Chapter 59: 60: What friends do

Fresh lies awake, tossing and turning as the sounds begin to become audible outside. The sounds of tapping. The rain is returning once again. She flips over, looking at the lantern she had made before. It’s set against the wall of her room and her eyes find their way over to the chain-lock on her door, just double-checking again if it’s really closed. Thunder cracks out loudly, shaking the walls and she pulls the blanket up higher. “Why does it always have to start raining at night?” she mutters into the blanket that she’s pulling up above her mouth.

The weather in late spring is very unpredictable here, just as Jubilee had told her. She huddles together beneath the blanket and listens to a wave of dull, droning thunder roll across the midnight sky outside. The deep rumble sounds oddly calming to her, not like the high-pitched cracking and lashing from the last storm. It’s like the booming voice of a kind, old man, some story-teller or some large and friendly gestalt. As she follows the traveling sound, she finds her eyes slowly growing heavy until they finally manage to fall shut. Her vision leaves her, as both it and the echoing thunder leave the world together at the same time.

The night passes without any further excitement, though one time, as she wakes up, she is certain that she hears Jubilee walking around outside, though as she sits up to listen more intently, she hears nothing but the rain tapping against her window. The girl makes a mental note to make some shutters for her and Jubilee’s bedrooms as well and falls back down, back to sleep.

The next day comes, the rain continues.

Fresh sits downstairs, stretching as they eat their dried foods together. Because of the rain, she didn’t want to go outside and find them something more exotic. “I’m telling you, Jubilee! Witches melt if they get wet!”

“Where did you hear that, you goo-brain? I’ve literally seen you with wet clothes, how does that even make sense?!”

Fresh looks down at the bread in her lap, thinking. “Huh… maybe I’m a different kind of witch.” Though… she rubs her head. Maybe that was just stuff from her old life.

“You’re a different kind of something alright,” says Jubilee, yawning.

“Didn’t you get much sleep last night?” asks Fresh, taking a bite.

Jubilee groans. “Well, we came home late and then the storm kept me up.”

Fresh turns around, looking at the counter which she is leaning against. “Are you scared of vampires too?”

“What? No, I’m not scared of vampires.”

Fresh thinks, tapping her chin. “If you get scared, you can come to my room.” “NOTACREEP-!” she hastily adds on to the end.

Jubilee sighs.

The two of them finish eating in silence, listening to the falling rain. Fresh eventually breaks the quiet and tells Jubilee of her plan to make shutters for their rooms too, asking for permission to enter their room again, to which they reluctantly agree.

The day begins and Fresh can’t help but feel just a teensy, tiny bit sharper today. Even though she could have also done with a couple of hours more sleep. Jubilee is running the store downstairs alone, since the rain is keeping their customers either in their homes or in the dungeon for now. So she instead sets to work, grabbing the materials from the pantry and then heading to Jubilee’s room first.

Opening the door, she looks inside the dark room and walks across it to open the curtains in order to let some light inside, in what is likely the first time in a very long time. Looking back behind herself, she realizes that this is the first time she’s seen Jubilee’s room with some light. Fresh tilts her head, realizing that it looks the same as it does when it’s dark.

Dingy and dirty.

The bed is unmade and looks like it was tossed and turned in over and over and over again. Fresh frowns, Jubilee never seems to make their bed. Looking down, she looks at the mirror shards that have been laying here this entire time as well, scattered over the floor.

“How long have these been laying here?” she mumbles to herself. They were here when she arrived. Judging by the thick coating of dust on top of the broken glass, they had been there for longer than that though. She puffs out her cheek. This obviously won’t do anymore. What if Jubilee falls out of bed onto the glass? What if they get up to open the window and step on some?

Fresh walks back downstairs, grabbing the broom from behind the counter.

“Jubilee, I’m going to clean your room!” she calls back, halfway up the stairs.

“You’re what?” Jubilee points at her, stuck in the middle of a sale. “Don’t you dare!”

Fresh sticks out her tongue and runs up the stairs, knowing that Jubilee is too busy with the customer to stop her. “Bleeeeh~!”

