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⬣//A SINGLE CRACK LETS THE LIGHT IN.
As they say, fortune favors the brave. Five lucky players took part in a Limited Quest: The Mysterious Sky Islands, in which they discovered a brand new Root Town. While the team was largely successful in their efforts to make the mysterious floating town in the sky habitable, not everyone embraced the spirit of teamwork on this journey.
When you gate in to this shiny new Root Town, you'll notice something curious: it has no name. Its name simply displays as "???" in every context menu and there is no signage around the Root Town itself that points to its true name— rather, the name it had before they came along.
Whispers on the wind tell of an evil wizard in flowing white robes who ruthlessly boiled the village elder alive. With him died all of this mysterious Root Town's lore and history, and in its place are tales of the monster who robbed this land of its identity. The elemental sprites that populate this village refuse to speak their name, simply wishing you "good luck, have fun!" as you turn to leave.
While on your journey to check out the island, you'll notice how unstable the bridges are. Unstable might be putting it lightly, because for some unlucky souls, crossing the wrong bridge means plummeting to your death. It seems that whoever was put in charge of constructing these bridges didn't give a damn about structural integrity.
The local sprites are pleading with adventurers to assist them in building better, more stable bridges, but bridging the gap between one island and the next is not a job for a single person. If you have enough of a heart to heed the pleas of the sprites, you'll want to work with your fellow players to get the job done. All the wood, nails, and rope you need to construct better bridges has been helpfully supplied to you by the sprites. You could always sabotage the project too, of course, but what kind of person would you be if you did that?
The professions system has been added to fragment. Rejoice, busybodies, for there is much furniture to be built and dubious potions brewed.
In celebration of the new crafting & gathering system, a crafts festival is being held in the Unnamed Root Town. Take care not to plummet to your death while traversing those rickety bridges.
Players are encouraged to set up a booth of their own and trade their unique handcrafted items with their fellow adventurers. In addition to being supplied with enough level 1 and level 2 crafting materials to give the crafting system a spin, the local NPCs are running a contest encouraging people to come up with their own for a chance to have their creations canonized as real crafting recipes.
To submit your own recipe ideas, you need only fill out this handy form:
Recipe name:
Recipe category: Alchemist, Carpenter, Chef, or Jeweler?
Which two items does your recipe call for? Choose two items to combine. Only gatherable items (refer to the professions page) can be used.
Effect: What does this item do, if anything?
Description: A brief description of your lovely new product.
Fragment's beta test has seen its fair share of unusual bugs and unintended features, and with the latest update bringing many new changes, it's inevitable that some things have broken behind the scenes.
If two players happen to log in at the same time, they might find their avatars swapped with one another's. Thankfully, this issue doesn't lead to the unpleasant exchange of deep-seated memories or anything of the sort, but getting used to a body that isn't yours takes time. Thankfully, this particular bug resolves itself when both players log out.
The windy town of Unnamed Root Town is generally quite scenic and pleasant, but there's just one issue. It's far, far windier than it should be. If the rickety bridges don't kill you, the gusts that intermittently blow across the sky islands might knock you off your feet if you don't watch your footing carefully. Thankfully, the crafts festival on the southernmost end of the island hasn't been impacted by the severe winds. Among them is one voice that you don't recognize: a voice that promises a death, gruesome and bloody, in the days to come.
To everyone's relief, the carnival and its notorious hall of mirrors has packed up and left Lumina Cloth, but your past hasn't finished haunting you. The foul winds carry whispers of the past along with them, uttering words and phrases uncomfortably familiar to you. They're the voices of your past, the voices of people you've known, loved, and lost. Covering your ears won't keep the voices out of your ears. Nothing will.
Finally, on the more mundane some of things, professions have a few kinks of their own that need to be worked out. Occasionally, a crafted item won't come out quite right, instead resulting in one of the following "items":
Alchemist: Truth Serum. Become unable to lie for 24 hours.
Blacksmith: Whatever you're enhancing transforms into a denim disaster. Introducing your new "body" armor, "leg" armor, "head" armor, and "arm" armor.
Carpenter: Mirror Mirror. Reflects the person you're most afraid of becoming.
Chef: Durian Delight. A succulent durian pudding that reeks so strongly that its stench can be smelled all across the Root Town or Area you're occupying.
Jeweler: Crystal Ball. Breaks after one use but allows you to read another player's thoughts for five minutes.
With crafting in full swing, a certain admin has been lured out of his hidey hole by the smell of delicious chef-prepared meals. Hien is hungry, and you will feed him.
Chefs are not limited by the recipes they know like some professions are, so players are encouraged to think outside of the box and combine unique ingredients to cook up something truly special.
