Jomei

Thread Closure - TEAM A

Hearing a burst behind him, Jomei turned his eyes to look at where the skeleton once stood. Like a pile of snow against a strong gust, the bones were swept away in an instant. The storm raging outside of the windows seemed to calm, becoming nothing more than a soft snowfall. Even the throne and the ice they stood on softened and began to melt away. The ginger also felt his worries about the fight against the King and his armies melt away, as his whole body seemed to relax at once with a heavy exhale. "Thats a relief.." he would say to himself as he gently slid his rapier back into its home on

The grandiose exterior of the library was nothing compared to the inside, which seemed almost larger than he had anticipated. More books were contained within than probably even the most scholarly of minds could read.. and that was simply in the main hall of the library. Whos to know how many tomes sit waiting on shelves within other, smaller rooms off to the side. Not only books, but various pieces of art, plants, and plenty of places to sit and just get lost in a book or two. Even those who were not a fan of reading would probably find themselves drawn to the activity after stepping foot int

Nari was hyper focused on keeping the King's focus on her while Jomei kept the skeletons off of her back. Easy enough, they had dealt with enough of them that he was getting used to their attack patters, and knew just what sword art combinations to use to make sure he wasn't getting hit by all of them at once. That was his though, however, until he noticed the various piles of bones on the ground, the re-dead corpses of the skeletons he had taken out earlier, beginning to tremble and pull themselves back together. Looking over his shoulder at the Night King himself, he could see the man

"Fine.. I'm fine." Jomei responded, glancing over to Nari now that she had recovered from being Frozen, "J-Just a little c-cold." It was mostly in part due to whatever that skeleton had done when it hit him with its halberd.. so it would most likely wear off as he run around and continued to fight. "I should be finished with these guys in a moment.. then we can focus on the King." Since there were two less skeletons on the board, Jomei could focus on hitting both the remaining monsters and the King in a single hit. Slowly shuffling his feet on the ice, he kept himself squared up with the two b

The ginger offered a simple nod and smile when Lessa confirmed that she had everything she needed on her end. Of course, they had no idea what this quest had in store for them.. since they really only had intel on where to start the quest - or how to dive into the meat and potatoes of the quest proper, should they have chosen that route. Jomei was anticipating combat at some point on the floor.. but he made it this far without relying on consumables, and he trusted Lessa to have his back. "Sounds good. I'm not sure how much travel we'll actually be doing on foot, and how long it'll take. So I

Like an alligator poking its eyes out of the water, Jomei turned his attention towards Morningstar.. who rejoined the conversation after seeming to just take in the vibes for a bit and relax without many words. He asked a pretty simple question that never really was asked, for a bunch of players who were either friendly with or familiar with their host, Baldur. Lessa was the first to speak up, mixing in some humor with a rather heartfelt story of how the two grew close over the years. Jomei slowly rose back out of the water, setting himself up with his shoulders pressing against the ston

"Dammit, Nari!" Jomei would shout out as he watched the ice climb from her wound and spread to the rest of her body, locking her in place. It was a.. weird situation that they were in. Everyone, save for the King himself, were stunned in some sort of way. Jomei, struggling to get up off of the ground due to the slippery ice, the skeletons lock in place from Jomei's attack, and now Nari, encased in ice. The ginger began to scramble on the ground, his hand slipping out from under him as he tried to pick himself up to his feet so he could rush to Nari's side.. possibly take some of the attention

He could sense the rage growing within Nari just by the expression on her face before she even made her approach. "Nari." Jomei simply said in response. "Be careful. Switch out with me if you need to." Retrieving his weapon once more, he turned his attention from Nari and the King to the four skeletons, "I'll keep them off your back." The faster I can take out these skeletons.. the faster I can help Nari.. He thought to himself as his feet carried him across the ice. Suddenly, the man shot forward as he activated his charge skill to give him the extra boost needed to close the distance.

