Piera

Snorting at Lee's hilarious transition into safe for church wording, Piera's hand would raise to rest over one of his own as he rubbed her shoulders reassuringly. Turning slightly to look over her shoulder at her love's giddy expression as she mentioned the fountain on floor ten, the brunette beamed and knew her suggestion was a good one. "It's an NPC title, if not a job class. Though I'm sure if we wanted to, we could get a player to marry us. Not anyone I would want to though." Shrugging the notion off, the alchemist's expression became a thoughtful grimace as she gave the NPC in front of them a once over. She didn't have any particular problem with him...just that he was a little young perhaps? And...boring. Oh well.

Chuckling a little at Lee's mention of her 'witch-like ways', Piera shook her head, "Sadly, not this time. I haven't done enough quests and explored enough to know very many cool NPCs. Assuming you also are in the same predicament... I guess we'll have you marry us, Priest..." Piera paused a moment with wide eyes as she tried to recall his name before finally recovering with a smile, "Aria." 

Said NPC nodded with a benevolent smile and replied, "I would happy to officiate your union. There is also still the matter of your rings. There is an acquaintance that has a shop nearby that you can give your specifics to." A new quest update popped up on the couple's head's up display detailing the mentioned shop's location. "Thanks. We'll go check that out now. See you at the wedding!" Catching Lee's hand, Piera turned and walked out of the cathedral and out into the hustle and bustle of the Starting City, following the quest marker.

Eyebrows raising in surprise as Lee stated that he actually knew one of her guild members, Piera then smiled as further edited the list. "Awesome. And actually, that makes ten. Giving Hestia a plus one, I'm ninety-nine percent sure that she'll bring her girlfriend Kimi who's also a guild member. SO! We've got Hestia, Kimi, Jomei, Telrenya, Shield, Beat, Teion, Ryo, Spencer aaaand Calrex." Beaming with that hurdle completed, the spectacled woman turned back to the NPC who was still patiently waiting for them to acknowledge him with a passively benign smile. "Okay, so we'll go for the medium-sized wedding. Just ten people. And no food bonuses, but enough to feed twelve people." Frowning lightly with thought, she asked the NPC, "Is that everything?"

The blonde Priest asked in reply, "Where would the two of you like to be wedded? Would you like your wedding to be accessible to everyone? And would you like me to perform the ceremony? If not, I can help you find someone else more suitable for you both."

Becoming just a little stiff as she realized the connotations behind 'accessible to everyone' would be, Piera jerkily shook her head negatively. "Invite only. Nobody we know anymore is a PK anymore, so it's fine." Becoming just a little depressed as she remembered the few PKs they would have invited were they alive.  But she tried to focus on the here and now as well as the positives. "Um, actually I had an idea about the place." Glancing at Lee with a hopeful smile to see what he thought.

"On floor ten there's a huge Cathedral in Taft, but more importantly, in front of it, there's a biiig fountain. And it kinda looks like the Mac Anu fountain." Her green eyes were bright as she recollected where they had met. They had actually both met in a game somewhat similar to SAO called, [The World]; a virtual reality MMORPG that had come out less than a decade or so ago.

Shaking herself out of her reminiscing, the brunette asked her partner, "Do you have any preferences of...nn what's the word? Clergy...person?" Shrugging she just straight up asked, "Neither of us are very religious, but I'll go with whatever you'd prefer." Knowing that he was possibly just slightly more religious than herself.

Nodding in understanding to the reasoning behind his decision, Piera noted the maid of honor and best man. And then huffed a laugh as she received a message from the former. She didn't reply just yet though, not entirely sure the answer to the question that had been posed. Looking back at Lee as he pointed out that going any larger than ten people would cost them an extra one thousand Col caused her to grimace.

With a sigh she explained, "It's not that I don't care, just that I don't know most of them.  Don't know Ruby, Hestia, Kimi, Jevi or Kairi. Just Jomei, Telrenya, Spencer and kind of Ryo. Teion knows him. Pretty sure that's who she's gonna have be her plus one. And Shield isn't in the guild but I want to invite him as well. And pretty sure he'll bring his husband."

