Elora

Plhink! Rrrrrrrr PLHINK! Rrrrrrrr

Borris seemed to find enjoyment from being hurled against the warped, wooden walls of her small studio apartment. Elora, on the other hand, could literally feel her eyes rolling further and further into the back of her skull with each cacophonous tumble. Under any other circumstance, she might appreciate how The Hummingbard Inn's character lent itself to such rustic reverberations from the ricocheting rocks. Today, however, it just made her want to puke.

 "I'M BORRRED!", she proclaimed after a pained and exasperated sigh, "Jesus, Borris -- isn't there anything better for us to do than sit here all day playing beer pong with the rafters?"

"I like to ask myself the same thing", came a muffled complaint from the other side of the wall.

"Shut up, Leonard! I pay for this room and I can do what I damn well please with it!", barked Elora with an overexaggerated shake of her fist. "UGH, I don't wanna be here anymore! Let's go, Borris!" Scooping up the marbled remains of her golem, Elora set out to menace the streets of The Town of Beginnings. "Don't worry buddy, I'm sure we'll find something to do! Kat's busy...Freyd's busy -- it doesn't matter! I've got lots of ideas!" A delayed, but resolute rattle conveyed that her familiar felt differently. "Gee, thanks for the reassurance", she scoffed playfully. "Well, this actually works out for the better then. I've been meaning to travel to some of the higher floors now that I'm stronger. Just think -- there's so much that I haven't been able to see here!" Borris seemed to offer an excited shake in response to that. "Problem is, I don't know what to expect from any of them, and reading about each and every one to decide where I wanna go is gonna take all day..."

By the time she'd dispelled her fit of distraction, Elora was already standing before the central portal gate. A sly smirk crept across her face to accompany the idea that had just occurred to her. "Why don't we just wing it? Randomize it or something? Doesn't matter to me where we end up, and if we don't like it, we can always leave." Before Borris had the opportunity to agree, she had already entered the threshold and begun her accent to floor...

<<SCENE CHANGES TO FLOOR 25>>

Towering beasts and colossal stone structures cast a cold shadow on Elora as she shuffled between scattered groups of NPCs and other players. Everything around her made her feel so...small. She wasn't used to it. Tucking her spear close to her chest, she gradually made her way around a series of staggered outcroppings to arrive at the entrance to...

"The labyrinth...", a nearby voice had begun to explain, "...is where we'll need to fight The Warden to get the Essence of Titanium. Every higher-level player wants to get their hands on it.", a broad-shouldered player had begun to explain to her party. "A lot of people say that this one of the harder quests, but we can definitely tackle it. It won't be difficult, especially if we stick....Do you need something?"

Elora blinked a few times, then began to sputter. Absent and aghast, she had approached the group to eavesdrop and admire the majesty of the maze. "Oh, I -- sorry! I was just listening in and...checking out the size of this place", she assured with awkward laughter and drumming fingers, "I'm not from around here -- usually just on the NOT first floor of Aincrad" That didn't make any sense! Calm down Elora, it's fine. They're just stronger players. You know stronger players. Hell, you're a stronger player! They'll think you're cool, not weird. After an uncomfortable stretch of silence, she suggested, "I'm -- my guildmates haven't been around to accompany me for quests lately, and I was actually really wanting to get this Essence of..."

"The Essence of Titanium?"

"Yeah, that! So, I figured, why don't I just find a group of players to tag along with and help out for this one? I could use the iteeem, they could use the assistaaance -- it's a win-win!"

"That's...nice of you to offer, but we really aren't looking for any outside help. We can manage this one on our own.", the player decided at the turn of her heel. 

For a moment, Elora just stood there, watching as the group of players strode toward the gargantuan gates. They...don't want me to come with?, she realized with a growing embarrassment. No, they just...I didn't have the chance to properly introduce myself. If they were able to see what I can contribute and that I won't be a burden, they'd be happy to have me join them!

"Wait, I can --!"

"You're not going in like --"

"Nonononono!", Elora groaned annoyedly, "Why do they always put you in the MOST INCONVIENIENT places?!"

"You'll get --"

"Skip!"

"Not without--"

"Skip skip skip skip skip!"

"You can always follow it back to the beginning."

"I know! Mazes aren't hard! Thank GOD -- he finally stopped!", Elora quickly accepted the item, exited her menu, and dashed into the labyrinth. "Guys -- I didn't mean to sound so demanding, I just really needed --"

They're...they're gone...? Elora skidded to a stop, causing a cloud of dirt to billow up around her. "What the hell? They were literally just here!" I can't even see a corner where they could have turned behind. No, I'm sure there is one -- I must just not be able to see it." Inching ever slowly down the corridor, her eyes caught sight of a discrepancy. As she'd expected, a change in the pattern of the wall revealed a corner that branched off and into another hallway. Rounding its end and glancing down it, she called out, "Heyyy! Are you guys down there?" A distorted echo of her own words was the only voice to reply. "Shit...", she sighed, "Well...there's no point wandering around and getting lost...let's just go back home, Borris..." Disappointedly, she retraced her steps back and to the entrance of --

 "Uhhhh....That's not...the entrance...?", she worriedly observed, "Why -- where would it be? We only walked around one corner, it has to be here...there's no other way that we could have gone back! Hah...there's no point panicking. I'm sure it's just down a little bit further. There must have been a curve to the hallway that I didn't realize was there" 

Elora spanned the passageway. It seemed to go on forever, or at least, a lot longer than it had while she was sprinting through it. Finally, there was another bend that would allow her to leave...

"Fuck...", she cussed beneath her breath, It's not -- it's not here...I know it was here! Fuck, this is not good, this is not good! A gentle squeeze from the pebbled bracelet around her wrist did little to quell her climbing anxiety. I-I'll retrace my path again, follow it backwards. Yeah, that's the smart thing to do." 

