02 ✨ VIDEO

[codes]

Geez, this place really is quirky. Just when you think the glitches stop, there's something new to distract you. That's what all this is, don't you think? In the last world I was in of this nature, the illusion was that we were students enrolled in school and had to attend classes as well as return to our dorms at night. It was just something we did and while there were social events to fill up our time, in the end it was a distraction from what it truly is.

I've been trying to break this place, but that's a difficult task when you have no idea where the cracks are. Troublesome really.

[ Propping her head up lazily, she'll ask with a raised brow: ] I suppose none of you have had any better luck, have you?

If you can't answer that, why not tell me about your Digimon? I rather not talk to them since they're nothing like Servants, but if you insist on being a dumb coward, I'd have little choice. Maybe one of them can answer the question about what this place really is.

[ Isn't she the most PLEASANT person to talk with? Yes, yes she is. ]

Comments

[fuhrinkaed]

[The pushiness doesn't seem to phase him much, at least. He nods.] I'm Ed. Someone got lost in there and someone else had to go in after them... I'm one of the ones who went in after.

You wouldn't like it in there.

[codes]

Yeah, I remember listening in on that.

[ Notice how she's not saying she helped? That's because she didn't. This world is too new and she's not yet gained her footing enough to bother to helping others unless they specifically ask her. ]

You went inside, did you? Was there anything off?

[fuhrinkaed]

[He picks up on it.] ...haha, you're the neutral type, eh? 'Stay out of it if I'm not involved until I see which way to go..' Well, that's fair.

As for inside it... You can't see anything, at all. If not for the rope I would have completely lost my bearings. And then there's the place itself... it's like the entire dimension hates you personally.

[codes]

Don't try to label me with anything like that. You'll find you're always wrong, okay?

[ Tsunning out over that tiny remark? Sounds legit. ] So you can't see anything and wha-? How can a place hate you? Is there some kind of ominous feeling or is that your paranoia just talking?

[fuhrinkaed]

Weh? Oh... okay, sorry. You're right--labeling people isn't good.

But... no, I'm not really paranoid or anything like that. It's just that when you're walking around in there, first you hear stuff that's really bad, and then you see stuff that's even worse and then if you stay in there more the dimension starts hitting you and scratching you everywhere. It's really draining, and I don't think you'd like it very much.

O-oh! That was a label too... I guess maybe you would like that, then..? Or maybe not really care either way. Erm. W-which one is it?

[codes]

Ugh--are you saying I'm into some really kinky things now?

[ That comes out only to distract her from how bothered she is by the idea of something like that affecting them in this world. She's gotten in a scuffle already and that's left lasting bruises, why she's even pinched herself until she's bled to see how bad it hurts. All of it feels real so to have that kind of environment introduced to them in a digital setting... ]

No one died, did they? [ Can't blame her for being so blunt after hearing that, can you? ]

[fuhrinkaed]

Wait, kinky? Wh-what's all this about kinkiness I was just saying labels are bad like you said!

[FOCUS, Ed. There's a more important question.]

E-erm, anyways. Nobody died, but we were all pretty out of it when we left. I was asleep for a little over a week.

[codes]

Isn't scratching and hitting some kind of bondage thing? Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is. When I talk about being a Master, I don't mean in that sense, understood?

[ Hard to focus when she keeps going off the handle. ]

A little over a week? What, you get hit a little and that's all it takes? Are you ill?

[ Even if her tone is curt, she's not meaning to be rude about it. That's just the way it comes out. ]

[fuhrinkaed]

You do know I have no idea what you mean by that! What's a master in your sense? And what's a master in the other sense?! Are you a martial artist?

ERm--I mean--it wasn't exactly a little! That place was really tough, and you had to spend the whole time reliving like your worst memories and your most terrible thoughts!

[codes]

Martial artist? No, but I'm sure that stuff would be real easy to learn. Just involves a lot of punching and kicking, doesn't it?

[ Completely ignoring the topic of Masters now only to further fuel the curiosity behind the term. ]

Oh, but yeah... terrible the entire time? You're not messed up--[ Tapping the side of her head to indicate where. ]--or anything as a result, are you?

