Mari

Yeh, beginning to wish I made my character around 23 instead of 25, but I guess its too late to change that now.

"Right..." Mari began, seeing that the conversation was dying down now - perhaps he was tired, or just was a man of few words. She did notice that he didn't exactly have a lot to say. An admirable trait in her eyes, since saying a single wrong thing would set the girl off. "So that's it then? You going to uhm...s-stay there? Or escort me back to the first floor?" 

Yeah, some more older themed characters!
I think I may have made mine a tad old at 25, oh well!

Mari carefully put the violin down, and daintily wiped the sweat that had formed on her brow. She gave a slight smile at his compliment; crossing her arms. "Almost 20 years of practise, I started when I was 5." Mari fumbled, almost dropping the crystal when it was thrown at her, she stared at the tiny glowing gem inquisitively before pocketing it. Mari ignored his cliche'd comment about not loosing hope, he meant well.

"So that's it? My profession is determined that easily?" She asked.

Lookin' good Argumail

Mari shook her head, "W-wait - I..." she gave a sigh as he began to play, not giving her much choice in the matter. If she had it her way she'd not play at all, and make him look like a right fool. But, instead she gave a small grumble - grabbing her violin and softly playing in rhythm to his tune, again Mari found herself humming softly to the music.

Despite her annoyance with him, the music was serene- and the atmosphere tranquil. 

Mari rubbed her shoulder, it ached, her torso ached - and although she was standing it was clear that putting weight on her leg was hurting her. Despite all that Mari groaned, stating that she was fine. "I'm f-fine. Health heals after battle right?" She asked. "B-besides, gotta get used to this, now is as good of a time as any." Mari had lost the bite to her tongue, her mind more focused on dealing with the physical pain she was experiencing. 

When Life told her she could loot the wolves she began to do so; the first one;
 

• Rolled a 18 on the d20 (loot) dice. 
   

It was a wolf pelt, it didn't seem to have any effect except for an aesthetic appeal. Similar to what Life wore. She held it up, giving a distasteful tut. "Wonder if I could dye it a pastel colour..."
 

• Rolled a 5 on the d20 (loot) dice.
• Rolled a 8 on the d20 (loot) dice.
   

"The amount of times I get nothing..." Mari muttered to herself, as she found that the last of the loot dropped yielded nothing. "It's freakin bull. We're fighting for our lives here, the least I could get is some damn meat or something..."

Sitting back on the ground Mari groaned, rubbing her leg. "Tended to...bah...." She didn't bother to follow Lifes gaze or to where he was pointing, instead she just shot him a dark look. "Why should the little black bird care?" She gave a snide lop sided smile, "I'm not strong, nor do I belong in your stupid guild." Mari grimaced again. "F-for a guild whose ideals state they are not to show disrespect, ya'll sure don't follow them. Argumail's probably the worst of the lot, and whe's what - your Leader ?" 

Mari stopped once the song was finished - sighing, she hadn't realized the other man had taken up the Cello and joined her, Mari chewed her lower lip, staring at the crimson haired player pensively. Not sure how she felt about him joining her without at least asking first. It almost felt as though he had sauntered into her home with dirtied feet.  Mari bit her tongue, deciding best not to say anything to him. She wouldn't tell him outright, but he did sound surprisingly good. 

"S-So uh.." Mari began, again with the innocent tone, "Now what?"

I'll be interested to see what kind of character you come up with, Mari probably wouldn't have known you in the real world (depending on your journal however) since she is not a very friendly and compatible person, but regardless when you do jump into the online RP I'd love to start up a RP thread with you~ :)

"Ah, well I suppose that is a tad better" Mari glanced down at the instrument in her hand, what was she supposed to do now? Play it? Was that all she had to do to gain the performer profession? If that was all she had to do why did she have to trek all the way to the 2nd Floor with this happy go lucky naive man?

Giving a small sigh Mari placed the violin in the crock of her neck, steadied her breathing and began to softly play one of her favourite pieces, 'Av Maria' 
The song started softly, before slowly building into crescendo riding the wave in a slow, melodic tempo. Mari, loosing herself in the moment began to sway gently in tune to the music, humming softly along with it.

Forgetting that Tristan was there.
 

Mari pushed herself back on her feet, frustrated. "D-Damn right I don't have to prove anything, especially to you, black bird." She muttered. She wasn't doing this to prove anything to him. She was doing this because she wanted to, she wanted to fight. Despite not being a big fighter she wanted to manifest her own strength, to be able to show herself she could go out on her own without having to bother with the pleasantries that came with dealing with other people. 

