Jevi

As Jevi gave Minako a look, hoping she would not go after the blonde, it seemed Minako interpreted the exact opposite of the message. "Oh no..." Jevi said into her glass as Minako stormed off to give chase. The brunette watched in horror as her friend made a b-line for the refreshment table, grabbing a glass of bright red fruit punch. Jevi already knew what he had planned, and quickly passed off her drink to Yuki, "Hold this for me please, sorry" and then she was off to quickly follow after the little firecracker. It was too late, however, as the contents of the glass were making their way through the air and into the blonde's face. Jevi could not help but wince a bit, feeling bad that this had escalated.. even though she was the one to initiate this entire altercation. Minako was able to share a few loud, angry words with the blonde before Jevi stepped up behind Minako and swung an arm around her abdomen. After pulling the girl back a few feet, still flailing her arms, Jevi turned her body and hoisted Minako up, carrying her under her arm. "Come on, enough of that." Jevi said through a strained voice as she quickly made her way towards the opening in the tent. 

Once outside, out of earshot of the party, Jevi sat Minako down on the grass. The taller woman lowered herself to a squat beside her and placed her hands on her shoulders. Jevi looked into her eyes, no look of anger or disappointment, just a straight face with a single cocked eyebrow. After a moment of silent starting, she cracked a small smirk. "I thought I had a bad temper." she said with a small chuckle. Then her expression turned a bit more stern, "Thank you, Minako. I appreciate you sticking up for me. I was pretty angry too but, we are at a public event. I wanted to let her know my piece, but I really didn't want to cause a scene..." she looked back over her shoulder at the tent, "Though... it looks like you took care of that just fine. Yes, she was kind of a bitch, and yeah.. she kind of deserved it for hitting me but..." 

"I knew I shouldn't have come here..." she said to herself under her breath. 

As she turned back to face Minako, she let out a heavy sigh, "Guess we probably aren't going to have much luck with finding dates here, huh." 

@Minako @Zajcica @NIGHT @Krysta 

((Permission was granted OOC by Minako to forcefully move her))

As Jevi sipped from her drink, she heard the quick approaching behind her. Turning her attention from the conversation with the other women, she saw a blonde girl about the same height as the boy she just picked up. She looked pretty angry as once innocent, blue eyes pierced Jevi like daggers. Jevi turned the rest of her body towards the woman and lowered her drink from her mouth. Before she could question the blonde's furious approach, a gloved hand swiftly met with Jevi's cheek. The slap rang pretty loudly throughout the tent, and the strike left a small, palm sized red mark on Jevi's caramel colored skin. There was no pain, only a small tingling sensation, and, of course, due to her natural mitigation, the tank took no damage at all.. indicated by the fact that the attacker's crystal did not change color. She honestly wished, in that moment, she was wearing her armor, so this blonde could get bitten in the ass by some thorns damage.  

So the boy with the dragon who fell was her boyfriend; made sense. And she was coming to his rescue; admirable. She made physical contact with Jevi; unacceptable. Jevi's head turned slowly back to the other woman, looking half a foot down at her. Her yellow eyes flared as the palm print on her face slowly faded and her natural skin color returned. "I don't remember threatening your boyfriend." she said, her voice like the calm before a storm, "I told him to keep an eye on his little dragon friend so it doesn't attack players trying to enjoy themselves at a party."  Jevi's temper was rising, but she needed to keep her cool, no need to cause any more of a scene. She crossed her arms at her chest and took a deep breath in through her nostrils, "The quest is called 'Training your Friend'.. obviously if its attacking players at a social event for no reason, it must not have been trained properly." Jevi then lowered her shoulders so her face was level with the blonde, the yellow of her irises accentuating as her eyes went a bit wider. The corner of her lips curled into a small, wry smile, "I have nothing against you or your friend.. but if you don't want to make it personal.. I suggest keeping your hands to yourself. I'm not a woman that you want as an enemy." Jevi returned to her upright position and winked at the girl, "Enjoy the party." She turned back to the small group of women, taking another sip of her drink that had been wasted due to the strike across her face. She shone Minako, her fiery young friend, a quick look that basically said 'don't push it any farther.'

@Krysta @Minako

Jevi found it interesting that the woman, who introduced herself as her apparent real world name Yuki, that she would rather use that name than the username she chose at the start of the game. To most players, their real world name was something they kept secret, as was in most video games, to avoid online creepers and stalkers. Here, however, she seemed very open about it.. so who was she to judge. "To each their own." the brunette said with a nod, "I, personally, like to use my username. I'd rather not allow my real name to spread around." That, and 'Alexandria', she felt, took away from the image she was trying to sell of herself. She noticed that, as the pink haired player took a small bow along with her introduction, that she wobbled a bit on her heels. Jevi's brows turned upward slightly with a smirk, she was happy to see that she was not the only one struggling a bit with these shoes. 

