Lazare sighed heavily. Emilia was definitely making things harder than they needed to be. They would try one more time to get her to read the letter, and then they'd just have to appear. It would probably scare her a bit, but it had to be done. The letter disappeared from the table and reappeared in the flowers. They also added "Urgent" in bright red script on the outside of the letter. Maybe that would get her to open it. Lazare, still invisible, followed her back to another room and hovered in the doorway, watching to see if Emilia opened the letter. By now, they really weren't optimistic about that happening, though. She'd already ignored it twice… this love story didn't seem like it would be happening at all.
Emilia brushed her hands off onto her skirt, then went to pull out her drawing pad.
The letter was back again, in her flower arrangement. This time with the bolded words ‘Urgent’.
She blinked, pinched her arm, and reluctantly picked up the letter. She was for sure hallucinating at this point, so what was the protocol for this? Was she supposed to throw the letter out?
She’d have to remove the letter anyway, but she didn’t want to ruin the flowers. It wouldn’t have been perfect in the first place, so she grabbed the letter and stuck it under her heel.
“You’d better stay now …” she muttered.
Lazare watched with excitement as Emilia picked up the letter, only for those dreams to be crushed under her heel. They heaved another great sigh. It didn't seem like she would be doing anything to do with the letter for a long time, and they simply couldn't wait that long. With a snap of their fingers, Lazare appeared in the doorway.
"How many times will I have to make that letter appear under your nose for you to actually look at it?" They asked, their voice colored with a tiny bit of impatience. To make the best impression, they were dressed quite fancy, with their favorite dangly earrings and a pair of tall heels to make up for their lack of height. Lazare crossed their arms over their chest and stared at Emilia. Hopefully, she wouldn't attack them or scream or anything like that. That would not be a fun time.
There was definitely someone in her apartment now, how or why was very indefinite.
“Are you kidding me …?” By now, Emilia was pretty sure the only protocol there was, was to die. If anything, she was asleep or kidnapped and this was a dream. Either that, or she’d done something to anger the heavens.
There was also the possibility of protocol being that she’d have to confront the … problem?
“Um … can I help you?”
Better to try and wake up every other way first. Why was this letter that important anyway? At least she knew is wasn’t from her aunt.
"You could have helped me by opening that letter, but it's too late now," Lazare answered, their mouth turned down into a little pout. "If you had opened it and read it, you would have found out that you have been chosen by the gods to go on a magical quest of the utmost importance." They grinned. "So congratulations, Emilia Vantress. You are the chosen one." Okay, they were laying it on a bit thick. There was no chosen one, and really, no need of one. Everything was going pretty nicely, except for one thing. After a huge amount of research, Lazare had discovered someone that could possibly be considered a supervillain. And if Emilia accepted the quest– which she had to– then they would get to go with her to take down this terrible evil (read: minor annoyance). And she would see how wonderful they were, and everything would be perfect.
Emilia blinked.
“Uh … I don’t think so. Pretty sure you’ve got the wrong Emilia Vantress here.”
When she pinched her arm, she had definitely felt it. One of the other options were to try and ignore it … right? Was that even how hallucinations worked? She could try sleeping here, maybe, and then she’d wake up that way. That didn’t seem right though.
At this point she hoped they’d just go away, whoever they were. She could feel her streak of inspiration and motivation slowly floating past her fingertips.
She turned back to her drawing pad. She probably shouldn’t think about this too much, though she did have quite a few questions. If she waited long enough, she might wake up. Time in dreams was always a little different, but it would pass quickly.
"Hmm, no, sorry. You are the one and only." Lazare shrugged and took a few steps into the room. "So…" They drew the word out, twisting a lock of hair around their finger. "What can I do to convince you that you are the chosen one? I mean, you already have a god appearing in your apartment. What else do you need?" They asked, waving their hand. A cup of iced coffee appeared in their hand and they took a sip, still staring at Emilia. A plan B hadn't exactly come to mind– they hadn't thought that she would hesitate so much. But it was probably a good thing she was a little cautious… actually, no, it was terrible. This was not going to plan. Then again, it happened a lot. Any plan Lazare made usually didn't work. A small part of their mind had anticipated this happening, but they'd chosen to ignore it.
