NIGHT

to be honest, night wasn't really sure what she had been expecting, either, stopping kat at the last minute. thinking about her actions and then reacting gave her little time to prepare herself for a long term goal. an acceptance of her half-baked apology for her temper tantrum? perhaps. kat had thought through this interaction better.

night simmered in the backdrop of kat's voice. she dared turned around, even if she couldn't bring herself to look towards her conversation partner just yet. time had a way of working against her shame, and she gave kat a glance only after kat had clarified the lack of a need for forgiveness. on instinct, she'd thrown a glare kat's way, and had to correct it -- who was she to balk at sincerity, anyway?

up on that cliffside, night felt so small in the face of katoka's willingness to make amends. she paced a little more, footwork making amends on the dirt she had disrupted in her anger. then she made her way, however slow, towards kat, fingers grasping at the back of her own neck.

"you'll find someone," was all she could manage with a croak. irritation sat heavy as an expression on her face as she looked away, outline misshapened by guilt. "one day. don't stop on my account around me, just... maybe towards me."

night sighed, finally looking katoka in the eye. exasperated; defeated: these were the concepts she wore.

"i don't quite know how you do it, to be honest. i've had enough bad dates in my life, and that's a number you can count on your fingers."

night rolled her eyes. was she really about to begin talking to a stranger? at least, like an, kat knew of the preface to her woes, so that had to count for something. and, against all odds, it was as though something within her was of possession, fighting its way out, searching for penance and wresting absolution from someone who might give it to her, because she couldn't find it anywhere else.

she began walking past kat with a wave of her fingers, as though gesturing the woman to walk with her back to the teleporter, wherever it was on this floor. her movements, lazy, seemed to lack conviction. where kat couldn't see, she wore a look sour, just for a brief moment. night was as she should: pitiful, and pathetic.

"maybe if you catch me some other day, we can trade our stories over a couple of drinks or something. or, lunch, maybe. ... do you drink, kat?" night glanced over her shoulder, hesitating. "i have bad habits of my own, too. so we're cool. ... i forgive you, if you'll do the same for me, because i know you weren't trying to be an asshole."

she grimaced. "as hard as it may be to believe, i really wasn't, either. i'm... hoping the best for you in the future, too."

(she stopped teasing star after he started listing off a number of places with actual ghosts. because if he'd seen them, then surely they were real, right? night didn't even dare question his legitimacy: a first-hand account against her denial of reality and her fear of ghosts. in any battle of validity, of course he'd win.

she closed her eyes, so that star would know she wasn't in the mood to continue the conversation.)

crystal, in hand. star's approval. night popped it, and then scooped up a lamp for her own sake once she was certain the few miners who were affected by the heal were capable of moving onwards. the stragglers left behind, who weren't as lucky to benefit from its effects? as a handful gathered ahead of star, night scanned the room, holding the light up to the roof of the cavity. she took one look at the group that was headed out, but couldn't tell if there were enough able-bodied to haul out those to be left behind.

"i'll wait with them," night said to star, "if we can't take everyone on a single trip. just in case anything else happens over here. we could still communicate by messages, at best." then her brow quirked, recalling his night vision. "unless... what's your strength stat? how many people can you bench press, star?"

the lantern room here was nothing like the one she’d visited in the zero. there was a proper lens, for one, and a catwalk where there was a door to exit from one of the sides of the building. the glass provided an explicit view of the void that laid before them; the ever hungry sea, maw of the deep, tide after tide lapping hungrily at the surfaces, efforts futile.

she checked the distance for shadows. demian, who stood beside her as she spent her time gawking but turned his head upwards, before taking a couple of steps backwards. night only turned to look when he started to read the sentences aloud.

there, in the ceiling, was an inscription on its own —

What can be found in the sea, but not ocean? What is the same in both music and motion?
What is the end of the liar’s paradox? This knowledge will grant you the keys to my locks.

“so there is a lock,” demian had said, and just as well that as he turned, his boot had kicked against the latch of a door below them. he stepped back to examine it, squatting, just as night studied the words engraved upon the white concrete.

they were still missing the last number.

