The Faerin’s existence outside of the MMO was a relatively lonely one. She was cordial to her neighbors and coworkers, but she had no brothers or sisters to talk or relax with. Her family bonds were basically nonexistent and the friends she had made were mostly online, therefore unable to physically touch her.

She was surprised when the male pulled her into what amounted as a choke hold and began to noogie her. She fought like a hellcat for a moment, but her slender ears picked up his words and she stopped for the most part. She reminded him of his family – which explained his words earlier – and that, most of all, made her smile.

Once he released her, she was still frowning, but her amethyst eyes were warm and friendly once more. A hand reached up to try and smooth her blond hair back into some semblance of order, but she quickly gave up when the party invite flashed in front of her eyes.

Oh, cool, she whispered.

Without thinking, she immediately pressed the green button and watched as Mint’s stats populated the side of her view.

Gouging them out would be silly, she said in reply, playfully rolling her eyes. They wouldn’t work anymore if they were stuck to me and not in your head.
@Mint Chip

​

 

Was she truly such an anonymous figure? If there was one who would be second in command in Astor's absence the burdens of lordship in her mind would fall on her shoulders rather then Seto's. The man was rather quick to seize into the role without discussing anything. Fortunately she wasn't one to argue, rallying others simply wasn't her role. "As much as I wish to accompany you princess my skill set would likely cause more trouble then it would assist you. My armies are better left whittling away the king's forces here before they meet with the castle's defensive forces." Lucia tried her best to politely explain the situation without ousting herself too much. There was a chance the Princess might already be aware of her reputation as a necromancer, it was frowned upon by the NPCs, so Lucia didn't want to give the supportive cavalry or princess herself any reservations. @Raid Master

"I suppose I'll take care of planning the Kamakazi warriors, death troupes and saboteurs if you plan to organize the defenses and away teams." Lucia mused about the best role she could play. Her repertoire wasn't like other players, she had an unending army she could direct with a gesture, one that didn't fear or risk exhaustion. So long as one enemy died, even if it took ten of her soldiers to bring them down, it was still a worthwhile trade. If she had the support of Tinkers, Hunters and mages to help her strike them en mass from afar, their numbers would dwindle quickly. @Seto Kurama @Alonso Thorlion

Though the offer from @Mint Chip and @Savannah Reed was tempting, Lucia felt a little bad for them, with a gentle smile, she chose instead to add the pair to her friends' list instead, with a chuckle. "I'd love to if we end up defending the same point. It wouldn't be right of me to steal you away if your skills aren't suited to helping my group though right?" Lucia asked with a small smile, trying to lift a hand to pat Savannah's head softly while nodding at the man who seemed so concerned for a myriad of reasons. "Try not to panic, you'll both to great, either way we're all on the same team."

 

Just before her head would meet the floor, strong arms suddenly slithered down her back and caught her. Alarmed that she was touched, she shot a gaze towards the person who was supposed to be her savior. It was the charcoal-haired felis whom she bumped into. He held a warm gaze, but it only sent more alarms ringing at Anabelle. He was looking at her. The thought that someone just made a physical contact with her and was staring intently at her sent a chill down her spine. As if in reflex, the blonde immediately pulled herself up. With color flushed out of her visage, she straightened up and gave the most mechanical bow she could. "S-So-sorry mister."

Her eyes hurriedly looked for Yuichi, who by now happened to be leaning onto the man who saved the pixel beauty. She had no idea of how long he has been there or what he was doing there, but it was a relief for Anabelle to know she did not lose him. She dashed behind the brown-haired pretty boy like a scared cat, gripping the cloth that was part of his top. "L-l-let's g-go, toge...toge-ther" she whispered at Yuichi, voice trembling the same as her whole body. She was trying to urge Yuichi for them to leave, as she was afraid this might turn into something akin to the encounter in Druuk Island. This time she was holding onto the fighter more, hoping he would not leave her side. "D-don't le-leave m-me."

Just in time, there was silence in crowd as the man who represented himself as the Black Duke addressed them. All eyes were on him, that would be just natural, except for the Felis who was still quite startled at the sudden actions of the stranger. His words just flew past her ear, as her fear has taken over her. At this moment Anabelle was not in the position to comprehend anything.

Not even a purported war or invasion can keep her from thinking of her own safety.

