Mishiro

"okay," she says, "we'll try."

and if his words were shaped around some strange foreign emotion, she again quietly lets it pass. pinball was the one who could name these things, not only because they were his. and he talks over himself anyway, spilling out surface thoughts as though in a rush. he abruptly stops and she can only conclude that he'd hit a verbal dead end. without her knowledge, the corners of mishiro's lips twitch upwards in faint amusement because the figure he casts at the edge of her gaze almost appears flustered at proving his own point... or as visibly flustered as a pinball could ever be.

she also understands that he isn't talking about her. of course he isn't. they've been friends for years.

she twines her fingers behind her back, continuing to wait. on her side, she finds it less difficult to share the more disorderly part of her mind with pinball. "i... earlier just found that i don't know what to think of these floors. there hasn't been a new one like this in a while. and what's not to like, really. i remember--" (does she?) (she doesn't.) "--enjoying the twenty-fourth when it opened. but recently the lesser half of myself can't put up with these guises. because no matter what form it takes, it's all a part of the game, isn't it?

"but as you said. it is pleasant here. i can appreciate pretty things still, i think."

-> [ooc regen: 2/3]

she joins him not long after, sliding her rapier back into its sheath and standing an arm's length away from him. her pale eyes follow the spillage of the light up to the unbroken ceiling it is strangely emanating from. more than halfway deep into the dungeon, without the busyness of a fight, without the sounds of their steps moving past this empty space to the next, she almost feels the quiet like a texture.

pinball is looking through his inventory, which almost inspires mishiro to check the drops she had received. but he also talks.

because it is the frontlines? despite that it is the frontlines?

she can't chart where asking that might lead to and she doesn't want to stagger her focus on the upcoming fight.

"neither have i," mishiro says after a pause. the unchanging routine of her duties in the fifteenth aside, sibyl or loth or (rarer) her cohorts normally liked to invite her to the new floor once it has been safely mapped. this time, everyone seems to have forgotten or put it off. kept putting it off. she doesn't feel particularly inclined one way or the other, and she doesn't picture herself blameless, given how much of her time she has tipped over to pinball. "the main settlement... doesn't appear to be as busy as the rest. guarded, for that matter," mishiro continues.

the offer, or at least the carefully lowered bridge to it, hangs in the few moments of silence between them.

she has another thought she is contending with. it hadn't occurred to her on the twenty-seventh. "do you prefer it this way? the peaceful, picturesque floors."

-> [ooc regen: 1/3]

the point flies far above her head and lands somewhere in the sand behind her, because in mishiro's assessment, the sandwiches had been fully encased in the plastic wrap anyway. standard practice for snacks that might be left unattended at a refreshment table.

"i see," she says.

they remove the top layer of the sandwich pyramid and uncover the treasure hiding in its hollow: not one blue crystal, but two. mishiro looks at the red crystal beside an's legs and tries to imagine her digging for them whilst running away from the earlier crowd. she takes the new pair and helps an put everything else back in place. "congratulations. but i don't believe this is how we're meant to play scavenger hunt."

in an's increasingly distressed perspective, mishiro does not stop eating because she never listens to her.

"huh? yeah, no, put that down right now!!" an scolds. she reaches for mishiro, but her hand stops short of grabbing her shoulder. she snatches one of the crystals on mishiro's lap instead. "who puts weird, glowing things next to food? what if it's cursed? mish, just don't do anything for a sec, i'm going to do an appraisal!"

-> scavenger hunt: 239725: BD 7: CD 11: LD 2: (1) blue crystal

current score: 1 blue crystal

she watches her for a second more, silent.

on her worst days, an is the type of person who believes that everything is out to mete judgment on her. this is far from it, far from anything that mishiro can still recall, but her mind makes the match-pair equivalent when an snaps her head up and her red eyes trace mishiro upwards from her shadow. an levels her with a misdirected glare. "i told you to go. why won't you listen?! you never listened--"

"are you sure you want me to?"

an's lips part over words she doesn't give air to. mishiro wouldn't have read them from her silence even if she could. she's trying to pull an away from another source of regret in less than a quarter of an hour.

this is why they don't talk.

an's eyes drop. slippered feet digging into the sand, she inches away from her. mishiro almost thinks, resignedly, that an is getting up to leave herself. but the other simply retrieves a plate and drink from her other side and sets it down on the now vacated space between them. an has moved further down the length of the table to hide her from the crowd, too.

she sits, folding her legs in front of her, and just as they had done at the start, they watch the movement of the waves. minutes pass, then she feels the cold edge of the plate nudge the back of her hand.

"um." an starts, measured and hesitant. "can you help me finish the sandwiches...?"

-> scavenger hunt: 239679: BD 2

she knows her own stamina without having to shift her focus to that spot in her peripheries.

