“Good night, then”, Bloody said, rubbing Ithiel’s head as he did at the end of every day.

Ithiel shot him a good-natured smile back, watching as the beastman’s body vanished. It had been incredibly creepy to watch at first, but he was used to it by now. Ice had explained that this happened when they went back to their world.

Usually, everyone would log off at the same time. Today, however, Huntsman stayed behind.

Uncertain, Ithiel hid his hands behind his back, fiddling with his fingers.

“I-Is there still something?” Ithiel’s voice wasn’t as cheerful as it usually was. He tried hard, but in the end, he was incredibly nervous about Huntsman finding out about him not being a human.

Huntsman quite literally stared down at him. After several tense seconds, he spoke up. “Do you just wait like this when we are gone?”

“Well, I go to sleep. I need sleep too, after all.” Ithiel laughed awkwardly, averting his eyes. “But I do stay where you all left, yes.”

Huntsman looked around. Ithiel was probably not going to stay in this room, but he was going to return to his library, where he had stayed before. A lone room in a tower, with nothing but books around. Even though he could see people outside, Huntsman couldn't imagine that it must be comfortable. "Isn't it uncomfortable?"

Ithiel bit his lip.

Uncomfortable?

Of course it was. He had lived in the library for a long time, but now he was used to having someone around all day. He liked their companionship. He liked not being alone. He could probably return to his teacher's place, but he didn't, because he wanted to be up early and wait in the place where he knew they'd return to when they logged in. Waiting, quietly, always wondering how long it would take.

But… he preferred this short-lived loneliness over the dread he felt, knowing that right now, he was different from the others living in this place.

He could handle waiting for a while, because there were people returning to his side. People who knew his situation.

“I can deal”, Ithiel said, avoiding answering directly.

To his surprise, Huntsman just sat down on one of the chairs in the room. The large man leaned back, then looked up to the NPC until the other sat down as well.

“You’re… not, uh, logging out?”

“Not yet. I’ll stay for a while longer.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Huntsman’s stare made Ithiel fidget. He always felt tiny next to the lizardman.

“You know you’re an NPC. What is it like for you, living here?”

“Oh…” Ithiel sat up straighter, relieved to have something he could talk about. It was better than the silence for sure. “Although you say it like that, it’s not like there’s much difference for me? Between knowing and not knowing that my home is just a little place in yours… That doesn’t change it’s my home. I guess, the thing I’m the most scared about is what you all might do, considering your power over this place. That, and that I’m still different from everyone else.”

“I see…” Huntsman tapped a finger on his leg. “In the end, this is your life. It’s like The Matrix.”

“The what?”

Huntsman started summarizing the movie for Ithiel. It was old, but he felt that the concept was similar - this was his home, where everyone was. Ithiel didn’t care that his actual body was somewhere else.

Although of course in one case the true body was biological, in the other just data.

“Your home has a lot of fun things.” Ithiel noted down everything Huntsman said into his notebook. His eyes were glued to the page, excited to find out about things he had never heard before. “I’d like visiting it if I could, but Ice said I won’t be allowed to leave.”

Huntsman paused suspiciously. “No? You will stay here?”

Ithiel couldn’t possibly know that when Bloody had called Haven a breeding ground for self-aware AIs, that suggested that they’d be used somewhere else at some point. Otherwise, why would you create high-level AIs?

Ithiel tipped his feet up and down, speaking mindlessly. “Yep. Our God said we can’t leave - that’s the rule. I mean, it’s okay, I like it here, but I would have liked seeing you guys’ home. It’s also a bit sad because that means if you stop coming here, I won’t be able to contact you anymore…”

At the end of the sentence, his smile fell slowly. On the paper, his pen stopped.

“But that can’t be helped. We are different species, after all.”

“I’ll continue to visit you”, Huntsman promised.

Ithiel smiled wryly.

He wasn’t going to say what Ice had told him in a quiet minute. Ithiel was an elf, and he was going to live for a very long time - likely long enough to see the game die down. At some point, the God of this game was going to shut the gates to this place, ensuring that no Foreigners could come in anymore. Then this place could continue to develop on its own.

It was doubtful that Huntsman would be allowed inside after that happened, and by then, he surely wouldn’t want to anymore either.

Human life was short.

Huntsman was going to find a job, maybe marry, maybe have kids. He’d have a life outside of here, one way or another.

Ithiel didn’t expect everyone to continue to come here. He hadn’t told Ice, but after he had met the Emperor, the Emperor had offered him to move to his place once that happened.

And Ithiel had cried and agreed. This was Ice’s copy, and he’d stay. He could understand very well why their God had decided to keep this copy around - that gentle Ice who was so soothing to be with, who treated them all so kindly.

But he’d miss Bloody and Dead Rabbit and Huntsman. The thought was causing his heart to squeeze tight, painful.

Ithiel knew it was related to his evolution. Yearning for something that was gone, again. He certainly didn’t appreciate having these feelings.

“Ithiel?”

Maybe Huntsman sensed that the elf didn’t believe him. He scooted closer, placing a big hand on the thin shoulder.

Ithiel pulled up his nose. “Sorry. I’m okay. I’ll be happy when you visit, but I’ll be sad seeing you age.”

Huntsman froze up. “...Ah. You’re an elf.”

“I’m older than any of you”, Ithiel joked half-heartedly. “I’ll still look like this even when you’re old men.”

That image made Huntsman a bit grumpy. He looked even scarier than usual, though Ithiel was used to his expressions by now and didn’t think they were scary anymore.

“It’s really hard not to think of you as another person”, Huntsman muttered at the tease.

Ithiel lowered his eyes, smiling again. His voice was soft, almost inaudible.

“I prefer that you do.”

Owl

BB also gets a 3-part extra, because I don't want to squish this and the other two scenes logically into the main story...
As a warning, Ithiel's other two extras are sad, so beware of that if you read them. It can't be helped, it's just the circumstances....