"weird is good. Who wants to be normal? It seems so boring" Cassie said with a smile. Cassie was sure that Eris wouldn't be so...relaxed if anyone else had been there, and she enjoyed seeing Eris like that as she laughed.

She looked to Eris mother, and said "it's a pleasure to meet
You, truly. I apologize for intruding" she watched Eris as she went to the door, intending to follow whether she was invited or not, but soon catching up to Eris, forgetting all about the soup she had brought.

She didn't know what plans Eris had, but that didn't really matter. It didn't look like who she was meeting was there yet, so Cassie joined Eris, "who are you meeting?" she asked after a moment, settling herself in the seat, she looked to Eris.

There were times where Cassandra was never too sure of the flow of things and that was when she felt like she was being carried along with the current. Right now, she didn't know what was going to happen, but she would sure be there. She'd find her feet, and figure it out. Right now, it just seemed important to be there with Eris.

"I'm finished up over here~!" Lina called out cheerfully to her boss, as she transfered the empty glasses and dishes from the platter to the sink, before running towards the backroom. Changing out from her waitress outfit to her more casual dress like outfit, dark blue in color, she left the cafe. Although, not before she swiped a strawberry-banana smoothie from the counter.

Between being busy with sudden workloads, and catching up with missed homework, she hadn't had as much free time as she would like to go about as she pleased. However, all that changed now, as she had finally finished up everything. "Ehehe~ it's about time I played around~!" Laughing, she wandered around the hallways of the school, smiling as she past by people, who looked at her in curiosity. After all, it's not often you see a foreign girl walking around with a smoothie on hand. However, her musings were distracted by the sound of something impacting a hard object, most likely a door being slammed. Turnng her head this way and that, she started moving towards the source of the noise.

Turning the corner, she beheld an unusual sight, of a person curled up in a ball, with the bystanders passing by glancing at that ball of despair with an odd look. Shifting closer, she blinked in surprise, recognizing the form of Shiro. "Ara?". Voicing out her awe, she moved over, and only stopped when she was standing beside Shiro. "It's unusual to see you like this."

Wow, the student was in such denial that he started hearing the distant voice of his boss, friend, and partner in crime. Except... it didn't sound that distant. "Oh no, don't tell me I'm so down in the dumps that I'm actually imagining her voice now." But then the voice that carried the familiar tone spoke again, this time even closer, as if the owner was right by his side. With his mind still atoning for his errors, Shiro lethargically peaked out from the haven made out of his crossed arms.

A lone eye of empty slate suddenly regained its luster and widened as the girl next to him came into focus. "Lina...?" He questioned in a detached bearing, staring at the girl in disbelief. By subconsciously scrutinizing her, he noted the fact that she wasn't in her school uniform. "Well... Things have kinda gone down hill. I'm kinda in a headlock right now. Definitely not firing at full cylinders right now." His words trailed off as he rested his chin on his arms, still disheartened. "I'm trying to figure out who's right and who's wrong, but more so, I don't know which category I fall into." Obviously the boy was conflicted, unsure if even his own morals could be deemed valid.

Lina's expression became one of concern, as she heard her friends words. What sounded like a simple problem, became one of almost pilosophical in nature. There weren't alot of ways a person could cheer them up, as solving these kidns of problems almost always entirely relied on the depressed person in question. "Reality is horrible game..." Muttering softly to herself, Lina sat down beside Shiro, her legs straight.
A faint wry grin took form on Shiro's complexion, "Eh? Never expected those words to come out of your mouth." He commented as he laid his head back against the wall, then continued as he glanced over to his friend, "Though I never expected these to come out of mine either. Yeesh, today's been worse than walking on glass." Although, Eris probably wasn't feeling too hot either right now as well. Hell, Aaron didn't even shoot him a passing gaze before he ran off. At least he had the strength to walk on his own two feet, unlike somebody.

"..." For once, even Lina didn't have something witty to retort back. She couldn't find the right words to voice, to help the situation. Or actually, rather, she didn't have to. Struck with a sudden thought, she smiled, before sighing. "Just this once, you get a reward without needing to work." Without even waiting for a response, she set down the smoothie beside her, before grabbing Shiro by the shoulders, and pulled him down towards her, setting his head gently on her lap.

What was this feeling of pacification? There's no way a deity could be responsible for devising the building blocks for this sensation. Shiro blankly blinked, registering how quickly his perspective had changed. At times like these, the boy would break his easygoing character and act all flustered, and every time Lina would make the same exact playful giggle that would only add insult to injury. But instead of flying out of her lap and sticking to the ceiling, he quietly laid there. "I've missed you." He briefly murmured before a sigh escaped his lips.

This time choosing to refrain from teasing the boy to much, Lina only silently stroked her hand through his hair, whispering "Good work, you deserved a break." before holding the smoothie in front of Shiro's eye.

Lina was right. He deserved a break. As his eye followed the motion of the fluid supported by her hand, Shiro wanted nothing more than to lie there and just have a soothing conversation with the girl. But in spite of this, no matter how much a break was warranted, he couldn't have one. Not yet at least. He didn't deserve to bury all of the faults he had committed while enjoying the luxury of a delightful smoothie and a loyal friend. It was time to make amends.

And that time would come in five minutes. C'mon. Don't judge.

Setting aside a half-empty smoothie, Shiro sprung up onto his feet, invigorated by his friend's efforts. Having completely shifted gears, his expression shined with an almost blinding radiance "Thanks, I really needed that, boss!" He kindly smiled as he held an outstretched hand to Lina. "C'mon, we've got a friend to make!"

Lina tilted her head in confusion. "A friend to make?" Surprised by the unusual plans, rather than the sudden invigoration. Was this perhaps what was causing her friend such depression? "While I enjoy such enthusiasm, can I get a bit more context, by chance?"

Shiro nodded, taking in the query. Of course she'd have a few questions, any normal human being would. Taking the girl's hand, he helped her off the floor and began to turn towards the clubroom door, "I'll explain on the way. Too many ears around here." He was referring to the students, specifically the uninvolved passerbys. The door energetically flew open, Ken and Akane's heads instantly swiveled in the direction of the noise. Before either of them could speak, Shiro delved into speech while pointing at Ken, "Ken, I need you to log into DGO and organize a few teams to help other Strykers out with missions." He then fixated the finger on Akane, "Moody tsundere- "I will fucking end you" can you check our stockpile and compile a list of armaments, ammunition, and resources we will need in the near future?" Of couse the latter was the one to pipe up in skepticism, "And what will you be doing while we're slaving away? By the way, who's that girl behind you?"

Shiro grinned at the question, "We're playing diplomat! Oh, she's somebody very trustworthy. I'll introduce the two of you later. We gotta bounce." His two comrades looked at each other then back at him, extremely confused. "She's a Sweeper too, isn't she?" The boy quickly glanced back out the hallway, confirming there was no traffic at that certain moment and replied with a quick nod. Akane sighed and soon found her face in her palm, then waved them off with her other. "Jeez, alright! Just go. Leave it to us, we'll touch base with the other squad leaders."

With Akane's blessing, the two were off. Shiro had unconsciously taken Lina by one hand and the smoothie by the other, then proceeded out of the school.

---

Shiro took as many shortcuts as reality allowed to reach the Shopping Arcade, not even allowing Lina nor himself a moment of respite, all the while filling her in on the past few days of mayhem, especially dwelling on their reason for venturing to the mall today. Time was of the essence, but in their hurried escapade, they soon arrived at their destination. Although they were not completely there mentally, almost completely out of breath. "Alright... Where is it..." He asked aloud in between gasps. The boy's gaze began to meticulously scan the various shops of the locus. Finally his vision honed in on the object of his search, a certain book with a blank white cover. And sitting next to it were two girls. One with platinum blonde locks, and the other with those of velvet.

