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claudeng80 · 6 years

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Dragon Raid

Back when this was a game, it had never been so loud.

The roar of the frost giants had been tinny in her damaged headphones, the cackle of the imps nothing more than an annoyance. The shouts of her comrades had been merely spells and encouragement, layered with the strategies and status reports of the players.

It was nothing like this.

The hard ice floor is scarred with the marks of fire blasts, cracked with the force of explosions and pitted with runnels of acid. She adjusts her stance, careful not to slip. Just because she isn’t part of the advance team didn’t mean she doesn’t have to watch herself. Her time will come.

Kai and Shiira limp past, pulling back from the front. She presses heal potions into their hands, since they have the time. Any bit of help she can provide helps save the faster healers for the final assault.

“Can I get one of those?” Obi appears beside her, as usual invisible until he wants to be seen.

“Are you injured?” She runs her eyes over him, looking for injuries, for poison, for frostbite, fearing the worst.

“No.” He laughs, then drops his voice and her heart skips. “I’d rather something else from you, if you can spare it.”

Even now. She smiles back, and the world around them goes sharp-edged with Obi’s cloak of shadows. He can only hide them both for a few seconds, but it’s enough. His kiss is serious, so far from his customary playfulness she pulls back to look him in the eyes. “What’s wrong?”

The cloak shimmers and fizzles out, misty shades of the ice cavern returning. “This is it,” he answers. Behind him Zen paces, his eyes fixed on the far side of the cavern. Is he waiting for the battle, or what comes after? There’s no knowing.

“But that’s the idea.” Defeat this encounter, destroy the device hidden in the ice caverns, and go home. Or wake up. Or whatever it takes to fix what's wrong with all of them. It’ll be over today.

His voice is flat. “I know.” He steps back, and red flickers play across his face as Kiki re-summons her flaming swords. “It’s important. I just-”

The rumbling starts below the threshold of hearing, a tingling in the toes and the depths of her chest. Cracked ice moans as the sound grows louder, deeper. Warriors cluster and shields flare to life around the cavern. An icicle the size of a car slivers loose and crashes to the floor, peppering everyone’s ankles with sprays of ice. Shirayuki tosses Obi a poison charm, which he catches one-handed. His knives flare with darkness as he draws them loose. Mitsuhide finishes his chant, armor blazing white.

“I’m just not sure I’m ready,” Obi confesses, breathless, rushing through the words as though this is his only chance. Perhaps he’s right, as before Shirayuki can ask what he meant, the ground heaves under her feet.

When this was a game, falling down meant a three second cooldown timer. Not scrambling for a grasp on ice tilting like a ship in a storm, washing against Zen, banging into Kiki, dropping half a dozen crafted and summoned items and watching them go skittering away past her fingertips. The battering stops, sure-footed Obi pulls her to her feet, and he’s gone. The next anyone will see of him is with his knives in the neck of the dragon spreading her wings in the center of the cavern.

No screen did her justice. They’d never known the Queen of Ice was made of rainbows. Reflections scatter though the cavern as she fans her wings, stretches her neck, and Shirayuki is all but mesmerized.

The dragon’s screech and Zen’s shout break the spell together. He charges, Mitsuhide’s unbreakable bulk protecting his back and Kiki singing haste by his side. Obi’s there too, somewhere, his survival skills and hunger for challenge drowning out whatever had worried him before. Nothing makes Obi happier than fighting something that could kill him with a look, and they don’t come bigger than the Queen of Ice.

The dragon’s allies burst through the far wall, and the reserve force cuts them off. Kihal’s birds wheel and dive, scattering at the concussions of Suzu’s explosions. Izana’s firebreathing mount dissolves in a spray of pixels and he lays on with his sword. They have to hold, they have to keep the battle separated-

Lightning cracks, Garrack and Shidan bringing their sorcery to bear, and the raid starts to blur. Shirayuki does her best, pulling healing potions for people with the time to drink them, minor charms for anyone they could help. Her limited store of mana potions go to Ryuu, whose staff glows constantly with heal spells. Obi flickers in and out, drawing gashes across rainbow scales every time.

