[F1-PP] The Value of a Life

[Raidou 1]

The smells of brimstone still lingered on his robe, ever pungent from cannon fire not but days ago. Stuck to his thoughts like glue, the very hesitant exchange where the frontlines had fractured. The pair that had defended Gabrandr to the bitter end, moments before a war zone played out above. All hell had broken loose over the course of a few hours, and it left most of the players present in a funk and exhausted. Some sought solace in affairs to raise spirits, and from a visit to Baldur's estate the thought of it had clung there in persistent adhesive.

"I have to set the record straight, she's endured just as much as I have. Deserves the benefit of the doubt." Reaching out to a few notable contacts that the pair had shared, only the most brief of exchanges mixed with the smallest of words or glances. Both were the type of little words, neither were the type to converse when events demanded focus. But now, in the moments between, he'd like to understand her reasoning. Also, the boy's, but unlike most Raidou knew little about him. Raidou reaches for a chair, removing it from beneath a table, and began to cast his fingers against a digital keyboard. Aimed at a dartboard in the dark, unsure it was the same girl he'd seen time and time again.

To: @NIGHT From: @Raidou I am not sure if you are who I am aiming to reach, but I would like to have a discussion regarding recent events. If this message does not seem to make any sense, feel free to delete this. Snake out of Water, Easter Dungeon, Cleansing the Corruption. I'll be waiting in the Hummingbard Inn, Floor 1

Tapping the screen sees that invisible pigeon whisked away with hopes that it would reach the correct viewer. All that was left was for the wanderer to mill about, holding his breath for a reply or response. A waitress moves to the table, offering a large glass of water, and sits idle to take an order. "I am unsure how long I'll be, I will let you know shortly." Raidou remarks to a grimace at his 'freeloading'. It was true.

Spoiler

Raidou, The Red Wanderer
Level: 32
Paragon Level: 90
HP: 1000/1000
EN: 118/118

Stats:
Damage: 24
Mitigation: 44
Evasion: 4
Accuracy: 3
Battle Healing: 55
Loot Dice: 6
AA
REC: 8
V.D.: 110

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Auric Sunlight - Finality of Faith [T4/Demonic/2HSS] +3 Damage, AA
Armor: Red Wanderer's Resolve - Sympathy [T1/Demonic/Cloth] 2 Evasion, 2 Vampiric Defensive
Misc: Tactician's Gaze - Ogma [T1/Perfect/Trinket]: +3 Accuracy

Custom Skill:


Skills:
Straight Sword R5
Cloth Armor R5
Battle Healing R5
Howl
Searching R5
Fighting Spirit

Active Mods:
Detect
Athletics
Vengeful Riposte
Tracking
Justified Riposte

Inactive Mods:

Addons:
Nimble
Ferocity
Precision
Focused Howl
Stamina
Reveal

Active Extra Skills:
Parry
Survival
Forgotten King’s Authority
Concentration

Inactive Extra Skills:

Battle Ready Inventory:

Housing Buffs:
Well Rested: -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat
Squeaky Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down)
Hard Working: +2 EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Item Stash: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
Delicious: Turn 3 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Feast. A Feast contains 6 portions of the food items sacrificed.
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Col Stash: +5% bonus col from monster kills and treasure chests
Advanced Training: +10% Exp to a thread. Limit one use per month [0/1]
Multipurpose: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
Decor []: This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild:
Kumatetsu Statue: +1 Base Damage for a thread

 

[NIGHT 0]

it wasn't as though night knew who raidou was trying to reach otherwise, either, though the query sent her way seemed off for the man who had the appearance of knowing so much. someone his standing sending out a blind missive seemed out of touch for firm anima; wouldn't the army send a proxy, some feelers and pin down a target first out of duty before reaching out for direct contact? it just seemed efficient, that way.

or in this case, personal, considering the message sent was in privacy. the contents of the outreach certainly seemed that way. something about three quest occasions written in code.

night considered the first name specifically. every thing else was too much insignificant to bother, and private or otherwise, anything regarding hebishinu's whereabouts would come in handy. she'd not seen nor heard sight of it ever since it got removed from the game.

likewise, chaser's concerns echoed warning bells in her mind.

night: ??
night: who's this for n what abt

she gave the next line a bit of pause, contempt brewing. what was the most notable action she'd recalled taking at the front to jog the man's memory? when night had her answer, it was all she could do to stifle a groan.

night: im the player that stood by hirru in the f26 fight

what a way to mark a target on her back. if raidou hadn't been aware of her before, which it seemed that way, then he would now, and she'd have to brave what dissent drawn up from his speech given to gabrandr when it came time to decide the fate of the man. night leaned in her seat until her back reached a hard surface, and then only moved once she'd gotten a confirmation as being the right recipient.

there was little she could do about having revealed her name to a public figure. if she had to move homes to maintain her safety...

well, the higher floors were looking pretty cozy at this time of year.

