Freyd

Momentarily smooshed between the wall and the massive beast's tail, Freyd expected a lot more pain than he actually felt. It was a mild relief, but also an opportunity. The great, big, gangly noodle thing reminded him a lot of that corrupted dragon that had gnawed its way through the underside of the Lake of Reflections. What was its name again? Scala-something? He couldn't recall, and it really didn't matter. The point was that he'd raced and leapt his way up to the critter's head and gave it a few good smashes for its trouble. Aggro was proving problematic, and tanking fluctuating bet

Peeling off the wraps made out of barely stabilized void from his hands, Freyd dismissed the volatile weapon to his inventory and replaced them with the newly acquired duplicates. "I don't know... these feel pretty meh by comparison." A few finger flexes into fists, followed by a bit of shadow boxing, ensured that they were tight and suitably snug for their final fight. "What's-his-face, uh... not-so-greybeard, I guess, should be along any minute." As if on queue, Burlock the Quartermaster hobbled onto the deck from below, his super-tropey peg leg blinged out with metal rings sup

Freyd and Persi both sat, marveling at her outburst like a pair of gaudy tourists gazing at a train wreck proceeding before them in bullet time. At least one of them wished they had some popcorn. When the rant ended, master and familiar turned to look at each other, exchanging the single greatest melding of the minds that the system might ever allow, each thinking the very same thing: WTF?! Finally, both burst into fits of hysterical laughter - well, Freyd did. Persi kinda just convulsed on the ground like she was having some sort of seizure, but he assumed that it was laughter, since

On. Off. On. Off... Freyd just grimaced and finally tossed the glasses into the drink, tired of having to fiddle with them endlessly. They weren't helping and doing so was starting to ruin his mood, and he'd come here for mood, damnit. Something dark and sinuous instantly burst from beneath his shirt the moment the lenses hit the water, darting like several streaks of inky blackness to plunge beneath the mirrored lake without making a sound. Freyd paused a moment, not having expected Persi to react with such attachment to the things. Maybe she just thought he was playing fetch?

Freyd listened as she reluctantly told her tale, or at least revealed enough snippets of it to string together a grim, loose sequence of events. Chewing on his toothpick and staring out at the water as she spoke, he watched the bobber on the water long enough for the bait to draw attention. When it finally did, he snatched it up instant, reloaded, then cast anew. Like the tiny red ball on a string, Mina's words followed their own familiar pattern. He'd seen the inside of those padded rooms too, though not as long as she, by the sounds of it. Tongue held, the wood sliver moved from one sid

It took every ounce of willpower the Whisper had at his disposal not to just slip through shadow to reach his intended target. Few had ever seen or understood the consequences of his anger. No one here truly knew the depths to which his wrath could actually reach. Seeing the broken egg shells and mauled mother were all that had been required. The machine-like half of his mind had automatically performed all necessary checks and balances. The evidence immediately pointed to Carsar's guilt. No hairs were left to split, so he'd split the assailant instead. Even with their own speed and pro

Eyes widening as he watched her crush the weapon in her hand to its component essence, Freyd couldn't help wonder if she was juicing on something. If not, that was some serious anger channeling. Given what he'd seen other women do in this game, it shouldn't surprise him in the least. In Aincrad, physical power came first from the mind. Patting her heaving back one last time, he turned his attention back to the ridiculous fishing rod that had brought him out here in the first place. The privacy of Mina's cathartic moment deserved to be respected. She didn't want comfort or platitudes, but

"Mina..." Words always proved inadequate against the pangs of heartache and despair. Instead, he did what Freyd did best, showing compassion and humanity by subtle action. Reaching over, he placed a hand over hers, his eyes still staring at the lake before them. His slender palm was warm, placed over hers, the skin tough and callused from endless fighting. "You've paid a steeper price than most. It's unfair to lay that burden on survivors, but life isn't even remotely fair." Pursing his lips, Freyd resolved to grant her a glimpse of what lay within, hoping to forge some sort of

