Complete Private High March [Reaping Season I] Purifying Phantasmal Holds

[Siondhe]

Kyra Vashtana

220 / 220

Curious...astral form, perhaps? Or...spiritual...entirely possible. Curious... Her ears twitched as she considered the figure in front of her. It still appeared unaware of her - or ignoring her entirely, she wasn't entirely sure which yet.

"Yeah...yeah I can see it...although...is it entirely - oh I wouldn't do-"

Her warning was cut off as Ash stepped forward and slashed at the figure, causing Kyra to bounce out of the way for safety. Not that she was entirely concerned about being hit by Ash - the individual seemed in control for the most part. That was, until the smoke dissipated beneath his blade, only to rush forward and attempt to..suffocate?...him.

She wasn't sure what it was doing, but she knew he was in trouble. Turning her attention to the task at hand, she did the one thing she thought would help - healing. A burst of bright energy - normally only visible to her, but this time blinding in its brilliance - erupted from her in a violet wave, connecting itself with Ash, before pushing the whisp of smoke off his body.

"Oh...oh that hurt...but it seems to have worked, for now..."

The voice spoke before she could get too excited, forcing Kyra to spin and find it standing behind her again. The growl the resounded in her throat almost covered over the words of the other who spoke.

"You didn't really think that would work, did you Ash-ling?"

Kyra's ears flicked as she stepped between Ash and the figure, her growl rumbling in her throat even as she bent her knees, her tail pulled in tight and her lips pulled back in a snarl.

"Ash...if you know who this is, now would be a good time to tell them to start behaving before I turn them into spirit whisps...and maybe explain to me exactly what we're looking at..."

@Ash Vargold
Mystery Figure Speech Bubble:
[Speechright=https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/959509811974778962/1001186867338813580/unknown.png][Color=#6622B8]"..."[/Color][/speechright]
​

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash coughed as Kyra forced the smoke away from him - it may not have been suffocating him, but he could still feel the chill in his chest making his lungs seize. There was something less substantial about him now - or maybe just something more substantial about the shade...? It was hard to say, in this grey and formless place.

Ash growled, bending down to pick up his sword. He didn't sheath it yet - even if it didn't do anything for him, it still felt better to have it out, just in case.

"...it's nothing, Kyra. Just this damn game generating nonsense based on neural patterns-"

Once again the figure lunged, more shadow than substance, hitting Ash with an impact that caused him to stagger back. This time he was more prepared, spectral energy following his hand as he pulled the shadow away. It slithered back, the cloaked figure once more - and now it was all to clear that it was somehow taking something - Ash seemed faded, as if it was drinking his color away.

"Strike two. One more chance."

A dull brown eye watched passively from beneath the hood as Ash struggled to recover. He could feel the rattle of his heartbeat as he tried to ignore the spreading cold.

"One chance until... what? Killing me?"

"Until you run out of options."

The figure approached. There was the white flash of an unkind smile.

"Chasing the truth while you're lying through your teeth, telling others to stick together while you keep others at arms length. Treating Terrasphere like a game, even though you know it's more than that.

That half-hearted approach will only get you killed, Ash-ling."

@Kyra Vashtana

 

[Siondhe]

Kyra Vashtana

220 / 220

Kyra's eyes narrowed as the thing spoke. It talked as if it knew Ash. Not in the way that Kyra knew him, as an acquaintance or a friend, but as someone far more involved. Closer, in a way that made Kyra feel an emotion that she almost didn't want to acknowledge.

She pushed down the feeling, although she could do nothing about the heat that had come to her face in response. Ash's personal life wasn't her concerns - nor was it her concern if there were others out there who-

"What are they talking about...? Treating it as just a game?"

Kyra's eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the hooded figure, a new reason to dislike them rising. She felt her growl starting to rumble in her throat again as she stepped in front of Ash again, putting her own body between Ash and the hooded figures.

"Who is this person Ash...? Are they someone important to you? Someone from the real world? Why do they seem to know so much about how you treat the game? Who are you?"

The final words were snarled at the hooded figure as Kyra drew her scythe, taking a ready stance as her tail splayed outwards behind her, her body vibrating in response to the collection of emotions rushing through her body. She made sure to keep herself between the two of them, not looking back at Ash in an attempt to hide the fury on her face from him.