Shiro silently motioned for his friend to follow, and after pacing his way over to the cafe and opened up, "You know, I don't think Nietzche ever imagined that his works would still have devoted friends all of these years later. I was thinking of picking up a few of his books for myself. "Human, All Too Human" definitely piqued my interest." He gave the two an affable smile, and deduced that the one closer to the book was Eris. He pulled out a chair for Lina then introduced himself, "I'm Shiro Kawabata. I'm Paper Moon, minus an eye..." He began carefully, speaking as politely as possible.

His identity was something that was rarely disclosed, and even more in an open manner. But given enough time, most people could make the connection after seeing the two counterparts in short succession. Shiro knew either of them would realize it at some point, so he saved them some time. In an adroit motion the boy bowed before the two, "...and I humbly ask for your forgiveness!" He would have followed etiquette and introduced Lina to the two, but right now, he wanted to make it clear that derision was out of the question.

Introducing oneself right after an apology might be a little odd, but now was a better time then never. "I'm Lina~ the current escortee of Shiro here~" tightly holding onto Shiro with one hand, her other hand waved daintily alongside a wink.

@KoL@Mega Birb@Caits@Jedly

Thomas Green

The automatic doors opened to reveal the busy mall. Sights and sounds fought for his attention but his eyes caught an unexpected sight.
That's him. Thomas thought.
Aaron Fletcher. Carefully, Thomas took his phone out tucking his book under his arm. He brought up the picture and discreetly peeked at the target.
"Definitely."

Thomas shrugged and put his phone away before following the seemingly distressed Aaron at a distance. He must have dropped everything and went straight here. Thomas walked along at a nonchalant but quick pace, shadowing the idol. He knew where he would be going so he didn't rush.

As he walked to the food court, he browsed the forums on his phone for any mention of the Eclipse Princess. He was quite sure he'd seen what he was looking before so all he had to do was find it again. Before long he found the princess's email to all of the sweepers. It didn't look like a hoax and the personality matched what he'd observed. It was signed by Eris Reinhardt, and that was a name that he hadn't heard of. One quick google search later, however, and he found everything he needed to know.

Thomas looked up to see that they were pretty much at the food court. Relaxing on a nearby pillar he briefly scanned the area. Aaron arrived ahead of him but he didn't see Eris. He didn't know what the other sweeper looked like so he waited. Leaning back against the pillar he browsed the forums on his phone, pretending to wait for a friend. He'd received a message from Alicia and quickly tapped out a response.

To: Thomas Green
From Alicia Lyra
Subject: Espionage
Watched the sweepers for a little while, nothing really significant. Picked up your weapons. They went further in the black city. Should I follow?

To: Alicia Lyra
From: Thomas Green
Subject: Espionage
If you want to. I have enough on the black city to right about. Use your discretion. Don't get caught.

Once again Thomas scanned his surroundings before suddenly spotting Eris Reinhardt herself, accompanied by a red haired girl, entering a relatively well known cafe.
"Cassandra then." Thomas mused.
Eris clearly trusted the girl by her side and Thomas couldn't imagine it would be anyone else, judging by the email he'd found on the forums.

Thomas sighed softly before putting his phone away and walking into the cafe Eris had entered.
"One ice tea and a danish, please." He told the cashier.
His order was soon finished and he handed over the cash. Grasping the tea bottle with his book hand he balanced the danish plate on the other. Walking back towards the tables, he swept his eyes around for a vacant table somewhere close to Eris. He found a table roughly to the left of Eris's table with its back to the wall. Setting down his goods he pulled out the chair facing away from the wall and sat down. He took a bite of his danish and opened his book to a random position and began pretending to read.

He could still see Eris and Cassandra out of the corner of his eye, and on the other side he could see the entrance. A perfect position for espionage. Soon a suspect boy with an eye patch accompanied by another girl.
"Shiro Kawabata..." Thomas thought to himself as the boy introduced himself. "The other sweeper then?"
He wasn't entirely sure. He didn't really know what the other girl was doing here though. Perhaps she was a sweeper.

Nevertheless, all of his quarries were here. He wasn't entirely sure what he would gain and he was also not entirely sure that he should be there. But he was there, and he wanted to know. That was all he needed.

Thomas turned to the next page.

---

Because it seems I must,
@KoL@Mega Birb@Kimiyosis@Caits@Jedly. Is that everyone?

---

"Hmm? As far as I know, Nietzsche didn't even expected people to read his works while he was alive. Nevertheless, the truth which he speaks off is as undeniable as saying that we must breath air in order to live." Eris said, closing her book and turning to face Shiro and Lina, after gesturing for them to sit. "I'm Eris and this is Cassandra O'Shera, my friend. Before we press on our discussion, Shiro Kawabata and Lina, let me say that I'm the one who owes apologies. A series of unfortunate happenstances lead to the events of the previous week, culminating with you know what. What is done cannot be undone, thereby let's not seek explanations for events that are better left in the realm of memory. The future is more important, after all."

As Eris waited for the others' reply, she noticed a certain unusual movement near her table. She didn't alerted anyone else though, given that they would only cause the eavesdropper to runaway, or ot notice anything out of the ordinary at all, since Eris was the only one really acquainted with how things happen on this establishment. Taking a sip of her own tea, Eris added, "However, it seems that Aaron Fletcher hasn't arrived yet. While we wait for him, feel free to order whatever you may wish. It's an apology treat from myself."



"Hehehe~" Absinthe gave off a chuckle, before rest a hand over her puffed chest, pridefully, "I don't like to brag about it, but I'm Titania-sama's right hand, here on the Bruisers. I'm the one who keeps things in order while Titania-sama shows to the world how awesome we are."

"Welcome to the Cobalt Bruisers, we expect only the hardest of work from our members~" Absinthe winkind as she extended the guild invitation to Blue Joker, but the next comment made a slight shade of red tinge her pale face "Oh, please, don't be silly. Anyway, I would be cautious if I were you, this blue fairy packs quite a punch!" She said while pumping her fist in comedic way, before tuning on her back and gesturing Blue Joker to follow her "Well, what are we waiting for, then? Let's begin working right away! Those materials won't walk here on their own, gear up and let's go hunting!"

---

Aaron Fletcher

Aaron paused just as he entered the food court, fear gripping him like a vice. In game, he wielded a human's most basic reaction as his weapon, but in the real world? Anyone was susceptible. Himself included. Before him was a sickening confrontation, the girl that he had literally said "Hey, I'm gonna murder you," to not too long ago seated already and waiting, Shiro and Cassandra with her. Hoping he could buy the time he needed to muster the courage to approach, he made his way over to the counter, where a boy with striking blue hair was staring blissfully off towards the other side of the room. "Excuse me, I'd like to place an order." As the cashier reacted, Aaron realized how homesick he was feeling. In a country like this, the United States seemed to be a world away. Well, it literally was.

"Hello sir, welcome to the Purple Crown Academy Food Court, how can I be of assistance?" The cyan-haired cashier replied in a monotonous way, the line clearly rehearsed to the point where he's probably said it in his sleep at one point or another.

"Yeah, can I get a cheeseburger and some french fries? Oh, and a medium cup of water." Aaron waited patiently as a cup was filled with water and a hastily made meat patty was brought out on a tray, followed by some fries.

"Here you are, sir. Have a fantastic day." Handing the plate of fast food over and taking a small wad of bills from his customer's hand, the cashier returned to his day dreaming, warily eyeing the growing number of people moving into the area.