| NIGHT  | Lv. 117 >> P. 85, Lv. 32  | Status: not ronbaru, though.   Notes:  //

Spoiler NIGHT | HP: 980/980 | EN: 136/136 | DMG: 21 | ACC: 3 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 44 | LM: 2 | HLY: 8 | PHASE | LD: 5 | BH: 38 | Stealth Rating: 6 equipped Orgoth's Legacy ACC, PHASE, HOLY (8) Tracksuit of Unfathomable Fashionability MIT (24), LM II Silver Crescent Necklace ACC II, EVA II battle-ready inventory // skills Spoiler mod count: 5/5 2HSS | RANK 5/5 focus, stamina, precision shift: aoe CLOTH ARMOR | RANK 5/5 athletics, nimble COMBAT MASTERY: DMG | RANK 3/3 SEARCHING | RANK 4+1/5 BATTLE HEALING | RANK 5/5 EXTENDED MOD LIMIT ENERGIST FAMILIAR: PROFESSION QUICK CHANGE extra SURVIVAL CONCENTRATION HIDING blindside, untraceable, vanish, surprise attack-t buffs Spoiler statue BIALAS | +TAUNT MOTHRA | +1 EN Recovery TANOS | +25 MIT MORETSUNA | +50 HP OROCHI | +1 LD KUMATETSU | +1 DMG consumables - - - - - - paragon Lv. 5 | Gain additional col equivalent to 15% of EXP earned in that thread. Lv. 10 | +1 LD to looting. sword arts Spoiler en cost matches multiplier unless stated otherwise. shift underlined. ST | x12 -> x15 | x20 AOE | x15 -> x18 TECH-A | x12 | STUN | 13EN TECH-B | x12 | DELAY TECH-D | x12 | SHATTER TECH-G | x12 | BURN misc. Spoiler housing Dimensional Backpack, Item Stash | +2 Battle-Ready Inventory Slots. Well Rested | -1 EN for the first three expenditures of each combat.  Relaxed | +(5 * Tier) HP per out-of-combat post. Full energy restoration occurs after two turns out of combat. Squeaky Clean | -25% DoT damage taken from the first DoT applied to this player in a thread. Skylight: Searching | +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cooldown of 30 days to reassign. Multipurpose | +1 LD/Prosperity/Stealth/Detection to one post per thread. Can be applied after a roll. Filling | +1 T1 slot to a food consumed by this player in a thread. Can exceed Cook enhancement caps. Col Deposit | +5% col from loot-minimum mobs, +10% col from treasure chests. gathering Greenhouse | +2 G.EXP, +1 CD&LD to gathering attempts. Familiar: Profession | +2 G.EXP Demeter's Cornucopia | +1 CD to gathering attempts.

 

[Raidou 1]

Raidou gazed hesitantly into a glass, feeling uneasy simply because he was being watched. Here he was, potentially moments from leaving, and yet it was as if he was expected to order something to be in here. "I uh..." He coughs into a balled up fist to get the waitress's attention, lifting a hand in an awkward display. "Can I order, some tea?" A twisted glare as she slides a pencil across the page, folding the book shut with a hostile snap. Raidou exhales a sigh of relief as a message *pops* in, confirming his fears on two fronts.

 'im the player that stood by hirru in the f26 fight'

A single line extended not in formal message media, but a simple chat box. His eyes twist to check the others, wrapped up in other guests and not paying him too much mind. "What a curious thing to lead with, but it simplifies things as well as confirms her identity." The nomad spoke beneath belated breath, keeping his words small and outside those that would greedily consume them. Pressing an index into the small little frame sees it expand, and like magic, fingers play the part of worming serpents on the keys. Into a medium of discussion he'd never used for direct contact before.

raidou: I was hoping to understand your point of view, I understand hirru's.

Tapping a tiny arrow sees it draw itself beneath her speech, not a moment later. Curiously, he stares into it, hesitant if it was to be the end. But color him interested, intrigued by what brought her to make such a conclusion? A scientific mind wishing to understand it as much as a pair of ears or the formula of matter in chemistry. Minds were not something easily shared, motives not so easy to relay. To glean them, one had to try to keep their own open. The lowercase of his name bothered him, but such was such informal means of communication.

[NIGHT 0]

right. it wouldn't be apparent to someone who'd carried opposing views that she'd share the same likeness as hirru's, the same way approximately half those gathered at the raid had gone unquestioned. so to pick her out from the crowd was... specific. then again, for someone having to manage a large conglomeration, she guessed that raidou had every right to be specific.

just strange, the method he went about doing so. it almost felt like a trap -- to question her amongst others for what she'd done in the conflict. was she a figure-head, or something? night did move first after hirru, she would admit with some regret. though that didn't place the value on her perspective any higher than the others that opposed the vote.

she sighed, before leaning forward. whatever it was that raidou wanted, she'd half a mind to get up, after all.

 

night: ill b thr
night: 5m

 

awfully convenient to have been stationed on the first floor, night observed. the hummingbard inn wasn't a particularly easy find, but neither was it out of her broker's reach and her swift gait's pace. in the time she'd allotted for herself, she'd found the locale almost camouflaged against the backdrops of the other buildings in the city. or she'd passed it by so many times before, she couldn't recognize it standing out from the others in architecture so much.

quaint. night stepped through the door with seconds to spare. then there was the sight of that cloak in complete red. she motioned an acknowledgement to the hosts present in the building before stepping behind the seat opposing raidou's.

"well?" she took her place at the other end of the table, chair drawn in a rocky fashion that spoke more of impulse than caution. "what's so perplexing about a stance that's similar to some other grunt on the front?"

[Raidou 1]

Another reply finds its way adjacent under his own, still estranged by the lack of any punctuation or capitalization by this media. What's worse is, he finds himself desperately trying to decipher what it was that was written. "What even is this?" The wanderer remarks, making himself appear even weirder to the other patrons. But the proof was, he never really spoke to kids his own age. With an earnest intensity, it wasn't until NIGHT would arrive that he'd even look away, a slight narrowing of his eyes that widen. "I see, I wasn't certain you'd show." A wave of his hand dismisses slightly transparent boxes.

