrily and taking off the roof of a nearby house, but didn’t fall. Behind Claire, Lisa's shotgun vanished with the same purple flash as before, and her aforementioned Bazooka promptly appeared in its place. She shouldered the end and aimed it at roughly where she believed the creature’s weak point to be, but even with the smoke obscuring her view, her usual perfect precision prevailed.

She only had to adjust her shot by an inch once the air thinned enough for her to locate her target, and she fired directly at the gaping hole Claire's attack had left behind. A glowing black and orange sphere burst loudly out of the launcher, spinning as it rocketed through the air in a blur before disappearing into the creature’s chest cavity and detonating, instantly blowing out portions of turquoise hide and fracturing the layers of scales that managed to cling in place. The creature roared one final time in anguished defeat before staggering forward and collapsing, felled by the irreparable internal damage it had suffered. Its heavy, disfigured body crashed to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust, and went still several meters from Claire.

For a few seconds, there was only silence, and yet it felt completely different to the kind that had greeted them when they’d first arrived in town. Then-

“You did it!”

Claire and Lisa, now empty-handed, turned in unison at the sound of Robin’s familiar voice to find her staring at them in awe from further down the street. It was unclear how long she’d been there, or if she’d only just arrived at the sound of the creature’s defeat. Underground especially, it couldn’t have been hard to miss. Claire glanced back over her shoulder at its lifeless body, taking up the entirety of the village square. She wasn’t sure what the remaining residents were going to do with it; she would offer to burn it for them if she didn’t suspect that they would want to deal with it on their own. Perhaps doing so would be cathartic for some of them in a way.

She looked forward again at the sound of Robin running over, expression somehow bright in spite of all the devastation she’d experienced. “I can’t believe it!” she exclaimed, looking between the two mages as Claire walked over to join them. “I mean, I know you said you were going to solve things, but I didn’t think you’d actually be able to.” She gasped slightly, eyes widening. “Oh, but what about the reward?” She looked around, but the streets were currently still empty. If there were other survivors, they were understandably being cautious and staying below ground. “I don’t know who else is-”

“There’s no need,” Claire told her before she could continue. Compared to the majority of her usual jobs, this one had turned out easy enough even with Lisa's fortunately minor wound. Robin opened her mouth to object, but Claire preemptively interrupted her. “Whatever jewels you all still have should be spent on rebuilding. It’s a more worthwhile reward to us that Brookebell returns to its former condition.” Beside her, Lisa nodded in agreement. While it wasn’t wise to turn down rewards given that this was their career, she hadn’t chosen this job with the payout in mind. After all, that was why it had been left unclaimed on the request board for so long to begin with.

Robin beamed up at them, clearly grateful, and more than she could put into words. “Thank you,” she said earnestly, and they all knew the two words carried more weight than at first one might believe. “I take it you’ll be on your way now.”

“We do have a bit of a ride ahead of us,” Lisa told her. The sky was still blue, but she knew evening was well on its way.

“And Lisa here needs to rest her arm,” Claire added, gesturing to her friend. Lisa immediately scowled at her; as if the visible bandage wasn’t bad enough.

“I just nicked it,” she insisted despite them both knowing it was more than that. A day of rest would do her some good, even if she disagreed.

“I'll make sure everyone knows you’re the ones that saved us,” Robin promised. “I'll draw a huge banner and hang it up when we celebrate.” She would’ve preferred for them to stay and receive the praise she thought they deserved, but they’d done the job they’d come there for, and she knew they had a home of their own to return to. “Maybe you can come back and visit one day.”

“Perhaps we will,” Claire agreed. She’d never returned to the location of a job before unless it was for another, but she wasn’t opposed to the idea in this case. It could be a pleasant day-trip during a future week of respite.

“Anyway, I should go and tell grandpa that he can finally come outside again; I know he’s missed gardening,” Robin revealed, smiling happily up at them. She turned to leave, waving at the pair. “I hope you make it home safely!” The two watched as she ran off, back towards her house, and disappeared from view, leaving them alone once more.

Lisa sighed, arching her back slightly to ease some of the stiffness between her shoulders. “Well, let’s get going then,” she said, already beginning to walk down the street towards where they’d first entered the village. Claire followed, perfectly in-step with her. “Hopefully the next train back is soon.”

“It’s due at five,” Claire informed her, remembering the board of arrival and departure times she’d read at the station before Brookebell’s and accounting for the time it had taken to get from there to here. She paused, glancing up at the sun. “In about fifteen minutes.”

“Better walk fast then,” Lisa remarked, although she didn’t actually speed up; their default pace was already plenty quick enough.

“Of course,” Claire said, looking over at her and smiling slightly when she noticed her fidgeting with her ring again. Despite her planned week-long rest break, Lisa's job request offer had turned out to be a welcome detour.

pls forgive any leftover spelling/grammatical errors. i must've read through this a dozen times, but i write exclusively in lowercase T0T

 

[kiwikenobi]

I'm a writer, but I don't usually write things this short or this plot-centric, so it was more challenging than I expected it to be to make something that would fit the format. ^o^;>

Spoiler: The Cure

Once upon a time, in the bitter cold of winter, the city of Silvergard was stricken by a terrible disease called Fell Fever. Everyone in the city was laid low with the illness, and before long, they would all die. Very few people had escaped catching the disease, but among them was a teenaged half-elf beggar named Junior. He had been named for his human father, Thomas Harker, who was a neglectful thief, and he hated sharing a name with such a terrible person. His elf mother had abandoned him and his father when he was too young to remember. No one had ever loved him. No one had ever cared for him. To humans, he looked like an elf. To elves, he looked like a human. Each of them told him to go to his own kind for help. But he had no kind. He wasn't both human and elven--he was neither.

Junior sat huddled in an alley, wrapped in what rags he had been able to scavenge from the garbage, trembling with cold and fear. Would he be taken by Fell Fever next?

Then, in the midst of his despair, he heard a sweet, musical voice. "If you wish to cure the fever that has stricken Silvergard, you must come to the enchanted forest and meet me."

"What? Me? Cure the fever? How? Who are you?"

"Come to the enchanted forest, and you will learn all..."

Junior sat there for a few minutes, thinking about what had just transpired. Was he imagining things? Was there a cure for the fever in the forest? But why should he go to such a dangerous place? He had intended to simply wait and see if the fever claimed him, and, if he were lucky enough to survive, perhaps someone would finally take pity on him and give him a home, or at least a paying job. And even if his circumstances weren't going to change, why should he follow some strange voice that he might have only dreamed up, just to save a city of people that had never cared about him?

And yet, in his heart, what he really wanted was to do some good in this terrible world, to shed a little light in the seemingly endless darkness.

So, clad in nothing but his rags, with nothing to aid him but his own courage, Junior got to his feet and walked out of Silvergard, hearing the coughing and moaning and weeping of the people in the houses all around him.

He walked down the road for a time, shivering with cold, pitifully underdressed for the weather, and eventually came to the edge of the enchanted forest. The people of Silvergard had always spoken of the forest with great trepidation. Monsters dwelled within, it was said. But Junior had nothing to lose by venturing in except for his life, and the people of Silvergard would have everything to gain.

Junior walked into the forest, guided by some unseen, unspoken power, until he reached a enormous stone formation at its heart, a flat-sided plateau. Somehow, he knew that what he had to keep going forward, but how? The only thing in front of him was a solid wall of natural stone.

And then, he noticed an indentation in the smooth stone in front of him, just the size and shape of his own hand. He pressed his hand into the small hollow in the stone, and all at once, the cliff face split, revealing a long, straight tunnel, dark, but with a light at the other end.

Junior took a breath to bolster his courage and started walking down the tunnel. The air seemed colder and sharper the farther he went, and he began to wonder if he ought to go back. But he pressed onward, despite the cold, and emerged into the light at the other end of the tunnel.

All at once, it was as warm as spring. He shut his eyes against the glare of the sunlight for a moment, then he squinted and saw that he had gone from the bitterly cold winter forest and stepped out of the icy tunnel straight into a vibrant, green forest. Birds sang musically in the trees, running water burbled somewhere out of sight. Colorful flowers bloomed in the shade of the mossy tree trunks, and young grass fairly glowed pale green everywhere.