Aaron, a plate of American-style "food" in his hands, made his way over to the soda fountain and dumped the water out, filling it back up with a knock-off soft drink and finally heading over to Eris' table, the courage finally mustered. He approached with a nod to everyone there. "Hey, sorry about the whole death threat thing. Is it alright if I sit?" He shifted awkwardly, feeling as if he was standing before a judge at the moment.
@KoL@Caits@Jedly@Lord of Evil

Came to consciousness after a few minutes. Train was sleeping on the desk in front of him, but shot his head up as soon as asahi got out of his chair. "Ugh.... What a mess." The situation could have been handled better, but right now Asahi didn't care for that. He had bigger things to worry about now. Even the treasure hunt became a little less important; no longer blinded by the blatant corruption of the Sweepers, Asahi had to think of how to reform them. Trouble was that he had very little clue as to how; he had been using their methods since day one, and he hasn't found any "better" way, or how to even address the issue to anyone with power. The best he could do was perhaps bring the issue up with Moon Rider, but Asahi didn't want to become another one of those naysayers who complain about the Sweepers. There are plenty of players, Eris included, who speak out against the Sweepers. Most are vocal, and rarely do any of them do anything as drastic as Eris did. Though at this point Asahi was considering letting her continue her rampage; weed out the weak and disloyal among the Sweepers.

One thing Asahi certainly knew he needed to do was take a serious look at the people he calls "friends". He has minions, but they follow him because they mooch off of him. He had a gang so they stayed with him for protection; he was rich so they stayed with him for benefits. None of them were truly his friends, just people who wanted the things he could give. He was certain that once his power and wealth diminishes, they would abandon him for greater prospects. He needed to instill loyalty that wasn't based off materials or power. he makes a big talk about friendship, but Asahi could honestly say he has none.

As Asahi left the booth Train ran out. "Tch! Train, don't run off now! I don't want the teachers to catch you!" Asahi chased after his cat as fast as he could, but the creature moved fast. Fortunately it didn't go far as it stood next to a bag in the hallway. When Asahi caught up to train, wheezing hard, he noticed the bag and picked it up. It was a small school bag, and a short glance inside and he could see books and such. "Huh. Someone must have dropped this. Hmm... Can't leave you alone though Train, though I should drop this off at lost and found... Maybe whoever owns this is still here." Train looked up at Asahi, pawing towards the bag. Curious, Asahi lowered the bag and Train was able to fit snugly in it. He wondered why his cat would do this and came to a realization.

"Ah, I get ya. This bag belonged to whoever was taking care of you these past few days, innit? Well, I should think him. Or her. Or whoever really." Asahi was debating opening the bag and looking for some sort of identification. If this was a school bag than surely there was some homework or paperwork with a name on it. He didn't want to invade someone's privacy, so he reached inside blindly and tried to pull out a loose piece of paper. When he did he managed to grab a worksheet with a name on it. "Hibiki Toho huh. Who's she?" Just then Train jumped out of the bag and ran off again, nearly leaving Asahi behind. He chased after his cat who ran out of the school grounds and into the city.

"Goddammit! Where are you going you damn cat?!"

Hibiki scratched her nose as she thought about being stuck in Smitten Kitten's body. "Well... TO be honest, I'd be kinda scared. Deep Ground is just a game, but to be trapped inside of it, it seems pretty scary. You know, since everyone just fights." Hibiki talked big in Deep Ground, but in real life she was a scaredy cat. Even her saving Itsuko wasn't really done out of a sense of justice or heroics, she was just scared for the girl and wanted her to run away. Hibiki just helped. "Though I like the idea that, um... That strong people actually do something. Instead of just waiting around or trying to manipulate things from behind the scene, people like Momonga actually go out into the world and use their powers to change it. Maybe not for good, but a lot of the people they fight are scum. Plus, I really like the idea of Ainz Ooal Gown! A guild for monsters and outcasts, who have worked together and become one of the strongest guilds out there! I mean, sure they're evil, but I admire their spirit. They could be good people if people weren't such jerks to them."

Itsuko then started grabbing some books for Hibiki and said that if she wanted, she could have any of them. Light Novels, mangas, comic books, magazines, anything she wanted really. Hibiki almost never tries to mooch off others, but this was almost too good to be true. She pulled her cheek to wake her up from this dream, but she didn't want up because this wasn't a dream. So Hibki walked up to Itsuko and hugged her, and because Hibiki was short she ended up hugging Itsuko around the stomach. "Thank you thank you thank you! It's so hard to get actual books these days! Everything is digital and online, but nothing beats flipping through pages. Itsuko you... You're so cool!"

When Itsuko asked if Hibiki if she wanted to go to a club with her. This, Hibiki hesitated. She was pretty sure Itsuko didn't mean a school club, otherwise she wouldn't have changed out of her uniform. Her parents always warned her not to go into the city at night because it was dangerous, though it's not as if Hibiki didn't know what happened during the night. She simply agrees that it wasn't her scene. But if Itsuko was going, then Hibiki didn't want to be left behind. Only issue was that Hibiki only had the clothes on her back. Hibiki was even more uncertain when Itsuko apologized, saying stuff like how she didn't know how hard it was to get things and that she always gets what she wants. Hibiki could understand where Itsuko was coming from; more often then not Hibiki had a hard time making friends too, since they either only wanted to be friends with her because of her parents, or they didn't want to be friends with a "Snooty rich girl". So Hibiki hugged Itsuko tighter.

"It's alright Itsuko. Sometimes... Sometimes people just get angry because they it hard. People like us who... Who are lucky enough to have it easy, I guess you could say they're frustrated. And they would be right, you know? They work so hard to just get the scraps we throw away, so... So that's why we have to do our part to help!" Hibiki stepped back and looked pumped. She wanted to tell Itsuko exactly how she felt about this sort of thing. "It's our obligation to help others when we could help them! I know they'll be angry, and that they might hate us, and that there are people like us but who are really evil, but there are people like you are really good too! Being strong, rich, smart, or whatever, the best thing to do is make others as good as we are. People hate us because they don't think we do anything, so we have to prove them wrong and show them that we actually do stuff, good stuff!" Hibiki spoke passionately. She wasn't as smooth as Smitten Kitten, but the fire was still there. But once her blood stopped boiling, she looked meek again. "So.... So don't be sad Itsuko. You're a good person. You just need to find something you want to do, and make it greater so everyone can enjoy it. Even if it's just something like sharing books with me."

Hibiki reached out to clasp Itsuko's hand. Whenever she felt sad or angry, Hibiki's mother or father would hold her hand with both of theirs. So Hibiki did the same. They also sang a little song, but Hibiki didn't remember what it was so she just held Itsuko's hand.

It was also around this time that Hibiki realized that she didn't have her bag. Which also meant she didn't have her wallet, or the keys to her house. She knew that she had slug her bag at those bullies who were picking on Itsuko, and she had forgotten to pick it up after they ran away. She also remembered that she left Train at school and didn't know where he was at. He was able to get to school on his own just fine, but Hibiki usually brought him back home herself so the teachers don't get him. Suddenly Hibiki felt a bit panicky, but she had to keep her cool for Itsuko. The only notable change was that Hibiki held Itsuko's hand a bit tighter.

@KoL

Johanna Stryfe

Johanna Stryfe was a mess. Her hair fell across her face in a haphazard manner, and she felt in dire need of a bath. She had stayed cooped up in her small room for days, rarely taking a step out of it unless it was necessary. The girl had been rather ill for the last week and a half, and only now was her illness beginning to let up. Her miserable condition prevented her from going to school as well as playing Deep Ground Online, meaning that she was unable to do either of the only two things that her parents wanted her to succeed in. Her parents committed her to bed rest for the whole of the time she was sick, and she wasn't allowed to do any extraneous activities until she was better. Though, it's not as if she was ever allowed to do such things.