It turned out that Yuki was merely a level one player, who had never left the Town of Beginnings until this point. Jevi offered the girl a respectful nod, "Hey, good for you for taking the plunge to jump 20 floors to come to this event." Just as she spoke, there was quite the loud wail from a player, followed by a thud. Looking briefly over her shoulder, she saw a younger looking player who had just fallen on the ground. The woman simply sighed in disappointment, "Did he really have to scream that loudly as he fell? A bit unnecessary if you ask me." She said to her group of ladies as she turned back to face them. Minako had a bit more to add about the player as well. Apparently his dragon familiar had attacked her and a few other players, and had given another girl a panic attack. Jevi's face went from annoyance to that of disgust and anger. Without saying anything else, Jedi turned her back to the ground and pushed her sleeves up on her dress.

Her heels clacked against the dance floor as she moved to where the orange haired player sat in the center of everyone. Reaching a hand down towards him at first, as if to help him up, she instead passed by his arms and grabbed him by the lapels of his suit, hauling him up to a standing position. She stood a solid 6 inches above him, glaring down at him. "I hear your little dragon attacked my friend." Releasing his lapels, she took a few steps back, not breaking eye contact, "You need to keep an eye on your familiar, got it?" Turning her back to him, Jevi avoided the trail of punch that caused him to slip in the first place and returned to the, now trio, of women who stood together. "Let me know if that dragon causes you any other problems." Jevi said, reaching to grab a drink off of the silver platter held by the butler. As she sipped her drink, she realized that the butler was, in fact, a player, rather than an NPC. She would have asked, but Minako already beat her to it. 

@Minako @Zajcica @NIGHT @Vigilon

Jevi stopped in her step as Minako began to freak out at the screens appearing in front of her. Before she knew it, the girl was back out into the streets, quite a disappointed and angered look on her face. Jevi followed suit, standing in the doorway of the smithy with her hand on the frame. "Whats wrong?" Minako expressed her disdain with the quest, and explained to her what was wrong. "Eh?" Jevi questioned, opening up her own inventory to see that the three tusks she had collected were, in fact, still there. In fact, Jevi did not even have Minako's quest as an active quest.. Cardinal just wouldn't allow her to participate. "You've got..to be shitting me.." she said through grit teeth. 

The woman removed herself from the entryway and leaned against the outside wall of the shop, crossing her arms and closing her eyes for a moment. Finally, she exhaled a heavy sigh, "So what do you want to do then.." she started in a low tone that expressed just how done she was, "Do you wanna take a few to let our health and energy regernate and head back out? Or would you rather call it a day since I clearly can't be of any [censored] help." 

Even though she should have expected it, Jevi was not ready for Minako to leap upwards and wrap her arms around her. Shifting her foot and planting the tall heel of her shoe behind her, the taller brunette was able to just barely keep her balance and not make a scene by falling on her ass in the middle of the dance floor. "Hey, hey" the woman said, returning the embrace, though not nearly as tight and energetic as Minako's, "Has it really been that long?" she asked, not realizing the last time she had seen her friend was Halloween, and even then it was brief. Jevi smiled with a small laugh, shaking her head playfully at Minako's sob story about there being no available men for her. "You know, there is more to a party than just finding a man to bring home." she said out loud, though internally, she was a bit bummed to hear that.. since the hopes of finding a nice suitor to pick her up out of the dumps was one of the driving points that brought her here. The woman placed a hand on Minako's shoulder, "The nights still young, I'm sure more will show up soon." 

Jevi's eyes trailed to the side, trying of another reason for her absence other than 'got depressed, stayed home.' She finally let out a small sigh, "I really haven't done anything. Life's been pretty boring lately. Hence why I came here, hoping to see some old friends and.. possibly make new ones." The two players, almost in unison, turned to watch as another round of players walked into the event, one female and one male, though it appeared they were separate. As Jevi turned back towards Minako, she was already making her move to introduce herself. "I-ah-okay." Jevi said, left standing there awkwardly on her own. The woman reached her hand up towards the side of her head, pushing some of the brown locks that fell behind her ear. Unconsciously, she took another look around at the party to see if there were any players she recognized. She saw Jomei off to the side, speaking with another red headed girl.. and that was pretty much it. "Maybe this was a mistake.." she said to herself as she looked around again, not sure if she was looking for someone to talk to, the fastest way out, or something to drink. 

However, just as quickly as Minako had disappeared, she was back, dragging along an unsuspecting victim. The pink haired girl who had just walked into the party, already kidnapped by Minako who was dragging her over to the 'single girls table.' Jevi blinked a few times before shaking her head, "You can't just kidnap people Minako." she said with a small scoff, "Sorry, I'm Jevi." 

Jevi's Dress:
 

Jevi hated how she looked in a dress. She was always the tomboyish type and avoided as many school dances as possible to opt out of wearing a dress that would just make her feel.. girly. She had started to feel a bit more confident in herself, and explore her womanhood a bit more within the confides of Aincrad thanks to past lovers who made her feel valued, important, even beautiful. Everything changed for her after Grave up and left her, however. He was the first man she could truly say she loved, despite being that total pain in her ass. She had grown to like him more and more. But just like everyone else in her life, he abandoned her and just vanished off the face of Aincrad. Things with Ruby were fun.. and only helped build her confidence a bit more, but she would be fooling herself if she said she truly felt as deeply for Ruby as she did Grave. 

