Complete Private ✪ Stokbon Shine Bright Like a Diamond

[Lune]

After months of saving up and pulling favors from the local magical shop, a particular scary brunette finally got her hands on a very rare item. The Black Diamond of Velj'ract; the one in a trillion, extracted from the depths of Redchron. What should she do with this powerful magical artifact? Craft a physical sword? Fuse it with her armor? Or even make it into a beautiful, aura-emanating necklace as black as the void?

Nah, she'll think about it later. For now, let's celebrate with a hearty meal in the tavern.

Moonsong slid the gem into the pouch hanging on her waist, opening the tavern door before bumping into someone on their way out. "Ah, sorry." She didn't see the person clearly, but she had hung around Stokbon lately to know that the person isn't a regular.

The barkeep noticed her coming towards him and greeted her, "Evening, Moonsong. You seemed to be in a light mood." The woman responded while her hands wandered to her pouch, trying to show him the thing she got. "Yeah, I just got the thing I—"

Wait a minute.

Where the fuck is it?

"—Fucking shithole of a city." Moonsong turned around. It must be the earlier person that collided with her. Running out of the tavern, she looked left and right. Bitch shouldn't be far away from here.

@FORTUNE

 

[FORTUNE]

FORTUNE had been watching her for some time. When she'd first laid eyes on the woman, she hadn't believed it. There was no way the she would be in this game, it would have looked bad for her image, caused a scandal, all sorts of things. But then again, here FORTUNE was herself. But at least she'd been smart enough not to use her own face.

But then again, maybe that wasn't her at all. Just some fan who'd modeled her face off of hers. But that wasn't the case. Almira was certain of it. Beneath all that ashen grey makeup, she was still Dayeon.

FORTUNE had gone ahead of the other woman to the tavern. She'd paid enough attention to her over the past few days to realize that she frequented it enough to know she would appear again eventually. And she'd been right. The chocolate colored head of hair had appeared in the window just as FORTUNE had expected, and when she saw it, FORTUNE stood, leaving behind some gold and made for the exit.

She'd time her leaving with the other's arrival, shoving her way past as she did so, a little bit of shadow magic enough to swipe something from the woman's pockets as she did so. She turned right, down the street, and then waited, made as if she were looking into the window of a bakery while she watched the tavern entrance from the corner of her eye.

When she saw the door swing open again, and Dayeon step out, Almira couldn't help but smile to herself. She was getting better at this sort of thing. Maybe she should audition for a movie next. Or become a spy. Nah, too much work, not enough fun. FORTUNE turned again, and went further down the street, knowing that Dayeon had seen her, was following her. Turning at the first darkened alley she found, she turned back around and leaned against the wall, toying with the little stone she'd stolen. It wasn't long before Dayeon made her glorious appearance. "You really should be more careful," the woman teased with a sultry voice as she held the stone up into the thin ray of light sneaking between the buildings. "Thieves and pickpockets walk these streets, you know?"

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

The pair of burning eyes caught the shadow of a person taking a turn into the small alley down the street, so it was the logical move for her to quickly follow through with a dash, weapons ready.

A silhouette of a woman veiled in darkness was leaning against the wall, looking at the black diamond that was in Moonsong's possession half a minute ago, illuminated by the light shining through between the roofs of the buildings.

"You really should be more careful, thieves and pickpockets walk these streets, you know?"

The audacity of this woman.

"Of course I know," She deadpanned, like this was every day for her. "Cleaned up a pair of robbers last week, in this very alley. Shame there wasn't one of those Lion knights to stop me." There's a bit of a threatening tone to that sentence. Moonsong gazed into the lapis eyes of the woman, trying to gauge her reaction. It seemed like she had been expecting her, so there was no reason to go with violence, yet.

The greatsword in her back dissipated into thin air. "The diamond." The brunette growled, motioning the other person to give it back with her right hand. She'll be in a really bad mood if the gem is scratched from improper handling.

