I...'m not exactly sure why I started writing... but Oliver and Pamela were such cute characters... and everyone's made fics about great NPCs already. These two haven't got a fic together... So I've brought it upon myself to start it! Hope you like it, this is just my prologue... you know, testing it out... if you guys... like it... I... may continue it...
Anyway, enough emowangsting!
READ ON!
---
Love as Dictated by the Score
Prologue
"Oliver!" Oliver Tatlin turned around as Jenny Louis flagged him down. He smiled at his friend and she gasped for air, "Oliver, you could have waited for me!"
The young farmer shook his head good-naturedly, "Jenny, what are you doing?"
"I'm heading over to the cathedral for mass!" Jenny said, placing her hands on her hips, "I'm going to ask the Fon Master to read my score." She blinked at Oliver, peering at him as if there was a nasty bug paced upon his nose, "Speaking of the cathedral… aren't you going the wrong way? It's over that wa…"
"I know," Oliver said matter-of-factly, smiling at his friend, "I'm not having my score read. I don't need it…"
Jenny covered the ears of a random passing girl, "Oliver! Do you know what you're saying?" She cried, "No wonder you missed mass last week… and the week before that… But still! Do you even know what you're saying?"
"I do," Oliver replied, tucking his Tartarus model kit under his arm, "I just don't want my score read. I'll live my life normally anyway, so what's the point?"
The Daathian farmer groaned as his friend grabbed his other arm, dragging off happily towards the cathedral, "Then it wouldn't hurt for you to get your score read! Come on, just this once, for me?"
Oliver sighed, and let her lead him off, "Fine…" He said with a smirk, letting her have her way this once, "Just for today."
Jenny giggled, "You're the best, Oliver!" She said with a blush, "Just you wait; I bet your score'll be the best among the group today!" The woman's friend doubted it…
---
Oliver wanted so much to stand in the back of the chapel, but Jenny would have none of it. She dragged him up towards the front with her other friends, all other girls, and gave a quick introduction. The girls waved at the farmer, and whispered amongst themselves. They couldn't believe that this was the young man who inherited the Tatlin fortune from his recently deceased father Eustace Tatlin. To think he was just living out his life as a quiet hermit, tinkering with models and substance farming on the outskirts of Daath as if he were some peasant man!
The Fon Master settled everyone down as a young pilgrim entered the chapel. She was on her first pilgrimage alone to Daath from the Malkuth capital of Grand Chokmah, tucking her hair behind her ear as she snuck into the back. She was a pious woman, and listened intently to her score every mass. Pamela Green looked up and listened intently as Fon Master Evenos spread his arms and began his sermon.
---
"How strange…" Evenos whispered, adjusting his glasses. Oliver blinked intently at the Fon Master as he read off the young man's score. Evenos smiled, "You will find happiness today," he murmured, a smile playing on his lips, "Someone important will see your kindness, and your life will be changed forever…"
Oliver's brow furrowed in confusion. Was the Fon Master in cahoots with Jenny? Perhaps he was just saying this to make him feel happy? But that can't be right… the Score was always right. It was blasphemous to speak of the score informally… Evenos would never tell him a joke. He turned around, slightly stunned, and Jenny smiled at him, "Huh? Huh? What did I tell you?" she asked in a hushed whisper, grinning wildly, "I TOLD you it'd be the best!"
"Come now…" Oliver said with a smile, "I'm sure the 'someone important' will be a large business owner, intent on asking me to give them my money to speed their riches. I don't want my money used like that…"
Jenny giggled as the two left the chapel, "You never know…" she said in a singsong voice. Oliver laughed aloud.
As the two friends left, Pamela walked forward. Evenos blinked at her through his glasses, and then looked up at the retreating figure of Oliver. The Malkuthian rose up her hand over her mouth with worry, asking in a hushed voice, "Is… everything alright, Fon Master?"
Evenos snapped out of his stupor and smiled back at Lorelei's pious daughter as she smiled at him; even now her hair was covered as a sign of humility before the men in the room. Raising his hands, he spoke in a voice that commanded authority, "You will find happiness today." The Fon Master's smile widened as Pamela's face brightened, "You will find a man… at the grocery store… He is very important, and you will see why when you meet with him…" The young woman stood, placing her hands over her mouth, her eyes misting with tears.
"Thank you! Thank you, Fon Master!" She proclaimed, practically skipping from the chapel. Pamela, ever the romantic, realized exactly what her score meant.
On this day, she was going to meet her future husband…
---
"Oh, Oliver!" Jenny asked, smiling at her friend as they stopped in front of the grocery, "Before you head home…" She tugged on his sleeve, "Could you please come with me to the grocery? I need to pick up some apples for Mother. She loves them so much…"
Oliver beamed at his friend, still holding his model kit under his arm, "Of course, Jenny, and you remember, if you need anything…"
"No no, Oliver," Jenny said as they entered the grocery, "I could never take any money from you… no matter how much Gald Mother or I need…" She giggled, "My farming is bringing in enough money, thank you very much."
"Indeed, keep up the good work, Jenny," Oliver agreed, staring at the Gummy Candies shaped like gels for the children as the two separated, Oliver slowly being drawn to the sweets as his friend walked briskly to the fruit baskets.
