Chapter Text
Yuu logged in from one of the common room computers and watched their elementalist load in. Back home they always preferred support, but at this point they were getting pretty sick of not being able to handle their own fights, so DPS it was. Elementalists were pretty versatile anyway, so if they changed their mind they could just reset their skill tree instead of shelling out for a class change. They quickly tapped out a message to the UID Ortho had given them, which they doubted Idia would bother responding to, but the robot kid was being pretty unsubtle about wanting them to befriend him, and those puppy-eyes were top-notch. After that, they texted Lilia that they were online, and went to the town gates to meet him when he logged in.
<Muscle Red> Greetings, I am pleased to see you were able to find your own internet connection.
<Shrimpie> oh im actually borrowing a computer, turns out i cant get ramshackle hooked up safely
<Muscle Red> A shame, but at least you were able to find an arrangement that works for you.
<Shrimpie> btw last time i lvled up it said i can get mentored, is that smthng i shld bother with?
<Muscle Red> Absolutely, it will greatly increase your growth, and there’s an adorable little mortarboard hat you get for graduating! Alas, I cannot take in any more students until one of them graduates.
<Muscle Red> If you like, I can ask one of my friends to be your mentor instead? One of them is online right now, in fact. I assure you, he is perfectly charming, and an excellent teacher. He even helped explain this game’s mechanics to me when I first started.
<Shrimpie> sure np
Yuu really wondered how Lilia’s keyboard was holding up, with him typing out all those long sentences in seconds. They had once gotten a multi-paragraph response to a question about birthday gifts for Malleus under 30 seconds after they asked, and they were pretty sure he didn’t just have that whole essay sitting in his notes app to copy-paste whenever he happened to need it.
Behind them, Ortho had gone oddly quiet since Muscle Red had signed on, and they figured out why when, shortly after Lilia had promised to message his other friend, Idia messaged them back.
So. Idia and Lilia were online friends, and neither of them knew they went to the same school. Idia had been adamant about not telling him anything about Lilia, so Yuu promised not to tell him anything about Idia either. When they clicked on Idia’s profile to send him the mentorship request, they took a look at his profile, and noticed that he apparently used he/they pronouns. They weren’t sure if Idia was out and they just didn’t talk to them enough to learn this, or if they’d want them to keep using only “he” at school, and made a mental note to message them and ask before they left today.
In the meantime, they focused on the game. As promised, Idia was an excellent teacher. They initially tried to simplify their explanations, assuming Yuu to not be familiar with the terminology, but once they figured out that Twisted Wonderland’s gamer jargon was almost the same as their own world’s, they adjusted to match Yuu’s level of experience. They also took a look at the pyromancer build Yuu was aiming for, offering pointers on how to fix the stat spread a bit, and what kinds of gear would work well for them at different levels. During combat, Idia and Lilia both tried to hold back a bit, making sure that Yuu was actually playing the game instead of just watching a pair of overleveled beasts one-shot everything they looked at in the level 20 dungeons. In the chat, the two played off each other easily, Idia seeming much more excited in game despite his moniker, and Lilia feeding into and basking in that excitement in equal measure.
Once Yuu unlocked their first alternate outfit, they immediately stopped to scroll through the wardrobe and see what else there was to get. Idia took a break then, sending a short message about going afk for a bit, and Lilia started eagerly giving them suggestions for what outfits to try and pair once they unlocked them. His taste was impeccable, each piece he named turning out to be the exact sort of loud, sparkly item they loved. Eventually, Yuu’s gaze and mouse rested on a sequined and rhinestone covered suit.
[Bedazzled Suit] To Unlock: Forever Promise
<Shrimpie> hey red whats a Forever Promise?
<Shrimpie> this suit says i need one to unlock it
<Muscle Red> Oh, that is this game’s marriage ceremony. Two players agree to share their life and move in together.
<Muscle Red> The married characters share a home and household inventory, forcing one of them to sell their house if they both already have one. In addition, your partner can do whatever they want with anything in the shared inventory.
<Muscle Red> There are a number of perks as well, but I have been unable to find a partner willing to take the risk with me.
<Muscle Red> Such a shame, I would have loved to wear such a beautiful suit.
