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WolfQueen had been watching this one for a long time. His constant attempts to find the one he lost, his attempts to find happiness… It was amusing. The best amusement the Shade could find, at least. Playing with some interesting looking Travelers. It was much easier to manipulate this one, considering the Creator of this world was uninterested in it. She spent many, many years coming back to him.
It was not all amusement, though. Afterall, the Travelers are mere petri-dishes. This is, as always an experiment. This one being how long it would take of no true happiness to break one of them. She had.. Taken an active part in his happiness in one of his resets - as he had begun to refer to them as.
She had had… not quite fun, afterall she is the Shade of WolfQueen, she is not designed to have “fun” she is designed to do her job. She had changed her looks and became a best friend to the man. She encouraged him going out and having fun. And when he finally told her that he thinks he is feeling true happiness, she grinned in satisfaction. Knowing it was finally time to remove it and him, reset him again. She waits, though. She lets him enjoy the night, lying on the beach with a large group of friends, listening to the more adventurous ones splashing about in the water, others, like those two, staying near the warmth of the campfire. She allows his happiness to last one night.
The next morning, when he wakes up on the beach, the remains of the party last night are gone. His friends are gone. He is completely alone. He thinks it’s merely a prank at first, or, more accurately he hopes it is merely a prank. It doesn’t take him long to realise and with a defeated sigh, he lies back down on the sand, awaiting his next reset.
She contemplates the man, her body back to mere atoms as she watches him, wondering if this is the reset that breaks him. If it was her direct intervention that caused it…. She kills him off and watches him respawn elsewhere. He is quieter this time, and instead of looking for a new found family, he makes his way to bars and remains there until kicked out. Day after day, his routine doesn’t change.
She decides to leave him as he is, sure her Original is getting impatient with the lack of new memories being sent back, she heads off, looking for a new world and some new victims.
Eventually she finds herself drawn back to him again. He has passed several resets by this time, and his current schedule has not changed. She decides it is time. She waits until most of the patrons of his current choice in bar have gone before appearing in front of him, matching the Originals looks this time.
She approaches him, his form is slumped, both hands held loosely around his glass, his gaze vacantly staring into the liquid. She sits takes a seat at his table, shifting her wings to pull them in, not wanting to startle the inebriated man too much. She watches him for a moment, relishing in his defeated posture. “Hey,” She starts, deciding to take a casual approach, unsure if he would even be able to comprehend her using the exact same greeting she did all those resets ago, “you look like you are in need of help.” Instead of the small smile and nod in thanks she received the last time, he glances up at her, gaze finally leaving his drink.
“I gave up on receiving help a lot of resets ago,” His voice is blank, devoid of the ashamed, laughing man he was back then. She tilts her head slightly, placing a kind smile on her face.
“What if I help you escape these resets?” She queries.
“I’ve heard that before,” he scoffs, taking another dreg of his drink, “so what makes you any different from the others?” She smirks inwardly, having taken part in each of those last little dregs of hope he followed.
“I can show you unseen magic,” She ‘tempts’, waving her hand to create a wooden sculpture of a wolf, paralleling the last time she did this and summoned a falcon with great amusement.
“Sorry to tell you,” he shrugs, taking another drink, “but i’ve seen that before.” She grins, an idea forming to shock him out of his current thunk.
“How about this?” She reaches over and grabs the others arm roughly with a whisper of the Creators language, she takes the both of them from his world and in seconds, they are looking over the Originals world, “This is my world,” She informs him as she takes them to the spawn point, a large tree overlooking some steep cliffs. As they watch, another traveler spawns in atop the tree, They look around, glancing to the ground below. A small stream flows from the trees trunk and down into a cave, surrounded by the shrines of the Originals Gods. The traveler drops down, leaping for the stream. They miss and their body immediately disintegrates with a splat. WolfQueen turns the both of them back to the tree, where the Traveler has respawned atop it. This time they look around the tree and find a set of ladders leading down the trunk to safely get down. “A Deathless world.”
For the first time in a good many resets, the man looks intrigued. He watches the Traveller as he makes his way up to the first Shrine to the left - the one for Noctera. “Everything comes at a price,” the man states, sounding defeated once again as he tears his gaze from the Traveller and back to WolfQueen, “What’s mine, if hypothetically, I accept your offer?”
She grins widely, knowing she has him. “Just all of those pesky memories of yours,” She informs him casually, letting go of his arm and twisting her form around so she is facing him.
“And why should I believe you?” The man questions, suspicion clear in his tone, “that what you’ve shown me is not just some illusion?”
She steps back and gestures to the world around her, “Right here, right now,” she states, “I put the offer out.” She steps back again, watching as he takes a hesitant step towards her, moving from the shade of the tree and to the little stream, “I don’t want to chase you down, but I know you see it.” She pulls a little on the Originals powers, it flowing easier to her now that she is within the boundaries of the world, “You run with me, and I can cut you free.” She tempts, clenching her fist and making them both partially solid, standing firmly on the ground below them. She pulls for a breeze, letting the fresh, sea air dance around his form, “Out of the drudgery and walls you keep in.” She grins and turns, taking a deep breath in and spraying her arms and wings out, “So trade that typical for something colourful. And if it’s crazy, live a little crazy.”
