Trinket walked across the colorful stone, her feet splashing slightly in the prismatic water that sprayed across the shoreline. Wanderings had brought her here, but this was a boring place. Colors weren't interesting, even when there were so many colors in one place.
Perhaps without meaning to, her feet strode along the deepest red tracks of stone. The water lapping across the stone stained her feet blood red. She dragged her doll along behind her, its porcelain feet bumping into small blood red rocks, sending them skittering across the shores. The sunlight reflecting off the red waters reflected on the doll's face, obscuring the old, dried bloodstain that covered one of the doll's eyes.
Trinket stopped, standing in ankle-deep water. The waters were cold, but she wasn't interested in the cold. She was aware of it, but nothing more.
Empty shores were boring. Colorful rocks and waves were boring.
She turned towards the bridge that would lead back to the city. Perhaps, she thought, she might find someone along the way to play with...
During the last time Freya had ventured out to this place, she had found a lot of interesting things that couldnt be found elsewhere in from of plants. PLants that were able to cure if mixed correctly, or kill if lacking the understanding of them or noble intentions. Regardless of their lethality, in Freya's mind the benefits outweighed the negatives and soe she ventured out, once more towards teh rainbow road in order to gather a few of them.
Sure enough it wouldnt take long for her to actually reach the rainbow road, but once she was there she couldnt help bot to perceive a silhouette in the distance that reminded her of someone. Someone that had nearly ruined a few people's days. Sighing internally and walking over to the girl with slow and steady steps, she would think about what to do now. Was Trinket lost? Or was she looking for another of her little games that usually made other people suffer. Regardless of teh actual answer, Freya would be the only playmate here, seeing how, at least not yet, there wasnt anyone else there.
Trinket turned towards the approaching woman. She might have smiled at seeing a familiar face. But she didn't. She merely watched the woman, curious as to what brought her here.
She held her doll against her chest with one arm. When the woman moved closer, Trinket looked up, unblinking, into the woman's eyes.
"Do you want to play another game?" she asked by way of greeting. This woman had been fun to play with. The rainbow road had been boring before she turned up. But maybe they could play together and make things more interesting.
She stood silent, awaiting the woman's response. Not a single muscle in her body moved, not a single twitch touched her face. She simply stood as still and silent as a doll, her pale skin nearly matching the porcelain face of the doll she held.
If the doll moved, it was so subtle as to nearly miss it. But it, too, stared at the woman, its glassy black eyes a match for Trinket's own.
Both waited, girl and doll, ready to find a new game to play.
Sighing internally upon confirming that indeed it was the one and only Trinket, Freya thought about the options in her head and counted them down. One was to leave, which seemed liek the most reasonable one, and given that she didnt even liked the girl in front of her, it was the one that made the most sense. After all, the girl was nothing more then trouble or rather had been nothing more then it so far, as seen with all the poor people near the dock. But at the same time, Freya couldnt help but to feel compassion for her. After all, traveling alone was dangerous, even moreso for children. It was her duty to protect her for the time being and she might as well interact in her games. After all, while they were bothersome to say the least, they still were training, and enough of it to actually show progress on her. On top of that, it was a nice thing to do, for someone that Freya didnt like.
"Well, yeah but under one condition" Freya finally would give out, before explaining: "YOu just have to answer 3 questions to me. Dont worry about them, they are easy. Firstly... have you eaten already? Secondly, where are you headed to, and lastly, do you have at least a sleeping bag and something to eat for you with you for your journey?"
After all, if she decided to stay, she might as well make sure that Trinket was well-fed and prepared for her travels.
Trinket tilted her head to the side, considering the questions. After a long moment, she gave the tiniest of nods. "We can play the question game. You have to answer my questions, too."
"I ate awhile ago," Trinket said in reply to the first question. "I'm not hungry."
She couldn't remember exactly how long ago she had eaten, but her stomach wasn't protesting yet, so food was the furthest thing from her mind.
"I was headed to here," she said matter-of-factly. "I'm here now, with you. So I'm not headed anywhere now."
"I don't have a sleeping bag or something to eat."