Her friendship with Minako, and that feisty girl's obsession with finding a boy to call her own, had ignited a small spark within Jevi; even if she didn't find someone she wanted to be with, maybe she could at least try and make more friends. Hell, maybe she wan't as cold of a bitch on the inside as she made herself seem on the outside. That being said, Jevi decided to dress up nice and make an appearance at this years Star-Crossed Gala. Donning a blue dress that started off as blue as the night sky on her shoulders, and transitioned into brighter blues as the fabric fell down her form like a waterfall in an hombre fashion. While her arms were covered with slim fitting sleeves, most of her back was exposed. She even let her hair down and tried to do a small bit of makeup, but only so much could be done to hide the bags under her eyes. Taking one last look at herself, she let the palm of her hands run down her cheeks while a small groan escaped her lips. "You already got this far.. might as well go." 

"...I've made a mistake.." Jevi said to herself as her yellow eyes scanned the party goers within the tent. From the quick look, she hardly knew anyone there. Finally, she caught glimpse of Minako who just left a prior conversation and was not on her own. She breathed a small sigh of relief through her nostrils before proceeding to cross the floor to meet with her friend. "I had a feeling you'd be here. Though I am surprised you don't have your arms around a man yet." she said with a small laugh. 

@Minako

As Jevi began to push herself back up onto her feet, she was nearly knocked back over again as Minako came rushing over, throwing her arms around the woman in an overly excited embrace. It caught Jevi a bit off guard, but she shone a small smile and pat the girl on the back with the hand that wasn't holding herself up. The brunette let out a small groan as Minako removed herself from atop Jevi, allowing her to fixate herself and sit upright. "It's alright. I'm excited that we finally found that last tusk too." Jevi's brows turned upward as her lips curled into a small smirk, "Hey, that's what happens when you go through hell... though I guess this wasn't dangerous.. just tedious as f***" she said with a small laugh, "We really have been connecting a bit over those few hours though." Finally, Jevi pushed herself up onto her feet and retrieved her sword from the dirt where it was stuck. "Yeah, lets head back." 

It was not a long walk back to the Town of Beginnings, and Jevi felt a small wave of relief as they passed through the invisible barrier into the safe zone. The woman walked with her hands resting within the pockets of her pants, the heavy iron plates on her boots and chest shifting and clanging with each step. Her attention turned to Minako who finally spoke up after a long bit of silence. She leaned in towards Minako to listen to what she had to say and whisper into Jevi's ear, to which the woman stopped in her tracks and turned to face Minako. "Of course I meant that." she said a bit sternly "It was their choice to follow you into SAO, which was deemed a perfectly safe game to play. How were you, or anyone else, supposed to know that we would get stuck here? You're in the same boat as everyone else, and if someone tries to blame you for this.. then tell them to f*** off! Or they can go through me." she banged her iron gauntlet on her chest plate, resulting in another clang of metal. 

After catching her breath, and calming herself down a bit, she heard the snorts of another boar pup nearby. Her head shifted quickly, and yellow eyes glared at her new target. She rose up to her full height and stormed her way over to the small, defenseless monster. "I swear.. if you don't drop the tusk.. then I'm gonna.."  Raising her sword up high over her head, Jevi straight down. Due to her blinding rage, she miscalculated, and the sharp edge of her blade cut into the dirt and stuck. "[censored]!" she shouted, dropping to a knee to try and pull the sword out. The boar took notice of her, and immediately turned and charged in for an attack. With a vicious squeal of a battle cry, the boar jumped its highest and collided with Jevi's cheek, knocking her onto her side. However, due to the enhancement from her armor.. yet again.. the boar magically exploded into crystals. As the woman's shoulder collided with the ground, her cheek red from the contact with the boar, she noticed the small screen that had popped up in front of her.. <<+1 Boar Tusk>> "FINALLY!!" she shouted

ID 125575
BD 2 Miss
MD 8 (7 Thorns DMG)
LD 11 +1 Boar Tusk

[0] Minako | 20/20 | 1/2 | 6 DMG 
[0] Jevi | 499/500 | 50/50 | 7 dmg | 2 Acc | 36 Mit | 7 thorns | 12 Bleed

Boar Younging:
0/5 [     ]

It did seem that Minako's last few strikes on the boars were not flukes, and that she was actually getting a hang of combat. That was the one good thing she was getting out of this at least.. For it felt like they've been out in the wilds for hours waiting for a damn boar tusk to drop. Jevi let out a groan as she looked towards the sky, at this point she needed a drink. Hell, she barely ever drank, but right now, she wanted one. Eyes peering down again, she saw another boar grazing just before it, not paying attention to the tall woman who lurked nearby. "Come on.. let this be the one.." she whispered to herself before shooting forward and slicing her blade through the hide of the small pig. The crystals faded and... no boar tusk. "Oh come the [censored] on!" she shouted, "How hard can it be for this [censored] game to give us one [censored] loot drop!" 

