Yara

"Yeah. Just joined today. Name's Lorn." He offered his hand.

She shook it without much thought. "Yaroslava."

"So Slava for short?"

"No." Her left eyelid flinched. "Call me Yaroslava or Yara. Just not Slava."

Lorn thought it was weird, but he let it go. They entered the room and Lorn found hers slightly comfier and more spacious than Mark's. She offered him some snacks and sat down on her bed. Lorn took the only chair left in the room.

"The Guildmaster wanted me to meet the other Undying," Lorn said. "You're second on the list."

"Who did you meet first?"

"Mark. Took me thirty minutes to get out of the room."

Yara looked at Lorn and put her hand on her chin.

"Really?"

It would sound impossible to her, who saw how socially awkward Mark was. That should pique her interest.

"Yeah. He talked a bunch about this game world and all its stuff. I was really wondering when he was going to stop."

Yara seemed unconvinced, but she seemed to not care too much about it in the end.

"Well, whatever," she shrugged. "Oh, and be careful of the lady you're about to meet next. She'll either try to rape you or kill you. There are no other options, so don't ask and just be prepared."

"Yeah, I heard," Lorn chuckled. "I'm really tempted to call her an old hag when I see her."

"Well, if you do that, then there's only one outcome," she chuckled. "Ah, I guess you could punch her teeth in (personally, I'd like that), but that's against the rules, so tough luck."

"It might not be in this world, but I still have a chance. I'll just plead ignorance. How was I supposed to know that? No one told me shit!"

Yara laughed cutely.

"Then you've got nothing to fear. I'll also give you a little tip. Pleading ignorance works without a hitch even back on Earth," she winked. A moment later, she chuckled to herself. "Now that I think about it, it's probably allowed. All sorts of things different in this world. You know what name I heard in the guild?"

"What?"

"Hitler."

Lorn couldn't not laugh at that. He put his hand to his face and giggled.

"Don't tell anyone that back on Earth," he said. "We don't want to lose our jobs."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Not even the mighty One Leader can get away with that."

The two chuckled for a bit before Lorn continued.

"How's your luck with skills?"

Yara tilted her head slightly at that. The question seemed to pop out of nowhere.

"Not quite there yet…" she replied after a pause. "But I'm sure I'll get there someday. There's a rumor of some Undying here, finally learning the skill."

"Well, the Guildmaster and I worked out a way to grow faster and stronger. You'll unlock Strengthening without issues and you'll also learn three random skills. There are some other benefits too later down the line."

She looked briefly curious, but her interest died quickly.

"What's the catch?" Yara sighed.

She sounded disappointed.

"You'll be stuck with the Manipulator's guild for a while. You'll also be stuck with another Hunter for maybe a longer time. The method's called Spirit Bonding, see? It offers great benefits, but only if you and your spirit partner stick around."

"Huuh. What else?"

"Nothing much. I guess if you consider the easy way out a negative, then I suppose that."

"You're like a damn salesman."

Her eyes dropped.

Lorn could spend half an hour more to cozy up to her like he did with Mark, joking around like two idiots. But in Yara's case, he needed to keep himself bland. It was best for her to direct her interest towards her new partner.

"I'd love to stay here and chat, but I'm in a little hurry. Sorry," Lorn said. "Anyhow, any type of person you'd want to spend an indefinite amount of time with growing up?"

"Can I refuse?" she asked after thinking.

Lorn paused.

'Can she? Probably, right?'

"I think you can. But you'll need to keep this a secret. You can't post info about spirit bonds on the forums or tell anyone of the beta testers here."

"Sure."

The reply was casual, but Lorn knew she wouldn't go talking.

"But are you sure you wanna refuse?" Lorn asked. "Hitler sounds like a pretty cool guy to bond spiritually with."

Yara snorted. Her expression softened a bit too.

"I'll consider it," she sighed. "After I decide, I'll go talk with the Guildmaster myself."

Lorn nodded and headed to the door.

"Nice talking to ya," he said, and closed the door.

