new heaven, new earth

Cricket took another drink to stifle her giggle. “Aww, thanks, mom,” she teased, “You can’t be much older than me, though. How old are you twenty-four, twenty-five?” she leaned in a little as if to inspect her face more. She was attractive, that was obvious. And had the alcohol not been warming her veins, she wondered if she would’ve spoken to the woman at all. Verdict says yes, talking to anyone that would listen was a habit she couldn’t shake. Would she have been so bold though? Eh– maybe not.

Pluto. Not what she expected when she glanced up at her username. It was somewhat intriguing really, but she’d save that question for another day. “Oh shush– don’t be suck a stick in the mud,” Cricket laughed, cycling through the cards as Pluto complained. Thankfully her smile showed she wasn’t totally opposed to the idea, because anyone that had beef with a magic trick? Definitely a monster. Cricket nodded, tapping the bar, 

“I will and when I do, and you know– no doubt impress you, I guarantee you’ll be so inclined to compensate me for it brightenin’ your night. Oh– place your card anywhere in the pile. Make sure you remember it,”

Pluto rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “No. I’m nobody’s mom. The cool big sister, maybe,” Sure, Pluto was too old to be dating twenty year olds, but that didn’t make her a mom. She’d steered clear of that title for years, she wasn’t about to have it pinned on her now. “Thirty two. How old are you, hm?” If the other girl wasn’t even twenty five, she definitely had no business talking Pluto up. She had half a mind to find her some essay on unhealthy age gaps and relationship manipula - that train of through was derailed for a moment at the accusation.

“actually, no. i can’t.—and yeah but the point is i’m more or less okay now, you know, i’ve been worse.” he had not been worse, actually. this was the worst he’d ever been, and it was the worst he hopes he’ll ever be. “and yeah, sure but…you know. at least it wasn’t all for nothing. and we’re in a city now. i heard it has night clubs. i’m gonna take you dancing, which i’m sure will be fuckin’ hilarious.” he wiggled his eyebrows at her, doing his best to keep the conversation light, to make her feel better about this. because truth be told he felt pretty guilty about what had happened. he hadn’t wanted people to worry about him. he’d been so determined to go and fight to prove to himself and to the people who cared about him that he could handle himself. that he could be useful and contribute and that he wasn’t a complete good-for-nothing shit. 

and that had stunningly backfired. “i’m glad you’re okay,” he said, and meant it, not an ounce of that jokey bounce present in his voice. he wrapped his fingers around her hand and pulled it down, threaded his fingers between hers and taped her thumb down with his. random thought: he’d always been so bad at thumb wars. “oh don’t worry, i’m sure i’ll get hurt at the next battle too.” ah, there was the tease. would he even be going to the next battle? provided his guild even allowed it and he didn’t end up chained to a radiator, he wasn’t sure he wanted to. he looked up at her, at her smile—a smile he knew was forced (or assumed), but a smile that felt comforting all the same. she was alright, he was alright. everything was alright. “they’re being hella fuckin’ wishy washy on a time, but i will pay you handsomely if you sneak me out right now…” he pouted at her, genuinely hoping a good puppy pout would get him the hell out of this bed. “please, i’m gonna waste away to nothing in here. there’s a whole city to fuck up.” never mind the fact that he couldn’t walk yet that was neither here nor there. 

“’i’ve been worse’ is just what people say when they want to pretend”  pluto couldn't just let that go, healing bay or not. she plunged a finger into his bony chest, eyes wide in disbelief. “excuse me? i probably have more rhythm in my pinkie than you do in your whole body,” she joked, poking him again with said pinkie for good measure. the gesture softened to a soft pat at his genuine comment, and she chuckled at the attempt to keep her thumb down. pluto let him win. “and i’m glad you’re here in one piece. i wish we could’ve had a congratulatory ice cream somewhere outside of a healing bay, but-” she cut herself off, groaned at his joke. “please do not get injured in the next battle. you are under strict orders to have a mystic attached at your hip if - you know, maybe i need to have a few words with achilles before the next battle.” radish would definitely want to throttle her, but if he was already planning on getting hurt, she could be just as much of a nuisance. 

continued from: here player: cricket & @userpluto location: floor 52; a dingy bar (a couple of days after the boss battle)

“Oh come on, I’m cute right? You’re not even a tiny bit interested? ” Cricket feigned a pout, her large blue hues selling it well until another soft chuckle broke through. She wasn’t the first attractive woman who’d brushed her off (well tonight she was) and despite the pink lining her cheeks, she took no offense. She’d learned early on that ‘cute’ put a damper on interactions like this. Not many people in a bar were willing to chat up someone that looked like they were still going through puberty. “That’s perfectly valid and I’d be happy to say– but I’d rather show you…” she replied, leaning back a little as she called up her inventory. Biting her lip, she pushed some hair from her face and scrolled.

