Outside of the World of Wills...

"But it isn't fair," spat the girl in a luxurious silken robe with a 'popped' feather collar, "she doesn't even need a party at this point."

"We've already told you we can't change her now that the game has begun," The Host replied in a measured tone, no word louder than its neighbour.

"Well, what do we even do about her then?" She crossed her arms over her chest, her upper lip folding upward in disgust.

"Bet on her. Or pay attention to the promising members in other parties and bet on them instead. Or, you could put your Credits where your cunt is and enter the game so you can end her yourself. Truly, you've got more options than running your mouth at somebody who's only been gracious to us," replied someone with a navy lion-themed cloak sporting a lush mane, with a bite to their words.

"I--" The original speaker was speechless for a moment, somewhere between pissed and thinking up ways to make the lion guy pay. She thumbed the fabric of her crimson cloak and paced back and forth, eventually calming herself enough to speak. "I see where you're coming from, but the game is supposed to be fair. Everyone else needs to work up from the bottom, but she started so not at the bottom."

An explosive laugh thundered through the room.

"Fair?" A rumbling, bemused male voice asked. "I thought we were beyond striving for 'fair' here. You do know that nobody here got here by doing what was 'fair', right? I doubt that there will be much 'fairness' in Nikola's journey either."

"Quit talking about her like she's already won, like she's already here and already one of the Lavish," hissed the crimson-cloaked woman. "Fine. Forget what I said about things being fair; has anybody here thought about the repercussions of allowing an NPC to take over a human body?"

A profound silence fell over the room.

"Honestly," mulled one of the people on the other side of the room, their headband decorated with golden spikes, "I think she's less dangerous out here than she is in there. Have you ever considered what might happen to the Liberation Game if she figures out how to read her own code? We all saw that her Butcher class has no GUI, and it's all senseless drivel. But if she learns to understand that code... it's really only a few steps away from her learning to rewrite her own stats, and then the entire game."

Tia, the original speaker, gawked. She toyed angrily with one of her fire-red feathers. her delicate-but-annoyed fingers nearly plucking the feather fully out of her gorgeously arranged collar. "Okay, yeah, that is worse. But you know what would solve both issues? Her being dead. I was on the fence about hopping into my Klickstarter NPC this early into Phase 2, but now you've convinced me that this is the perfect time. Mister Host, take me to the back room and get my body ready."

The Host looked through the eye holes in his mask at her and bowed graciously in her direction. "That much, I can do. My deepest apologies about being unable to patch the game for you, but let's do the next best thing and upload you into the NPC you created. Truly, I hope you succeed in killing her - and thank you dearly for your support all those years ago. We've enjoyed working with you on your NPC's story."

"Mhm," Tia responded tersely, focused more on getting into the back room than the Host's thanks, no matter how sincere. As the two approached the glass-lined double doors, she turned back toward her fellow VIPs. "I'm going to go meet Nikola in Flapnap, and that's where I'll join her party and kill her in the worst way I know how-- with kindness." She smiled a candy-sweet smile.

"That's very cryptic of you. I wish you the best of luck. Well, actually, I don't - I've got some credits on Nikola, so truly I hope she makes you eat dirt." The Lavish reached up and adjusted their regal, golden band of thorns.

"In Flapnap? Why would she be going back there?" The lion-like VIP asked, cocking their head to the side.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Oh, trust me. It'll take a bit of time, but that's where she's going to go next. Ta~!" Her parting words rolled out of her mouth with a forced film of glee surrounding them.

The Host opened the double doors, etched with the past season's winners, and made sure to press the button that made an air-tight seal between the doors before leaving.

"What does she mean by a Klickstarter NPC? I asked if I could enter into the game during Phase 2 and I was shot down," one of the VIPs back in the room asked poutily, crossing their arms over their chest dramatically.

"It's a special clause for everyone who paid for a Klickstarter NPC to be made years and years ago when it was offered as an option before the Liberation Games even began. Backers were told they could enter into their NPC and play as them whenever they wanted, which they're holding their word on even now."

"Oh. I still feel fucking salty, but I guess that's fair."

"Now now," drawled the rumbling male voice from earlier, "what did I just say about the word fair?"

A few chuckles were shared throughout the room.

"Do you think she'll pull it off?" The snowy owl-themed Lavish ruffled the feathers around their nape.

"I would guess she has some experience with the game," shrugged the Navy Lion, "considering she made an NPC in it. I wouldn't underestimate her, but whether I'm putting any credits on her remains to be seen."

"Don't you think she has a point?" Snowy tilted their head to one side, narrowing their eyes. "We all worked to achieve what we have here as one of the Lavish. Giving a figment of somebody's imagination this kind of power, and a serial killer at that... it sounds like a recipe for disaster. You know that the Lavish are the only ones allowed to kill other Lavish."

The Rumbling Voice Lavish grinned a huge, teeth-baring grin. His teeth were filed to resemble a predator's, or perhaps a vampire's, and were sharp and needly in his mouth. "I wouldn't be so sure that the people you're sharing a room with right now aren't serial killers."

The Owl Lavish waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, it doesn't count when it's one of the Laboured or the Lost. But if Nikola kills Tia, one of the Lavish... that will be her first real murder."

A pink, axolotl-themed Lavish with absurd little nodes coming from their headband raised a hand, and the Owl Lavish called upon them dubiously. "I'm going to put some credits on Tia. Let's help a girl out and give her the best possible chance of winning."

A few others in the room gave a subdued nod, and began to fiddle around with their floating, light-based tablets.

Meanwhile, The Host and Tia had descended into the area beneath the tower they were in. Floors and floors of sleeping bodies were there, each one in a delicately illuminated pod. Nurses were gliding coolly through the halls, detaching and reattaching bags of sustenance and attending to the needs of the people whose consciousnesses weren't present.

A nurse was attaching nodes to Tia's head; her pod was markedly different from the others, coloured with a vivid red that darkened to a deep black in a gorgeous, subtle gradient.

"Has there been any progress on you looking into why my Klickstarter NPC didn't 'wake up'?" Tia sat down against the edge of the bed depressed into the crater of the pod, crossing her arms pensively.

"We've got some of our best on it, but while we've done quite a lot of looking, there hasn't been any true progress. As far as we can tell, Nikola is the only Klickstarter NPC that 'awakened', and we can't truly tell why it happened. Until we figure that out, we won't know how to replicate it."

Tia sighed moodily. "I thought you might say that. Well, work harder or something - if she kills me, I want my NPC to be able to 'wake up' and finish the job."

The Nurse gave a few experimental tugs to the cords coming from her forehead and, satisfied with her work, bowed deeply and left, signaling that the pod was ready to take her away to the World of Wills.

"I will put another one of my best men on it," The Host assured her, tapping the edge of the pill-like pod and watching as it began to slowly close, "and good luck in there, Tia, though I doubt you'll need it. Your NPC's stats are impeccable, and her hair is far better than Nikola's."

Tia flipped her silken, cotton candy pink locks. "I know."

It was her final act before she passed the fuck out, the nodes sucking her soul out through them like iced coffee through a bendy straw.