Running her hands through her hair with a sigh, the alchemist rattled off, "So really I just want Jomei, Telrenya, Spencer, Shield, Beat, Teion, Ryo, and Calrex. And that's eight." Resting her figuratively overheating head against his shoulder, Piera asked, "Anyone you want to invite? We still have two spots free to make for ten."

Nodding her thanks as a butler approached distributing drinks, Piera wondered if the NPC came with the house or if perhaps Ryo had to pay him wages or do a quest to obtain his services. Something to ask later she supposed as she sipped on the drink. It wasn't her preferred flavor, but it was something to do. The various guild members at first were in pockets but now were coming together, talking amongst themselves. Though she was starting to piece together who people were via name-dropping, the brunette still felt a little out of place, though it was slightly reassuring to know that she wasn't the only one that didn't know everyone else in the guild. It seems there were a good couple of others that only knew half or fewer of the other members. Still, the older woman merely hovered behind her ginger friend, not really knowing what to say nor having anything to add to the conversations. It was a lot easier to breeze through mingling and chit-chat in the real world. Usually, if all else failed, she would have Lee to talk to until something happened or someone approached them. But maybe she should try and be a bit more proactive without him. Glancing around at all the people though, the spectacled woman immediately rethought that plan of action.

Glancing up at the stairway where Teion and the party host had disappeared to, green eyes flicked about at the other guild members. After determining that she wouldn't really be missed while she checked in on her friend, Piera slipped away, one hand holding steady to the banister as she stepped lightly up the stairs. Just as she reached the top, a door to the left opened, Spencer exiting and looking rather...upset, to say the least. Not long after, Teion came out looking for him and walked off after the young man. Eyebrows raising slightly, the brunette began walking in their direction without thinking until she caught sight of Ryo on a bed through the open door. Pausing in front of the doorway, Piera glanced in the direction Teion had headed with a bite of her lip before deciding that the two probably needed to talk about something private and didn't need any outside interference.

Running her free hand through the back of her hair somewhat awkwardly, Piera's eyes flicked back to the purple haired man and tried to smile, though it probably came off a little off with her embarrassment and social ineptitude. "Heeeyyy. Um, Ryo, right?" Pointing at him, as if to confirm that it was him that was 'Ryo' and not the bed or something. Because that made sense. Trying to pass over the already awkward situation she asked with genuine concern, "Everything alright?" Nodding her head in the direction that Spencer and Teion had disappeared.

Remembering her manners finally, the alchemist blinked with wide eyes and touched her fingers to her forehead, narrowly avoiding actually facepalming herself. "Ah, jeez, sorry for being so rude. I'm Piera. A friend of Teion's." Then with a pause, she added, "And Jomei. He recently invited me to the guild. It's good to meet you." Her smile only slightly sly, attempting to play it cool. She had a feeling Teion wouldn't be happy if she made it seem like the violette talked a lot about him behind his back to her friends. Good or bad.

At his protestation that his head was too small to remember all of the people she mentions, Piera simply grinned before reaching up to rub her hand against the other side of his head. "I know, that's why I like it! So cute n compact." But when he would act like she was too lowly for him to share his wealth of female friends, the alchemist would gape, resting a hand on her breastplate in over-dramatic offense. "Sharing is caring, Lee. Sharing is caring." As he cracked a smile, she too would let out a light chuckle, always enjoying their jests with each other.

Shrugging at Lee's admission, the alchemist admitted, "It took me a while to find it too. And by then I just assumed I was like the last one to discover it like always." Eyes following Babette's descent rather than where her partner was looking, she was distracted by the tiny boar's cuteness and couldn't resist giving her a pet or two before glancing up at Lee's question. "Hm? Oh. Yyyyeeeess? Why? No idea. But yes, yes it does seem to be...it can't be Avalanche, right? Oh god, what if there's like a swarm of them and all of them make Avalanche?" She was fairly sure that wouldn't be the case, but it was still a horrifying thought.