"need to," another fifth vanishes to power the next sword art, then mishiro flicks her gaze to her display anyway, bent slightly lower to check on pinball's. she adds, guilty, "sorry."

it is difficult to count these things down to the last number in the heat of a fight. she thrusts her rapier at the wolves for the second time, ends up behind them with a data crystal blooming just above the back of her hand. but as she swiftly turns around to face what she expects to be the mobs' dissolving remnants, she hears the furious rally of the last timber wolf, clinging on to life by a thin red line.

it snaps its teeth at the empty air where pinball had previously been standing.

mishiro forces down another apology and holds off on sheathing her blade.

-> post action: aoe-i vs timber wolves 1-2.

a soft hum of agreement follows pinball's chatter.

behind the stagnant tree, a path opens. they continue to descend. content with her place a few steps behind pinball, mishiro considers their surroundings in the halcyon space between enemy waves. there are small flowers, weeds, really, blooming between the stones that she carefully avoids stepping on. the walls narrow the further they venture into the dungeon but once spilled out of the claustrophobic throat and faced with two prowling wolves, the area spreads in allowance for a fight. at least merely being here does not bring them immediate peril.

again, pinball moves first. the wolves are downed quickly. rooted to the ground. mishiro replaces him as soon as he allows her, striking with her rapier. she doesn't need to try so hard against immobilized mobs: a simple clean slash blooms across their twin forms. but as she moves to recover, her hand disturbs the violin half's strings, and the notes produced thus, though untuned, sear through the air and deepen the first wolf's wounds.

-> post action: aoe-ii vs timber wolves 1-2.

her hand drops from his sleeve when the moment has been quietly tucked away.

she listens.

the strange truth is, she knows so little of pinball outside of their shared history. pinball begins and ends on the day she dropped him a generous change for knife tricks and on everything she has seen and heard from him since. there is a name she mutters into the air between them. (she decides: not today.) there are questions she thinks she’ll receive answers to if she asks. but aren’t ten years more than enough? she thinks, they ought to be. ‘before’ is a momentous breach.

she listens, anyway. asks, “did your parents buy you the nervegear?” because in this, she could return an answer.

| ‘to our siblings who stand with us, we grant of you this blessing.’

“i wanted to walk again.”

she confesses. (she told him all this years before.)

“so sibyl bought ours.” her index raises to her lips. “don’t tell him i said so. my asks and his answers -- neither of us would have been here without. he said, it was senseless to measure the weight of our blames. to feel guilt at all because neither of us could have guessed what would happen. but i feel sometimes that we have never stopped apologizing.”

she returns her hand to the diya and her request for secrecy dispels. “from another perspective, many people were separated from their families when the servers locked. or had them here… and lost them. i think -- i’ve always thought -- that i’m incredibly fortunate to be one of the few who has never gone through such a thing.”

she imagines a dead woman’s memory knocking. she imagines gently setting it aside for just another sentence. in the half-light, her lashes are lowered, her words delicate. “if this even raises our chances by the smallest percentage, i pray that my brother and i both reach the end.”

the diya warms.

even mishiro isn't naive enough to interpret this response in any way other than the system's indication that she had received the promised reward for the required outpouring of sentiment. numbers for numbers, down to the smallest binary. it is all this world amounts to. but before she gently settles the lamp back into the basket, her gaze lingers on the inscription.

# 237454: LD 4: +4; 5 total

# 237365: LD 1: +1; 1 total

"great! thanks. take as long as you need."

and with not another pause, sibyl wanders off in the direction of the pallankuli tables, leaving her to peer down at the card they had pressed into her palm. map data. mishiro but closes her hand over it, thankful and faintly apologetic. but it is no trouble at all.

"yes. let's be off," she tells pinball. she about turns and leads him outside, into the soft, quiet night of a ronbaru temporarily emptied.

for a while they walk side by side in silence. the lights of the festival fade far behind until they are nothing more than a vague splash of orange limning the tops of the buildings that came between them. they are familiarly, devastatingly, alone. and she does not want to talk about it.

mishiro clasps the arch of the basket holding her lamps. she retrieves the one she had been looking at prior and they pass beneath the circle of a street light. "from what i heard from dayanita, we're meant to reflect on these inscriptions before delivering the lamps to the lamplighter." she runs the flat of her thumb across the words, thinking. "shall i say mine out loud? i feel that i would be wasting your company otherwise. you're free to just listen or join in."

| ‘to our parents who guide our journey, we grant of you this blessing.’

they continue to walk. her form loses clarity in the shadows.

"i had parents."

--two. a large house. no siblings. still, so, suffocating. they loved you but only the parts you had carefully picked out like specimens. so did they really? were you at fault for not letting them try?--

(hold on a moment.)

(whose memories are these?)

she stops. the girl, standing just shy of another street light, drops her gaze to the lamp cupped in her hands. the ink flickers briefly. stays unlit. she stares at it like she has never seen it before, but at the sudden remembrance that she is not alone, she comes back to herself with a suppressed jolt. to pinball's watchful eye, she would have only bent her index fingers along the bowl's rim.

