"NIneteen minutes?" Theo was absolutely despondent. "The bus couldn't have kept going for like, two, three miles? There's no automated walkway? Isn't this supposed to be one of the most high tech countries in the world??"
He realized the others were already walking ahead, and he grabbed his...
He smiled again.
Not because she was off the mark with the assumption that he was being overly cautious, but because he was made content. If she saw things in such a simple way, then far be it for him to elaborate further. There were people who were skeptical of others on first meeting, and who...
He stopped to look at the man for a moment as he spoke about drastic possibilities and the future, and Theo slowly blinked. Would not the sane person think, "we could die" and opt to remove themselves from that particular situation? He pursed his lips, fully ready to point that fact out to the...
"...!" Before he had time to form words, Yugam was already in motion. Jin's eyes widened in surprise and excitement as the man drew closer, and when he got cold-cocked, Jin hit the floor. Surprisingly, he was not angry, or disappointed. That was exactly the kind of response he had expected.
And...
"Wait," Jin stopped, turned and looked over his shoulder at Yu with the most amused expression on his face. "Do you really not know?" he asked rhetorically.
"Oh that's amazing, Ari," he commented on the man's brazen foolishness. "You know about how the VRSA covered this whole game up, and even...
When Nico mentioned how Ari was enjoying her germs, he rolled his eyes in disgust. "You two should just get a room already," he muttered as he glanced back to the other man, who actively chided the other two for their behavior and proceeded to explain about what the words Theo had heard meant...
Such a pretty choice of locale, he noted silently. It ran oppositional to the kind of contract that the other man wanted to enter into. War was the antithesis of peace, and conflict the enemy of serenity. Yet, there were many masters of the art who favored a peacetime that balanced out their...
The youth saw her spoon coming for his face and, with eyes wide like headlights, he dodged out of the way at the last second. "Are you crazy?" he asked. "There was a pandemic within the last decade and our countries still haven't figured out how to completely get rid of it. Don't put your germs...
There was a flash of disdain when the no-so-massive man grappled him that almost reflected one of Jin's trademark scowls. The level of "Don't touch me" ran parallel to edgelord on the charts just long enough that if Nico saw it, she'd declare 'oh, THERE it is!'
And then, it was gone. "Hey...
Secrets were a currency.
His blood colored eyes watched Fiora as their drinks were replenished, and the Bloodsworn took a sip. He smiled over the lip of the flagon at her, hiding everything but his gaze. At this point, in terms of the game, she'd unintentionally laid bare more of her hand than...
"What, you expected me to not take the initiative and plan things out when it was clear that you'd jumped in a puddle before putting your shoes on?" Theo deadpanned at Ari before the others started to speak up. Suddenly, he was being criticized about medication by the girl with rage issues. Had...
What a chore...
In talking with Ari on the way to the airport, and during the flights and various layovers from JFK to Tokyo, he'd slowly learned a dangerous truth about their current adventure. While Ari had been the one to suggest the trip, it was a matter of hype. Good ideas that just...
Bullies were all the same in his experience. People who made themselves stronger at the expense of those who they thought were weaker, and when they found them, they drank up the false feelings of superiority that they derived from the exchange.
The key lay in the reaction. When you gave them...
"At times I find it humorous that I was the one who ended up dropping out of school," he grinned. Up until that time, he had been studious and took his lessons seriously. One day, he just stopped wanting to put the effort in. He wanted to start enjoying life. A series of near unbelievable events...
"...ugh."
The idea of meeting people in the outside world made his skin crawl. Here, he didn't wear a mask that protected his identity, and he was subject to the binding rules and laws of the society they were shackled to by birth. He was not at liberty to come and go as he pleased, and now, in...
Jin nodded sagely as he made his way into the foyer, an ink stain on otherwise perfect parchment as light filtered into the room from above. When he alighted on the altar opposite Yu, he sat faced away as the man reflected on his demise and the events that followed.
Everything met with...
"Mmmm... I think it would be amusing to watch what would happen if you got UI locked, @Zelrius . You do have such a flair for the dramatic."
"Hmm hmmm... a kiss for the lady, @Solaria , easy, quick, painless... I'm not sure you'd have the stomach for much more."
"Ahhh... and as for you...
No argument there, Jin mused as Fiora asserted that people were by and large stupid. It was true, there were those of them who did not take this world seriously enough, and others who preferred it over reality. The range of sentiments among Travelers varied so widely that it was virtually...
He continued to smile as she spoke, still watching the golden-green scene play out. The smoothness was interrupted every once and again by the bobbing of the wagon as it passed over a rock or dipped into a divet in the path. That was at it should be. No peace without chaos. Perfect balance.
"An...