Oliver picked up a few candy canes; the Festival of Lorelei was approaching and they were seasonal sweets. He missed them so much and would stock up to make sure he could eat them all over the year. He approached the counter to pay for his canes, but was quickly interrupted as a young boy, a pilgrim, by his dress, bumped into him. Oliver was about to smile brightly at the boy, but was cut off by the grocer, waving his hand about, "Stop that boy!" He shouted, "Stop that thief!"
Oliver gasped at the boy, and before the child could escape, he reached out and grabbed the boy's shoulder, snuggly keeping the boy in place, "Where do you think you're going?" He asked kindly, "You know you shouldn't steal…"
"Let me go!" The child shouted, kicking the Daathian in the shin. Oliver gave a shout and practically dropped his kit. He was so glad he saved it. However, he released the boy to nurse his shin. Before the kid could run, the grocer caught up to him and picked him up.
"You little wretch!" The man shouted, "You can't just steal our stuff! You know the penalty for stealing! I'll summon the Oracle Knights!"
Oliver blinked as the boy flailed angrily, "Let me go! Let me go!" The boy was creating quite a stir, and Jenny looked up at the child, kicking and screaming the same thing over and over, "Let me go let me go let me go! Mommie!"
---
Pamela smiled at a little Daath girl as she walked towards the inn. Before she arrived at the small Chesedonian Inn, however, she passed by a small building. Above the doorway was a sign with the word "Grocery". Her eyes brightened, and she rushed towards the building, opening the door. She was immediately greeted by a child screaming his lungs out. Most of the Daathians had to grab their ears, but Pamela was used to such noise. It was always this loud in Grand Chokmah, "Let me go let me go! Mommie!"
Pamela turned down one aisle where a crowd was forming, and she began staring at the scene as well, even as Oliver's eyes widened from hearing the boy's most recent word, "Your mother?"
The boy sniffled, finally giving up and pulling out a slab of Rappig Meat, "M… mommie's hungry…" he cried, "She got hurt by a monster and she spent the last of our Gald on some gels… but now she's so hungry so I thought… I thought…"
The grocer was about to shout at the child, but Oliver suddenly spoke up, "Sir… may I speak to this child…?" All eyes were on the farmer, and he smiled at the little thief, "If it's alright with you…"
"I need what he stole from me!" The grocer said. The other Daathians couldn't believe that this man could be so mean, but Oliver understood: This man was not from Daath. He was a Chesedonian merchant, after all. This was just how Chesedonia was…
"Sir, please…" The young man said, adjusting the weight of his model kit and candy canes. He really didn't want to argue right now… Pamela stared intently at the man as he tried to speak with the grocer. Was that the dashing prince who would sweep her off her feet? She didn't realize that her cheeks were tinged with red as the scene continued.
"I have a business to keep!" The Chesedonian merchant shouted in response.
"Fine then," Oliver replied quickly. All thoughts of the score had floated from his mind after seeing the boy in such dire straits. He dragged out his wallet, filled entirely with at last ten thousand Gald, "Just… just take it. Let the boy buy the entire store, if he can. All of this is for the boy to use to buy whatever he needs for both he and his mother." The merchant gasped as the wallet was thrust into his hands, and the entire crowd murmured excitedly at the man's kindness. The spirit of Daath was moving both pilgrims and natives alike. The boy sniffled and Oliver knelt down, plucking one of the candy canes from his stash and handing it to the boy with a smile, "Take care of your mother, alright?"
The boy wiped phlegm and tears from his face, and wrapped his arms around the farmer (who winced from said phlegm and tears), "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
Oliver gently pried the boy from his hug and rubbed the child's hair, "You're welcome, young man…" And Pamela knew immediately. This person was the one the Score had spoken about…
The crowd began to thin, and the boy took the Chesedonian merchant's sleeve, leading him off to buy whatever he could for his dear mother, and Oliver smiled happily at the boy's exuberant joy. It was worth every Gald to see that child's glee filled grin…
"That was… quite a display…" The farmer heard a woman speak, and turned to face the person. He expected Jenny to be looking back at him, and practically jumped when he found that it was someone entirely different. She stared into his eyes, her own eyes bright and wide, her cheeks flushed brightly with red, "You… saved that young boy!"
"Y…yeah…" Oliver replied, finding that their close proximity set his face aflame. He looked away in an attempt to cool his face down. It didn't work, "But… you know, I was only doing it for the boy…" He looked back at the woman, shyly asking a question, "You… what's your name, anyway…?" He didn't even notice that Jenny was right behind this woman, waving to grab his attention.
Pamela's heart beat at an accelerated rate. The score was right! This was the one! He was so cute… "My… name is P… Pamela… Pamela Green… and you…?"
Jenny blinked as Oliver gently reached out with his free hand, candy canes and model kit tucked under the other arm, and squeezed her hand slightly, "My name's Oliver Tatlin…"
"Oliver…?" Pamela whispered, squeezing it back, a silent affirmation of their meeting, and their newfound friendship, "That sounds like…"
"Pamela…?" Oliver led the woman away, oblivious to his friend, who was staring, slack jawed, at Pamela as the two left the grocery hand in hand, "That sounds like…"
"Someone I could get to know," And with that, the two leaned their heads against each other and strolled down Daath's streets, blissfully unaware of anything else the world could ever throw at them. After all, with the score bringing them together so nicely, what could ever go wrong if they just continued to listen intently to it…?
They both decided on the answer. Nothing at all...
---
And... that's it... so far, that is. I liked writing it. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it. Perhaps... a review would be nice for me? To tell me how you thought it was...? I would appreciate it a lot. Thanks.