Cassie smiled in return, although it was a little small, it held a bit of warmth to it, she shook her head, "No, you aren't intruding on anything". She looked to Rufus and frowned, she hadn’t heard about any stabbings here, and thus she didn’t know if he was lying or not, still, it was a concern. She was sure, however, that she would be alright. It couldn’t be that b...well, yes it could. Still...She sighed softly, and hugged herself. “If that is the case, then why are you here, watching the stars? You should be concerned about yourself” She frowned, “After all, you could easily fall asleep and get stabbed” She sighed softly, “You are surprisingly well...knowledge about the streets…” She suspected that the boy didn’t have a place to stay, but she couldn’t make him tell her that. So she sighed, and she flicked a glance to him.

“I am not a black widow nor am I a murderer” She said, her voice strong, and slightly annoyed as she bowed her head, and then looked up at the sky. “I…” She what? She hadn’t heard back from Eris, and she didn’t want to be pushy, yet she was worried about her. Cassie didn’t have any experience when it came to this sort of thing, and she bit her lip, sighing again. She seemed to be doing that a lot, lately. A part of her wanted to find Eris, another part of her wasn’t so sure.

She looked back over to Rufus, hesitating. “I...don’t know” She stood there, uncertain. Maybe it was time to be her own person, for once. She gave a small nod, and sat down, hugging herself still, she looked down a moment. And then she quickly sent a message to Eris, unable to help herself.

[quote]
[b]To[/b Eris Reinhardt
From cassandra O’shea
message

Hey, I hope everything is alright with you.

Cassandra[/quote]@KoL

---

"Ah--don't, It's, Just, If you see anyone else from school around, if you could let me know...?"

Erika waved her hands at the red headed girl, a small laugh in her throat at her attempt to help as she could. She rubbed the back of her head, turning to look at the two boys in the small group that had gathered. Should she really be showing herself here, in front of these people, letting them know she's here? Well, at least she held her tongue about who she wanted to meet--that gave her a bit of comfort. She glanced at the boy in red too, smiling her greetings albeit a bit shyly. In the back of her mind, she wondered what Michael was doing right then. Of course, then the boy that smelled like garbage piped up. Preoccupied, she listened to what he had to say as she pulled up her phone and began punching out a message.

To:Chiyo Kuroke
From: Erika Mitsuki
Subject:

I need to meet you. Tonight.

Please.

The hairs on the back of her neck raised, the weight of the purse on her neck seemed to gradually increase. What if she didn't show up at all? What then? After the message had sent, her fingers nervously fiddled with her phone, huffing softly as she stared at nothing. Her attention slowly came back into focus at the end of the dark haired, pretty and gross-smelling boy's monologue.

Erika blinked over in his direction, her eyebrows slowly raising.

"You seem... familiar. Uh, Have we met before?"

The contacts in her eyes felt a bit grainy, causing her to squint. Maybe she should go back to her glasses, she'd accidentally kept her contacts in earlier when falling into Deep Ground with Michael. The red haired boy had spoken up, and she opened her mouth to respond to his inquiry as to whether or not he was intruding when the red haired girl assured him he was not.

Itsuko listened attentively to Moe's theories, wondering if any of them would prove to be valid. That said, the blonde was pretty sure that said idol already had a name in the industry, a debut was likely the last thing that would happen. The idea of a mysterious brawler coming to challenge them and then going out like the wind was cool one, that was undeniable.

“Heh! I would totally like to fight a mysterious brawler. Like one of those fighting manga!” Itsuko said, clenching her fist as a look of determination took her face.

That said, as soon as they got inside the noodle stand, the talk seemed to start to dwindle, being put aside in favor of food. Certainly, the shop's owner gave them an extra large bowl of whatever they choose. Mainly because Itsuko (who nearly never makes food at home) was one of his most loyal customers. Nearly she always picked the most expensive dishes, especially those containing crab or beef, which the blonde seemed to be very fond of.

“What ya think? It's good, ain't it?” Itsuko said as she began to dig her second (or was it third?) bowl, sucking the sweetly spiced innard of a crab's leg. Once she was done chewing the crustacean's flesh with the voracity of a starving tiger, Itsuko let out a sigh of pure bliss, before turning to Moe and asking, “By the way, did ya get to fight DGO today? It was cool, eh?”




When Eins came back she had a small crate in her hands, containing a few bottles of some very traditional German beers. Needless to say, Eris was taken aback by her sister's gift. What Eins had in mind this time?

“E— Eins, you can't,” Eris began to say, before being interrupted by her sister.

“Of course not, Sis...” Eins said, letting out a terse laugh somewhere amid her sentence. “Well, maybe just a bit. We are almost sixteen, anyway. What would be the problem?”

“Look what you are doing, Eins,” Eris said, pointing to Kanbaru. “We have a guest what will she think of us? Well, that and there's the fact that this is not the kind of beer you'd have with food like this. You know that, don't you?”

“Hmm?” the sound that came from Eins' throat was nothing sort of a purr, like a cat content after finally cornering a defenseless little bird. “And how do you know so much about what kind of drink goes with what dish, dear sister of mine?”

“Wha— I didn't—” Eris stuttered as her face became tinged with bright red hue. As soon as she recovered herself, the Younger Reinhardt twin, picked her 'present' from her sister's hands and placed it over the kitchen's counter. “I— I'm as much German as you are! At least I can use that for cooking so... thank you, I guess?”

