Freyd

Internally, his machine mind logic was screaming at him not to trust, not to risk, and keep all possible distance and precautions in place. Countering the harshness of those instincts was an empathic and familiar voice tinged with female and Irish overtones. She was the one to nurture his fledgling humanity to emerge and assert itself against the cold and dark defenses that had forged themselves around his heart. Somewhere between paranoia and understanding, there stood a Freyd, who amazingly reached out to take a risk. "We both lead the blind on a regular basis - notably including tho

Freyd heard some, but not all of what Nari whispered to herself under her breath. Judging by her demeanor and the conversation to date, they held compatible perspectives on their circumstances. Her comment about refusing to chase after divinity earned her a smile and chuckle. He knew what she meant, and took the declaration to heart. This manner of candor was refreshing after the endless and ineffable dance required by most others. Both of them scanned the derelict war camp as they entered, Nari's wary eye surveying for dangers while he set about poking and prodding with black-gloved hands

"I have heard it said, Bob, that war can turn lives upside down, but I wasn't really expecting you to demonstrate it quite so literally." Flailing like the heaviest pinata imaginable, here hung what should have been one of the most imposing mobs of the game. War looked positively laughable, flopping around like a turtle on its back, his massive sword hissing and steaming as it lay on the ground a few feet away and out of reach. Raging with boundless fury, the mob couldn't even reach the saddle straps that somehow miraculously kept him attached to his horse. The mounts itself had lost m

Freyd had wandered over to the shattered container from which the flaming elemental had emerged, righting it and using it as a stool while Vigilon and Krysta said their peace. Throughout each player's replies, he just sat there, chin resting against this loosely curled fist, eyes half-lidded and glazed over. When the latest Cinnabon-dude wandered out of nowhere, Freyd's face slipped down into his open palm, thumb and index fingers pressed to opposite temples for a moment before sliding back down to cup over his mouth. A single arched eyebrow gazed in staggered amazement as this 'knight' lai

Freyd's appearance shifted before them, his bizarre leisure attire darkening then bleeding into inky liquid before reasserting itself into his more conventional attire. Trademark cowl now firmly in place, the Whisper offered no reaction to Vigilon's aquatic conundrum. Any intended barbs found no purchase. Whatever he was thinking, he simply kept to himself. Only the odd mallard-handled fishing rod remained of his previous getup, which he promptly tugged at to collect one final catch before being dismissed to the ether. "Don't be so quick to dismiss the value of a guild, Kyo," he off

Stabbing the open palm of its steaming gauntleted hand into the smokey air, war grasped at the swirling smoke of detritus and debris that served as its retinue as it faced off against the irreverent Whisper. Clenching the ashen air, the rider conjured a blade of pure blackness and forced the cinders in the congealing smoke to alight with the power hatred and rage within itself. It was the very embodiment of carnage and fury, astride its red wrath and ready to unleash countless untold atrocities upon the poor fool standing dumbly a hundred feet in the distance. Baleful laughter echoed within

Even as Katoka finished off the other mobs, artfully returning her katana to its sheathe and stylishly flaring her thumbs up at her companion, the decidedly anime-worthy finish fell a little flat. Freyd wasn't looking. Instead, the spoopy moron was staring up towards a suddenly sullen and rapidly darkening sky. The whole thing had a very Oz kind of feel, of the variety with potential to launch you from Kansas to Aincrad in about 3.2 seconds, probably ending in a very jarring and violent impact. "Uh... I'm thinking this is that other thing that I may, or may not, have accidentally poked

Absorbing Krysta's and Vigilon’s comments with the same calm he expected would be required against the upcoming raid boss, Freyd's brow furrowed only modestly. Mulling over both of their perspectives, he glanced sideways to Morningstar before looking back to both of the other players. “In the coming raid, if a member of your party spots additional mobs off to the side from the main chamber and runs off randomly after them instead of focusing on the boss, how would you react?” Raising a single eyebrow to Krysta, the parallels to their present situation were obvious. “Please consider the d

