Arabelle

And then, Mishiro stopped talking. 

Arabelle quirked a brow at her friend. She had already grown used to the rather dull girl's silence, but it did come off as a bit disconcerting at times. Like she would just suddenly leave a conversation hanging. The small purple-haired girl considered bringing up something else, but she figured the girl probably needed to concentrate.

Like... it was evident from her movements that she was still new to this.

She followed up with a weaker AoE to cover up for the mobs her friend missed. Finding her balance, she ignited her scythe and steadily unleashed three wide swings at the mobs' general direction, strong enough that her hair blew back with the breeze. Two hit. Two missed. They were moving rather unpredictably. "Woah-- hey!" Arabelle slammed her axe down on a zombie that dared to touch her with its filthy muddy hands with a vengeance. 

It was on her clothes. Ew.

~~BINGO BOOK

Arabelle smirked at her friend's input. Always the logical person, Mishiro was! God, she sounded the exact same as Claude. Give her any additional knowledge and she'd be stuck with two mega-nerds. 

And good with an axe, Mishiro was not.

She had to restrain a laugh as the girl clumsily swung her weapon around.

"Outside the tent...?" The small purple-haired girl had to tilt her head in thought. "They can't reach the roofs, that I'm sure. So if they're looking for places to recover, there's always that! Other than that... I came from the other side of town, just so you know, and even if it was overrun by zombies, there were none of those places. Ergo, those consumables are most probably limited to here."

The possibility of players coming back was small though. Unless the event stretched on for too long, they would already have gotten all that they needed. If anything, this place was perceived to be where it all started. Heck, in video games, this was where the final boss would show up!

Oh, the zombie was recovering. It barely had any HP left, so she gave it a simple flick with her scythe. And just like that, it died and their first group of mobs were over and done with.

~~BINGO BOOK

Arabelle allowed her ashen eyes to wander. She found a section of the tent where players seem to be entering and exiting out of. Some carried items that looked very close to the ones they'd consumed.

"Oh, cute." She pointed that section out to her friend with a smirk. "The game gave us nice things to go along with this event. Well, there's your answer, Shiro-chan."

It was about time they actually started. The small purple-haired girl leveled a glare at the zombies still inside the tent. They were clamoring all over the chairs, knocking them over in an effort to get to the NPCs and players. Thankfully, their killing an NPC did not seem to come with the effect of also turning them into a zombie. With the amount of NPCs living in the Town of Beginnings, it would've been an awful mess. Messier than it was now anyway.

"Ready? I'm heading in!"

With that proud announcement, she jumped straight into a group of smaller, weaker zombies clustered together and unleashed her Sword Art. Three instantly died upon coming into contact with her weapon while another... stayed alive with a sliver of an HP left. It growled at her and slowly started to amble forward.

Oh, this was the troublesome part. Of course they weren't just going to be plain old mobs.

~~BINGO BOOK

"--I think you'd know how to distinguish them."

Arabelle prepped her scythe and consumed her free buff. "I'm glad to be working with you today, Shiro-chan! Oh, when was the last time we did something like this together?" She already knew the answer to that and it was rather d e p r e s s i n g. Despite calling the girl her best friend and all, they had literally never fought by each other's side since day one. Well, maybe... if sparring without enhancements counted, but that was admittedly 90% of Arabelle receiving a one-sided beating and 9% of Mishiro lecturing her and 1% of her actually doing things right. If it wasn't obvious enough already, she wasn't the best at martial arts. 

That wasn't any good. There was something fighting at each other's sides as equals gave that beating each other up didn't. "Need a scythe? I've got my old one," she offered. Eyeing the axe at the girl's side, she traded over Shikama Douji. Considering the other girl's weapon of choice, it was likely she knew already: martial arts wasn't the best for eliminating large hordes of creatures like this. "Just send her back when we're done and we're all good. I... kinda have an attachment to her, even if she's weaker than my usual."

~~BINGO BOOK

"Eeeeee!"

Gross, gross, gross!

