In the Treantches (closed)

[Franny Stein]

At the thunder of another rumble and sounding report, Franny cursed inwardly at her luck. The tree, or treant she reminded herself, defied all common sense or characteristics of its family of specific monster. “It’s a goddamned running tank.” Franny nearly bit her tongue as she cursed inwardly at her bad habit of muttering curses. Sure enough, Franny heard trees exploding in her general direction as some joke in deferment of sanity barreled toward her like one of those creatures out of that one American movie; like one of those transforming evil robots. The girl quickly used ‘Castling’ and in a blip she was out of there, but she was not at a distance to avoid hearing what sounded like the snapping whip-crack of a ballistic missile annihilating the revised target of a somewhat unfortunate but mindless skeleton.

Franny once more utilized ‘Silent Move’ ; her best bet and first stroke of luck that just might lead toward her survival. When she originally encountered what could only be described as a barked demon, she flinched at the roar and resounding charge of the angered thing. Scattering her minions in all directions like a trick gridiron play, Franny had utilized the distraction combined with liberal use of ‘Castling’ in order to flee into momentary safety. Fighting the monster was an exercise in madness as it seemed to have some sort of offensive armor effective against the low hp’d death by a million cuts tactics that Franny utilized. The skeletons all but defeated themselves as the monster made child’s play with any stragglers.

‘Silent Move’ was a useful skill in this situation as the treant played up the blind giant archetype, but it was apparently not enough as movement still measured some small amount of vibrations similarly to how a water gliding bug still makes the tiniest of ripples. Franny’s quick reactions had lead, like always, to a plan of attrition involving ‘castling’, sending skeletons in opposite directions and the ping-ponging of the careening beast to and fro for the better part of an hour as she tried to get away with the massive movement speed penalty of ‘Silent Move’.

***

Walking into town, Franny was torn by the twin feelings of exhaustion and furious anger. Survival hardly meant a lick in this world so it was a waste to feel relieved or proud of the way she had run away. The time and effort of her investment also bothered her as it had been more or less for nothing. “That’s the problem with this warped world, just staying alive doesn’t mean a damn… and yet, nothing’s easy here. Nothing at all…”  Franny was gritting her teeth, before she finally sighed and let her stress go like a balloon of negative emotion drifting up toward the sky. “I need help.” It occurred to Franny that this fight was just one of the many things in life set up against her that she would simply not be able to take head on. “I need my exact opposite, one of those idiots who’ll go all in without a care for the world. Some over confident fool, an assassin.” Franny wasn’t too worried about finding such a character class, it was in her experience that walking down the street two thirds to one any adventurer she stopped would be one. “What does that say about society?”  Franny wondered, before remembering her own playstyle with a none-too-flattering grimace. “Just as well I need a big hitter who can take care of the thing while I distract it...”

It had never occurred to Franny to just let bygones be bygones, letting this situation best her, she figured, would be the start of a slippery slope where more and more things would be declared impossible and out of her reach. Franny was not about to let the event defeat her, this one or any other. She would become the master of her setting no matter the cost. The uncertainty of failure was just too great. She buried that fear in the back of her mind and let that little churning in her stomach drive her, she needed an assassin; that was the end of it. “One step at a time.”
The tiny Necromancer muttered...

NOTES- Franny ends the thread back in town and ready to hunt for help. The Creature is a Savage Sycamore from the official bestiary.


WORDS- 704


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu had to admit that she was getting a bit lonely by just sitting in London for so long, ever since she got into the game. She really wanted to go on an adventure and meet new people. While she occasionally met people in town, she met some nice people, she met some mean people, but she also met Reginald. She just wanted to forget about Reginald with every fiber of her being.

Shizu woke up one morning and decided that today would be the day. Today would be the day that she really made a name for herself and set out to go on some real adventures. While she worked with a party once before, she decided to separate from them because she didn't want to feel boxed it. She decided that she would try to get a new party and would do something fun with them. She wanted to see what the world that she was trapped in had to offer, and it would be much easier to do that if she wasn't alone. She needed to really be on her a game today, and find herself a good person to go with.

She spent hours deliberating in her room about how she should wear her hair, what she should do in terms of armor and weapons, and what she should do when it came to introducing herself. Eventually she began to settle about what she would do. She picked out a new hairstyle that consisted of putting her hair into twin tails and letting the rest down. She thought that this look suited her and thought that she should leave it as is for awhile. She decided that she would leave her starter equipment visible because while it may not be good, its what she had and she wasn't looking to sugarcoat anything. She obviously put her coat on over this because she grew way too attached to the item to leave it behind.

Once she was out the door in the morning, she realized that people didn't really go looking for parties around this time of the day. She needed to kill some of the time before the afternoon when she saw most people. She decided that she would get some breakfast and went to the various market stalls to see what they had. It all looked good to her, but eventually she decided she would do what she heard was the normal thing and get pancakes. They tasted alright, but she really wished she could get something like cake to eat for breakfast. Sadly she couldn't find any being sold at this hour.

After Shizu was finished with her breakfast, she decided that she would kill more time by exploring what she could find in the town, considering how she was thinking of abandoning it for good. She took a moment to walk down memory lane by seeing some of the various sights around town, like the tree that she liked to sit down and think near, the clothing shop where she managed to "locate" her precious coat, and the spot where she first found her trusty shovel, which she still had in her inventory.

