![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
⬣//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!̵̩͑
no subject
I'm logging in every day, so I thought it'd be reasonable to get one.
[ The game, despite the chaotic playerbase, isn't so bad... but he's going to tell everyone that he's logging in for the grunty now just like a kid who wakes up at 2AM to feed their tamagotchi. ]
What's her name?
no subject
He looks down at his grunty with a smile. ]
Aurene.
[ The name just came to him when he looked at her, and that was when he decided this was the grunty for him.
Back to Joonghyuk— ]
What about yours?
no subject
[ The most cursed name he could come up with... literally. Don't let this man name anything or anyone, please. ]
Maybe they could play together? Probably not here, though.
[ They're babies still, but if they accidentally slam into one of the mirrors, things might get bad fast. ]
What's up with this place anyway?
no subject
[ He means this earnestly. Hector isn't very good at naming creatures. Gru is a very good name for a grunty.
He does brighten at the suggestion, eyes snapping up from the grunties to actually look at Joonghyuk. A grunty playdate! His little Aurene needs friends, he's sure of it. Who cares if she's just code. She needs to be—
He's about to respond when the other changes the topic, and he tilts his head curiously. ]
What do you mean? The mirrors?
[ He looks at his distorted face beside him. ]
You've never been in a funhouse before?
no subject
[ He didn't even have to explain why the name is so great nad cute... Hector truly is a man of culture. ]
No. [ No fun allowed in his life!! ] Is this what people do offline too? Walk around a labyrinth of mirrors?
[ What a past time... ]
no subject
[ He comes to stand beside Joonghyuk, nudging him so they both face the nearest mirror. ]
See? [ He points. They're both reflected a little wider than they actually are, and their faces are squished in an odd way. For him, the mirror is normal. For Joonghyuk, however, the mirror might shimmer oddly. Hector snorts at the image before glancing up at Joonghyuk. ] It's funny.
no subject
[ The comment throws him off when he focuses on the mirror. The shimmering doesn't feel like a normal occurence, but since Hector isn't having any alarming reactions, he wonders if he's the only one seeing it. ]
What do you see?
[ Squinting his eyes, he tries to figure out what kind of image is reflected in the mirror. ]
no subject
[ Hector's answer fades as the image in the mirror shifts, grows, and becomes Joonghyuk's reality.
He finds himself before a door. (click to open, cw: psychosis, blood, murder, homophobia)
It's a scant excuse for a door, an entrance cobbled together out of desperation. It hangs uneven on its hinges, stuck in place in the rectangular entrance cut into the stone walls of the building. Despite appearances, it's a solid barrier. You will not be getting in without force.
It's hot, dry. Sweat clings uncomfortably to your skin, to the layers of clothes you have on you, that sit between you and your armor. Your breath feels hot beneath your mask; a bead of sweat drips from your head to the brim of your goggles, sticks there. It's uncomfortable. Unpleasant.
"On my signal."
A voice comes from beside you. It's low, confident, comforting. You hear the scattering of footsteps behind you as the rest of your squadron scatters, almost inaudible beneath the roar of low-flying planes, of explosions too close for comfort. You can no longer distinguish the smell of gunpowder from the smell of dust from beneath your mask.
You turn to look at the man beside you—your captain. He greets your gaze with those bright, hazel eyes. They pierce you from behind his darkened goggles, and he nods. You nod in turn. You've done this a hundred times, and your teamwork is immaculate. You work as one. It's hard to imagine a better partner.
...Sorry. Superior officer.
Your squad is to clear out any guerilla soldiers that might be hiding in this neighborhood; the residents long since cleared out, but there is always a chance that a stray enemy or two had taken up base in the area instead. Or if a stubborn resident has decided to remain, escort them to safety. Either way, you know what to expect. You doubt this will be any more than routine.
You turn your attention back to the door, and your captain whips up his arm. You kick down the sorry excuse for a door, and its hinges shatter. It falls to the floor in a puff of dust, and you and your captain stride into the dark insides. It's a welcome relief from the desert heat, but you are not here to relax.
Your flashlight clicks on and you cautiously sweep the open room. You keep your ears pricked, just in case someone decides to come in behind you; you hear the rest of your squad carrying out the same elswhere, in different buildings. You should be done with this area in no time.
As your flashlight sweeps over a teddy bear, forgotten in the corner, cotton spilling from its tattered seams, a weird feeling settles in your gut, your chest. You feel dizzy for a moment. Before you can really process what's happening, you hear the loud thump of a footstep beside you. Your odd anxiety causes you to jump, and you whirl around. And where you expect to see your captain, you instead see a hulking, fuzzy mass.
Your eyes snap wide in shock, and you point your gun at it in the ready.
"Who are you?"
You demand, and the voice that fills your ears is low, sinister. Evil.
You panic, heart pounding wildly in your chest. Your finger rests on the trigger.
"You wouldn't dare."
