NIGHT

night felt herself released from the gemini's hold, pausing in her turn if only to give the other some space. and day responds, at their matched gaze, by pointing in the direction she is certain there is an enemy present. the player wondered if she should've queried day further. deciding otherwise, night followed the direction set ahead of her instead. she felt no glimpses of seeking eyes as she walked ahead, attempting to be cautious. it was no surprise, then, that she found the target first. a bear, laying belly-down, head upon its paws. a number of gashes line its body in dark str

then something in the air shifted, past a certain step into the woods, and the horizon finally seemed to flood with an unnerving orange. orange, like the sun was setting, despite the lack of a light present. orange, almost tinted with red and pink, and a growing fog, returning, upon the recesses of the field. night's first instinct was to hold completely still, but while it was still fresh in her memory, she had to mark it down. a quick drop of her pad with a shortcut guided by fingers, and a brief tap -- only day was the one to pull her back quietly, not pass the threshold, but backwards

how far away had they been from the entrance of the forest? if there was even an 'entrance' to behold. from night's guesses upon the map, it seemed as though heading towards the edge of the map where the floor's walls were likely to be was the right move. with most of the forest appearing like a circle, it seemed as though appropriate not to continue along the circumference unless the duo were afraid of venturing inwards. not that night had any worries about facing on whatever might be in the forest. the trees only seemed to grow taller, from where they were standing, and her vi

what else was there to re-examine within the area that hadn't already been looked at before? debris, most likely. debris, because when the animals of the forest attacked, so too did the campsite get trashed. there was almost a certain level of guilt that night held onto as she surveyed the remains of what party had been here before -- the missing tent, plates, re-arranged campfire. the chopping board, however, remained sturdy and present. night almost couldn't help but hover over it again. i'm sorry, she must've thought to herself, though approached the center of the site to reorient

no attack cancel -- she hadn't predicted her opponents this much. but a single injury sustained was enough for her to bear, and that was before her companion dove in to sweep the single mustelid off its feet, too. day kicked it into the air, where it blocked out the light temporarily from above. the aftermath of her blows only scattered the worn tent into pieces, as they should have been eons ago. upon recovery, night chased that wolverine down with a simple cross slash. the second strike knocked it backwards against a nearby trunk -- to which the player found herself cursing, eyes upon t

vulnerable on all fronts, the best night could do was dodge the one ahead of her until she felt her body warn her of what was coming up behind. she ducked, weaving through the gluttons that were darting around like snakes, before sinking into the dark as she was accustomed to do. and, oh, she was certain the system could read her. that the counter offensive was obvious to cardinal, by how she most oft worked. yet instead of going directly for the nearest enemy, working her way into the bunch, she opted to take a leap of faith instead. sword edge raised above her, a simple sunder downwards

but the sinking feeling in her stomach was originally presuming the site was a trap. it was, in theory, but not in the way that night had assumed it to be. the moment she started walking towards day, the only signal that ticked her off about her suspicions was the distractedness of her other, and the sudden summoning of light from an empty grasp. a double bladed axe. night stared out into the woods once more, searching for signs of life. it was easier to read the dark once her counterpart told her what she should've been looking for. "wolverines. large ones." and she spotted the lunar bri

player equipment -- camping tools was more the accurate verbiage to use. an abandoned tent, presumed to be left out to disintegrate after it had been used. a few paper plates laid out in the open. a chopping board, with its durability worn. a makeshift fire pit, with its embers long snuffed out. the party who had been here must've been decently wealthy, or incredibly well prepared for the journey. night only stared at the board left behind, uncertain. "so, i get that most of these were meant to be for one-time use," she began, hovering over it, the latter found rested on a cluster of

no sooner past the first skirmish did another begin. just a little further into the woods. night couldn't tell if they'd been passing through any thresholds. she doubted it, by all accounts -- only the fact that the thicket above them was getting denser, and that there was still signs of life that were present, yet difficult to track. to her side, day was chopping out swathe after swathes of weeds. the cluttered vision didn't help night any, but neither did she complain; after all, easier footwork given these circumstances were a blessing. then they came upon a long-abandoned camp, a

"we're not taking that home," day decided. and night fully agreed, vanishing away the gunk into her inventory. the look on her face simply said it all. "i wouldn't either," she offered as a disclaimer. "so that's the first thing we'd drop off for bistro, whether she's in her shop or not. do you have a damp cloth?" after the player had wiped her hands, and day had swapped her weapon of choice, the two took some time to align themselves with their origins and their current position. they were headed further into the forest, sure -- but they had to make sure they knew their way back, if

night took a few steps towards the trunk she'd so disrupted earlier. the gash upon its form was gone, as was per system standards. the better question was what sort of ecosystem the forest was running off of that had brought the downpour of rodents to the floor. night simply gazed upwards, hand on the tree, eyes searching the black for anything worthy to note, but couldn't find a thing. so instead, her eyes were brought downwards, as though the dirt and grass had anything special to say about the skirmish. nothing much was found, save half of a fruit that had likely fallen from above, the

her estimation had been right, by the way. despite her disbelief in doing so, her other was still fending off a few more targets that refused to fall over and bleed pixels by the time night was done. and perhaps it had been showmanship, to pick a weapon least suited for cutting deep into the heart of flesh, but night rounded the field to cut off a few more stragglers -- the stacks rather than lone fighters specifically -- to watch day fell that final last guardian of the nest. night tucked away the bubbling comment about her sloppiness. all day had to do was reach out towards the pelt of