"If you wouldn't mind ordering something, I would like to keep misunderstanding to a minimum." His eyes twist to look vaguely at the three other players adorning chairs, and a waitress who was gossiping to a man at the counter. "Also, I am extremely uncomfortable." The guy comments, reaching up and pulling off a pair of lenses. "I understand the hesitation, but I would hardly consider anyone a 'grunt'. I've seen you work, and I know how hard it is to learn anything about you. NIGHT?" recalling the contact detail alone. The truth was, she was mostly an enigma to him.

"Before now, I didn't have a reason to look any further. You seem to be able to handle your own, moreover Yuki trusts you considerably. I've seen how well you operate, destroy seemingly without mercy. Yet..." Taking a sip and immediately grimacing, given the tea he had ordered was sweetened. *cough* it was basically sugar water. "And yet..." *cough* trying to keep that same level and meticulous solidity. "Why then would you have a stake in sparing Gabrandr to such a degree that you would have been willing to fight all the frontlines if it came to that? I know Hirru has almost died protecting a child, but that hardly was a soldier holding weapons attempting to kill us?" Slowly pushing the glass away, that was about all he could take, that simple sip. "I will be straight with you, if you are straight with me. An answer for an answer, is only fair."

[NIGHT 0]

to order something? night picked up the menu set to one side of the table. her gaze reviewed what drinks the inn had to offer, though most of her attention was paid towards the leader ahead of her. his eyes were set upon the others nearby.

"Also, I am extremely uncomfortable."

likewise. and it wasn't due to eavesdroppers listening within earshot, either.

"I've seen you work, and I know how hard it is to learn anything about you. NIGHT?"

she tilted her head at the commentary. the message then came to mind, along with the cryptic quest names. fair observations to his credit, though the player barely recalled what she'd done to seemingly impress. and the coldness of her trail.

if she'd set down the menu and set her chin behind two locked hands, it was in appreciation for the man's lack of further pursuit during his investigation into her life. hard was a flexible descriptor to his perceived difficulty and her own likeness in tracing the accord. between his mention of yuki and a further remembrance of a different dungeon undertaken together, she was certain hard just meant he respected her enough for a proper confrontation. not a roundabout information gathering attempt.

which begged further questions as to why he hadn't been so accurate to begin with.

she'd winced at his mention of 'lacking mercy'. were her tactics really that harsh? then came the question after the coughing -- though night wondered more if there had been anything wrong with the taste of the drink.

"Why then would you have a stake in sparing Gabrandr to such a degree that you would have been willing to fight all the frontlines if it came to that? I know Hirru has almost died protecting a child, but that hardly was a soldier holding weapons attempting to kill us?"

her eyes were already wide with concern from his fit earlier. and they narrowed, slowly, but all she could offer the man was a shrug. "all of us in the raid were posed with the same question and answered accordingly," she stated, pulling her hands into a fold. her index tapped her upper arm in consideration. "and it wasn't as though i had anything to feel for the man. if it helps, i did have a chat with hirru--"

she paused, head tilted at an angle.

"--after the latest boss meeting. which, if i recall, you hadn't made an appearance at, either." not that his rationale mattered for not showing. night was certain responsibility weighed heavily on the man leading an army into battle. "you can call it pity for our resident mark if it helps you sleep at night. as you'd said, he'd almost died protecting a child, didn't he?"

(though that bit of intel was new. she'd never known the discourse had been so charged until now.)

night paused to let her words sink in. her gaze was turned towards the passing staff, hoping to catch one's attention. with a wave, she'd barely caught the last of what raidou had to say for the time being.

"then consider this a freebie," she returned, a half-earnest attempt at humor, "feel free to be as straight with me as you want. but there's nothing straight about me at all."

she ordered a cup of coffee. personally detested.

[Raidou 1]

The man slinks back in his chair a bit, moving closer to the table to rest his elbows upon its surface. "Yet, only two of us felt so strongly as to hold their blades against the others. Have you been betrayed in the past? Or Perhaps you believed that someone would circumvent the decision the others would make?" Opening his inventory on his own, shooting glances to the owner of the establishment before he clutches the tea cup and gives a brisk splash into a neighboring plant. "Hirru, I know of, but do not know him personally. He is a member of Jacob's Ladder, a few odds and ends through that network saw that the gear he wore came from the members of the guild I reside in." Sneaking some liquid into a cup before concealing the thermos below the table, to prevent himself from being caught for slipping in outside food.

"It is my belief that because of what Hirru believes that Jacob's Ladder chose to spare him. There is warrant in it, the way that Hirru thinks. I don't believe that the manifestations of cardinal are incapable of becoming living things, excluding a breath. Citizens of Charkko remember me, smile when I make my deliveries. Annalise, the little girl from Let there be Light always greets me when I make my rounds in Urbus. Skalaugh shed a tear the moment before he was slain." There was a catch in his voice, as if it troubled him. Raidou reaches for the spoon and spins that greenish water to allow some steam to escape, a tiny speck of a tea-leaf stem getting sucked around in the currents. "From my perspective, however, they lack 'free will'. The soldiers in Hel's chamber, The Mysterious broker at the end of Iron Guardian, Nemo from Natures Treasure. They have the feeling of wanting to be human, but in my experience they will be forced to do unspeakable things. I knew that when I saw that dragon shed a tear, or when Nemo apologized after."

