Freyd

She had a point. He wasn't actively trying to recruit her, but rather just to provide options. "Prestigious? Maybe. That sounds almost pretentious. If anything, the guild's grounded nature and leadership is what attracted me to it in the first place. I... " Freyd seemed to hesitate, as if pondering how best to craft his words. "I considered becoming a broker myself, very early on. But I'd spent too much time hiding in the shadows. It felt like it would be stepping back into my original doubts." He shook his head, eyes closing for a moment, lost in dark memories. "Couldn't do th

"Assault. Good choice. They're a good bunch. Gaius took over as their interim captain when Haine stepped down. Feel free to reach out to him for advice." Freyd's dark sense of humour was getting the better of him again. Responsibility wasn't Gaius' strong suit, but the man had matured quite a bit, of late. Something told him that he might make a fair captain, if he wasn't allowed to shirk the role. Sending a new recruit his way might do just the trick. "Raidou leads the vanguard. Kiluia is still in charge of Provisional, I believe, and yours truly looks after O&I, but don't t

Thread Summary: 5651 words / 30 = 188*5= 940*Tier Katoka receives: 5260 EXP (Word Count [940*4] + 1500 [Quest]) 3464 col (400 [1 page] + 2500 [Quest] + 564 [Laurel, +15% of EXP as col]) "Zero Degree Icicle" | T2 Rare Katana | Freeze | ACC Unlock Frozen Hide extra skill Freyd receives: 11280 EXP (Word Count [940*12]) 1692 col (1692 [Laurel, +15% of EXP as col]) Unlock Frozen Hide extra skill

"Relax?" Freyd blinked for dramatic effect, but it was fair comment on his own obsessive work ethic. "I'm not sure if I really know how, to be perfectly honest. With rare exceptions, it's been a wild ride of putting out fires and rushing towards the next floor." Dusting fictional dirt from his pants, Freyd ventured into his own past, realizing the truth of it. "For the longest time, all I was focused was getting to the point where I'd could stand side by side with the front lines. Contribute, yanno? I went from hiding from my own shadow to... " he glanced at the ground between

"I know what you mean. It took a long time before I could trust people, even after I'd left the starting city. It just seemed like the system was ready to pounce on me from every shadow I saw. Eventually, things settled down and I learned to navigate my way around, made contacts and allies. Got stronger. You know how it goes." He blinked, realizing that he'd been talking to her as if they were both front line veterans. "Well, you will soon enough," he added, laughing at himself for so easily slipping into old habits. "You're smart, Xena. That will carry you far. Just be careful

"Wait. Whut? No, no, no. We don't make promises about regrets. Regrets just happen. Let's limit how much fate we try to change in a week, m'kay? My head's still spinning from the last time!" Freyd groaned dramatically and pressed the ball of his right palm to his forehead. "Can we at least mitigate it to mostly no regrets? You seem like a really nice person, Rebekah, but I don't want to overpromise here." Freya took her parting shot, as fully expected. "Who's terrorizing? Monkey guts build character! She got off a hell of a lot lighter than I did the first time I faced t

Flipping the item over every which way, Freyd honestly couldn't recall where he'd picked up the heavy tome. It was found, buried in one of many piles of junk that Quip kept threatening to set ablaze if he didn't get around to sorting or purging on his own. "It kinda looks like a colouring book," he muttered trying to open it with one hand while the other struggled to simultaneously help him sip at his coffee. He'd already spilled a cup of the precious, life-giving fluid, staining a dozen pages and spilling more all over the ground. "Marv, do me a favour and just..." Tucking what s

Freyd listened. It was what was expected, and what @Hirrurequired. It also happened to be what he wanted to do. The smallest of smiles crept up at the edges of his lips, until a natural pause presented him with the needed opportunity. "My dear Hirru. If you're such a connoisseur of stories, why are you sitting here fishing with me while people are living those stories two dozen paces away?" A light chuckle allowed itself passage, even as something nipped at his line. Perhaps it was truth? When his companion extended his hand and offered healing, Freyd hesitated. It wasn't that

