NIGHT

"... 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

the witch had definitely changed as far as her memory was concerned. it wasn't elphaba any longer -- no green skin, and no visible broomstick-staff. the same sort of cackle, however, and goth-looking attire; placed in any modern-day street, night would've assumed it a random middle-aged goth and paid her no more attention. so when star decided to get to work, so too did night into the fray. "If you're Dorothy, does that make me the dog?" she clambered up the stairs by the side, away from the bulk of the fireballs. star's assault was her distraction -- night took advantage o

never mind. the only thing that was stopping her from assuming this conversation was part of the quest was the fact that the person in front of her was a player himself. "... are you really going to be okay in that...?" she'd started to ask. but the man continued on with a monologue, and painted a really strange picture of a novice trying his best to do anything... except he came to the fifth floor. almost five levels too early in most people's opinions, including night's own. so she blinked twice. how was her tolerance for sociability doing? somehow, despite the trial from earlier,

was there a second part to her sentence? night only heard the first bit, and wasn't sure why nari started laughing, standing in place. then again, it wasn't as though night had the headspace to come up with a response -- but it wasn't as though she knew what to add onto that, either. "er, you know... like the sport...?" she weakly added, watching lilith slither and circle the arena. when the figure lunged towards the players, night rolled and went into a counter hit with an uppercut swing. she listened to nari then, watching the boss try to get up without stumbling, especially in its decr

weakpoints of a terra firma... talk about one of the more boring jobs to do. night would've had chalked it up to chance if she'd been dealing the information as a broker, but it's exactly her distaste for discrete accuracy that pinned her as the executioner's sort, and not the judge. she held a hand over her mouth as she yawned, walking through the safe zone's borders; if there were hostile creatures around, night was half hoping fighting spirit had some sort of passive to drive them all away. there wasn't a reason for her to pick on the weak creatures if she didn't need to. the ques

night's face scrunched up. she then promptly skipped over the highlight of the answer that most people would've likely honed in on: "...the wizard of oz was on broadway?" "yeah, you're right. they missed out on a lot of the cast. i'm surprised we haven't fought any kalidahs." "gesundheit." "if they were going to skip anything, why not the tornado?" the question hung in the air on their trek, though night considered it as they made their way to the castle. once they'd entered the courtyard and alerted the first squadron of flying monkeys, she darted, stance low, past star's

"you missed the perfect chance to say 'i've a feeling we're not in kansas anymore,'" star had said. to that, night returned a wry smile. "was it in a middle-school play?" she queried him, as they started to walk. "when you played the scarecrow, i mean." the question wasn't entirely serious, but night wasn't sure when the wizard of oz would be involved in anyone else's life as something other than a story from a book. the trek up towards the castle was more a winding path up several slopes, from the route night had opted to take. short and easy. there was the choice of scaling th

"and goodness knows, the wickeds' lives are lonely..." bright-eyed and distant, sitting perched on a tall rock just a distance away from star. she'd been watching the sky to pass the time, and though she didn't have to wait long, night had already started to get comfortable with the loneliness of their silence. in the corner of her vision was the castle, and on occasion her sights would snap to the flying monkeys' silhouettes against the cosmos. she barely heard the sounds of her companion waking, lost in thought. but once star had started to move, night cut off her humming, a glanc

"what?" the confusion only grew between them. and night fought to bite her tongue, even in between the counter-attacks as she tried to pass her active role in combat to nari. "what are you even talking about? i thought the girls you were speaking of were trying to become vampires, not actually believing they were them! of course i don't believe vampires exist?!" rage put to step. there were much better ways of channeling her effort than to get a story straight in the heat of the moment -- so night closed into lilith when she repositioned in a leap, and the extra edge that seeped out

"potions?" that sounded familiar. although she wasn't entire sure if they were meant to craft the potions. night felt she was onto something when the air around them began to bluster through the forest, but hesitated bringing her hunch up. there was something, between the forest itself and her mention of the memory, that made her realize she was about to sound like an aincrad boomer. so she finished her drink. crushed it and threw the ashes to a side. at the very least, if her guess was correct, she'd look more like a maniac than an ancient individual -- that she could live with.

night: wow sounds lame if it helped, night had been doing her best to remain enroute to star's position. the way the forest went, getting lost in it was an easy trap to fall into, and if she'd let it, the forest might've consumed her existence for the next three months or longer. so she stuck to her better judgement and avoided white rabbits she wanted to chase. night: whats the objective now it was when she got close enough to spot star's silhouette (and incidentally then, the player marker above his head) that she started to feel the wind pick up. sure, it had been chilly

"Engagement distance. I mean you know yours in the same way, pretty much, even if you're not thinking about." "yeah," night replied, unwavering, "but i wouldn't say i'm familiar with it down to the centimeter." they continued walking and talking. koga mentioned how much she'd changed since their first meet. night simply quirked a brow at that statement. "i'd still scream and run from them for the record," she continued, sights on the castle ahead, "but it's much easier and faster to kill them in one shot." "sure, they're equally as creepy as i'd known them before. arguably even

night: ? book she'd sent the intel to bistro, expecting an immediate reply with the broker's confidence behind the message. in the minute night hung around the bench, however, she got nothing back. it was only after star had sent her the approval for coffee that she got up and started walking back to the streets. night: how do u take it what little col it had cost her was nothing to consider between friends. she bounded over to the teleporter directly after, with three orders saved to her inventory. hadn't thought to change out of her fit after arriving on the twenty-second