Once she finished wandering around town, she noticed that it was about the afternoon and she should really be getting to the center of town, where most parties were formed. She looked around to see what kind of people were here searching for parties. She saw a few taller guardians chatting, one or two healers or spellcasters, and a group of five being solidified to go do something. Among these people was someone who Shizu considered to be very out of place for a game like this. She was always told that Elder Tale was reccomended for players of ages 15 to 99. Yet there in the center of town was a girl who looked to be about 6 or 7 years old. She figured that it must have been a person of the land or one of their children. Then that brought up the question of why was a child playing near all of these adventurers, she thought the people of the land feared adventurers.

After a minute or two she stopped dwelling on it and went to the usual way of attracting people. You'd think it would be second nature by now, but Shizu was still terrified. "Level 11 Assassin looking for work! Willing to work for free, I promise I won't be dead weight." she yelled repeatly as she bowed, hoping that someone would accept her.

Words: 759
Notes: I cant wait to see how Shizu reacts to Franny. And I wrote a bit like this the start of an epic quest, which I hope it is. Also I started the campaign to make Shizu look more like Rin. If you want to know what her new hairstyle looks like ilarge.lisimg.com/image/6262143/968full-rin-tohsaka.jpg

[Franny Stein]

In the town square, the tiny Necromancer sat examining the passing adventurers. She was being extremely particular in this case. Franny knew that she would have to take charge of this operation, and do to so, she needed to remain both in control and in a realm of knowledge she could be confident with. This meant two very certain things for Franny: First, her strategy for taking on the Savage Sycamore was not going to change, she was merely going to add additional elements to the tactic until she succeeded, and two, the group would have to be very small with partners willing to defer to her orders.

This of course, severely limited things for Franny. The small girl sighed audibly and gazed at the sky before sweeping her eyes once more over congregation. If Franny recruited a guardian, her own role would become worthless, so any defender-style classes were more or less out of the operation for this picture. Similarly, since Franny's operable plan relied on a loose guerrilla-style formation, a healer was likely to be less than useful without a certain number of additional party members which would allow them to fight in waves. Franny was not confident in controlling such a number with her disposition. In this world she lacked any easy natural authority that would force people to listen or easily earn their respect. Franny crossed her legs and used her elbow to prop her face in hand.

"Everyone's out for themselves here huh...."

Scanning the growing mass of bodies one more time she heard a shakey voice doing its best to project a confidence: "Level 11 Assassin looking for work! Willing to work for free, I promise I won't be dead weight."

“Poor girl…” Franny mused, her face twisting in distaste as a number of the more experienced adventurers very subtly shrank from her in a half step to give her space. When the girl ran through her recruitment call once more Franny winced. “An assassin…” The tiny necromancer groaned inwardly as the girl almost seemed to be calling directly to her. “Are the other assassins hiding or something…?”

Franny waited another three minutes like a passerby at a supermarket who is looking for an alternative item to the one on sale but still wants to keep their options open. When the sun passed behind a cloud Franny stood more or less resigned to her fate. “When God closes a door….” She didn’t bother finishing the quote as she was only muttering to herself. Humming Ave Maria, the sour girl slowly approached the lithe assassin who was beginning to look like a store greeter. Approaching Shizu from the back, Franny very gently poked her with her staff on the shoulder.

“Hey. Heeeey… over here you water drinking bird.”
Franny attempted to bring herself to full height, which was next to nothing, a little girl in her mommy’s high heels.
“This is the worst offer you’ll receive all day, but I have a monster I need hunted that you just might be perfect for…”

“I’ll fluff the ego a bit, she seems kind of shakey…”

“It’s a very simple but grueling operation, I would lying if I said I wasn’t leading you to hell.”

Franny paused, making sure the girl had taken it in.

“It’s a very simple plan, hit and run. I’m defense, you’re offense. Does that sound like something you can do?”
There was something of a silence, so Franny filled it. Pointing to her face with a single index finger, the little girl quickly added:
“Franny, Necromancer.”

NOTES- Franny purposefully approaches Shizu from the back, she doesn't want to make eye contact with the girl on the approach.


WORDS- 576


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu was startled when she felt something poke her back. It probably was a reflex from when she had very fragile bones in the real world, but she almost jumped waited to turn around. She would rather not see who walked up behind her, given how it would probably be harder to talk to them if she saw who they were. She knew that hopefully someone would approach her about working, but she didn't know that it would be from behind and kind of scare the crap out of her. She wondered who was trying to hire her and hoped that it would be someone who could help her do what she needed to do to become stronger.

As the person behind her began to speak, Shizu didn't know what to think. The voice didn't sound normal to her, almost like a very young child. She assumed that this person must have just been a person of the land's child and not someone who was looking for her her services. She became even more surprised when the voice began to talk like she expected an adventurer would. Eventually she decided that she couldn't take it anymore and turned to see who was talking to her.

This definitely couldn't be right, the person talking to her was definitely a child, and she wasn't just any child, she was the child that she saw earlier when she first arrived in the town square. She wondered what exactly a child like her was doing here. She heard that the people of the land didn't like being near adventurers, much less talk to them, yet here this child was. She decided that despite how improbable it seemed the child was actually a player who wanted to talk to her.

She shakily and shyly listened to what this child had to say about a plan to attack the monster she wants to kill. She knew that this plan would certainly be interesting. She noticed that the child's vocabulary was definitely above that of most children her age, in some ways, it seemed above her own vernacular, but that wasn't very surprising. She eventually got down onto her knees so that she could be more on level with the child. She read in a book and saw on TV that this was the way you were supposed to talk to them.

