NIGHT

one tear beckoned another, so night shifted, following along the dragon's front to match the line of light marked out of sorsi's belly. the beast recoiled as best she could -- getting up on hind legs and ready to land several other attacks. yet, in midst the players' opening to retreat and dodge, the drakes to the side had gathered to nip at the mother's hind legs. against the dull skies, mekem was flying along, recognized as a snowflake only to the untrained eye. and, when he got close enough, he must've lunged with a killing intent, though night wasn't sure if it was sheer luck or if it

she hadn't intended on going, originally. there was much to be mulled over -- the definition of a black-tie attire, for one, and the safety precautions of being upon a sky ship once again, for another. then there was the printed valentines day 'celebration', and night certainly hadn't wanted to schmooze around with other players. then her date leaned in, commented -- "oh, i want to go!" -- so there they were, arm linked in arm, the player placing blame on a broker she knew (and consulted) if only to reason her attendance. lapel pins identified the pair if it would be necessary, and t

the skip of the kitsune was the most joyful part of the adventure, easily. and this wasn't a dig at nari's company -- rather, the quest itself felt convoluted. into the ice dragon's territory they went, and that meant three squads of combatants; the players would have to do their best not to strike the drakes mekem was coralling, and they had to avoid the monsters' belligerent snaps as well. chaotic indeed. night wasn't going to wait for a mother-son dialogue to occur. the moment the wyvern landed, billowing up snow and ice, the player was quick to dash forward as quick as she could. tech

didn't have to tell her twice. she held back the golem enough for nari to take a proper swing at it, past crow's attempt. shatter was enough to stagger the beast for a moment, and night pushed it back with a thrust of her blade, before rounding the field for a moment in an attempt to gain control of the enemies. a runby past the other golem fixated on crow meant she was liable for another attack upon it -- so night seized the opportunity. at the back of the field, the numbers for enmity ran by in her head, dizzying -- but not as chaotic as the fight itself. night shifted her stance o

hold the phone. who in their right mind would approach strangers in front of a corpse of their dead parent and explain to them, "i want to kill the other one, and you're going to help me!" no, forget the drakeling in front of her. even that wasn't a correct answer, despite it being the truth of the quest at the moment. honestly, the entire debacle made night wonder if the text generation had gone mad, or some writer outside of the game had decided they'd all pay for their time trapped in the game by terrible premises. tired, night only nodded along with nari's seething rage, following alo

skeletons didn't exist in the game unless cardinal had wanted to set one present. so at nari's alert, and her body shifting to get a better angle of what they'd found, the player found herself on edge about the warning of death. but a few seconds longer of her gaze lingering on the remains, eyes then cast to the continuation of the form, and she realized it wasn't a warning meant for humans. the bones had belonged to a beast, almost serpentine in nature. a dragon? likely -- it took all of her effort not to flinch when she approached the corpse, hand smoothing over the surface of what look

a simple "i could try looking for you," would've left her mouth, but upon topic switch, night simply stuffed those words back into her brain somewhere. she had the skills to do it -- track something down so long as you knew its name. at least in this case, the yuki she was looking for wasn't stowed away, where players couldn't find it... yet. right? night followed along, watching the nine tails waver about as mio walked behind nari. onto the quest then. how hard was it to find a dragon's nest out in the wild? especially in a frozen wasteland; she knew the forest out on the fourth was

not to hit them more than once? how would they collapse, then? night moved faster, in tandem with nari's swipe. if the blade of that scythe went through the golem, she'd simply chalk it up to the physics system making way for fluid motion more than keeping realistic. night's own attack, then, was aimed to topple the sentinel -- down it through pushing through its bottom half, once it had been sliced, unsteady. and to even the playing field, past the rush against one foe, she darted to another in a series of thunderous steps. night couldn't pretend the scouting party hadn't caught the enem

something in her almost wanted to shy away from the hand that reached out. was it the cloak? but night watched, vigilant, as the cloth folded upon her figure in a way that felt familiar, but wrong. she twitched it out of place with a finger when nari wasn't looking, the latter's eyes glanced towards what seemed to be a different looking fox than the one she was certain had been lounging around the other player for an extended period of time. and they certainly seemed acquainted. night shot mio two blinks, trying to ascertain if the tiny beast looked like it was ready to start a fight

night: sure she hadn't realized how foreign nari's typing style seemed to her until she'd reflected on it that morning. night would've admitted she was still in stupor, if asked then and there, but with two feet on the floor from her bedside with a burning restlessness underneath, it would be clear to an observer she was otherwise. night: rn? what was in her daily routine? check the store, make sure nyanko hadn't brought her any requests -- breakfast, then, that she'd steal from the fridge. and the suiting up she had to do on the fourth; given that it had been a while since she'

hey hey! it's nice to have you here on site! i've only skimmed a few posts of yours but i think your writing's pretty good so far! i'm mostly writing because i noticed that you weren't on our site discord and that's where we send stuff to staff to get them evaluated (like your journal, or when you want to close a thread); it's where most of us hang out, too! either way, i'd be happy to answer any questions you have, and i hope to see you around! :0c

what was she, a cat being mothered back to shore? night daren't jostle her companion just in case they delayed, causing part of the ceiling to fall upon them -- but neither was she satisfied with being pulled beyond the surface. the screams of the dragon being now stuck under pillar arrest were muffled past their breach of water, and night wasted no time to scramble back up to the forest with nari, drenched from head to toe. so she took her time to swap between equipment, pulling two towels from her inventory just in case nari didn't have one. and as she offered it out, her other hand on

nora? certainly, it couldn't be, given it'd been years since she'd seen said player. night blinked twice, before looking to nyanko, who was absent-mindedly staring elsewhere -- a signal that he had nothing to do with the request. night knew she couldn't question him for results. so she tucked the page away, slipped into the backrooms for a spell, and came out with a small trinket as per written. wrapped in a small paper envelope, she wrapped it again with the request form, and then left the set there on the counter, meeting her familiar's dutiful eyes. at the last moment, she fa

r10 artisan | x14 daily crafting attempts | cd tool crafted item eval. | -> nora | [link] blessing. | [#208039] | TIER 1 TRINKET | AMBITION [desc.]: tiny cloth omamori. tucked in it is a paper, a wish for good fortune in crafting attempts.