Taking a sip and gauging NIGHT's expression, keeping his own demeanor simple. Analytical, curious. Clasping his lenses and shuffling them away into an awaiting pocket. "Gabrandr could have very well been forced to kill us all, or at the very least some of us. Galtea, Ladonia, Taft, Toimoika. Invisible places made with the facsimile of human life that, strangely, is becoming human. I skipped the meeting simply because I don't think people understand my point of view, and usually 'it devolves in an inconvenient mess'. Freyd is typically better at handling more 'precarious' exchanges." Emphasis where it mattered. "But I digress, the reason I made the choice I did is I believed that he would have taken at least one person with him if he was a puppet. It surprised me when he actually seemed to be in control of his own actions. Pleasantly so. It is also my belief that there is no way we could possibly incarcerate an entity of the cardinal, no matter how hard we try. The rules we must follow and theirs are not equal, Shadow proved that." Setting the cup down into a platter as Raidou looked into the ceiling, trying to process that last tidbit with a slight twist of his head.

"Straight? Linear, Narrow, True, Even. I don't understand the comment." A variable deadpanned expression as the guy seemed almost lost. He'd look down to her upper arm as if expecting to see it slightly rounded or bent. *cough* clearing his throat after being a weirdo and realizing it. "So if it was pity, then why was yours in the shape of a sword? I want to see what you did. Is Hirru your romantic partner, a dear friend? Perhaps that boy is? I want a reason to choose to spare like you did. I suspect that if I was in Hirru's shoes, that would have been my reason." 

[NIGHT 0]

if she'd sank back, almost shriveling under raidou's immediate scrutiny, it was with his immediate bluntness. direct. jumping to psychoanalysis from the get go was a quality she'd keep only within her mind, and yet the man's grasp on managing his expectations for the other seemed to be spilling.

had she the drink she ordered, she might've choked on it too. all that to say night contemplated on nari's perception of her grievances once upon a time, and she wondered if her guess had any truth to the matter at all. or if it had been a misperception, and the truth was that players like raidou just couldn't keep their thoughts in.

so she worked like a sounding board. night certainly agreed with the running theory, provided how many questions had been thrown at her within the first minute of their proper conversation.

--and her thoughts had run on so long in the same measure that she wished she could've been amused at the dumping of tea elsewhere.

 

their first delve was with regards to hirru, and though night could've taken the opportunity to explain the context of her meeting with him to raidou, his rambling never let her get a word in otherwise. just the same, that scenario was a private matter, history only known as a privvy, and so she thought it better to have kept her mouth shut.

then they wove around to the sentience of constructs, and night fought herself not to budge.

not only was she trying to manage her arguments, but so too was she being distracted by the sheer thought that the man beknownst to all was keeping a thermos on hand just in case the drinks he'd ordered weren't to his taste. green tea flooded the cup she had observed, just as the man was listing down all known entities to have caught his attention. by now, night was certain almost everyone had tabs on some npc of some kind. to varying extents of affection, of course.

"From my perspective, however, they lack 'free will'. The soldiers in Hel's chamber, The Mysterious broker at the end of Iron Guardian, Nemo from Natures Treasure."

night knew how their logic worked. she was liken to comment the same. the thought of the uso-tsuki on the twenty-fourth came to mind at the concept's mention, and the player shifted in her seat for comfortability.

there had been nothing so far to argue against.

so her conversation partner continued. about gabrandr, about the meeting. about freyd, whose concerns from chaser echoed again in her mind. the thought about him out on the twenty-second for reasons unknown only made her wonder if raidou was aware of scenarios as such, too. likewise, she considered the priority of the individual in question, if the leader was certain in entrusting such a heavy task onto a proxy of himself rather than directly addressing it.

"But I digress, the reason I made the choice I did is I believed that he would have taken at least one person with him if he was a puppet. It surprised me when he actually seemed to be in control of his own actions. Pleasantly so."

she tilted her head. potentially a slip-up, perhaps? the theory ran against everything he'd proposed was true up to this point. so too was the concept of ever respawning constructs in light of their maker's ruin.

"The rules we must follow and theirs are not equal, Shadow proved that."

night only thought on this briefly, drawing her conclusions. either the figure behind the controls of sword art online was a psychopath or a game designer, and now they could no longer tell which was which.

the player was quiet watching the leader raise his gaze to the ceiling. likewise, she followed the gullible written upon it as well.

"Straight? Linear, Narrow, True, Even. I don't understand the comment."

so he lacked humor, too. to take things at face value, it seemed -- strange then how he would pose riddles when he couldn't weave his way out of her posed query. and just the same--

"Is Hirru your romantic partner?"

the terrible feeling of bile sinking in her stomach only moved herself to push the truth of her narrative in that aspect as honestly as possible. that initial statement was all she would care others might know about her, given the reckless nature of disseminating it on a whim, and it was dismissed immediately. she thought back to the scholars who would pin nari and her house mate as good friends.

"no," she squeaked, and reeled again when she figured the boy raidou had mentioned was koga. even worse. again, she interjected ("no.") to save her own sanity.

"I suspect that if I was in Hirru's shoes, that would have been my reason."

and in lieu of that light, night had almost wanted to cry.

she hid her sorrow behind the cup of coffee that was brought to her, almost burbling in that dark hue. when her thirst had been sadly satiated, night looked to raidou with an expression of ever present pain.

"i'd meant to say i didn't swing that way with my comment." she sobered, still sour. "that annuls two of your assumptions for what my motivation might've been. likewise i'm certain you understand better than most the value of a life. with no offense, that's simply what i considered before taking to arms against the potential few against the many that might've gone for hirru's back once again." she dipped her chin lower. "in defense, rather than against."

with narrowed eyes, night then tilted her head to one side. "you mentioned the free will of creations within the game. that they don't have any was what you believed, and in the breath afterwards figured that gabrandr had a life of his own. what leads you to believe this? surely if any of us had been given a reason had he taken a player, whether it be under orders or by its own values, we'd all be against it similarly. if it gave us a reason fulfilling enough for our narrative, would it then reason the consequences crafted by its hands to be just?"

