Solo Tabletop Gaming Appreciation Month: Monomyth structure - Session 7

(Click here for the previous session.)

[What follows is all based on Mythic rolls in one way or another. I know my writing is attrocious, so I've made an effort to make it more readable. Ironically, imagining the dialogue based on Mythic rolls has felt closer to solo-roleplaying than ever. :)]

Years have passed since the garden incident, all but forgotten by Eli, who is now on the brink of becoming a young adult. On this day, the morning light outside is so bright that one would think the Sun is in a particularly jolly mood.

Eli, on the other hand, wakes up once more with an emotional malaise that has no specific reason. He mopes around bed, not even bothering to change out of his sleeping clothes. Neither the bright Sun, nor the happily bustling crowd enjoying the day out in seem to care, however.

"Eeeli!"

"Except for Thor, of course," Eli mutters to himself upon hearing his good friend's booming voice coming from the street in front. He pretends he doesn't hear, but the voice becomes louder and more insistent, so he shuffles out of bed towards the window.

"There you are," bellows Thor, smiling.
Eli can't seem to summon much enthusiasm. "Good morning, Thor."

Upon taking a look at Eli in his night clothes, Thor cracks, "I could hear you snoring all the way from my home, so I knew I'd find you here."

"Oh, knock it off, Winterlocke," Eli says, referring to Thor by his last name, as he usually does when annoyed.

"Oh, lighten up Brann," Thor says in mock imitation of his friend's mannerisms. "Take off your night dress, and bring your fishing gear. We're going to Dubhearth Pier."

"I'm not really in the mood for fishing. I was thinking of visiting the library."

"Always the library with you-- just bring a book!" Eli hesitates, and then Thor threatens: "You better drag your rump down, or I'll stay here chanting your name until you do!"
Eli's had enough of the silliness, so he just goes back to bed.

"Eeeli, Eeeli!" Thor wasn't bluffing. The chanting gets louder and louder and it doesn't take long until Eli hears Bryne, his mother, chastising Thor for making a ruckus.

Eli doesn't want yet another lecture on how she'll never finish her history tome unless Thor and him stop disturbing her much needed peace and quiet, so he pre-emptively grabs his fishing gear, and a set of fresh clothes. He grabs the first book on top of a pile, "The Ice Forest: A Travelogue"[Mythic: "cooly-beautiful"], and thinks to himself, "That'll do."

As he's rushing out the door to join his good friend, his mom hollers behind him: "Eli! You haven't even had your breakfast!"
"Don't worry Ms. Brann," calls out Thor as they begin walking down the street. "We'll be catching our own breakfast today!"

------------------0-------------------

The two friends have been sitting at Dubhearth pier for a while, with their feet as well as their fishing lines inside the water. The only thing they've managed to catch so far is a starfish, and that only happened because Eli threw his line the wrong way. To say that their breakfast has been delayed would be an understatement.

On the one hand, Lady Fortune smiles at them as Thor came prepared: bread and meat for some sandwiches. On the other hand, she frowns at them since Thor neglected to look closely enough at the freshness of the food: the bread is mouldy, and the meat doesn't smell quite right up close to their noses [threateningly-ruined].

"We're just doing wonderfully today," Eli says with irony, putting his sandwich down in disgust.

Thor, finally succumbing to Eli's mood as if it was a contagious disease, wistfullly puts his own ruined lunch down. "I'm sorry, Eli. I just wanted us to have fun."

Knowing he's just ruined Thor's day as well, a guilty feeling Eli now tries to make it up to his friend by trying to cheer things up. "Well, it's not that bad, I guess. Perhaps, we can use this as bait for the fish."

"I guess," Thor shrugs, as if Eli's attempt is too little and too late.

"Besides, we don't have to go hungry. We can pick some Wisdom Fruit at Old Spirebog's," he says pointing at the nearby orchard.

"Those trees don't belong to us, Eli."

"Come on, he won't mind one or two missing fruit." [Here Eli had a conflict with Thor. He rolled using Brains, and Thor rolled using Integrity. The intent was to convince Thor it would be OK. Eli lost.]

"I'm warning you, Brann," Thor threatens. "You touch one fruit, and you'll be taking a swim."

"You can't be serious," says Eli as he starts to get up, but then freezes midway through when Thor says:

"Oh my, you look mighty hot, Eli. I bet the water feels very good."

"Fine, fine. You win," he says sitting back down. "I hope we catch something soon."

[This was more of an additional color scene in the "Ordinary World". The last thing I need to do before I move on to the next phase is to establish more concretely what will be at stake. I've already found the answer through Mythic, but I need to roleplay it out. :)

Sadly, I'd like to spend more one on one time with Bryne, Eli's mother, to give her more depth but I think this phase has dragged out enough. Perhaps in the next phase.]

Edit: Click here for Session #8.