[fuhrinkaed]

Oh yeah, I know a girl like that--she punched me once, and it completely shattered through my armor and caved in half of my rib cage. She's really, really strong. [And apparently, Ed is really, really durable.]

But no, I'm fine now. I had friends to support me and the effects stopped right after I left.

[codes]

[ Is this guy a natural punching bag or something? While he's talking, she's considering the idea of landing a hit or two on him just to see how durable he might be. ]

Still, being out for a week is something. Your body didn't grow weak or anything while you were out?

[fuhrinkaed]

Well I was really hungry when I woke up... but no, not really. Or at least, if I did lose anything I wouldn't really know since I don't know what my baseline here is without magic.

[codes]

Huh, magic?

[ Suddenly it's as though a switch is flipped within her. ] You mean true magic or something else?

[fuhrinkaed]

[I am not familiar with your magical terminology but am happy to provide information anyways!]

Which kind is the one where I call upon raw elemental forces and make them do stuff that I want them to do regardless of if physics would normally allow it or not? That's the one I do.

[codes]

Huh, no that might not be it... It gets kind of complicated to talk about archaic magic in that manner. There's true magic, then there's magecraft, then there's code casts...

[ Shaking her head. ] It gives me a headache just trying to think about it. So let's see, you said you can call upon the elemental forces? What are the five elements present in your world?

[fuhrinkaed]

...five? No, I've got uh... six basic elements, a lot of minor elements though really I've only ever seen Cass use those and some more basic, non-elemental techniques that are limited but easier to use.

The big ones are Light and Darkness, Wind and Earth, and Fire and Water. Each controls things that are related to it, as well... like how Darkness also controls gravity and nonexistence or Fire controls passion and drive.

[codes]

Huh, Light and Darkness?

[ Now that's interesting. She's never heard of that as an actual element. ] No Wood or Ether--but explain this concept of Light and Darkness. It controls gravity, does it have to do with space?

[fuhrinkaed]

Uh... Darkness is... [It takes him a moment to remember it all.]

Darkness controls shadows and stuff like you'd expect, but it also is the void--absence of everything--and the forces that bind the universe together like gravity. Its Sealholder has a really crazy power that lets her travel through the nothing-space between shadows, and actually harnesses it to see the forces that bind other stuff together. She's kind of scary.

Light is basically what you'd expect--creation, life, and light itself. Its Sealholder is still just a little girl, but she can convert herself into light and make illusions as well as turn the light of anything into laser beams. Really powerful ones too... Oh, and she's really fast.

[codes]

Just because someone is associated with darkness doesn't make them scary... Really, it's the light you should be worried about. [ Hmph. ] Doesn't it reveal everything lurking in the shadows in an attempt to scare you further?

Yeah, light's the real enemy here.

[ Rin's gone terribly off-topic, but only in an attempt to slow him down while her mind digests this new information. Light. Darkness. Nifty! ]

[fuhrinkaed]

Well, but that's not right either.

Too much darkness is bad, but so is too much light. The world needs balance--a mix of everything. To say that any one thing is the enemy is to misunderstand how life's supposed to work.

...N-no offense.

[codes]

[ She might have been upset at being told essentially that she was wrong if he didn't exactly prove that she was with her words. ]

Hoh, so someone here really gets it... That archaic type of magecraft is strange, but you still believe in it even when you're away from home. So tell me this: would you keep this world shrouded in a bit of darkness just because it needs the balance?

[fuhrinkaed]

Well, yeah. If the world was all light all the time it'd be every bit as bad as if everything was darkness. Most people sleep in the dark, and everyone needs to do that. Besides... while too much darkness can be scary because you're not able to see anything and lost in a void, too much light is scary because it burns your eyes and keeps you from being comfortable.

The key is that all the elements are in balance with each other, and they work in this big harmonious circle thing. And problems occur when people try to break out of that circle--like what's going on here. Something's out of balance, and we just need to figure out what so we can fix it.