Arabelle

Arabelle needed a break. From questing, from doing errands for another player in exchange for Col, and from playing the piano in her shop. But don't get her wrong. She loved playing the piano. But practicing songs for three hours straight--now that was really tiring. She briefly contemplated sending one of her friends a message and had scrolled past a few names when she noticed an invitation pinned to the bulletin board next to her. A party invitation. How interesting. The short-statured girl stepped closer to the board, reading through the contents of the invitation. It seemed that a player had been nice enough to organize a party for everyone, to lift the depressing atmosphere that had been floating over Aincrad for the past few days. She took only a moment to decide before marking the place on her map and leaving the invite pinned on the bulletin board in case a few other players wanted to join.

Maybe half an hour (and a few wrong turns) later, Arabelle stared at the party's supposed venue. If she weren't so conscious about how she looked on the outside, she would've worn an incredulous look on her face. This was the venue? She had expected a smaller-sized party. And renting ballrooms just for a few hours cost lots of Col, didn't it? "What a nice player," Arabelle commented, her voice only heard by the crow perched on her shoulder. The crow nuzzled its head against her cheek in response. Arabelle continued talking. "You wouldn't scare them away, would you, Moondust? Ah, on a second thought, I guess I look a bit too shady for the event now. Dressed in all black with a crow familiar." She smoothed the folds of her short long-sleeved black dress and gently patted her familiar's head. 

Having spent too much time lingering outside the venue, Arabelle composed herself and made her way into the ballroom. She was one of the first guests to arrive, and the venue seemed to look even bigger on the inside. She took her surroundings in for a moment, staring in awe at the huge chandelier, and approached the small group of players that was already forming. "Hello~" she greeted with a friendly smile. "I'm Arabelle." Then, addressing the blonde-haired girl (@Novafire), the one she supposed was the host of the party, "Are you the host? Lovely party you have here. I wasn't even aware there as a place as grand as this in Aincrad..."

"Yeah," Arabelle didn't let her guard down as she spoke. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me." That was easier said than done, though. She could understand why Pinball was concerned. From the looks of it, he didn't have any Hate generating skills and could only keep the attention of the mob by attacking it. And if she happened to step into its aggro field or made an attack while his Hate value was still too low... she didn't want to think of the outcome. So, she kept her distance from the boy and the mob, keeping watch of both their movements and their HP values.

Watching Pinball fight was like watching a well-directed scene from an action movie. He was surprisingly adept at wielding his spear and was quick on his feet. He seemed to be familiar with the mob's movements, as his quick reaction at the mob's attack suggested, and most importantly he knew how to keep his balance (something which Arabelle had a hard time doing). Her first impression of the boy was definitely not going to last. One flashy, five-hit Sword Art later, the mob seemed to have been overwhelmed and Arabelle prepared to jump in. It seemed to be a common newbie mistake though, as her quest partner quickly warned her against attacking. "Got it. Thanks," she acknowledged. Slightly dismayed, she shifted back to her defensive stance and continued watching the battle. 

- Enemies - 

River Lizzer: 60/270 HP | 81 DMG 

- Players - 

Pinball: 540/540 HP | 37/54 EN | 3 EVA | 3 ACC | 14 DMG 
Arabelle: 20/20 HP | 2/2 EN | 4 DMG

Arabelle had already attempted this quest. With another player, a vibrant girl with blonde hair named Spangie. Speaking of which, she hadn't seen the girl around ever since they took the quest. Not even a PM, or an accidental meeting (the likes of which prompted them to take the quest together, even though they both knew they could've soloed it easily). She closed the building's door behind her as she left and stared vacantly at her surroundings. Maybe the phoenix tamer was just busy with her newly-opened shop. Arabelle looked down and nudged a small pebble forward with her foot, a habit she had been developing these days. But it wouldn't have hurt to send a PM, right...? The girl continued forward, not paying much attention to where she was going, absentmindedly nudging the pebble forward as she moved along the streets. Maybe...maybe Angie just forgot.

