THE HERCULEAN QUEST// Unicomics' Hardcore Quest

We all love flowers//3

It was a cozy little shop, just between the decrepit apothecary and the general store. It was an adventurer's shop, which meant that it was a store full of anything and everything you'd need (and not need).

Uni loved it.

He kept consoling himself with deep yet quiet breaths, staying behind the trio and at the ready to shift forms at any moment. But they seemed sincere, and he didn't know if that meant he should lighten up, or be even more paranoid. They appeared to have a nice reputation in this new town, waving or calling out a hello to everyone who they went past, often receiving a welcome response in return.

The shop was closed, but he could see Nick reaching to flip the sign to 'OPEN', before reconsidering it and leaving it how it was. Inside, it was a decently large room, the walls lined with shelves, and long, thin tables going horizontally across the room. Large items were placed on the tables, while all of the small knick-knacks were placed on the shelves, and although messy, seemed to have some order to it. The wall to the back of the room was bare of shelves, instead hosting armor stands and pegs displaying weapons, ranging from small daggers that look more decorative than functional, swords with gems encrusted into their hilts, and a myriad of various other weapons.

The shelves had a section of potions in little jars and bottles, and the next consisted mainly of various herbs and plants and spices, both dried and fresh. Then there were some clothing, jackets, gauntlets, gloves, and robes, and next to that were blankets, fabrics, rope, and other items made up of similar materials.

As the trio continued on forward, he tore his gaze from the rest of the walls, although he did catch a glance of stacks of books and what appeared to be a section of spoils from defeated monsters. It made his stomach churn for a moment. He pushed the feeling away, and followed the trio as they traveled into the backroom, stressed and calm and scared and excited all at once.

----

"You literally drink blood!"

"I'm a vampire! It's part of the gig!"

"Couldn't you just... eat something else? Fish! Maybe fish? Vegetables? Tofu?!"

"No! Gods, Uni, I can't go vegetarian!"

The topic of conversation had found its way to food, and considering that the room was being shared between a shapeshifter (who could eat anything, but was a vegetarian), a vampire (who required blood to stay sane), a werewolf (who really didn't care), and a human (who found this all extremely amusing), it was quite the debate.

The backroom had a number of hammocks in it, and great big windows with dozens and dozens of plants along the windowsills. Uni had already walked around them all, peering at each plant, comforted by the familiar scents and senses of nature brought indoors.

"Hey, hey, hold up!" Tommy interrupted, earning a curious look from Uni and a mild glare from Ashlie. The human was spontaneous in his mood, but seemed to be knowledgeable- he clung to a notebook constantly, and would flip it open and jot something down pretty often. Once Uni had become a little bit more relaxed, a little more open to conversation, Tommy had begun to write practically nonstop.

"As a follower of the Lady of the Land, isn't it kinda weird to be vegetarian? ...There's not really a 'respectful' thing to eat, in a logical sense? Or is she chill with that?" Tommy continued, mumbling to himself too quickly and too quietly for it to be understandable. Nick and Ashile turned to Uni, who hadn't realized that his hand was clutching the pendant around his neck so hard that his fingers were turning red, then white when he realized that the pendant had been hanging over his shirt, rather than its typical place, hidden away. He didn't know that it was common knowledge of the Lady's symbol- or was Tommy just that keen? 

Uni really, really hated being the center of attention. Curious questions, curious eyes, he knew that it was the most normal thing, following a goddess, but having to explain everything? He almost began considering flying off through the open window.

Ashlie must have noticed the severe uncomfortableness of the sudden question, because she elbowed Tommy and quickly tried to apologize for him. Uni shook his head.

"No, no, it's... it's fine, I just don't talk to more than a few people...ever. She's... I... no one has really seen her within the last couple centuries, and she was really open and lived down here, among her followers, so... it's kinda a touchy topic, at times," he explained, stuttering as he went. It almost hurt to say it- the last time he had talked about the goddess, it was with Dawn, and that was over fifty years ago.

"But she was nice, and I had met her a handful of times, and she was really into letting everyone live how they wanted to, and I am vegetarian, because it's super uncomfortable to eat meat when a half the time I am a creature that's hunted for meat."

Tommy was writing nonstop. Ashlie looked like she understood clearly. Nick nodded, but seemed indifferent.

Tommy was a chronicler, it seemed, as he recorded almost everything of importance they had done, and any information he could find about anything. The day quickly slipped into evening, and as they offered him a hammock and dinner, Uni read over Tommy's notes about shapeshifters. He had a journal for most classes of supernatural, and shapeshifters sat right alongside changelings and doppelgangers. He kept quiet about the latter two, but helped edit the notes about his own species without giving anything threatening away. Their origins, the shapeshifter's tie to the Lady of the Land, how they learned new forms, how long they lived.

Tommy asked that he sign the notebook, as a contributor, and Uni did. He was spontaneous, but nice, at least. That was a good summary of the entire group. It made sneaking out in the middle of the night feel traitorous, but he swallowed the feeling down, and left a little note on the hammock. He turned into a mouse, slipped through cracked-open window, and flew off after he turned into a bird. It was quite the distance to the edge of the appointed mountain, under the soft light of the half-moon, but he found who he planned to meet with there, with a letter and a small package already pulled out of her bag. Very quickly, he turned back into a human, embracing the human-sized bluebird.

"I already told him this, but I can't deliver your messages for a several months. My family needs me, and they are too far west for me to keep going across the eastern sea and still have time for them," Lindsey admitted, and Uni's heart sank. Months? Too long, they already didn't talk enough, hadn't seen him in decades, and now-

"He, of course, said that he couldn't go so long without correspondence. While it's not written in the letter, since he didn't know when he wrote it, he wanted me to tell you that he and the crew are coming to the continent. He said it was time, and that he had been planning for a while, now."

He's coming. He and the crew are coming to the continent, Uni's heart sang. He grabbed his pendant again, dubious, and hugged Lindsey again the moment the felt the connection between the two followers as the pendant glowed a little brighter. She giggled at his enthusiasm, and handed him the delivery.

"I can deliver one last letter from you, to him, in one last round by the east before I head west," she said, handing him a fresh piece of paper and a quill. He quickly wrote, explaining everything about the current situation, who he had met, what had happened lately, and how absolutely excited he was to see him again. He attached the letter to the one he had already wrote, attached his own little package (a couple bags of tea leaves), and the two split ways. As he went, Uni read over the letter, and everything seemed to be so near, yet so far.

The silly, dumb smile stayed on his face as he hurried back to the others, slipped back into home of the backroom, and fell asleep.