A Child Tips the Scales

It was late in the morning: so late that it was actually just afternoon. The sun was, sickeningly, shining brightly, and there were no clouds to shield the denisens of Alne from the death rays it was firing down on the unwitting populous. It was a HORRIBLY mild 67 degrees farenheight outside, and no one was able to experience either heat or cold. The day was mindnumbingly whelming, and DosBox was happy to be inside, protected from any... CHEERFULNESS that those mouthbreathing SUNDWELLERS might try to spread to him.

Despite the terrifying weather outside, DosBox was enjoying himself. The brooding heroes had left the corner to go adventuring for a bit, which allowed him to sit at the corner table, and he was going through enchanting theory with a pencil and a notebook.

    Unfortunately, the sunshine has entered the Hostess of Fertility. In the shape of a little girl who is giggling and hopping like a bunny through the door. It gets a lot of attention, but it seems the disruption is forgiven. Asuna is a known quantity, and she never causes the kind of trouble that bothers Mia Grand. As a side benefit, Asuna tends to side with the staff whenever there is trouble. It's rather nice to have the Lambent Light on one's side rather than in it.

    Asuna pauses to share a few polite words before looking around for a table.

    "Asa! Look! It's your gnome friend!"

    And so it is. The Flash tilts her head, thinking for a moment. He looks busy. THat's... good. Still, her moment of consideration has a consequence. And off Taka goes! Hopping all the way. Like a bunny. She will stop right by Borywick's table.

    "Hello!" blurts out the little girl.

Dosbox almost jumps out of his seat with a start, before looking down at the little girl with a nervous smile, "Oh! Hi there! Ah... Taco, was it? Nice to see you again..." DosBox looks around a little worried to see if her guardian is around, and lo, the Red-headed murder demon turned mom is easy to spot in the sea of adventurers. He gives Asuna a wave and himself a sigh of relief. Unsupervised children in the middle of the warzone that is the Hostess of Fertility is hardly the best of ideas.

    Asuna closes the distance quickly. And she scoops up the little girl with ease. Of course, the girl squirms, giggles, and finally gives up with a little pout.

    "No running off on your own, Taka!" The scolding is gentle, and the little girl is only put down when she nods and agrees. Rules.

    "What's up, Borywick? You cramming for a test over here?"

    The bit of rowdiness caused by the mother-daughter exchange is something of a cover of the appearance of a small group of heavily armored and armed adventurers. They settle at a table a ways away and swiftly hide themselves in hushed talk and stiff drinks.

Dosbox looks down at his notes and then back to Asuna, "Oh, just some... Ah... Thinking. I am looking at some magic theory on gems' ability to hold somewhat lingering effects and applying that to monster extermination. It's..." He sighs, "Well, it's fun to ME."

    "So you are looking for ways to make monsters go boom?" asks Asuna. She likes keeping it simple. With Taka giving her a curious look, Asuna tries simpler. "Borywick is going to make pretty rocks that get rid of monsters."

    Taka grins. She looks excited.

    "Ohhhh! That sounds good. Maybe I can use the pretty rocks when I become a powerful samurai hero!"

    Asuna pauses to consider the situation. "So, are we disrupting your studies? I know Taka is hungry and we are not great to be around for studying. Being, well, rather loud."

Dosbox shakes his head, putting his notepad and pencil away in his inventory, "No no, I... I need to eat too. I almost forgot to take a lunch break, anyway. Not... Not that the waitresses would have let me forget. They're nice like that. Heh..." He waves at one of the waitresses, oddly enough the grey-haired young human and not one of the two catgirls, and waves back with a smile. "But ah... Yeah, making gems that hold a charge for longer than a few minutes is beyond me at this point. I can make ones that act like batteries for very small effects, but for anything that lasts for any given period of time which has the STRENGTH to DO something..." He looks at Asuna's Lambent Light with a respectful nod, "That isn't really something that seems possible from a player standpoint. It's almost as if the maker of the game just didn't want players with that kind of power..."