She glanced back, “I don’t know what I’ve done to upset the heavens, but I think leaving on an adventure to an unnecessary death will never be on my bucket list. Sure, I’d love an adventure but one with some random self-proclaimed god, no context, most likely created out of a hallucination, and probably a higher mortality rate … no thanks.”
This was beginning to seem more like a joke now. Did her florist put something in the flowers? Did she do anything out of the ordinary today? She’d for sure made a few mistakes in her life, but not enough to have the gods take it out on her. What kind of chosen one quest would even exist in the modern day?
"It wouldn't be necessary. And you won't die, I guarantee it," Lazare said seriously, taking another sip of their iced coffee. "And seriously, you don't know me? I mean…" They gestured at their face, with the strange lime-green eyes and sparkly freckles. "I'm kinda unique." Lazare really hoped she knew about them… or actually, maybe not. The stories never really painted them in the best light, but they always tried to edit them a bit before sending them off to the public. So they reflected the truth, of course. "I promise you. The world needs you, Emilia." Of course, in this instance, 'the world' actually translated to 'Lazare'. But she didn't need to know that.
“Right … Yeah, I’m not buying it.”
Everyone out there looked different so it wasn’t like she’d remember anything that special. The dots were starting connect a bit, but the gods weren’t exactly in her top priorities.
“I’m sure there are plenty of better candidates out there to be this ‘chosen one’. You probably don’t really need me to fix the problem anyway, right?”
Emilia just hoped by now, that her memory would be wiped clean and that she’d be left alone. The day was going so well, and now she was supposed to up and leave to save the world? It wasn’t worth it to her either- to save a the worlds people. Her streak was as good as gone now.
Lazare listened to her totally reject them with growing disappointment. "I assure you, darling, you are the one and only chosen one. It's in the name." They shrugged and took a few small steps towards her. "Now, I don't know how much you watch the news, but I'm sure everyone has at least heard about Crin Marchesi." Yes, that was their big evil villain. A little weak, but powerful enough to be a real problem. She had been amassing an army and was threatening to overthrow the nearest ruler. Lazare wouldn't have even looked in her direction of she didn't own a magical, very powerful skull. "Well, she is going to, you know, murder a bunch of innocent people and take over the world if someone doesn't stop her. And you are that someone."
Emilia shrugged, “It does seem like something that could happen … but I still don’t see the need for me to go.”
This was very fishy. Some weirdo god, who seemed kind of familiar, just randomly showed up and told her to save a bunch of random people. She probably would be a pretty useless chosen one, and it wasn’t exactly like she deeply cared about this world’s people anyway.
She couldn’t think of some horrible crime she’d committed that was worth enough to be forced to save the world. So, there wasn’t exactly that much to try and convince her to do that. Especially the her day had been going so well, there would be a slim chance she’d go try and stop Crin. What would there be to do anyway? Though she probably wouldn’t get to know anything else unless she accepted this quest.
This was not working. Lazare needed to think of something quick, but their mind was blanking. What could they say to get her to listen to them? It didn't seem like there was anything else they could do. Her mind seemed made up. Time to reveal another part of the plan, though based on how the plan was going so far, the possibility of it working was slim at best. "Well, you see, Crin has this magical skull. It kinda gives her all this power– not good. And there's one thing that will combat the power of that skull. But a god can't wield it for stupid reasons. Only you can." That wasn't totally true– someone other than Emilia could wield it. But Lazare couldn't. And it was actually the only that that could destroy the skull. Maybe pleading for her help would work. If not… everything was over for them.
“Right~ … that seems totally legit,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “That is 100% happening. Yeah … but no? You’re probably just here because you can’t solve the problem yourself, right?”