@Yuichi Ichinose @Gilgamesh Ougami

 

Gilgamesh sighed as he felt the all too familiar sensation of a brass-knuckles pressed against his broad muscular back and shook his head as he saw how fast the female Felis he had saved dashed behind the brown haired young man who had accosted him just now and had threatened to beat him to a pulp. He could have held his own against the female Felis's companion, but his innate laziness and his desire to not draw attention to himself just yet stayed his hand and caused him to take the path of least resistance, as it were. To that end, he took a few steps forward, and then held up his hands with his rough callused palms facing the two, he spoke with what he hoped would be understood as a friendly smile

"Whoa there, good sir...I had no intention of doing to your female friend behind you whatever it is that you two seem to think I want to do to her...I saw a lady in trouble and acted as I was taught to do, that is to say, help her out of her predicament...unless of course you would have preferred that the back of the lady's head had actually met the ground in what would undoubtedly be a rather nasty, inelastic collision..."

He paused for effect and took a brief few moments to assess the two strangers before him and decided to radiate his own aura of power to make it clear to them that he was no pushover either. However, he still had a friendly smile on his face as he continued speaking, his Felis eyes going to a poison green hue with his pupils becoming slit-like

"I don't know what happened to you in the past to make you have such hair-trigger reflexes, but I suppose I should introduce myself as the first step to defusing the tension you both are feeling right now...my name is Gilgamesh Ougami, and its a pleasure to meet you both."

He said and even gave a Shakespearean bow before standing up to his full 6' 3" height. He fell silent and stood there waiting to see what the two would do in response, with his black tiger neko ears and tail swishing gently in the breeze wafting around them.

@Anabelle Zhang, @Yuichi Ichinose

 

Well, it seems her decision to spend an extended amount of time trying to sort her papers over the weekend had managed to have her miss a rather significant happening inside the world of Terrasphere. Should’ve figured that something significant had to happen while she’s off dealing with her own curriculum, and she almost missed her very first story-like event in-game.

…Well, that’s usually how it goes, right? It’s just an event set up by the management that players can join at their own leisure, usually proceeded by a story event that culminates with a raid of a boss in the end.

This one seems to be rather different though.

Elmyra had managed to arrive at seemingly the tail end of the initial meetings, where the initial head-butting egos, general hysteria, and initial disagreements seem to have at least trending on the downward. At the very least, she also managed to catch the speech to the general populace that the Duke of Astorea had seemingly prepared beforehand. Yes, the very same Duke that she met in a random area near the countryside of this particular country.

It was quite a surprising turn of events. She hadn’t thought that the man held a lot of sway in the country itself, but she doesn’t particularly mind being proven wrong in this instance. In any case, if he’s the one in charge she’d probably have to keep in mind to especially not irritate him in any way whatsoever, which is admittedly a rather daunting task. Thanks to these sudden turns of events the man’s stress levels seem to be at an all-time high.

In any case, Elmyra didn’t see much wrong from the words the acting commander spoke, at least from the basic context of the events that she understood. In any case, the event itself – planned by the management or not – seemed to have now been divided into two main story threads: the ones trying to rendezvous with the King of Astorea himself, the Falderan Princess in two, and the ones who would try and defend the country with the meager resources available. Some last stand stuff, should be fun.

The way everything’s been going on, it seems that numerous parties with both players and NPCs have been formed. It seems that almost all of them had been immersed by the atmosphere at hand. She had to admit that from the way everything had gone, it really seemed like they’re in the middle of a crisis situation, certain important PCs helped in fanning the flames of the atmosphere. Sophie even felt a bit of a guilt after trying to downplay the importance of the event in her head.

Well, even if she was late, mingling with someone else about how the event’s going seems to be a good idea. Elmyra’s eyes spied a certain Felis (@Ueno Mizuki) that seemed to be in the same boat as her, seemingly too late to do anything but go with the flow.

“Were you late as well?” She asked the animal-eared girl, trying to start at least a bit of a conversation before everything else goes to heck.

 

Mizuki had been observing the people milling about, talking to one another about a variety of things, even as in her own head thoughts milled about in much a similar manner. It was very annoying to have to wait when you knew that there was a limited time... but if you acted carelessly matters would get even worse. That was, until Seto spoke up and bade everyone in the hall to silence, so he could explain the situation. He quickly explained how they were going to handle the threat, which meant that Mizuki finally could decide what to do in the meantime. She couldn't move around too much because she'd have to report to a recruiter, since she did feel like it'd be better to help protect this country than to abandon it. If Falderen was the aggressor then regardless of whether this country had been taken unjustly from Falderen lands right now the people living here didn't deserve to suffer for it, especially since many of them most likely hadn't even taken part in turning this area into Astorea. Given Mizuki's ability set she'd most likely be placed in recon and trapping, where she'd have to try and gather intel and hinder the enemy's advance while leaving the actual fighting to others...