Turning around, she was immediately confronted with the sight of an impassible stone wall. Frantically, she staggered backwards, slamming into some sort of gigantic creature. She let out a blood-curling scream, and whirled around, brandishing her spear in a blind panic as she cursed and swung with her eyes closed.

***

Essence of Titanium | Quest Info

Elora | HP: 700/700 | EN: 104/104 | DMG: 21 | MIT: 66 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 4 | BH: 35 | LD: 3 | AA | BLGT: 32 | FLN: 8 | REC: 3 | STK: 40

Elora spared an appreciative glance toward Freyd before nodding in solemn agreement. "Yeah. Even if I don't feel all that much stronger, I do feel a bit more prepared to handle -- I don't know what you'd call it -- a crisis? Sticking together and keeping a level head seems to be the most important thing to survive."

"It's oddly quite out here. It's kind of... unsettling.", remarked Katoka as the three of them began to encroach on a formation of stones.

"No kidding", agreed Elora, "It's not really helping to take my mind off of what happened on Floor 7" A sudden and sharp constriction of her wrist caused her to yell in correction, "N-not that event, Borris!" Through gritted teeth, she added, "Believe me, I am so grateful to have you." With tension releasing, she shook her hand to ward off any dull and lingering discomfort. "Well if it makes you feel any better", she started, "I haven't been to the end either. Never needed to climb the stairs or anything like that. I just teleport to wherever I need to go and basically just stick to a tight circumference around the towns."

"Seems safer that way, but I guess both of us can afford to take some more risks now!", she smirked at Kat with a jestful jab of the elbow. Her banter fizzled away as Freyd's stride came to abrupt stop before a sizable outcropping.

"This is the right area. We just need to find the lair.", he noted keenly.

"Alright!", she cheered enthusiastically, "Dragon's lair...dragon's lair...what would a dragon's lair look like?" Her heels carried her around a precarious rock formation that she could only assume was the result of a cataclysmic rockslide -- or, you know, -- the game developers playing Jenga. Crouching down, she tried her best to search between the spacious foundations of several large slabs of stone that rested atop one another. "Nope -- nothing here", she declared, "I don't suppose we know if were looking for hatchlings this time around?"

***

Searching for Fuzziel's Lair (ID #205569 | LD: 10+3=13 (fail) - attempt 2 of 5

Elora observed as Katoka and Freyd reviewed the details of the quest; she couldn't help but scoff at the mention of the game's tendency to spawn challenging enemies in seemingly innocuous areas. "You're right. It's best to stay on our guard", she agreed with Freyd, And I could probably stand to learn some restraint, she added internally. 

Before long, the trio found themselves striding along a sequence of dirt paths that crisscrossed expansive grasslands speckled by semi-sunken stones. Elora had to will herself to not pick out and select every stray pebble she happened upon as candidate for kicking. It was so easy to search for distraction when no one else was talking. Not long after rapid boredom had claimed her mind, Freyd began to offer some fodder for conversation. 

"It's...It's good to be with you both again.  I've missed this.", he mentioned with a tinge of hesitancy.

Remaining quiet for only a moment, she allowed herself to echo the sentimentality, "Yeah...It's nice to be back to how things were." Elora paused before finding it best to contribute a jest, "Before the entire world was on fire -- well, under water -- I guess" She administered a heavy, conscious inhalation as her mind attempted to savor and commemorate the nostalgic experience. "It's so easy for everything to disappear in an instant", she remarked without realizing. The words hung in the air as she struggled to follow-up their implications with a desperate string of satire. An accompanying sigh coaxed her to admit, "I don't want to lose this all again..."

"I love what you've done with your...", began Freyd after he'd bid her greeting.

"My what?", Elora probed bluntly before Katoka called out from around a corner.

"You two done flirting or do you need more alone time?"

"Actually, I hadn't --", she started with a turn.

"Wow Elora, Interesting wardrobe choice. Really accentuates the assets.", the small samurai added as she finished approaching the two of them.

A potent blush quickly crept from chin to forehead as her flustered eyes flitted and looked away. "O-oh -- I --", she coughed awkwardly in an attempt to stifle the rising embarrassment, "It's just a thing that I'm trying out! I've been looking for -- for some new armor to wear! So I'm just exploring different styles, matching different colors, and I honestly have no idea what I'm doing...", she admitted with an expedited murmur. "ANYWAYS!", she proclaimed with the clap of her hands. Blessedly, Freyd offered a timely follow-up to the unanticipated stretch of silence.

"You're going to want something a little bit more substantial than that starting spear.  Call it an accessory to help bedazzle that fantastic new outfit."

"Eeee!!", Elora squealed, extending her arms and eagerly snatching the spear from his hands. "Freyd, it's amazing, I LOVE IT SO MUCH!", she feigned surprise for his sake. Truthfully, she had suspicions that he had set out to craft this for her, what with how often he'd tease her for combating with a rudimentary twig. "I'll be sure to put it to good use!", she reassured him with a devious smile -- maybe a little two devious. Diverting her attention to it's staff, she lifted her eyes to wander up it's woven ornamentation and inspect the serrated blades as they glistened elegantly in the morning light. With a deep inhale, she allowed herself to feel pride, and to bask in the significance of what this moment really represented.

Change. Thrilling and terrifying change, she realized with a sting of worry. This is a big step. You'll need to prove you're ready to handle it, she cautioned herself.

"I'm ready", she said with a nod to the others, "--to go find the dragon, I mean. Is it where we last encountered it?"