All the while that Mina spoke, Freyd sat staring out at the Lake of Reflections, the mirrored glint of his spectacles refracting endless copies of himself against the water's surface. The image couldn't have better represented how he felt, yet could never possibly explain. "But at our core, the essence of what makes us human... its the capacity for empathy, our mostly-caring nature. That wish to nurture, to love..." It hadn't always been so. Had Mina truly known his state of mind in the not-so-distant past, she might have recoiled in terror at the depths of darkness in the recesses

Freyd was already skulking in the shadows lining the outer nooks of the cavern, watching and listening as his companions exchanged words with Fuzziel. He'd meant to circle around and catch the dragon by the flank, if combat had been required. That no longer seemed to be the case. Still wary, it was his duty to see danger and evaluate the risks of betrayal. Given what he saw of her condition and the evidence of struggle throughout the cave complex, it seemed likely that they'd arrived in the aftermath of a bigger battle. Everywhere he turned, the deep rending grooves of large claws marred

Freyd laughed such a heartfelt laugh that it would easy to believe he'd actually cracked and gone completely mad. Mina had never heard anything similar from him, nor had most others. To be fair, the capability was a fairly recent phenomenon. "You remind me of the therapist I had to see when I was a kid, but with better cleavage. I like the drink and company better too." He made a point of taking a sip and smacking his lips loudly afterwards, a beaming smile behind his reflective lenses. "It's sweet that you care, Mina. It really is. I also agree with everything you just said. You'r

Catching the edge of distress in Katoka's voice, Freyd twisted and parried the behemoth's flailing limb, ducking beneath and inside its defenses. Unleashing a series of rapid strikes close in ruptured the few remaining strands of digital mesh still holding the beast together. Parts, fortunately less whole than before, scattered in the opposite direction. "Are you okay? Did it tag you?" Definite concern apparent in his tone, Freyd scanned her quickly, walking a full circle check around her to ensure no lingering trace of the cancerous mass that held these monstrosities glued together.

Freyd looked like he's just been slapped by one of his own wet fish. The very notion that people would do stuff for a sense of normalcy, comfort, or even as a hobby was still very alien to him. Even sitting here in his vacation clothes forcing himself to enjoy doing nothing was jarring. It felt like putting yourself in time out, from which his perpetual motion existence absolutely recoiled. "Huh..." he finally said, admitting that the notion had sunk in enough to be considered plausible. "Guess I just never thought of doing that before. I... it's not the sort of thing that would no

"It's a valid distraction tactic." "Fair point," Freyd conceded, one eye lazily keeping watch on the water's surface where a worn red bobber floated in anticipation of future action. A quick dip instantly resulted in the flick of his wrist and the sudden manifestation of a seaweed-covered box with rusted trim by his side. Some sort of strange red fish lay draped on the box like a garnish. Freyd sighed, tossing the fish into a bucket to join a half-dozen others, while the chest's lid flew open to reveal a handful of miscellaneous junk with unknown potential. The box itself vanished aft

"Ugh... thank goodness for a little peace and quiet, Montjoy. @Freya had it right suggesting that I should get some rest before the raid. Not that I could admit it, of course. She becomes insufferable if I agree with her." It was difficult to be sure, his shadow being nothing but a silhouette, but Freyd imagines that even his stodgy, conscientious counterpart had smiled at that one. The Whisper, meanwhile, was anything but the spitting image of pure edge donned and cultivated purely for the purpose of meeting expectations. Gone was all the emo-wear, replaced by a pair of plain khaki shor

"Bah! Suck it up. Can't possibly be worse than Slime King," Freyd came Freyd's retort, his shoulders shuddering at the recollection. "So much bad Jell-O..." Catching a glance at the last of the mobs as his blonde blur companion dispatched it with one of her ever swift strikes, something caught his attention. "Oh, that's not good." The cowl flicked from side to side, as if expecting something extra-perilous to suddenly spawn. "Uh, Kat... please tell me you have a teleport crystal on you at all times." It was a rare thing to hear an edge of concern coming from the Whisper. "If this

Dusting off the caked on layer of dust and drifting mob gut sparkles, Freyd slowly emerged from the cavern, calling out for Foyle and Litz to respond. "Are boys still with me? Please say yes. The paperwork for the contrary is too much of a headache." Foyle's giggle-like chuckles confirmed it, Austerlitz also groaning as he pulled himself out from under a thick layer of shattered crystals. Their health bars were in the deeper yellow range, but both would recover. "Come on. We need to make sure that the rest of the players at the outer defenses are still okay." Yanking both