Mari waited for the wolf to attack, now it was confused. Disorientated. And its defences open. Mari gripped her little dagger tightly in her little fist, ready to charge at it, to give it the finishing blow; but again, Life beat her to it. He parried the wolfs attack. The canine burst in a flurry of blue and gold before her, and at that Mari gave a sigh. Wiping her brow. "That..w-was unexpect-urgghh." Now the adreneline of battle was over, the pain and nausea of the fight had caught up to her. Mari clutched at her shoulder, which didn't show any physical signs of damage - but still hurt.  Mari glared at Life, then to the ground, angry that she had let herself get hurt so easily.

"I Suppose you want pick of the loo-ugh..loot then? Since you slaughtered most of them." She grumbled. Mari was in no condition to argue with the man.
 

"Hmm..." Mari began to circle the store, allowing her fingers to dance over the vast collection of instruments. Every so often she'd pick up a violin and hold it, inspect it's weight and feel before putting it back. The deceptively young looking girl went about this for what seemed like half an hour before finally setting on a rich European Maple bodied violin. Mari couldn't help but give an earnest smile. It was nigh impossible to find one with such a wood in reality, as the tree used had long since been exhausted, tenderly turning it around in her hands Mari gave a small nod, "Mmm. This one."

Mari grimaced at Tristan when he honestly tried to explain how the performance profession worked, "So, the system more or less lets you play any instrument?" She sighed, letting her true personality slip, "That is a bit of a cop out to those who had studied years to learn something. But, a game, is a game."

YES! He's simply lovely, I kiiiinda got drunk with him when he was down here for the convention we run. The guests and us organizers throw a kick ass after party :D
He's hilarious 

Mari glanced around the store, she had to admit - the collection was pretty impressive. Did this all belong to him? Or was it just aesthetic touches to the store, and simply decorations that weren't usable. 

"I play the violin in reality." Mari began, slowly stepping into the building, "I'm fairly adept at it; and have decent piano skills. But I am not sure how they would transition into the game."

Her voice was quiet, as she was indeed, unsure how such mechanics could work, or exactly how the performer profession worked either. She knew the basics of it, but not the inner structure of it all.

Since Lessa has posted awesome pictures of her at a covention (I wanna see more btw  haha )  I realized I had a bunch too, I forget sometimes XD

I was working with/hanging out in the area where Cherami Leigh was most the convention weekend, I am pretty sure she voices Asuna?

I Love my (volunteer) jobs~

Mari took a deep breath, feeling the weight disappear off her chest - she gulped in breaths of air; scowling at Life, sure - he had just saved her life - but he wasn't very chivalrous about it. Not that she expected any sort of heroic chivalry, that'd probably frustrate her even more. Perhaps it was how easily he managed to take down the wolf, that was the thing that annoyed her. She struggled fighting off all three, and he sliced into one, wiping it out in a single blow.
 

Life continued to glower at her, he looked as though he was about to say something, but with a slight shake of his head - he turned his back on her to face the other wolves.

Oh no, oh no - he was not going to best her so easily. Despite the sheer amount of pain she was in, Mari pushed herself up off the ground - coughing as she did so. Her shaky hand found the dagger as she stood on quaky legs. Mari bit her lower lip as she gulped in another breath of air. Standing beside L now, she was clearly struggling from the aching wounds she had. "I still ha-have half my health yanno..." She muttered bitterly, before hissing a low, forced "Thanks."

Mari charged at the closer wolf, collapsing ontop of it as she drove the dagger into its muzzle, twisting it as she jutted it further down.
 

• Rolled a 9 on the d10 (battle) dice. CRITICAL SUCCESS +1 DAMAGE
  -3 Damage
   

The wolf gargled, before bursting into a fray of pixelated polygons, and Mari collapsed onto the floor - landing on her hands and knees. "Heh..."
Two down, one to go. Mari wondered if she could have actually taken them all on her own, 

Wolf 1 0/5 DEAD
Wolf 2 0/5 DEAD
Wolf 3 5/5

Mari: 8/15
Life: 19/19
 

Mari was rude, and couldn't care a less what others thought of her, but her usual temper and slew of insults usually only came about if it was instigated - generally by people who were arrogant. This girl wasn't arrogant, nor was she being rude to Mari, so Mari - whilst blunt, had no reason to be vulgar toward her.

"I suppose you're right." Mari began, closing her eyes again, she gave a small yawn. "Grass is comfy. I enjoy the smell of it, it's nicer here than in town. With any luck I may come across a boar or some other animal, which may drop some meat or something. I am so sick of bread."
 

Mari crossed her arms. "Really, pathetic? Is that the best insult you got?" She shook her head in disappointment, "I guess I can't blame you, a man so poor with his words can't exactly have the intellect for a wide vocabulary." Mari linked her hands behind her back, and began to slowly step around Argumail, circling him as she spoke.