“we haven’t gone up the stairs at the entrance hall,” night piped up, once they’d verified nothing else could be reaped from the rooms they had ventured into. for each the other had explored separately, so too did their counterpart thereafter — they found a number of knickknacks, tchotchkes and toys. but no puzzles, and certainly less answers.

“the last place we look,” he calmly agreed with a nod, before taking the lead on their expedition upwards, just as prior. it was here, then, in that familiarity of their setting that night found it in herself to recall what had happened prior. the ascent, the build up towards finding a warped entity at the top of the tower, at the end of their journey. she looked up towards demian’s back, and wondered if he had processed the same thing.

footsteps filled the void, in which she searched for the heart to reach out.

she toiled away at the puzzle, shading in the cells lightly where she thought the shapes were supposed to go. first, she expected an animal. then, a symbol of some kind, one undecipherable. when she was finally done, she showed it to demian to the backdrop of a distant rumble.

the man hummed.

“that’s what i thought i’d end up with, too.”

“how?” said night, withdrawing the sketchbook to look over the puzzle herself. “you hadn’t even marked anything in here.”

demian’s dismissive silence was all it took for her to examine the numbers involved. three empty boxes lined the sides of the fields supervising rows. something was missing.

“this puzzle’s unfinished,” she ultimately decided. demian seemed to perk up at that declaration.

“how so?”

her index outlined the gaps.

“what do you think should go in here?”

demian’s gaze remained cool on the page. “as far as i’m aware, without knowing the picture it ultimately leads us to, it’s hard to guess on what the result would be.”

“seriously…?”

she followed the haunting song tentatively, jumping at the loud thud that ended it, and was only relieved after she found demian sitting on the couch, fixated on a sketchbook. a second pencil was in his hand, tapping at his cheek as he mulled over the puzzle.

“i found another one,” night offered, handing him the bundle of newspapers.

he glanced up from the past time, passing out the sketchbook towards her. “oh, good.”

night tilted her head reflexively.

“i was getting stuck on this one. here, you try it.”

he took the newspaper, right as night took the seat beside him, the ambient air between them filled with the pouring of rain upon the lighthouse walls and windows, and the creaking of the boat left alone outside. night watched as demian regarded his new puzzle with bemusement, and then penciling in notes on the side of the page.

night just stared blankly at the grid and the numbers.

“uh… what’s this supposed to be?”

somewhere in the tower was a study, wall to wall with shelves full of books, in that square room carved out of its circumference. unlike the room demian had temporarily inhabited, this one seemed discerningly tidied, clean; favourable to conditions facilitating focus. that left the upset cup on the table in the center of the room further emphasized in its oddity. night picked it up, setting it upright. then her eyes were led, following the spill stained on the desk towards the newspaper left wrinkled to soak it, a puzzle left unfinished.

she ruffled through the papers. found nothing of note on the other articles. it seemed like a daily report from miremore, about the gossip haunting the village. an affair here, a political scandal there. a few reports of missing people, and a shadowy cryptid in the woods upon their bluff.

night thought nothing of it, despite her readthrough of the last story twice, thrice even. coming up deductionless from her examination, she folded the newspaper up and tucked it under her arm, seeking out demian.

night burst into the room.

“hey,” she said, to demian’s apparent chagrin, “can you make anything of this?”

she showed him the book. he was only halfway through the hurricane.

“all i can tell at a glance is the picture of a camel, and the word ‘cyclops’ misspelled.”

demian hummed, shaking his head. he took a glance at her, before his eyes fell to the puzzle. the words he muttered under his breath were nigh inaudible, the roar of the thunder outdoors masking his voice. in swift strokes, he added his findings to the side of the page he was working on — then, he took the book’s page and flipped it.

skill issue, night despondently thought to herself.

“it’s a recipe book,” demian said aloud, then squinted with the brightness of lighting filling the room. his brows furrowed, voice corrected.