She pulls them both forward, moving through the air freely, from the spawn spot and over to the little village, the hand made boats currently occupied with travellers trading between themselves, “You can play it sensible,” she shrugs, “a king of conventional.” She flips them both around, looking back up the hill at the large tree, barely noticeable in the distance, “or you can risk it all and see.”
She leans in closer to him, arm on his shoulder, wing curling around him as she whispers into his ear, “Don’t you want to get away? From the same old part you’ve got to play?” She looks to him, as he turns to her, pulling his face away from hers as much as her hold allows, She grins at him, “Because I have got what you need, so…” She backs away, pushing him as she does, he is forced into a spin, the view of the shops around him, the large impressive mountains, the laughter of the Travellers down below, the salty, frisk sea air ruffling his horns. “Come with me and take the ride! I’ll take you to the other side,” she promises, “because you can do like you do… or you can do like me” she lifts up her wings, flipping into the air, and pulling him with her with her magic. She suddenly stops them both, pulling the freshness of the air, the sound of the trees rustling and the other people away. The world gets suddenly silent. “Stay in the cage,” she allows the feel of the wind back, “or you can finally take the key.” With a surge, she lifts them both further and further into the air, the landscape of their spawn surrounding them both, far below and splayed out. “Suddenly, you’re free to fly.” She informs him quietly, “It’ll take you to the other side.”
“Okay, my friend,” He starts, looking around, suspicious and wary, “you want to cut me in. Well, I hate to tell you, but it just won’t happen. So thanks, but no, I think i’m good to go.” He pulls away from her, hovering in the air by himself, as he frowns, “Cause I quite enjoy the life you say i’m trapped in.” He lies through his teeth, she smirks, eyes sparking, “Now, I admire you and this whole show you do,” He compliments, she raises an eyebrow recognising his tactic, “You’re onto something,” He looks down, admiring the view, “really, it’s somethin’” his petulant tone brings in a hint of wonder and want but ultimately he shakes his head and looks back at her, “But I live among the swells and don’t pick up peanut shells. I’ll leave that up to you.”
She tilts her head and pulls the fresh, clean air of her world from him again, replacing it with the musty, murky smell of the bar their physical bodies are still sat at. He glares lightly “Don’t you know that i’m okay?” His confidence is ruined as he glances back down at the world, “With this uptown part I get to play. Cause I got what I need and I don’t wanna take your ride. I don’t need to see the other side.” He steps towards her and holds a hand out, “So go, and do like you do. I’m good to do like me. Aint in a cage so I don’t need to take the key.” She tilts her head, sensing his inner turmoil, “Oh damnit! Can’t you see i’m doing fine?” He bursts out, fully glaring at her, “I don’t need to see the other side!”
She nods and pulls them back to his world. The dark, gloomy bar forming back around them. He looks around, back down at the drink in front of him and the empty ones still at the table. “Now,” WolfQueen starts, tone condescending, “is this really how you like to spend your days? Whiskey and misery and parties and plays?”
“If I were mixed up with you, I’d be the talk of the town.” He frowns back, picking up his glass to take a deep gulp, “Disgraced and disowned,” he snorts softly, “another one of the clowns”
She puts her hand on his, pulling the drink away from him, “But you would finally live a little.” She tempts, taking the drink out of his loose hand, “finally laugh a little. Just let me give you the freedom to dream! And it’ll wake you up and cure your aching.” She keeps her tone soft, just the right amount of intrigue and gentleness, pulling at his older memories of kindness and love, “take your walls and start them breaking.” She tilts her head slightly, “Not that’s a deal that seems worth taking… but I guess i’ll leave that up to you?” She pulls her hand back, placing the drink on the table between them and gesturing towards it.
“Well…” He hesitates, looking between the drink and her, “it’s intriguing, but to go would cost me greatly. He reaches forward to pusht the glass towards her, away from him, “So what percentage of my life would I be keeping?”
Her chest leaps in satisfaction as she knows she fully has him. His willingness to trade with his memories is an interesting step, but something she is perfectly happy to play around with. “Fair enough,” She concedes, “You would want a piece of yourself left behind. I’d give you seven,” She lifts a hand, “we could shake and make it happen.”
He looks at the hand and shakes his head with a laugh, “I wasn’t born this morning, eighteen would be just fine.”
She laughs in delight, the game becoming almost fun, “Why not go ahead and ask for nickels on the dime?” She jokes, summoning some coins to pay for his drinks.
“Fifteen.”
“I’d do eight.”
“Twelve.” He matches her grin, enjoying the game just as much as she is.
“Maybe nine?” She questions,
“Ten.”
She contemplates and then nods, “acceptable.” She stands up, flattening her dress down and holding her hand out again. He stands with her and takes her hand. They shake firmly and she grins in success.