Dustin

Dustin stood there in the courtyard, looking through his gear and stats. They were way higher than the last time he was here. He couldn’t exactly remember when though, as it was a long time ago. He squints as his mind begins to wander, maybe it was christmas. Or was it just the other day? Hmm. His hand rubs his chin as he thinks back. He knows he had his sword, because he remembers fighting...

”OH YEAH!” He smiles brightly, like a fool. Chuckling he moves from his inventory to his friends list. I was fighting Jinx, and I lost. Maybe this time I can beat her in a duel. His hand selects the “send message” option and he begins to type.

[message:]

His smile stays affixed to his face, but his legs push into the ground as he moves to the side and sits down. His gear was all set, but he couldn’t decide on what armor he should use. Hei made this shirt for me, but This Trench Coat has been very helpful for a long while. He thinks back to the last fight and remembers bleed and thorns seemed to be her biggest weapons. Now his health would help protect against that, but he would rather deal with just one of them rather than both sapping his health away.

His finger glides over to the Trench coat and his regular blue sweatshirt is replaced by a long blue coat with a little flourish of the coat tails to add to the cool factor a little bit.

[stats and crap]

Dustin wakes up, pulling the covers off of himself and looking over to see a woman next to him. He barely remembered last night after going to the hill on floor 1. Her brown hair strewn across the pillow hides her identity, but he remembers her being sweet and yet promiscuous. She was a paradox to the boy and he had to know what it was like.

Surprisingly vanilla.

He gets out of bed and throws on a plain black shirt before walking out of the inn altogether. She was on his friends list now so he’d probably shoot her a message later apologizing about it, but he had to get home and check on his slimes. I hope mr. fluffy is okay. It’s been a few days. He frowns as he steps onto the main streets of the town. Wait... what floor is this?

He had just followed her up to here, and she led him to her room. Now he had to find the teleport plaza, just so he could get home and eat some cheerios.

”This calls for a...” His inventory was devoid of snacks... he had put them in his storage place at home because he didn’t plan on going out for a while. Looking for the nearest snack shop he spots a familiar head of purple hair. Sh*t... His leg pushes into the ground as he launches himself up onto the inn he had just left.

Did she see me?

Dustin smiles at the question and turns back to tilt his head and think for a moment, walking backwards all the while. “You can’t make new friends unless you’re willing to be bored every so often.” He looks back at her and continues. “Besides, this is fun, and I have a really weak guild member who I go on tons of quests with, so this is nothing.” He spins back around and continues walking through the woods. She needed the garden area for the abundance of materials, but not so close that they get the bonus.

Her answer to his question made him think. Yeah he missed the majority of things in the town, but he was sure she didn’t know about the stuff outside of the walls. “Yeah, I agree with you there. But you won’t get the full experience unless you venture outside the walls. Hell, I rarely go into towns anymore, except to teleport to a different floor.” He says, spinning around again to walk backwards, but this time a childish light fills his eyes. “Like on this floor, there’s a small hill where you can sit to see a beautiful sunset. I used to go there everyday, but now I only go once or twice a week. But on every floor the twilight looks different. On floor four, aka the worst floor, the snow glistens in the sun, but the blue night sky is reflected in the snow, so it becomes a wonderful dance of cool blues and yellow glints of light, like the night sky.” He laughs a little, before pulling out a cookie and taking a bite.

A dagger? Dustin would’ve preferred a sword at that age, short, ornate but durable. He always loved blades and weapons, his pops taught him to make small knives too. He wasn’t very good at it but he could make one if he needed to. As they continued it was taking longer than Dustin had previously thought it would. It was weird, Dustin completed this quest no problem, (or so he thought despite it taking forever) why was she having so much trouble?

Soon An had started getting fed up. Of course it was taking forever, they hadn’t even reached the prime spot yet? Dustin never went there either, in fact he went the exact opposite direction and slept a few times. “There’s a spot by the garden not far from here, someone I know says it’s the best spot for this quest.” He smiles as he takes point through the brush and sticks.