"no," she breathes. she draws the next words from the mire of her thoughts and she imagines she is holding them in her hands, uncomprehending. "i... i think i lost them. i might not be suited to this topic at all." she suddenly loathes that she had even thought to bring it up. but first, she raises her head, walks forward to gently grasp pinball's sleeve. resumes their walk, urging him along with her. "sorry. i'm just now learning that i don't actually have an answer for this one. do you want to say yours out loud, too? i'll listen."

somewhere, cardinal decides that the lack of an answer is an answer in itself. her first lamp's inscription burns away.

# --

Spoiler  LEVEL 24: HP: 480/480 | EN: 66/66 | DMG: 19 | MIT: 36 | ACC: 4 | AA | EVA: 1 | FLN: 6 (6-8) | BH: 3% | VO: 10% SKILLS: Spoiler | skills mod count: 0/5 RAPIER | RANK 5/5 [BASE: Proficiency] +7 DMG [ADDON: Ferocity] +2 DMG [ADDON: Precision] +1 ACC [ADDON: Stamina] Reduce EN of all attacks by 2. [SHIFT: ST Specialist] +3 to multipliers and +2 to EN cost; ST-I, ST-II, ST-B. COMBAT MASTERY: DMG | RANK 3/3 [BASE: Proficiency] +9 DMG BATTLE HEALING | RANK 3/5 [BASE: Proficiency] Regenerate +3% of max HP at the start of a turn. | extra skills [2] FIRST AID | RANK 5/5 [BASE: Proficiency] [PA, 15 EN] Single target heal: 20% of target max HP. [ADDON: Field Medic] [PA, 15 EN, 3 CD] AoE heal (including self): 25% of target(s) max HP. SURVIVAL | +10% received healing. Immunity to all damage dealing environmental attacks/effects. | expenditure Spoiler Total SP: 120 | Spent: 113 | Unspent: 7 SKILL: Rapier (30) ADDON: Stamina (4) ADDON: Precision (2) ADDON: Ferocity (4) SHIFT: ST Specialist (10) SKILL: Combat Mastery (13) EXTRA SKILL: First Aid (30) ADDON: Field Medic (6) SKILL: Battle Healing (14)  EQUIPMENT: Spoiler walpurgisnacht CURSED, FALLEN, VAMPIRIC (OFFENSIVE), ABSOLUTE ACCURACY TIER 3 DEMONIC RAPIER | [state]: crafted [ref] it is a talisman. your victory lies not in bloodshed, but in your own survival. do you understand? even if the skies are never rent open, roslyn, lyudochka, you will live another day to watch the falling snow gather on your hands. 'til the end of this holy night. white cloak MITIGATION II, EVADE TIER 3 PERFECT LIGHT ARMOR | [state]: crafted a white hooded cloak made for comfort. dioscuri ACCURACY III TIER 1 PERFECT JEWELRY | [state]: crafted a pair of earcuffs fashioned from precious stone.   one. | two. | three. This post is best experienced in light mode.

SHE TURNS THE UNLIT LAMP IN HER HANDS UNTIL SHE IS HOLDING UP THE SIDE THAT BEARS A LINE OF BLACK INK. UNDER A BLINKING STREET LIGHT; DESERTED NORTH RONBARU, LAND STRIPPED TO BONE, SONGS AND LAUGHTER FADING FAR BEHIND; SHE READS THE FIRST INSCRIPTION.

| ‘To our parents who guide our journey, we grant of you this blessing.’

• [MISHIRO]: I don’t have parents.

SHE IS ILL-FITTED TO THIS SUBJECT. HOW MUST SHE REFLECT, THEN?

• [MISHIRO]: Do you count?

SHE IS ASKING TOO, JUST TO BE POLITE.

• [SIBYL]: What the hell--

WHEN THEY LEFT DAYANITA'S STATION, SIBYL HAD EXPLAINED IT ALL TO HER STEP BY STEP, LIKE IT WAS A RITUAL. READ THE INSCRIPTION. SPEAK YOUR THOUGHTS OUT LOUD OR HOLD THEM IN YOUR MIND UNTIL CARDINAL ACKNOWLEDGES THEM. SHE CHOOSES THE FORMER BECAUSE SHE ISN'T ALONE. SHE SEES SIBYL, HAVING LEFT THE CIRCLE OF THE STREET LIGHT, TURN THEIR HEAD TO LOOK BACK AT HER, BEMUSED, AT THE DIRECTION OF HER THOUGHTS. IT IS SO MUCH COLDER, PHYSICALLY, AWAY FROM THE HEART OF THE CITY.

• [MISHIRO]: I am trying to ‘reflect’ on something pleasant, considering the spirit of this festival.
• [MISHIRO]: Or rather, I don’t know what Diwali is all about, but everyone we passed has seemed happy so far, haven’t they?

THEY CONTINUE TO WALK.