ID 125341
BD 7 Reaver
LD 5

[0] Minako | 20/20 | 1/2 | 6 DMG 
[0] Jevi | 499/500 | 49/50 | 7 DMG | 36 MIT | 7 thorns | 12 Bleed

Boar Younging:
0/5 [     ]

"Well, at least you're getting the hang of combat..." Jevi said, trying to look on the bright side as they struck down yet another boar pup with no rewards. She pat the brunette on the head before walking off a few feet in search of another boar. "Lets double our efforts. I'll head over this way and see what I can find. You, take a walk in that direction. Hopefully, one of these boars should have that last tusk." The tall grass crunched shifted under Jevi's heavy boots as she slowly moved forward, her curved sword in hand. From the grass beside her, she heard the squeal of yet another boar pup. Turning her attention to the monster, this one not catching her off guard, Jevi activated another sword art and tried to cut it down... again, missing the mark. Lucky for her, however, this boar pup was able to actually land an attack.. one that would, indefinitely, destroy itself due to her enhanced Heavy Armor. As the boar struck Jevi's thigh, it pulsed red for a moment before erupting into hundreds of tiny crystals. "Dammit, not this one either. Any luck?" she called over to Minako.

ID: 125339
BD: 3
MD: 7 (7 Thorns DMG)
LD: 6

[0] Minako | 20/20 | 1/2 | 6 DMG 
[0] Jevi | 499/500 | 50/50 | 7 dmg | 2 Acc | 36 Mit | 7 thorns | 12 Bleed

Boar Younging:
0/5 []

Minako was partially right.. it wasn't her fault that they couldn't kill the boars, but it also wasn't because of the boar's stats. Not only was Minako still maybe level 2 or 3, Jevi's stats were not that great for her level. She could hardly hold her own in a fight as well. However, she wasn't going to let Minako know that, she obviously looked up to her, and that was enough to boost Jevi's confidence just a bit. As Minako rose to her feet again, she squared off with the young boar and with a few skillful movements, she was able to take it out. Jevi grinned and clapped her hands together, "There you go! See? A little tough love and encouragement got you going!" After they had taken out another boar, and gotten another tusk on top of that, Jevi thought it was over. However, Minako brought up needing one more to complete the quest. Jevi thought about it for a moment before sighing, "[censored].. you're right.. I miscounted. Alright, lets find this last one and get out of here." 

Behind her, Jevi noticed rusting in the grass, like something was trying to sneak up on them. Gripping her blade in her hand, Jevi quickly spun around and swiped at where she thought the monster was. "Gotcha!" she shouted, before cutting through nothing but grass. About six inches back, out of her blade's reach, she saw the red eyes of the boar pup staring at her, and with a small squeal, it charge at Jevi. The woman picked up her foot that it went to attack, and pivoted so it ran right past her. "Your turn! Take it out!" 

@Minako

ID: 125321
BD: 1
MD: 4

[0] Minako | 20/20 | 1/2 | 6 DMG 
[0] Jevi | 500/500 | 49/50 | 7 dmg | 2 Acc | 36 Mit | 7 thorns | 12 Bleed

Boar Younging:
5/5 [     ]
3 damage on hit

Realizing she was now sitting on her own, Jevi decided to give Minako a moment before walking over to join her and her new friend who, surprisingly had not run away yet. As she took her seat, she was met with another player quickly rushing up on her other side. "Spencer!" she exclaimed in a cheery voice before reaching out to hug him. "I'm so happy you're here."  She turned to the other two players who she had nearly forgotten were sitting there, "This is my friend Minako, and this is.. uh.." She had not met the man yet, but she expected him or Minako to introduce themselves. 

Before they could get much farther into their conversation, the lights around them dimmed, meaning the show was about to begin. Taking center stage was the creepy NPC, Jack. He welcomed everyone, and went through his whole intro before things got weird.. His voice seemed to shift with the mood of the room, revealing that things were not going to be as relaxing as she expected. From the group, and from all sides, the undead began to pour in, their moaning and hissing being drowned out by the screams of those around them. Crowds began to push through the players, trying to make their way towards the exit. "Minako!" Jevi shouted as she was separated from her other friend, "Be safe!" She shouted, turning and running off with Spencer.

The women ran to the concession stand to purchase some items to boost her stats before meeting up with Spencer, who had also dragged in Teion and Ryo. Good, two other capable fighters.. we should be safe taking them on.
 