"Broken...or dead...not exactly a best seller." "No, but I don't think 'you can't log out' would sell many copies either." Despite the serious atmosphere to the conversation, he could not help but break a chuckle at their words. Though, that was the last conversation shared between the two for the rest of the trek up the stairs. Only the sound of the whistling wind, causing windows to rattle, and their footsteps filled the slanted corridor as they continued up. Finally the two came to a long landing, with a torn carpet leading to a tall, double door. The two seemed to stare at the door fo

Jomei felt the warm smile on his face as Lessa reacted to her drink. Perhaps he would have to try it out the next time he was in the area.. rather than the semi-sweet coffee that he sipped on. He wasn't even sure if caffeine was a thing in SAO, or if it was just some placebo effect. A bit of jealousy set in as he looked into the chocolate brown colored liquid that sat idly in his mug, and looked across to Lessa's once again. "Guess I'll have to get myself one of those too next time." he added with a grin. After the two enjoyed their respective hot drinks for a few moments more, Jomei went

Despite the confident, almost playful, tone in Nari's voice when bringing up how simple the assault on this castle has been thus far, Jomei's face remained hardened. Olive eyes remained on the spot where the skeletons once stood, the imprints they left in the snow slowly vanishing as the incoming wind brought with it another fresh dusting of snow. "I feel they've been easy to take down because of our teamwork." he said with a nod. "We've worked pretty well together, making sure that they don't get the chance to land a hit on us... but judging on how difficult they were when they were attacking

Nari switched up her approach and attacked a single target, the one skeleton that stood out as more of a leader type. They had a larger health pool, and seemed to be buffing the other skeletons in some way, not that it was making too much of a difference to the two players as they wiped the floor with them. Despite, knocking the captain of the group down a peg so Jomei could easily take the three remaining out in a single swipe was a good move. "Smart thinking, Nari." Jomei said with a smirk as he readied himself for his own attack, "I'll finish up here then." Pulling his sword arm back,

The ginger's chuckle at Nari's joke came out as more of a shaky hiss as the cold sent another chill down to his bones. "Oh yeah, definitely. Maybe welcome guests at the front door with some hot soup, or a steaming cup of tea." he added on with a smirk. "I'm not really sure the undead need to worry about keeping warm.. and I think a warm castle would kind of kill this King's whole.. icy vibe." The room the two had entered was much larger than the supply closet they first explored. The scattered, long tables - though most broken - and chairs in various states of decay revealed this to be a dinin

"Kick snow in your face? Now that would just be rude." The ginger said with a smirk as he thought of his own ridiculous plan to get revenge. With a sharp whistle, he would summon Adere from a nearby branch. The brown, tawny owl would swoop down and perch atop the snow fort, a green scarf wrapped around her neck to keep her warm in this cold, snowy weather. Taking off his own cloak, he would lay it on the ground and begin placing snowballs atop it. Packing the cape full of snow, he would pinch the corners together like a bag and gesture for Adere to grab his creation. "Go fly this over Lessa an

“People are complicated” Those words echoed within Jomei's mind, the voice of Lessa's fading into his own inner voice as he shared the same thoughts. One of the reasons he was keeping to himself and not going out of his way to meet up with friends or find another potential lover. Maybe, deep down, he preferred the loneliness. As much as it hurt, he didn't have to figure out others, wouldn't have to deal with losing friends, or heartbreak. Could be easier. In reality though, he couldn't do it. He truly thrived on social activity, and he knew himself too well that he would just shrivel up i

"Hostages?" Jomei repeated the word, as if to allow himself to think over the possibility that Nari had put forth. "Hm.. honestly, I doubt it. What reason would they need to take hostages? Not only that.. but you saw how ruthless they were when attacking the town.." A quick image flashed into his mind of the King's soldier's ripping a family out of their burning home with blades to their throats. The looks on their faces were not ones with any other purpose than to destroy. "I don't think taking prisoners was on their agenda.." His shoulders rose and fell with a shrug as they moved from the fr