Once the girl finished introducing herself. Shizu nodded and said, "Sure, it sounds like I can do that Franny." she said, now identifying this girl by the name she was told. "Its nice to meet you sweetie." she said kind of shyly and quietly still. Then her mind began to race. Was this girl an adventurer? Why would a child be playing a game like this? Could the game avatars even look this young? Why was her vocabulary so advanced? Since when were children allowed to say words like hell? And she thought there wasn't a necromancer class in the game. She wasn't exactly in a position to complain and decided to talk in a higher voice, like parents do to children, and say, "I'm Shizu."

Words: 521
Notes: Sorry if Shizu is being mean or patronizing, she doesnt mean it.

[Franny Stein]

Franny raised an eyebrow at the girl’s body language, but then just decided to roll with it, the important thing was that this Shizu was listening and intently. Taking a single step back to establish a more comfortable distance for herself. Franny smiled a kind of plastic smile.

“That’s good, I know I’m speaking fast, but I just wanted us to be clear on this. It’s nice to meet you, Shizu.” Realizing that she was slowly raising her voice to speak over the rising hustle and bustle of the crowd, Franny motioned with her head toward the exit of the city, a path she’d been walking only a few hours before. “You’re okay speaking outside, right? I get the sense that neither of us likes crowds much.” Leading herself and her new partner outside the walls a bit, Franny searched for a clearing or field. Satisfied that they were alone, Franny plopped onto a tree stump and breathed out a long sigh. Crossing her legs, she assumed her characteristic pose of confidence by coyly resting her face in her hand.

“Well, it’d be a lie to say that I’m not happy that you agreed to this suicide mission, but I’d feel awfully guilty if I didn’t field any questions before we even started preparing for it.”

Waving her offhand in a loose-wristed whirling motion of lazy nonchalance, Franny spoke in a perfectly relaxed tone.

“I’m an open book, so let’s get it all out on the table, kay? It might make the difference between a hard earned victory and a painful, painful death. Either way, this isn't going to be easy, we might be at this for hours, a day or two at most.”

Pausing for a moment of remembrance of the day's earlier misadventure, Franny managed a bitter grin.

“With that in mind, of just how dumb of a thing you’ve agreed to, do you have any questions for me? If not I’ll go ahead and get us up to speed, yeah?”

Franny was conducting this like a pure business transaction. She believed that people appreciated frankness and if they didn’t would come to appreciate it in time.

The girl shrugged and waited, eyes flashing with a kind of hidden attentiveness.

NOTES- Don't worry, feel free to treat Franny however you like, she isn't me after all.


WORDS- 372


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu listened intently as Franny began to dicuss what they were going to do for their mission, being sure to emphasis how dangerous and a dumb idea it was. She felt herself getting more and more scared as she did. Once Franny took her outside, she awkwardly stood looking down on the girl sitting on the stump. "I... just... uh... dont... talk good." she said shyly, barely managing to get out the words. Again she managed to get flashbacks to Reginald when she talked. She didn't want to face another scenario like that so she decided that she would refuse to be quiet when talking to someone, no matter how hard it was. Once Franny opened the door for Shizu to ask questions, she knew a few that she would ask immediately.

"If you... dont mind me asking... uh... how... old... are you?" she said desperately trying not to be rude and instead get a simple and clean answer. Once she was finished asking that she went right to her next question, "I thought... Necromancer wasn't... a class in... Elder Tale?" she asked slowly gaining a bit more confident around the child in front of her. She spoke in her high, child speaking voice the entire time. After a few minutes Shizu looked at her seriously, "Just tell me what to do and I will do it." she said with fairly uncharacteristic confidence with this child. Eventually Shizu looked at her and said, "Come on, you can ask me questions on the way there. If you want you can ride on my shoulders." she said getting into a position where Franny could climb on. "It should be safer for you."

Words: 280
Notes: Weird post but whatevs.

[Franny Stein]

"I... just... uh... dont... talk good."

Franny’s stomach lurched like a python had swam around it and squeezed. A certain encapsulating word rang out like a gong vibrating throughout her entire body. That word was…

“I might have just done something horrendous roping this girl into this… but we’ve come too far to stop now. It’s a harsh world, yeah, she’s going to have to bite off her own chances like the rest of us.”

Franny shook her head steeling herself, handling things with kitten mittens was not going to get them the satisfaction of a victory. And victory, Franny decided, cured all.

“Feeling guilty on top of the mountain is a luxury really. Pure arrogance. We do what we gotta do.”

Being inwardly distracted, Franny partially missed the first question, and with a start, brought herself back to reality. When she realized what she had been asked, she laughed. “What’s that they say about asking a lady her age?” Franny grinned playfully, “its fine, it’s fine, that’s only for the insecure…” Waving her hand as if to banish a bad air she continued, “I’m 29 years old. Why I look like this is a long and stupid story so I’d rather not dwell on it, yeah? Just call it my vanity. Like Elizabeth Bathory or something.”

Franny paused for a second, remembering her company’s disposition. She held up a hand in a stopping motion.

“Probably…not…. the best example in this situation, but hey, I’m not dangerous alright?” Franny laughed derisively to clear the air. “This girl makes me act so awkwardly… I just can’t get a handle on things…”

The second question was likely another point of confusion Franny had brought upon herself, she sighed a small sigh.

“Necromancer? Well… yeah in a sense we could say that’s a character class. I’m a summoner, but as you can probably tell by my garb, I’m rather…specialized we could say. I have a little theme to go with it and everything. Necromancer is probably the most apt term for me, sorry for the confusion.”

They were silent for a moment as Franny’s words revolved all around them like cartoonish teaching words on a children’s show. Franny was somewhat surprised when Shizu banished the silence with a new stern disposition.

"Just tell me what to do and I will do it."