As the odd monsters floated forwards, Piera squinted and made out the monster's name, "Ice Elemental. Let's get to it honey. Stay with Babette, Jareth."  The griffon cooed before flapping off of her shoulder and resting next to the tiny boar. Twirling her new spear between her hands, Piera stated, "Let's get to it honey! Switch with me now?"

ID 98311 | BD 10(+3) |

Fatal Thrust: 3x10 = 30 Dmg

• [H:0] Lee: HP 260/260 | EN 26/26 | DMG 1 | ACC 0 | EVA 0 | MIT 40
• [H:2] Piera: HP 420/420 | EN 39/42 | DMG 8 | ACC 3 | EVA 0 | MIT 26
• Ice Elemental: HP 180/210 | DMG 63 |  (-30 Dmg)

Piera snickered at Lee's immediate response to her calling him 'precious', knowing it was coming. She smiled contently after their kiss and nodded with pride and a huge grin as he called her a badass in a roundabout way. "All da damages~" She bragged, glad that she could now still heal but not be quite as useless and all without sacrificing valuable Skill Points that she wanted to save for putting into her First Aid skill. Col really could buy anything. Nodding again with a bit more seriousness at her love's conferment that they should indeed do the quest she had brought up, the brunette then rolled her eyes at the name he'd given her. "That pun...physically hurt me." She parried back, deadpan. Then life suddenly returned to her eyes as she brought up. "Oh! And guess who the blacksmith was?" Giving him a moment to spout out whatever likely completely wrong or silly guess before stating with a smile, "Tei Tei! Er, Teion! I know you didn't really play with her a lot, but still. I wouldn't have thought this would be her thing, but yeah." The alchemist shrugged, still kind of surprised at the discovery herself.

"Haha! Well not sure about the 'bad', but definitely the 'full-metal @ss part! Hehe." Inhaling deeply and nodding as he declared that they would have to ensure that the two remaining monsters meet the same fate as the first, Piera exhaled with a determined nod. His attack would sadly miss, but she shook her head as he said his family would be ashamed, "Oy, you got this far didn't you? Yer mama didn't raise no quitter~" Seeing the two frosty elementals attack him once more caused her expression to harden and she finished, "And neither did mine." Once more her hand was at his shoulder to support him in more ways than one, enveloping them both in white healing light as his HP bar began to fill a little more, bringing him back out of the red and back into the yellow. Though with how things were going, who knew for how long. Mouth pursing in mild distaste, the alchemist wished there was a way for her to increase her healing. She'd just have to work her hardest to power through to tier two.

"Wh-What 'boxness'?!" Piera retorted with a chuckle, then cupping his armored rump. "You're all curves baby~" Teasing him while being completely truthful, even if he refused to see her point. Sighing as he complained about her complaining, the brunette couldn't help but smile, conceding that he was winning. Eyes flicked over to the first elemental as it began moving again, the paralysis having finally worn off, but just as soon as it did, it shattered into many more tiny snowflakes and pixels as it died.  "One less to worry about." Though it sure had taken them long enough. Focusing back on the third she huffed a humorless laugh at Lee's wish. "Oh is that all?" The alchemist asked with sarcasm. "Just a couple more times?" Even if she was a little exasperated at that, she knew they'd have to keep at it if they ever wanted to get this over with. So she refocused on the third monster once more and began another attack. This time running up closer to it and using 'Heft', swinging her spear upwards diagonally, spinning around and doing it once more for a critical attack. "Just gotta keep it up. Hang in there hun." Keeping a careful eye on Lee's healthbar.

Even with such a serious subject matter as their own mortality, Lee could always make her smile, nay even laugh aloud, as he did a familiar joke of being a 'box ghost'. A wide grin spreading across her face, Piera was already dissolving into giggles. "Y-You f#&%er! You're not even remotely box-shaped! But you are too solid to be a ghost." Putting an accented emphasis on the latter word as she would poke his armor.

"Haters gona hate?" She questioned rhetorically before frowning with a sigh as he stated that he would continue to keep earning hate and told her to kill them faster. Huffing a breath that ruffled her bangs upwards, the brunette complained, "You have a bigger lead!" But even so, she steeled herself for another attack, watching the elementals' movements as they continued their assault on the tank. At least all but one, still stunned even as it was getting closer and closer to death.

