Cutting to Life: an NPC LitRPG (Battle Royale)

"What kind of game might you be referring to?" Nikola asked, suspicion creeping into her voice.

"A fun one. It's called truth or dare. You just take turns asking each other questions or daring each other to do stuff."

"I would allow this," the Butcher replied with a nod. The game seemed to be a sorry excuse for asking uncomfortable questions, but hey, sometimes you needed a sorry excuse to ask uncomfortable questions.

"Same," Luke agreed.

"Wonderful, and what about you, Angelica?"

Vengelica remembered that it was her that was being referred to and pushed out a 'yes'. "But you'll forgive me if I don't have much to ask."

Nikola liked that it wasn't a request, that Vengelica said they would forgive her.

"Wonderful," Violet trilled, readjusting in her chair and flipping a blanket of hair over her shoulder, "I'll go first so I can demonstrate how this works. Luke, truth or dare?"

"Dare," he replied immediately.

"Okay, I dare you toooo... go give Nikola a hug."

Nikola bristled. She and Luke had shared hand-on-shoulder physical contact before, but never anything beyond that. Luke stood up from across the table and walked his way around its curve, reaching down to wrap his arms around her while he stood. The firmness and warmth of his body astounded her. She could feel his every breath, every twitch of his tendons and muscles as they moved, particularly the ones in his arms.

She didn't even remember the last time her father had hugged her. He hadn't had the opportunity to do so from behind bars, or wherever he was now that she had 'broken him'.

"K, that means it's my turn to ask. Angelica, truth or dare?" Luke returned to his seat as he spoke. Nikola smelled girlishly of strawberries, but her smelling like a food didn't mean he was done being pissed with her about leaving them for dead.

Angelica had only witnessed the 'dare' aspect of this game, but there were too many dares that could inconvenience her. She could already feel her bones aching from just the movement of traveling down the stairs. "Truth?"

Oh. Damn. Luke had assumed she would choose dare and he actually had no clue what to ask somebody who had never experienced anything, sooo... "Cool, what do you think of life so far?"

All ten minutes of it. Vengelica squinted at the many lights in the room trying to search Luke's face for his intentions. "It is... loud. This freedom of movement makes me feel as if I am floating away. I want my blanket back so I can put it on and it can weigh me down. I'm angry at so many things, including you for waking me up."

"Hey, don't put that on me-- that was her." Luke chuckled and pointed at Nikola. "Since you were the last person to answer, you'd ask another person 'truth or dare'."

Vengelica looked to Nikola. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Nikola replied.

"What do you think of each of the people present at this table?" The red-haired girl picked up another of the bread slices, the crusty one, and began to tap at the exterior. It had so much texture, and yet the inside was soft and near-hollow with all the holes.

Smart, Nikola thought. Vengelica was trying to form an opinion of the others at the table by gathering information. "I have not had much experience with them outside of combat and travel. I barely know either of them, but my assessment thus far is mostly a positive one, hence me still being here. Luke is a mixture of headstrong, stubborn and a pushover, and in battle he spends too much time thinking and not enough time acting. He wishes to be seen as a hero. My experience with Violet is limited, but I believe her to be kind, soft-spoken and a peacekeeper. I cannot speak as to her effectiveness in battle, but she is good with scissors."

"Awww, thanks," the Archer purred happily.

"Violet, truth or dare?" Nikola passed the question on to Violet. She had been the one to request this game, and she hadn't even been asked anything yet, which struck her as unfair.

"Dare!" She leaned across the table eagerly.

"I dare you to shoot an arrow into the tiny skull of that bird carcass." The raven-haired female pointed to the bronze-coloured cooked chicken that still had its head attached.

"I can't," she pouted, "there are other people around and they'll freak out if I pull out my bow and arrow."

"Ah." Nikola groaned internally. She had wanted a way to gauge Violet's combat prowess to further gather information for Vengelica, but the trappings of their reality were getting in the way. "Well, then I dare you to reserve a dare for me at a later date."

"K, I'll go along with that," she responded hesitantly. "Then it's my turn to ask again. Luke, truth or dare?"

"Truth this time."

"Do you like your mother or your father better?"

"Mother, no question. My father was never in my life. Went to get milk and never came back, as they say. Nikola, truth or dare?"

"Truth," Nikola dared.

"With the party we have right now, knowing there are entire parties that have already Prestiged, do you think we can win?" Luke's dark eyes bored into her light ones as he asked her the direct, focused question.

Except it wasn't as direct as it could have been. What he was truly asking was 'do you logically think we can win after you just damned us with your emotional decision'.

She leaned back in the chair that had a back taller than her, and picked up a piece of bread from her plate. She took a bite and chewed it as she considered their levels. Nikola was a Level 7 Rogue and Level 10-??? Butcher, Luke was a Level 7 Warrior, Violet was a Level 3 Archer, and Vengelica was a Level 1 Mage. She and Luke each had a powerful set of armour that protected them from harm and allowed them access to an AOE spell. They had never coordinated on battle strategies or formations, so they were quite fragmented as far as teamwork went, and her two V-named party members were woefully behind in the levels department.

"This is a trick question, Luke - this is the World of Wills. I believe we can win to my very core, because that is how it must be."

"That's such a non-answer," the Warrior fired back spikily. "Mathematically, do you think we can win against a cumulatively Level 40 party?"

The Butcher's see-holes narrowed. "Mathematically, based purely on levels, I imagine we are at a disadvantage--"

Luke stood from his chair. "That's all I needed to hear."

And then he walked out, his cape as red hot as his anger as he moved briskly away.

"I don't think the hug worked," Violet sighed out sadly, before running after him.