aliasCel, Nightlock
pronounsShe/They
821written posts
offlinecurrently
CEL
Part of the Furniture
i don't get angry when i'm pissed; i'm the eternal optimist.
[attr="class","prismatic"] [attr="class","prismatic-border prism-vertimg1"] [attr="class","prismatic-inner"] [attr="class","prismcol-img1 prism-imgbg1"] [attr="class","prism-imgbox1"] [attr="class","prismcol-body"] [attr="class","prism-textbox"] “You ever wonder,” the gold coin flicks through the air at the snap of the masked man’s fingers, “what the world would look like — ten, twenty years from now?”The coin lands on the nail of his thumb with an artificial clink. Tails.He hums, turns it over, and garrote strings cling to the material until it dangles mid-air like a pendulum. Astrid rolls her eyes at the sight, indifference in her gaze. He continues to sway the coin, seemingly enamored by how it hangs below his hands and above the cliff’s edge of a crumbling rooftop. “I didn’t take you for the philosophical type,” the girl responds, half-earnest and half-guarded. “We both know I’m not beating your deadline.”Where does one even begin to find the name of a man who hides under so many layers of anonymity, he may as well be an eternal mystery? Dearly, she misses Ryota. Momo. Marcie. Hisao. “Do you want a fight or what, Fractal?”He snaps his wrist forward, and the coin lurches ahead, almost violent. The string keeps it tethered to the tip of his fingers. For once, in this virtual existence, everything is silent. “Do you really think all I want is a fight, Ayame?”“Stop calling me that. I go by Astrid here.”God help her, even with the blank surface of his mask, she can swear he’s smirking. “I could push you off the roof, you know.”“I’d just respawn a few miles away.”“Technically, it’d mean I win the deal. I take you down to 0HP, so now you go off to Grimoire Dawn for your crimes.”“Is it criminal of me to just be a damn good player?”“You TPK everyone who tries to even cross this part of the map, Fractal. My guild’s collecting your bounty. All’s fair in love and war.”“Does that make what we have love and war?”She doesn’t understand him, Astrid finds. In every image she could build of Fractal — notorious party killer, infamous solo player, the masked mad man who’d learned to main wires and smoke bombs until they became one of the most banned items in the server marketplace — nothing about him makes sense. A picture of casual confidence in blacks, purples, greys, and golds; stupid hoods and stupider masks; someone who could spend the rest of his time in this game at the top of every leaderboard, wanted by all, and yet is sitting here now, at the edge of a rooftop, knowing her real name all because he wants… what? Her company? “You’re the one who’s lording my real name over me until I figure out who you are.” And despite the accusation, she can’t help the way she bumps her shoulder against his — playful, comfortable, like she can do this all her life. As if her friends aren’t fracturing at the seams as a fear toxin threatens to swallow both the virtual and the real; as if she doesn’t miss Momo, despite everything she’s told her; as if Ayame Ishihara, sunshine in a bottle and girl next-door in every slice-of-life dream, wouldn’t sooner spite her own face than see her again; as if every interaction she’s ever had with Fractal prior to this point hadn’t been a fight, a battle that leaves her dead until she respawns again, with the memory of his victory as vivid as the image of his switchblade in her throat; as if they don’t always do this because she wants to win something for once in her life, and he seems to believe that she will. “Like I said, Astrid,” his shoulders shrug, a laugh buried in his throat, boyish and lovely, “I consider you a worthy opponent.”“Sounds to me like you’re just way too into the thought of me finally killing you.”“I can’t say I don’t think it’d be pretty hot to have my ass kicked by someone like you.”“And yet, you won’t give a single inch to tilt the odds in my favor.”For a moment, she thinks he won’t respond, and she wonders if she’d at least beaten him here. "Heads or tails?"The girl tilts her head when she looks at him. He remains staring at the expanse of code, data, and pixels beyond them. "Heads. Why?"He turns the coin over his fingers, slender and skilled as ever. In the gesture, Astrid is fully reminded of how he takes to a battle. Thin string wires and deft hands, of all things. "I flip the coin. If it lands on heads, I give you a hint to who I am. If it lands on tails, we do another fight."And somehow, she can't say she's surprised by the options. She also can't say she curious by what'll happen, when they're both subject to the whims of fate. "Do it."Fractal tosses the coin in the air, and her heart leaps into her throat. The gold coin falls over the edge, caught halfway by the string. He pulls it back, and it lands onto the palm of his hand. Heads.He releases a breath. Astrid blinks. "I'm seventeen."She had a feeling. The hint does not narrow her list of suspects any more than she wished it did. "I go to the same fencing class as you."She pauses. Two hints? "I am terribly, horribly, pathetically interested in girls."She blinks. "Why would I think you aren't when you flirt —""Just trust me on that, yeah?"She doesn't even have the time to argue with him, because he flicks his wrist and pulls up the menu. In the same moment, Astrid realizes how his finger moves to hover over the log off button. "Hey, wait —"The gold coin is tossed her way and, on instinct, she takes it. Clasps it in both hands like a prayer, and he watches her like it could be the last time. "And I sure as hell hope you and your friends can beat the Architects and stop that toxin from getting out."Does that mean — "If there's anyone I'd put my bets on to pull it off, it's you."He's gone before she can speak. Astrid blinks again, replaying each word in her head until it's a song. I'm seventeen. I go to the same fencing class as you. I am terribly, horribly, pathetically interested in girls. And I sure as hell hope you and your friends can beat the Architects and stop that toxin from getting out.
The gold coin stays in the palm of her hand.
And the only thing she can find herself focusing on is that her parents enrolled her in women's fencing. 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last edit on Jun 26, 2024 16:29:07 GMT by CEL
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