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⬣//JUST AS A SEED TAKES ROOT.
A team of four courageous adventurers managed to unearth a secret Area unique from the others: the Hulle Granz Cathedral. Unlike other Areas, this one is lacking all the usual monsters, dungeons, and treasure. What might the purpose of this Area be, then...?
Well, if you’re feeling penitent or perhaps wish to hold a sermon of your own, head to Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground and knock yourself out. What? Too soon?
Anyway, be not afraid! The cathedral is perfectly safe. Following Ganymede’s little incident in the cathedral, a timely email has been sent out to beta testers regarding health and safety that reads as follows:
To our beta team,
Please exercise caution when playing video games for extended periods of time. Take breaks every thirty minutes and do not sit in the same position for more than two hours at a time. Remember to stay hydrated and play in a well-lit environment.
Failing to take care of your health while gaming can result in a litany of health complications, including but not limited to eye strain, muscle fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and involuntary loss of consciousness and motor functions.
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.
Guilds have been patched into the current version of Fragment and are now available for players to create their own and join others. While some guilds have opted to go the private route, others are in need of players to fill their ranks!
The admins have kindly supplied those recruiting for their shiny new guilds with a number of goodies to aid in their player gathering efforts:⬣ A bundle of personalized flyers proudly displaying their guild logo and a description of the guild’s @ home and available amenities.
⬣ Party poppers and streamers. Nothing screams “join my guild!” like a face full of glitter, confetti, and colorful strips of ribbon.
⬣ A megaphone that lets your voice echo far and wide, even across Root Towns and Areas, but with great potential for abuse comes restrictions! The megaphone can only be used five times before it breaks. Use it wisely!
⬣ A unique recipe for a cocktail, latte, tea, or other type of beverage that can be blended up and served in little sample cups to court potential members. These drinks are unique to their guilds and, when consumed, have a special effect that reflects the leader of that guild. Is your guild leader a pretty cheerful guy? Drinking their special brew will make you feel happy too!
Whatever effect your guild’s drink has is up to the leader’s discretion, but if you so desire, drop a comment under the questions top level and we’ll brew one up for you.
Additionally, you may host a guild open house and invite potential guildies into your @ home to let them take a look around! Guild @ homes are typically locked to guild members & their guests only, so use this as your opportunity to put your best foot forward and impress the world with everything your guild has to offer.
Also arriving with the newest update are mountable Grunties! Aren’t they cute? ...Well, they’re someone’s definition of cute.
While the ability to ride around town and in Areas at 2x speed is certainly alluring, you can’t just walk up to the Grunty Ranch located in each Root Town and take one out for a stroll. If you want a mount of your very own, you’ve got to commit! Becoming a proud Grunty owner means you must first become a proud Grunty parent, and to do that, you’ll need to raise your Grunty from infancy into adulthood.
Just what kind of adult might your Grunty become? That depends on how you raise them and what you feed them. Those strange "foods" popping up all over Areas might not taste good to you, but they sure do to Grunties!
For more information on how to acquire a baby Grunty of your very own and raise it into a proper — or not so proper — member of Grunty society, head on over to the Grunty Ranch.
Mac Anu, the City of Twilight known for its gentle ocean breezes, has been uncharacteristically warm lately. Very, very warm. Its usual orange skies have been swapped out for vivid blues, the sun dwelling high in the sky and threatening to burn everything in its wake.
It won’t take much wandering to feel the effects of heat exhaustion sink in, and even after you log out for the day, those symptoms seem to linger. Do Hien and Zelkova know what the hell is going on? Of course not. Unusual occurrences are slowly becoming the norm in Fragment, it seems, but the point of a beta test is to work out any kinks. Report it and move on.
Lumina Cloth is similarly affected by unusual weather phenomena, but it’s much more pleasant and hospitable than poor Mac Anu. The sun hangs just above the horizon, bathing the strip in early evening light. It’s much cooler here too, and what’s more, it appears that a carnival has rolled into town. What fun!
All the usual carnival fare is here: greasy fried foods, drinks served in foot long glasses, and a litany of carnival games that are totally not rigged. Entry is free and so are the prizes, but some of them take a bit of legwork to win.
⬣ Successfully PK another player to win the carnival exclusive Thursday The 12th™ skin. PK’d players will receive an appropriately spooky ghost skin of their own!
⬣ Step on up to the dunk tank and get dunked on to win a sexy swimsuit skin! Both the dunkers and the dunkees will win this skin, but only those who successfully dunk the player in the tank will be rewarded with the chance to show off some skin. The appearance this skin takes is dependent on the player wearing it, so have fun and get creative with it!