“no. i can’t read this.”

night took the book from his hands once he was past grumbling, wanting nothing to do with it. she looked down at the page he was analyzing. sure enough, it was illegible.

she took the hat in turn.

the duo wandered about — they had split up, in search of warmth. night took to the kitchen first, because that’s where she felt the safest, most familiar, despite the ancient memories that haunted her in times prior. her fingers drifted along the surface of its countertops; dust accumulated upon them, staining her skin white, and as the drifting particles were beheld in her gaze, the light from outside poured from the window down onto the pages of a book long lost of a time before their own.

cardinal played the dramatic. once she picked up the book, the fireplace lit itself anew, a small gasp sweeping the room — the recipes fluttered over to a certain number, and from there, refused to change.

night sat on a high stool, poured herself upon the inscription by the flame. then, after finding herself lost in her investigation, she bookmarked the cipher and brought it along with her.

she stumbled into the lighthouse. her back hit the wall once the interface pulled itself open — a set of instructions. her hand shifted, palm pressing down against an eye, and she shuddered against her heavy clothes, teeth gritted. the thunder outside mirrored the one in her head, and she tossed caution to the wind in accepting that cardinal request — because that was what was expected of her upon her return, either way.

better it was out of her sight so she could pull up her inventory and lose the tracksuit. she buried herself in towels — night sunk to the floor, her face down in them, groaning herself hoarse the agony of the trip. this lasted for as long as it took for demian to walk in through the tower doors; by then, night had tended herself to dry, chucking two towels soaked into her inventory, one strewn across her neck.

quest. | (2/2)

WARNING: Within this thread contains spoiler details regarding the Quest 'To Shine A Light'.
Viewer Discretion is advised.

| NIGHT  | Lv. 154 >> P. 120, Lv. 34  | Status: //  Notes:  //

Spoiler NIGHT | HP: 1160/1160 | EN: 154/154 | DMG: 21 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 4 | FS | BH+HB: 111 | HLY: 16 | PHASE | AA equipped oathkeeper. HLY II, PHASE, AA regards. EVA II, HB II signet. ACC III, EVA battle-ready inventory Teleport Crystal (3) | TELEPORT imugi's inspiration. (5) | MASS HP RECOVERY skills Spoiler mod count: 5/7 STRAIGHT SWORD | RANK 5/5 focus, stamina, precision shift: aoe CLOTH ARMOR | RANK 5/5 athletics, nimble COMBAT MASTERY: DMG | RANK 3/3 SEARCHING | RANK 3+1/5 BATTLE HEALING | RANK 5/5 emergency recovery ENERGIST QUICK CHANGE CHARGE FIGHTING SPIRIT HOWL focused howl SCOUTING FAMILIAR EXTENDED MOD LIMIT extra SURVIVAL CONCENTRATION HIDING untraceable, vanish, surprise attack-t buffs Spoiler statue KUMATETSU | +1 DMG YAMATO NO OROCHI | +1 LD MORETSUNA | +50 OVERHEALTH TANOS | +25 MIT MOTHRA | +2 EN BIALAS | +TAUNT consumables   paragon Lv. 5 | Gain additional col equivalent to 15% of EXP earned in that thread. Lv. 10 | +1 LD to looting. sword arts Spoiler en cost matches multiplier unless stated otherwise. shift underlined. ST | x12 -> x15 | x20 AOE | x15 -> x18 TECH-A | x12 | STUN | 13EN TECH-B | x12 | DELAY TECH-D | x12 | SHATTER TECH-F | x8 | AOE STUN  TECH-G | x12 | BURN misc. Spoiler housing Dimensional Backpack, Item Stash | +2 Battle-Ready Inventory Slots. Well Rested | -1 EN for the first three expenditures of each combat.  Relaxed | +(5 * Tier) HP per out-of-combat post. Full energy restoration occurs after two turns out of combat. Squeaky Clean | -25% DoT damage taken from the first DoT applied to this player in a thread. Skylight: Searching | +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cooldown of 30 days to reassign. Multipurpose | +1 LD/Prosperity/Stealth/Detection to one post per thread. Can be applied after a roll. Filling | +1 T1 slot to a food consumed by this player in a thread. Can exceed Cook enhancement caps. Col Deposit | +5% col from loot-minimum mobs, +10% col from treasure chests. foraging | r2 | xp: 69/150 Greenhouse | +2 G.EXP, +1 CD&LD to gathering attempts. Familiar: Profession | +2 G.EXP Demeter's Cornucopia | +1 CD to gathering attempts.

she tried scooping some of the residue into a vial that demian had carried.

nothing worked to contain it.

they had to carry on.

