Demian

they got back to landon’s safe and sound. basuke barely remembered the route they took through the city to get there, because the moment demian entered the town of beginnings, the man had decided to stray from the main road and look to the back alleys. when basuke had spoken up about it (“hey! where’re you going? the shop’s down this way, isn’t it?”) demian shrugged his calls off. (“taking a shortcut. this way’s faster.”) basuke had observed the man was incorrect in his judgement, but couldn’t determine if it was because demian’s walking speed had slowed down in accordance to basuke

“nice work.” he peered over the other’s loot window, trying to take a gander. “did you get all your materials yet?” and basuke had completely forgotten he was here to do such a thing. so he looked to his quest log – and the prerequisite counter was filled. “oh hey! yeah, i guess i did!” “good.” demian pat the boy on the shoulder once again, before walking past him, headed back the way they came from. “means we get more time to figure out how to work with the performance crystals once landon hands them to you.” “ah, right!” closing his window,

so basuke returned the favour, directing his aggravation of having been picked up and tossed around towards the enemies with a series of forward strikes. his movements seemed sluggish, his swings too wide – but it did him fine to tear three of them into pieces, as the other darted towards demian, swerving off a near-by high ground. the warg lunged – basuke hadn’t even registered that they were wolves – and was promptly parried by the man’s sword. the boy looked to his own – flashier than demian’s generic piece. “too slow,” demian commented, though his voice held no hint of accusation

they went further out, towards the stone valley. as the landscape changed around them, so too did the monsters – basuke frequently made note to stay away from areas such as these when camping due to their aggressive nature. but it didn’t seem as though demian had minded. whilst they were walking through the forest, the man had his head held high – basuke’s kept his lowered, sunk into his jacket to protect himself. was demian already trained in fighting – so frequently that he’d stick his own neck out? a long howl came from afar, and that’s when demian stopped. “they’ll app

to demian, it seemed like a waste of a good profession. so he sighed, and placed a hand on basuke’s shoulder – the act of which made the young player flinch. “okay,” he said. “okay what?” “i’ll teach you how to make music.” demian raised a finger. “not teaching you how to play an instrument, just theory – the basics. you get to decide what to pick up, and then maybe i’ll find someone to help you out for a cost. deal?” basuke’s eyes lit up as though he saw all the glowsticks raised at a concert from the perspective of a celebrity. when demian offered his

“well. basuke, are you even a musician?” the boy squinted as he looked towards the door of the shop. “is that what that was about?” demian pointed within with his thumb extended. “this is a music store. there was a recording booth in the back. some people like to visit to record vocals for others to use, or for their own purposes, when remixing with crystals.” “crystals?” basuke thought for a moment, before retrieving a rounded diamond from his inventory – the new life song. “you mean… something like this?” demian looked incredibly surprised. “why do you even have that?”

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but he toned it down a little in lieu of demian’s sourness. “or a close acquaintance. we went on an errand for someone together on the ninth floor the other day!” mostima clapped her hands, excited. “oh! so that’s what you were busy with!” she directed her gaze to demian, who was trying not to be noticed in the conversation. the scarf she wore curled around his back, despite the lack of a draft. “you know, if you gave us more information about things like these, we wouldn’t have to keep pestering you about your whereabouts all the time.” “it was nothing,” he returned, to th

and his timing felt a little ironic. no sooner did he accept the quest did demian walk out of the backroom of the shop, the noise of the door swinging open catching basuke’s attention. and demian seemed nonchalant until he noticed basuke present, so he swooped in to query basuke, just as the quest npc – landon? was his name? – was speaking to him about the pre-requisite materials. whoever that lady was tailed behind him. “what are you doing over here?” basuke shrugged plainly. “getting some place to stay like you said.” demian sneered

demian failed to elaborate further, and basuke was too busy considering himself in blond hair. in the following days, whilst he was unaware of the busyness of everyone else in their involvement with the boss fight, he went about looking for hair dye. the shops on the first didn’t help a lot, so he got in contact with demian about the possibility of finding something (a recipe?) that might. demian responded in a few hours: not by text, but by showing up at his campsite. “woah! hey, it’s demian!” basuke had called out, partway through drying his hair after having pulled himse