She stopped. Around her was an open space, a small plaza in the center of the town, and sitting on the bench just a few steps away from her was a girl...with blonde hair. Arabelle moved forward, noticing a man clad in knight's armor approach the girl as well, and stopped a little too late. The girl...wasn't her friend. Her hair and her eyes weren't as obnoxiously bright as Angie's. But she was too close to the odd pair now, so she proceeded forward with a smile. Cursing herself for being a bit too clingy. No, clingy wasn't the right word. "Is that a quest I just heard about?" Arabelle questioned, the usual cheer returning to her demeanor. There was only one quest offered in this little village, so the two players would immediately know what she was talking about. "If you guys are forming a party, I'd like to join in, too...if that's alright with you."

Arabelle had previously been walking a few steps behind Pinball, but upon hearing his response, she skipped forward a few steps and subtly attempted to get a look at his face. She wasn't really sure what he meant by his statement; he was probably just stating a fact, but she detected the tiniest hint of a lack of confidence in the way he said it. He turned his head to the side (her side), and Arabelle did so too, pretending she wasn't looking just a few moments earlier. She decided to push her point. "Well, in Floor One, you kind of are," she pointed out. 

Noticing that her companion was fixated on something, she curiously followed his gaze. He had been looking at a stream to her right. But weren't they supposed to stick to gathering...? Arabelle looked back at him inquisitively, only to have him march past her claiming he was going to go fishing. What an indecisive person I've paired up with, she thought as she watched him bring out a fishing rod from his inventory. She took a few steps towards him but remained a safe distance away, in case he fished up something dangerous.

And fish up something dangerous he did! Arabelle reached for her axe and retreated a few steps back as the boy successfully reeled in a...weird blue-scaled lizard creature wielding a curved dagger. It was just a loot mob, judging from its HP bar, and it was something Pinball could probably handle by himself. If not, she could always back him up with her...three HP potions. And her 4 DMG stat. Their level gap was too big for them to safely engage in combat together, she realized. Arabelle took a few more steps back, still gripping her axe and assuming a defensive position, and watched as he quickly switched into battle mode. She nodded to him as he looked over his shoulder. On the first try, too. What an unlucky person I've paired up with...

- Enemies - 

River Lizzer: 270/270 HP | 81 DMG 

- Players - 

Pinball: 540/540 HP | 54/54 EN | 3 EVA | 3 ACC | 14 DMG 
Arabelle: 20/20 HP | 2/2 EN | 4 DMG

--Thread Summary--

> Arabelle
2 SP
200 Col
Familiar [no enhancements]
<<Crow Tamer>> title

> Macradon
1 SP
200 Col

Arabelle tensed as Vigilon made his attack, ready to jump in right after. She watched as the player called out a small, white dragon (his familiar?) and attempted to execute some type of combo attack. Arabelle inched closer but quickly found herself moving backward as she witnessed her teammate miss his attack. Welp. I guess I'll have to wait for a little longer. If she didn't know how difficult it was to wield a sword, she would've laughed at his failure. But she knew--and experienced firsthand--how difficult it was, so she remained silent about it, her facial expression unchanging as she observed the ongoing battle.

Meanwhile, Outlander hadn't chosen to attack yet. She cast him a quick gaze and surmised that he was probably waiting for Vigilon to accumulate enough Hate as well. Avalanche dealt enough damage to be taken seriously, after all. She turned her head and returned to silently observing the battle, waiting for the right chance to strike.

[WC: 161]

In the end, @Pinball decided on material gathering. Arabelle nodded her assent and kept an eye out for recording crystals as they walked. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Pinball was searching too. Nothing in the area stood out to her, and she could see that Pinball had also failed. We're still kind of close to the safe zone, after all. "Let's give it three tries, then," Arabelle suggested. "Or four, if you want. We don't want to spend the whole day failing material searches now, do we?"

They kept walking, and eventually, the town gates were no longer in sight. Arabelle took note of the lack of conversation and took it upon herself to start one. "So you're that strong already, huh?" she said, referring to his statement about floor one mobs not dropping anything for him. "Are you also working to join the front lines?"