so they lunged forth. and, knowing the aptitude of the enemies often on this floor, night was more than prepared to take them down without issue. the grouping of targets together also meant that each blow was an easy fell of at least four units -- she was certain she would've been able to take out way more at once, had the system be more lenient, but it didn't matter. what scratches she did take from a dive of furry creatures here and there was only quickly mended by battle healing, and the occasional breather was won once she tumbled out of the frenzied arena. in that moment, night turne

she thought once that it was their size that made them seem like incredulous threats. then, they revealed themselves, and it became more certain that these woodland creatures were more stacks of familiar animals, unionized in some manner of gathering, than they were abnormally shaped. which means that they were outnumbered, quickly, and surrounded despite day's attempted nudging. the latter, however, was calm about the outcome, as she always was. the scythe quickly turned into a bat of some sort -- almost like a two-handed blunt weapon if cardinal could account for such a thing, and she p

when night joined in the clearing process, it was with her sword of gluttony. the fiery red hot shell of the blade had no effect on the brightness of the environment, and with the density of the woods, it was unlikely for the weapon to catch anything on fire, if it even could in the first place. her first swing, however, was a miss -- it cut the overgrowth easily, certainly, but the tip of her edge had lodged itself into a nearby trunk, something that night had failed to account for in her daze of an investigation. "oh, crap." she'd certainly tried to wiggle the sword out, almost stu

past the grove, it wasn't too long for the trees of the woods to gather close again. above them, the canopy was growing thick -- it was once spotty between the areas of weak growth, gaps that would allow the underbrush to plant down seeds of their own in the future. now, it was clear that the interior of the woods were darkening. ambient light fading. night hadn't exactly prepared herself the best for this scenario. at least, not intentionally. if she'd packed some glow stone, she could say that she did. instead, night vision aided her way through the shutters of void, as she punched some

perhaps the annoyance got to day, too, or the intention could very well be read in the air. but the first summons of a blade between them was from the system herself, and with a first tear, day reaped what would lay before them to knee-height. the vegetation trembled, its fallen kin sparkling into the air as dust. night simply turned, absent minded, to her sentient toolkit bearing the shaft of her two-handed weapon upon her shoulders. day shrugged back, gesturing for the woman to lead. so the player did, quietly, eyes to the ground as much as they were through the vines. "you think i

as always, night was never the first to speak up. two steps into the woods, and day had already looked over the scene before them; a mass of towering trees, only saplings to the titans they would've once passed on the way here. "huh, looks kind of dreary." a simple statement, the construct's gaze falling onto the other's back. "is there anything in particular you're looking to pick up from here?" and she'd briefed the mission to her ally; this was a matter of opinion. "the client stated that they're expecting claws, hides, and any irregularities of the sort. the material goods go pas

wasn't it a little odd, too? the fact that most of this area had been a wasteland spoke very much to the idea that the forbidden ones had trampled the ground flat. yet there was still a region they were repelled from, that survived despite the degradation of the land around it. wildlife where there wasn't supposed to be some. but these were some of the questions gone asked, then ignored for a better one to be answered instead. a looked-over alternative. now night would get the chance to investigate it, first-hand. after all, wasn't that the point of bistro's services in the first place?

not much was known about the pelagic woods. it was of interest to players in the past for how the forbidden ones were unlikely to enter its territory. hence, it was once used as a refuge for players out in the forbidden lands, given that they were on an expedition into the wilds themselves. however, the woods were located on the far corners of the region, and hence were an unlikely place for visitors to travel to, so it must've been under some dire circumstances that anyone had ventured to it for shelter, if at all. with players' eyes on the prize of leaving the current floor and getting out o

floor 19. to most players, the environment was an uneventful wasteland. and they would be right, given the giants that once roamed it having been felled an age ago. so why, amidst the fog, were there a few present here today? two silhouettes. there was night, and there was day. each had a steed that they travelled on, equines trotting fast. purple lazy eyes swept the surroundings for any sign of wildlife, or objects of importance. but there weren't any. given their circumstances, it would make sense how players wouldn't even care to entertain such a request. yet, bistro's servic

there wasn't much else to say. night: ok so she started on her way instead. the third floor was rife with wildlife and vegetation, the likes of which night detested. there were beastmen, sure, but then there was fae, as far as her intel on the update was concerned, and she'd hated knowing there was trickery afoot as she blanked into their destination. she remembered this floor from before it had changed -- a different place altogether, despite the similar themes in a forest. now, for any new swordsman coming into their own player, heading towards the frontlines, the third would

in lieu of mishearing, night then did listen intently, keeping her mouth shut as she watched dazia's anger build within that minute frame of hers. the player couldn't help but wince, realizing the number of players after this other's head -- perhaps it would do the population some good to just scalp dazia off, after all? not that she would know, nor would be willing to do the deed. she simply nodded, arms folded, as it occurred to her that her little jab had seemed more like claws against skin. "you're right," night returned, as she turned her body sideways to gesture to the already-compl

(dead thread is dead and i am free of this one (1) sin)

her sword reangled was all she could afford. "no promises," she shot back, kicking off the ground towards the target duo. night was hoping for a runby, with a single crash of her blade heavy onto the centurion figure. her blow landed with a spark of twilight and a bell, enough to incapacitate the robot from getting up with an attack. on the other hand, her upwards swing afterwards completely missed the mark, the master of the mechanical construct leaping backwards, shooting the players a drawn hiss. night rolled her eyes and scoffed, a boot shoved firmly onto the droid on the floor to kee