“Just the words I’ve been waiting to hear.” Franny grinned wickedly. If she were to hand Shizu an apple at this moment it would really complete the scene of Franny’s overcompensation.

The offer to be carried, was a little extra salt on the overall meal, but Franny relented by justifying it to herself as a trust exercise. “A girl who’s willing to carry me is probably not going to be willing to leave me. I’ll just go with the flow…”

“How kind of you dearie to carry an old woman~!”

Franny laughed hopping onto her back.

“Let’s head a bit deeper into the forest, I’ll tell you when to stop. I’ve just had an excellent idea for getting us ready for this mad venture.”

When they arrived more than a couple hundred meters from where they had started, Franny dismounted and looked upward and around nodding pleased. It was the perfect place for training the girl in the overall operation. The trees enclosed them like steepled fingers letting only slivers of the sun through the overall canopy. Trees both large and small jutted out with a chaotic degree of calculated randomness that only Mother Nature could manage. Footing had a bad habit of going from good to bad, and it was easy for a root to get the best of oneself, which spelt certain death against the gnarly titan.

“I’ve brought you here, because I am going to do my best to simulate what we are going to be fighting. This will be an excellent opportunity for you to see how I operate, and I you. I’m going to organize my summons in such a way that they mimic the stupidly large bastard we’re going to be hunting. It’s very simple. We will remain within a circle of about 350 meters and I will try to corner you with my summons, I’d like you to do your best to take them out. I may fire a spell or two your way, try to dodge them, the beast isn’t only melee operable. Either way, I’m not aiming to hurt you, one strike from The Savage Sycamore is enough to make a pancake of either of us. One touch from my forces will represent the same. With that in mind I’d like you to get ready. This is going to be an endurance operation, and I’ll be keeping score. Try to score as high as possible without getting touched. Just like a game, yes?”

With a motion and a few mumbled words, Franny raised her first skeleton. As the ground cracked in an animation, the thing almost seemed to half pull and half leap through the earth in front of the girls. Its bone chattered as it relaxed into a more relaxed pose.  It looked like a raggedy silhouetted body without any clearly discernible features, its tattered cloak flapping loosely with a passing breeze. It carried a single wicked looking sword. If one peered deeper into the hood they might see the skull of a skeleton waiting for them without expression. Franny slapped her staff across her minion's chest. "This thing, and many others like it will be your targets. Go as hard on them as you like, they don't think, they don't take things personally." She poked the thing's chest a few more times just to make her point clear."  

Franny wasn’t lost on the irony of the world that used to be a game becoming a game once more. With a fumbling through the menu that she had never quite managed to nail down, She launched a Friend Request toward Shizu.

“That’s so we can remain in contact here, during the big fight coming when we’re ready, and possibly, if you’re so inclined, in the future.”

Franny nodded seriously. “This girl really might be just the assassin I needed. It’s ironic considering nobody else seemed interested in her. With a little cultivation, I having a feeling she’ll grow into a perfect fit. I’ll chalk it up to an educator’s intuition.”

NOTES- Sorry for doing so much in one post like moving us around and such. I thought it would be easier this way. I had the idea that we could do a small drill so our characters could better get a feel for one another and their respective mission.


WORDS- 1042


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu blushed awkwardly once Franny made the comment about age. She said that she had been an adult, but Shizu definitely couldn't see that. She must have had some form of growth disorder, or maybe she just looked like she was a child. She definitely sounded like a child, but talked like the age she stated, 29 years old. She never expected to meet someone like this, but it was certainly stranger than anyone she previously considered strange. She awkwardly looked to the girl and bowed, "Im sorry... miss franny... I'm 17... I think..." she managed to get out awkwardly. She wasn't sure about the words that were coming out her mouth, she was trying to get out whatever would make this new person not hate her.

Once Franny began to talk about how she isn't dangerous, but she decided to keep bowing and awkwardly apologizing about how she asked her age, about how she made her think she feared her, and about how she was sorry that she was being so awkward. Shizu was really really sorry that she was saying sorry so many times, but she wasn't sure what else to do when faced with this scenario. Eventually she managed to just listen to Franny talk about necromancer. She managed to hear about character classes from the town square, but she knew that they werent exactly acknowleged by the games creators. She kinda wanted to have a character class, but wasn't really sure what she should choose.

Shizu wasn't sure what she should make of Franny's grin when she told her of her own determination. She was partially happy that Franny was happy that she was ready to do whatever it took to achieve her goal, but something about her look was unsettling to Shizu. She still felt that she was willing to do anything that Franny told her to do, since she was many years her senior, was a higher level in the game than her, and the fact that she actually seemed to accept Shizu.

Shizu wasn't sure to react to the fact that Franny actually took her offer to ride on her back, and was even more surprised by what she said about being an old woman. On one hand she was seemingly in the body of a child and kind of acted like one, while on the other hand she had said her age was 29 years old, which to her understanding was a person's prime, so it was way too soon to call yourself an old lady. "Your not an old lady..." she said awkwardly before looking apologetic again, "Sorry miss franny..." she said uncermoniously but still meaning it.

The girl was not heavy at all, as one might expect from someone her size. She still wasn't sure whether to refer to her as a girl or woman, but decided girl fit what she saw in front of her. She remembered how an action simple as this would have caused her some serious back problems or maybe even broken a bone if she was still in the real world as an invalid. She hated herself for thinking about that phase in her life again, but she decided she would look at the positives of she was actually able to do that instead of when she could not. She remembered that her mother would sometime take her on piggyback rides like this, and wondered how exactly Franny enjoyed the concept. She certinaly looked like a child but how would a 29 year old woman playing as a child react to being given a piggyback ride. Shizu had to admit it felt nice to actually have something of actual weight and be able to carry it with ease. Scratch that. She wouldn't call it ease, but it was certainly not hard at all to her.