There was this feeling that the woman might've known her, so the songstress approached with cautious steps, slowly inching close to the blue-haired thief. "Who are you?"

@FORTUNE

 

[FORTUNE]

"Oh, a vigilante!" FORTUNE gasped in an over-exaggerated manner as she covered her mouth with her fingers before chuckling quietly. "Is that why you paint yourself like that?" she asked as she pointed up and down the length of the adventurer's body, "To look scary? Hide your identity, maybe? You might wanna try a little harder than that."

This version of Dayeon was interesting. A far cry different from the woman Almira knew in the real world. She was never so bold and brazen as this one. Just how different was Dayeon in-game. Clearly they both here to pretend to be people they weren't. Maybe that was just their lots in life, to pretend to be someone else from birth to death. Maybe the company had only been the finger on the trigger of that loaded gun called Fate. Who knew? Almira was tired of thinking about such morose subjects. She was here to have fun.

"Why don't you and I play a little game, hmm?" FORTUNE said with a sly smile as she tossed the little diamond into the air and caught it once more, before tucking it away in one of her hidden pockets. "You catch me, you get the diamond, and all the answer you want. Sound good? Then let's begin."

FORTUNE hadn't left any room for the adventurer to protest, her form disappearing like smoke blown away by wind. A sharp whistle from down the street, and there she was again, waving at the dark-haired woman with an almost childish grin on her face before she took off down the street again.

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

"Do you have any problems with how I dress myself?"

No one has ever commented on the ashen makeup look on Moonsong (some even thought it was the actual color of her skin), or even had the audacity to laugh at her.

Hide your identity, maybe? You might wanna try a little harder than that.

She was taken by surprise by that one. This thief definitely recognized her as Dayeon Song, which was actually not that hard if people had been watching TV for the past 5 years. "So what?" Moonsong replied defensively, maintaining her threatening tone. "I don't need to hide what I am." A complete lie.

The brunette stepped forward, trying to reach for the diamond before the blue-haired woman threw it upwards only to catch it again. "I don't play games." She growled, her patience wearing thin. The other woman ignored her and proceeded to slip the diamond... somewhere. Moonsong's eyes were not quick enough to keep up.

"You catch me, you get the diamond, and all the answer you want. Sound good?"

"No-"

"Then let's begin."

She gritted her teeth as the woman in front of her faded away, appearing down the street behind her. This person really wants to play with her, huh? The brunette quickly dashed, running the escaping woman down the street. The evening street of Stokbon was quite packed, but the blue-haired bitch easily slipped through the many people while the angry Moonsong was just literally ramming everyone out her way with brute strength.

"Outta the fucking way!"

Of course, it was nowhere enough to catch up to the thief. But the songstress had a solid plan; she knew the alleys of Stokbon like the back of her palm. That means if the woman kept running forward, Moonsong could just turn left, jump between the fences, and up into that one restaurant roof.

@FORTUNE

 

[FORTUNE]

Well now, wasn't this interesting. For all of Dayeon's deftness in real life, she lacked all of it here in TerraSphere. FORTUNE couldn't help but laugh quietly to herself as she looked back over her shoulder to watch the woman toss someone else to the side with a loud cry of protest coming from them. Oh, what would the company think of them now? FORTUNE took a great amount of joy in the knowledge that their manager would've thrown a fit if he saw them now.

Ahead of them, a man carting his wares across the street blocked their progress as he argued with someone over the price of this or that. A couple of cows apparently weren't worth whatever he was selling, or something like that, who cared. The alley to the left, or through the cart, those were FORTUNE's only options. Through it was.

There wasn't a single falter in her step or break in her stride as FORTUNE sped up, gaining momentum. At the last possible moment, she dropped to the floor, sliding over the smooth cobble, and beneath the large cart, head tilted backwards to watch as Dayeon chased after her still. What would she do? Well, FORTUNE had the feeling she'd find out soon enough. As soon as she'd cleared the cart, the woman smoothly shifted back to her feet and kept on going.

