[PP - F29] The Consequences of Our Actions

[Katoka 0]

"Night wait!" Katoka hurried after the dark haired woman as she walked briskly to the teleport gate. As soon as the match was called the samurai had watched Night get up without a word, and leave. For a moment she stood there dumbfounded, turning to look around as if she was on some sort of reality TV show and was being pranked. "Night please! I want to talk, to apologize!"

During their fight Katoka had decided to flirt with her opponent, and it had backfired. Well, not entirely. She had still walked away the victor, but she hadn't intended to piss her off like she had. The players walked and weaved through the abandoned streets of the twenty-ninth floor to the direction of the only teleport gate. Kat's eyes darted down each alley and into every building they had passed, keeping an eye out for any creatures that might come bursting out to ambush the two. The fact that this floor had no real safe settlement, no place that you could truly feel like you couldn't die, set the blonde on edge. Deep down she was certain that either one of them could take care of anything that came oozing or crawling out of the darkness. For some reason, this floor still managed to make the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

"Damnit, would you slow the hell down?" she all but hissed, trying not to raise her voice to draw the attention of something worse.

----

Katoka | HP: 840/840 | EN: 118/118 | DMG: 23 | MIT:78 | ACC:5 | EVA:1 | BH:46 | REC: 8 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16

Spoiler

Name: Katoka, The Cerulean Storm True Tier: 7
Level: 34
Paragon Level: 30
HP: 840/840
EN: 118/118

Stats:
Damage: 23
Mitigation: 78
Accuracy: 5
Evasion: 1
Battle Healing: 46
Stealth Rating: -2
REC: 8
FLN: 16
HLY: 16
Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket:
- Muramasa's Legacy | T4/Demonic/Katana | Holy II, Fallen II
Armor/Trinket:
- Oni Haori | T4/Demonic/Light Armor | MIT 2, REC 2
Shield/Armor/Trinket:
- Aquamarine | T4 Demonic Trinket | ACC III, EVA I

Combat Mastery:
- Combat Mastery: Damage R3

Combat Shift:
- ST Shift

Familiar Skill:
- Rending Familiar

Custom Skill:
-

Skills:
- Battle Healing R5
- Energist
- Extended Weight Limit
- Katana R5
- Light Armor R5

Extra Skills:
- Survival
- Concentration
- Parry
- Forgotten King's Authority
- Photosynthesize

Inactive Extra Skills:
- Frozen Hide

Addons:
- Ferocity
- Precision
- Resolve
- Stamina

Mods:
- Meticulous
- Vengeful Riposte

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:
- Crystal of the Blood Dragon Horde | Mass HP recovery 10% x4
- Rhino's Horn | 235487c x5
- Teleportation Crystal x1
- Tincture of Recovery | HP Recovery 15% x5

Housing Buffs:
- Bedroom: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
- Bathroom: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down)
- Basic Kitchen: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps. Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30.
- Living Room: Increases out of combatHP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
- Attic (Storage): +5% bonus col from monster kills and treasure chests
- Slime Farm: +5% EXP to a thread. Limit one use per month. Must be used on a player's first post in a thread. Cooldown begins counting down when used in a post.

Guild Hall Buffs:
- Trading Hall: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters and Rank 4 merchants/performers receive +1 crafting/identification attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters and Rank 5 merchants/performers receive +2 crafting/identification attempts per day.
- Treasury: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild Totem:

Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:

Gathering Profession:

 

[NIGHT 0]

in her anger, she'd completely discarded the idea of teleporting out. night instead chose to take a walk to try and cool her head off.

but, in the end, with katoka trailing behind her unexpectantly...

"Night please! I want to talk, to apologize!"

... it made no difference to her mood nor attitude, so night observed.

"Damnit, would you slow the hell down?"

"stop trying to follow me," night went, throwing the sentiment over her shoulder. in true pettiness, her tone had shifted; from neutrality, a command rather than a slight, to words dipped intentionally in malice. "you don't have to apologize for anything."

unbeknownst to herself, night's pace had slowed the moment she dwelled on her anger -- another mistake she'd swore long ago not to make.

"it's not your fault," she breathed. her head had turned to look, but it wasn't as though night was seeking out the trailing shadow behind her on purpose. in all honesty, she likely doubted kat was willing to follow her all the way towards the teleporter -- wherever that was. her arms flailed in gesture. "all you did was find a woman, a sparring partner 'too pretty to resist' making a move towards. how can anybody fault that?"

when night finally came to a stop, it was in the middle of the wastes; somewhere between donoghue's and ilridge if she was lucky, and her sense of direction hadn't failed her. it had been the end of the road for now, with the player(s?) culminating at a cliff overlooking the roads below. in the distance, flashes of lightning illuminated the dead trees that surrounded them, the ghost of a forest ever haunting them. for a moment, night thought about the twenty-second, and grimaced.

her foot was tapping on the ground. her hands had balled up into fists long ago. when she heard katoka's footsteps still behind her, night turned on her heel to face the other woman.

"you want to talk?" night crossed her arms against her chest. "'cute'," she quoted. "then what the hell are you so desperate to say to my face?"

[stats go here.]

[Katoka 0]

It was surprising to the samurai that they had somehow managed to not find their way to the teleport gate. It had occurred to Kat that she could use her speed to get ahead of Night, maybe get her to actually stop and look at her for even a moment. However she also felt like she would just side step her and continue on her path, wherever that was leading her. Somehow managing to keep up, though lagging behind just a bit, Katoka found herself standing with the dark haired woman near a cliff.

