27. Campaign 4- Party Stories

Chaos: Sorry about the delay guys, a bit of burn out from doing a ton of writing and helping a friend with his non-fiction book

Garnett: (smugly) And reading "MIdoriya needs Therapy" Fanfics and buying He-Man toys?

Chaos: (jabbing finger) How many Digimon cards did you buy this week, huh?

Garnett: I also read Chaos Effect

Chaos: (laughing) Oh, hoping to appeal to my ego, huh? Well... (softer) its working.

~MC~GF~MC~GF~

"So how did you luck out with having such a short chores list?" Saharah asked, tuning her lute while Luisa lifted a fallen tree up onto her shoulder. The wood was in decent condition so she planned to take it straight away to Senor Timms so he might begin work on turning it into boards. There was always need for more lumber.

"Well…" Luisa began awkwardly.

Saharah leaned forward. "Oh, someone has a story to tell."

"It's nothing," Luisa tried to tell her.

"Come on now, don't be like that." The dragonborn leapt to her feet and followed after Luisa as she walked back towards the village, bits of bark falling from the tree.

Luisa sighed. "At first my list was really long. A lot of moving things around. Donkeys to catch, bridges to move, so on. But then Mirabel began to come up with ideas that would let me ensure that I didn't have to keep doing the same thing over and over."

"Yeah, that sucks. We once got stuck in a time loop. The same hour playing over and over again. I think it lasted about a week and if we tried to deviate the entire thing collapsed and we had to start over again. Only escaped when Nocci suggested we switch jobs."

"Oh," Luisa said.

"Hey," Saharah said, clearly noticing how Luisa's mood had fallen. "What's wrong? We made it out okay, obviously..." she trailed off and Luisa turned to go only for Saharah to suddenly pop up in front of her, grabbing the log from her with an ooompf and setting it down. "That was heavy... anyway, what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Uh huh, I believe that," the dragonborn shook her head. "Look, I get it... I only journeyed up with the party 2 years ago and I was... not in a good place. Real quiet, thought I had to go it my own or it would be better for me to just drown myself in a bottle." Luisa frowned, not quite getting what that meant... could she shrink down to fit into a bottle or was there some giant bottle out there? "There were people that wanted to help me, to get me to open up, but I refused. I... I just didn't think they could help yet I also knew they could but didn't want them too. I wanted to play the martyr."

Luisa could understand that. After all, how many times had Camilo or Antonio come to her for help but when they in turn asked if she was okay she dismissed their concerns, not wanting to burden them even as her soul screamed for someone to notice she was suffering from stress and didn't know what to do?

"How did you get the will to speak up?" Luisa asked.

"I didn't," Saharah admitted, motioning for Luisa to join her sitting on the log. "The party was in the same town I was and they noticed me. Never got it out of them who did first... not sure they even know, as Anton, Mirabel, and Ulika all claim they saw me that night. The point is they realized I was hurting but they also knew I wasn't going to talk with them if they just flat out walked up to me and asked what was wrong. They..." she paused, "have you ever tried to make a stray cat into a pet?"

"No," Luisa stated. Abuela didn't allow pets in the house even though all the grandkids at one point or another had wished for one; Luisa wondered if that was why Mirabel had made her 'babies'.

"You can't just pick them up and move them into the house. They will hiss and bite and scratch. No... if you want to get a stray to come inside you start slow. Leave out some food or some water. Slowly get them coming back each night. Move on to you standing there, then you petting them, and eventually they are snuggling in your lap." She chuckled, a throaty sound. "The party did that with me. Dryft came up and just said he liked the cloak I was wearing at the time. That's it. Didn't matter that the first time I met him I threw him into a wall." Luisa made a face at that and Saharah grimaced. "It sounds worse than it was. Anyway, next night Anton sat down... didn't say anything, just sat down next to me and drank. After that it was Ulika asking me a question about the weather. Slowly, like that. Until it was 2 weeks later and Ernesto walked up and said we were heading out and I was two miles down the road before I realized that I wasn't actually part of their party so why was I going with them?" She laughed again. "Except I was. They'd domesticated me."

Luisa was silent for a long moment. "My story is... boring."

"About the chores?"

"Yes. It's very boring and I'm... embarrassed."

"Why?"

"Because my life can't compare to Mirabel's!" she finally exclaimed. Her eyes widened at that little eruption and she let out a sigh. "Wow... that... that felt really good to say."

"Didn't it?" Saharah playfully teased. "And who cares if your life is different from Mirabel's?"

"Because you tell so many amazing stories!" Luisa explained. "And Mirabel does to and Tio Bruno! All of you have so many stories and I want to be able to do that! I want to be able to tell people stories. Do something other than..." she flexed her big awkward meaty hands, "lift things."

"Then do it," Saharah said.

"It's not that simple."

"It is that simple."

"No its not! I don't go on adventures! I don't survive dangers and come out the other side and-"

"Do you like fried fish?"

Luisa blinked at that. "What?"

"I love fried fish. Dryft does too. So does Gahoole. But Ernesto isn't a fan and Bruno swore it off after he dated some mermaid-" Luisa opened her mouth to demand answers to THAT little tidbit but Saharah was already talking, "-and I am sure there are hundreds of other people that hate fried fish. And that is okay... people can have different tastes. In food, in drink... in stories."

"Really?" Luisa said, not believing her for a second. "You think people will want to hear about how Mirabel and I put a lock on the donkey fence?"

"Why did you need to put a lock on the donkey fence?"

"Because every day they would get out. For years I would get asked, "Luisa, can you get the donkeys?" and I'd go and get them. Mirabel realized they were leaning over the fence and using their lips to lift the latch. Clever things... there are people in the village who wouldn't be able to figure that out. People that would be trapped, rattling on the bars, while the donkeys just shook their heads and wondered why THEY were the beasts of burden." She let out an amused huff. "Those donkeys... I swear they did it just because they enjoyed me picking them up and giving them a ride. Maybe I should visit them once a month to give them donkey-back rides, just so they don't feel too glum. Of course they always seemed to be judging me when I went and picked them up... anyway, Mirabel realized they were getitng out and she chased them back in with that metal Jaegar, Valeria. You should have seen their eyes!" She reached up and used her fingers to make her eyes go wide. "And I'd never seen them run so fast! I bet they'd off to carry me around if I never let Valeria near them again!" She sighed, leaning back on the log. "I won't miss them... I was beginning to DREAM of those silly beasts. How would you like your dreams every night to involve dancing donkeys?"

"I wouldn't enjoy it. But do you know what I did enjoy?"

"What?"

Saharah tapped her nose with her clawed finger. "That story."

Luisa just looked at her before shaking her head. "That... that wasn't a story. That was me just rambling-"

"That was a story, Luisa. A very funny story." Saharah shook her head but there was a smile on her lips. "That's the thing you must remember... everyone has different tastes. Some want romance. Some adventure. So sadness and despair that make them weep while others want to laugh until their sides hurt. And some people... they just want stories about home, even if it isn't their own." She stood up and offered her hand.

"...Saharah?" Luisa said as she took the dragonborn's hand.

"Yes?"

"How... how would one go about becoming a bard?"