In the Treantches (closed)

[Franny Stein]

“And, So what?” Franny shrugged looking over her shoulder at her Skeleton, she realized it was still massaging her shoulders.

“Hey, stop that…” And it did.

“I don’t know if you’re trying to be poetic kid or what.”

Franny crossed her arms.

“But if you’re saying there’s literally another you on that stump, I obviously don’t see anything because that’s impossible.” Franny squinted, just to be sure. "Yup, just the wind."
Picking up one the pieces of paper, Franny mused it over briefly. She thought the crude illustration might be the head of the doodle, but she wasn’t really in the mood to play Rorschach with it. Playing Rorschach would require a great many degrees and time spent training that she clearly lacked and were not available to her in this world. Absentmindedly, she folded the piece of paper into an origami crane. Seeing that she had done so, she lazily tossed it to Shizu.

“Not sure what you want from me Shizu, but I’m still pretty lost here. Seriously, what do you want me to do?”

Franny shrugged.

“Better to say it like it is, I imagine there would be only more harm in playing into her phantasies. I obviously can’t fix her, God knows that much.”


“Nor is it any of my business to try.”


She thought of Freud’s probably medically outdated life and death instincts and how they seemed to materialize in Shizu, but it was a worthless exercise, people weren’t literary characters. “Neither,” Franny mused, “are schizophrenics quite completely human.” On that note, Franny sighed, she really had no solid point of reference in dealing with Shizu. Shizu was in some respects to Franny an uncanny being.

NOTES-

WORDS- 281


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu wasn't sure how she was supposed to react to what Franny was telling her. She was basically telling her that everything she was seeing and hearing wasn't real. "Of course theres not... Sakura is dead." She said looking back over at the stump to see that Sakura was no longer sitting there staring at her. She was so confused. Was Sakura really dead? Where could she have gone? Was she even real in the first place? Maybe Sakura's life was just some nightmare that Shizu had while sleeping in this world. That had to be it, this was Shizu's real world and Sakura's was completely fake.

Shizu looked in complete confusion as she took one of the pieces of Reginald and began to fold it into some kind of paper craft. Reginald was paper. Reginald was a person, he wasn't a being, he was paper. He was and always would be just some fragile broken paper. And Shizu could crush paper. She could rip paper. She would have to remember to do that later. She decided thats what she would do so she took the paper out of Franny's hands and put it into her inventory for later.

"I dont know what I want you to do. I want you to do what Franny wants to do." she said quickly before sitting down on a tree stump and begining to cry. "Im sorry, I have just been useless dead weight that isn't helping you at all." She said in between her crying.

Words: 253

[Franny Stein]

Franny held up a hand in a ‘stop’ motion with a frowning look of deep introspection. This was starting to remind her of that riddle mansion that’d she’d rather not reacall.

Franny's voice was coming in softer now, vaguely maternally, but still with her hard to get away from, rough, sarcastic inflection:

“Woah, woah, woah there, little birdie. You’re doing it again. You keep sliding somewhere far faaaaaaaaar away. Stay with me now, yes? Otherwise, we’re going to have to repeat the whole running around bit and that’s obviously not working so well, now is it? If I remember right, you said you were Sakura back on earth, yes? So obviously, you can’t be on that stump, yes? If that’s the case little Shizu, then obviously Sakura’s right here in front of me. You’re Sakura. Shizu’s your videogame character. Just like how I’m Franny here but back in Ireland I’m Cathlene. So how the hell can you be dead you goose?”

Franny clapped her hands together illustratively in a soft motion showing two distant halves coming together.

"You're Sakura and Shizu and I'm Franny and Cathlene, for better or worse. So tell me, birdie, does that make sense or are you going to have another episode? If so, just let me know, and when you’re done you can come find me, we'll try again, scout's honor. Till then, I’d much rather be sitting comfy somewhere like the tavern inn. Well birdie, what'll it be? What's the diagnosis? How ya feelin sunshine? Still with me?”