…

following bistro’s instructions, they returned to the docks. demian, ever skilled, figured he could sail one of the boats stationed there, and evidently there were vessels conveniently unowned. so they took one, silent in between their quiet questions and the grunts of small confirmations. night didn’t know how demian had felt, seeing the man’s will waver in his eyes; those doubts were cast immediately the moment he took to the helm of the ship. they borrowed the withered rose. night but stared at her interface as she draped herself across the side of the boat, forearms atop the guardrails.

she’d taken an image of the spill of what became of that npc. she’d sent it unceremoniously to bistro.

bistro: i do hope, at least, you’re not at each other’s throats again.

"without any further instruction," night began, looking out towards the city, "i'd just perform my due diligence to a minimum and write down… everything. let her sort through the paperwork.” though she shifted, a little uncomfortable in admitting part of her own sloth, her eyes were set on the buildings they rounded, the boat guiding them through the waters. “i don’t get paid enough to do her work for her, to be honest. if anything, i’m hemorrhaging col. but whatever it takes to get us out of here, i suppose." 

she glanced over to an, head dipped slightly. "if there's anything you'd like to omit for your own interest anyhow, i can keep a secret."

when she heard the second question, night shook her head. "no clue. i've never heard of tolbana being of any interest to anyone these days. people nowadays just... stop by and go." beginners, trainees, new adventurers. the type who had bright eyes and a fresh naivety about what laid waiting for them on the upper floors. night hummed, speculating; bistro already had a prime location in the city with her workshop.

“at best, since it's a plot, i figure maybe... someone's setting up a guild, perhaps? don’t know why she wouldn’t go for a home in the town of beginnings. but she’s not the type to…” 

well… her voice had trailed. night realized she couldn’t say that — though she knew bistro for a long time, she didn’t know her motives, agenda nor personal values well enough to say that the woman had grand intentions. still, something in her gut told her otherwise, so she continued, patching the hole in her logic. “someone she knows, but i don't, maybe. though in my opinion, the first is a weird place for anyone to house a hall." 

she pulled out a spyglass from her inventory, then, and pointed it towards tolbana, in the distance. "i’m sure with bistro at the helm, it’ll probably have the intention of providing services accessible to beginners, if not other players. just that they’d like somewhere out of the way, or out of the public eye. … please don’t quote me on that, though. rationale for things like these usually don’t come up in our conversations."

but the boat ride did.

"— the gondola's definitely new though,” said night, after a moment of silence as she lowered the spyglass from her gaze. there were definitely some plots open, though not many, and she had only taken note of the ones facing the waterfront. she had been quiet, considering a slight nostalgia, trying to put her finger on why. it made for small-talk at least, and so she hummed for bravery, thumbing the rim of the scope in her hands. 

"you know, back in the real world, we had this huge mall in the heart of the city where i lived. it was full of luxury good stores and expensive restaurants that i could barely imagine people really ate at. it housed an artificial river, indoors, despite being built right next to a real one on the outside. and they offered gondola rides, too, though the trips were much shorter, given the limited waterway. so really, i've not been on one of these proper."

night rubbed the back of her neck with a free hand. the smile that crept up her lips was only contrasted against the muddied look in her eyes; the past, held in forlorn memory, brought to the forefront of her imagination. she never went on a trip like this before, even though she’d written it down once, as an objective, a long time ago. to think she still had a chance now, and the time to perfect it.

"— i was thinking about bringing someone else here. that's all."

absentminded, she scanned the different heights of the rooftops that came into view as they drifted round the perimeter of the settlement; it was only upon a harsh glint of the sun that reflected into her eyes after the light settled uneasy upon a windowsill did night shake her head, returning to the present. hopefully an wasn’t bored or anything. 