• [SIBYL]: Is there really nothing to recall?
• [SIBYL]: I knew you both for half your life, Mishiro, and forgive me if I'm wrong -- I was not under the impression that you disliked your mother.
• [MISHIRO]: I didn't.
• [MISHIRO]: But I was nowhere near the opposite.
• [MISHIRO]: I tried. Mom did, too. Sometimes I had myself convinced that she wanted nothing more than to keep being a family. You were not witness to the person she was before we met. She never came back, and I couldn't accept it.
• [MISHIRO]: By the time I realized I had stopped caring, it was irreversible.
• [MISHIRO]: Then we lost her.

SHE HOLDS THE PEACH HALF SHAPE OF HER DIYA, GENTLY URGING IT TO TAKE FLAME. IT DOESN'T RESPOND. THEY HAVE PASSED EMPTY RESIDENCES. SKELETON FRAMES OF SHOPS WORKING AT THE BAREST MINIMUM WITH SO FEW CUSTOMERS LEFT TO SERVE. EVERYONE IS AT THE PARTY. THE ROAD YET STRETCHES BEFORE THEM, BENDS DOWNWARD INTO STEPS.

• [MISHIRO]: Now there is nothing else to relate but those papers.
• [SIBYL]: Is that why you asked?
• [SIBYL]: Forget them.
• [SIBYL]: That you would have been uprooted after that tragedy was too much. I did what I could to give you a choice.
• [SIBYL]: It's fine, Mishiro.
• [MISHIRO]: I know.
• [SIBYL]: I should not count for 'anything.'
• [LYUDOCHKA]: "You're right."
• [LYUDOCHKA]: "If you had loved me at all, you would have looked back."

SHE STOPS. SHE IS AN ENTIRE STREET AHEAD OF WHERE SHE HAD BEEN ONE SECOND PRIOR. THE FIRST LIGHT IS STILL IN HER HANDS. SIBYL HAD ASKED HER EARLIER, HAVE YOU EVER BURNED INCENSE? AT THE CORNER OF THE INSCRIPTION WHERE THE FEATHER OF A BRUSH HAD FIRST TOUCHED CLAY, A SMALL FLAME BURSTS. IT TRACES OVER THE WORDS AS ONE WOULD WITH A PEN. IT LEAVES A FIERY TRAIL THAT GLOWS BRIGHT UPON COMPLETION THEN FADES ALL AT ONCE INTO ASH. SHE THINKS THE COLOR OF THE REMAINING INK MUST HAVE CHANGED. IT IS TOO DARK TO CHECK. WHEN SHE RAISES HER EYES, SHE SEES SIBYL HAD STOPPED ALSO. THEY ARE FOUR STEPS DOWN AND THE TWIN SUNS OF THEIR EYES ARE LEVEL WITH HERS. AND THEY TURN SWIFTLY, SLIDING THEIR WRIST DOWN THE RAILING AS THEY CONTINUE TO DESCEND, BUT NOT BEFORE SHE GLIMPSES THAT THEY HAD BEEN SMILING, IMPOSSIBLY FAINT, IN A MANNER SHE HAD ONLY OBSERVED WHEN SHE GLANCED AT THEM WHEN THEY THOUGHT NOBODY WAS WATCHING. WHAT DID SHE SAY? WHY DID SHE STOP--?

• [MISHIRO]: I was--
• [MISHIRO]: ...
• [MISHIRO]: I'm sorry. I was... thinking. What were we... talking about...?
• [SIBYL]: You asked for my answer and then you practically fell asleep on your feet. Come now, I'm sure I can't be that boring?
• [MISHIRO]: I...

SHE GLANCES DOWN BEFORE SHE FOLLOWS.

• [MISHIRO]: I've heard it all before anyway.
• [MISHIRO]: But please, continue. I'm sorry. I'll listen this time.
• [SIBYL]: Mm. I said, I moved out as soon as I could. I do not keep them in my thoughts and neither do they. Last I heard, Father was terminally ill. It took eight months after the diagnosis for anyone to recall that they should also inform me. I was planning a visit on the January of the next year. If I were to ask for a blessing, it would be that he died in peace and that Mother has since stopped grieving.
• [MISHIRO]: Would you rather he learned about--

SIBYL SUDDENLY TURNS TO ADDRESS A CLUSTER OF SHADOWS.

• [SIBYL]: Hello, Pinball. Join us in our sharing.

-- END SCRIPT.

she turns the unlit lamp in her hands until she is holding up the side that bears a line of black ink. under the hundred lights of the plaza, she reads the first inscription.

'to our parents who guide our journey--'

“for me as well, please.”

she almost doesn't believe herself. pinball -- unstealthed in the thick of a festive crowd? she looks, almost without moving her head, still holding the peach half shape of her diya. she hasn't spoken to him in two weeks. the warmth and verve emanating from their surroundings seem to sand down his edges in a manner entirely different from the peaceful sunlight of his garden. less funereal; head still bowed to look back at her. she doesn't know what else to say, really. "you were here, too."

but dayanita encounters the stutter customary to every safe zone npc upon being faced with a marked criminal: it hesitates.