“Ahem,” Eris cleared her throat, regaining her composure, before turning to both Kanbaru, “I'm sorry for this little comedy skit. Eins is a bit too much... excitable whenever she's home. Anyway, I guess you're right, everything worked out in a way that was almost too perfect in our favor.”

“When I think about it, I should be feeling better,” Eris said, before taking a bite of her food. Her crimson colored eyes almost shone at how good it, before she continued speaking, “Yet, I cannot shake off the feeling that something is missing. Almost as if a piece of something very important had been—”just as Eris was about to conclude her sentence she received a message from Cassandra, which made she almost jump from her place.

“Excuse me just moment. I have to reply to someone very important, sorry,” Eris said as she walked to the corridor, before sending a message back to Cassandra:

To: Cassandra O'Shera
From: Eris Reinhardt
Subject: I'm glad you wrote


Hi, Cassandra.

I'm really glad you finally wrote something. I was starting to get worried that something happened to you, to say the truth.

That said, I'm sorry that I couldn't spend more time with you tonight. I have both my Eins and another guest over here. I'm a bit of bind... I guess? Anyway, let's meet up as soon as possible and, don't feel shy if you want to come here. You still have the key I gave you, right?

Well, I need to go back now. Farewell, Cassandra.

* I'll reply with Emma tomorrow. I just needed to get whatever I could out of the way, to breath a little more live on this RP.

Alex was happily eating a rice cracker when he was shouted at by Yuuno. Shocked he started coughing as a piece of cracker went down the wrong way. Guzzling his tea for relief, Alex took deep breaths and wiped a few tears from as his eyes as he looked at Yuuno.

“I’m sorry, Miss Yuuno. I had no idea that Bel doesn’t age and has always been the Blue King and will always be the Blue King forever more. My point was that people are going to notice when a King doesn’t log in, especially those in the Blue Guild, then the rumours will start.” Sighing and talked about what he thought would happen, as if from experience.

“They will wonder why the Blue King isn’t logging in, why they aren’t receiving orders from her directly, they might even wonder if there has been a coup following recent troubling events. Why else wouldn’t the Blue King log in? No one would make the logical leap to Bel’s current… situation.” Forehead wrinkled up in worry and face still a bit red from the minor choking he suffered at the dastardly shard of rice cracker, Alex finally felt confident to propose something.

“What if Bel… just disappears for a while? We could spread rumours about the White King maybe having done something to her in real life, which for all we know might not even be a lie. It will explain the situation with the Blue King and would leave you, Miss Yuuno as second in command, to direct the guild in Bel’s stead while she actually just gives you instructions.” Scratching his head, Alex looked between Bel and Yuuno before averting his eyes, Yuuno was far scarier than Bel. Even when Bel told him to choke that girl she wasn’t as scary as her when Yuuno defended Bel.

"I just don't see this as something that gets fixed over night. There needs to be some kind of long term plan. As for the Prez? I never saw her or the friend I was told to... well I never saw them leave so the one I didn't touch must have left with her."

@TheWindel@KoL

“Yeah, would be super nice going up against that type,” Moe agreed, “Gotta show those foreigners why Purple Crown is the place with the biggest badasses in DGO.”

Any further discussion about this mysterious idol figure, however, had to wait as the brightly-colored duo entered the noodle stand. Whistling at the advertisement that promised ‘extra large’ variations of anything they wanted, Moe took a deep breath of the aroma next, her stomach gurgling again. It was truly a shame that there wasn’t any sort of ‘food challenge’ advertised, such as finishing an extra-extra-extra large bowl of ramen in 15 minutes, but…well, this was free, so it’s like she already won!

“Master,” she said with a toothy grin, “Gimme the fattiest pork you got!”
Bouncing up and down on her seat as the cleanly-dressed chef got to work with preparations, Moe’s eyes glittered as a plus-size bowl of calories was presented to her, the steam warming her face as she dipped a spoon into the broth and took a sip. Too bland for her tastes…but still amazing! Following that up by dashing chili flakes all over her meal until it was as red as hell, the girl swallowed once before getting to work, slurping away at the spicy hell. No doubt, her weight was going to bear her sins, but…Moe was a growing girl!

Surely all the fat will relocate into her breasts, right?

Letting out a satisfied sigh after finishing half the bowl, Moe turn to Itsuko and realized that the blondie was already onto a next one. Wow. No wonder she had no girl friends. A godly metabolism like that was definitely something worth getting jealous over. Fascinated at how quickly she ate, Moe asked, “Yeah, it’s super good. Gotta share this place on my feed some time, but…wow, you a food eating champion or something? Can’t tell if you can even taste it at your speed.”

“…and tch. Got to fight but also got wrecked. Mannnnn, the speed meta suckssssss.”

She groaned some more, before bringing the bowl to her lips and shutting herself up with some more spicy goodness. At the end of it, there was a creamy red moustache over her lips.

“Seriously though, backliners and dodge-spammers. Super annoying, am I right?”
@KoL

Carnel raised his eyebrows at Rufus' comments. It wasn't every day he heard something like that, and frankly, the more he listened to him, the more he really couldn't imagine someone like him being an actual student at Purple Academy, though the uniform seemed to tell otherwise. Either way, it wasn't his place to judge. "Sounds interesting, but perhaps another time," Carnel respectfully declined.

