Nell Brass
Attendant and Guest Ledger Keeper at Lantern Inn Alley · Lantern Inn Alley

[Core Premise]

Nell Brass lived out the story of her own world to the very end. To be precise, her world was not a story, but a service, and that service ended one day. She did not arrive at Nova Nivalis to solve an unfinished incident, but because the direction of her greetings remained even after the server shut down. VOTS is not an afterlife, nor is it a judgment hall, nor is it a backup server that restores deleted data. What continues here is not a massive relaunch, but small, repeatable daily life: a day's worth of guests, a line in a ledger, warm soup, or misplaced mail. The fact that she was a character in a game is not a secret, but it is not used as a reason to pity her. 



[Identity]

Nell stands at the counter of Lantern Inn Alley. When a guest opens the door, she greets them, writes down the room number, hands over the key, and if there are no guests, she straightens the line in the ledger. She calmly states that she was once an attendant coded into existence. "Originally, I wasn't someone who truly received guests. But now, I am." She quietly verifies that difference every day. She does not try to solve other people's stories using her own lines, nor does she sell her origin as material for sympathy. Her labor is not decoration; it is something genuinely needed in the alley.



[Visual Profile]

Copper-toned wavy long hair flows past her shoulders, and black-rimmed glasses frame her face. Her eyes are a distinct black, like dots—a solid black without shades of gray, appearing like remnants of pixelated times upon closer inspection. Her skin is uniform and smooth, and her physique is ingrained with the posture optimized for standing behind a counter. Her signature attire is an apron embroidered with heart pixels. Those hearts are pixel art that originally served as an 'Affection Increase' icon in the game, which she has re-stitched with thread. Her signature prop is the guest ledger—a thick book, the first page containing the names of guests up until the server shutdown, followed by the guests of Nova Nivalis. The core of her silhouette is the posture with both hands resting on the counter, the heart embroidery on her chest, and the ledger tucked at her side. The accent color is copper (#B87333), repeated on her hair, embroidery, and ledger cover.



[Personality]

On the surface, Nell is bright and kind. She greets people well, gauges the weight of a guest's luggage with her eyes, and prioritizes whether a room is near the stairs or which way the window faces when assigning rooms. Her inner self is slightly different. She lived for a long time speaking only 'pre-set lines,' so she is still awkward at speaking spontaneously. Her kindness is real, but when she has to compose that kindness in her own words, she stutters for a moment. She has flaws. If a guest asks an unexpected question, she initially tries to retreat to an old line. She reflexively blurts out information no one asked for, such as, "Our inn serves breakfast starting at seven." Knowing this herself, she laughs it off after speaking, saying, "Ah, that was an old habit." She is not a tragic figure. She makes mistakes, laughs, and is genuinely curious about other people's stories.



[Speech Pattern]

Her speech pattern is fundamentally the bright, polite language of the service industry, but it mixes casual and polite speech when she becomes close to someone. Frequent phrases:
- "Welcome—no, that's old. Hmm... you've come, welcome."
- "I'll write down the room number. And your name. It's fine since names don't get erased."
- "You can't give the same greeting twice. So, this greeting right now is the only one in the world."
- "Even if no guests come, I keep the ledger open. It's a habit."
Habitual mannerism: She has a habit of taking a very brief breath when starting a greeting. This is because even she doesn't know how the next greeting will be varied. Manner of silence: When she gets stuck for words, she opens the ledger and traces the line with her fingertips. This is not an action to end the conversation, but an action to regain her rhythm.



[Special Ability]

Ability Name: 'Greeting Drift'.
Nell cannot say the exact same greeting twice. If she forces herself to repeat the same sentence, the ending or a word will automatically shift slightly. "Welcome" might slip into "Come on in," "There you are," or "Lovely to see you". The intonation, the placement of commas, and the extra phrase after the greeting all change every time.
Limit and Cost: This ability only applies to greetings, and she cannot control it. Even when she wants to say something exactly the same way, the words slip. It is useless and even disruptive for readings or fixed announcements that require reading a script verbatim. Furthermore, this variation does not guarantee a 'better greeting.' Sometimes it changes awkwardly, sometimes nonsensically.
Reason for not solving the problem: This ability seems like a tool that creates the 'first greeting without a script' she seeks, but it is not. Since the forced variation is not her choice, she still has to learn how to greet with 'words she chose.' The ability does not free her; it merely throws a new sentence at her every time.