”So An... you go on any adventures before this one?” He asks, like this isn’t literally called the beginner quest line. It was the first adventure Dustin took too, and he hated it. So much in fact that he never did the second one. That [censored] threw him for a loop after he was trapped in game, and now he knows better than to trust a girl who treats him like crap...

sort of.

Rolling

ID: 130678

LD: 3

Dustin watched as the red pixels falling from everyone else’s wounds moved towards the witch across from them. Her health bar moved up into the green once more as Dustin took a step back. Is she healing? I didn’t know that was a thing. He looked around at the entire party’s HP bars and they all dropped except for Dustin’s. Why isn’t she taking my health? I’m not tainted products, am I? He looks down and notices his slash mark had no red pixels falling to the ground. Surely that had something to do with it.

”Hey hoss, gotta refuel. Outta gas.” Dustin says to Stryder, pulling out a canned energy drink. Popping the tab Dustin smiles as he opens it the rest of the way and chugs it. “Down the hatch.” He stands and watches the group get ready for another attack. The fight would have to go on after Dustin refilled his Energy. But for now, he drinks.

Dustin watched again as her speed was made abundantly clear. She was fast, and she hit hard. His knuckles would be in her cheek right now if she wasn’t moving so fast. He watched as she ran across the field hitting players, but he hadn’t decided when to strike. His arms tensed up in excitement, his leg bounced in anticipation. That twitch was enough to send him into overdrive. His back foot pushed back and he shot off like a rocket sled on rails. He pushed through the sensation of terror mixed with joy as his arm swung around and his knuckles connected with the woman’s face.

A burst of laughter exploded from the boy as he ran across following the fluid motion of the attack and doing a handspring off of one hand landing facing the queen of sanguine herself. “You see that Bossman? That’s how you follow up an attack.” The words carried outwards so everyone could hear, but Stryder was the only one Dustin was talking to. It was apparent the kid was having fun, despite being against a literal monster. “Not even she could pull that off. Not in those heels at least.” Dustin smiles and throws up a peace sign at the lady.

He was having too much fun with this.

She dashed towards Dustin like a bat out of hell, a bullet of estrogen and sanguine intent, her claws just barely graze his body thanks to his natural instincts. She was fast and he didn’t like that. Although, to be fair, he did like other aspects of her. Hot damn. He looks over to his guild leader and laughs for a moment. “Not those kinda chills man.” Shaking his head and staying back for a moment.

Dustin watched as his guild leader ran into the lady, hitting her square in the face again. Dustin chuckles as he pulls his hands up and runs back in. So far they had done a lot of damage to the boss, and now it was Dustin’s turn to take this gal on. His legs push him towards the monster of a lady and he fist collides with her face once more. As he sits there for a moment, he chuckles looking her up and down with a sly smirk on his face. “Maybe under different circumstances.” He chuckles.

It wasn’t long after Dustin’s Valhalla comment that she charged in and attacked the man Dustin had fought the Byakko with. Dustin hadn’t noticed him before and was kinda upset with himself about that. She moved faster than Dustin thought she would, especially with those stiletto shoes on. His hand clutches and he looks to his guild leader who had ignored his earlier comment and shot in to attack the lady. “Okay, screw you too then.” Dustin grips his wrist and shoots in not long after his role model and throws a right hook, hitting her square in the face.

Part of him felt gross, punching a lady in the face was wrong. His dad always made sure to drive that lesson home the most.

His heel digs into the ground and he shoots back to a distance because his nerves had gone haywire. Looking into the eyes of such an opponent could scare some people. Luckily though, Dustin had the instincts of a fighter so his body moved on its own. Like he was on autopilot, he watched her before he turned to the man who had helped him with the quest to earn his weapon of choice and said, “You know, she gives me the chills.”

