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madimpossibledreamerchapter summary: souji and (yosuke?) exchange words. in the past, souji posts on the forum and gets advice on playing the game.
word count: 2478
rating: T
note: for whatever reason ceirahn is super flirty. not sure how that happened. so maybe pre-souji/yosuke here. then again, flirting with souji, especially because the boys have known each other for a while online, is a pretty good way to stave off boredom...
The katana is in his hands now. He’s never so much as held a weapon before. Still, it might be useful against the monster behind him. But, wait. If this was—had been Yosuke, then…
Trust. Maybe it was stupid, after all. Maybe he was a complete fool. Maybe his parents, reviled as they were by the world, had it right. But…
Koual—Yosuke. One of the first true friends I’ve ever made. I have to trust he hasn’t made this choice willingly. He became a monster, but he didn’t want to be. A better experiment couldn’t be devised. Maybe it’s cliché, stupid, to believe in the power of friendship, but I have to trust it’ll get me through since apparently nothing else has gotten anyone else through. And, if I’m being truly honest with myself…I’d rather die than be alone, ever again.
He turns, keeping the katana between him and the monster before him. And what he sees…well, it’s not what he expects.
Koual was a kitsune, true. And Koual—no, Yosuke—loved using the shapeshifting power even when not necessary. But he’d expected him to be in kitsune, not human form. Or…well, humanoid anyway.
The thing he sees in front of him is…well, definitely could be described as a monster. The body occasionally flickers in and out, like black mist. There’s a scarf around the thing’s throat, and it’s made of the same black mist almost like a thousand ghostly spider webs. It’s hard to make out the rest of the body through the coat of dried and drying blood, which makes him swallow. The shirt is…a muscle shirt. Skintight. It looks like armor but he’s pretty sure it isn’t. He almost wants to look away—it’s kind of indecent—but forces himself not to do so. Showing weakness now would be a bad idea. What he’d felt on his arm earlier is an armored, clawed glove. Pointed. It matches the boots and pants.
The face is undoubtedly Yosuke’s, which is a surprise. Now that he’d thought about it, Koual had kept the same fawn-colored hair, but other than that there wasn’t much facial resemblance. This…
The yellow, amused eyes and the pointy, amused grin are new, though. “It’s nice of you to show me your blade. I didn’t think you’d be that happy to see me.”
It’s an innuendo. Souji tries not to let it rattle him, any more than the fact that there’s blood on Yosuke’s face and he doubts it’s Yosuke’s own. The Immortal doesn’t look at all worried. He doesn’t think I even have a chance—but he doesn’t want to kill me yet. What does the innuendo mean, though? Is he just toying with me like he toyed with his other victims? Or does he have a special fate in store for me?
“Oh, I’m just happy I’ve been able to track you down after all this time. You’re a hard man to find, Ceirahn. Or should I call you Koual? Or Yosuke?” His voice is a little cold, to hide his sudden fear. He realizes something terrifying. He’s not his character, after all.
Can he actually use his in-game-powers? Was that why no one could fight an Immortal?
And that’s when his tail swishes, just a little. Just enough to make him realize that, wait, he’s in his character. Which means he has to trust that there’s a connection there, enough that he can survive long enough to get through to Yosuke.
His opponent laughs delightedly. “You’re so intelligent, Sou-chan. It’s one of the things I just love about you.” Suddenly, there’s a pout on the face. Did Yosuke ever switch his moods this fast? “But so cold. And this when I’m happy to see you, too. Don’t worry about it too much. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“If I force the issue, will you try anyway?” He presses the blade forward until it’s against the muscle shirt, presses a little harder. The muscle shirt must, in reality, be some kind of armor, because otherwise there’s no way it could be resisting a katana like this, but farther up, where it doesn’t cover, he feels a little resistance followed by a little give. He’s broken skin.
“Nah, not even for your love bites. Because—correct me if I’m wrong—you’re not the kind of guy who likes it a little rough, are you?” Still unconcerned. Still flirting in his own, creepy way.
Does Yosuke even feel like this? And…if he was in his right mind, what would I say to him? How would I respond?
He feels his face flush, but at least the fur covers it.