"I didn't give up a queen, If you are going to talk synonyms at least stick to the one topic, from a stage to a chess board - its as haphazard as your little brain. It's Idiotic to give up a facade only when backed up against a wall. It's wise to pick and choose, to know when you've been met, with let's say a check - if you want to keep in line with the chess reference." Mari glanced up at the sky, still circling, still weaving a cruel web of words.

"You're so far off the mark with your assessment, don't confuse fear with a will to live. ' you that is why yo are not my equal.'  Those words you speak make little sense, you should learn sentence structure," Mari sneered, " Mister Argumail "   

Mari stopped in front of him, "If I were to be your equal I'd have to stoop myself to your level, I prefer not to do that." 

Argumail went on about his plan, again his failure with words made him difficult to understand, so much for being a 'strategist'

"So you want to lead them into the bowl, using yourself as some sort of..." Mari waved her hand about in the air, "...bait, and have me stand at the lip of this 'bowl'  and ...well them out? do you mean lure them out, one by one?"

Mari laughed when he said she fell for his so called trap. No traps had been set, the two were simply sick of putting on a friendly charade around each other. Mari couldn't be bothered pointing it out to him, lest he spurt out more nonsense, mindless drivel. Mari was waiting for the crap that poured from his mouth to give her an annurism from its sheer tomfoolery. 

"I swear," Mari muttered, "Every single person from your guild I have met is a pompous, arrogant misogynist."

Mari screamed, falling down onto one Knee she dropped her dagger, pressing her hands into the wolves skull in an attempt to pry it off her leg. Her fingers slipped into its maw and she finally tugged it off of her leg.  Before she could recover, or retrieve her weapon the third wolf attacked, knocking the breath out of her as it jumped straight on top of her, pinning her to the ground. 

It stared down at her, beady yellow eyes  glowing. Mari was literally staring down the face of death. It snorted, and Mari choked slightly on its hot breath, it smelt rancid, like decay and rotten flesh. A plump pink tongue wiped out, licking the girls cheek leaving a line of wet drool across her face before it bit down into her shoulder blade;

Mari gave a loud, shrill cry again, body arching in pain as tears brimmed in the corner of her eyes.

DIRE WOLF

It was a game of chance, and a game of speed- the wolves outnumbered little Mari; and that put them at a great advantage, with all three on the attack now. The wolf which Mari had just recently hit, attacked first, attempting to snap at her feet.
 

• Rolled a 5 on the d10 (mob) dice. FAIL

It failed, tripping on another wolves paw, gave a yelp and joined the pack, circling the girl. The other wolf snapped first at its comrade before charging toward Mari, snapping at her left leg.
 

• Rolled a 7 on the d10 (mob) dice. SUCCESS
  -1 DAMAGE

It successfully latched on, globs of dirtied drool dripping onto the girls shoe. It bit down hard till a sickening crunch was heard, at that it finally let go.

The third wolf, the one with full HP, and seemingly the larger of the three paused, howling loudly, the other two mimicked the howls, and their cries echoed around the field, it was slightly unnerving for Mari. The third one lunged at her neck, its hairy, greasy body pushing it's entire weight onto Mari who toppled to the floor, pinned under the creatures great weight.
 

• Rolled a 10 on the d10 (mob) dice. CRITICAL Damage +2
  -3 Damage

Dire Wolf A - 3/5
Dire Wolf B - 1/5
Dire Wolff C -5/5

Mari: 8/15 HP



 

Mari braced herself, she was expecting it - but expecting the pain never made it any less real, or any less agonizing. Mari screeched in pain, her shrill voice echoing in the plains around her, her voice faltered down into a whimper as the wolves finally let go. Allowing the girl to collapse onto her knees, breathing heavily, her vision mildly blurred - beads of sweat dripping down her face.

I can do this, I can do this, I can do this

She repeated to herself, she still had over half her health, and if she could aim for the injured wolf - and land a critical, she just may be able to wipe it out. Pushing herself up to her feet Mari gripped the dagger tightly in her little hand. Taking one shaky step after another. It was difficult, trying to differentiate the circling wolves. 

Crap

She had a %33 chance of hitting the injured wolf. Mari took a long, shaky breath. This is what she wanted, this pain, this pain proved that she was alive, she was living. She could feel her heart practically bursting from her chest, she was alive...she was alive...

Mari charged forward, jumping onto one of the wolves backs, jamming the dagger between its shoulder blades, pressing it in deep as the wolf howled.
 