    "Well, in that case, we'll join you."

    And she settles into a seat, pulling a chair very close for Taka to sit at. The little Lander hops into the chair and finds the table a bit, well, hard to look over. Which results in a look given at Asuna. Without a word required, the Flash draws her daughter into her lap.

    "Well, just because it isn't possible yet, doesn't mean it won't be eventually. There all sorts of powers people have come by that were clearly not part of the original design. Never give up, Borywick. Things change and tricks are learned."

Dosbox looks at Taka, then Asuna, then back at Taka again, then back at Asuna, then gives her a meaningful nod. "Yeah. Well, I am not giving up persay. I'm mostly setting it aside for now and doing something I can do: create them and use them myself at will. If I can't make them last longer than a few minutes with any meaningful blast, why make them to last for more than a few minutes?" He nods, looking to Taka, "You see, when you keep failing at something, you don't want to keep trying the same way. Try to think of different ways to take on the problem. Chances are, those will be easier, and you can win in no time."

    This is a lesson Taka can appreciate. In fact, "I have used that! To get a second piece of cake." She looks to Asuna, then looks over at the gnome once more. "Asa said persistence is a good thing. But if I eat too much I get a tummy ache."

    With that deep lesson imparted, she settles down and starts looking around the place. Her eyes study as many interactions as she can see without squirming too much.

    "It sounds like you are going to have some interesting results to show off in the future, Borywick. Hm. Are you still waiting for your clothes, by the way? If I recall correctly, you were going to work with Gwen."

Dosbox nods, "I did. There was a little thing in the swamp with a lich. That was actually resolved pretty quickly, to be honest." He shrugs, shaking his head, "Honestly, liches used to MEAN something, you know? That guy went down just like... PBTHHHT." He drops his hand down on the table. "Kind of a let down." He looks to Taka, "If you ever become an evil necromancer and turn yourself into a lich, remember: You have STANDARDS. Don't forget the evil laugh. It's important.|

    Take seems very bewildered at first, but soon decides Borywick is simply being silly. Which means she must play along. In this case, that involves her best attempt at an evil laugh. Which sounds a lot more like an especially piercing giggle.

    "So you faced a lich and it didn't even put up a decent fight?" Asuna seems offended. Even more than Borywick! "That's so pathetic. They are supposed to be an A-tier kinda monster. Sure, they are not dragons or Witch Kings or whatever, but still. Did it at least drop something good for you?"

Dosbox throws his hands up in the air with frustration, "IT DIDN'T though! It didn't drop a single thing! Gwen said something about magic ley lines or something, but I wasn't paying that much attention." He sighs, "That's less of a lich laugh and more of a Witch Cackle, but you got the idea, Taco. You can do it. You have promise."

    "Taka," points out Asuna. Though the little girl does inspect, quite clearly, as Yui. Nicknames and all that. Probably.

    "So you killed a Lich and got.. nothing. Thta's really pathetic. Did it fight strangely? Was it glitched somehow?" She pauses her rush of questions to direct an order to the server as she appears. It takes a bit longer than usual, as the place is getting rather busy.

    "If you have some barley tea, that would be perfect. And I'd like tempura for myself and udon for my little one, here." She asides to Borywick, "Taka loves udon. She likes to pretend she's eating worms."

    The mere mention of it draws a giggle from the child. And she's already beaming for being told she can cackle like a witch!

Dosbox takes on a puzzled look, "For some reason, that makes me want Udon, too." To the waitress, "Can I get an Udon and an Oolong Tea? Thank you so much." He looks over at Taka and snickers sinisterly, "We're gonna eat worms." He blinks for a couple seconds before remembering that they were having serious time, "Oh. I think... It was some kind of magic training for Gwen? It might have been a lich planted there by her mentor. Maybe that's why it didn't have a drop.