At a glance, it would become clear that Trinket had almost nothing in her possession. Just a simple, black dress, starting to fade to gray and showing wear around the hems. And her doll, held in her arms, which continued to stare relentlessly at Freya. She had nothing else--no shoes, no coat, no pack of supplies.
"My turn," Trinket said. "Three questions. Why do you want to know if I have a sleeping bag? Why do you want to know if I've had anything to eat? Why do you want to know where I was headed to?"
She waited for the woman's response, while considering what more interesting questions she might have. Though she always did like asking "why?"
"Question game huh? That sounds..." Freya would start, thinking about it for a few seconds before adding: "... pretty good and fair. Shoot!"
With that, The answer round was opened and while Trinket rattled down her answers to the questions given, Freya would listen in closely and nod from time to time up to when the last answer came and Trinket said that she didnt even have a sleeping bag or food rations with her. With her face seemingly becoming softer, she knew that she wouldnt leave a child out here, sleeping on rocks and with nothing to eat. Even moreso, her attire didnt seem to particualrely good to begin with. Maybe Freya could trick trinket into accepting and actually using a few gifts designed to make traveling distances by foot easier, such as shoes for example. Regardless of that, it was Freya's turn to answer now and while she already had braced herself against some nasty questions, she was quite pleasantly surprised once she heard how simpe the questions were, seeing how they literally were nothing more then the other questions counter parts directed back at her.
Starting with a small shigh, Freya would begin to explain: "You know i still remember that you travel without parents so i thoughts its good if someone is checking up on you, how you are holding up and if you are well, you know? Eating well is one thing. Goign somewhere far might be dangerous. and sleeping on the rocks here certainly isnt healthy or nice. You could catch some nasty parasites or worse. I wouldnt like that to happen, you know? Now is my turn though. Why did you go out here?"
It was time to to return the "why" to the one that used it first.
Trinket considered the responses. She didn't think it was particularly dangerous here, but for some strange reason, grown ups always seemed to think she shouldn't be anywhere by herself. Curious.
"I came out here to see what is out here," Trinket said. "I've never been here before. It isn't very interesting, though. Just a lot of color."
She considered the woman before her. The first question that she thought of wasn't very interesting, but she was still curious to know. "Why did you come out here?"
But as she thought about it more and more, another question came to mind. One that seemed to ring curiously with everyone she met lately. She was interested to know the woman's response.
Her tone no different than with her earlier question, Trinket simply asked, "Have you ever killed anyone?"
"You know, that color is kinda interesting though. After all, its nowhere else like that, right? And if something isnt found anywhere else, its rare and the exception. Exceptions always are interesting.", Freya would answer. After all, Freya could understand if Trinket wasnt impressed by the colors and their visual display, but at least there should have been some kind of interest as of why they were like this. To her knowledge, it could be anything, even something dangerous, so common sense dictated to be wary about things like those.
"Well, i am trying to find new things i can put in my satchel or my book. I make potions and the likes and havent been too many times here before. Though even if i dont find anything, its likely gonna be a nice enough walk"
Freya would answer next. While her face remained happy, her eyes were giving away that something was wandering through the back of her head that wasnt to pleasureable then just having a walk. Trinket seemingly seemed to know and hit the nail on the head with her next question. Freezing slightly, Freya would be thinking if she shoud lie. A question that would be answered with a "no". After all, Freya was a woman of her word and even if Trinket was small, Freya wouldnt break her word to her. Pausing a few more seconds, she finally would slowly begin to asnwer with an uncertain look on her face.
"To be entirely honest, i dont know. I... I hurt someone a lot, to the extend that I-... they might have died if they didnt manage to help themselfes..." Pausing for a few more seconds, Freya would stare at Trinket before she would wonder, why this kind of question came up exactly. "Why do you ask that? Did you kill someone before?"
While Freya doubted that Trinket would go as far as to kill someone, she at least knew that the girl in front of her was more then willing to ruin peoples days so maybe once an accident happened or the likes.
"I haven't killed anyone. Yet."
Trinket paused for a moment.
"Someone is going to try to kill me," she said. "So I'm going to have to kill them first in order to win the game. I might use an axe to split their head open. That's what axes are for. That, and chopping wood, but chopping wood is boring."
