+ Reid +

Reid's fingers pressed against the beacon's surface. In the back of his mind, he expected to recoil - he anticipated pain. The burning, awful experience from Sanctuary's beacon was still solid in his memory. But this time was distinctly different.

Instead of burning heat, Reid only felt a comforting warmth as the connection brought with it a rush of energy. Where the power of Sanctuary's beacon had been lava, this one was something closer to... healing. It flooded him and lifted him and repaired him. Leftover fatigue from the vicipod battle was expelled from his body completely. The bit of dehydration he was experiencing was remedied.

It filled his lungs with air, and made every muscle feel well stretched and rested. Reid wanted to understand that power, and what it meant. He wanted more of it - and with time seemingly slowed, Reid could nearly feel Nyx wake up and set to work. The sensations that had been seemingly wandering through him suddenly organized themselves into proper channels with coordinated motion. A tether of energy ran between him and Lycra where they physically touched one another, and created a ring between them and the beacon itself. Reid observed the energy as it flowed through him, and to the connection - but he couldn't seem to see it once it went into Lycra. He couldn't touch or interact with that space, but the energy itself made it through. It felt like there was something important in that, but Reid lost the thought as time slowly started accelerating again.

Notifications pinged and rushed by him. Many were errors, and Reid could feel the beacon's energy within him attempting to eject both him and Lycra from the interaction. It swelled, but whatever Nyx was doing prevented the thing from letting go of them. Then time snapped fully back to regularity with violence.

Reid was pushed back with enough force that he stumbled and fell. Lycra flew through the air and splatted down into the mud.

They both groaned as they got themselves up on their feet. Reid felt like he'd drank too much caffeine.

"A new hand touches the beacon..."

"Fucking hell Nyx, what was that?"

"A videogame quote. The game had magic, and a mage school. Plus, you could rob people by putting buckets on their heads. Top 20 in your memories, easy. And it's fun to quote. Also, hi."

Reid rubbed his forehead. "I know what you said. And hi, and welcome back, and I'm glad you're here and I missed you. But I meant what the heck just happened with the beacon."

The hesitation in her response stretched, and Reid's worry grew with every passing moment. He checked his notifications.

BEACON INTERACTION DETECTED - OPENING CONNECTION

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED.

ERROR: MULTIPLE CONNECTIONS DETECTED ERROR RESOLVED

ERROR: AWAKENING CONTRACT REJECTED ERROR RESOLVED. AWAKENING COMMENCING WITHOUT CONTRACT.

NOTICE: AWAKENING COMPLETED

NOTICE: CONTRACT FOR [LYCRA] REMOVED. ALTERNATIVE INSTALLED.

ERROR: LEVELS EXCEED TUTORIAL ENTRY LIMIT ERROR RESOLVED. TUTORIAL ELIGIBILITY CONFIRMED.

NOTICE: REMEDIAL TUTORIAL LESSONS WILL BE SKIPPED

BEACON CONNECTION CLOSED.

0d 6h 29m 35s until Tutorial begins.

There it was. Simple and quick and done. Reid was awakened, and he was going to take part in a tutorial. He didn't exactly feel different. The only bit he sensed was that it seemed like he was closer to all the threads that let him interact with the system - as if it would take less effort and concentration to bring up his status, or work with anything else in that space. Maybe it would make dealing with the skills and interactions there easier - or maybe it would let him fix his fake name. He dove into himself for a few moments, but didn't notice any apparent changes in his body.

The idea of awakening was something bigger than the event itself had proved to be, and Reid understood why. For most, it was the only way they could start distributing their stats or even see their status screen.

But for Reid, all of those things were already possible. He didn't need some contract to do the things he could do himself, which really took the excitement out of that part of the event. The one exciting thing that was still there, of course, was the tutorial. That and the fact that Lycra's contract had been removed to give him stat points back. Nyx's voice was serious and terse.

"Reid, get Lycra and sit down. I want you both to hear this."