At the very least, she got to learn about some more fake news. There was no way any of this was true, and she still didn’t want to help out some rando’ who broke into her apartment. Emilia had no reason to go with this person, and it would probably be better if they got someone to betray Crin … if this was even true at all. It makes sense to see someone as an enemy, but to find some other random person such as herself to help … no sense at all.
"It wouldn't be sensible for me to help out some rando' who broke into my apartment either."
"Well, of course I can't solve it! Do I look like the chosen one?" Lazare asked, gesturing at themself. "No, I do not. Because the chosen one is you." They stared at Emilia, eyes narrowed slightly. It appeared that their hopes and dreams were crushed. Life was meaningless and nothing mattered anymore. Their eyebrows shot up at her last sentence, however. "Okay, first of all, I'm not some 'rando'. My name is Lazare. I'm sure you've heard it." Lazare dropped their iced coffee and it disappeared with a pop. "Second of all, I didn't break into your apartment. Check all the locks, they're perfect. I simply… appeared in your apartment because I need your help. Technically, it wasn't breaking in." They shrugged. "But fine, be sensible. Being sensible is never any fun. You miss out on all the fun stuff that comes with just living." Lazare sighed dramatically and turned towards the door. "And if you don't believe me about the whole skull thing, try researching 'The Skull of Finlai'."
“Yeah, sure …” she muttered under her breath.
What’s their problem?
If that was Lazare, it made a bit more sense. Coming up with some shabby plan like that to tell her she was the chosen, was definitely chaotic. A glittery letter and then trying to argue with her was going to get someone nowhere. She couldn’t trust a god anyway, why would she? She might as well just be one of those ‘innocent people’ who die in Crin’s evil master plan.
There was a whole lot of gaps in this story too. Why would Crin want to rule the world? Why do they need some magic skull to do it? Why was she the ‘chosen one’?
She turned back to look at her flowers. She hoped that her streak would return before they wilted, because even if she was ‘financially stable’, she didn’t want to spend so much money on flowers.
Okay, they'd lost her. Lazare leaned their head back slightly and glared at the ceiling. "I told you guys one of you should have done it." They muttered, not bothering to be quiet about it. "Guess I just need to cross her off the list of chosen ones and go find the next one– oh, wait. There isn't a list." Lazare stopped in the doorway and looked over their shoulder. "If you change your mind and decide to actually believe me, call me." There was a popping sound and Lazare disappeared. A business card appeared in the air where they'd just stood and floated to the ground. Printed on the card was their name, their title (The God of Chaos) and a string of truly magical words to say if anyone wanted to try and summon them. Usually, the card was decorated in large amounts of glitter, but since Emilia didn't seem to like glitter, they'd taken it off.
Emilia nearly sighed with relief after they’d left. Hopefully she’d just be left alone now, since her streak was gone too.
She put her drawing pad down and went to check the time. Turns out, she’d wasted too much time at this point and her aunt had sent her a text. A whole section of her drawing time was gone, so she could just go for a walk now to spend the last bit of time before she’d head out again.
Her aunt wanted her to water the outdoor plants because she wouldn’t be able to. For whatever reason. So, Emilia stepped around the business card that had been left behind, not wanting anything to do with it, and got her shoes out of the closet.
Okay, confession time. Lazare hadn't actually left the apartment, just turned themselves invisible. Sue them, they were curious about whether Emilia would actually take the card or not. And… she didn't. Great. Time to scatter those things all over her apartment. They stepped out of her way and fluttered their fingers. Invisible business cards flew everywhere, slipping into pockets and shoes and under dishes and into corners. They'd turn visible at random points for the rest of time, and stay visible if she ever picked one up. Yes, this was a very bad idea if they wanted her to like them– which they did– but she'd given them no choice. Satisfied that Emilia would never go anywhere without a card, they actually disappeared, reappearing in the nearest park. A snap of their fingers and they were disguised as a normal human, with black hair and dark brown eyes. Lazare collapsed onto a bench and looked around. It was time to take out their feelings on humans they deemed deserving of their wrath.