As Mizuki thought this over she suddenly heard someone address her, her ears twitching and her tail going up slightly in surprise as she looked over to the person addressing her. It was nobody she knew, but from her appearance she was a relatively new player like Mizuki herself, a human female who looked a bit older than Mizuki herself and dressed in the kind of clothes you'd expect on someone who can't afford to deal with things that slowed them down. Mizuki took a second to process the question before she shook her head, straightening up a bit as she addressed the woman in turn (@Elmyra Cressen)

"I was here early, actually, but since I'm just a novice adventurer of no importance there is little I can do but wait until the higher ups have thought of a concrete plan. Right now I'm wondering whether I could go buy some more equipment while they discuss their plan in the war room, so I can go volunteer at one of the recruiters." She looked around at the rest of the people in the area. "With how large of an event this is we can't move about independently. Falderen has a significantly larger army than us so if we don't organize and coordinate effectively we would regret it afterwards."

She put out her hand for the woman to shake. "That said, I'm Ueno Mizuki, usually called Mizuki. I apologize if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that you're relatively new in this world just like I am?" The woman didn't give the impression of being an NPC, but she didn't have the gravitas of an experienced player either.

 

The clamor of voices was only more resounding as the shroud of arcane magic fell from the shoulders of Oikawa. His gaze shifted about, scouring the room for a familiar face. Though as he expected, none revealed themselves.

Stepping past various forms, the brunette spotted the princess and her adviser among the figures at the top. However, soon all the voices in the hall ceased, causing his attention to be drawn to the resounding echo of Cessia; a name he had only just learned.

Once she had said her piece, Oikawa looked to his left and right. Panic didn't seem to immediately set in; that being said, concern was just one of the few emotions he could see plastered on many of the face of those around him. Though her information didn't directly affect him, Oikawa nodded along to at least give the impression he cared. To be honest, he was unsure whether he even cared for their supposed "King". Being so new to the realm of TerraSphere and its inhabitants, he hadn't quite gained an affinity for the land of Astorea; and judging from the crowded murmurs, the king's acquisition of his land and title wasn't in fact, just.

Sighing, Oikawa continued to wander through the crowd. He had no intention of conversation or rallying per say. He fully intended to watch this unfold from the sidelines.

Perhaps I can side with whomever ends up winning... he thought.

 

While there wasn't quite enough chaos made by her, the entire situation had turned itself upside down in mere moments. For the young Lady Briar, who reveled in the insanity that consumed all living things from strife, this situation was far more pleasurable than it should have been. It was a time to enjoy and to celebrate!

Alas, the man she'd been teasing had already vanished. Esther had returned to her job while Briar was distracted by various conversations and comments, her sensitive ears picking up bits and pieces of the many people crowding the area, of the many that questioned the situation and the even stronger group that seemed inclined to trust the princess to the end of time.

With a deep sigh, now alone and bored by what was happening, the felis opted to leave the area. "Maybe I'll be able to join in on the fun later...It sounds like things will be a lot more exciting later on."

Fleeing the scene, she sought a new place to wreck havoc and to practice her magic. She had her own cynical plans, no matter how simple. She'd find a way to add to the chaos of war for sure.

[Lady Briar Exit]

 

At Aria's suggestion, Stelluna shrugged. She never really stuck with anyone, was just how her lifestyle went. Sure, she met some people fairly often but that was more of coincidence and taking up the same contracts, Regardless, it wouldn't do her any good to stick around here. She knew what was happening and wasn't a citizen of Astorea, and moving boxes around wasn't her idea of a good use of her time. When war came, she would stand in the midst of battle. Until then, she would stay off to the side while the generals moved their armies around. Unfortunately, with how the princess said it, there would be no time to get to Stokbon where rumors and information would be much more free. Making her way to the countryside seemed to be her best bet, no invasions starts at the heart after all.

[[Exit Thread]]

 

Mint was surprised by how warmly Savannah took to the simple gesture and his eyes softened for a moment before, in a spark of embarrassment, he once again made sure to keep on his grumpy facade. It just wouldn't be cool for him of all people to grow a soft spot for little blonde-haired fairies. "Yeah, yeah," he coughed, looking away as a light pink blush powdered his cheeks. The last time he'd been received so warmly was when he went to visit John (one of his old recital buddies) and back when his little siblings were too young to learn how to cuss their lovely older brother out. He involuntarily shivered at the recollection.