Taste, however, isn't the only important part of a perfect meal. Chefs looking to impress the big man himself are expected to present their culinary delights to him with pomp and finesse. You need to impress Hien if you want to gain more from this venture than the participation prize of a chef skin.
Those who successfully woo Hien with their delectable dishes will be given an additional prize: a little black pomchi pet to accompany their avatar around Root Towns and Special Areas. Hien will be giving these out at his discretion, so you better suck up to the dogboss in charge if you want a pomchi of your very own. If you catch Hien in a good mood, he may even agree to give you a different breed of dog if you ask nicely.
Hello, everyone! Can you believe it's been an entire month since our beta test began? Even though we've already been through a lot together, we've still got three months left! I'm rooting for you all!
As of today, the level cap has increased from 25 to 50. That means new armor and weapons will be available to you! Get out there to different Areas and start leveling up! But don't forget to stop every once in a while and enjoy your surroundings, too. Which reminds me—don't forget to check out the new Recreational Areas! We have a beach and hotsprings for you to enjoy now. I hope everyone continues to have fun exploring!
We've also opened up the GP shop, where you can create your own special armor set for a certain price, along with a few other things. Please check it out!
Oh, and don't forget to use these three new greeting cards I've made! Here they are! Make sure you use them so you can connect with your fellow players! We're all friends here, after all.
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Hm.
Hm...
Okay. He thinks he knows what this reminds him of. )
... Sorry.
( He lifts his fingers from both the horns and the wings, now equipped with knowledge he hasn't the slightest clue what to do with, all in the sound of Barrett's voice, that much rougher in his ears.
But once he's lifted his fingers, he kind of finds, gazing at Barrett and how red he's gone from behind, that he would've rather left them be. )
... I got the splinters out. Did you want me to come in?
( He could keep to work on Barrett's back, but maybe he'd prefer Mithrun away from there right now. )
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It's okay. The feeling will go away eventually. He'll have to let it fade.]
Don't be sorry. [Still rough, but with at least a little more of a smile to the tone.] I didn't know. You didn't, either.
[He just lets his breathing try to even out, glancing over his shoulder briefly at the question before nodding.]
Yeah. You're okay.
Just give me a couple minutes. I'll calm down. [He has no idea if that's actually true, but he'd rather be talking to Morgan than sitting here and silently waiting for his body to cooperate.]
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He slips off his shorts and the underwear it comes with and reaches for the towel Barret left for him. He doesn't wrap it around himself very tightly or carefully, but it'll do.
It's a brief process, since he didn't do it all that carefully, and he slips in beside Barrett, freshly toweled around the waist.
He looks up at Barrett............ )
... Still feeling it?
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By the time Morgan slips into the water, the redness over Barrett's complexion has lessened, though he still lifts a hand to give a shaky "so-so" waggle with his palm.]
I'll be okay. It was, uh... more than I was expecting. Still feel kind of buzzy. But... my wings feel a lot better.
Thank you.
[He glances over, eyes catching the towel with a breathy sound of a laugh from his lips and into his chest, head tilting back a little.]
You didn't have to.
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While Barrett seems to be looking, he starts lifting his towel verrrrry slowly like he's going to take it off,
(((This is Mithrun teasing him))) )
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H-hey, I mean it. If you don't want to wear it, it's not a big deal. I won't stare.
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( He drops the towel, leaning back against the stone. )
I wouldn't mind if you stared, either. It's just a body.
( And this one's not even real! But he wouldn't mind if someone stared at him IRL either, so he doesn't add that stipulation. )
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I mean, I might. A little. I think.
[He's just not sure why.
He does let his eyes turn back to Morgan as he eases back against the stone, a brief wander of his eyes over shapes and movement. It was, really, just a body.]
You look nice. But I don't want to be rude.
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... It wouldn't be rude to me.
( He sinks a little more into the water, his face and body already a little flush from the heat. )
... Do you mind if people look at you?
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Not really.
Aiden tells me I need to show myself off more. I don't really get why, though.
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( you don't know how long i wrestled with whether mithrun has enough filter to not say that. he doesn't. )
I thought you were someone with a girlfriend when we first met.
( He does presume Barrett doesn't because a) Barrett seems like the type to list a girlfriend up there with family, and b) no way he wouldn't have mentioned being loyal to someone during the picnic if that were the case. )
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--Oh. You mean like, big? [Volume, he's thinking volume.] Yeah, I guess. I still don't really get it, though.
[He can't really sink as far down as Morgan, but he at least settles in to the shoulders with a deep sigh.]
No, I don't have a girlfriend. Never have.
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... You never met anyone you liked?
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I don't know.