@Ash Vargold​

 

[Ash Vargold]

"That's the sort of thing you should be asking your friend there, not me."

It swirled closer as it responded to Kyra for the first time, the white of that smile still glimmering from the shadows. There was perhaps something familiar about its twist, but...

"But yes. I know Ash very well. In fact..." Something shifted from beneath the cloak - an arm, raised to cover the shade's sudden chuckle. "I suppose you could say, I'm the closest you can get to Ash Vargold-"

"Would you shut. The fuck. Up!"

There was no rush of air in this lightless place as Ash charged past Kyra, face twisted with anger. In moments he closed the gap, and tackled the shade to the ground, hand around its neck as spiritual energy began to chill the air around him.

"I am so tired of your cryptic bullshit, and I am not letting some figment of my imagination boss me around-"

"Strike three. Quest failed."

Ash's breath hitched as the shade lunged through him, leaving him cold and grey as it materialized between him and Kyra. There was a definite solidity to it now, less a shade and more a person dressed like one.

"If this were a game, that'd be a game over. But we both know this isn't a game, even if you don't want to admit it. And killing you?"

The shade reached up to pull its hood down. Where once there was shade and darkness was now a face to put to the voice. For all the menace, the woman behind the cowl seemed quite ordinary.

"That would be completely missing the point of all this, wouldn't it?

We'll talk again soon, Aisling. Maybe you'll be ready to listen, then."

The smile the woman gave looked almost disappointed - and then she vanished. And so did the grey plane with it, bringing them back into the "real" world as suddenly as they'd left it. The shade was gone - but Ash was still on the ground, panting heavily. He was alive, but felt like all the warmth and energy had been sapped out of him.

@Kyra Vashtana

 

[Siondhe]

220 / 220

100/100

Things were moving. She could say that much at least. Although which direction they were moving...or if they were getting any closer to any sort of finality, Kyra couldn't say for sure. That was, until the figure reappeared, pulling off a hood that revealed a face that Kyra could've sworn she'd seen before. A face that tugged at her memory.

"Wait...I've seen you before...where have I-"

A flash of images, from a summer gone by flowed through Kyra's mind, music playing in her ears that didn't come from the world around her. For a moment, she stood, left hand raised as if to reach out and grasp someone, held stationary as she seemed lost in thought.

"Aisling...wait...a player? Ash do you know-"

The world had returned, back where they had first started. Kyra found herself staring at Ash, trying to figure out what had happened, what was happening.

"Ash was that someone you know...?"

Her voice was distant as she tried to piece everything together. Who was this person? Clearly a player, if Ash knew them from the real world. There was no doubt in Kyra's mind that it was the same person, she'd seen that face at the Summerfest, not too long ago. But how does Ash know them...especially in a game where everyone refuses to acknowledge they pl-no...

@Ash Vargold​

 

[Ash Vargold]

"Don't-" Ash started, but was interrupted by his own coughing. "...don't worry about it. No one important." He was still coughing, but he managed to get back to his feet. Somehow, he could still feel something sipping away at his EN, like a particularly insistent spirit, but he couldn't cut it off. And as he checked his information, a new status caught his eye.

HauntedYour regrets haunt you...

He just... wasn't going to mention that, for now.

"Mmph. I hate this game, sometimes." Now that they were back in reality, Ash could see the white-haired Caenis. It was difficult not to snap at him, but there was no use in doing that. That... thing, whatever it had been, had clearly come from him. All the boy had done was draw it out, somehow.

He shook his head and took a deep breath. Not enough to slow his heart, but enough to get his racing thoughts back in check. Damnit, it was supposed to be easier to handle this stuff in game. And now Kyra was asking questions he wasn't ready to answer. If he ever would be.

She couldn't run away from it forever.​

"...well, I suppose that's your end of the bargain, right?" Instead, he turned his focus on the boy, trying to push back the simmering anxiety in his mind. "Which means we ought to keep up ours while we still can. Right, Kyra?"

@Kyra Vashtana

 

[Siondhe]

220 / 220

100/100

Her eyes lingered on Ash for a few moments, even as the man brushed her away. There was something there, she knew that much. But he also clearly wasn't interested in talking about it, preferring to instead brush it off and leave the questions unanswered. Whatever had happened, Kyra doubted they had resolved anything.