Junior looked back the way he had come, and he was astonished to see that the stone wall had closed behind him. There was no going back. And yet, he didn't care. This was the most beautiful place he had ever seen, and an exquisite feeling of peace seeped soothingly throughout his entire body.

For the first time in his life, Junior felt at home.

He wandered tentatively through this place for a time, smelling the flowers, feeling the soft grass against his bare feet, smiling at the warmth of the sun on his face. There were animals here, deer and rabbits and even an enormous wolf, that seemed completely tame. They approached him without fear and allowed him to stroke their soft fur. Junior began to wonder if he had simply succumbed to the deadly fever in his sleep, and this place was paradise. If it was, he didn't mind. He never wanted to leave.

Then, suddenly, just in front of him, there was a flash of divine light, so bright that it momentarily blinded him, and he stumbled back, shielding his eyes with his arm. Then, as the light faded, he saw standing before him an impossibly beautiful, graceful creature: a unicorn. Its hair and hooves and horn were pure white and glowed like the moon. Its eyes were dark and solemn and unfathomably wise.

Junior fell to his knees in awe.

The unicorn gazed down at the trembling half-elf boy, and he heard a voice, the same musical, feminine voice that he had heard in the alley. "Welcome, child."

"Th-Thank you..." Junior whispered.

"You answered my call."

"Um... Yes, ma'am. I'm... I'm here to get the cure for the fever, please."

Though the unicorn's expression did not change, he felt as if he could sense her smiling.

"I offer you a choice," she said. "If you wish, I will bestow upon you the powers of a paladin, and you can return to Silvergard and cure everyone of the sickness which has stricken them."

"A paladin? Gosh... I thought maybe there would be some magic flower or something I could take back to the city to cure everyone."

"There is no other cure but my own healing power, channeled through one with a pure heart, such as you. But it is a great responsibility to become a paladin and wield the power to smite evil. Your life will become most perilous and fraught with danger, for those with evil in their hearts have always gone out of their way to destroy paladins. Have you the courage for it, young one? If not, there is no shame in declining. You may rest here for as long as you need, and then return to Silvergard, or go wherever else you wish in the world, just as you are, free from that burden."

"I want to be a paladin," he replied without hesitation.

The unicorn gazed at him intensely. "It is not an easy path to walk."

"If there's no other way to save all of the people in Silvergard, then... then I'll take that responsibility. I'll take that risk. Please, I know the world is a terrible place, but I want to make it better instead of worse."

Again, he felt rather than saw the unicorn's smile. "The world cannot be such a terrible place as you think: you are part of it. What is your name, courageous one?"

He blushed, hanging his head. "I have no name of my own. Only my father's name. Everyone calls me Junior."

The unicorn bent her head and used her horn to knight the kneeling half-elf, touching first one shoulder, than the other. "Then I give you a new name. Arise, Sir Aleron Greeve, Paladin."

Tears came to the boy's eyes as he got to his feet. "I have a name of my own?"

"Yes. Go forth and do good, Aleron."

There was another flash of light, and the newly named Aleron Greeve found himself standing in the snow outside of the stone wall again. But he was no longer bothered by the cold. Looking down at himself, he saw that instead of his old rags, he was now dressed in a white and gold tunic and sturdy brown boots and a long, forest-green cloak, everything whole and clean and warm and beautiful. Across his back were slung a sword and a shield of shining silver.

Aleron swallowed hard, feeling the burden of his paladinhood settling on his shoulders. And yet, there was a joy within him that he had never known before in his life.

He ran back to Silvergard, rushing from house to house knocking urgently on every door and calling out, "Hello! I'm a paladin! I can cure you!"

And so he could. He went from person to person, laying his hands on their fevered brows and letting the healing magic of the unicorn flow from him into them, banishing all traces of Fell Fever from their bodies.

It was exhausting, being a conduit for the unicorn's divine power, but Aleron didn't mind the weariness that he felt long before he was done. He was doing good, bringing hope, making things better instead of worse.

Unlike certain people he knew...

The last place he went was the abandoned building where he had last seen his father hiding from the authorities. Thomas Harker Senior had also been laid low with Fell Fever. Aleron let himself into the decrepit house and found his father lying on a pile of dirty rags on the floor. The man looked up at him, taking in his son's altered appearance, and sneered.

"Well, well..." he wheezed. "Look at you, Junior. Did you finally get your taste for thieving?"

"No, Father. I'm a paladin."

"Hmph. Come to laugh at your old man now that you don't need him anymore?"

"I never needed you. And after today, I never want to see you again." Aleron knelt and cured his father of the fever. "And I want you to know that I'm not Junior anymore. My name is Aleron Greeve, and I'm a paladin."

With that, Aleron turned his back on his father and left both the abandoned building and the city of Silvergard itself. He would go on to become one of the greatest heroes the world had ever known.

But that's a story for another time.

THE END​

 

[chocosongee]

Here's my little piece! I'm not sure if we're allowed to post images here, but I also drew concept art for it as well

Spoiler: Finding My Way

Once upon a time, in a small bunny village, there lived a bunny named Jerald. Jerald worked and lived at Bill’s potion shop. Jerald looked up to Bill as a father and Bill would always care for Jerald like a son. But, Bill worried that Jerald wouldn’t be able to live on his own one day. He would say,
“Why not start your own shop, Jerald?” but Jerald would always decline.

One day, a mysterious figure entered the village. It was Echo the owl! Echo was known throughout the land to freeze bunnies with his terrifying screech and steal their potions. Jerald was hiding in the shed, but Bill ran outside to confront Echo.
“Echo! You have to stop taking other bunnies’ potions!” Mr. Bill yelled at Echo. This triggered Echo.
“How dare you! If I can’t steal other options then I guess I’ll steal YOU!” Jerald knew he had to do something but was frozen with fear. He could only watch as Echo grabbed Mr. Bill with his sharp talons and flew off into the forest.

Finally breaking out from his shock, Jerald ran out to see the shop ruined and Mr. Bill missing.
“Oh no! This is all my fault. Why couldn’t I do anything, why didn’t I do something?” Jerald was filled with guilt. Jerald took a deep breath and said,
“I have to go save him.” Jerald quickly packed some food for the journey and ran towards the forest.
Jerald was now standing in front of the forest, hesitating to set foot in the forest. He’s never been outside the village before. But his guilt and determination to save Mr. Bill encouraged him to finally enter the unknown forest.

After hours of roaming the forest, Jerald finally came to the conclusion that he was lost and trembled at the thought of never making it out alive. Suddenly, there was a rustle came from the branches above and a tiny little squirrel head popped out.
“Hi! My name is Red,” the tiny little squirrel said, “who are you?”
“I’m Jerald, I’m trying to find Echo’s nest but kind of lost. Would you happen to know where it is?”
“Yeah, of course. I’ve been living in this forest by myself for years, but why do you need to go to Echo’s nest? That owl is bad news.” Jerald explained his story and Red offered to help Jerald. During their journey, Jerald would tell Red his worries and guilt.
“Why did you hesitate?” Red asked. Jerald remembered the hesitation and fear he felt.
“You gotta have more confidence in yourself, Jerald,” Red said, “You're stronger than you think. I mean you even entered this unknown forest to save Bill. Even if you don’t make it, hey the attempt was good.” Throughout their time together, Red would continue to offer advice to Jerald.

However, their time together was interrupted by a fox. A fox jumped out of the bushes and chased Jerald and Red. Jerald and Red ran but Red noticed that they were going off course. She yelled at Jerald, “Jerald, you’ve got to go on your own now! Go towards the river! Echo’s nest should be right across it! I believe in you Jerald! All you’ve got to believe in yourself!” Before Jerald could reply, Red ran the opposite way with the fox right behind her. Jerald shouted out for Red, but knew he had to get to Bill. Jerald silently thanked Red and ran towards the river.

Jerald finally reached the river and was hesitant to cross. He knew the only way to save Bill was to cross the river and find Echo’s nest. Jerald was stunned, he was too nervous to cross the river. Jerald hopped back and forth in his head, “Should I hop across? It’s too scary.”
Then, Jerald remembered all the things Bill has helped him with, he gave him a job, a place to live, and even a family. Jerald, remembering all the things Bill has done for him and Red’s sacrifice, built up the courage to finally hop across the river.