If that was shocking, however, what was even moreso was that Savannah had accepted his party request of her own free will. He had suspected that she'd fight along the way and he'd have to tie her to his back using one of those baby slings and fight tooth-and-nail through a crowd of bloodthirsty sickos to protect her. He didn't think about it too much. Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth; his mother had always told him that it was best to accept what you've got and appreciate what you have.

Eventually, he turned his attention back at Lucia, nodding and accepting her friend invite. He couldn't help but rub the back of his head sheepishly as he heard her words. "I've been through evacuation routines before, you know? There were drills at my school and, for some reason, drill days always took place when I wasn't absent (which was a rarity). Panic's bad, no panic, yada yada.... don't worry! Just hang on tight and maybe this feisty gal and I might actually save your butt."

He patted Savannah's shoulder. They'd only met just now but his protective brotherly instincts made it so he couldn't resist but shower her with the tiniest shred of affection in response to her own. He knew that he would regret this later but he couldn't find it in himself to care.

"So...where to next, tiger?" Mint asked, confident. Compromises were typically the way to go, especially when it's between a delinquent singer and a hot-tempered girl. Plus, he might as well give her some type of choice and fun before the entire battle rolls on over. Savannah definitely had won over his respect, too.

Exit.

@Savannah Reed @Lucia Mierz

 

“Ah, I apologize then.”

That’s what she gets for assuming a lot of things, perhaps. Still, the Felis adventurer readily revealed that she’s also a fringe player new to the game itself and probably won’t be as influential as the more experienced ones. It was a sentiment that Elmyra could readily empathize being with how new she is herself. However, even with how new she is herself, there’s still a few things that seems to…not quite align with how the event’s depicted.

…Or maybe she’s also overthinking things, that’s also seems plausible.

“That’s right.” Elmyra said, with a nod. “My name’s Elmyra Cressen, just Elmyra is fine. I’m only here for about two weeks, give or take, so I’m still new compared to…well, perhaps the majority of people here. I have been mostly focusing on improving my own expertise of various things, so the political climate of this world isn’t a subject that I would be familiar with. However…”

Elmyra hesitated a bit to continue, for she’s not so sure if she should continue in that train of thought. In that lull of conversation, the newly-arrived Princess of Falderen decided to take that opportunity to compliment her conversation partner’s insight to the situation, which took her back a bit. If Mizuki really has that much insight to this situation to impress the Princess, then perhaps she’s really the right person to talk about it.

As the Princess went away to attend to the more urgent matters, Elmyra gave a polite nod at her, waiting for the Princess to walk out of ear shot before turning back to her Felis conversation partner, her normally stoic expression now colored in puzzled frown.

“I confess that I don’t really follow the political scene much, but…don’t you think the actions of the King of Falderen is a bit…well, hasty?” She doesn’t want to say ‘strange’…but it is a bit strange. She then continued to speak in a voice soft enough that only Mizuki, or an eavesdropper, could hear it. “Falderen is magnitudes larger than Astorea, they don’t exactly have much to gain from attacking Astorea. Even if this is just retaliation to retake Astorea, it will only result in destroyed infrastructure and more undeveloped lands with little to no population to cultivate it.”

Unless if, of course, they’re making more NPCs to fill the void.

Elmyra sighed. She’s probably overthinking this, but she’d probably need to know more of the King’s reasons to make a more educated guess. For now, though… “…Well, I suppose preparing for the coming storm would be the sensible thing to do, you have the right idea Miss Mizuki. I need to buy a new kit if I’m to be useful in creating those potions to spare…”

@Ueno Mizuki

 

Lucia flashed a somewhat bitter smile, being called a duchess was nice, but the burdens she could do without. Lucia was a decent enough leader in regards to her own forces but foreign powers, the other players and such made things much messier. "Competition in such a situation is unhealthy, Unity and experience are the best shield and sword. If there are people who would come to join me in such an effort it would be nice. Sending out scouts was my original intention, but I'd thought of doing so with the intention of sabotage brief minor skirmishes along the way." Lucia considered, her intention was to wear down the king's army a little bit at the time with focused gorilla tactics, this was their home field after all, and the king's forces were funneled into a focused paths because of their aim of farm lands. She felt it was the best way to deal with the enemy at least.