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(NIGHT alt. put me on the waitlist as contingency. you can bump my order down as needed if you want.)

each store, to him, was a different kind of unassuming. see enough of them, and it was difficult to remember what separated one front from another. this applied for the knight shift, too. but demian was a similar kind of unassuming, so he presumed that was what him and the workshops had in common. he just necessitated never staying in one place all the time. nothing differed about his outfit beyond regular work clothes – all brown, partially muddied. likewise, the blade he left, too, was nothing to consider at a glance. so he stuck the note he received on the cloth it was wrapped around,

he'd received a note in capitalized handwriting, unlike the individuals he knew. was sure it wasn't an order from his employer, but found it difficult to say. but it was in his jurisdiction, and if it was to benefit some other player for the reasons outlined in the missive, it was well worth his position and risk. demian scrambled down the steps of the scarlet line, to an unassuming meeting between jean and bistro. waved as a greeting. asked to check behind the counter to take inventory. it would always be assumed as conjecture, but he meant it, literal. he scrambled out of the

MOONCAKE GIFT BOX (3) SOU PLATTER (3) PEKING DUCK SKIN PLATTER (3) PEKING DUCK TRAY (3) Crafted by: Culinarian | Rank 10 mooncake gift box. | TIERLESS RARE DESSERT FEAST | ACC II lotus paste around a salted yolk. comes in both glazed or layered flaky shell. somehow has taste this time. [30/07/23] | +3 sou platter. | TIERLESS RARE MEAL FEAST | PROTEIN II lotus seed paste in a flaky dry pastry. somehow has taste this time. [30/07/23] | +3 peking duck skin platter. | TIERLESS PERFECT MEAL FEAST | OH III crispy duck skin wrapped in a thin dough, with cut vege

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| 30/07/23 | #e #l/ou

| 29/07/23 #e l/o: 214318 (p.meal), 214347-3 (r.meal), 214316 (u.meal)

you’re kidding. whoever jumped over him and onto the phoenix had not only done so to, what looked like, steal their kill, but all the same they had decided a single nick wasn’t enough. so it made sense that he was going to get some answers by picking up the fallen body by the cloak they had worn, only– “hey! that’s my hair–” oops. he’d grabbed the wrong thing. and so much for not being responsible, because night was going to get to be off the hook now that he had taken charge in place of bistro. coming face to face with a random girl was the most annoying thing he had to deal with to

at their switch, demian pulled night in, with a growl and a ferocious stare. “i am not responsible for what happens here, no matter what bistro tells you.” and he was certain that night was about to bark back, but in the heat of the moment, he was much more comfortable in losing himself in the fight. in the back, night had stumbled over to basuke, who had rushed over to ask the situation – and hell if demian knew. he was just here to play extra body and slay a beast, and the role of a weapon was the only thing he was familiar with. so he let himself be a warrior of darkness. the

(which was exactly the reason why, despite having the group together, night was also one of the individuals who needed to show up. demian had it figured out, after a brief understanding. their tier four player was bistro’s lucky break.) after a brief introduction with bauske, and upon realizing the truth, he shook his head, discouraged, just as night finally recovered from a brief bout of not-sure-what’s-wrong-with-her-actually. she had glanced towards basuke, and her demeanor seemed to normalize, until she noticed demian staring back at her with an absent motive. that, somehow, made

“why do you have to be here, out of all–” and demian but scowled back. because he hadn’t exactly the time to pick a fight with another player. was the call from bistro a joke? he turned over to what appeared to be their tag along, and whoever the short-stack was but all calm and smiles about the situation. big whoop. “never let yourself be turned in for hire,” he muttered, before shutting up and greeting the stranger with a folded arm and a wave. it was best to maintain courtesy, unlike whoever bistro’s contact was acting like. “what’s up with night?” the boy asked with