[WC: 152]

"I'm fine," Arabelle said in reply to her friend's question. Her gaze shifted over to her own HP bar, and also @Spangie's positioned underneath hers. 29 HP. 160 HP. And the mobs were almost dead--just one remaining. Yep. The short scythe-wielder briefly recomposed herself. We're definitely fine. She jumped in as her friend blocked an attack, and swung her scythe somewhat clumsily. The weapon's massive green blade left a long gash across the Nepent's lower body, and the mob's HP went down below the halfway point. Arabelle smirked. "You're right. This is no fun as well."

But. That meant the mob's attention was now on her. The Nepent turned to her threateningly, its vines whipping about it. The purple-haired girl found her balance and moved backward, holding out her scythe before her, its massive blade serving as a minimal form of protection. She swung her blade, batting most of the vines away, but a few got past and landed hits on her undefended right side. 

[WC: 165]

Arabelle nodded and immediately took a few paces backward, distancing herself from the upcoming fight. The quest mob neared the team, the trembling of the ground getting stronger as it did. Arabelle took a few steps up a nearby hill (not the hill from where the mob came from obviously) where she would spectate until Vigilon called for her. Avalanche was close enough that she could see its HP bar now and it briefly paused in its advance, raising its big fists as if to smash Vigilon to the ground. Of course, he wasted no time in charging the enemy and effectively stunning it with a mid-leveled Sword Art.

She didn't plan on jumping in, even before Vigilon told her to stay put. If she accidentally generated a critical hit, and he wasn't able to land another hit... She shivered at the possible outcome. How much Hate did he generate with that, anyway? 

[WC: 153]

"Moondust..." Arabelle tested. She took some more birdseed out of the pouch and held it out to the crow, watching with delight as it pecked at the seed hungrily. Crows were normally scary things, but she thought this one was cute. Maybe she was just biased cause it was her familiar now. She giggled and patted it on the head, then guided the crow back to her shoulder. It rubbed its head against her cheek as a gesture of affection(?), and she turned back to Lil' Mac with a grin. "Yep, it suits him. Moondust it is!" 

Arabelle was tempted to play with her new crow--Moondust--a bit more, but they were outside the safe zone and Lil' Mac would probably get bored. So she turned and started walking in the direction they came from, gesturing for her new friend to follow her. "Well, that's all I needed to do," she said, a bit disappointed that she didn't get to talk to him as much as she wanted to. Maybe she'll be inviting him along on another quest. "Wanna walk back to the safe zone with me?"

[ooc: Closing the thread in my next post! :3]

[WC: 186]

"That's--I'm so..." Arabelle stopped speaking and stared at Vigilon's back. She wasn't normally one to empathize, but his story was quite...sad. I'm sorry, she wanted to say, but she doubted Vigilon hadn't heard those words yet. It's been two years. He probably didn't need to hear those words anymore. She focused on another part of their conversation. "Did you mean...player killers?" Arabelle asked. She expected a 'yes,' but she might as well clarify. Naturally, she was completely oblivious to the type of conflict between her teammates. She'd actually assumed that it was some sort of bitter rivalry or something. "They are a bunch of trouble for everyone."

Arabelle smirked at Vigilon's remark. "Got stuck in a blizzard once? Shouldn't you have prepared for another occasion?" she teased, referring to the boy's lack of winter clothing. Arabelle wasn't any better, though. She was wearing her warmest clothes, though they weren't exactly the best choices for the wintry floor.

A distant rumbling sound brought the three players into 'combat' mode. Arabelle drew her battle axe and stepped closer to Vigilon out of instinct. I'm not scared. Definitely not. I'm only stepping close to you so I can hear you in case you need to add something else to our general strategy! Baka! A part of her wanted to say, just to mess with the guy. But they needed to be serious now since the quest mob was close. Arabelle looked up and squinted, spotting a huge mass of ice stomping its way towards the team. Every step seemed to make the ground tremble, and small pebbles of ice rolled down the hill. "I'm ready."

[WC: 272]

"On a second thought, I'll pay in materials," Arabelle spoke quickly. She was planning on taking lots of quests in the next few days, and she didn't want to leave the safe zone defenseless. Even though she'll probably have a quest partner all the time. Better to lose mats than to lose your life, I suppose. She glanced at the price list and inhaled deeply. 12 T1 Mats. Twelve freaking T1 Mats. That was thrice the price she paid for her weapon, though she got a nice discount on that one. When I see him again, I'm gonna thank Macradon and tell him he's the nicest blacksmith to ever walk the Earth. Or the game. Arabelle flicked open a trade window and sent the tailor her payment.  She had been planning to reserve those materials for crafting...but things never go with her plan, she supposed. She pressed 'Send' and looked up at Hei with a sweet smile. "Here you go~. Should I come back for it later?"

