Facing Fear | ✓ ONC 2023 Honorable Mention

10 | Reality Check

"Should I have asked him to come with us?" Mori asked. Ren's cloaked figure faded in and out of the fog, the grass softening their footfalls so they trekked through the hills of the fifth ring like wraiths in the mist. Once in awhile, craggy structures came into view, scattered pieces of castle ruins which looked like they'd weathered dynasties.

"He couldn't have in the long-run," Ren replied. "Fighting without party immunity is dangerous—we learned that in the early days with crossfire casualties—and our leader wouldn't have allowed it." She glanced at Mori. "Don't second-guess yourself, Mentos. You made the right choice. We're going to make it out of here."

 "You sure this leader of yours will want me on the team?" Eyes flicking to their sides and flank, Mori adjusted her rifle's sling to help support its weight. "My stats aren't the greatest."

"I'll vouch for you. Need a new invite?"

Another party request materialized and this time Mori accepted. Swiping quickly through the next window asking for confirmation that she wished to leave her current party, Mori blinked as Ronin's stat bars faded and six new sets took their place. Their cumulative effect overwhelmed her so that when the contract option came up again, she selected "as is" to get the extra window out of her face—

And tripped over a half-buried statue anyway.

"Oh wow, your agility is low, but at least you have nice accur—" Ren looked back and laughed. "You good there?"

"Peachy," Mori answered. "Admiring the scenery. Any chance I can somehow hide all these stats so I can see where I'm going?" Mori scanned the usernames in the sidebar, five total not counting Ren's. "Nikonikonii and bonzaii are obviously Niko and Yuta...did Tsuna pick a new tag again?"

"As she always says, never wear the same tag twice." Ren winked. "Tsuna's Mentalillness. SevenCyns is leader and potato is the new recruit. You can minimize the tabs or move them around by thinking of it as click and drag on a computer screen. I bunched everyone's health bars together in one section for mine since it's the most important thing to keep track of."

Mori shook her head, clearing her vision like an Etch A Sketch. Pulling the info bars out one at a time, she managed to sort them into neat boxes out of sight with color-coded tabs to mark them. None of them trended toward a particular trait, which relieved her. Out of the six, potato's resembled Mori's most, though the other player had higher agility and lower speed. 

"Wait." Mori frowned. "My defense and health aren't as high as normal..."

Ren didn't seem to have heard, since her voice came clear over party communications. "This is Wraith approaching from the east side. I brought a friend I think a lot of you will be happy to see."

A soft voice replied a moment later. "This is potato. Copy that."

Looping her arm through Mori's, Ren smiled. "You'll like Perera. She's a real sweetheart and steady support too."

They approached a crumbling tower of stone with a golden sheen running through the cracks. A figure near the wooden door broke away from the shadows and ran toward them.

"Mentos!" The woman tackled Mori with a hug. "I saw your tag pop up and I couldn't believe my eyes! How are you? How's your family? What have you been up to all these years? You have to tell me everything—I've been dying for someone to talk to!"

"I—I've missed you too, Tsuna," Mori stammered, identifying the player to confirm she knew her. Even though she tried not to stare, after Ren had appeared the same albeit matured, seeing Tsuna look nothing like she'd remembered shocked her.

Gone were the brown bangs, multi-colored hair clips, and a thousand sparkly charms on several bracelets. In their place were tattooed cranes decorating Tsuna's muscled biceps, a sleeve-less white turtleneck, and platinum silver hair in boxer braids. Granted, they'd only met once in the real world and Tsuna's avatar might not reflect her true appearance, but still...