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

Although she was a dancer, Moonsong was never a runner. The girl currently taking the lead in front of her was definitely more agile than her. Good thing that a merchant's cart was in the way of the busy street, leaving the alley to the left as the only sensible option; and the one she planned. When the thief takes the alley, the brunette would utilize her planned shortcut to cut her off.

Instead, the woman sped up like she was going to ram the cart, before smoothly sliding at the last moment and continuing to run without slowing down. Moonsong's patience finally ran out after running for half a minute, and decided that she was tired of this endless cat-and-mouse game. "Enough is enough."

With a grasping motion of her left hand, the songstress pulled the cart up into the air, utilizing her mastery over gravity. Her right hand reached forwards, as a burst of gravitational force exploded behind her kicking up smoke and dust, propelling her with such speed enough to close the distance between them in short amount of time.

"Hey," The idol halted to a stop, not before gripping FORTUNE's left wrist tightly with her right hand while her left hand is still up in the air, holding the cart behind suspended ten feet in the air. "The diamond." She growled, staring the thief down.

People gathered to see what the ruckus was, forcing Moonsong to take the matter somewhere else to avoid attention. She slowly lowered the cart onto the ground, earning a relieved exhale from the panicked merchant. Still holding to the wrist, she dragged the woman into an alley nearby. "Okay, I'll humor you; do I know you?"

@FORTUNE

 

[FORTUNE]

A loud crash echoed through the streets, and suddenly the cart was hanging in the air, suspended by some kind of magic FORTUNE had yet to see. And Dayeon had finally caught her prey.

"Hey," she demanded, "the diamond."

Before FORTUNE could say or do anything though, the other woman noticed the eyes on them and pulled FORTUNE into an alley before asking for something entirely different. Something that made FORTUNE giggle, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. "Do I know you?" the woman's blue-eyes were bright with amusement. She didn't answer, the hand covering her mouth instead lifting to wave good-bye as the her body seemed to disappear into smoke, the hand around her wrist finding itself suddenly empty.

"Oh, I would certainly hope I know you!" the woman's voice came from above. There she was, kicking her legs slowly as she watched Dayeon interact with her illusion down below. FORTUNE then leapt from the roof top, driving the sturdy letter opener she carried with her into the stone, slowing her decent until she met the ground and stood before her pursuer all the same. "Have you forgotten me already, Dayeon-a?"

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

Just after she finally thought she had the woman in her grasp, she disappeared like a mist. Moonsong was too riled up to even notice if she was actually an illusion or not. In other words, she got played, really really hard. Not a second after, a voice came from the roof above.

"Oh, I would certainly hope I know you!"

I'm so gonna kill this woman.

The brunette looked at the thief like she was really going to eat her alive as the owner of blue eyes stylishly leaped from the rooftop, slowing her descent with the help of a mere letter opener. "Have you forgotten me already, Dayeon-a?"

There are only four women who would act all chummy like this with her. Three of them call her unnie, so that left her with...

"Mira?"

Wait, that doesn't seem right. She really should start to try and move on from her one-liner-delivering, too-cool-for-rules idol Dayeon persona. "Ah, sorry. I mean... Almira-unnie?" Her expression that akin to a wild beast suddenly changed into a softer, Dayeon-like confusion. She quickly put both of her hands on her waist, puffing her cheeks looking all cranky.

"Why you gotta play with like that!"

@FORTUNE

 

[FORTUNE]

As soon as Dayeon called FORTUNE by her real name, the woman smiled. "Oh, so you do recognize me," the woman replied, practically grinning from ear to ear. "I wasn't sure you would with this body and face and all. Speaking of, you like?" FORTUNE gave Dayeon a quick wink, before quickly twirling around to give her a full view of the body she'd designed.

"Why you gotta play with like that!"