Shizu followed her directions like a good little lap dog and saw as they entered a nice place for the training before their supposed mission would begin. She helped Franny get down due to the height difference and watched as the girl went to another part of the nearby area and began to summon skeletons. She now understood why she called herself a necromancer and made sure that she would never angered her. Shizu hated to anger people anyway, but especially given that this girl was good at such magic and that she was shaping up to be an actually friend for Shizu, despite the oddity of her personality and appearance.

Shizu was confused by something however, she was never asked any questions. Franny let the young girl ask just about any question that she wanted, yet Shizu was never expected to be given the same courtesy. It was weird to her, like she had a debt that she never got around to paying, or wasn't actually able to pay. She decided that she wouldn't let this debt simply sit there and took a moment to sit down and say, "Well... uh... before... we start.... dont you... have... any questions for me?" she asked cautiously before deciding towards the end of her sentence that she was perfectly ok with this path she had chosen herself to go down.

She wanted to be an open book like this girl and was prepared to answer just about any question that she had for her. Just about anything. Some people may have been apprehensive about telling people about their lives before they were trapped in the world of Elder Tale. As far as Shizu was concerned, that weakling of a paper girl was dead and buried. She didn't want to be that person ever again, but was ok about talking about her since she no longer was her. She was ready to talk about Sakura like she barely even knew her, just some stranger that she saw once. She was even prepared to talk about Reginald, as much as she never ever wanted to. She hated the idea of it and just hoped Franny asked something simple like 'why is your hair so pretty'

Words: 1011
Notes: Long, and kinda disjointed. And the image of Rin/Ilya bonding is just adorable to me

[Franny Stein]

As Shizu spoke up offering herself to open questioning, Franny forced herself to slow down. Franny began to realize just how entirely selfish she had been in her handling of Shizu...

“Something about the girl screams ‘don’t mind me’ while she’s getting run over. It’s not a job of mine to fix people, but that’s kind of really annoying. If your disposition leads you toward being the victim, I guess, it forces everyone else to be a responsible villain… That’s hardly fair now is it?”

Franny’s eyes turned hard as she passed them like a prison searchlight all around Shizu before finally settling on her face, and then more specifically, the girl’s own eyes. She smiled, attempting to be disarming, but with the way Franny’s face was trained, it seemed stern.

“I realize now that I’ve been mostly only going on about myself.”

Franny paused, she ordered the first of the two skeletons she had summoned to kneel down like a horse forming a human bench. Sitting on the skeleton’s back, Franny once more crossed her legs, this time folding her hands in her lap at attention. With a nod, the other skeleton also formed another bench just across for Shizu. “Take a seat Shizu.” Franny motioned with her head.

“If I haven’t asked you anything it is because at this point, I already trust you. However, in a way, that’s a sign of disrespect. I shouldn’t trust you so easily, because to do so would be underestimating you. You could be a threat to me Shizu, and I should recognize that. Do you understand? I’ve sold you short. Let’s remedy that. Shizu you have graciously offered yourself in an attempt to open up to me, and I’m going to be blunt so that I can be certain that I should trust you both now and in the future. With that in mind…”

Franny cleared her throat.

“Shizu, why are you so awkward?”


Nothing on Franny's face betrayed a hint of emotion or anticipation. Like that, the tiny necromancer simply just waited feeling the wind on her bangs and hair.

NOTES- I am sorry for the weird image hahaha, Franny just does that. There's a precedent for her sitting on skeletons.


WORDS- 350


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu knew what was coming and could sense it awhile away. She really didn't want to go into too much details but knew that it had to be done. She took a seat on the skeletons very awkwardly before thinking about why skeletons would really make a good seat. She got that they did her bidding, but really she did not feel very comfortable at all sitting on one. She thought that a log or even the grass below her would have been a better option than what she was doing now. Once she was seated the question came at her like a brick, she didn't get why she was really surprised.

Franny had been blunt with her, so Shizu decided that she would try to be blunt like her, and explain everything she could. She didn't really know where to start, so she just decided to start from where her life branched from the norm, "Well... uh.. when I was seven or six, I developed symptoms of a rare bone disease called osteogensis imperfecta. More specifically Type III osteogenesis imperfecta. The disease made it so my bones and my body in general were as fragile as glass. This made it so something as simple as a hug could break my neck. My parents decided that I wasn't really capable of living in the real world, so they sent me to bed. I spent most of life laying in that bed, just waiting to die or something exciting to happening. When i was 16, I heard about a game called Elder Tale... and so I didnt really talk to many other people..." Shizu said looking on the verge of tears from having to divulge that backstory to someone, much less someone she barely knew.

Words: 294
Notes: Sorry its short, didnt know what else to put that wouldn't be just copying the history from my character sheet.

[Franny Stein]

Franny listened taking it all in. It was rather heavy, heavier than Franny had expected, but very quickly she checked herself. “It really doesn’t matter how heavy it is...” It tore at Franny to see the girl near tears, but even that, Franny reminded herself, didn’t matter to a world thirsty for blood.

“I see, that’s a rough deal…”

Franny sat unmoving letting the moment pass and solidify. She wanted Shizu to gather herself together and was giving her however long it might take. Franny waited patiently before continuing…

“Now Shizu, I’m going to say the most evil thing in the world, you can even hate me for the rest of your life if you want to, but I’m going to say it anyways. Shizu, for better or worse, no one cares.”

