Kirbs

Kirbs flashed a nervous glance at the already dimming sky. 

Dark .

Dark.

"It's getting dark," Scarfy muttered under his breath as he stole looks at both the sky and at his already stiffening master. 

He cocked his furred head back to the cat and snorted. "I think I know exactly who you're talking about," he seethed, the tips of his ears flicking with hostility. "I s'pose you weren't there when Kirbs told your blondie," he muttered distastefully, flicking his tongue in and out again. "That damn bastard murdered her best friend, and it seemed that the two knew each other before she found me. It's a shame, really," he let out a deep sigh as he turned to look at the even darker sky once again. "I thought he was a nice lad, before, y'know, he got murdered."

"H-hey, Kityuisa. Why don't we hit the hay for the night?" Kirbs shaky voice interrupted his own as she whipped her head over to the other girl. 

Scarfy almost snapped at her, but a glare from the redhead suppressed his urges to and he slowly slithered backwards into the crook of her neck. 

"He's quite nice," she nodded, sniffing. "I believe I was at his wedding with his wife. She doesn't talk... much, but she seems pretty nice to me."

"Mars, huh?" She needed to watch out for that name. He could be another potential threat to Aincrad. 

"I see," she murmured, looking down at the black cat next to Kityuisa. "I wouldn't doubt it."

Kirbs raised her head to look at the dimming sky. It was getting dark. "I think it's time for me to go," she said vaguely, looking bad down at Kityuisa. "I'll s'pose I'll see you later," Kirbs said with a soft smile. Even if she was broken, it shouldn't be hard to still hang around her friends, right? She gave a small wave to Kityuisa before walking away with a small but triumphic smile on her face. Things were getting just a little better.

Kirbs didn't say much when Scarfy was hissing his throat out. As long as he wasn't causing her any trouble, she was fine with it. 

"Oh, really?" Scarfy mused, his slit eyes scanning the blonde up and down curiously. He doesn't know why she seemed like such a special person to Kirbs. Personally, from all the times that they've been together, he always found her quite annoying. "Interesting," he murmured, his forked black tongue flickering in and out. "I s'pose that Kirbs, herself is going," he paused, tilting his head at the redhead for a few seconds before blinking and turning back to the black cat. "-insane as well. She won't stop screaming at night and it's making me lose my precious beauty sleep, and I never protest against it because, well-" he cut himself off, his yellow eyes going blank for a moment before returning back to their neutral state. "Let's just say that things won't end well on both parts."

Scarfy bristled as he heard of her description-- which caused Kirbs to give a weird look but didn't pay much mind to it. "Oh, please describe him for me," he said, hissing. The Nguruvilu could only think of one person that would make the blonde say such things, and he did not like him one bit. As much as he despised the driving force of Kirbs', he couldn't help but hate the man who ruined her life. Let's just say that murderers weren't on his list to be best buds with, especially with that damned shadow cat of his.

She leaned her head back and placed her hands on her hips. "Ah, well. That's a tough one..." She murmured. How long has she had Scarfy? A few months? A year? She scratched her chin and glanced at her scarf-like for a few seconds. 

"I'm pretty sure it was on floor five, and I went to go familiar searching with my friend, Hazado."

Haz, how was he doing? Are he and Neopolitan happy? They seemed happy at their wedding. Kirbs smiled sadly as she continued;

"We were walking for quite a bit in the desert before I encountered Scarfy," the redhead chuckled, shaking her head. "He almost strangled me to death, that bugger." She smirked at gave a teasing look to her familiar who turned his head away stubbornly. "After a few seconds of him cutting off my air, I eventually just gave him some food and he seemed pretty chill after that."

Kirbs hugged herself tighter as she watched the two converse and then dropped her gaze down to the ground dejectedly. She wouldn't blame him if he hated her, but why can't he see that she was doing all of this so everyone could be safe? Safe... It seemed like such a far off thing to her now. Was anyone really safe in this hell? Where murder is charged with a slap on the wrist? No, it wasn't safe. She was going to change that. She was going to make it safe for everybody. No one is ever going to feel threatened in Aincrad again, and she was going to make sure that happened.