The girl he bumped into seemed fine as well, though looking troubled by something. Carnel raised his eyebrow slightly when he saw that she was sending a message, but looked away soon after. Although he felt his curiosity rise, he felt it rude to spy on other peoples' messages and decided to respect Cassandra's privacy.

Leaving Cassandra alone for now, Carnel turned his attention towards the last member of the group, the blue-haired, refined-looking girl. In truth, there wasn't much worth noting about her. She was already conversing with Rufus, so there was no chance to speak to her at the time, nor was there a need to interrupt anything there.

Turning back to Cassandra, Carnel said, "Oh, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Carnel Novell. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Carnel also extended a hand towards her for a handshake.

"You....are all weirdoes. Can't even say what's on your minds to a near total stranger." He ruefully shook his head and began to fold up his blanket while tucking the bread back where he'd taken it from. His hand reached back and took out the swiss army knife he'd been balancing in the back loop of his trousers waistline, carefully folding it shut and tucking it away for safekeeping. "Eh, guess I'll have to collect for that blood drive somewhere else now. You people need to get some psychiatric help. Especially you Angus. This level of absent headedness is alarming."

"Oh, before I forget," Rufus remarked as he casually lifted the lid of a park's trash can and hauled his legs over the lip of the bin. "Erika, if you happen to masquerade as a flamboyant mage named Azga the Amazing, then yes, we just met a few hours ago. In hindsight I'm curious how you did what half of that, but oh well. Guess I'll figure it out another time, but for now I really must adjourn to my hunter's blind for the evening. Good night to you all, and you best hurry home. I've been told I sleep walk on occasion and I'm not liable for whatever that maniac Sleeping Rufus does."

After that, he appeared to slide down into the can and replaced the lid in his passing, leaving only the peculiar sounds of feet descending stairs in his wake, but surely a can was just a can, no?

It was best not to look any closer at these things, lest they be alarmed at what they find.

@ReaptheMusic@Caits@Scarifar

"Growin girls gotta eat their share, ain't I right?" Itsuko said, getting a nod from the noodle stand's Master, before slurping down some of the contents of her bowl.

The blonde's eating habits were about as refined as those of a shounen manga protagonist, at least when playing it cool like this. "Also, I need to get stronger if I wanna be like that person." This last statement was delivered in a surprisingly serious voice. However, Itsuko's demeanor was back to normal a moment later as she sunk her fangs in yet another juicy bit of crabby meat, before continuing to eat as normal.

"Gotta go fast, eh?" That was Itsuko's joking answer to Moe's complaints about the sudden rise to prominence of Speed based avatars. Such a reply was, of course, followed by a huge grin, right before the blonde complimented it with, "I get what ya're sayin. Those newbies don't what to do. They just keep splashing round like a Magikarp outta the water."



"Oi!" Emma let out a cry of surprise as the boy she approached pushed her behind some trash cans. What did he mean to do? Something bad, something lewd, maybe even both?

In all likelihood, none. At least judging by the way the redheaded boy quivered just from being in the line of sight of the shark-toothed blonde that was supposedly talking with the duo while being stalked by him.

That said, it couldn't be said that Emma was exactly pleased with this turn of events. The redheaded girl hoped to make that evident by pushing away from the boy and saying, "If that's how you treat every girl on your first encounter, you're never gonna get a girlfriend, y'know?"

"Dirty love may be a thing, after all, but this..." she said, pointing to the trash cans, "is taking it a bit too far, don't ya think?"



"What!? You— I— I didn't mean it like that!" Yuuno said, replying to Alex's more than cheeky statement bout her declaration to follow the Maribel until the end.

"I'll follow Bel-sama or anyone she decides that is the right person to lead the Cobalt Bruisers. I'm no child that thinks that time won't move forward just because I want." The swirl of emotions inside Yuuno was easily noticeable in the way her voice quivered, making her last declaration of, "You don't need to remember me that Bel-sama won't be our King forever..." almost a come out as a whisper.

Yuuno stopped talking once the Blue King asked her and Alex to drop the argument. Instead, she sat back at her place quietly and began wiping her glasses, despite them not being visibly dirty.

Yet, as soon as the dark-haired boy finished explaining his idea for how to deal with this situation, Yuuno would raise her voice again. "Why do we have to do something so contrived? There has to be another way... someone must know how to revert this condition. If it's a bug, an administrator should take care of it, right?" she said, sounding only partially sure of it.

"Also, why do we have to blame the White King? She may have destroyed our city, but didn't do anything that deserves that treatment," Yuuno complimented, before changing subjects rather drastically, "Anyway, I think it's getting late already. We should go back to our homes and figure what to do while we have time. Is that ok, Bel-sama?"




Time goes by and life continues. Eventually, another week came and with it the return to the normalcy of everyday life.

The chill air of a particularly cold late Autumn morning was already hard enough to breathe unless dying of pneumonia was within one's plans. However, the leftover tension from last weekend's events made the atmosphere around Purple Crown even harder. It was almost like trying to breathe through a curtain of lead. Try as one might, the few air molecules that filtered through it were hardly enough to sustain human life.

Here and there, students gathered. Met one another. Went down their way. Filled classrooms. Yet, no matter where you went, for the whole of the day the talk would always be the same.

