altimit | ⬣//JUST AS A SEED TAKES ROOT.

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⬣//JUST AS A SEED TAKES ROOT.

  >>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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

DUNK TANK.

[ who knew that a draw back from having things being extremely realistic in-game would be the actual weather? guess given how nice the weather had been in mac anu when the beta first started it was easy to be lulled into a false sense of security of it all. foolish, foolish uta. let's not even talk about how it's uncomfortably warm even when she logs out okay? (this hits too close to the real world... help me immersion it too strong.)

either way, cue the scenario that is brought forth here. uta who has unequipped fancier gear (not that anyone could tell given her constant idol glam but you know) and is only wearing her most basic items as she stands before the dunk tank with a certain look in her eyes. hmmm.

and for any unfortunate soul that makes eye contact with her for the briefest moment will be forced into an interaction. uta is coming for you with the utmost pleasant and friendly smile. ]

Hey, you have a moment, don't you? [ sorry, she's not going to wait for a response before making a grab for an arm with every intent to guide them back towards the dunk tank that she had been eyeing. ] How about you helping me out with something that we can both benefit from?

PVP. LUMINA DISC.

[ because a certain someone missed things previously and/or because one reason or another, uta is going to be standing outside of the pvp arena with some interest. unlike with the dunk tanks, though, she won't immediately approach anyone who meets her gaze. after all, unlike the dunk tank, there's a bit of pride at stake with this one compared to the others.

however, for anyone who does approach her... well, don't think just because she's dressed extremely unassumingly that she'll be a push-over. ]

GRUNTIES.

[ grunties are certainly in her realm of things uta finds cute and thus she will most definitely finding herself raising one (for now). honestly, it's kind of upsetting that she'll have to raise the grunty from how cute it looks now into whatever it might turn out in the future. she'll turn to the first person she sees at the ranch with her to see how they're faring. ]

Have you put a lot of thought into what you'd be feeding them?

[ she says just before feeding her baby grunty a white cherry who decides to let the world know who and what they are before it gets devoured in a way that may or may not be brutal. probably not. let's go with not. ]

WILDCARD.

[ have pity on your sick, heat-exhausted naru... if there's something that you'd like to do that is different from what is above, just throw it at me. i'll respond to it.

alternatively, if you want a mirror experience, hmu & i'll write a custom or something for you :) ]

[ uta couldn't have ever accounted for how quickly things can go from super fun and escape from the fake summer sun and heat to being uncomfortable. exploring a hall of mirrors sounds like it could be a lot of fun especially if they're the kind of mirrors that distort you and make you look all sorts of crazy and ridiculous.

it's the kind of nonsense that uta was expecting given how everything else was going and what she was hoping to experience with oria when she invited him to join her. tragically that didn't seem like it was going to be the case. the mirrors seemed innocent enough at the start, but then as she waited for her reflection to be different or warp her avatar in some ridiculous way all she saw was glimpses of a scene that spooked her.

and kept spooking her if not making her low key start to panic—not that it would make any kind of sense to anyone else looking at what was being reflected instead. before them they would see a large three tiered white cake decorated with pastel purple, pink, and blue music notes with the words "happy birthday unna" spelled out with chocolate letters spray-painted in edible gold. behind the cake and in front of the onlooker's point of view, there would be a large gathering of people of various shapes, sizes, and ages who all seemed extremely and genuinely happy to be there.

hardly the kind of scene that should cause uta to freeze in place and become dreadfully pale(r). ]

...that's the birthday cake that Lucky made for me.

[ He thought it would have been fun to go with Uta, and that he'd never have to see those painful moments ever again. He isn't okay with what people see, but he'd hate seeing them himself even more. And that's what makes panic sink in along with Uta's expression. His eyes are drawn to the mirror, seeing what they display. A birthday cake? From what Uta says, it should be a day that's celebrated, not scared of. He has a really bad feeling about this. ]

Uta, come on. Let's go.

[ They're so deep within the hall of mirrors that it'll take time to leave, but he doesn't want Uta to see a potentially painful memory. ]

Right. Of course.

[ it's a bit too late for that, tragically. however, she'll manage to pull her eyes away from the mirrors and look towards oria and give him a weak smile. the last thing she needs is for one of her fans to worry about her even more so than they already have been. she doesn't want to trouble him anymore than this. ]

I'm sorry about this.