Jerald quickly hopped through the forest as he heard Bill yell, “Help I’m over here!”
Jerald looked at the tree above him and saw Bill trapped in Echo's nest. Jerald was relieved, he went up the tree and began to untie Bill from the nest. Jerald and Bill felt a rush of wind and a voice say, “What do you think you're doing?”
Jerald and Bill turned and saw Echo standing right behind them. Jerald then quickly tried to finish untying Bill. Echo then screeched at the top of his lungs and Jerald froze.

Echo started to approach Bill as Jerald unfroze. Jerald hopped to Bill before Echo could reach him. Echos face built with anger and he screeched again. Jerald froze and heard Bill yell, “Don’t let your fear control you, it's all in your head!”
Jerald realized Echos screech was no power, it was the fear within him. Just like that Jerald unfroze and attacked Echo. Echo once again screeched at the top of his lungs, but Jerald did not freeze, he kept hopping towards Echo. Jerald and Bill could see the confusion and frustration build in Echo. Echo screeched for the last time as he reached the edge of the nest. Jerald did not freeze and Echo fell off the edge of the nest. Jerald had saved Bill.

Jerald and Bill were so happy to see each other that they gave each other a big hug. Jerald was filled with relief. He led Bill back home through the forest, helped him hop across the river, and showed him where he met Red. Bill was not just so happy to see Jerald but to see the independent and confident young man he had become. Bill said to Jerald, “I’m so happy and proud that you saved me, I know it must have been a rough journey but you overcame your fears and that's what really matters.”
Jerald blushed, “Thank you Bill, I’m so happy you’re here.”

Once Jerald and Bill reached home Jerald decided to start his own potion shop. The incident with Echo made Jerald realize he can do anything he set his mind to. There will not always be a smooth road but with some good friends and confidence the destination will make the bumps worth it.

Spoiler: concept art

 

[Aquilla]

I was meaning to ask: would it be allowed, to write this story in the form of letters the hero/protagonist writes home? Or diary entries? I would still keep the structure of the hero's journey of course, just break the text into more managable chunks for both the reader and the writer

 

[hopeworld]

Today I read an article about a little injured fox who had one of his legs amputated so I decided to base my story on that! Kitsune Chiko sets on an adventure to make all of the other princes and princesses aware that her injuries do not make her any less important.

Spoiler: The Kitsune Party

Princess Chiko wasn't like the other kitsune princesses in the kingdom. Of course, she behaved like an ordinary princess. She was elegant and kind to everyone, had an honest attitude, did good deeds for others, and made sure everyone was happy and having a good life. The only thing that set her apart from other princesses was that she couldn't walk properly due to losing one of her legs as a pup.

Her father and her mother always told her that she was unique. Her three sisters and two brothers agreed. It made Chiko happy that her family supported her and accepted her disability. But some of the princesses and princes in the kingdom didn't see Chiko as unique. All they saw was how different she was. Sometimes they stared at her amputated limb. Sometimes they would point and laugh. And sometimes, they would say bad things behind her back. But Chiko could hear what they had to say, and she didn't like it at all, not just because it hurt her feelings, but also because she knew that real princesses were not supposed to say nasty things about each other behind their backs She knew that even though she would never be able to walk like the other princesses, she could make other people change the way they saw her. If she did, they would see how special she really was, and they would be able to see that they were special, too.

"It would be nice to be respected by the other princesses for once," thought Chiko. "I want to show them that even though I can't walk, I can still be a regular princess. I would love to show them that being different is what makes me special. But how can I do it?"

Just then, she saw three princesses sitting at a table, chatting away while drinking tea. Chiko knew that tea parties had always been a favourite pastime of princesses, and some princes, too. Chiko herself loved tea parties as well, and when she was young, she would always host pretend tea parties with her stuffed animals, but she always wondered what it would be like to have one with real kitsunes. Suddenly, an idea came to her head. An absolutely wonderful idea.

"That's it!" she thought. "I should have a tea party. Not just any tea party - the biggest tea party of all! I'll invite all the young princesses and princes, and once they have tea with me, they will see that I am more than just an injured waste of space. They will see that I am special."

And so, she returned to her palace to share her idea with her siblings, and they all agreed that it was a great idea, not to mention that it would be a great way for their sister to expand her friend circle and show others that injured kitsunes could be princesses, too. And maybe, just maybe, they would stop teasing her all the time and begin to accept her for who she really was.

"There's a lot to do to get ready," said Princess Yukiko. "There are invitations to mail, games to plan, and treats to bake."

"And of course, we'll need a little tea!" said Princess Azula.

"What can I do to help?" asked Prince Kichiro.

"You can help me make a list of things we will need for the party," said Chiko.

"It's a deal, then!" said Kichiro. "We will do our best to help you plan the perfect tea party, dear sister, you can count on us!"

Soon, Chiko and her siblings all had a job to do. They wanted this tea party to be extra special for their sister. In no time, they hung up a banner in the town square, which read "Tea Party at Princess Chiko's Castle! Today at 3:00".

"Perfect!" said Kichiro when he saw the banner. "That should get a lot of people to come to the tea party in no time."

Chiko's sisters and brothers lent a helping hand as they continued to decorate and set the tables in the dining room, and in no time, the castle had become the perfect party palace. As they made the finishing touches, Chiko checked her list one last time to make sure that everything was ready as the guests began to arrive. Kichiro held the door open as the guests walked into the dining room, one by one. All the princesses wore fancy party dresses while the princes wore equally fancy suits.

"Welcome, everyone!" said Kichiro. "You all look divine today."

Suddenly, Chiko noticed that there was one thing on the list that she had forgotten. "Oh dear," said Chiko. "We forgot the tea!"

Her brothers and sisters gasped in shock. Tea was the most important thing for a tea party and forgetting to bring it would be a huge mistake. Chiko turned her head to see some of the guests staring at her in amazement and whispering something to each other. Apparently, they were beginning to wonder if her brain didn't work as well as her legs. But she wasn't going to let the words that she couldn't hear get to her. She was going to show them that, despite her disability, she could still do great things.

"Don't worry, my brothers and sisters," said Chiko. "Everything will be just fine. I might not be able to move my legs, but my intelligence makes up for what I lack in motor skills. I know exactly where I can get some tea for the party, so please wait here until I come back."

With that, Chiko limped out of the dining room as quick as a flash so she could find some tea.

"Good luck with that!" scoffed one of the princesses who often picked on Kichiro. "There's no way she'll be able to find some tea with those slowpoke legs of hers."

"Now, now, don't make that assumption about our sister," said Azula. "Even though Chiko can't walk like the rest of us, she can still come up with great plans from time to time. I'm sure that she'll find a way to bring us some tea so we can start the party in no time."

"Exactly," said Kichiro. "You should stop saying such nasty things about her. Disrespecting others because they're different is not a proper thing for a princess or prince to do. We need to respect people, no matter how different they are from us."

"Before you make up your mind about someone and judge them based on their appearance or behaviour, you need to take the time to understand them," said Azula.

"There have always been people that say mean things to others because they're different," said Yukiko . "But there are many more people that do not judge people based on how they look. Those are the people whose words truly matter."

Just then, Chiko came into the room with a pot of tea, which was being stored in a purse attached to her waist, much to the surprise of the guests.

"I'm back!" she said. "And I found a way to bring some tea!"

"You did? Nice job, Chiko!" said Kichiro. "How did you get it all by yourself?"

"I went to the kitchen and asked the cook if he had already brewed some tea," said Chiko. "He said he did. "He brewed some peppermint tea and allowed me to bring it to the dining room. He attached a teapot purse so I could carry it without spilling the contents."

"Oh my goodness!" said one of the guests. "That's amazing! How did she manage to carry that teapot all the way in a purse?"

"She's not a slowpoke," said a princess. "She's quite clever."

Now that Chiko had the tea, it was finally time to enjoy the tea party. Yukiko carefully took the teapot out of the purse, and then she and Chiko took turns going from table to table, pouring tea into the guests' cups. All the princesses and princes were impressed. They no longer thought Chiko was weird because she only had three legs. Now they thought she was clever. Who would have ever known that a princess was able to save this tea party from becoming a disaster?

