Freyd

"Uurk!" Freyd's back suddenly bulged, folding him awkwardly in half like his insides were threatening to become his outsides. Inky black ooze spewed forth from his mouth, eyes and ears, spraying and staining the dingy grey sand with a slick, oily finish. Montjoy stood separately off to the side, tilting his head in silence while watching in morbid curiosity. Somehow, he didn't seem surprised by any of it, but who knew the expectations of shadows? Even as he wretched, the glossy clumps of sodden soil around him started to writhe and undulate, as if something was prodding them from behi

"I'm going to live to regret saying that aren't I?" Freyd shrugged noncommittally, which for him was tantamount to absolute agreement. Notably, his usual grin was missing. Whatever all this was had truly managed to get under his skin and continued to fester. Like pinning Jell-o to a wall, the curse of feeling had done the impossible and touched the untouchable nerve. Speaking of untouchable, Katoka's ever-impressive technique spontaneously fell prey to SAO's equivalent of plot armor as the system interfered and veered her katana into some poor already-dead mob instead. The mook, bare

Was there such a thing as tanking-guilt? Freyd felt ridiculous for still having so much fuel in the... reservoir, but the job simply didn't require it in the same gas-guzzling ways as his usual wood chipper-shredder approach to combat. It was all rather new. At least he'd had the good sense not to go with his original plan to nerf his damage output completely. Watching paint peel might have proven more appealing than endless chasing aggro in circles. How did Shield ever endure it?! New respect dawned instantly for the absent raid veteran, along with so many others who'd taken on the mant

"Heh... clever system. Good for you, little sister." His bin opened and the corresponding order already collected, Freyd had been tempted to try to collect the entire wall if only to dissect its inner workings. But, friends didn't do that to friends... and it was also bad business. Having already surveyed her shop, its condition since his last visit was dramatically improved. It was yet another sign that Kat was... no, had... come into her own. A loose sheaf of brilliant white paper materialized on the desk at his urging, as did the quill and ink to be used for his note. It was antiquat

"I'm not a fool Freyd." You've never struck me as one. 'Courageous' far more often came to mind as her defining quality, but he stayed silent. Katoka had long since earned the right to scold him and speak her mind, not that she'd ever really been shy about it. He'd born the brunt of her barrage of elbow ribbings to prove it, but also had too much respect for her to interfere. Meanwhile, the machine turning the wheels behind the Whisper's eyes kept chugging along, doing its thing. Patterned, predictable responses repeated in each and every occurrence. He'd tried to tell them all s

Watching his friend approach, Freyd instantly read the tension in her shoulder and set of her jaw. He knew what was coming, yet couldn't decide how he should react to it. What was expected? Should his ire rise in return? Apologize? For what? The threat had been ended, at least from the mob. If his conclusions were correct, his presence would place her in greater danger than remaining. Was this another of those 'feeling' things? They were proving to be quite bothersome, and therein lay the rub. "That's all you have to say to me? You fly into a rage and beat that boss thing to a pu

Freyd sat on a dusky outcropping of rock, charcoal in colour and texture, his own clothing blending in perfectly with the local decor and his demeanor a matching blend of terrible. Legs contorted into some semi-meditative lotus pose, he looked more like he'd tried to untangle a particularly pesky knot, failed miserably and given up. On the black river's edge, below, in water so still that it failed to ripple in the wake of its passage, the Leeching Lich prowled in search of souls upon which to feed. Spider fingers splayed against each other, very little of the Whisper was left to see save a

"To be fair, I'm pretty sure that most people outside of this digital hellscape already carry some excessive share of crazy. People are just naturally messed up. Can you even remember the last person you truly considered 'normal'?" He pondered wistfully himself for a moment, coming up empty before Violet cried out at the loving affection of the field of grabby hands cluttering their path. "Ease up, boys. I'm pretty sure that she's already taken." An eyebrow flicked at the most observation of mild disappointment in the wilting of the hands. Not what I expected... and also: weird. "B