[ and with that, uta will let them move forward (or backwards) through the mirror house as she forcibly ignores the rest of what gets shown in the mirrors. it all seems nothing worthy of causing the kind of anxiety that surrounds uta. quite honestly, it would look nothing short but a happy memory, and they can continue like this for a while.

well, up until the mirrors reflect an image of an older man with deep red hair and a scratch-like scar over his left eye. the man appears to be smiling proudly but it's hard to take him seriously as he has a two very small party hats attached to his head and covering his ears. the image of him causes uta to stop dead in her tracks. ]

...Shanks.

[ Oria turns around to see the image of Shanks in the mirror and stops when Uta stops. This man must be important to Uta, he thinks, and he's not sure what to do. He can't bring himself to tear Uta away from this when she looks like she just found someone who she was looking for, in his opinion. Some gazes are just like that, and that's how Oria chooses to interpret it. ]

... Uta?

[ sorry oria, uta can't hear you. she's completely lost in the image of shanks and even walks closer to the mirror. when she gets close enough to the mirror, she'll place her hands onto the glass as to see if she can reach into it. obviously she can't but she's lost to the world.

he's not entirely wrong with how the man is someone she has been looking for, but how can you look for someone who you can never find again? of course all of it isn't information that she shares with him. the only thing she does is slightly become more distressed with one of her hands forming a fist as he takes a step back and begins to sing "happy birthday" to her while hooking his arms with the other people. ]

Stop; this is enough. [ her voice starts off small. ] There's no need to go any further.

[ and as they seem to be wrapping up the song, uta will respond by slamming her fist against the mirror as though there was an invisible "stop" button somewhere. the force becoming harder as the scene continues to play out. honestly the best thing for her is to keep moving or look away but given that shanks is still front and center of this, she can't. ]

... Uta!

[ Oria doesn't want Uta to suffer by looking at something she shouldn't and he tries to pull her away from the mirror. Even if Uta wasn't a singer that pulled him out of the depths of terrible thoughts that plagued him a year ago, he would still do the same. No person needs to go through this.

So he tries to pull Uta by the hand so that he can tug her away from the mirror once again, and hopefully make her face a direction where she can't see it anymore. ]

[ but this is a hall of mirrors, isn't it? is there really anywhere for them to go where she can't see the mirrors?

that said, perhaps it can be a good thing that the very next scene that plays out is what appears to be a large explosion coming from somewhere behind the circle of people around the viewer that "ends" abruptly. or ""good"" given that the implication of such an explosion that acts an "end" to the scene might be all too obvious.

oria will now be able to drag her away from the mirrors as uta's pounding comes to an end; however, she will not be too responsive. especially when it comes clear as to why as tragically this is not where this memory fully ends. the mirrors will reflect dust from the explosion settling and the face of shanks comes back into view except it's extremely obvious that he has been heavily injured. even if oria wishes to be polite and not want to do more than risk a quick peak, a quick glance will show how the man is now missing an entire arm...if not some of his face.

(and if oria dares to look any longer he'll be able to see rubble, large pools of blood, and splatters of bits that wordlessly explain just how purposeful shanks was in covering her entire field of vision.)

something he considered a minor inconvenience as he keeps smiling (at uta). with the obvious last of his strength, shanks will try to say something but that message will be a mystery to oria as the memory finally ends right then and there. as for uta? it's very likely she does but she's not in the mood for discussion as she'll start crying. her tears quickly turning into a full body silent sob as she just goes wherever oria leads her...or doesn't lead her. ]

[ Uta and Oria are virtually the same height (a single centimeter doesn't mean anything) and he tried his best to lead Uta away. Despite the mirrors surrounding them, the floor is the only place where it doesn't reflect Uta's painful memories, and he tries his best for her to keep looking down instead of anywhere else.

cw: gore description

Oria won't pry. Just seeing something like that--an assumed loved be destroyed in front of your own eyes to protect you is something that Oria knows of what people would be wracked by: survival's guilt, most likely. Oria, who has stopped trying to pretend to be surprised by anything and everything, found himself shocked by seeing the bits of gore. And it's a shame, because he thinks that adult, Shanks, would have liked it if Uta never had to see some parts of his face missing so that if she ever had to remember him, she could remember his face being whole, smiling at her.

Oria isn't really someone that would give people hugs, but Uta really looks like she needs one right now, so he pulls her into one, hugging her tightly despite his own discomfort. He won't tell her to stop crying--he'd never. He thinks Uta can't really go on walking like this, so he just lets her bury her face into his shoulder so that she doesn't have to see anything else while she cries. ]

Edited 2023-08-21 21:40 (UTC)

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closed to oria.

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cw: blood & gore

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Dunk tank

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grunties

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