Hanna sat in a cheep, feeble wooden chair at a desk of equal quality, staring at the small pile of papers that sat before her in the dim light of her bedroom. A number of hours prior, after school had let out for the day, one of Hanna's classmates had delivered to her the homework she had missed that day. It had been like this since the first day of Hanna's absence, but only now had she found the energy to sift through the litany of worksheets and practice problems that had piled up on the small table, threatening to break the object that seemed barely able to hold its own weight. With Johanna's parents having a deep concern for her use of time, they set her time limits for everything, including completing homework. She was supposed to have this endless pile completed in the next 45 minutes, but the minutes seemed to flow faster than the girl could work.

Though, somehow, she was managing. She had already finished most of the monstrous workload that, logically, would take one a week and a half to complete. Through some miraculous burst of speed, Hanna had worked through her ever fading illness, and drained the workload to a single piece of paper. Moving aside the rest of the work, Hanna picked the last paper out of the pile, adjusting her thin-rimmed reading glasses on her sickly face as she did so. She had expected some gloriously difficult series of equations that would delay her actions for another half hour, but was instead delighted to find a card addressed to her from a good portion of her friends. A thousand signatures surrounded a large, colorful "Get Well Soon!" While it was a kind gesture, it failed to warm the girl's heart, as she was unable to recognize the names of those who signed the card, save for a few good friends.

Hanna quickly stretched her arms and breathed a sigh of relief as she realized she had finished the work with half an hour to spare. Noting that she felt as if her skin had been replaced by a million layers of dry sweat, she decided to use that time to take a bath. She stood from the well worn chair, shutting off her small desk lamp as she did so, and made her way out of her room, her stride weak and tired. Johanna slowly walked through the small living room of her family's apartment, which was at least of average size. Hanna found her mother standing over a pot of boiling water in the kitchen. Her mother turned as she noticed Hanna hobbling to the kitchen.

"Oh, Johanna, how are you feeling? Dinner will be ready in a bit. How is your homework coming?" Her mother's words fell like a torrent of consciousness, unwilling to give the sick girl a moment to process a question without throwing another thought on top of it.

"I'm fine, mother. I just finished all of the homework. I was thinking of taking a bath in the half hour I have left. By the way, were is dad?" Though her words came at a much slower, thoughtful pace, her stream of words seemed to borrow much from the speech of her mother.

"That sounds alright. Oh, your father is out with Mr. Bartelby. He's working his magic, trying to get a promotion at the company and all. You know how convincing your father can be." The old woman spoke with such a nostalgic sentiment, her voice keying her daughter into the cheerful reminiscence of it all without a single word of the memories being spoken. She let her thoughts mingle for a few moments before returning her attention to her daughter. "Anyway, when your done, come eat, and then get right on the game, alright?"

"Yes Ma'am." Johanna took her leave, and made her way back across the living room, and towards the bathroom.

The bath had refreshed the young girl. She had felt the sweat and her troubles fade away, even if it was only momentary. Her weakness was fading more noticeably, and she was confident that she would be able to return to school on the next day. Johanna followed her bath with dinner, sitting down with her mother to enjoy a plate of pasta. Even though they didn't have the money to afford the best of ingredients, her mother could certainly cook, allowing the experience of bland pasta to be much more palatable than it should be.

Eventually, Johanna knew that she had to log on to Deep Ground, which she had barely been on for the past week. Of course, she kept getting on for at least 10 minutes each day, but this wasn't very much, considering that she was usually on for several hours a day, an amount of time she wouldn't be reaching while she was still sick. And so, submitting to the inevitable, Johanna made her way back to her room, stumbled through the darkness, eventually falling onto her bed, and logging into the game.

Abyss Walker

The brute stretched her familiar clawed fingers, remembering the weight of the character which she had missed out on for much of the week. She made sure to shove the thoughts of Johanna Stryfe to the side. For the moment, Deep Ground Online was her reality, and her name was Abyss Walker.

Abyss Walker found herself standing in an alleyway in one of the many areas controlled by the Ivory Masks. She made little movement while she observed her surroundings, which seemed empty, which was strange for Ivory Masks territory. Then again, she was standing in an alley. Abyss Walker's tall, wiry frame seemed out of place in the landscape, with its metallic body that flowed and moved like muscle, and with no face, but a face-plate backed by nothing. Abyss Walker had qualities that seemed human, but in an eerie, corrupted sense, that bastardizes those elements into something wholly inhuman.

Abyss Walker slowly stepped from her place in the shadows, moving towards the streets which seemed busier and busier and she approached. Before she moved into the flood of players, Abyss Walker remembered that she had yet to check her messages in the past week, and found it vital to do so before any business opportunities were passed up. And so, she stepped back into the alleyway, and checked her messages.

Yoshino Tsugumi

Yoshino kept herself quiet, unaware of the boring and already heard monologue going on in Retsu’s head. Did the girl have to always remind herself of her goals or something? In any case, she moved when she needed to, getting off the bus and following her assistant to the lavish building that had been assigned for them. She was dimly aware of the troubles concerning how Retsu had got the room but she had a feeling a certain someone had a hand in convincing the Goroshi family to let the both of them stay together.

As they entered their living space, she saw that that same certain someone had already went ahead and moved her things for her. She would have to write that certain someone a thank you note or at the very least call. At least the apartment was big enough to hold two showers and Yoshino went about cleaning herself for the Network or whatever this place was called.

In any case, she had finished her shower and even gotten dressed up before Retsu. With glasses in hand, she wondered if she should bring them with her or forsake them. She would contemplate this question until Retsu was ready and had emerged from her shower.

Back in the Blue Guild, Blue Joker chuckled to himself as he followed the ecstatic fairy. So this was the Guild famous for its monetary license and economics? Crafting and synthesizing famous materials? Seemed like a nice enough place and he tried not to tune out Absinthe’s tour speech too much.

“Eheh, not to be rude but wasn’t there supposed to be someone else joining? Not that I’m noisy or anything, but I heard some rumors that I wasn’t the only one looking to join, eheh. Catch my drift? Then again, who knows,” he said with a shrug, poking at his own nose.

At that moment, Absinthe would get a message that yet another Avatar was waiting at the front gates for her. Once again Bel was right in that there were two people, this one named Azure Panther. Fun name, though a bit eccentric. What was with all these eccentric people joining the Blue Guild?

---

”Hey, what’s a place like you doing in a guy like this?” Shiro quipped at Aaron right after he made a sheepish request. He showed a bit of teeth as he politely pulled out a chair for the new arrival, then turned to face the others and remained standing. ”Well, I’m glad to formally meet you both on the physical plane, Eris and O’Shera.” A genial smile painted itself on his face as he continued on, ”I think all of the parties involved are at fault. Nobody is truly innocent when it comes to dispute, just like how there are two sides to every coin. You made an error, but that just further proves you’re human, I support that. I mostly spoke in the gravity that I did to prevent a riot from breaking out… Though I do hold fast to the meaning embedded in my words. But seeing that you’ve come to terms with your faults, as have Aaron and I have, I believe we should toast to the future before us and bury the past! To the future!”

Shiro held out a cupped hand, albeit empty, he still attempted to emulate a declaration, ”...and that toast will take place once I get some caffeine in my system.” He announced to the students as he spun around, allowing his eye to focus on the counter. The boy spoke with a glance back at them, ”Don’t worry, I’ll cover my own drink. Although I know your means are purely cordial, I wouldn’t want to impose upon you right after our first meeting. Wouldn’t be able to rest well knowing that somebody paid for me when I was in the fullest capacity to pay for myself. Goes against my ethics, y’know?” With that, the boy strode off, noting all of the nearby persons indulging in the cafe’s delicacies. Given the amount present, Shiro would have to speak with the utmost shrewdness when disclosing any information. Or perhaps plant a few fake leads here or there in the case that he felt like it. It was apparent that he still had the issue of thinking like an assassin out of game.

