Piece 1::Gathering Place
They liked to question me during times when I doubted God – Then how did this world come about? How did all the beautiful places come about? I don't know, but I believed in the beautiful places and not God. Because God is perfection, and the beautiful places are not.
Will you wait for me if I go? I never really dared to ask. But sometimes we'd just sit back and watch the stars and then I tell myself – it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all. So long as we're together now.
"It's this place right?"
"Yep."
"We're early. The rest aren't here yet."
Tetsu nods, and flops down onto the grass, unbuttoning his cotton shirt slightly and leaning back against his cart. The brunette Priestress sits down next to him, and runs her hands across his shoulders.
"Mn... Thanks."
"No problem." She grins.
"We used to watch the stars here often right? Kasumi."
"Yep. Minte says this is the best place for star gazing. I suppose she's right."
He laughs. "When do you think they'll arrive?"
"I don't know. When do you want them to?"
"A little bit later..."
I remember my mom always telling me when I was young – "Remember, when you get lost come here and don't move anymore. I'll come back and look for you." I suppose it's like that for everyone now; every soul, somehow, somewhere, will have a place to go to and not move, for the people who love them to come and find them.
Let's meet here sometime. Even if you're late it doesn't matter, because I know that you will come. I know that, so long as I wait, you will come running over. Let's meet here sometime... I'll be waiting. And if I'm late, I'll make sure I hurry; and I know you'll be there, waiting, still smiling. Waiting for me.
"Uwaaaa The wind's so comfortable here!"
The Sniper smiles at his companion, a High Priestress, and watches her as she does a little dance on the grassy-ground of the valley.
She stops in mid-twirl. "Are the rest here yet?"
He looks around, blinking, "Doesn't look like that. I don't see anyone for now... Maybe we're early..."
"Mm... Maybe Fubuki Let's dance!"
He raises an eyebrow as she grabs his hands and pulls him into a twirl, laughing. "Whatever."
"Places like this are the best places to dance!"
I used to be scared of the dark. Yea, it sounds silly, but I used to be scared. But then my sister would laugh and tell me "Look outside the window! The stars are still alight, so you aren't in Darkness yet!" And then I would smile and tell myself; Yes, I am not scared anymore.
Stars are the souls of people who have moved on. Are you up there, Mom? Dad? Someday, I'll be up there too. So I will always look up at the night sky, at the stars, and tell myself – up there, there are people watching us. And we, as part of the cycle, had to make sure we used the time we had wisely. To make sure they could see the best we could give them.
"Aki! Stop. Dragging. Me!"
"But the rest might already be waiting! Agh! Hiro, can't you run faster?!"
"It helps if you understand we High Wizards don't really spend much time running laps. Aagh. Chill! The rest are usually late anyway!"
The blue-haired Crusader stops in midrun. "It's here right? This place?"
"I think so... we did follow all the directions they gave to us and all..." Hiro looks around, "Woop. Empty. Hah. Told you they were late."
She pouts, "Well, at least we're punctual."
"Right. At least we are."
So long as we're together, every scenery will seem complete, and even the autumn leaves fall with a sense of returning. It's strange that how beautiful a place is depends on who you are with at that time. To me, the greatest joy in my world, is to be able to be with the people I love, at a place. And then we can just sit there, close our eyes, and think.
Everything in the world has a soul, has a purpose. Even the falling autumn leaves will have a story to tell us. My story has not finished yet, and yet I still feel that it hasn't begun. It stops, and then it pauses, and only moves when you're in the scene with me again. So long as we are together...
"We're early! We're early! HAHAH!"
The Alchemist scratches his head as his partner bounds up in front of him, laughing in triumph.
"Just wait till I throw this in Aki's face! Hah! She hates being late when I'm punctual! Shinichi! Let's cheer!"
"Illu-chan..." He laughs, ruffling up her hair a little bit, "That's mean."
She sticks her tongue out at him as they settle down on the grass. "The sun's going to set soon..."
I don't like telling people about things. I know they will laugh at me, or maybe even try to do something about it. I don't like people doing something about it because all of a sudden, my problems feel trifle. So I prefer sitting down and sitting in silence, watching the view in front of me. Because silence means a lot to me. So long as I'm with you... Silence is okay. If I don't talk, don't feel bad...
My mom told me that everyone has a track laid out in front of them. A track that they will follow throughout their lives, sometimes the tracks will cross and widen, and we will find outselves walking alongside another. Sometimes we stray far apart, sometimes we walk arm in arm. I asked her if there was a place to stop. A place to stop and chat. A place to Gather.
"Wahoo! Uki-chan! We're here!"
"You choose the weirdest places, Denki." His partner crosses his arms and leans against a tree, "Why'd you choose this place again?"
"Because at night, when the sun sets and the stars come out, this place has the best scenery!"
A small smile tugs at the Wizard's lips. "In what way?"
"You'll see." Denki replies smugly, sitting down next to him. "Just wait."
A slight breeze blows past, and there is a momentary silence.
And then when the stars come out, we all realise that we aren't really in darkness. There are people up there, guiding us, looking down upon us, people we have to show our best to.
"Aaa!!!"
"Wow! You guys! When did you appear?!"