"This is such a charming party, Chiko!" said Yukiko. "Some peppermint tea, and some great new friends. Who could ask for more?"

The guests all raised their cups and shouted, "Here's to Princess Chiko!"

Chiko was pleased to learn that everyone finally learned to accept her for who she is, and they no longer judged her because of her injuries. In fact, they thought it made her special. They saw her as unique, just like her family always did, and she was glad that they would laugh with her now instead of at her. There was nothing more the lucky princess could ask for. She was ready to share a little tea with her new friends. She giggled and raised her own teacup. "Hooray for me!"

 

[michealsmells]

All done with mine! It came out to be 3.3k words-- I'm sorry I got bit by the writing bug.
WordCounter keeps saying its only 874 words when I paste it in, which is,,,, incorrect, but its trying.
Ty to my friend Kira for helping proofread and make sure everything made sense. I see u, I love u.

Spoiler: GlowShroom Forest

In a world full of adventurers, warriors, and mercenaries, it was rather difficult for a beginner party of four young cats to find quests that weren’t menial and boring, or far too grand for their skill level.
Squiggles, the leader of the group, a classless cat-mouse with ambitions even they didn’t know, boredly rested their head upon the table. They looked over to Cowardly, a dragon-lion and the “monster” from the first quest they had ever taken, and then to Khione, a cranky and quiet snowcat who they encountered on the second quest they had ever taken. They both were playing a game of cards, trying to drown out the singing of the party’s bard, Gummy, who was dancing on the bar telling inflated tales of the party’s exploits.
Gummy’s singing was soon interrupted by a blue feline bursting into the tavern, looking panicked and flustered. This cat was clearly a wizard, their tail filled with stars, one of their eyes scarred from a backfired spell, and the most telling feature being the crumpled conical hat on their head, which was still smoldering. The wizard looked around the tavern, almost surprised that everyone stopped to look at him, before his eyes locked with Gummy’s. He scampered to the bar, putting up his paws, “Gumminosus, the Bard Who Tamed A Dragon! You are just the adventurer I needed to-to-to see today!”

“Heya Socks! What can I do ya for?” The troublemaking bard leaned toward the wizard, “Need me to tame another dragon for ya? Oh yeah, I did that, by the way.” He felt the need to announce this once more to the entire bar.

Before he could upset Cowardly any more, Squiggles hopped beside Socks at the bar, interrupting Gummy, “Is- is something wrong, sir?” This adventuring team was well acquainted with this cat at this point. After all, he was the one who’d given them their only two quests so far.

“Is something wrong? Is something wrong?! I was ATTACKED! Attacked in the GlowShroom forests to the north! I-I-I don’t know what by, I used some-some fire magic and, well I nearly set the whole woods ablaze, but I was panicked! I was attacked, my grimoire was stolen, and my potions destroyed! I require aid, aid to take back what was stolen from me, a-and to find out what beast would have attacked me!” Socks tripped over his words as he spoke, using a paw to pat down his charred hat, “I thought that Gumminosus the Tamer of Dragons and his party could assist.”