Bang.
The ringing in your ears fade, and the shade that veiled your vision lifts. There's a weight in your arms and in your chest, your knees twisted uncomfortably beneath you.
Hazel eyes stare up at you, unblinking, the embers of life so dangerously close to darkness.
"...Captain?"
Your captain is cradled in your arms, his helmet and goggles and mask all discarded, as are yours. Blood thickly coats his body, and you are painted in the same red. It sticks uncomfortably to your hands, and you can feel it on your face, but only when a stray tear carves a course through it over your cheek.
"Captain, please, answer me."
His lips move, you can see his eyes focus on you. You feel panic mounting in your chest. Something balls in your throat; you swallow, but it only causes another tear to spill from your eye.
"Who did this to you? I'm—I'm going to get a medic. Please just, just hang on, I—"
His bloodied hand comes to rest over your cheek, stopping you in your momentary panic. You see the softness in his eyes, the kind he only ever reserved for you when the both of you know you're alone. You can already feel his warmth fading.
"I don't..." his voice croaks. You want him to shut up. You want him to save that energy so you can make it back to base. You want him to stay still so he can be healthy again. You refuse to believe that— "...blame you..."
"Blame me for what?!" you demand, your voice cracking as it rises. It's so dry. So hot. Too hot. You suffocate.
But you get no answer. Instead, you watch as the flame of life is quietly snuffed out. Empty voids that once held the soul of the love of your life stare up at you instead.
You fold. Your forehead presses to his and a torrent of disbelief comes over you. What about the house you were going to get together upstate once you got home? The one in the woods? The one with space for a little vegetable garden, a yard big enough for a dog. The one that had that room on the second floor with the big windows, for his library? And what about his cats? His mother, now left on her lonesome?
Was he never going to hold you again? Cast glances at you of significance that only you undestood? Tell you all the ways the latest poem he read reminded him of you? How are you supposed to go on knowing that, of all the characters in classical literature, he described you as Hector, of the Iliad?
Surely, he would wake up. Surely, this is all just a bad dream.
Your squad comes running because they hear you screaming. But you don't even know that you are.
There is ultimately no evidence to what many suspect, but the preconception is there. You were a good soldier, but you pose more danger than you should. The military is determined to get rid of you.
Don't ask, don't tell.
Your relationship with your captain is brought to light, and you are swiftly removed from service.
You return home with nothing of him but a name and a date of birth etched in steel around your neck. ]
no subject
Pulling the trigger, however, feels awfully real. The loud bang makes the sinister voice quiet down. Then, a few moments later, reality starts sinking in, sending him into an indescribable despair that's not even his and yet it tears him apart. A life comes to an end in his arms, an important one for him. No, not to him, but to him.
Hector.
He tries to recall what he was doing just a while ago, but his memory is foggy. Besides, it seems that the memory unfolding in his very eyes is not over yet. The images are moving fast until they come to a halt after seeing the name and date on the dog tag.
The reflection he sees in the mirror makes him gasp softly. ]
What—What were you saying?
[ It seems that Joonghyuk has been standing in place, completely unresponsive for quite a while, color gradually getting drained from his face. He takes a deep breath as he comes back, dazed. It feels like his knees might give out any moment—to prevent himself from falling, he rests his hand on Hector's arm in an attempt to steady himself. ]
no subject
...I was just saying that you look funny with your forehead so wide.
[ ...Weird.
He notices now how pale he looks, and he tilts his head to get a better look at him. ]
Are you okay?
no subject
[ Rubbing his forehead, he can still see some of the images very clearly as they flash in front of his eyes. ]
Something that belongs to you.
no subject
Something that belongs to me?
[ He parrots, as though that will make it any easier to digest. Like, what? His car? His credit card information? ]
...What do you mean?
no subject
A memory. [ He heaves a sigh. ] Of being in the army.
[ Maybe it's for the best if he doesn't share the details and keep them to himself. It certainly didn't look like a memory he'd like someone else to see. ]
no subject
There's a visible shift in Hector's countenance at that; he stiffens, and he seems to lean back a bit.
He definitely hasn't told anyone he used to be in the army, at least not explicitly. And definitely not to Joonghyuk. He blinks, not sure what to say at first. ]
What... [ ... ] What did you see?
[ Because. That could be any number of things. ]
no subject
Desert... mostly. And your captain.
[ This might be an even worse idea, especially if Hector can somehow piece the puzzle together. ]
no subject
His eyes widen in shock, clearly not expecting to hear what Joonghyuk tells him, and he lets go of him. He takes a step back, as though spooked away by what he hears. ]
...And you saw that in the mirror?
[ There's mostly disbelief in his voice, but the undercurrent of fury is strong. ]
no subject
[ As if he was worried that something might happen again, Joongnhyuk takes a step back from the mirror and turns away from it. Well, it doesn't help much considering they're surrounded by them. ]
Let's leave.