THE MOMENT
"What?" Cassie smiled at Gretchen in response. "That's an odd question... did you want a hoarding disorder..?" she asked. The pair of women sat on a bench on a busy cobblestone pathway in front of a large castle. Cassie was giving Gretchen some last-minute tips before she took on her first quest by herself.
"No..," Gretchen shook her head. She felt embarrassed that her joke did not land as she intended it. She realized she would have to be more careful with her humor in the future. Not only was Cassie almost a decade younger than her, she was from an entirely different Earth. Their ideas of humor were bound to differ. "..it was a bad joke because you have so much stuff in your inventory," she said.
"Oh," Cassie nodded. "Well, Chosen One quests don't usually have that much stuff; I'm a merchant, so I have to stay stocked up," she explained.
"Oh yeah...," Gretchen nodded. Six mentioned Cassie's class on the way. "...where's your shop?" she asked out of curiosity. She imagined she might need to buy things on her quest and it would be helpful to know a friendly merchant.
"Here," Cassie shrugged and gestured at the faded green backpack on her shoulders. It wasn't bulged out from being overfull like Gretchen expected. But, she remembered the kinds of things that were possible in the AlterNet and accepted the explanation. Even if she didn't know the mechanics of it, she knew it was possible. "..unless I'm in a derby match; then, I have to have a stall on the track. But, you'll get to try out derby later. It's better to get used to questing first."
"Okay," Gretchen nodded. Six and 23 had given her the same advice when they sent her to Cassie. She'd watched a little bit of Six and 23 practicing roller derby and took an immediate interest.
"You don't have to say much," Cassie continued her advice. "The king is expecting a Chosen One, so just show up and you're it. It's a whole quest line, so come back here after you get the first part and I'll help you with it," she said.
"Okay, thank you," Gretchen nodded. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves; then, she walked forward through the open, golden gates.
30 minutes later, she returned to find Cassie thanking a customer.
"There was a line...," Gretchen apologized but Cassie nodded.
"There usually is; there's a Chosen One born every minute," she giggled. "So, what's the first part?"
"I have to prove I'm the Chosen One," Gretchen said. "I have to pull a sword from a stone?" She was unsure where she would find a sword in a stone; but, she returned to Cassie before she read through the quest text thoroughly.
"Oh, that one's easy," Cassie said. She knelt down and closed the flap of her green backpack again. Then, she pulled her node out and began swiping through it. "Yeah, I've got a few of those in stock," she nodded to herself as she tapped the node. Then, she opened her bag again and nodded at the silver sword hilt that was poking out of her bag.
"There you go, grab that," she said. Gretchen had learned not to question things very much by now. She nodded and crouched to pull the sword out of the backpack. As soon as it came free, she heard a ding, and red text appeared in her view.
[Quest Complete!]
Gretchen couldn't help but smile. She knew not all the quests would be as simple as this one was; but, she was still enjoying herself very much. She never would have imagined her life could change so much in such a short time. She held up the sword and her smile grew larger.
"I'm the Chosen One!" she said. Cassie laughed and smiled along with her.
"Yeah you are," she added as Gretchen walked off.
"Excuse me, Merchant" a knight approached Cassie. "Do you have a bottomless bag?” he asked. As he asked, he gestured at a pile of bags and equipment tied to a nearby horse.
“I do,” Cassie nodded.
“Uh.. how much?” the knight asked. Cassie studied the knight up and down for a moment. Then, her gaze flitted between the overloaded horse and Gretchen who was headed back to the castle.
“I’ll give it to you for free, on one condition,” Cassie said.
“Sure!” The knight seemed happy to get a deal on a much-needed item.
“Will you tell me where you got your hoarding disorder?”