    "Huh. Mentors are weird sometimes, I guess. I have always just trained with a few friends. Kept it informal, you know? But I suppose sooner or later it can help things out." Not likely, in her case!

    This all gets Asuna's mind wandering, though. "You know, do you ever think of the future here? I mean like, five, ten years away." She's getting at something without being terribly direct about it. Obviously.

The light slowly fades out of his eyes as DosBox looks down at the table in sort of a daze. In a very small voice, he says, "I... Try not to."

    "Well, that's an odd response from someone studying so hard to achieve something," notes Asuna. "But whyever not? It's not like avoiding the topic will make it go away."

    With the grown ups getting so obviously boring, Taka does her usual and starts people watching. She finds the armoed addventurers very interesting. They are tall, strong, and, yes, a bit scary to a child. But still fascinating!

For a brief, split second, anger flashes in DosBox's eyes. Asuna had never seen DosBox angry before, and it was widely theorized that he didn't HAVE that emotion, but it was there, if only for a fraction of a second. He sighs lightly tapping on the table. "I am. I am trying VERY hard. I am trying to master a skill in a world that, if everything goes as planned the will no longer exist. I am trying my hardest to learn fake magic so I can kill FAKE monsters, so that..." He bites his lip real hard, and presses his eyes shut tight. He caught himself in the middle of saying some real insensitive stuff, and he REALLY doesn't want to continue that thought.

    "According to what plan?" asks Asuna. She imagines it's some kind of hardcore Scale Emblem thing. The kind of nonsense that wasn't nonsense to her just a few weeks ago. Until this little Lander girl curled up in her heart and took up residence there.

    "I thought the plan was to get people out without losing this for those who didn't want to go. But I have started to wonder what people really want. Where they really mean to go."

    This all goes right past Taka. It's not the Lander thing about hearing of the 'real world', though. She's just a little kid paying attention. At least for now!

Dosbox sighs. His eyes are still closed, "Maybe you know more than I do. I am on the bottom rung, so I only know what a bunch of bullies who were barely on the second to bottom rung would tell me. I mean... Once everyone can log off... Do you think they'll just... Keep the servers runnng for the people who don't want out?"

    "Well, whatever they do, I go nowhere with my daughter," Asuna replies calmly and very clearly. It's just that simple. There's no worries about any details that trouble others. This little girl is her number one priority.

    It is a rather bold comment, from someone with her standing in the ALF. It does not go unnoticed. One of those notable, armored adventurers openly glares at the Flash's back.

    And then food arrives! Which gets her attention. For a moment. She muddles into her inventory and puts a cushion on the empty chair, then settles Taka on top of it, giving her a much easier time eating on her own.

    "So. Five years ahead, I think we were chatting about?"

    The flash is persistent, if nothing else!

Dosbox looks... Tired. Asuna knows that the man behind the Rock Gnome is 33 years old, but sometimes, he takes on the look of someone three times his age: like butter spread over too much bread. "Well, whether we are out of the game or not, in 5 years, Baxter will probably already be dead." He looks down at his udon and starts slurping away, like an automaton refueling.

    "I know. And I'm sorry. It's not your fault, you know. And it's not certain! Whatever is going on out there, I hope that someone found your pet and is taking care of him. I know he means the world to you."

    Asuna helps Taka get her chopsticks situated, then turns to her own food. Tempura is a favorite of hers. And the sauce here is wonderful. Plus they know her and give her extra sweet potato! Japanese sweet potato is kind of next level stuff.

    "Your cat wouldn't want you to stop living, though. And you wouldn't want Baxter to just give up on life, either, right? So... with that in mind, I hope you can think ahead. No clue what the future might bring, but I do know if you don't plan for your dreams, you are probably not going to realize when you are in the right place and time to achieve them."

Dosbox chuckles sadly sniffing back some almost-tears that didn't fall, "Oh, what would he know. The boy is as dumb as a sack of rocks. I love him, but he still hasn't figured out why his nose gets when sometimes when he's drinking water." He facepalms, "That was mean, but it's true. Gosh, I miss that little puff ball."