Eyes flicking between the three monsters, the alchemist determined that the first would soon die on its own with little extra help needed and the second was fairly healthy still and paralyzed. The third, however, was knocked down a bit more and wasn't paralyzed. Focusing on that one, Piera gathered her energy, holding her spear much like a pool cue before releasing the sword art, 'Twin Thrust' and having her weapon shoot out at the giant snowflake, hitting it bottom center, the first strike cutting deep into its frosty exterior and the second knocking it off kilter, spinning it head over...well bottom she supposed, effectively stunning it.  Smiling with subdued satisfaction, the woman glanced over at Lee and asked, "Better?"

A little bit of her worry ebbed at seeing the strong reaction and attack from Lee. It was easier since she was here next to him and could actually do something to help rather than just watch his health bar dip lower and lower on her party screen. Expression becoming mildly exasperated and annoyed at his over the shoulder comment, the healer punched him lightly on his armored shoulder. "Maybe you should stop dying, HMM?" Biting her lip, she told him, "I'm going to heal you one more time just to be safe, okay? It looks like that first one is gonna die on it's own anyway. Then I'll focus on the last." Left hand resting gently on his shoulder, the white healing light enveloping him once more. Using the time, Piera glanced over at the battle stats and frowned. "Dangit Lee, stop getting all the Hate." She wished there was a way for her to gain more hate other than just attacking, but she didn't have Howl or any other tank skill to be able to do that. "I don't suppose you'd consider just not attacking for a bit?"

Snorting a chuckle at that insane picture upon Lee's excited declaration, she wondered at his sanity. Glancing over at her partner as he agreed that he wasn't entirely sure about continuing on the quest they had originally set out on before concluding that they'd see after they finished up with the monsters they were currently battling.

Grinning after she released her sword art and Lee's following comment, Piera nodded, "If. If is good."  Frowning with a sigh as the tank missed as well, she replied, "Same. But at this point, I'll just be glad when it's over. I thought we'd be done and heading home by now, to be honest. Thooouugghh I guess that was a bit too optimistic of me."  But she had become a bit too relaxed, not thinking that the ice elementals could hurt either her or Lee that badly.

An assumption that quickly proved false as not one but two of the monsters violently crashed into the man, stacking their damage and dropping his health bar into the red. Eyes widening, Piera could've sworn she felt her heart stop seeing that red sliver of a healthbar, her throat strangling a frantic cry, "Lee! Hold on!" Immediately rushing behind him, the brunette pressed her hand to his back. First, her hands began to glow a soft white which then enveloped Lee's avatar for a moment before his health bar began to fill slightly, healing him and bringing his health bar out of the red and into the yellow. Breathing a sigh, Piera's brow was still creased with concern. "Honey I don't want to take any more chances like that. Let me take some hate now okay? I have higher health than you and Jareth can heal me and I have regeneration from my armor." Seeing him dip that low brought back uncomfortable memories and ramped up her anxiety like no tomorrow.

Snickering slightly as Lee basically stood by his creed of 'the best offense is defense', Piera corrected, "A wall made of more durable and more thorny walls." Sticking her tongue out as he teased her she then countered, "Well it sure seems to be headed that way! Nnngh, it's getting late." Remarking on the setting sun of the snowy floor. "I'm starting to rethink taking on this quest boss." Letting out a sigh, the brunette let her body relax, trusting that Lee had enough hate and that she could focus on dealing the damage. Jade hued eyes snapped open behind her glasses frames, armored glove hands tightening around her trident as she summoned her energy and released a Sword Art, "Heft!" The tip of her spear swung from her bottom left diagonally to the upward right in a powerful and more importantly, very damaging move. The metal blade scratched deep into the ice creature, causing it to careen backward with a garbled screech. Letting out a foggy breath, Piera then smiled. "'Bout time. Let's finish this one off so we can concentrate on the other two."