The dragon rears up, wings thrashing, and everyone takes cover. Shields and silencing spells make domes like islands in the ice. The everpresent crack of ice and chorus of shouts disappear under Shirayuki's own silencing charm, so that when the dragon’s maw gapes, she hears nothing but blessed silence. Freed from the ensorcelled terror that would send her running, should she hear even a single note, she admires the spectra scattered from the edges of its teeth.

Most people hunker down during the roar, waiting to attack when the way is clear. Not so Obi. Over and over he flicks into being, shattering scales, tearing a wing, slicing tendons. The crowd surges back to renew their attack, just as the flailing tail catches him full in the side.

She’s running before he hits the ground, but he’s on his feet already by the time she reaches him. The scar on his forehead pulls his scowl into something dark and menacing.

“Are you hurt?” It’s probably a silly question, because after that flight he surely took some damage, but he shrugs it off.

“Nothing that needs to be dealt with. I’ll take it out of her hide. You should get back, miss. We’re going to need you.”

“I’m not sure she has a-” He’s gone, back into the fight like a shark when blood’s in the water. “Hide.” Obi’s all business during a fight, even his legendary sense of humor muted to the rarest of moments. And it’s not the time for joking.

The Queen of Ice squeals again, and Shirayuki nearly loses her footing turning to see. The dragon’s scales are shattered like broken glass now, blackened with the paths of lightning bolts and pincushioned with weapons. She shivers, giving one last toss of her head, and Obi clings, holding tight to his knives buried in the back of her neck. Her final screech cuts off as she dissolves in a spray of light, scales and weapons falling in rattling piles.

There’s no treasure chest this time, no reward for defeating the dragon. Just a hole in the ice that Obi is falling into, twisting like a cat to land on his feet. She has to assume he succeeded, because she's not going to believe something as simple as a hole in the ground could defeat him.

It’s still a long minute before his voice echoes up the passage and Shirayuki remembers to breathe. “The coast is clear, no enemies down here.”

Zen chooses to surf the walls instead of waiting, and by the time Shirayuki’s slow-fall charm sets her gently on her feet in the dragon’s lair, he’s already halfway through raking Obi over the coals. “If you ever do this again-” he hisses, cutting himself off.

“There won’t be another,” answers Obi, sharp and solid with confidence if not full of enthusiasm. That sadness is back, now that the adrenaline of combat is fading from his face. “Come on, it’s this way.”

The entire raid follows, witches and druids shoulder to shoulder with berserkers and paladins. Everyone wants to be there when it ends, when they’re free. The dragon’s nest fits them all, spires and coils of ice starting to drip in the presence of so many bodies. Shirayuki wants to know how and why, how something that was just a game pulled them in and become so much more, why them. But that has to wait. For now, it’s her turn.

The silver box in the center of the nest is incongruous, neither magical nor rustic. It’s not something crafted here, not something an NPC would understand or a dragon could use. It looks like an ancient computer, in fact, the big ones that sent astronauts to the moon. A single light burns on the front, just the color of Obi’s eyes. She can’t see him in the crowd; he’s hiding from her.

After, after. There will be time when they’re free.

She draws a seed from her pocket, safe despite all her falls and nearly weightless in her hand. The product of countless hours of work, Garrack’s experience and Ryuu’s genius and Shirayuki’s steady hand, it'll be their freedom. It fizzes against her palm, eager, and she reshapes it. If the lock had been a nest, the egg would have hatched. If it had been a gate, dynamite would have blown it up.

For communicating with a computer, a stack of cards. She doesn’t have to be able to read them; they know what they say, what they do. The Olin Maris is a key and at the same time a door.

With an echoing clank, she sets the cards in the hopper. “Goodbye, love,” Obi whispers in her ear, as invisible and intangible as the wind, and the cards start to feed.

Everything goes black.

For a moment she fears she’s failed, that this is just another death, another moment in between lives before she reappears at her bind point. But it persists, imagination superposing glowing shapes on the blackness that goes on forever. Alone and empty.