With a look of annoyance shot at Gummy, Squiggles nodded their head, “Y-Yes! Yes of course, sir. We’ll be right on it! Come on you guys, we don’t have any time to waste. If this only just happened, we might be able to find the perpetrator before they get away.” The cat-mouse snatched up their bag and was already rushing out the door, hardly giving their party a chance to react. They needed to get out of this funk! When Squiggles left home, they left to adventure, not sit around at the taverns in Onham because a quest was too scary. Sure, they had never been to the GlowShroom forest, which was notoriously dangerous and easy to get lost in, but Squiggles wasn’t going to be scared by unfamiliarity. That said, the rest of the party wasn’t exactly so eager to leap straight into danger.

~~~
The entrance to the GlowShroom Forest was only a half-an-hour walk from the town. Despite the alleged dangers of the woods, these threats rarely, if ever, left the cover of the mush-cap canopy. As the trees and giant fungi came into view, Cowardly began to lag behind the group, ready to turn tail and return to town. Khione took note of this, nudging the dragon along, “Come on, no running off on us. You took the Tundra, the GlowShroom Forest should be no match for you.”

“E-Easy for you to say. The Tundra was bright, I could see if something was-was trying to sneak up on us. Do you see how dark it is in there- and it’s still daylight! Just think of all the hiding places for-for-for-for- oohh I can’t bear it!” Cowardly complained, keeping his body low to the ground and his wings poised, in case he had to fly away. Despite his reluctance, the entire party entered the woods, disappearing from view along the winding, mycelium covered path.

The GlowShroom forest, even in daylight, was dark and ominous. The only light illuminating the path was from the many mushrooms scattered about, glowing in a variety of colors, from blues to greens to purples to reds. Leaves crunched under the paws of each of the party, and, try as they might to avoid it, they were constantly in contact with intricate systems of fungus spreading throughout the forest floor. All were on the lookout for where Socks the Wizard had run from, but it seemed as if the forest had already grown over any footprints or paths that may have been left by the quest giver.

That was until Gumminosus sprang up in excitement, wiggling his round nose in the air in a direction that strayed away from the path, “Do you all smell that? Fire! I definitely smell something charred over there- and it seems relatively fresh as well, probably caused by our magician friend, you think? This way!” Before the other three could reply, the bard was already running off into the woods, hopping over mushrooms, vines, and roots, deep into the woods and off the beaten path. The rest of the party tailed behind, not faring nearly as well in avoiding the hazards, but somewhat able to keep up with their excitable friend. Off of the beaten path proved to be far more troublesome than the already confusing road, as the great stalks of the fungi around them seemed to shift as they loomed over the party.

Soon, however, they found themselves at a slight clearing. Slight only due to the charred foliage at their feet, which the massive fruiting bodies seemed to have drawn away from. There was a bag, some shattered glass that presumably used to be potion bottles, and a thick tome open face-down in the mud, its cover reading, A Guide to the Arcane & Fantastic, by Socks Whiskerton.

The whole group stopped at the edge of the clearing- even Gummy thought something odd about this sight. Squiggles was the first to speak about it, “I… am not not the only one who thinks this is suspicious, right? I mean, his book is right there. There’s no signs of anyone else being through here, either.” They looked around, and they were correct. Besides the ashes and the scattered belongings of Socks, there was no evidence to show that anyone else had been through this clearing.

Cowardly nodded, slinking close to Squiggles, tail between his legs, “A-Agreed. We found what we came for though, right? I say we- I say we just grab everything and get the heck out of here!”

“Hold on.” Khione’s ears shot up in suspicion, “Something’s wrong. Look at the ring around the clearing, between the mushroom stalks and the charred grass. Did everything move away from the fire that Socks set?” He raised his candy-cane peg-leg to point at the ring of fresh grass and mycelium that bordered the massive mushrooms and the burned remains. There were grooves in the dirt, nothing too deep, but they all eerily matched up with the trunk-like stalks, “I don’t think this is just any clearing.”

“Pssh! You worry too much, Khione! It’s nothing but- uh, the forest dampness blocking the flames, duh! You saw Socks, the fire couldn’t’ve been all that bad!” Gummy bounced into the clearing, grabbing the book up into his little hands. He brushed off some mud and shut the tome, “See? Nothi- AHH-”

Something shot down from the trees and wrapped its way around Gummy’s tail, taking the muroid feline up into the treeline, past leaves and mushroom caps, and out of sight. The rest of the party jumped in fear, Cowardly almost immediately hiding behind a giant mushroom stalk. Khione rolled his eyes, “See? That’s what he gets for not listening to me, again!”

“Not the time Khione!” Squiggles half-shouted. Khione was right, but their best friend was just whisked away by something, they all could mock him later! They paced around the edge of the clearing, “Show yourself! Bring me back my friend!” They hissed up into the mushroom gills high above them, “Who are you, and why did you attack Socks?!”

Silence fell over the forest for a moment. There was no sound other than the rustling of leaves. However, the rustling grew louder, and louder, and soon, the thing emerged once more from the forest roof. It was a twisted shape of vines and mycelium, various fungi sprouted from it. It ended in a gigantic hand, hovering in the middle of the clearing to face the remaining party members. The entire forest rumbled ominously, the mushroomy appendage beckoning Squiggles forward.

Squiggles grew tense, staring at the creature? Plant? Thing, that was ahead of them. They looked slowly to Khione, “Wh-What are we supposed to do? I was expecting a person, not a-” They gestured to the arm, not knowing exactly what to describe it as.

“Don’t look at me, I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Khione shrugged, checking on Cowardly out of the corner of his eye, “Ugh- ah- mushroom arm from the sky… did a blue cat in a funny hat happen to pass by earlier, and if so, are those his belongings there in the grass?”

In response to the snowcat’s questions, the hand closed into a fist, rocking up and down in a sort of nod.

“You- you understand us? Oh good. Uh, could you return our friend to us, a-and let us take these belongings back to our friend?” Squiggles spoke, their ears folded back nervously, “We apologize for intruding, and would like to leave as quickly as possible!”

The hand’s reply was to open, turn, and beckon the party forward once more. As it did so, two more arms descended from the forest roof, waving as if in invitation. One pointed upward from where they came, while the other motioned toward the mushroom stalk that Cowardly was hiding behind, as if trying to communicate that it knew that he was there. Yes, these arms were definitely communicating to the party. As to why they took Gummy or they attacked Socks was still a mystery, and the three remaining were clearly afraid to trust these arms enough to explain to them what happened.

"Can you give us Gummy back? That's the friend you took." Khione questioned.

All three arms made a nodding motion.

"Are you going to harm us, to eat us?"

All three arms quickly opened their palms and shook them side to side frantically, as if defending themselves from the question.

"Did you attack Socks?"

The arms did the same motion once more, adamantly refusing that they had done such a thing.

Khione sighed, stepping forward into the clearing, "Alright, I think I trust you, but hurt the fur on any of my friend's heads and you'll be sorry." He flattened back his ears as he made his threat. The arms all gave a thumbs up, one of them wrapping its massive hand around his body. It lifted Khione into the air and up into the canopy, just like it had to Gummy before. The last two hands turned to Squiggles, encouraging them forward.

"Uh- hold on." They spoke, clearly still unsure about trusting the mycelium arms, "I need to convince my friend here to uh- come along." Squiggles smiled awkwardly, moving beside Cowardly. Their lion-dragon friend was half buried in fallen leaves and mud and grass, trying to hide from everything that was going on. At least he was true to his name. They tapped their paw on their friend, who jumped and buried themselves further, “Hey, buddy, you good? We, I guess, are deciding to trust the mushroom hands.”

“What do you mean you’re trusting the mushroom hands? You-You can do that.” Cowardly Lion shook from his hiding place, not even slightly swayed by his friend’s words, “You SAW how it snatched up Gummy! I-I-I’ll stay right here, safe. You can go up there!”

Squiggles sighed, knowing that they were never going to convince their friend if he didn’t know that the other two were completely safe. They backed away, toward the hands, “Alright, Cowardly isn’t coming. Please, make this quick, for his sake? I’m afraid he’ll run off and get lost if he thinks something happened to us.” They cast a nervous glance back to where Cowardly was hiding, hoping that he stayed right there instead of running off and getting himself hurt. They then stepped forward into the clearing, ready to be hoisted up to meet their friends.

The hands both delicately scooped up Squiggles, lifting them up and into the canopy where their friends had disappeared off to prior. The ride was confusing and winding, as it felt like the mushroom caps would never end. When Squiggles was finally set down onto one of the caps, more still loomed above them. It was an incredibly relieving sight to see Khione and Gummy both, sitting and safe together. Neither looked harmed, nor in too much distress, though Gumminosus was nursing his tail and being a drama queen about it being yanked before. Khione then gestured behind Squiggles, causing them to turn. The sight before them was surprising, to say the least.

There was a face within one of the great mushroom stalks that towered above the trio. It was kind, aged, and looked much like a stereotypical “wise old tree,” only now, it was a giant glowing mushroom. The arms that had lifted the group retreated back into the stalk of the same mushroom, and the forest rumbled once more; only this time, the face began to speak.

“Hoho! So you are the one these two said is the head of the group, hm? You gave us quite the fright you know! We had thought you were here to burn us as the blue one did earlier, but as the cold one explained, that must’ve been a mistake.” The mushroom spoke with a laugh, though quieted at Squiggles’ bewildered expression. It cleared its “throat” and continued to speak, “Allow us to explain, as I’m sure you’re confused. Very few enter this forest, and fewer leave the beaten path. There are many dangers within the thicket, and we have taken it upon ourselves to warn visitors. However, we must’ve frightened your blue friend from before. He cast flame, dropped everything of his, and ran off. We thought he, and by extension you, were attacking our peaceful corner of the woods! The little one and the cold one said that this couldn’t be true, but we wanted to hear from their leader.”

Squiggles shot a glance back to their friends, a little upset that they threw them under the bus to speak to the gargantuan amanita. They adjusted themselves, holding their head high to seem a little more confident than they actually were, “Yes! We-We never meant to act as a threat toward these woods. Nor did Socks- that’s our blue friend. In fact, we were told by him that he was attacked! It just goes to show how skittish he actually is…” they laughed awkwardly, “We came to retrieve his belongings, is all. I-I’m Squiggles, that is Khione, the one you first took up here is Gummy, and our friend hiding on the ground is Cowardly Lion.”

The mushroom listened intently, chuckling gently once the cat-mouse had finished speaking, “I see! We apologize for having to bring you up here, few of us can speak your languages, and those who can are the oldest and tallest. We also apologize for taking your friend so rudely before, we feared he would cast more flames and set the forest ablaze!” The three mycelium arms emerged once more from the stalk of the mushroom, opening their hands out to the three felines, “We can bring you back to your friend to ease their mind, but we implore that you return to the path and return to town as soon as possible. It is sunset soon, and these woods become impossible to navigate, even with our light.” It laughed again, a few spores falling from its gills, “We also fear your friend will run off if we keep you much longer.”

Squiggles, Khione, and Gummy all nodded, stepping forward to be picked up and lowered back to the forest floor. The return trip was certainly less terrifying, but still extremely nauseating. When they were finally placed back into the clearing, Gummy stood on his hind legs and looked up to the quickly disappearing arms, “See ya! Thanks for the chat! Nice folks, besides the tuggin’ on my tail of course.” He nudged Squiggles gently, “Come on, let’s skedaddle before anything actually scary pops out of the brush.”

“Oh now you want to be cautious.” Khione jabbed at Gummy, gathering the belongings they were sent here to collect. He placed everything in a bag, the broken glass into a separate pouch, and put it all over his shoulder. He wasn’t going to leave this place a mess, no sir, he didn’t want to upset an entire massive mushroom colony, “Come on Cowardly, we’re all okay, you can come out now.”

The lion peeked from behind a tree trunk, looking scared half to death, “You-You-You sure? Oh thank the divines- I thought you were goners.” He nervously made his way to his friends, shaking off residual muck and dirt from his fur, “Lets get outta here already! It’s gotta almost be night, and I’d rather it not get dark when we aren’t on the path!”

As the group turned to leave, Squiggles cast one more glance up to the canopy. They knew they had to come back here one day to speak to the mushrooms, they could only imagine what kind of insights and wisdom they may hold. One day, when it wasn’t almost nightfall.

~~~

Once the party returned to the path, it wasn’t long before they were out of the woods. Cowardly was able to breathe a sigh of relief, only for his fear of the encroaching dark of night to rear its head. Gummy was already writing a new song about this adventure, how small it may have been. Khione was just happy to get back to the tavern and get some rest, while Squiggles couldn’t help but continue to think about the forest. They had never heard of talking mushrooms, mycelium arms, or anything they’d experienced there. Perhaps the danger that the GlowShroom forest was famous for was blown out of proportion? They’d have to ask more when they returned!

They arrived at the tavern at its peak capacity, but were able to track down Socks through the crowd. The wizard sprang up from his table, waving the party over, “You-You’ve returned! Faster than expected- and unscathed?! Tell me, tell me, how did you manage it?! Did you encounter the monster that attacked me- did you SLAY it?! Tell me everything!” Sock’s tail frizzed up in excitement, his paws on the table.

“Hold on, hold on, let me explain.” Squiggles got everyone to take a seat as they explained what happened. They explained the mushrooms, the clearing, and the misunderstanding. They explained the arms, Gummy being snatched, and the kind fungus they spoke to.

