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⬣//BLOSSOMING FROM A GAP IN THE ASPHALT.
A new Root Town has been revealed: Naval Monte, a tiered city built upon a mountain jutting up from an endless expanse of ocean. These fortified walls house an innumerable number of NPCs who, unlike those which occupy other Root Towns, are quite a bit more advanced.
Those of you who spend entirely too much time logged in have no doubt noticed the set patterns the NPCs of Mac Anu and Lumina Cloth take to move from area to area. Their paths never change. Their dialog rarely diverges. Talking to a freshly painted wall would be more stimulating than conversing with your run of the mill NPC, but Naval Monte's are different.
They move in accordance with their own whims, seldom found in the same place twice. Some NPCs have entire families while others boast elaborate backstories and speak at length of their tales of bravery and triumphs over evil. While they won't accept your party invites, they may instead invite you to share a meal with their family and regale you with stories until you've had your fill.
Travel far enough into the depths of the city and you'll hear tales of a graveyard that sits within the core of the mountain, but the NPCs who guard this elusive site are defensive at best. Don't expect them to let you in, but given their advanced nature, you may be able to wheedle some valuable information out of them.
Be aware that there is a price to enter Naval Monte. After crossing the vast bridge leading right up to the mountain city, you'll be accosted by no less than a dozen eager vendors fighting to peddle their wares to you. Some are so desperate that they ask only for a single GP, and in exchange, they grant you passage to the city.
Ask them why they're so desperate to make a sale and they'll answer plainly: if you don't, the curse will persist.
Come Saturday morning, an email flagged as urgent pops up in your inbox.
To our beta team,
It has come to our attention that a number of our beta testers have failed to report previous underlying health conditions that may negatively impact their ability to perform their duties as intended.
In our ongoing efforts to monitor the health and safety of our beta testing team, all participants in Fragment's closed beta test will be required to complete a health screening before the date of September 16th in order to continue participating in the beta.
Beta participants will be matched with a health professional in their area and the fees for their screening and assessment waived. As such, it is necessary that you make an appointment with the medical professional assigned to you or select another from within our network.
No exceptions will be made for those who fail to submit their health assessments to CyberConnect's Health and Human Resources department. Termination from Fragment's beta testing program and applicable legal action will be taken in the event that you fail to participate in these necessary steps.
We take the health and safety of our beta testers very seriously. If you have any concerns, please contact us at cccorp.ccmail.com.
Thank you for your continued efforts,
CyberConnect Corporation of Japan.
Murmurs of an unusual NPC have begun to circulate within Naval Monte.
According to eye witnesses, one of the local residents has "gone rogue". According to them, a woman with dishwater eyes and hair messily pulled into a loose bun has been spotted going door to door begging to be let in.
"We need to go," she shouts, her eyes glossy with tears, her every word slurred. "We'll be safe there! We'll be free! We can't live like this anymore!"
From what you've heard, that woman has managed to break free from the confines of her native Root Town and has been seen running through the streets in Mac Anu, Lumina Cloth, and the nameless Root Town in the sky. You may have even come across her, accosted in the street and urged to listen to her increasingly erratic ramblings.
"I need you to take me there! Take me to him! His father left the key within him!"
Ultimately, nothing you say or do will influence the woman's behavior or calm her down. All you'll get for your troubles is an ill feeling in the pit of your gut, something that blooms from within you and spreads infinitely outwards. An infection you can't cure.
You won't realize that the infection has begun to spread and mutate until you see it blossoming all around you, your fellow testers complaining of an unidentifiable malaise. You'll know what afflicts you and everyone you've infected when it's far too late to do anything about it. Until this unfortunate "bug" is patched, you'll continue to get sicker and sicker. The progression of the illness is as follows:
Stage one: The complete inability to lie, but is that really a bad thing? We could all stand to be more honest and communicative.
Stage two: The loss of one of your key senses, but only one. Maybe it's your sense of smell. Your keen tongue. Your vision. Whatever it is, it's a vital part of you that won't return to you until you log off, but when you next log in, you may find that a different sense has gone missing instead.
Stage three: Disconnect from your real world body. You'll realize after several days have passed that you can no longer feel your real self as keenly as before. You may not realize you've slapped yourself in the face or knocked a tooth out on the edge of your desk until you log out for the day and witness the extent of the damage.
Final stage: Memory loss. Your head feels foggy. Concentrating becomes a struggle, your thoughts sluggishly crawling through your mind and and ultimately losing their way. In the final stages of the illness, you may forget to log out for days at a time and wake to find yourself passed out on the floor with your headset jostled loose, inadvertently freeing you from the game.
The "cure," aside from a timely patch, may hide somewhere within the game. Before your senses leave you, you'd better start asking around.
As many of you know, it isn't easy to get ahold of CyberConnect when you need them. Hien is, at best, completely useless. Pete isn't much better. It's for these reasons and more that players have been invited to a digital conference and encouraged to give a voice to the rising concerns within the beta testing community.
The conference is to be held, both ICly and OOCly, on September 23rd at 12PM EST. If you have any burning questions to ask the people who hold power and influence over the state of the game and what happens within it, you can't afford to complain about timezones. This is your opportunity to speak your mind and have those questions answered.
OOCly, the conference will begin on September 23rd at 12PM EST and end on October 7th at 12PM EST. During this time, your characters can ask whatever questions they'd like of CyberConnect corporate staff, bring up concerns, and provide insights on their beta testing experiences.
Participation is mandatory (ICly), so set your alarms and don't be late!
Hello, everyone! Sorry I was away for a while. I got stuck in an outer level of the game and it took me a week to get back, but I should be just fine now! I hope I didn't miss anything too serious...