"Who did you hurt?" Trinket asked without missing a beat. She studied the woman in front of her. She didn't look like someone who was good at the killing game, but maybe she was. "Why did you hurt them? How did you hurt them? I bet you could make some poisons. Poisons and potions are basically the same thing. One cures and the other kills."
"Ah. Thats good i guess..." Frey would answer, unsure how to propperly reply. After all, on one hand she wanted to tell Trinket that killing ws bad and that she should strife to not harm anything thinking, but then again, she neither belived that Trinket would stop her games, nor was she in a position to talk about something like that in such a way. After all, she had done more harm then Trinket to someone yet.
"I guess so. How do you know that someone will come to kill you anyways? You know, normally people dont have such enemies."
By the time the question came up, Freya would answer truthfully with a bit of a thoughtful voice: "I honestly dont know. All i know is that he followed me for days and one day got too close to me. I mean, he was armed so i think i wsa in the right. I just took his sword and sent it through his chest, you know? But i dont know if they died. I just wanted to get away from there. Besides that, even my potions are poisonous. Often the thread between life and death is very slim and stepping over it, is a fatal mistake."
"I know someone is going to kill me because someone told me so," Trinket said matter-of-factly. "And someone told me that if I don't want to die, I have to kill them first. So I need to practice so I'm ready for that. That's how you win the game."
"Why would someone follow you for days?" Trinket asked, tilting her head to the side. "That doesn't sound like a very fun game. Following people is boring."
She held her doll against her chest, thinking it over. She studied the woman in front of her, her dark, glassy eyes boring into Freya's. She was an interesting person. Trinket liked interesting people. But she didn't think she would follow Freya for days and days. That would be boring.
Finally, she asked, "Was he trying to kill you? If he was trying to kill you, and you killed him first, that means you won the game."
Lowering herself slightly to have her eye level on trickets, Freya would ask in a more empathic voice: "Who told you that, Hun? You know, if we stick together, we might be able to protect each other. I wouldnt let someone come and kill you just like that."
I dont know why they followed me. Maybe they were trying to rob me. Maybe they wanted to kill me. Or maybe they wanted to ltake me away. But i didnt let them do that. I couldnt. Its not a game to do something like that." Freya would answer after she had made her statement.
Now however, it was her turn to ask again. As such she began: "Whats it with your wanting to play games all the time by the way? And aside of that, where did you get that puppet from? What does it mean to you?"
Trinket paused for a long moment to consider the woman's words. She stood silently, not a muscle twitching, as thoughts tumbled around in her head. The only movement was the slight rustling of her hair in the wind, the only sound the light lapping of water against her feet.
Finally, she said, "Lots of people told me someone will try to kill me. Why would you want to protect me? I go lots of places. You'd have to go lots of places to protect me wherever I go."
"I like to play games because games are fun. Most people are boring. They do the same thing every day. Get up. Go to work. Eat. Work. Sleep. Do it all again tomorrow. That's boring."
She gave the tiniest of nods. "When I play games with people, their day gets to be interesting. They get to have a day they'll never forget."
When Freya asked about the doll, Trinket held her up with two outstretched arms. "She's not a puppet. She's my friend. What she means to me is that she likes to play."
The doll stared at Freya with its glassy, unblinking eyes, one eye still covered with an old, dried bloodstain.
The doll gave the tiniest of nods.
"Well, i cant protect you everywhere, but it might be good. Who knows, maybe there are people along the road that just need a helping hand. Protect you and help others. Its like hitting 2 birds with one stone", freya would give out with a smile, before continuing: "Yeah. Some people like to have a certain structure in their lifes, you know? Something they can rely on being the same every day. Makes one feel secure, you know?"
Waiting for a few seconds, after freya formed a comment in her head, she would stay quiet when Trinket showed off her puppet propperly. Letting her eyes wander over it, she would notice how it actually seemed to nod. But seeing how she literally had met a god before, this wasnt too weird either. "So she tells you that she likes to play, huh?, Freya would give out afterwards before adding up: "Hows that? Do you two talk?"
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