[Raidou 1]

"Swing that way?" The semblance eventually stuck, turning his head and placing a hand to his chin as if in deep thought. "oh, OH." Raidou immediately turns bright red. Waving his hands in front of him with a dismissive shake of his head 'no' "I had no idea, uh does that mean Yuki? Wait Crozeph..." Trying to peel apart the pieces of the massive network of intertwining lines. "Love interest aside, I..." he'd get caught in his words, looking at the girl as her arms would shrink up. "I'm sorry, I thought you'd held some key. I didn't mean to overwhelm you." His shoulders start to hang, as he stared down at his cup. This wasn't intended to be an interrogation and yet, the man was so used to them. That, coupled with the very notion that he'd never held a simple conversation with a peer without some baggage or motive, he wasn't sure how to begin.

A sharp inhale and exhale, allowing the rising intrigue to settle. "Gabrandr was given more than one opportunity, and made a conscious decision to not betray us. I do not believe that, if the cardinal held any bearing on him, that he would have been allowed to make such a choice. The truth is the only value of a life, is another life." His eyes sought hers, portraying the honesty and concern. Rubbing the rim of his cup, he'd look down at it. Mind abuzz with possibility and wanting to have faith in her motives, the truth was what he believed he had to do and what he wanted to were not the same. Excessively uncomfortable as their respective ruckus had made an interesting show and tell of the confines of this building, nice and focused on the player's table.

"H-hows your coffee?"

Smooth

[NIGHT 0]

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 comment.

"I'm sorry, I thought you'd held some key. I didn't mean to overwhelm you."

a strange statement, night realized. hence she was confused by the rationale behind it. here she was, a practical nobody in the sea of other players; even raidou had mentioned something about having little reason to look into her affects. so whatever made him believe otherwise?

'some key', he'd mentioned. perhaps he was the one due for some psychoanalysis instead.

when raidou perked up with the observation on gabrandr, that was when night felt herself frown. the aforementioned exchange was what she understood had the potential to sow misgivings in the first place. righteous parties that decided to even the playing field with the innocent. "an eye for an eye makes the world blind."

she took her coffee. almost depleted it dry of liquid. for someone so influential to have such decidedly black-and-white perspectives on an issue almost worried the woman, especially if she'd come into direct line of questioning from the leader himself, and so folded her arms as she considered his arrangement.

the warble in the man's voice as she posed a shallow query was gone unnoticed.

"plain." (and bitter.) "like always."

night as quiet for a moment, before speaking again, eyes remaining on the surface of her reflection. the thought about her most recent expedition crossed her mind. "we know this world to be alive and breathing. yet when posed with an option, and we decide deterministic." she shifted her head to an angle, hands placed in a steeple, her forearms on the table. "then as someone who knows a little about what goes on behind the scenes of our facade, let me explain how randomness works in other games."

"say you entered a dungeon, and you're offered two routes to go down. one of them would take you further into the dungeon. the other would remove you completely from its confines. hypothetically, let's assume there're three depths to such a setup; the player needs to make three choices about the route they're taking, before they reach victory at the end. now, how do you think the systems that run this setup would decide which rooms to pick successful?"

she let raidou contemplate on the issue before stating her truth.

"what happens sometimes is that the game decides at the beginning of the dungeon's creation where its successful routes would be. had you been able to gather the information necessary in determining which route would take you further into the dungeon, you could do so with a 100% accuracy each time you went into a dungeon." she closed her eyes. "that was the scenario for some games once upon a time. variables that shouldn't be observed that were left in the open. all it took were malicious individuals with a gumption of being right all the time. so designers had to obfuscate the information necessary to make the player believe that their environment was random. that nothing in the game was as deterministic as it had been."

night returned to reality then, decidedly leaning back in her chair.

"so. let's contrast that to sword art online."

"you and i both know that the game runs on several systems that appear consistent. enemy spawning, material node generations, crafting systems, combat; some may have a degree of randomness to how they operate, and yet we've come to understand and work with them intuitively enough that they become a foundation of how we live our lives in this world, despite their potential fallbacks."

"we live in this world, completely deciding to trust whoever put us here that they would do right by our existence." a hand gesture thrown in once in a while. "that the promise of adventure and exploration is true. that once we reach the 100th floor, assuming there is one, we'll be able to take out whatever threat lives there and take freedom once again into our own hands. likewise, we know the game has been set up to place obstacles in our path. to challenge our every inch of progress."

the player shrugged, unnerved by even her own ramblings. "by that measure, the creator could've already ended our lives within the snap of their fingertips, and we wouldn't be able to fight back in the slightest."

she considered the conversation even further, before continuing.

"here's another tip, then. usually, in games like these, every interaction, every outcome between choices has to be coded in." her head tilted in accordance to her example. "the dungeon generation i'd mentioned before. there was a result that the player had no option of objecting had they discovered they'd gone down a route they didn't like. the same could be said for cardinal and how it operates the lives of this world, and yet we know the world is ever changing, always evolving."

it was only here that she started to smile, partially huffing. "now why do you think that is?"