She cringed as she heard the more bitter parts of their conversation. Why does everyone think that she needs help? She doesn't need help! Everyone just wanted to help, help, help, but they can't! They don't even know anything, and she sure as hell wasn't going to give them her sob story so they can make her feel weak even more.

ID: 121060

LD: 1, Fail

Total T2 Mats: 0

"If you say so," she shrugged, yawning. 

"Yeah, I guess so," she mumbled, fidgeting with her hands. She didn't really ask what Kityuisa had gone through, as much as her curiosity was killing her. It might cause Kityuisa to poke through her info, too. She didn't need that at all.

"Maybe we should call off this hunting for another day," she murmured, giving an apologetic smile to Kityuisa. "I'm tired and I'm not really in a great mood right now, sorry." She was never in a good mood, not anymore at least. She was always in a bitter mood. Life always sucked for her, nothing is really going to change that any time soon. She sure hoped it was going to change but do you ever know that something was never, ever, absolutely going to happen? Yeah, she felt like that. She wasn't going to be in a good mood for a long, long, long time.

Scarfy slithered around Kirbs' neck as she looked at the now pouring sky. She never really liked rain. It always seemed so depressing, and it always kind of made her sad, but she couldn't really get anymore sadder than what she is right now, right? Right? Yeah, she was right. 

What was she supposed to kill, again? Some kind of alligator dragon thing or something, or something like that? She wracked through her head for the answer. She had completely forgotten, but it should be too hard, right? Her lips quirked into a frown as she sighed. She sure hoped that she didn't die today. That would kind of suck, like, a lot. 

"Whelp. I'm not doing anything standing here," she mumbled, "let's a go." Har, har. Nintendo reference, am I right? Right? Yeah, okay. No one is ever going to get that, are they?

Off to the swamp, we go!

She looked over to Alec and gave a faint smile. "You could say that we're friends, yeah," she let out a small huff that was supposed to be a chuckle. 

Kirbs hugged her knees together as she quietly listened to Alec. She gulped and pressed her forehead against her knees. "I'm sorry," she whispered. She didn't want to push people away, but they have to know that she was broken beyond repair and that nothing was going to help. She didn't want to lose any more people. Having them be cold to her was just as bad as them being dead. The small gemstone landed in front of her and it nearly made her burst into tears. The redhead slowly picked it up with shaking hands and sniffed. 

Why was she like this? Why did she do this to herself? She just wanted to keep everyone safe-- why can't anyone see that but her?

ID: 121057

LD: 1

Total T2 Mats: 0

Her breath hitched in her throat as her gaze slowly trailed up the sword, and then to that damn smile. It made her want to bloody puke. How could he be smiling? Why was he smiling? Did he enjoy watching her suffer like this? 

"Y-you damn bastard," she muttered lowly-- just right before he vanished into the darkness. Darkness. When did it get so dark?

She stumbled back, her breathing suddenly becoming sporadic. "S-show yourself! Y-you damn coward!" She yelled, although much of it coming out as a meek squeak. 

It was dark. Everywhere. It was dark everywhere. She suddenly felt like she couldn't breath. She needed to get out. Out, out, out! She couldn't stay here! She stumbled around, one hand pressed on her hand and the other loosely gripping on her spear. Her whole body felt like jell-o. Kirbs hasn't felt this weak in so long. Why, why, why? She thought she had gotten over this fear! 

Her eyes were wide with fear as she looked around the darkness. They were going to come for her. All the damn monsters she thought about as a kid. They were coming. More unshed tears pricked at her eyes as she felt her knees go weak. "Go away, go away!"

ID: 121052

LD: 8-1=7

Stealth not detected. 

She stared at the window for a second before looking back up at him with a glare. "I'm not lost," she spat. This guy was getting on her nerves. She hated all those damn people who thought they could help. She wasn't lost. She was grounded. It was everyone else who was lost, not her. She quickly declined his friend request and narrowed her eyes at him. "I know that." He was literally talking to the girl who literally battled herself. That witch. 

The redhead rolled her eyes as she followed after him. What? He was going back to town-- it wasn't like she was going to stay out there when she could be doing some grinding on the upper floors, but she made sure to stay a far distance away from. She was afraid she was going crack if she had to listen to any more of his [sugar honey iced tea].