"but what about you? or — er, england, maybe; i’m sure there's got to be more rivers there than the ones we did have."

Skill(s) Being Dropped: Howl
Mod(s)/Addon(s)/Shift(s) Being Dropped: Focused Howl
SP Incurred Towards Limit: 15
SP Refunded: 15
Cost: 15,000

'just a feeling you get'? was that how it worked? and even all that explanation from andromeda, she still couldn't get it. fine; fuck it. she didn't need to figure it out in that moment. night would've rather stewed on the clarification kat gave instead.

because kat could've just left without an apology. what was her motive? it wasn't worth it to go hunting down someone after a fight — a valid strategic move — just so you could apologize to them. that didn't seem to make any sense to night. if catching her off-guard had been katoka's goal, it'd been achieved, with collateral or otherwise. and it wasn't like it had mattered to have caused auxiliary damage, or not. emotions like these were meant to be felt through just to dissipate thereafter, right? they weren't permanent, just temporary.

so why bother hunting her down? in a fight, one such as this, of course emotions were going to be all over the place the moment one's feelings were brought in. it'd be silly not to imagine it that way.

but then, that's how the situation had appeared to night. the more katoka forced her apology through, the more unsettled the woman became. night was bristling; because clearly, in that sort of desperation, there had to be something kat had expected. she just didn't know what it was.

'wasn't trying to piss you off.' "well, you did anyway," night had said to herself under her breath, voice hollowed out by the wind.

when kat turned around, night did so too. and she wanted to run away.

she submerged herself in that anger for a time, pacing the edge of the cliff. filled to the brim with a guilt paralleled. her teeth were clenched, breaths heavy. and she heard the siren song of a sword in her hand call to her, distant, as though it was a comfort to have her weapon equipped, at the ready.

she hated it strongly, that this wasn't a problem she could just cut through.

night hated to admit, just as much, that she could understand what kat was trying to do, even if she couldn't understand why.

so between the sounds behind her, of footsteps or the ring of an interface being brought up —

"i'm sorry, okay?!"

— night thought to yell at the last possible second, because she hadn't intended to drive kat away; at least, not without acknowledging the effort kat had decided to put in. could she really be faulted? kat was just trying to be the bigger person. and night was petty, sure, but she was even more sure she'd hated feeling guilty about this later.

it was terror, then, that had flooded her senses. she looked over her shoulder, all nerves and no composure, just to see if kat had stopped to stay. and, if the woman had lingered for long enough, night would clarify, her voice cracking, "i'm... sorry about your engagement. it wasn't fair to you that it'd happened."

she would turn away thereafter, eyes set to the floor, fingers twitching to claw at the air. "it's whatever that you got me angry. what did you want to hear — 'i forgive you'? then sure, i forgive you... or, whatever. it's not like i'm gonna hold a grudge over it, okay, so you can– you can just let it go."

#ph

#ph

#ph

so now, how was night supposed to feel? placated? relieved? none of those feelings had washed over her, even after watching katoka take a bow. was the apology supposed to comfort her? how pointless it had seemed. all night could do to help herself was rub the back of her own neck, still running hot under her skin.

because, the apology would’ve meant that, if kat hadn’t taken that gamble and put her own feelings at risk, night would’ve remained at an advantage. she would’ve won. was that true? an unbelievable thought — not that night trusted herself to have won the match in an alternate universe. but by that perspective, what would’ve been fair thereon should have emerged a call for a rematch. and night was petty, sure, but night wasn’t interested in another duel. 

at the very least, not one pertaining to the engagements of the tournament.

no. night continued to work at the knot in her muscles with the edge of her palm. and, though there were many other reasons for the player to bare her teeth at katoka for, she narrowed her eyes at the other woman’s prospect. “what’s that about guessing at my sexuality again?”

it was that thing she’d learned about from an, wasn’t it? how, just by looking at someone, you could presume they were alike, or they were separate. and night hadn’t gotten the same read from kat in turn. “like it’s any of your business to hit the nail on the head,” night continued, “but i don’t believe i’d said anything about it. how’d you come up with that idea in the first place?”

she was getting off topic. night released a warm breath and folded her arms again. gaze thrown aside, she couldn’t bring herself to look at kat in the eye. “besides,” night said, “you didn’t offend me, so there’s nothing to apologize for. cut that out! they say ‘all’s fair in love and war’, right?”

her foot was tapping on the dirt yet again.

