⬣//JUST AS A SEED TAKES ROOT.

[cccorp]

>>Secrets // >>Guilds // >>Grunties // >>Carnival // >>Zelkova Corner

⬣//THIS WORLD IS MORE THAN 0S AND 1S.

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.

⬣//ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL.

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.

⬣//FATHER, I HUNGER…

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.

⬣//PROPER CARNIVAL WEATHER.

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.

⬣//ZELKOVA’S META ROUNDUP.

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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Comments

[tablescraps]

( Mithrun will take it and dutifully eat it :) Very easy when you do every basic thing for him. )

... I guess it does. It's refreshing.

( Farewell heatstroke... )

You're good with your hands for your age.

( Recalling Sinclair's pudgy baby fingers... )

[insinning]

[Keeping an eye on Mithrun. He does look less red than before, but he should take it easy for a bit. Sinclair blinks, popping a mandarin piece in his mouth and pulls a face, sulking. Have some more water Mithrun]

...I turned ninteen a few months ago. I think knowing how to peel a mandarin and cut up some fruit is the least I can do.

[Do not recall his pudgy baby fingers shh]

[tablescraps]

( slorp )

... I think I recall hearing that. ( From the news report. ) But 19 is still pretty young.

[insinning]

[If he says it isn't, it'll really make him sound young. And it's not like he's not used to his coworkers treating him like a child anyway. He'll just nod and look at the other things he's gathered. He'll finish peeling the last of the mandarins and share them]

...I guess so. There's still a lot I haven't seen. Or done.

[tablescraps]

( Mithrun takes them, his complexion improved. )

Mm. Even I'm young, in the grand scheme of things. Though, there's not much left for me... You'll be fine if you don't make my same mistakes.

( just don't make mistakes ever. so easy! )

[insinning]

[Sinclair frowns, studying Mithrun a little more. He had gone back to dig up what he could offline. 'Morgan Chatainne' had a very different presence to Mithrun here. He wondered if that was deliberate, or if this was 'Mithrun' in reality.]

...the same mistakes? I've already made so many though.

[How many mistakes can he avoid? That's hard. There's no more food left to give Mithrun so Sinclair disposes off the rubbish, watching it vanish in pixels - how strange was that?]

[tablescraps]

What mistakes?

( Mithrun watches, too... This really is more convenient than reality. No wonder VR addiction is on the rise. )

[insinning]

... [He had confessed what he could to Oria. But it was different. Could he say that again?]

Talking about secrets I shouldn't have. Not being honest. Running away.

[He'll check on Mithrun's temperature and take away the towels when he seems like he's cooled down a little. Taking care of someone else helps keep his mind at ease at least]

[tablescraps]

( He doesn't seem to mind Sinclair fussing over him. )

Have you lost the will to keep living, after all that?

[insinning]

[That gives him pause for a second. He frowns]

...no. Is that selfish? That even after everything, I want to keep living?

[He hasn't figured out why. He hasn't stopped feeling a strange sense of sadness with every day he wants up and finds himself in a drab apartment, and no warmth in sight. No one to go home to, no clear goal in mind...but he kept going.]

[tablescraps]

... If you weren't selfish enough to want to live, you wouldn't be here. I'd probably still be baking in the plaza, and I wouldn't have had anyone to peel those mandarins.

I don't know if the worth of a life is defined only by its mistakes. But if you still have the desire to live, there's more left for you, still.

( Good things? Bad things? Who even knows; it's life. But being selfish - wanting within reason - isn't inherently evil. You need to be selfish to live. )

[insinning]

[ Sinclair hadn't expected that answer. He looks down, studying his hands for a moment, the nails cut too short to bite and then at Mithrun - the resemblances to his otherself still there, but the differences all the more striking for it.

The words are oddly comforting and he nods a little, and tries for a smile. It's a little shaky. He's learning how to smile propely all over again after all. Bit by bit he's still moving ]

...maybe not. I'd be sad if you had baked in the plaza. [ More left for him, huh? But it's scary to want things. He draws in a steady breath and picks himself up]

You're different from what I remember.

