⬣//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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[tylorific]

Oh no, not at all.

[ He says, blinking empty, glassy blues at Yael. There's a drawl pulling on his words now.

Time for alcohol rambling as his gaze wanders. ]

Well, that's an easy question to ask, but I don't really know much about your life, you know. Would you choose my life just for the cat cafes?

But if you're unhappy enough to choose that --do you wanna talk about it? Or we could go beat something up. Getting drunk is fun too.

[weaseled]

If you're ever in the position to choose between one life and another, the less you know about them, the better.

[That said, he can't imagine Tylor as the gun-toting sort. He's the sort of man who'd float his way through the military on the promise of an easy life at the end of a three year contract, but can he imagine the guy surviving on the battlefield? Not even for a second. Yael can more easily imagine him laying down a life for a nameless stray he'd met only moments before.]

Speaking of not knowing a damn thing, what are you accusing me of now? I'm plenty happy. Can't you tell?

[tylorific]

Really? Hmm. I guess you're right. But I don't think it would really matter much either way if we're talking life or death. No matter what life you lead, when your luck runs out there's nothing anyone can do about it. Even you!

[ He sounds way too calm about all of that. But that last question sends him into more giggling. ]

Oh, yes. You're the happiest guy in this whole beta. [ The joke is transparent, smile making it into his tone. ]

So would you choose my life or keep your own?

[weaseled]

Happy as a clam. That's me.

[Justy is surprisingly pragmatic in an almost lackadaisical way, isn't he? Yael tucks that observation away for now and considers that question only briefly before delivering his answer, swift and decisive.]

I'd choose yours. That's what a soldier does.

[So he says — and blandly at that — but is that really all there is to it?]

[tylorific]

[ Tylor laughs at the abrupt answer. ]

A solider, huh? They said I didn't have the aptitude for it, can you believe it?

So do you wear an eyepatch in real life, too?

[weaseled]

[Now that makes Yael laugh out loud. This guy, unfit for the military? That's a given, but his innocent delivery and genuine question is what amuses Yael.]

I'm shocked.

[/S. As for his eye, Yael shakes his head.]

I don't, but I've got a pretty gnarly scar over my right eye. My character had an eyepatch on it by default when I booted up the game. C.C. Corp's got one hell of a sense of humor.

[tylorific]

I know, right? I think I would've been great. Maybe a nice, easy life at a desk.

[ It's very difficult to tell if he catches the sarcasm or not, with that happily joking tone of voice and the laugh that follows Yael's explanation. ]

Well, I think it makes you look cool and mysterious. Like a tough army guy with a heart of gold. [ That whiskey bottle is empty. Tylor is now drunk, though the support of his chin only wavers a little. What a dopey, pure expression tinged with a flush-- ] Am I right~?

[weaseled]

You think you'd end up wish some cushy desk job in the military? Your sense of humor's all sorts of fucked up.

[Yael heaves a sigh because he knows people like Justy who successfully floated their way through basic training and ended up on the other side of a desk in a nice air-conditioned office. Motherfuckers, the lot of them.]

I'm none of those things. What, are you writing up some elaborate fanfiction about me in your head? Stop that.

[B-but he's not really wrong...? Yael is just drunk enough to not realize all of Justy's compliments have made him blush. Surely that's just the alcohol?]

[tylorific]

Yeah, why not? There's a lot of stuff you don't have to worry about in the military. Like paying for food!

[ His little laugh is as friendly as the pointing with his glass is playfully accusatory. The grin on his face goes lopsided. ]

Really? But that's exactly what a soldier with a heart of gold would say!

[weaseled]

[Christ almighty, Justy. Does he take you seriously or not? Yael elects not to, topping off both of their glasses before downing half of his in one deft pull. He's not nearly drunk enough for this conversation.]

And how many soldiers with hearts of gold have you met? Not many, I'd imagine.

