NIGHT

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"what?" night tilted her head, absentminded, maintaining her stance at the ready as lilith scrambled out of her current pitstop. "no way. i wouldn't have wanted my attack to go through you. that 100% wasn't going to hit you -- you move fast. you can dodge out the way." rather, what night did expect was for koga to be on the ball for breaking down lilith just as she sent the boss hurtling towards him, almost as though chaining a combo. though, given their combat pace, the moment her friend would've wanted to retaliate with his own response, the vampiress had freed herself and immediat

r10 artisan | x12 daily crafting attempts | cd tool [from here.] laurel earcuffs. | TIER 1 JEWELRY | LD III [desc.]: brass earcuffs fashioned with the imagery of leaves and vines. [ids.]: 220904, 220905, 220921, 220923 basalt. | TIER 1 JEWELRY | ACC III [desc.]: unshapened but polished black rings carved from stone. it's lined with smooth polished gold within. [ids.]: 220914, 220915, 220916, 220941-1 wolf pendant. | TIER 1 JEWELRY | ACC III [desc.]: a wolf's head carved out of blackwood, with imperfections highlighted in gold. polished and strung up on dark cotto

| 28/03/24

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one violent swing -- despite the reach of her blade, it wouldn't come into contact with bleeding giant's surface. merely, like the wave of a wand, the sword skimmed the dog's back and swept away the colors of killjoy from the world. when it shriveled, its figure glowed white before bursting into fragments of light. night sighed at the same time she heard the faint noise of a second exit portal breaking open behind her. its white light spilled over their forms, and she offered a hand to star. for a split second, she thought of home. "it really didn't like you, huh? and you were so friendl

tight spaces should've been a little easier for night -- small size and all that. but her fighting style had always kept the use of greatswords in mind, and so came the woman's defensiveness as star took the lead in the strike afterwards. night slipped back to make room, once it became apparent that the dog was gunning towards the player who'd freed it from its cage. damn, hadn't it heard of not biting the hand that feeds it? (maybe it got hungry being stuck in there for so long.) the mutt's single-mindedness meant it had a blind spot, and night was banking on exploiting this as

"So you've come," boomed an unfamiliar voice through the keep. "oh," night muttered. "goddammit." down the hall was a large room in disarray. was it used for functions in the past? given the decor, it seemed that it should be so, but the throne ahead highlighted a kind of irregularity that night couldn't place reason to. "Monologue incoming," koga had said. "i'd already tuned out," night replied, quiet. "--Why, how dare you? Have you no manners?" to be honest, it wasn't like their enemies had any manners, either. only courteous to introduce oneself during a first

"... no way just 'a little'." sure, maybe star wasn't cast to do specific numbers that put his character on center stage, to sing. but it was hard for night to believe he was anything but great at what he had to do, opportunity offered to his talent or otherwise. she might've winced at his question back. "i don't think i can compare to 'mister broadway' here. karaoke doesn't really count..." when they broke into the bedroom, night wasn't too certain if star had guessed its inhabitant to be dorothy or the witch. either way, whilst she was inspecting the decor along the walls, her comp

so he was taking her advice, wasn't he? not that night was in a baby-sitting mood to do a double take, given the threat that still loomed beneath them. the thinking didn't help. if anything, her strategy leaning into recklessness was probably the best way to go in lieu of a better option. so, fuck it. one more sword art, with the burning intent to pierce the veil of the storm. another jolt of white. defying gravity once again was child's play for the system handling her movements. what she didn't expect, yet hoped for instead, was the cut through the rolling boss' armor, and the sens

stuck in stasis again. if it weren't for the blustering gales, perhaps she would've had time to slow down and line up her shot. once more she channeled what focus she could muster (not a lot) and aimed for the rolling beast -- only to mistime her strike and sail back into the air, just as it barely buffeted her drifting by. and... was there really nothing she could do about it? night huffed. how was the scrapling doing? better than her, it seemed, because at least he was stuck on solid ground, out of the way of the boss. she yelled in his direction: "it's got to let up at some point!

so night did, nonchalantly, piercing through the heart of the last winged monkey. she stepped through the rising ashes of its corpse once she'd jiggled her sword's tip from the floor. "too bad," she commented, unsure of how to follow up from there. that status -- child star (was she familiar with it...?) -- made it difficult for night to ask questions without possibly feeling like an insensitive idiot, she realized. but also, beyond pure curiosity, an ignorance was matched in turn. could she imagine what that kind of lifestyle must've been like? she barely even knew how people outside of