DosBox shakes his head, "What I do know is... Whatever happens in the future is completely reliant on what we do now. If I want to be where I want to be even a WEEK in the future, I have to work hard to make that happen. And... The rest can fall in place as I go. My future hinges on one important thing. How much longer will we spend in the game. We've been here for like... 2 years? 3? How many floors have we cleared?"

    "The math is not promising. If we keep going at the rate we are, well, this little girl eating beside me may well make me a grandmother before that day comes. Who knows, you know.. maybe she'll have a little sister or two, or brothers?"

    The mention gives Asuna a moment's pause. Huh. Where did /that/ come from?! For a little while, the Flash is not living up to her name there. But eventually she gets back on track.

    "So yeah, that is a concern for those who think that's the be all and end all of this thing. But, honestly, does it make sense? I mean, to let us out cause we beat a tower? And if this is really happening, wouldn't the government have hacked the servers and giving us invincible armor and weapons? It's almost three years, now. They would have possession of the servers, right? How hard could it be? Not everyone who made this world would just go along with it."

Dosbox nods a few times, "There are loads of theories, and we have no proof for any of it. I mean, yeah, we don't have invincible armor and weapons, but we ARE effectively immortal. Heck. I read an Isekai manga where a group of high school students all went braindead due to VR, and they needed to remain in the game until their brains were repaired. Maybe it's that. Maybe if we just WAIT long enough, they'll let us out on our own? I don't know. You don't know. No one in this game knows."

"We can only do what we can with the knowledge we have, and everyone has their own priorities..." He looks back down on his own noodles, "I... don't even know what mine are anymore..." He sighs the Big Sigh. Proper noun Sigh. "But what I need to be doing right now is the same. Get better. Do better. Master what I am doing right now, and master the next thing, and then the next thing... And maybe by the time I am done I will know what I want to do with the power I've gathered."

    "So your plan is... to have a plan."

    Asuna looks thoughtful at this. She's mulling it over, clearly. "Do you know what you like in this world?"

    Asuna is picking away at something. And it's not her food. She's eating that with gusto! She loves this dish.

    Taka is doing well with her meal, too. She's pretty great for her age at using those chopsticks. She is slurping, but it's udon so it's kind of a given, really. The play from earlier worked up her appetite quite a bit, it seems.

Dosbox looks Asuna dead in the eye, as if she had just said something without thinking it all the way through. He holds out his hand, and he constructs a gem out of nothing, floating above his hand like it's a Crystal from the Final Fantasy series. Then he waves his hand and it pixels itself away. "I kind of thought it was obvious."

    Asuna looks at the gem. "So you like gems? You like magic? You like making things?"

    The Flash knows the 'stuff' of what Borywick is interested in. But not the meaning. Not the.. "Why?" Yes, that one. That question is the big one.

    "I know it's sudden. I just realized that I never dug in very deep with you. And that's.. well, I'm sorry. I should have, right? Friends learn about each other."

Dosbox looks down at his gloved hand and gives it a flex, "I guess... Well, I suppose... I really like the concept of magic because... It's like benchpressing but for the mind, you know? I always picked the caster when I played games. And there's a part of me that would LOVE to live in a game for the rest of my life, you know? This is like a dream. But... You have to look at everything, you know?" He shakes his head. "For every day that passes, my... desperation grows."

He looks Asuna dead in the eye. "What about you? What's waiting for you if you can log out? What if logging out meant..." He briefly, BRIEFLY, lets his gaze flit to Taka. "What if logging out meant you couldn't return? And what if, by beating the game, it meant this world, and everything in it, would end?"

He sighs, "I still haven't found my answer yet. Have you?"

    Asuna nods in understanding. Borywick is right about several things there. She loves what she can do there. "I like how fast I can be. How I can be a hero here. How I actually matter. At first I was just numb. Hopeless. But I met people. Friends. They made me realize I have something to live for."