[tablescraps]

( He watches Sinclair, the subtle shift in his expressions, his gaze. He's not the best at reading people - not at all - and he's not the best at comfort; he doesn't know if he even has the desire to soothe. So he says what he says honestly, as statement of fact, as much as anything subjective can be factual. )

... It's one price I paid for my mistakes. ( One of several. ) I probably would've had something more articulate to say, before.

( Something comforting for Sinclair... Something completely and utterly fake, granted, but let's not be greedy now, )

[insinning]

...I would have hated that, honestly. There were a lot of people who told me nice things...but I knew they weren't being genuine.

[ It's that strange sense of honesty that soothes him, knowing whatever Mithrun said or did, he didn't have the inclination or desire to outright lie. He glances over at Mithrun]

I like that you're honest now. It means more.

[tablescraps]

( Oh.

... )

... I see. ( Hm. ) Maybe some mistakes have positive riders attached.

( Like some good coming from a mistake? Or something.

Mithrun doesn't have moral qualms about the mistakes he's made, necessarily - though he's aware others reasonably might - but he's never thought about them from this angle. His mistakes were bad for many, but... maybe, for some people, like Sinclair, it was for the better.

Maybe it's the same for Sinclair, too. )

We probably wouldn't have gotten to talk like this if our lives were different.

( He doesn't say that as a "so maybe it's for the best we made the mistakes we made" way - it's just an observation. Maybe Sinclair's life would've been better if he'd not done the things he'd done. Maybe the life he has now's the best he's going to get. Mithrun wouldn't know, and he isn't the judge.

But if he'd not trusted his professor, he might have still joined the beta - but he wouldn't have had his accident, and he doesn't know if Sinclair would have wanted to talk to him openly, like this. )

[insinning]

[ There's something to consider from that angle too. His mistakes were his burden to bear, as were Mithrun's, even if he's not sure to what extent they were--a lot of Morgan's life seemed to be mysterious despite his constant appearance in papers up until two years ago ]

Maybe not.

[ Who would either of them have been? Would they have walked the same paths, been the same people?]

...I guess we'll never know for sure.

[tablescraps]

No. These are the only lives we have.

( For better, or worse... But maybe the appeal of VR is the illusion of being able to be someone new. Something to consider.

He wriggles a little. )

... I think I'm feeling well enough to walk now. Were you also going to the carnival?

[insinning]

Mm. If you're feeling better...I'll come with you.

[That's why Sinclair had signed up after all. If he could escape, even briefly...it made everything a little easier]

[tablescraps]

All right.

( Slowly, a little wobbly but steady enough, he gets to his feet. Off they go...! )

... Have you been to a carnival before?

[insinning]

[Should he hold Mithrun's hand?? Grandpa, please be careful]

Mm. A few times when I was younger. I think the last time I went, I was twelve?

[And then his older sister lost interest, so he lost interest too]

[tablescraps]

( If he does take his hand, Mithrun won't reject it. )

I see... I've never been. My parents considered them kind of poor.

My brother liked them, though.

( He knows the definition of a carnival, though, so he more or less expects the general concepts heard of before. )

[insinning]

[He'll take Mithrun's hand until he's sure Mithrun is steady on his feet. Also so he can catch him if he keels over again.]

...oh, I see. I think they're fun. Or at least, they can be a great way to just relax with people.

[Brightening]

Oh, that means it'll all be new for you, wont it?

[tablescraps]

( He's a little surprised when Sinclair takes it, but settles into it. He wobl but so far seems to be walking okay...?

He nods. )

Is there any carnival activity you'd recommend?

[insinning]

Mm. The games are usually set up against us but it's fun to try anyway if you want any toys. Oh, but the house of mirrors is usually good to mess around in too.

[The toys are cute...but inventory space...]

[tablescraps]

( Guilds are for filling your room with cute carnival toys!! )

The house of mirrors...? Is it exactly what the name implies?