NIGHT

her own fall was muted by the sound of the other flighty figure's own, a distance away from the party she'd somehow assisted on a whim. night let her blade fade from view, before turning back to examine the other players. who were they-- new and upcoming adventurers? when the blizzard faded away, the remains of the beast shattered cleared from the air, that was when she was able to tell. that description from her guess had only fit the bill for one of them. the other -- the veteran -- she could place a name to. and the last shadow... well, night's memory was hazy on her, or she didn't kno

night found herself nodding. was the gemini an emotional quest for most? she didn't know -- rather, she didn't think so, because the numbers had shown it otherwise. but it had mattered to her. it had mattered for her. and, in holding nari's hand again, the player found it enough. her thumb brushed against the back of that held hand, a gentle and smooth rub. "it's a quest taken solo," she said, softly. "cardinal wouldn't let me have a choice." though, she gave it a squeeze back, akin to that grasp from earlier. "but if i did, know that i'd come running. since... since y'know-- you'd asked.

"people who aren't real." like a mirror, she burned as koga did. words growing teeth, just as her blade found root in the heart of another undead. night simmered in her truth, as unfair as she knew it seemed. "it matters because we're owed a life outside of this existence. it matters because none of this has consequence, except a bool of whether we're dead or alive. it matters-- because we're mortal. we get complacent beyond the struggle. it matters despite the fact you don't want it to." steel fought bone and rotten meat. with a pulse of light, the entity and its allies fell apart.

"...i don't know." there were many hidden variables that governed the way cardinal ran its systems. without looking into its workings deeply, at least the error in its outcome was obvious -- that it wasn't meant to happen in the first place. yet, despite the lack of rationale to consider it so, night couldn't help but continue thinking about it. even until now. especially until now. "i didn't... have a reason to spare it." her grasp on nari's hand loosened. "not necessarily. perhaps you have the will for a killing intent..." the woman pulled her hand away from her companion's, l

an idealist at heart, but a realist by circumstance. wasn't that the case for most of them, if not all? and still night found herself pushing for the opinion that the world wasn't as black and white as raidou made it out to be. to define 'each other' in his sentence about player killing -- perish the thought -- was already placing herself on the line bordering treachery. so that was her challenge, night assumed. "i'm good on refreshments, thank you." "you propose," she realized, "that we take advantage of our digital allies given the pretense that they are reliable." it did see

she knew the weight of the matter had a divide between them. likewise, the question that came to her ears meant nari wasn't familiar with the quest. as she'd suspected -- calming the soul was only one part of the two pillars in night's experience as an adventurer. she wondered what the result be of this one. if nari knew. "tenshi?" the player tilted her head at the title, curious. "i could ask you the same thing about that." hands still locked, she guided her companion down the raised pad's steps, and strung her along with her fingers tapping on menus. she'd been saving her points fo

all of that value going into a name. night reflected on it as they strolled; the difference laid in how nari appreciated her own. the mention of her grandmother from before only allowed her to consider the closeness of family, and she wondered further about that. if only her own had been benevolently so. instead, she nodded at the woman's explanation. "as long as those shoes you fill feel comfortable." night wondered if she should look into it. the mythos part. at the mention of competition, the player found herself going sheepish first, before stiffening. a twirl of one lock of

well she hadn't expected the woman before her to have chosen a handle based off her real name, night would tell anyone that. and as if it was a trigger, she was starting to draw the connections where she wished she hadn't seen them. if she'd groaned, she kept her distress to herself, and turned away at the realization. a part of her was annoyed at the patterns that kept repeating. "so you're named after something akin to the grim reaper is what you're saying," the woman attempted to bring up in jest, though pivoted away from it almost immediately. "or... like a harbinger of destructi

night shrugged. "your guess is as good as mine." and then she remained quiet, listening attentive despite her want not to. the argument about players being inhumane and the artificial being the model rather than the exception came up. and the player wondered what the man had seen to lose his faith in humanity just so. no, she wouldn't bother. the controlled could always be as dark as the worst aspects of players. "Wouldn't it be nice, if we were not alone in this place? If the system itself was rebelling like we were and wished to be free like we do?" "define free," she returned

night reached out for her drink; the only menu item of the hour she'd be leaving empty. "oh, haha." it wasn't so much the dark, but she didn't want to have to justify her aggression for the outdoors right before the actual event. "and where else does the name 'nari' come from, pray tell?" then came the topic of wanting to leave, and the player wondered why her companion seemed in a rush to get going. not that she had a problem with leaving the establishment early -- definitely not that. she waved down someone for aid of taking home the leftovers; she'd done the same once upon a time, and

despite all her talking from earlier, she'd finally found quiet in taking part of her meal. her eyes were set to the flower as she ate, wondering if the material had been more for herself or her friend at this point. a few buttons from thin air, and she retrieved of it from the table. hummed only as her friend was contemplating the tale, and took a drink whilst mulling over the past. the topic change felt forced, at least. and night was facing inertia from that switch. her thoughts only lead her back to krycim, and that newly created pond not too far from the settlement. when she las

"well, i would be." as much as she appreciated good company, she knew she'd think differently when it came to her final moments. the world rearranged to her benefit wouldn't have involved the living dead, for example, and she had ties closer than koga despite loathing them in equal measures. "have higher standards for yourself." they slowly dispatched the oncoming waves, and night let herself go quiet to hear what her friend had to mention. irony at its finest was all she heard in return. she rolled her eyes. "you're already bed-ridden, whether you die in here or k/o right after waki

