Your character has just arrived in a swampy, dim town. As they look around, their gaze is met with shacks and cabins. It smells of rotted wood and wet moss. They duck and step into a tattered tent, illuminated by a series of candles suspended in the air. At the back of the tent, an old hag raises her head, “What brings you to this dingy town? She begins, then pauses to study your face—”Ah, it’s you. I’ve been expecting you. Sit,” she gestures at a cushion, “Tell me your story.”
((How do you respond?))
As she went to carefully take a seat, she spoke up. "My story is one that many probably had," she paused, inhaling deeply before continuing her sentence, "but if you so wish to listen, I'll enlighten you."
Minetta's story starts twenty-three years ago when she was born in an old cabin of which she called home for many years. The cabin was in the wilderness, away from any major landmarks. Her family consisted of her parents were Narai Everheart & Kael Valjron. It was a very peaceful life as she was taught the basic needs of how to survive and teach her future children by her mother, and survival outside of home by her father. Life consisted of the three of them until she turned eight years old, when her brother, Leon, was born.
"My brother and I had a good relationship, we spent all our time playing together," she spoke with a visible smile, with a slight sadness as she left home a few months prior.
Some of the knowledge taught to her that took time to learn was easily gained by Leon. Minetta envied how easy it was for him. As she grew older, she noticed how her father was more keen on teaching Leon certain information as he was to gain his inheritance. As her Father spent more time with Leon, she spent her time outside tending to the ranch with all the horses in their stables. Her family tended to horses and sold them for profit.
"Those horses were my life," she said with such happiness in her voice. She looked down and swirled her hair between her fingers for a moment before continuing, "Leon and I used to race the horses when our parents were out in the village...It's a core memory of mine that I hold dear."
By this time, she was already seventeen, and life at home was limiting for her. She was debating about leaving, but she didn't want to leave her family yet. Since she decided to stay home, she was tasked with taking care of the ranch, which she quite enjoyed doing. Caring for the animals was easy for her, and it helped her gain experience with tending to the multitude of creatures they had and came across. She lived this life of ranchwork for around five years until she remembered a conversation she had with her mother.
This was the night before her twentieth birthday, and her mother brought her outside as her father and brother were eating supper at the table. "Minetta, as you are to be twenty, that means you can marry and start a family of your own," she said in one breath before inhaling and continuing, "I want you to live your life on your terms, make us proud." Before Minetta could say anything, her mother disappeared inside as if the conversation hadn't even happened. For many days, she pondered what her mother told her before brushing it off until she remembered it years later.
Minetta was already twenty-two at this point, and she was still trying to figure out her life. She started to venture out into town more and gathered information as she decided that she had to leave home and figure out her future outside of her current home. Days after, she spent most of it with her brother talking about her plans, which he supported her fully on. She prepared everything she needed and was ready to leave after her twenty-third birthday.
"I didn't want to let them go as I hugged them as it felt like it might be the last time I would be with them...." she said with a tear running down her cheek, and wiped it away. "Leaving them was hard, but I needed to leave as I wanted to search for more that I could do. But before I left, I promised to write back and I'd visit before Leon's seventeenth birthday."
She left her home only months before running into the Hag. Her adventure was still out there, and she couldn't wait to be out and about again. "I have so much more I need to do, and my future has only started," she said to the Hag with an optimistic look on her face.
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