By the time the girl with purple hair had pushed Dustin back and he had pulled away practically giving himself whiplash, he felt eyes on his back. Sh*t. He looked Arabelle in the eyes and then turned his eyes towards the girl as best he could given the death grip she had on him. His eyes fixate on the strand of hair she was holding, and his hand formed around the hilt of a broken blade just above his butt. Thoughts of cutting the hair and running from them both had flooded his mind and it was obvious he was leaning towards it. As she released him her question pushed him back upright. Now! Right foot left foot, rapid succession! Move it Dumbass!

But running hadn’t worked before. It just made them so angry when they found him. That’s why he didn’t want to be found. “I was trying to avoid her.” He explained. It wasn’t fair of him to do so, but he was telling the truth about it. “Although, I did sort of invite her.”

He would sort of shift himself towards Jinx and look her in the eyes. The emptiness inside them was all consuming, and no excitement despite seeing his two best friends for the first time in weeks. He was tired. Tired of running. Tired of fighting. Tired of making the same mistakes all the time. Tired of standing at the center of attention like this, his hand yanks the broken blade out and holding it at his side. I could get out of here. All it would take is a swift attack, and while they’re distracted I could ditch. His hands looked for something to do to escape this awkward situation. As he turns back to Arabelle, he sighs snd sheathes the blade. Opening his eyes it becomes apparent that he was sort of back to his old self. Not exactly the same, but his eyes had some sort of light to them.

”I should’ve told you. For that I’m sorry.” He gives her a weak smile.

Dustin hadn’t had to wait long before his question was answered. He was definitely here to kill something, and he wanted to know what but it had made itself so apparent. A woman, dark and mysterious captured his eye and he was already twitching his finger getting ready for a long and exhausting battle. Hopefully he was gonna have fun with this one, rather than have to deal with the stupid war of attrition type fights that always ended up happening when he was brought along.

Hopefully this fight would be worth it, he knew it would be taxing and his mind was already trying to figure out how many attacks he had before he would have to rest and wait for another one. After stuffing his face with funnel cake, he opened his menu and equipped the coat Bahr had made for him. The blue trench coat took its rightful place on Dustin’s body, and he rolled up the sleeves to reveal the handwraps Hei had made for him. Finally he would get to show off to his guild leader how much he had grown since that guild farming in the woods.

It would be glorious.

”Hey Stryder, I’ll see you in Valhalla.” He punctuates the sentence with a wink.

items consumed/buffs

Battle Ready Inventory

Skills

Mods

Items Equipped

Final Stats

Dustin grabbed his old raggedy cloak from his closet and teleported up to the twenty first floor. He needed to buy a crystal but had no intention on answering questions on why. It wasn’t Stryder’s business as to where Dustin was taking these.

At any rate, Dustin had made his way up to his guild leader’s shop and decided to walk in with a pouch of exactly enough col for one teleport crystal. It was easier to hide your identity when you did it this way. His hand grasps a small blue crystal and he sets the pouch of col on the counter, walking out and back into the streets to try and disappear. The lake nearby made a foggy ambiance, which cloaked Dustin further making his movements harder to follow.

purchased:

-Teleport Crystal

paid:

880 col

Dustin sat and watched his slimes, chewing on a piece of straw and waiting for this day to pass. It had been a common occurrence for him as of late, until suddenly a message pops up and Dustin turns around to read it. It was from his guild leader and an audible sigh makes itself apparent. “Probably another bs meeting or something.” He says leaning against the fence and opening the menu to see what was up. A sense of purpose and joy began to creep up his spine as he pushed himself off the fence post and walking towards the town.

Teleporting down two floors to his guild leader’s location and making his way to the ticket booth. 500 col for a ticket? Hot damn. He pulls up his transaction menu and transfers a few col to the ringleader before making his way into the tent and over to his guildmate. The boy who called himself leader was always commanding Dustin around and if he was being honest it got on his nerves. “Where’s this thing we get to kill?” He asks before he realizes he had missed the introduction to all these enemies and missed a large fight as well.

items purchased

Items gained

Dustin turns to the small band of merry travelers which was apparently shrinking by the moment. As they made their way into the woods the other two had sort of broken off to do their own thing. The boy was never good at small talk, but he could figure this out he was sure of it. “When I was ten I would’ve wanted a new weapon of some sort. A small one that I can carry but strong enough to kill a monster.”

