Fourth Wall

[magedragonfire]

The weather never seemed to change very much atop of Mount Mjolnir. The sun would rise, and it would be beautiful, blue-skied, and clear. The sun would set, and the stars would shine down from the heavens, each tiny pinprick visible against the inky-black backdrop. Sometimes the moon would be out, and sometimes it wouldn't. Occasionally there might even be a group of puffy clouds passing through. That was about the extent of the changes to the atmosphere, though.

It was on one of these bright and sunshiny days, perhaps a little past midday, that Rhaetia and Nina, the ever-intrepid adventurers, found themselves on the mountain's beflowered peak with little to do. The university of Geffen had, a few days prior, set out a call to anyone who had the stamina to trek all the way out into the raging wilderness of Mjolnir (pft, some overgrown plants and a few bugs along the way to deal with, that was really all it was; to the city of scholars, though, it was howling backcountry) to find and slay one of the mistress-hornets that were known to occasionally inhabit the floral gardens on the mountain. Something about discovering whether it was pheromones or telepathy and mind control that influenced hive behavior. The details didn't matter too much.

The esteemed wizardess and gunslinger were more than a match for the lady-bug, at any rate; the battle was not nearly epic enough to even waste two sentences on.

They'd collected the slightly singed corpse (Rhaetia hadn't been able to quite control her glee enough, as usual), and had the rest of the afternoon to while away. They were right on schedule, early even, and the trip back to the city wouldn't take more than a day and a half of brisk hiking. Thus, the two friends shared a picnic in the warm sun, explored the flowery gardens, killed a few more predatory bug-beasties, and eventually flopped back in the long grasses to watch the small, poofy clouds, and chat aimlessly – well, at least, on Rhaetia's part. Nina was her usual quiet self, only contributing a few words here and there, but that was quite fine. The cheerful wizard could easily provide enough words for the both of them, or even more.

Coming off of a long soliloquy about the wonders of the forested city, Hugel (accompanied by many "hee-hee"s from Nina, and her halting, quiet questions), Rhaetia cradled her head in her arms as she stretched out on the grass, yawning. "Oh, Nina-dearie, it's such a wonder to be back out among the green things, don't you think? Geffen is lovely, oh yes, but so dry! Half of the other wizards have forgotten the definition of relaxation. Much nicer for the soul out here, it is."

"Rhaetia... not... have enough... orange juice...?" Nina queried. If there was ever a remedy for soul-ache, it was orange juice, of course. It healed what ailed you!

"Oh, probably not. It's expensive to get all the way out here," Rhaetia replied without a thought. She propped herself up on her elbows slightly, the better to see the sky around the rather giant leaves peppering the landscape. "...Do you ever wonder, dearie, what's up there? Valhalla and the gods, the priests say, and those philosophers over in Lighthalzen says it goes on forever, just all nothingness, but I don't think it can be either. Maybe we're in the eye of some great big person, a floating dust speck in their pupil, and all the stars are other dust specks. What do you think?"


"Can't be dust speck..." Nina protested, with a little flutter of her fingers, glancing up at the sky herself. "Person... blinks, we all get... pushed out. Never... seen person's eyelid. No?"

Rhaetia pursed her lips at that. "Well, perhaps not. It was just a thought." She flopped down again, rearranging her robe. "Still, it would be fun to find out, wouldn't it, dearie?"

Nina paused, her eyes flickering across a patch of blue amongst the clouds. "If you look close, Rhaetia, you can see a window. There's a messy desk on the other side, and a woman our age staring in, but she can't see everything. Her window's too fogged."

"What was that, dearie?" Unfortunately, the gunslinger only spoke clearly when her voice was too soft to hear, and the message was lost to the air.

"Want... peach... Rhaetia?" Nina said, instead, as the wizard peeped up again to look at her.

Rhae's eyes lit up at that, a bright grin overtaking the curious look she'd worn a moment previously. "Oh! Is there one left? I'll split it and we can share, dearie. I suppose we can save the apples for the trip back, since they don't bruise nearly as easy. Here, where'd you put that knife?" The distraction worked, as it always did, and Nina's wisdom hid itself once again from the world.

Meanwhile, the woman outside laughed, as the mists moved in to totally obscure the window again. Such it was with those two, always, always!

Comments

[razberryl.livejournal.com]

Started to get a "Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead" vibe around the "Want... peach...?"

[magedragonfire.livejournal.com]

I must say I've never seen or read that, so the comparison is sadly lost!