The glowing square, when it appears, is a relief. The letters that follow are a blessing.

Friend: StateofYo has left the server

Friend: NotYourDad has left the server

Friend: Kiki has left the server

The cursor blinks, waiting.

Friend: KeepYourPantsOn has left the server

Logging out in 15 seconds . . .

The blackness eats itself, flattening into nothingness.

****

Obi stares at the dragon poster hanging above his computer. It’s nice to be home, he supposes. He’s been telling himself that for three days now. It’s good that he still has a home, good that he’d only been in the hospital two weeks. Especially good that somebody found him in time. They’d wondered what had happened to the ones who disappeared in the first week. They’d hoped it meant it would be possible to get out someday. They never seriously considered that those who remained were the lucky ones.

He should really go order pizza or something. Or get a granola bar. Food is important. If he felt like walking, he could be at the smoothie place in five minutes.

He doesn’t go. The dragon stares back. He’d fought- He’d killed a dragon. With his hands. A knife left over from some earlier meal glitters at him from the desk, and he picks it up. It feels right in his hand. He feels right with it. Until he tries to spin it, the simplest and most basic of motions, and the knife bounces off the desk, leaving greasy smears across papers and clattering to the floor. It’s not real. He remembers things his body never did. He’s not entirely real anymore.

He misses Shirayuki.

He knows she’s all right; she’s posted to the Survivors of Sunrise Legion community several times in the last couple of days. He’s typed responses half a dozen times, only to delete every one. She’s brilliant and generous and perfect. She’d liked him.

She’d liked Obi, mysterious, tragically scarred, and supremely competent rogue. Not Obi, reasonably competent a/c and heating technician. A man muddling through life, putting in enough effort to get along but having very little to show for it. He has nothing.

She deserves better.

The door buzzer sounds, wheezing after the first burst like making the sound is just too much work. He’s not expecting anyone. His gait is steady enough on the way to the door, breaking the the arc of freezer-meal boxes and granola bar wrappers around his desk chair. He may have told a few fibs to the therapists to get out of the hospital early, but the least he can do is walk. He unlatches the deadbolt - he’ll never use the chain again, not after what they had to do to his door to get to him - turns the handle, and-

Red.

It has to be her. She smiles.

“Obi?” The look on her face is heartbreaking, the hope in her eyes. If he lied, said no, she'd never know what a mistake she'd avoided. It would be a mercy.

But he can't. He can't lie to her. “How did you find me?”

She deflates at least an inch, tension flowing out of her as she hears his voice. He steps back, opening the door wider, and she marches inside. “Kiki,” she says, eyes roaming in an effort to keep from meeting his, keep from staring at the mess. He waits, because that's not enough of an answer. “She didn’t tell me the details, but she apparently has resources.”

“That’s putting it mildly, given she didn’t know my full name.”

“Some kind of investigative reporter magic.” She shrugs, giving up on trying not to look at the room and settling her gaze somewhere in the vicinity of his neck. He swallows, and her breath catches. “She says you’re on her Christmas card list now, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It was nice to hear her voice again when she called this afternoon, and-” She trailed off.

She sounds nervous. “Are you okay, miss?”

“I’m fine.” The speed she says it with doesn’t give him confidence. “It’s just- Kiki called and I ran for the bus, and now I’m feeling like I should have asked you first, instead of just showing up. I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.”

“Wait.” This afternoon? “How far did you-”

“Only about an hour,” she chirps. “I took the bus.”

A lock of her hair has come loose, lying against her neck like a lure he can’t resist. He wants to touch it, to tuck it back for her. “I should have guessed your hair would be red.”

She looks down again, bashful, and that doesn’t help how much he wants to touch her. “It wasn’t, before. I dyed it to keep something of her.”

He wishes he could hold on to his other self so easily. He considers saying that, because she of all people might understand, but he’s pathetic enough. Why rush to prove it to her?

She chatters on, changing the subject with relief. “I’m supposed to report back when I’ve seen you, because everybody’s been wondering where you are.”