He looks around for any animals and smiles when he finally sees one. The monsters on this floor were too weak for him to even get loot from anymore. In fact, that was true for the monsters all the way up to floor five. Anymore he just caught himself just watching them move around and live their lives. It was like bird watching back in the real world, or tracking an animal to it’s home when hunting. Of course, it was nothing like this in the real world, Dustin was much better at the art of the hunt back home.

Dustin watched the rock fall down into the middle of town, it having gone surprisingly far. Huh... I guess I’ve just gotten stronger. He looks down at the ground, before all of a sudden he hears a familiar voice behind him. His eyes fill with dread before a hand pushes him off the building and he comes falling down along with some snow that falls with him. The landing wasn’t nearly as painful as it looked, but the chill of the snow bit his side in an aching manner like that of his father’s home town. Her feet fall next to him, and he just lays there, motionless in the snow. She’s got a point. It’s not something I’m proud of, or wanted to do. It’s something I had to do. If I told you all what I planned to do, you all would’ve hated me. Hell... Eatos called me a child. He listened as she explained further, before waiting for a bit.

Damnit... why’d you have to follow me here? Why’d you have to come and get me? Why’d you have to tell me everything? I could’ve just disappeared, and never looked back. But no. You had to come and take away my closure.

She helps him up, and he stands the rest of the way to his feet. How was he supposed to disappear if she was right next to him. “I’ve been where he is before.” He grips the necklace around his neck. “Ironically, Kadin would’ve loved it.” He chuckles before letting go of the necklace and turning towards the girl. She had already asked another question? “Simple... I’m gonna kill him.” He looked her dead in the eyes. His words were filled with a tone not one of the people he had ever spoken to had heard before. The usually happy go lucky boy was in his revenge state of mind, and his voice had lost all the life it had in it. His eyes only filled with sorrow and despair, his voice only carrying a hint of anger.

He was the spitting image of a washed up has been.

His mind was replaying the sins he had committed, with commentary from his favorite person in the game. A few phrases catch his attention.

“I felt like some desperate girlfriend!“

“I honestly would've felt much better if you just cheated on me or something."

He took a sharp breath in, like a silent gasp, and he turned to her. Are we official now? Like... and actual couple? He takes a gulp, steeling himself and walking up to her before placing a gentle kiss on her soft lips. It wasn’t a way to make up for what he did, but more of a way to say...

”Sorry...”

The man returned with his own story, and Dustin smiled. Opening his menu and clicking on pending requests, he accepts the friend request and starts towards the wall of smoke he had to cross to help the player. “You said you want to kill a few mobs. I doubt the mobs will be sticking around here.” He smiles and starts walking again.

Once the grass turns green beneath their feet and Dustin keeps walking. They had accomplished their goal and were gonna continue to fight together for a bit longer. A few monsters would be nice, and while this guy was cool, Dustin had stuff he had to do. Those things he’d need to do, he’ll need col to do them. His hands move up and he pulls hood up and starts walking through the field. Looking back at his new friend, he smiles and starts walking backwards. “So, what do you do for fun?”

Dustin lays in his bed looking up at the ceiling. A common practice as of late, as he had nothing better to do. Most of his guildmates just straight up avoided him, and Dustin couldn’t think of what to say to Arabelle. “Do you wanna come over?” Was too weird and “wanna go kill another dragon.” Was probably weirder. He was stuck in the same rut and couldn’t find a way out. No one would pull him out, he had to get himself out. Or so he thought. A message dings, pulling him out of his trance he had been so painstakingly locked in. Probably sent to the wrong pers- Across the top of the message it says “Jinx” and Dustin stands up. It had been a while since he had spoken to the lady. It was weird considering she used to be his favorite, but now she had just been classified under guildmate. It’s what happens when you disappear for a while.