Running back into their room, she starts sweeping the glass together into a pile. Looking down at it, she looks back towards the broken mirror for a moment. The thought of repairing it comes to her. She could probably just stick the leg of the mirror in the pot and use the spell. But…

She feels like that would be overstepping her bounds, somehow. Jubilee probably wouldn’t appreciate that. Instead, she simply finishes sweeping the floor. Though, that is easier said than done, as half of the work is picking up old clothes and setting them to the side. The occasional Obol is scattered around the floor as well and she puts them all on top of the dresser, next to the dried flower. If only as a symbolic gesture. She wants Jubilee to know that she saw it. Fresh turns to make the bed. She does however take the effort of changing Jubilee’s bedsheets, grabbing some fresh ones from the messy pile inside of the dresser. She can’t help but wonder if these old sheets had been here even longer than the glass had been, as she throws them, with a grossed-out expression, to the side.

Her expression widens as she looks down at the mattress below, that is so deeply flecked and stained with dark, rusty stains of old blood from top to bottom, that the top layer of fabric looks disgustingly crunchy.

“Ewwww! Jubileee~” squeaks Fresh to herself, waving her hands around in disgust and doing an odd dance.

Fresh composes herself. This is for her friend, she has to be strong for Jubilee. Adventuring is dirty work, after all. So a little blood is to be expected, right? Looking out of the window, Fresh nods to herself and runs back outside, grabbing her bag.

“Jubilee! I’ll be right back! I’m buying you a new mattress!” Jubilee doesn’t have time to look up and over the counter, before Fresh is already out the door and running through the rain towards the tailor.

A few minutes later, she’s standing inside of the creepy tailor’s store. She can’t help but notice that she seemed to have scared the mannequins with her sudden barging in, as many of them are stuck frozen, in half-jumping and twitching positions, facing the door in shock. The long, thin man with the strange face nods as he puffs on his pipe and slams his ledger shut, as they finish their conversation.

“I need it right away, please! It’s uh…”

The tailor nods. “We know what size your friend’s bed is.”

Fresh smiles in relief and slides the coins across the counter. “Thank you, you’re the best!”

The tailor nods. “I know.”

Bought:

1 [Double Mattress]{Flower-Fiber and Harpy Feather Blend(Medium Softness)}

for

[{600} Obols] !

By the time Fresh gets back to the store, she’s drenched from the rain and runs into Jubilee, standing there with crossed arms. “You know? Some people might say that you’ve gone too far. But me? I’m calm. Collected -” Their leather gloves creak as they clench their fists in clear anger.

“Mm!” says Fresh, agreeing with Jubilee, who clearly wasn’t finished talking and shakes her head to get the wet out of it. She stops, her eyes opening wide as she realizes. “Jubilee!” The girl falls to her knees. “I’m meeeeltiiing~” she calls dramatically.

Jubilee tilts their head, waving out their hands outward to get the water off of themselves, that she had splashed everywhere.

Fresh opens an eye, looking to see if Jubilee had fallen for her theatrics. Jubilee just stands there as before, their arms crossed again and their eyes even more annoyed than a second ago. Her scheme has failed. Fresh frowns and sighs, lowering her arms. “Jubileeee~?”

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“Yes?” asks Jubilee, more than annoyed.

“I’m not going to say I’m sorry, because I’m not.” Fresh looks up at Jubilee, her eyes not wavering as she clenches her fists, rising back up to her feet. “Your mattress was gross!” She points at Jubilee with an accusing finger. “GROSS!”

Jubilee plants their hands on their hips. “What my mattress is, is none of your business. Creep!”

“Ju-bi-lee~” says Fresh, leaning in with every syllable. “Say ‘what.’”

Jubilee looks at her, lost and frustrated. “…What?”

“What?” mimics Fresh, puffing out her cheeks to make a weird face.

“What?” shrugs Jubilee, annoyed.

“- Chicken-butt!” Fresh jumps up, running past Jubilee who grabs after her, trying to catch her.

“Get back here!” yells Jubilee after Fresh and runs after her, chasing her towards the stairs.