Socks was enthralled by the tale, if not a little upset that he couldn’t tell people that he fended off a great beast in the GlowShroom Forest. He gave a nervous laugh, “Well- I guess that’s the third time I’ve thrown you all into fake danger, huh? How about I order you all some food and drinks? Heheh, consider it part of the payment?”

The party couldn’t be happier to hear that.

 

[Snowifer]

Spoiler: A short walk

Clickity clackity click click clack.

Simon's fingers moved rhythmically on the keyboard, typing out yet another application. The clock on the wall ticked on and soon it was midnight. Sending out one last application, he let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair.

"That's it for today." He thought. "I should get some sleep."

Simon laid in his bed, but sleep never came. He sat up, put on his glasses and got out of bed.

"Maybe a walk will help" he thought as he slipped on his shoes and closed his apartment door behind him.

Simon wandered around the city, taking in the empty streets light by the occasional lamp post. He soon found himself by the pier, a bustling tourist spot that had quieted down for the night. Standing at the edge of the water, he felt a cool breeze wrap around him and took in the view. Simon stood there and relished the soothing night. As he turned to go back home, he spotted something. A little wisp floating down the walk way. Curious, he followed it.

A slow walk sped up into a light jog then a run, before breaking into a full sprint. Racing down the empty walkway, Simon came to a screeching halt at the end of a dock. The wisp floated well over the water, out of reach from where Simon stood, bent over and out of breath. He looked up at the wisp. Did it want him to follow it into the water? He neared the edge and peered down at the inky water then back at the wisp. There was no way he was swimming over there. As strange as this was, it wasn't worth a dip into the ocean.

"What do you want with me?" Simon shouted at the wisp. It proceeded to bob up and down on the water.

"You want me to go into the water?" He asked. The wisp bobbed faster.

"I-i'm not going to do that." He said.

Simon watched the wisp slow its bobbing. Did it understand him? Suddenly, the wisp darted at him and yanked on his shirt.

"WHA-!"

SPLASH!

Simon tumbled into the water and when he resurfaced, he was no longer at the pier by his home. The dark night sky was replaced with a bright blue and the street lamps with trees. Simon swam to shore and walked out of the lake, exhausted. He laid down on the warm rocks to rest for a bit.

"Take me home." Said a voice, high pitched and squeaky.

Simon jolted up and turned to face the voice. It was a bird. About knee height with fluffy, bright red feathers, the chick spoke again.

"Take me home" it whined.

"U-um. Where is your home?" Simon asked.

"Up there!" The chick exclaimed, motioning towards the top of a mountain. Simon looked up at the mountain's peak. It was a sea of green that thinned out into a pale grey-purple rock.

"U-um, I was just-" Simon stammered.

"TAKE ME HOME!!!" The bird screamed, and the temperature around them rose.

"Ok ok. I-i'll take you home." Simon sputtered. His mind was racing. He just wanted a good night's sleep now this??? Having to climb a mountain in who knows where with this red bird that could roast him. He took a look around him. Now it was definitely clear that he was in some fantasy world of sorts. He didn't recognize any of the plants around him and he was pretty sure that neon green and purple fish weren't real. Simon let out a sigh.

"I guess we should start walking." He said.

Walking through the forest seemed endless. With no trail to follow, Simon and the young bird pushed through the undergrowth. Simon kept a watchful eye for any dangerous animals, but the forest was peaceful. The sun grew higher in the sky as they matched on. It'd been a couple of hours and both were getting tired. Eventually, the two came across a river. After their hours of walking, Simon was parched. The water looked clean, but he still wasn't sure if it was safe. Before he could say anything however, the chick ran up to the flowing water and dunked its head in. Simon looked worryingly as it took a couple of big gulps.

"I guess it must be alright." He thought and cupped his hands in the river. The water was very cool and refreshing after their long hike.

After a quick rest, they were once again on their journey. The trees slowly thinned out as the pair ascended. The ground became more uneven and soon Simon found himself having to pull himself up massive rocks. He heard a wail behind him and turned to see the chick doing its best to jump up the rock but failing. Simon climbed down to where the red bird was still jumping. He then lifted the bird up onto the boulder. He looked up. This was going to be a long climb.

Simon and the chick slowly climbed up the mountain. As the sun arced past it's peak, Simon repeatedly lifted the young bird onto the next rock then climbed up after it. Lift after lift, they slowly progressed.

Finally the red chick jumped onto the peak of the mountain. Simon's hand reached over the rocky face as he pulled himself up and tumbled onto the mountain's peak. He looked as his hands battered and red from all of the climbing. The chick ran off into the clearing in front of them. The top of the mountain was flattened and had a large nest in the middle.

"Mamaaaaa!!!" it cried.

Simon looked up at the massive creature the little bird was running at.

"A phoenix." He breathed. It towered over him with bright warm feathers that flickered and swayed as if they were made of fire. It leaned down and nuzzled the small chick. The Phoenix turned to Simon.

"Thank you for bringing her back." It said, voice smooth and warm.

"Y-you're welcome." He replied "U-um I was actually wondering if there was a way for me to go back home?"

"Of course." It chuckled. "With a little bit of my magic, all you need to do is return to your place of arrival and focus. You can ride on my back and we'll have you home shortly"

"Oh, uh thank you" Simon piped back.

Returning to the lake was a breeze. Riding on the Phoenix's back made the return trip much quicker than the descent up the mountain. Simon admired the view as the sun lowered towards the horizon. He looked down at the forest, noting where the river was and where the climb began. They soon landed at the lake where it all started. Dismounting the flaming bird, he gave it a small nod and smiled at the newly hatched chick still riding its mother. He turned to face the lake. Simon stood at the water's edge, closed his eyes and breathed slowly. The Phoenix's cry rang in his ears.

Simon snapped back to attention. And glanced across the water. What just happened? Simon was about to turn to go home when he noticed something in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out a feather. It was a glowing orange and was warm in his palm.
"So it wasn't just a daydream" he thought.
He looked over the water and clutched the feather close to his chest.

 

[digimon]

hello! i have a question about the last step in the hero's journey. would it be okay if the hero ended up deciding to stay in the world they travelled to because they end up feeling like the belonged there after their adventure? or does the hero have to travel back to their original world to fulfil the last step?

 

[Nefarious]

I was meaning to ask: would it be allowed, to write this story in the form of letters the hero/protagonist writes home? Or diary entries? I would still keep the structure of the hero's journey of course, just break the text into more managable chunks for both the reader and the writer

This should be fine to do so long it follows the structure!

hello! i have a question about the last step in the hero's journey. would it be okay if the hero ended up deciding to stay in the world they travelled to because they end up feeling like the belonged there after their adventure? or does the hero have to travel back to their original world to fulfil the last step?

Yes, we'd accept the character staying in the new world as long as they acknowledge that they're leaving their old life for this new one. If you're not sure your ending fulfills this condition, you may send that passage of your story to either Pyoopi or I.

 

[Sheando]

Okay friends, stay with me for a moment: this is a 3,000 word short story in which I attempt to reimagine the opening of Animal Crossing: Wild World in the framework of the Hero's Journey, loosely following all 12 steps from start to finish. I incorporated the entire "first day" of Wild World, NPCs and villagers from my actual 2006 WW town, and named the town Mooville in honor of 11-year-old me.

I also incorporated the town of Boondox, a weird little feature of Wild World that was removed (for good reason) from later games. You can read about it here: https://nookipedia.com/wiki/Boondox. Every good story needs a little conflict! And what better for an Animal Crossing adventure than some good old economic exploitation? Don't worry, it's not grim, just moody. I'd never do Dora or Antonio dirty by depicting them as anything other than wholesome friends.

Anyway, this is long and extremely weird but wow did I put WAY more effort than necessary into it. I hope you enjoy the ethereal, haunting, pensive, vibes of this completely straight-faced ACWW fanfic/critique of capitalist dog-eat-dog philosophy/inspiring justice initiative/celebration of seasonal changes and friendship/novel about rain.

Spoiler

The cab only comes when it’s raining.