⬣ Take a trip through the hall of mirrors with a friend and do some reflecting! Stare too long into the mirrors and you might recall a memory that doesn’t belong to you, but to the person venturing through the hall of mirrors with you. Did that really happen? Surely it’s all in your head. Memories available for memshare are limited to the ones listed on your application.
Additional rewards include giant plush monsters that can be used to decorate guild @ homes and private rooms (limit one per player!) and a pet goldfish that, unfortunately, will die a hero’s tragic death within a week. Womp womp.
We’ve had a busy week! It seems like there was a glitch that allowed players to equip other players as weapons, which resulted in a ten player chain, wielded by none other than our hardworking head administrator, Hien! I’ll have a talk with him about not doing this kind of thing in the future, I promise!
That wasn’t all, though. An unknown entity reached out to the players participating in the ten-player chain and issued them a special title: Good Friends Stick Together. Fragment’s not supposed to have titles. Well, at least not in the beta. But you can go ahead and add it to your name if you want to anyway, and it shouldn’t cause any problems! We still can’t pinpoint who sent those messages and how they overrode the permissions to create those titles in the first place, but... Hmm. I don’t want to start any rumors, so I’ll keep looking into it.
There are those armor sets too, which I didn’t know had been handed out to those of you that reached level 25. Oria brought it to our attention, thankfully! There’s not a whole lot we can do about it now, but we know that some of them are pretty invasive. But knowing is half the battle, right?
Our friend Ganymede suffered an accident recently that had him lying unconscious in the hospital for about a day. He seems to be feeling better now, thankfully. Ḩ̵̲̼͆̃͐̆ò̸̧̰͕̥̈́͒̕͜p̷̫͙̯͇̾̄͜ę̸̹̒f̷̠̭͉̱̅͘ǘ̴͎̙̥̭̈́̈́l̵͇̙͍̳̜̇̓̒l̷̬̲̀̆̈̅̂ͅỳ̵̧̻̖ ̷̠̫̭̰̦̋͗h̴̰͕̑͗e̸̦̼͇̾͘ ̴̡̢̝̺̳̊̎̎̔p̴̳̠̼̜͔̂̅̐à̵͕̹̟ͅỹ̴̡̛͝s̶͉̕ ̴̢͕̬̑̆̕͝b̸̹̲͗͒̊͑͠ē̶̛͖͠ṯ̸̻̺́͒͐t̶̻͕͎̑ĕ̶̖̀͗͛͋r̷͙̗̙̲͙̓̚͝ ̷̻̠͉̈́̚a̷̡̙̳̽́̀̋̔ẗ̴̢̨̛̬̺t̴͖̳͝ē̷͇̆͆̍̚ͅn̵̪̜͉͊̉̔̄͐t̵͕̼͈̓͋̈́̕î̷̬o̸͇̐͋͑͌n̶̟̫̟̽̑͒͐͘ ̷̜̈́̈̀̂̎t̶͙̂͛ô̸̠̜ ̶̫͎̎h̶͖̳͛i̸̗͖̖̅̂͆̄͛s̸͔̈́̇̍ ̸̩̗̻̕s̵̬̼̳̲̞͝ù̸̞̺̣͙̾͒͛ŗ̴̻̟̻̭̂̈́r̶̡͈̲̣̣͋̊͗̕o̶̥̝̮̓ų̴̻̯̬̊̑̑͌̉ͅn̶̢̙̦͔͖̈̒͝d̷̰̼̤̥̃̿͒̌̎i̸̯͑̾͊̑͝n̵̦͐g̸̪̾͝͝s̷̛̝͙̣̹̍͛͝ ̸͔̲̠̩͗̓̀͘a̷̛̼̓̈́͊ṅ̵̥͆̎ḑ̶̨̯̱͍̇ ̷̛̗̮̀̆ḧ̴̼̪́͗͝i̵͓̬̤͂͐͒s̶̮̎̿̃ ̴̛͔̋͗̽h̷̝͑ͅē̴̱ȃ̵̝͎ͅļ̷͍̀͐͊̊̽ẗ̸̼̺̟̥̼́̄͛h̶̥̹̬̮̽̅ ̷̟̖̮͛́̿t̸̢̤̤̂͒͋̍o̶̼̟̓ ̵̥̳͙̖̆̈́ả̶̛̳̱͙̖̩̿̽͘v̴͈͉͖͊͘ỏ̶̤͚̅͑͝i̴̱͈̩̳̳̿̇̕͠ḏ̵͙̮͗͆ ̶̯̭̝̹̯͊s̸͍̰͔̔̀͋͋̐u̷̟̠͑̔̏̚c̵̨͖͉͇̀͆͘ͅh̴̨̓͌̄̈ ̶̧̱̻̼̏̃̃i̷̱͉͈̿̎̋͒͜͝n̴̢͓͍̂͝͠c̷̢̢̛̹͚̑̓̅ͅi̶͕̟̻̘̫̾͌d̶͉͉̏̇e̵͉̱̩̯̤͐̎̉̾n̸̡̠̈͜ţ̴̇͑̈́͘s̵̩̼͔̙̙̉͘ ̵̮̯̞̮̾̈́͋̔̈h̵̡̗͉͉͈̉̐̅̚ȁ̵͖͚̖̾p̸̰̬͖̩̀̈́̆̓p̶̢̛̼̈́͆̒͘ͅe̷̟̘̩̲̻̾̊n̵̨̩̜̟͆͘i̵̙͉̺̮͠ͅṋ̷̆ġ̶͙͚ ̴̩̋à̷̄̑̂͝ͅǧ̵͖̜͍͕̒̑͒a̷̧̛̞͐̃̈́͘i̷̯͉̬̯̽̍n̷̘̝͓̽̅̕!̵̩͑
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Oria, who's still holding Sinclair's hand, points at a mirror that makes them look flat like the result of an animated cartoon roadroller pancake. ]
—hair looks really weird like this. Maybe I could...