"he can have mine," she hears sibyl offer behind her. they had never picked up their lights; theirs remain arrayed neatly on the table in front of them as dayanita had arranged it. "long time no see, pinball," sibyl greets lightly, "i'll leave the two of you to catch up if you agree to deliver my half."

they break for food at a secluded corner then resume their appreciation of the festivities.

mishiro, in search of more unique items, methodically goes from stall to stall to try each one's offerings. perhaps fermata had missed something in its initial sweep. it is not impossible. there are vanity shops wherever one looks, selling street food, outfits, tattooing services, and a half hour with a rented mount. more games. from a simple ball toss, she wins a feather. she immediately knows what she wants to do with it. the problem is sibyl, who jealously curls a hand over loth's gift. ("one more for your hair." "do the two of you fancy turning me into a bird?") and after a round of bickering, it ends up in their pocket with the false promise of wearing it in the future.

other than a table of crafting schemas in front of the library, nothing quite stands out the same as gyan chauper. mishiro reviews the route they had taken around the festival in her head and concludes -- the process of arriving at this answer was not entirely devoid of fun.

she ends up following the lights again eventually.

they cluster thickest at the base of the nameless statue, and among them, a woman in blue prepares even more. it greets her when she passes, and courtesy brings her to acknowledge it and draw closer to listen to its request.

"this lamplighter that you speak of, is he still on the other side of ronbaru?"

"yes," dayanita responds, "it is a quieter walk, perhaps an opportune moment to reflect on your journeys thus far under the guiding lights of our festival. would you like to help again? in the process of understanding oneself, retreading old paths bears numerous spiritual benefits."

sibyl pauses by a set of lights, noncommittal. "i'm not so deep as to need the reflection twice, to be honest. but i can still help. mishiro?"

"i'll take the lights, too," mishiro says.

-> diya lighting: receiving the lights

"two orders, coming up!"

"thank you."

the line moves forward. she has two drinks on a paper carrier, a bag of steaming hot samosas, and her earlier winnings. she shuffles the items around in her arms so that she is not being scalded by her newest purchase, and gently pushing her way out of the crowd surrounding the stall, she looks for sibyl. they are gone.

a dark blur crawls up the edges of her vision.

(if she lets this one out of her sight.)

she catches their silhouette, darkened underneath the shadow of the tent across. she hurries over, flooded by irrational relief, then angered with herself for it. is she going to question everything that she sees? sibyl, the chroma seeping out of their eyes, glances over their shoulder at her entry. they spread out a hand over the pallankuli board in front of them -- their current dilemma.

"you're playing row #1. how will you move?"

"first cup from the left," mishiro responds automatically. she glances down at her hands, too full; without question, sibyl scoops up the kuli's contents for her. "then fifth, then fourth..."

the first crystal had already dropped from the other's palm. they catch it mid-air. "hold on. pallankuli's rules are different."

her answer doesn't change once she's brought up to speed. sibyl follows her instructions and resolves the balance on their side after a moment's pause. the result is a fairly even spread across the board, one side ahead of the other by two counts and an advantage in free moves besides, and an out-of-place sense of satisfaction brimming from the player that attended to the losing half of the game.

she thinks she had missed something rather important.

GAME #1
Moving twelve (12) crystals from Row #2:

635   216   [8]
563  035   [6]

GAME #1
Moving six (6) crystals from Row #1:

046   327   [9]
563  035   [6]

GAME #1
Moving six (6) crystals from Row #2:

146   327   [9]
504  146   [7]

"oh, um!"

an turns bashful at the woman's gratefulness.

"y-your-- i mean, please don't forget them next time!" she says first to morningstar, her hands clasped over her chest. then back to his friend. "he helped me a lot, too."

"why were you at the 25th?"

an smiles brightly. "money."

"ah."

seamlessly, an turns back to morningstar and his still unidentified friend. she doesn't need her to guide the conversation at all -- she had only needed a small nudge. an's sincerity would have reached others eventually, whether or not mishiro was here. she feels comfortable sliding back into a quieter role.

"um, i don't think i caught your name--?"

"stephen star?!"

who?

another body added to their group. he enthuses them all on morningstar's performative merits (or perhaps he was only speaking to morningstar) and leaves as abruptly as he had cut in. in the boy's wake, mishiro looks at the highlight of the hour, her mind blanking on his real name. that can't be comfortable. players exclusively introduced themselves by their usernames for a reason, moreso if reality carried weight. she comments mildly, attempting to bring down the energy of the conversation, "you used to sing?"

but an isn't on the same wavelength. she looks him up and down, disbelieving. "huh? really?" and something that she sees convinces her and she gasps. "i-i-i-i-it's super nice to meet you! oh my god! i called you a rock! i'm so sorry!!" she presses her fingers together, flushing slightly, anxious. "it kind of makes sense, now that i think about it. nervegears were super expensive. have you ever met anyone else like you?"

oh, an...