FORTUNE laughed, "Oh c'mon, where's the fun in just walking up to you and telling you who I am? Besides, I gotta make sure my fearless leader stays on her toes." Especially in a game like this. "You really should consider a face change or something," FORTUNE then said, crossing her arms and frowning slightly. "Someone might recognize you, ya know? What are you doing in Terrasphere anyways, shouldn't you be, I dunno, recording a new song or something?"

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

Yeah, it was Mira alright. Although she didn't recognize this new persona she had. Maybe she's playing a character, just like herself?

Ah, old habits don't change.

"I wasn't sure you would with this body and face and all. Speaking of, you like?"

Moonsong doesn't want to admit it, but Mira's new appearance is nothing but perfect. If she was into girls, she would be drooling upon the sight of her right now. "I don't know, unnie. Isn't it a bit, too much?" She jokingly pointed at the curves as the blue-haired woman twirled.

Her cheeks puffed as FORTUNE laughed in front of her, again. Somehow she felt closer to her in-game, or maybe it was just the nostalgia? "I'm actually considering. But I've yet to find someone powerful enough to do that. Besides, somehow no one has recognized me yet." Moonsong then feigned anger at the fact that nobody actually deduced her identity yet outside of her fellow groupmember. "Was Slime Girls not that popular enough or what, huh? We conquered worldwide charts for years!"

"What are you doing in Terrasphere anyways, shouldn't you be, I dunno, recording a new song or something?"

Oh, right. Her new song.

"Yeah, I had this one epic orchestral rap single already written and coming up but..." The brunette paused, her eyes wandered somewhere else, a hint of sadness reflected briefly. "... Things have been hard for me lately. So I postponed that one. The label was not happy, of course, but I needed time to de-stress."

Moonsong stopped, realizing that she might've blabbered too much to the person she just met after a long time. "... Anyway, unnie. What do you call yourself around here?"

@FORTUNE

 

[FORTUNE]

"I don't know, unnie. Isn't it a bit, too much?"
"Unh-unh-unh," FORTUNE wagged her finger in front of Dayeon's face, "no such thing, especially when it comes to the way a woman looks, you should know this by now Dayeon," the woman said with a sly grin. One that was not long for the world as Dayeon brought up their old group. "Yeah, well the world's got a short memory," the woman said, almost bitterly, her eyes hardening.

It wasn't like L-Mira had seen the same success she had on her own than while she had with Slime Girls. And though she was loathe to admit it, Almira made an effort to keep tabs on Dayeon as well, both her friend and competition, and frankly, she wasn't doing any better. It was as if as soon as they'd left the world of industrialized music, they'd been forgotten about. L-Mira had only recently begun to recover her numbers.

"An orchestral rap, huh." Well that was a new one. But then again, new, exciting, unexpected, those kinds of things could make or break an artist. "Well, screw the label. We left for a reason, remember, Dayeon-a?" Even if L-Mira would never see the same success she had before, she'd still never look back. This was better, she believed that. She had to believe that.

"Ah, right," the woman said, her thoughts interrupted by her younger. "I go by FORTUNE here. And you? Oh god, please tell me it's not something cheesy like 'Destroyer of Light' or something."

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

"Fair enough. Entertainment companies in Korea would massacre each other for an idol with looks like yours." Snap back to reality, appearance is always number one in the entertainment industry. The effort they took just to always maintain their best look every day was distressing.

"Yeah, well the world's got a short memory,"

Even if they've fallen from their rightful place at the top, L-Mira and DAYEONSONG still have a supermassive following. Their Instagram was constantly bombarded with people wanting them to come back as a group or collab, but right now they're quite busy with themselves.

Occasionally they would send messages or comment on each others' posts on social media, but being able to meet again directly was different.

"Well, screw the label. We left for a reason, remember, Dayeon-a?"

"To show them that we're not only a piece of manufactured entertainment."

She recalled. That moment she decided to walk out from the company flashed again in the back of her head like it was yesterday. The news was all over the country, people calling her names and everything.