"It doesn't seem right.", she remarked to the tainted mirror's distorted reflection of her likeness, "What's the point of having gigantic sleeves if it doesn't even cover my chest?!" Her eyes glanced downwards and over to Borris, her familiar, as the tiny rock golem teetered and spun in confused circles between her feet. "I swear, people wear the weirdest sh*t in this game...I really should see if there's a way to get something more, well, 'me' made for me.", she paused for a moment before suggesting, "Maybe I should go back to that haunted cabin with all of the creepy mannequins?" The dull rumblings of stones rolling over wood stopped abruptly as Borris expressed his disagreement. "You're right -- that's probably not the best idea." Twisting to regard her posterior, she sighed, "I just feel like I should wear something special for getting my new spear, and my old outfit just felt -- like it belonged with my rookie weapon, I guess. I'm TIER 4 now! Doesn't that mean it's time for change?" 

Borris offered no response. She sometimes despised his stoic nature.

"Well, whatever, it'll have to do for now. Freyd and Katoka are supposed to be in town any minute now, and I don't wanna keep 'em waiting. We can save wardrobe wandering and spirit searching for some other time --." Crouching down, she offered a gauntleted arm to Borris, who contently clambered around her right wrist. With a heft, lift, and skidding of an unhinged doorway, she headed to the famed rendezvous spot of a familiar shadow.

"Using Marv as your personal coffee table again, are you?", she joked during her approach "This poor man has had to spectate so many of your shenanigans." With a tap to her 'bracelet', Borris broke his magnetic bonds and scattered across the cobblestone street. His rogue stones rolled to a rest atop multiple unsupervised manuscripts, acting as a paperweight until Elora had the time to collect and stack them up.

"Mark my words, he's gonna be the next NPC to develop AI JUST SO THAT he can finally abandon this post!", she laughed as she handed the papers to him. After a moment's hesitation, Elora added, "It's nice to see you again. Sorry I've been a bit...reclusive these past few weeks. I'm still trying to sort through everything that's happened. And --", she glanced down briefly, "Trying to figure out what to make of this..."

"Well, this!", she said, vaguely gesturing to all of her. I'm sure he'll understand what to make of all of that..., she reassured herself.

***

Elora | HP: 700/700 | EN: 104/104 | DMG: 21 | MIT: 66 | EVA: 1 | ACC: 6 | BH: 35 | LD: 3 | AA | BLGT: 32 | FLN: 8 | REC: 3 | STK: 40

Elora consumes 1 portion of Freyd's ACC feasts

"They don't actually have to cook the food since, you know, game. It just kind of spawns in after a time. They still make you wait though."

Elora always found this and similarly superficial spectacles to be strange. It's like Kayaba wanted us to have some sense of normalcy during all of this, she mused, How kind of him to consider how comfortable we should be while we're trapped here...

"I think that regardless of updates things will get harder, especially the higher we advance through the floors. It seems like this may have been more of a level equalizing thing, at least from what little I've gathered in the past hour or so."

Absently, Elora raised her cup of water to her own lips. She silently contemplated Katoka's words before carefully guiding the glass back down to the table. "Do you feel like...", Elora started slowly as she struggled to express the weight of what she'd begun to feel. "Like you're not ready to handle this sort of responsibility?", she should have shared. Instead, Elora did her best to punch down the bubbling doubts. "-- Like our food should be finished by now?", she curtailed her conscience a bit too readily, "It's been like a whole two minutes -- I'm sure virtual food doesn't take that long to not cook." As if on cue, the restaurant's stewardess completed her walk sequence and began to loop back to their table. "Aha! I knew it!", she proclaimed before taking another hasty sip of water.

"I think as long as we stick together like we have in the past we should be alright. Caution and planning will see us through."

"Yep! That's the hope!", agreed Elora as she gestured wildly with her fork.

"I sound like my father."

"IIII'm sure there's a lot to unpack there", she observed with a nervous chuckle. "But we can go on and on about our troubled home-lives later. For now, let's eat!"

Thread Summary:

4,556 / 30 = 151*5 = 755*Tier

Kat Receives:

Elora Receives:

"I know what I'm getting, the buffalo chicken sandwich."

"A buffalo -- what...?", stammered Elora as she tried to search the menu for the dish, "So it's got like, buffalo AND chicken in it? What does buffalo even taste like? -- And you'd better not say "chicken"!", she added with a narrowed stare before lowering her gaze to peruse the menu. "Let's see if they've got anything that isn't just a meat sandwich -- Oooh!", she let out a suppressed gasp, "How about boxty? That's not just meat or just boiled potatoes!" Elora eagerly scanned the sheets of pixels for her favorite Irish dish. To her disappointment, it didn't seem to be something that the game could conjure for her. "Ehh -- guess I shouldn't be surprised. Guess I'll just go with pancakes and hashbrowns, then throw some sausages on the side.", she decided with less enthusiasm.

"Do you think anything else has changed? Like quests or whole floors?"

Elora paused momentarily to consider Kat's questions. "Huh. Now that you mentioned it...", she began to speculate, "Probably. All of this seems like some sort of grandiose system update -- maybe a way to shut us all down for a second so Kayaba could add an expansion to Aincrad? Besides, our stats have already been changed, and I doubt that's the only thing. I guess we'll just have to hope it's nothing too drastic, and especially not anything that we can't handle. The last thing any of us need is for this game to get more difficult..."

"Guess I should call you older sister eh?"

"Please don't --", asserted Elora, "Anime has already ruined that trope --" Her resolve was quickly shattered by an unsuccessfully-suppressed laugh.

"After getting bullied in middle school I just kind of, stopped interacting with people at school.", Kat continued the conversation of her aforementioned adolescence, "I had friends online that I played games with. That was my socializing, but she didn't see it that way."