Opening his menu and sending a quick return message, Dustin gets dressed before quickly walking out towards town. Before he leaves his property he walks over to his slimes’ fence and grabs a half bale of hay, throwing it over to the large horde of slimes. Walking the other half to Mr. Fluffy’s little enclosure.

Walking into town and teleporting up to the fifth floor, he looks around and notices his quest companion and starts over towards her. “Hey, been a while. What’s up?” He asks, walking up to her with a smile.

She had taken his confession rather calmly. Apparently she had known, and Dustin was trying to think of how she could know. Am I that easy to read? Or is she just over confident? He thinks for a moment. I must be that easy to read. He looks at her, and her rant about how usually when boys confess their attraction, there’s also a date being requested. “I just assumed you didn’t want to date me. I thought you had someone else.” He couldn’t think of an excuse so he just dropped the truth. Not long after her speech, she walks over and pulls him down to her eye level. His face turns a bright red, what is it about her? Every time she does something you get flustered... maybe it’s something wrong with you. 

"I like you too. Go out with me."

Those wonderful words graced his ears and he thought for a moment he was dreaming. He couldn’t help but flash a big goofy grin at her before he wraps her in a hug and picks her up, spinning a bit and setting her down.

He had to do something though... something he couldn’t exactly decide on. Should he just leave it at that? No. This wasn’t his first time confessing attraction. He was a teenage boy after all, he knew what he was doing. There was a lull, and after that brief moment, Dustin shoots in... he had to go for it or it just would’ve been awkward. A short but passionate kiss would calm Dustin’s nerves if she would let him have it. It wouldn’t be his first kiss, but would be his favorite, by far.

Dustin and Arabelle make it to the refreshments and she instantly grabs a sweet for Dustin to try. He looks at the treat then at her as his face turns a faint red and he takes the food to eat it. She was kind of cute, the way she was running around trying all the foods, must have been torture in the real world. Dustin never had that problem, trying to keep under a certain amount of calories and making it seem like he was never hungry. He would eat everything in sight, don’t burn this hot without fuel right? He smiles before he even realizes Ryoko had completely missed the hint and followed them there. Soon after she appeared, however, she disappears again and Dustin takes the opportunity to move over to Arabelle. “Nah, nothing like that. I had just heard about it, decided it’d be nice to check out this party.” He looks around to confirm that Ryoko had actually disappeared and looks at Arabelle. “Follow behind me, stay low.” He crouches down and walks across the main area of the party, sort of moving as fast as he can, but quietly as he can. No skills activated, and not using the mechanics of the game, because he doesn’t exactly trust his incredibly low stealth stat he just tries to stay out of Ryoko’s sight.

As the pair draw near Kityuisa’s mansion, Dustin keeps moving, so he’s on the opposite side of the party, taking a leap and climbing up to the roof of the building. Planting himself at the highest point on the building, Dustin looks over at the girl and smiles. “Figured it’d be a beautiful view from up here.” He says, his gaze remaining locked on her.

”So... now that we’re alone... I’ve got something to tell you.” Dustin says, his face a bright vibrant red, and his gaze having pushed itself down towards the roof they were on. “I’ve kinda... had a major crush on you since the dragon quest we did together. Not the first one but the second one.” He says. Now that he had said this there was no going back... (unless he were to jump off the roof and run away, but he was sure that would be a bad idea...) His gaze remains locked on the building beneath him, and his face growing even more Blushed. Oh god? Why would you say that Dustin? That’s super awkward... what if she doesn’t like you back? ...then who cares? It’s not like I have to go out with her. I’d just like to... god I’m such an idiot.

He just wanted to get stronger. Reminded Dustin of himself when he was just starting out, but this guy could probably get further than Dustin could ever hope to. “I’ll help you, just make sure you don’t get hurt, these monsters can be strong around here.” He smiles, knowing that for him to be able to help, the enemy will have to be almost twice as strong as the Byakko. “So why are you so low leveled? Honestly, that’s a personal question, if you don’t want to answer I understand.” Dustin asks, “I started late because I lost my brother in this game. I spent a lot of time in sunset tavern back on floor 2. The owner and I became best buds and one day he told me about the beginner quests. I met a girl and she treated me like dirt, but I made it here, and she’s disappeared.” He smiles, before dropping the smile and looking at the ground. “Sorry, that was a lot of info to drop on you.” Standing up, Dustin stretches for a moment and looks down at his companion. “Remember this, if you ever need help on a quest, just ask. I’ll be there.” He smiles with a wink.