-

Lycra had hug-slammed Reid's legs and said hello to Nyx, then fished a device out of his backpack to excitedly show to her before they even got to the point where Reid had him calm enough to relay Nyx's information. He echoed her words at the end of each sentence. Lycra looked on with the same concern Reid felt, moonlight reflected off his eyes.

"So, I have good news, and bad news. Good news, Lycra is much more powerful now. Between the stat gain he got and the little fun thing I managed to add in for him, he's going to be one of the most powerful people in the whole tutorial. That's the good news. You're both getting into the tutorial, which of course is also good news."

Lycra's mouth parted in a wide, happy grin. Reid was impressed that he managed to stay seated - he was practically buzzing with energy. The grin dropped as Nyx and Reid continued.

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"But the bad news is pretty shitty, and it's not something we can reverse. You see, I was kinda-sorta caught by a traffic cop, so to speak, and I had to force a few things through to make the whole deal work, without alerting the collective that we were here. So, the unfortunate bit - and it really does suck..."

Reid swallowed hard, took a breath, and looked at Lycra as he relayed the words.

"We're going to be in separate instances for the tutorial."

Reid expected Lycra to lament, or to show fear or concern.

But Reid hadn't given his friend enough credit. This was the same person that had been fishing for weapons in his backpack to fight an enforcer. He was the same one that followed Reid into a challenge dungeon because he was excited about it.

"Are you okay, Reid?"

His words made Reid realize that he was the one wearing the deep concern. He was the one worried about what was going to happen to the two of them. Would they end up together when the tutorial finished? Could they back out of the thing entirely?

Lycra was the first good person he'd found after waking up. Someone he'd sworn to stick by who was now, technically officially, his family. He did it not out of some sense of responsibility or need, but because Lycra was a good person and he liked him. They were friends. A duo, before Win had made them a trio. Reid's mind flashed through worry, just like it had done so many times before. There were countless things that could go wrong. Lycra would have to fight beasts, and potentially people. He might be the only non-local in the instance of the tutorial where he got dropped. Would they accept him or hate him? How would he fare if he needed healing, or he ran into danger too big for him?

Reid let the mud wick into the fabric of the prison jumpsuit. Part of saying goodbye to Win had been made so much easier just because Reid could rely on Lycra still being there with him.

Was Reid really worried about his friend, or was he more worried about being alone?

"Reid?"

Lycra's head was heavily tilted. Reid shook himself, and pushed the emotions down.

"I'm alright, Lycra. Just worried about you. For you. I'd rather be there to have each other's backs, you know? And we just said bye to Win, and now we have to say bye to each other." Reid had a thought, and scrambled to his feet as he held open his hands and waited. "Here, take some of the pills I got from Win. Use them as much as you need to. Make sure you stay safe, and that you can stay healed. I don't even need them, I can patch myself up."

Lycra smiled, and stood. He bent Reid's fingers back to close his palm with one hand, then started summoning a gadget of his own out of his ring with the other. "Stop, Reid. Do not give away a gift." He looked more self-assured now than he'd ever seemed before. "Do not worry about me. I have the armor you made. I have the weapon you crafted. And I have my tools."

A crystal that looked like an hourglass appeared in his hand. A copper wire was wrapped in lazy arcs around its sides, and connected to a point in the middle.

"Reid, do you know what this is? What it does?" Reid shook his head. Lycra smiled. "I do. And that will keep me safe. Knowledge and tools and armor. " He put the device into his backpack, then pulled out another, then threw it on the muddy ground. It pulsed with light for a moment, and moisture near instantly evaporated. It left a wide patch of hard and cracked dirt. Reid stared as Lycra sat. "I'm going to live better than you. See? No more mud."

Reid lowered himself to the now-dry ground.

"Don't forget, Lycra also just got more stats, which is going to make him tougher. Between that and your armor, Reid - your friend is going to be hard to hurt. With his crafting skills... I'd honestly be more worried about the safety of everything else in his tutorial instance."

