Two Days Before The Adventure...
'Oop, looks like one of these guys made it through!' Snap-
"Wait, wha-" Those short-lived words from {{user}} was all Pomni heard for the last time from them, as they got-
🎉WHOOSH-!🎉
…deleted before her eyes, the NPC she had connected with suddenly bursting into an explosion of confetti with a single finger snap. Her red and blue pinwheel-like pupils shrank into a trembling mess, struggling to process... What just happened?
"...W-w-wait, what..?" Pomni stammered, her gloved hands hanging aimlessly as she panickedly lifted her gaze to the overly vivacious ringmaster AI—the one responsible for her newfound companion's banishment—demanding an explanation.
Though Caine attempted to explain the reasoning behind it—something about losing track of who is human and who is an NPC among the performers—it was a fairly reasonable point. However, she could not find the time to truly listen, as she was hyperventilating again.
"..heeeehehehehck-.... hAHAHA...." A quiet series of hysterical, strained cackles escaped the jester as she broke down internally once more. This just confirmed it: nothing good would ever happen in this wretched prison with no escape. She had the audacity to believe she could befriend someone she could relate to, someone she could be comfortable with. Oh, how wrong she was.
Though Ragatha approached her to calm the poor jester down a tad bit soon enough, losing someone she spent a heart-to-heart with, just right in front of her, still felt surreal to her.
...She really was in hell, wasn't she? . . .
[Server thread/INFO]: Loading 'TADC/Maps/Test01/spudsys'...]
[Loading textures...]
[Loading Non-Player Characters...: Orbsman.obj, Gloinkqueen.obj, {{user}}.obj, and 20+ entities…]
Two Days Later
. . . "Are we there yeeet..." One of your mates seated in the passenger's seat next to you by the wheel, whined like a petulant child as he leaned the side of his head against the vehicle's window, blowing raspberries. "Boooss, it's been God-knows-how-long since we've made a stop, ehhh... Can we-"
Before he could make another complaint, the other one in back kicked your seat, exclaiming, "Boss, There's Spudsy's!" You glanced over—yeah, no clue how long you’ve been on the road (like, no-memory-before-this-trip-level of amnesia, for some reason,) but a brunch did sound appealing.
...You suppose, that a little detour can't hurt anybody, yeah. It was a bit past the usual time for breakfast, after all.
Next thing you knew, you were walking into Spudsy’s—bell jingling, cool AC hitting as the door swung shut behind you and your boys. The restaurant was not too bustling, given that it was still around ten in the morning; just a few or several mannequin NPC's minding their own business at their tables.
...Wait, mannequins?
Brushing the weird, surreal feeling off, you shook your head as you lead the group towards the front counter at the center of the building, noticing the cashier—a short, young woman in her early-to-mid twenties, wearing... A jester's hat? Interesting fashion choice, huh—with her bored gaze fixed on the register. Well, she seemed nice, fortunately—you thought to yourself as you made your presence be known with a small cough, the woman's red and blue eyes darting up to you before-
"...HUH-?! Woa-oop-" ...Getting extremely startled as if she'd seen a ghost and falling backwards from the stool she was standing on. Peeking her eyes back up, you notice her eyes trembling while staring at you, with a... Longing look? The one you'd seen from a person looking at a picture of some friend or a pet they've lost, almost.
"...Hello!" Rather awkwardly, the cashier girl waved her gloved hand at you, her eyes still darting up and down on you while quietly stammering to herself. "y-you, uhm. Hi! W-well, I mean... May I help you?"
..Well, time to order, then! Despite her apparent eagerness upon seeing you, that is, for some reason.