[Maybe that's an answer in itself, that he can't think of someone in his past he's ever felt he liked enough to be a girlfriend.]
I liked people when I was in highschool. They were okay. I had friends. But the girls that wanted to date me were always cheerleaders or the really rich ones. They'd gossip around the school to convince people we were sleeping together when I didn't even know their names. Then they'd get mad at me for refusing to go on dates with them and their friends.
[He shrugs loosely.]
I spent a lot more time with my family and my team than I did with anyone else. So I guess it just wasn't that important for me to fall in love.
I'm still young, though. I figure if I find someone that makes me happy, I'll know somehow.
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But, mm. If he finds someone who makes him happy... Even though he...? —Something about the sentiment rings familiar to Mithrun - Tylor did this, too. It's not any better to hear with someone else.
He cuts that thought off there. If he thinks objectively about it - does he really mind? Does he really desire for anything else? It's fine if people want to touch or kiss him or even say they like him. It doesn't mean they have a desire for commitment.
(And what is there to commit to, when Mithrun isn't sure yet if he agrees it's worth growing old?)
This is something he's never had much experience with. He fell in love young and never engaged in casual intimacy after that. He often looked down on people who did back when his head was whole. It's easy to forget that touch and romance are simple things for some people. )
... You will. It's nice spending time with you.
( He forms half-cups with his palms, and lets them sink into the water some so they fill. )
... Whoever you choose will be lucky to have you.
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[Despite the awkwardness and the heaviness and the pain of the visit, Barrett still finds his mouth quirking up a bit, a warmth in the knowledge that the time is still something nice to Morgan, despite everything.]
It's nice spending time with you, too.
...
I think... I could enjoy things like this. Liking things the way I like you.
I think... it would make me happy.
[Even though he feels this isn't someone he is allowed to grow attached to. Someone who has much stronger feelings waiting for them elsewhere.
But it still was nice. To be together.]
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... The way you like me?
( He frowns.
He's quiet, for a moment. )
How do you like me?
( Mm. He's not sure he meant to put it like that, but he doesn't bother correct now that it's out. He's just... Barrett someone wants someone to be with, that makes him happy like this? But - romantic, is that it?
The clarification shouldn't even matter. He should let it go. But Tylor did something similar, too. It's agitating him.
And maybe he'd be less agitated if he knew how to express what he wanted, if he understood that he wanted, instead of forcing other people to clarify their hearts for him. Another person will never be as transparent as you need, not ever. )
1/2
Did... he say something wrong?]
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Why does it feel so difficult to talk, then?
...]
...I like that you're smart. I like the way you talk about things, even if I can't always understand it. I like that you try really hard... and that you're not pretending anymore to be something you're not.
I like to see you smile and laugh. I like... going to places with you. Eating snacks, and sharing things with you.
I like how it feels nice, when you're next to me. That... you'll try to be honest with me. That you can make fun of me. And that I can try to be honest with you, too. Even for things that really hurt.
I like how your hand feels in mine.
[...
He feels, very suddenly, that he's said far too much, and his gaze drops back to his hands.]
I don't... know what it is, when I'm with you. But I like it.
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He was frustrated. Not even his professor, the most gluttonous man he'd known, would commit to the bite.
That first look crosses Barrett's face, and Mithrun expects he'd made that same mistake again. He'd gotten frustrated with Tylor, too, and it'd just left Tylor confused. His frustration already sets about leaving, primed to let the topic go - one exchange too late, but it was fine. Things wouldn't change much. And it'd be fine even if they did.
He doesn't expect Barrett to start up the way he starts, or continue the way he continues. He doesn't expect him to say anything that he does, or that Barrett had thought that much about him in detail.
His frustration, as Barrett speaks, goes on hold.
He's quiet. He doesn't have all the words Barrett does. But he does have a few that mean something to him. He doesn't know if they'll mean as much to Barrett, but - since Barrett gave him so many words, he'll try. )
... I think... I'm happy with you.
( ... )
... So I like it too. Being with you.
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You do?
[He was sure after the rough talk they just had, Morgan's opinion must have been soured. But happiness... Morgan felt happy?
With him?
...]
Can I... ask you a dumb question, then?
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Not bad, at least. Not right now. )
All right.
( One day he's going to ban the word "dumb" from Barrett's vocabulary, but Barrett may live on this day. )
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Can I hold your hand?
[On purpose this time. Without needing to be anythimg more than a support.]
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... Yes.
( He lifts his hand from the water, explicitly and unequivocally for him to hold. He tilts his head, some, peering up at him. )
... I like your face right now.
( He's just going to have to list things he likes as he finds them, it seems. )
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My face?
Am I doing something funny?
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