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⬣//SPREAD, CONTAMINATE, ERADICATE
You've had a chance to adapt to your new circumstances and make peace with what your life has become… hopefully. If you haven't, don't expect life to get any easier.
A few things have changed in recent days. Healing no longer works as effectively as it did in the past. If you're in the habit of behaving recklessly, don't expect one of Fragment's few healers to pick up the slack. Broken bones will now remain broken no matter how many healing spells are cast on your shattered limbs. Damage to organs can't be repaired with the wave of a wand.
What's more, HP and SP restoring items have gotten harder and harder to come by. Potions are no longer available for purchase at generic NPC shops and gatherable items needed for crafting have become fewer and fewer in number, limiting your item making options. If you've gotten into the bad habit of injuring yourself heedless of the consequences, it's time to rethink your lifestyle. Playtime is over.
Think of the three core memories that have formed and shaped the person you are today. Some will think back fondly on family and friends while others have been jaded by the ill treatment they've received from important figures in their lives. In any case, it's of little concern to you now. One of those three precious memories has vacated your mind, taking with it a vital piece of you that you can no longer get back.
You may choose one of the three key memories listed on your application to be taken away from your character. Choices are limited to the memories supplied in your application and additional memories submitted for the previous memshare event or not eligible for convenient plot-induced memory loss. Choose wisely, because you aren't getting it back.
And Sky Fish, and Disco Knives, and Evil Armors…
Has anyone noticed the monsters around town lately? Which town, you may ask? The answer is all of them.
Monsters have invaded Root Towns in large waves, attacking anything and everything in sight. Any lovingly crafted signs or other furnishings you've erected around town are easily torn to shreds and destroyed by the monsters who have come to roost in your once safe Root Towns. On the plus side, PvE and PvP has now been enabled in all Root Towns, which is excellent news for those who wish to combat the monster invasion and those who can't seem to help hurting themselves and others.
These monsters range in level from 50 to 75, and while many of them can be defeated with a bit of ingenuity and teamwork, some of them boast impenetrable shields that no regular attacks or spells can break through. They are also immune to status/potion/armor effects.
When in doubt, turn to your fellow players for support. There may be some among you who know how to deal with these impossibly strong monsters, but there's no guarantee that they'll want to help you.
A lilting, boyish voice sings to you in your sleep. His voice sounds familiar to you, tickling your heart like a call from an old friend, but this is no friend of yours.
"You had every chance to abandon this world and return to your own. What stopped you? Was it ego? Hubris? In any case, it's too late for regrets now.
They say the world is what you make of it. Doesn't the same hold true for reality?"
The voice will periodically visit you and your sleep, but the moral of his message never changes: you did this to yourself. You were trapped here because you chose to look the other way. If anyone is to blame for the current situation, it's you and you alone, but there is a̸̬̲͔̘͈͚̠̫̘̬̗̖̋͑̉̓̿͛̈́̋͐̃̾̈̕̕ͅń̵̩̱̠̫̖̬̲̻͉̝̈́̀̀̚͜͜o̴͍͎̣͔̤̝̲͍̺̿̒t̴̨͚͓͍̜̮̥͊͑̿̈́̉̂̐͜͠͝h̷̨̨̦͕͖̙̞͙̗̗͎̬͛̂̾̋̅͜͜͝ȩ̸͎̭̙̜̯͎̯̳̮̘̲͒ȑ̸̡̧̢͓̠̦͙͇͍͎̭͑̈́̓̿̓̅̑̅̌͑̈́̕͝͝ ̴̧̼͕̟̬̰̞̮̗͔͈̬̙͍̈́̀w̵̗̖̩̘͇͖̲̩̫̣̗̙̲̌͜a̷̛͎͋͑̃͛̆̈̋̑̋͠y̴̡̬͕͈̗̫̯̟̯͊͐̌̀̐͑͘͝͝.