He soon heard some hurried footsteps coming from the door. Yara opened the door.

"Tell me your address on Earth."

"?"

"Then tell me your phone, at least."

"Uh…"

"I'm not trying to fuck you, you ego-swollen ball sack; I just want to make a friend. Can't you see the kind of people I'm stuck with here?"

It was probably okay to give her his number. He wrote it down on a paper and handed it.

"Here. If Mark asks, tell him you don't know. Probably not the older lady as well."

"Thanks. And good luck with Miss Han. If you're trying to convince her, I suggest you make yourself look pretty."

Lorn thought he would be fine if he just went as is, but with Yara's warning, he decided to try a bit harder.

"You got anything I can use for makeup?" Lorn asked. "Maybe some hair gel as well?"

Yara looked over at Lorn once more. "Makeup's impossible, but I can probably do something about hair gel. Let's go to the kitchen."

…

"What is it this time?" the cook asked, seeing Lorn for the third time today.

Yara made a little jump next to him and waved at the cook.

"Hey, Hitler!" she greeted enthusiastically.

Thankfully, the cook's attention was on the redhead, so he couldn't see Lorn putting his hand on his face and looking away.

'She wasn't joking!'

"Aye! Yara!" the cook replied laughingly. "When did you meet the lucky bastard?"

"Lorn? He came to my room. Was talking about something about juniors meeting their seniors. I felt it was a weird way to get to know someone, yeah? If he's interested, he should just say outright, right?"

"Aye. He's a weird bastard, that one," Hitler said. "Came with the Guildmaster and forced me to cook an egg for him. After that he came back asking for soot of all things. Put some under his eyes, ruffled his hair a bit and walked away."

"Oh-hoh," Yara exclaimed, her hand on her chin. "Was that maybe forty minutes ago? Ooh, ooh, he also walked away limping or something, right?"

A look of realization filled her face. Lorn was surprised at how clever she was.

"Yeah, yeah. All slouched up. Weird fucking bastard," Hitler pulled Yara closer and whispered something in her ear. They then sent a stink eye towards Lorn's way.

"Yeah, I know his type," Yara suddenly spoke. "Probably was a merchant who owned a bank or something his past life. Unlikeable bunch," she huffed.

"Atta girl! Keep your eyes open, aye?" Hitler patted her on the shoulder. He then looked at Lorn again. "Anyhow. What can I do for you?" he asked, as if he didn't just do a whole bit with Yara mocking Lorn.

"You have some coconut here? Maybe a lemon?" Yara asked.

"Coconut? Heard of it existing, but never seen it. Maybe you'll find it on the southern side of Vox, but not here," Hitler said. "Lemons, though. Got a whole crate of it here. How many you need?"

"Nice! I just need one. Can you cut it to pieces and boil it in water?"

"What are you making?"

"A beauty product," Yara said. "I guess you can also drink it and call it a cocktail."

After boiling the water, Yara drained the liquid with a piece of cloth. She then smashed the remaining citrus into a pulp and mixed it all together after adding a few spoons of vodka.

What turned out was a viscous yellowy concoction which she used to raise Lorn's hair. It wouldn't last long, but it did the trick. She then washed his face a bit and puffed up his clothing.

"Fresh as fuck," Yara said, admiring him. "You even smell nice."

"Thanks a lot," Lorn said, grinning.

"Nope, nope. Though… why go through all this effort? Miss Han seems much more likely to agree with to spirit bond."

"I need to convince her to keep quiet afterwards," Lorn sighed. "From what I heard, she's definitely someone to try to sell the info somewhere else."

"Ah… I can see that," she said, humming. "I guess you just need to convince her that keeping the secret is more profitable than selling it then?"

"Something like that."

"Ok, ok. Sounds like a pain, but good luck," Yara said. "When are you logging out again?"

"Tomorrow evening, probably."

"Alright. I'll call you."

Lorn said his byes to Yara and headed to the last room. He caught a soulless on the way and ordered him to knock on Ms. Han's room and call for him after exactly ten minutes. He told him to be insisted about it.