-12 T1 Mats

[WC: 167]

Arabelle smirked as Pin became flustered at her comment. A part of her wanted to keep teasing him a bit more, but she didn't want to make him uncomfortable. "Well, if fishing's the fastest, let's give that a shot," she replied, having already made up her mind ever since Pin mentioned that he had the <<Fishing>> skill. They walked silently for a few moments before she remembered something. "Wait. If you fish...and you end up getting a boss monster, do you think you'll be able to handle it?" she asked with a hint of concern in her tone. She was only level 1, and she really wouldn't be much help in combat. Pin would seriously be doing all the work here. Was he aware of that? Or was he just that nice? Maybe she should've grinded a few levels with some lower-leveled players before this. "Well, if you think you can't--but I'm not saying that I think you can't--we could just go material gathering." She shrugged her shoulders loosely and waited for his reply. 

[WC: 174]

Arabelle laughed at Mac's remark. "I don't think Disney Princesses tame scary things like crows..." she said, stroking the bird's soft feathers. "And one of the requirements of being a Disney Princess is to have a nice singing voice. I'm pretty sure my singing voice can break glass. Not because of how high it is, but because of how terribly off-tune it is. So," Arabelle suddenly stopped talking as she remembered something and swiped her menu open, and selected the familiar panel. Crow tamed from Floor 2. The name was still blank, but Arabelle put off naming it. Her gaze wandered down to the familiar skills, and she squinted. This familiar has no bonus skills available. What? "I'm good enough with this guy, but...he doesn't have any skills." Arabelle looked down at the crow on her shoulder and sighed. Killing it would be a callous act. "Hm, name. I'm bad at naming stuff. Got any suggestions?"

[WC: 156]

Arabelle followed Pinball's gaze and saw nothing. Eh, whatever. The two players began heading in the direction of the town gates while Arabelle continued their conversation. "Pinball. A game username. That's taken from another game," she confirmed in a flat tone. Arabelle wasn't being mean, but it was kind of a weird name. He expected that he was going to walk around in another world, introducing himself with a name that barely even resembles an actual name. Like, naming your character xxAssassinxx or something. Calling someone Pinball would be weird. (At least he didn't name himself 'Mario'). Arabelle didn't voice her real thoughts on the matter. Instead, a playful smirk formed on her face. "Well, I don't mind. It's kind of cute." If first impressions really stuck, Pin--she was going to call him Pin--was kind of an awkward guy who got flustered easily. Teasing him would be fun. "So, are you a Pinball game expert or something? I'm not much of an arcade person, but I did try that game a few times. It was the hardest thing ever."

They reached the town gates in no time, and Arabelle continued walking without slowing down. She didn't need to equip anything, her two-handed axe was already at her back and she hadn't replaced her starter armor yet and they basically had the same value as nicer-looking vanity clothes. "So, fishing or combat?" she asked the boy, stopping just a slight distance from the safe zone. He was the more experienced player between the two, and some unspoken rule dictated that the player with most experience would lead the way. "I heard a few players saying that material gathering is difficult without LD bonuses. And the chances of finding recording crystals just lying around are pretty low." Arabelle stated, repeating something she had said just a few minutes earlier.

[WC: 307]

A name generator. Boring, and somewhat unexpected answer. But Arabelle had to admit that her player name's origin was quite boring as well. No awesome backstory or anything, either. "Hm, as for me...I took my player name from a song," she shared with a sheepish expression on her face. "Have you ever heard a song titled 'Arabella'? By Arctic Monkeys? I don't relate to the song's lyrics or anything," It was one of her favorite songs, but if she did relate to the lyrics that would be totally unlike her. "But, the song title had a nice ring to it, and I've been using it as a username ever since I learned about that song."

