NIGHT

('Ey?' Where'd that accent come from?) Tiberius scoffed and rolled his eyes. "As if any of us has time to play as fools like that." His thumb fumbled with his index, rubbing the two together -- dry skin. The man was in contemplation. "But we're not above refusing an offer of help," he decided, after a beat of silence. A hand to the hood upon his head, and he stood up to rise. Upon the wall was a map, hatched with gridlines, and the informant tapped at a location on it, northwest of a large red pin near its center. "There was an operation to expand our territory here -- reaping crops

"And I thought you'd wanted to pick up the quest," NIGHT returned, slipping down onto coarse dirt. So much for preparations. The player did expect Koga to get the details down, but if they had to rely on supporting systems, that took out half the adventure. Her pinky was still tight upon her dopple's, the moment she looked out towards the village in search for their next objective. And what drew her attention wasn't the appearance of something gone awry, but the sounds of it coming from the Town Hall. A quick point of the building to her party members was enough in NIGHT's opinion, and s

Tight-lipped. Upset. Lost. She kept staring at her friends list from a distance away, pacing around the trees, an obligation pounding at her throat. The woman's entry was new, fresh; when NIGHT considered the offer earlier, she had many reasons not to say no. (Neither, she did realize, there was a reason to say yes, either.) It must've been the difference in levels, surely. Must've been the shock of meeting someone else that was similar enough to her. Must've been the trauma of Aincrad, collapsing all at once upon themselves. Cardinal could make a fool out of anyone, of course,

If there had been silence in the space where there should've been an answer, it was in part from the entity waiting for a response from her player instead. NIGHT seem to have paid Koga's words no attention, and that left DAY looking towards the woman before returning her sights to their friend. "That should belong to the man that handed you the quest, shouldn't it? If there was someone else to report to at the end of the journey, we should be able to identify them in Dagan." "We're looking to rescue some farmers that got trapped somewhere, aren't we? No doubt resolving it would require a

"Of course." A new contact in her list was nothing to shy from, and a request to be sent was quick as a shortcut on her fingers. Though the woman attempted to keep her cool standing still, the fumbling of her sleeve gave away an underlying nervousness, an uncertainty still of how to continue from here. "Um... I-It was just abrupt, that's all. Just..." Her gaze fell over to Bismuth, still lain down on the grass as though the man had passed out. "I just need some time to think about it. That's... That's all." NIGHT's breathing hadn't steadied, and neither did her attention remain

what was initially a solid, powerful look began to lose its luster, the moment night had heard of the words 'together'. a retreat of the corner of her lips, narrowed eyes blinked shut and opened wide, and cheekbones held stiff loosened. there was a gust of wind somewhere to ruffle her hair further. this expression was more commonly known as confusion. "--huh?" so if night stared back at the woman mouth agape, silent for a moment, may the heavens above forgive her for her pause, her emptiness. and night stood there, speechless, lost and confused -- because never once in a day had

a simple handshake seemed like enough. nothing seemed like it could go wrong with a gesture as such. but the moment the grip on her hand tightened, and night felt a slight tug towards the other woman, she almost froze up in confusion. *anything but fine.* in what manner-- and why? everyone had their problems here in aincrad. night had them too. several years after getting trapped in their setting would do that to any player. but there was the hand-holding, and the eye-staring, and the pressure stuck in their throats. something they'd wanted to say to each other. they'd neve

"That's kind of you to say, but I'm pretty sure I single-handedly..." Her voice only trailed off when she realized Nari had jumped at the opportunity for a hug. No, NIGHT had seen this type of behaviour before; it made sense, and a part of her had been ready to perform one to make amends. That was a cue they were on the right track of apology, right? Except nobody told her about the way others could get in close just to whisper in her ear. Not in a moment of vulnerability, and not after such a chaotic mess such as this. What effort gone into steadying her breaths was starting to beco

So they got a wagon. It was an easy hitch, inventory not needing to be unloaded in Aincrad, and a trip back to Dagan for a food supply fetch was already necessary for the stables. A quick hop onto the wooden cart, players and entity both, and they were off towards the mountains in the distance. Though for one reason or another, NIGHT hadn't let go of the hand in her own as she sat down to wait out the journey. An almost tight grip around DAY's; the construct got help after the players had bordered, not that she needed it, and still fingers clung onto fingers tight once the act of chivalry