Another h̶̦̘̤̘͐͑̿̂̏̎͋͝o̴̧͖͚̖̜͓͂̏́͒̑̈́͝͝p̶̡͙̏̉̿̎̀̑́̈̆͌̉e̷̡̡̦̣̯̘̺͍̟̰͍̤͛̀́̚͝͠. Will you heed that voice and call to it?
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[Matoba gazes down at their linked hands as he's led along, a perplexed expression on his face at the joining. Such a strange expression of touch this is from a man like Hien- but he doesn't dislike it. He follows along as they approach the main shrine building, the treasure set at the altar in the back, and the front of the building crowded, guarded, by a gang of Thousand Trees. Unlike the sacred trees around the dungeon, these ones weren't spirits- just monsters.]
Are you going to smack the trees around? [Matoba jokes, detaching his hand to flip his grimoire and cast pillars of flames under the trees with a GiVak Rom.]
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[ Honestly? Wouldn't put it past Hien. Before he goes to do his thing, he casts SP regen, physical defense buff and a speed buff to Matoba and himself. Speed buffs are pretty handy, as seen with how Hien zips all the way to where the Thousand Trees are and bludgeons them to the clock end of the staff. Perhaps it's the difference of levels, but he's just tearing through the bark of the trees like they're nothing... ]
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[It's a good time. They have fun.]
Is this what they call 'barking up the wrong tree' in English, I think...? [His fingers drift in the air with another spell blasting the trees that go scrambling to get away from Hien again.]
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He's kinda like a dog coming back to its master... ]
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[Matoba's got some nicks and cuts here and there from the trees' sharp leaves and branches, maybe, but for the most part he's doing just fine. The top-up is still appreciated... so Matoba leans up to press his lips into Hien's.] For a job well-done.
Let's collect our spoils and ... Well, why bother going back? Might as well stay a while.
[He glances around at their surroundings- even if a little bit of them are kind of... on fire now. He'll just cast a quick GiRue Kruz to extinguish some of it.]
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Hien feels pretty great about it, even if it doesn't really show on his face. He looks over at the surroundings, watching Matoba extinguish the fire. ]
What kind of chair do you want? A table too.
[ Admin privileges are strong... ]
Or if you feel like you want to camp out here [ lol ], I can set up something like a campsite too.
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[Matoba stretches out with a pleased smile on his lips and sits himself on the stone steps for the time being, looking back down over the tops of the dungeon trees and the meadows below. Even if it was all fake, it looked nice... and the fake afternoon sun in the sky was starting to get lower. They'd have a nice smattering of stars overhead if they stayed into the shift to night.]
How about... one of those big standing tents? The tall ones that have enough room to put a little cardtable and folding chairs into, besides the bedrolls.
[Chin propped in his hands, he turns to grin at Hien.] Have you ever grilled over a charcoal fire?
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I have.
[ Hien codes all that into existence where they should be properly set. It doesn't take him that long either, since he could just modify the existing camp assets. He even gets out a charcoal grill. ]
You want some barbecue?
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[Matoba rolls up again and enters his own UI, changing his armor from his powerful new suit-looking set and into a fluffy, weak Bathrobe "armor". But hey; it's comfy. He plops himself down into one of the camping chairs, pleased at the creature comforts Hien has provided.]
That'd be fun. Skewers over a charcoal grill; even I can do that. ...Probably. Maybe some chicken skewers with miso paste? [Of course, Matoba thinks of yakiniku, not American-style BBQ...]
And of course, if we are camping, we must make s'mores.
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[ Hien sounds surprised that s'mores exist in Japan, apparently. And the "even I can do that", yeah let's not. ]
... And I'll handle the grill.
[ He makes a small fire pit and lights it while giving Matoba all the smores ingredients. ]
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[Because that's totally how it'll work in reality, right?? Anyway, Hien has zero confidence in Matoba's cooking ability and he's right to do so. Matoba doesn't take it personally, though- he just leans back and raises his hands, innocent.]
Haha, well, if you insist....
[He's happy to just eat!! Yes, cook for him, grill slave.]