Franny sighed a kind of exasperated sigh preparing herself for what she was about say.

“I recognize you, I recognize that you have struggled, but I am not going to feel sorry for you. I am going to force myself not to care. Because Shizu, if I care we won’t be equals. I’ll have made you inferior to me. I’ll have to take care of you, I’ll have to accommodate you, and I will be forced to take responsibility for you and the reality is that in doing so I will have made you less of a person to those around you. Do you understand?"

Franny paused biting her lip, but her features quickly turned bitter like a bad taste before hardening into something solid like a freezing lake.

"It’s cold Shizu, but I’m going to choose not to care. This entire world doesn’t care in the least, one way or the other. That’s just the way it is. If one is to be saved it can only be fairly done with the understanding that the one saved will become a savior in turn. To become a black hole for human aid is to become something less than human... ”

“My, look at the arrogance I’ve cultivated over the years,”  Franny scoffed accosting herself as she rose and began dusting off her bottom.

“If you understand that, we can continue, if you do not, we can talk until you do. This won’t work any other way.”

Fully comfortable with her clothing in proper order, Franny looked Shizu once more in the eye.

"You're an ordinary person and your deficiencies are your own responsibility. Just like my own can only belong to me."

NOTES- It goes without saying, but Franny's views do not always necessarily reflect my own.


WORDS- 413


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu hadn't really expected what Franny said as a reply after hearing her story. She was more used to just normal pity and ashamed nature. She wasn't really sure how she should react to what she just heard at first. Before eventually she looked up from her legs and back at Franny. It still felt weird to be lectured like this by someone so young looking. She thought about it for a moment, did she really want pity? Even if she knew a little weakling before, that girl is dead and buried and just thinking about it won't allow her to move on. Shizu was her own person and a completely normal individual. She wanted to make sure that people knew that, so no. She didn't want pity. She hated pity. There was no reason for pity. They can pity Sakura all they want, but not Shizu, she wouldn't let them.

Shizu looked to Franny confidently and nodded, "I dont care what people think of Sakura. That piece of shit is dead and buried somewhere so why should I care. I am my own person and refuse to be bogged down by what she was unable to do with her miserable excuse for a life." She said confidently before standing up and drawing her sword and getting in a ready stance. "People can give me shit my entire life for all I care, that is who I am and deserve it. Now how about you just shut the hell up and make skeletons try to kill me. I want to express my anger now that the paper is broken." Now was the time. She felt it. She was actually going to express her anger at god, at life, and whatever sinister force put her in that bed.

Words: 297
Notes: I would imagine Shizu would have a lot of bottled up rage.

[Franny Stein]

"Maybe I pissed her off...well... whatever..."

Franny sighed shaking her head in an exaggerated motion left to right with both hands open and flat in a massive shrugging pose of exasperation.

"You're kind of missing the point, but fine, whatever, rage for me until it gets you killed. An angry tool is still just a tool in the end, if you want to be a prettier skeleton, well, by my guest."

Franny snapped her fingers lining up the two skeletons while she summoned a third.

“Get going into the forest and pick a place. Your first target is a column of three. This represents our ambush on our target. Mind your approach and do whatever it takes. If they exit the perimeter, well, you screwed up.”

As Franny sent the three on ahead she was already working on summoning her fourth.

“But first… start with this one.” As Franny turned around to distance herself from Shizu, the newest skeleton lunged with a makeshift hatchet at the assassin the air breaking with a whoosh at the downward chop.

“Get a feel for their attack range, they vary but are similar enough to adjust to.”

Franny turned, continuing to walk slowly while casting. She was giving Shizu the required space to engage in combat. Continuing her summoning, the next newcomer arose for a current total of five, before Franny used ‘Reinforcements’ to quickly manage a sixth. It was three guards and three targets for the start. The target column was already meandering away. Franny felt the mana drain, but disregarded it, the excess number would either be culled allotting her resources for more, or the drill would be over in an instant negating the need for any standard of conservation.

“Don’t let yourself get overrun, kiddo, this is nothing like the real thing.”

NOTES- 6 Skeletons total: 3 in a column wandering on a way toward the edge of the perimeter of the agreed upon training area, and 3 decoys/defenders actually engaging Shizu in combat to slow her down.

WORDS- 302


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu nodded as she was told what exactly was going down and what she was supposed to be doing. She was the moment she had been waiting her entire life for, and she was getting giddy and excited just by thinking about it. She didn't bother taking any time to prepare or ready herself, she just saw the nearest skeleton she got to work. She made sure to dodge whatever attack was thrown at her, and got him pinned to the ground. This was the fun part. She imagined the image of this skeleton as God and found herself feeling great solice as she started by chopping off its legs and watching it try to struggle without them. She giggled as she lifted the monsters legs and began to beat on him with it. She couldn't help but cackle as she sliced those legs into itty bitty pieces with her blade. Expressing nothing but the finest of joy as its arms came out of whatever sockets were holding them in place. She didn't care about anyone else trying to attack her, she wouldn't stop until her cutie pie was fully tortured. She giggled as the blade went straight into the summoned monster's skull and she lifted it up with pride, doing a small imitation of Macbeth all of the while. Once she got bored of that she took a moment to snap its skull into two pieces and fully eviscerate whatever was left of the poor things body. She found herself expressing nothing but the finest of joy as she laid down and rolled around in what she pretended was the eviscerated corpses of her two "loving" parents.

Words: 278
Notes: Things get weird.