[tylorific]

[ Tylor downs his own drink, followed by the sigh of a seasoned drinker at the burn. More glass pointing-- ]

I have too! Plus there are lots in movies.

[weaseled]

[Oh, Tylor. Yael is just drunk enough to broach Tylor's space to flick him square on the forehead.]

And you know movies are fiction, right? Give me a break. You're as ridiculous drunk as you are sober.

[tylorific]

Ow.

[ Critical hit! His expression surprised, he drunkenly wavers like he's been punched. But Tylor laughs and rubs at the spot on his forehead a beat later anyway. ]

Well, duh! But you're as cool as the ones I knew too.

[weaseled]

[Rub some salt on it, baby boy. You'll be fine. Yael chuffs a laugh, sipping on his sake.]

And how is it that you know so many?

[tylorific]

[ He seems to have forgotten his wound already.

Tylor laughs, it's a drunken little sound. But he keeps laughing until he tilts his head all the way to the bar. Smiling against it, cheek to whatever this one's made of, he reaches lazily over to flick Yael back whatever part of him he can reach. ]

Knew. Get it right.

[ He still sounds like he's joking. But that doesn't answer the question. ]

[weaseled]

[Sweet Justy, there is a lot of man to flick. His efforts result in him flicking Yael in the shoulder, garnering a puff of laughter. That sure didn't answer his question, but thanks for making him more curious?]

Knew? Let's hear the story.

[You're not gonna drunkenly bumble your way out of this one, bud.]

[tylorific]

It's too saaad.

[ Drunk Tylor practically whines into the bar. ]

Besiiides, I don't know any anymore. Ask me something fun.

[weaseled]

[Yael snorts, balancing his emptied glass on a finger.]

But I'm having fun. Don't you care about what I want?

[Here, Justy. Allow him to sweeten the pot.]

I'll tell you about the old military folks I knew. I've got stories for days.

[Justy is drunk enough that he can't possibly remember these sob stories, right? No harm, no foul.]

[tylorific]

[ Tylor's arms come to cover his face tight with a groan at that needling. Of course he cares! But it's all slow and groggy now, it dulls the wound some. He's too drunk for this.

From within the fold of his arms comes a croaky answer-- ]

Peggy Tylor.

[ He'll stay folded up like this for a beat longer before popping back out of it, pointing at Yael with wobbliness and a grin-- ]

Your turn.

[weaseled]

[Peggy Tylor. His mother, perhaps? Yael knows better than to snoop, but his curiosity is worsened by inebriation. He just can't help himself, but again, how much of this will Justy remember? How much will Yael?]

Sheza. Now tell me about Peggy.

[tylorific]

[ Tylor's face goes a little blank. It takes time for there to be warmth there again, as he crumples over the bar. The weight of the world is too much. Too too much. ]

Big blue eyes. [ The only thing he'd never been able to fully forget, even when he'd broken free and stopped thinking of their faces. ]

Tell me about Sheza.

[weaseled]

[This is why men like you shouldn't drink. As much as he wants to chide Justy, there's no point when his words hold no sway. Better to let the man live and learn, he thinks, but even that isn't an answer Yael is entirely satisfied with. So it goes.

Yael exhales a long, thin sigh, considering what sort of man "Sheza" was from an outside lens.]

He was the dumbest man I knew. Reckless, hung up on the past, scared of his own damn shadow. You're lucky you'll never meet the guy.

[tylorific]

[ Tylor laughs, pulling himself back up with his chin in his hands. He still leans over the bar heavily. ]

Well, Peggy would've kicked his ass for wallowing like that. You've got to enjoy the present 'cus that's all we ever really got, y'know?

[weaseled]

[Yael snorts, amused, and sets his emptied glass down on the counter.]

Sounds like Peggy was a wise woman. Do you miss her?

[tylorific]

[ The sound he makes is hard to pin, but he'd braved the wound before, with Hani.

It still hurts. And it shows all over his face as he flops down again. Mmhmm. Is all Yael gets. ]

... Do you miss Sheza?