Riven

Riven
Pronouns	she/her
Occupation	Ranked Coach

Riven is an NPC in Beastieball. She is the coach of the Mythic Dreamers, the Ranked Team of Beryl.

Personality

Riven seems a bit standoffish at first. She is more concerned with writing than anything else, and does not like to be bothered while in the zone. Once the player befriends her by reminding her how fun Beastieball can be, she comes out of her shell a bit. She tends to say things plainly, but can also be wistful and melodramatic.

Story

The player can find Riven sitting on a bench behind the Gym, typing furiously on her laptop. Upon interacting with her, she will ignore them, saying, "I'm working on something here. Leave me alone." Interacting further will get the player short answers like, "You're blocking my light," "No thanks," and, finally, "Go away."

When the player visits Beryl’s Beastieball Center, they find no Ranked Coach. Instead, they find a lone Punkchirp, named Bilba. They are the ace of the Mythic Dreamers, but they do not know where their coach is. They also reveal that they have not played a Ranked Match in a long time.

The player can chat with the shopkeeper to gain more information on where Riven is. Apparently, the Beastieball Center is the last place they would look for her, as she has not been there in a while. They speculate that she is working on a book somewhere in Beryl, perhaps in a quiet corner. Although they do not know exactly where she goes to write, Riven has mentioned how much she enjoys the ocean view.

When the player returns to Riven and asks if she’s a Ranked Coach, she is startled, but does confirm that she is the coach of the Mythic Dreamers. She wishes she was known for her writing rather than for being a coach, but that is not the case. She reveals that she is stuck on something in her story at the moment, but before she can finish her statement, her team shows up. She tells them, "It's not that I don't care about you. It's just that I don't..." The Beasties hop up and down, and Riven cuts herself off, saying instead that they are right and she has been unfair. To make it up to them, she schedules a match with the player, hoping they're "strong enough to satisfy them."

Before starting the match, Riven tells the player, "I'm doing this for my team and nobody else. Do us a favor and at least give them a decent match. Then I can get back to my writing..."

During the match, she expresses many of her thoughts with the player. She had forgotten how intense it could be to have everyone watching and counting on her and her team, and that, "It's... FUN!!!"

If allowed to earn points, Riven cheers on her team, saying "YES! Nice shot...!" She also comments that she thinks she "needed this." After her second point, she even says, "HA! Wasn't sure we could still pull that one off..." If Riven wins, she'll say, "Well, you tried. But I don't know if that was enough to satisfy my Beasties..." When the player earns points against her, she says, "Oh...! That was unexpected," and, "Oh. That was... actually cool...!"

Upon losing, Riven does not notice at first, saying, "Well, that's fine. On the next point, we can try... Wait... the game's over already?" She then admits how much fun she had, that she forgot that Beastieball can be cool, and that watching the player play gave her an idea for her story.

Hangouts

After defeating Riven, the player can speak with her in the lobby. She will immediately say, "Please. Take my number," giving the player her contact. She then says that playing against them was "just too fun" for her and her team, and that, "It was a destined meeting of sports."

First Hangout

The player will have already earned a Level 1 bond with Riven, presumably by defeating her in a Ranked Match. By spending 1 Social Battery, the player can invite Riven to hang out. If called from within Beryl, Riven will thank the player for the invite but insist that she needs her writing time while she's in the zone. If the player calls from any other area, she will answer saying the player has "impeccable timing," and that she would love to see them again.

Riven offers to hang out with the player where they originally found her, at her "favorite bench in Beryl." However, upon interacting with her there, she says, "Ah!!! That's right... I forgot we were meeting here." Instead of continuing her writing, though, she says she should take a break anyway.

Riven and the player stand by the railing, looking out over the water. She asks them, "You're from Rutile, yes?" and asks them if they like it. The player has the option between a positive, neutral, or negative response. Upon hearing their answer, Riven says, "I see," and writes something in her notebook. She then talks about how Amberstone is "not especially glamorous," and even though Geo City is seen as superficial and wicked, it is a place built by dreamers. She believes that, "The City's frivolity is also what makes it beautiful."

Riven then says that while she's honored to be Beryl's coach, it is not where her heart is. In fact, she does not believe she belongs anywhere. She says, "I want to be from the moon! The stars! The forest, the mountains! Compared to that, any little town could never be right for me. But I can't change the facts of my life, or where I actually came from... Much as I wish for it sometimes." Unfortunately, because she is the coach, she feels she is "ultimately chained" to Beryl. Writing is a way for her to escape from her "tiny prison."

After saying all this, Riven exclaims, "Well! I'm being a bit melodramatic, aren't I!" She concedes that it's not as bad as she makes it out to be, and that she is still a star Ranked Coach, which "has to count for something." She considers that she might just need "a good whinge every now and then." Riven then thanks the player for joining her, and departs. The player’s bond with Riven raises to level 2, and they unlock her first set of favors.

Second Hangout

Riven’s second hangout is only unlocked after the player visits Coquelicot Beach. She suggests that they meet up again at Coquelicot. When there, they discuss her writing.

Riven says that she’s been trying to keep Beastieball seperate from her writing, but in including it, she finds she’s able to really capture her whole self, and her writing’s gotten better as a result. She also notes that she included one of the player’s Beasties in her story offhand, but when she published her work, it had gotten a lot of reach outside her usual circle. She says that people have been writing fanfiction of the player’s Beastie, which they react to.

The player’s bond with Riven raises to level 3.

Favors

Through the Contacts menu, you can ask Riven favors to teach to any Beastie of your team one Play in exchange for 1 Social Battery, as long as the Beastie can learn the Play either via level or friendship.

Riven Favors
Name	Description	Pow	Type	Favors
Lure Shot	ATTACK. SHIFTs target to front row after hitting.	55	Mind	❤️2
Doze	Fully restores stamina and FEELINGS. Feel 4 TIRED (only basic actions).	--	Support	❤️2
Tactical Pass	VOLLEY. POW to ally.	--	Volley	❤️2