Purchasing
1 x Obnoxious Corndog x 700 col
1 x Funnel Cake x 1000 col
_____________________
-1700 Col

Consuming 
Obnoxious Corndog (+30 Mit)
Funnel Cake (+3 Dmg)

@Spencer @Teion @Ryo
 

Players continued to file in through the single entrance to the tent, filling up the seats that surrounded the ring in the center rather quickly. Still a few faces that she did not recognize, until the seat next to her was, quite quickly, taken. The energy and excitement from the individual next to her seemed to radiate, as if it could have given off a glow. Raising her eyes to look, she saw it was @Minako. Jevi's hooded gaze and sour expression lightened at the sight of her friend, "Minako, hey" she greeted with a small smile, "I'd say I didn't expect to see you here.. but this actually seems more like your scene than mine." she ended with a small chuckle. Jevi nodded her head, agreeing to Minako's initial statement, "Yeah. It's alright. Never really had too much Halloween fun before. Last year I tried.. but I went a bit out of my comfort zone."  She wrapped her arms about her slightly showing midriff and leaned forward, remembering her scantly clad Halloween costume she wore last year to make Ruby happy. 

"You know.. snacks would have been a great idea." Jevi said, adjusting back into a comfortable sitting position before looking around to see if there was any NPCs selling something to munch on. Minako, on the other hand, was looking at something else that she could sink her teeth into, rather, someone. Minako took interest in a male player sitting alone a bit away from where they were. Larger frame, shorter hair, hell.. Minako wasn't wrong, he was a bit attractive. Jevi looked to Minako as she continued to ogle at the man, "Well why don't you go talk to him? He's sitting by himself." 

"Hm? Oh I really haven't been up to much.." Jevi said, "You know.. just here and there... been in my shop.. a lot... not really.. crafting..  She spoke, trailing off towards the end of her sentence as to not lead on to Minako that she's been doing jackshit aside from waste away in her shop being depressed. 

Jevi sucked her teeth when she saw she was being waved over, I thought I was hidden well enough.. Gripping her curved blade in her hand, the brunette slowly rounded the corner of the hedge and glared at the three figured. She took a few steps closer, but did not close the distance much more than that. "We haven't trashed any of them. They're impossible to kill." With a quivering lip, the brunette raised her blade and pointed it towards the other three, "And how am I supposed to know that the three of you aren't another illusion? Another creation of that.. [censored] shadow thing?"  Her eyes looked between the three players, looking for any signs of aggression or that they might be doppelgangers. When the realization finally hit that, maybe they were actually Teion, Ryo, and Spencer, she dropped her guard, and let her sword clang to the floor before it disappeared back into her inventory.  "I'm.. I'm sorry... I just don't know who to trust anymore.." 

After taking a moment to collect herself, she rose her head to the three players, "Alright..Whats the game plan? Because I've had enough of this damn place playing tricks on me." 

Well, it had happened again. The depression hit her lick a ton.. maybe two tons, or bricks and it left her just wanting to be alone. After going through that hell with the Holy Dragon Alliance, getting stuck in some mansion where she was haunted by her past, and how insignificant she was to her friends still scarred her. Her brunette hair sprawled out over the pillow as she laid in her sorry excuse for a bedroom shoved into the corner of her forgery. It was always warm in her shop, though she preferred it that way. However, this one particular day, it finally got to her. She tossed and turned in her bed before finally sitting up. "F***!" she yelled "I'm sick of this s***!" She knew the only person that could pull her out of her depression was her, and letting her mind marinate in the negative atmosphere that filled the forgery was only going to make it worse. Fixing her dark hair up into a ponytail, with two tufts of hair framing her face, she equipped some clothes that could pass her for a decent human being. She needed to get off of the Fifth floor, the heat of the desert only agitated her more. She figured where else to go than the Town of Beginnings, usually there was something going on there that she could use to take her mind off of things.

As her body materialized onto the First Floor, she could see herds of players and NPCs alike moving in scattered groups through the square and towards the other side of town. Jevi was right to assume there was an event going on, per usual, but it must have been something big to attract this many people to it. Rather than scouring the message boards to find out what it was, Jevi, instead, decided to just follow along and see where everyone was going. Eventually, the crowds came to a halt in front of a large, vibrant colored tent. In front, a man in similarly dressed garb addressed the crowd, and welcomed them to his circus. Jack? Jevi thought to herself, Wasn't that the name of the guy who ran last year's Halloween event? If that were the case, maybe something spooky and exciting could get her blood pumping enough to cheer the hell up. 

Dropping 500 col to get into the show, Jevi moved through the parted canvas curtains that served as a doorway and towards the main event, or at least where the main event would be held. Yellow eyes scanned the slowly growing crowd for any familiar faces. The woman sucked her teeth when she saw absolutely no one she recognized. "Damn.. Already paid, guess I might as well get comfortable." 

Jevi wore a small smile on her face as Minako walked off to take down the last of the boar younglings. The two stared each other down for a moment before Minako went in for the attack, or what she believed was an attempt to attack at least. With a high swing, the girl was thrown off balance, knocking herself to the ground. Lucky for her, at least, the boar's trajectory as it charged at the player had been for where her chest once was, so it missed its attack as well. Closing her eyes, Jevi placed an open palm on her forehead, releasing a sigh through her nostrils. Am I really about to complete this whole quest for this girl..? she thought to herself before taking a few steps forward towards the downed girl. "Come on Minako, pull yourself together." Reaching out a hand, she offered to help the younger player up. "As for you.." she said, turning towards the little beast with her curved blade. Raising the sword up over her head, she swiped downwards to cleave the boar in two. However, the small animal was quick, and hopped to the side to avoid her blade. "Why you little bastard.." she cursed under her breath.
 