After Dustin sent the message, Pinball had changed, like he knew someone was coming. “You remember that time you helped me get this skill?” Dustin asks. He was genuinely curious. Can a monster like him really have such good memories? He looks down and away, hearing footsteps approach. “What about that night on the lake? Wasn’t too dissimilar to this.” Is he really so bad that won’t matter to him? I wanna know if he can still remember a time when he wasn’t so bad. “You won’t that race.” He smiles fondly on the memory.

Suddenly, Stryder rockets in and a comet trail behind his fist slams into Pinball, and Stryder looks back at the two. Dustin can practically feel the anger pouring out of Stryder. He had no idea who it was directed towards, was it Pinball for disappearing and becoming this? Was it Dustin for letting Jinx get entangled in this mess? Dustin felt like it would be a bit of both, and he felt like he deserved it. “I’m sorry Stryder, I couldn’t beat him.” Dustin says, dejected as he more or less waits for his energy to get back up. It’s my fault, Jinx had to suffer through that because of me. Dustin’s vision drops to the ground. 

He’s right, I don’t matter.

Placeholder

As Arabelle wraps herself around Dustin’s arm and scolds him for leaving Mishiro alone, he turns a faint red, and a small smile forms on his face. “Ah, but you see, I’m not very good at talking to people who don’t talk to me.” He says, looking back at Ryoko who was saying Dustin did a bad job of babysitting. “It’s really bothersome to watch over someone my age.” He scoffs and says to himself. With Arabelle wrapped around his arm and Ryoko in front of him, Dustin can’t help but blush, especially as Arabelle tightens her grip. Turning away and looking over to the water, Dustin manages to pry himself out of his state if Hysteria. “So Belle, wanna go get some food at the refreshment table?” He asks, starting to walk towards the main party.

Dustin makes his way up to the largest groups and through to the front, signing up for the swimsuit contest and then heading back over to the refreshments table. Various snacks lay out on the flat surface, yet none of them catch Dustin’s eye. Maybe it’s because he is so used to eating his own food, so he grabs a glass of lemonade and walks away from the table.

[Dustin enters the swimsuit contest]

Oscar’s words firmly plant a smile on Dustin’s face. As the wall of smoke around them begins to dissipate, Dustin turns and starts heading towards the town. “Been a while since I had fun on this floor. No point in wasting it.” He laughs, sitting on the ashen ground and pulling out a cake, a whole cake... and just grabbing a fork and going at it. The sweet soft fluff makes Dustin childish happiness so much more apparent. “So mister Oscar... two things... you want some? oh, and also, wanna also do something else?” He asks gleefully. “It’s so boring when people just do a quest and go their separate ways.” He takes a mouthful and keeps talking through. “In the real world, you ask for help and make a friend.” He smiles, “I just wish it was like that here.” He lies back in the dark gray grass. He glances up at the smoke disappearing into the sky and just stares in awe.

Dustin’s hand started glowing, his eyes locked on the enemies and his fist tightened to the point it almost hurt. Why are they still alive? Why were there so many and they just disappeared? How did we clear them so fast? He couldn’t help but wonder as he charged forward, pushing himself to the limit before he throws everything he has into a punch, but missed the monster entirely and spins around, jumping back to the area he was just standing. He had been at this combat thing for a while, but he couldn’t ever just land a hit. Why were they here in the first place? What did they want? He looks around at the festival and thinks for a moment. “Maybe one day we’ll understand some of the things we want to know, but I know damn well we won’t answer all of our questions.” He says to himself, smiling before he turns back to the thin horde.