[Raidou 1]

Quietly, Raidou weighs the girl's analysis, his right hand pressed to his chin throughout the account. "You've given this quite a lot of thought. I won't pretend to understand how a game functions, this was my first." Slowly slinking the thermos above the table, keeping eyes on the few that would catch him red-handed. Pouring in a bit more, capping it and setting the thing in his lap. "From what I could glean during my travels, however, everything seems to follow a set pattern, a consistency that at first can appear random." A slight clink of the platter the cup rested upon as the guy picks it up, breathing against the head and making the rising steam bend. "But isn't, at the end of it all, there seems to be some facet of a plugged in variable. It's no different from a single atom with an additional or lacking one particle. In your hypothetical dungeon, these rooms reflect this concept. A predefined set of possibility that change on a whim to a specific set of rules or table."

Taking a sip of his green tea before returning it to the platform, nursing the exchange with an inquisitive mind attempting to palette what it was NIGHT was trying to convey. "Truth is, I don't believe that the 'creator' has good faith. I believe that this game is a program, but there has been hints of his control waning. I wonder if he is aware what is happening, if he designed parts of this with artificial intelligence, and they are becoming aware of their own lack of free will. The Cardinal system accidentally giving them life, in attempts to make them more lifelike. It is as if, the original intention has been left to its own design, and it is mutating off in a tangent, he'd never foreseen."

The very thought milled about as he slid his hand to remove this single speck of something that had fallen to the table. "To answer your question, I believe the cardinal system and its inhabits. In comparison to what Akihiko envisioned and hoped for them to be, are entirely different. Which means, that perhaps the reason this game is 'fair' isn't because the man wishes it to be. But instead, has lost the ability to 'cheat' it. That what was only once allowed to be our enemies, our common foe or obstacle, has grown the ability to think and feel. True General Intelligence."

[NIGHT 0]

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 the issue. "if this was nature, a force that has long swayed the earth in times long before humans' arrival, then perhaps it would make sense to distrust what we see with our own two eyes. it's one thing to not believe in the makings of the jailor that put us here, but it's another to think that cardinal works off of its own individualistic affects to begin with." technology wouldn't work without efforts from its creators, after all. "like a tool, cardinal should only be able to operate from what it's provided. input and output -- i/o."

night paused to gather her thoughts.

"before we came into the game, the technology of neural networks had been a burgeoning topic." she tilted her head. "i'm assuming you've heard of it? it's likely that cardinal uses a similar design. this means that the pool of information it draws from could stem from two origins."

the player lifted a finger as part of her demonstration. "one is that it must've had a database of information fed to it before it could be run. networks take long hours to train; it's likely that sword art online's development had been fueled by various other mediums just like it that had been sourced openly to the public. which explains any similarly copy-righted material we see show up once in a while--" night winced at the admission of a flaw in cardinal's design. "--though not that it would ever be seen by prying eyes beyond those trapped inside the game. lucky developers."

"the second," her middle finger was raised in tandem, "stems from the players trapped in its world. the best sort of information to go off on is live data, and though a sample size of 10,000 that's going down as each day passes doesn't seem like a lot, it's probably the most that their servers can handle at the moment while training the system." she retracted her hand, placing it back on the porcelain of her drink. "it's likely that what cardinal is doing is learning from us, rather than being nurtured in a vacuum. all that to say, we could get what we put into it."

and here night had thought she'd be the one remaining quiet most of the time in lieu of discussion. though this was work she'd have to settle with, given the lack of knowledge from players who'd barely interacted with games before, let alone technology. likewise, it was strangely refreshing to know she'd recalled technologies of old even as a significant amount of time had passed between their entrance and now. a sip of coffee came as nothing more than brief respite before she began to speak again.

"all that to say, despite its growth, there are still some parameters in place that keeps the experience on some 'straight and narrow'. the line between deterministic and randomness is undoubtedly foggy without being able to study the code behind how all of this works. we could sit here and talk all day about it and it'd only be nothing more than speculation. so what matters more is how you perceive it."

she withdrew her hands from her cup.

"so? what do you think about it?"

night had wanted to query 'what does the leader of firm anima think about it?' instead, but held her tongue. and wondered desperately if his perspective had any effect on the ones he lead to their assumed destination.

[Raidou 1]

Moving slightly to adjust in his chair, leaning forward and resting his head on a pair of folded hands. "Perhaps you are right, I've weighed the possibility that Akihiko had mistakenly made an AI that had slipped its own bounds. Silently hoped that perhaps we'd found unintended allies in that were meant to be the prison guards. Gabrandr was the most recent for consideration, a hostile made ally through a prompt. As if the system itself was asking us if we were willing. But it could have well been a single instance, and simply coded into this one moment intentionally. Conjecture, with little room to prove. Intelligence, which the cardinal system seems to convey as though it is one." Leaning in and staring with the fragments of possibility keeping him wondering. Listening intently to NIGHT, weighing the problem with an open mind. "What exactly did the creator make? A limited, general, or super class AI? What are its limitations? What parameters are in place to maintain control over it? How much of our reality is as intended, and how much is an accident through the system learning from us?"

His head pivots and starts to scan the space outside the window. "I believe there is little proof one way or another, but wouldn't it be nice. Our numbers are limited, and see a reduction regularly. Cardinal manifestations are not restricted in such a way. It may only be a wish from a man who wishes to preserve our lives, and the lives of what is 'human' which is such a gray undesirable area. I would argue that some players fail to have a soul, likewise some NPC's are so damn close to 'real' that we cannot tell the difference. 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?" Taking a look back to his tea cup and gesturing to her own.

"Need a refill?" This was a rather unexpected delving of minds, and was welcomed. The sheer amount of forethought that NIGHT had put into her surroundings was honestly refreshing.