Thread Summary: 8204 words / 30 = 273*5= 1365*Tier Freya receives: 12285 EXP (Word Count [X*9]) 1842 col (1842 [Laurel, +15% of EXP as col]) Kodo receives: 1365 EXP (Word Count [1365*1]) 400 col (400 [1 page]) Freyd receives: 19110 EXP (Word Count [1365*14]) 2866 col ( [Laurel, +15% of EXP as col])

"Yanno, this is gonna sound really weird, but I feel like I haven't actually fought anything in ages!" Stepping last into the room, Freyd somehow still managed to find his favourite chair before anyone could get to it. That was a ruse, in and of itself, as the man never sat in the same seat twice, at least in a row. Unpredictable and unbalanced, someone had called him once. It might have been Montjoy, now that he thought about it. It felt weird not to hear his voice anymore, yet his presence was still there. Kicking a pair of booted feet up onto the table, Freyd slurped his drink as loud

"Then remember her as those things," Freyd offered. "Grief isn't so much about the people we have lost or the injustice of their passing. It's about learning to live with the absence in our lives, as people who go on. This is the key: going on, and holding on to the memories of those already passed as they would wish to be remembered. Hold on to these things about your sister. Make them part of yourself. In doing so, you honor her." Freyd didn't know from whence the words had come. He'd been waxing philosophical a lot, lately. Ever since Morrighan, and stuff, things had changed dr

"I've had to rescue players held captive by them in the past." It was all Freyd was willing to say. While he felt sympathy for Xena, the truth was that he didn't know her affiliations. She could have made deals that compromised her, and he wouldn't risk the guild's safety. "I'm sorry, Xena. I'd like to say more, but there are people who rely on me to look after and protect them against factions like Laughing Coffin. It would be a betrayal to say more, and I take that responsibility very seriously. Hopefully, you will understand." Glancing over her feline paraphernalia, Freyd couldn

"I suppose that we could keep hunting mimics, if you'd prefer to gather more data." Freyd's smile raised the corners of his eyes, the grin was so wide. "This is the first mimic that I've ever actually encountered, if you can believe it. They tend to spawn mostly from treasure hunting, and I think also fishing, but I can't say that it's ever happened to me. I've only just taken up the trade since the flood that coincided with the last raid, so..." Raising his shoulders, he just shrugged by way of further explanation. "Switching gears back, for a minute, what exactly have your interact

"Double-skinned hull," Freyd muttered to himself while slowly carving a second hole to get at Ifrit's interior. The monstrous ship was, indeed, space or depth-worthy. It felt too sci-fi to think of it as a starship, so his brain was trying to kludge 'submarine' instead. It still wasn't working, but kept his imagination occupied as his hand ate its way through the inner hull in a satisfying turnaround of the day's earlier events. "Not how I expected to be celebrating after the boss fight," he told no one in particular. As he nearly finished creating the new opening, the heavy plating b

"Agreed. Something is definitely off. One simple murderous mob for an entire quest? I don't buy it." Freyd's eyes scoured the lake and surrounding frozen wasteland, expecting a horde of shambling popsicle zombies to come shambling out of the landscape at any moment. This was too easy, by far. "Levi, did you recognize anyth-" Freyd's words stopped abruptly when he spotted the boy's shuddering form draped over that of his former friend. Quest backdrop or not, it was hard not to appreciate the outpouring of emotion, especially as his heart-wrenching cry rang out into the cold air, car

"Couldn't we just shoot ourselves out of a cannon, or something, for old times sake?" He glanced at Oscar quizzically, bordering on wistfully. "The thought of placing some Cardinal-controlled critter between my legs and hoping everything will be 'just fine' isn't wholly inspiring." He groaned, suddenly realizing that if he chose the cart option instead, it would surely be filled with hot dogs and inevitably prove to be the least subtle or effective mode of transport ever devised. His giant friend was in a right state, meaning even the usual level of absurdity was an exceptionally low b

"Eh... It's complicated." Reaching behind his cowl, Freyd scratched as if attempting to summon a suitably simple explanation. "Laughing Coffin are an entire guild made up of player killers, and definitely not a group to be taken lightly. Dealings with them, of any kind, are never easy or free of consequences. Even though I've never openly crossed paths with them, our interests have occasionally overlapped - and not in a cooperative manner." He sighed, wondering at what future trouble this might bring, but also knowing that a confrontation with this guild was inevitable. "I'd