ID: 124146
BD: 4

Boar Younging:
5/5 [     ]
3 damage on hit

Jevi | HP: 500/500 | EN: 49/50

Trembling fingers rose to grasp at the hand that slowly choked the life out of her. The pain was nonexistent, but the threat of death was still very much present as her health bar continued to trickle down lower and lower. The curved sword that Jevi brandished against the vision of Opal clanged to the ground below her dangling feet as he continuously attempted to pry herself free from this evil form's grip. Despite how much strength she mustered, Opal's fingers were like stones; cold and unmoving. Golden eyes clamped shut, nearly giving in to the inevitable death she was going to face at the hands of this demon.

The pressure was finally released from her throat, dropping the brunette to the ground. Jevi rubbed at her throat, which held bright red wound marks from Opal's fingers, coughing and gasping for breath. Opal's form flickered from the image of the woman she once knew to a black ooze, similar to the monster that trapped them all here in the first place before releasing an inhuman scream and splattering into the ground. The strange substance then made its way back towards the mansion with haste.

With a few deep breaths, Jevi finally rose back to her feet and shoved her sword back into her scabbard. "I've just about had it with this damn place..." she said under her breath. From the mansion, she could hear Hestia's booming voice, summoning all of them back to the mansion so they could finish this thing off once and for all. With an expression as cold as the hands that were wrapped around her neck not moments earlier, Jevi stormed back towards the mansion the way she came... if she could find her way back. After traveling through different sized hedges, hoping she could find her way, Jevi stumbled upon another three figures. Hiding herself around the corner, Jevi peeked around at the forms of Ryo, Teion, and Spencer, all standing together. I can't be so sure that they're really them... it might be those shadow things...

@Spencer @Teion @Ryo

"A boar...what?" Jevi asked Minako, her dark hair shifting as she cocked her head to the side. Her eyes then trailed down to the armor she was wearing before letting out a small laugh "Oh, right. Thorns damage heh." Swiping open her menus, Jevi traded the accidental boar tusk over to Minako. "Alright, so what is that, 2 now? We just need one more right?" Looking around her general area, the woman did not see any young boars lurking in the grass around them. They may need to travel a bit farther out before running into another one. "I think its only fair that you take out the last one." Jevi said with a wink, "This is your quest after all.. only way you're gonna learn is by doing it." Taking a couple steps farther out into the fields, Jevi heard the rustling of a nearby bush, and the small tusks of a baby boar poking out from the shrubbery. "Look, there's one more. I'll be here to back you up if you need it."

@Minako

The woman's taunting seemed to work, despite not actually having the proper skills to gain the attention of a mob. The small boar's red eyes turned on Jevi, its nostrils flaring as it squared up with the woman. The young boar let out a squeal as it began to charge forward, but was met with a timely end as Minako's blade struck into the side of its hide, the tip of the blade poking through the opposite side of the monster before it shattered into red fragments of data. The brunette lowered her guard, letting out a small sigh of relief that the simple fight was finally over.. however her worries only returned when Minako exclaimed she did not receive the quest item needed, and only a little bit of col. Her head drooped for a moment before she looked up at the other brunette with a small smile and upturned eyebrows, "Nah, its alright. You keep it. You earned it." 

Just as Jevi was telling Minako to keep the money, she heard another squeal of a boar pup, one she had either not noticed, or one that had simply respawned in her blind spot. The beast rushed forward, leaping at the woman from behind and crashing into her armored back. As the small tusks of the monster collided with Jevi's heavy armor, a pulse of red light shot from her back, causing the boar pup to be thrown back onto the ground as mere fragments. "Huh?" Jevi said as she turned, seeing nothing but the small rain of red crystals as they dissipated into the ground. In front of her, a small screen rewarding her with one Boar Tusk. "Wait.. how did that happen?" 

ID 115295 | MD 7   | LD 13
3 (-36) = 1 Dmg to Jevi
9 Thorns Dmg to Boar Pup

[0] Minako | 17/20 | 0/2 | 6 DMG 
[0] Jevi | 479/480 | 38/40 | 7 dmg | 36 Mit | 7 thorns | 12 Bleed 

Boar Youngling 0/5 | 3 damage 

+1 Boar Tusk

@Minako

Yellow eyes grew in size, as her free hand slowly moved up towards her neck, where a pendant made of opal dangled. Thats right, Spencer had given this to her last Christmas, after he had seen how upset she was at Opal's death. Her hand balled into a fist around the opal, gripping tightly at the necklace before yanking it from her neck, the item disappearing into her inventory as an immediate reaction. That was the realization she needed to prove that this wasn't the real Opal.. which meant that wasn't the real Spencer. Jevi's eyes, which once held a look of confusion, despair, and sadness, turned to rage and anger as her brows lowered. "F*** you b****" she said before brandishing her curved weapon and rushing at the false woman. A random screech sounded out from the mansion, distracting the fake Opal for a moment. That gave Jevi the chance to rush forward and strike, though her assault proved fruitless as her blade simply crashed off of the fake Opal's armor as if it were made of stone. 