When Night turned around it had taken a lot to keep from flinching. She had expected her to lash out at her, either yell or hell even throw a punch. But instead she stared at the blonde with eyes that felt as though they would burn right through her. Taking a deep breath, she furrowed her brows before responding, "I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have flirted so freely like that. I hadn't taken in consideration how it might have made you feel." she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck while looking out over the cliff at the road below. "I had a feeling that you were gay, and I wanted to make you a bit flustered in the fight in order to gain the upper hand." She looked back at Night and bowed, "I realize now that I was wrong in that sentiment. I'm sorry for offending you. That wasn't my intention at all."

[NIGHT 0]

so now, how was night supposed to feel? placated? relieved? none of those feelings had washed over her, even after watching katoka take a bow. was the apology supposed to comfort her? how pointless it had seemed. all night could do to help herself was rub the back of her own neck, still running hot under her skin.

because, the apology would’ve meant that, if kat hadn’t taken that gamble and put her own feelings at risk, night would’ve remained at an advantage. she would’ve won. was that true? an unbelievable thought — not that night trusted herself to have won the match in an alternate universe. but by that perspective, what would’ve been fair thereon should have emerged a call for a rematch. and night was petty, sure, but night wasn’t interested in another duel. 

at the very least, not one pertaining to the engagements of the tournament.

no. night continued to work at the knot in her muscles with the edge of her palm. and, though there were many other reasons for the player to bare her teeth at katoka for, she narrowed her eyes at the other woman’s prospect. “what’s that about guessing at my sexuality again?”

it was that thing she’d learned about from an, wasn’t it? how, just by looking at someone, you could presume they were alike, or they were separate. and night hadn’t gotten the same read from kat in turn. “like it’s any of your business to hit the nail on the head,” night continued, “but i don’t believe i’d said anything about it. how’d you come up with that idea in the first place?”

she was getting off topic. night released a warm breath and folded her arms again. gaze thrown aside, she couldn’t bring herself to look at kat in the eye. “besides,” night said, “you didn’t offend me, so there’s nothing to apologize for. cut that out! they say ‘all’s fair in love and war’, right?”

her foot was tapping on the dirt yet again.

“taking advantage of the opponent’s weaknesses is the goal; an ideal. and as mad as i am, i’ll take that loss with grace… eventually. — so what of that guilt?”

night raised her head. as steady as her breathing was, she was livid, masking her shaking self.

“what’re you trying to do here, kat?”

[Katoka 0]

Katoka flinched at Night's reaction. She had never met someone quite so... Prickly.

"I wasn't judging you based on looks or anything, it's just a feeling you get. Sometimes you meet another gay person and you just know." she shrugged. She wasn't sure how to explain it exactly, sometimes you just knew.

"The guilt I feel is from pissing you off. I wanted to catch you off guard, not make you mad at me. That is what I'm apologizing for." Kat was beginning to feel herself getting heated. What button had she pushed that set the dark haired woman off so much? She could feel the frustration, the anger emanating from her. It was palpable in the air. It was beginning to press against her in a way that was infuriating in its own way.

"I don't want you to be mad at me dammit! I wasn't trying to piss you of so I came to attempt to say sorry." her voice was shaky as she spoke, "I'm sorry that the action of me flirting with you was so revolting that you want nothing to do with me. I guess I'll just leave."

Her fists were clenched. Her fingers straining to close tighter than what her hands would allow. Glowing digital blood dripped form her hands as she turned to leave.

[NIGHT 0]

'just a feeling you get'? was that how it worked? and even all that explanation from andromeda, she still couldn't get it. fine; fuck it. she didn't need to figure it out in that moment. night would've rather stewed on the clarification kat gave instead.

because kat could've just left without an apology. what was her motive? it wasn't worth it to go hunting down someone after a fight — a valid strategic move — just so you could apologize to them. that didn't seem to make any sense to night. if catching her off-guard had been katoka's goal, it'd been achieved, with collateral or otherwise. and it wasn't like it had mattered to have caused auxiliary damage, or not. emotions like these were meant to be felt through just to dissipate thereafter, right? they weren't permanent, just temporary.

so why bother hunting her down? in a fight, one such as this, of course emotions were going to be all over the place the moment one's feelings were brought in. it'd be silly not to imagine it that way.

but then, that's how the situation had appeared to night. the more katoka forced her apology through, the more unsettled the woman became. night was bristling; because clearly, in that sort of desperation, there had to be something kat had expected. she just didn't know what it was.

'wasn't trying to piss you off.' "well, you did anyway," night had said to herself under her breath, voice hollowed out by the wind.

when kat turned around, night did so too. and she wanted to run away.

she submerged herself in that anger for a time, pacing the edge of the cliff. filled to the brim with a guilt paralleled. her teeth were clenched, breaths heavy. and she heard the siren song of a sword in her hand call to her, distant, as though it was a comfort to have her weapon equipped, at the ready.

she hated it strongly, that this wasn't a problem she could just cut through.

night hated to admit, just as much, that she could understand what kat was trying to do, even if she couldn't understand why.

so between the sounds behind her, of footsteps or the ring of an interface being brought up —

"i'm sorry, okay?!"

— night thought to yell at the last possible second, because she hadn't intended to drive kat away; at least, not without acknowledging the effort kat had decided to put in. could she really be faulted? kat was just trying to be the bigger person. and night was petty, sure, but she was even more sure she'd hated feeling guilty about this later.

it was terror, then, that had flooded her senses. she looked over her shoulder, all nerves and no composure, just to see if kat had stopped to stay. and, if the woman had lingered for long enough, night would clarify, her voice cracking, "i'm... sorry about your engagement. it wasn't fair to you that it'd happened."

she would turn away thereafter, eyes set to the floor, fingers twitching to claw at the air. "it's whatever that you got me angry. what did you want to hear — 'i forgive you'? then sure, i forgive you... or, whatever. it's not like i'm gonna hold a grudge over it, okay, so you can– you can just let it go."