“taking advantage of the opponent’s weaknesses is the goal; an ideal. and as mad as i am, i’ll take that loss with grace… eventually. — so what of that guilt?”

night raised her head. as steady as her breathing was, she was livid, masking her shaking self.

“what’re you trying to do here, kat?”

night wasn’t sure whether to laugh, or to go off on a reasonably detailed explanation for why ‘being able to see things in the dark’ as a perk wasn’t often a sound investment of one’s skill points.

(tooltip: you can avoid all of the problems of being unable to see things in the dark by… never going in to the dark! wow!) 

technically, night could simply feel her way in the dark if she was so desperate to make it through a deep void. it wasn’t often that she had to do it, but it’s not as though she hadn’t done it before. 

her answer became simple, then. “i don’t.”

they trundled into the dark.

“so you're basically blind then?”

“sort of?” 

“do we need to hold hands?”

night frowned. “i’m blind, not scared.”

“how many fingers am I holding up?" 

“three,” night said immediately, feigning confidence. she spoke again after a prolonged beat. “no, wait. you weren’t holding up any, were you?”

it had been a lucky guess. fortune seemed to favour her thereafter, too, when the glow of the mushrooms proved star’s night vision less than necessary. night spotted the familiar equipment of the farmers set against the walls adjacent to the light. and, given the trail of footprints nearby, she figured they only needed to follow them to find where they’d been taking shelter within.

at the branch, once star had started down the wrong way, night dragged him by the collar — towards the right.

“what’s the point of night vision if you’re not using it to look at things in the dark?” she’d said, and then gave his perspective some thought. “random question, have you used it to look for ghosts at night before? i heard there was this one place on the twenty-seventh…”

the tunnel wound downwards and went a little further. as she’d remembered, it led them towards a small pocket in the network of tunnels. whilst the way deeper had also been lodged in by a number of collapsed boulders, what mattered more were the villagers gathered about the wounded by the pocket’s heart. those who weren’t attempting first aid were resting by the wooden scaffolding.

night counted the few that were visibly injured, and then held up an imugi’s inspiration to star. “so, i’ve never tried. but do you think if i’d popped this, they’d all be healed at once? saves us some time, wouldn’t it?”

#ph

| NIGHT  | Lv. 154 >> P. 120, Lv. 34  | Status: don't - think - about - it.  Notes:  sheet found [here].