The boy soon returned with a paper cup full of espresso in one hand and a ginger ale in the other. ”Your beverage, my ‘escortee’.” He chirped as he set down the drink before Lina and finally took his seat. ”Anyways Eris, something’s been on my mind. The recent events have only bolstered the notion.” A finger absentmindedly played with the eye patch’s strings as Shiro formulated his thought into words. He met the blonde’s gaze candidly and began. ”I think you and I are very much alike. Almost identical even in our resolve. The previous conjunctures. We are extremely dedicated to those dear souls closest to our hearts, to the extent that we don’t even factor in our own standings in the process.”

Even though he wasn’t explicitly stating it, he was referring to Lina. ”And we usually follow through by means of self-sacrifice. We believe as long as we are the ones taking the brunt of those who would do harm to those dear, then everything’s alright.” Shiro took a sip of the bitter drink as steam collided with an exhale, ”So I don’t blame you for your actions. But I can’t condone your execution. I’m sure O’Shera is smart and durable enough to defend herself, which is the vibe I’m getting from her… Buuuuuuut being there to help her out isn’t really a bad thing either.” The boy let out a light chuckle, remaining calm yet cautious as he trekked through the conversation.

”You can protect O'Shera. Controversially, O'Shera can protect you. But with your prowess you can protect Cassandra and other people. Specifically the Strykers. Most of the players in those walls are greener than the artificial grass on my front stoop. Now that the Black Kingdom has been labeled as an unknown variable, a wild card if you would and subsequently a threat, its stance is up for conjecture. That puts the kingdom in bellicose sights. Why inspect an unknown when you can simply exterminate it, which is unfortunately how most lazy people think. The Strykers need somebody to look up to. A beacon of hope.” Shiro held out a hand across the table, maintaining the gaze that hadn’t wavered throughout the duration of his address. ”Eris Reinhardt. I, Shiro Kawabata, ask in a humble manner once more, will you become my friend and assist the Ebony Strykers with me?”
@Mega Birb@KoL@Caits@Kimiyosis@Lord of Evil

Zachary sighed as he finally made his way to his room, shutting the door behind him. It had been a long day, what with all the excitement in the fight and the sudden collision. He was exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to lay down on his bed and relax. Of course, he did just that. Once he was on his bed and in a comfortable position, he said to himself, "Time to have some fun," as he logged into DGO.





"Ahhh, good to be back," Hellflame said in a satisfied tone as he looked around, regaining his bearings. It all came back to him. He was on the rooftop of one of the many tall buildings within the Black City. After he had left the Black Castle, he had gotten to work typing in his message to Smitten Kitten when DGO was then taken down for maintenance. Now that DGO was back up, though, nothing was going to stop him from finishing that message this time. Opening the interface, he was disappointed to find that not even a draft of his unfinished message was saved, so he got to work recalling what he could about the message he wanted to type and navigated his way through the interface to write up his message.

To: Smitten Kitten
From: Devilish Hellflame
Subject: Black King
So, I hear that you're after the Black King's life. Interesting. Sounds incredibly pointless to waste your effort on, but interesting. If ya don't mind, I'll be keeping an eye on you. Hey, maybe we can even meet up. If you do mind, well....

It's not like I'll let that stop me. ;)

"Aaaaaand send," Hellflame said as he pressed the "send" button. With his one task done, Hellflame wondered what he should do now. "Hmm... maybe I'll just go grind a bit," Hellflame said to himself, activating his <Wings of Hellflame> ability to launch himself into the air and fly towards one of his favorite grinding spots. As he flew, he opened up the latest news for DGO to see what the current events were. As he did so, he noticed the patch notes that had come in for the latest update.

"Well well, what do we have here..." Hellflame muttered to himself as he skimmed through the list of changes. "Professions, huh?" Hellflame said as his eyes landed on one of the changes. "I'll take a look at 'em later." Closing the interface, Hellflame returned his attention to flying.

@Ryonara (for when you eventually log into Deep Ground)

Cassandra's question didn't seem to need to be answers as people started to come, apparently recognizing Eris. Cassandra chose to stay silent, watching them all, and waiting to see what would be said or done. As Shiro began to talk, referring to her by her last name which put her ill at ease. She didn't like it, and it put her on edge a bit. She merely glanced at Aaron. She wasn't too sure about him anymore.

She stayed silent still, processing what was being said. Shiro had apparently given the whole thing some thought, and while Cassie was impressed, she wasn't too sure about it. Of course she didn't have to be. This was ultimately Eris's, and if she trusted this, then that was good enough for Cassie.

Still...

"It's Cassandra. O'Shera makes it just seem I'm just my family name, when I'm so much more then that" well, at least she hoped she was.

Perhaps she had overplayed her hand a bit in the game, and shown she was capable of more then she let known. Or perhaps her attempts to be weak hadn't been good enough. Maybe that was for the best. She leaned forward, "I think you are trying to sweet talk. What do you want of Eris, besides to give the strikers something to look to?" everyone had their own agenda in the game, and Cassie was sure that This included Shiro.

It had taken some time being caught amidst throngs of foot traffic, but Kanbaru had finally arrived at The Network, likely far earlier than Retsu would have intended to meet with her. She flashed her student ID to the man at the front door and made her way inside unmolested, the influence of Purple Crown Academy within the city limits showing itself in her favor on this evening. Upon entry to the club Kanbaru found her ears assaulting by the steady Whoomph of some age old techno beat that seemed to be in these days, or at least that was what the club thought. The first thing she did after acclimating to the sights and sounds was finding the nearest employee and reserving a room in the back. Not to misconstrue the facts, the club catered to students so there was nothing too illicit going on, but it wasn't uncommon for friends to gather in person here, transition to DGO for an event or some such, and then conclude their evening back in reality at the club proper. A peculiar practice for a peculiar time where games where the litmus test for human potential. Kanbaru's credit card exchanged hands briefly, the mental calculation for how much this would be cutting into her bank balance already done before the card was returned. The club staffer raised four fingers before pointing towards a door leading away from the club proper, her time limit and destination now set.

"Oh thank the lord, free at last!" Throwing on a dramatic air, Kanbaru collapsed boneless into a posh leather couch, a worn navy that may have once been sapphire in color, while her lips curled upwards as the walls deadened the club's incessant beat. There were four more couches in a predictable color scheme arranged around a table that was similarly divided via wedges of black, blue, green, red, and white. "Someone was trying way to hard with decorating this space. I mean sure, they could have gone all ten years and plastered the walls with posters, do a mural on the ceiling, and leave a Chinese checkers board on the table, but this still screams of something in the ballpark of desperate."

Taking a moment to check the time, Kanbaru figured that she probably had some time before Retsu would even show up, the mob daughter likely allotting time for transit and finishing business already in progress, which she currently had none.

To: Dark Wraith
From: Broker of Fortune
Subject: Re: Business

Hey, I've gotten us a room here at the club. Sad to say there isn't a sweeper section of the room, but I figure the Black King's throne over here will suit you just fine. Anyway, shoot me a message when you get here, I'll be the catatonic one grinding a few XP on the blue couch.

With her message sent to her erstwhile employer for the evening, Kanbaru slipped the surly bonds of the mortal coil in favor of her digital persona.







In a refreshing change of reality, Broker of Fortune found herself outside the grand bastion of the Cobalt Bruisers, the Blue Castle. Rolling her shoulders to reacclimatize to her virtual form, she idly considered if the Blue King had given their capital a more poignant name she just couldn't recall before discarding the pointless stream of thought aside. "If I'm here then the patch must be live, so..." Broker of Fortune perused her menus in search of the system she had long awaited, a goal to strive for that seemed all the more fulfilling then being involved in massacres the likes of the Black Guild's Thursday war with an Outlaw army, and let out a small cheer when her search bore fruit. "Bingo, professions are live." It was an easy choice for her to make, after all, the money was in the STEM fields nowadays.