She had it somewhere. Just– “Aha! Here we go,” she said, clicking an option. A deck of cards materialized in her hand and she smirked, shuffling them. After they were mixed quite well, she counted out 21 and flushed them, face side down along the bar, “Pick a card,”

“That’s not relevant, is it? You said the proposition wasn’t sexual.” Pluto shook her head in disbelief - she wasn’t sure how she managed to get more attention in game than she ever did out of it. (Though that wasn’t really true when she thought about it - it was just easier to get away from it when she could run off to some meeting or pretend to take a call) Besides, she seemed to want to make a point more than having a real interest in Pluto. She hoped. “Honestly? I’m interested when someone is an appropriate age. And you should steer clear of anyone my age that shows an interest.” There were a lot of creeps in game, and Pluto wasn’t sure if the overlord freak that ran the game did anything to keep that sort of preying on younger players from happening. Her voice was light but serious, and Pluto narrowed her eyes in suspicion again at her wording - and the lip bite. Whatever it was made her uneasy already. 

player: cricket location: floor 52; a dingy bar (a couple of days after the boss battle)

“I have a proposition for you,”

She hummed to the music in the background and her grin came easy as she slipped onto a barstool, angling herself toward them. She felt warmth in her face. No doubt from the alcohol already coursing through her. But the lighting was dim and she wasn’t worried as she placed the drink she’d been nursing on the smooth bar top.  “Not a sexual one– unless of course, you’re into it…” A soft giggle quickly followed, and Cricket shook her head, pushing a few strands of hair behind her ear. “Kidding, kidding! Non-sexual only,” Taking a sip of her drink, she felt the sweet burn in the back of her throat and thanked the universe for low light bars, mixed drinks, and the variety of modern technology that surrounded them. Still, despite the billiards, darts, tvs, etc being alone was only fun for so long. “So, what do you say? Mind humorin’ me?”

Pluto all but choked on her drink, the instinct to tell the girl that she was too old for her and to be careful with strangers probably ten years her senior on the tip of her tongue. The sigh of relief was muffled behind a wet cough, and she cleared her throat to answer properly. “Well, considering the way you opened that question? I’m going to ask for some clarification before I agree to anything.” Pluto narrowed her eyes in suspicion, though the laugh that followed made it clear that she was joking - mostly. “What sort of proposition are we talking about?”

“well—it all started the night my mom decided to have a third glass of wine about twenty-one years ago.” ah yes, the jokes. it was the main way he knew how to deal with trauma. his legs were still…well, still critically fucked up. the mystics were working on it. they said it would take a few hours, maybe through the night. but hell, that was way better than the near year of recovery time this would take in the real world. and it hurt like shit, but hell…at least he could feel his legs again. he’d take that over the nothingness any day.

so now, safe from imminent death, the familiar emotions returned. hello, embarrassment and shame. we sure missed you down here! “i’m okay, p. it’s fine now. and we won so…no harm, no foul. at least on my end.” he couldn’t really meet her eyes. he was still just a little too fresh, a little too off his game—he didn’t want to lose his shit in front of her. so he kept his eyes trained with a sharp focus on the foot of the bed. even so, his hand came over hers on his cheek. “’m good. i promise…are you good?”

“jesus - can you be serious, please?” there was no real edge to the chastisement, more watery affection than anything else. “no harm, no foul? you weren’t brought in here for nothing, radish” pluto tensed, her jaw working as she swallowed half of the words clawing at her tongue. if there was one thing she’d learned from her siblings, it was the need to hide the worst of her fear. the scariest part of being an adult was that everyone was afraid, and capable of getting hurt - and seeing that fear from someone you looked up to could make any situation worse. pluto wasn’t sure where she stood with radish, but she could save it for later. besides, he deserved to show what he could do, to be involved when he wanted to. it didn’t make her feel any less afraid - or responsible - for what had happened. “there are more important things than winning,” she muttered instead. even by her own analytic standards - the losses weren’t worth it in the end. 