Kirbs narrowed her eyes.

She'll get killed if she goes alone.

Killed.

Killed.

"Alright," she reluctantly agreed, following after her. She didn't need to do anything. Just make sure she's safe, safe, safe. Nothing else matters. Nothing. 

Transitioning over to Scarfy-- he seemed in a 'meh' mood. He didn't mind being dragged back here, really. It was certainly than that damn floor filled with putrid flowers. He let out a low hiss as he lowered his head to look down at Willow. He was genuinely curious at this point. What was the blonde going to tell his owner? "Hey, cat," he let out a low growl as he addressed her. "What's so damn important that we had to be dragged out here? I know enough that my owner isn't going to be pleased with whatever is happening so spit it out. She's already in a bad mood as is," he rumbled, his tail flicking briefly as he stole a glance at the still expressionless Kirbs.

Kirbs stared blankly at the just as blank ceiling. Days had gone by. She could barely eat and sleep. 

The sound of a message didn't even seem to phase her anymore. She had seemed to hear that sound a lot lately. Probably people wondering where she was... what she was doing... if she wanted to go do some kind of quest with them. The one time she actually decided to check a message, it was from her.

Kityuisa. 

The name seemed so bitter in her mind, now.

[Time Skip]

Kirbs let out a low mutter of irritation as she hopped off the teleport gate. Why couldn't they understand? She was bad for them! No, no. They were bad for her! She didn't want to feel that damn pain all over and over and over again every time someone died! She was so. Damn. Conflicted. She wanted to-- no, she needed to protect everyone. She could prevent every death if they would just listen.

Kirbs marched up the blonde, paying no attention to the discomfort of her familiar around her neck. "I thought I told you to stay away from me."

She stayed silent for a second as she listened to him give her a lecture. She silently gnawed on the inside of her cheek as she averted her eyes to the ground.

"... the people who have been sacrificed to try and save everyone else from this game..."

Frontliners. She almost laughed bitterly as she thought about them. Oh, how she wanted to be them. She wasn't even fighting to get out of this game anymore. She was fighting for revenge. Revenge. Revenge. That's all that mattered now. She didn't care if she was stuck in this game for all eternity, anymore. Hell, she wanted to stay in here. She couldn't kill Pinball in the real world, right? She was going to have to do it in here.

"... you have to be the one to defeat your demons..."

She felt like the demon. What was she going to do? Defeat herself? 

"For the last time," she exclaimed, shooting him another glare. "I. Don't. Need. Help." What did he take her for? Some kind of mental institution patient? She wasn't crazy. No, she was worse. 

Her breath hitched in her throat as Bahr shouted, and it seemed all of her thoughts hit a pause, but that didn't really last long and they just started coming back in heats. So what if she cried? There was nothing wrong with crying, right? Did he think she was weak? Did she look weak? No, no. She can't be weak. What has she been striving for for the past weeks? Being weak was not her priority. 

"No," she murmured, her eyes widening as she backed away even more. "No, no! I-I. She told me. She was right! I told myself!" She let out a dead laugh. "She was right. She was right. I'ts all my fault, haha!" It felt like her sanity was slowly being chipped away. One damn piece at a time. "You can't protect me! No one can! Except. Me!" She screamed, pointing to herself. She stumbled backwards again and pointed at Bahr. "No, no, no. You stay away. You're only going to get hurt," she whispered, her breathing coming in sporadic breaths. "I-I can't lose anyone. I don't know what I'll do-- I'll go crazy, haha!" She laughed again, almost resisting the urge to have an ear to ear grin. 

Kill herself? What? 

Murderer.

The memory of her almost killing her double dawned upon her again. "I'm not a murderer!" She screamed. "Not a murderer... I'll never been like him!"

"Grow up?" She almost let out a shrill cackle. "Grow up?!" She walked right up to him and poked him harshly in the chest. "Listen here, mister. Don't tell me what to bloody do, okay?! This is not a war," she seethed, ripping her hand away from him. "It's a bloody massacre."

She turned her heel and started walking away. She was going to crack, crack, crack if she stayed there any longer. She whipped her head to look at the two one last time.

