Oscar

“You could invite him over,” Oscar said. “It’s just a little gathering. He might find himself a bit more comfortable playing cards over a beach party.” Warren crossed over to the table as Oscar spoke, settling down as the others circled around him. He pulled out his deck of cards, silently shuffling them as he balanced an unlit cigarette precariously between his lips. “Game’s five-card stud. Jokers wild,” he said, the cigarette bouncing as he spoke. Lysette and Sin settled in, flanking Mari. When Warren moved to pull the chips out of his set, Sin held up a hand. “Oh no, no chips,” sh

“I’ve come to realize that I might have been a bit too black-and-white,” Oscar said as she mentioned the day-to-day troubles that Orange Players had to struggle with. In many ways, he knew that struggle well. Invoking his time on the street, his childhood teetering on the precipice. If not for his stroke of fortune, he knew in his bones that he would not be here right now. Enjoying a meal, a conversation. It all came down to that one moment, that one decision. Really, the best ass-kicking he’d ever endured. It would have all been worth a thousand of those. “That’s very kind of you,”

“Busy,” Oscar replied. There was no simpler way to say it. He’d taken on entirely too much. LARPing as a real estate mogul. Restaurants and now his night club. He didn’t want to spill the beans on that. His flair for the dramatic simply wouldn’t allow. But it was draining - pushing Cardinal to its limits, finding just what he was allowed within the bounds of the system. Each grand opening - every restaurant and every single little thing that would make it unique - was a result of hours upon hours of experimentation. He wasn’t doing it alone, but he was certainly doing his part. The logistics a

She was all consuming. The heat building as she melted into him - as she threw caution to the wind and finally fucking kissed him properly - scorched him to the bone. How could it be that someone who looked so impossibly sweet could burn him so completely? Oscar found that he craved that. He had plenty heat of his own. He found himself wondering what would happen when their dual radiances finally collided. When this party was finally over and he could give her the proper attention. The corruption she demanded from him. Because he was that - corruption. Sin, pleasure, pain. Manifest.

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Oscar had certainly made his bed with this party. Now, he had to lie in it. He was in good company, he thought. But he thought that he could handle it. His own den of desire, a corner of their virtual prison clawed out from Cardinal’s hands. It was his. He wanted to share it. But now, his entire being screamed at him to leave it behind. This was dangerous. Intense. She would be the death of him. Some part of him, at least. Notions he had about his own state of being shattered as she looked up at him. She trembled. He did too. Why? What wound them so tightly together? What a

“I know enough,” Oscar said. Best to not get too close. Last thing he needed was the guilt that came from humanizing his targets. His last mental had brought him to the edge of Aincrad - almost careening off of it. It was a complicated thing, his little blood feud. He was sure that, at some point, the members had their reasons. But that had long since become irrelevant. So long as their mission was to kill other Players, someone needed to be the one to kill them back. “Shop talk is boring, anyway,” he said, an air of conclusion to his tone. He’d not brought Mari here to plunder her for in

“Most would call that hedonism,” Oscar replied, his voice muffled against her jaw. There was something intoxicating about this woman. Like the stiffest drink he’d ever had - he couldn’t remember the last time he felt so foggy. There was something about her. The way she carried herself. As if she were partaking in something she had long since denied. Or… Perhaps she was ignorant of its existence. Words spoken just moments prior seemed so far away. But it was in her manner of speech, the way she carried herself. Magnanimous in every sense of the word. Grace that the geniuses of old had the hubri

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Leaping from the ground, he chased after the man. Ascending above him, he twisted in midair. Oscar reached out, grabbing the man by the collar. Used his momentum to spin him around his back before throwing him down to the ground. Technically, he didn’t hit Carlos. So he still had two to go. He adjusted his posture once more as gravity took over. Like a lighting bolt, he crashed down from the sky, driving both of his feet into Carlos’s chest. Two. Once more, he reached out and plucked the man from the small crater he’d made and tossed him effortlessly back the way he’d come from. He b

Carlos accepted. Of course he did. Dude may not have had any interest in his healer friend, but he damn sure wasn’t gonna let some guy horn into the middle of it. The counter appeared between them, starting from ten. Oscar kept his stance open. Casual. This guy wasn’t a threat. Just in need of correction. Oscar didn’t like lording himself other Players but he fucking hated assholes. Especially assholes that yell at cute girls. It wasn’t until the timer hit one that Oscar moved. He took a moment to dispatch another set of drakes and then thrust his weapon into the ground. The timer hi

“Alright,” Oscar said, quickly dispatching the mobs clinging to his body the moment his energy bar refilled. “I’m back online. How about we just fuckin’ settle this?” Oscar swiped open his menu, sending a duel request to the man in front of him. “Three hits,” Oscar said, finalizing the confirmation. “Non-lethal. First to three takes it. You win, I’ll give you my sword. I win-” He pointed at the girl doing her best to appear as small as possible. “I take you out for dinner. You can do better than this guy, babe.” “Uh, you sure? Carlos is pretty good,” Thomas asked. Oscar merely shrugg