The sheets in his hand drooped upon hearing Kodo's words, as if sharing in his grief the only was they could. Freyd's thoughts immediately went to Quip and Dingo, and the self-destructive whirlwind that nearly led them to their own demise when Maeve, their younger sister, had been lost. Had it not been for the thoughtful actions of a friend that pressed him into service to save them, two more souls might have been taken by the tower. Here, Freya was offering this man the same help. "Tell me about her," Freyd asked, unexpectedly laying the papers flat upon the table. They would not wit

*Cough* From the darkness, nestled between two tightly crammed buildings on the outskirts of Snowfrost, stepped the man whom she'd just called out. "Not bad, Katoka. Not bad at all. If you can pull that off, then it might finally be time." He chuckled as she scrunched up her face, suspicious of whatever prank he might be ready to pull next. "It's nothing like that, I assure you. Think of it more like a graduation gift, in recognition of your past and future accomplishments. If you're ready to fight on the front lines - and I think you finally are - then you'll need some

"You know I do, old friend. Nothing but the very best and most stalwart companions one could ask for. No one else could be entrusted with such masterpieces, and I would see them wielded by none other." "Thank you," Freyd said as he wrapped his left fist into his right palm and bowed to express the full depth of his sincere appreciation for the man's craft. "I could trust no other with this task." Carefully lifting two weapons, which once had been many, Freyd bundled each separately in silks then placed them in his inventory - safe and ready for delivery. At long last. ***

"Come on, lovebirds," Freyd said through Takeshi's face, teasing them along with a laugh filled with joy and celebration. Part of him wondered if he'd gambled with all of existence on this particular gambit, or if that was simply the cost for a chance at manifesting the impossible. Like the star-crossed lovers behind the tales of Tanabata, Orihime and Hikoboshi had found each other once more after tirelessly enduring their respective ordeals. He was glad to have been a part of it, and hopefully save both of them from the darker, less pleasant designs of Fate. Reaching out with a hand a

Stepping sideways into a field of fluctuating shadows cast by the flowing foliage above, Freyd reappeared an instant later high above their enemy and hurtling downward with increasing momentum. His fall looked surprisingly clumsy and uncontrolled, like he'd snagged his foot on a root during his transition. A subtly shift of his hands adjusted to the circumstances, for the Whisper was nothing if not adaptable. Contorting as he fell, he still ended up how he'd originally intended and crashed like a meteor, fist first into the giant ball of monkey fur that lay crumpled. The thing exploded lik

A quick touch on the shoulder reassured her, on the off chance that the whirlwind combat had left her in a state of shock. If she'd never really left the safety of the cities, then Xena had likely never faced the realities of battle in a meaningful way in years. "Go play, you two," he told their familiars as he led Xena to sit for a moment. Pulling a pair of Freya's tasty honey cakes from his inventory, he offered one to his companion and insisted that she take eat it to help her nerves settle a bit. "You did well. Most people panic when they take a sudden wound like that." If he

Accepting the friend and party invites, Freyd bantered casually with both women making basic introductions as chit chat as they walked. "I noticed your name recently added to our guild roster, Rebekah. Are you just starting out or looking for new opportunities?" He groaned loudly when she asked about past encounters with the mob they were hunting. "Ugh. I bloody hate this thing, and seem to have the absolute worst luck when facing it. One time I was facing it with Kiluia and Haine, they're in the Provisional and Assault divisions of the guild. Anyway, Kiluia does his fancy

"Face who? Your father? Your mentor? Your lover? Your God? Yourself? The courage required is the same, for them all. So what is this really all about?" The edge was gone from his voice, also easing from the hawkish features of his brow and eyes as they peered through her from across the table. "You want to fix him, but that assumes that he is broken in the first place. Maybe he's just doing what must be done: what no one else could do." A sigh as he sought another way to deliver understanding. "I appreciate that you want to help him. I truly do. But you should know that y