[NIGHT 0]

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, arms folded. "it's likely that our definitions can't match. we're human, after all. so inherently, that question seems to be flawed. a system can only do what it's instructed to do, given our current technologies."

the thought of rebellion seemed extreme, at best. conspiratory, even. night wondered if the players were going just as loony with how their jailor had left them to confinement. "if the best of us have what you define as 'free will', just as well that the worst aggressors remain sedentary. something cardinal can't do, even by choice." she shook her head. "so no. i don't believe otherwise. anything akin to that only seems like a fantasy or wish fulfillment."

night narrowed her eyes.

"perhaps the better question now is why you perceive the world to be this way."

she held the man's offer on a refill. wasn't sure if it was going to be from his own thermos as opposed to the establishment's servings, and she wasn't in a mood to experience either.

[Raidou 1]

"That is true, isn't it." lifting a hand to gain the attention of the waitress, who began to pour some more slightly terrible drip coffee into the girl's cup. Reaching into his pocket, he'd place down the coin to front the bill. After all, he was the one to invite her here. She was already offering her time, at least he could pay for her stay. "Free as in freedom, to choose, to exist. Hope and fact are two entirely separate things, I can hope for something and know it to be false. Proof on either front would be nearly impossible to find, given we cannot glean what happens in the background. Only, guess or assume." Spoken as he places a hand over the top of his tea cup, hiding the contents from the server as to not get caught.

He'd wait until the woman left, undoubtably, to begin baking more sludge in that pot. Raidou looked down at the girl's cup, rubbing his eyes for a moment. "That doesn't quite look palatable, I took the location from a guild member's account. I hope that isn't too terrible. I can slip you some tea if you'd like, but it isn't sweet." Having little to glean based on NIGHT's expression, the most he could do was guess at how it tasted. But if it was anything like what he ordered, then it was equally bad. Somewhere deep down, Raidou was trying to act the part of people, but was about as versed in it as an infant playing a violin. "My perceptions are simply speculation, given it would be beneficial to the player base as a whole if they could. Soldiers that cannot die, do not need to sleep, can be virtually unharmed given they can respawn. It would be nice, but is hardly founded in fact." Lifting his glass again, he'd raise it to his lips, finishing off the last inside. "I was curious how you viewed Aincrad, truth is I relish perspectives, experience. There is value in understanding one's peers, I've enjoyed this conversation, even if it seems I asked you here under some pretense. I believe that players come in two flavors. Those that are willing to kill each other, and those that are not. I find that the scales are in desperate balance at times, eagerly waiting to sway to one side or the other. Reality and fiction. I can wish, hope and dream that we can leave this place without bloodshed. But reality disagrees, every day players are dying. For col, for gear. If not from mobs, then each other. I want it to end."

[NIGHT 0]

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 seem in line with the aspect of the survival of players. she waded past a feeling of disturbance from the thought of having to see her duplicate as nothing more than a tool, despite having readily organized her kin into that box. "do they not already do so where cardinal thinks we may benefit from them? orgoth from the twenty-fifth, as an example. or the allies you see in quests mentioned. little help as they may be, to control them completely would be nothing different than choosing to place yourself at the controls of what handles this game."

night soured at the thought.

"--creation placed the developers at the helm of this project. by that right, they do have power over us, even though we prefer them not to. but to want to shape their affects into something you could call on your own --" they were tools, sure, but they took what the players gave them, were molded and shaped by the world they surrounded themselves in. "-- what makes you believe you have the right to control that which affects the many?"

intent that was capable of snowballing into greater effects. to escape the realm was one thing. to go mad with power was another. there was a reason cardinal shaped itself off the wills of the many rather than a few -- it was once that way with the developers' data alone. now they had a hand in its participation. night shook her head, out of concern. "that's a lot of responsibility to hold, and perhaps i am making an assumption in this moment. no, i mean you no disrespect; the way you run your guild is already an example of your capabilities in itself. but you must realize the folly of being in charge of the sole influencers, single or plural, for these creations."

and though she tried to hold her nerves in, night shivered at the thought.

[Raidou 1]

"Alright." weighing what she held, he wasn't one to drink coffee, so he was honestly not a fair judge. "Take advantage, hardly." Leaning back and removing a slip of paper and sketching something down, a single line to a basic chores list. As to check on it later. He'd place his hand on the table, and slowly a black sludge begins to take shape like a sphere. "NIGHT, I believe you've met him before. This is Juiblex." Waiting for him to take some semblance of solidarity. "He isn't a tool, he isn't something that I command or dominate. He is my partner." About the size of a soft ball, but a fraction of its actual mass. It was an entire contrast to how she would have pictured the thing last, a horror story before now was basically a soppy and squishy bubble.

"It is my belief that no one person should hold power over another, likewise there is no status or hierarchy. He is my equal, I am not sure what you've heard. But Firm Anima is no different, I am only a founder. My word isn't law, and it does not overwrite even the lowest member of the guild. We are nothing more than a collection of individuals with like goals. It may be unorthodox, but it seems to work well." Leaning back and giving the familiar space, taking a drink of his tea, having put most of his cards on the table. After all, she'd met his questions with presumably honest responses. "I only control what needs to be controlled, and not out of a desire to control. I lead only because it is needed, not because I wish to wear some crown or feel superior." A simple and stoic stare, allowing her to have her fill of what he'd 'laid' on the table.

[NIGHT 0]

a change in topic. and night saw something she hadn't wanted to see in ages.

because what in the world was that thing?!