"Mm, yeah", acknowledged Elora, "My parents had a difficult time with understanding that about me as well, though they definitely didn't think that I was suffering from a lack of socialization. They really just cared about my grades and whether or not I was passing my classes--" Elora bit her lip as she hesitated with sharing another aspect to the situation. Thankfully, their arrival to the restaurant presented a natural transition to another topic of discussion. She cracked a half-hearted smile at Katoka's feelings toward her family. In a way, she felt the same. There was a strange sense of nostalgia that washed over her whenever she would spend too much time in her room, reminiscing about the life that she had lived outside of this game. Out there, everything that she sensed and experienced was real, even though it usually sucked. "Well, you've definitely got a more endearing reason for wanting to study Alchemy", she chuckled dryly, "I just really liked learning about Biology in high school, despite forgetting all of systems and terms the second that I was tested on them" Her grin widened after that admission. With an eager hand, she shadowed her friend, scooping a menu from the top of the table to scour for something delicious to devour. "I don't know about you -- but I feel like I could eat a feast after that long of a sleep!, she exclaimed, "So what's good around here anyway? I'll eat anything that isn't boiled meat and potatoes"

She couldn't suppress the smile that spread across her face as Freyd's hand reached up to cusp her chin. She did, however, resist the urge to kiss him so that he would have the opportunity to finish his sentences. But damn is he making this difficult, she huffed as he pulled her closer and rested his forehead against her own. S-stop thinking about it, just pay attention!, she tried to command herself.

"I want to be the person you see in me. The one you said you want to be yourself. If we can each see it in the other, maybe, together, we can help each other see it in ourselves?"

"I -- uhm --", started Elora before her voice broke off in an awkward cough.

"Thank you, Elora. Just for being you.", he said sincerely and through a wave of surfacing emotion. A wavering breeze revealed to him that both of her hands were raised and had begun to wave in some sort of strange attempt to ward off whatever embarrassment she was experiencing. 

"My words can't talk, it's too difficult...", she admitted aloud. Elora wasn't sure what to make of it all, this unfamiliar and vulnerable version of Freyd. How ironic it was that she had stumbled into a situation where SHE was at a loss for how to express herself. "I'm just --", her voice warbled as she tried to search for what to say, "I'm just so happy and thankful that you're ok." Slinging her arms around his neck, she gently pulled him closer and into a comforting kiss. Elora's fingers combed through his messy locks as she considered what Aincrad would have in store for them next. Although their struggles were far from over, she desired to slow down and enjoy the simple serenity of being reunited with the one that she cherished.

"Let's stay here a little longer..."

"It's fine, sometimes it's good to think about what you've left behind. I was in my final year of high school, I guess now I'm way past that point."

She's younger than I thought, Elora considered, but not much younger than me.

"I miss my family. My mom, my dad, my little sister. You remind me a lot of her actually."

For a moment, Elora could feel her muscles tensing as her mind became defensive, LITTLE sister? Does she think I'm immature or something? Elora paused for a moment, reflecting on how her own reaction could only suggest that she was just that. An intentional sigh indicated that she had acknowledged the behavior, and that she was doing her best to stifle whatever petty quip she had intended to make in defense of it. Bumping into Elora, the blonde affectionately interlocked an arm with her own. She recoiled from the touch at first, then slowly relaxed and welcomed its comfort. It felt like...that it had been so long since she had been held by someone else. Not since that night. It was just like this with her and I, before everything turned to shit...We held onto each other until -

"My sister and I would help my mom in the garden out back. Picking weeds and watering the plants."

"Wait, is that why you learned Alchemy?", interjected Elora. She had neglected to wait for her friend to finish speaking.

"She was the reason I got any sunlight at home. Otherwise I'd be holed up in my room playing games all night."

"Oh...", Elora added softly. She understood exactly what Katoka meant.

"Regardless, shit matters. You matter, I matter. We all do...Everyone here is alive. Everyone here is doing something. Working, eating, sleeping, finding love...and most of all. Living."

"Damn, Kat", marveled Elora through a series of groggy blinks, "It's like, not even 9am and you're already going completely philosophical" She cracked a sideways smirk in a telltale sign that she appreciated the sentiment of what she was saying, even if it was profound, nebulous, and difficult to follow. 

"I don't know much about your outside life, and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But remember that it's ok to have a life in here as well El."

El? Was that...a nickname for her? Elora's chest began to tickle and feel like static. She had never been nicknamed before -- at least -- not in any kind of endearing way! I like that!, she decided with a growing grin. "Well", she started slyly, "I managed to finish high school somehow, but never ended up getting into any colleges. I was a bit of a troublemaker, so I don't know how much we would have gotten along if you were a try-hard. I snuck out whenever I could and did my best to socialize with different groups in school. I floated around between a few for awhile, but never managed to find one that would take me for very long." Just like Firm Anima, A nagging doubt tried to suggest. She dismissed it before she'd have the chance to consider it further. "I think it made people uncomfortable that I had bad grades and got grounded so often"

“I answered honestly: he calls me Montjoy, though I am as much Freyd as we are both Takeshi.”

It was as if, at that moment, Elora could feel all of her scattered thoughts sliding into place, like pieces of an intricate puzzle interlocking to construct a completed picture. She didn't know how to respond. Instead, she returned to the self-designated task of repairing Frey...Takashi... The name resonated with her in inexplicable sanctity. It feels like I've learned some sort of secret that I was never meant to know..., she began to assess the feelings of shame that followed the flushing of her cheeks, I guess that, eventually, I would have learned...

“I’m no gemini, Elora. I’m him -"

Her sideways glance at Monjoy was quickly averted once she realized that he was returning the stare.

"...You have a talent for seeing that in him. You always have. And it’s very likely to have saved his life.”