“Everybody?”

“Well, Mitsuhide hasn’t been around much. It sounds like the kids aren’t giving him much of a break. But Zen wanted you to know he’s going to be in town on business next month, and he’s looking forward to seeing you.” This, at last, feels normal. She chatters, tiny and red-haired beside him, and for a moment he can forget he’s not that Obi, not the one she fell in love with. She’s a comfort. He’s missed her so much.

“I’ve missed you so much.” She interrupts herself to say it, as though she’s reading his mind, and when he looks down her eyes are waiting for him. They’re green, more beautiful than he ever could have imagined. He just falls in, everything he was about to say deserting him, not that he truly had anything coherent.

She makes the first move, touching him for the first time, her fingers circling his wrists. She’s gentle, curious, and he wants to sigh, melt, sit down, pull her to him and wrap her in his arms- he freezes.

She pulls back, voice small and tight. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-”

“No, please. I like it, I just-” Surely there's some way this could be more awkward, but he can't imagine how.

She's still stressed, still pulling in on herself. “I understand if I'm not what you were hoping for.”

What? She's still her, and she's real, and she came looking for him when he tried to hide. She is not the problem here. “You're perfect,” he says. “I almost can't believe it. I'm not handling this well at all.”

“You're not disappointed?”

“I have no idea how that could even be possible. But you-” He draws a deep breath. She needs the truth, she needs to hear this or she won't know. He understands her well enough to know it's unavoidable. “You should be disappointed with me.”

Even her confusion is cute. She tilts her head like a puppy. “I don't see why I should be any different.” She steps in, raising her hands to bracket his face. “I didn't fall in love with a video game character. I fell for you. I miss you, and I want you in my life. The real you. And I'd like to spend more time with you in the real world. I don't think I have another game in me, for a while.” Her eyes are irresistible. “If you would like that.”

If he would like that. As if she weren't offering something he'd barely even let himself dream. He leans into her hands, his own stubble sharp on his skin. He hasn't even shaved in days, and she still looks at him like this. “There is nothing I want more.”

She smiles with everything, eyes and teeth and cheeks and it might be a cliche, but he can swear the entire room lights up. Again she reaches for his hand, sliding her fingers between his own. They both stare at their entwined hands a second, and then she’s flinging her other arm around him, pressing her cheek against his chest. “Your heartbeat,” she says, delighted, and he doesn’t have breath to respond. “You’re real.”

“You’re real too,” he murmurs, and it’s all he needs right now. He doesn’t have to go back to who he was before, and he doesn’t have to try to be someone he isn’t. They can be something new, together.

#obiyuki #obiyukibingo2018 #isekai au #in which it is obvious claudeng has played too many mmos #i was specifically thinking of lady vox and lord nagafen from everquest if anyone is curious #and too much log horizon #courtesy of husband #pardon the terrible puns in the usernames i couldn't resist

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sabraeal · 7 years

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what's your fave obiyuki smut fic?

OH GOD THIS IS TOUGH. I am just gonna narrow it down to three from my fav smut writer, because I LITERALLY CANNOT CHOOSE

The Morning After because THAT BATH SCENE, oh my god, followed by SHIRAYUKI BREAKING THAT MAN

Restraint because I love Melt-verse Shirayuki and how she slowly comes to OWN her desire

This alt ever after scene I cajoled her into because I LOVE COMPLICATED FEELINGS + SMUT.

All written by my most wonderful other half @superhappybubbleslove

#asks #obiyuki #ans #fic rec #there are so many honorable mentions oh god #like the sex in Ex Gratis kills me #any of xaph's stuff #Claudeng's sex pollen fic oh god #the sex scene in Knowing You #and like #let it be said that I'm clearing space at the top of the podium #for when Obi and Shirayuki have sex in Clarines Nebraska #and for if Krispy ever writes the omegaverse smut #like i'm just already aware I'll be wrecked #OH GOD I FORGOT THE ONE KIRSPY WROTE FOR THE ALT WFB VERSE #where she gets off on his voice #god that is up there too #THIS IS LIKE CHOOSE CHILDREN #Anonymous

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obsidiancorner · 5 years

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back!