[ He turns to Sinclair. ]
Hey, you alright?
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[Sinclair doesn't startle this time. He stares at the mirror, slowly blinking as the edges of the memory fade into his mind. That wasn't him. That wasn't his memory. He never held a love like that so strong and intense. He had never been in the hospital like that, watching over someone he loved fade away slowly in such a painful way.
It hurts to 'remember'.
But how much more had it hurt for Oria to live in that moment?
Sinclair blinks, and there tears in his eyes now and he shakes his head, rubbing at his eyes with his free hand. How embarrassing]
I don't know...I think I need to sit down.
[His head pounds with the weight of a memory that isn't his. It feels invasive, wrong.]
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So I didn't say anything weird? What's wrong?
[ He won't tell Sinclair not to cry, but he wants to understand what makes him so sad all of a sudden. There's really nothing but mirrors around them, reflecting nothing but their avatars in every angle. There's nowhere to sit. ]
... Here.
[ Oria gently leads Sinclair downwards so that they can both sit on the ground. ]
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[He sniffles a little and sinks to the ground gratefully as he rubs his eyes. He has to be honest. But it's hard to raise this]
I saw something I shouldn't have seen. Felt it, like it was my own.
[He shakes his head and curls up a little, burying his face against his legs]
Strange isn't it?
[And if Oria looks at the mirror behind Sinclair, he might catch a glimpse of it again - that fateful school day. There's no looking away because now it's "you".]
2/2 cw some ableism
She's dangerous. You know this well. But you're caught in her spiderweb, a pitiful being who can't break free on its own.
Not yet. You hold yourself very still when she leans in close.
"Sinclair. Remember. You owe me for helping you. So return the favour. You can help me with this project as a bonus--"
No. That wasn't fair. You hadn't done anything wrong, anything but have been foolish enough to allow another classmate to look at your work and then been accused of plagiarism instead. She might have helped, but that wasn't--you didn't want to let her into your home. Especially not your dad's laboratory. But how can you say that now?
"I...I..."
Be brave. Be brave.
Being brave wasn't your strong suit. Thankfully, there's someone else to speak up for you.
"Sorry Kromer. But Sinclair and I are working together. He made a promise with me first." A clear cool voice cuts across the room, and another boy stands next to you. He's tall, pale - almost deathly so - and his eyes are a sharp, piercing blue. But you barely notice that, distracted by the necklace he was wearing, with an odd red symbol.
And just like that, Kromer steps away. Her smile is stiff, but easy going.
"Is that right? You should have said so, Sinclair. Next time then."
You breathe out slowly, the panic fading and you finally relax enough to smile.
"...thank you, Demian."
Demian smiles. He's everything you want to be.
"Does she scare you, Sinclair? She shouldn't. Not unless--"
And the image fades away, the words dying off unsaid.
What was it he had told you back then? You wont know, because you're no longer at school. But a dark little house of mirrors, and Sinclair is still on the floor.]
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[ His voice trails off when he starts remembering things that aren't his own experiences. It's quite a surreal moment to feel emotions that don't belong to him, that he had long since cut off to the best of his ability.
Oria does his best to take it in, to accept it, even if it doesn't feel like it belongs to him. He's been good at that his entire life, after all. Now he remembers another thing—that girl... she was the one who ruined Sinclair in so many ways—why he's saddled with such a horrific trauma. He's seen it on the news. He's heard it from his father. Surely, Sinclair must have been going through so much—
—and the justice system had failed him too. He knows how this works by now, and it really was unfortunate that it happened this way. But why? Because of what Sinclair owed her?
