FOR THEY CANNOT DIE ANYMORE, BECAUSE THEY ARE EQUAL TO ANGELS.

[cccorp]

Today, the canals of Mac Anu flow as gentle as they always do, gondolas drifting lazy through the paths of sunlight cut bright across the water. Shops and vendors line the stonework streets along the waterways, a general murmur of NPCs circulating through their preprogrammed business keeping Mac Anu, as always, feeling maybe a little more alive than a real city.

There is one particular bridge that nearly every player's taken at least once, because it connects to a great many other places of interest, and it's wide enough for easy travel. Besides, with the professions update, they've put a fishing spot on the other side of it. NPCs with fishing rods litter the spot in alternating shifts, their laughter mingling with the calls of shopkeeps advertising cheap prices for some simple plants to get started crafting with, and the clink of forks and plates at a restaurant nearby, its customers singing the chef praises.

Below the bridge, a gondolier passes, humming, his gondola drifting along its circuit through the canals, his tune in rhythm with the passing conversation. As he comes out from under it and sails further away, he glances up at the bridge, as if he were expecting something, and he seems to see it. His gaze remains fixed there until, eventually, the water takes him out of sight again.

Today, you might notice that at the base of this bridge, just before your feet, is a red sort of smear.

A little further down the bridge, about a fourth of the way along it, is a person collapsed on the ground. The red trails to him, fallen forward.

You see upon approaching his hand grasping at his throat at the singularly cut sliced deep into his neck. His one good eye wide and unblinking, he is—among all the laughter and conversation on either side of the bridge; in the shadow of the clock tower, which stands a silent witness, the sun at its back—no longer breathing, his body cool to the touch.

Perhaps this could be considered a kindness: for one who failed, time and time and again, to grasp the desire to live, maybe he found some suggestion of it in his last moments, his hand at his throat, his palm smeared with dried blood, a curious anomaly in the deathless Mac Anu. Fragment had, after all, taught him a great many things. Should he not be grateful for one more, no matter how permanent the lesson?

Mithrun is dead.

Comments

[dissimulative]

[ It's been over an hour.

Seeing Mithrun's avatar dead in some shape or form is unfortunately not new, so Oria waited.

And waited...

And waited. ]

Why isn't his avatar disappearing...? It's been more than an hour. He can't be sleeping like that, is he?

[ He's dead, Jim.

Oria knows a dead person when he sees one, but man. Man. ]

[murrmoire]

[ Bro he literally just got here. He literally just fucking got to this MMO, what the hell is this – ]

...This isn't how things were before, were they?

[dissimulative]

If you were PKed, you would usually respawn half an hour later at the Chaos Gate. The only exception to this is the Arena in Lumina Cloth, because that's specifically meant for PvP. It only takes a minute and you would respawn right outside the Arena if you get PKed inside.

[ So, no. They were not this way. ]

[murrmoire]

[ He can conclude that PKed = getting killed, and that things are not fine as they are right now. He can't look at Mithrun's body, so he keeps his gazed fixed on Oria instead. ]

So this is the first time it's happened. [ What the fuck. ] Is there really no one in charge we can talk to about this?

[selfconcept]

[ He's right here.

Also Oria will just pointedly glance over at Hien for Noe to see. There's the guy. Oria doesn't want to talk to Hien. ]

[murrmoire]

[ HELLO, SIR, NICE TO MEET YOU. ]

Hey...is he gonna be okay? I'm not talking about in here, I'm talking about in real life.

[ Just. Making sure. ]

[selfconcept]

No comment.

[ It's never nice to meet this guy. ]

[murrmoire]

Because you don't know?

[ no, no it's not, he's realizing- ]

[selfconcept]

No comment.

[ Again, because Hien is infuriating.

Welcome to Fragment, Noe. ]

[murrmoire]

You're no help! Whatever, we'll figure it out ourselves!

[ BYE!!! ]

[dissimulative]

[ told you ]

[insinning]

[Sinclair knows a dead person when he sees one too.

He feels calm. Too calm.]

...he's not answering.

[Sinclair had logged off after twenty minutes had clocked out - or had it been more than that? How long had Mithrun really been there? And then...he hadn't stopped messaging him. Calling. It all goes to voicemail. And now he's back, strange. Dissonant.]

[dissimulative]

... Yeah.

[ Oria decided that they waited long enough and straightens his back to stand properly. ]

I need to talk to you, actually. I'll call you in about ten minutes. Is that a good time?

[insinning]

...yeah. That's fine. [He squeezes his wrist a little. Awareness. Grounding himself.

This is a game. And Mithrun--]

[dissimulative]

[ He's not going to lie and say things are fine, because it's not. But he'll give Sinclair's hands a strong squeeze and a smile before logging out. ]

[insinning]

[And Sinclair follows suit. He'll sit in his room in the dark, waiting for a call from someone who will answer.

It's not fine. But he wants to hear Oria's voice beyond the confines of this game. Something real.]