Once upon a time there was a forest, it was not the deepest nor the darkest, it was not home to any witches, ogres, trolls, or goblins. The gangly trees were only slightly more alive than average, and no band of thieves resided within the dimly lit reaches, not any more at least. The plain, boring, old forest would be indistinguishable from any other set of woods on most days but today it featured a large black smokestack that rose high into the sky. The village with no name would never have need of one ever again as it was currently burning away, the left-over homes set ablaze by a pair of tired adventurers who with nothing else to do fell into an old argument.
“Hunt!”
“Trapper!”
“Hunt!”
“Trapper!”
“HUNT!”
“TRAPPER!”
They were caught in a tug of war trying to determine, if needed for whatever reason, who would change their name to match the other. Both had cause to hold onto their own name as they had grown accustomed to the moniker and were equally unwilling to bend much to their driver’s chagrin. After completely eliminating the bandit gang the duo set about cleaning up the mess they had caused. They quickly realized they were far too tired to bother with any of that and decided to gather up what bits and pieces they could of the ruffians, stick them in a big enough house and then burn the sucker down. After committing one act of arson, they made a game out of igniting the remaining homes and buildings. Luckily the gang had lots of alcohol on hand for some easy homemade Molotov cocktails. It took less than an hour to turn the shambling town into a raging inferno, the pretty colours and satisfying smell of wood burning a nice finale to a whirlwind of a day.
With their desire for pyromania satiated, the duo left the soon to be no more village. They immediately went in search of a river to wash off the filth they had accumulated although Valerie would require either a new set of armour or a thorough deep clean to get out all the stains. Luckily, she knew two diminutive business owners who would be happy to help in either case. After cleaning up as best they could and downing their remaining healing potions, the pair of adventurers appeared in much better shape which was good as they encountered a passing farmer with his own horse drawn cart. He claimed to see the smokestack and approached to try and get a better look or see if anyone was in trouble. After flashing a little of the bandits pilfered coin however he quickly halted any investigations and instead took to ferrying the battered and bruised adventurers from the far reaches of the kingdom. He was beginning to regret that decision however as his passengers were ceaseless in their arguing.
“Being a Trapper is way better than being a Hunt! It sounds rude!”
The smaller of the two stated.
“Uh no it doesn’t? Lots of people go by Hunt or Hunter, it’s very common. Name me one other person with the name ‘Trapper’!”
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The taller one shot back adding air quotes to the less desirable last name. Offended, Samantha stood up in the back of the cart with her hands on her hips and righteous indignation fuelling her.
“Um, you?! When I get it through your thick skull that being Valerie Trapper is one hundred times better!”
Valerie too stood up towering over her partner in crime.
“Not. A. Chance. I would rather change my name to Turd-er first!”
“Oh that is it! You wanna go?! I’ll knock some sense into you right here and now if that’s what it takes!”
“You wish, I beat you when we met, and I’ll beat you now!”
The two girls were about to come to blows when the cart rolled over an easily avoidable stone in the road causing both to fall onto their rumps. Their driver thanked the divine above his deliberate change of course caused the arguing teens to shut up finally. A stalemate formed between the two as they sat back-to-back with their arms crossed completely sure in their own argument’s validity. The trip home might have remained awkwardly silent however Valerie did what all team leaders had to do at one time or another and found a compromise.
“Listen, I am not changing my name and clearly you aren’t changing yours.”
Despite mine being better, she didn’t add.
“So, let’s just agree to disagree and keep our names the same.”
For now, she also didn’t add. Even if she couldn’t convince her today, Valerie was certain she would eventually.
“Mmmmmmmmmmmm okay fine.”
Samantha agreed after a long, drawn-out hum and the two were as thick as thieves once again. Not long after concluding their argument, the pair lay in the back of the open top cart and gazed up at the sky over head drenched in pink-orange hues with the setting sun. Samantha ofcourse quickly fell asleep, her tired mind exhausted from over a weeks’ worth of mental fatigue. Valerie too was on the cusp of slumber, but she forced herself to remain awake as she contemplated her revelation. Some part of her felt she should be ashamed of her actions, but she didn’t really pay attention to this feeling. She carried not an ounce of regret or guilt from the murder spree she enacted. It was just the idea she had to feel shame that was bogging her down, an idea that those around her would be disgusted at her actions. The only problem was, she didn’t care about those people, if they judged or hated her for what she did then that was their problem. She had everyone who mattered right next to her and their opinion was the only one that mattered.
Without any worries about her status in society she could focus on the more important issue at hand, more than ever, she needed to find her uncle and get some truths out of him. The fact her fighting style was perfectly made to combat humans felt far too deliberate to be just a random amalgamation of experience and close calls. When she stopped holding back and used the full power of her class and aspects she expected to still struggle against the older and in some cases stronger bandits, yet she always had a counter, something to overcome the odds. This combined with Harry’s words only made her more curious than ever just who was her uncle and by extension who was she? She lied to herself so many times that she didn’t care about her lineage or where she came from, but the truth was, she did care. If she was part of some family of assassins that was fine in her opinion, it would be hypocritical to hold it against anyone especially now that she was no better. Yet that didn’t explain the secrecy or how she would be able to escape them. If her uncle was trying to avoid the family heritage, then why teach her its techniques anyway? Why he insisted he was her uncle was another matter that puzzled her greatly. She was young enough he could have simply claimed to be her father, maybe he was and just didn’t want the responsibility? She had so many questions for her “uncle” and not enough answers anymore.
A problem for tomorrow however, as the huntress slowly fell into a much-needed slumber, her head resting next Samantha’s own sweetly dreaming noggin. Within that precious little girls head she dreamed a most adorable dream of the end of everything, with her and Valerie as its arbiters. Convincing the beast of the abyss to partner up with her had been challenging especially with the lack of dialogue between the two. One thing that helped clinch the deal was actually Samantha’s prophecy, evidently Peilar also believed in the certain death and so the two made a pact on this eventuality. Samantha would have free reign to summon Peilar as often as she could handle and in exchange the monster would be granted a brief moment of freedom upon her death. How long he would be free and what he would be able to do in that time was beyond his summoner’s knowledge but at that point she would already be gone and didn’t need to care anymore. She knew with all certainly however that he would do his utmost to end everything he saw with every second he had. He would also have all the entertainment he needed as she was sure the greatest hunter to ever live would take immense pleasure in trying to claim the beasts head for herself.
As they slowly rolled down the road heading home, Samantha smiled softly knowing her first and latest best friends would get along like a kingdom on fire.