The Beauty Of Being Brave

Quick Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or the world they inhabit. They were created by the fabulous people at Zombie Orpheus for their equally fabulous RPG, Masters of the Metaverse!  Be sure to tune in to Twitch.TV/zombieorpheus every Monday at 6PM PST to see more!

 

Making her way down the hall and toward the back balcony, Aquamarine sipped on a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. It had really been so nice of the personal chef to provide it. Actually, it had been so nice of The Founders to send a personal chef when she had mentioned how much she preferred that to catering. Opening the door onto the balcony she spied Rosie, her back turned, leaning over the railing. She walked up next to her and sat on a nearby chaise lounge.

“Morning.” Rosie said, without looking round.

“Good morning. How was your night?”

Rosie turned at this and rolled her eyes, “Fine, I guess. As fine as it can be considering that we’re prisoners being held by a group that doesn’t seem much better than the last one.”

She sat down on a chair next to Aquamarine and rested her feet on a nearby coffee table. Aquamarine tried to give Rosie her best, most encouraging smile.

“Well, the breakfast was tasty. And this orange juice is delicious. Of course, I’m missing our other team members. How long are they supposed to be gone?”

Rosie shrugged, “A month? Two months? Forever? Who knows in this place. And don’t get me wrong, I like Nick well enough now that he’s working with us. But he is a little…well, a little creepy. That ability he has, the mind thing? Scares me half to death.”

“Me too.” Aquamarine said quietly, “That’s why I came out here. I wanted to be with someone brave so that I could feel brave too.”

Rosie started slightly and then burst out laughing, “Me? Brave? You think I’m brave?”

“Well, yes. Yes, of course I do.”

“Honey, if I was brave I wouldn’t be here. If I was brave I would have told my manager and those people from The Program where to go and how to get there. I certainly wouldn’t have just let them corral me and take me away. Brave. Ha!”

There was silence for a moment, interrupted only by the sound of Aquamarine sipping her juice and Rosie chuckling under her breath.

“I still think you’re brave.” said Aquamarine, “I do. You’re much braver than I am. You go out there and do anything that needs to be done. You’re fearless. All those metaverses, all those avatars, you’re always the one taking a risk and being…well, daring. Maybe you didn’t say no when they came to take you away but none of the rest of us did either. Maybe there’s a cosmic reason why we’re all here, a reason why you had to come and join the team. Maybe you’re actually braver than you think.”

Rosie considered this for a moment while Aquamarine finished her drink and set the glass down. She stared hard at the yogini before speaking again.

“It’s funny that you think I’m brave. I never was before. I was reliable. Reliable Rosie, that was me. I just did what I was supposed to do, did what was expected, what was right. Did I ever tell you about my family?”

Aquamarine shook her head, “No.”

“Well, they were cattle ranchers from way, way back. That was how I learned roping, riding, all of that. It was just expected that all the kids would stick around and take over. That was the sort of thing that was acceptable. I never wanted to, not really. I had ideas, lots of them. I wanted to go travel, to climb mountains, to see things that no one in my family had ever seen, talk to people that knew all about things I didn’t. I wanted to explore, you know? I wanted to take risks and do some stupid stuff. I wanted to have stories to tell when I was old. But that wasn’t what was right by my parents. So I stopped. I kept those dreams, those thoughts, those ideas to myself and I started doing what was expected. I became reliable and I was very good at it.”

Rosie paused and looked out over the balcony again. There was a sound of a small commotion from inside the house and the words “So it’s funny because…” were heard before being drowned out by a loud crash.

“What’s going on in there?”

“Oh, I think Nick is trying to kill one of the new guys. Scott, I think his name was? Not a lot, just a little. Like a love tap? And John was doing pushups while eating a sandwich. I watched for a little, it was pretty impressive actually.” said Aquamarine.

“He probably enjoyed that. Having a beautiful woman watch him work out. You should use your charms on Scott, maybe then he would stop explaining everything like we’re idiots. See, thats something I’ve always wished I could do. Be so attractive that all I have to do is bat my eyelashes and people do things for me.”

Aquamarine smiled, “Oh, that. That isn’t anything special. And it’s just a small part of who I am. Just how small, I don’t think I realized until lately. I’ve always been popular because I’m pretty. And thats nice of course. But…well it isn’t who I am really. It’s just an aspect of myself. Except its the only thing that people seem to notice, the only thing that seems to be acceptable. They think that I’m just a dreamy, seductive yoga master cult leader. Maybe thats why I started stealing things.”

She paused and frowned slightly, “I guess I wanted to do something to show that I was different from what other people thought.”

Rosie nodded, “I understand that. More than you think. I only did one brave thing in my life, just one but it was the one that mattered most. It was the day I took the job in the rodeo show. It wasn’t a big thing, it wasn’t even an international show. But there was the chance to travel around the country and…I wanted to do it. I wanted to try and I think a part of me was afraid that if I said no to the chance, to the opportunity, that I would never get another one. That I would be stuck being reliable Rosie for the rest of my life and I would regret it for just as long.”

“See? You let yourself be who you were, without worrying about what other people thought. Or at least you didn’t let what they thought stop you from doing something that made you happy, something that you knew in your heart and soul was right. I…I don’t do that. I want to but I haven’t done it yet. The pretty face, the seductive ways, its all a part of me. But it’s the only part I let other people see. And I sort of hate that. I want to explore who I am, to find out what I really want. Like, do I even like yoga? I don’t know! But its hard to do that, you know? The worries and the fears are sometimes more comfortable to live with than the possibility of living truthfully.”

Rosie reached out and patted Aquamarine’s hand, “Listen, I think anyone who can run a cult and be a cat burglar has to have a lot of guts. All you have to do is figure out who you want to be. I can help you, if you want.”

“Really?”

“Sure. Hey, we’ve got to stick together now. Two girls in a house full of boys, and Scott mansplaining everything.”

“And Nick being creepy.”

“Super creepy.”

Aquamarine smiled, “OK. I’d like that.”

“Great!” Rosie clapped her hands, “You teach me some cat burglar moves and I’ll teach you how to lasso something. I think Scott is about the same size as a baby steer, actually.”