Standing in the middle of a field, mobs doing their best to break skin - failing to boot - was perhaps the weirdest way he’d ever scored. That being said, if anyone could pull it off, it would be Oscar. He flashed the woman his most stunning smile, one that morphed into a smirk as his attention shifted to Carlos. He tilted his head to the side, waiting for the man to respond. “No way in hell I’d be with such a shitty healer,” Carlos spat. The woman looked down toward the ground, visibly deflating. Oscar started picking up what they were putting down. She liked him for some reason. An

“What?” Carlos turned away from Oscar, venom falling in heavy drops from that single word. “He’s just some rando fucking up the spawns!” Oscar’s sword spun in his hand, eyes flicking up to his energy gauge. Damn near empty - a damn shame. He would have liked to drive the point home by killing another set of drakes. They respawned, immediately aggroing to him. He let out a yawn as they clung to him like leeches. Gnawing at his shoulder and hips and legs. They might well have broken their teeth off on his skin with the amount of mitigation he had. Perhaps this was a better flex than j

“He doesn’t look like anything special.” A funny joke, punctuated with Oscar slaying another group of drakes all by his lonesome. He did in just a quick moment what the four of them were struggling with. They were run-down. Haggard. Clothes slightly torn, weapons marred. Meanwhile, Oscar looked as pristine as he had when he arrived. Not even a drop of blood on his light-colored clothing. He bit back a laugh. He wasn’t going to lord himself over anyone. Even if they were being rude. He was content to just let them sit back and think what they wanted to. “He gave me some solid tips,” T

By this time, the man’s party members had come up to gather around. They looked like they were tired. Just how long had they been at this? Oscar couldn’t imagine grinding this hard for barely any reward. What could they possibly be getting? One? Two thousand a mob? Couldn’t be him. “Hey Thomas! What’s going on?” A tall slender man with shoulder length green hair. He seemed to be even more put-out than the man - Thomas - who was standing in front of him. “Just getting some tips from a vet, Carlos,” the man replied. “A vet?” Carlos paused, looking Oscar up and down. Oscar ce

There was an awkward silence that passed between them for a moment. Oscar wasn’t one to flaunt his status - at least not his status as a high level Frontliner. He was totally down to flaunt the fact that he was rich as hell, but this wasn’t the Blackbook and neither was it his restaurant. So he felt a little weird outing himself to a total stranger. The void was filled with the sounds of drakes dying and clinking coins entering his wallet. But beyond that just the wind and sounds of other parties fighting in the distance. Finally, mercifully, the man coughed. “Well, it’s gotta be exp

“Just combat buffs. It’s difficult for us to kill the mobs safely. Is there something that affects loot?” “Oh yeah,” Oscar began, camping his spawn religiously. He dispatched them quickly before giving his new “friend” his undivided attention. “You got the basic stuff, Prosperity and Loot Die. Then you can find yourself some Quality and maybe even grab some quest boss consumables.” He paused, tilting his head to the side as he thought about it. “But honestly, if you guys are having trouble with the drakes, maybe try to beef up a little bit before questing seriously. I don’t really fi

“Auto-loot,” Oscar said plainly. He spun his weapon around in his hand, quickly dispatching another quartet of drakes and watching as the loot filtered into his inventory. <<40,000 Col obtained.>> <<12 Materials obtained.>> And so on and so forth. He didn’t make any obvious show of checking the corpses - or, in this case, the shiny sparkles they left in their wake. Merely let the items come to him like he was some sort of dosh shop-vac. “See?” Oscar swiped open his menu, opening his loot log and sending the contents to the man. The tank grumbled

“HEY!” Oscar paused, after taking down a third group of mobs. He took a beat, turning to the source of the sound. He watched as a man stomped up to him. Decked head to toe in full plate armor, his breastplate gleaming in the sunlight. His sword was slick with blood, coated with viscera. Shield, in a similar state. Obviously a tank, both from his build and his equipment. He glared up at Oscar, spinning his blade in his hand to hold it parallel to his arm. “What’s the big idea? You’re hogging all the mobs.” Oscar tilted his head to the side. All around him groups were locked in co

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The mystery only deepened. She spoke of her village, of Hunters. Oscar bit back the urge to ask how she had gone from there to here. Just what was her story? Certainly such places existed. A place where Hunters would be so venerated. Answers and questions had been supplied in equal measure. It explained her uncertainty and her mis-speaking. But it begged more questions. How could she grow to be so ignorant of something as fundamental as desire? And what of those etchings on her back? Those would come later. Now was not the time to share life stories. But he couldn't deny that he fit her descri

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