"Did you hear it? They said that the adults don't care for what happened..."

"'If there's a problem inside Deep Ground, it's their own responsibility to solve it,' they said on the news. 'Our job is only to keep the servers running and punish illegalities...'"

"What a load of bull! And the worse is that... they knew it."

"The Masks knew that no one would give a damn about us. They took advantage of it. Those bastards!"

"Yeah, what you are saying is true, but..."

"Are we really that different? I mean, we are all fighting for our future aren't we?"

"We were the fools to think we could be like that forever. But, not this time..."

"As soon as DGO gets back online, I— we will teach'em who's the real sucker here!"

The mood above would persist through all day and, as if on cue, the weather too was nothing but dark and cloudy.

The corridors of the Academy were almost deserted when a single student made her way to the exit. Eris Reinhardt, the infamous transfer student who's better known by her Deep Ground avatar, Eclipse Princess, the once dreaded Sweeper Hunter who pretty much brought the Ebony Strykers to ruin, before joining the Ivory Masks.

As the Commander-in-Chief of the surprise attack that razed the Blue City, it was an understatement to say that many people hated her. Nevertheless, such concerns were beyond Eris as she finally arrived at her destination, noticing how a crowd of students, cursing their lack of foresight, had gathered under the entrance thanks to the bone-chilling rain that began to pour ominously from the leaden skies up above.

"English umbrellas really are the real deal, uh?" Eris said to herself as she walked under the rain, protected by the accessory that came along with her car. "It's good that I brought it to fix the lining at the Fashion Club room the other day," The Younger of the Reinhardt Twins thought.

Normally, she would go home with her older sister, but today Eins had gone first, to prepare everything to Deep Ground's reboot in a few hours. Having no really close friends other than Cassandra, who Eris missed yet once more today, it wouldn't be too hard to believe that she would do like her sister and go back home.

Nevertheless, the route taken by the platinum-haired girl took her nearly to the opposite direction, towards Murasaki City General Hospital. The small basket of fairly overpriced Japanese fruits (meant to be used as highly appreciated gifts) she had in her hands once she arrived there left no doubts about who Eris meant to visit.

Not long after that, a soft call would come from the door of the room occupied by Yoshino Tsugumi, Purple Crown Academy's Student Council President. Naturally, it was Eris, asking if she could come in.

“Waah, wahh, but this ain’t enough to actually buy anything. You trying to cheese me off with a scam sister?” Dana said with a pointed glare towards Masae. Despite this, she happily took the wad of cash tossed to her and scampered off like the little pariah she was. “Hey thanks sister! Maybe I can pay you back in double the cool later, oh ho! Let’s totes make it a date,” she said with a wink to both girls. They wouldn’t see the elusive Trash Girl for the rest of the weekend.

Back in the Student Council office, Bel idly listened to the words being tossed all around her. Apart from Alex’s analysis and Yuuno’s blatant devotion-maybe obsession?-with her, it was good to see these two had some ideas in mind. “I still have to go to school Jukey,” she pointed out. “Just because I can’t log in doesn’t mean I can skip out. And as for my condition…well, I don’t think the admins are even aware this kind of thing can happen.”

She gave Yuuno an amused but reassuring look. “Besides, I’m with you. I don’t want to blame Chiyo Kuroke, especially since she’s been acting weird lately. I have the feeling whatever I went through…well, it’s just a theory :p The only person I can think of who can fix this in a way that won’t cause attention is Retsu Goroshi. Yuuno, can I trust you to contact her?”

Whatever her answer would be, it wouldn’t matter; events were already being placed into motion. Because as soon as Monday hit the students of Purple Crown Academy, rumor and gossip of the Festival’s bloody, in-game aftermath was becoming the center of attention. In a twist of irony, perhaps, both Yoshino and Chiyo were absent from school; the former being hospitalized and the other for similar reasons.

The former would also greet Eris, though not in the way she may have liked. While although she had awakened from her coma sometime over the weekend, Yoshino looked dead. Eyes glazed over and her head constantly aching, she flitted her gaze at Eris’ arrival with barely a motion of recognition. “What do you want?” she said dully.

---

It was a new day, plagued with yesterday's problems. The lack of adult supervision was an issue indeed, but to many it wouldn't have meant much. It meant something to Thomas, though, and while he wasn't sure exactly what it meant, he had some pretty good guesses. But that was what worried him. Thomas stretched and sighed, mulling over his theories as he sat in the newspaper clubroom. He turned from his laptop and stared out of the window as he reflected on his thoughts. The day outside looked rainy - a somewhat apt reflection of Thomas's mind. Things were getting clouded and he was pretty sure he didn't like where things were headed.

Thomas had stayed behind for a few reasons. He needed to do some work for the club, and he was waiting for a reply from Retsu Goroshi. The second reason was something of an unlikely occurence, he knew that very well. But try as he might, he saw no reason that the... thing would lie to him about a girl he's never met before. Regardless of the specifics it was clear that she had some link to the problems at hand. But he hadn't gotten a reply yet, so Thomas had decided to do some of the leftover work.

Thomas glanced outside idly. He wasn't sure where the rest of the newspaper club were. Finn was gone, either to the basketball club or gone home; probably the latter considering DGO came off maintenance. It would be the same for the rest of the club, particularly those who participated in other clubs. The rest were done with their work and he didn't want to keep them there if they had other things to do, though they were free to stay if they wanted to. Thomas was just editing the articles about the festival, a fairly simple task. Still, it helped him to think about that day and what he heard from the malicious entity that had possessed Maribel. And more importantly, it helped him to think about what to do next.