"I didn't see anyone around just now! Did you, Hiro?"
"HAHAH!"
"What do you know about this place that we don't, Denki?"
"Tell us! Tell us tell us tell us!!!"
"Well..."
The stars shine down upon us, and the darkness that is around us fades away slowly, telling us that, yes; occasionally those railroad tracks meet at a place. And then we realise that we aren't alone. Actually, we were already together; there were people around us, supporting us, ready to reach out a helping hand.
"When the stars come out, the illusions around this area fade, see? So we're actually standing on some sort of a round valley with a hole in a middle! Yep! Like a donut!"
"... You are so anti-romantic, Denki."
"Don't complain, Illu-chan. At least we're all here now!"
"Let's start the party!"
"Wahoo! Celebrating one year of working together! The greatest party ever made, and the best in Rune Midgard!!"
"CHEERS!"
Silence doesn't matter. Because when there's a gathering place, we know that someone will be there waiting for us. And we'll treasure every moment, every second with them.
This marks the first "Piece" of Tell Me a Story. ::beams:: Then I realised basically it's not even RagnarokOnline-related except for the names I used.
My friend told me I was terrible at writing stories in Present Tense, so I told myself - CHALLENGE! Why not? XD And... well... This isn't too good. I really do need some practise... ::nods gloomily::
Well, challenge complete, at least. There are many more characters I will be writing about soon, but I thought: why not introduce the ones here first?
Kasumi Lightwater:: For people who have read Shinjiru Mono, I supposed they would have thought about her right after they read the first little 'thought' passage... Support Priestress, pessimistic, a bit of a worry wart, thinks too much, and doesn't believe in God. If she doesn't like a person her Blessings turn into Curses.
Tetsu Kreinebearer:: Also a main character from Shinjiru Mono; Forging Battlesmith. A bit money minded, and always finds it hard to express himself in words directly when it comes to things like relationships.
Minte:: Shinjiru Mono again. Strangely she acts younger than Kasumi at times... Support High Priestress, happy-go-lucky and the type you can always look to when you have problems.
Fubuki:: His name means "Blizzard" in japanese, if that point interests people. Agi/Dex Sniper, the o-sarcastic-one. Uses his logical brain more than his emotional brain most of the time; Minte is his soft spot.
Akisame Matsuko:: Crusader, the party's meat-shield and tanker. A bit of a tom-boy, a bit ridiculous at times, a bit childish at times, but actually a kind person who likes being with others. Warm, sunny-side-up and always cheery.
Hiro Clavestroke:: Hiro isn't his real name, but he insists being called that. High Wizard, prefers using Thunder/Lightning-based attacks. The big brother and logic pillar of the group, takes charge when he needs to.
Illusion Matsuko:: Aki's older sister, a double-dagger-sin. Quite like Akisame, but a bit of a softie when it comes to love and romance. Likes bothering couples and actually enjoys being bothered when she's with her significant other. Reason unknown.
Shinichi:: A famous Alchemist, Illusion's fiance. Very good at being caring and looking after people, and a very smart and reliable person too. The voice of reason for Illusion.
Rauki Ereine:: People will know him too, I suppose, from Shinjiru Mono. Int/Dex Wizard, usually uses Lightning/Ice-based attacks. A little bit withdrawn, doesn't like talking too much; but will definitely speak up for himself if the need arises. Dislikes nonsense. Or, to be precise, DislikeD nonsense.
Denki Steelwing:: Agi/Dex/Luk Hunter, Rauki's partner, and the person who came up with the petname "Uki-chan". The joker of the group, with a definite sarcastic edge. Hardly seems to take anything too seriously - or maybe he does, but just never shows it.
Minte and Fubuki were created by me, though their personalities were adapted from two of my friends. I hardly editted the personalities of this couple. ::beams::
Rauki and Denki and Hiro were based on my friends, but after a while I just altered them on impulse. They're quite different now, I think.
Illusion and Akisame and Shinichi belong to a fellow RO writer of mine; but since she uses some of my characters in her story I was given the permission to use them in mine. ::nodnod::
"Gathering Place" actually came from the RO 30Q. For people who are unfamiliar with that term, a 30Q (sometimes 50Q, 100Q) are 30 Questions. Well, not literally questions. The main concept came from the Japanese fanartists and fanficwriters; someone would set 30 topics on RO, and it would be a challenge for writers and artists all over the net to complete that 30Q... "Gathering Place" (or Atsumari Basho) is Q3 in the 30Q. I'm taking up the challenge, and failing badly. ::is kicked::
It took me a while to think up how I wanted to present it. I like short stories which have some sort of a... meaning behind them? Something that will make people think, or maybe connect with the fic and all... I am not sure if I failed, and the thoughts will get rather confusing since I didn't really label them... Most of my friends could guess after I told them the characters though, so I hope it wouldn't matter too much to everyone.
And for people who noticed "something between" Rauki and Denki... I shall hug you and glomp you! ::is whacked:: But I don't dare to bring it too far since I know some people get offended about these things... So by all means, treat it as a very close friendship between the two. ::cackles::
Hopefully this will tie together the next few "pieces" of this little fic! Thanks for reading! ::bows::