[PP-PT-F10] Nine Lives on the Tenth Floor | <<Feeding Your Enemy>>

[Morningstar 0]

A man told him not to trust the traveling gypsy. "She'll steal your soul," he said, before guzzling down whatever vile poison the bartender had on tap. Morningstar didn't believe in souls, and he didn't listen to drunkards. But Warden told him something similar, and he trusted Warden. 

"She'll hold you to your debts. Don't deal with her and expect to leave scot-free."

Morningstar never asked what sort of favor she had called in, but only because Warden never offered to tell. He was the quiet type; it was difficult to get anything out of him. He wasn't one for small talk and he didn't overshare. He was mysterious, and Morningstar found that exciting.

Enough about Warden.

The gypsy leaned over the cloth-draped table and placed a small sack in Morningstar's palm. She folded his hands over it with cold fingers. It was heavier than it looked, and filled with seeds he did not recognize. He pulled one from the sack and brough it close to his eyes. "What are these?"

"Familiar food," she said vaguely. Morningstar didn't pry.

"How much col for the bag?"

She snickered. "Col? No, no. Bring back whatever food is left over. No cost for you--not today."

Star tightened the ropes on the sack and pocketed it. He squinted at her, observing her expression. Her lips curled into a sly smirk. Her eyebrows were raised just a little. Her cat-like eyes watched him with amusement.

He left the tent unnerved and peered out into Yomi. The change in setting didn't exactly comfort him. From where he was, he could see the twin dragons looming over the city's gates. One spewed scalding acid from its throat. Something was trying to get in. Something was always trying to get in.

The cherry blossoms were the prettiest part of Yomi. They bloomed year round, unlike their real life counterparts. Aside from them, it was a dead town. There were players and NPCS around--there must have been. But silent streets made him wonder if maybe they had all gone someplace else. Someplace warmer.

He passed quiet shops and quiet inns as he made his way through Yomi, glancing around suspiciously.

---

Hide contents Morningstar | Lv. 92 | P. 58 | True Tier: 10 HP: 920/920 | EN: 128/128 | DMG: 22 | EVA: 4 | ACC: 5 | LD: 14 | REC: 8 | FLN: 16 | AA | PARA-V notes: // equipped Dying Sun FLN 2, AA, PARA-V Inner Focus EVA 2, REC 2 Sapphire ACC 3, EVA battle-ready inventory Magdalyn's Cuckoo Teleport Crystal Yellow Dragon, Red Tiger HLY 2, AA, FRZ Bear Trap x2 skills   Hide contents STRAIGHT SWORD | RANK 5/5 precision, stamina, ferocity shift: tech MARTIAL ARTS | RANK 5/5 precision, stamina, ferocity shift: aoe COMBAT MASTERY: DMG | RANK 3/3 SEARCHING | RANK 4/5 (5) night vision, detect, tracking, reveal UNHINDERED ENERGIST extra (active) SURVIVAL FORGOTTEN KING'S AUTHORITY LADY LUCK DISGUISE specializations KEEN SIGHT | RANK 4 data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== buffs data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==   Hide contents consumables lavender cream tea | pheromones # paragon Lv. 5 | Gain additional col equivalent to 15% of EXP earned in that thread. Lv. 10 | +1 LD to looting. data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==   data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw== data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==

♦ms.

[Arabelle 0]

happy young men have perished at her shores.

(not her fault! she swears, her pets are normally friendly!)

and too many deaths draws unwanted eyes, see. foolhardy adventurers eager to triumph over disaster or evil.

(and on the days where the guilt doesn’t eat her back, she doesn’t really see herself as a disaster or an evil. believe her, she’s trying to save everyone the effort.)

so when trouble comes stumbling into town the play is peaceful misdirection. morningstar, as nostalgic as his face is, is capital ‘s’ on the trouble scale all by himself and capital ‘s++’ accounting for the attention he can draw unto himself. she spots him emerge from some other part of town as she has just taken a seat, invisible, at a broken picnic table with a half-braided rope of straw on her lap. she puts it away and she thinks of how perverse it feels to watch him where he cannot look back at her when she has done the same for years since she saw her first stephen star movie at the theaters.

she’s never seen any of his horror films though. preachers say those were gateways to possession. 

how would he look scared? 

she kind of wants to know.

she makes no sound as she follows. she keeps herself seven steps away from him, cautious unnecessary distance, where something feels wrong, eyes are at your back and you are being followed, but with every point of her build reinvested into stealth, cardinal would pull out all the stops to keep her concealed even if he looks directly back at her. she circles him, kicks up the dust at her foot as an open taunt, and moves in as close as she dares.

up on her tiptoes, her lips beside his ear.

