When Charlotte met Psyche

Psyche nodded absently, too busy trying to take in everything happening around her.

 

When she made no move towards it, her guide tried again.

 

"You know, you are supposed to go in there."

 

"Me?"

 

"Well, you are a protagonist."

 

"Oh, right." She said.

 

They stepped into the library-like compartment, which had different departments, all in various stages of fullness.

 

"So, this is how this works; once an idea starts turning into a story, it gets its' own area in here; so each of these areas is a story. The dark ones are either forgotten or abandoned ones.

 

"What about that area?" Psyche asked, pointing to the only area that appeared full to the brim.

 

"It will be needing an expansion soon."

 

"What is it?"

 

"That's the biggest project going on; so, whatever you do, you do not talk ill about it."

 

Psyche nodded. 

 

"Is it going to be an encyclopedia?"

 

Her guide shrugged. "No; I mean, I don't think so; it's so full, because new information keeps coming in; yours just showed up a few days ago, so it won't have that many things yet."

 

Psyche nodded again."Who's that?" She asked, pointing to a girl studying intently the stack of paper layed out in front of her.

 

"Charlotte; it's her story." Her guide said. 

 

"Are we allowed to talk to each other?"

 

"Of course you are. As long as you remember she's very, very, very, temperamental."

 

Psyche nodded.

 

"Now, this is your story; it's mostly empty for now, but why don't you go look around for a bit, and I'll go get her?"

 

"Sure."

 

 

"Hello."

 

Charlotte looked up and upon seeing who it was let out a sigh.

 

"What will they have me do next?"

 

"That's not what I am here for."

 

"New character?"

 

"Not exactly."

 

"Then?" She asked, intrigued.

 

"New story."

 

"What???"

 

"Don't-"

 

"Whose idea was it?"

 

"Well, Eirini-" (author's note: Eirini is my partner-in-artistic crime/collaborator/illustrator of my words)

 

"The double crosser!" Charlotte exclaimed, clearly offended.

 

"Will you let me finish? As I was saying, Eirini suggested they should work on her story first in order to practice and Myrto agreed, so yours could be better."

 

Charlotte humpfed in response.

 

"Come on, her story is like 20 pages long."

 

"She's got a finished story already, and I've got...this?" She asked, pointing at the full shelves and stacks on papers behind her.

 

"What's wrong with this?"

 

"Traitors, both of the them!"

 

"Calm down, will you? Yours is original, so it needs time! Hers already exists, they are just tweaking it."

 

"Fine." She said coldly. "You may go."

 

"Why don't I introduce you first?"

 

"I'll introduce myself." She said, and without hesitation, made it over to where Psyche was seated.

 

"Hello." She said.

 

Psyche looked up from her reading and gave her a bright smile. "Hi!"

 

Before she had time to react, Psyche had already wrapped her in a hug. "I've heard so much about you already!"

 

"Uh, thanks." She replied, extricating herself from Psyche's grip. "What's your name?"

 

"Psyche; and of course I know you."

 

Charlotte eyed Psyche from head to toe; "I like your hair, but why are wearing a sheet?"

 

"I was just reading about that; do you want to read it with me?"

 

"Sure."

 

She took a seat next to Psyche and together they started reading.

 

"Hmmm." Charlotte said, once they were done.

 

"It's bad, isn't it?"

 

"Well, the story is fine." Charlotte said. "But you seem a bit...naive?"

 

Psyche gave her a curious look.

 

"I mean, I know you are from another era and all, but come on; you'd be able to tell you were married to a god, by living in a magical palace and having invisible servants; and your husband had wings, you would have felt them!

 

"I am sure, they'll fix it; they are pretty good at that."

 

Psyche gave her a doubtful look.

 

"They are, honestly! And it's a nice story, really."

 

"What's your story?"

 

"Well, I am a prostitute in the Victorian Era, which is years ahead of your time, and at the beginning I pretty much hate everyone, but I've had a rough past, so it's all part of my facade, because deep down inside I am a good person."

 

Psyche nodded.

 

"I absolutely hate one of the regulars at the house I work at, Will. He is rich, handsome, and very arrogant, and of course I had to fall in love with him of all people. He's in love with me as well of course, but it can't work out because he's rich and I am a prostitute, not to mention he's already set to marry someone else."

 

"That's a terrible story."

 

"You're one to talk! You were afraid your husband would eat you! Besides, mine is not finished yet."

 

"No?"

 

"Darling just the other day, they tied a chicken to my bed; trust me, that story is nowhere near finished." 

 

"That's not so bad."

 

"Let's see how you'd like a chicken in your story then." 

 

"Well-"

 

Charlotte gave her a look; she seemed the type to own a chicken.

 

"Never mind about that, what does Eros look like?"

 

Psyche shrugged. "I have no idea; I only found out what I look like mere hours ago."

 

"You're pretty." Charlotte said. "And Eros, he's going to be blond, I am willing to bet money on it."

 

"How so?"

 

"Eirini likes blond men and Myrto is really bad at deciding on what everyone looks like."

 

Psyche smiled. "Seriously?"

 

"Mark my words." Charlotte said knowigly. "Will is blond, and ridiculoulsy handsome; and he's written in such a way that no girl will ever be able to resist him."

 

"Yes?"

 

"Come and see for yourself." Charlotte said and stood, dragging Psyche to the door. She cracked the door open and pointed at someone. "That's Will."

 

"Wow."

 

Charlotte smiled.

 

"He seems so..."

 

"Full of himself." Charlotte finished. "Yeah, he's not very likeable at first, but neither am I."

 

"I was going to say irresistible."

 

"Hands off, he's mine." Charlotte said playfully making Psyche blush."And don't tell him I said that."

 

"I won't."

 

"Oh, look!" Charlotte said, pointing to one of the shelves. "They started working on your story already."

 

Psyche picked up the thin binder. It read "The evolution of love".

 

"Good luck with that." Charlotte said. "Let me know if it's as thrilling as it sounds."