Feeling far more worthy of the goggles dangling around her neck now that she had her profession, Broker of Fortune approached the grand doors to her guild's sanctum. They parted with a modest push and brought her to the entry way, where she immediately found she was not alone."Ah, hello there Absinthe." The Artificer greeted as she strolled up to her and the one she could only identify as a recent recruit to the guild. Truth be told, she wasn't too familiar with Blue Guild's eccentric tanker, but she had a healthy respect for her position. She gave Blue Jester a brief wave in greeting as she stopped amidst them."I take it your new here? Well I'll parrot Absinthe here and welcome you to the Blue Guild. It's a nice operation, and if you pitch in then you'll get along great here." Broker of Fortune finished with a nod before returning her attention to Absinthe."So I'm an engineer now. If you need a hand with that project I'm ready to lend it whenever you want, though I need to get some facilities set up to start creating schematics and fabricate them. Not sure how much time I have to be online before I have to get to a meeting, but I could do with farming some mats if you are going out."

@KoL@Lucius Cypher

Alex

Alex, in a word, was tired. Bel was told to help manage the student council affairs, but being Bel's secretary jobs trickle down the chain of command. Being on the bottom of this particular tier, Alex was left to manage what he could. It wasn't so bad, it was all logic fill out the files, sort them, copy them. The problem was copying. He had no idea how to drive the thing, so many buttons and they all made a noise. Rubbing the sides of his head Alex opened the message system

To: Maribel Harper
From: Alex Coleman
Subject: How do you use the copier?

---

Bel? Where are you? This copier must have been made by aliens. Plus I don't have enough credit to afford copying all the files. Why are they like this anyway? Why not do them on computer? Does Student Prez also hate computers as well as games? Isn't it easier to fill them out there? Whatever, point is, I need a hand... are you nearby?

---

Still trying, Alex finally got so tired of it he wanted to throw the damn machine out the window. Finally he left the office and actively searched for Bel. DGO was basically a mess now anyway, Verdant continued to ruin and bike he tried to drive and he inevitably crashed what ever car he was in. As soon as Verdant stops ruining my bikes, I'll stop crashing those guild cars... yeah, I can totally stop crashing if I want to! Goddamnit Bel, your ex is a psycho!

@TheWindel

"Hah! That's surprisingly harsh coming of you, Cassandra." Eris commented, in a light tone, as Cassandra talked about her issue with being called by her family name, as well as her questioning of Shirou's motivations. "Then again, you have been a near literal Pandora's Box ever since I met you, one can never know what they will find when prying you open."

"It's good to meet you in the real world again, Aaron Fletcher. As I said before, the issues that led to this gathering are behind me now. Furthermore, you are on your full right to try to come and kill Eclipse Princess when I log in again. Just don't think that I'll go easy on you."

"Now, talking about the future..." Eris lapsed as Shirou explained his vision and proposed a handshake to seal their agreement. "That, I cannot do. I'm not convinced that I'll remain a member of the Ebony Strikers for long. Even if you do know my circumstances other people won't and the damage I caused was far too big for many of those players, the older ones might never recover from that loss. I wonder how many people's lives I ruined on that rampage?"

"Alas, the fact stands, as long as I stay in the Strikers there'll be rebellion and strife brewing within the Guild, like a slow poison that'll corrode us from inside out." Eris spoke as she clutched her book, "However, I do have a solution that will make the Strikers stronger and more united than ever. I'll leave the guild and become the escape goat for their hatred. As long as they have someone to target and haven't enacted their revenge, the Sweepers and the rest of the Guild have no reason to fight among themselves."

"Don't think that I'm doing this out of selfless heroics, though." Eris added bitterly, to not look she was trying to become a martyr. However, the veracity of this statement could be put to check. "I just cannot stand the stench of corruption that has spread through the Ebony Strikers' ranks like a plague, but it's not my problem, nor my place to correct it. Now, please excuse me, I have dinner in a few minutes, if there's anything more you would like to add, I beg that you be succinct."

On a quaint afternoon, like any other else on this city where nothing ever happens, Emma was window shopping alongside a duo of acquaintances from Purple Crown. The talk of the day was that there was going to be a huge party on a "club" named the Network (or something like this). All the bigwigs of the academy would be there, or so they say.

This kind of event wasn't Emma's social forte, but if she could find some nice company, maybe she could give it a shot. Who knows, maybe this could even be a lucky night? Playing Deep Ground wasn't a bad idea either, Emma would just do like the water and follow the path of least resistance, whatever happens happens. "Anyway, girls, I'm going to grab a drink. Do any of you want something?" Emma asked, but her companions were too absorbed in their task to even notice her leaving, which is what Emma did... just right now.

Emma had barely hit the food court and ordered the biggest serving of sugar-free dark chocolate mocha they had, when she noticed a duo of individuals she was much more acquainted with. Quickly strolling by Thomas' table while giving him a knowing wink and a stealth thumbs up that seemed to say "Got your back, Prez!", before swooping down on Aaron's table.

"Heyah, Nixon! Who are those, friends?" Emma said, as she approached Aaron and the others with a hand holding the steaming cup of caffeine-loaded beverage and the other raised in a peace sign. "Just dropped by to say hi to a friend. I hope I'm not intruding! Name's Emma Fujioka, by the way, or the contrary, if you go by Japanese standards. Anyway, do any of you want some?" Emma introduced herself to the other students by the table while reaching into her blazer's pocket, producing a pack of sugar-free mints that she readily offered to everyone else, after dropping one on her own coffee.


"D-do you understand it, oh, Hibiki, you're awesome!" Itsuko hugged Hibiki in return, glad that someone other than her usual friends understood her problems, "Wait a bit, now that you mention it..." Itsuko picked her phone again and checked her contacts list, most of it was in fact inherited from business contacts of her mother, but Itsuko was at least partially acquainted with some of them, at least enough to finally recognize Hibiki or so she thought. "Your parents, do they have a computing company, don't they Hibiki? I think I, or better, my mother knew them. I'm sorry for not noticing it until now." In fact, Itsuko's mother, the former CEO of the worldwide industrial and financial conglomerate that's one of Japan's biggest and oldest industrial groups, the Kanzaki Industries, had been good friends with them, at least until.

"Then I guess that I can tell you, after all, everyone should know it, after all. Mom and dad, they died in a plane accident sometime ago. That woman down there is Miss Yomugawa from the Social Services Bureau, she's here because on of my uncles wants to take me overseas. I don't want to go, and a friend is taking care of me, but if she thinks I'm not living well, she'll send me even if I don't want to." Itsuko sniffed a bit, trying not to cry, before stepping away from Hibiki, with an apologetic look on her eyes. "I-I'm sorry for bothering with with it, Hibiki. I just needed someone to talk to, please don't change your opinion of me because of that. But, it's really nice that our parents knew each other, not?"

"Anyway, how about we go down, it's getting late. You can come and have any books you want, whenever you want, I really like that I found a friend that enjoys them." Itsuko said to Hibiki as they made their way down to the mall level, walking her all the way to the entrance, "Do you want to go home with me? I-I mean, on the bus, or train, I can get a car if you wish as well!" Itsuko said, a bit flustered after her statement that could be so easily misinterpreted. "And, if you still want to go to the party, or shop together, give me a call. I'll help you whenever you ask."


"Uh? Someone else?" Absinthe checked through her files again, taking a quick look at the gate to be sure that she hadn't forgotten anyone, "Oh, you're right, Joker! There's someone else, but... they aren't there, are they, I mean unless this Azure Panther is a Rogue, or something like this. Wait here for a bit, I'll g-" Just as Absinthe was about to leave, to look for the Azure Panther, Broker of Fortune approached them.