Freyd was actually in his shop for a change, doing the unthinkable and sorting through the vast assortment of miscellaneous junk he'd accumulated over years of grinding and questing across every imaginable corner of Aincrad, and then back again. Dingo had been given the day off, mostly to keep him from interfering. The kid meant well, but was so lazy that sloths looked like hyper-caffeinated squirrels by comparison. "Spare weapons?! Pfft. You'd be doing me a favour. Here," he added, calling into existence a massive pile of mishappen objects, each of which held the potential to injure

"We are all monsters," he repeated, as if this perspective had yet to be considered to its fullest. Doubt flooded his mind at the prospect and ran a dozen simultaneous scenarios, knowing what he knew about those he considered most noble or innocent in this world. The mental effort expended to reconcile the outcome in so brief a time might be considered epic, under different circumstances. Such was the abundance of data to be processed, tabulated and compared. So many of the variables were subjective, denying attempts to quantify or even qualify beyond the realms of instinct or opinion. Pe

Accusations of 'dad-joke in the third degree' brought an ear-splitting grin to the Whisper's face. He was no father, and certainly had no father figure to look up to in his youth, though certain lingering doubts pointed memories towards the efforts of his grandfather. That was about as close as he'd ever got. Quiet and resigned as Nari laid bare her speculations about his fears, Freyd simply listened, staring at the ground before them as they walked beneath the shuffling bows of the forest canopy. Streams and beams of light danced before them as a gently, nudging breeze swayed the fo

"Having an orange mark is no joke," Freyd replied with dour bitterness. "I've known a few players who have had it, and it carries significant drawbacks. Imagine not being able to enter any town for simple provisions, or access teleportation portal. We take for granted the simple task of moving between floors, but asking someone with an orange icon to go from the Town of Beginnings to this floor is a lengthy, risky and potentially exhausting ordeal." Glancing over towards Kyo, he nodded in general agreement. "You're not wrong about justice in this world. It's fleeting, at best. And fickl

"Eh?" Face scrunched up in an expression that might have been best described at delightfully offended, Freyd held the pose for the entire duration of Sbruce's (possibly Ned's) entirely too lengthy explanation. Only when the all the treants had departed did he finally relax, massaging his cheeks with both hands to loosen the rictus that was setting in. "Oh, goody. This quest also has a fetch component. How nice. Should we gather some boar tusks and dandelions as alchemical fodder while we're at it?" Clearly joking, Freyd was already heading towards the appointed location. "They were

Kicking nonchalantly off to the side before returning to his crouch, Freyd looked like he'd missed his target completely. The blistering elemental glowered at him in its full blazing fury, burning most brightly even as its flame threatened to burst, flicker and die. Looming large over the Whisper, it made ready to lunge and engulf him completely when a growing darkness loomed over it in turn. Grinning giddily, even as he stood irreverently from his combat stance, Freyd extended a single, spider-like index finger up towards the heavens. "What goes up," he said, tilting his head and won

It was heartwarming to hear that Nari had found a renewed sense of companionship. Given the traumatic events she alluded to from hear earliest days in the game, and prior, it was precisely what others would likely say she needed. Freyd wasn't good with the whole 'emotion' thing, though he'd learned quite a bit from his own burgeoning relationship. "Ah. I think I understand," he lied, mostly. "Please don't think I was judging. Call it curiosity and a lack of understanding on my part. Relationships are new to me. There's still a lot that I don't understand, though that is slowly and painful

"They're everywhere, all around us - even here in safe zones. The trick is to know where and when to look." Freyd seemed mildly amused by Wulfrin's interest, recalling his own initial ambitions in the days and weeks following his own departure from the Town of Beginnings. "More often than not, you can find maps leading to them on random mobs as loot. They're rare, mind you, but definitely findable. Many are also far from obvious. I've had them open up right under my feet, suck me into spiraling anomalies, appear as ruins inconsistent with their surroundings, etc. There really is n

"NIGHT," Freyd echoed flatly, feigning mild surprise over confirmation of earlier suspicions. He'd been wondering what she had been playing at for some time. "She helped me out a lot when I was starting out, mostly by accident. We've worked together a few times since, but I can't really say that I know much about her at all." That the swordswoman had remained on his radar this long without more data coming his way was telling. He already knew that she was highly competent. That was never in question. It was her motives and goals about which he was curious. "The other you mentioned is u