I’m so ashamed that this and claudeng’s ask has sat in my inbox for so long. Apparently, there are 12 instances of ‘back’ in Littlest Lion Chapter 2... so remind me to go through and see if I can’t work some of that out in edits, please. XD

When he pulls back from her, he is all shiny eyes and bright smile. His hands stay on her shoulders but he has grown so tall in these past few years. He stands nearly as tall as Obi now but he still appears to have the ungainliness of young man not yet accustomed to his long limbs. “It appears the driver was right. We were expecting you. We just figured it would be with an entourage and…” He stops and Shirayuki braces for whatever was coming next. “Under the Wistaria’s banner?”

Ah, sweet Kazuki.... not so young and smol anymore.

#sabraeal

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thelionshoarde · 6 years

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WiP Tag

@sabraeal tagged me! I may have already had this set up JUST IN CASE you got me 8D

List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or as little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on. This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets, fanwork, or original work!

I stuck mostly to things that are, uh, first on my list? And that have more than just sloppy outlines and notes and ideas?? D; I decided to add little excerpts so I’m putting this under a tag cause it, uh, got kind of long! Y_Y (again, this isn’t EVERYTHING, especially: i don’t have all of my 12days fic started, a lot of it is still in my head, but it HASN’T been forgotten, promise!! D; )

12 days of christmas - kaedix; Zen had made the mistake of letting Yuzuri be in control of the decorations -- “We are going to choke on tinsel, I hope you realize,” Obi complained, glaring at him. Zen, for his part, glared back: “If it was going to be a problem you should have warned me. I can’t just take it back! She’ll be furious.” -- and so there was mistletoe everywhere.

12 days of christmas - claudeng; “Wait,” Shirayuki said, two hours later. Rubbing her eyes, she peered blearily at the eagle owl on Isamu’s perch. “Why is Inigo still here? Is something wrong?”

Without looking up from the Prophet, Obi nudged a full glass of orange juice across the table toward her. A plate of pancakes and scrambled eggs and hashbrowns -- Obi’s breakfast special -- waited for her, a warming charm carefully laid over the sumptuous spread.

12 days of christmas - superhappybubbleslove; He tried to act like it was no big deal, but after a week the dead body in the cellar was starting to stink up the place. The muscles in his thighs kept tensing with the urge to move.

12 days of christmas - youseimanami; “That would be cheating,” Shirayuki grumbled, and began to pluck at the mess with her nails. “I’m not going to do that to Ryuu. You’re not going to do that, either, right?”

“Weeellll--”

“Yuzuri,” Shirayuki chastised, wondering if she should try tugging with her teeth. “Don’t you dare! We all agreed our presents would be hand-made by us. Not other people. How do you think -- uh, who do you have again?”

12 days of christmas - vfordii; “It’s just a game, Miss,” he said, tone mocking. “They wouldn’t want it to be over too soon, would they? I’m just catering to the crowd.”

She snapped, “Rubbish.” and pressed harder, drawing a wounded noise from his throat and a widening of his pupils. There, finally. She had his attention. Leaning in close, she said, “What is going on?”

heading for a small disaster, ch3; Shirayuki sat atop her garden wall, the low stone obstruction still high enough that her feet swung above the ground. The fog softened her as well, turning her skin to pearl and her hair to coral, and Obi became a boulder, cold and ancient, to watch her. Though the sun was clamoring for space on the horizon this time still belonged to him. This time, outside her wards, she would not notice him.

Lyrias Center, ch2; Obi winced as the door slammed -- pointedly -- behind him. Standing, he reached one hand up to rub at his shoulder, turning to the three familiar figures watching him. “Well, I do believe I’ve made an enemy -- the administrative kind, which I hear is the most dangerous to have. Mister, will you defend my hapless honor when he demands a duel?”