Letting out a genuine laugh as she heard his murmur of how one didn't get lost in the massive home, Piera explained with mirth, "A lot of exploration and retracing one's steps. And process of elimination. Our bedroom is in the opposite direction and there isn't a whole lot else that way so this is the way to go." Shrugging, the alchemist continued along the hallway and waited for Jomei to look the room over, attempting and mostly failing to gauge his reaction. Smile pulling at the corner of her mouth, the brunette replied plainly, "It's just a spare room we keep in case friends need a place to stay for a while." Glancing at the ginger pointedly. "You can use it for however long you like. It's yours. I know it's not much, but at least it's somewhere other than your shop until you get back on your feet. Just don't be startin' too many wild parties while we're out, okay?" Smirking at her friend and obviously teasing.

Nomming on the sweet oatmeal from the bowl in her hand, Piera gave a contented sigh as her feet swung lightly from her elevated position on the stool of her shop. Jareth was picking apart some sort of grilled lizard. She felt...blessedly normal for once. Not overjoyed...but content. Getting out more, doing quests again and crafting regularly, getting orders, seeing her friends, even joining a guild! And of course planning for their wedding... It made her feel normal. Like things weren't so bleak, though the situation hadn't changed more. Inhaling slowly and deeply, the brunette let it out, gazing around her shop. It had certainly been a while since she'd opened this shop up. Not much had changed, other than the wares and herself. Briefly, her emotions dimmed at that slightly depressing thought, but she shook herself before taking another breath and smiling at her griffon. "Let's see if we can finish Macradon's order today, hm?" The owl griffon licked his beak before beginning to clean himself in a very feline manner in response.

Growling in humorous annoyance as Lee laughed at her continuous misses. "I really need to get something to increase my accuracy." With a sigh, she added, "And maybe a little more damage might not hurt either." He was hitting and doing more to them than she was, and he hadn't even put any skill points into his weapon yet! The alchemist was trying her best not to be jealous of her partner and not succeeding.

A grin twitched wider the longer Lee's sentence dragged on and she echoed with humor, "Ah, those plans." She couldn't blame him for wanting to add on to their house though. Since they spent the majority of their time here, it'd be nice to spruce it up and make sure they had all the amenities that they could dream of. Who knows how much longer they would be stuck in SAO after all. Might as well be comfortable.

Pouting as Lee would name call her familiar once more she reiterated firmly, "Owl. Griffon."  Smiling down at Babette as the itty bitty boar as she ran circles around the alchemist before she was picked up. "Caaaalm down, we won't leave you behind." Jareth trilled, earning him a scratch behind an ear. "You either." Glancing back at Lee she huffed a light laugh seeing him in armor. "Maybe we can look for more clothes for you while we're looking for wedding duds." Gently setting his familiar on the ground as they walked their way through their mansion to outside.

Their walk through floor three and into Delilah Village was peaceful, chatting idly about silly things with their familiars frisking about at their heels. It only took a moment and they were whisked away to the first floor. It had been a while since she'd last been among the hustle and bustle of the Starting City. Even now with the twenty-second floor having been unlocked, the place was still busy with NPCs and players alike. Eager to get away from all the people, Piera took Lee's hand and quickly lead them to their destination. The Central Cathedral was quite a sight and deserving of the name. Another couple was just leaving as they approached, holding the door open for them with smiles. Nodding her gratitude as they entered the building, the alchemist blinked, eyes adjusting to the low lighting inside, sunlight gently streaming through the stained glass windows.

Far along the aisle and row of pews, stood a priest in front of the altar. A blonde rather young looking NPC with the title and name of <<Priest James Aria>>. Turning upon hearing their approaching footsteps, the young man turned with a benevolent smile. "Welcome. Are you looking to prepare for your wedding?" Smiling a bit bashfully, Piera glanced at Lee before nodding and replying formally for the NPCs programming, "Yes, we are."

Beaming, the Priest replied, "So you two wish to be married? That is wonderful to hear! We will need to discuss the details of your wedding such as location, the size of the wedding, food, as well as the wedding rings. I can also help you find someone to wed you, or I could do it myself if you'd like."