"Alright...we tried on our end, now it's your tur-"

Kyra turned to see the Caenis boy smiling at them, a weird look in his eyes. Slowly, the boy shook his head, holding up a single finger and waving it back and forth in an almost drawn out manner. His eyes slowly looked towards Kyra's left, and she felt her gaze following, trying to see what it was that they should be expecting. Instead, she saw...nothing. Nothing but the patch of haze and orchid-like environment that she had found upon first arriving.

"Well...whatever your ghost is that's haunting you it's not..."

She looked back to find the boy gone, having disappeared in the brief moment it took Kyra to glance over and back. She sighed, kneeling down beside Ash as she shook off the weird feeling that the boy had been giving since their return to reality.

"...yeah, that figures. The entirely figures...guess we didn't solve anything here, hey Ash?"

She glanced up at the man, a question clearly on the tip of her tongue. She seemed to ponder it for a few breaths, before speaking aloud.

"Sorry...for dragging you out here for what appears to be an absolute waste of time...didn't manage to solve any of your ghosts, or the child's. Lose-lose, all around, eh?"

She shook her head, stifling a giggle in response. Couldn't even clear away a few simple ghosts, some gamer she was.

@Ash Vargold​

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash shrugged helplessly. He'd avoided outing himself for now, and it seemed like Kyra was content to let the issue drop.

For now, he could keep that line between Ash and Aisling from blurring. Things like what that thing actually had been or the debuff haunting his status could wait for later. Something to work on when he had the time and the energy for it.

"...its fine, Kyra." Ash forced a smile, trying to look better than he felt. "There was a lot happening there that we didn't understand."

He let his gaze linger where the boy had been before. He hadn't felt like a spirit at all, and yet he'd just... appeared and vanished like one. Maybe it was some magic neither of them knew about. They'd probably never find an answer, huh?

That was... frustrating.

But it didn't really matter in the end, he supposed. There probably wasn't any meaning in this stuff.

"It was sort of far-fetched anyway, the idea that you could beat up your own problems in virtual reality. If that were true, we wouldn't need therapists, right?" He poorly mimed a few punches. "Just hook someone up to some VR gear and have 'em fight their own mental issues until they feel better."

He let his fists drop and shook his head. "Though I bet VRSA wouldn't even let that slide. Hmph."

Ash looked back to Kyra. "Well, if we're done here, wanna head back to town? I know you're not a fan of carriages, but maybe it'll be easier if you've got someone to keep you distracted."

His smile was much more genuine that time.

@Kyra Vashtana

 

[Siondhe]

220 / 220

100/100

Something about the way he responded, the way he edged around the topic, had caught Kyra's attention. He was obviously hiding something from Kyra - or trying to, at least. What it was, she couldn't quite narrow down. Not enough to call him out for it.

She tensed up at the mention of a carriage, before realising there would be no way to worm her way out of it. If she denied it, likely he'd just drag her along anyways, which would only make it worse. She closed her eyes and hummed beneath a smile that was clearly void of any happiness.

"Yeah...yeah I guess...distractions may help. I mean, not that you're a distraction. I mean you are, but not...but...yeah. Uhm. Yeah let's carriage. I mean let's take a..."

She turned and walked away suddenly, heading back towards the roadway she'd passed on the way up to the area. As she went, she spoke lowly, knowing full well that the Caenis man would likely hear here regardless.

"In order for it to actually help, you'd have to treat it as more than just a game...odd, that they seemed so intent on that one fact..."

@Ash Vargold​

 

[Ash Vargold]

"Like I said, it's up to you. If you want to walk back, I won't stop you - I just can't do it myself. Not enough time in the day, you know?" The walk was a good distraction for him, at least. A good way to decompress, even in this darkness. "Just wanted to make the offer."

That shadow had given voice to thoughts in the back of his mind. That part of him that wanted to take Terrasphere more seriously, that knew that it could sink its claws into reality in dangerous ways. The part that had driven Aisling to move across the country and throw in her lot with a company run by a young woman with too much on her shoulders.

The part that knew better.​

"...whoever made this game wants people to take it seriously. Maybe the quest was just an extension of that." Ash had to consciously keep himself from going too far ahead. He was used to being on the other end of the equation, speedwalking to keep up with others.