“What a mess…”

At this point Franny felt she was invested toward some kind of conclusion, she felt she was owed that much for letting the day play out like so. Arms crossed, she leaned against a tree waiting and watching this little bundle of volatile emotion. Buried deep in the recesses of her mind, Franny allowed that Shizu had a point. Franny really couldn’t in any way determine the state of her body back home. She could very well be as dead her servant just over yonder idling away at nothing.

“But what use is there in worrying over a bridge you might never meet? Here is now.”

Franny sighed to herself quietly. In her bid to survive she had forgotten all about the concept of escape from this awful prison.

NOTES- Franny has nicknamed Shizu "Birdie" which is short for "water drinking bird". She is teasing on Shizu's habit of bowing rapidly.


WORDS- 386


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu was starting to pull it all together as she listened to the very simple things that Franny was trying to explain to her. She felt very inept for needing to learn these things, but it all felt so real and like it really made sense when she was being talked to by the dead girl. She figured that she was dead. She really had no idea what had happened to Sakura, she just assumed that since she was Shizu now, Sakura was unaccounted for. Wait, no, she was and always will be Sakura, she had to remember that.

She knew that she was acting crazy, but she couldn't help it. Nothing made sense. She just felt like she was falling farther and farther down this path, no matter what she could do to stop it. She may have been losing her mind, she didn't know what going insane felt like. She might already be insane for all she knew. It was certainly possible. She didn't know what to think or what she could think. Now it was her job to just exist peacefully in this new world. She was Sakura, and she was Shizu.

"I understand." she said confidently as she stood back up on her own two legs. She was prepared to live finally. "Reginald and Sakura are a part of me. Reginald the memories and Sakura the person I am. I thought I would forget about them. But then there would be nothing left, just anger and sorrow. Thanks Franny..." Shizu said as she recieved her blade back and said, "Its getting late, are we still on for trying to get that monster? I think im ready to die now."

Words: 283

[Franny Stein]

“Die? Hoho, thanks for the vote of confidence, birdie. Or, did you forget who is on defense?

Franny wagged a pointer finger coyly and continued,

“Die? Nah birdie, I haven’t given the world permission for you to die.”

Franny grinned savagely at nothing or anyone in particular. Placing her hands on her hips she elaborated:

“Just remember the plan kiddo, attack from the back in single strokes as hard and fast as you possibly can and then retreat. Over and over, ad nauseum. Don’t take risks, it has an assault armor to itself that reflects small amounts of damage for every strike. You need to work with one big hit at a time if you don’t want to be left reeling. Understand? No. Risks. You’re absolutely useless to me injured or dead. Bide your time and set your own pace. I’ll buy you a galaxy’s worth of time if I have to.”

Franny nodded seriously.

“One more thing, check the baggage at the door. If you see a ghost-you or whatever, just give it a nod and a smile and keep going. There’s absolutely no time to be distracted. Normal’s an illusion Shizu; everyone’s off somehow. What matters to you and everyone else is that you can function. I doubt though, that hearing that from a woman in a child’s body that hangs out with corpses all day and night inspires much confidence...”

Franny laughed derisively. Having her skeleton kneel, she assumed her mounted position in piggyback mode. She related the plan as they went, Franny would lead a herd of Skeletons around the monster on a wild goose chase while trying to expose the monster’s back and other vital areas to Shizu’s position. She’d was confident in her ability to manage it, she’d escaped with her life before. If Franny could make enough noise with her crowd of bony rattles, Shizu would be virtually invisible both in aggro and position by comparison.

“So I’m to be one of those ‘tank’ whateverers that everyone always blabs about… somehow I don’t feel that celebrity force often attributed to the role...”

NOTES- You can assume that by this point Franny has related more or less what occurred in the first post as well as what is in the monster's entry in the encyclopedia for Savage Sycamore.