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... ]
They seem delicate, so I'd most likely break them.
[ He glances over at Matoba. He's not gonna burn himself, right?? ]
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[And so: Matoba delicately picks up one of the skewers from Hien's BBQ set, and loads a bunch of marshmallows onto it. It should be easier to just do a bunch at once, right??]
[He holds them over the fire for a while, but... Well, no one ever said that Matoba Seiji had the most patience. Or the greatest attention span. So once the front marshmallows start to melt, he tries to hover the next ones over the fire, but--]
Ah-- [The first set start melting and drooping into the fire pit. Matoba reaches forward at first to try and catch them, but yanks back when his sleeve almost trails into the flames. And now all of his other marshmallows are melting off!!]
[Help, Hieeennnnnn]
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Don't try to catch melting marshmallows with your hand. [ Yes, he saw that. ] You'll get burned.
[ He takes the skewer with all the melting marshmallows and slides them off onto several graham crackers, places the small chocolate bars with a second cracker at the top. Voila. S'mores. ]
This is hot too, so take care when you're eating them. Do you want me to show you how you roast a marshmallow properly?
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I know that, [Matoba mutters under his breath (you saw shit!!), but he gives over the skewer to Hien to allow him to prepare the s'mores properly. Everything is already lined up nicely in readiness to be melted with each drop of marshmallow, so Hien can easily just cascade them on and top them.]
[Matoba tugs over one of the small plates for himself, eager, and frowning again as he pauses at Hien's second warning.] I know. [Even though he was totally about to just take a big bite. Fine, he'll blow on it first!! Hmph.] What is "properly"? You just hold it over the fire.
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[ Hien absolutely has the potential to be the mom friend, but it's tossed into the wind now... Hien tells Matoba how to properly roast a marshmallow. You gotta time it and stuff!!
Either way, he puts the cooked meat on a different small plate so that Matoba can eat these before returning to the grill to cook some more meat. ]
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[He is a little spoiled, after all.]
[Just look at that, already has his dinner and his dessert. Matoba is satisfied as he settles in to eat, watching Hien go back to the grill to work at his own food.]
Where did you learn all this? [He mumbles through a chicken skewer.]
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[ He finishes more chicken skewers with touches of miso on them to give to Matoba before returning to the grill. ]
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[Matoba blows gently on his chicken and snarfs two pieces down off the stick.]
Vagrants tend to be some of the best informants we have. So it doesn't necessarily surprise me that you were able to sneak into such places. [Matoba cleans off his skewer, then picks up one of the s'mores.... It's so sticky that strings of marshmallow are left on his fingertips as he tries to stuff the whole thing into his face, crumbling and gooey mess everywhere. Ahh, but so delicious.......]
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[ He finishes cooking more pieces of meat and chicken skewers, so he turns the grill off and comes back with the rest of the food. Here you go, hubby. Hien even gets out a napkin to dab areas around Matoba's mouth to clean him. ]
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[It was attractive. And it reminded him, again, of an echo of something he can no longer remember.]
[It has him withdrawn and thoughtful for a moment before he blinks out of it by the surprise of Hien dabbing at his... face??] Wh't're you-- [Pfft. He can't help it. He turns his head away as he starts giggling.]
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[ There's no way Matoba is ticklish, right? Around the mouth?? Hien will shelf that thought for later... anyway, face cleaning take 2. ]
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[Matoba frowns with consternation as Hien grabs him again and just... lets him... If this is what makes Hien happy....]
...I'm just going to get it gooey again with the next one I eat.
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It's sweet.
But he settles into his own seat and starts eating chicken off the skewers. Yummy... ]
... What's it like to live in the mountains? Did you like the location?
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Mmm?? Boring, honestly, haha. [Answering around a crumble of graham cracker, Matoba licks his lips.] But that's a charm to it, too. Compared to the city...
Peace isn't something we ever really had. It was all false, protected on the backs of our family. But it was a nice illusion.
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