[Franny Stein]

Franny sighed watching Shizu fight with nary a hint of grace. It didn’t take an expert martial artist to see that the girl was wasting an awful lot of time and movement over the course of her savagery. Observing the younger girl coldly, Franny thought of what she had read on various feral children out of a bile fascination in her spare time. “Had Shizu been locked up in a closet somewhere? She said a bed but she how reliable are her words even to herself? She certainly had time to play this game though.”

Franny watched Shizu work unflinchingly. Her eyes were trained in an effort not to miss a single thing.

“Her language; the processing power of how –we- think is certainly stunted, but even so, there’s just something so damn artificial about all of it…”

“If you’re trying to be an animal, you damn fool, be more efficient about it! You’re a Goddamned embarrassment to those noble creatures who kill to eat!”

Franny’s Irish accent was coming on thicker as she yelled. She thought about the youths in her native country seduced to killing one another over a fight their grandfather’s grandfathers started and were not even left alive to carry on. She thought of news reports and closed off crime scenes; bombings, shootings, murders, they all made her stomach churn in anger. She wasn't a stranger to the idea of human savagery.

“It’s not going to beg you for mercy, brat, it doesn’t care, it’ll just get up and try to kill you again, move on to the next one.” Frankly, like a house cat on its back attacking any which way, her minion had fought with a kind of valiance against the unfair odds of an adventurer in an impossible duel. Against her better judgement, Franny felt a twinge of pride for her broken warrior falling to pieces so valiantly...

“I shouldn’t get distracted…”

The next two skeletons were already closing in from both sides as a pincer which meant that Shizu would have to be creative to avoid a two pronged assault. Franny continued to summon, wondering if Shizu would forget about the column that was drifting away.

“Worst comes to worst, I’ll let her play defense and I’ll make do on the assault. I doubt she’d mind much being crushed if it let her be tragic. I doubt she’d mind very much at all.”

NOTES- 1 Skeleton Defeated, Current number 5 (one being raised for 6 total again within two seconds)

WORDS- 401


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu stood there for a moment or two, thinking about her possible insanity as it began to form, thinking about how wonderful it felt to chop that skeleton into little little pieces. She giggled at the thought of what she could do to a live creature. She remembered the squirrels that would always climb her window and how nice the blade running them through would be. All of the soft fur being drenched in beatiful red blood, the symbol of their despair and sadness, just like she felt. If she had to through worthless suffering then why shouldn't the creatures of the world. She decided that she would be god's messenger, giving all of those with hope and aspirations the treatment that the world was known for.

She then looked back over at Franny and couldn't help but imagine what she would look like cut up. She imagined that sweet white hair of hers stained red and how the fluids in her eyes would react to having a sharp object gouging them multiple times. She imagined what it would be like if she struggled, with the little stubs of her legs trying to crawl away as she clung onto whatever little bit of hope she had left. She saw the beauty of the fact that she was a child, this was reason. The reason why fate her made her a child was so that she would be much easier to kill. She giggled once again as she began to giddily skip around at the mere of idea of commiting that act.

Thats when she realized what she was doing. She was thinking about killing things. Ending their lives. Causing something to not exist anymore. It wasn't just that, she thought about killing defenseless animals, she thought about killing people who haven't even reached the full extent of their potential, and she thought about killing her friend. The one person she met who never pitied her. The person who was actively trying to help her but was met with the insane swaying and muttering of Shizu.

She was not a murder. She didn't choose to accept it. The girl who killed Reginald was another person. That was Sakura and Sakura was dead. She killed Sakura. It wasn't that hard, Sakura was made of paper. Not even a swipe was neccesary to break the poor excuse of a neck that she had. She really didn't need anything, she forced her to die. She took a step and fell forever. But then the voice came back. Reginald began to talk to her, again. His raspy voice echoing through her as he spoke every word she didn't want to hear. She loved to kill. She relished in every second that she commited a murder. She loved to kill animals, children, the handicapped, and just about anything that moved.

Shizu couldn't take it anymore and found herself sitting on the ground and holding her hands to ears, trying to get the static to stop. "The radio is broken... I hate the static... the static can't be fixed... I will break it... but then it won't exist anymore." She said in a pondering voice before she eventually stood back up on her feet and ran. She ran away. It was all around her, the static. It was eating her. Soon she would be just as trapped. Every second she had been alive, Shizu had always been this. She had always been Sakura. She had always been insane. She had always been a sadist.

She loved the feeling of her fragile little bones breaking at the simplest of tasks. Her parents didn't know. Most of her "accidents" were just a way to relieve her boredom. The snap was satisfying, almost like completing a long standing goal, or dying. The relief that came after not being asked to suffer anymore. The relief that came when it all ended, the relief that she had been trying to find. Everyday she looked for the relief, according to Reginald.

His static got louder and louder as she ran away from Franny. She almost heard some real sounds behind her, maybe some birds chirping, some water flowing, and a small voice coming after her. Was it really her? Was Sakura chasing her? The insane paper girl was trying to get her revenge. She hated her, one would only imagine after you kill someone. Yet Sakura seemed happy, with a broad smile on her face. Shizu eventually found herself in an armadillo position against a tree, waiting for this to stop. It was then and there that she felt something on her shoulder. It was Sakura placing a gentle hand on her. "Is it really you?" Shizu said to no one.

Words: 788
Notes: Wow. Just wow.

[Franny Stein]

Sighing out the maximum capacity of her lungs, Franny watched Shizu kind of crumple and break before sputtering off like Superman had defeated her into one of those funny little prisms…

“Whelp.”