"Hi there! How are things today, huh, Miss Fortune?" Absinthe greeted Broker of Fortune, with a confident ear to ear smile, before continuing, "Actually, I'm running some errands for Titania-sama, but you can help Joker here get around the Guild, can't you? This new patch got us more burdened than ever, but finally the Merchants got something to do." Absinthe patted Joker in the shoulder before leaving him under the care of Broker, in the typical way of the Blues of shuffling their workload on someone else's shoulder. One had to wonder how the command chain here worked, bet in the end it was quite like the real world where those on top chuck all the work they can on those bellow.

If you think about it like this, the Bruisers were the guild that helped their members get ready for the outside world much more than any other. The recent addition of Professions only turned this more evident. "Bruisers, Banzai!" Absinthe yelled pumping her fist in the air, before setting out to find this Azure Panther.

"Hmm... Panther, huh? This makes me wonder if Kitty Kat is doing well? Perhaps I should seek her tail later? Hehehe... that would be fun!" Absinthe walked anyway talking to herself, without a care in the world.

---

The Reinhardt matriarch waited till her daughter and her close friend had left the apartment, even going so far as counting to twenty just to ensure they were well out of ear shot or hadn't left anything behind. Certain in her solitude she reached into an inner breast pocket of her jacket and produced a featureless flask of polished silver. A flick of her thumb removed the stopper before she upending the contents down her throat, welcoming the burn of something a bit more potent then hard liquor as it worked through her system.

"Sons of bitches, I can't turn my back for two minutes before these craven shits descend on my baby girl! She gets enough of this shit from her father, she doesn't need it half way across the world too." Hildr slammed the flask down onto the table and dug into her other breast pocket to produce a sister container. It met the same fate as the first and joined it on the table, noticeably lighter. "I should walk right back in there and kick in those brats teeth! Grah!"

Freed of the influence of home life and higher society, Hildr allowed herself to loosen the metaphorical tie and indulge in the anger characteristic of her DGO days as a Berserker. Too a lesser degree Eris had followed in these footsteps, but the different times seemed to be hampering Eris where Hildr had flourished. Then again the matriarch was far too loose to be bogged down by the ideology that Eris had clung to. It would be fair to say that Hildr would have remained to stew in her anger, contemplating the best way to eliminate Eris' Sweeper problem and escape to a country without an extradition treaty when her massager went off, her driver wanting to know if she'd be staying over.

"Ugh, may as well leave before I foul up dearie's evening. Oh, her and Cassandra do look adorable together, wouldn't want to get in the way of that." Face flush as her libations began easing her rage to a simmer, low but still present, she pocketed her flasks and made for the door. As much as she wished to right all the wrongs and fix Eris' life, it was apparent that this situation would require a different tact. Several minutes and dozens of floors later, Hildr slid into the passenger seat of an orange BMW. Releasing a world weary sigh, the Reinhardt Matriarch turned to her driver with a strained smile.

"Hey, I'm going to hate asking you such a huge favor, but how do you feel about transferring schools to do a little protection work?"

---

When she had offered her services to the overworked mage, Broker had hoped for some work of a technical nature so she could begin on her path to be a Grand Master engineer, not being a glorified tour guide. The phrase 'Shit rolls downhill' had to have been the Blue Guild's motto at some point, as it was still prevalent to this day just as it was in reality. "Whatever you say, chief. Just make sure we get some good mats down to the workshops so we can make use of these professions!" Broker called out to Absinthe's back before she could get out of ear shot, putting forth a great effort not to show her exacerbation with having busy work left on her lap.

The artificer turned to Joker, the latest to bolster the Blue Guild's swelling ranks and gave him a quick nod. "I'm Broker of Fortune, though you can call me Broker 'cause I know it's a mouthful. Since Absinthe has, well, ditched us to our own devices, how about I take you on the five cent tour before we find something to do?"

She waved for Joker to follow as she led him through the bowels of Blue Castle, a brief and hurried tour that really only touched on the most important of locations like the King's Throne Room, Absinthe's office, the access points to the Castle walls, several popular gathering halls, farmlands, and concluding it in what was undoubtedly the most beloved section of the Guild's capital, the workshop. Dominating the center space was a tank not unlike the ones plastered on all their recent propaganda, bringing a pleased grin to her lips.

"Whether you drive them or not, you have to admit having a tank at your back is amazing. Personally I can't wait till I get good enough to start making some worthwhile modifications to them, but for now I have a lot of grinding to go before I can tack on something useful." Turning around to lean against the war machine's treads, she regarded Joker warmly. "Now that we got that out of the way, got any questions or something you needed another hand for? I should have time left before I head back the The Network."

"This book is pretty bad." Thomas thought.

The book was in fact one he picked up for the occasion. It was a book he bought in case he needed to pretend to read it. He didn't exactly plan the reason when he bought the book, so he bought one that may have interested him. It was one on ancient history, a favorite topic of his. The problem with the book was that it was quite biased. It had to do with events leading up to the current government so he supposed he should've expected it, but he'd had high hopes for it anyway.

There wasn't much written on Thomas's notebook. First and foremost was there was the statement "This book sucks." He'd found that out early. The second thing was "Internal strife in black guild?" and "Shiro's offer", as well as a few other keywords. Shiro was probably right that other guilds may attack the black guild, but didn't the black guild have a large amount of sweepers? They should've been fine if that was the case. In numbers alone, the black guild wouldn't fall short of any guild. The biggest issue with a new guild is normally organisation and with the sweepers on board, that shouldn't be a problem. He'd penned that section off with "Needs investigation".

Flicking to the next page, Eris gave Shiro her response. It was more or less a refusal, Thomas noted down the key parts of her statements. Most of what she said was significant, even the part about Cassandra; though not really significant in the current context, it may be useful later.

The thing that surprised Thomas the most was the fact that Cassandra, who Eris relied heavily on, was so young. He estimated her to be several years younger than he was. Though she looked the same age as Aaron, so he supposed that shouldn't mean much, but it was rather surprising that such a young girl would share Eris's burdens.

Thomas shot a quick glance at their table before turning back to his book. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Cassandra and Eris was that they were fairly unique kinds of people who happened to be very different to each other. He wondered what brought them together in this kind of world, but that wasn't something he should look into. Though Cassandra was just one of the 2 red haired somewhat European people he knew...

"Speak of the devil." Thomas thought.
The other one had just entered the cafe. Emma, one of the few people left in the journalism club. He wasn't expecting her here, though he didn't know why he expected her to be anywhere. She went wherever she pleased and he could never get a read on where she would go. In fact, she could kind of be relied on for finding something interesting just because she had a habit of going wherever she wanted to. He was sure that her being at the mall at the time he was here was probably a coincidence, though he was unsure of whether or not she knew what he was doing there. Evidence was pointing to the fact that she did, though, but he didn't want to blow his cover.

He shot her a quick unimpressed look before turning back to his book. A gesture between friends, perhaps. Little beyond a greeting. Acknowledgements of sorts, a little gesture to keep face and to accept her presence. He wasn't entirely sure what she was going to do but it wasn't his place to interfere anyway.

---

@KoL @everyone else I guess, though it's not like I did that much to anyone :\

Asahi chased Train all the way to the mall. There were way too may close calls for his liking, from running across busy traffic to a run in with a couple of guys that doesn't like Asahi. He had to stop multiple times to catch his breath and fend off any pursuers, wasting no time actually trying to fight them. Eventually he lost them after dashing past a train, but he wasn't certain if they gave up the chase. The sooner he grabbed Train the better. But once he actually got to the mall, Asahi couldn't track down Train. At least before the cat was running along open areas that were dangerous; now with so many people in his way Asahi had no way to get a visual on his cat. "I swear this cat is trying to kill me!"