Elora shook her head as the words of affirmation were swallowed by static, the cacophony of a growing worry. No..., she found herself silently denying his praise and the possibility of a parallel truth to be revealed. Somehow, the very thing that she had sought out for years failed to satiate her desire for acceptance. It didn't feel...real...earned, deserved... What...what was missing? In this alternate reality, she had strived to construct the illusion of a confident and carefree heroine, an idealized self. Maybe...that's just it. None of this is REALLY me. Just like Freyd, I've been trying to fulfil the responsibilities brought on by all of this...If only he knew...how useless I really was... With a staggered exhale, she attempted to shove all of the doubts to the back of her mind. If just for a little while longer, she wished to play pretend. 

"Glad I could help...", she uttered insincerely through an undulating veil of insecurity. Just then, the mirrored mirages melded together and returned to a singular state. 

“I had the weirdest dream”, a renewed, yet familiar voice announced, “I was getting beat up by Ugzeke, this big, stinky troll boss thing, and then there were these figures I’d faced from my past. You were there, and Marvin...and my grandfather...He helped me make my choice. And so did you.”

"And what was that?", she asked him curiously. Elora couldn't help but smile at Freyd as he struggled to regain his bearings. Naturally, her sights took opportunity of his obliviousness and zig-zagged across his body in an attempt to assess any lingering similarities of Montjoy's appearance that had blended with his own. Nothing notable stood out, accept, had his eyes always been so...? 

She leaned forward and squinted, then suddenly snapped back into place as Freyd's countenance confronted her.

"Sorry, I was just --", she looked away, "Your eyes look really pretty..." After a brief moment of dreamy admiration, she added,  "I MEAN -- not that they didn't before! I think both -- both of your eye kinds look really cool!" Elora was clearly floundering in her efforts to continue the conversation.

"This place has really good food, and despite the lack of effects, good alcohol as well."

Elora laughed half-heartedly before muttering beneath her breath, "If only it were like the real world..." Shoving both hands into the pockets of her worn shorts, she began to speculate aloud, "What were things like for you, Kat? Before all of this happened? Did you finish high school or go to university?" An inexplicable sensation of of rising tension made her regret asking the question. "I'm sorry -- I didn't mean to just bring it up like that -- our lives on the outside, I mean...", Elora sighed, "I just feel so spacy right now, like I'm still recovering from some sort of shock." Her eyes continued to drift over the cityscape around them, spotting several faces with expressions she could not decipher. "I feel like right now, nothing matters, but also like, everything matters. There's just too much to take in, and I can't get a grasp on any of it..." A wandering gaze gradually rolled forward to rest on the back of her friend's head as the blonde lead them to their destination. She was worried about Katoka, about her, about Freyd, about everyone. Booze made it easier to forget.

"Oh dear, you've broken Humpty Dumpty, have you?  I hope you brought some glue." 

Elora's aghast expression was curtailed by one of concern. Briefly, her eyes darted over to her weapon; it was too far away to conjure to her hand in only a moment's notice. Thousands of thoughts tremored through her mind in an instant. Who is that? Another player -- maybe one of the diseased that live on this floor -- or it could be -- 

A stranger, she decided as spinning heels firmly planted her to face the mysterious individual. “He calls me Montjoy,", he began to introduce himself as he scrutinized her through slate-colored eyes. "Congratulations, Elora. You’ve made quite the breakthrough yourself, it seems."

"How do you know my name? I don't enjoy playing guessing games during unwelcome reunions."

He flashed her a cordial smile. She didn't trust it.

“Oh, Takeshi", he sighed as careful feet carried him to where Freyd's fractured body was still glitched and suspended like a scattered mosaic. "For such a stuffy sourpuss, you sure have a flair for the dramatic. He’s actually head over heels for you, you know, but he’s completely hopeless when it comes to expressing such things.”

Takeshi...? Who is...? Is he talking to...Freyd..?, wondered Elora. She shook herself from the speculation. "You haven't answered my question. Who the hell are you -- or -- what are you? Are you a Gemini?" Freyd had mentioned having to strike down his darker half for a second time after sparing with the Sundered Spire and comforting Mari. There was no reason for her to doubt its possible return. Christ, it doesn't matter what he is! Freyd needs help!, she reminded herself. Montjoy's inspection of Freyd's irresponsive form prompted Elora to stride over to him and snatch the spinning shard from his fingertips "Give me that! You -- I don't know if we're gonna need it to fix him! Hell -- I don't even know what the hell this is. What if he's dead? What if some sort of bug is messing with the system and it's going to MAKE him dead ? I need to get him to the Guild! Rai -- yeah -- Raidou would know what to do!" Elora crouched down and began to use her cupped hands to, unsuccessfully, corral the floating fractals into a copy of their former shape. Her expression indicated worry, frustration, and determination all at once; However, In spite of numerous uncertainties and distractions, her fingers moved deftly and diligently to salvage whatever solutions that she could from the situation. 

"Well? Are you going to help me?", she finally remarked to Montjoy.

Cobalt eyes followed the flick of Freyd's wrist, then the smooth stone that escaped it. She studied the ripples that spawned from its wake, barely able to prevent herself from becoming entranced and distracted by their mesmerizing movements. Her sights snapped back, followed by the occasional nod and stifled sighs that indicated she was still making an effort to listen intently; she was relived to hear that the other members of the guild had likely survived.

"I'm... conflicted.", he pivoted somewhat abruptly.

"About what?"

 "I have been for some time, which isn't like me at all, but something unexpected happened before the raid."

What? The kiss?, she nearly blurted out before biting her lip. He evaded her gaze, causing a surge of concern to resound through her chest. "You can tell --", she lifted her hand, then suddenly withdrew from him. What were -- how had his eyes --? Elora's heart caught in her throat.

"I've survived this world by emptying myself of everything: all connections and cares, and every feeling I have ever known..."