Franny cast an aside glance at one of her skeletons with a shrug and she would have liked to think it would have shrugged back but that was clearly impossible. Franny honestly wasn’t sure if Shizu had intended to attack her but the tiny necromancer had met that assassin’s vacant gaze with eyes that were all the sharpened cold ferocity of a viper. Franny was more than prepared to have them both impaled to a tree courtesy of her meandering guards. In her mind that wouldn’t even enter the five worst deaths she had encountered, the first being the disgusting inducing sensation of drowning in reeking acidic digestive slime goo. Face twisting at the distaste of a better forgotten memory, Franny raised her hand and watched as her forces stopped moving in pursuit of the girl. Franny briefly considered setting them loose upon her with ‘graveyard walk’, but relented. She decided to force things no further.

“This exercise has clearly been a failure and now I’m starting to doubt my better judgement.”

Allowing all but one of her minions to return to the earth, Franny had her straggler massage her shoulders as she thought deeply about what she was going to do.

NOTES-

WORDS- 234


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu was in complete shock. She was there, Sakura was there. The girl who was dead and gone forever from what she did was there and completely alive. It was horrific. The experience brought a shiver straight down their spine, she felt like she herself was completely dead inside. She was dead. Sakura was her, and Sakura was completely and utterly dead. Sakura was coming back to life and Shizu was her personal hell. This is where she was sent to damnation, where she couldn't leave and only exists as a weakling, even without her condition.

So she cried. Shizu cried for about twenty minutes in the forest before deciding that it was time that she stopped with that. She was going to make the most of hell, no matter what. She wasn't just going to sit and let Sakura die in her mind. She was going to keep living, even if she was no longer really able to live. She hadn't lived for eight years, but she could pretend like she could. She looked back over at Sakura, to see an uncharacteristic smile on her face.

Shizu quickly ran away, back to where she saw Franny last, after wiping the last of her tears from her eyes. She quickly bowed and looked over at the child like woman in front of her, "Im so sorry for that Mrs Franny." She said trying to regain her composure. Meanwhile on a nearby stump, Sakura sat and laughed, "Such a sweet girl. What would Reginald say?"

Words: 254
Notes: Sorry short.

[Franny Stein]

Franny leaned against the skeleton massaging her shoulders with her eyes closed counting the time by the heat of the sun. “You’re not going to tell me to go after her are you? Idiot. You’re too soft.”

"..."

The skeleton continued at the task it was set at. Franny was honestly just fooling around.

“You’re making me a hypocrite, ya know? I hate those…”

Ffhh fhh fhh The skeleton continued to knead her shoulders.

“Fine. Fiiiiiine. I know I’m being immature, and I know you can’t think either. Even so, I blame you. Got it, bonehead?”

Taking her time, Franny set out at a lazy pace after Shizu with the skeleton in tow. The tiny necromancer hadn’t rescinded the order for a massage so it almost comically looked like a shrouded father pushing his child along on some reluctant task. Franny half hoped Shizu would meet her halfway. “That was the plan this whole time, no? Meeting each other half way?”

Franny sighed, a vice of hers, and watched her happiness escape like the last squeeze from some wrinkly balloon.

“Whatever.”

Franny was somewhat relieved that Shizu hadn’t run all too far, reflecting on it now, Franny found it somewhat ironic how bad the tracker class was at actually tracking someone. “More like stalker, really.”

Holding her staff in front of her to clear one last stray branch, Franny reentered the scene to find Shizu in front of her, having already cried her eyes out like Disney’s rendition of Alice. Shizu spoke first, which honestly, Franny was thankful for. But once again, Shizu was beating around the bush. It set Franny's teeth on edge.

“…?”

Franny dropped her head back and looked at the sky, her frustration redoubling like twice over heated tea. Ultra bitter. "Hints, hints, hints, hints!" Franny thought of those infuriatingly vague social media posts her friends sometimes made while in various states of melodrama. 

Swinging her head back down Franny noticed she was about eye level with the younger girl thanks to a convenient incline.

“If you’re talking to me Shizu, you’re gonna have to explain, don’t just assume I know what the heck you’re talking about. It’s annoying. 'Sorry, Sorry, Sorry' About what? What are you sorry about? Did you mutter something behind my back? If so, I didn't hear it, so stop bobbing up and down like a fool, you water drinking bird. And another thing! Just when the hell did I get married? FRANNY call me FRANNY, God!”

Franny was somewhat pouting about the marriage thing. Et tu, Elder Tale?

NOTES-

WORDS- 425


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu was completely flabbergasted and unsure of how to react when Franny got so angry at her. She would be mean to her as well, so its not like it was the most surprising thing. But she got really angry at being called Mrs Franny. She thought that Franny would want to be addressed as an adult, given how that is the age she was told she is. She thought it was the other way around, adults not liking being addressed by only their first name. Shizu quickly bowed quickly and looked back at Franny saying, "Im so sorry Franny! Well uh... how do I explain this.... In the real world. I was Sakura. Sakura is now following me around." She says pointing to the stump where she sees Sakura waving at her with a smile. "And uh... Reginald.. is mean to me..." she says going into her inventory and finding about 8 pieces of paper with various pieces of the body drawn on them, making Reginald the Paper man himself. "Reginald was... my brother... and my doctors... and my therapists..." she said remembering all of the people who wronged her back in the real world.

She sounded like a madwoman, correction, she was a madwoman. She really didnt want to admit it, but she was acting like one right now. Why couldn't she just stop? Stop being crazy and just be normal. She wanted it more than anything. She just wanted people to see her as not an insane invalid.

Words: 251
Notes: I'll leave it up to you if Shizu is pointing to just a stump or if anything is there.