Chapter Text
Luz Noceda is not having a good day. After her latest debacle with the snakes as her end-of-year presentation, she slides down into her chair at Gravesfield High and pulls her beanie down over her face to try and hide her shame as her Mom and the Principal talk it out.
“Bringing several snakes into school, jumping all around the classroom, bringing fireworks into the school? I’m sorry, Mrs. Noceda, but these incidents can’t be overlooked. This is the final straw!” Principal Hal frowns, and Camilla grimaces as her hand finds its way into her purse.
“Mija, you know I love your creativity,” Camilla says sadly, “and I adore how you express yourself, but if you can’t separate fantasy from reality, you may need to send you to…”
Suddenly, the door bursts open as a young man rushes in!
“Are there any more snakes in here?!” he exclaims, and everyone turns to stare at the young man, who seems to be carrying a large, plastic bucket and a pair of tongs. “Oh, there’s one! Or is that a pet?”
“Oh, um…no. Here.” Luz says quickly, having never seen this kid before, as he deposits the snake she brought with her into the bucket full of other snakes.
“Young man, what exactly are you doing?” Principal Hal asks.
“I’m…gathering the snakes. I hope that’s okay,” the young man says quickly. “I mean, no one else was doing anything. I was gonna take ‘em to the woods later.”
“Well…thank you.” Principal Hal sighs. “Saves me a call to the exterminator. You’re the new transfer, what was your name again?”
“Yeah, erm, kinda bad luck to transfer right at the end of the year, huh? I’m Seifer. And- before you ask, yes, it’s an odd name, my family’s odd.” Seifer looks around, seeming to just realize what he walked in on. “...and I am sorry for interrupting! I’ll be back when you’re done here, Principal Hal.”
“You can go home, Seifer,” the Principal says, but Seifer frowns.
“But we were gonna put my club on the website, remember?” he pouts.
“Oh, right…your club. We can save that for the start of the next school year.” Hal says dismissively, and Seifer sighs, dejected.
“What kinda club?” Luz asks curiously, hoping to distract herself for even just a moment.
“Oh!” Seifer smiles wide, pulling out a flyer from his backpack and handing it over to her. “I made a bunch of these, go ahead and take one! I should probably get these snakes outta here…sorry again for interrupting!” the young man says as he heads out, yet a look of dejection all too familiar to Luz graces his face when his back is to the Principal.
Luz looks down at the colorfully drawn poster. “Tales of Terran, huh…?”
~=~
“So…what were you saying back in the office, Mami?” Luz asks her Mom as they park at home, and Camilla flinches just a bit before taking a deep breath.
“It’s nothing, Luz. Just…the school isn’t willing to give you more chances. Try to find something constructive to do with your time, okay, Mija? Promise me.” Camilla says with an almost pleading look in her eyes.
“Okay, Mami. I promise.” Luz nods, and Camilla kisses her forehead.
“That’s my girl.”
Something constructive, huh? Luz wonders to herself as she pulls out the poster from her pocket. It’s worth a shot, I guess. Because otherwise, you’ll send me away somewhere…
In a few days, Luz drops by the Gravesfield Public Library, poster in hand, ready to see what the start of Summer has in store for her. The poster only gave a weekly date and time, nothing else. Luz had hardly ever been to the public library, either! She always bought the books she wanted to read, and only ever came here for study materials that the school’s library didn’t stock. Nonetheless, Luz was here now, so she made her way to the front desk.
“Excuse me? I’m here for a club,” she explains to the crone behind the desk, putting the poster down to show her. The Librarian gazes down through her glasses and clicks her tongue.
“Ah, yes, that young man’s little club. He’s in the rec room downstairs,” she explains.
“The library has a rec room?” Luz blinks in surprise.
“Oh, for…” the Librarian sighs. “You can’t miss it, I’m sure you can find it.”
It takes some time, but Luz finds what she’s looking for. The Rec Room is about as spacious as she was expecting, and has a big table outfitted with snacks, one of those “Storyteller Screens” you see in pictures, a lot of dice and paper, and a couple of bowls of snacks. Seifer was currently looking things over on his computer, and he smiled as he saw Luz come in.
“Oh, hey! Snake girl!” he says with a smile. “You made it!”
“My name’s Luz,” she says, walking over and shaking his hand. “Am I early…?”
“No, you just happen to live in a very… reserved town.” Seifer says delicately, clearly skirting around the subject that Gravesfield never got the memo that the ‘Lucifer Lockdown’ from the 80s is long over. “Right now, it’s just you and me.”
“Oh…so, it’s a bust? I mean, this is a game that can only be played with a group, right? Tales of Terran?” Luz asks.
“Luz, I’ve been doing this for years. I’ve read the best, watched the best, and taught myself the best,” Seifer insists. “ToT is a story! You write it with your players, no matter how many. As the storyteller, I make the world and the adventure you set off on, but you are the main character. I’ll help you build what you want, and together, we can write something wonderful.”
Luz’s eyes lit up at the prospect before her, and she grinned widely. “Okay, yeah! You’ve hooked me. Just promise there won’t be too much math…”
“Basic addition and subtraction, I promise.” Seifer crosses his heart.
“Okay! Well…” Luz sits down at the table, looking over the books laid out. “I want to be a Witch! You see, I read this book series, Good Witch Azura, and I’ve…seen the movies, too, and I kinda wanna make a character like her! Destined for greatness.”
“I’ll warn you, the messages in my stories are rarely so straightforward,” Seifer warns, twirling a d20 around in his hand.
“It’ll be fine!” Luz grins. “I’ll even work for it! Maybe…maybe I have to work for my magic! Find it somewhere to unlock it!”
“Interesting idea…” Seifer strokes his chin. “I’ll teach you how magic works in a minute, tell me more about the basic idea you have.”
Luz does some loredumping on Good Witch Azura and the kind of thing she wants. It’s a bit of a ripoff, but Seifer seems to be good at working with her to create something new and unique. This person she’s creating will be someone who needs to work for her magic, who dreams of being a great Witch, even though she doesn’t have the power yet! But she’s ambitious, and she’ll never give up!
“You know, I think I have a few ideas,” Seifer smiles. “How do you feel about being a Rogue?”
“Rogue? Uh, that doesn’t sound too magical…” Luz mutters.
“Maybe not normally, but I have some ideas,” Seifer smiles.
~=~
For the next hour, Luz and Seifer work together to start building the beginning of the story. It wasn’t quite complete yet, but they were making great strides.
“So then, how about a quick test session?” Seifer suggests. “Just to see if you like playing?”
“Sure thing!” Luz grins.
As Luz prepares herself, Seifer takes out a box that fits the palm of his hand and opens it up.
“Oh, and just so you know,” Seifer says, “just because you’re the only player doesn’t mean you have to play alone. Feel free to look out for potential allies.” He opens the box and takes out a d20 with a strange eye symbol where the ‘20’ is. “Maybe our little witch needs a mentor and a sidekick…”
“Oh, cool!” Luz’s eyes light up, but then she pauses. “Won’t it be a little confusing to hear you play a bunch of people all the time…?”
“Oh, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that,” Seifer grins as the die glows brightly, and before Luz can react, indigo light fills her vision…