“Go! Drop the bombs already! Do not falter or slow yourself down! If you continue to falter, you will waste valuable time you could be using to defeat the enemy!” Jutte shouted at the others in her hot air balloon.

Rapidly, the three soldiers that were riding with Jutte heaved the bombs over the edge of the basket of the balloon. Jutte looked at them as though she were superior, even though she was at least five heads shorter than the soldiers.

“Good, you all have finally gotten off your asses and started to do some work! It has been too long!” Jutte impatiently shouted.

Jutte crossed her arms and sat in the corner of the balloon, “Might as well land soon, you all have shown that you are not worthy of being part of my crew.”

Jutte had the soldiers land the balloon onto the large plains, there were thousands of other soldiers waiting on the grass, all grouped in groups of three. They were all waiting to be tested by Jutte to become part of her crew, however, none of them had been able to impress her thus far.

Jutte inhaled, and, as the balloon had come into contact with the ground, made a proclamation, 

“Anyone who falters or impedes on my progress will be replaced, I will not even test those who falter or crack under pressure. I do not care who you are, from what background you are, or how good you are when you train by yourself. If you are unable to do well in the presence of your commander, you do not deserve to be under my wing. If you see yourself faltering at any time, or think you will falter, leave now. If you are intimidated by this speech, then leave now, if you are too cocky and think that you could not possibly falter, then get out, I want confidence, but I do not want narcissists.. Does everyone understand?”

There was a resounding, “Yes, Ma’am!” which could be heard three cities over. After Jutte’s proclamation, many people left, roughly fifteen people remained.

Jutte puffed out her chest and let out a small grunt, “Hmph! This is all that remains? Pitiful, absolutely pitiful! Everyone is stupid! All incompetent!” Jutte shouted, storming off.

Eloisa shook her head, “Everyone, I apologize for her outburst, she does become mad very easily, my deepest apologies.” Eloisa said, rushing to meet Jutte.

“What do you want, huh?” Jutte said, obviously irritated.

“You must calm yourself a moment, otherwise you may be like a cut wound in a pile of glass,” Eloisa said.

“Well, two can play the idiom game. If I just allow myself to choose anyone for my crew, it will be like helping a snail cross the road.”

Eloisa paused for a moment, but started to speak up again, “Well-”

Suddenly Silja popped up out of nowhere, “Hey guys, you ever ask yourself, if you ate yourself would you be twice as big or just disappear completely?”

Eloisa and Jutte facepalmed simultaneously, “Silja…” Eloisa said, “Do you wish to die? I am attempting to sate Jutte’s anger, and you are not helping!”

“Hey, they say laughter is the best medicine, so, speaking on that matter, you think that if you had a daughter you would want it to be a girl?” Silja responded.

Eloisa sighed and looked over to Jutte and attempted to speak to her, but then she realized that Jutte was holding in her laughter, suddenly, Jutte erupted into laughter. Eloisa and Silja looked at her, Silja joined in the laughter.

“S-Silja, you are so stupid! To the point… That it is funny!” Jutte said through her laughter.

Silja moved in front of Jutte, “Listen, this is a one-time thing where I will be one-hundred percent honest with you and say this, whenever you feel yourself slipping, or you think you cannot do anything anymore, just remember to laugh. If you laugh when you are stressed or you laugh while you feel down, it will help you to feel better, it is what I do at least. It may not be the same with you, so, just try to find something that will calm your anger, something that you can do at any time, okay?”

Jutte looked up to align her eyes with Silja’s, “Thank you, Silja… I did not expect that you of all people would be the one to cheer me up, but the world is full of surprises, is it not?”

Silja snickered, “Hell yeah it is! We all need some drinks! Eloisa, take us to the pub tonight! I will pay! Just kidding…“

Eloisa sighed once more and replied, “Why must you be like this… I absolutely hate the things you do, but, let us go to the tavern tonight, yes.”

Jutte started to laugh again, “You two are too cute together, I am sorry.”