T-that voice -- it's still Freyd's...but his face...What the hell is going on?, she gaped, frozen in some sort of state that she could only describe as shock.

"...Not just here, but in the real world.  I didn't care about anything or anyone."

Her stomach sank, then began to feel sick -- a sensation she hadn't experienced for so long. She felt as if she were in danger. And for what reason? Freyd had never hurt her -- would never hurt her. He was her guildmate, her friend, her mentor...

"...You've shown me how to find meaning in life itself, not just progressing through a system towards an abstract goal. I've learned to feel again...But, doing so means exposing a weakness in the armor I had built around myself - that soulless machine that could plow through anything to achieve its purpose. For all its power, the one thing that it cannot do is care."

Heat began to return to her face as the blood in her body finally seemed to regain its circulation. In a flash, her arm tore through the air, summoning her spear in an explosion of light far too spectacular for the low-leveled starting weapon. She forcefully shoved over Freyd, then swung at the shadowy mirages just as they managed to disappear. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the rapidly-changing coloration of the marker above his head.

"WHAT THE F*CK, FREYD!", shouted Elora, her voice shrill and shaking with fear and anger.

"I don't know who or what I am anymore!", he confessed through a flurry of uncertain and unfamiliar expressions.

Elora returned to his side in two swift steps, sparing no hesitation to drive the butt of her staff into his shoulder and pin him to the ground. She had half a mind to stick him with the other end instead. "ARE YE FINISHED WITH WHATE'R THE HEEL THAT WAS, OR IS OGROTH JEST GONNA COME'OUTTA YEW AGEN AND TRY'TA KILL ME?! JEESES CHRIST! A 'weakness in your armor' -- What the f*ck are you on about?! Do you have any idea how many people I've used and I've hurt just so that I could get A THRILL out of it?! Do you really think that being this f*cking emotional is any easier than not feeling anything at all?!" Elora's eyes widened and bore into his as they burned with a fiery passion unlike anything he'd seen before. "Hell -- I WISH that I couldn't feel any of this sh*t! Do you know how much it would have helped me -- if I wasn't so overwhelmed by every single f*cking little thing that someone whispered about me -- about how I couldn't handle keeping up with partying and with passing in school -- or about how I was stupid enough to fall in love with a f*cking sociopath! I've TRIED to avoid thinking about any of -- about EVERYTHING that's happening here, and about how f*cking happy I'd be if I could just escape it all! But you know what -- I f*cking can't! I can't escape ANY life that I live because my baggage will ALWAYS follow me!"

Pressure was finally released from Freyd's upper torso as Elora hurled her spear off to the side of them in a fit of frustration. Her shoulders quickly sank as she finally seemed to simmer down and unwind from the tension of everything that she was feeling.

"So you know what, Freyd? I don't care if you don't care, because you've already showed more kindness to me than most people have --", her voice broke off as she rose her hand to cover her mouth and turn away from him, "And you've taught me...how to care about other people...or at least, to realize that I can become the kind of person for them that you have been to me..."

"Shadow's...? Was that the name of...whatever caused all of this?", she managed to mutter as her weary conscience struggled to string the information together.

"There was nothing I could do...We were barely holding on, ourselves...", he continued. She listened, absorbing his accounts as he carefully wiped the tear-streaks from her cheeks. He saw me...did he see them all? Everyone who was swallowed before them? He said that where they were was the last place to be submerged, does that mean...?"

"I'm... so glad... that you're still here."

She nearly brushed the sentiment off as worry began to bubble up inside of her. In an instant of silence, she tried to search for the words to reciprocate his relief. "I'm glad I'm here too", hardly seemed appropriate. "That's not --", she'd already lingered too long. Now it would just be awkward to say what she had truly intended to. Instead, she raised her hand and gently cusped it around his own. It was the only way she knew how to salvage the intimacy of this moment, to convey to him in passing that she understood, and that she cared. 

"Freyd...what happened back there? To you -- and to the other members of Firm Anima? What about all of the other Frontliners?", pried Elora as her sorrowful expression morphed into one of concern. She slowly began to withdrawn from the crook of his shoulder, her eyes fixing on his to search for an answer. "Were you hurt?", she wavered, hesitating for a moment before raising a gloved hand to brush the veil of tangled bangs away from his forehead. It felt so...unfamiliar to study his expressions so closely. Freyd had always had an aura of...intensity...surrounding him that made her cautious to question many of his motives and to test his patience beyond a reasonable limit. Somehow, today, he seemed...different. Identifying how proved difficult for her. It felt as if something had begun to show through his placid appearance, like cracks spiderwebbing over the surface of summer pavement. 

"Are you ok?"

"You're here. You're safe." 

A sharp inhale wavered before Elora broke into dissonant sobbing. She collapsed into him, clutching the folds of his cowl between the knuckles of her trembling fingers. Shoulders fell and rose sporadically as uneven breaths coursed through her diaphragm, and she succumbed to despair. "I - I - I -- was s-so scared", choked Elora as best she could, "T-there was -- so many people d-died -- I didn't know what to do - I t-tried to help, but then I -- I was pulled under, a-and --" Burying her head face into Freyd's shoulder, she struggled to snuff out the sounds of the screams, the sensation of asphyxiation. "I a-always knew that we could die here -- or out there -- but I - I wasn't ready to -- I didn't want to accept that..." 

Her cheeks radiated heat against his as they flushed furiously and trickled with tears. "When it all ended -- I thought that it wouldn't effect me -- or that maybe I'd somehow be proud of the life that I lived --", her voice cracked again, "But it didn't feel like any of that. I was so ashamed -- uncertain -- It's so hard to describe, really..." In spite of her shivering and sniffling, Elora's breathing seemed to steady.