Thinking of a meeting in the war room though, Lucia brought fingers to her temples, nodding along, taking a small glance to the princess one last time, Lucia flashed a small smile. "Do not be so quick to give yourself up for execution, even if you are considered a war criminal, we won't forget the help you've offered us. I'm sure you would be able to fit in here if it's necessary." Lucia tried to offer, hope was important in combat and war after all, with nothing to live for, dying just became easier. Glad to see everyone else considering everything and forming friendships, she wasn't too worried, players naturally were the type who enjoyed the meet and greet and saved the strategy for the quest menu and PMs usually.

Hearing the Princess's offer of Esther's help though, Lucia couldn't help perking a brow, this was something she could use for certain. Bringing a hand to her chin she turned her attention to the woman with concern. "Then, perhaps I can bother miss Esther with a few questions, about the conditions of their supply lines, possible vulnerabilities because of the terrain. A powerful merchant should be aware of the paths used for trade and the best places to set up shop right?" Lucia considered, her goal of skirmishes and surgical strikes would need this person's insights after all. She needed to know where to send small teams for these strikes and where supplies would be most vulnerable during transit.

 

She probably shouldn’t have been listening in to Lucia’s conversation with…well…whoever that woman was, but Savannah couldn’t help it. She suddenly found herself in a war, or preparing to be in a war, and Lucia apparently had some type of power or authority so it made sense that she would want to help her, right? It made sense that Savannah would team up with these people, these exact people, and help defend a land that she didn’t know much about, but could come to possibly love, right?

We can do that! she exclaimed, pointing between herself and Mint and back again. Interrupt supply lines, ruin rations, scare off their horses so they’re marching instead of riding. We can totally do that.

Confidence soared through her as she spoke and she stood a little straighter because of it, her eyes a little bigger, her smile a little wider. Sure, she was putting herself and her new friend in harm’s way, but this was war! They had people to protect and enemies to kill, damnit! They would be heroes and the bards would write lyric operas about them!

Miss Lucia, Mint and I can be part of your scouting regiment. We can help, oh, I dunno, do whatever you need us to do on the front lines! Do you have a banner or something we can sew into our clothes or something? Ya know, Glory for House…whatever your last name is. It’ll be great!

She was quick to follow them from the main room, her voice echoing thorugh the hallways with all the ideas she had about helping the war effort.

--> Exit Thread -->​

@Mint Chip @Lucia Mierz

 

The Princess did it this time, completely catching him off guard almost completely. The news that shocked him that there was a Duchess of Astorea as well. "When did this happen?" He remembered the ceremony like it was the other day, he would have known If someone held the same rank as him. Why didn't the King say anything? For that matter why didn't anyone know about this? The whole thing messed with his mind honestly. The fact that the princess pointed out that the black haired woman whom had spoken before to was the Duchess was not a surprise to him. He couldn't explain it but in some way, she reminded him of himself to extent.​

Lady Cessia seemed to be right on top on things as well but she wanted to set up a meeting tonight? No that won't do, they needed to start immediately on the preparations, there wasn't any time to dassle about. Of course her words made him cring as well, she basically insulted him like he was some barbarian or some mindless beast like many were, He badly wanted to say something about but decided to bite his lip, at least for the moment anyway especially Esther. By the time Lucia approached him, Esther and Lady Cessia, he had managed to recollect his composure. Unlike the others, @Lucia Mierz proved intelligent so he chose to listen to her in silence in the respect she had earned from her earlier. Lucia had the same idea he did for the most part, he chose to wait, to let Lucia finish speaking before speaking himself.

"I do Agree with you Duchess, we seem to think similar however I do remember from Azog that you possess shall we say certain abilities you can use to grant us more numbers. This is war, we cannot afford to cling to morale, we must do whatever is necessary to win. Anyway back to the topic at hand, I believe we should immediately start making preparations in the war room. I have came to the conclusion that we need to form specialized companies for specific tasks, I had wanted to form two reconnaissance companies right away that would scout the south and east immediately for the enemy as well as laying traps."

"After the land been propery surveyed and the traps are in place, I thought to have formed the majority of our people formed into guerrilla warefare companies hiding in wait that would perform ambush and hit and run tactics. We would also need to form a few direct action companies destined for the front lines whenever that happens. All companies should be supported by specialized companiess such as a company specializing in white magic, fire magic etc. I can already see your at logistics, would you prefer to handle that?"

​