I've seen it just a handful of times—once while taking advantage of a downpour to turn over the topsoil while it was still soft, peering through the lashing rain toward the single winding road up the hill. Another time while walking the dirt road home. The cab always pulls up to the edge of our tumbledown town, parks with the engine on, and leaves the windshield wipers running. Nobody ever steps in or out.

Mom says the driver must hail from the city. She hasn’t seen the city any more than I have, but we’ve all heard about the letters from Mooville: enclosed is your recompense for another harvest. Vouchers for bells, banked and divvied up by our local leaders, Mooville’s thanks for the hours we spend bagging potatoes and boxing tomatoes and raking up cracked dirt into rows for the planting of new seeds. And at the bottom, signed with a flourish, Mayor T. They must be a real bigshot city if they’ve got a mayor.

...​

The driver talked to me once, that last time, while I was turning toward my house for the evening. Poked his head out of the window and called out, “Kid! Halt!” Startled me so bad I stopped in my tracks. Turned around real slow, framed by the blinding glare of the headlights. I shielded my eyes as I approached, but he didn’t turn the lights off.

When I got up to the window, I saw a grandpa-looking old man, face adorned with faded stubble. Real old, I mean. His grandkids coulda been my age. He wore a white cap with a black brim, gold laurels on the front. Looked more like a sea captain than a cab driver, in my opinion.

“Cab goes to Mooville,” he remarked, drumming his fingers on the wheel. “Free of charge. If yer lookin’ fer a change, I’ll take ye.”

Of course I’m looking for a change. Anybody would be. But that day, I shook my head. “It’s just Mom and me,” I explained. “I can’t leave her like that.”

I told her so that night, over the thin soup she’d stretched, again, with a scoop of warm water. I meant it to be a weird story, maybe a little spooky. Can you believe the taxi driver spoke to me?

She shook her head, nudging at my wooden bowl with her spoon. “Look at us, child. You get the chance to get out of here, you take it.”

...​

It’s been raining since this morning. So maybe on some level I was expecting the cab. Maybe that’s why I’m stationed at the edge of the road hammering in the loose corner of our optimistic city sign. Welcome to Boondox. Population: Growing! It declares. Sure, maybe in fifteen years when some of these kids get married. Right now they just sit scurry between houses giggling, or whittle little animal figurines out of discarded wood.

Sure enough, beneath the steady prickling of the raindrops against the dirt, I can pick out an engine rumble. I don’t turn around. I wait for the rumble to climb in pitch, headlights spilling around a curve and painting the sign above my head in brightness.

I forget to breathe, paused with my fingers against the indented exclamation point. I listen for the scrape of tires turning, wait for the headlights to skip over my body and turn into town. Instead, the taxi pulls up beside me, slowing to a stop. In spite of the rain, the passenger window is rolled down.

“Be ye ready fer a ride?”

I take a deep breath. I think of the bell vouchers, the photograph labeled Town Hall, a brick building surrounded by flowering bushes and small business owners posing with wide smiles.

“Yes, sir,” I say.

…​

I ride in the back seat. Feels safer somehow. The driver—told me just to call him “Captain” — keeps turning around to look at me over his shoulder.

“They’ll let ye pitch a tent just about anywhere in Mooville,” he tells me. “Be ye more of a beach fellow, or a student of the museum?”

Of course they have a museum. “I don’t know,” I reply. “Probably the beach.” It’ll be quiet there, hopefully. Best not to attract too much attention.

“Are ye a boy or a girl, anyhow?”

That startles a laugh out of me. “Don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

Captain wheezes a laugh in return. “Point taken, little jellyfish.”

As we crest the next hill, the rain slows to a trickle. Down below lies a little town with houses dotted here and there on the grass, a steel roof I think I recognize from the town hall photograph, and a stark white building lined with columns. Pine trees grow along the lower edge of a cliffside, walling off the town from behind. If I flopped on my face in the middle of town, there would be more grass under my body than in all of Boondox.

Captain steers his car right into the center of the town, sending my heartbeat thumping.

“Ye been good company, squirt,” he says, pulling his cap lower over his eyes. “God luck in yer new life. Heh!”

…​

I only have about five seconds to turn in circles outside the Town Hall building before a short, stocky man jogs up to me, hand already extended.

“Hello!” he calls, looking me up and down as he stops. Takes me a minute to realize I’m meant to shake the hand.

“Hello,” I reply, shaking it.

“I’m Thomas, hmm? You can call me Tom. Owner of that general store just thataway.” He gestures with his free hand, still shaking mine with the other.

“I thought this place was a big city.”

He chuckles, eyes almost closing with mirth. I extract my hand while he’s distracted. “No no, not much of a city, hmm? Still a little wild out here. We value the earth. Value hard work, too, hmm?”

It’s hard to know for sure if Tom’s questions are rhetorical. “I’m a farmer,” I say.

“Good, good! Small step from vegetables to flowers. We haven’t had a resident with a green thumb in a long time. All right. Okay. You’ll be needing a place to live, yes?”

“Looks that way. I can work, though. I can be--”

“Yes, of course. I’ll gather up your things. Just a tent to start with, but we can put together a house for you if you can raise the funds. In the meantime, I have some errands to run. What size are you? Medium? Hmm. Yes. Wait right here.”

Tom crosses the road to a little wooden storefront. A sign on the front reads Thomas and Sons. Wonder if the sons are anywhere near my age.

I sneak a glance up the hill, where apple trees dip their branches almost to the ground. Soon they’ll be ripe, easy enough to tug off with one hand as I pass by.

When Tom returns, he’s carrying a gray t-shirt with a large leaf outlined on the front. “Logo of the store, hmm? Try it on.”

I tug it over my head. It’s stiff and smells a bit musty, but not unclean. Hangs off my body a bit, but I'm not in any state to complain.

“Perfect,” says Tom. “How’s your handwriting?”

…​

By late afternoon, the sun has sunk below the top of the hill, shadows stretching toward me from the base of every tree. I’ve hand-lettered an announcement of my arrival on a large piece of paper (these people must be really bored), then nailed it to a message board beside the town hall. With the aid of a shovel that looks like it’s never seen dirt in its life, I dug carefully spaced holes around the local tailor shop, owned by a pair of friendly sisters, and planted bright yellow cosmos. And I’ve shaken the equally enthusiastic hands of Tom’s twin sons, Timmy and Tommy. What kind of guy names his son after himself?

Now Tom has handed over a box of packages labeled with the names of local residents: Dora. Cesar. Antonio. Dotty.

“Where do they live?”

He laughs and passes over a map. Someone’s drawn little labeled icons of houses and stores all over the map in pencil; I can make out a few faint outlines where homes were drawn in, then erased. That could be menacing, or it could be a sign that I can leave any time I want. I’m going to assume the latter.

I walk through neatly shorn fields, balancing the map on top of the boxes, until I find Cesar’s house between two apple trees. I fumble my words over the first delivery, but it doesn’t matter. Cesar slaps my shoulder in that gruffly friendly way that old men have, but he refuses to tell me what he ordered.

Dora offers me her spare teakettle “seeing as you just moved to town.”

Antonio invites me for a brisk jog along the beach. “I hear they’re setting up your house around there!”

Dotty is, by far, the biggest relief. She looks like she might be a teenager, or at least a young adult, and she sounds just as relieved to see me. She shakes my hand with both of hers, nearly bouncing on her toes. “This is, like, the greatest day of my life. I swear if I had to have one more conversation about doilies or tax preparation, I was going to tear down my house, build a raft out of the boards, and sail to a distant country.”

It’s been a long, tiring, confusing day. Feels good to laugh.

…​

When the sun sets, I return the t-shirt to Tom in exchange for a cardboard box of handouts, which contains a thick red blanket, a candle, and a radio. Scuffed items with “cosmetic damage” he couldn’t sell.

From here on out I’ll have to make my own way. Picking fresh fruits. Planting flowers. Fishing off the pier. Tom’s a strange one—even pays for the seashells I gather along the beach.

I don’t take up running. But I do wave to Antonio every morning as he passes, while I’m propped up on the dock with my line bobbing in the water. I bring Dora fresh apples; she lends me books on outer space and oceanography. Dotty doesn’t have the patience for fishing, but she gathers seashells with me, scrambles up the highest tree branches to drop apples down. By silent mutual agreement, we don’t talk about our families. Cesar tells me he’s impressed by my work ethic. Then he asks me to plant tulips along the western edge of his house.