He glanced down at his hand, tapping his thumb against the fingers one after the other. "...but it's when you take it seriously that it's the most dangerous. That's what killed me the first time. Ran headfirst into a boss battle and burned myself out casting from HP. That was before we knew about the third death."

@Kyra Vashtana

 

[Siondhe]

220 / 220

100/100

She stopped, turning to face Ash as the man began speaking again. She could hear the emotions in his voice, the way he was remembering things. It was more than Kyra had expected in response - and for a moment, she simply listened, waiting to see if he would say more.

When he paused, clearly done but still lost in thought, Kyra spoke. Her words were soft, probing, and without judgment.

"That sounds more like you weren't taking the game seriously...burning through all your HP just to cast spells."

She stepped back towards Ash, closing the distance and putting a hand on his arm. She looked up at the man, smiling sadly as she tried to catch his eye.

"As someone who's looked down upon for the way I play this game...between the realism, the healing - which, I know, is weird...trust me when I say that if you were taking it seriously, you'd do everything you could to stay alive. And not just because there's a fear of death, or a worry about yourself...you'd do everything to stay alive, because of the others."

She withdrew her hand suddenly, but the smile remained. Her tail was swaying behind her calmly, moving slow enough that it seemed almost lazy in a way.

"I...I use myself, as an example. People always question why I do what I do - why focus on healing, healing that clearly causes pain to myself, healing that clearly forces me to give up so much of my own essence. I know - don't try and deny it, I've heard people asking, although not many directly at me. And, the reason I do it isn't because I want to be a hero, or that I want to be known as the girl who saves everyone. I don't care about that...I do it, because if I don't...if I just decide to play this as a game where they can respawn, and everything's fine...who am I failing? Them? Myself? All of us? How could I live with myself, knowing I could've done something, but didn't..."

She flicked her tail suddenly, a harsh movement against the otherwise calm swaying that had occurred before.

"The easy way is to pretend this is all a game, and that you can just jump right in and not have to worry - that you can burn through your energy, you can let your friends fight alone, because they'll respawn, right? You want to stop treating this like just a game? You don't need to give up on it, but play it smart. Do what needs to be done, not because it's right for your character, or because you want to be flashy. Do what will help others. Starcalled, or Lander."

@Ash Vargold​

 

[Ash Vargold]

Ash listened quietly, still fidgeting as Kyra said her piece. It would be all to busy to tune out, to let his occasional nod and grunt of acknowledgement remain cursory.

But... well. She had good points. More than a few of them were things he'd told himself, both over the four years after the game had fallen off the face of the earth and during the months he'd been playing since it returned.

"...don't worry. I learned my lesson, once the word came out. Spent a lot of time digging through rumors on the internet, trying to figure out what was going on before VRSA clamped down and nuked it all."

It was still upsetting. There might have been an answer somewhere, destroyed forever with brute force, leaving only the game as a source of any information.

"Four years was a lot of time to think about it... and when the game came back, I told myself I'd be careful this time. To think before charging blindly into danger, to understand instead of just running on luck and conviction." His attention was drawn by the movement of Kyra's tail, then back to Kyra herself.

"When I say this is a 'game', I don't mean it's... you know, something to treat lightly." Ash looked away, eyes back on the road in front of him. "It means... ugh, how to word this."

Ash covered his eyes with one hand, tail thrashing in thought. "...I guess I mean that it's not... the real world. Things like Titanius and Red Fever and killing wolves harassing caravans... other than death, things in this game only have as much impact as you let it have."

He dragged the hand down his face. "To be honest, the only thing keeping me in the game is the fact that new people are joining every day. Even if you tell someone this game can and will kill you, they'll keep playing - they don't believe it, or they think they'll avoid it."

Not that she was any better, right?​

"All the old guides and info are gone, so I've been trying to... I dunno, fill the gap. Bringing people back to Brisshal, giving people starting equipment... even running a blog on the sly. At this point I'm about ready to get some brochures printed-"

Ash stopped. He was rambling on. He coughed politely, then shrugged with a sheepish smile.

"...my problem, I guess, that that Terrasphere is a game. It presents itself as one - the best game you could ever play. But it doesn't want to play by the rules, and I wish I knew why."