I did see that all of you have worked hard on those recipes, though! I liked all of them so much that I've added each of them into the game so that everyone can make their own. Congratulations!
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And yet... ]
You know, I felt similarly. I've always been worried about being a burden.
[ To the point that he would reject help over and over. ]
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[ Maybe, even if outwardly their personalities are different, and they sometimes have different motivations and hold themselves in various respects that make it clear they are their own individual people who can't be considered on a glance to be similar, there are things that are very much on the level of 'same'. This being one of them. ]
...What helped you get a beyond that, even just a bit? People you met here?
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[ Letting people in is a real struggle when he has wall upon wall built up high enough that they're nearly impossible to scale. ]
A few people here have helped, though, that much is true.
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I feel the exact same.
[ Ganymede doesn't think he opens up all that easily even still, but...he has made progress. That's better than nothing. ]
...For all of the things that have happened in this game, even this, right now, I'd like to think meeting the people here might have done more good than bad.
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[ But this isn't a thought he applies only to the beta, either. It's something he's told himself over and over again through the years. ]
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And for awhile, he wasn't sure of the answer. Even when he committed to closing behind that past. To pretend that it never once bothered him once again. But, because of the fact he never truly reconciled those things before he came here...that might be why he didn't have an answer.
Until now, he thinks. ]
Well, it looks like we're once again aligned. But this time, it doesn't feel so surprising.
[ It feels good, that someone he knows can think the same way. ]
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[ It makes Fai feel like someone can see him, can truly perceive him and the way he thinks and all the walls he's put up. Where his heart would normally pound in his chest and his stomach would turn, he... doesn't feel that. Not here, not now. ]
I'm not so scared with you, though. I wonder why that is.
[ Maybe it's the level of trust he's begun to grow with Ganymede.
It's a nice feeling. ]
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[ That sounds a little arrogant but it feels like it's true. A lot of the people he met in his real life just...think differently. He never met many who had the same line of thought until he played the game. So it's always so surprising.
Or, well, it had been for awhile. Did he think it'd last for long? No and there'd be no point to letting people get that close. He did fine on his own. But now...it's certainly different. ]
Maybe it's because it's what confiding in people is about. It doesn't feel like it's something worth a feeling of apprehensiveness, talking about these things with other people. Or...or...like it's a mistake.
[ And definitely not because Fai is a beanpole and he is smol. ]
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I'm usually afraid it's a mistake, even if I do trust someone. But I think I'm beginning to trust you enough not to feel that way.
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...Yeah. It also doesn't feel like you would take advantage of that either.
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No, I'm too weak to ever take advantage of anything like that.
[ His heart is too kind to ever do something awful like manipulate Ganymede for his needs. ]
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[ Ganymede knows well not to judge by appearances, but Fai has a good soul that reflects on his face and in his eyes as well. ]
And I think that makes you stronger for it. Those who take advantage are the weak ones.
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[ He likes that, but that's one of the things he's always liked about Ganymede—he has conviction. ]
I used to wish I could take advantage of others for my own gain, you know. Not so much anymore, though.
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[ Once he's set on something or other, that's it. This included.
That being said, when he says what he does, he blinks a little bit. Though, Ganymede doesn't hold judgment towards Fai for that. For him to say that at all, he must really hold a great trust in that, and it's clear already the both of them have made mutual long strides from being in a dark place.
Even if the road ahead is still long. ]
...What changed your mind?
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I think helping others achieve their own goals is what changed my mind, as silly as it sounds. [ It certainly sounds ridiculous leaving his mouth. ] I picked up tutoring to pay my bills a couple of years ago, and I found myself often staying over my allotted time just to make sure a student could pass a test... I would schedule free sessions if a student was sick and needed help catching up. Somewhere along the line, I realized I liked assisting people more than anything else.
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[ Ganymede still thinks it's nothing to scoff at; maybe even a bit amazing. There are some others out there that even when claim to be helping people, they certainly can't think of anything nice about it, or pretend they are assisting when they're not. ]
I think it's a good thing too. That's a sort of kindness people take for granted. But in the world [ The real one, but maybe this too. ] that sort of compassion isn't always given.
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[ He looks away, seemingly spacing out for a moment or two before glancing back over at Ganymede. ]
People take advantage of kindness and see it as weak. They'll always try to see what they can get away with, how far they can stretch someone's ability to forgive and forget.
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[ The bitterness slips into his tone so easily, but he doesn't let it flow all too easily. He's sure out there that would be giving a certain someone too much satisfaction, whether or not he's actually dead. ]
It's easy to fall back on that too, when it's always everywhere. So it's easier to expect the worst. But, that's not all there is to the world.
The fact makes it more bearable. When I can see those things myself.
[ As cynical as he is. ]
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[ He smiles, understanding every bit of bitterness dripping off of Ganymede's words. While Fai only lets it slip in rare instances, he understands it wholeheartedly nevertheless. ]
I'm always surprised when I see it, but it heals me all the same. It's strange how it manages to overpower all the bad I see.
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[ Strange, but somehow comforting. But by this time, Ganymede thinks that they have circled the topic well enough.
Not without coming upon revelations, though all the same he wants to see if he can manage to log off somehow, or other things. ]
I think I should get going now. But, it wasn't bad talking to you. Hopefully we can both find a way to have things be as they should sooner than later. And then give a certain few someones a piece of our minds.
[ Which he's sure they will. Ganymede has no idea of the unfortunate future that awaits them both, but...right now? It'll be fine. ]
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I look forward to the choice words you'll give at the conference. [ With a tilt of his head, Fai smiles. ] I'll back you up, whatever it is. I'm sure we're of the same mind there.
[ And with that, he'll wave Ganymede off! ]