Just as quickly as they had started the fight, they were finishing it. The fantastic combination of devastating strikes from both Jomei and Nari had easily decimated the skeletal warriors, leaving only the one elite standing.. though barely. The group hardly had the time to react, let alone notice the two rush from the store room before they had been destroyed. The blue flames that served as pupils in the remaining warrior darted between the two players, seemingly burning brighter with fury. Only a single target, Jomei's specialty. He was never one for fighting multiple targets at once,

Jomei couldn't hide the small smirk as Nari tried to recover from calling her friend some cute, pet-name version of their full name; Faerie. "Well any friend of Nari's is a friend of mine. So please, help yourself to any drinks or snacks. Hopefully more people should show up soon." As the group moved into the party proper at the top of the stairs, Nari took note of the set up Jomei had done to his apartment for the occasion. With a bashful smile, he would rub at the nape of his neck as he moved towards the kitchen island to retrieve a drink he had prepared to himself earlier. "I don't have to

The ginger let out a dry chuckle in response to Nari's teasing about his 'preferred' choice of weather. "Oh yeah, totally. I just love it... Honestly, I'm more of an autumn guy.. not too hot, not terribly cold." The interior of the castle wasn't much better than the outside in terms of temperature, but at least they didn't have to deal with wind that could rip you off of your feet if you weren't careful. The ginger moved across the foyer to a torch on the opposite wall, burning a blue light similar to the torches wielded by the King's horse bound captains. Raising two open palms up to the flam

The inured expression he wore on his face whittled away slightly as a kind, half smile broke through. Nari seemed just as confident in their success as Jomei did, which meant she was either underestimating their foe.. or she too was swallowing down that pit of fear that weighed heavily in their gut. He continued to steel himself in the face of the unknown might of the Night King, for he couldn't let Nari worry about him when the time came, else they might both pay a hefty price. So with that confident, warm smile on his face, he would gently bump his fist into Nari's shoulder, holding it there

Jomei's path had already been set, eyes glaring daggers at the icy, mountaintop castle. The fortress had once been hidden, most likely to deter payers from attempting to skip the first portions of this quest. However, as the two fended off the Night King's forces, the ominous clouds that obscured the mountain peak parted and faded, inviting - no, daring the two to approach. So as Nari began to bring up the topic of revenge once more, Jomei's feet were already carrying him forward, the snow crunching below his boots with each foot fall. "Afraid? No, not at all.." his expression determined, seri

"G-Gah!" Jomei yelped as a hefty helping of soft snow was kicked up from the ground by Lessa's boot and piled onto his face. His arms and legs flailed for a moment as he quickly brushed the white dusting off of his face and sitting up immediately, his cheeks and tip of nose left a rosy pink. "N-Now that was unc-called for!" He called back after her, voice shaky with his shivering, as she retreated back to her teams side. Placing hands on either side of him, the ginger pushed himself out of the snow to a standing position, any lingering snow on his clothes dropping to the ground. One last shive

Jomei could not help but let out a small laugh at Yona's mention of 'supervision' going to bed. "You say that as if we aren't all adults here of some capacity." His laugh ended with a sigh as he turned his gaze directly upward towards the starry night sky - even if it was generated specifically for this floor. "Besides, I'm sure Baldur could easily be convinced to join us.. but I'm sure he's going to want to turn in early after today. Must take a lot to run an event of this capacity almost on your own." The ginger began to slowly let himself slide down deeper into the water, soaking his c

Soon silence fell over the battlefield. The general had release one final bellow from deep inside their icy cavern of a chest, the blade of Nari's scythe piercing that very spot. A shaky, armored hand of the armored individual rose, with the intent to grab hold of the weapon to free themselves.. but one by one, fingers fell like icicles off of their hand, followed by the rest of their arm. The entire suit of armor collapsed to the ground in pieces of broken ice and metal. It took a few moments for the thought to process, that they had survived, the town had -for the most part- remained standin