"NIGHT, I believe you've met him before. This is Juiblex."

she spotted the teeth and bone in the black goop, and she knew from the wrenching feeling in her gut that her guess of the thing was accurate. the player felt herself withdraw into her seat, skin tingling with fear. teeth set together. she swallowed down the stone in her throat, eyes widened.

"He isn't a tool, he isn't something that I command or dominate. He is my partner."

it didn't matter how soft black ichor looked like. had night been on the other side of her blade, she knew her executioner wouldn't have an inkling of who its past owner once was.

whilst raidou was speaking about how his guild was run (what was this, a recruitment pitch? and to think she'd done it on his behalf once.) night was busy placing the pieces together. emotion would only agitate her responses, and she'd been so successful in keeping them in check before.

now it wasn't so simple.

"then perhaps 'works well'' must be a subjective statement from the one who sits at the top of an unspoken hierarchy. like the oligarchy thinking the world is fair when the people they lord over are starving." a breathy tone. her eyes shifted from the goop to his face. "you can speak what you want about the desire to control and lack thereof, isolating only the necessities for such purpose. but it's like the question before. what 'needs' to be controlled is an idea inherently flawed. who defines that without leadership? and what of the consensus if it is splintered?"

she seethed, as though speaking for an injustice gone unnoted, undefined. "'no one person should hold power over another', you'd said -- but that's not how the world works. if you believe the creations of cardinal hold just as equal right to us players, that they wish to be free as much as we do, then control is already the incorrect course of action to take. and -- if you don't -- then you can hardly call that thing in your hands an equal. a partner."

[Raidou 1]

A hand entering his pocket, he'd pull at some vial filled with thick black liquid that mirrored the creature. Is she afraid? The thought skimmed past, taking acknowledgement of the girl's demeanor shift. Uncorking the vial and showing it to the slime before tossing the bottle onto the floor, "A trade." he comments. Consuming it and the glass together, it seemed content. "I wish that wasn't true. The fact is, that players choose to starve." A gentle sigh, only the slight sound of almost boiling beside the table as the familiar thickened. "Leading and controlling only what would make others sick to their stomach. Necessity through omission. Do you know how often I offer a hand, and see a decline? How often that choice to starve leads to an unneeded death?"

Raising his hand to fiddle with a single strand that was assailing his eye, glasses gone, he wasn't used to his bangs bothering him. "I have never pushed my will on another, and never will. Believe what you want, I am used to it. Perceptions, and truth. So easy to misconstrue. Perspective offers a greater insight. I wouldn't treat these NPC's any different from I would another player, I wouldn't choose for them. Just as you and those like you have guided me in the past, all I am is a guide." The thick stink of intensity, almost so pungent that was almost visible and yet it was so one-sided.

Almost as if there was a reason

"Juiblex has his desires, I give them to him. In exchange, he finds it relevant to protect his source of food. An equal partnership. He does what I ask simply because I have earned his trust." To Raidou, that was as true as it got. "That is how my world works, exploiting our fellow man which may one day include digital men has never been on the agenda." His cup starts to slide, and the waitress glares. Raidou removes a handful of coin, and pays for another drink he would never actually consume. "When it comes to consensus, however, if splintered then nothing happens. There is no place for a 'decree' in Firm Anima, no overbearing, undeniable order. It is the whole that makes the decision, no single person but an audience of voices."

Taking a single sip of that sweetened tea makes him want to gag, but he could hardly swap, given he was caught. Now he just had to endure with a grimace like someone who'd taken a spoonful of lemon juice. "I don't understand why you are frightened, or angry. Honestly, it's almost a mix between the two. That's fine, however, I am used to being hated. Being labeled the outcast or the villain, for years now. The reason why I chose to kill Gabrandr, was because I didn't want him to kill one of the others. Because their lives are important to me, your life is important to me. It would be a mistake to think that I hold mine above yours in worth. On the contrary."

[NIGHT 0]

"I wouldn't treat these NPC's any different from I would another player, I wouldn't choose for them."

a farce of an answer. night brewed rekindled anger. "you made your objective clear, i think, when you decided to object against gabrandr. that the life of another player, risked in his hands, was more valuable than his own." how the man couldn't have seen it while making the contradiction, the player wasn't sure. "you realize the irony of your statement, right?"

she didn't budge from it given raidou's rationale later. in fact, it only emphasized her point. and she knew not the intricacies of the man's interactions with other players, but it certainly didn't match what she'd gone through, however irrelevant it may have been in the moment. her gaze only fell to the thing called 'jubilex', and understood that had been reason enough. she couldn't get behind the thinking of a man who'd swore to design a base of operations for the players at large, but had lost sight on how he was perceived by the players he came across. if a product didn't meet the expectations of others, then how would it garner an audience?

oy vey. raidou must've been the greatest fool of them all -- to be a maker out of touch with the society he swore to tend to. night shook her head, finding the courage to look at the matter in earnest.

"for one, i'm assuming that's what you designate as your familiar," night concluded, nodding towards the pool of goop in her companion's hands. "and it's different from the norm -- so too is it visible in the way you manage it."

"it's off-putting. and gross."

"people don't like looking at zombies for the same reason." she pushed her chair backwards, before finally appearing just the slightest bit more comfortable. a leg was shifted atop another. "the uncanny valley. if a cardinal construct was trying to be human, but was so obviously not, any player would be able to notice the difference, besides the cursor that sells it out. have you ever wondered why some robots in reality were made cartoonish more than life-like? that's the reason behind it."

so she glowered at the goop, before looking towards raidou once more. "you look the part of being barely human when you pair yourself with this thing. that's the reason it's strange. that's also the reason why it's unusual, because every other player has gotten by, achieving almost like you, without this."