I try not to think about the life I left behind. Even when the leaves start fluttering with a new, chill wind. Even when they turn orange, then red, then start to blow away.

...​

Captain swore he’d tell my mother I was safe. Give her my address. And I guess he was telling the truth, because she wrote to me the first week after I arrived. Love you, miss you, hope you’re having a wonderful time!

The note stabs a pang of guilt through my chest. I stuff it in the drawer of my recently-acquired bedside table and try to forget.

Outside Dora’s front porch, helping her prepare the soil for gardening, I dig up a cracked bone longer than my arm. “Oh, my!” she exclaims, pushing up her glasses. “You ought to show that to the museum curator! He’s retired like the rest of us, of course, but it makes him feel important to have a job.” She winks. “He can carry on a bit, but it’ll make his year to see somebody finding something new.”
Instead of writing to my mom, I write to Dotty. I swam straight out into the ocean today, so far I couldn’t even see the shore. She always writes back the very next day.

My mother writes again.

I write to Antonio. I’ll start slow—maybe once a week. Tuesday mornings at 6 a.m.? He takes me up on the weekly run, of course. The sky is pink and orange at that hour, colors mingling in a way you just don’t see at any other time.
After six months, my bedside drawer is too full to close.

…​

Dotty helps me to put lights all over my roof for the winter festival. Mine are green and blue and purple, like the aurora we saw just this month.

I love the quiet glow of our little town, spend hours at night walking slow paths around the neighborhood, but after only a couple of weeks, she tells me everybody else will be taking them down tomorrow. “I don’t know why,” she confesses, “but I’d rather not look weird. Maybe you should too.” So, reluctantly, I peel them off, fingers numbed from tugging wires out of ice.

Mom writes me, of course. Not like we don’t have holidays in Boondox.

That’s my big mistake. I say that out loud to Dotty, hurling down a tangle of lights for her to catch. Not like we don’t have holidays in Boondox.

She stands unusually still, tilting her head to one side.

I yank my hat down over my ears. “What?”

“Boondox? I think . . . well, don’t be embarrassed, please.”

My heartbeat picks up. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m pretty sure our town, like, sends money to your town or something. I sent some money there once. They mailed me back a feather in a pretty box from some kind of green bird you guys have.”

I squint at her. “You were the one sending the money?”

She shrugs, glancing away. “Not just me, obviously. Everybody sends money. Cesar and Dora and Antonio. Tom and the Ables send some, and that weird guy who spends all day at the museum. Even Phyllis donated, and you know how she hates people.” Dotty sighs. “I don’t think less of you or anything, if you’re worried about that. Mayor T always said you guys lived on land that wouldn’t grow crops like ours does, so it was just the right thing to do.”

Slowly, I uncurl my fingers from the top rung of the ladder and begin to descend. I want to have both boots on solid ground for this conversation. “What was the right thing to do?”

“You know, for all of us to send you money. Being alive is a right, not a privilege.” She sticks her chin in the air. “Nobody in town would care, you know. If they knew.”

“Dotty,” I say slowly, “That money wasn’t a gift. It was payment. For all the potatoes and carrots and wheat, all those crops that Boondox ships to Mooville every harvest. It was—it was—”

It was the money I spent upgrading my house to prepare for winter, only divided among fifty people. I let out a long breath; it rises like a tiny cloud.

“Crops?” She bites her lip, eyes narrowed in concentration. “I didn’t realize so much of our food was sourced from Boondox. I don’t like that I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah,” I say slowly. “Me neither. Look, I know this is weird, but how much did you send last year? It’s important.”

“Oh.” She shuffles from foot to foot. “Well. I think it was about forty thousand bells? I don’t need much money here, anyway. Mayor T said it would be split between hundreds of people, so of course we all tried to—”

“Is there a place I can talk to the mayor?” I interrupt.

She takes a deep breath. “I’m getting the sense that maybe we weren’t told the whole story.”

…​

As it turns out, the mayor doesn’t live in town. He visits. From “nearby.”

Dotty and I go door-to-door together, Dotty growing more incensed at every stop. I explain to Cesar, who has donated a whopping 5 million bells to the myth of Boondox and received a glass-encased rainbow feather in return, that I’ve never seen a bird with such a colorful tail in my life. I explain to Dora that my schoolhouse shared three textbooks. I explain to Antonio that my mother worked all day packing potatoes into boxes and hauling the boxes onto a truck, only to be thinning our soup at the end of the day.

“Why didn’t you do something else?” Antonio asked.

“With what money?” I replied. “It was farm for Mooville or nothing.”

“Bro, there are ten of us here,” says Antonio, adjusting his all-seasons baseball cap. “I doubt all your tomatoes were only for Mooville.”

I get the sense that when the Mayor next visits, he’ll be having a conversation with every citizen of this town.

…​

Like I said, the cab only shows up when it’s raining. And we haven’t had a good hard rain since fall. It’ll be a month or two, I think, until I can get a ride back to Boondox.

In the meantime, I visit Thomas and Sons and let little Timmy sell me on a pad of paper with a background of shooting stars. That night, I hunch over my bedside table by the light of the candle Tom gave me on my first day, take a deep breath, and write.

Mom,
I’ve really missed you. You would have loved it here. Everyone is so kind. I can’t leave just yet, but look for me in spring. I’ll be home soon.

Phyllis barely glances up from the post office desk when I walk in. She’s smoking a cigarette indoors, which is probably illegal.

“Wondered when you’d come on by,” she remarks. “Most newcomers don’t last a week before they’re wanting to write home.”

If she notices the word Boondox on the envelope, she doesn’t comment.

...
​

I wake in the middle of a spring night to crashing thunder. Scrambling out of bed, I yank on a sweater, slip on my favorite red shoes.

I knew this was a possibility. Packed weeks ago, in the canvas bag from my first tent-house. I’ve bundled together all my tools, along with a set of spares. My clothes, along with a few books (gifts from Dora) are in the bag, alongside a sturdy box full of seeds and saplings. New life to be grown and tended by the same hands that will eat its fruit or sketch its beauty. And most importantly, almost a decade of back pay for the residents of Boondox, pooled together from Mooville’s shopkeepers and residents. Including me. This will change everything, I know. This will be justice.

But I’d been so hoping it wouldn’t be the middle of the night.

When I open my door, Dotty is standing on my front step.

“I saw the cab,” she says, tugging the sleeves of her sweater over her hands.

My throat feels thick and tight.

“You are absolutely right to do this,” she says, pulling me into a tight hug. “And you don’t have to say anything. I’ll miss you, though. You were a great friend.”

…
​

Captain doesn’t look surprised to see me.

“I’ve got a lot of stuff,” I tell him. “Lots more than before.”

“Chuck it in the back,” he replies. “Been almost a year, eh?”

I climb into the cab, already on the edge of regret. But I can’t turn back. Not knowing what I know.

The cab winds out of the city and up the hill, carving a path through the beating rain.

You don’t talk for at least an hour. Get the sense he’s maybe being gentle with me, letting me grieve in the silence.

Finally, when I can make out the Boondox population sign up ahead, he speaks.

“I’ve got a big idea fer ye,” he says.

I don’t meet his gaze. The beating rain makes the taxi feel small, trapped. I stare out the window into grey nothingness anyway.

“Ye think ye can find somebody who’s up to the task of organizing the good citizens of Mooville?”

That gets my attention. “What?”

He chuckles. “Well, don’t mind me. I’m just the town gossip. But I hear tell yer old home’ll be in the market for a new mayor soon. Somebody young, with fresh ideas.”

I think of the kids carving life into chunks of abandoned wood. Why hadn’t I talked to them much?

I swallow hard. “I’ll keep an ear open.”

...
​

Far too soon, Captain slows to a stop in my old town square. Already I miss Mooville’s color, its greenery. My friends. He parks, but I don’t get out.

“I’ll be back when the mood takes me,” he says at last. “If ye ever be wantin’ to see ‘em again.”

I nod, not trusting myself to speak.

I haul my canvas bag into my lap and pop the door open. I’ll take him up on it one day, probably.

Tonight, I’m going to hug my mom.

Tomorrow, you’ll find me planting trees.