When his focus returns to the hall of mirrors with Sinclair, he remembers the words he said right before being felt like he got sucked into that memory. ]
... No. It's not strange. I felt something too... a similar thing you did. Probably.
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You too? [A small bitter part of Sinclair can't help but think that most of his life was up for display now, so it shouldn't bother him at all. Not like Oria.
No. That wasn't true. Oria's family is powerful. People were envious of that. Even at those parties, people had smiled with so much teeth. If they had a chance...
He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, caught up in his own problems. But now that he had seen that, he remembers.
If he doesn't say it now, he wont have the courage to bring it up again]
...I'm sorry. I saw--you were at the hospital, with someone.
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With... who?
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A boy our age, I think. [The memory hadn't given him a name, and honestly, in the state that boy was in, Sinclair doubt he would have recognised him]
...you loved him a lot.
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... I see.
[ He smiles a little, though a bit wistful. ]
That one, huh. Sorry you had to see that.
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Well, people gossiped without thinking about who they could hurt if they thought they could get away with it.]
No. I'm sorry. People were cruel about it, weren't they?
[And Sinclair had invaded a memory he shouldn't have been privy to. It hadn't been on purpose, but.]
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[ He says this as if it's a fact of life. ]
Though, what do you think happened? You can be honest with me. I won't be offended no matter what you say.
[ Did he really pull the plug on his ex? ]
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...I don't think you did. [Is he naive? He is. He's not unaware of that bad trait of his. But he knew hospitals. His sister had been in and out for some time. He accompanied his father on rounds to his patients to see how their new prosthetics worked. It wasn't that easy to just walk by people suffering every day.
But even if Oria had pulled the plug, Sinclair could have imagined how he must have talked to ex about it. Letting him go when no one else would. That was normal, wasn't it?] Your feelings...were really strong. I couldn't escape it.
[And oops, there goes the tears again. Even now, he could feel the remnants of those feelings lingering in his heart.]
...so even if you had to do it, I can't believe what people said.
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Thanks for believing in me.
[ He feels like there's a weight lifted from his heart, like a burden that has been freed. ]
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Someone should have. Long before.
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He tenses up with the hug, but gradually relaxes. For all his flirting and such, it looks like he's not very used to hugs. But this one time, before Sinclair has a chance of saying anything else, Oria pulls him closer into the hug and wraps his arms around him tightly.
"Someone should have", huh.
If Oria had any tears left to cry, perhaps he'd cry right now. However, he ran out of them many years back. ]
You're so good to me.
[ He tilts his head a little so that it rests against the side of Sinclair's head. His voice also gets quieter and more gentle when he says the next thing: ]
Thanks, Emil.
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Oria deserved a lot more than this, after all.
But his only response is to hold Oria tighter in response. Maybe he can cry enough for both of them, if Oria can't. He doesn't do much more than nod and hold Oria close, for as long as Oria wants to be held]
Mm.
[ He'll let go when Oria is ready.]
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But it also makes him a little wary about bringing up the things he saw. So instead, when Oria slowly let's go and gently pulls himself back, he ruffles Sinclair's hair. ]
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[Sinclair makes an indignant noise when Oria ruffles his hair and reaches up to try to smooth it back down. Unfortunately, it's as fluffy as ever, even as long as it is in Fragment.
He takes a deep breath, rubbing his cheeks one last time and he glances around. The mirrors were normal again, strange silly distortions that hadn't had a glimpse of anything else lurking behind]
...we should get out of here. Do you think a guild will let us cool off in their HQ?
[ He hasn't forgotten that Oria had seen a memory of his. But Oria seemed to be hesitant.]
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[ Oria takes that time to stand from the ground and holds his hands out to Sinclair to help him up. ]
Let's go.
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[Sinclair smiles and takes Oria's hand. Up they get and out of the maze of creepy mirrors]
Mm.
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This place is so huge! Why though? It might as well be another root town!
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Maybe they're preparing for more players when the game opens to the public. Still...I don't understand how space works here.
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[ When Sinclair comes back with the takoyaki and fried octopus, Oria's eyes glisten. He remembered!! And it smells so good!! Food!!!!!!!!! ]
So this is what guild spaces are like, huh? I actually dropped by Fai's Fine Wine guild the other day! It was so classy and there are all kinds of drinks served there too.
[ Oria proceeds to gracefully(no) flop onto the tatami and rolls. He loves the AC here. ]
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Oh, so you managed to get in that guild after all?
[Sinclair does sit down a little more gracefully because well learned manners are hard to shake]
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