"i'd take a list," night shot back. despite her personal ratings of the places he'd mentioned, it was still worth noting what the active adventurers of aincrad were doing, keeping track of their whereabouts just in case there needed to be some sort of gathering again. like with floor boss fights, bistro would've reasoned. i wouldn't want to go losing anymore friends, night thought instead. they continued with the theatre talk. "so you had to sing, too? did your cast mates ever take you to one of those bars for a gathering? the ones where performers volunteer on a scheduled night out drink

no sooner past being thrown up in the air that night shot herself downwards again, with a bounce to her step, the player testing the waters of the force behind the wind's repel. an attack cancel meant much in the way of movement, but against the harsh breeze it was almost impossible to make a stand against the pangolin. and, it was just as quick that she remembered she'd missed her target--- there was a tingle at her back then. call it a fighter's instinct, but night swerved and twisted her body out the way, while her sword swept against dust, and found the harsh scales of her opponent in

'only a moment' was the acting phrase. only a moment, because the moment it started to swerve to pick up momentum again, so too did the battleground for the players turn aerial, consumed by a while-lasting tornado. literally, night *couldn't* be standing for this. it took her an effort to struggle, circling her position as she tried to retreat into herself, a tight ball, limbs locked in, only to burst out of place with an irritant, forceful [straight] to slam herself back to the ground. her footing only brushed earth for a second, enough for the woman to swerve and pick up her blade,

"oh yeah?" it wasn't as though she was disinterested, even if she sounded to be as such. rather, small talk like this wasn't exactly comfortable for night to handle, and behind that calmness was a mind constantly active, hard at work. most would've followed the statement up immediately with a better response, but there was a long pause before she added, "where've you been?" lackluster. night tried not to look at star when she said that, nor her accidental offense towards him. big oopsies. she only shrugged. "you're going to have to tell me more about this wizard of oz on broadway, fiyero.

not just the boss spinning any more. like a certain blue hedgehog from memory, it took off towards the outer edges of the arena and threw up a frenzied whirlwind, the force of which was enough to bluster night's coat, and... -- was sorun in the air? she'd noticed one she was tracking the boss' movements, a feat harder without her searching skill at top condition. night scowled when she began to lose her footing too, but fought against the harsh winds just to get close enough to fire an attack. cardinal's detection system for the sword arts wasn't exactly dependent on the presence of

the terra firma charged forth. like every song and dance ever, night supposed. but partway through its run did the creature pick up speed -- which was odd. night was used to it switching to it deliberately at the start of its movement before attacking rather than as part of. she watched the beast roll towards her at high speeds, and if night felt safe about this sight, it was due to the fact that she could redirect it away from sorun. so she ducked, sword sliding against the unarmored flesh of the terra firma where it had coiled up loose, but remained exposed. instead of coming to a halt

night hummed, surprised, and stumbled back once the witch had fallen. nothing but ashes -- just like the books. but given that star hadn't moved through the portal home yet, she steeled herself to pay attention: her companion was directing her upstairs. they never did explore the rest of the castle, so surely it begged the question of what it must've been for. "i never took you to be interested in exploration," she replied, arms folded. "but then again, i never took anyone else to be interested in doing more work than what was necessary, either." still, she strolled forward, taking t

an answer she wasn't capable of refuting, so she sent him the invite with her own reply. "night. nice to meet you, sorun." it wasn't a while longer that they'd reached the edge of the dustbowl. terra firma's habitat was almost like an arena, with slippery sand slopes that lead any unlucky fauna down to its heart, where they might be subjected to the beast himself... though night had always suspected the creature to be an herbivore in its ecology. "it'll move fast," she started, crouching down in preparation to slide down the dunes at the bowl's edge. "see if you can find a rocky led

"you'll be a statistic by not being careful," was the last she stated on the subject, still intentless, before starting off with the man behind her. as she talked, her hands were fiddling with the quest interface; hasty through practice, yet relaxed in performance. "so here's what we'll do: you try getting a hit on it if you can. the beast is tricky, but it'll lock you in combat even if your blow doesn't connect. let me take the bulk of its attention; just defend yourself against the storm if possible. i won't be liable for what happens if you suffer from environmental damage, so get rea