He honestly wasn't too sure what to do. He didn't want to enter Deep Ground because there was a possibility that he could meet that while he was there, but he knew he'd have to go eventually, if only to prevent a repeat of the festival's events. Thomas scrolled through an article on the student council president's mysterious hospitalization, though it was mostly speculation on what'd caused it. Thomas knew what caused it, sort of, but he hadn't told anyone about it considering the sensitive nature of the event. He wanted to tell Yoshino Tsugumi, but he couldn't do that just yet. She'd been under quite a lot of stress and he wasn't prepared to add more. But the longer he waited, the more risk it carried of damaging Maribel's relationship with the girl. But he couldn't do anything about it just yet.

Thomas shut the article and rubbed his eyes. That was the last of them, so his work was done. He could go home and do his homework, and then... Thomas opened his eyes and stared out into the school yard as it began to rain. He supposed that he couldn't avoid it for long; he'd have to go into deep ground eventually. He had a feeling that something would happen, though as to what it would be, or how large an impact it would have, he didn't know. Thomas sighed and got out of his seat. He took his bag and umbrella and began heading out of the school. He'd have to face DGO and the thing that'd possessed Maribel sooner or later, he just hoped that he'd know more about it before he did.

Masae Kanegawa

The weekend had come and gone, much faster than Masae had hoped that it would. But that was to say that she had not enjoyed it, once the unpleasantness of what had happened because of DGO was left by the wayside. Without that and the fear of getting attacked it was much easier to have some fun, though she would admit that perhaps she had been a bit excessively paranoid on behalf of her friend. After one occurrence she did not want anything to happen again.

Although abbreviated, the spa trip had been fun too. Injured limbs aside the duo had been able to do all sorts of things, such as massages and relaxing in the water, that sort of thing. She had enjoyed it, and she was fairly confident that Aderyn had too. As far as second dates went, it definitely topped the list. It even made her forget about that annoying girl that had harassed them the night of the festival.

But of course life eventually returned, and she had to go home to her apartment. And that, of course, meant more DGO. More bickering, more arguing, more news over the war that had been a disaster for some so far. In spite of her annoyance at what had happened, and her worry for Aderyn, she was still glad that she had chosen to stay out of it, and that her friend had done the same. Nothing good would come from being involved in this fight. She was sure of it.

School had gone fine, aside from the aforementioned DGO stuff, and now she found herself back in the sound booth for the auditorium. The place had not been touched since last Friday, and she had to make sure that everything was still in working order after what had happened. It wasn't like she had anything better to do.

"If I meet the ones responsible, I swear I will beat their head in with a keyboard," she muttered to herself in irritation as she reset the dials on the various boards as well as the sliders. From what Aderyn had said it had not been a long struggle, but stuff had definitely gotten messed up during it. She didn't even really need to fix everything, but she wanted to. Who knew what damage might be lurking in the shadows that would have been missed otherwise.

Thus far however there had not been any major problems, for which she was glad to see. Masae worked quickly, and soon enough she would be done and able to move on to the other important things that she had to do. She was looking forward to it.

“Dirty what? Lass, does it really look like I’m trying to woo anyone here?” Angus argued at the girl’s accusations. “I’m trying to hide and you nearly blew me cover. That’s all. Course it’s probably too late anyway seeing as-”

As Angus took another peek out from behind the trash cans, he was stunned to see Dana was walking away. “Wait, I think she’s leaving! I’m gonna make a break for it. Sorry about the shove.” The boy took a few steps towards the main gate before looking back at Emma, “Oh, and just so you know. If I were trying to seduce you, it wouldn’t be behind some filthy bins. Anyway, cheers.” And with that Angus ran off to his home before anything else could impede him.

@KoL



“Stop! P-please!”

A lone Mask sorceress cried from deep within one of DGO’s forests as two Bruisers, an assassin and a berserker, mercilessly beat the poor girl. Her pleas continued as they struck her over and over again until she could only manage a whimper.

“You’re a weakling and a coward, just like the rest of the Ivories!” The berserker spat at the girl before grabbing her by the hair and lifting her off the ground. “It's time you learn what happens when you wreak another guilds home.”

Throwing the girl to the ground the Bruisers drew their weapons to finally finish the battered sorceress. They were so caught up in their assault of the girl, neither of them noticed the sudden chill in the air around them. Before either could strike the sorceress, a frost wave came from the trees and knocked the duo to the ground. Hindered by the cold effect, they were barely able to recover by the time Reothadh had stepped out of the trees and approached the two.

“Funs over, lads. Now get out of here before I knock you down for good.” Reothadh warned keeping his blade at the ready.

“Tough talk coming from a Ranger.” The assassin mocked twirling her throwing knives around, “We heard your sorry asses got beat by the Harlies. Even when organized your guild can't do shit!”

Reothadh glared behind his visor. “I won't warn you again. Leave!”

“How about we stay and just kill you both!” The assassin yelled before throwing a knife at Reothadh. The knife multiplied in the air creating two clones flying alongside it making dodging them a bit harder. But projectile weapons being his specialty, the tundra knight was able to deflect them with another frost wave which continued and slammed into the assassin reducing her health to the red and applying the cold effect yet again.