So the slightly-less-huge-than-it-was-a-moment-ago spoop noodle did notice them after all? As a professional prodder, Freyd felt elated at having finally prompted some sort of actual response from the thing. A sneer and glare triggered its icy partitioning party trick again, but their group was getting accustomed to the pattern. A few terse instructions and the others went to work: Elora, Katoka, Morningstar and Mina. They were the fab four of this raid, at least in his eyes, each having dished out consistent and potent hurt for the entirety of the fight. "Have at'em!" Carve his big-

"Buddy, I didn't call you a murder hobo." she interjected, "I said I was worried about how you were feeling after shanking people to help Mr. Man with a plan. But that's besides the point, I already know you're more than that. Why else would I keep hanging out with your crazy ass!" Freyd could practically hear the metaphorical record player needle scratching across the surface of the disk. Far beneath the surface of the cowl, his eyes twisted together as he struggled to process how the inference didn't lead to his very same conclusion. "Hey! My jackass is not crazy," he replied, pausin

"Sorry, Mina. It's a package deal. You don't want me to be a relentless murder hobo? This is what you get. Should have read the fine print, I guess?" Freyd kept fiddling with the blasted contraption, aligning various doo-dads and making certain to duplicate everything that had worked last time. "I think Ronbaru's all elemental-themed. Read a few reports about it. Some sort of dissent in the ranks going on in the background, perhaps in their past. It's a 'trouble in paradise' type scenario. Actually, when you think about it, it's probably perfect for a pair of dysfunctional..." S

Twisting and sweeping his leg wide, Freyd laid the hulking golem flat. Spinning himself upright in a whirlwind maneuver that ultimately drove his elbow hard against its few remaining faces. What had once been a tree was now mostly pulp pasted all over the badly marred grove, orange sap-like splatter covering most of the ground and nearly all of Freyd from head to toe - the down side of being a close range, hands-on combatant. Crashing crystal sounds filled the clearing as the sum total of the mob's being shattered at once to signal its demise. Freyd fell unceremoniously the short distance t

Thin. Drawn. Stretched. The same feelings as before, but they were returning with greater frequency. Wandering the grand but empty halls, his skin crawled with every step and touch, like he was wearing something else's skin under or over his own. Freyd couldn't tell which, only making the sensation worse. A quick selection from the catalog. Item given and stored. Always getting ready for a future that might never come. Pausing, he stared at his own hand still extended to press upon the menu. It's form and image shifted subtly, yet constantly, gaining then yielding some degree of trans

Freyd's entire form pulled tight, like a spring coiled to maximum tension and ready to explode. His hands were shaking, even as they corrupted syrupy sap spilled viscously off them leaving long goopy trails of something definitely not right. Behind him, barely discernable in dim light and the flurry of battle, Montjoy's form shimmered uneasily. It's edges broke rank with its caster, with bits of dark poking and prodding line something in a cocoon, pressing to get out. Without warning, though perhaps driven by Katoka's words, the spring sprung and a flensing of furious blows ripped the

Gauging their progress through the lens of a machine mind, Freyd poured over mental calculus and weighed options. They were running out of steam. Even tossing the numbers aside, their spirits were starting to wane with exhaustion. Mina carved them a path forward with elegance and meticulous precision. She’d truly come to shine in the fullness of her power. ‘What would Rosa say if she saw her little Violet now,’ he wondered? Hirru, ever the hero, pulled off another miracle with a bit of cleverness mixed with willful resolve. “Ingenious! Well done, my friend,” Freyd whispered to h

Freyd’s thoughts momentarily drifted to decimating the Ragout Rabbit population of Aincrad as a potential if temporary source of income. ‘They’d all respawn anyway,’ he reasoned internally. But, even with the Tracking mod, the endeavor simply wouldn’t prove profitable. There wasn’t likely enough demand and it wasn’t actually possible to corner the market - only to stockpile. Shame. "They're grouchy because they're getting attacked for doing what people pay them for, aka their intel gathering." And what about those getting attacked just for living? Stuffing his mouth full of stew

Vision swirled with a sea of ears and faces, his immediate thoughts overcome by one in particular. Green hair scented with a unique blend of Hummingbard mixed with pungent peat and mulch from a night of humility and terror. Shadows of the weight still pressed against his shoulder. Freyd closed his eyes, trying to suppress something inside that threatened to swallow him whole. His gut was wrenching at the memory of her face swallowed in a flood of pure and utter nothingness. That same sensation gnawed at his hands, pride's genesis in sin wrapping ever tighter around them... hungry... alway