Without even looking, Arabelle lopped off another head with her scythe. A loud thud, followed by a fainter one - before the decapitated mob returned to dust. The small purple-haired girl had been enjoying a nice leisurely walk to the latest Halloween craze there was when all of a sudden, the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees and literal zombies started bursting from the ground. What the heck? This was supposed to be a safe zone! What was it with safe zones and events invading said safe zones lately?

An event...

Ashen eyes blinked at the halfway-ruined but still colorful flyer on the board. For this to happen while a rather peculiar circus with its suspicious NPC in town... it was too much to be a simple coincidence... and she happened to recall one of her closest friends expressing interest in attending just some days ago. She was not concerned. Not at all. Baka! Mishiro could handle herself. But she couldn't stand the thought of leaving Claude's sister to the wolves, when going in and checking would only spare a little trouble for her. 

Arabelle slammed the butt of her scythe on one mob and reversed her grip to slash at another. As soon as the dirty little nuisances were all handled, she took to the roofs and sped towards the site.

Sure enough. Majority of the zombies were coming from her destination. She searched the outside and shouldered past fleeing players and NPCs - oh, and the occasional annoying undead, but there were some that were too strong and other players had to step in to handle those for her - and pushed past the tent flaps--

Wait, why the hell were they still charging for entrance?

She let out an exasperated puff of air. Thankfully, it wasn't all for naught. Arabelle found her friend beside a treasure chest full of free goodies. "Hey, Shiro-chan! What happened?" She took as much as she wanted, just for good measure, as Mishiro brought her up to speed. Shady ringmaster. Lured everyone in with the promise of a nice circus act. Well, turns out they were the circus act. And now they were stuck fighting these guys for god knows how long. S i g h. It was the Rain Minion event all over again! She realized she took too much and dropped a few back into the chest. Arabelle grabbed her friend's hand. "Alright, loser. There are the strong ones and there are the weak ones. Obviously, we're going for the weaker stuff and leaving the others to the frontliners. Believe me, they're here."

--She whirled around and slammed the blunt end of her scythe against the head of a zombie that was practically already falling apart. It burst into data fragments as soon as her blow connected.

"I think you'd know how to distinguish them."

@Mishiro

"( ˘ ³˘)♥"

Quote

SENDING:

• [T1 - Perfect] Elven Eye -- Enhancements: Keen, Keen, Keen

Name: Minuet in G Major, BWV Anh. 114
Your Profession: Performer
Your Rank: 2
Roll ID: 124352
Roll Result: 9 (LD: 10)
Item Type: Support Song
Tier: 1
Quality: Uncommon
Enhancements: [x1] HP Recovery
Description: [reference] A simple piece that restores a small amount of HP when played. Recorded on a rectangular blue crystal with a small black phoenix etched into one of its sides. 
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/16480-f11-r2-performer-magnolia/?do=findComment&comment=582344

Name: Air on the G String
Your Profession: Performer
Your Rank: 2
Roll ID: 124354
Roll Result: 12 (LD: 1)
Item Type: Support Song
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: Familiar Sight [+2 LD when attempting to find a familiar]
Description: [reference] The second movement of Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major played on a piano. Its slow, soothing tunes can attract friendly creatures and raises a player's success in finding one of them to tame. Recorded on a rectangular blue crystal with a small black phoenix etched into one of its sides.
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/16480-f11-r2-performer-magnolia/?do=findComment&comment=582344

[Swimsuit Image]

Arabelle was having lots of luck with debuff songs recently, so she thought to try it on expanding her collection of support songs. They weren't as good as the crystals Alchemists offered, but they did give their own buffs which were limited only to her profession. She slid open the lid and warmed up her scales, starting off with a simple beginner piece she already knew by heart. To her delight, the performer crystal accepted the recording and she happily picked it up to check her enhancements.

Uncommon.

Yeah, whatever. It was an easy piece, anyway. The small purple-haired girl dismissed it into her inventory and flipped to the song she had marked down for a Familiar Sight.