"are any of you going to acknowledge willow?"

the new voice is sharp with reprimand. an jolts. her nervousness takes on a different color. mishiro's eyes turn, wary, towards one of the women who had been there since the beginning but had mostly kept to herself. she hears an, in a valiant effort to smooth things over, mumble, impossibly quiet, "who's willow--"

an was one of the loudest in their group. she isn't going to take this well.

with every word that follows, her friend shrinks further and further into herself. her posture gains that awkward hunch she uses to try and compensate for her height. she worries at her fingernails and her red eyes flit from one member of their circle to another, searching for any hints of blame. she lingers longest on their newcomer, and mishiro realizes that an wants to leave.

"s-sorry. sorry. willow." voice trembling, her friend quickly bows her head and turns around. "uh, i'm going to try the refreshments! and the holes. you can stay, mish."

she lets her.

was that really necessary?

she resists the urge to glare at eliseris, or worsen the tension with her own sharp words. if the woman had her grievances, she could have spoken with willow herself rather than air it so tactlessly. mishiro smooths over her composure, blocking out for a moment the sight of her friend, contending with one of her worst social fears surrounded by near strangers.

"willow? it's good to meet you. you're here with morningstar, i'm assuming? i apologize if there was any offense on my or an's part." she moves to pull away, addressing morningstar, willow, the newcomer, and (where is colette?). "i'm going after her."

ignoring zandra's announcement of a 'scavenger hunt,' mishiro departs and follows her friend.

-> scavenger hunt: 237077: BD 1

their honored guildmaster had been bested by a simple game of chance: he had ventured farther than most pieces in the game but was unfortunately brought back to the start by the snake of 'greed.' the stem of the peacock feather ends up woven into sibyl's hair. mishiro thinks he made far better use of his luck than they were giving him credit for. she moves her piece one tile forward, and to her surprise, sibyl asks for the die.

"another 'one'? really?"

sibyl hides a laugh behind a cough. "karma strikes the entire household--"

mishiro studies the prize list again, disappointedly crossing out any hope of earning the rarest items at the top. "eyes up." sibyl flicks the die back to her side and she races to catch it. across from her, their perspective of the board is upside down. this does not affect their counting at all because when she next turns the die over after scoring a 'four', their piece ends up beside hers once again.

she suddenly finds it fitting to review the most basic rules of snakes and ladders. "you are rolling the die, yes?"

"of course," sibyl returns simply. their index presses on the cube, slowly dragging it back towards their side. "'this game tests a person's karma.' aha. i get it." they pick up the die, and after examining it for a moment, drop it into mishiro's waiting palm. "cardinal is saying our fates are inseparable."

"our inseparable fates aren't getting us a decent prize, brother."

"alternatively, i can only mirror you because i don't count as a 'person' today."

"what?"

mishiro asks, then forgets.

she barely manages to salvage her game. sibyl's piece pulls ahead of her by three counts at the last second, but it awards them nothing more than bragging rights since they had ended up with the same prize. as she exits the stall after them, sibyl spins around and stuffs their winnings into mishiro's hands. they raise a finger to their lips. "let's not tell loth about this."

mishiro silently agrees.

-> gyan chauper: cd 8 | laddu (5)

a corpse is talking.

Spoiler LEVEL 24: HP: 480/480 | EN: 66/66 | DMG: 19 | MIT: 36 | ACC: 4 | AA | EVA: 1 | FLN: 6 (6-8) | BH: 3% | VO: 10% SKILLS: Spoiler | skills mod count: 0/5 RAPIER | RANK 5/5 [BASE: Proficiency] +7 DMG [ADDON: Ferocity] +2 DMG [ADDON: Precision] +1 ACC [ADDON: Stamina] Reduce EN of all attacks by 2. [SHIFT: ST Specialist] +3 to multipliers and +2 to EN cost; ST-I, ST-II, ST-B. COMBAT MASTERY: DMG | RANK 3/3 [BASE: Proficiency] +9 DMG BATTLE HEALING | RANK 3/5 [BASE: Proficiency] Regenerate +3% of max HP at the start of a turn. | extra skills [2] FIRST AID | RANK 5/5 [BASE: Proficiency] [PA, 15 EN] Single target heal: 20% of target max HP. [ADDON: Field Medic] [PA, 15 EN, 3 CD] AoE heal (including self): 25% of target(s) max HP. SURVIVAL | +10% received healing. Immunity to all damage dealing environmental attacks/effects. | expenditure Spoiler Total SP: 120 | Spent: 113 | Unspent: 7 SKILL: Rapier (30) ADDON: Stamina (4) ADDON: Precision (2) ADDON: Ferocity (4) SHIFT: ST Specialist (10) SKILL: Combat Mastery (13) EXTRA SKILL: First Aid (30) ADDON: Field Medic (6) SKILL: Battle Healing (14)  EQUIPMENT: Spoiler walpurgisnacht CURSED, FALLEN, VAMPIRIC (OFFENSIVE), ABSOLUTE ACCURACY TIER 3 DEMONIC RAPIER | [state]: crafted [ref] it is a talisman. your victory lies not in bloodshed, but in your own survival. do you understand? even if the skies are never rent open, roslyn, lyudochka, you will live another day to watch the falling snow gather on your hands. 'til the end of this holy night. white cloak MITIGATION II, EVADE TIER 3 PERFECT LIGHT ARMOR | [state]: crafted a white hooded cloak made for comfort. dioscuri ACCURACY III TIER 1 PERFECT JEWELRY | [state]: crafted a pair of earcuffs fashioned from precious stone.