"And stay the hell away from me!"

"No, I don't," she said stubbornly, almost wincing at the ferocity in his words. 

He's wrong. 

They're all wrong.

She shrugged, hugging her arms together. "Guess I'll die, then," she mumbled, shooting him a small glare. Who did he think he was? He didn't know anything. He didn't know what she had gone through to be at this point in the game. The things she had to witness. The things she had to endure. No, no. He didn't know it at all. No one would understand her, and no one ever will. She hasn't regretted any choices she's made after she found out. This was all happening for a reason. She was like this for a reason. And what was he even going to do, kill her? She could take him down in one swoop if she wanted to. It should be her who was asking if it was a life or death situation, not him.

"H-huh?" 

The daze she was in was suddenly uplifted when she realized that Oscar was sitting next to her-- to which Scarfy did not appreciate very much. 

She hugged her knees tighter and shook her head. "I don't need help," she muttered like a child. No one could help her. They all thought they could, but they can't. They can't help her. No one can. What would help her was having that damned Pinball's head on a damn stake. Everything would be so, so much better if she could just watch his body burn in hell. To make him pay. That murderer deserved no damn remorse from her. He took something from her and now she was going to take something from him.

"Don't mind me," she said, having herself up. "Let's just go back to Lyle's and finish this quest." She placed her hands in her pockets and gestured for him to follow. She needed to get out-- or a better way to put it, in. She wanted to be back in her shop, with her thoughts.

"I don't need to talk," she grumbled under her breath as she darted forward, slashing at the Treant. All the pent up anger she has had was put into those quick, clean cuts. "Just. Die," she muttered, finally impaling the Treant with a clean thrust. She watched it let out a low groan before exploding into a wide array of blue pixels. She huffed and walked back to Alec. 

"You can't help me, Alec. No one can. Remember that," she mumbled only for her and Alec to hear. Solei wasn't ready for her problems. The more he knew, the more she had the need to protect. He was better off being clueless. She would worry less if he knew nothing.

Turning her heel, she walked over to Solei and blinked. "How are you doing material wise?" The redhead asked, raising a brow. "I hope you're going to share it," she sighed, falling down on her butt next to him. She was too pooped to fight another mob for now. Maybe later, though.

Kirbs visibly flinched as her thoughts were snapped by two rough hands on her shoulders. Scarfy climbed up from her arms and reared at Bahr, hissing with his teeth bared. What was going on? What was happening? What was he doing? What was she doing?

"Stop, get away from me!" She screamed, tears rolling down her face as she pushed him away. She stumbled backwards and looked back and forth between the concerned Bahr and the deranged Kityuisa. "I-I-I can't protect you!" She sobbed, hugging herself tightly. "No... no... I can't lose anyone else. I-I have to protect people, a-and..." she looked up and pointed to Bahr with another body wracking sob. "S-stay away from me. I don't want you to die so just stay away from me!" 

She placed a head over her pounding head and stumbled around. What was she doing here? Why was she still here? "I-I have to find him. I have to kill him. I have to make this go all away. It's all of his fault," she muttered feverishly, her eyes bouncing from everyone to no one. "No, no, no. It's my fault. My fault. His fault. Our fault..."

Kirbs chuckled to herself as she heard Solei cheer from the background. It was certainly odd, but she wasn't against it. It made her feel slightly more happy. Just slightly. 

Kirbs drew her spear in front of her again just as Alec had finished his attack and dashed forward, using the same sword art as before. The blade of Rose Thorn grew a valiant red before she delivered Weeping Moon on the duo Treants. Unfortunately, she missed the first one, but managed to paralyze the last one again. Looking over at Alec, she offered him a smile, although a dull one. "You think you can finish that first one off?" She asked, her eyes shifting back and between the two Treants. 

The first one was dangerously low, and Alec could probably kill it with just a simple sword art as long as he doesn't miss... but if he did, she could always use another AOE attack.

Kirbs hugged her knees to herself and sighed. Life was hard. Super duper hard. Did the universe really hate her that much? 