WORDS- 349


TAGS- Shizu

[Shizu]

Shizu nodded quickly as she was taught the way that the plan was going to go again. Franny was going to make sure she did't die, and in exchange, Shizu would hit as hard as she possibly could. She had an idea in her head of how she would end up dealing the trees, but this was Franny's idea and she was way more experienced than her, so she really shouldn't have opposed her. It was her job to follow orders and to not mess up those orders. She made sure she understood exactly what her goal would be so she headed out with Franny towards their goal.

Shizu knew what she had to do, not think about stupid things. Her mind would be focused on her blade, how it hit her foe, what damage it did, where she would be compared to him. She couldn't let her mind race, she knew the voices would come back, they werent real. They were a part of her and they were going to stay that way. Simple and clean. Theres nothing else to it. Hit the monster till it dies and do what Franny says.

Once they got closer to the monster, Shizu activated her Silent move skill to try and get somewhere the monster couldn't see her when Franny drew the aggro. Once she was in a decent position that was out of its range, she made sure to wait for Franny to make the first strike. This was it, she had to do her new friend proud.

Words: 257

[Franny Stein]

So Shizu was more or less ready, that only left…

“Well… it’s not like I didn’t know this moment was coming, and yet, my legs don’t wanna move…”

The corner of Franny’s mouth twitched like a flickering light bulb before sticking at something more solid. Dismounting, she started to summon her entourage,

The First waited quietly with his wickedly curved sword.
The Second, a familiar face, brought his axe.
The Third, possessed a saw-like machete.
The Fourth, a wicked pair of beastly claws.
The Fifth, a straight sword built for stabbing.

Franny remounted the first and breathed deep.

“It’s just like talking to a class, or the story of the centipede, or something spicy, or a bitter pill, or even the appearance of a cat’s stomach before they scratch your hand…”

Franny stretched her neck to the left and then the right.

“YOU JUST GOTTA BECOME SOMEONE ELSE AND DO IT!!!!”

Kicking her heels into the exposed ribs of Skeleton 1; crouched low, the Einherjar began a leftward drifting charge. It was akin to Franny’s own version of The Wild Hunt. Franny already felt the stomps of the beast making awful ripples in her blood. Crashing trees substituted for a barky roar almost too quiet for the awful size of the lumbering thing. Within seconds, at the racket of a disrupted sound barrier, the fifth consort was shattered utterly. Dust.

Looking over her shoulder, Franny’s face twisted into a grimace. There was barely anything where number 5 had been; collided into a thicker, less sentient, tree, there was a smattering of what could be mistaken for chalk smeared upon the bark of where number five had met the rampaging annihilator only seconds ago. “If that were a human body…” Franny shook her head. Number four dived like a spider onto yet another tree’s trunk for leverage and launched itself slashing what would have been a normal enemy’s kidney losing its arm in the process. Four raised his remaining arm once more in horrid defiance, but the colossal one was quicker, with a skidding turn, it smashed a wooden piston of an arm downward like a cannon shot leaving nothing. Franny had drawn first blood.

Wasting no time Franny summoned two more replacements while still being conveyed in her skeletal convoy. The sixth wielded a large two-handed axe like a headsmen, the seventh a wicked looking mace. They fell into position instantly as the collective rattling of the unit once more attracted The Savage Sycamore toward their fleeing location.

Franny clumsily managed the U.I. before sending a private message to Shizu:

“If you can hear this, birdie, you now you know what you’re dealing with. I won’t blame you for backing out.”  Franny could be heard laughing to herself. “Well, what’ll it be kid?”

A blast resounded like a meteor strike. What could have been sudden local thunder sounded through the trees somewhere in the distinct area of where Franny had been. A moment later, a large concussive wind occurred at ground zero blowing the looser forest about like shrapnel.

NOTES- Franny isn't dead, but I thought I would give you some set up description closer toward Shizu's position.


WORDS- 510


TAGS- Shizu