Quote

To: Huginn

Beach party at Floor 24. Shiro-chan's here with me. I know something happened with you guys. But if you keep passing up chances, you'd find it harder to come by them further down the road. Consider it another piece of advice from your wingwoman! ;)

Name: Flohwalzer
Your Profession: Performer
Your Rank: 2
Roll ID: 122866
Roll Result: 11 (LD: 6)
Item Type: Debuff Song
Tier: 1
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: [x2] Hypnosis
Description: [reference] A rather simple piano piece. Recorded on a rectangular blue crystal with a black phoenix etched to one of its sides. A dark energy swirls in spirals within -- "Wait, this wasn't supposed to be a debuff crystal! Ah, well, a rare craft is a rare craft!" -- Somehow, it produces a suffocating sound wave that disorients an opponent when played.
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/16480-f11-r2-performer-magnolia/?do=findComment&comment=580578

Name: Moonlight Sonata
Your Profession: Performer
Your Rank: 2
Roll ID: 122869
Roll Result: 12 (LD: 5)
Item Type: Debuff Song
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: Perpetuate
Description: [reference] "A poem from me to you." Mournful, meditative, lamenting. The quiet melancholy of the first movement gradually fades in the lighter rhythm of the second. Cheery, playful, a summer flower in the midst of two chasms. The sonata comes to a pause only to accelerate to the tempestuous theme of the last movement. Tumultuous, representative of unbridled raw emotion, reminiscent of a tragedy's climax. "I shall see this lonely tale through to the end."
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/16480-f11-r2-performer-magnolia/?do=findComment&comment=580578

The pianist led them forward, ever forward, her hand gently clasped around their wrist. They could back away if they wanted to. A few steps up the stairs, she looked over her shoulder to meet them at eye-level. "I haven't seen you in a while and I did disappoint with my last encore, so humor me for a bit will you?" Arabelle smiled, cold yet all-knowing. "Take a seat. I'll be recording this as a craft too, so stay quiet, okay?"

She seated herself in front of her piano and straightened her music sheets. Skimming through them once again, she dismissed her latest craft to her shop inventory and set down another empty Performer Crystal.

"Close your eyes and listen. Don't even look at me. Do you know how rarely I say that? Yes, rarely. Appreciate it." The small purple-haired girl breathed in deeply and her fingers hovered over the first notes. "A poem, from me to you."

"Hmhm~. No need to apologize if it wasn't intentional." 

And she meant it. Arabelle wasn't mad at her teammate per se - Kirbs was just doing her job as DPS after all, and she was more concerned with herself and her lack of progress - though that was almost subject to change at the other girl's next words. She felt a small twinge of annoyance. Was that supposed to be reassuring? It sounded condescending at best; like she was weak enough that she had to attack first so they could chalk it up as some sort of "contribution" on her part before the other player went in and killed it in one Sword Art. Yeah, no, she didn't like being pitied. 

But - the small purple-haired girl glanced back at her partner and her soft smile - she would let that pass! Probably just a bad choice of words. It was kind of hard to stay annoyed at the redhead when she was being this nice.

"Another quest, you say?" Arabelle considered it. She watched the other DPS player kill one of the already-weakened mobs. Charging up a Sword Art, the scythe wielder quickly followed up and cleaved one unlucky Wurm in half. Her swing sent a shockwave that lashed at another just a ways behind it. Weaving gracefully in and out of attacks, the small player reappeared at a safer distance and glanced at her EN. One last round of attacks should do it! "Sounds fun! How about we kick Dustin out and do it with just us girls for a change?"

Dustin went in and pummeled Party 1's only Rain Minion with full HP to death. It went flying, HP dropping so fast that it disintegrated before it hit the ground. Freaking overkill! It took all of Arabelle's will not to laugh and look like a maniac in the middle of a battlefield; it was not a good look in her opinion, despite what all those TV shows tried to tell them otherwise. The rest of the horde looked up at their fallen comrade in horror but still, they pressed on like the annoyingly persistent things they were.

Five more. Arabelle chanted this to herself like a mantra as - with considerable difficulty - she hoisted her scythe up to deflect attacks coming her way. Fighting for too long on critically low energy levels had its adverse effects, it seems.

"I'm good!" she called out. If there's another, surprise wave after this, I'm gonna ditch and go insane. "Energy-wise though? Not so much. Give me time to regenerate and I'll attack!"