"I've completed this quest over half a dozen times, and that was the first ever where he tried something like this." Freyd seemed positively gleeful, a light kindling behind his eyes at the prospect that Abdullah's behavior had changed. "Months of baiting was required, but he finally bit!" Rubbing his chin reflexively with thumb and index finger, the Whisper was clearly deep in thought. "Imagine what it could mean if we could actually alter the set behaviour of static NPCs. It's a potentially total game-changer - literally." Wandering back into the small dusty settlement, Freyd felt

"Would you mind telling me who the other two are? You can rest assured that your privacy is safe. It only tends to make life easier when you know who's avoiding the same tunes." A sense of satisfaction warmed him, sensing that he'd read the situation correctly enough for a successful outcome. What Freyd hadn't expected was her curtsey, a single eyebrow raising in surprise, yet falling again just as quickly. "If there were more of me in this world, I've have to chase them down and put them in the ground, again. It's a long story," he added, with a pleasant smile and dismissive wave.

"Nice moves," Freyd said, eager to see his companion starting to stretch his wings a bit. It hadn't taken long at all. Refocusing on their lone remaining foe, the Whisper thought he'd give it a go, just in case. "Will you yield?" There was little hope that the mob could actually do so, but a recent experience with treants up on floor eight had revealed that the system did occasionally allow for it. "Yield? To your punk asses? Not happening." Half the thug's leg was ready to collapse and crumble to dust, but still he chose defiance. How much of that was Cardinal's influence. I

"Agreed," came the response between sighs and the sounds of quickly shifting cloth. Freyd danced between his assailants with something akin to elegance as they clumsily charged and swung their weapons without guile or talent. Abdullah really needed higher standards if he thought these goons were going to stand a chance, but then no one could be sure how long the mobster had been pressing Fortaleza under his thumb. Part of him wondered whether these were the same men who offered the town what little protection it had from the denizens of the desert. Depriving them of that might be a problem

"Well," Freyd started, disappointed at seeing that the box had remained shut after its tipping, "that was anticlimactic." Leaning against it while the Cinnabon Lords monologued, he was too busy imagining them growing long flowing mustaches that twirled to ever-growing levels of ridiculousness the longer they droned on. "Yeah, yeah, end of the world, supreme conspiracy, you lot are the chosen of whatever... blah, blah, blah. Dude. You really need to watch less Pokemon." Suppressing a laugh while one of them struggled with the locking mechanism might have been the hardest part. "

"Uh... to be perfectly honest, it rarely actually goes that smoothly." Scratching at the back of his cowl, Freyd was a little perplexed at the fact that the mob had already fallen. "Unfortunately, I don't think we managed to get you the skill unlock, but we can always come back and try again once you're ready to smoke this thing on your own." He patted Wulfrin's shoulder, jovially, proud to see that the man was coming along so quickly. "Not too many decent fishing spots near Fortaleza." The burning desert wind and overwhelmingly arid, barren landscape slapped Wulfrin in the face as th

Donning his usual, maddening grin seemed to be the best retort to Katoka's jibes, not to mention the most effective way to bolster her spirits against any doubts or second guessing. "Don't worry," he added. "You're gonna have a halibut time." Hands raised in defense and proclaiming innocence, he daren't mock or challenge Nari's claims. Besides, he knew her to be among the most capable tanks currently serving in the front lines. Making wise cracks about your tank's waistline was a great way to wonder why your hate values were suddenly awry in the middle of a boss fight. Freyd was far

Like a dervish whirling into being from a breeze, Freyd spun into action instantly. Scouring their foes with a burst cloud of sand to cover his initial assault, he knew that he tactic could only be so effective. These things lived in the stuff and their shells were too resilient to be affected for more than a moment. But that was all they needed. Trusting that the mobs themselves could become their own worst enemies, he bashed their oversized and unwieldly claws against each other. With a few well-placed kicks, he managed to turn their greatest strengths against them, piercing and shreddin