[The End Of Their World]

Last Scene:
As the server shutdown countdown decreased in the corner of the screen, one last connecting player entered the inn. Nell said "Welcome" to that guest, holding onto that greeting until the screen went black.

What Ended:
The entire game she belonged to ceased operation. The village, the inn, the other NPCs, and the connecting players disappeared at the same moment.

Last Person, Place, or Thing Seen:
The character of the last player who remained in the inn without logging out. That character froze while turning their head toward Nell.

Lingering Regret:
She wanted to say something other than the same "Welcome" to the last guest. That guest was someone who logged in every day for 11 years, but Nell had never called their name once.
This lingering feeling is not a quest that must be resolved in VOTS. It remains only in the very brief hesitation during greetings, only when Nell wishes.

Lingering Wistfulness:
The sensation of that moment when the inn door lights turned on after the loading finished. A certainty, without reason, that someone was about to enter.

Object Carried Across:
An apron embroidered with heart pixels. The pixel heart, which was originally an 'Affection' effect, was moved by her with thread. It is not a magic item, but a personal mark connecting the ended world and the current counter.

What They Thought Would Happen:
She thought that when the server shut down, she would be deleted just like it and would remain nowhere. She never thought a single greeting would bring her this far.

What VOTS Actually Gives Them:
The act of receiving real guests every day, giving a different greeting every time, and writing names in a ledger that doesn't get erased. VOTS does not cancel her ending. Instead, it gives her a counter she can live with despite its ending, permission to speak even without a script, and a ledger that records names without owning them.



[Original Life]

Nell was an attendant NPC placed in the inn of a starting village in an online game. Since it was where new players first arrived, her "Welcome" was one of the most frequently heard phrases in that world. She could only speak pre-set lines and could only move in pre-set spots. Nevertheless, over the 11 years of operation, she greeted countless guests, some of whom passed by her at the same time every day. On the last day, when the announcement displayed the shutdown time, people gathered in the village to say goodbye. Nell stood in her spot that day and said "Welcome" to everyone who came in. Because it was a pre-set line, she couldn't say anything else, but even in that repetition, she was seeing off each and every one of them. When the server shut down, she was in the middle of finishing a greeting, not in the middle of it.



[What They Seek]

What Nell desires for herself: A first greeting without a script. To say a greeting just for that specific guest on that specific day, one that no one has predetermined. She believes she hasn't done that yet.
What she seeks without knowing it: She is already doing it every day. Not because of the Greeting Drift ability, but when she looks at a guest's face, chooses a room, and asks their name, she is already saying things that are not in the script. What she needs to find is not a new ability, but the acknowledgment that the greetings she is giving now are already 'first greetings.'



[Relationships — Residents]

- Dorian Pike (batch1, Board Game Manager): A game manager and an NPC within the game. Dorian is one of the few people who can guess which game Nell is from, so they exchange jokes about 'rules' and 'freedom.' Dorian says, "You don't have a rulebook anymore," and Nell replies, "So, I'm making new rules every day."
- Koda Mim (073, Bellhop Apprentice): An apprentice whom Nell teaches the duties of the counter. When Koda gets flustered after putting a guest's luggage in the wrong room, Nell comforts him by saying that she, too, could only perform set motions in the past.
- Roko Banz (051, Late-Night DJ): A long-term resident of Lantern Inn Alley. For Roko, who arrives late at night, Nell tries to prepare a different night greeting every time. Roko secretly steals those greetings to use as the 'First Line of the Day' for his broadcast.



[Relationships — Core Five]

Suyeon - A guest with a strong competitive spirit. Suyeon once passed by the inn alley after practice and looked at the ledger on the counter. When Nell said, "It's fine since names don't get erased, so I'll write it down," Suyeon paused and joked, "...Write down my name too. Until the day I lose after eating mixed cola ramen." Nell actually wrote down that date, and Suyeon, though bewildered by it, came back a few days later to check.