“What honor?” Mitsuhide asked, deceptively innocent.

magic!cowboy au; That, then, was their second trouble, because nose to tail with the official news came the rumor and gossip where truth could be found: that Raj Shenazard had embarrassed daddy, who owned damned near the entirety of the Tanbarun Territory, and his new posting as Rock Cradle’s sheriff was not for the good of the town, but to punish a boy who was flippant, soft, and a notorious whiner.

back alley; “Still,” Izana mused. “You are much too valuable to be set in a corner, even if I am of a mind to indulge your fantasy. Of course, you could simply take the pharmacist as your mistress -- take the knight, as well, if you like. It wouldn’t be anything our great-uncle Kentarou didn’t do during his brief stay on the throne.”

“Don’t forget great-great-grandmother Ryoko,” Zen said dryly, “she had, what? Five lovers on the side?”

“Twelve, if you believe the rumors.”

soulmate flower tattoo au; It was a good enough con, Obi thought, later, so he started wearing black. His pants were black, and his boots and his shirt and his arm guards, all black to match the leather of his gloves, to match the story of a soulmate dead before he’d ever met them, flowered marks faded to nothing, his scarred skin unblemished. Safer, easier -- people took one look at his attire and assumed.

unicorns of balinor au; “Noble as well as gallant,” Obi grinned, rising from his seated position. He was tall enough to loom, but the way he slouched made him seem less threatening; only Shirayuki knew it for the effect it was, and found little comfort in his deliberate ploy. It only raised the fine hairs along her arms, a wave of gooseflesh, that he would show his belly even as his smile had already bared all his teeth.

He said, “I only wanted to be certain we understood each other.”

Tagging: @claudeng80 @septhi-draw @youseimanami @hidetheremote @raediation

#writing meme #my fic

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onedivinemisfit · 6 months

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Galaxy, sun, rose, perfume and valentine for the pretty asks!

Ehehehe ty my trusty potat :3

Galaxy: what fascinates you?

- … <.< >.> serial killer psychology 🔪

Sun: favorite season

- spring! 🌸 More specifically, the late spring, when everything is blooming and green and fresh and dewy and warm - in the words of Sapkowski, “where the apple blossoms bloom eternal”

Rose: favorite flower?

- I have a softness for hortensias, they grow so big and yet retain an almost small flower-esque delicacy

Perfume: favorite scent?

- brb I gotta google my favorite perfume

It smells like Greece in mid summer ✨🍋 it’s my favoritest, but I can’t use it in winter, it’s not suited as well for it

Valentine: best gift you’ve ever received?

- Sarah bound me a book. 📖 From scratch. Which contained everyone’s short ficlets inspired by my little works of art. How could I not choose that 🥹

Send me a pretty ask

#pretty asks #trusty potat frand #i trust you to always choose good prompts #and you delivered #claudeng

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claudeng80 · 6 years

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Griefer

(Prequel to Dragon Raid)

It seems backward that the world looks so much sharper when he’s hidden, that the creature of the shadows would live so constantly in bright colors, but that’s the way it goes in this game. He prowls the rocks just off the road watching for prey, whether a wandering pegasus or an unwary traveler.

As if in answer to his idle thought, the sound of footsteps precedes a very unwary traveler indeed. A knight, apparently, clattering in armor with a massive sword rattling at his side. Obi wagers with himself that a single strike will take him down.

He’s but an arm’s length away, backstab attack already processing, when he realizes by how much he’s already won that wager. He knows the armor, remembers it from a short-lived alt. It’s the very first set, gifted on the starter island. He’s just about to smite a newb.

He cancels the attack, disgruntled. He may be the scourge of this zone, a name known only through curses on the server forums, a player killer extraordinaire, but he has standards. He doesn’t knock over level two characters for their first ten gold pieces.

The newb spins as Obi fizzes into visibility beside him. He doesn’t draw his sword.

“I think you’re lost,” Obi offers. “The zone border is back down the road the way you came.”

See what gratitude he gets for trying to be helpful. The guy just stands there. Obi shrugs to himself and hits his invisibility cloak. Rude people in an MMO are nothing new. The guy’ll get eaten by the wildlife any minute now, and see who wouldn’t be dragging his corpse out of danger.