Asahi had to rely on the radar tracker on Train's collar, but that was about as helpful as playing Marco Polo; Asahi would only know when Train was close or when he was gone. And very often Asahi lost track of Train only to find him by the radar. Asahi knew he looked pretty strange just darting around the mall looking for someone, so he tried to play it cool. He simply started walking around while trying to keep track of Train on the radar, eventually finding himself outside of the mall once more and near a really huge apartment complex. Train was sitting near the entrance to the lobby, unable to enter the automatic door due to his small size and light weight.

"Train! Seriously, what are you doing?"

---

While Yoshino got dressed up in a fancy outfit, Retsu was decidedly more casual. After all, she was going out to party, not for an important meeting. While finding Broker of Fortune was relatively important, Retsu considered that more of a personal matter than business. The stress of the job was making Retsu more and more annoyed by the minor spats that happened in Deep Ground, and because her brother was a sore subject for her, Retsu had to admit she may have blown his and Eris's feud out of proportions. Still, there was other things she could have Broker of Fortune do, important things that actually involve Deep Ground. Popping a mint into her mouth and taking inventory over her heads-up display, Retsu turned towards Yoshino. "You look cute. Let's go, there's a car waiting for us in sub level."

Once Yoshino was ready and willing to go, Retsu headed to the sublevel. There was a parking lot just outside the apartment, but the sub level were reserved for those who have paid for parking. Which is to say, any of the girls of the Goroshi family. While most didn't even own a car, it was mainly filled with vehicles by the men and fathers of the girls, and served as the main area where the Goroshi's footmen parked their vehicles. With a tighter security and surveillance than the topside parking lot, this would be where the girls would go to once they finally managed to get their hands on a buss to ferry them to Purple Crown. For the purpose of Retsu and Yoshino's night out, this was where they'd meet their driver. He was an old but clean looking man. He wore a grey suit with a white shirt underneath and opaque sunglasses. He also wore black gloves, which hide the fact that both his hands were missing and replaced with cybernetic prosthesis. A work-related injury. The man directed Yoshino and Retsu to a white gossamer Mitsubishi Pajero.

The drive to The Network was short and uneventful. During the short ride, she had received Broker's message. Retsu wondered why she always tried to isolate Retsu into a room whenever they wanted to meet; Retsu wasn't the type to reveal herself so easily, and having a private room, while convenient, just makes it too easy to trap her. Besides that, Retsu didn't come to the Network just to sit in a quiet room away from all the action. Shooting Broker of Fortune a message, Retsu switched her HUD to display messages near the corner of her vision so she could monitor her e-mails while out and about.

To: Broker of Fortune
From: Dark Wraith
Subject: Re: Business
Trying to meet me face-to-face again? You know how I am. I'll find you in Deep Ground.

Eventually they arrived to The Network, where the driver dropped them off at the curbside. Retsu told the him that she'll call him when they need to be picked up, and he said that he'll stay nearby. Once he left Retsu led Yoshino to the club where a new song started to play. As the two girls walked up to the front entrance Retsu flashed a card she had underneath her hat. "She's with me." The bouncer nodded his head and let Retsu and Yoshino enter the club, where they were immediately assaulted with lights and colors. Retsu turned to Yoshino and smiled. "Let's dance."

@TheWindel@Lonewolf685

---

As Abyss Walker went to check her e-mails, one in particular stood out. It wasn't unique in the sense that she never had one similar to it before; the only reason this one stood out was because of who sent it. Namely, a complete stranger who Abyss Walker never had an e-mail from before. It was fairly new, barely ten minutes old by the time Abyss Walker reads it.

To: Abyss Walker
From: Weiss Reise
Subject: Job
I have a job offer for you. All you need to know is that I want you to kill some Ebony Strykers while they're in their city, as well as destroy a few of their things. I need it done today. We can negotiate payment in person. Meet me at the Ivory Guild Mech Hangar.

@VarionusNW

At the same time, Thomas had a few guest come to his table after Emma left. Five boys dressed in baggy clothing, a few wearing hoods and a couple with medical masks. One wasn't wearing baggy clothes and had a dog on a leash, and this was the one who spoke to Thomas first. He leaned towards Thomas, and if he looked down his shirt, he could faintly see what appeared to be a handgun tucked into an armpit holster. "I hear you're part of the newspaper club. Tommy or something, right? Got a little info for you. Why don't we go somewhere less crowded?"

@Lord of Evil

Meanwhile in Deep Ground, Demonic Hellflame would come across a scene where a lone level 4 rogue was trying to fend herself off against four level 3 Outlaws. These Outlaws seemed to actually be part of the Ebony Strykers, while the girl was affiliated to the Fanged Rangers. She saw Hellflame flying above her, she tried to call out for him for help. "Please help! These bastards have been harassing me since I left the city!" The rogue took out a piece of paper, trying to use it but was too busy dodging gunshots and blades. She hasn't been hit yet, and she knew that if she did it'd be all over for her.

@Scarifar

Before could decide on what to do, Thomas had to take inventory. Thomas eyed the youths discreetly before mentally checking his own inventory. He had one open bottle of ice tea, a danish, a book, notepad and pen, as well as the clothes on his back. He noted that their apparent leader/spokesperson had what appeared to be a handgun, as well as dog. And the guy also had no sleeves. He didn't know what to think about that one.

Regardless, he was outnumbered roughly 5 to 1, though the handgun added a force multiplier as well, so even if he was 1 to 1 he wouldn't be able to do that much. And technically it was 6 to 1 if the dog was going to get involved.
"Well, it doesn't seem like I have much choice in the matter..." Thomas said. "But answer me this."

Thomas closed his book and stuffed the rest of the danish into his mouth.
"Question 1. What's with the dog? Don't get me wrong, I like dogs, but I don't see what that has to do with info." He said, swallowing the rest of the danish. "Question 2... Where're your sleeves? Aren't you, like, cold or something? What's the point of having a jacket if you don't have any sleeves on it?"

@Lucius Cypher

To: Abyss Walker
From: Weiss Reise
Subject: Job
I have a job offer for you. All you need to know is that I want you to kill some Ebony Strykers while they're in their city, as well as destroy a few of their things. I need it done today. We can negotiate payment in person. Meet me at the Ivory Guild Mech Hangar.

Abyss Walker

Abyss Walker looked at the message for a few minutes, trying to recall if this "Weiss Reise" had ever requested her services before, though she ultimately brushed these thoughts to the side, and sent a reply.

To:Weiss Reise
From: Abyss Walker
Subject: Job
Payment will be as usual.
Outlaw Dec. and the sabotage will be payed for up front.
Non-specific killings will be payed for based on level afterwards.
Any specific targets will payed based on level and notoriety. Half up front, and half if I succeed.
I will assume you already know my rates.
Due to the time constraints you've set, there will be a 10% increase to my prices.

Abyss Walker's odd form crept into the flood of players which moved through the streets in a haphazard manner, moving in several thousand different directions all at once. Though, that wandering flood stayed clear of the brutish creature which slinked along, threatening all those who passed by its emotionless form with the massive blades that stuck out from its arms.

Abyss Walker continued moving amongst the wave of players, slowly walking to her destination, while listening to the hushed mutterings of the players around her, who all seemed to hold a grand mix of fear and awe for Abyss Walker, the relentless, unstoppable killing machine. Even though Abyss Walker's pace was slow, she happened to be rather close to her destination, allowing her to arrive within 5 minutes.

Abyss Walker tore away from the bustling movement of palyers, and made her way into the Mech Hanger, moving off into the shadows before messaging her employer again.

To:Weiss Reise
From: Abyss Walker
Subject: Job
Here.