Emilia finally left her apartment building after removing a couple of business cards from her shoes. She might have slightly angered the heavens by now, but if she just needed clean up a couple of cards … it should be okay.
If she walked a longer path she could probably just spend all her time and then walk to her aunt’s place. One of them at least, where she’d be able to water the plants without leaving the city.
As she thought about it more, it became more and more of a better idea to stay at her aunts tonight. That way she wouldn’t have to walk back, and she didn’t need to worry about ruining the plants because she was in a rush. Her aunt wouldn’t be there either, so she could keep her silence. She also kind of hoped that her apartment wouldn’t be filled with more business cards when she returned. Though, it seemed likely, and she wanted to avoid that.
Lazare was draped across most of the bench, which earned them a few dirty looks. They hadn't found anyone worthy of anything a little malicious, which didn't help their bad mood. Instead, they changed people's hair colors by a few shades and slipped glitter into their bags, purses, and shoes. But that didn't cheer them up. Lazare heaved a huge sigh and summoned themself a cup of iced coffee. They took a mournful sip and added bright pink stripes to the underside of a passing woman's hair. This was getting boring quickly and wasn't helping their sore heart in the least bit. They took another sip and glanced around the park.
Emilia had put on her sunglasses now too, to hide her eyes so she wouldn’t look weird staring straight ahead. People wouldn’t care but she just felt weird, and she didn’t want unnecessary eye contact.
Another business card was in her pocket, so until she reached a trash can at some park, she have to hold onto it. At this point, everything seemed pretty real, so she excepted the fact that there were a ton of cards. Not really anything else though.
Her aunt’s plants had too priority right now though. She owed her aunt a lot so she needed to repay her as much as possible.
Lazare set down their cup and pulled a phone out of their pocket. They started typing quickly, glancing up every once in a while. They were busy typing out the rest of their plan, just in case Emilia changed her mind, when a commotion caught their attention. In the center of a grassy area stood a woman wearing a weird mask and holding a fancy sword. She was yelling something about the end of days and everyone dying. Perfect. Lazare smiled and shoved the phone in their pocket. They stood up and sauntered over to the woman. "Excuse me, but you are causing a scene. If you could just set down the sword–" The woman turned towards them, her mouth curled in a grimace.
"You are all doomed," she hissed, taking a few steps towards them and thrusting her sword straight through their chest before they could react.
(I meant to reply earlier but I got drowned in house chores and zoom meetings, sorry!)
Emilia rounded another corner, knowing she was going in the wrong direction. If she wanted to take a longer path she’d need to make a loop around most of the buildings.
She got to another park this time with some trash cans on the other side. A random commotion was starting across the street, and Emilia gave no heed to it. People did things like that all the time.
She tossed the cards into the trash and kept walking.
Right now, could have been the best part of the day. The sun wasn’t nearly as high, and today there was little wind. So, Emilia was glad she chose to take a long walk. She could enjoy nice weather, and she also hoped that she would become inspired enough to get her streak back. If all went well, she could get back to drawing tomorrow. Since she had been waiting for her flower order for a while.
Lazare gasped, though it was more in shock than in pain. They looked from the sword to the woman… and grinned. Before she could pull the sword out, they grabbed the handle and pulled it out themselves. Despite the fact that they were quite a lot shorter than the woman, they managed to rip the sword out of her hand. The woman's mouth dropped open.
"What… I killed you." She stared at Lazare, her eyes wide.
"You'll have to try harder than that," Lazare said, swinging the sword towards her neck. There was a flash of bright white light and the woman fell to the ground, her skin slowly turning to stone. The people watching all gasped and backed away. Lazare sighed and turned their attention to the sword. There was a design on the base of the blade depicting a skull with some sort of flower sprouting from one of the eye sockets. Crin. Lazare shook their head and turned, walking towards the edge of the park, the sword still clutched in their hand.
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