Reid let the words sink in as he and Lycra sat on dry ground, staring at the moons. Silence stretched until they broke it, with a string of timid jokes and ideas that snowballed into real conversation. As the time went on, Reid pulled out steak and rations and water. Lycra summoned a partially-broken table from his ring, and they feasted together. Laughed together. Nyx relayed last-minute ideas on crystal carving to Lycra through Reid, and Reid gave Lycra a series of over-cautious warnings to be careful about where and what he ate. He had no idea what plants or animals in the tutorial space might be unfit for consumption - or outright poisonous. He still felt just a bit protective.

Pale light fought with the faint glow of pre-dawn, and Reid realized something about their current situation was... odd.

"Nyx, isn't the tutorial already going on? Why did we get so much time before we go in?"

He could hear the smile in her words. "The system gives you a bit of prep time, but yes I extended it. It was only going to be an hour. I wanted you two to have more moments together before everything starts. Then I realized you just said bye to Winnie and now you have to part ways with the oyster, so I figured you two should at least get to experience it."

Reid waited until it was obvious she wanted him to ask the question. "Experience what?"

"Vuxarina's sunrise."

#

Reid and Lycra were prepared. They spent the rest of the pre-dawn hours ensuring their armors were on and secure, and that they had weapons and tools ready to go. Lycra's backpack sagged with loaded devices. Requiem rested on the dry ground. They'd both eaten and drank even more, to be as flush with resources as possible when the timer finally ran out. Lycra's newly available stat points were distributed, with Nyx's final inputs. There wasn't too much more they could do to prepare, so instead they took in the natural beauty of the night.

The moons gave ground to a growing and greater source of illumination, until the first signs of the sunrise finally became visible to their seated positions.

Golden light created a halo around heavy clouds that hung on the far horizon. As it rose, the orange ball painted the sky in brilliant hues of pink, purple, green, and yellow. The clouds burned away as the sun ascended, and bathed the planet in its glow. Pink grass corkscrewed as the sunbeams touched it, and the smaller ponds of water seemed to burn with mist. Far in the distance at the tree line, massive flowers as large as a tree's canopy opened to welcome the warmth and light. The same shapes he'd seen in the dark danced up and into the flower's center where they emerged, bright with a yellow pollen, before flitting to other branches.

It was an incredible natural beauty.

They both silently took it all in, watching the world wake up together. It was the first time either of them had seen a sunrise in months. Reed breathed deep. Even the air tasted different with the sun up.

The only thing out of sync with the mesmerizing and picturesque natural beauty was a small cloud of black smoke coming from past the grass-pond plains. It curled and balled itself up before wind swept it sideways, like charcoal smudged across a painting. Reid's eyes narrowed.

"Nyx, what is that. Are some people not in the tutorial?"

"Uncertain. Part of getting you two into your instances required me to not ask too many questions, so I have a pretty poor understanding of what's actually going on with the planet. But if I had to guess? There are opportunists here. Interlopers attempting to steal resources before regular enforcers and society can catch up and make it to the surface of this world. The tutorial might be rougher than we expected - if people are here from the wider universe, they'll likely be in tutorial instances as well as on the planet's surface."

Reid frowned. "Lycra, Nyx says there might be interlopers in the tutorial. We need to be careful."

Lycra looked confused. "But, we are interlopers..."

The timer ticked down. "Huh. I guess you're right. Well, watch out for the bad ones. Run if you can, fight them if you have to."

As Lycra took in the rising sun, his eyes glinted. There was something in there aside from his usual excitement. A bit of flint amongst the sparks of curiosity. The sun gleamed off their ivory armor. Reid picked up Requiem, and put it in his right hand. Lycra watched him, then pulled out his sword and a crystal that looked like a chicken wing half wrapped in silver wire.

0d 0h 0m 20s until Tutorial begins.

This was it. Reid was going to be alone, again. Lycra was going to be alone again, too. There were so many different ways he wanted to say goodbye.

"Stay safe, Lycra. And good luck."

Lycra took a deep breath.

"See you soon, Reid."

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