because the moment he'd walked into view of night, latter fresh off the teleporter, her attention immediately swayed from the task at hand. wasn't this that strange chef out in the woods that day had recommended the other time? she was certain, because imagine the peculiarity of someone keeping a low profile, only to meet with someone who was gallivanting enough to make a fresh-faced warrior jealous. and she didn't catch a name -- didn't know if her duplicate had known, either, and wasn't so much going to ask. so she tailed him. realized only halfway that they were going the same way -- u

quest. a new mark bestowed upon her as a request meant a new round of preparations to be taken. and bistro wouldn't tell her what was within the labyrinth per say -- but neither could she, upon recollection. wasn't night there for the meeting long ago? she could barely remember it. the update brought something akin to a great silence to the twenty-fifth. and she understood why, especially hearing of the hostilities of the great corridors. that it was dark and dull, boring as it was to force players on their toes, and of recent it expanded to feature many new elements. elements t

if iris wasn't here, then there wasn't a need to call out for her arrival on bistro's notice. but there was a stranger -- one of the store supervisors, she thought, but wasn't certain, and wasn't close enough in distance to check. so night simply stared at the brown-haired woman, lazing on a couch, head buried in a magazine or another, the title unfamiliar to the former. and night took no hesitation in memorizing its appearance just in case she needed to know more. her quiet approach was rudely interrupted by the drop of the equipment she'd brought over. stunned, the woman reading glanced

"hey, i won't ask if you wont." and of course they'd wandered for what seemed like ages. because -- directions be damned, in a forest where everything shifted as the fog willed, only landmarks and approximate steps could've been taken before either of them found a blockade. night huffed as they'd found the lake underground -- a horrid dwelling, to her estimates, and likely an even worse fight to be had in the depths. so gingerly, she lowered herself into the water, before pushing off a nearby wall to swim forth. before she'd seen the dragon, she found the crumbling pillars instead. a

if they were venturing out within the night, perhaps she would've agreed, somewhat. because didn't clouds move? and beyond them, a vast blue, colors remaining the same unevenly throughout the floor? the player shook her head when nari couldn't see her -- no, she wouldn't get it the way her companion did, after all -- and was only a tad relieved when her sights were taken off the canopy. that was her cue, too, to search for the nest as well. "I wonder if it's going to be like the last one, where we just...stumbled upon it entirely by accident." so they did stumble upon it entirely by

too fast, too eager -- a jab in the face was nothing more than insult in the system, but boy was night furious about it afterwards. she threw herself back into the fray without hesitation, grabbing the revenant's shoulder and throwing it against the wall before her mind could process the lack of strategy, just rage. the bell tolled for it, in that brief pillar of light that followed, and once more again when she kicked off the wall to halt the construct from getting up. now, standing in a field of dust in that dark gothic hallway within the keep, night took a pause to reorient herself wit

the housemate? "we did." if night could grow extra eyebags there and then, perhaps she would've. now she would've had to consider if that match up was by accident, or coincidence (and she wasn't sure if either was any better). the lack of eye contact meant that they were both liable to stew in the information, both at their own pace with incredibly different reads of the situation, before nari retorted back about the broker. night only snorted, turning back down the path. "a better one would've spelled out what was to come for you instead of giving you a riddle," she clarified, befor

never been wrong, once she'd deciphered them? wasn't that a fallacy, given that there could have been a bias at play? "oh, tell me you know about the death of the author," night tossed behind her shoulder, uncertain which between the mix of loss and concern she should lean towards regarding the message. "i'd say have more faith in yourself than the message, but i'd be more adverse to them given that you don't even know of them in the first place." then quiet settled between them, giving night the time to navigate through the woods. if only they'd started walking sooner, perhaps they'd be

she slowed her brisk pace once nari got her attention. and the block of text on the interface -- night nearly stopped in entirety just to read it, pace to a snail's crawl. all she could do was squint, eyes running over words and tripping. mostly clear? half of it read of emotion, which only distilled to confusion in the player, and a few ounces of annoyance. two fingers pinched the bridge of her nose. "no," night concluded quickly, brows furrowed, eyes shut tight as realization of how little information she'd absorbed from the text washed over her. what was even the point of such obf

silence, as she walked on a little. confusion, then, when she'd realized her companion was circling a tree. so surely, there must've been something up with it. a ghost, somewhere? night started to approach, even as she saw hirru's figure halt movement. wanted to say something -- but hadn't the time. all she could do was whirl around as he zipped past her, catching the glimpse of something visceral on his face -- then he was gone, headed towards the distance. what else could the player do but take off after him, with a holler of surprise underlined with a grave concern? "hirru?!"

limiting their search to a specific region on the floor narrowed their destination choices. night wanted to look over nari's messages, too, but thought it impolite. instead, eyes glued to the map, she simply drew over the interface, circling out the lakes within the forest, before shifting perspective over to the route ahead. fifteen minutes wasn't going to cut it. the nest could take all day to look for if they let the game decide its location. "i don't need to take anything," night stated, closing her map. a shifted gaze examined their surroundings, comparing it to the charted path in h