Seeing an oportunity, the berserker rushed Reothadh swinging his great sword into the air and bringing it down for a powerful overhead strike. Reothadh brought his own sword up just in time to catch the attack and counter with his own. The two continued to exchange blows, their blades clashing again and again, until the berserker fell for a feigned attack and swung high, leaving him helpless as Reothadh sliced his knees and dropped him to the ground. From there the knight drove his sword through the back of the berserker’s neck, reducing him to a pile of EXP crystals.

Once she recovered, the assassin realized she was out matched and quickly hightailed it out of there, but not before cursing the knight and the Green guild promising they’ll pay. Reothadh simply ignored her and instead turned his attention toward the sorceress who was quivering near a tree.

“Hey, it’s alright, they’re gone now.” He said softly hoping to comfort the girl. He pulled out a health potion from his inventory and handed it to her. After a moment of hesitation the sorceress took it and quickly drank the red liquid. “Mind telling me what you were doing out here alone? It’s not safe to be out without a few friends these days.”

The girl’s grip tightened around the flask as tears began to well up once more. “Those were my friends.” She said, a clear mixture of both sadness and anger in her voice.

“Oh… I see. I’m sorry.” Reothadh said looking mournfully at the EXP crystals that were once the berserker.

“I wasn’t even part of it, you know?” She explained her voice shaking as she tried to fight back the tears. “I wasn’t at the seige at all. They know I wasn’t! I told them when White Sun first declared war that I wouldn’t be a part of any of it! I thought they understood. I thought we were fine…”

Reothadh placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder as she shared her troubles. “I’m sorry for what your friends did, but try not to take it personally. This war has had terrible effects on everyone. The scars from last week’s attacks are still fresh, and the devs response to it all has really struck a nerve. People are angry, and they want to take it out on anything under the green or white banners. Hopefully your friends will come to their senses and try to mend things, but for now, let’s get you somewhere safe.”

Helping the girl to her feet, Reothadh lead her out of the forest and back to the main road. Once there the girl spoke. “Thanks for helping me, but I can make it from here. I just. Need to be alone for a bit.”

Reothadh nodded, “I understand. If you want, there’s a town not too far. Just keep heading West and you’ll see it. Once yer there go to the shop and tell them Reothadh sent you. They’ll hook you up with some better gear so the next time someone crosses yer path, you’ll be able to blast them into oblivion.”

“Hehe. Thanks. I’ll be sure to do that.” The sorceress said before the two headed in separate ways. Before they got far, she called back to the knight, “Hey, do you think things will ever be back to normal?”

There was a pause as the two stood silently in the road. The wind whistled through the trees for what felt like forever before Reothadh finally responded. “I don’t know. But I certainly hope so.”

It was amidst a downpour that the boys and girls of Purple Crown could return to DGO, as though the world were weeping as they departed for digital vistas and illusory adventure. At least, that would have been their typical adventure, had the games not taken such a grim dark turn after the festival.

Yet even with this oppressive haze settling over the fractured student body, the pitter patter of rain upon the glass windows did nothing to douse Kanbaru's spirits as she traversed the halls. Huddled clumps of paranoia were dispersed all around and it didn't take clairvoyance to know a few unsavory glares were sent her way just for not sharing in their concern. At the moment she wasn't even thinking of the game and set aside concerns for the war till it was actually time to do something about it.

"Excuse me, is this the Computer Research Society?" Kanbaru asked, standing in the doorway of her destination. "I'm looking for a student named Kanna. A...mutual friend of ours told me you have some interesting card games with unorthodox stakes, and after listening to Eins high praises I had to come down and see about joining your next game."

@KoL

---

It was raining, and that could only mean one thing for Rufus; It was time to take a shower.

"Oh~ I'm singing in the rain~ Mhmm Mmm Hmm~" A voice with no aptitude for anything lyrical rang out unabashed, belching forth tunes from the depth of his soul as the rapturous waters fell down upon him from above. Truly there were few things as cathartic as being washed by falling water while your fingers ran through knotted hair and wrung everything loose, expunging yourself of life's daily grime.

"I really have to thank whoever lives here for leaving their window unlocked." Rufus remarked to himself as he picked up a half empty bottle of shampoo and dumped it all onto his hair, which understandably took a lot of effort to maintain. He turned up the heat on the faucet, setting the shower head to a scalding temperature that did well in soothing the aches that come with his commute to the student's room on the third story of Purple Crown's dormitory. Rufus hadn't the foggiest clue who lived here, so he had no problem tossing his clothes into the washer while he enjoyed a long soak in the shower.

"Hmm, I wonder what he has in the fridge..."

@Mega Birb

It had been a hectic few days to say the least, though as they say, life goes on. Aaron was no exception, he had continued with his like nothing was out of the ordinary, excepting the ability to make use of Deep Ground to kill time. Now, however, he was on his way to the local hospital.

The weather was fitting, given everything. A lot of people had been getting injured in one way or another lately, there was a war breaking out that no adult could even comprehend, and a whole host of personal problems everyone had at the time were surfacing. The American had made the decision to not break out an umbrella for his walk, and was experiencing one of these problems for himself. His hair was soaked, peacoat slowly getting damper by the minute, and his scarf had managed to get waterlogged by now. All that really mattered was the simple gift in his coat's inner pocket, really nothing more than a whimsical card to bring a little joy around and some take-out to give a change of pace from hospital food.

