(Event) Reclamation of Pride | Page 28

She watched as he began to lift himself from the dark depths of what could become a spiraling depression. Watching knowingly with presence of mind that only he could pull himself out entirely, that however far and long he had fallen would still require some time. But it was a struggle that he seemed to be winning for the moment.

Were he to pay close attention, he would've seen that her gaze had darkened temporarily, lost somewhere in memory, but it lasted but an instant before she internally chided herself. Such times made her who she was, serving as reminders to be better because of them, or at least so she thought.

Many others had it much worse.

With a playful grin, she gave @Emerath Katou a firm pat on the back in response to his thanks. "Any time, Emerath. I mean it." Except, maybe, for the Hot Chocolate. It was a great treasure! As was it's creator! "Although, yes, introductions were easy to miss back then, no thanks to Nora's slave driving, even if I do miss that darned bird of hers. Anyway, I go by Alkaid here, Alkaid Zexis."

Moving through her UI, she shot Emerath a friend request to punctuate that introduction and, as her gaze slid elsewhere, another for @Freja Sitka. There was one other thing she considered addressing after Emerath's mention of that dungeon in Norforva, the full effects and aftereffects that demonic place had upon her as a seer, which gave her pause, especially if it kept his mind off other things. Of course, there was also the chance of him beating himself up further...

A second passed, and then her grin widened, "Also, if you're up for it you're welcome to join me when I go meet a friend I owe a couple drinks pretty soon. Assuming you don't want to 'do a find' with another acquaintance of ours, in which case I totally understand."

Although she was going to stay longer if needed, Alkaid eventually made her way to make good on her promise, traveling through the fortress's frosty halls to find Freja leaning on @Temperance, with @Nalla close by.

Ah, good. The other pyromancer I owe some thanks.

Brandishing her two promised bottles in hand, Alkaid looked at Freja slyly. "Well now, I hope I'm not interrupting anything." First the Death Knight, and now...? Nah.

"Because I've come to make good on my promise, and I saved these during the whole damned trip on the wagons." Gesturing with the amber-colored bottle in her left hand, she said, "This one's my favorite. Aged and cinnamon-y. So yes, it's very expensive, and yes, I swindled it off some sweet, smitten noble." Then she lifted the other bottle, her gaze focusing on Freja, "This one is much fruitier and sweet. So—pick your poison, do your stuff, and let's have some fun while all those poor saps work."

 

Even though they’d hugged for what was already longer than the ‘awkward’ point, Cel looked a little disappointed to let go. Faintly so. Although from a personal standpoint Celestine cherished every last moment of hugging adorable, snuggly people like Val, once she’d finally broken the hug, she immediately felt a chill of regret. A literal chill, rather. Darn metal… being all heat conductor-y. Even so, it was still totally worth it. Hugs were great, and they were twice as great when you also got to pet the ears of adorable cat people at the same time.

Celestine visibly shivered, and it seemed the adorable cat heroine sensed her chill as well, as she took Celly’s hand in her own. “O-oh! Right, we should be doing a leave into the place of warms. That is sounding nice, yes.” Holding tight to the adorable cat person’s hand she let herself be lead into the glorious warmth of the indoors.

Celestine wasn’t sure what it was, but she felt a certain kinship with this other cat person. Maybe it was because they were both short-ish catgirls. Maybe because they were both kinda young. But it was more the uncertainty of everything she did. Like she was still learning… what was it? How to be a hero? That was something she could relate to a whole lot.

“I will not say I am wanting to be the hero too, because it is not a truth... exactly...” Celestine commented to her as they wandered along closer to the entrance. “But I know what is it like to want to be the great person. The kind of the persons that the other persons do a look to and think ‘I am glad I got to do a meeting of that interesting person.’ If that is making the sense...” Cel paused.

“I am not knowing this for the sures, but I am thinking you are also the person with the same kind of the desirings, yes? To be the great hero?” Cel looked @Valdrada in the eye inquisitively. With a sudden, perky smile, Celestine reached up to give the girl’s ears a little scratching. “I just wanted you to have a knowing that I am glad I got to do a meeting of you.”

She blushed a bit. This was super awkward stuff to be talking about. All this ‘true motivation’ stuff wasn’t really her thing. Shenanigans were much more her style. This just felt like sappy stuff out of some stupid soap opera… or something.

“I-I am realizing that is sounding kind of silly for the persons of new meeting.” Celly waved her free hand in a dismissive fashion. “Maybe just do it a forget. But anyway: thank you for doing me a save.” Giving the girl one last pat on the head, Celestine ran off inside to… honestly: avoid the horrid awkwardness of the situation she’d just created. Or maybe to find some powerful source of warmth. Preferably both.