They’d all been playing at heroes, far too cocky after the fish’s defeat. People had been lost then, too, but it had been all but drowned out in the aftermath. The all-too close reality that they’d grown attached to people in the middle of the mess had hit like a cold slap the moment Pluto got the news. The apparent little brother she’d unwittingly adopted could’ve died. Pluto mulled over that fact as she crossed the room with purpose, hands out before she could think any better of it. ““How did this happen?”” She questioned, palming at Radish’s cheeks as if to confirm that, yes, he was there in one piece.  “Are you alright? You scared the shit out of me.” 

there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do for pluto, honestly. that being said, he was still, as they say, the worst. so he wasn’t about to make this easy for her. “pluto, pluto, pluto…my favorite cancelled and then un-cancelled planet, you far away ice rock floating through space…what makes you think i’d be willing to spend my valuable time getting you a new skin?” there were several things off about this statement. first and foremost, his time was not valuable, he was literally doing nothing productive with his time at all. so when he leaned back on the table, wearing what could only be described as the game’s most ridiculous valentine’s hat available, he tapped the invisible watch on his wrist to prove his busy schedule of nothing. “you better make this worth my while.”

the cancellation of said planet may or may not have been the reason she chose the username - she had a fondness for the little hunk of ice. that was irrelevant in the moment, though, because radish was being a little punk. “radish, least favorite of any any root vegetable,” she teased, slinging her arm around his shoulder. “what makes you believe you were my first choice in a test of strength?” her voice was playful, no real bite to it - she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. but he was being mean. “how about this, hm? i’ll be sure to tell achilles that your help would mean a tactical advantage in whatever field trip you’d like to go on next,” she suggested, only half joking.  “what would make it worth your while? aside from my love and insistence that you not be killed or maimed in battle?” 

She had been drinking. Granted, she had been drinking consistently for the past few weeks, but today seemed like a day where her liver was really working against her. With her staff slung on her back, she strolled along, putting extra focus into walking straight and trying to seem decently sober. Her brows furrowed when she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to the person. She listened for a moment, her eyes flickering between her and the mini game. God, she had hated those when she was still coming up in this game. But they were an unfortunate necessary evil. “Uh, sure.” Ghost said, shrugged her shoulders. “You don’t have to do that. I got money I’m not gonna use. Might as well put it to some good.”

Pluto breathed a sigh of relief - which should have been concerning. She really should have considered saying something about the effects of loot boxes and gambling in video games before green-lighting her company’s support of Velia. “Are you sure?” The gesture was kind, and Pluto was grateful, but it was in her nature to be polite. “Thanks, I appreciate the help. And if there was anything you wanted...” She eyed the other mini games, a smile aimed at the ones she’d managed to beat. “I’m not terrible at archery or precision at a distance. I could help you with balloon dart or bullseye games if you see anything you like?” 

location: floor 1, minigames ]

cerberus’ attention was quickly averted to the young woman whom had extended her hand for waffles to sniff. he appreciated this gesture as wolves did not generally like to be confronted with strangers, and not many people took this precaution in the game. it conjured a smile to his lips before answering her question, “ resistance cloaks, night goggles, bracers, swords, ring of spell storing, gems to upgrade and merge your already existing items with… just to name a few. “ he paused momentarily before adding, “ along with the usual health potions, healing orbs, and a couple of rare items gathered from stage 33. though, I must warn you those are a little more expensive as they are harder to come by. though very useful depending on your class. what they generally do is increase your mana efficiency, critical damage etc. and are mostly in the form of jewelry. “ 

nights goggles, swords, and rings of spell storing were fairly straight forward. pluto mentally filed away the items for future reference, nodding along as he spoke. “resistance cloaks? what would those be used for? resistance to damage?” she paused, a grin at the mention of rare items. “floor 33 - what prices are we talking about? if i can make a connection to a guild, they might need a few  things.” pluto couldn’t be sure if catalyst would rather equip their members with their own acquired loot, but if she could strike a deal it could mean better business for her as an on-call strategist. “what’s your favorite piece from 33 - stats and looks wise?” 

She turned. Fuck.

Usually they didn’t get caught. Honestly, them even checking people out was a rarity. For the past year or so they hadn’t even really given much thought about others like that; they were so preoccupied with not being sure if Rae liked them, too. Their face heated up as the other patron approached, holding her drink. “It’s rude to stare, you know. At least, without so much as an attempt at hiding it. You should really consider investing some experience points in stealth.”

Time to play it off, very casual, very nonchalant. “It’s pretty high already; guess it means nothing up against someone this pretty.”

Jal mentally hit themself. Flirting was the last thing that they needed to do to get out of this situation, but they couldn’t help it. It was the only way to maintain some small amount of chill to hide how embarrassed they were.

Planning ahead was the  of any good strategy. In theory. In real life situations where Pluto’s head was more than a bit off it’s game possibly because of wandering eyes, that wasn’t so true. Still, she wasn’t about to run off without a fight - or, without meeting the particular challenge head-on. Pluto hadn’t actively flirted in what felt like ages - she had a lot of catching up to do. It could be fun working out an un-used muscle, though. 