Spoiler NIGHT | HP: 200/200 | EN: 43/43 | DMG: 10 | ACC: 3 | MIT: 16 (12+4) | EVA: 2 | FLN: 4 | BH: 9 | HB: 7 | VAMP-D: 22 | PARA-V | AA | FS | {VULN: -16 HP | FR-THORNS/AURA: 4 DMG / 4 DMG (2)} | EN<=13: {SET} x2 equipped oblivion. FLN II, AA, PARA-V pretense.  VAMP-D II, HB II silver crescent necklace. ACC II, EVA II battle-ready inventory Blessed Ankh | Recover 10% HP for 3 turns. signet. ACC III, EVA I trainers. EVA III, MIT I (24) oathkeeper. HLY II (4), PHASE, AA skills Spoiler mod count: 5/7 STRAIGHT SWORD | RANK 3 focus, stamina, precision shift: aoe CLOTH ARMOR | RANK 3  athletics, nimble COMBAT MASTERY: DMG | RANK 3/3 SEARCHING | RANK 3 BATTLE HEALING | RANK 3 emergency recovery ENERGIST QUICK CHANGE CHARGE FIGHTING SPIRIT HOWL focused howl SCOUTING FAMILIAR EXTENDED MOD LIMIT extra SURVIVAL CONCENTRATION HIDING untraceable, vanish, surprise attack-t FIRST AID R3 purify buffs Spoiler Phoenix Soul | The first time you would reach 0 HP immediately recover 100HP, 20 energy, and cleanse all negative effects. sword arts Spoiler en cost matches multiplier unless stated otherwise. shift underlined. ST | x8 -> x11 AOE | x7 TECH-A | x8 | STUN | 9EN TECH-D | x8 | SHATTER TECH-F | x8 | AOE STUN  TECH-G | x8 | BURN misc. Spoiler housing Dimensional Backpack, Item Stash | +2 Battle-Ready Inventory Slots. Well Rested | -1 EN for the first three expenditures of each combat.  Relaxed | +(5 * Tier) HP per out-of-combat post. Full energy restoration occurs after two turns out of combat. Squeaky Clean | -25% DoT damage taken from the first DoT applied to this player in a thread. Skylight: Searching | +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cooldown of 30 days to reassign. Multipurpose | +1 LD/Prosperity/Stealth/Detection to one post per thread. Can be applied after a roll. Filling | +1 T1 slot to a food consumed by this player in a thread. Can exceed Cook enhancement caps. Col Deposit | +5% col from loot-minimum mobs, +10% col from treasure chests. foraging | r2 | xp: 69/150 Greenhouse | +2 G.EXP, +1 CD&LD to gathering attempts. Familiar: Profession | +2 G.EXP Demeter's Cornucopia | +1 CD to gathering attempts.

ID243503 | ld17 | initiative.

this week, against her ex-duel partner? it had to happen at some point. and night had tried not to consider how the fight would've gone before it happened, lest her rumination flare up the pre-skirmish anxiety.

come the day of the fight, night scrounged together what she had and went to the fourth. her hand fidgeted with her necklace, hoping it would bring her some comfort. just barely. the cold nipped at her fingers, too, and that was how she figured their hosts had done something to affect their [survival]'s ability. when they took their position, night's eyes rested on kiru uneasy.

with a gesture, she called oblivion from the void, tip pointed towards her opponent, her other hand buried in the pocket of her coat. though her mind threatened for her sights to waver, to search the other woman for any signs of her weapon, night steeled her gaze

"don't take it personally," night breathed, clouded only by vapor from the cold. "because i'm going to end this quickly."

in her anger, she'd completely discarded the idea of teleporting out. night instead chose to take a walk to try and cool her head off.

but, in the end, with katoka trailing behind her unexpectantly...

"Night please! I want to talk, to apologize!"

... it made no difference to her mood nor attitude, so night observed.

"Damnit, would you slow the hell down?"

"stop trying to follow me," night went, throwing the sentiment over her shoulder. in true pettiness, her tone had shifted; from neutrality, a command rather than a slight, to words dipped intentionally in malice. "you don't have to apologize for anything."

unbeknownst to herself, night's pace had slowed the moment she dwelled on her anger -- another mistake she'd swore long ago not to make.

"it's not your fault," she breathed. her head had turned to look, but it wasn't as though night was seeking out the trailing shadow behind her on purpose. in all honesty, she likely doubted kat was willing to follow her all the way towards the teleporter -- wherever that was. her arms flailed in gesture. "all you did was find a woman, a sparring partner 'too pretty to resist' making a move towards. how can anybody fault that?"

when night finally came to a stop, it was in the middle of the wastes; somewhere between donoghue's and ilridge if she was lucky, and her sense of direction hadn't failed her. it had been the end of the road for now, with the player(s?) culminating at a cliff overlooking the roads below. in the distance, flashes of lightning illuminated the dead trees that surrounded them, the ghost of a forest ever haunting them. for a moment, night thought about the twenty-second, and grimaced.

her foot was tapping on the ground. her hands had balled up into fists long ago. when she heard katoka's footsteps still behind her, night turned on her heel to face the other woman.

"you want to talk?" night crossed her arms against her chest. "'cute'," she quoted. "then what the hell are you so desperate to say to my face?"

[stats go here.]