"Unnie I... really want to reclaim that throne. I really do..." The songstress' eyes wandered somewhere else, declaring a dream that she didn't think she had. It was a second later that she noticed that she was being too melancholic and cleared her throat. "Uh. Anyway, what about you? Haven't heard anything about your comeback."

"FORTUNE? Isn't that, the polar opposite of you?" Moonsong chuckled, poking fun at the name before realizing that hers sound even stupider. "... Around here I'm known as Moonsong." She was ready for the older woman to laugh back at her ridiculous nickname.

@FORTUNE

 

[FORTUNE]

"To show them that we're not only a piece of manufactured entertainment."
"Exactly," FORTUNE said with a small nod of determination. The company might've gotten the spotlight to shine on them, but all the while they'd been collared and leashed to their whims. They'd had to sacrifice their freedom to become the industry's playthings. But now, there was nothing either girl wanted more than to show the world, their fans, and more importantly, themselves, that they could make it on their own, craft their own sound. Tell their own stories.

"Unnie I... really want to reclaim that throne. I really do..." Dayeon said quietly.
"And you will, Dayeon-a," FORTUNE said, giving her old friend a kind smile. "But don't think I'm gonna make it easy for you," she added with a sly grin. "I'm gunnin' for that top spot too, don't you forget." Friends made the best kind of rivals after all.

Listening to Dayeon tell her her in-game name, FORTUNE blinked before starting laugh. "Ah, Moonsong! Oh, that's good," the woman said as giggled at the childish sounding name. "Okay, now give me the real one." Silence..."Oh my god, you're being serious, aren't you?"

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

"I'm gunnin' for that top spot too, don't you forget." Almira grinned.

"We'll be butting heads a real lot then." Moonsong confidently challenged. Both she and the blue-haired woman were never musically gifted and had to train to death so they could be where they were. Yet, they both same the same artistic desire to produce what they want. Their own voice, their own story.

"Ah, Moonsong! Oh, that's good, Okay, now give me the real one."

Moonsong raised her eyebrows, indicating that she was not joking at all.

"Oh my god, you're being serious, aren't you?"

"Don't look at me like that! You named yourself FORTUNE!" The idol protested with reddened cheeks, attacking back Mira's choice of name. She quickly recovered, clearing her throat before gesturing with her hands, asking for her belonging to be returned at once before she forgot about it, "Anyway, my diamond."

"I'll deflect the question back to you. What are you doing in Terrasphere, yourself? This is a shady game, you know." The woman asked genuinely, knowing that videogame wasn't exactly the older woman's forte. The only time she remembered Almira playing video games was that one time she beat her unnie on Smash. Or was it Mario Kart?

@FORTUNE

 

[FORTUNE]

"Don't look at me like that! You named yourself FORTUNE!"
"H-hey!" FORTUNE protested, suddenly feeling very flusterd. "FORTUNE is a perfectly good name!" Besides, it always made her giggle inwardly when someone called her 'Ms.' while using her name. It seemed like a fun bit of wordplay to the woman.

"Anyway, my diamond."
"Oh right," FORTUNE fished the small stone from her hidden pocket and tossed it unceremoniously towards her younger. "I forgot about that. Take it. What is it, anyways. If you say 'diamond' again, I'll hit you." FORTUNE had never seen a pitch black gem like that before, except perhaps obsidian, but that stone's structure was too much like it's namesake to be obsidian. Just what exactly was it for?

When asked about why she was in the game, FORTUNE's gaze drifted upwards as she thought seriously about the topic for the first time. "Honestly? Don't know," the woman said with a slight shrug after a few moments. "Guess I'm just having fun for the first time in a while. Don't wanna give that up yet."

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

Moonsong didn't comment any further about the FORTUNE moniker. Instead, she took it as her victory and smugly grinned and nodded up.