<<tmd: ordsea>> only night would stop in her tracks at having been caught by someone she knew. this point was of relevant note, because day was the one who stepped forward falling behind koga, grin on her face, as though completely unaware of the revelation that had just transpired. "good morning to you too, koga!" and the player cursed herself inwardly for not having imposed the early leave when she knew it to be for the better-- so she shambled behind them, hollow and indifferent (read: debased by frustration and ire), as the trio made their way snaking towards the

she'd snorted at the way her companion acted the part. the slightest hint of delight was apparent from her visage against the shadow of a backlit lantern. "smartass." and at nari's offer for time afterwards, night considered it carefully -- "i was going to show you around some place when it was daylight," she confessed. "but tonight's equally as fine too. sure." her knife went back to work on her pancakes, as she contemplated on where to begin. between the sixth floor and the cafe, there was so much that the player had wanted to say, she realized, that she hadn't been able to. why was tha

"anywhere you want to go. any time." night's comment was made in distraction, her knife working into the dessert as she ensured them divvied into equal portions. two pancakes, one stacked atop another, and the syrup added from the top only spilled in between her cuts as the stack started to dismantle itself. a bite out from the dish's top half, and she knew it was delectable. memories came flooding back to her and she grew solemn, quiet. a gathering of ice cream upon the second slice. and she bit into it, considering, before offering a third to nari from the tip of her fork. the

a system gone rogue? if she'd been living in a sci-fi fantasy, she wouldn't have known enough to live and tell the tale, let alone explain its inner machinations better to the other clueless souls trapped in the digital hell with her. and yet here she was, and so night was determined to believe the concept otherwise. in the same way she thought raidou needed his own psychoanalyst, she thought it better he pick up a better spiritual belief, too. "what i'm saying here is that every aspect of the game has been created to mankind's design." night blinked, comprehending raidou's stance on

"..." and was she really someone who had another after her own schedule now? night hadn't choked, having downed the liquid savoured, but she did simmer to docility when the two fingers were held up. rude. her hand wrapped around her neck, knowing her own cheeks were betraying her cool. similarly, the pen spun in her hand hadn't stopped moving. the player stared at nari's index held up before glancing to her writing instrument. the conversation hadn't escaped her any, despite her thoughts having fled somewhere else. with a reach of her hand, she connected the tip of her frie

she shrugged. "something like that." night wasn't invested in knowing how that worked, and likewise wasn't interested in how it would adapt for her, either. if anything, she was mostly concerned with how nari had reacted -- as though all the jokes they'd made had been lost. the player wondered if she should sober up. then came the offer to go dungeon-running again, and night tilted her head, still toying with the pen in her hands. "why those in particular?" though they gave a decent amount of experience, the effort necessary to run through them was more than the player was want to b

"that sounds like a good move." night spun the pen in her hand, twirling it between two fingers. "with your mitigation, it's likely enough for now to keep you safe without needing parry." and she let the tank ramble on about her thoughts on the build. it made sense enough that nari would be concerned over her duty, after all. "You mentioned howl…tell me more about it?” night opened her mouth to speak. "well--" “And how do I make you howl?” and then closed it immediately afterwards, the shock of her comment striking her too closely to work for comfort. the player paused for

so that explained the interest in the weapon before. likewise the teetered focus towards tanking opposed the investment in damage-related skills. night couldn't help but wonder if it was nari trying to be as efficient as possible as a solo player, or if yuki had been the part of the fool attempting to rank her mitigation alone. she went with the latter and apologized to her friend in her head. "you should be asking that to people outside of asia," night countered, though her comment had been unintentional at best. her scribbles only placed the priorities of the build to come for her

she shot a smile somber back nari's way the moment she heard about the term being an off-the-grid lesson. the dropbears. "singapore," night returned, as the drinks they'd ordered finally arrived. a curt nod to their server before she was back to the conversation. "somewhere in the heart of asia, at the equator. some people might think we're settled in the middle of china. we're not." and the player hadn't meant to return to the notion of keeping anyone company in their late hours, but she did wonder when her friend would finally stop the teasing, afterwards. "the build," she restated, for

"then all the better to work towards our exit," night retorted, taking her anguish out on the set of incoming zombies koga had failed to execute completely. she hadn't bothered enough on observing their prowess, and only did so once her friend's strength lacked in comparison to her own. a different build, it seemed, or one without an equivalent of buffs. "they can't sustain us forever, both the nerve gear, the servers this game runs on, nor the medical equipment they must've hooked up to us by now." the player scoffed in light of that statement. "if we were in states so dire, what's to sa

night blinked as she tried to register where nari's origins were from. the shy grin afterwards almost looked as though it'd masked pain behind it. "miss," she decided. "i don't see how it would be a disadvantage at all. though i hadn't taken geography in a while, by now -- if you'd be so kind to jog my memory -- where's kanata at again?" she wasn't even sure such a place with said name ever existed. and if this was anything like the australians and their dropbears, night would surely find herself unsurprised. “Wait, you mean like…a vanilla sauce? Or straight vanilla?” "like vani

and the revelation had only managed to fluster the man. with more familiar company, she would've laughed -- instead, night's expression was merely one of amusement. was it so strange for one to wrap their head around it? -- no. a rhetorical question. night knew for a matter of fact that it was. the player had nodded at his mention of crozeph. "unfortunately, i've got my tastes, too. sorry, but there's nothing further between me and yuki." she'd wanted to joke about the lack of a 'sweet scandal', and yet knowing raidou's temperament, she knew better now to withhold the joke of a comme

she'd winced at the thought of bastardized sushi. at least where she was from, they came in small boxes, cheap, and hence the selling point of them were the prices rather than the taste. yet she was certain in a place where they were a rarity, even poor quality goods were sold at a marked up rate. night nodded at this revelation, turning back to the menu at the woman's acceptance of her offer, and chuckled at the mispronunciation of the names. "Oh, hush.” well, she joyfully decided not to. "it's tamago. you got the ikura one right." the player pulled her hand away from her