She laughed at the compliment, the timbre measured between amused and flattered. “Pretty, hm? Am I right to guess you’ve been funneling points into charisma, too?” She joked, taking a long sip of her drink to plan her next move. 

“Here I was thinking you were just terrible at hiding your ogling, but maybe I misread you and you do that on purpose to draw them in for the kill.” Pluto emphasized the words for dramatic effect, more humor in her tone than seriousness. “Or you’re just good at covering when you’ve been caught.” She shrugged, like it didn’t matter either way. “So, if you think I’m pretty and I found your staring to be a compliment, what’s your next move?” Her eyes narrowed, like she was very seriously assessing her answer. “Or do you just like to window shop?” 

the young woman bent down, placing the fish into the container, “ugh this is perfect, my arms are already all slimy from them… “ the very thought of having held them for so long made her feel rather nauseous but this was the task at hand and so she packed on. “ I’ll check, hopefully I have some stored from a past stage…” calypso opened her inventory, scrolling through all the objects she had gathered over the past years of being stuck in the game. “ we are in luck, thank you floor 33.” ice dropped into the container, “ wouldn’t want us gorging on rotten fish anytime soon… “ 

Player: Thanatos Location: Floor 25, a coffee shop

Now that they weren’t spending all their time fishing (and, in fact, never wanted to see another fish again), Jal had to go back to their regularly scheduled snooping. It just wasn’t as satisfying as it’d been before, though, since there wasn’t anything they were particularly looking for. Plus, it was a lot harder blending in now that they were part of the duo that summoned the goldfish.

So… maybe this was a little less snooping and a little more leisure. They were lightly inebriated and drinking their pixel form of hot chocolate, and between sips their eyes followed each new pretty patron walking by. What? It’s not like anyone knew they had a girlfriend.

Pluto’s head was buzzing after a day visiting various potential informants. Her work could be difficult when hunting down useful information - oftentimes leading to dead ends and wasted time. Something soothing or possibly spiked with a potion to give her a boost of energy were at the forefront of her mind as she walked through the coffee shop.

Her perception and natural instincts combined made the hair stand at her nape - not sure she was being followed by a disgruntled associate or watched by another patron. A quick check in her peripheral vision confirmed that, yes, there were a set of eyes following her - and at least two other people as they strolled by. She ignored it and grabbed her drink, a polite thanks to the barista before she turned to meet the wandering eyes’ gaze head on. A nod and unassuming smile on, she approached slowly. “It’s rude to stare, you know,” she started, the hint of a smile at her lips. “At least, without so much as an attempt at hiding it. You should really consider investing some experience points in stealth.” Pluto couldn’t deny that it was sort of flattering, but she couldn’t hep but say something to gauge the other player’s reaction. 

location : floor 51, by the shoreline. 

players : open. 

cerberus made his way through the encampment before finally reaching the shoreline. he got off his mount, reaching over to give waffles, his wolf, a gentle pet before announcing, “ hot new merchandise, let me know if you need anything. “ then the young man settled down on the ground, knowing that after this battle and the upcoming one people would definitely be needing supplies and he was the man selling them, making this event almost like christmas for him. 

valuable information could come in many forms. pluto spent just as much time gathering info on battles as she did on the game’s various merchants and their wares. she visited the marketplace and impromptu markets often, collecting data on new merchandise, their stats, and average prices. the man and his wolf seemed promising - and maybe the word ‘new merchandise’ just piqued her interest. the game could be stagnant at times, and as much as stability and predictability were comforting, new information was always useful. she nodded politely as she approached, offered her hand for the wolf to sniff. “i’m not looking for anything in particular. would you mind telling me what new merchandise you have?” she asked. 

“I think I’ll be steering clear of fish for while…” Hades said with a grunt, pushing himself up to stand, turning to Pluto with a raised brow. “And don’t get used to it. Listening to you definitely won’t become a habit.” He ran a hand through his hair before passing his quiver over to a passing catalyst member for some repair. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t like Pluto… Not completely, at least. He was just wary of her. But then again, he was wary with all their sources of intel. Pluto however just managed to rub him the wrong way. 

“I didn’t know you’d be here. Were you on the boats?” 

"I'm sure we all will," she agreed, well aware of how quickly they'd all grow tired of the smell and taste. "Of course not, that would be too logical and beneficial for you and your guild. Please, continue to ignore my advice." Pluto understood his hesitation to trust her at first, but she'd shown herself to be an asset to Catalyst - why he was still so rude was beyond her.