FORTUNE then took the diamond from wherever she hid it on her body and tossed it, prompting the other woman to catch it without batting an eye. "Diamond." The songstress deadpanned, before quickly raising both of her hands to prevent the older woman from hitting her in the face in case she was actually serious about that. Knowing Almira, she probably was.

"Alright, alright. It's a magical artifact, okay?" She showed the diamond on her open palm, which started to glow various colors after being infused with magic. "Black Diamond of Velj'ract. You might not know anything about it since you're pretty new around here, but this small thing is a powerful and dangerous magical conduit." The younger woman quickly closed her palm and pocketed the artifact back, but this time in the safer front pocket.

"True,"
She exhaled. The endless possibility of this game managed to pull almost everyone. Still, she reminded her former fellow member. "But don't forget this game almost works like real life. Three strikes, you're dead out there. Then you're as mortal as any of the NPCs here."

She crossed her arms, her face becoming serious.

"Are you ready for that possibility, unnie?"

@FORTUNE

 

[FORTUNE]

"Diamond," Moonsong dead panned. FORTUNE's closed fist struck the woman's shoulder with a smack as FORTUNE lightly punched the woman. "Jugeullae?"
"Alright, alright. It's a magical artifact, okay?" Moonsong finally began to explain. FORTUNE crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one leg as as she listened.

"If it's so dangerous, do you really think it's a good idea to just be walking around with it in broad daylight?" FORTUNE asked. Obviously if someone like her had been able to swipe this 'powerful artifact' out from under Moonsong's nose, what was to stop other, less friendly, people from doing so?

Forget the diamond though, the way Moonsong talked about that three death thing, it was like she actually believed in that urban legend. "Wait, you mean UI-Locking and all that is real?" FORTUNE asked, a skeptical look crossing her face. "I thought those were just rumors. Or a VRSA smear campaign or something, ya know, like misinformation or something."

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

"If it's so dangerous, do you really think it's a good idea to just be walking around with it in broad daylight?"

"I mean, it's dangerous for them," Moonsong explained about the gem in detail, particularly about their magical properties. "It can store a massive amount of magic, but if the user is not careful, the stone can and will try to pull all magic out of the person." She shrugged, "In other words, it can suck people dry."

"Wait, you mean UI-Locking and all that is real?"

She sighed, unsure how to break out the news to her. "It's real, unfortunately." Moonsong reminded her of that one time they talked about their personal things in the past, "You remember that one time you asked about my boyfriend after you saw the wallpaper on my phone?" The songstress kicked around the alley, slowly getting to the point. "We finally met in the game, but shortly afterward, he was killed." She looked FORTUNE in the eyes, indicating the idol was totally serious.

Her fingers clawed the scalp of her head as if it would ease the pain of the memories. "After that, I logged out. Searched for him all across Boston, and of course, he was already dead. His family said he just stopped breathing at that exact moment." Moonsong's eyes turned red, obviously holding back the tears that were slowly climbing up.

@FORTUNE

 

[FORTUNE]

"It can store a massive amount of magic, but if the user is not careful, the stone can and will try to pull all magic out of the person," Moonsong explained to FORTUNE, who nodded along. "Wow. Who knew such a tiny thing could be so dangerous?" the woman commented. But what was Moonsong looking do with something like that anyways? It could store magical energy, cool. It wasn't like she was one of those big bad villains from the movies, with a doomsday weapon or something. Right? Nah, not sweet little Dayeon.

"It's real, unfortunately." Moonsong's voice suddenly took a grave turn as she brought up the guy Almira had snooped about years ago. "Yeah, I remember. The green-haired guy, right?"
"We finally met in the game, but shortly afterward, he was killed."

FORTUNE's breath caught in her throat, eliciting a short gasp from the woman as she took a short step towards her friend. "Oh my god, Dayeon, I'm so sorry," the woman said, reaching out to the other, placing a hand that was meant to be comforting on her shoulder before pulling her into a tight hug. "That must've been so hard. When did this all happen?"

@Moonsong