“No!” cries Fresh, yelping as she stumbles forward onto the stairs, as a pair of hands grip her ankle. “Ah! Let go! Don’t eat me! Jubileeeeeee~!”

Jubilee yells. “As if! I’d rather eat a goblin! You probably taste like wet coins and snail shit!”

“You’re so mean! Jubileeeeee~!”

A voice coughs and both of them turn to look at the door where Basil is standing. “Is this a bad time?” asks the priestess nervously.

Fresh waves, pulling her leg free and standing back up. “Hi, Basil!”

Jubilee scowls up at Fresh, but relents, given that they aren’t alone anymore. “Hey. So?” asks Jubilee dryly.

Basil walks forward, looking somewhat haggard, but oddly energetic at the same time. “I’ve spoken to my mother-superior and gotten her blessing to work for you, outside of my hours at the church, instead of going into the dungeon.”

“That’s great!” says Fresh.

Basil nods, smiling. “If your offer still stands, I’d like to accept it.”

Fresh and Jubilee look to each other and nod, coming to a truce, for now. Jubilee turns back towards Basil. “Great. You’re in, starting right now.” Basil lights up, watching as Jubilee raises a finger to point up to Fresh. “Your first job is to heal her brain-damage.”

Fresh clears her throat. “Actually -” She raises a finger, waving it at Jubilee and winks. “As the party-leader, I’ve decided that Jubilee is going to teach you to run the counter.”

Jubilee narrows their eyes. “As if - !”

Fresh turns around and runs up the stairs, interrupting Jubilee before they can finish. “- I have some work to do, see you in a bit!” The girl runs through the upstairs door, closing it behind herself before Jubilee can stop her. Smiling, having won this time, she goes to finish making Jubilee’s new bed and then sets to work with her original task of making the shutters for both of their rooms.

Jubilee might be mad at her for invading their privacy, just a little, but she’s willing to make that sacrifice if it helps their overall well being. “Sometimes friends have to be a little mean too,” says Fresh, nodding in conflicted-satisfaction, as she looks at the finished shutters and her gaze wanders over to the dried flower on the dresser.

Razmatazz

1) As promised, the Patreon has been revamped =)

2) The night of April 30th is Walpurgisnacht!

Trivia - Walpurgisnacht

Walpurgisnacht, also known as the Hexennacht (Witch's Night) is the night that witches are said to gather together and hold a great celebration in preparation for the shift of seasons. Witches gather on the highest peak of the Harz mountain-range and throw a wild party together with the Devil himself. This celebration of the shift of seasons can be found in other contexts as well. For example the 1st of May is was often celebrated all over Europe from Finnland to Rome. This is related to the concept of 'May Day', which you might have heard before. 

Walpurgisnacht is held on the same night as Saint Walpurga’s Night, which is a christian celebration of Saint Walpurga that celebrates her canonization. Saint Walpurga was venerated because of her creation of a holy, healing oil. (Remember our Trivia about witches and medicinal home remedies?) Saint Walpurga is celebrated especially for her fighting against both rabies and the whooping cough and ironically, against witchcraft.

Furthermore, Saint Walpurga is often held to be the very first female author of both England and Germany! Given her extensive writings in Latin.

Getting back to Walpurgisnacht though, the tradition varies somewhat from country to country but is found in some form all throughout every Germanic country. Have you ever seen the classical depiction of witches dancing around a fire? That’s Walpurgisnacht right there. You might have noticed by now how odd it is that these two holidays with opposite contexts share the same night. Well, in original Germanic esoteric history, Walpurgisnacht finds its its roots in pagan rituals and holidays, stemming from the original beliefs of the Germanic peoples and then intermingling with other concepts such as the May Day.

After the spread of the christian church, the holiday was swallowed up and twisted around as it was so often done by Christianity in Europe and the meaning shifted from the original proto-Germanic beliefs to one that fit the christian narrative more thoroughly. However, the original holiday has managed to survive and is still celebrated regularly by large percentages of European populations who still carry on the traditions to this day. In fact, likely more so than 'Walpurga's night' =)

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