@Shin found a material and Arabelle quickly looked around, too. "Oh, found one too!" she exclaimed, pointing to a glowing material just slightly obscured by the grass. She went over and picked it up, then jogged back to Shin once she was done. "Finallyyy...four more to go," she sighed, already looking for more. Arabelle was so excited over her little 'victory' that she almost missed Shin's question. She smirked at his remark about her being a 'hardcore gamer'. She went pretty far to get this game, but not that far. "I didn't move to Japan to buy the game. Some business people, I think, bought some copies of the game and sold it to people in other countries for higher prices. For profit and stuff. The interfaces are all in English anyway, so the game can work outside of Japan. I actually bought this copy from an online auction. With my pocket money," Arabelle said the last statement with a hint of pride. "Also, if it sounds like I'm speaking in fluent Japanese, turn your translator off. It's a pretty neat feature, don't you think?"

[WC: 300]

"How...?" Arabelle didn't want to complete the question. She watched, in bewilderment, as @Shin somehow managed to find another material. It was probably just right beneath his feet this time, given his luck. Or it spawned right in front of him. She looked around again, making sure to really look hard this time, but there was nothing aside from the unending fields of grass. And a group of players heading out to the west. The purple-haired girl grinned and waved at the group, and one of them shyly waved back at her while the others stared curiously. They were probably wondering if they'd met her before, which they didn't. Arabelle was just a friendly person who liked making people's days better. Was she really?

She turned and led Shin to another, completely random location. No, really. She had no idea where she was heading, or if that place was even abundant in materials. Arabelle literally just turned in a random direction and started walking in a straight line, pretending she knew where she was heading to. Maybe she even had Shin fooled. "Mm, a conversation would be nice," Arabelle replied, stopping to look for materials again. Nothing. Maybe she wasn't looking hard enough? But how does one look hard enough? "Didn't really expect that coming from you though, no offense. So," a smile--no, was more of a mischievous smirk--formed on her face. This was an opportunity to learn more about Blue Guy, and it basically presented itself to her! She'd be stupid not to take advantage of it. "Any particular reason why you named yourself Shin?"

[WC: 266]

Arabelle clapped her hands together and smiled. "Let's go, then~." She turned around and together, the two players began walking towards their destination.

Today, they were headed for the woods. The trees were thick and the leaves obstructed the sun's light, and every rustle Arabelle heard seemed to be a mob--or a player--hiding in the bushes, waiting for the right moment to jump them. It was dark, and scary, and the purple-haired girl found herself inching closer to her quest partner. Angie's bright clothes and presence were comforting...somewhat. "Hey, Angie, have you been here before?" Arabelle asked hesitantly. They had a map, but with her below average directional skills, they wouldn't be getting out of here quickly if something scary jumped out at them. She looked around anxiously--she'd never been good with scary things--and attempted to alleviate her fear by starting a conversation. "Since we're just walking, I think I could tell you more about the quest I took earlier. I couldn't find any players back then, so I put up a--wait."

Her attempt at conversation was cut short when she spotted something moving. The scythe-wielder ran past her friend and pushed back a few branches. She found herself staring at a clearing, full of Nepents. Arabelle reached behind her and grabbed her scythe. "Ooooh, they seem pretty weak," she said, examining their HP bars. A playful smirk appeared on her face. "Dish out your best AoE skills, then withdraw from combat once the boss spawns to recover energy." Arabelle recited to Angie, readying her scythe for combat. "That's the general strategy, at least. You ready?"

She didn't have to wait long. Once Angie was ready, Arabelle burst from the bushes they'd been hiding in, gripping her scythe with both hands. She stopped few inches short of the mobs--lucky they were all clumped together--and swung her weapon upwards, blade facing up. Two Nepents exploded into pixels just as soon as her blade came into contact, but one of the two was close enough to land a hit. Arabelle stumbled backward as the remaining two charged forward, bringing down their vine-like arms on her like whips. She then dove to the side, avoiding the mobs' flailing arms, and looked at Angie with a smirk. "This is fun~!"