two weeks.

two weeks since those messages. she was dizzy, sleepless, confused, paranoid, reading through a history that met its end two years ago that cardinal insists was hers. she could not trust her memories. at a certain point, this extends to her senses. is it the end or a portent? the loss tears at her. she hadn't left her house. had rifled through her planners, her records which she faithfully kept every day for years, duplicated the work she had done for fermata since she assumed her most recent position; spread it all out, the last two years, over one of sibyl's unused drafting tables. looked at it all over again with a sudden wave of despair. breakable reality over breakable reality. what was she thinking? no. no, she is missing the point. sword art online itself is the problem, and she had done nothing but deceive herself than face it outright like so many others already have. this was just another pitiful attempt at a detour. she abandons it all and heads to lhasri to look for a quest.

she doesn't get very far. she runs into sibyl, leaving the headquarters, and they both stop dead in their tracks.

(when had they left the house? she can't remember. is this another--)

"so you were alive in there. could i trouble you to step away from your project for a sec?"

sibyl's brilliant rationale for spiriting her away to floor 27 almost without warning is that she has quite the history with it. she gently turns them down once, but they insist -- today, they are in the mood to be inconsiderate. mishiro, begrudgingly, allows herself to be rerouted. it is also a truth that they have spent little time together lately. she expects to be unmoved, unimpressed, but when she hops off the teleporter, hundreds of lights reflect in her eyes, ronbaru as bright as it had never been before, and she halts her steps, her expression baring her disbelief. floor 27 had been: a tense populace, disagreeable leaders on a platform and a system begging outsider input to solve their problems, and five regions in the aftermath of disasters, betrayals, and political instability. she had never come back to check on how things were after the roundtable.

the teleporter flashes behind her, marking her companion's arrival. the girl, unaware, spins in a slow circle, following a stream of lanterns with her eyes to a thirty foot tall statue holding an undying flame. "it's..." lively, she thinks. beautiful. (because it is so easy to puppeteer her like this.) the air is colored with festive cheer. the thought suddenly occurs to her of how this would all look stripped down to the bone.

she is thinking about numbers and structures.

"different?" sibyl offers, gentle.

"different."

yes, that is simple enough. she can accept that. she marvels at the statue for a while longer, then she senses that sibyl had walked a short distance off and is only waiting for her, politely pretending to observe the stalls they had already visited a day prior. approaching, she jabs them on the elbow, freeing them of their vigil. "tell me about that game loth lost."

they grin, already turning to lead the way. "gladly!"

-> combat: st-i vs m?steri??s br??er

in the forest she peers over pinball’s shoulder to look at the dungeon map but the world around them is already shifting. the ground pries apart to reveal a staircase, and she waits, quiet, for pinball to make his final preparations.

“...”

she turns her eyes to their health bars. three mass heal crystals in her pocket and a teleport each between them. the moment he goes, mishiro follows.

their steps echo as they descend. the domain is spacious, walled off on all sides by stone, and still as brightly lit as though they were still outside even if she couldn’t quite tell where the light was coming from. a lone tree stands at the far end of the space, eerily still without the touch of a breeze. pinball’s boot touches the ground and the first wave spawns.

four coyotes -- smaller than the wolves that wander the fields and forests near sibyl's estate. she leaves the woodland creatures there be, even. now, they are held down by a stun and mishiro, clearing the last few steps with a leap, unleashes a sword art with deadly precision. they melt. their remnants coalesce into a data crystal, which she disperses without a glance. she quickly moves closer to her companion, her eyes on the tree.

-> combat: aoe-i vs coyotes 1-4 [wave 1 slain]

"ah. a house?" tented hands raise to her lips; she feels faintly embarrassed. one would think, having lived in sibyl's estate all these years, that she would have pried through the mechanics behind it enough times to remember. so far, all she had troubled herself with was the security system. "i never needed that before. it must have slipped my notice. but, pin..." they had stopped and the question hung in the air. lost, mishiro gentles her next words. "i'd hate to impose."

she does wonder where the line is, sometimes.

the teleport whisks them away to glyndebourne. mishiro, blinking her eyes open, taking in the fresh homely air, belatedly realizes that pinball, on honoring her request, had brought her to the frontlines. it doesn't look the part. it rather looks like a town she would have dreamed of making a home in. the disparity catches in the back of her mind but her relief at stepping into friendlier surroundings after floors 5 and 9 drowns it out. without additional directions from pinball, she defaults to heading for the nearest gate out of the safe zone, trusting her shadow to be close behind. there is less weight to her steps as she sheds the weariness of a drained energy bar.

yellowed leaves drift to the pavement. "do you like autumns, too?" she muses to empty air.