Locking eyes with the badly mauled mob, Freyd actually felt pity for the creature. It's floral features actively wept as it struggled against whatever malediction had befallen its digital form. Leaves sculpted into its skin were peeling and wilting as it moved, the very passage of the wind inflicting pain upon its blighted form. The fact that he could see it suffering only made it worse. What the hell am I thinking? It's just a mob, painted and cast into a role by the system for its intended purpose: to die. "I'm sorry," was all he said, grabbing the creature by the throat, spinning

The Cerulean Samurai made quick work of the remaining mob, slicing them to pieces with her particular brand of Ginsu efficiency. If they weren't stuck in a death game, he'd honestly recommend her as a brand ambassador. She had the right look and demeanor for it, though the adorable murder machine look might be a bit too disturbing for family-grade vidcasts. Meanwhile, he remained in a low, crouched stance already on the lookout for any additional baddies that might be spawning in the vicinity. "Your guess might have been right on the mark. It almost looks like this might once have been

"Name's Freyd, by the way. Persi and I were just hanging around to visit some of her family. They're hanging about around here somewhere. Not always to spot blue shadow mongooses when they don't want to be found, isn't that true girl?" The elusively inky little creature darted from shadow to shadow with near invisibility, only her burning azure eyes giving any true presence to her form when in darkness. Even in daylight her edges morphed and shifted constantly, making her especially hard to pin down. She was the first to leave town, racing from boulder to cactus to rock - anything

Listening to Hirru speak was inspiring. Though he’d likely deny it, the man was a good leader and also clever. “An elemental barrier of our own? Nicely done, my friend. Keep it up as long as you can. We must be nearing the end of this fight.” Secretly and only to himself, Freyd’s thoughts bore a graver degree of concern. Yes, they were managing these spiritual noggins he was spawning, but for how long? Two more rounds? Maybe three at the utmost? Then their collective wells would run dry. The mob wouldn’t have to win. They would simply run out of steam and sputter, only the mos

"Oh boy... Sando Satsu. That brings back memories. I haven't faced off against that guy in ages. Almost feel like doing it again just for the sense of nostalgia. There are also any number of field bosses to hunt down. I think I've gotten about half of them so far." Freyd wandered into the central chamber, already being familiar with most of its details and layout from another recent visit. "These stones here have to be rotated, like such..." Maneuvering around the room in haphazard order, Freyd was already busy at work. The puzzle didn't change, apparently, making it a lot easier to s

"I would hope so, considering you're usually joined at the hip with Raidou-kun." Freyd burst out laughing. “Despite what you may think, Violet, Raidou and I do not actually share a brain and are not conjoined in any way. I’ve actually hardly seen him at all, of late and suspect that he is busy getting ready for his wedding.” Mina having filled it, he raised the pseudo-wine in a toast to those absent and preparing for their nuptials. “And murder, really? A bit gauche for the dinner table, no? I actually meant her Ragou Rabbit recipe. It’s the talk of several circles that shoul

Freyd leaned casually against the open air bar of one of the small shops lining the outskirts of Fortaleza's main square, a tiny white porcelain cup gingerly pinched between two fingers and containing the locally brewed equivalent to espresso. Rumour had it that the drink could wire a player enough to keep awake for three days, even in such a simple sampling. Rumour was wrong. It was actually closer to five, and then you slept for an equal period of time afterwards. He'd experienced it first hand during his foray to this floor, searching for his elusive and aptly named familiar: Persistenc

Having thoroughly surveyed the surrounding area and ensured that no mobs would spoil their fun, Freyd finally allowed himself to take a breather and relax. Laying out a blanket and foodstuffs he'd been dragging around since Freya's given his spoopy attitude a kick in the pants, he soon set out a spread of assorted fruits, spreads, cheeses and crackers. 'Nibbleables,' as his mother used to call them. Adding few canteens of water and some juices he'd picked up from vendors near Marv's post in the Town of Beginnings, they were placed on ice brought directly from Snowfrost. Fortunately is stay