@Kyra Vashtana

 

[Siondhe]

220 / 220

100/100

She listened, calmly, as Ash spoke. He wasn't arguing anything she'd said, simply adding on to it, expanding in the hope that she'd see. Silently, she nodded along with the words that he stated, considering everything he was saying, and what wasn't being said. There was so much more to it, so much that couldn't necessarily be convened to another.

"I don't disagree with you...but...I wouldn't be doing right if I didn't present you a situation in contrast. You say Terrasphere is obviously a game, but that it doesn't play by the rules. You - and I - look around this world, and we know it's fake because of all the creatures, all the things that we don't see in our world. But..."

She gave a wave, signifying the area around them. It was a loaded question, she knew, but it was one that she had encountered in her first days in Terrasphere.

"...take one of these Landers, and put them in our real world, and ask them which is more real to them? Or, if you wish to argue the alternative, how do we know that our real world is any more real than this world? Can we say we're not just an inception within an inception, a game within a game?"

She shrugged, looking down at the ground for the first time since the discussion had begun.

"I don't know the answer to either one of those questions. I don't know what's right, and what's wrong. All I know is that I view everyone here, as real. As real as if they came from our world. And not just because the game was well made. But because...to not view them as real, to view them as some less than worth...if you can do that in here, what's to stop you from doing it anywhere else?"

She shuffled, uncomfortable with how much she was sharing. She hadn't expected this, when she'd signed up for a quest to defeat their own phantoms - and for the first time, she was glad that her own ghosts hadn't shown up.

@Ash Vargold​

 

[Ash Vargold]

There was a moment when Ash had to pause. The shift of the topic, the mental image of a Lander in the city, the way the subject turned to simulations and identity and all these things he used to read into all the damn time...

"Pffft-"

He brought up a hand to cover the laughter he was unable to choke back. "S-sorry, I'm not laughing at you, just..." It was a moment before he was able to get it under control. "...just, I used to debate this stuff with my friends all the time in my old game. Kind of nostalgic."

He took a deep breath. He felt more relaxed. It was like something had snapped, breaking that lurking anxiety tangling his thoughts and twisting his heartbeat. "...don't worry. Just because of how I feel, doesn't mean I'm going around being an asshole to Landers. I can't even pick the mean options in RPGs without feeling bad."

If he had pockets, he'd be putting his hands into them. It felt awkward to let his hands dangle. "Game or not, I wouldn't be able to tell you if Landers or even UI-locked players have consciousness or not - but that's how we go through the world anyway. If it's indistinguishable from a living person, then they way you treat them says more about you than them. Actions have consequences."

Including his.​

The thought dampened his mood, but he pushed through it. "It's not bad that you view things differently, or that you're so sincere about helping. It just means you're a good person. In game, out of game, reality or simulation... that's what really matters in the end, right?"

@Kyra Vashtana

 

[Siondhe]

220 / 220

100/100

Laughter. Laughter was the last thing that Kyra had expected from Ash. Laughter, that caused her to miss the first few things that Ash had said, her mind connecting back to reality as he continued to explain his view on her own behaviours, and the actions of the individual.

"Doesn't that...wouldn't that mean that however you act in here, is how you act out there? And vice versa?"

She shook her head, thinking back on everything they'd said over the past few minutes. Somehow, it felt like they were saying the same thing in parallel, and yet coming to an entirely different conversation.

"Anyways...just don't take it lightly. Any of it. Not that you are. But...just be careful. That's all that I care about."

She'd stepped forward slightly, placing a hand on Ash's arm. The touch was light, and lasted only for a few seconds before Kyra had stepped back again.

"How about that carriage ride...?"

@Ash Vargold​

 

[Vesuvyan]

Kyra and Ash arrived relatively safely, immediately met with the curiosity of the hour. It didn't take long for them to cross to the other side. Though, both were faced with an enemy that you couldn't just rip or slice apart. A deeper delve into Ash Vargold's psyche, and what lurks in the darkness. Gone as fast as it came, and leaving questions with answers that were up for debate. Nothing a cart ride and a good night's sleep couldn't get rid of.

But the phantoms never truly go away, do they?

Thread; 35 Posts. Your Phantoms could be seen, as well as Specters that blurred the line of rational thought.

Rating: 42 - New Mechanic roll a d10 bonus modifier to this thread's Reaping Season Rating - Roll Result of 6

Both of you earn 1 Vesuvyan Gold as a result of this thread.

@Kyra Vashtana @Ash Vargold