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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 laughs and pulls Fai along deeper into the hall where they can find more variations. He finds one that morphs their reflections into an awkward S-shape. ]
Wow, real life S-lines.
[ aka curves lmao ]
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[ He furrows his brows, looking at their forms in the mirror. They're... S-shaped. Is that it?
But another mirror that reflects on the others around it, causing reflections ad infinitum catches his attention.
That S-mirror, though? It starts to shift, and Oria comes face to face with a door. ]
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What will it show him...? ]
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However, when that door opens... (cw gore, violence, family death)
A deep dark red stains your shoes as you swing open the door and step right into a puddle, giggling about something with your brother as the two of you have just been dropped off from a birthday party. Your spirits are high, uplifted by pizza and cake and songs. However, your feet almost stick to the ground as the congealed blood now on your shoe makes you feel almost sick.
An acrid, metallic smell hits the both of you almost immediately, and the two of you look at one another, identical expressions of fear and uncertainty on your faces. It smells of blood, and even if it's a scent you're not really familiar with, it's undeniable. The house is also quiet, too quiet, as the echoes of your laughter from mere seconds ago practically bounce off of the walls. Your twin steels himself as he takes a step forward and past you and that terrifying puddle to call out for your parents, and it nudges you into action too as you shut the door behind the both of you and come face to face with your mom on the ground, surrounded by a pool of congealed blood.
...You only recognize her by the clothes she's wearing, and it takes your brother's hand on your shoulder to keep you from passing out. Bits of brain and skull are scattered across the area right next to the front door, and her face is broken, so incredibly shattered that you don't know how to process what's in front of you.
Choking back a sob, the two of you call out for your dad as you move further into the house, but it doesn't take long to come across him behind the couch, face down in a pool of his own blood. You can tell even without touching him that he's dead, his head practically ruined much like your mother's, blood and bone and bits of what you're positive is his brain too scattered around him and on the couch. His clothes, too, are the only real way you can be sure it's him.
"911, right? That's who we call?"
You nod as your vision starts to go blurry with tears, and your brother runs to the phone. It's impossible not to feel like the entire room is closing in on you, especially as you finally notice the evidence of a struggle that occured—a discarded fireplace poker near your mom, a chair or two upturned, droplets of blood and what might be even more brain matter on the carpet...
Deciding you can't take it anymore, you go to your brother to listen to him make the call.
And just like that, it fades away. ]
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Oria stands there, eyes wide, and absolutely shell-shocked. His love for his own family makes this scene incredibly hard to watch, especially with how the crime ends up looking. From the height, Oria thinks that he was probably a young child. For a child to see something like this, even moreso that it's their parents--
He stumbles a bit with a wobbly step to the back. ]
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Oria? Are you feeling alright?
[ It's not stuffy in here, is it? ]
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[ He bites back an automatic "I'm fine" response. ]
... I just saw something.
[ He turns his head to Fai. ]
I think it was your parents. You were with your brother... came back from a birthday party.
[ He doesn't want to describe it in full, so hopefully Fai knows what he's talking about. ]
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...I see.
[ His tone is carefully flat, so it's impossible to tell how he really feels. ]
I'm sorry you had to see that, Oria.
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Let's get out of here.
[ I'll have oria's memories pop up if Fai stares at a mirror for too long ]
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Alright, let's go.
[ But he can't help but look up at the mirrors surrounding them and wonder how it's even possible to see someone else's memory. ]
cw transphobia, misogyny, mentions of miscarriage, gender dysphoria
cw transphobia, misogyny, mentions of miscarriage, gender dysphoria
You open your eyes and everything is blurry. Everything is just vague blobs of color--it's what happens when your eyesight is terrible and you don't have your glasses, but it might be better that way for now. You don't want to see anything, even the cheerful colors of blobs on the ceiling that you look at.You're in a hospital bed, recovering.
You can barely move or think.
You can hear footsteps walking away in a rush. It's probably the nurse trying to get your mother. You can tell when a white blob comes in, it's your mother. Your mother was always beautiful, calm, poised, and strict... and you can hear her crying. The doctors are sorry and all that goes in one ear and out the other. She asks if it's possible for her to get pregnant again. She cannot. You feel a hand stroking your forehead. It's probably your mother--you're familiar with her loving touch.
"If only you were a boy... I'm sorry, Satria."
Your name is Oria Severine.
And your mother wanted a son.
You hear some more things as you blankly stare at the ceiling that's a blur of bright colors as if they're trying to cheer up. The reassignment surgery was half a failure. You vaguely remember the name "Satria", an existence that was paired with you. There were supposed to be two babies born that day. Only one came out alive.
So Kaleria Ostrovsky-Severine, your mother, was determined to raise you as a son.
From this day on, you quietly vow inside your head... that you will strive to be what you're supposed to be.
Even if you're not enough, and never will be. ]
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He doesn't know what to think or what to feel or what to say to this. There's a twisted hurt that settles in his stomach.
Without a word, Fai squeezes Oria's hand and tugs them the rest of the way out of the hall of mirrors. ]
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Oria didn't expect the leading to suddenly be switched. He wonders if Fai is mad about something, but he quietly follows him out. Oria didn't see the memory that Fai saw, so he's even more confused. ]
Hey...
[ He can't ask "what's wrong". Of course there's something wrong. ]
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Do you feel like you're enough now?
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[ Oria looks a little surprised by the question. ]
... Were you offended by something I did...?
[ He's not sure, because that doesn't sound like the guy he knows. ]
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[ He reaches out and ruffles Oria's hair just for good measure, though his smile is a little wobbly. ]
I'm asking if you feel better about your own self? Do you feel like you're enough?
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[ He doesn't slap Fai's hand, but he does indeed protest. Hmph. At least the avatar's hair won't take too long to get back to the way it was. ]
Yeah? Of course I do. Why do you ask? I'm not sure what brought about this topic change.
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[ Oria is free to guess as to what Fai saw, but he'll have to ask him directly. Even with someone else's memories, he's still cagey. ]
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Oria frowns when Fai admits that. There's really one memory that he doesn't want other people to see, but "do you think you're enough now" is so vague to him. ]
... What did you see?
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[ He doesn't really want to recount more of it, so he hopes that Oria will know what he's talking about. ]
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Sure, they have a friendly relationship and Oria takes care to look out for others. It also seems Fai is genuinely uncomfortable upon having seen it. He can't read minds on why the discomfort is there, but he can guess quite a few. ]
Yuui.
[ His voice is quiet and stern. It doesn't sound like his usual voice that contained the energetic youth and the one who's always cheerfully trying to help people out. The tone carries a serious vibe and the atmosphere has suddenly gone cold.
It's what Fai called him out on before. ]
... Can I trust that you won't say a word of this to anyone?
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Fai reaches out again and puts a hand atop Oria's head. No ruffling his hair this time. ]
Of course I'll keep it to myself. You don't even need to worry about that.
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[ But he'll just leave it at that before he potentially offends Fai even more. Should he buy his silence? Ask his mother to give him a raise with a very reasonable explanation of why without outing the real cause? His mother is the scariest in the world to him for a reason, and it's not just because she's his strict mother.
He quietly sighs out. ]
Thanks.
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[ He's tutored plenty of rich kids and seen the way their parents treat them, what they expect of them... the level of expectations that Oria's family has for him must be unbearable.
...
They are unbearable. Fai knows that for sure now. ]
I'm not going to use what I know against you.
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... You're so nice.
[ Kinda like his dad, who always tries his best to do ethical business and to trample over least amount of people as possible. Someone told me the Severine's business was likened to ethical amazon-lite. Truly peak fantasy. ]
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