 

Another person with pink hair came into the room. Eryl’s first instinct was to tell her to leave and wait her turn. But she seemed to know Mags and was here to check on her. Eryl took a step back, gathering her strength. She wanted to give the two of them space and as much privacy as this small former meat-locker could afford. Eryl wiped her brow with her sleeve, smearing the blood and sweat from her face onto her garments.


Her eyes wandered in the room for something, anything that could help warm herself up. Her eyes landed on a brown canavas tarp. It was buried under a thin layer of straw and ice. She pulled it out from under the debris and tried to unfold it. The cold had frozen most if it together, with her efforts, Eryl managed to halfway undo a fair bit of it, but the tarp was still very stiff. She pulled it around her shoulders, forcing the half chilled fabric to give her some protection. It did some, but not too much.


Eryl nodded back to the stranger (@Comet) and stepped towards them. She looked a bit more relaxed, but she’d hardly call her a happy camper at this point. Eryl recognized that hallow look in her eyes. It was the thousand yard stare that came from seeing the horrors they had witnessed today. There was a lot of blood, too much even for a game, pain and the stakes were high.


Eryl looked at her energy meter. She had enough for a few more healings if she needed too. It was a healer’s job at this point to give their all, especially to players who were further along that they were.


“Do you need healing too?” Eryl asked motioning towards the table where she had told Mags to rest as well. She took a few steps closer to the two ladies. Her muscles quivered in protested at the idea of more exertion. If it wasn't so cold, she would have even taken her armor off and went with her clothes to cut down on the effort, but they offered a precious layer against the chill. “I’ve got just enough energy left in me to give you some before I have to tend to myself.”

@Magdalyn

 

As he surveyed his surroundings, Bradwynne sighed. There was a lot more work to be done here than the other places, and so he should start right now in patching up the wounds of those who chose to join the Pride in eliminating the bandit threat in Astorea. The current conditions of the room that they were in made traveling from point to point very hard, and Bradwynne had to jump at some areas in the room where the cracks are becoming evident. He made it a point to cast his healing spells on those which were dying from the combined effects of their wounds and the cold, so that he could tend to them whenever he would be finished on the person nearby which needed medical help. He had not helped much on the vanquishing of the main bandit force; this should be the only thing that could be done to atone for his inactivity in the field.

As he was tending on the wounds of his comrades who were injured during this massive siege, he could not help but wonder on what kind of person really was this Bandit King. Despite his atrocity on looting and pillaging the countryside, he had an extreme command of his bandit soldiers, and this he did not expect from the leader of an infamous unit that was bent on doing crime. It was as if his soldiers revere him, look up to him, and inspired by him, much like some players and residents of Astorea revere their king Astor. It was as if they just dismiss their wrongdoings as some sort of a necessary evil in order to establish the supremacy of this leader. Bradwynne thought it was not just about his face, which looked goodly enough to fit being a noble; maybe this person had some history behind him that had driven him to this length to challenge the supremacy of the kingdoms of Astorea and Falderen, much like why the former king of Falderen became mad and drove his armies towards Astorea. Was it because of the overwhelming pressure of the power and charisma that King Astor brought with him when he first set foot into Terrasphere? Or was it because of the pressure that them players brought to here? Just a recurring thought about this made Bradwynne want to discover the dynamics of politics within the residents of Terrasphere, so that they could co-exist with the residents of the area and reduce the wars to a minimum. As it currently stood, King Astor and Astorea was walking on thin ice, and a lot of times they had fallen into some cracks where fortunately they had survived. But as it seemed, they were not even half done with the problems within Astorea, and there were more kingdoms to worry about. There was quite a punitive peace with the kingdoms of Falderen and Tertoria and the areas where the Yladian elves reside, and there were no attacks from the Caenis lately. But it would be unknown until when would this peace last, and there were more unknown threats that were looming within Terrasphere recently, and the world had not been explored fully, meaning there should be more hostilities incoming. Bradwynne took a mental note that everything was still not over for Astorea. There were still threats within and without, and it would not hurt to be vigilant. But sometimes empathy should be shown on every occasion that they should battle these threats.

Finished patching up a patient, Bradwynne then skipped through the cracks to move towards the next one. This should be a very long day for him. Lots of injured people, lots to patch up and heal. For this is the only remaining job left to do after a long day of battle. Not that Bradwynne was complaining. He took it up as his duty for the Lion's Pride, and he would do it with a lot of pride in his heart. No injuries would pass by him inadequately healed.