[WC: 376] 

[ooc: i hate writing combat scenes ;-; ]

Once @Spangie gave her the 'go ahead,' Arabelle stepped closer to the blonde and gently patted the little phoenix on the head. The purple-haired girl giggled as the small bird leaned into her touch and chirped when she drew back her hand as if asking for more. Apricot was...warm, as to be expected. And her bright feathers were so smooth. "Whaaa, she's cuddlier than my familiar," Arabelle commented, petting the bird's head once again. Her only advantage was that her familiar provided a damage boost if she took it with her, but she hadn't leveled up the skill yet and wasn't very confident that it would obediently stay on her shoulder the whole time, so she left him in her inn room. "He's a bird too, you know. I'll take him with me next time, so they can meet and be friends~."

Arabelle's eyes also widened when Angie mentioned that she was taking the same quest. "That's--that's so cool, Angie!" the purple-haired girl gushed. "We're, like, destiny! Best friend destiny!" Arabelle giggled. "Hey, since we're both doing it, how about we take the quest together? Strength in numbers, I should say?" Then her friend took out her dagger, claiming that it wasn't as nice as her scythe. "No, it looks nice. I'm liking the whole feather theme. You know, like you have a bird familiar, and you have a feather-shaped weapon?"

[WC: 231]

They'd barely left the town gates when @Shin found a material. It was basically just lying on the grass, waiting to be gathered. He picked up the round, glowing object and proceeded to store it in his inventory. "Lucky," Arabelle commented, her tone suggesting she was focused on something else--specifically, material gathering. She looked around too, but her search didn't yield similar results. Well, chances of finding materials were really low if they were this close to the safe zone. They don't take that long to respawn, but players leaving the safe zone often stop to gather them, thereby exhausting the nearby fields of the materials.

"Five materials," Arabelle confirmed in response to Shin's question. She wasn't sure if he really was confirming it with her, or he was bored and looking to start a conversation. Probably the former. "No luck on my end." She admitted, surveying the immediate areas a bit more. Gosh, this was going to be a boring day. "Should we go further?"

[WC: 166]

"Hrm," the small axe-wielder looked at @Shin from the corner of her eye. After her explanation, he didn't seem to be suspicious anymore...but it was kinda hard to tell. He didn't put much emotion to his words, Arabelle observed. Didn't ever seem to change his facial expression either. A thoughtful frown or a condescending glare would've been better, kind of. A part of her wanted to run up in front of the man, shake his shoulders, and yell 'Are you a robot, man?!' Cause honestly, it was a bit disconcerting. She was used to people having...more reactions, she supposed. They were easier to read that way. 

But at least she got him to go with her. Arabelle wasn't sure which part appealed to him: her logic regarding the player killings, or the fact that she proved she wasn't some dumb thot (some of the more-judgmental players actually thought she was one! geez, people nowadays). And maybe, just maybe, she'd learn a bit more about him. Not in the silly romantic way, but she couldn't deny that he got her feeling curious. With the somewhat unfeeling personality and stuff. Part of her wanted to ask 'What made you this way?' but that was extremely rude. And because if she got someone like him to talk, she could probably get anyone to talk. And that would be a big life achievement.

They reached the town gates--time really passed when you're focused on other things--and Arabelle turned to him. "You ready? Need to equip anything?" As for her, the only thing in her inventory worth equipping was her beginner axe, which was already resting on her back.

[WC: 274]

The little phoenix hopped onto @Spangie's open hand and looked at her curiously. Then, upon being prompted by its owner, the little bird chirped at her as a form of greeting. Arabelle almost squealed. It was sooooo cute! "Hi Apricot!" Arabelle cooed. She reached out with a gloved hand and stopped just a few inches short of the familiar. "Um, does she like being petted?" she inquired timidly, drawing her hand back. Arabelle knew that it wasn't a real bird, but she still wouldn't like it if the familiar ended up disliking her. At this point, the familiar was getting more attention than Angie was. (Hah).