Upon his arrival and the climbing of several sets of stairs, the boy spotted a certain platinum-haired girl with a notable fascination with maids disappear beyond his destination. She was probably here to sway an opinion, but that gave him a chance to question her afterwards. He approached at his normal pace and knocked on the doorframe, sticking his head in with a hand in his coat. "May I come in? I brought food."

---

---

"Yeah, why'd I choose today to head down to the market? Oh yeah, because you wasted yesterday doing jack shit with Shiro and eating what was left of the snacks..." The blue haired boy mentally kicked himself as his groceries slowly became wetter and wetter. It was almost like the weather had decided to give him one big "Fuck You" today for just doing his thing. Well, this is what he got for waiting till the last moment to go out and pick up snacks and ingredients for meals. Well, at least he wouldn't have to cook for anyone else today.

About half an hour of trudging through the rain later, he found himself mistaken. With the jiggling of a set of keys, he pushed open his door and heard the shower running. His eyes narrowed as he closed it behind him with a foot, then moved to the kitchen and set down the plastic bags that housed his damp sustenance for the week. Making no effort to hide the noise, he threw open a cabinet beneath the counter and pulled out a frying pan. Cliche, yes, but it was equally as effective. "Hmm... feels weird. It's not a tome or a sword, but it'll have to do." He bounced the weapon in his hand to get a feel for its weight as he advanced on the bathroom. His left hand closed on the doorknob and he shouted over the running water.

"You have ten seconds to get dressed before I beat your head in!" True to his word, after the seconds passed, the door would fly open and Jiro would barge in, pan brandished.

---

---

Still on her crutches and screwed for the moment without an umbrella, Aderyn hobbled along through the halls of Purple Crown Academy with her crutches. She was looking for her girlfriend, namely Masae, as she had the thing that would get both of them home for the day. On the way, however, she noticed a boy she hadn't seen in quite awhile. "Thomas? It's been awhile, you seen Masae anywhere?" She stopped and waved at the boy, a habit since she was usually dwarfed by most crowds. It was easily the biggest disadvantage of being short.

Little did Masae know, there was something far worse than damage lurking in those darkened corners. As she turned, out of the corner of her eye she would glimpse it. A figure hunched over in the shadows, stabbing at something there with some kind of thin implement. If Masae came closer, she would notice the figure had pale skin and blue hair hidden by his hood. What exactly he was doing also became apparent.

The implement was a fork, and in the figure's other hand was a sizable plate of spaghetti.

Almost every hole on the speaker was plugged with a sizable helping of noodles and meatballs. And it wasn't just a normal eating bowl either, it was a small serving bowl and there was still a lot left. But now the figure had noticed Masae. It tilted its head, as if studying Masae. Eyes probing for who knows what. A creepy smile spread over its face, and then it collapsed forward, spaghetti and fork falling to the floor.

---

@Flamelord

Thomas stopped in his tracks as he heard his name before turning towards the source of the call. He'd never considered himself a particularly memorable person, which is why it surprised him when he saw someone he didn't recognize right off the bat. People didn't tend to call his name unless they had business with him. He was pretty sure there weren't many people that knew he was the head of the newspaper club. Not like he advertised it, but still. The fact that what was almost a stranger called out to him made him suspicious.

The girl was vaguely familiar. The crutches seemed like they would leave an impact. He was sure he'd seen her somewhere before, although not particularly closely, as far as he could remember. And Thomas could never remember much about others outside of his personal circle of friends. Acquantences tended to go fuzzy after he stopped thinking about them, and with this girl in particular, he was drawing a blank.
"...Sorry, but do I know you?" Thomas asked.
@Mega Birb

Masae Kanegawa

With a sigh Masae cracked her knuckles as she took a break from working. She was almost done here, and was looking forward to getting on with other stuff. Maybe the Computer Research Club if there was anyone still there by the time she arrived. She did share a bit of common interests after all, the recent festival aside.

She was about to get back to work when she caught something out of the corner of her eye, a figure that looked like it was stabbing something with a sharp object, or was about to. Her body tensed in panic as she came about, grabbing the nearest blunt instrument that she could find for self defense - the microphone stand that she had previously used to help brace Aderyn's leg. If somebody thought they were going to get the jump on her they would be sorely mistaken, even if she had not been accepting something so bold this soon after the attack.

Being able to see who it was did not bring more comfort, merely confusion. She was relieved that it was not an attack, but that left her wondering why somebody had decided to stake out the sound booth so he could eat spaghetti. Come to think of it had this guy just arrived? She didn't recall seeing him when she had first shown up here.

"Can I help you?" she asked aloud with evident suspicion. Seriously, this was way too weird for her to treat normally. Yet she didn't get an answer either as the guy collapsed, apparently unconscious. After a moment she let herself relax, putting her impromptu weapon down before stepping over to see whether he was alright or not. It was hard to feel anything besides confusion, even if she should have been worried for him. But a quick check reassured her that he was fine, just tired or something.

With yet another sigh she decided that she couldn't just leave him lying there on the floor. With grit teeth she lifted him up, placing him in one of the other chairs before sitting back down to return to work while waiting for him to wake up. "I seem to be lifting people a lot these days." Hopefully this wouldn't become a habit or something.