“That’s a conversation I want to have with Yosuke, not the Siren of the Abyss.” Yes. They have a lot to talk about.
This finally gets a slippage of the happy face the Immortal is wearing. He gets a snarl with fangs and a flash of red eyes, not yellow. “I’m Yosuke. Whatever you have to say, you can say to me.” The childish hurt in the voice—yes, he’s heard that in the real world. It seems so far away now. Against the bodies littering the ground, though, it’s uncomfortably surreal. “Well, if you need to prove it, I guess I’ll fight you. But don’t worry, my dear Sou-chan. I won’t hurt you too badly. Oh, and rude me, we need mood music.” Fingers snap, and something Souji suspects is an English love song plays instead.
He talks a good game, Souji thinks, two seconds before obsidian claws are tearing away his katana.
Previously:
“I’m sorry, big bro. I’ve got a lot of homework.” Nanako looks absolutely devastated the moment Souji walks in the door.
The teenager finds himself smiling. “Don’t worry about it, Nanako. If it’s all right, I thought I’d try things out just so I can help you out when it comes time for us playing together.”
At that, Nanako grins widely and runs over to hug him. “You’re a really nice guy!”
No, I’m not, Nanako, but…I’m trying to be. “Thank you. Do you need any help with your homework?” He hasn’t done his, yet, but it won’t take him long.
“No, thanks, big bro.” She returns to the table, where she’s going through a stack of papers. “I understood everything we did in class. It’s just going to take a while to complete.”
He nods and makes a decision. Normally, he likes to do all his work in his room, where there’s no one around to bother him, but today he’ll keep his little sis company. They don’t even really have to talk, but they can be social in a way that won’t bother him. Or her. She’s still shy, and despite warming up to him a lot after he agreed to play the game with her, she’s probably still trying to get used to someone else being here.
Once he’s done, he grabs his laptop and, once it turns on, starts scrolling through the forum again. He’ll wait until Nanako’s asleep to actually mess around with the game.
‘Koual’ might be a strange name, but the posts are the most useful so far. Apparently he and Nanako missed something big, whatever a ‘server merge’ means.
Koual’s not always the most straightforward, and at times the person even gets confusing, but that seems to be mostly a fault of the system. It seems like the game he’s going to play is complicated, but after a few rereads he thinks he gets it. Just to be sure, he posts a question. Apparently he can only post as ‘anonymous’ at the moment. “So…the only thing I should really worry about as a starting character (and player) are the Classes Spellbinder, Mender, Herald, Cavalier, Champion, Hidden One, Hope Design, and Extreme Fighter? Thank you. –S”
He gets a somewhat less than helpful answer, but then Koual posts in reply. “Welcome abord, S! I’m Koual, your friendly neighborhood Kitsune, but you probably already knew that. Yeah, unless you’re planning out your character way in advance, with your first character that’s all you have to worry about Class-wise. You saw the one where I posted about various Types, right? You also have to worry about that when you choose your character. Well, if you want. If you want it, I can direct you to the posts where people compare stats and number-crunch the data to min-max their characters, but personally I don’t go for that much math in something that’s supposed to be fun ;) haha. Let me know where I’m not clear or if you have questions. –Koual”
That’s pretty quick. Souji decides to test it again. “There’s a lot to keep track of. Are all games like this so complicated? –S”
Again, a reply comes within a few minutes. “I wouldn’t know; I’ve only plaed two other games ages ago. And yeah, it can be complicated. Personally I just go for what’s fun and don’t try to work out everything beforehand. Then again, there are people who would argue I’m always like that…uhhh, buuuut you shouldn’t listen to them. There’s a lot more data you can get (and a lot of it is posted on the wiki, hang on… iso(dot)wiki(dot)jp should give you what you’re looking for). If you’re looking for details and numbers. The official one is run by the pr people which means it’s next to useless. I’m just trying to bare-bones it, give people a feel about what the decisions they’re making mean. –Koual”
“You misspelled a word. But thank you. I assume I’m supposed to replace the (dot)s with . right? –S”