Was it because the player was already dead? Or was the whole thing some sort of messed up quest or event? It was like those rare circumstances where the system enabled bodies to remain, even though death normally caused a player or mob to disintegrate instantaneously. What was going on here? That was as far as his thoughts managed to get, the rest of the chamber erupting into a massive cascading discharge of energy that streamed through the swirling mobs out and down to reach their swarming kin in the tunnels leading out past Foyle, Litz and eventually all the way back to Sykes' positi

"OWWWwww. Fuck!" It was called pain 'suppression', not 'elimination.' Cardinal had taken its due early. His arms had also failed to find purchase, leaving the Whisper clinging to the spar by his legs, the rest of his bruised body dangling upside down and facing the still swellings swarm now increasing aware and agree about his intrusion. "I am so glad that no one else is here to see this," he muttered to himself, knowing that recording crystals of him thigh-hugging a giant phallic prong would fetch a high price in some circles. The brokers, in particular, would have a field day.

His instincts screamed at him to test the stability of the span before he ran. Why? If it's going to fail, I might as well find out while I'm running. Finding out in advance doesn't help me. Taking one step, then another, Freyd was reminded of a conversation with Oscar when the two had first met. In Aincrad, the limits of the real world only exist if you allow them to. He'd watched the man make a crazy superman-style leap up a massive cliff face. It was akin to being in the Matrix and realizing that physics were optional. Cardinal frowned upon such errata and tended to respond if too m

Climbing atop the crystalline outrigger, Freyd balanced upon the thick formation like it was a balance beam, arms out side to spread his weight. The white cluster was just ahead, about twenty feet across the sea of frenzied mobs swirling below, its increased undulations suggesting a growing awareness of his presence. Individual spiders tried reaching up to snare him from his perch, only to be carried away by their brethren. There was another problem: with the exit passage blocked by Litz and Foyle, the tide was rising. "Ughhh... never a break," Freyd muttered, already well aware that

Leaping high into the air and nearly running his hand through one of the wall formations, Freyd leveraged his momentum to spin and leap acrobatically from one set of crystals to the next, keenly aware of the sound of breakage in his wake. No turning back. As long as they don't break when I grab- *CRACK* "Shit!" The slender branch he'd snared could take the force of his movement and snapped like a twig the moment he grabbed it, offering just enough resistance to flip him head over heels into an uncontrolled spin. Instinct alone guided his hand to reach and grab for anything -

A running jump got him atop of the morass of arachnids, where Freyd ran for his life to the nearest crystal cluster, a bluish one that resembled some sort of massive spruce with needle-like protrusions from each main spire. It was like giving a giant cactus a full body hug and would remain one of Freyd's least fond memories for some time to come. Any spiders that had actually noticed his presence were swept along by their kin, unable to challenge him directly. That would change quickly if too many took notice and the swarm itself took an interest. Peeling himself painfully off his pin cush

"Time to break the circuit, I guess?" Direct contact seemed like a bad idea, possibly leading to the same fate as whoever the last fellow was, still clutching on to his own death. Scouring the room for option, the Whisper laid eyes upon a tall, white crystalline formations, some of its massive shards leaning precariously in the right direction. "Okay... so that's an option. Now, how the heck am I going to get there?" The centre of the room resembled a swirling maelstrom of chittering multicolored death, as if an entire vat of Skittles had taken the Jekyll/Hide formula, or whatever Seymore

*Poink* THUD!!! It hit, hard, but not really really hard? Freyd hadn't really been sure what to expect. In fact, in retrospect, the thing had actually missed more than hit, and spectacularly at that. Sure, there was this whole mass effect gravity thing happening, and the boss was looking all ominous in its dark edgelordy magnificence, but something still seemed really... off. Like, Jell-O actually sticking to a wall kind of off. Somewhat let down, the Whisper squinched his face up as he fathomed unsuccessfully for some reasoned explanation and found none. "Umm... huh? Wasn't t