"HOW CAN YOU WIN THE GAME IF YOU NEVER MAKE A MOVE?"
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What would you do, if you were given a chance to save millions of lives throughout a galaxy?
Would you do it? Could you even do it? Is such a feat even possible?
Or would you crumble and choke...
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I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.
—Mother Teresa
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Melanie continues to gape in open-mouthed astonishment at the familiar form of The Shopkeeper.
"What?" The Shopkeeper's lips twist upwards, taking a step forward. "Nothing to say?"
Melanie stumbles backward, struggling to escape from the nameless woman.
But there's nowhere to go. Nowhere to run.
She flinches as the cool surface of the stone behind her hits her back, eyeing the dark-haired woman across from her warily.
"You. H-How did you—?" Melanie stutters, trying to form a coherent sentence.
The Shopkeeper hums, raising an eyebrow as she takes a step closer. She almost seems amused by Melanie's fear.
Melanie's eyes flicker wildly to the walls around her that hadn't been there before.
She thinks back to when the stone had started to come down; thinks back to the way the vines with thorns had grown from the cracks in the walls like magic.
It was her. The Shopkeeper. She had done it to separate Melanie from the group.
"What are you?" Melanie questions her, voice trembling with anxiety. "Who are you?"
The Shopkeeper halts her slow advance towards Melanie, lips curling up into a too-wide smile.
Then, gradually, the nameless woman begins to chuckle quietly to herself.
"Who am I?" The Shopkeeper mimics her words mockingly, letting out a little tut-tut of amusement. "Who are you?"
Melanie watches as The Shopkeeper points up and down at her, dimly registering that the dark-haired woman is referring to her armor and weapons.
"I mean, what is this?" The Shopkeeper emphasizes, gesturing vaguely in Melanie's whole direction.
The nameless woman's lips twist unnaturally again into a too-wide smile, beginning to giggle to herself.
"I gotta tell ya, hon, this getup isn't exactly working for you." The Shopkeeper tells her, the lilt of her snicker bouncing off the stone surface of the walls around them.