Piercing red eyes shot back to Jevi, and her hand followed, gripping around Jevi's throat. The unyielding pressure of the creature's cold, lifeless fingers tightened around the player's neck, lifting her up off of the ground. Jevi kicked her feet and pulled at Opal's hand to no avail, struggling to catch her breath. The green bar that hung in the corner of her vision very slowly began to deplete as the life was choked from her. 

The brunette fumbled as she rushed around the corner of the hedge maze, moving as quickly as she could to follow the pained voice of her friend. The girl was met with a dead end however, causing her to quickly turn around and try another direction. She stood for a moment, wearing a confused look on her face, when she realized that the different forked paths in front of her did not match the ones she saw moments before... as if she was in a completely different part of the maze. "What the hell..?" she said to herself under her breath before taking a few steps forward to take in her surroundings. From the path just to her left, a figure all to familiar to her ran by, and sprinted down the path just before her. The dirty blonde haired boy had not even noticed that she stood there as Spencer rounded the corner. "Spencer!" she called out to him, with no response whatsoever. "Spencer!!" She called a little bit louder.. still no response. 

Suddenly the man stopped, as if he had heard her pleading, and turned around to face her. His eyes seemed frantic, looking for his own escape, still not noticing the brunette that stood before him. "I'm right here.." she said, her voice sounding desperate for her friend to acknowledge her as he walked forward, not even looking at Jevi. Behind Spencer, a dark silhouette began to take shape, as if it had formed from the shadow of the hedges far across from her. A sound that was not noticeable to her at first became all to audible as all other sounds seemed to fade, the clacking of high heeled boots walking against the brick ground. The female's figure became much more visible as she continued forward, with features she remembered too well... at least of the woman before she had changed. platinum blonde hair fell over one of her once honey colored eyes.. which were now replaced with piercing red orbs that matched the bright lips that curled into a smirk. "But... but you're dead.." Jevi said with wide eyes as she stumbled backwards, unsure of what or who she was looking at. The red smirk became only more sinister as the figure of Opal ripped her long katana from its scabbard and cut through Spencer, causing him to fall to his knees.
 

"And so is he..." she said in a voice that resembled Opal's, but sounded much more twisted and demonic. 

"Je..vi.." Spencer said in a whisper, his eyes losing color as they now looked into her's. Blood began to trickle from the sides of his mouth, the wound on his back creating a much larger puddle that covered the bricks he knelt on. Finally, the boy's lifeless body collapsed, though his eyes never left the brunette's. "Nononono" Jevi said as she stumbled back again, falling on her behind. "This isn't real..this isn't real." 

The brunette looked around, and saw no immediate signs of danger to her. Everything seemed pretty quiet, and, despite the air of the greenhouse still being a bit muggy, it was nice to get a fresher breath of air. Jevi would let out a small sigh, "This peace probably won't last for long.." Slowly, she began to take small steps forward, taking notice of the vines that tried to reach where she stood, tapping at the glass like the grubby fingers of kids looking into an aquarium. The poking of the greenery became a bit more forceful, chipping at the glass little by little. The sudden voice from behind her caused her to let out a small yelp as she quickly turned around to view just who had crept up on her. She recognized the noirette as Hestia, one of the members of the guild she had little interactions with. "For f***s sake Hesita... how do you walk so silently with such heavy armor.." After taking a sharp breath, yellow eyes looked over to the woman, "Of course I remember your name, we-" Jevi was cut short by a shrill scream, what sounded like that of a man. It did not take her long to recognize the voice as that of Spencer. 

The brunette's hardened face turned to that of concern as she spun around once again and rushed out the open door of the greenhouse. "Spencer!" she shouted, as she ran towards the entrance of what she believed was a garden.. but found out soon that it was a maze of tall, overgrown hedges. Weeds and long branches grew out from the sides of the giant shrubs, making it a bit tough for Jevi to simply rush through to find her way to her friend who seemed to be in some sort of danger. "Spencer I'm coming!" she shouted again as she found herself at a fork in the maze, not taking long to decide to move down the path to the right. 

Group 2

A single brow slowly rose as Jevi continued to look across the table at the boy, who seemed to pay no attention to the woman who sat across from him. Crossing her arms at her chest, she let her shoulders press against the back of her chair. As she expelled a small sigh, she opened her mouth to speak again.. but was soon interrupted by her companion. Dustin immediately began to play the "bad cop" role, brandishing his sword and threatening the man after he ignored Jevi's question. The woman simply sat there as Dustin laid out the accusations, her teeth grinding behind her closed lips, just hoping he would pipe down soon. As if someone flipped a switch all of a sudden, the boy sat down with an innocent smile on his face, claiming he did not want to hurt the other player. Jevi simply glared at Dustin when he began ordering drinks, asking if she wanted something as well. Her eyes followed him as he leaned into Jevi, saying he was probably going to make a bad decision "You think?" Jevi said back with a growl, trying not to raise her voice. 

