"And that's… another point for me." The half of the screen with Callisto's character flashed with a red 'LOSE' over it, and she tried her best to block out the muffled snickers of the man beside her. How immature.
"You know, you could let me win at least once."
"Now, I wouldn't be a very good boyfriend if I lied, hmm? What happened to being a 'lover of truth'?"
"The one time I was winning, you slapped the controller out of my hands," She responded dryly as [He] weaved his fingers through hers, a small hum of contentment as he buried his face into her hair, much to Callisto's displeasure.
He had already ruined her hair the night before, and she wasn't going to spend another hour smoothing over the intricate ponytail she had done because he had messed up yet again.
"So, one more round?"
Callisto looked at the screen, watching as [He] picked his second-best character.
"No way." She attempted to get up, but wrapped hands prevented her from doing so. She tilted her head up, giving her boyfriend a pointed stare. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss against her neck.
"Alright, if you say so. What do you want me to make for dinner?"
"I want curry." He laughed at her flat tone of voice. It was Callisto's way of pouting, even if it didn't look like it.
She watched him walk to the kitchen, relaxing further on the couch. She sunk deep into the pillows.
And sunk even deeper, and deeper. Before she could cry out in shock, she was falling into a thick, black, liquid.
She tried to speak, but the liquid invaded her open mouth, and she realized it was crude oil as she continued to choke. Was she suffocating, or drowning?
Amidst the heavy blackness, a bright yellow light pierced through the haze. But it didn't feel much better than sinking. Regardless, she reached out a grasped onto that yellow light.
-----
Callisto woke up with the sun, bright and early. Stifling a yawn, she recalled hazy portions of the dream she had.
It was a nice dream about losing a game to her ever-gaming boyfriend. There was some other stuff, but she didn't remember it. Besides, it probably wasn't anything important.
After all, people don't dream of anything meaningful. They dream of fantasies, of things they wish were real, of things they wish they had done. Dreams are the opposite of reality.
It was nice to indulge herself in the mindscape, but reality wasn't as kind.
Which is why she was now knee-deep in the dirtiest lake she had ever seen, searching through slippery mud. All in search for a frog.
Yes, a frog.
She was glad none of the ever-present male leads were around, or it would have been embarrassing, for sure.
Shortly after waking up, one of the sisters informed her of some necessary cleanup at a nearby lake. For some reason, the water had stopped flowing, harming the environment around it.
They needed someone good at fighting to come along as they cleaned up and figured out the cause of the blockage.
That was when she remembered the list of materials the blacksmith gave her to complete her weapon materialization. One of which was the mucus of a special divine frog that lived at the bottom of the lake near the temple of Lux. Exactly where the sisters told her to go.
And that's where she was now, trying to feel her way around the shallow's edges of the water in search of a frog. Though from the way that it mentions the frog being 'divine', she had a creeping feeling it wasn't going to be easy.
"Miss Callisto, please get into the boat." Callisto took one look at the ricketty swaying canoe that the nuns were standing on.
There was no way she was getting on there, even if her life depended on it. She'd rather die on land than drown in muddy water.
Seeing her reluctance, an older nun scowled at Callisto, probably tired of nobles refusing to do the bare minimum.
"Lady Callisto, please refrain from causing trouble for the sisters. We require your assistance."
With much hesitation, Callisto got onto the boat filled with women and watched as they moved further away from the shore.
Her hands and feet were caked in mud, and she could see dead fish floating in the water as they rowed closer to the center.
She was watching one such fish, its glassy eyes looking eerie, when the fish disappeared from sight, seemingly disappearing into the depths.
Callisto frowned, eyes flicking to the closest moving object, as another fish off to the side got pulled into the deep. Before it disappeared into the thick water, she saw a pink noodle wrap around the fish, sucking it down. She had a bad feeling about this.
That was when she saw, just barely through the brown fog, a large mouth underneath the boat was made visible to her eyes. A large, frog-like mouth.
Callisto should really trust her gut more often.
"We need to get out," Callisto shouted at the rest of the crew. She grabbed a paddle from one of the nuns, rowing with all her strength as she felt the rumblings of something coming up from underwater.
"What on earth are you talking about? Don't be ridiculous."
"God damn it, woman! Move!"
She pushed the older lady down to the boat, casting ice across the water to propel them away as the creature broke through the surface.
Divine was not a word that should describe the monster. Lovecraftian was more apt.
Towering over the boat, with sisters in robes screaming in the background, Callisto stared straight at a massive frog, mutated to the point of complete unrecognition. Several eyes bulged out of its body as they all turned to look directly at Callisto, the only one not quaking in fear.
Black mucus coated its skin, making it look like some kind of swamp monster. The young lady cracked the paddle in half, arming herself for a losing battle. She didn't see any way out of this without fighting.
No real weapon, several screaming deadweights, in the middle of a lake, on a rickety boat.
Was she going to survive this?