[Mkguild] Life As We Know It Pt. I

[Jack Moore]

AN: This story took too long, a whole month to finish.  But it's ready.

Life as We Know It
'I’ve been here before.' Chamomile opened her eyes. 'I know this street.
Was I here in the Yule? Did I get that far?'
It was night. Above Chamomile were clouds, there was a feeling in the air
of a storm coming. It would rain very soon. Chamomile welcomed it. 'Maybe
if I stared into the sky with my mouth open, I’d eventually drown.'
Another day lead to another round of testing. And another round of testing
lead to another failure. Every failure broke down her will a little more.
She didn’t know when she’d give out. What she did know was until then she’d
keep working.
A Corgi passed by, bumping against her shoulder. That briefly snapped
Chamomile out of her stupor.
"Uh excuse me sir—" The corgi turned around, her skirt spinning as she
did.  Chamomile swallowed. "Err, ma’am. Sorry I’m still new here and I was
hoping to ask you something." The corgi raised an…eye ridge (You can’t
really have eyebrows when your face is covered in fur). Chamomile swallowed.
"I was uh hoping to ask about-uh about your curse-cursing-cursed state."
She swallowed again. "Uh about how you ended up in this situation, how long
you had been curse." The Corgi's ears pulled back and her fur bristled.
"Lady I’m busy. Ask someone else."
"No wait!" Chamomile stammered as the Corgi turned. "I-you have thick fur,
I have to ask you!" An answer only someone severely sleep deprived would
give. The Corgi turned and started walking. "Can I please have a wad of
your fur!" Now she started running. Chamomile sighed.
"Too many days and nights like this." Chamomile sat down against the side
of a building. "That was so dumb Cham, that was so dumb." She rubbed her
aching temples. "When was the last time I slept?"
'Not since Blackhorne Keep.' Chamomile’s keep, not returned too for so
long. Her memories, fractured and shifting, pushed into her mind despite
her best attempts to keep them at bay. 'And now I can silence them. I know
I can do it. But I have to keep working. If I quit now, it’s all over'. A
smile settled over Chamomile’s face. 'I can fix everything. I can fix the
past.'
"No fur today?" Chamomile stood up slowly, shaking her head. "No surprise.
People don’t like ya asking for their fur."
"I can’t help what I need." Chamomile mumbled. "I need fur samples." She
stumbled over to the speaker, an older Tapir male. His name was Valez and
he was missing both of his legs. He sat on a stool with a Nine Men’s Morris
board between him and another stool. "I have to do this." She collapsed in
the empty seat.
"You are asking complete strangers when they got cursed and then asking
them to give you hair." Valez said. "What do you expect them to do?"
Chamomile shrugged.
"I expect them to open their minds. Everything I do I do for them." Valez
didn’t know what she meant by that. In all honesty that was for the best.
"I don’t know how much longer I can do this." Chamomile mumbled.
"You need to sleep more, or play more games." Valez said. "I’ve got the
board set up if you would like." Chamomile honestly would have liked to do
anything else in the world. Including jumping off of the top of the Keep.
But she agreed to his request.
Soon the eighteen pieces were all set up. Chamomile formed a mill early on,
but that was her only victory in the game. Her mind couldn’t focus, instead
it went two different directions. First back to the Inn, where her
experiments waited.
'And back to that day.' She shuddered. 'Why-why did I agree to that?'
Because when Nasoj marched on Blackhorne she had seen something in him.
'Order. This was the man who would order the world.'
One mistake. Chamomile missed an easy mill, allowing Valez to capture. She
didn’t notice. I’ve made one mistake and now I have to pay for it. This
experiment has to work…or else…
"And that leaves you with two men." Valez said. "In short, I win."
Chamomile looked up, but didn’t seem to comprehend. She nodded slowly.
"Sorry. My mind is…else where."
"I noticed." Valez said. "Usually you defeat me in this. I don’t
understand, what’s on your mind?"
"The end result of a thousand sleepless nights." Chamomile mumbled. "I just
need to finish my work. Then I can sleep again." She looked down at the
board. Eight white pieces against her two black pieces. I relate to this
too much.
"Chams, I’ve played six games with you over the last nine days since you
arrived." Valez said. "I’ve learned never to ask what a stranger’s business
is, but I’m kinda worried. Today you’ve been even more crazy than usual."
"Thanks." Chamomile said. "I appreciate being called crazy." She took one
of the black pieces off of the board, leaving just one. "How often do you
feel surrounded?"
"Excuse me?"
"Surrounded. Like you’re one voice in a crowd, working towards an
impossible end. Everyone wants to stop you."
"Never." Valez said. "The gods are on my side. I got nothing to worry
about." Chamomile rolled her eyes.
"I’ve got everyone against me. The entire Keep, the forces of the
universe…" Nasoj and his forces. "And that’s why I’m here. I have to fix
everything. Some how." Valez nodded.
"What are you here to try and fix?" Valez asked. "I mean, if you want to
share. I’d love to hear about it."
"I’m afraid not." Chamomile said, standing up. "It’s getting late, I think
I need to get some sleep." Valez grabbed her arm.
"Wait." The tapir looked concerned. "I’m sorry to pry, but you’ve been nice
enough to play Morris with me. You will be okay, right?" Chamomile forced a
smile.
"I will be okay. I’m not planning on quitting any time soon." She shook
Valez arm off and began the trek back to her room. I have to do something,
I have to fix my mistakes…before this week ends I will fix my mistakes…
"Or I will die." Chamomile whispered. "I will die." Her shoulders somehow
slumped further. Still she pressed on until she returned to her quiet Inn
room.
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