"really? in most scenarios, people would rather blame cardinal than themselves..." a biased statement, though day shrugged afterwards. "not that i've got an agenda or anything. if you players think you did it, then fault away." and from behind, night only managed to hiss even more, picking up on koga's off-handed comment. "i'm not your fall-person. i'm not anyone's fall-person and you two should cut it out. also, what's this about not knowing horses existed since the beginning of the game. did you just walk everywhere? koga!" night couldn't even stomach the thought of such a lon

Breaking News: Local Lesbian Spots Another, Initiates Shut Down Sequence On Immediate Area. (More at 7.) But that was the scenario NIGHT found herself in; anxiety-ridden, her own throat hoarse. And in the following exposition afterwards, there was little for her to infer from the information given. The player wasn't thinking soundly. Just wondering -- How old was the other in front of her? When she said young, exactly how young? In her blurry haze, the next audible thought NIGHT had was -- Oh. I had hair that long, once. The moment following was filled with regret, NIGHT re

How... did they end up in this situation? She barely heard the rest of the conversation go down once she rolled off into nowhere. And though she appreciated Koga's once vote of confidence, a part of her present was also in cold objection to his assumption. NIGHT was not as elegant as half the world suspected she was. Face down in the dirt, it was difficult to will the strength to pick herself up and wander back to the group. Oh, how to ruin a friendship at first glance. This was the sort of thing NIGHT hated to consider, she mused, while muffling through mud. That a simple misun

So she didn't know how to react. "Nari here thinks you guys are something more than friends." "Like, what," NIGHT wondered aloud, gaze still blank and filled with confusion. "Best friends?" It then registered to her how abstracted her thinking was, especially after thinking back on the past. Hence the switch -- between demeanors, her shift was abrupt, the player half-panicking once realization struck her hard. Did it not show through enough? Wait, wasn't that a good thing? On a daily basis, perhaps, but when scenarios like these were present -- wait, why was it her who found he

<<The Mysterious Divide: Dagan>> "You put that in a way that makes us seem responsible!" Her arms were folded underneath that white mantle. DAY had on a satisfactory grin; looking towards the outskirts of the settlement, a knowing look to her eyes. That quests followed a regimented rule -- sure, certainty, and she wouldn't be caught surprised by anything the content generator had to throw at her. But so too did she glance back at her partner, behind the two leading adventurers, a sullen and dark look on the player's face. NIGHT was more than unamused by the setup, de

Huh -- to know that Hirru had lost to an obscure newbie caught her off-guard. So had Star been training while NIGHT hadn't seen him? That sort of story wasn't unusual, though the player wasn't used to people up and vanishing as they did in Aincrad. "Congratulations then," she returned. "So I take it I'll be seeing you in a boss raid some time?" The question about her appearance at the event came up, and the woman was hesitant to reply. After all, she really had no right to be here other than 'for a good time' -- neither did she really care about the prize. Though it sucked that one of her

> Tier 1 Trinket (1) | Freyd | The Fierceness of Grass | ID: 203379 > Tier 1 Trinket (1) | music box. (infinity) | ID: 203382 > Tier 1 Trinket (1) | music box. (tomorrow and tomorrow) | ID: 203384 > Tier 1 Trinket (1) | music box. (monster) | ID: 203390

[08/02/22] #js #e 'The Fierceness of What?' Sometimes NIGHT never knew what was going through players' heads as they submitted items for creation. But a ring was standard fare to create, and so it was handled with relative ease. Wrapped in translucent paper, a simple jingle in an inbox was enough notification. Then, her attention was on the rest of a new series of trinkets she'd been considering the make of. Three more boxes joined their commissioned cousin, though were separated for display when the artisan stepped onto the floor of her store. She wondered if there were more pl

"Penny for your thoughts?" NIGHT was quiet for a spell, before shifting her attention from the distance to her friend. "The First Lessons quest. When you were gathering materials, you were probably out with Noct, weren't you?" It was an assumption, certainly, but NIGHT had reasons for making the jump. Though, she knew there was a possibility to be wrong. Either way, she gestured towards the fields beyond, half-certain the spot she was pointing to had the flowers she remembered. "I was out with Yukiro my first night. Somewhere over there, I think. He'd chided me on having gone outside when

SNOW | Approved. Total EXP: 19100 Total SP: 110 Current Level: 22 Notes: still at tier 3.