The redhead massaged her temples and inwardly groaned as she tried to shoo the thought away. God damn it. Can't she just have a single day where everything in her life didn't seem to go to [sugar honey iced tea]? Apparently, the universe just wants to screw her over a dozen times. Fun, right? Yeah, no.

She pried her eyes open and really, really tried her best to focus on Oscar. Oh right. He said his name. Duh. 

"Uhm, I'm Kirbs by the way!" She called out, fumbling with her fingers. Damn, she must seem like an idiot. A real big arse idiot. She face-palmed herself and sighed. Where did the bubbly Kirbs go? She swore, she must've mistaken it somewhere. Maybe she left it in the closet?

ID: 120878

LD: 18, +1 Mat

Total Materials: 1

Kirbs fell back on a small patch of grass as she watched the nameless stranger engage in battle with the boar pups. He certainly looked skilled with that katana of his. Her also looked way better than her when she first did this quest. Hell, she was still using her dagger at the time. The redhead silently sulked in her memories as she thought about the past. What was Bell doing when she was doing this quest? Was he waiting for her? Was in he exploring? Or was he just cooped up in an inn like she was for a few years? 

Bell.

Bell.

Her mind always revolved around him, now. She hated it. She already felt guilty as is. Why did his frekin' ghost have to haunt her thoughts, too?

"Get out of my head," she whispered, looking down at the grass with such ferocity, she was scared she was going to make two giant, flaming holes in the ground. "Just get out."

ID: 120867

LD: 2, Fail

Kirbs lifted her head up and gave a brief but goofy grin. "Hey, Sey," she said, putting her head back in the snow. It felt like forever since she's seen the bugger. So much has happened since she's last seen him, too. "Uh, nothing much. So... how's it going?" she asked, returning her focus back on the gray clouds above. Man, where was he a few weeks ago? She could've used a friend when she found her other friend got murdered. That was a lovely week, wasn't it?

She sighed, like, a really big sigh. Man, she felt like [sugar honey iced tea]. She heaved herself up to a sitting position and stared at Sey with a set of blank eyes before she felt her bottom lip start to tremble. "Can I have a hug?" She croaked, wanting to just break down right then and there. She needed a hug. God, now she was starting to cry-- yep, here come the waterworks. 

Interesting?

"My best friend died," she said rather plainly. She wasn't really sure why she had blurted it out so suddenly, but damn, she was tired of people asking the same questions over and over again.

She looked over to the appearing Dustin and shrugged. "Nothing."

She didn't really comment on how he had changed his hair, again, but just figured he was probably on some kind of sugar high or something. 

As she continued their route to the quest location, she kind of just blocked out all the talking. Arabelle was a nice person, do doubt, but damn, Kirbs really didn't need conversation right now. 

Her grip around her spear tightened as they arrived at the location, and it wasn't long before the worm came bursting out of the ground. "Here we go," she mumbled, darting off with her spear in front of her. 

[Too lazy to write out that fighting scene]

Kirbs landed softly on the ground with a small 'umph' and looked back at her party. "I think you guys can kill it before the paralysis wears off."

Kirbs casually entered the shop. She was pretty damn bored so she decided to get stuff identified from way back when. Seriously, she got this thing from when she was still hanging out with Mortambo! She gave a small wave to Dagger and smiled briefly. "Hey. I'm just going to need some stuff to be identified," she said, placing the weapon on his counter with a small smile. "Just hit me up with a message if you need me, see you later," she said without much of a second thought as she left the shop. At least one productive thing was going to be done today.

@Dagger

-740 Col

She shrugged. She's seen almost every reaction to Scarfy and it was just routine to her right now. "Yeah, he's a special one," she replied. Scarfy let out a low chortle before placing his head back down on her collarbone, though his eyes were still trained on the man in front of them. Maybe he doesn't want to be kidnapped again?

"I see," she mumbled, furrowing her brows. He definitely had an American accent... but where had she heard that type of accent again? She couldn't really remember.

"I lived in a big city, too." 

Though, she didn't really remember Londoners being like that every time they bumped into someone. Maybe it was some kind of American thing?

She shrugged, it's not really like she was going to do anything today, anyway. If he hadn't asked her, she would probably be trying to nap back at her shop. "Sure, I don't mind. Just lead the way, mate."