-> [ooc regen: 3/3]

something is wrong.

she is on the ground, nearly half of her life gone, paralyzed. not stunned: the part of her mind that isn't yet filled with clamor supplies. stuns have a cooldown, paralysis doesn't. she learned this lesson herself. it need only be inflicted once, then chaining it endlessly becomes numerically possible. she is on the ground, feuding uselessly with her unmoving body, but the system's decrees are absolute and where else is there left for you to go but to turn into a long, drawn-out scream for her ears alone? her injured hand is cradled to her chest. shay stands in front of her, defending a complete stranger.

isn't it nice, you think, delirious, to have the choice taken away from you sometimes? ah. 兄貴。兄貴、兄貴、兄貴--

she can’t breathe.

"oh," the broker says simply. for a moment, her focus seemed to have shifted somewhere else. "then neither will i."

she springs forward, hood still in place, heedless of her wound. she is swift and elegant, as is the wont of any fighter who has mastered the rapier, but her strikes are heavy and furious. hardly has shay parried her sword than the broker is raining down another attack, vengeful. had any of the rapier's blows landed, the other would have been knocked back, leaving the entity free to choose her prey. but shay holds her ground.

behind her, the fallen player watches through blurred vision as their opponent's health recovers. she wants to live, too.

-> ___|
-> combat: m?steri??s br??er: st-i vs shay

“i am,” mishiro insists. suddenly conscious, she crosses an arm over herself, fingernails digging into the opposite elbow. the thick fabric of her gloves dulls the bite. “thanks for asking. really. i’ll… recover on the way there.”

they need a little more time.

“and if my energy hits full capacity and i still feel off, i promise i’ll tell you. how is yours already restored? surely not the water? i hope i didn’t drink the water wrong, otherwise we are really calling this off.”

she eyes their status bars, jealous, for just a second longer before she starts to busy herself with her interface. she doesn’t need to remind herself -- as a crafter, she keeps materials in excess, and her position allows her to withdraw from the guild vaults without much fuss. but she’ll lessen the demand on the treasury as much as she is able. “highest possible,” mishiro confirms. from her inventory comes a match pair of teleport crystals, one of which she hands over to him. “i’m ready. you call it this time.”

-> [ooc regen: 2/3]

she's still tracing the line of cerberus' claws with her eyes. he had looked back at her, once, in that close, watchful way of his that leaves her feeling torn, then something else drew him from her, and had she not already pulled away, and were they in any other place than this, she might have, thoughtlessly, curled the hand she was holding him with into a loose fist. crumpled the layer of his cloak into her palm. mooring. -- what is it? tell me. -- his hand is on her shoulder and she can’t make distance. if he says so, she thinks. she tries to cut herself from the tangled spool of the rest of her thoughts, but if she isn't, by some unknown circumstance, forgetting, she's compulsively keeping score. guilt is their shared bedfellow.

the words come to her like auguries in a fog. "...i am." she smiles, faint. almost wry. "i wasn't the one taking all those attacks. just... the usual fatigue, i think. and the thorns.”

her energy hasn’t been this low in two years. the tiredness that hits her is unnatural. foreign. but it will pass. mishiro takes the canister pinball holds out to her with a murmur of thanks, and as they slip out of the cavern before it begins its routine collapse, she takes small sips from it, pacing herself through her vertigo. there is still a third remaining when she offers it back to pinball once they are safely outside. “i could still go for that dungeon. higher is better for these things, if i recall correctly--?”

-> [ooc regen: 1/3]

the whispers stop.

three hounds and another head are gone and she nearly drops to the ground herself. in her periphery she thinks she glimpses the barest suggestion of pinball's image behind a curtain of triangles but she doesn't look. mishiro comes up to cerberus and walpurgisnacht drinks the last of her energy. she swings, sinks the blade deep into the remaining head's neck. the entire body splits into thirds. cerberus, inferno's rage, falls.

in its owner's wake, the temperature of the cavern slowly drops. fires dampen as though they had been fueled by cerberus' soul alone. mishiro takes her first full breath in (what had felt like) a long while. then, fluttering to the side, her eyes catch pinball's. she sheathes her blade but keeps her sword hand free. the other one drifts to a point below his collarbone when she reaches him, the flat of her thumb barely skirting the edge of the largest cut. "pin. i'm sorry." already, flesh and armor is mending itself. her expression twists. she's too weary; her touch is barely even there. "i don't know what happened. i was trying to catch some of the second wave's aggro but they wouldn't even look at me. are you feeling okay?"

she lets her hand fall, eyes wandering to a window she had minimized in her haste. "it's done," she realizes. "we got your sword art."

-> combat: st-i vs cerberus head #3 [cerberus slain]