“Haha, just be glad I’m not typing on y phone. I’ve gotten good at typing thanks to this game, but when I’m texting I’m all lazy and use all the shortcuts ;) Also I occasionally take shortcuts anyway, but right now I’m trying to be all professional and step into Saki-senpai’s shoes, so I have to actually try. And yes, you replace the (dot)s with . You’re not allowed to post links in the forum unless they’re internal links. –Koual”
“I am grateful, then. I don’t care that it takes longer. I type everything out, and edit for grammar and punctuation. You’re doing a fairly good job seeming professional, as most books, even published ones, contain mistakes. Why aren’t you allowed to post links? –S”
“You’re…welcome, I guess? Haha, seriously? (It’d be lol srsly? in my phone.) You’re interesting. Looking forward to getting to know you. The not-posting links is to avoid spam or viruses. Even if you’re not the one jerkish guy who posted the link that infected the computers of, say, 2% of the people playing this game, people still get mad at the people who made the game. –Koual”
“Yes, it’s true. It’ll be interesting to meet you, as well. The thing about viruses makes sense, now that I think about it. Thank you, not only for your courteous and prompt answers, but the most useful guide to character creation I’ve seen thus far. I have another question, though…”
He accidentally posts and doesn’t get a chance to get back to it, because food is ready. It’s just pre-packaged, from Junes. He’ll have to do something about that, at some point. Right now, though, he doesn’t have the time. That’ll ease up some when he’s more familiar with the system and his situation in general. Nanako is a lot quieter, given that it’s just the two of them again, but eventually remarks with a small smile that she’s going to watch Loveline and then go to bed. Souji nods.
He opens the computer again and finds Koual a little confused on the other end.
“Yes? –Koual”
“…Are you okay? –Koual”
“Hey, you there? If you don’t speak soon I’m going to assume you were eaten by a slime… –Koual”
“RIP, S, I…hardly knew thee? –Koual”
He smiles a little, amused, and types “Shakespeare quotations? Are you a dramatist at heart? I had to eat dinner. –S”
“Shit, now I feel like an ass. Sorry about that S. And yeah. …it might be a little embarrassing to admit, but I only know that because of the one BBC movie version. Still, I got exposed to culture anyway so it still counts right? –Koual”
“…What’s with the blacked out words? I can’t read them. It’s all right. And…yes, I suppose one could see it like that, as long as you weren’t trying to skip out on school work in some fashion. My question was about an actual beginner’s player guide. Movement, gameplay, and the like. How does it work? Thank you again. –S”
“Uh. Now I’ll appear less professional. I could go back and edit my post, but, ugh, the work involved. It’s blacking out swear words. Blackouts can also be put in place by Admins to block out spoilers. You can enable both or either, but since you don’t have an account yet, you can’t. Yeah, sorry I panicked a little. The CP thing couldn’t have applied, since you havent’ even created your account yet. As for the other…you really are a true beginner, aren’t you? It’s absolutely great to have you aboard. You will be assimilated. Or something. ;) However, on that note, never fear! There’s a tutorial in the beginning that’ll teach you the basics. Um…basically it’ll go through your beginning story, like an intro in a pilot episode or something, and it’ll also teach you the rules (such as how to move and how to fight) along the way. It’s been a little while, but not quite as long since my second character. They’ve changed a few things around, and I hear they changed more after the merge. I hear they’re even starting you out with practice grouping with others, as well as teaching you a little about how Clans and Allegiances work. It’s in pretty simple terms, but it’s not kiddy-like either. Still, you’re babied a bit in the tutorial, since they’ve made it really hard to die and most of your choices don’t matter a whole ton, aside from the fact that some of them can change which NPCs—sory, non-player characters—are alive for you. A lot of the more complicated stuff is optional. –Koual”
“So with the tutorial I should be able to figure out things on my own? Thank you, Koual. –S”
“You’re very welcome. I’ll hopefully see you when you create a character! I’m playing on Takamagahara Field, but of course you might want a different server. –Koual”
Souji exits out of the forum. This time he’s kept a better track of the time, so he knows he most certainly should be asleep by now. Still, he thinks he’s learned enough to start playing, a little at least, for the time being. Hopefully tomorrow he’ll get to actually try out the game.