A whisper pops up on his screen. “You kill characters?”

It’s from the newb, who’s still standing there in the road. Maybe he’s been typing all this time. “I do,” Obi answers, then feels obligated to explain again. “You really shouldn’t be standing around in the open in this zone, you’re going to-”

He doesn’t finish typing before the next whisper shows up. “Want to earn some money?”

He backspaces through the advice, wondering what exactly he’s stumbled on. “I’m listening,” he types instead, and waits.

“I need someone to quit this game, and I’m willing to offer a reward to see that she does.”

That gives him only a moment of pause. He’s not usually a griefer, far more into knocking random people out in the middle of nowhere and stealing their gear, but if there’s money involved? Not much of a downside here. “Tell me who, and I’m on it.”

-----

Shirayuki knew that playing a female avatar was risky, especially on a PVP server, but she didn’t anticipate this level of harassment. Every time she logs in, she dies. Every time she leaves a town, she dies. The first day it’s weird.

The first week is a bit upsetting.

Then it just gets funny.

She hits him with a blind charm, somehow, and he misses his swing. It’s the same rogue it is every day, swathed in black right up to his gold eyes. She chortles, pleased to be on her feet for another round, and throws a bag of caltrops in his face. He shoots her in the back long before she makes it to cover.

The next time, she manages to hit a dive-roll just right and evades for half damage. If nothing else, she’s getting much stronger at defensive moves from all of this. He’s swooping for the finishing blow when her transmogrification charm splatters against his chest, and Shirayuki leaps from her chair in joy. It was a risky move, because he could have ended up an ogre, a vampire bat, a wyrm, or something even more dangerous. What she gets is a chicken.

He pecks at her feet, and she can’t even hit the keys from laughing so hard. When the charm drops, there are still too many tears in her eyes to do anything but die under his knives. It’s worth it.

“Ha ha,” comes a whisper, lacking any punctuation to clue her in. Did he find this as funny as she did? Or is he annoyed with her? Either way, good.

“This is ridiculous,” Zen sends to the guild chat. She's mentioned the rogue in passing a few times, but not until today did they pry out just how continuous the harassment has been. He really doesn’t need to worry about it, but that’s the kind of guild leader Zen is. If you pick a fight with one member of Wistal, you fight them all. “We’re going to teach this guy a lesson.”

---

Her dive-roll doesn’t work so well this time, so Shirayuki gets to watch the fracas over the view of her avatar’s awkwardly sprawled corpse. The rogue fights back for a moment, outnumbered and rendered powerless by Zen’s true seeing and Kiki’s blade arts. By the time Kiki has him chained in place, barely a sliver of his life remaining, Mitsuhide’s finished raising her with a chant.

“How many times has he killed you now?” Zen’s anger is palpable. She doesn’t need voice chat, she can all but feel it through his typing.

She stopped counting some time ago. “Twenty-two,” the rogue offers up, unapologetic. “I’m done, now, though. Clearly you’re not going anywhere, so I’ve been defeated. I yield.”

“What should we do with him?” Zen vents on guild chat while Kiki refreshes the chains.

“I don’t think we could kill him that many times if we wanted to,” says Mitsuhide.

“I've never been turned into a chicken before, that was hilarious,” the rogue continues. “You should probably upgrade your armor, though.”

“We could kill him once and steal his pants,” offers Kiki.

“We could call him out on the forums, now that we know his name.” Zen wants blood.

Shirayuki just watches him wait, jabbering away in open chat, a blot of black against the green of the forest. Kiki’s chains dissolve into pixels, and still the rogue stands there watching her in return.

Shirayuki’s cursor hovers over the “Invite to guild” button, and she clicks.

#obiyukibingo2018 #d&d au #it's a stretch but mmos are all based on it #in which it is obvious claudeng has played too many mmos #Zen is playing way too much and Haruka thinks it's Shirayuki's fault #fanfic #how fun is the mental image of Haruka going through character creation?

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