Arabelle turned the focus of the conversation back to Angie. "I've been good~. Just a few days earlier, I went out on a quest with two guys who didn't seem to like each other, and it was basically the most awkward thing ever. Couldn't exactly run away from it either, cause I was the one who requested for their help. Well, I'll tell you more about it later," she smirked, recalling the two players and how they always seemed to bicker about everything. Not exactly everything, but...you get the point. "I'm here cause I took one of the quests. You know, the beginner quest called <<Secret Medicine of the Forest>>? It's probably gonna be a huge grind, but," Arabelle swiped open her inventory and brought out her new weapon. A black scythe that was almost as big as her. She smiled playfully as she gave it a few experimental swings. It was a bit showy, but Arabelle couldn't help it. Her new weapon just looked so cool! "I bought a new weapon, so I suppose it'll be fun."

[WC: 284]

It didn't take her long to find a familiar. From where she was standing, Arabelle looked up and spotted a lone crow perched on the branches of a big tree. Not exactly the predator bird Macradon had suggested, but she'd always wanted a crow. They were smart, and while they had the most annoying bird screeches, they looked pretty cool.  This was a lucky search... "Up there," she said to Macradon, an excited grin forming on her face.

Now for the part she'd been dreading the most. Arabelle reached into the pack of birdseed and grabbed a handful of it, holding it out in the direction of the crow. The feed spilled through her fingers as she whistled through her teeth and caught the crow's attention. The crow inched along the branch and stared at the food in her hand, its head tilting to the side curiously. "Come on..." she muttered to herself impatiently. After a few more agonizing moments of waiting, the crow swooped down from its perch and rested on her hand, pecking at the birdseed. Arabelle stared, her mouth half-open, not knowing whether she should start celebrating or stay quiet and wait. She turned to Macradon, though she couldn't do anything but grin and make a few excited gestures that didn't disturb the hand her familiar(?) was resting on.

The crow ate the last of the birdseed and looked at her expectantly. Arabelle stayed still, and it moved up her arm until it was perched on her shoulder. Then gingerly, she raised a gloved hand and patted it softly on the head.

<<Familiar Tamed>>

[WC: 265]

Was that a somber tone in his voice just now? Just listening to his last statements...Arabelle didn't really know what to say. Most people only saw front-liners as glorious people, the saviors of all, and must have thought their lives were a party, having such a good reputation, fighting with strong people at their side, and stuff. But there was also pain and loss up there, on the higher floors, the reality most people weren't aware of. "Oh, I'm...sorry." She was walking a few steps ahead of him but didn't look back to make eye contact like she usually did when she was talking to someone. Arabelle felt a bit guilty, even though she knew she wouldn't have known. She just met him after all, but she knew what having bad memories--a white room, a blue clock that goes on ticking and ticking and ticking for ages--felt like, and she didn't like bringing it up or talking about anything related either. Heck, she even went as far as to walk out of conversations in order to avoid...triggers.

They reached the forest without any setbacks, and Arabelle skipped ahead of Macradon before spinning around to face him with a grin like she hadn't just been thinking about those things earlier. "So," she nodded at the three-headed dog, who had stayed beside its master during most of their short walk. "How's your familiar doing?"

[WC: 232]

Having gotten a new weapon from her blacksmith friend, Arabelle had decided to test it out by taking one of the beginner quests in the first floor. The quest she had recently accepted was called <<Secret Medicine of the Forest>>, a basic 'kill this mob until it drops this item' quest. She wasn't very confident about her luck though, maybe she'd end up having to kill it fifteen times before actually getting the item. "Scratch that. I don't want to jinx myself..." she mumbled to herself while resting on a wooden bench that looked so old it was practically falling apart. The walk here had surely taken some of her stamina. 

Arabelle heard a familiar, cheery voice that could only belong to one person in Aincrad. She looked up and blinked at the player standing before her. Blindingly bright blonde hair, blue eyes, and sitting on her shoulder...a small phoenix? It took a few moments to recognize the person and when she did, she jumped up and had to stop herself from hugging the other girl. "Angie!" she exclaimed with a grin. It was a nickname she'd only used once, but it sure as heck stuck. It suited the blonde's bright and happy personality, somehow. "Hey, how's it been? And I see that you've made a new friend..." Arabelle stepped closer to get a better look at @Spangie's new familiar. It was a very small bird, its orange feathers were tipped with tiny flames, and it was totally cute! If this were an anime, she would be drawn with a starry-eyed expression on her face. "She's so cute. What's her name? Or his name?"

[WC: 274]