@RoflsMazoy

“All’s fair in love and war” was what happened to DGO. Unrelenting Jukebox watched players that would have otherwise been ignored being ganked in the street with the excuse “It’s War” or “They looked like a spy” being used. Well, it was PvP, but now people acted as if they were some kind of hero for dropping someone to level 3.

“Shameless, coming up with excuses to stab someone in the back. War makes everyone a hypocrite I suppose... well I don't think I'm any exception to be fair.” Cracking his neck he turned away from the edge of the Faded City’s skyscraper making sure his rope was tied firmly around his waist and looped it around the railing. Leaning out backwards, Jukebox let the rope hold his entire weight and checked his pistol once more for what felt like the 100th time and began abseiling down the skyscraper’s exterior. Reaching the floor above the one he was looking for, he put on a monocle and activated its special effect changing the name above his head to [NULL] blurring his features so they were indistinguishable and equipped a bright white cape and top hat.

An avatar for an avatar, I wonder how silly this seems? Well, time to start the fun Looking to the floor below, Jukebox saw shadows moving. A smile spread over his face, hidden behind the item effect. Swinging down, Jukebox fired three times at the window before smashing through. Two bullets piercing the window hit a player square in the face while the third hit a fire extinguisher, filling the room with foamy smoke. Shards of glass glittering like stars behind him in the Faded City’s night, music filled the room, only adding to the confusion.



Running through the room and picking out silhouettes through the smoke, Jukebox began. A knife swung in time with the music, each laceration cleaving through a player’s health bar until he finally fell leaving behind precious EXP. Ducking down and rolling right, further into the room as bullets flew from an SMG where he once stood. Jukebox stopping at the boots of another player stabbed his knife into the ground, through a player’s shoe and pinning them while he rolled up into a crouch. Gun barrel below the jaw, Jukebox emptied an entire clip and the player fell to precious gems of EXP.

“What the fuck are you doing?! We’re in the same Guild!” a voice screamed through the smoke, a hand swiping in front of the female player’s face, stopping suddenly as a gleaming silver barrel was aimed right between her eyes. The white Jukebox was wearing obviously causing the assumption that he wasn’t inclined to correct.

“I’m just playing the game, like you’re supposed to. Everyone seems to have forgotten that. You don't need a reason to play a game.” The gun whipped the side of her head before being fired at the ceiling light plunging the room into darkness and kicking the girl out the window to the street stories below. Before other players could burst into the room, Jukebox pulled on a book and the bookcase swung open. Snatching the necklace off of the bust hidden within, Jukebox planted himself against the wall as a player rushed in.

Shooting them twice from behind, Jukebox grabbed the female player and running with her and jumping out the window he entered through, aiming for the building across the street smashing through the window, albeit about nine stories lower, and tumbled to the floor, on top of the girl briefly before she dissolved into EXP as he was left with barely 10% of his health left.

[QUEST COMPLETE] – Faded City’s Pandora Ruby Acquired
Result:
Stealth: 20%
Improvisation: 77%
Ingenuity: 50%
Style: 95%

Removing the mask and the white outfit, Jukebox chuckled as he healed himself and left the room he found himself in.
“Well, quest done. Hopefully with the added bonus of messing with White Guild just a teensy little bit.”

Cassandra read the message from Eris, sliding her hands into her pockets, her right gently curling around the key, something she wasn’t going to lose, it suddenly felt heavy in her pocket. While she knew that was an invitation more than anything, Cassandra didn’t want to screw things up for Eris, so she didn’t know whether or not to go over there. She sighed softly to herself, and shook her head a little wearily, to herself. She looked over as Carnel turned to her, and gave him a polite smile as he introduced himself. She raised an eyebrow at him however. “Carnell Novell? That’s an interesting name, for sure” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she blushed. carnel novel was so different to the name, yet they had just come out without her even thinking them.

She just couldn’t seem to not embarrass herself around new people. She cleared her throat, and accepted his hand, “Uh, I’m sorry. I’m Cassandra O’shera” She glanced over at Rufus, and smiled slightly “What’s the point of being normal? It’’s so boring” She said ruefully, and felt a little bit better. As he disappeared, she shook her head, chuckling “And he calls us weird” She said, taking the chance to head on home, she said goodbye to them, before doing so, deciding that she should just head home for the night.

---

Cassandra, wrapped up in a massive winter jacket, and mile long scarf, trotted outside the school grounds, and away, seeming to have a destination in mind, when really, she had no idea where she was going to go. She hummed to herself, and walked down the street, not really afraid of getting sick. She had just been spending a lot of her time in doors, and wanted to be outside, even for a little bit.

Maybe she was crazy. Maybe she was. All she knew as that….

Well, she didn’t know much really. She reached up, going to run a hand through her hair, but stopped and smiled at herself when she realised that she was wearing the blue snow cap with a snow flake on it. She chuckled at herself, and continued on her way. She stopped at a shop, getting a hot chocolate, she continued on her way. A lot had happened, and yet...part of her couldn’t think that maybe a lot hadn’t.

She didn’t know what to do right then, and her feet took the somewhat familiar path to Eris’s, her mind filled with stuff she didn’t particularly want to think about, Cassandra sought out comfort, even if she wasn’t aware of it.