There was finally silence as three coffees arrived at the table, one being passed to Jevi, despite her not wanting one. "...you finished?" she said to Dustin with a sidelong glance. "Now" she said, turning back to the boy who's dinner they had interrupted. "I had no intent of coming in here.. relating you to a string of killings. If you really had a hand in that, then you wouldn't be in an inn so close to the town. Am I right?" Jevi took the drink she had pulled towards her and rose it to her lips, taking a sip. "But you know of him at least, from that pretty relaxed comment you made about him." she said with an added smirk. "I don't care what you did to get marked as a criminal, and this guy over here sure isn't going to try and do anything about it either. All we want to know, is if you can point us in the direction of Wyson." Jevi took one more glace at Dustin as she rose her coffee to her lips again, "And since you are such a gentleman, I'm sure you'll have no problem picking up the price of our friend here's dinner.. and the drinks you ordered."

@Dustin @Froppy

Jevi felt a bit of relief that Teion was willing to comply with her request to get the hell out of there. The kid was really starting to creep her out, and his wailing screech that came from him as the purplette scooped Noot up into her arms. "Jeez, pipe the f**k down you brat.." Jevi said under her breath, before she noticed the shadows in the corners of the room accumulating into a single form just behind Connor. The figure rose up and screamed at them, like a mother protecting its child, with both a frightening terror and desperation in its voice. As its voice sounded out, a burst of its dark energy jumped out from its body like static electricity, knocking objects all about the room over. A shadowy arm rose, pointing slender fingers at the two women, demanding that they be destroyed. Wide golden eyes shifted from the tall figure to the other side of the room, where the dolls that once sat lifelessly on the shelf began to move and come to life. The vibrant color in their eyes had been completely blackened out, though the rest of the features on their face remained frozen. The ceramic and plastic figured moved slowly at first, getting used to their newly movable parts.. but they soon picked up speed, heading directly towards the two women. 

She allowed Teion to rush past her, holding the precious cargo of one baby penguin in her arms, before turning to follow after. Jevi felt the cold, lifeless grasp of one of the dolls as it grabbed onto her ankle, with strength that seemed impossible for a figure of its size. "Get the hell off me you creep." she cursed, trying to shake the doll lose. Suddenly, the tiny figure's mouth opened, the plastic along the side of its lips tearing, opening up even wider than usual, to reveal hundreds of razor sharp teeth. With quick motions, it sunk down on Jevi's ankle, causing her to stagger and fall to a knee. "F**k!" she shouted, before reaching back and pulling the ceramic creep from her boot and throwing it at another approaching doll. By the time Jevi regained her footing and turned to follow Teion, the woman had made her way up into the attic, with the door closing behind her. 

Now was not the time to shut down and wait for anyone else, she needed to get out of this mansion and get back outside. Rushing forward, Jevi burst from the room and down the hall, quickly turning and rushing down the stairs. Due to the small legs of the dolls, they struggled to follow after Jevi, one or two of them tumbling to the following landing as they tried to use the stairs normally. The woman's first attempt to run was the front door, which was, of course, guarded by thick thorns and vines. The woman began to frantically look around for another passageway outside, only to find two more doors along the back of the staircase. With the dolls quickly making their way down the stairs, some throwing themselves down the flight of stairs to catch up to the woman, she had no other choice. The brunette quickly opened the door and slammed it shut behind her.

Leaning her back against the door, Jevi stood there for a moment catching her breath. She felt a bit of relief as she took in a deep breath of fresh air, accompanied by the fresh scent of various plants around her. "Looks like I'm in some sort of green house.." she said to herself as she took a step away from the door and began to slowly walk to the other side of the small, glass room. As she stepped past the long tables, she looked at the various plants that the greenhouse sustained, wondering how, if no one lived in this house, they kept themselves alive. 

Jevi and Teion each turned from each other with the introduction of a third voice; a young boy who came into view from a hiding spot they had not noticed before. The boy, who's name was Connor, told them about how his father owned the house they were currently in, and about the workers he had befriended before they disappeared. The whole story did not sit well in Jevi's gut, and her normal, kind instinct that would kick in when a child was around did not. No, instead only her survival instinct remained. Even as the child exchanged an adorable greeting with the baby penguin, Jevi wanted out. The boy desired the penguin, saw him as a gift from the two before going to see his father again. Teion tried to explain to him why they could not let Connor keep Noot, and that they were currently trying to find Spencer so they could return him. Jevi stepped forward, placing a hand on Teion's shoulder, who was crouched before the boy, "Teion, grab Noot." she tried to avoid making eye contact with the young, now slightly confused boy, "We need to get out of here. I have a very bad feeling about this.." Teion had not explained to Jevi what she meant by her question about 'being real.' However, she had her suspicions about what she was going to say.. and if that were the case, this innocent looking child was not who he seemed.