    The rest of what he says is taken in. She doesn't flinch. She turns and kisses Taka on the top of the head. She then turns back to the gnome.

    "What is waiting out there for me used to seem so important. But now? What I have right here is so much more important."

    She pauses then, not to consider her words, but to ensure there is clarity. And she says the most dangerous sentences she's ever uttered.

    "Then I wouldn't log out. And I would fight so that my daughter would be safe. Even if it meant that people I admire were at the point of my blade."

Dosbox nods a few times, "You've got a really big heart, Asuna. And that's why you saying that is REALLY scary. Especially if I were to choose that I wanted to log out no matter what." He looks down. His noodles are cold now. He doesn't look like he cares that much. "Asuna, I... want you to know that, no matter what happens, I am your friend. I am here for you. Just... Not even if you need me, if something comes up... Let me know, okay?"

    "I know."

    Taka, fortunately, does not understand what is happening at all. She's finished her food, though. Child's portions and child's excitement leading to getting done quick. But it also means she's sleepy. So without words, there is a look at Asuna. And then a brief look back from the Flash, who smiles warmly as she draws her daughter back to her lap, then sends the cushion back into her inventory.

    "I will let you know, of course. But I think we are doing really well. Klein and I are loving our little girl to pieces!"

    The little girl, for her part, nuzzles in and gets comfy, her eyes shutting as she moves rapidly from happy with a full tummy to happy, warm, safe, and sleeping.

    Honestly, it's all right there. Asuna's eyes tell the entire story, for anyone with the ability to read. Where her heart lies could not be more obvious. The tower is not her top priority. Getting out isn't her top priority. Those things are not even priorities at all.

Dosbox he nods a few times, his entire being in somewhat of a daze. "I am... glad that you have found someone to love. Two people. Two PEOPLE." He reiterates that last word, as if it has a lot of importance. "That I were so lucky to find someone." He chuckles, "I sometimes forget how much younger than me you are, you know...?"

    "Two people? Just two? I mean, I care enough to put that word on more than just two, but yes, those two are very special indeed."

    Asuna keeps eating, which she has practice with. It's an artform to eat while holding a sleeping girl in her lap.

    "And you really need to get out there if you want to meet people. It's not so much finding someone randomly as meeting people and being open to it. And investing yourself in them. Even then, sometimes the heart is a pretty dumb thing. I mean, it took me way too long to realize I was in love with Klein. And he stuck around, thankfully, and nobody else grabbed him while I was being a blind little idiot. But that was my situation. Now, well, things just are going so fast."

Dosbox chuckles softly as he looks down at his hand, then gives it a squeeze, as if he were holding something. "Maybe it's not luck at all, then. Maybe it's just you. You're like a beacon of light in the darkness that just makes people fall in love with you." He clears his throat, "Friendship-ly speaking." Whew. That one was dangerous.

DosBox hops off his chair, leaving the half-eaten, cold udon behind. "Or... Maybe it's just me." He mutters quietly, "I need to know my place..." He unclenches his hand, as if letting something go. "I think I need to go for a walk. And... I think you need nap time, right?" DosBox smiles, he's doing his best with his fake smile, but Asuna probably knows him better than that to know that it's 100% fake.

    There are fake smiles you pursue, and fake smiles you have to allow. The problem is knowing which is which. In this case, Asuna splits the difference.

    "Well, it is nap time, but I want to get this little one home. Accompany me to the stables? Tomoe can carry me and Taka from there. Oh, and we'll talk about your place another time."

    So she doesn't leave alone, as it turns out. Which means, when one of the armored men rises, another takes him by the wrist and stops him with a stern shake of the head. Reluctantly, he sits back down, glaring at the back of the Flash as the door closes behind her.

    A pity Borywick probably doesn't notice it. But on that day, he successfully intimidated three of the floor clearing squad.

    His place, indeed.