“boo.”

---

-> ENTERING STEALTH: 245615: LD 7 + 74 = 81.

it's your favorite magical girl! ♡

Spoiler LEVEL 51 (BASE 34; PARAGON 17): HP: 740/740 | EN: 92/92 | DMG: 1 | STEALTH: 74 Investing a total of 185 SP into 37 slots of Shadow-Walking.

Edited June 26 by Arabelle

[Morningstar 0]

Every so often, something shimmered in the corners of his eyes. When he tried to catch it, he found nothing. Each and every time, the 'nothing' would vanish, leaving him equally perplexed and nervous. Ghosts had never seemed so real to him.

He passed beneath pink trees, past empty houses, and found himself near the edge of town. He stopped, cranking his neck to look behind. He thought there had been a second set of footsteps alongside his own. But no one was there. Slowly, air dragged into his lungs.

“boo.”

"FUCK."

He twirled quite magnificently, his eyes and mouth comically wide. Instinctively, he reached for his sword, which left its sheath no more than an inch before he processed what--or rather who--he was looking at.

"Oh. Hi."

He fixed on her eyes, red like rubies (or maybe like blood). They stood out against her pale skin. Unnatural, he thought, but striking all the same; a statement piece.

His gaze dotted up to the cursor floating above her head. As he focused, a name appeared. Arabelle. He hadn't forgotten. He merely needed a reminder. Mixing up her identity would hardly be polite (not that she deserved politeness after scaring him half to death). How had he not seen her, anyhow?

He squinted. "Are you following me, Arabelle?"

[Arabelle 0]

like an abyss, morningstar. like you’re staring down a 14.4 kilometre hole and the bottom is made out of human viscera.

but with her eyes closed, arms crossed over her middle, almost bent over herself in laughter, she looks just the part of an ordinary girl. "sorry…! so sorry, oh my gosh, i’m so sor--" arabelle presses the back of her hand against her lips, shoulders shaking, trying to dampen the rest of it as morningstar catches his breath. his scream might have scared the actual ghosts off. in that moment, he was perfect.

"i was about to greet you normally, but you looked so nervous, i couldn’t resist. do you consider yourself a scout, morningstar? have a fully leveled [searching] skill?"

morningstar’s back is to the edge of the safezone. she reclaims one step of the distance he had placed, her left hand at eye level, stripped of its glove, index pressed to the thumb. "no surprises this time. look at my hand and don’t blink. one. two. three--"

snap. she’s gone.

morningstar has a half a minute to himself.

as promised, arabelle's reappearance is gentler than the last. reality distorts and the rest of her follows. she's standing at her original spot, fingers laced behind her, and she had been talking the entire time. "--to its limits, but really, half of this is more than enough to bypass the standard. it's not like there's anything else to spend on around our level. did you hear what i said?" the upward curve of her lips implies she already knows the answer. "i was asking what you were doing here. very few players visit this floor without purpose."

---

-> ENTERING STEALTH: 247499: LD 5 + 74 = 79.

Edited 22 hours ago by Arabelle

[Morningstar 0]

"do you consider yourself a scout, morningstar?"

"Er--yes."

"have a fully leveled [searching] skill?"

"I do."

He was locked onto her hand, not quite sure what to expect (although it should have been obvious). She snapped her fingers and it was like she was never there at all.

Either Arabelle's stealth rating was incredibly high or Morningstar was losing his mind. She reappeared a moment later, but that didn't tell Star anything more.

He eyed her, properly perplexed, but she had already moved on to the next topic of conversation.

"I'd ask you the same thing," he held up the bag of familiar food. "But you asked first, so I'll play nice. I'm looking for a cat. Not a specific cat. I want a familiar. I wonder if you know where I might find one?"

"If you're not busy, and you promise not to tell anyone that you scared me, you could come along. Might be fun?"