Elora gulped dryly, the lines of her lips flattening as she set her jaw into place. "Yeah", she vaguely agreed in response to all of her friend's observations. "Food sounds nice", she added after a prolonged stretch of silence, "And...actually...wasn't there a place that we were gonna go together? To see at some point?" The heels of her boots scrapped across the splintered floorboards of the inn as she shuffled and searched for the answer. Finally, she snapped -- or at least, she tried to through the thick fabric of her gloved hand. "Cherry blossoms! Didn't you mention that you got Hanami somewhere where there were lots of cherry blossoms?" Wait -- Borris!, panicked Elora as her mind suddenly remembered her own tiny, rocky familiar. Flashing her wrists, she was quickly comforted to find that he was still wrapped around it like a stony bracelet. "Oh, thank god -- for a second I was worried that I lost Borris. He's still here though, stoic as ever", she showed Katoka with a relived chuckle.

  ♪  Islands Under Eyelids  ♪  

Elora instinctually threw her arms up and into a defensive maneuver, suddenly sensing that Freyd might unwillingly strike her out of sheer surprise. A stupefied inquiry indicated that he'd at least partially been able to process that she was standing before him, and that an attack would no longer be warranted. "El... Elora?", she heard him speak her name and began to lower her guard.

"I...", they both sputtered as crimson eyes met with irises flooded by a cobalt ocean. "You're alive!", he shouted. She bit her lip and turned away. 

"I'm sorry --", she managed to choke out as a stinging dryness clinched at her throat and threatened to silence her. Suffocating, another wave of panic surged beneath her skin, causing its hairs to stand on end. Elora shivered as her senses desperately began to sporadically search for an escape. "I -- I shouldn't be here!", she proclaimed as definitively she she could through the filter of a shaking voice, "I was -- I didn't survive -- this is all wrong!" A gloved hand jerked up, wiping across eyelids before snarling, then ripping through the roots of her characteristically uncombed hair. Shallow, heaving breaths coursed through her chest as memories of the storm lapsed against her conscience. Not again, she pleaded with herself and with whatever cruel creator was still toying with them, Not now. 

Screams. Ceaseless cold. An eternal night.

A familiar numbness began to wash over and petrify her trembling body. I cannot run. I cannot run, Elora repeated frightfully. Her knees buckled beneath her, sending her legs slamming into the cool and congealed surface of the swamp's saturated moss. She clutched her arm and dug in with her fingernails, frantically desiring to console herself, to pry herself out of this waking nightmare.

"I am so afraid...", she admitted, small and defeated.

"Ye ken howfur he is, glaikit dunce.  Guid luck, Eddie."

"Thanks, Quip", she smiled, trailing off with a sigh as she parted ways with the woman and started to slink down the series of stone steps. They somehow seemed less slippery than before, or at least, in comparison to the sludge she had just finished trying to wade through. It was a nice change of pace, though Elora couldn't help but wish she'd met more resistance along the way -- an occurrence that could have convinced her to turn back. Despite her waning spirit, she arrived at the shores of the silent pond. Beside it rested a recognizable silhouette. Freyd..., she meant to speak, but somehow thought instead. He looked so...serene... Should I disturb him?, she wondered worriedly, It seems so...I don't know what to say... For a moment, this was all that she wanted, to bask in a purgatory of uncertainty. Here, there were no awkward reconnections or reminitions of their time before the storm which seemed livelier by comparison. It was just him. Just her.

She opened up her user interface, unequipping then reequipping the adventuring outfit she'd always worn. Somehow, It didn't seem right for her anymore. Maybe I'm not right for it, the thought crossed her mind. Elora shook her head, swiftly motioning to equip another accessory from her inventory. A dim ray of opal light rippled from her head, indicating that the red rose hairclip from Tanabata had braided and pinned back a section of her hair. Hopefully this helps, she huffed quietly before taking a seat beside her...

"Freyd...", she muttered with a gentle, but purposeful prod of the elbow into his side.

"Now let's just. Be happy for a bit ok?"

"How do you figure we'll do that? We can't even get drunk here", chuckled Elora with great effort. She still felt so exhausted, so melancholic. "How are we supposed to return to normal when we don't even know what normal is anymore?", she found herself proposing against her better judgement. It was probably best not to think about. "Eh, whatever. Honestly, any reason to distract ourselves from what just happened is good enough for me. Let's go." 

Slowly extending her limbs, she uneasily forced herself to depart from the ground. "I don't know that I'd say I feel any stronger...but there is...something definitely feels different", agreed Elora as she motioned to open her menu. With widening eyes, she regarded the numbers. "This isn't right. These -- they didn't look like this before. I think...there must have been a glitch or something. This is so much higher than befo--"

Freyd...

Elora hesitated as the familiar name resonated with her. Her eyes darted to a corner of the screen, where she scanned the list of users she'd encountered, and the alerts that would indicate if any of them had contacted her. He was online, but --

"No messages", she stated bluntly before making her way toward the entrance of the room. Don't think about it. Find a distraction, just like you always have. "What are we doing today?"

It's -- Oh, it's one of the Australians, Freyd's friend who works at the shop, decided Elora as soon as the whirlwind of shock subsided enough for her gather her bearings. "Yergh --", she started unsuccessfully through the filter of a hushing hand.

"Edwina?!", snapped Elora as soon as the woman granted reprieve. She winced upon realizing that she'd neglected to heed to the aforementioned agreement. Sighing, she continued with a stifled whisper,  "Come on, at least I had the curtesy to remember your name. We can skip the introductions..." 

"Ye kin fill me in aboot Freyd 'n' a' his nonsense while we donder. Yea?