Yuu blinked. Sure, they could see people being nervous, but no one ? They could think of at least one player who put that much trust in him right off the top of their head.
<Shrimpie> why not just marry gloomurai?
<Shrimpie> i just watched u give gloom a 5* drop to hold onto b/c u ran out of space in ur own bag. sharing a household doesn’t sound like a far leap 2 make
[Gloomurai] is no longer AFK
<Muscle Red> I did want to ask him, but before I could broach the subject he made his opinions on marriage known.
<Gloomurai> ill do it
<Gloomurai> i mean
<Gloomurai> when i said that i meant in general
<Gloomurai> i didn’t know u wanted 2 ask me
<Gloomurai> ill do the ceremony or whatever if u still want that suit
<Gloomurai> if u still wanna do it w/ me
<Muscle Red> Of course I do! Shrimpie here is correct that a shared box would be a natural progression, and that suit is truly divine.
<Muscle Red> Now, that simply leaves the question of whether we’ll simply bond our characters now, or do a full ceremony with our other friends.
<Gloomurai> i mean, if we’re just doing it 4 the perks i dont see a point to making a big deal of it
<Shrimpie> AMDNFMBIGNRO U GOTTA DOT HE CEREMONY ILPLA N EVERYTHINGGGGGHFKDM
“Ortho, gimme back my keyboard!” Yuu tried to wrestle it back from him, but despite being tiny, Ortho’s metal limbs were strong , and he managed to keep control of the keys until he could retype his message more clearly.
<Shrimpie> Please do the ceremony! Planning it will be so much fun! I just browsed the list of furniture on the wiki and I know exactly what would suit the two of you best!
<Shrimpie> sry ur bro was reading over my shldr
<Shrimpie> i swear i tried to stop him
<Gloomurai> brb
[Gloomurai] is now AFK
[Shrimpie] is now AFK
Yuu pushed away from the computer, and spun their chair to face Ortho. “Couldn’t you have just messaged Idia directly or something?”
“Well yes, but I thought maybe if I convinced Lilia Vanrouge, he could help convince Idia.”
Yuu thought about it and nodded, “Yeah, he seems like the type to be into fancy fake weddings.”
Before they could add anything else, Ortho let out a faint ping! “That would be Idia, give me a minute.” He closed his eyes, looking like he was concentrating on something. After a couple minutes, he cracked one eye open to look at Yuu, “They think that Muscle Red is going to deduce who they are based on them having a younger brother who’s also at school, and I can’t convince them that this isn’t a disaster, can you help?”
“Okay, first off, tell Idia that Red doesn’t actually know that they attend NRC, he’s way more likely to assume that you chose to message them like that because they’re not right upstairs.”
“That’s true, but shouldn’t we convince them that it’s not a bad thing even if Lilia Vanrouge does learn the truth? Idia and Lilia Vanrouge are already quite compatible, but my brother thinks no one would want to be friends with them offline. If they meet each other in real life, he’ll definitely still want to be friends with them because my brother’s super cool, and then they’ll see they’re wrong about themself, and they maybe won’t be so sad all the time, and I’ll have helped him like a real little brother, and-!”
“Okay, slow your roll a little, you're getting way ahead of yourself. There’s a lot here I’m not qualified to unpack, so I’ll just leave it unless you’re about to start murdering people over it.”
“Why would you think that!?”
“It’s been a long five months. Anyway, let’s focus on just taking things in steps. You’re not gonna convince anyone of all that at once, so start with how the specific disaster they’re anticipating right now won’t happen, because there’s no evidence pointing specifically to you and Idia, okay?”
Ortho nodded, and Yuu turned back to the game.
<Muscle Red> You have a younger brother? He seems delightful!
<Gloomurai> he is
<Gloomurai> hes always gets super excited about this stuff
<Shrimpie> he says hes srry for bursting in like that btw
<Muscle Red> Oh, there’s nothing to apologize for, I thought it was endearing. In fact, I have no problem with a ceremony if it’ll make him happy, it sounds like fun!
<Gloomurai> well…
<Gloomurai> if ur sure u dont mind
<Gloomurai> lets go for it