Rolled a 10 on the d10 (battle) dice. CRITICAL HIT +2 DAMAGE

-4 HP

Well wasn't that just half her luck! Mari gave a shaky grin, "yess..." She breathed through gritted teeth as she watched the word 'Critical' dance above one of the wolves head. It quickly shook her off, and the three wolves were back to circling, and growling at her. Well...she DID get the critical hit, unfortunately, it was the wrong wolf.

DIRE WOLF

The injured wolf hung back, refusing to attack, but the other two, growling and snarling took their chance to strike in unison;
 

• Rolled a 6 on the d10 (mob) dice. SUCCESS!
  -1 HP
• Rolled a 9 on the d10 (mob) dice. CRITICAL SUCCESS
  -2HP

Each wolf, growling, leapt up into the air and each bit down onto one of Mari's arms, growling and gnawing, shaking their heads in an attempt to rip her arms from her body. After hearing her screech in pain they backed off, circling around her, growling and snapping at the girl.

Dire Wolf A - 3/5
Dire Wolf B - 5/5
Dire Wolff C -5/5

Mari: 12/15

Mari blinked, he completely avoided her question. Instead, he hinted that he knew of her charade. Which was a little odd, he didn't exactly seem like the type who'd notice such a thing, Mari stepped back - immediately dropping her sweet and innocent act.

"Your word play is poor, Argumail." Mari stated, voice turning sharp. "It is an interaction - it simply shows that both parties have some god damned common sense- why be all honest and up front when we tread a very dangerous line between life and death?" Mari asked with a shrug.

"Your planning is pathetic at best, you can't even handle simple terminology. A war on two fronts?" She scoffed shaking her head, "What you described is divide and conquer idiot - the term 'a war on two fronts' is where fighting takes place on two geographically separate fronts, yes - in a sense it is a means to separate an enemy, but on a grander scale than a tiny battle field on a floor."

Mari sighed, twirling a pink strand of hair around her finger, "If you did all the planning, I'd be fearful for my life." 

Mari's words were cruel and calculating, she had dropped the act completely and all the pent up frustration she had toward him was beginning to trickle out in her bile filled words. "You act tough sweetheart, and you talk big - you may outrank me in game experience and levels, but I assure you, I could dominate you in a onslaught of wit and word any day."

She gestured out beyond the town gates, "Now - if you still want to bother with this imbecilic crusade and impotent show of false valiance then be my guest - if not then let's spare us both the trouble, and part ways now." 
 

Argumail had willingly unleashed Pandoras box, and it wasn't going to close now.

Mari had laughed to herself at the insult that was shot her way, it was mediocre at best, but at least the kid had a bit of bite to his words rather than just angrily huffing about the place.  She didn't end up buying anything - as the only thing the store sold was bread, plain old bread. God forsaken bread. She was so sick of it. Maybe she would eat some wild boar, just as Life had so positively suggested.

Marching out of the Inn she wandered to the outskirts of town, hitting the warp plate; doing just as Tristan had taught her;

"Floor 2"

The whooshing feeling came again, and Mari still was not used to it - she teetered forward a few steps before falling flat on her face. "Ommph!" She rolled onth her back, groaning. "Dammit I need to get used to that..." She muttered bitterly, embarrassed by her own incompetence. Mari lay there for a few moments, waiting for the dizzying nausea to go away before standing, dusting herself off and continuing in a random direction, Mari paused when she thought she heard a growl - looking around at the plains, how far had she been walking?

"grrrrrrrr"

There was another growl, and soon a wolf appeared - Mari quickly equipped her Dagger, stepping back, she could easily take on one wolf - but they had a tendency to travel in packs, and just as she predicted - another two came stalking over the hill. Snarling and drooling. There were 3 in total, minus the Alpha wolf which had yet to make an appearance. 

"Crap...you can do this Mari.." She murmured to herself; aiming to strike the first wolf; 

Rolled a 8 on the d10 (battle) dice-SUCCESS
-2HP

Mari darted forward, slashing the closest wolf across the muzzle, it howled and jumped back, but the other two were closing in fast.

Mari stopped in her tracks when Argumail mentioned 'the three of us' Was there a third who would be joining their party? She looked around, but there were no players nearby who looked like they were interested in what her and Argumail were doing. What the heck was he on about? Mari hoped he didn't mean the split personality thing, to her, that did not count as a third person.

"T-three of us?" Mari asked sweetly, "Who else will be joining us?"

She could take a guess at what he meant when he said he'd apologize for what would come after. Yep, another head case like Kazuya, not exactly her cup of tea. Still, she had wanted to play her little game, see it through till the end. Mari stepped up to to Argumail, tugging on his shirt sleeve. "I thought it'd be j-just us...I'm a little nervous around new people."