Elora hesitated, then slowly worked to return her foot into the hold of the mud-clotted shoe. "Thank you for helping me, but I'm really not sure that I should even be out here...I came to check on Freyd, but -- well, I don't know..." The shaken player rose to her feet, fashioning her spear into its holster on her back, "Does he even want to see me...?" She felt deflated, and even a little ashamed to be asking the question out loud, especially to Quip. Either she was being ridiculously over-pessimistic again, or she was going to receive an answer she'd rather not accept. Whatever the reason, she hated that she had laid out her fears, just like that. "Sorry --", she blurted, then picked a direction to begin walking towards, "I don't know why I'm feeling like this. I think I just feel some sense of urgency. I would normally be ok with just letting things happen as they should, but...." Her mind began to flood with images of the end, a trance that threatened to take hold of her all to frequently. "There's just not enough time to not figure things out. It could all disappear so quickly."

The sickening sound of the ground's sludgy surface suctioning to Elora's shoes made the player's stomach swirl with a nervous nausea. It had taken all morning for her to muster the courage to confront the worries that had been gnawing at her conscience for days...perhaps weeks even... It had all been a blur, from the moment that she awoke in the tavern, to now, as she trudged through the mire that would lead her to Angel's Point. What am I even doing?, she found herself reconsidering, He hasn't even tried to come see me. A sharp sting of regret pierced her chest in an instant. He tried to reach out to you, and you didn't even read the message. 

I was - I am so afraid...I didn't want him to see me after...after everything that happened...after how perfect it had been before...It was easier to pretend that that was all just a fling, or some kind of dream. I didn't want to reopen the wound. Either way...It's obvious that things are over...I fucked it up, and ran away agai -- Suddenly, Elora's forward foot slid out from beneath her, falling inward as mud rose to swallow her leg from ankle to calf. "AGGH! L-LET GO!", she shrieked in panic. Her fists reflexively slammed down and into its congealed surface, causing a spray to soak her face with filth. "I-It's ok, I'm not going under. It's ok -- I'm fine -- It's ok", she fearfully repeated the mantra as a familiar coldness began to consume her. Frantically, she lodged her gloved fingers into the ground, clawing and upheaving large clumps of silt until she could finally yank her leg free from its hold. It's not, she admitted as her thoughts were drown out by an ocean of tears.

Tag: @Freyd

"In the end I was fighting back to back with Setsuna from the guild, we... We went down together."

"Did you see it too --?" , asked Elora as Katoka uttered another apology. She paused and shook her head, regretting the interjection. "I'm sorry", she started again, "I'm -- well -- it was almost more of, a lot of feelings, than a sight. There was a moment where I thought that I could still feel you, then I just -- everything started playing out so quickly. I felt so heavy, like all of my regrets and all of the things that I regretted never doing, were dragging me down" Elora took a moment to steady her breathing as she noticed her friend's eyes grow wide with concern. She didn't want to overwhelm her with all of this, but at the same time, she felt it was impossible to stifle the emotions, which had begun to surface all at once. "It just seemed like, nothing that I had done up until that point had been enough, or at least, it didn't mean anything. I couldn't feel happy about the life that I had lived, and I especially wasn't ready for it to be over..." She sighed, "At least when you went out, you fought until it took you both. That's something to be proud of..."

Elora fumbled in Katoka's embrace, releasing the thorny trinket as the two of them fell to the floorboards. The marigold menu that had shielded Elora from the new world swiftly shattered into diamonds that danced around them in the daybreak.

"I-I tried to g-get you out", began Kat as she desperately clung to her friend for comfort,  "I-I'm so sorry."

I called for you, I hoped that you would save me, she wanted to admit. Instead, she found herself raising her arms and slinging them around Katoka's neck, trying desperately to draw her closer, suspend them both in this fleeting moment. If this is what security is supposed to feel like, then why do I still feel so afraid?  It all seemed so fragile now. Anything and everything could be taken away from her - from all of them - in only an instant. It was supposed to be easier than this, she thought as her mind recounted its previous decision to answer the call of the void. Death could have been the antidote and the sweet release that she wanted, But now....

"I don't even know what I want anymore", whispered Elora as her voice began to crack, "I want all of it, all of THIS to end, but I'm also... I'm so terrified of even --" She held onto Katoka, continuing to speak through stifled sobs, "Of even accepting that this is all just some BIG, STUPID FACCADE! I came to this world to escape death, not embrace it--!"

Light...warmth...stinging...pain....

Elora's senses slowly began to reawaken as a patch of sunlight drifted to rest between her eyelids. 

The...other side...

Then, an obnoxious high-pitched chiming. Her alarm clock? No...It was...a sign -- a menu? The blurs between lapsing blinks gradually sharpened to reveal more information:

System Update Complete. Welcome to 3.0. Please take the time to consult the update notes before allocating your refunded skill points.

I don't... 

thud. thud. thud. Thud. Thud. THUD, drummed the anthem of worried footsteps as someone sprinted through the halls.

BANG!

Thunder -- Rain -- 

Elora jumped, tearing herself free from the paralysis.

BANG!

A landslide -- Screaming --

She reached to her side, hoping to find her spear.

BANG!

Neighing -- Darkness --

Her hand met the cold stem of a rose cast from copper.

Freezing -- Drowning -- The End. All of the memories roared through her mind like an unstoppable flood, her eyes spilling over with tears as her body began to brake under the pressure of --

The door to her bedroom skidded and scraped across warped walls as it fell clean from the hinges and crashed onto the floor. Elora swore she could hear a distant yell from below as an alarmed innkeeper protested to the perceived destruction of his property. Fist clenched around the metallic flower, Elora brandished its bud like a weapon to threaten whatever --

" --- !", her throat choked, failing to produce the name of a familiar face as it formed from the corners of her vision. She swallowed dryly and tried again.

"kat..."