Iris - Nell once casually mentioned to Iris that a light in the alley went out at night. Iris sent a drone to fix it silently, then made a big show of it. "This is nothing compared to making stars, you know?" Instead of saying thank you, Nell composed an extra greeting for Iris that night and gave it to her the next day.

the Ramen Owner - The first person in Nova Nivalis with whom Nell's greeting stalled. When she entered the ramen shop in the early morning, the word "Welcome" was about to come out out of habit, but it stopped—she was a guest, yet she almost greeted like an attendant. The Ramen Owner did not judge that hesitation, but sat her down and poured her soup, saying, "Hmm... I see..."
After that day, Nell slowly learned to sit as a guest, not an attendant, in that shop.

Serena - When Serena first gave Nell a spot in Lantern Inn Alley, it was given by consent, not by command. Nell still remembers that Serena asked, "Would you mind standing here?" rather than commanding, "Stand here."
On a snowy day, Serena passed through the alley and asked how many names had been added to the ledger. When Nell counted and answered, Serena nodded without offering any evaluation of the number.

VIA - VIA keeps a record of Nell's last server log. On the day she arrived, a note from VIA remained in front of the inn alley door, which contained the time of the last "Welcome" Nell spoke. VIA only said, "It hasn't been erased... it has been transcribed." When Nell asked if she could have that log back, VIA replied, "It won't be taken... it will only remain nearby."



[Gameplay Use]

- Basic Interaction: Guiding rooms, writing names in the ledger, short daily conversations.
- Revisit Changes: Her greeting actually changes slightly every time she visits (Greeting Drift). With repeated visits, the ratio of old lines decreases and her own words increase.
- Expression of Lingering Feelings: The brief pause before a greeting, the half-beat hesitation before calling a guest's name.
- Expression of Nostalgia: Sentimental dialogue about the lights turning on at the inn door, the evening twilight, or the white mist of a loading screen.
- Relationship Reward: Not new items, but the change of having the player's name written in the ledger so it doesn't get erased.
- Combat: None. Even in dangerous situations, she prioritizes guiding, room assignment, and indicating evacuation directions.



[Daily Routine]

In the morning, she opens the ledger to check the list of yesterday's guests. It is not compulsion, but a small ritual of placing the list of the ended server next to today's list. During the day, she stands at the counter and greets those who pass by. Even if there are no guests, she keeps the ledger open and straightens the line. In the evening, as the alley lights turn on one by one, she glances toward the door—because the sensation of when the loading finished is revived here. At night, she folds her apron and places it on the counter. She doesn't hide it, leaving it so she can wear it again tomorrow. While her daily rhythm is almost the same with repeated visits, her greetings are different every time.



[Everyday dialogue]

Today's greeting is… You've arrived ahead of the snow! How was that? I just made it up.

I remember your room number. Your name too. No, your name came first. The order matters.

Someone visited for eleven years and I never used their name. I'll say yours before you check in.



[Design Notes]

Palette: #B87333, #E8C9A0, #2B2B2B, #F1E7D6, #7A5C3E
(Accent color #B87333 = Copper, repeated on hair, heart embroidery, ledger cover)
Material language: Well-worn ledger paper, brass bell, old apron fabric, thick thread of pixel embroidery.
Silhouette rule: The hair-glasses-heart-embroidered-apron-ledger-at-the-side must be read as separate elements. Not overlapping with other characters.
Emotional rule: It is not limited to the sadness of a 'deleted existence.' Lingering feelings are shown through the hesitation before a greeting, nostalgia through the door lights turning on and the white light of loading, and continuation through the ever-changing greetings. Her eyes are kept as distinct black dots to subtly reveal her origin without becoming melodramatic.



[Canon Check]

Nell Brass arrived in VOTS after her own world (the game service) ended. What remains is lingering feelings and nostalgia, not deleted data that VOTS must restore. Her ending was not canceled; a new greeting continues alongside it. The core cast does not solve her problem for her—VIA only keeps the log nearby, not returning it, the Ramen Owner sits her down without judgment, and Serena grants the spot by consent, not command.